"You brat, show mercy where mercy is due! If you really want to fight me to the death, be careful not to knock out all your own teeth!" the old man Du roared in a low voice, putting on a fierce front.
"Oh? Then I'd like to see just how many teeth your body can knock out of me." A flash of ruthlessness flickered through Yang Kai's eyes, and he showed no intention of backing down.
The enemy had already come knocking on his doorstep — how could Yang Kai possibly compromise and let him leave peacefully? He had made up his mind to kill every last person who had invaded Dragon Cave Mountain. Good people get bullied, and gentle horses get ridden — it was high time Dragon Cave Mountain bared its fangs.
Hearing Yang Kai's answer, a vicious glint flashed through the old man Du's eyes. He said through clenched teeth, "Are you truly so determined?"
Yang Kai did not answer. Instead, he raised the long sword high and unleashed another streak of sword light, letting his actions speak for his answer.
"You forced my hand!" The old man Du's face twisted into something truly grotesque. He stood rooted in place, neither dodging nor retreating, regarding the incoming sword light as though it were nothing at all, seemingly utterly fearless.
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow, his expression growing grave. He did not believe his opponent was seeking death. Judging from his earlier words and his current expression, the old man clearly still had some trump card he had yet to play. His willingness to act so bold meant he must have confidence in blocking this strike.
Having reached this conclusion, Yang Kai hesitated no further. He flicked his finger, and a spatial blade shot soundlessly toward his target.
Yang Kai had no intention of letting the man unleash his trump card — he planned to end things with the spatial blade in one decisive blow.
The pitch-black sword light came first, the spatial blade close behind, hidden and intertwined — the old man Du was completely unaware of the second attack. Yet he still did not move from his spot. Instead, he pulled a jade box from his own space.
The jade box opened to reveal a blood-red pill the size of a longan fruit.
The old man Du picked up the pill and tossed it straight into his mouth, swallowing it with a gulp.
Whether it was an illusion or not, when the old man took the pill, Yang Kai distinctly saw a flash of nostalgia and inner struggle in his eyes. He could not tell what the old man was reminiscing about.
At the same time, the pitch-black sword light had already arrived three zhang from his face, moments from striking home.
But at that very instant, a massive figure plummeted from the sky above. With a thunderous boom and a tremor in the earth, this enormous creature positioned itself between the old man Du and the incoming attack.
Ssss…
The sword light slammed into the massive creature, producing a piercing screech and a pained croaking sound.
The Green-eyed Blood Toad!
At the critical moment, the old man Du had actually recalled his Green-eyed Blood Toad. Though the demon beast was of the ninth rank, in terms of raw strength it was far inferior to the artifact spirit Firebird. Its one advantage was its extraordinarily tough, thick hide.
During the brief time it had clashed with the artifact spirit Firebird, the Green-eyed Blood Toad had already sustained injuries across every inch of its body — all burn marks from the raging flames. Enormous blisters had replaced its original warty bumps, and countless streams of brightly colored venom flowed from its wounds, the stench utterly revolting.
Even so, it was still alive. Any other ninth-rank demon beast would likely have been dead by now.
Already covered in wounds, and now struck squarely by Yang Kai's sword light, the Green-eyed Blood Toad's body instantly gained a long, gaping gash — so deep that the white of bone was almost visible beneath.
The old man Du showed no regard for this whatsoever, as though the beast were not something he had raised for decades. He slapped his hand onto the toad's back and poured Holy Yuan into it with all his might.
Silently and without warning, the spatial blade that had followed behind the sword light arrived as well. The Green-eyed Blood Toad's belly instantly sprouted a foot-long crescent-shaped wound.
Any target struck by a spatial blade would be banished into the void — which meant injuries inflicted by a spatial blade could never be healed.
Yang Kai's spatial blade was powerful, to be sure, but the Green-eyed Blood Toad's physical toughness was not to be underestimated either. The attack barely punched clean through the beast's body before the spatial blade's power dissipated into nothing.
Seeing this, Yang Kai felt a twinge of regret. If the spatial blade had managed to push forward another two feet, it might have killed the old man Du in one stroke.
Of course, dwelling on it now was clearly pointless.
No matter how tough its hide, the Green-eyed Blood Toad could not survive such a devastating wound. As the beast's master, the old man Du appeared to suffer backlash as well — while desperately channeling Holy Yuan, he involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood. Then, his face draining of color, he stared at the Green-eyed Blood Toad with an expression of utter horror.
Sensing that the life force of the beast bound to his own was rapidly fading, the old man Du drove his Holy Yuan even more frenziedly. To the naked eye, the Green-eyed Blood Toad's body began to swell at an alarming rate, quickly becoming round and bloated, as though it might burst apart at any moment.
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and sent an instruction to the Firebird artifact spirit. With a crisp cry, a streak of red light surged toward the scene.
Before the spirit could arrive, a deafening explosion erupted from that direction. In the midst of the blast, the Green-eyed Blood Toad disintegrated into a mist of blood — not even bones remained. The sky was filled with multicolored venomous fog and poisonous liquid.
Startled by the explosion, the artifact spirit immediately banked and soared skyward.
But the old man Du stood in place with a ferocious, almost blissful expression, reveling in the baptism of toxic mist and venom. No one could tell what technique or secret art he was circulating, but he was drawing all of that venomous liquid and poisonous fog directly into his own body.