Countless spatial rifts swept in from every direction, and Jin Shi's face was a mask of horror—he was obviously about to beg for mercy.
Under normal circumstances, these unstable spatial rifts wouldn't necessarily have terrified him. With a few techniques, he could have destroyed them and escaped with his life. But he was at his weakest right now, having just unleashed the Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell secret art. Less than thirty percent of his Sacred Energy remained—he simply didn't have the strength.
Would Yang Kai listen to his blather? Strike a snake and don't finish it off, and you'll only have to deal with it later. This fellow's misfortune today was entirely his own doing.
The dense web of spatial rifts quickly enveloped Jin Shi, swallowing him whole. Piercing screams rang out from within. He barely managed to condense a protective layer of Sacred Energy around his body, but it accomplished nothing. The moment the protective Sacred Energy made contact with those rifts, it was banished into the endless void—followed by his flesh, his bones…
When everything finally settled into calm, the former Grand Elder of the Demon Blood Sect had been reduced to scattered chunks of flesh, and incomplete ones at that. At least half of his body had vanished entirely.
The two women from Ice Heart Valley stood nearby, watching in stunned silence.
They had assumed the battle would be completely one-sided—that Yang Kai might even be killed instantly—and had already steeled themselves for the worst.
Who could have guessed that once Yang Kai made his move, it would be this earth-shattering?
A single jade-green sword transformed into an enormous emerald dragon that left one powerful enemy unable to spare even a moment's attention elsewhere. A bizarre Domain forced another into a corner with no sky to flee to and no ground to burrow into, killing them on the spot in the blink of an eye.
Which cultivation star was this fellow from? Why had they never heard of him before? To possess such strength and cultivate such an uncanny Domain—surely he couldn't be some unknown nobody. He had to be a rising star of one of the great powers.
And yet they had never once heard of such a young man anywhere in the Star Field.
Their relief was mingled with a creeping unease. After all, the two of them still couldn't put up any resistance, and they had no idea what Yang Kai's temperament was like. If he decided to strike them down after achieving victory, they wouldn't be able to stop him.
For a moment, both women from Ice Heart Valley felt a wave of despair wash over them. This situation—where they were the fish on someone else's chopping board—left them utterly helpless. Yet they didn't dare make a move, terrified of drawing Yang Kai's attention.
On the other side, the Demon Blood Sect Master was likewise stricken with terror. She had witnessed Jin Shi's horrific death with her own eyes, and in that moment her mind was in complete disarray. She had never imagined that Yang Kai's combat power could be this formidable—not even their Grand Elder had lasted long against him. Hadn't he just advanced to the Void Returning Realm not long ago? How could his Domain be so powerful?
Could Jin Shi's intelligence have been wrong all along? Had this fellow been playing the pig to eat the tiger this entire time?
In that instant, the Demon Blood Sect Master cursed the dead Jin Shi every name imaginable and silently regretted provoking such a monster. Right now, she was completely at the mercy of the emerald dragon, with no energy left over to deal with Yang Kai.
The emerald dragon had been refined from the bones of an ancient Sacred Spirit and further fused with a strand of dragon soul and a dragon pearl. It was inherently brimming with spiritual awareness. Though it couldn't assess the battlefield the way the Fire Bird's Artifact Spirit could—it was still incomplete in its wisdom, lacking the judgment to advance or retreat—its sheer power was beyond dispute.
Paired with Yang Kai's spiritual sense commanding it, it was fully capable of dueling the Demon Blood Sect Master on its own.
The Demon Blood Sect Master was in complete misery. Her charm techniques had absolutely no effect on the emerald dragon, and her bracelet-shaped Artifact, already shrouded within that green mist, had lost most of its spiritual potency. The green mist contained a potent toxin with naturally corrosive properties. Though the bracelet Artifact wasn't low-grade, it couldn't withstand the relentless seepage of the poison.
She didn't even dare release her Demon Blood Threads, for fear they would be contaminated by the green dragon. To make matters worse, she had to split her Sacred Energy and mental focus to ward off the bone-piercing cold of this place. The situation had reached a critical juncture.
The moment Jin Shi met his gruesome end, the thought of retreating had already taken root in her mind.
But Yang Kai gave her no such opportunity. His figure flickered, and with Biluo he appeared just a short distance from her. While continuing to control the Dragon Bone Sword with his mind to keep her entangled, he extended his own Domain to envelop her.
The Demon Blood Sect Master's expression was one of pure horror. She barely dodged a cloud of toxic mist and forced a strained smile onto her face, speaking in a honeyed tone: "Little brother, leave a little room for everyone—there's no need to be so heartless. Besides, I never intended to do anything to you."
Sensing her dire situation, she had even changed how she referred to herself. Gone was the lofty "this seat" she had used in front of Yang Kai, replaced by something far more humble.
"I don't need to leave any room," Yang Kai said with a cold laugh, "because we'll never meet again."
The Demon Blood Sect Master's expression shifted subtly, her beautiful eyes brimming with venom and terror, but she forced herself to keep smiling. "Don't, little brother! Let me go, and from now on I'll do whatever you say. Whatever you want, I'll do—I promise I'll serve you most comfortably. After all, I am a Void Returning Realm Stage Three cultivator. I could be of considerable use to you."
As she spoke, her eyes grew sultry as silk, and combined with those crimson, glistening lips, her allure was far from insignificant.
"What a harlot!" Biluo gritted her teeth and spat, her face a picture of disdain.
"Sorry, but I'm not interested." Yang Kai shook his head with a solemn expression. "You can go die now!"
As the words left his lips, countless spatial rifts once again materialized around the Demon Blood Sect Master, converging toward her under Yang Kai's command.
"If you want me dead, don't think you'll walk away unscathed!" The Demon Blood Sect Master shed all pretense of the demure act she had been putting on, her voice rising into a hysterical shriek. That once-beautiful face twisted into something horrifying. Two blood-red Demon Blood Threads shot out from her body, and she formed hand seals, crying out sharply: "Explode!"
A staggering wave of energy erupted from within the Demon Blood Threads, and then two orbs of crimson light bloomed from the spot—like the most exquisite flowers, unleashing their final, dazzling beauty.
But hidden within that beauty was boundless killing intent.