With his mind wandering through a flurry of thoughts, Yang Kai turned his gaze toward the chest of the demon beast's skeletal remains.
In that instant, his eyes burned even brighter.
He could clearly see it — a round crystal roughly the size of an infant's head, glowing with a deep crimson hue.
A Void Thought Crystal! Also known as the inner core of this Demon King!
The two names differed, but what they referred to was the same thing.
Only a third-stage Void King Realm powerhouse could refine such a miraculous object within their body. A second-stage Void King simply didn't have the qualifications.
A Void Thought Crystal contained a top-tier expert's comprehension of the Heavenly Dao and martial arts, their understanding of domains — its value was beyond estimate!
The reason Chi Yue wanted it so desperately was to use it as a catalyst to break through to the third stage of the Void King Realm and ascend to the station of a Demon King.
Across the entire Star Domain, how many third-stage Void King Realm experts could there be? At the very most, no more than could be counted on a single hand — and every one of them was the kind of existence who showed their head but never their tail, their whereabouts unknown to anyone. For an ordinary person, catching even a single glimpse of them would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
And yet now, the skeletal remains of a deceased expert at that very level lay before Yang Kai — not only were the bones perfectly intact, but the Void Thought Crystal remained as well.
Yang Kai's breathing involuntarily quickened as his gaze locked onto the Void Thought Crystal with blazing intensity.
He carefully extended his divine sense toward it, but before his divine sense could even make contact, the dark crimson crystal suddenly flashed with a burst of light.
Yang Kai's brow furrowed, and he hastily withdrew his divine sense, not daring to probe it carelessly.
Chi Yue had been right — a wisp of the Demon King's residual soul still lingered within the Void Thought Crystal. Any attempt to claim it would trigger a violent backlash. If that weren't the case, the crystal and the remains would have been taken away long ago, and there would have been nothing left for today.
The only way to safely obtain the Void Thought Crystal was to suppress that lingering wisp of soul.
But the only ones who could come to the Blood Prison were third-stage Return Void Realm martial artists. Who among them had the power to suppress a Demon King's remnant soul?
Only Yang Kai, who possessed the Origin Power of the Golden Sacred Dragon!
He let out a quiet breath and steadied his emotions, staring at the Void Thought Crystal with grave focus, not moving a muscle.
In the darkness behind him, a nearly imperceptible shadow was cautiously creeping closer. It hugged the ground, seemingly formless, releasing no aura whatsoever. Even someone as powerful as Yang Kai sensed nothing at all.
The shadow drew closer inch by inch until it was less than five zhang behind him. Then the lurking shadow suddenly rose like a sinuous serpent, coiling into a concentrated force and aiming squarely at Yang Kai's back.
It was at that exact moment that Yang Kai's body erupted with a thunderous tremor. A piercing dragon roar echoed through the air, and an unimaginable pressure radiated outward in all directions.
On Yang Kai's right arm, sheets of golden, gleaming scales materialized as if by magic, enveloping the entire limb. Not just the arm — the back of his hand was covered as well, and when the scales appeared, his five fingers suddenly blazed with golden light. His fingernails elongated unnaturally, gleaming with a razor-sharp, cold brilliance.
Dragon Transformation!
Having practiced half of the Demon Transformation Art, Yang Kai could now barely activate the Origin Power of the Golden Sacred Dragon within his body to partially dragon-transform his right arm.
In the span of a single breath, his entire right arm became something monstrous and fearsome.
The shadow lurking five zhang behind him was clearly startled. It hastily flattened itself back against the ground and retreated in a panic.
And right then, Yang Kai moved. His right arm — seemingly slow but impossibly fast — reached forward, piercing through the spatial barrier in an instant. It arrived directly above the Void Thought Crystal.
The crystal erupted with frantic flashes of light! A restless, volatile energy surged within, as though it might detonate at any moment.
Yang Kai let out a cold snort, seized the Void Thought Crystal in his hand, and clenched it with crushing force. At the same time, sacred yuan flooded from his body along with his own divine sense, pouring recklessly into the crystal.
Somewhere in the void, a faint crack seemed to echo from within the crystal, and the turbulent energy gradually subsided.
The golden scales on Yang Kai's right arm slowly receded, and his once-monstrous arm returned to its normal state.
He opened his hand, looked at the Void Thought Crystal resting in his palm, and broke into a wide grin.
The remnant wisp of soul that had lingered within the Void Thought Crystal had been forcibly obliterated by him. Now, anyone could pick up this crystal without fearing that it would detonate.
The process had been remarkably simple and effortless — even Yang Kai hadn't expected that.
Chi Yue had been so solemn in her warnings that he'd anticipated a grueling ordeal, never imagining he'd obtain it so easily.
"Hm?" Yang Kai examined the Void Thought Crystal up close, and a peculiar expression crept across his face.
He vaguely felt as though this crystal looked familiar, as if he had obtained one before.
After racking his memory, realization dawned — he remembered when he had gotten his hands on a Void Thought Crystal.
The first time he had entered the Flameflow Sand Ground!