In the collapsing, chaotic space, a glint of cold light suddenly appeared. It seemed to have been aimed at Yang Kai's back as a sneak attack, but the turbulent spatial disturbances threw off its precision, and it was swallowed by a spatial rift before it could do any real damage — its power devoured almost entirely.
With a soft gasp of surprise, a third figure materialized like a phantom, leaping backward with brows furrowed and a grave expression on his face. He shook his head and sighed. "Truly difficult to deal with!"
Yang Kai stood rooted to the ground, unmoving as bedrock. He turned his head with an icy glare, somewhat surprised. "Lie Feng! I didn't expect you to be here too!"
He hadn't anticipated that the third person to ambush him would be Lie Feng from the Gale Lion Territory.
The three great demon territories' most outstanding young prodigies — all gathered in one place!
That Mi Tian and Xue Lian had set an ambush, Yang Kai could understand. After all, he'd had friction with both of them to varying degrees — why would they let things go? But Lie Feng's involvement genuinely caught him off guard. When they'd first entered the Blood Prison, this fellow had even invited him to team up. Yet after only a few short days, he had become one of the enemies plotting against him.
On the Demon Mountain, demonic energy permeated everything. These three demon prodigies had used the ambient qi of this place to perfectly conceal themselves. If Yang Kai's senses hadn't been so sharp, Lie Feng's ambush might well have succeeded.
"Lie Feng, I don't believe we have any grudge between us?" Yang Kai regarded him coldly, his tone flat.
Lie Feng let out an awkward laugh and replied in a low voice, "Naturally, we don't."
"Then why do this?" Yang Kai narrowed his eyes.
"Brother Yang, please forgive me." Lie Feng looked somewhat abashed. He cupped his fists and admitted frankly, "To be honest, if it were up to me, I wouldn't want to make an enemy of Brother Yang. But this concerns the Void Thought Crystal, and I simply cannot stand by and do nothing."
Yang Kai nodded. "I see."
"Since Brother Yang understands, Lie Feng has nothing more to say. Every Territory Lord desires the Void Thought Crystal — no one has simply been able to extract it. Now that you've succeeded, Brother Yang, I cannot let you leave with it. However, if you hand over the Void Thought Crystal, I believe Xue Lian and Mi Tian would let you depart unharmed."
"Do you think I'll hand it over?" Yang Kai replied with a faint, cold laugh.
Lie Feng considered this seriously for a moment. His expression sobered. "I'm afraid not. If I were in your place, I wouldn't either."
"Why waste time talking? Let's join forces and kill him! No matter how strong he is, he's still only one man. What are we afraid of when three of us work together?" Xue Lian was the most hot-tempered of the group. Seeing Yang Kai and Lie Feng chattering endlessly, he let out a thunderous roar, pushed off with both feet, and charged straight at Yang Kai.
His aura was terrifying. Behind him, a massive phantom of a blood dragon coalesced in an instant.
Xue Lian clearly understood how formidable Yang Kai was — he intended to go all out from the very first move!
Mi Tian wasted no words either. The instant Xue Lian struck, he let out a sharp cry. The bizarre flower above his head began spinning rapidly, and petal after petal shot outward, vanishing into the void, disappearing without a trace.
Lie Feng's silhouette flickered phantom-like once more, then faded into nothing. No one knew where he had gone.
The ferocious onslaught of the three demon prodigies erupted in an instant.
"Fine! If you're courting death, I'll oblige!" Facing all three at once, Yang Kai showed not the slightest fear. Instead, his expression turned savage and reckless. Five-colored radiance suddenly blazed across his entire body. A hissing sound filled the air as countless fine, nearly invisible Five Elements sword qi emerged from every pore — razor-sharp, providing him with formidable defense while possessing devastating offensive power as well.
The Indestructible Five Elements Sword Qi — offense and defense united as one!
His muscles bulged, brimming with explosive strength. Yang Kai threw three punches forward in rapid succession to meet Xue Lian's furious charge.
The violent energies unleashed by the two collided in the middle, splashing into the void and producing a tremendous boom.
Yang Kai didn't budge an inch. Xue Lian's powerful frame shuddered three times, and his arms went limp, drooping downward for just an instant.
In a head-on clash, he was clearly no match for Yang Kai!
Without giving Xue Lian any chance to recover, Yang Kai rubbed his palms together. Golden light blazed to life as over a dozen Gold Blood Threads materialized, twisting and intertwining to form a gleaming golden spear. With a slight tremor, it shot toward Xue Lian at blinding speed.
Xue Lian's face drained of color, his eyes filled with horror.
From their very first exchange, he could already tell that Yang Kai was far stronger than he'd been during their fight back at the palace!
At least back then, he'd had some meager ability to put up a fight. But now he was completely suppressed, unable to muster even the will to resist. His opponent's onslaught shattered his confidence like kindling.
Only two explanations could account for this: either Yang Kai hadn't used his full power before, or he had grown even stronger during his time in the Blood Prison!
Xue Lian's blood ran cold.
Sensing the terrifying killing force contained within the golden spear, he didn't dare hesitate. In a panic, he summoned a defensive Artifact before him and crossed both arms over his chest, gritting his teeth and roaring as he braced himself to take the blow head-on.
CLANG—
The sound of metal striking metal rang out like a thunderclap, reverberating across the entire Demon Mountain.
The defensive Artifact that Xue Lian had hastily summoned proved utterly useless. The golden spear pierced straight through it without slowing, continuing its lethal trajectory toward him.