Secret Technique, Banishment!
Yang Kai knew that if he didn't play his trump card now, there would be no more chances. So he no longer cared about hiding anything and hastily unleashed his space power.
Before him, a void black hole suddenly yawned open like a hungry beast's maw, greedily devouring the layer-by-layer weakened Black Flame Dragon and banishing it into the endless void.
Looking around, the violent and chaotic fluctuations of power provided excellent cover for Yang Kai's secret technique. To anyone who didn't know the truth, it would merely appear that the forces from both sides were too overwhelming, and their collision had caused the space to collapse.
At the very least, Xu Qing and Yu Ruomei, who had witnessed the Banishment technique firsthand, didn't associate it with space power. They merely stared at the spectacle with faces full of terror, their skin trembling.
Mo Xiaoqi, on the other hand, who had been concentrating on preparing her secret technique and channeling her artifact's power, suddenly had her eyes light up. She cast a glance of surprise at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai, however, was entirely unaware of all this. He was stuck on a tiger's back—unable to dismount—and felt an indescribable wave of frustration.
If he didn't dodge, the fire bird's attack would strike him head-on. But if he did dodge, Mo Xiaoqi would be in danger. This left him cursing Mo Xiaoqi's name to high heaven while simultaneously being forced to stand his ground as a human shield.
The combined defense put up by Yang Kai, Xu Qing, and Yu Ruomei had evidently made the fire bird realize how troublesome its opponents were. Its crimson eyes burned with fury as it spread its wings and gave them a gentle sweep. Countless pitch-black fireballs soared into the air, raining down on the three of them.
Xu Qing and Yu Ruomei shrieked repeatedly, employing their exquisite movement techniques to evade. But the fireballs were simply too numerous. Forced into a corner, they had no choice but to bring out their defensive artifacts, hoping to find some sliver of security.
Yang Kai's expression was as dark as the bottom of a pot. Xu Qing and Yu Ruomei had the freedom to move, but he could only stand rooted to the spot. Left with no other option, he summoned his Golden Blood Threads, which transformed into a skyful of golden light, batting away the incoming fireballs.
The effect was considerable, but Yang Kai suffered in silence. The moment the Golden Blood Threads made contact with the fireballs, many of them were incinerated.
These were all things converted from his own Golden Blood—each one extraordinarily precious. In this brief span of time, he had already lost a great many, leaving him on the verge of tears.
"Ah, my Sorrowcloud Mirror!" Xu Qing's wailing cry reached Yang Kai's ears. Stealing a moment amid the chaos, he glanced up to see Xu Qing's treasure mirror being engulfed by black flames. In the blink of an eye, it began to melt, and Xu Qing frantically tossed the artifact away to avoid catching fire himself.
Judging from the power fluctuations emanating from that mirror, it was a Void King Grade mid-tier artifact!
It seemed he wasn't the only one suffering devastating losses. If his Golden Blood Threads were damaged, he could repair them with his Golden Blood, or at worst, cultivate them again. But if the other party's Void King Grade artifact was burned to nothing, that would truly be a total loss.
At this thought, Yang Kai's mood improved considerably.
Xu Qing wasn't the only one to lose out. The hairpin-shaped Void King Grade artifact in Yu Ruomei's hand had also been destroyed by the black flames. Having suffered enormous losses, the two were on the verge of gnashing their teeth apart. They glared at the fire bird with infinite hatred, but cowed by its ferocity, they didn't dare advance—they could only scramble out of the way in disarray.
"Scree…" The fire bird suddenly let out a cry, one laden with a trace of inexplicable fury that pierced straight up to the ninth heaven.
The instant that cry rang out, every person's expression changed drastically.
If the sound carried, it was highly likely to attract others' attention. If all those warriors who had ventured deep into Yuqing Mountain were drawn here, the four of them would have gone through all this trouble only to serve as someone else's stepping stone.
And in that moment when Yang Kai was distracted, a fireball suddenly shot toward him. His face darkened and he was about to deploy the same trick to banish it, but what he never expected was for the fireball to detonate directly before him. In an instant, a skyful of pitch-black fire rain lanced toward him like a downpour.
Yang Kai's eyes narrowed sharply. Without a second thought, he immediately unleashed another secret technique.
Dragon Transformation!
Accompanied by a piercing dragon roar, a colossal dragon head flickered into existence behind Yang Kai and vanished in the blink of an eye. In that instant, dragon might radiated outward, and the fire bird opposite him was visibly stunned—a trace of wariness actually surfacing in its crimson eyes.
Dragon scales materialized one by one, wrapping around the greater half of Yang Kai's body. Even that single authentic dragon scale appeared over his chest, shielding his vital area.
Boom, boom, boom…
A succession of thunderous impacts rang out as countless black flames smashed into Yang Kai's body. He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. The black flames clung to his skin, burning fiercely as the power inside him began to dissipate at a frightening rate—faster than snow melting under a blazing sun.
Yang Kai's expression was as grave as still water. He desperately channeled the Golden Sacred Dragon's origin force to halt the spread of the black flames.
But his appearance was utterly wretched, his entire aura having plummeted considerably.
"Miss Xiaoqi, I've reached my limit," Yang Kai called out urgently. He was about to leave—he had done all he could. If he stayed any longer, things could turn dire. He had stood in front of Mo Xiaoqi, buying her this much time, and had even been injured himself. He had done more than enough.
"I'm ready!" Mo Xiaoqi called out sweetly. She suddenly waved her hand, and from within the aqua-blue sphere before her came the thundering sound of ocean waves and tsunamis, giving one the irresistible illusion of standing at the shore of a vast sea, listening to waves crash upon the beach.
The aqua-blue sphere shattered instantly, dissolving into motes of mist that surged forward as though alive.
The mist washed over Yang Kai's body, instantly extinguishing the burning black flames upon his skin.
Then it swept toward the fire bird, enveloping it completely, and reformed into an aqua-blue sphere.