Han Leng's protective source power was utterly incapable of blocking the spike in the slightest—it pierced straight through. Immediately after, a small hole appeared in his forehead. The spike had impaled his entire skull, a testament to its terrifying force.
Han Leng was no weakling. Even suffering such a fatal wound, he didn't die right away. Instead, his expression filled with shock as he forced his head to turn. After making out who had ambushed him, he cried out in horror: "How is it you? That's impossible!"
He had assumed the one striking from behind was Liu Yizhi, whose strength was on par with his own. After all, Liu Yizhi had vanished completely following their last exchange. Given the circumstances at the time, Liu Yizhi had either been blown to pieces or had used the opportunity to conceal himself. After being ambushed, Han Leng had assumed Liu Yizhi's disappearance was due to the latter reason.
But once he got a clear look at his attacker, he realized he had been wrong.
The one standing behind him, wearing an eerie smile, was not Liu Yizhi at all—it was Ning Yuancheng, the man he had personally killed with his own sword.
This sight was something Han Leng simply could not accept no matter what. Ning Yuancheng had only the cultivation of the Void King Realm's third stage. Han Leng had stabbed him to death with his own blade, and while searching the body just moments ago, Han Leng had confirmed beyond any doubt that the man was dead.
How could a dead man come back to life?
Yet when Han Leng noticed the unusual characteristic of Ning Yuancheng's body, something suddenly clicked. He murmured, "So that's how it is…"
With those final words, his head slumped to the side, and his life expired.
Meanwhile, not far away, Yang Kai felt his scalp go numb and cold sweat burst across his entire body. He stared ahead and cried out in alarm: "A Wood Demon!"
From his vantage point, he had witnessed almost everything that had just transpired with perfect clarity.
Right in the middle of his conversation with Han Leng, Ning Yuancheng—who should have been well and truly dead—had risen silently to his feet in a ghostly fashion. Then he had opened his mouth, and a green wooden spike had shot out, piercing straight into Han Leng's skull as though it were nothing.
The reason Han Leng had been caught off guard so easily was partly because his strength had been greatly drained after the fierce battle. But it was also in part because of Yang Kai's shout. Han Leng had assumed Yang Kai was trying to trick him, so it never occurred to him that a genuinely lethal threat lurked behind him. By the time he realized, it was already too late.
How could a martial artist spit out a green wooden spike like that? The thing bore a striking resemblance to certain objects Yang Kai had encountered before in the Five Elements Pagoda and within Maple Forest City. He recognized it immediately.
This was none other than the ancient Wood Demon that had ravaged Maple Forest City!
Back when the Wood Demon had terrorized the city, six Emperor Realm powerhouses had personally intervened. Thousands of martial artists had died in the upheaval that followed. After the chaos subsided, the City Lord's Palace had issued a public declaration: the Wood Demon threat had been eliminated, and everyone could rest easy.
Now it was clear that had been nothing more than a measure to calm the populace. The Wood Demon had never been fully eradicated—its sinister wooden seeds still harbored themselves within certain martial artists.
This time, however, the seed had been concealed with extraordinary stealth. Not only had the six Emperor Realm experts failed to detect it, but even Ning Yuancheng himself and Liu Yizhi, who had been guarding him this whole time, had been none the wiser.
Had Ning Yuancheng not suddenly died, the wooden seed would never have been exposed. With the host dead, the seed no longer had any reason to hide.
Everything had been one absurd coincidence after another!
In a flash of lightning thought, Yang Kai pieced together the full picture, and his heart sank.
During those days in Maple Forest City, he had personally participated in hunting the Wood Demon's avatars. He knew firsthand how tenacious and nearly impossible to exterminate the creatures were. And back then, it had taken a dozen or even several dozen fighters working together, and they still hadn't been able to avoid casualties. Now he was entirely alone.
Even as his mind raced, a grotesque gurgling sound came from Ning Yuancheng's mouth. Accompanying that sound, Han Leng's body began to wither and shrivel at a terrifying pace.
This was one of the Wood Demon's eerie abilities—the power to rapidly devour the blood and flesh essence of living beings and use it to strengthen itself.
Ning Yuancheng's body had originally only emitted the fluctuation of the Void King Realm's third stage. But as he continuously devoured Han Leng's essence, his aura surged upward stage by stage. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the peak of the Void King Realm's third stage and climbed all the way to the Dao Source Realm!
Yang Kai's eyes contracted sharply. He knew that if he didn't act now, it would be too late. He bellowed: "Don't even think about it!"
As the shout left his lips, a burning flame sword materialized in his hand—the energy construct condensed from the Fire Sword Qi of his Indestructible Five Elements Sword Art. With a flicker of his body, he channeled his Space Force and closed the distance to Ning Yuancheng in an instant, bringing the blade slashing downward!
A thunderous boom erupted, and the air turned scorching hot.
The Wood Demon was a wood-attributed entity, and fire-based power was its natural bane. Mo Xiaoqi had told Yang Kai this once before, and during those days of hunting the Wood Demon's avatars in Maple Forest City, Yang Kai had verified it on multiple occasions.
Against a Wood Demon, fire-based power was even more effective than the power of space.