Amidst the churning demonic qi, the demonized Jiang Chuhe was in a towering rage. He opened his mouth wide and sucked in a deep breath.
The roiling, writhing demonic qi surged toward him like a whale gulping seawater, frantically pouring into his mouth as he devoured it straight into his body.
Jiang Chuhe's abdomen suddenly seemed to transform into a bottomless abyss…
As he continued to inhale the demonic qi, the aura radiating from his body grew ever more dangerous. At the same time, the demonic patterns crawling across his skin began to emit a dark, lustrous glow, as though some tremendous and terrible power lay coiled within them. One glance was enough to make Yang Kai's heart stir uneasily.
"Take him down!"
Yang Kai bellowed the command. He knew he couldn't let Jiang Chuhe continue like this — if he did, something truly catastrophic might happen. With that order, the Monster Insect Mother and the Azure Flame Lightning Jackal, his two Blood Beasts, transformed into twin streaks of light and rushed at Jiang Chuhe from either side.
Yang Kai himself shook the long sword in his hand, his body wreathed in brilliant sword radiance as man and blade merged into one, thrusting directly at Jiang Chuhe.
Facing such a furious barrage of attacks, Jiang Chuhe showed not the slightest hint of fear. He simply opened his mouth wide and unleashed a heaven-shaking roar that rolled and reverberated across the surrounding terrain.
With the roar, a pillar of pitch-black light shot from his mouth, condensing into a writhing, jet-black dragon that lunged at Yang Kai with bared fangs and unsheathed claws.
Yang Kai's eyes narrowed. His long sword swept outward in a blaze of radiance, transforming into a shredding vortex of force that engulfed the black dragon within his sword momentum.
On the other side, Jiang Chuhe threw a single punch that struck the Azure Flame Lightning Jackal square on the skull as it closed in. The Blood Beast — which possessed cultivation at the first level of the Dao Source Realm — let out a pitiful wail as its massive body was sent flying through the air.
Before it could hit the ground, demonic qi lashed around it in countless tendrils, trapping it in place. The protective blood-energy glow surrounding its body was corroded by the demonic qi with a harsh, sizzling sound. Within moments, a gaping hole had been eaten through the barrier, and demonic qi began burrowing in through its mouth and nose.
At the same instant, flashes of purple and green light streaked through the air. A frigid killing intent descended, and the Monster Insect Mother materialized, the twin swords of purple and green on her claws merging into one. A blinding radiance erupted forth, dispersing the demonic qi around her in an instant before condensing into an enormous blade of light that slashed downward.
Jiang Chuhe seemed to recognize that this strike was not something he could endure head-on. He twisted his body and vanished from the spot.
Boom…
The moment he disappeared, the sword radiance carved into the earth, gouging a deep trench in the ground and sending soil flying in every direction.
On the other side, Yang Kai had barely managed to hack the black dragon to fragments when he glanced over and saw the Azure Flame Lightning Jackal's plight. His heart sank. He flickered across the space in an instant, arriving at his Blood Beast's side. A massive hand shot out and seized it, tossing it into the Mystic World Bead.
If he left the Azure Flame Lightning Jackal unchecked, it wouldn't be long before it was fully demonized into one of the demonic beasts.
His coordinated assault alongside both Blood Beasts had still resulted in Jiang Chuhe neutralizing one of his forces in a single exchange. This left Yang Kai both frustrated and furious, and it drove home just how terrifying a demonized demon-human's strength truly was.
Before this, a guy like Jiang Chuhe would have been someone Yang Kai could crush with a casual squeeze of his hand.
The gap between the Dao Source Realm and the Void King Realm was no joke.
Within the demonic qi, silence reigned.
After evading the Monster Insect Mother's attack, Jiang Chuhe seemed to merge completely with the surrounding demonic qi and disappeared without a trace.
He must have used this very advantage earlier to close the distance on Yang Kai undetected.
With no sign of the enemy, the Monster Insect Mother stood motionless in place. Her entire body was enveloped in a radiant white glow that radiated bone-piercing cold — the manifested sword intent of Snow's Clarity Under Heaven.
"Hmph! You think hiding will do you any good?"
Yang Kai snorted coldly, and with a deliberate blink, the World Annihilation Demon Eye manifested itself.
He swept his gaze across the surroundings and quickly spotted a faint humanoid silhouette hidden within the demonic qi, perfectly still.
Were it not for the World Annihilation Demon Eye's ability to pierce through illusion, even his immensely powerful Divine Sense would never have detected it.
Moreover, not far away, there were even more figures, using the demonic qi as concealment as they crept silently closer.
The auras radiating from each of those figures were none of them significantly weaker than Jiang Chuhe's — and a couple of them were even stronger.
Yang Kai's heart pounded fiercely. He knew he had lingered outside far too long and had drawn the hostility of even more demonized humans. These formidable demon-people, he reasoned, were almost certainly transformed members of the Jiang Family.
Among them, one silhouette bore an uncanny resemblance to Jiang Lin, the head of the Jiang Family — practically identical.
"Brother Yang, return to the city quickly! The grand formation is about to be restored!"
At that moment, Qin Chaoyang's shout suddenly echoed from a distance behind him.
Yang Kai's expression brightened. He knew his mission was essentially complete, yet he was reluctant to simply retreat without further action.
Watching as more and more demon-people closed in, he gritted his teeth and issued a silent command to the Monster Insect Mother.
In the next instant, the Monster Insect Mother unleashed her ultimate sword-art secret technique.
Snow's Clarity Under Heaven!
The frigid killing intent, carried by the sweep of the purple-green twin swords, descended upon a specific region ahead. In the blink of an eye, that entire area was plunged into a bone-numbing, soul-deep cold. Frost law permeated the air like venom, corroding everything it touched in every direction.
The demon-people lurking within the demonic qi, moving slowly and cautiously, were caught off guard. One after another, they fell prey to the technique.
Shrieks and roars rose in an unbroken chorus as figure after figure was forced into visibility. Each demon-person rapidly deployed their own secret techniques and divine abilities to dispel the freezing power from their bodies.
And in that fleeting window of opportunity, Yang Kai had already flickered forward and materialized directly in front of Jiang Chuhe.