The sky-covering barrage of circular sword seals descended upon Yang Kai's position, the keen sword energy producing sharp, piercing sounds of slicing that grated on the ears.
Cheng Tai's expression shifted slightly...
Only then did he realize that the two Flowing Shadow Sword Sect cultivators had not been fighting at full strength during their earlier clash with him. Had they unleashed this kind of secret technique before, he genuinely would have struggled to defend against it.
Even though this strike wasn't aimed at him, Cheng Tai still felt profoundly uneasy—as though his very will would be shattered amidst the countless sword seals.
He widened his eyes, desperate to see how Yang Kai would defend against this killing move.
After all, the fellow possessed an Emperor Treasure. His background was surely no ordinary one, and the techniques he'd learned must be extraordinarily profound. Such a strike was terrifying indeed, but taking his life would probably prove difficult... Cheng Tai reasoned to himself with conviction.
But what he saw before him defied all expectations.
When the sky-covering barrage of circular sword seals arrived, Yang Kai stood rooted to the spot like a fool, showing no reaction for what felt like an eternity. Only at the very last moment did he make a defensive gesture.
But it was far too late...
Sssssssss...
A strange series of sounds rang out as Yang Kai was entirely enveloped by the countless sword seals, his body sliced into countless pieces.
"What?!" Cheng Tai cried out, staring ahead in utter disbelief. "He's... dead?!"
The man he had been so wary of had been killed in a single strike so effortlessly? The scene before him was something Cheng Tai simply could not accept!
But before long, he composed himself...
He figured that Yang Kai's earlier display of power had likely been nothing more than the might of the Emperor Treasure doing the work. The fellow's own cultivation was merely at the Dao Source First Layer Realm. Thinking it through that way, everything made sense.
"What an arrogant fool!" Senior Brother He sneered, flicking his long sword with a flourish. The next moment, his eyes blazed with excitement as his gaze locked onto the Million Sword in Yang Kai's hand.
Just then, the corpse of Yang Kai—sliced into countless pieces—twisted and distorted before dissolving into nothingness right there in midair.
Senior Brother He's face went rigid. "An afterimage!" he blurted out.
Only now did he suddenly understand why a strange feeling had been gnawing at him. That odd sensation had been impossible to articulate—he'd felt that something was off but couldn't pinpoint what.
And the scene before him now explained the source of that strangeness—what had been cut apart was obviously not flesh and blood, but merely an afterimage.
"Brother, watch out!" The young woman's face suddenly drained of color as she cried out in alarm.
At the same instant, a flash of light swept past Senior Brother He's neck and shot through toward the rear.
Senior Brother He's face twisted in horror. He tried to turn around, but no matter how hard he tried, he simply could not move his head. Not only that—a faint, stinging pain emanated from his neck. With the slightest additional force, his entire head simply dropped from his neck, and his vision inverted completely.
"I'm... dead?" The absurd thought flickered through Senior Brother He's mind before his consciousness was swallowed entirely by darkness. The last image reflected in his fading vision was Yang Kai standing calmly behind him, the Million Sword held loosely in his hand. A single drop of crimson blood trailed along the blade's edge and dripped downward.
"Ah... pfft..." Senior Brother He's death seemed to trigger a chain reaction. The young woman, whose body and mind were linked to his, turned deathly pale, vomited a mouthful of blood, and her aura plummeted in an instant. In the blink of an eye, her appearance aged by countless years.
She seemed unable to control her own body, plummeting erratically downward. She flailed wildly in midair but could never steady herself.
Before long, she crashed into a field of jagged rocks and shattered into pieces.
"A backlash?" Yang Kai frowned, a thoughtful look on his face.
The Peerless Spirit Resonance Art was immensely powerful when deployed, but it apparently carried considerable drawbacks... He had only dealt the killing blow to Senior Brother He, yet that single act had also caused the young woman's death.
Two streaks of light suddenly shot out from the corpses of Senior Brother He and the young woman, rocketing toward the sky.
Yang Kai's eyes narrowed and his hand shot out. With a flicker of movement, he snatched both streaks of light.
The back of his hand felt a brief, warm sting. When Yang Kai looked down, two star seals had materialized on its surface.
These two star seals had originally belonged to the Flowing Shadow Sword Sect pair, but with both cultivators dead, the seals had become ownerless—easy enough to claim.
Neither seal was particularly high-grade. Yang Kai examined them briefly: one was a triangular star seal, and the other was a diamond-shaped star seal identical to the one he had obtained previously.
That brought his total haul in the Four Seasons Land to three star seals.
Star seals were notoriously difficult to obtain. He had spent over twenty days in this secret realm, and aside from acquiring one through sheer luck, he had not found a single one since—proof of how rare they truly were.