"Sword strikes through the Sun Gate, freezing cold pervades the nine heavens!" The middle-aged man was a decisive fellow. Seeing that there was no room for negotiation, he immediately launched his attack without hesitation, summoning a snow-white longsword with a flourish. As the resonance of the blade rippled outward, a wave of bone-piercing cold descended from the sky, a chill that seemed to seep into the very depths of the soul, freezing the spirit itself.
The moment the people of the Eight Directions Sect saw him employ this technique, their expressions shifted and they scrambled backward. Clearly, this move was no ordinary strike.
Qin Chaoyang hurriedly shielded Qin Yu, tapping his foot against the ground to drift back a dozen zhang. The Qin family's guards and servants scattered in the blink of an eye, unwilling to be caught in the crossfire.
The sword intent surged, and sword energy materialized. The middle-aged man flicked his wrist, his body enshrouded in a blinding sword light as he hurtled straight toward Yang Kai. The air along his path froze solid into ice.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Yang Kai stood rooted in place, a savage grin plastered across his face. He regarded his oncoming opponent with utter contempt, making no move to dodge whatsoever.
Seeing such arrogance, a seed of unease took root in the middle-aged man's heart, a vague premonition of something terrible about to unfold.
"You think you can act this brazenly in front of me?" Yang Kai's savage grin shifted into a cold smirk. His foot moved, and his figure blurred. By the time he reappeared, he had already closed the distance to the middle-aged man, extending a single finger and thrusting it forward.
At the tip of that finger, a gleam of golden light flickered — pure, concentrated Source Power at its most refined.
Clang…
A faint ring of metal echoed through the air. The middle-aged man's face twisted in shock, his eyes bulging as he hovered in midair, staring in disbelief at the strike he had poured everything into — blocked by a single finger.
What drove him toward despair was that the finger of flesh and blood proved harder than any Artifact, utterly unscathed. If anything, the force erupting from that fingertip was bending his own longsword backward.
His concentration shattered. The sword trembled, and the frozen intent dissolving like snow beneath a spring sun.
"Impossible!" the middle-aged man cried out in disbelief, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.
He continuously released his spiritual sense, probing Yang Kai's cultivation. He found that the other party truly possessed only the first-level Dao Origin Stage — a full minor realm below his own. Yet the force bearing down on him was absolutely not something a first-level Dao Origin Stage warrior should be capable of producing.
This power that defied all understanding left his mind in complete disarray. He had the sinking feeling that he had kicked an iron plate this time.
"Having Luo Yuan come out would've been more appropriate. You're not even worth my time!" As he spoke, Yang Kai snorted coldly, and the Source Power at his fingertip surged dramatically, golden light blazing. He pushed forward in a single, decisive thrust.
"You know Junior Brother Luo?!" The middle-aged man's entire body jolted. He stared at Yang Kai in horror, a strange flicker of recognition crossing his eyes, then suddenly cried out: "You're Yang Kai! You're that Yang Kai from the Four Seasons Land!"
He seemed to have finally pieced it together, his voice rising in alarm.
The words had barely left his mouth before the golden light engulfed him. The middle-aged man let out a miserable scream and plummeted straight toward the ground, slamming into the earth with enough force to carve out a crater. He lay there in a wretched state.
"Yang Kai?"
"That Yang Kai from the Four Seasons Land?"
"That's right. It's him — it's definitely him! I was wondering why he looked so familiar!"
Below, several Eight Directions Sect disciples began shouting, their faces stricken with panic.
Only at this moment had they finally recognized Yang Kai. After all, back in the Four Seasons Land, when Yang Kai had threatened everyone with the Supreme Marvelous Pill and tried to trade it for useful items, they had observed from a distance.
The problem was that Luo Yuan had been standing right beside Yang Kai at the time. They hadn't dared approach too closely, and so upon seeing him today, they simply hadn't made the connection.
It wasn't until the middle-aged man's moment of realization that they finally grasped Yang Kai's identity.
In an instant, cold sweat drenched every one of them. Their faces went pale.
None of them had personally fought Yang Kai, but they all knew full well what had transpired in the Four Seasons Land.
Even someone as formidable as Wuchang, and others like Luo Yuan, had been unable to do anything about Yang Kai — let alone people of their caliber.
The opening of the Four Seasons Land this time had elevated two rising stars to prominence. One was Luo Yuan of the Eight Directions Sect, who had gone toe-to-toe with Wuchang of the Celestial Martial Holy Land without falling to either advantage, their battle evenly matched — a testament to his considerable strength.
The other was Yang Kai.
With only the first-level Dao Origin Stage cultivation, he was simultaneously a Dao Origin Stage Alchemist who had refined the Supreme Marvelous Treasure Pill, and who had manipulated every powerhouse in the Four Seasons Land like puppets on a string.
One could say that the reputations of these two rising stars, while not yet on par with figures like Xia Sheng, Wuchang, or Xiao Chen, were no longer far behind.
This was precisely why other families within Maple Forest City each had two or three sect disciples staying with them, while the Qin family had only the Eight Directions Sect.