But just then, Feng Xuan felt his heart skip a beat as a sudden sense of unease welled up inside him. It was a kind of intuition — the higher one's cultivation, the sharper it became.
He widened his eyes and looked toward Yang Kai, only to see Yang Kai's expression turn suddenly solemn. His hands moved swiftly through a series of strange seals, and an indescribable aura began to emanate from his body. The profundity and mystery of this aura were so great that even Feng Xuan's expression shifted, and he couldn't help but want to sink into it and contemplate it further.
What kind of secret technique was this? Feng Xuan's face flickered between shock and uncertainty. Though his instincts told him something was wrong, he couldn't suppress his fascination and kept staring intently, trying to see it clearly.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai's seals were complete. The mysterious imprints hovered before him before he slapped them outward with a palm strike.
"Flourishing and withering, the years shuttle like a dream!" Yang Kai's deep voice rang out like the soul-summoning wails of purgatory, reverberating at Feng Xi's ears.
Feng Xi's face drained of color. "The divine ability of Emperor Suiyue — the Years Like a Shuttle Seal!"
Unlike an ordinary warrior, Feng Xuan was a powerhouse of the Third-Order Emperor Realm, and more than that, the Sect Master of the Wenqing Sect — a descendant of Emperor Wenqing himself.
His knowledge and experience were vast. The moment Yang Kai launched his technique, Feng Xuan recognized it as the legendary secret art of Emperor Suiyue. His heart hammered wildly, his face pale with shock, yet his eyes burned with an indescribable fervor.
Emperor Suiyue — rumor had it he was the only Great Emperor to ever grasp the Law of Time. In the tens of thousands of years of the Star Boundary's existence, he stood alone in that distinction, with no one else to share the title.
Countless powerhouses throughout history had attempted to comprehend the Law of Time, yet none could even approach its threshold. That alone spoke to the bizarre and unfathomable nature of this Law. Feng Xuan had believed that with Emperor Suiyue's fall, no one in this world would ever comprehend the Law of Time again.
And yet, here he was, witnessing Emperor Suiyue's signature divine ability in Yang Kai's hands.
Did that not mean Yang Kai had obtained Emperor Suiyue's inheritance? Otherwise, how could he possibly unleash the Years Like a Shuttle Seal?
In that instant, Feng Xuan's heart churned with a tangled mess of envy, jealousy, and even a thread of dread. His emotions could not have been more complicated.
The moment the Years Like a Shuttle Seal appeared, Feng Xuan knew he had underestimated Yang Kai's strength. And under the influence of that strange Law, he felt everything around him slowing to a crawl.
He knew it was an illusion — a false perception created by the Law of Time's influence on his mind.
While his mind reeled, he gripped the long sword in his hand. Source Power surged through his body, and azure sword qi erupted from the blue blade. His entire being was suffused with sword intent that pierced toward the heavens. His expression was solemn, the Six Desires extinguished from his eyes, the Seven Emotions banished.
"Wenqing is heartless; the Heavenly Dao has no way. Heavenless Merciless Strike!"
It was the same secret technique, performed by the same body, yet its power was incomparable to before. When Feng Xi had used this technique previously, Yang Kai had used his Space divine ability to daze him, knocking him unconscious instantly. But now, executed by Feng Xuan through Soul Descent, it was earth-shattering and ghost-wailing.
The heartless, desireless slash swept across the void, colliding with the Years Like a Shuttle Seal as it pierced through the barrier of time.
Two entirely different Laws of power crashed together, causing the void itself to cave in and heaven and earth to shatter.
Boom, boom, boom — thunderous echoes rang out as the shockwave erupted and swept in all directions.
Whether it was Yang Kai or Feng Xi's body, both were tossed about like solitary canoes on a raging sea, their bodies swaying unsteadily, on the verge of capsizing at any moment.
The yellow-faced young man and the middle-aged scholar watching from nearby fared even worse. Under the erosion of the two Laws, their eyes went blank as if their minds had shattered. But their skin quickly began to wrinkle, and their hair turned gray and white. The power of time flowed through their bodies in an instant, transforming them into withered elders in a matter of seconds.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The deafening explosions continued without pause. Yang Kai was suddenly sent flying backward. In this clash, he had come out on the inferior side.
It wasn't that Emperor Suiyue's divine ability was inferior to the Wenqing Sect's secret art — it was simply that Yang Kai's strength did not compare to Feng Xuan's.
Seeing this, Feng Xuan narrowed his eyes, his face turning fierce. His body swayed as he forcibly rallied the remaining power within him, ready to press the killing blow.
Though he desperately wanted to capture Yang Kai alive and interrogate him about Emperor Suiyue's inheritance and secret arts, Feng Xi's body simply wouldn't allow it.
The Soul Descent had already inflicted tremendous damage on Feng Xi's body. Having forced out the Heavenless Merciless Strike had pushed it to its absolute limit. If he continued to entangle himself with Yang Kai, he wouldn't even need to take any further damage — Feng Xi's body would simply disintegrate on its own.
A wave of vexation surged through him.
If only he had set aside his pride and attacked Yang Kai back in Ice Wheel City, regardless of the consequences, perhaps he wouldn't be in this mess today. He might even have captured Yang Kai then, and Emperor Suiyue's inheritance would have been his.
With two Great Emperor inheritances in his possession, the throne of the Northern Domain's overlord would have been within his grasp.
"Since it's heartless, how can it inquire about emotion? Since it has no way, how can it pursue the martial dao!" As Yang Kai retreated rapidly, he suddenly roared, his expression savage. "Your Wenqing Sect is deceiving itself! Ahahaha!" He broke into wild, frenzied laughter.
Feng Xuan seethed. "What would a junior with such limited understanding know? Die quickly!"
As his words fell, his sword slashed down toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai snarled, "You think you can kill me? You don't have the right! Mountain and River Bell — suppress!"
With a wave of his hand, a palm-sized bell-shaped Artifact shot forth — none other than the Mountain and River Bell he had only recently subdued.
The Years Like a Shuttle Seal hadn't been enough to deal with Feng Xuan, so the Mountain and River Bell was now his last trump card. If even this Artifact couldn't suppress Feng Xuan, Yang Kai would have to flee immediately.
He was confident that even wounded as he was, with the Space secret arts at his disposal, killing him would still prove difficult for Feng Xuan.