Even fragmented Source Force was already extremely difficult to refine and absorb, to say nothing of complete Source Force. So Yang Kai could only snatch it up for now and deal with the processing when he had time later.
Having succeeded, Yang Kai immediately executed a teleportation and vanished on the spot.
It was only at this point that the several cultivators locked in battle realized that the Star Source had disappeared. They looked around but could not find the thief's trail anywhere, and they flew into a towering rage, cursing nonstop.
Meanwhile, Liu Yan, Zhang Ruoxi, and Mo Xiaoqi were already charging toward another mass of Star Source.
Mo Xiaoqi had dropped all pretense of holding back. When she had sparred with Lan Xun earlier, she had only used her own secret techniques without even deploying half her true strength. Now, with Star Source on the line, she waved her hand and summoned an entire army of demon beasts.
Silver-maned lion-tiger beasts, Sky-fleeing Fruit Bats, Crimson Fire Qilin, Blue-Eyed Dark-Scaled Flood Dragons...
All manner of demon beasts swirled around her, their roars rising one after another as they surged forward with terrifying momentum, sending the cultivators ahead scattering in alarm.
Liu Yan's White Tiger Heavenly Puppet was also released. Though it perhaps fell slightly short compared to a true Dao Sovereign, it was far from something a Dao Source Realm cultivator could contend with. The aura unique to the Dao Sovereign realm left countless warriors trembling in fear.
Though Zhang Ruoxi had no powerful allies to call upon, her aura was incredibly dense and refined. Moreover, no one knew what secret technique she had activated, but her entire being suddenly erupted with a staggering imposing force. That inexplicable pressure was so overwhelming that not only did the nearby cultivators retreat in haste, but even Mo Xiaoqi's demon beasts began to tremble.
Mo Xiaoqi glanced at Zhang Ruoxi with suspicion, her heart shaken.
As the daughter of the Beast Martial Great Emperor, Mo Xiaoqi could communicate with demon beasts from birth, so she could feel her pets' terror and fear with perfect clarity.
These demon beasts of hers all possessed extremely noble and pure bloodlines. Many carried the blood of ancient Sacred Spirits—even if diluted, it was not something ordinary demon beasts could compare with. Every single one had been personally selected for her by the Beast Martial Great Emperor.
These pets of hers, even when facing a Dao Sovereign, could fight without the slightest trace of fear.
Yet after Zhang Ruoxi activated that unique aura, these beasts trembled uncontrollably, as though they were being suppressed by something innate. Several of them even let out whimpering sounds toward Zhang Ruoxi.
Mo Xiaoqi was completely stunned, because those whimpers were a sign of fawning submission. Sometimes, when she was being willful and deliberately ignored her pets, they would make these sounds to look pitiful and win her attention. The trick never failed.
But now, her beasts—the ones who would not show an ounce of cowardice even before a Dao Sovereign—were signaling submission to this unremarkable girl.
What was going on?
Mo Xiaoqi had not paid much attention to Zhang Ruoxi before, since the latter rarely spoke and seemed thoroughly unremarkable. But after this incident, Mo Xiaoqi suddenly realized that Zhang Ruoxi must be hiding some kind of secret—and that secret clearly had something to do with demon beasts.
Her mind was filled with questions, but it was not convenient to ask. She could only bury her doubts and wait for a later time to investigate.
Though the three women employed different methods, when they worked together, no one could stop them. Everywhere they went, crowds parted and scattered.
In no time at all, they snatched away another mass of Star Source. No one knew how the three of them had arranged it beforehand, but Mo Xiaoqi grinned and tucked the Star Source into her space ring.
Yang Kai watched from the sidelines for a while and decided that the three of them did not need his attention, so he set about contesting with others more freely.
At this moment, the Source Sea was like a boiling cauldron, with complete Star Sources continuously rising from the depths below. Countless cultivators fought and scrambled over them.
Yang Kai relied on his mastery of the Space Force to move with unpredictable agility, and with the Refining Star Art assisting him, he could reach each newly appearing Star Source ahead of everyone else—snatch it and run.
The warriors who had been preparing to contest for the Star Source did not even understand what had happened before it vanished from their sight.
Time flowed on. Yang Kai roamed the Source Sea single-handedly, and the Star Sources in his possession grew ever greater in number.
His haul surpassed that of anyone else's.
In a chaotic place like this where everyone was fighting over spoils, speed was everything. And someone who could teleport through space possessed an advantage that no one else could match.
Half a day later, the Star Sources emerging from beneath the Source Sea gradually grew scarce. Each time a mass appeared, several hundred cultivators would charge toward it.
In a situation like this, even Yang Kai found it harder to operate. He had to struggle several times before finally seizing one mass of Source from the crowd, leaving behind several hundred cultivators who turned on one another in mutual suspicion and began fighting viciously.
Another half day passed, and the surface of the sea gradually settled. Everyone waited for a long time, but no more Star Sources appeared.
It seemed that every last complete Star Source had already been taken.
Yet the bloody battles continued unabated. Every cultivator who had ever obtained a Star Source became a target for everyone else's attacks. In an instant, screams rose and fell across the Source Sea as countless elite cultivators shed their blood upon this ground, dyeing the Source Sea beneath them crimson.
Yang Kai flickered several times through the air and found Liu Yan and the others above the chaotic sea.
Perhaps out of fear of the terrifying strength they had displayed, no one had targeted the three women, and they were perfectly safe.
When Mo Xiaoqi saw Yang Kai arrive, her face lit up with a beaming smile as she bounded over. "Big Brother Yang! Big Brother Yang! We got so much Source!"
The moment those words left her lips, countless burning gazes converged on them from all directions.
The Source Sea had gathered several thousand cultivators by now, and in comparison, those who had obtained Star Source were undoubtedly only a small minority. Most people had not even laid eyes on a complete Star Source.