(Thanks to reader xeron_pear for the 50,000 floating red reward — Xiao Mo bows in gratitude!)
With the arrow already on the bowstring, there was no choice but to release it. Yang Kai gritted his teeth and waved his hand, scattering countless source crystals from his spatial ring until they covered the area around his body.
He then sat cross-legged, emptying his mind and body, ignoring every destabilizing factor, focusing solely on comprehending the fluctuations of the Heavenly Dao stirred up by the clash between those two Great Emperors.
An advancement of this kind — it was something no one had ever done, past or present.
Yang Kai had no other option.
But he quickly realized this might actually be an opportunity, because those two Great Emperors, in every gesture, every exchange of words, could stir up wisps of mysterious power that resonated with the profound truths of the Heavenly Dao.
It was almost as if he were absorbing the two Great Emperors' own understanding of the Heavenly Dao, using it as a foundation to glimpse his own Martial Dao path.
The benefits were beyond description.
Yang Kai soon forgot everything around him, completely immersed in the process. The source crystals surrounding him, shaken by the violent surge of energy, crumbled one after another into fine powder. Pure, dense spiritual energy surged from the remnants and drifted slowly toward the top of Yang Kai's head, gradually forming celestial phenomena.
"Hmm? There's still a little insect here!"
Though the two Great Emperors were locked in a fierce battle, seemingly with no attention to spare, cultivation at their level brought perception of extraordinary sensitivity. The slightest movement from Yang Kai's direction had already been noticed. Wu Kuang, stealing a moment's leisure to glance over, flashed a look of contempt in his eyes.
A mere Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator — he truly didn't consider him worth his notice.
Setting aside his peak condition, even now, he could crush a Dao Source Realm cultivator as easily as pinching an ant.
"How did this kid manage to follow us in?" Duan Hongchen was inwardly startled.
This place was where Wu Kuang had hidden himself in false death, so the entrance of that black vortex was sealed with his own unique restrictions. Under normal circumstances, forget about entering — even discovering the place was impossible.
Otherwise, across all these tens of thousands of years, through every opening of the Shattered Star Sea, Duan Hongchen wouldn't have had to wait until today to find this location.
He had always known that the Origin Sea was where Wu Kuang was hiding, but its exact location had eluded him. It wasn't until this time, when the Origin Sea underwent an anomaly and the black vortex formed, consuming the flesh and blood essence of countless martial artists, that he had been able to enter.
That was thanks entirely to his deep understanding of Wu Kuang, which had allowed him to crack the restrictions at the entrance.
No other Emperor Realm cultivator could have managed it — even a Third-Order Emperor Realm expert would have been powerless to do anything.
But how could Yang Kai have the ability to get in here? Could it be that after his own entry, the restrictions at the entrance had loosened, giving Yang Kai an opening?
Duan Hongchen felt a twinge of regret. If he had known, he should have destroyed the entrance as soon as he entered.
What he didn't know was that Yang Kai's ability to enter this place was entirely due to a jade slip left behind after Wu Mengchuan's death. That jade slip was essentially a key — whoever held it could bypass the entrance restrictions and enter freely.
It was something Wu Kuang had left for his own descendants long ago.
Everything had come down to a coincidence of fate.
What eased Duan Hongchen's mind slightly was that he had only detected Yang Kai's presence — neither Mo Xiaoqi nor Zhang Ruoxi was here. If those two girls had also been present, today's situation would have become truly troublesome.
"You dare lose focus while fighting me?! Duan Hongchen, today is the day you die!" Wu Kuang roared, pressing his palms together and thrusting them forward.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh…
A strange sound filled the air as a violent gale swept suddenly from his palms toward Duan Hongchen.
This gale was no ordinary wind. It carried with it the aura of an Elemental Origin, and wherever it swept, heaven and earth collapsed, space shattered — a terrifying sight.
"Primordial Gale!" Duan Hongchen's face changed drastically. "Your physical body is destroyed, yet you can still wield the Primordial Gale?!"
Wu Kuang sneered contemptuously. "The Primordial Gale is the power of Elemental Origin — formless, without shadow, bound to my will. Who told you that losing a physical body means you can't use it? Hahaha — for daring to underestimate me, you'll pay the price. Even if I'm nothing but a skeleton, I am not someone you can even hope to look up to!"
As he spoke, the Primordial Gale had already surged to Duan Hongchen's front, threatening to swallow him whole.
In that critical moment, the panic in Duan Hongchen's eyes suddenly vanished, replaced by an expression of grave focus. His hands formed seals, and he suddenly struck a posture of rising from the ground, uttering in a low voice: "Draw the Earth as a Prison!"
Clatter clatter clatter…