The Blood Rage Pill was a top-grade Dao Source-tier spirit pill, and its refinement was not what made it difficult — what was difficult was finding the ingredients.
Every single material required to refine this spirit pill was an Emperor-grade spirit herb of inestimable value. Gao Xueting had only managed to have one refined thanks to a fortuitous combination of circumstances, after she had gathered enough ingredients. She kept it on her person as a last resort.
Once she consumed this spirit pill, all of her latent potential would be fully unleashed. With her cultivation at the first layer of the Emperor Realm, she could possibly display the strength of someone at the second layer.
It was her ultimate trump card.
Even when attacked simultaneously by Zu Hong and Ju Tianqing, cornered in a desperate situation, she had held back from taking it. But now, seeing Yang Kai on the brink of death, she could restrain herself no longer.
Yet just as she produced the pill, Yang Kai stopped her with a shout.
A bitter smile tugged at the corners of her lips. How could she not know that taking the Blood Rage Pill would inflict severe damage on herself? It might destabilize her foundation, cause her cultivation to drop, or even rupture her meridians and shatter her dantian entirely.
But in this moment, under these circumstances, there was no other hope besides the Blood Rage Pill.
"And here I thought this brat might have better things to do than worry about others — take care of yourself first!" Ju Tianqing bellowed. His Star Image Ocean-Burning Saber unleashed wave after wave of blade qi, as though he intended to carve out an entire star field right here. His attacks were utterly ruthless, forcing Yang Kai to dodge and weave with no room to fight back.
Although the situation was overwhelmingly in his favor, Ju Tianqing could not shake a deeply unsettling feeling, as though something were pressing against his back — a constant prickle of dread that something terrible could happen at any moment.
"Elder Gao, I'm fine — don't take that Blood Rage Pill!" Yang Kai's voice came from every direction at once, elusive and shifting.
Gao Xueting's beautiful eyes brightened slightly, as if infected by the confidence in his words. She gave a small nod. "Fine, I won't take it. Be careful, and don't push yourself. If you can't hold out, retreat to my side immediately."
Yang Kai threw his head back and laughed. "Disciple is not what he once was. A couple of first-layer Emperor Realm cultivators — they don't concern me in the slightest."
"You junior are far too arrogant! Today this Sovereign will teach you how you should behave!" Ju Tianqing's fury erupted, and his aura surged even higher.
Zu Hong's face had also turned ashen. Though he said nothing, he drove the Ten Thousand Beast Seal with even greater fervor, and beast spirits continued to pour from the great seal in a torrent, materializing and lunging to bite and claw at Yang Kai.
Then, in an instant, Yang Kai's figure froze in place. His eyes locked onto Ju Tianqing with a cold that could pierce bone.
Under that gaze, Ju Tianqing actually shuddered, unable to understand why an uncontrollable urge to flee had erupted in his heart. Fighting down the pounding in his chest, he drove a tidal wave of blade qi toward Yang Kai. In a flash, ten thousand radiance bloomed and the sky shattered.
Yang Kai spoke with icy calm: "Teach me how to conduct myself? You are not qualified."
The moment the words left his mouth, he flicked his fingers in succession. Narrow crescent moon blades shot forth one after another — dozens of them, crisscrossing through the air to weave directly into a vast net that seemed poised to enmesh heaven and earth itself, surging forward.
Li Wuyi had given him a stone imbued with the mysteries of spatial power, and over the course of that month, Yang Kai had absorbed every last shred of its spatial energy like a leech. Now his mastery of spatial power had advanced yet another step — his application of it was far more effortless than before.
Sssssssss—
The dark moon blades surged forward like a consuming darkness that devoured all things, annihilating the myriad rays of light in an instant. Even Zu Hong's beast spirits were slashed to pieces, dozens of them destroyed in a single sweep.
"What kind of technique is this?!" Ju Tianqing's face drained of color. Still shouting, he retreated again and again — he could clearly feel the lethal threat radiating from that net of moon blades. He knew that if such a technique struck him, he would be seriously injured at the very least, if not killed outright. He had no intention of meeting it head-on and wished only to put as much distance between himself as possible.
In his haste, he condensed another wave of blade qi, hoping to mount some semblance of defense.
But to his horror, no matter how many layers of blade qi he gathered, not a single one could slow that black net by even a fraction.
In the blink of an eye, the dark net had descended before him.
Ju Tianqing's face went white. He moved to flee.
At that very moment, a Law so overwhelming it felt as though heaven and earth had frozen crashed down upon him. From every direction, it felt as though mountains were closing in, pinning him firmly in place.
"Spatial Law?!" Ju Tianqing's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as the cry escaped his lips.
He finally recalled the intelligence that Yin Lesheng of the Yellow Spring Sect had once shared — Yin Lesheng had said that this brat called Yang Kai was adept in the power of space.
But Ju Tianqing had not taken it seriously at the time. Space was one of the most difficult forces in all the heavens and earth to cultivate. How could just anyone hope to master it? Across the entire Star Boundary, who knew how many people aspired to achieve something in spatial power — and how many had succeeded?
Only Li Wuyi of the Spirit Beast Island, that was all.
Yang Kai was merely a junior. Even if he had truly gained an elementary grasp of spatial power, it would be of little use in actual combat.
But now, at this moment, Ju Tianqing finally understood. Yang Kai's mastery of spatial power was beyond anything he could have imagined — even if it fell short of Li Wuyi's, the gap was surely not far.
What was even the point of fighting?
It was common knowledge that a warrior who had mastered spatial power was the hardest kind to kill. Even if they could not win, they could simply retreat at will.
No wonder he had been able to enter this small world. For an Emperor Realm cultivator who had mastered spatial power, entering a small world that had only just been opened would be as easy as breathing.
A torrent of scattered thoughts flashed through Ju Tianqing's mind in a blaze of lightning. His entire body had gone cold, his hands and feet like ice. In this moment of mortal peril, he bit the tip of his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of vital blood. His aura surged dramatically.
On the brink between life and death, he had resorted to an exceptionally powerful secret technique.