Chi Xue rolled through the air and landed steadily. He looked toward his demon beast, only to find it facing him now, low growls rumbling from deep within its throat, its eyes glinting with savage light.
Chi Xue's expression changed drastically.
This demon beast that he had implanted with Soul-Control Worms... had somehow broken free of his control and turned hostile toward him!
"Hahaha!" Yang Kai laughed triumphantly, his cackle wild and unrestrained.
Chi Xue glanced at him, recalling his strange behavior just moments ago, and snarled darkly, "What did you just do?"
Remembering that streak of dark light, Chi Xue suddenly realized—this man had charged over desperately just to fire a beam of dark energy at his demon beast. There had to be something more to it.
Otherwise, his beast would never have undergone such a change.
Yang Kai kept laughing, all his earlier caution swept away, his spirits soaring. He strolled forward and came to the sixth-grade demon beast's side, casually patting its back. He looked down at Chi Xue with contempt. "Can't you see what I did?"
Zi Mo's small mouth formed a perfect circle of shock as she stared at Yang Kai.
The more time she spent with him, the more mysterious she found him to be. His strength and his uncanny abilities had already exceeded anything she could have imagined.
Only now did Zi Mo finally understand how he had been able to turn the tide during the battle with the demon beasts a few days ago, saving her and Leng Shan from danger. Back then, she had known he was the one who intervened, but she hadn't truly grasped the secret behind it.
But now, Zi Mo finally saw it clearly—this man... could also control demon beasts!
He had effortlessly subdued a sixth-grade demon beast. Who could possibly rival such heaven-defying means? Even her own senior brother, Chi Xue, had sacrificed over a hundred Soul-Control Worms, braving tremendous danger as they devoured and merged with one another to evolve into higher-grade worms, and then had to forfeit dozens of powerful demon beasts before he could finally bring this sixth-grade creature under his control.
Comparing the two, Yang Kai's methods were absolutely unfathomable!
"How did you do that? My Soul-Control Worms are still inside it. Impossible!" Chi Xue could no longer maintain his composure. He tried desperately to communicate with the Soul-Control Worms, but the sixth-grade demon beast simply would not obey him.
"Nothing's impossible—I'd just say your worms are garbage!" Yang Kai scoffed with cold disdain.
"Interesting!" Chi Xue's expression suddenly lit up with excitement, as though he had stumbled upon something novel and amusing. His gaze burned as he fixed it on Yang Kai, fierce fighting spirit blazing in his eyes.
"Kill," Yang Kai commanded with a single word.
The sixth-grade demon beast surged toward Chi Xue like the wind, launching wind blades as it charged. Chi Xue's figure flickered nimbly, his movement technique remarkably refined—he refused to engage the beast head-on, instead leaping into the air, rebounding off the surface, and diving down at Yang Kai like a hawk striking from the sky.
Though Chi Xue's strength was formidable, he could not hope to match a sixth-grade demon beast in direct combat. His target was Yang Kai. As long as he killed Yang Kai, the sixth-grade demon beast would fall back under his control.
Descending from above, Chi Xue's strikes were wide and sweeping, his full power at the seventh layer of the Zhenyuan Realm unleashed, carrying devastating destructive force.
Yang Kai's expression turned grave. He pushed the Yuan Qi within his body to its absolute limit and, rather than dodging the blow, kicked off the ground and shot upward to meet Chi Xue head-on.
"You're quite something!" Chi Xue grinned savagely.
"Not bad yourself!" Yang Kai laughed in kind.
Words clashed, but their hands never slowed. They struck each other without any flourish or pretense, both giving everything they had without holding back.
Chi Xue intended to annihilate Yang Kai with overwhelming force so he could reclaim control of the sixth-grade demon beast.
And facing an opponent of such caliber, Yang Kai naturally did not dare to hold anything in reserve.
Fist met palm in midair, and a muffled boom exploded between them, rattling their eardrums. The energy of heaven and earth churned into chaos in an instant, and two grunts rang out simultaneously.
Chi Xue went hurtling backward through the air while Yang Kai crashed toward the ground like a meteor.
With a heavy thud, Yang Kai smashed a small crater into the earth. When he staggered back to his feet, a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Chi Xue, on the other hand, landed with only a brief flush to his face before appearing perfectly fine.
In this exchange, Chi Xue had the upper hand.
Even so, a flash of disbelief still crossed Chi Xue's eyes as he stared at Yang Kai in astonishment. Before he could get a clear look at Yang Kai's condition, a barrage of wind blades came screaming toward him.
Chi Xue cursed furiously and scrambled to dodge.
These were the attacks of a sixth-grade demon beast—he could barely withstand them for long.
"You two..." Zi Mo cried out, completely at a loss for what to do.
"Don't worry about it!" Yang Kai called out, knowing she was caught in an impossible position and had no intention of forcing her to help. His movement technique flared once more as he charged straight at Chi Xue.
Chi Xue's expression changed, and he no longer dared to linger, fleeing in a panic.
He had thought Yang Kai would be easy to kill—that a single decisive blow would turn the tide. He never expected this man to be so powerful, to clash with him head-on while at only the eighth layer of the Separation-Union Realm and come away with nothing more than minor injuries.
He couldn't kill Yang Kai quickly, the sixth-grade demon beast was now in the enemy's hands, and his junior sister would never assist him. Why would Chi Xue stay behind to throw his life away?
Seeing Chi Xue flash over a hundred zhang away, Yang Kai naturally refused to let it end there. He vaulted onto the sixth-speed demon beast's back and gave chase at full speed.