As the words left his lips, Sha Yong and Gu Peng had already lunged toward Ji Yao, each extending a hand to grab her.
Ji Yao's face turned ice-cold in an instant. With a clear ring of steel, her sword flashed, and blood sprayed through the air.
With two screams of agony, the two attackers went flying back like arrows loosed from a bow, their faces deathly pale.
Thud, thud... two severed arms clattered to the ground.
"My arm!" Sha Yong stared at the severed limb on the ground, as if only now realizing he had lost an arm, crying out in panic. Gu Peng's face was no better to look at.
"What the hell? With this level of cultivation, you dare come out and throw your lives away?" Yang Kai regarded the pair with an expression of bemused bewilderment, utterly unable to fathom it.
The way these two had come charging over so aggressively moments ago — one demanding the man, the other the woman — Yang Kai had assumed they must be formidable. But now, with a single sweep of his divine sense, he realized they were merely at the third level of the Dao Source Realm.
"You two..." Gu Peng stared at Yang Kai and Ji Yao with utter horror. "How could you have recovered so quickly?"
Yang Kai furrowed his brow, not immediately understanding what the man meant. But after a moment's thought, realization dawned, and a faint smile curved his lips. "You thought we'd have some aftereffects from the teleportation?"
No matter how far a spatial transmission traveled, it always left warriors with some degree of dizziness and disorientation — the aftereffects of teleportation. In such a state, a warrior's reflexes and perception became extremely sluggish, making them most vulnerable to sneak attacks.
For this reason, under normal circumstances, teleportation arrays in major cities were guarded by warriors from the city lord's mansion — both to protect the array from being damaged and to shield newly arrived warriors from ambush.
But the teleportation array in Xuan Jia City seemed to operate differently. It sat right in the middle of the city with no one guarding it, and opportunistic troublemakers lurked about to exploit anyone who arrived.
Sha Yong and Gu Peng had been trying to take advantage of Yang Kai and Ji Yao's sluggish post-teleportation state, never imagining they'd kick an iron plate.
Yang Kai was a master of spatial power. From the very moment the transmission from the Yellow Springs Sect began, he had activated the Laws of Space to shield both himself and Ji Yao. How could a mere teleportation possibly affect him?
"Why is this the case?" Sha Yong was equally baffled, his face looking utterly wretched.
"Because I'm that good!" Yang Kai grinned, but that smile only filled Sha Yong and Gu Peng with fresh terror and dread.
"Mercy, sir! Mercy!" The burly, bearded Sha Yong immediately began begging for his life.
Gu Peng, however, looked shifty-eyed and turned to flee.
"Hmph!" Ji Yao let out a cold snort. She spun her long sword and hurled it, transforming it into a streak of sword light that shot after Gu Peng. In the blink of an eye it caught up to him, piercing clean through his chest. He crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
A second-level Emperor Realm cultivator dealing with a third-level Dao Source Realm opponent — Ji Yao didn't need to exert any real effort whatsoever.
Seeing this, Sha Yong's face grew even paler. His legs trembling, he pleaded with a miserable expression, "I beg you, masters, spare this lowly dog's life!"
Yang Kai regarded him coolly and said coldly, "Seems like you've pulled this ambush-and-robbery trick quite a few times."
"No, no, this is my first time, truly my first time!" Sha Yong raised his head, looking pitifully wretched.
Yang Kai said, "Walk by the river long enough, and your shoes are bound to get wet. If you've chosen this line of work, you should have been prepared for the consequences. You're too young — don't do this in your next life."
"Next life..." Sha Yong froze, his eyes filling with terror. Before he could react further, Ji Yao had already struck out with her palm, reducing him to a bloody paste.
The surrounding warriors all stood in terrified silence. Staring at that breathtakingly beautiful yet ruthlessly lethal ice-cold woman, every one of them was gripped with fear, terrified she might go on a killing spree and tear the whole place apart.
Yang Kai reached out and drew the two spatial rings to his hand with a flick of spiritual energy. He didn't bother checking what was inside — spatial rings from a pair of third-level Dao Source Realm warriors simply weren't worth his attention. After all, he was a wealthy man now. He turned and gave Ji Yao a casual instruction: "Let's go."
Ji Yao nodded and flew out alongside him.
Once they were clear of Xuan Jia City, Yang Kai pointed in a direction and said, "Yao'er, that way should lead to the Northern Domain. Can you find the way back to Ice Heart Valley?"
Ji Yao nodded. "I can."
"Then lead the way. I need to cultivate for a while." With that, Yang Kai tossed out his small wooden boat, alighted upon it, and waved to Ji Yao.
But Ji Yao glanced at the small wooden boat and said, somewhat sheepishly, "Master, why don't we use my flying artifact instead? Yours is... well, it doesn't look like much."
Yang Kai was mortified.
This small wooden boat had been a casual gift from Jiu Feng back in the day. It was a high-grade Dao Source-level artifact, and Yang Kai had always found it perfectly adequate. But now that his cultivation had broken through to the Emperor Realm, the little boat no longer matched his station.
Ji Yao had evidently noticed the quality and grade of the boat, which was why she'd made the suggestion.
Since she had a better one, Yang Kai didn't refuse. With a nod, he put away his small wooden boat, wanting to avoid further embarrassment.
Ji Yao pressed her lips together in a smile, as if sensing his thoughts. With a delicate wave of her hand, an exquisite miniature tower ship materialized before Yang Kai's eyes.