Two figures streaked through the void, one leading and the other following close behind, like twin bolts of lightning.
Yang Kai took the lead. The injuries to his fists had already gradually healed under his own formidable regenerative abilities, though inwardly he was genuinely shocked by the young girl's brute strength. He had no idea where this little thing had come from. When he swept his spiritual sense back, he saw her with her hands clasped behind her back, following along in an unhurried, almost leisurely manner, sticking to him like a shadow without an inch of separation. Her expression was utterly serene.
She looked as though she had run out for a pleasant outing rather than to fight him to the death.
Yang Kai couldn't help but laugh from sheer exasperation. He drew a slow breath, gradually settling the irritation and fury churning inside him until his face returned to its usual calm. The girl might look young and act unreasonable, but she was undeniably formidable.
Though they bore no grudge — one could even say this was their first meeting — if she truly harbored murderous intent, Yang Kai would not shrink from it.
You want to kill me? Then I'll kill you. Let's see who dies first.
They leaped tens of thousands of kilometers, putting Liuying City far behind them, and plunged into a vast, undulating mountain range.
Yang Kai suddenly halted and turned around.
The girl's figure froze in place about thirty zhang ahead of him. She glanced left and right, then her soft pink lips parted: "Is this the burial site you've chosen for yourself? Not the best taste."
"Ha!" Yang Kai laughed. "Little brat, just because you've got some brute strength doesn't mean you're all that remarkable. You really don't know how big this world is!"
It was always others who spoke to him this way. This was the first time he had ever thrown such barbs at someone else, and he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of being the villain. It was deeply uncomfortable. Besides, those who dared speak to him like this typically met unfortunate ends.
The girl said: "No matter. You won't be needing one anyway. Since you dared to refine those things, I'm going to break every bone in your body one by one and leave you without even a grave!"
As she spoke, she actually extended a small scarlet tongue to lick her lips, wearing the expression of someone who had just spotted a delicious delicacy and was positively itching to dig in. Her innocent features were suddenly tinged with an alluring, bewitching sensuality. Even Yang Kai was momentarily dazed, and he couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like if that little tongue were to lick across his own skin. His heart stirred.
Damn it — a deadly enemy stood before him. How could he let beauty cloud his judgment? Had years of maintaining his purity on the Star Boundary without any outlet finally gotten to him? Yang Kai circulated his cultivation technique, and his mind cleared in an instant.
"Are you ready?" the girl asked, glancing up with a sweet smile. Utterly harmless.
Yang Kai laughed and beckoned with a curl of his finger. "Come! Today this young master will give your parents and elders a thorough—"
Before he could finish, he felt a tremendous force slam into his abdomen. The girl was nowhere to be seen from where she had stood thirty zhang away — only a faint afterimage lingered in that spot. She had closed the distance in the blink of an eye, her small frame dipping slightly as she drove a fist straight forward.
It felt as though a third-stage Emperor Realm master had detonated right in front of him. Yang Kai's stomach cramped violently, and he spat out a spray of blood that splattered all over the girl's face and hair. His entire body rocketed backward like a cannonball, crashing through a mountain peak and causing it to collapse.
Rumble…
Rocks tumbled and rolled as the hundred-zhang-tall peak slowly crumbled away, leaving only a massive hole through its middle. But Yang Kai had vanished from sight.
The girl lowered her fist and stood still, staring at the hole with a mocking laugh. "Overestimating yourself."
With her strength, even a third-stage Emperor Realm cultivator would have a terrible time taking a direct hit. For a mere first-stage Emperor Realm ant to dare act arrogant in front of her — he truly didn't know how to write the word "death."
She had been sent by the clan's Elder to the Southern Domain to investigate the whereabouts of a clan treasure. She had visited many places without finding any leads, and while passing through Liuying City, she had suddenly detected the anomaly in Yang Kai.
Had he been an ordinary Emperor Realm cultivator, she would have paid him no mind. But the crux of the matter was that Yang Kai had actually refined certain forbidden things. As a disciple of the clan, she naturally had both the responsibility and the duty to eliminate him.
How laughable — this human seemed so accustomed to arrogance that he hadn't even grasped her true identity before challenging her to a one-on-one fight. His courage was commendable, but his intelligence was sorely lacking.
She reached up with her delicate pink hand and wiped her face, smearing a trace of blood across her fingers. She looked down at it, and her slender brows furrowed. "Gold…"
This was the first time she had encountered a human whose blood was golden. Moreover, the vital force contained within this blood was enough to move even her.
She extended her tongue and lightly licked the golden blood. Her expression shifted subtly. "Demonic nature… and a spiritual essence. How strange."
From this blood, she had tasted an aura that was simultaneously loathsome to her deepest core yet achingly familiar.
Yang Kai's golden blood had its origin in the Demon God's Canon he had acquired years ago. By refining his entire bloodline with demonic arts, he had transformed it into pure golden blood imbued with rich demonic nature. At the same time, he had absorbed the Origin Essence of the Golden Holy Dragon, granting his blood a powerful regenerative capacity and a pristine spiritual quality.
The two fused together in perfect harmony, intertwining as one.