It was worth noting that between Maple Forest City and Spirit Lake City, these two great cities, there were hidden dragons and crouching tigers everywhere. Anyone you pulled off the street could turn out to have enormous connections behind them, and you never knew when you might kick an iron plate.
Even someone like Bian Yuqing, if she managed to find help, wouldn't be anything too powerful. Yang Kai's age made things worse — it was hard for anyone not to look down on them.
"Junior brothers, kill this brat, then come help Senior Brother. If we seize the token today, there'll be nothing standing in the way of our ascension to the Emperor realm!" The middle-aged man pointed a finger at Yang Kai and issued his orders to the other two.
The two Dao Source Third Stage cultivators nodded slightly, vicious glints flashing in their eyes. Their figures flickered as they flanked Yang Kai from both sides.
"Yang Kai, be careful!" Bian Yuqing called out in warning.
The middle-aged man overheard this and couldn't help but sneer. "Still worried about your little lover? You'd better worry about yourself first."
As his words fell, a flash of swordlight blazed to life as he lunged toward Bian Yuqing, his longsword sweeping in a dazzling arc of radiant sword energy.
Just then, two screams rang out simultaneously.
The middle-aged man's expression changed sharply. He whipped his head toward the source of the sound, and his eyes went wide.
He saw that his two junior brothers — the very ones who had been charging toward Yang Kai — now had gaping holes punched clean through their chests. Through those holes, he could actually see the scenery on the other side of their bodies, and their still-gurgling internal organs were clearly visible.
"What happened?!" The middle-aged man's mind went blank. A moment ago his two junior brothers had been perfectly fine. How had they turned into this in the blink of an eye? Those horrific wounds were right over the heart — the entire heart was gone. In other words, there was absolutely no chance of survival for either of them. They were dead for certain.
They were Dao Source Third Stage! Their strength, even if slightly inferior to his own, wasn't far behind. How could someone have killed them in an instant?
Who did this?
The middle-aged man's first thought was that a powerful expert had been hiding nearby. The moment that thought arose, his charge toward Bian Yuqing halted abruptly, and the brilliant swordlight on his longsword sputtered out.
Bian Yuqing was equally stunned. She had been prepared to sacrifice her life here today if necessary to kill this middle-aged man and avenge Kou Wu. As long as Yang Kai could hold those two off for a while, she was absolutely confident she could do it.
Though she had never managed to break through to the Emperor realm, she had spent so many years immersed at the Dao Source Third Stage that she was a top-tier powerhouse at that level.
And now, the two opponents who should have been tied down by Yang Kai had suffered catastrophic injuries and looked like they wouldn't last another moment.
Everything had happened in the span of a heartbeat — so fast that no one's mind could keep up.
A terrifying aura suddenly radiated from Yang Kai's body. He reached out with an empty hand, then simply clenched his fist. The two junior brothers exploded into a fine mist of blood, their bodies utterly annihilated without a trace.
Clang, clang — two spatial rings fell to the ground. The sounds were soft, but they struck eardrums like morning bells and evening drums, jolting everyone out of their shock.
"Emperor realm!" The middle-aged man's face drained of color, and he nearly bit off his own tongue.
This helper who had appeared out of nowhere was an Emperor realm cultivator!
And not an ordinary one either. Even a First Stage Emperor couldn't have annihilated his two junior brothers in the blink of an eye. This young man who didn't look particularly old had to be a terrifying existence at the Second Stage, or even the Third Stage of the Emperor realm!
The moment this realization hit, the middle-aged man was consumed by terror, his horror nearly driving him to madness.
He had really kicked an iron plate…
He felt like weeping without tears. He had thoroughly investigated Bian Yuqing's background before this — she came from a Sect called the Jade Feather Sect. After the Sect Master disappeared, the Sect had fallen apart and disbanded not long after. And Bian Yuqing didn't seem to have any acquaintances in the Emperor realm either. How had such a terrifying ally suddenly appeared out of nowhere?
Fear took hold, and he no longer dared to make a move against Bian Yuqing. His mind was entirely occupied with how to preserve his own life. If that young man could casually slaughter his two junior brothers, killing him would probably be no harder than a breath of wind.
"Yang Kai, you…" Bian Yuqing was completely dumbfounded.
She had never imagined that in just a few short years, Yang Kai had actually grown to the Emperor realm. The Emperor realm — that was the realm she had pursued for years yet never been able to grasp. And Yang Kai had reached it as easily as anything. Was this still the same young man who had once joined the Jade Feather Sect as a newcomer, needing her to look after him? Could a warrior from a lower star field truly be this terrifying?
In that moment, Bian Yuqing found Yang Kai utterly unrecognizable.
"Protector Bian, didn't you want to avenge Kou Wu?" Yang Kai looked at Bian Yuqing with a grave expression and shouted in a low voice, "If not now, then when?"
His words struck her like a wake-up call. Bian Yuqing's expression hardened. She channeled her Source Power, and the bracelet she had been gripping suddenly erupted with blinding light, swelling to the size of a person's waist. She formed a hand seal and casually tossed it forward, sending the enlarged jade bracelet hurtling toward the middle-aged man with a thunderous roar.
The middle-aged man was still flustered, and Bian Yuqing's sudden attack caught him completely off guard. By the time he managed to channel his Source Power, raising his longsword in a desperate guard in front of himself, the enlarged jade bracelet had already come crashing down upon him.