"Someone, bring a seat!" Wen Zishan waved his grandly, feeling a wave of relief wash over him. No matter what happened, keeping Xue Zhengmao settled was what mattered.
"No need!" Yang Kai, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke up.
Wen Zishan looked over at him in surprise.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Yang Kai asked, "May I ask, Palace Master, are there any sacrificial beasts in reserve?"
Wen Zishan shook his head with a bitter smile.
Twelfth-rank demon beasts were not so easily found — otherwise, twelfth-rank demon beast cores wouldn't be so exorbitantly priced. Especially with time so pressing, where would he find another one? The Golden-Backed Heaven-Reachable Ape that had appeared earlier had been personally captured by Wen Zishan himself from desolate mountains millions of miles away.
Unfortunately, before Yang Kai could make his move, Xue Zhengmao had killed it, leaving the investiture ceremony in an awkward position with no proper way to bring it to a close.
Yang Kai lowered his eyes and said, "Since there are no reserves, then I can only be rude."
Wen Zishan's heart lurched, and he instinctively asked, "What are you going to—"
Before he could finish, he saw Yang Kai's figure flicker and vanish from where he stood. Wen Zishan's expression changed drastically as he vaguely guessed Yang Kai's intentions. He turned his head toward Xue Zhengmao, and sure enough, Yang Kai's figure appeared directly in front of the Elder, a sword sweeping down toward him. Along the blade, a terrifying streak of sword light thirty zhang long tore through the air, seeming as though it would shatter the very void.
Xue Zhengmao was equally startled. He raised his palm and struck out, and as formidable Emperor Yuan surged, wind howled and clouds churned. The sword light shattered, and Xue Zhengmao's body swayed.
"Insolent brat, how dare you ambush this old man!" Xue Zhengmao bellowed, his nose practically twisted with rage. He was a third-stage Emperor Realm master and an Elder of the Star God Palace — and this young man had attacked him without so much as a word?
Fortunately, his reflexes were quick enough, or he might have truly taken a hit. But regardless, being ambushed in front of such a massive audience made it impossible for Xue Zhengmao to save face, and his fury surged skyward.
"Just returning the courtesy!" Yang Kai scoffed, abandoning the sword as his hands rapidly formed seals. The power of Time spread in a leisurely wave, the Laws of Time rippling outward, and in that instant everyone felt an unreal sensation, as though time itself had stopped flowing. Even their thoughts stuttered for a brief moment.
As the Seal of Fleeting Years struck, a golden light blazed from his right eye, and a single lotus bud flickered into existence and vanished in the blink of an eye.
The raging Xue Zhengmao went rigid, a burst of pain lancing through his mind. Before his eyes, a colossal lotus was slowly blooming. Horror gripped his heart — he instantly realized he had fallen into Yang Kai's trap without even noticing.
But the power of this soul technique seemed absurdly potent. Could this really be a soul technique that a first-stage Emperor Realm cultivator could execute?
He bit the tip of his tongue, and the sharp pain cleared his senses for a fleeting instant. He poured everything into his soul power, pushing back against the influence of the Blooming Lotus technique, and his vision returned to clarity. The massive, slowly blossoming lotus before his eyes dissipated.
When he looked up again, cold sweat drenched his entire body. In that split second of delay, Yang Kai's palm seal was already about to strike his chest.
He didn't know what mysteries this palm held, but it filled him with a profound sense of unease. He wanted to resist, only to find his thoughts moving sluggishly, and his body's movements had become uncoordinated as well.
With a furious roar, the full aura of a third-stage Emperor Realm powerhouse erupted outward. But before he could make another move, the palm had already landed square on his chest.
His body and mind, which had only just recovered, once again fell into a brief state of paralysis...
At the same time, Xue Zhengmao's counterattack also slammed into Yang Kai's chest. Visibly, Yang Kai's chest caved in by a large margin. The clear sound of bones snapping rang out, and his face went deathly pale in an instant.
Yet he clenched his jaw and refused to make a sound. His hand seized the floating Million Sword, and he swung the blade in a horizontal arc across Xue Zhengmao's chest.
Ssss...
The sword light flashed and fell. Yang Kai's figure blurred as he returned to his original position, his body swaying slightly, his face white as paper.
Gulp — he forcibly swallowed the roiling blood and qi surging in his chest, and an unnatural flush of red appeared on his face.
This entire sequence of moves had unfolded with breathtaking speed, further obscured by the interference of the Laws of Time. It wasn't until Yang Kai had hastily retreated that the crowd finally snapped back to awareness, each wearing an expression of utter disbelief. They stared at Yang Kai as though they were looking at a ghost.
Even Wen Zishan wore a look of shock, and Xiao Yuyang had shot to his feet, his eyes filled with incredulity.
"With my enemy's blood, I sacrifice to the Heavens!" Yang Kai's low shout rang out as he swept the Million Sword in a wide arc. A burst of blood mist suddenly exploded across the blade, flooding a vast expanse of void. "The rite is complete!"
"Pfft..."
At that same moment, blood also sprayed from Xue Zhengmao's chest. The crowd turned to look and collectively drew a sharp breath. There, on Xue Zhengmao's chest, was a wound roughly a foot long — flesh peeled back, blood pouring freely...
Xue Zhengmao himself seemed unable to believe it. He had actually been wounded by a first-stage Emperor Realm cultivator? He stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the blood spurting from his chest.
After a moment, his entire body shuddered. He reached out and tapped several points on his chest, staunching the flow of blood. His eyes blazed crimson as he glared at Yang Kai through gritted teeth, roaring, "You little brat — you're courting death!"