Though he hadn't uttered a word, the Demon Kings could all sense something was off. They raised their eyes toward the sky one after another. Earlier, everyone had noticed Baoqi's unusual behavior, but in the midst of fighting over the sacred artifact, no one had the mind to think too deeply about it.
Now that the fighting had stopped, the contrast between Baoqi's composure and the other Demon Kings' flustered state was stark and undeniable.
"Feili," Feili said icily, "Baoqi, you owe us an explanation! Why did you instigate the Demon Kings into fighting each other? What were you hoping to gain?"
Though the appearance of the sacred artifact seemed almost inconceivable, Feili's instincts told him this was a trap—a scheme Baoqi had orchestrated to turn the Demon Kings against one another.
What he couldn't figure out was why Baoqi would do such a thing. What benefit could he possibly reap?
The other Demon Kings furrowed their brows, gradually regaining their composure. Though some lingering attachment to the sacred artifact remained, they forcibly suppressed the restless urge within their hearts and fixed their gazes on Baoqi, who had been watching everything coldly from the sidelines. The unspoken message was clear: give us a satisfactory explanation, or else.
"Ha!" Baoqi couldn't help but sneer, his expression dripping with mockery—as if a layer of disguise had been peeled away to reveal his true face. He lowered his gaze, looking down at the Demon Kings below, and said derisively, "I thought you'd fight until the end of time. I didn't expect there to be a single clever one among you."
The moment these words left his mouth, the expressions of all the Demon Kings shifted dramatically.
If before there had only been suspicion, then Baoqi's words confirmed it beyond any doubt.
It truly was a trap! No one knew what kind of scheme Baoqi was cooking up, but he'd actually used a sacred artifact as bait to make them slaughter each other.
As this thought flashed through their minds, fury ignited in every Demon King's heart.
Feili said darkly, "Baoqi, you're courting death!"
Baoqi chuckled lightly. "Do you have the capability?"
"You'll find out soon enough!" The moment Feili finished speaking, green flames erupted along his skeletal frame. Without any visible movement, he closed the distance to Baoqi in a single step, reaching out to seize him.
Though Baoqi's strength exceeded Shaya's, he was still a tier below Feili. According to the witch classification system, Shaya counted as a Low-rank Witch King, Baoqi a Mid-rank Witch King, and Feili a High-rank Witch King.
The overwhelming gap in raw power left Feili confident he couldn't possibly miss.
His movements were effortless, casual—as though he were about to crush a fly.
Baoqi smiled faintly. Facing this devastating strike from a Demon King who stood on the cusp of becoming a Demon Saint, his expression didn't change in the slightest. If anything, the mockery in his eyes only deepened.
Feili's instincts screamed that something was wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint what. With the arrow already nocked and the bowstring drawn, there was no turning back. He gritted his metaphorical teeth and committed fully, intending to end Baoqi's life on the spot—to show him the consequences of his actions.
The next instant, the ghost fire in Feili's eye sockets flared violently.
Because his hand had stopped involuntarily, frozen three feet from Baoqi's face. No matter how hard he pushed, he couldn't advance even a fraction of an inch.
Right after, a figure materialized before him like a phantom. It was a young man—a young man corrupted by demonic energy, yet who had not lost his mind. Those eyes gleamed with sharp intelligence.
His expression was detached. The aura emanating from his body was nothing particularly overwhelming, yet Feili felt a profound unease in his heart—a feeling he hadn't experienced in countless years. The last time had been roughly a thousand years ago, when he had been nothing more than a fragile skeleton that wobbled with every step, his bones threatening to scatter at any moment.
That time, he had encountered the bane of the Bone Demon clan—the Bone Shatterer. He'd hidden himself in the grass, not daring to move a muscle, terrified the creature would mistake him for a meal and swallow him whole.
Reliving that sensation from a millennium ago, Feili felt no joy despite having no flesh to feel with. An icy chill crept through him—a coldness that reached into the very depths of his soul.
He had absolutely no idea how this young man had appeared before him. It was as though he had simply always been standing there.
The expressions of the other Demon Kings shifted multiple times as well. Over a dozen pairs of eyes converged on Yang Kai. The Demon Kings who moments ago had been fighting each other to the death now pooled their combined pressure toward a single point—even Moketuo, the Shadow Demon who had grabbed the sacred artifact, was quietly drifting closer to the others.
"My Lord!" Baoqi bowed respectfully, using his actions to make Yang Kai's lofty status unmistakably clear.
"My Lord?" The ghost fire in Feili's sockets flickered again, startled by Baoqi's choice of address.
As a Demon King, the title was reserved for addressing Demon Saints. This young man before him radiated no aura of a Demon Saint—if anything, he resembled a human who had been converted into one of the demonic race. What right did he have to be called "My Lord" by Baoqi?
Converted humans held the lowest status among the demonic race, beneath even demon beasts. More often than not, their only value was as food to feed the beasts.
"Who are you?" Feili asked in a deep voice.
Yang Kai offered him a faint smile—a smile that left Feili bewildered. But in the next instant, he had no more leisure for puzzlement, because a wave of terrifying power suddenly surged from the front. A being who stood on the very threshold of Demon Sainthood found himself utterly powerless against it, blown backward with no chance to resist. His bones clattered and rattled, nearly scattering apart entirely.
Feili let out an unnatural screech and tumbled back among the other Demon Kings.