The Demon Race and the Barbarian Race were alike in that both placed extreme importance on body refinement. A Demon Saint like Mo Duo, in particular, had cultivated his physical body to its absolute limit — if not outright immortal, then as close to undying as made no difference.
If Yang Kai had tried to compete against him with divine abilities or secret techniques, Mo Duo might have had to exert a bit more effort. But the fool had charged straight in, posturing as if he wanted to engage in close-quarters hand-to-hand combat. It was both laughable and infuriating.
Laughable because the enemy was so foolish. Infuriating because even he, Mo Duo, could be looked down upon.
Mo Duo struck without holding back.
Their fists collided. Mo Duo's body swayed slightly, while Yang Kai stumbled back several steps.
Even with the Dragon Transformation secret art active, Yang Kai was still outmatched in raw physical strength against a Demon Saint operating at only seventy percent of his power. The sheer might of a Demon Saint was plainly evident.
The tremendous recoil surged through his meridians and flesh like floodwaters surging upstream. Yang Kai felt pain unlike anything he had ever experienced, so intense his eyes nearly split open.
Before he could steady himself, Mo Duo's counterattack had already arrived. That fist, wreathed in destructive energy, slammed brutally into Yang Kai's abdomen. Demonic qi erupted in a torrent, and Yang Kai's eyes bulged from their sockets as he lost all ability to breathe in that instant.
That was not the end. Mo Duo drove another fist into Yang Kai's face, sending him hurtling through the air, tumbling over and over, blood spraying from his mouth in a continuous stream.
Had it not been for the Dragon Transformation secret art vastly enhancing his physical resilience, those two blows alone would have been enough to kill an Emperor Realm third-stage powerhouse. Even so, Yang Kai was in tremendous agony — his stomach churned as though the world were turning inside out, and the demonic qi that had invaded his body with each attack rampaged through his meridians and flesh, wreaking havoc and destabilizing his mind until his vision blurred and his head spun.
He crashed miserably to the ground and scrambled to get back up. Before he could even regain his footing, Mo Duo materialized before him like a ghost and threw yet another crushing punch.
A cunning glint suddenly surfaced on Yang Kai's face, which had appeared dazed and disoriented. His eyes flashed with sharp light as the Mountain and River Bell was already deployed, its power instantly shrouding the ground beneath his feet.
Mo Duo's eyes went wide. He tried to pull back his fist but could no longer do so — Yang Kai had timed the Mountain and River Bell's release to absolute perfection, activating it at the very instant his attack reached its apex.
CLANG.
The devastating fist struck the Mountain and River Bell. The ancient great bell rippled with a layer of visible waves, and an aura from the primordial ages of chaos surged outward in an instant.
The fist that had hammered into the Mountain and River Bell was reduced to a bloody ruin in the blink of an eye. Even for a Demon Saint, enduring the recoil of his own full-powered strike was no trivial matter — but that was the lesser concern. The greater issue was that with the toll of the Mountain and River Bell, Mo Duo was suddenly gripped by an overwhelming sensation of being suppressed.
It was as though countless mountains ten thousand zhang tall had descended from the heavens above, pressing down on him until he could barely straighten his back.
The Bell's toll subdued mountains and rivers; an Imperial rhythm turned heaven and earth — so had the supreme powerhouses of every age praised the Mountain and River Bell. This primordial treasure's greatest ability was suppression: the suppression of all things under heaven.
Mo Duo's aura plummeted.
The Mountain and River Bell vanished without warning. Yang Kai lunged forward with a savage expression, dragon claws sharper than any weapon in the world thrusting straight toward Mo Duo's chest.
In this moment of mortal peril, Mo Duo let out an angry snort. He channeled the Demonic Sovereign's orthodox cultivation method at full power, dispersing every trace of discomfort the Mountain and River Bell had imposed. One hand shot out with lightning speed to seize Yang Kai's dragon claw, clearly intending to block the attack.
But at that very moment, the Mountain and River Bell — which had already vanished — reappeared. This time it did not envelop Yang Kai. Instead, it shrank to the size of a small bronze bell, grasped in Yang Kai's other dragon claw.
His fingers flicked. The Mountain and River Bell rang out once more, its otherworldly sound waves condensing into invisible, formless attacks that slammed into Mo Duo.
Mo Duo's body buckled. The state he had just recovered shattered instantly.
*Shlk* — Yang Kai's razor-sharp claw pierced clean through his chest and emerged from his back. Clutched in the dragon claw was a demon heart, still violently pulsing, vivid as fresh blood.
"You—" Mo Duo's eyes bulged as he glared at Yang Kai, who stood close enough to touch. A furious roar erupted from his mouth.
An inconceivable shockwave blasted from his gape, converging into a visible force that smashed into Yang Kai's chest. The sound of bones cracking rang out. Yang Kai was sent soaring through the air like a paper kite.
Mo Duo staggered. Blood gushed from the gaping wound in his chest — a massive hole running clean through from front to back, his organs faintly visible within, the chest cavity completely hollow.
He looked down. His expression was savage and terrifying.
Yang Kai pushed himself up from the ground a short distance away, spat the blood from his mouth, and clenched the demon heart in his palm. He flashed Mo Duo a broad grin. "I hear that powerhouses like you possess more than one demon heart. As long as the demon heart endures, the demon shall not perish! How many do you have?"
Mo Duo narrowed his eyes, and from between those slits shone a cold light more chilling than anything he had shown before. Demonic qi surged as the flesh at the edges of the hole in his chest writhed and knotted, rapidly knitting itself whole — as though he had never been wounded at all.
"Give it back to me," he said in a low voice.
Although he possessed more than one demon heart and losing one would not threaten his life, the destruction of a demon heart would affect his strength to some degree. Yang Kai had already proven he could contend with him head-on. Fewer demon hearts meant fewer chances of victory.
Yang Kai grinned. "What was that? I think I misheard, or maybe you misspoke. Did you just ask me to hand this thing back to you?"