Within the Thousand Illusion Dream Realm, Yang Kai had witnessed far too many scenes like this. On battlefields where two races clashed, even if a fully Cultivated member of the Demonic Race was slain, the single remnant of demonic will left behind could still corrupt a barbarian into a demonkin, turning them against their former allies. The aura and residual souls of the Demonic Race both possessed an extraordinarily potent corrosive force.
"What do we do now?" Fang Zhuo asked as well.
Before Yang Kai could answer, the screaming Gong Yue suddenly fell silent. He jerked his head up, revealing a pair of pitch-black eyes with not a sliver of white — a sight that was utterly terrifying.
"Former… Former Patriarch Gong!" Shen Bingru called out in a trembling voice, hoping to confirm the identity of the person before them.
But Gong Yue turned a deaf ear to her. He merely tilted his head and studied Yang Kai, a look of blank curiosity on his face — like someone who had just awakened from a long dream and still couldn't quite figure out where they were.
Yang Kai held his breath, silently focusing his guard.
Yet Gong Yue did not strike at him. Instead, he emitted a string of strange, guttural sounds from his throat, then swayed unsteadily toward the exit.
Shen Bingru, Fang Zhuo, Hua Yulu, and the others scrambled to move aside. None of them had any combat strength left — they wouldn't dare stand in his way.
Gong Yue had clearly been corrupted by the demonic will, because his behavior now was vastly different from before. It was as though a new soul had taken up residence inside his body, unable to fully control the flesh it inhabited. Even his gait was abnormal.
In the dead silence, only Gong Yue's footsteps rang out, piercingly sharp, growing fainter and fainter.
Only once those footsteps had faded beyond hearing did Hua Yulu and the others finally let out the breath they had been holding, like survivors of a catastrophe. Having witnessed Gong Yue's transformation with their own eyes, they no longer had any doubts about what Yang Kai had said earlier regarding the demonic will.
"Has Former Patriarch Gong been body-seized?" Fang Zhuo asked, turning to Yang Kai.
If so, things were going to be trouble. Gong Yue was, after all, the former patriarch of the Gong Family, and he possessed the cultivation of the Second Order Emperor Realm. If such a person ran loose, there was no telling how much harm he could bring to the Southern Region.
"I don't know, but it could be even worse than body-seizing!" Yang Kai's expression was grim. The only thing he could confirm right now was that Gong Yue had fallen to demonic corruption. The one thing he couldn't figure out was how — even if Gong Yue's mind had been unsettled, that alone shouldn't have allowed the demonic will to corrode him so easily. Why hadn't he been able to resist at all?
Yet what he had witnessed with his own eyes offered no reasonable explanation.
Thinking it over, Yang Kai suddenly jolted with alarm and exclaimed in a low voice: "The demonic script!"
"What?" Hua Yulu turned to look at him.
"That demonic script!" Yang Kai's face was grave as he turned to the others. "How much of it did you see?"
Hua Yulu replied, "The secret technique Yang Tai used before? I didn't get a very clear look."
Yang Kai fixed his gaze on the three of them. "No matter how much you saw, you'd best find a way to forget that thing. Yang Tai's fall to demonic corruption and Gong Yue's corruption — both are likely connected to it."
"What do you mean?" Fang Zhuo asked curiously. When Yang Tai had unleashed that secret technique earlier, he had made a point of observing it closely, so he had seen more than Hua Yulu. With Yang Kai speaking so gravely, he didn't dare take it lightly.
Shen Bingru also looked over with curiosity.
Yang Kai said, "Yang Tai never had any chance to come into direct contact with that demonic will, yet by the time he arrived here, he had already fallen to demonic corruption. His corruption very likely has to do with the ancient demonic script he learned. To convince Gong Yue, Yang Tai once demonstrated the power of that single character on him, and Gong Yue may have studied it briefly. That means… some degree of demonic nature should have already taken root within his body. That's why he was willing to go to such extreme lengths, joining forces with Yang Tai to frame us all. Yes — it must be that. Otherwise, how could Gong Yue, as the former patriarch of the Gong Family, have made such a foolish choice? He had already been influenced by the demonic nature lurking inside him and was no longer able to maintain his true nature. And the reason the demonic will was able to corrupt him so easily wasn't because his defenses were ineffective — it was because the demonic nature inside him was drawn to that strand of demonic will, and he unconsciously abandoned his resistance!"
This explanation was half speculation and half deduction, but the more Yang Kai spoke, the more convinced he became that his reasoning was correct.
The root of everything was that ancient demonic script.
Half a year ago, Hua Yulu, Yang Tai, and Wu Kuangyi had discovered this ancient cave dwelling. The three of them had each obtained different gains. The ancient demonic script that Yang Tai learned was nothing more than a trap — bait designed to lure him into breaking the restriction and releasing the demonic will sealed behind the door.
Anyone who learned the essence of that ancient demonic script would have made the same choice as Yang Tai.
It was precisely by grasping the truth of that demonic script that Yang Tai had been able to establish a mysterious connection with the demonic will behind the door. That was how he had known what lay beyond it. That was why he had claimed breaking the restriction was his mission!
Hua Yulu listened with a face drained of color, her slender body trembling.
She felt she had been incredibly lucky — last time, she had only obtained a small flower drum. If she had learned the essence of that ancient demonic script the way Yang Tai had, then his fate would surely have been her own. She was a woman who cherished beauty — to die so horribly, not only leaving no trace of her body behind but having even her remains transformed into components for a secret technique to break the restriction — was something she simply could not accept.
Shen Bingru asked uneasily, "Could the same thing happen to me? Could I fall to demonic corruption too?"
She had seen that ancient demonic script as well.