Yang Kai and Zhu Qing intended to leave through the city's teleportation formation, and the Human Emperor personally saw them off.
A crowd of princes and princesses trailed behind them, and every person of any standing in the entire Human Emperor City had come as well, dragging along in a long, straggling procession that left onlookers bewildered, wondering what on earth was going on.
Along the way, the Human Emperor proved remarkably talkative and attentive, ceaselessly reminding Yang Kai of matters he needed to watch out for while traveling.
Yang Kai responded from time to time.
After finally shepherding them onto the teleportation formation, the Human Emperor secretly heaved a sigh of relief. As long as this fellow left, the Human Emperor City would remain under his dominion, and the imperial clan's rule would not be shaken.
He personally inscribed the Human Emperor Seal upon Yang Kai and Zhu Qing and ordered the formation activated.
When the light of teleportation flared to life, the Human Emperor's suspended heart finally settled, and a smile of relief spread across his face.
Yang Kai's single sentence utterly shattered his good mood.
"At some point in the future, I may very well return here, so I'd appreciate it if Your Excellency could take good care of the Sacred Tree and refrain from casually draining its power again."
The light blazed, and Yang Kai and Zhu Qing vanished.
The Human Emperor felt as though he'd plunged into an ice cellar, the smile on his face turning stiff.
The numerous princes, princesses, and powerful experts of the city all sensed the Human Emperor's foul mood and fell silent as cicadas in winter. A good while passed before an enormous burst of formidable aura erupted from within the Human Emperor, transforming into a shockwave that radiated outward in all directions. With the spreading of that wave, it seemed he had vented the fury in his heart, though he himself appeared to have aged considerably.
…
Tens of thousands of li from the Human Emperor City, in an extremely secluded stretch of jungle, deep within an earthen pit, Yang Kai and Zhu Qing materialized at their leisure.
The pit was pitch black, so dark that one could not see one's hand before one's face. Only a single slanted passage led up to the surface. Inside the pit sat a crude teleportation formation linked to the one in the city. There were more than a dozen such locations scattered across the Samsara World, covering nearly half its expanse.
The warriors of the Human Emperor City relied on these teleportation formations to travel back and forth.
Each formation had been built with extreme concealment in mind, for fear that the Demon Race would discover and destroy them.
But even if the Demons did find these formations, all they could do was destroy them. Without the Human Emperor Seal's blessing, they would be unable to pass through the formation into the Human Emperor City. In a sense, the Human Emperor Seal served as a barrier protecting the city—not unlike the teleportation tokens Yang Kai had crafted himself.
Only formations arranged by his hand could be activated by those carrying the special teleportation tokens.
The two emerged from the pit and stepped onto the surface.
At this moment, the laws of heaven and earth in the outside world showed no irregularities. Clearly, the Samsara World was currently inclined toward the Star Realm.
"Yang Kai, guard me." Zhu Qing wasted no time, issuing a brief instruction before preparing to execute the Dragon Clan's secret art to locate Zhu Lie.
"Hm? What did you call me?"
Zhu Qing murmured, "Husband…"
She had never addressed any man that way before. She could feel her heart pounding wildly. That simple form of address seemed to bind the two of them together—in life and death, in glory and disgrace.
Only then did Yang Kai show a satisfied expression.
Zhu Qing reached out and sliced open her palm. A single drop of fiery crimson blood rolled forth, looking like a burning flame, blazing with heat. It fell to the ground and sank into the earth, vanishing without a trace.
Cryptic, intricate incantations rang out. Zhu Qing's face took on an expression of sacred solemnity, as though she were praying to some unknown deity, her manner suffused with devotion.
Yang Kai had witnessed a similar scene once before—it was when Zhu Lie had performed this very secret art back in the frozen wastelands. He knew that the technique Zhu Qing was using must be the same one.
A secret art designed specifically for locating people.
Moments later, the incantations grew loud and impassioned, shaking heaven and earth as though rumbling thunder rolled across the sky, or like the roar of a dragon piercing the ninth heaven.
A speck of crimson bloomed upon the ground, and then a blood-coral-like object grew out of the earth, rising to a foot tall before stopping.
Zhu Qing ended her incantation and reached out, drawing the blood coral up with a wave of her hand. She studied the direction in which the faintly glowing aura on its surface drifted, then pointed and said, "Over there."
Yang Kai nodded, soared into the air, and flew off with Zhu Qing in that direction.
Half a cup of tea later, the two arrived at the base of a cliff.
From a distance, the cliff resembled a great eagle at rest, with the cliff face itself forming the eagle's beak.
This was the Eagle Beak Cliff the Human Emperor had mentioned earlier. When they arrived, they indeed found the remains of Demon Race corpses scattered about—pools of blood, severed limbs, and shredded flesh covered the ground. Judging by the traces left at the scene, the battle had been fierce but extremely brief, as the Demons seemed to have been cut down before they could even mount a real fight.
That could only mean one thing—the enemy these Demons had encountered was powerful enough to crush them at will.
Yang Kai looked at Zhu Qing, and she gave a slight nod. "There's a Dragon Clan aura. It's Zhu Lie, no mistake."
"Can you tell which direction they went?" Yang Kai asked.