In the blink of an eye, an eighth-stage dragon had been rendered combat-ineffective.
Though saying he'd been "rendered combat-ineffective" wasn't quite accurate—Yang Kai had only torn off a single dragon scale. Strictly speaking, such an injury was almost nothing. In any other circumstance, that eighth-stage dragon would still possess its full combat power, virtually unimpeded.
But stripped of the Dragon Palace's protection and shrouded beneath Yang Kai's dragon pressure, he couldn't even maintain his true dragon form—let alone continue fighting.
Though he wasn't seriously hurt, he had already lost his qualification to participate in battle.
The lightning-fast speed and brutal directness of the act made every dragon present flinch.
And just as Yang Kai made his move against that eighth-stage dragon, several hundred mortals and Fu Chi's women finally snapped out of their stupor. Screaming in terror, they fled in every direction.
A massive battle was about to erupt here—who would dare remain? In the blink of an eye, not a single bystander was left in front of the palace. Those who remained were all people involved in today's affair.
Zhu Qing and her siblings, Jiu Feng, Liu Yan, plus Yang Kai—these five comprised the entirety of Yang Kai's fighting force.
The Dragon Clan, on the other hand, still had over a dozen. The disparity in numbers was enormous.
Yet in terms of sheer presence, Yang Kai stood alone above them all—a crane among chickens. Riding the momentum of his charge, he actually seemed to suffocate many of the dragons so badly they could barely breathe.
"Ha ha ha ha!" Jiu Feng laughed heartily. "Good work, boy! That's exactly how you deal with these arrogant pricks."
Thanks to an incident over a decade ago, Spirit Beast Island and Dragon Island were not on friendly terms. Seeing the Dragon Clan take a beating naturally delighted Jiu Feng, and Yang Kai suddenly looked far more agreeable to her. She thought: no wonder the Young Miss couldn't stop thinking about this guy—he really wasn't some pushover.
Secretly, she congratulated herself for not bringing the Young Miss along today. If that little girl had witnessed Yang Kai's fearless display just now, she'd have been completely swept off her feet. At the Young Miss's age, girls were prone to romantic flights of fancy—far too easily captivated by a man's heroic bearing.
Yang Kai surveyed the surroundings and bellowed in a deep voice: "I'll ask one last time—will you let us pass, or not?"
The dragons said nothing. Only pairs of hostile, furious eyes stared back at him.
"Then come and fight!" Yang Kai snorted, hot breath blasting from his nostrils as his feet stomped the ground.
With a thunderous boom, the entire Spirit Island seemed to shake. His massive form shot skyward like a cannonball, hurtling straight toward one of the dragons.
A cataclysmic battle ignited in an instant.
Having witnessed his earlier exploits, the dragons knew exactly what he was planning. The moment they saw Yang Kai charge, they unleashed a chorus of dragon roars and simultaneously revealed their true dragon forms.
In a flash, the sky was filled with red dragons, white dragons, green dragons, and blue dragons.
The smallest was over a dozen zhang long, while the largest exceeded twenty zhang. Coiling through the void, their dragon pressure blanketed the world, making the four directions tremble and heaven and earth seem to tilt.
Before Yang Kai could even reach them, the dozen-plus dragons opened their maws in unison, unleashing torrents of dragon breath from above.
Blazing dragon fire, freezing breath, verdant venom, source water heavy as mountains, wind blades sharp enough to slice through heaven and earth—all rained down upon Yang Kai in a devastating barrage, its power so terrifying it seemed capable of destroying the world itself.
Yang Kai let out a low roar, complex dragon language rumbling from his throat. He spat out a beam of golden light that arched above him, forming a shield.
Boom boom boom—all the attacks struck the golden barrier. In an instant, it shattered into fragments. The residual force slammed into Yang Kai's body without mercy.
He went in fast, and he came back just as fast.
His enormous body crashed onto the island, punching a crater into the earth. Dust billowed upward, and every inch of exposed skin was covered in dense, crisscrossing wounds.
The dragons rejoiced at the sight and were about to press their advantage—strike while the iron was hot—when they were horrified to see Yang Kai shake his head and climb out of the crater. His already fearsome eyes now glowed with a blood-red light, as if he were a enraged beast. He glanced upward, his figure flickered, and he vanished from the spot.
Panic rippled through the dragons. Alarms screamed in their minds.
A blur before their eyes, and Yang Kai had already appeared not far away. One hand reached out, grasping toward a dragon over a dozen zhang long.
That dragon was already on guard. The instant Yang Kai materialized, it tried to flee. The surrounding dragons scattered warily as well.
"Solidify!" Yang Kai bellowed. Space Laws surged forth, forming an invisible cage that enveloped the dozen-zhang dragon. Space turned to a quagmire, its binding force overwhelming.
The dragon found itself unable to break free for a single crucial instant. Remembering Yang Kai's savage methods from before, it let out a terrified roar, whipping around to snap at Yang Kai with jaws wide open—teeth as sharp as guillotine blades, horrifying to behold.
Yang Kai's reaching hand didn't change course. His other fist clenched tight and hammered downward, smashing directly into the dragon's skull.
The force of the blow was tremendous—so much that the dragon's head snapped to the side, a patch of dragon scales flying loose. In that instant, it was completely dazed.
Seizing the opportunity, Yang Kai seized the dragon's tail.
Before he could repeat his earlier method, another dragon had already coiled in from the side. Its massive body wrapped around Yang Kai's feet and spiraled upward, like a python constricting its prey, binding him in place and squeezing his body with crushing force.