Ever since advancing to the Emperor Realm, he had seldom encountered anyone worthy of a proper fight. He had even killed a few third-level Emperor Realm cultivators, and inevitably, some subtle shift had taken root in his mentality. Only today did he realize just how vast this world truly was, and how many extraordinary individuals it harbored. The price of underestimating others was nothing less than suffering.
He owed his survival this night entirely to his half-dragon body. Without it, the black figure's ambush from behind might well have taken his life on the spot. Without it, the strange poison on that dagger would have left him dead with no grave to speak of.
It was the resilience of the half-dragon body that had allowed him to trap the dagger with his own flesh, preventing a fatal wound and slowing the spread of poison. A true brush with death — and a narrow escape.
Going over the night's events in his mind, Yang Kai was flooded with questions. He had come here solely because Luo Chen had passed a message through Gao Xueting's name. Otherwise, why would he have come to this place without reason? And the black figure's ambush here was clearly premeditated. What exactly was the connection between this matter and Luo Chen and Gao Xueting?
He had even contacted Gao Xueting earlier and received a response. Had that not been the case, he wouldn't have let his guard down so easily.
Then there were those dozen-odd Emperor Realm cultivators who had fallen to demonic corruption — a detail that made his stomach sink.
The Southern Domain had only recently endured a demonic catastrophe. During the dozen-plus years he had spent fighting in the Heng Luo Star Domain, the Southern Domain had been hunting down every trace of demonic will that had escaped. Word was they had been cleansed entirely. So where had all these corrupted cultivators come from?
The more he thought about it, the more alarmed Yang Kai became. All of them — every single one of those dozen-odd people — were Emperor Realm cultivators who had come to participate in this martial exchange. Until that very day, he had noticed nothing out of the ordinary. They had fallen to corruption in complete silence. But what about everyone else? That valley was packed with several hundred Emperor Realm cultivators from the Southern Domain and tens of thousands of elite disciples. If they had all been struck down… the consequences would be catastrophic.
He didn't dare follow that thought any further. Yang Kai flickered out of the Small World.
On the mountaintop, the Mountain and River Bell stood motionless. The peak was a wreck — wreckage from the great battle still lingered. Faint sounds could be heard from within the bell, indicating the prisoners inside were trying to break free. But the suppressive force within the valley was immense. How could they possibly shatter it at will?
Yang Kai slammed his fist against the bell's surface. A deafening clang echoed out, and immediate silence followed from inside — along with a few muffled cries of pain.
When Yang Kai withdrew the Mountain and River Bell, all five Emperor Realm cultivators he had suppressed lay sprawled unconscious on the ground. He reached down and seized the white-haired elder, sweeping a pulse of Emperor Yuan through him. His expression darkened.
Things were exactly as he had suspected. The old man had already fallen to corruption. Fortunately, it seemed the transformation hadn't been underway for long — the demonic energy hadn't corroded him too deeply. There was still a chance to save him.
Yang Kai's face turned solemn, and the aura radiating from his body underwent a startling transformation. In an instant it became ancient and desolate, as though he had stepped forth from some primordial, distant world — fundamentally out of place in the present era.
The power of the Witchcraft.
Yang Kai was not only an Emperor Realm cultivator but also a Witch King who had mastered a wide array of witch arts. And based on his prior experience, the power of witchcraft was by far the most effective counter against demonic energy.
He pressed his palm against the old man's forehead. Complex and arcane incantations rolled from Yang Kai's lips, and a layer of hazy luminance instantly enveloped the elder. In the next moment, a faint crimson glow began to emanate from the old man's body.
The Bloodlust Art! In that ancient world, Yang Kai had waged years of war against the Demon Race and had treated corrupted individuals on multiple occasions. The Bloodlust Art could effectively resist the erosion of demonic energy, and combined with his witch arts, pulling this elder back from the brink of corruption should not be too difficult.
However, the Bloodlust Art worked by burning the practitioner's vital blood. The old man was already advanced in years, and this would likely take a toll on his remaining lifespan. But Yang Kai had no room to worry about that now. He wanted only to get to the bottom of tonight's events before making any further plans.
With the Bloodlust Art in place, the incantation shifted — this time to the Exorcism Art.
The old man began to tremble violently, his face contorting as though he were enduring excruciating pain. Wisps of black smoke seeped from his seven orifices, dissipating into nothing the instant they left his body — the demonic energy that had invaded him, all of it being purified by the Exorcism Art.
Abruptly, the old man's eyes snapped open. Both irises were pitch black. Despite having all his power suppressed by Yang Kai, he still bared his teeth and snarled like a cornered beast, roaring and lunging as though he wanted nothing more than to tear Yang Kai's flesh from his bones.
The sight before him dredged up memories of the past — in that ancient world, where the Demon Race and the Barbarian Race had clashed in battles so brutal that flesh and blood filled the air. Without firsthand experience, it was difficult to imagine just how savage the war between those two races had truly been.
But before long, the old man's thrashing and snarling subsided. The demonic energy seeping from his orifices grew thinner and thinner, and the blackness in his eyes gradually receded.
Several dozen breaths later, the old man lay limp on the ground, drenched as though pulled from water. He blinked and asked in a dazed voice, "What… what happened?"
Yang Kai looked down at him. "Do you recognize me?"
The elder's vision slowly focused. Astonishment crossed his face. "You're Elder Yang of the Azure Sun Divine Temple?"
"You don't remember what happened to you?" Yang Kai asked in a low voice.
The old man furrowed his brow in thought. A moment later, his expression changed drastically. "Just now I was… I was… what on earth happened to me?"