The Dragon Clan already possessed tremendous resistance to all manner of negative forces. Though Cang Mo's Lightning Laws were nothing to scoff at, a mere sea of lightning was far from enough to halt Yang Kai's advance.
His massive body charged into the sea of lightning, sending ripples across its surface in an instant. Yang Kai reached down with a sweeping palm, but Cang Mo dared not meet it head-on. He retreated swiftly, his form dissolving into a streak of lightning.
Yet Yang Kai's enormous hand pursued him like a parasite clinging to bone, snapping open and shut in repeated grasps. The scene looked for all the world like someone swatting at a buzzing insect, leaving Tang Sheng and the others watching in utter bewilderment. A proud Quasi-Emperor being chased in desperation by a mere Second-Order Emperor — everyone felt as though they were trapped in a dream.
Though Yang Kai's frame was enormous, his speed was no less impressive, and Cang Mo's reflexes were even faster still. Between one grab and the next escape, they left afterimages scattered across the void that lingered for a long while before fading.
The Dharma Form arrived in perfect sync, wielding the Demon Weapon war hammer with imposing, overwhelming authority. Working in concert with Yang Kai, the two complemented each other flawlessly, beating Cang Mo so thoroughly that he could only parry, with no room to counterattack.
But there was not the slightest trace of satisfaction on Yang Kai's face. For though Cang Mo looked thoroughly wretched, in truth there was no panic in him whatsoever — every response was composed and unhurried.
"Bind!" Yang Kai roared suddenly. As his Space Laws surged outward, the four cardinal directions were sealed and the void locked down. Cang Mo, who had been darting about ceaselessly, froze mid-movement, finding himself sinking as though plunged into a swamp. The space around him had turned viscous beyond measure — the more he struggled, the deeper he sank.
Caught off guard, the Dharma Form had already brought the hammer crashing down.
There was no dodging now. Though Cang Mo had cultivated a measure of spatial power, just as Yang Kai had surmised, it was merely at the rudimentary stage — he had never comprehended it to the level of Laws. Even though his cultivation far surpassed Yang Kai's, the space around him had been sealed, and breaking free would take at least a single breath. That single breath of delay, however, was enough to determine life or death.
Cang Mo's eyes turned cold. He circulated his Emperor Yuan, lightning erupting all around his body as an elliptical shield of lightning materialized over his skin.
With a deafening boom, the Demon Weapon war hammer struck Cang Mo. The elliptical lightning shield caved inward instantly, then shattered. At the same time, however, the Dharma Form was hurled backward by an immense force, crackling arcs of lightning writhing around its body, snapping and popping in a way that suggested it was having a far from pleasant time.
Before Cang Mo could react, Yang Kai's enormous hand descended from above, blotting out sky and earth, closing around him in its palm and clenching tight. A cold command rang out: "Perish!"
Within the massive hand, spatial forces churned and surged, transforming into a grinding, crushing power that sought to obliterate Cang Mo utterly.
But in the next instant, Yang Kai's expression changed drastically. From between the fingers of his enormous dragon claw, countless blinding bolts of lightning erupted, suddenly condensing into a single beam that punched through the back of his hand — as impenetrable as forged steel — and shot out the other side.
Yang Kai looked up to find Cang Mo standing in the void with a frigid expression, holding a vajra-style Artifact no longer than an arm — yet one that could not be taken lightly. The lightning flickering upon it was not cyan but white, blazing white as the light of day. Traces of golden blood still clung to the Artifact, brimming with boundless vitality and immense power.
Yang Kai spread his palm and looked down. A massive hole had appeared in the center of his hand. Golden blood pooled within it but not a single drop fell. The ravaged flesh writhed ceaselessly, rapidly mending the wound.
"Your life is a hard one to take!" Yang Kai flicked his hand and looked up toward Cang Mo.
Combining his own strength with the Dharma Form, both unleashing their full power, and still they could not bring him down. The title of Quasi-Emperor was well deserved. If a Quasi-Emperor was already this powerful, what of a true Great Emperor? For a moment, an infinite sense of yearning arose in Yang Kai's heart.
"There's something peculiar about your Dragon Vein!" Cang Mo narrowed his eyes, studying Yang Kai carefully. He even reached over, dipped a finger into the golden blood on his Artifact, and placed it in his mouth to taste. Immediately after, a look of extreme shock crossed his face.
Though he had known beforehand that Yang Kai possessed a Dragon Vein physique, he had instinctively assumed Yang Kai's bloodline was impure. But for a half-dragon with an impure bloodline to manifest a thirty-zhang dragon form was genuinely bewildering. As far as he knew, the purer a dragon's bloodline, the more massive their true form.
He had once dealt with an Eighth-Order Giant Dragon whose true form had been only twenty to thirty zhang in size. An Eighth-Order Giant Dragon was already a formidable existence on Dragon Island — there was no reason for one to be outmatched by a half-dragon.
Thirty zhang was a size achievable at minimum only by a Ninth-Order Giant Dragon.
Now, drawing upon the Artifact's power, he had broken free while simultaneously injuring Yang Kai. Upon tasting the dragon blood, he discovered that though it was indeed somewhat muddled and not truly pure, the energy it contained far surpassed that of any ordinary Giant Dragon.
What was going on? Had the half-dragon's bloodline undergone an atavistic regression?
Before the thought could fully form, he heard Yang Kai ask in a chilling tone: "How does my blood taste?"
The moment those words left Yang Kai's lips, Cang Mo suddenly sensed something was wrong. The tiny amount of dragon blood he had licked was emanating a razor-sharp aura inside his mouth. Without hesitation, he opened his mouth to spit it out — only to find that what he spat out was no longer blood, but a tiny golden sword.
Cold sweat drenched him in an instant. He could not fathom how Yang Kai had accomplished this — to freely manipulate blood even after it had left the body. Such a feat was utterly inconceivable.