Refusing to let Yang Kai close the distance, Cang Mo channeled his Emperor Yuan, and the power of the Thunder Hammer surged dramatically. Yang Kai's lunging momentum was abruptly checked, but he seemed to have anticipated this all along. The Mountain and River Bell hung before him, absorbing the brunt of the lightning's might, while his other hand spread wide—five fingers splayed like a claw—as the Heaven-Shrouding Palm came crashing down toward Cang Mo.
It was like a mountain plummeting from the heavens, wreathed in howling wind and steeped in killing intent.
With a thunderous boom, a massive five-fingered imprint was blasted into the ground. The earth cracked apart, and as dust billowed into the air, Cang Mo had already vanished—though no one had seen when he'd relocated to the sky above.
Before he could even steady himself, a figure engulfed in roaring flames, its entire body studded with glinting backward-facing spikes, had already rushed in from the flank wielding the Demon Soldier War Hammer. The hammer swung down in a devastating arc, leaving a trail of shattered void in its wake.
Cang Mo let out a savage roar, pivoting the Thunder Hammer to aim at the Avatar. A bolt of white lightning erupted from its tip and slammed into the Demon Soldier War Hammer. In an instant, demonic energy surged wildly, the hammer's surface flashing erratically, and the Avatar—a towering figure over a dozen zhang tall—was knocked stumbling sideways, its killing strike rendered entirely futile.
With a sharp hiss, Yang Kai opened his mouth and exhaled—a jet of golden dragon breath that cleaved through the void, ignoring spatial barriers entirely, and struck Cang Mo squarely on the shoulder. A brutal wave of force sent him skidding over a hundred zhang before he managed to stabilize himself, and a cloud of blood mist erupted from his shoulder, as though a huge chunk of flesh had been pulverized to dust.
It was the first wound Cang Mo had suffered since the battle began. Though it looked minor, his earlier leisurely control over the situation had evaporated entirely. The pain twisted his face into something savage, and the Thunder Laws coursing through him surged with even greater ferocity.
In the sky, dark clouds had gathered without anyone noticing when—dense and heavy, mirroring the blackness of Cang Mo's expression.
The bright sunlight had vanished. The entire world seemed to have plunged into night, the thick thunderclouds pressing down on the heavens like a suffocating blanket, weighing on everyone's chest. Lightning flickered within those clouds, their flashes tearing across the sky in brilliant streaks.
Having landed his strike, Yang Kai pressed forward without hesitation. The Avatar, blasted away moments earlier, hurriedly regained its footing and charged in from the other side.
Two colossal figures, surging forward with reckless, unyielding momentum, launched themselves at a single tiny existence in a fearless onslaught. The sight was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
But Cang Mo suddenly closed his eyes. The savage grimace on his face gradually faded, settling into an eerie calm. When he opened them again, his pupils blazed with piercing light. He raised the Thunder Hammer high above his head, the white lightning blazing upon it resonating with the bolts raging in the sky above—as though he could summon the wrath of the Nine Heavens themselves.
"Fall!" he called out softly.
Heaven and earth trembled. Bolt after bolt of lightning, each as thick as a barrel, came crashing down from the sky. Every single one carried terrifying, devastating power that could not be underestimated—and these bolts seemed to possess eyes of their own, all converging on Yang Kai and the Avatar.
In an instant, within a radius of several dozen li, lightning raged in every direction. The pillars of thunder connecting sky to earth were virtually endless, transforming the area into a pool of lethal, killing lightning. And there stood Cang Mo at its very center, face cold and expressionless, the Thunder Hammer held high, gazing down at Yang Kai and the Avatar. His diminutive frame somehow carried an aura of supreme authority, as though he were watching nothing more than two ants.
Their massive size was now a tremendous disadvantage—dodging was nearly impossible. No matter how agile Yang Kai and the Avatar were, they could not escape the interference and bombardment of the countless lightning pillars.
Even when they did their utmost to evade, bolts still crashed into their bodies one after another.
Flesh was blasted apart. Dragon scales shattered. But Yang Kai made not a single sound. His eyes were wider than they'd ever been as he wove through the sea of lightning, closing the distance toward Cang Mo with all possible speed.
The Avatar was faring slightly better, though not by much. It had no flesh to rend, but gravel and stone cascaded from its body in continuous streams, and the flames covering it had lost much of their luster. The Sky-Devouring Domain was still active, but with insufficient cultivation, it could not devour that much energy in such a short time—so it was forced to endure the onslaught head-on. Spike after spike shot from its body to meet the falling bolts, each one shattered to powder on impact.
Roar…
A soaring dragon's cry rang out once more as a colossal dragon materialized before Yang Kai, its body swaying and its tail whipping about. Stretching over a dozen zhang in length, it was rendered with lifelike precision, as though it were a living creature—and the instant it appeared, it lunged toward Cang Mo, jaws wide.
The cold-eyed Cang Mo's pupils contracted. He recognized this immediately as a secret art of the Dragon Clan.
Had this been earlier, he might have been shocked—how could Yang Kai, a half-dragon at best, wield the Dragon Clan's secret techniques? After all, those arts were passed down through lineage and could only be learned on Dragon Island. But having tasted Yang Kai's dragon blood and understood its strange, extraordinary nature, he was no longer surprised.
Cang Mo merely waved his hand, redirecting one of the descending lightning pillars. It transformed into a serpentine dragon of lightning and surged to meet the spectral dragon head-on. The two collided in midair, clawing and biting at each other in a maelstrom that darkened the sky and sent sand and stone flying.
Yang Kai had used the opening to break free. The Mountain and River Bell was clutched in his hand as he swung it savagely at Cang Mo.
A blow like that—how could Cang Mo dare take it head-on? He dodged well in advance. But it turned out Yang Kai had feinted; his feet never stopped, and he charged straight at Cang Mo once more.
Cang Mo tried to dodge again, only to find himself entangled by the Avatar rushing in from its position of advantage. For a moment, he couldn't break free. His eyes split with fury as he watched Yang Kai bearing down on him with a savage expression, the Mountain and River Bell swinging down at his head once again.