This battle shook heaven and earth. This battle sent gods and ghosts fleeing for cover.
The three mighty beings on the battlefield were all fighting for their lives, not one of them holding back in the slightest.
It was only after a full hour that the situation gradually became clear. The churning lightning had thinned, allowing Tang Sheng and the others watching from afar to finally make out what was happening.
What they saw made their hearts shudder.
Yang Kai's body was a mess of torn flesh and blood, a faint golden light flickering across his skin — unmistakably the traces left behind by dried golden blood. His dragon scales were curled and peeled away; who knew how many he had lost. He looked utterly wretched. Shi Huo fared even worse. Every one of his barbed spines had vanished completely, leaving him bare and smooth across his entire body. The strange fire he had been burning had also gone out. As for Cang Mo, he did not appear to be in great shape either. His complexion was somewhat pale, and he could no longer sustain his most powerful technique.
After all this fighting, the result was mutual devastation.
Cang Mo's face was as dark as a storm cloud. Yang Kai, on the other hand, threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Looks like that's all you've got!"
A muscle twitched at the corner of Cang Mo's eye. He had to admit — today's battle had gone entirely against expectations. He had believed that with him personally on the scene, victory would be a foregone conclusion. Yet Yang Kai had proven far more formidable than anticipated, battling him to a standstill without being decisively defeated.
A flicker of venomous hatred passed through his eyes as he fixed his gaze on the Avatar. Without this Shi Huo, Yang Kai would never have been his match. Even if the boy could transform into a thirty-zhang dragon, Cang Mo would still have been able to take him down today.
But with Shi Huo flanking him on the sidelines — two against one — what did it matter if he held a slight advantage? If he couldn't kill Yang Kai, he wouldn't get the thing he wanted, and he would have made an enemy for nothing. If Yang Yan were to find out about this…
Cang Mo suddenly felt conflicted. There was simply no point in continuing. His earlier attack had already destroyed the isolation formation he had used to seal off heaven and earth. That formation had been a prearranged restriction, sealing off this pocket of the world. It had not been particularly sturdy, and once he went all out, it had naturally crumbled on its own.
In other words, if Yang Kai wanted to flee now, there was nothing Cang Mo could do to stop him.
There was no point wasting energy on a meaningless fight. He hesitated for a moment, about to say something, when he suddenly saw Yang Kai's expression sharpen. The young man formed hand seals with both hands and slammed a palm down toward him.
That sensation — of time itself grinding to a halt in an instant — descended from above.
The Seal of Fleeting Years!
Cang Mo's pupils contracted. He thrust his own palm upward to meet it.
BOOM — a thunderous collision. Violent palm forces met in midair and annihilated each other into nothingness. Cang Mo hovered on the wind, his voice cold. "Know when to quit, boy!" He had already decided to withdraw, but Yang Kai was actually pushing his luck. A surge of fury roiled through him. He did not want to fight Yang Kai to the point of mutual destruction, but that did not mean he was afraid of him.
Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of blood and gazed at him with unyielding defiance, his voice like rolling thunder: "Are you admitting defeat, you old mutt?" The deliberate insult was a clear response to Cang Mo calling him "boy."
Cang Mo's face darkened. "What happened today was a result of my miscalculation, but you haven't come to any real harm. Let us call it even and be done with it."
Yang Kai let out a cold laugh. "Call it even? You're saying you can come whenever you please and leave whenever you like? Since when does the world work that way?"
Cang Mo snorted. "What do you propose?" Killing intent had already begun to flicker in his narrowed eyes. If Yang Kai truly intended to press the matter, then he had no choice but to keep fighting. He was confident that in the end, the one who died would not be him — but the price he would pay would be steep.
Yang Kai swayed his head back and forth, his tone cocky. "If I didn't have some means of protecting myself, would you be talking this nicely right now? You started this — don't blame me for finishing it. Enough talk — let's fight! Today, one of us dies!"
The words had barely left his mouth when his flagging aura surged violently upward. Battle intent blazed in his eyes, and he took a great stride forward.
Without a word, the Avatar moved in tandem.
Cang Mo's face turned grim. He had underestimated this brat's resolve after all. But things had progressed to this point, and there was no room left to maneuver. The only option was to settle it with their fists. He drew a quiet breath, his eyes filled with grim determination.
Then, in that very moment, both Yang Kai and Cang Mo suddenly turned their heads to look in the same direction, their expressions turning equally grave.
From that direction, a streak of light was shooting toward them at tremendous speed — a display of formidable power from whoever was coming.
Before the person had even arrived, a voice steeped in menace carried across the distance: "Young Master, do not panic — this old man has arrived!"
When the first word rang out, the figure was still nothing more than a tiny black dot on the horizon. By the time the last word fell, a half-aged elder had already appeared on the battlefield.
A thoroughly bizarre-looking fellow. Though well on in years, he wore a garish crimson robe with an absurd flamboyance that bordered on tastelessness. He wore a smile on his face, yet his expression was fierce — one glance was enough to give anyone the impression that this old man was bad news. Every inch of his fleshy, broad face radiated a brutal air, completely devoid of the gentle benevolence one would expect of a man his age.