"Alright, alright, don't be angry. Anger's bad for your health. Can't I just apologize to you?"
Yang Kai glanced at her sideways. "I don't see a shred of sincerity in that apology."
Yu Rumeng said, "Then what kind of sincerity are you looking for?"
Yang Kai beckoned her with a finger. Yu Rumeng leaned in close, and Yang Kai whispered a few words into her ear.
Yu Rumeng immediately shot him a coy glare, though she nodded anyway. "Sure."
"A promise is a promise — and those were your words!" Yang Kai's face lit up with delight.
"Mine indeed." Yu Rumeng nodded readily. "As long as you can win, do whatever you want!"
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned. Win against you? You're a Demon Saint — how could I possibly beat you? He glared angrily. "You're messing with me!"
Yu Rumeng let out a tinkling laugh, her lithe figure swaying as she transformed into a streak of light and shot forward, tossing a provocative glance over her shoulder as she called back, "Come chase me! If you catch me, I might just give you a little treat."
"A wife beaten is a house turned upside down!" Yang Kai bared his teeth in a grin, the Laws of Space rippling around him as his figure flickered and vanished from the spot, giving chase at full speed.
Two figures, one ahead and one behind, streaked across the void at tremendous velocity. Though Yang Kai pushed his mastery of space to its limits, Yu Rumeng's strength was unfathomable now that her cultivation had fully recovered. He simply could not close the distance, trailing behind her in a cloud of dust the entire time, which left him thoroughly exasperated.
A full hour later, Yu Rumeng finally stopped, hovering in the void. She tilted her head back slightly, spread her arms wide as though to embrace the entire world, and took a deep, long breath of air.
Yang Kai came bobbing up from behind with a sway of his head.
"We're finally back," Yu Rumeng exhaled, a look of utter satisfaction on her face.
Yang Kai turned to glance at her, then looked down at the shattered continent below them and spoke. "You once said you'd take me somewhere. This is it — the Demon Realm?"
Yu Rumeng nodded. "That's right."
"The great Demon Saint herself didn't hesitate to use the Heart Seal technique on me. It seems my Laws of Space are quite attractive to the Demon Realm," Yang Kai said with a chuckle.
Yu Rumeng smiled. "The Laws of Space are a truly extraordinary power. The Demon Realm has no shortage of people, but not a single one has mastered them. In the Star Boundary, only you and Li Wuyi possess deep attainments in this path. Li Wuyi is a Pseudo-Emperor — not so easy to deal with — so I could only turn to you."
Yang Kai snorted coldly. "So you pick on the soft one?"
Yu Rumeng tilted her head and looked at him. "I even sacrificed myself for this. What more could you possibly have to complain about?"
Yang Kai said, "It's not that I'm unhappy. Being held in such high regard by a major figure of the Demon Race is quite the honor. I'm just a little puzzled — if you're a Demon Saint, why not simply abduct me back to the Demon Realm in the first place? Why go through all this trouble?"
"You think I didn't want to?" Yu Rumeng said helplessly. "But with the Secret Art to alter my appearance, I could only exert the strength of the second-level Emperor Realm back in the Star Boundary. How could I possibly be a match for you? If you hadn't been willing, there was no way I could have brought you to the Demon Realm."
"So that's how it was." Yang Kai suddenly understood, secretly counting his lucky stars. His own plans and Yu Rumeng's intentions had coincided to some degree, or else breaking into the Demon Realm wouldn't have been nearly so easy.
After a moment's thought, he said, "So what do you want me to do? Help you set up Spatial Arrays and move the Demon Army?"
"Can you manage that?" Yu Rumeng asked, looking at him with surprise.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head. "I can't. My Spatial Arrays only function within a single world. The Demon Realm is special — it's made up of one shattered realm after another. Even if I set up a Spatial Array, they can't be linked together. So if you brought me here for that purpose, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed — unless my attainments in the Laws of Space deepen enough to break through the barrier of world-force between the sub-realms."
Yu Rumeng smiled. "I already anticipated that, so rest easy. Setting up Spatial Arrays isn't what I need. With the World Gates in place, mobilizing the Demon Army is still quite convenient — it just takes a bit more time."
"Then what exactly do you want me to do?" Yang Kai furrowed his brow.
"I'll tell you when the time comes."
Seeing Yang Kai's displeased expression, Yu Rumeng quickly changed the subject. "Want to see my true face?"
Having disguised herself as Li Shiqing with a Secret Art, she naturally appeared as Li Shiqing. Now that she had returned to the Demon Realm and recovered, a peculiar force still shrouded her features, leaving them hazy and impossible to see clearly — unless someone's power exceeded hers and could use Divine Sense to pierce that veil.
She had mentioned before, though, that her real appearance was nothing worse than Li Shiqing's — only better.
Then again, she was a Charm Demon, and a Demon Saint at that. Her looks could hardly be anything less than stunning.
"No!" Quite contrary to Yu Rumeng's expectations, Yang Kai actually raised a hand to refuse.
Yu Rumeng was taken aback. "Why? Afraid I'm too ugly?"
Yang Kai said with easy candor, "Even if you were as ugly as a pig, you'd still be a treasure in my heart. So what you look like makes no difference to me."
"Your tongue is so sweet — no wonder you've managed to fool so many women." Yu Rumeng snorted, then reached out and grabbed Yang Kai by the chin, turning his face toward her just as he had done to her back in the Star Boundary. "If you won't look, then I'll make you look."