Yang Kai could clearly sense Zhui Feng's excitement. The creature seemed utterly in its element when it came to charging into battle and fighting. Considering it had once been Chang Tian's mount, accompanying the latter through countless years of warfare, that was hardly surprising.
The instinct for combat must have been branded into the very depths of its soul. Years of peaceful living had long since made it unable to contain the wild, restless heart within. Now that it had been given the opportunity, how could it not let loose?
It charged straight toward wherever the enemy was densest. Man and mount carved swathes of empty space through the opposing army, sending flesh and blood flying in all directions. Screams rose in unbroken succession, and even Demon Kings could not withstand Zhui Feng's charging momentum—those who were slow to dodge perished on the spot.
To complement Zhui Feng's assault, Yang Kai produced a long spear from his spatial ring with a flip of his hand. He had no idea when he'd obtained this particular spoil of war, and he had never refined it. All he could do now was wield it as an ordinary weapon, unable to draw out even a fraction of its true power.
Even so, supplemented by Yang Kai's own formidable physical constitution, a long spear in hand dealt devastating damage. He thrust, slashed, and hacked his way forward—blossoms of blood spraying with every strike, wails of agony rising all around.
A piercing, shrill sound suddenly rang out, transforming into an invisible force that broke straight through Yang Kai's Divine Sense defenses and drilled into his mind. It was the female Succubus Demon—having watched this lone rider tear through her forces unopposed, she had decided to come at him herself.
She was a Half-Saint by rank, and a Succubus by origin. That cry was laced with immense soul power.
Zhui Feng's stride faltered slightly, clearly affected to some degree. Yang Kai swayed even harder, nearly tumbling off Zhui Feng's back. Fortunately, the Warm Spirit Lotus emitted a surge of coolness at the critical moment, restoring him to clarity.
The sound of something cutting through the air reached his ears—a sharp attack bearing down from behind. Yang Kai instinctively raised his spear to deflect it, but the tremendous force numbed his arm, and the spear was knocked from his grip.
He glanced back to see the female Succubus with a mocking smile curling at the corner of her lips. Her soft whip had coiled around his spear and was swinging it in a wide arc overhead before slamming it down toward him. In an instant, the roar of wind and thunder erupted, and the aura of death crashed over him like a shroud.
Yang Kai squeezed his legs hard against Zhui Feng. In the span of a heartbeat, the creature spun its body, narrowly avoiding the blow.
BOOM—a massive crater split open in the ground. Demons on both sides, ally and enemy alike, were blasted away by the shockwave.
Before Yang Kai and Zhui Feng could recover, the soft whip was already lashing toward them again. Fortunately, Zhui Feng's reflexes were extraordinary. In the very instant it had pivoted, it was already charging toward the female Succubus.
What appeared clumsy was in fact a masterful evasion of the whip's strike. In the blink of an eye, they had closed to within ten zhang.
From his seat on Zhui Feng's back, Yang Kai could clearly see a flicker of panic flash through the Succubus Demon's eyes. Though she was a Half-Saint, both her race and the demonic artifact she wielded made it obvious she was no close-combat specialist. She needed distance to bring her full strength to bear. With Zhui Feng bearing down right in front of her, she could not help but feel a moment of alarm.
Still, she was a Half-Saint after all—composed enough under pressure by nature. A vicious gleam passed through those beautiful eyes. Ignoring Zhui Feng entirely, she looked straight up into Yang Kai's gaze, flicking her whip to form several looping circles that descended upon him.
Yang Kai flicked his wrist, and the Million Sword appeared in his hand. Channeling his Emperor Yuan, he sent a ribbon-like arc of sword light blasting upward.
But how could a Half-Saint's attack be so easily neutralized? The sword light dissipated after doing nothing more than slowing the whip's descent for a moment.
Seeing himself about to be ensnared, Yang Kai had no choice but to invoke the Laws of Space. He vanished in a teleport, reappearing elsewhere. If he allowed himself to be bound, he would lose all initiative. For now, relying on Zhui Feng, he could at least trade blows with the enemy—and perhaps give her some pain in the process.
Besides, separated from Yang Kai, Zhui Feng would be free to unleash its full strength. Their exchange had been brief, but Yang Kai could sense that Zhui Feng had been somewhat restrained in its movements—it had been trying to protect him.
On the opposing side, only this single Half-Saint posed any real threat to his safety. Apart from the Succubus Demon, everyone else was beneath his notice.
He reappeared in the open air, hovering in the void, and gazed toward the battle a hundred zhang away. Zhui Feng and the female Succubus were locked in fierce combat. Zhui Feng's attacks were about as straightforward as they could be—charges, bites, tail swipes, and the occasional hoof strike. The Succubus, by contrast, deployed an ever-changing array of secret techniques, her soft whip dancing through an endless repertoire of tricks. And yet, the two remained dead even.
This spoke volumes about Zhui Feng's strength among Half-Saints. It was at the very least somewhat superior to this Succubus Demon; otherwise, it could never have held its ground. Given enough time, with its stamina and endurance, it would inevitably gain the upper hand.
After all, it had once chased a Half-Saint for ages, hammering them until their cultivation had actually dropped before it finally relented. A feat like that required no small amount of stamina and staying power.
Below, the millions-strong demonic armies were locked in a grinding melee. Demons fell in death on both sides without cease. Yang Kai's mind drifted for a moment in a daze of disbelief—how had things turned into this?
He had brought two million soldiers here not to clash with other Half-Saints, but to see whether, at the critical moment, he might be able to put this army to some use.
Things having come to this was partly due to his own poor handling of the situation, but the main culprit was the other side's sheer aggressiveness. They had opened fire without the slightest provocation, killing a number of his men, leaving him no choice but to fight back.