The sound came from the Emperor's Remains in Lord Wind's hand. That rib, roughly a foot long, suddenly shattered — its front half disintegrating into fine powder and vanishing. At the same instant, Yang Kai felt Lord Wind, who had been right before his eyes, suddenly become thousands upon thousands of miles away.
His full-power strike and the Dharma Body's Demon Soldier war hammer both hit nothing but empty air. When he looked up again, Lord Wind's silhouette had already merged into the outline of the Temple of Time. He seemed to have entered an entirely different world, gazing back at Yang Kai through a transparent barrier between realms.
Standing before that magnificent gate, beneath the plaque of the Temple of Time, Lord Wind's expression was savage as he snarled through gritted teeth: "Yang Kai, you have ruined my plans! Once I emerge from my seclusion, I will slaughter every last soul in your Lingxiao Palace!"
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes. How could he not understand? Lord Wind had already entered the Realm of Four Seasons.
The time had not yet come, and the Realm of Four Seasons would not ordinarily open so easily. But Qiong Qi had been able to enter it before, which proved that this minor world was not completely sealed — there were other ways in.
Lord Wind had mastered one of them.
When the grand formation had been interrupted moments ago, the gradually materializing outline of the Temple of Time had frozen in place. Now, using the Emperor's Remains as a medium to send himself into the Realm of Four Seasons, the Temple of Time was slowly fading, retreating back into obscurity.
Lord Wind had set up a grand formation here and brought the Emperor's Remains with him. His original plan had presumably been to summon the Temple of Time out of the Realm of Four Seasons and refine it into his own personal palace. But with Yang Kai leading the Demon Race Half-Saints to crash the proceedings, that plan was no longer viable.
He could only settle for a lesser goal — entering the Temple of Time himself. That was why he harbored such deep hatred for Yang Kai, and why he had uttered such vicious words.
Judging by the situation, the moment that outline vanished completely would be the moment the Realm of Four Seasons was completely severed from the Star Boundary.
The Temple of Time was receding rapidly. In the time it took Lord Wind to speak a single sentence, the outline had nearly disappeared entirely.
Yang Kai took a step forward, the Laws of Space surging around him as his divine sense spread forward like a rising tide. At the same time, he called out: "You stay!"
The words were directed at the Dharma Body. He had been unable to enter the Realm of Four Seasons before because he couldn't locate its spatial beacon in the void. Now, leveraging the lingering connection between the Realm of Four Seasons and the Star Boundary — still faintly linked through Lord Wind and the Emperor's Remains — his mastery of the Laws of Space should allow him to breach the minor world's barrier and pursue Lord Wind.
No matter what Lord Wind was plotting, as one of the four great envoys of the Demonic Heaven Dao, Yang Kai could not simply turn a blind eye upon encountering him. Besides, Yang Kai still had people inside the Realm of Four Seasons.
But while he could give chase, the Dharma Body could not leave.
Bai Zhuo and Bo Ya had been struck by an Emperor-grade technique and turned into immobilized statues, requiring someone to look after them. Yang Kai could certainly bring them both back into the Small Sealed World, but the Emperor Realm cultivators of the Demonic Heaven Dao were not all dead yet — the Dharma Body had to stay behind to handle the aftermath.
The Dharma Body understood the gravity of the situation and knew it could not follow. It nodded immediately: "Be careful."
No one understood the Main Body's capabilities better than it did. Even though Lord Wind was a Pseudo-Emperor, the Dharma Body was not overly worried. Moreover, Lord Wind had repeatedly activated the techniques sealed within the Emperor's Remains and consumed a great deal of energy in the process — how much strength he could still muster was uncertain.
Furthermore, the Realm of Four Seasons not only held the two little ones, Yang Xue and Yang Xiao, but also powerful figures like Liu Yan and Qiong Qi. Lord Wind might not know this, but the Dharma Body certainly did. Lord Wind probably thought that fleeing into the Realm of Four Seasons meant safety, when in truth he was charging straight into a dragon's den. The Dharma Body could only wonder what his reaction would be when he ran into them. It would surely be… quite the pleasant surprise.
Communicating with the Dharma Body had its advantages — no need for lengthy explanations. A single thought was enough to convey everything.
But in that brief exchange, the outline of the Temple of Time had vanished entirely, and Lord Wind's figure along with it.
Somewhere in the unseen fabric of reality, the connection between the Realm of Four Seasons and the Star Boundary was about to be severed completely.
As the Laws of Space churned, Yang Kai took three steps forward. With the first two steps, he remained standing in place — he hadn't moved at all, which looked utterly bizarre. But with the third step, he vanished without a trace.
The Dharma Body simultaneously lost its mental link with Yang Kai and knew that he had entered the Realm of Four Seasons.
A battle between a Pseudo-Emperor and multiple Half-Saints had begun abruptly and ended just as swiftly. It was only now that Master Sun, who had been watching from the sidelines this whole time, turned pale, spun around, and tried to flee.
A figure had already blocked his path. Zhou Quan stood there with an icy expression, gripping two massive bronze hammers — a textbook case of one man holding the pass against ten thousand. "Where do you think you're going, Master Sun?"
When the grand formation first activated, Zhou Quan had reversed his circulation technique, forcing a mouthful of blood out of himself to break free from the formation. That had been Yang Kai's suggestion. If he had waited until the formation reached full operation, escaping would have been nearly impossible.
Looking at the Emperor Realm cultivators scattered on the ground around them, it was clear enough — had someone of Zhou Quan's cultivation been caught in the formation, he would at best be severely injured even if not dead.
By breaking free early, he had preserved his life. Among all the Emperor Realm cultivators present, aside from Master Sun, he was in the best condition.
Master Sun, while deeply accomplished in the Dao of Formations and possessing a first-level Emperor Realm cultivation, was terrible at actual combat. With a Demon Race Half-Saint already eyeing him from nearby and now Zhou Quan blocking his escape, Master Sun's face immediately betrayed panic. He blustered with false bravado: "Get out of my way, or I won't show mercy!"
Zhou Quan shook his head slowly. "Until Palace Master Yang returns, Master Sun, I'm afraid you'll have to stay." He did not immediately attack. His own experience was the perfect example — as long as the Demon Blood's essence could be extracted from his body, the Demonic Heaven Dao cultivators would naturally see reason and stop serving the Demon Race. Unless they had willingly and genuinely defected to the demons, those whose natures had been twisted by the secret art could usually be brought back from the brink.
He didn't know the specifics of everyone's situation, but he had heard before that this Master Sun had also been captured by the Demon Race and implanted with a secret art — a thrall, just like the rest.
Words were useless. Master Sun made his move without hesitation, flinging a jade token that shot toward Zhou Quan like a bolt.