There were far more species of sea demons than land demons, and they were far more diverse as well. This giant clam was clearly a sea demon — and judging by its aura, it had already reached the Demon King realm, possessing considerable cultivation.
Born in the sea, raised in the sea, the giant clam's movement techniques were second nature in the water, and its speed was naturally tremendous. How could Yang Xue possibly keep up?
Yang Kai didn't know what the little girl wanted with a sea demon, and before he could ask, Yang Xiao let out a hearty laugh: "Don't worry, Little Aunt — leave this one to me!"
The instant the words left his mouth, he shapeshifted into a three-zhang white dragon. His dragon body was translucent as jade, flawlessly white and pristine, strikingly beautiful. Having revealed his true form, Yang Xiao turned into a streak of white light and shot after the giant clam — and his speed was actually far greater than the clam's.
Though Yang Xiao was not a water dragon, plunging into the great ocean was like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. Across this boundless sea, there were precious few creatures that could outpace a dragon in a race.
With him in pursuit, that giant clam was doomed — no road to the heavens, no gate to the earth would save it.
As he chased, Yang Xiao also cast his voice forward with a technique: "Please stop ahead, friend! We have matters to discuss with you!"
The sea demon clam replied: "Where does this brat come from, not knowing the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth, daring to chase after your grandpa? If you know what's good for you, halt at once — or else your grandpa will eat you!"
Its tone was utterly vicious, yet it fled even faster.
Yang Xiao was furious: "You bastard, you're courting death!" He opened his mouth and roared — the sound becoming a dragon's cry — and his speed surged.
He had spoken politely and reasonably, and who could have expected to be met with such vicious words? Granted, it was their own people who had given chase first over a disagreement, but this clam demon had the audacity to call itself "grandpa" left and right — that was far too much. He was a dragon, after all, and had already revealed his true dragon form. What demon would dare claim seniority over him like that?
And moreover, his adoptive father Yang Kai was right behind them. This clam demon had effectively insulted his adoptive father too!
The dragon and the clam demon, one chasing and one fleeing through the sea, soon vanished from sight. Yang Kai pondered for a moment, then chose not to pursue — not because he couldn't catch up. With the Laws of Space at his command, what did a few tens of thousands of feet of ocean depth matter? If he wanted to catch them, a handful of Spatial Shuttling would cut off the sea demon's path in an instant.
He refrained because he wanted to see what Yang Xiao could do. Inside the Temple of Years, he had thrashed Feng Jun like a dog, but Feng Jun had already been at the end of his rope back then — the Infinite Hourglass stolen, his mind shattered, hardly a real contest. Now encountering a sea demon would be a proper test of Yang Xiao's strength.
Still, he quietly attached a wisp of divine sense to Yang Xiao's body. If the brat truly couldn't handle it, a father would naturally step in to fight alongside him.
"Why are we chasing it?" Yang Kai turned his head to look at Yang Xue and sent her a voice transmission.
Yang Xue's eyes were blindingly bright: "That clam demon has Master's remains — most likely another bone."
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. When he'd first received Yang Xue's message, he'd suspected she had found something. Now, hearing her explanation, he realized the discovery was real.
Others might not have noticed anything unusual about the clam demon, but Yang Xue was the successive disciple of the Emperor of Years. Having cultivated the Emperor's wondrous techniques, she had detected a faint aura on the demon from a great distance — an aura so deeply concealed that only someone who had cultivated the power of Time could perceive it.
Yang Xiao had sensed it too when he arrived, which was why he hadn't asked a single question and had simply given chase.
Qiong Qi was torn between excitement and grief: "Can the young master be certain?" He was excited because this vast ocean truly still held the Emperor's remains. He was grieved because their old master, after death, had suffered the indignity of being scattered apart. Feng Jun had obtained one bone from the Island of Passage, this clam demon held another, and the remaining bones were scattered who knew where.
"How could Xue'er dare be careless about Master's affairs?" Yang Xue said solemnly.
There was nothing more to discuss. Since they could all confirm that the clam demon possessed something belonging to the Emperor of Years, then it was time to chase.
Half a day later, Yang Kai raised an eyebrow and smiled: "They've stopped."
He had attached a wisp of divine sense to Yang Xiao, so he could sense a faint impression of the situation over there. Right now, Yang Xiao had clearly halted — presumably he had caught up with the clam demon. But as for the specifics, whether they were locked in a standoff or already fighting, Yang Kai would need to go and see for himself.
He surged his Demonic Energy, enveloping Yang Xue, Qiong Qi, and Liu Yan within it. Then he channeled the power of the Spirit Pearl, the Laws of Space surging around them as they tore through the void, arriving directly at Yang Xiao's side.
They hadn't started fighting yet — they were in a standoff.
Outside a magnificent palace, a barrier of light shimmered into a protective screen. The palace was not large, perhaps a hundred zhang across at most. At this moment, standing before the palace was a short, stocky man glaring outward with a ferocious expression. His arms and legs were stubby, his head large and perched atop a short torso, completely bald with no hair to speak of, and his neck was short too — he looked rather comical. Even more comical was the pair of clamshell halves flanking him on either side. At a glance, those two shells looked for all the world like a pair of wings.
It went without saying that this squat fellow was none other than the clam demon Yang Xiao had been chasing.
This underground palace at the bottom of the sea was his dwelling. Behind the clam demon stood more of his kind — both male and female. The males were just like him: bald heads, short and stocky frames. The females, however, were uniformly beautiful as flowers, with flowing hair, tall and graceful figures. The pair of shell-wings at their sides gently opened and closed, truly resembling wings.
Despite being the same clam tribe, the males and females looked as though they belonged to entirely different species.