The Jizi Army's cheers shook the heavens as Yao Si reorganized the ranks while sending word to Li Wuyi about the situation.
Moments later, Li Wuyi replied with a single word: Wait!
The Jizi Army immediately set to resting and recuperating outside the Coiling Dragon Great Formation. Those with Spirit Pills consumed them, the wounded bound their injuries, and everyone sat cross-legged in meditation.
Inside the Two-Realm Passage, Yang Kai's Wind Gourd wreaked havoc, cutting down the demons who surged ceaselessly from the Demon Domain. Off to the side, Zhui Feng and Dili were locked in a fierce battle.
Dili had originally been a Half-Saint under Yu Rumeng's command, second only to Bai Zhuo in her trust and an extremely powerful fighter. However, on the eve of the Battle of Zhoutian, Dili had colluded with Yue Sang and Yin Si, creating an opportunity for Yue Sang to kill Yang Kai. Unfortunately, they had underestimated Yang Kai's strength and the resources at his disposal. Not only had they failed, but they had also landed themselves in a heap of trouble.
During the Battle of Zhoutian, Yue Sang had been cut down by a single sword strike from Emperor Mingyue, dying on the spot. Yin Si and Dili had escaped with their lives, but Yang Kai had soon after traveled to Yin Si's territory and killed him single-handedly with a palm strike. Two of the Demon Race Half-Saints who had targeted him on the Zhoutian Continent were gone in an instant.
Fearing that Yu Rumeng would settle accounts with him, Dili had defected after the Battle of Zhoutian, fleeing to serve another Demon Saint. After that, he had vanished without a trace.
This time, he had come with the Demon Race's army and been stationed at the Two-Realm Passage as a precaution.
Yang Kai had fought his way here, but the moment he entered the Two-Realm Passage, Dili had caught him red-handed.
Dili had long had it out for Yang Kai. His betrayal of Yu Rumeng had been because of Yang Kai in the first place. Now that they met face to face, there was nothing to say—he immediately moved to kill.
Yang Kai had no choice but to release Zhui Feng to keep him occupied. At this point, all four Demon Race Half-Saints hidden in the Minor Mysterious Realm had been deployed. He had no more cards left to play—if yet another Half-Saint blocked his path, he would have no option but to turn back and seek Li Wuyi's aid.
Fortunately, Demon Race Half-Saints were not so common that they could be scattered about freely. While many had been deployed this time, most were bogged down on the battlefield, and four more had been held back by Yang Kai's four protectors. Where would they find any more?
Inside the Two-Realm Passage, Dili grew desperate, pouring everything he had into breaking through Zhui Feng's defense—but he could not succeed.
Though Zhui Feng's intelligence was limited, its strength was truly formidable. When they had first encountered Zhui Feng on the Hundred Spirits Continent, the Lian sisters had mentioned that years ago, a Demon Race Half-Saint had once offended Zhui Feng. The beast had relentlessly hunted the Half-Saint for three straight years, beating him so badly that he cried out in misery—until it ended in tragedy.
Dili was strong, but he was still within the realm of Half-Saint. When Zhui Feng flew into a frenzy, the terror it inspired was truly something else.
A demon and a beast, two Half-Saint-level existences, fought a desperate battle inside the Two-Realm Passage. The shockwaves from their clash swept outward, striking down many demons who had come from the Demon Domain, inadvertently easing the pressure on Yang Kai.
Right now, the Laws of Space surged around Yang Kai. He extended one hand forward, and invisible spatial force enveloped the entire void corridor. The passage, already pitch-black, descended into absolute chaos.
More than a decade ago, when Yang Kai had fled back from the Demon Domain, he had already been capable of sealing the Two-Realm Passage. Over the past ten-plus years, refining universes and forging worlds in the lower star fields, his comprehension and mastery of the Laws of Space had improved more than tenfold.
The link between the two great worlds was gradually being severed, and the colossal black hole hovering in the sky shrank at a pace visible to the naked eye.
On the battlefield, this spectacle was impossible to miss. Tens of millions of humans and demons watched it unfold with crystal clarity.
The expressions of many powerful demons shifted. They had watched Yang Kai charge into the Two-Realm Passage alone, and now, in barely any time, the passage was undergoing such dramatic changes. How could they not know what he was doing?
One after another, they began converging toward the Two-Realm Passage.
Did Li Wuyi intend to let them have their way? Long before this, the moment Yang Kai had charged into the Two-Realm Passage, the Coiling Dragon Great Formation had already begun to shift. The colossal dragon had previously connected head to tail in a great circle surrounding the battlefield. Now it coiled its body, leading with its head, arriving first at the Two-Realm Passage. The Jiazi Army took up positions around the passage, sworn to defend it to the last man—not letting a single demon draw near.
With Li Wuyi and the Coiling Dragon Great Formation blocking from the outside, the Wind Gourd striking from the inside, and no Demon Domain Half-Saint stepping forward, who could stop Yang Kai?
The black hole had been enormous, yet in the span of half a cup of tea it had shrunk by half, and in the time it took an incense stick to burn, it halved again.
Half an hour later, the black hole was only a few dozen zhang across.
Yang Kai's figure became visible, standing right beside the Two-Realm Passage with one hand extended forward, the Laws of Space rippling around him. Several li away, Zhui Feng and Dili were still locked in their bitter struggle.
Li Wuyi, engaged in fierce combat with a Demon Race Half-Saint, sensed that surge of power. He couldn't help turning to look back, and a bitter smile crossed his face. There was no need for comparison or verification—just by feeling those fluctuations in the Laws, he knew that in terms of mastery over the Laws of Space, Yang Kai had already surpassed him.
He tucked the bitter smile away and refocused. At this critical juncture when the Star Boundary's very survival hung in the balance, Yang Kai's breakthrough was nothing short of wonderful news.
Ten breaths later, the black hole—still several dozen zhang across—suddenly contracted, rapidly shrinking into a pinpoint of darkness. Yang Kai seized it in his palm.
When he opened his hand, even that needle-sized speck had vanished.
The Two-Realm Passage, which Can Ye had forced open by using himself as a bridge between the two worlds, had existed for only a few days before Yang Kai sealed it once more.
On the battlefield, the Star Boundary warriors who witnessed this scene erupted in jubilant cheers, their voices shaking the earth like thunder.
They might not have been able to take part in the major strategic decisions of the various armies, but after fighting on this battlefield for so long, how could they not understand the situation before them? So long as the Two-Realm Passage remained open, reinforcements from the Demon Race would keep pouring in endlessly. The demons could replenish their losses—the Star Boundary could not.