The Demon Race Half-Saint who had led the demon army to attack Lingxiao Palace was no weakling. Originally a Stone Demon, he possessed formidable natural defenses. But facing the combined assault of four Half-Saints—Bai Zhuo, Bo Ya, and the Lian sisters—alone, how could he have fared well?
While the Jizi Army charged back and forth, cutting down the invading enemies, the Stone Demon Half-Saint had already been slain on the spot by Bai Zhuo and the others. His defenses were indeed outstanding, but they were all Half-Saints—when you have an unbreakable shield, I bring a sharper spear. One against four could only end in tragedy.
Even so, Bo Ya had sustained no minor injuries. When the Stone Demon Half-Saint saw that escape was impossible and launched a desperate counterattack, even four Half-Saints fighting together couldn't walk away unscathed.
With the Stone Demon Half-Saint dead, the demon army—which had already been at a severe disadvantage—fell into even greater chaos. No matter how brave one might be, no one who could still live would willingly seek death. The demons scattered and fled in every direction.
The Jizi Army pursued them for a thousand li before sounding the retreat.
When Yang Kai next saw Bo Ya, he was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his face deathly pale, with a bloody hole in his abdomen that had nearly pierced clean through his body.
"How is it?" Yang Kai asked.
Bo Ya opened his eyes and shook his head weakly. "I won't die, but I'll probably need a year or two to recover."
Yang Kai said, "Right now, the finest Alchemists in the entire Star Boundary have gathered in my Lingxiao Palace. We have the best spirit pills. Recover here within the palace, and while you're at it, keep an eye on things for me."
Bo Ya naturally had no objection to this arrangement. Yang Kai immediately had Hua Qingsi escort him into the palace and settle him in properly.
"My Lord, look around us..." Yao Si stepped forward, his expression grave as he spoke in a low voice.
Yang Kai didn't need the reminder—he had already noticed the anomaly. This battle had killed a great number of demons. In other words, at this very moment, outside Lingxiao Palace, demon corpses blanketed every hill and plain as far as the eye could see.
In the past, dead demons were just dead demons—nothing remarkable. But now, demonic energy was seeping from these corpses. If it had been one or two, that would have been one thing, but when every single fallen demon was the same, it became terrifying. Two to three hundred thousand demon corpses, all emanating an eerie demonic miasma, drifting in a particular direction under the pull of some invisible force.
Outside Lingxiao Palace, demonic energy churned and darkness blanketed everything. Even under a clear sky, it felt as though one were standing in the dead of night.
Yang Kai followed the direction of the drifting demonic energy with his gaze. In the sky above, a colossal ink-black stain sprawled across the horizon, as if someone had splashed a basin of black ink across a painting of blue sky and white clouds.
Below the dark blot lay nothing but Demon Earth.
The stain was some distance from Lingxiao Palace—at least several thousand li away—but its sheer scale was enormous. Even from this far, it appeared as large as a millstone in Yang Kai's field of vision. One could only imagine how vast it would seem up close.
Yang Kai frowned. A patch of Demon Earth appearing several thousand li from Lingxiao Palace—identical to the situation near the Western Domain battlefield. And across the entire Star Boundary, who knew how many more areas had been corrupted into Demon Earth?
The Jizi Army had just fought a major battle and was resting. They wouldn't have any fighting strength for the time being.
Yang Kai pondered for a moment and was about to go scout the situation when Hua Qingsi came rushing over. "Palace Master, the branch sect has come under attack! Additionally, Warmaster Wen of the Qingyang Divine Temple has requested reinforcements—a demon army is attacking the temple with a Half-Saint among them. No one in the temple can match them!"
Yang Kai's expression turned cold.
A great battle in the Western Domain had brought a major victory to the Star Boundary. He had thought it would be the decisive battle, but the chaos had only just begun. Now the entire Star Boundary felt like a house with its roof torn open—leaking and drafty from every direction, giving one the unmistakable sensation of being on the verge of collapse. For both Lingxiao Palace and the Qingyang Divine Temple to suffer such attacks, one could only imagine what was happening to the other Sects.
There was no time to mobilize the Jizi Army again. Yang Kai gave it only a brief thought before issuing his orders. "All Emperors and above who still have the strength to fight—come with me to the branch sect." He turned to the Lian sisters. "I'll trouble you two to go to the Qingyang Divine Temple and hold the line. I'll head over shortly."
The Lian sisters had no objections. With Chang Tian absent, they could only follow Yang Kai's lead.
Yang Kai had a Void Spirit Bead linked to Gao Xueting. He immediately channeled the bead's power, sending the Lian sisters to Gao Xueting's side. Then he collected the gathered Emperors into his Profound Worlds Bead, shifted his body, and arrived at the spatial formation in the blink of an eye.
Stepping onto the formation, the laws of space rippled, and he materialized at the southern branch sect.
Lingxiao Palace had one hundred thousand disciples—far too many to accommodate. Even though the palace occupied a vast area, it couldn't hold them all. Half the disciples had been stationed at the branch sect, a full fifty thousand.
However, the branch sect's situation mirrored what the main palace had faced before: no powerhouses to hold the fort, relying solely on the sect-protecting grand formation to fend off enemies.
When Yang Kai arrived, the branch sect's formation was booming ceaselessly under the assault, though it still held firm with no signs of breaking. This was mainly because Yang Kai had arrived so quickly—the demon army had barely begun their attack before he appeared. Had he been any later, the branch sect's formation absolutely would not have held for long.
The branch sect disciples were holding up well emotionally—panicked but not panicked into disorder. Under the direction of their more senior brothers and sisters, they were organizing their formations, ready to engage the enemy the moment the formation fell.
They had no idea that Yang Kai had appeared at the spatial formation.
With time pressing, Yang Kai couldn't spare a moment to speak with the branch sect disciples. He flashed through the sect's protective grand formation in an instant, planting himself directly in the midst of the demon army. A single sweep of his divine sense, and he had a thorough read on this demon force's strength and composition.