"There's a road to Heaven you won't take, but no door to Hell you won't barge into!" The Shadow Demon let out a low, cold laugh before his form faded and vanished from the spot.
"Qianchong, where are you going?" a Half-Saint called out.
"To kill!" The Shadow Demon Half-Saint's voice drifted back from the direction of the massive ink-black dot.
The moment those words left his lips, the Half-Saints raised their eyebrows, suddenly realizing what that strange sensation had been. Throughout this entire battle, they hadn't caught a single glimpse of that Yang Kai fellow! Logically speaking, Yang Kai held a high rank among the humans—some kind of army commander—and in a battle of this magnitude, there was no way he would sit it out.
Recalling how the human army had moved just moments ago, it wasn't hard to figure it out: the army's assault was a feint. Its real purpose had been to draw their attention away.
That human brat was well-versed in the Laws of Space. If he'd slipped into the Demon Domain amid the chaos, it was perfectly plausible.
"Mastering the power of Space makes him hard to kill! Qianchong tried once before and came back empty-handed." A Half-Saint frowned.
"If he really has infiltrated the Demon Domain, this is exactly when he'd be letting his guard down, drunk on success. It might be worth a shot."
"Let's hope so. But that human brat has a Space Artifact, and he always has those traitors guarding him."
"Boya Baizhuo and that strange stone man were both seen on the battlefield just now—they're not at his side. He probably only brought that beast Zhuifeng this time. If Qianchong strikes, even the two of us would have trouble defending against it. As long as that brat lets his attention slip even slightly, Qianchong has an excellent chance of success."
"Fair point. Let's hope Qianchong brings back good news."
With that, the Half-Saints fell silent, their attention fixed on the human army's movements, ready to repel any counterattack at a moment's notice.
The Shadow Demon race was born with an innate gift for concealment and assassination—just as rabbits ate grass and wolves hunted flesh, it was instinct encoded in their very bodies. Among the Shadow Demons, those who had reached the Half-Saint level were the absolute apex of their craft.
Qianchong masked his form and aura, passed through the colossal ink-black dot in the sky, and slipped silently back into the Demon Domain.
His suspicion that Yang Kai had infiltrated the Demon Domain was nothing more than a guess—he genuinely hadn't spotted the man on the battlefield just now—but he couldn't be entirely certain of the truth.
The moment he returned to the Demon Domain, however, he knew his guess had been right.
The place where he materialized bore unmistakable traces of Yang Kai's aura. Qianchong's heart surged with wild joy. Yang Kai was someone every Half-Saint and Demon Saint despised to the bone. The brat had mastered the Laws of Space, and while his combat strength was mediocre, his ability to flee was second to none. After the Battle of Zhoutian all those years ago, even when the Demon Saints had personally given chase, they'd been unable to do a thing about him.
Later, the man had wreaked havoc across the Demon Domain, carved up its territories, turned three Demon Saint-level powerhouses to his cause along with countless other demons—and that had only deepened their hatred.
Before the invasion of the Star Boundary, the Demon Saints had decreed it: whoever brought them Yang Kai's head would receive personal instruction from the Demon Saints themselves, helping them ascend to the peak of cultivation.
Had the reward been something ordinary, the Half-Saints might not have been tempted. But personal guidance from the Demon Saints? Who wouldn't burn with envy?
This merit is mine! Qianchong thought to himself, though he betrayed no excitement. A skilled assassin could control the fluctuations of his heart with perfect precision, leaving not the faintest ripple on the surface.
There was no need to carefully trace the trail. He simply looked up—and there was Yang Kai, riding Zhuifeng a mere three li away, ambling forward at an unhurried pace as though he were strolling through the Demon Domain on holiday, utterly at ease.
At that distance, for someone like Qianchong, they might as well have been face to face. The killing blow could be struck in an instant.
But before he could make his move, Yang Kai—the man three li away—turned his head and flashed a brilliant smile directly toward where Qianchong stood. It was a smile brimming with the unmistakable satisfaction of a scheme perfectly executed.
Qianchong's heart lurched. Instinct screamed that something was wrong, but before he could react, his body slammed into a layer of gentle force. The force was invisible, utterly imperceptible, laid down with such cunning that Qianchong hadn't detected it in the slightest.
The force carried no lethal power—it had clearly been placed as a detection ward—but the moment he struck it, his hidden form was instantly revealed.
"I've been waiting quite some time!" A voice came from the side, and with it, a figure stepped out of the void in a single stride. Clad in pristine white robes, one hand clasped behind his back, his expression serene and composed—the bearing of a grandmaster in every sense.
Li Wuyi! Qianchong's hair stood on end. His eyes went wide, his mind flooding with questions: How is he here?!
In the Star Boundary, the number of Pseudo-Emperors was not large—they couldn't compare to the demon race's Half-Saints. Even accounting for subordinates like Yu Rumeng and the others, the Star Boundary's Pseudo-Emperor count still fell short of the demon side's, though not by an insurmountable margin.
Among all those Pseudo-Emperors, Li Wuyi was by far the most renowned—and the one the Half-Saints feared most.
At least three Half-Saints had died at his hands. He was a being who stood above all other Pseudo-Emperors and Half-Saints alike, the undisputed first beneath the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary. That reputation was no empty boast.
Qianchong was formidable enough to look down upon every other Pseudo-Emperor in the Star Boundary, but he absolutely did not dare underestimate Li Wuyi.