Leaping and weaving with his Spiritual Sense, Yang Kai quickly perceived things that his physical eyes had failed to notice.
The ten Great Demon Caves were anchored by the Demon Towers, which linked them together, allowing the demon armies to shuttle rapidly between them. Moreover, these ten Demon Towers appeared to be tightly interconnected with one another—destroying any single tower would require simultaneous destruction of all ten. Though the towers soared high into the sky, their construction method was a mystery; they were incomparably sturdy. No wonder even the two Dragon Clan Elders had been at a loss.
Though the two Elders' strength had grown tremendously, and a full-force assault from them might not necessarily fail to bring down a Demon Tower, the Demon Saints were not corpses—if Zhu Yan and Fu Zhun made such a move, they would surely rush over to intervene at once.
Probing deeper with his perception, Yang Kai quickly discovered that it was not only the ten Demon Towers that were linked together. Dense clusters of additional auras connected them as well.
A careful count revealed a staggering number: one hundred and eight.
Yang Kai's mind suddenly cleared, and he recalled the one hundred and eight Demon Caves that had appeared in the Star Boundary. Back then, those caves had manifested across the Star Boundary, but aside from the ten Great Demon Caves, the demons in the remaining ninety-eight had either been purged by the Star Boundary's armies or had abandoned their caves and departed.
Yet the Demon Caves and the corrupted Demon Soil had remained, and the Star Boundary's Heavenly Laws had been unable to repair the damage.
That number had long caused the Star Boundary's powerhouses to quietly maintain their vigilance. After all, one hundred and eight corresponded to the Heavenly Cycle—a figure that always made one wonder whether the demons harbored some scheme or conspiracy.
And now, it appeared that they truly did.
The demons had employed some unknown method, using these one hundred and eight Demon Caves as the foundation of a formation to secretly lay down a terrifying Earth-Shaking Grand Array. Once this array was activated, it would have the effect of devouring the Star Boundary whole.
This move had been set in motion by the demons as far back as the outbreak of the second war between the two realms. That it had only now been revealed spoke of plans of profound foresight.
In Yang Kai's perception, the one hundred and eight Demon Caves across the Star Boundary were currently expanding at a terrifying rate. In every instant, vast swaths of Star Boundary land were being transformed into Demon Soil, stripped of all spiritual essence.
The only thing Yang Kai could not quite understand was this: if the foundation of this grand array had been laid years ago, why had the demons waited until now to activate it?
What element had been missing that forced them to hold back for so many years?
He pushed his Spiritual Sense even deeper, stretching it out to its farthest reach, and suddenly, a series of shocking visions flashed through his mind before vanishing as quickly as they had appeared.
Yang Kai's eyes snapped open, his face a mask of horror: "Damn it!"
He reached out and seized the Azure Dragon Spear, then shot into the sky without a moment's warning. The spear flew straight as an arrow, carrying supreme might, aimed directly at the Demon Tower that pierced through the clouds.
The several Demon Half-Saints nearby were startled—none had anticipated that Yang Kai would erupt into sudden action. By the time they reacted, their expressions had already changed, and the Bone Demon Half-Saint bellowed: "Stop him!"
As the words left his mouth, the Half-Saints struck simultaneously, unleashing a barrage of demon artifacts and secret techniques all at once toward Yang Kai.
Though Yang Kai's body was enormous as a small mountain, he moved with eerie agility, flickering and darting as he evaded several devastating attacks, arriving before the Demon Tower in the blink of an eye.
Under the horrified gaze of those Half-Saints, Yang Kai—having gathered every ounce of his vital energy and spirit into his spear—drove it forward with savage force. At the tip of the spear, a massive black sphere spanning more than ten zhang in diameter had materialized, churning with violent Spatial Laws, a chaotic void that resembled the breath of a rift in space itself.
BOOM!
A shockwave rippled outward from the towering Demon Tower. The black sphere contracted violently, and heaven and earth collapsed inward toward it with devastating force.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—grating sounds that set teeth on edge echoed from within the Demon Tower.
A ferocious attack struck Yang Kai's shoulder. The tremendous force sent his colossal body hurtling through the air, yet even as he tumbled, his eyes remained wide open, locked unwaveringly on the Demon Tower's fate.
The massive black sphere contracted violently into a tiny black point that vanished in a flash. At the same time, where the Demon Tower had been struck, a colossal circular gap had appeared—nearly severing the entire tower in half.
Under the weight of this devastating blow, the Demon Tower became critically unstable. It swayed several times, and with a series of creaking, groaning sounds, tilted and toppled toward the ground.
The Half-Saints were struck with abject terror, their bodies and minds trembling. None had imagined that Yang Kai's attack could be so devastatingly powerful—a single strike had brought the Demon Tower to this state.
And the Demon Tower was the linchpin of the demons' grand plan at this very moment. If it was destroyed, how could the Demon Saints possibly spare them?
Yang Kai's brow was tightly furrowed. Watching the tower fall, he felt not the slightest hint of joy—instead, a sense of unease gnawed at him. Though his current strength was formidable, it was merely comparable to a Half-Saint at best. That all-out spear strike had truly expended every ounce of his power, which was precisely why he had been unable to dodge the enemy's attack moments ago.
But could such a strike really destroy the Demon Tower?
As far as he knew, the two Dragon Clan Elders had not been idle in their attempts against the Demon Towers—they had attacked before. Yet even with both Elders striking together, they had been unable to do anything to the towers in the short term.
Yang Kai was certain he was no match for Zhu Yan or Fu Zhun. If they had failed, how could he possibly succeed?
Yet the Demon Tower had indeed been sent reeling by his blow, and under his focused attention, the tilting tower held for fewer than a dozen breaths before crashing to the ground with a thunderous collapse.
The earth shuddered. Dust billowed into the air.
The Half-Saints' hands and feet had gone ice-cold, their faces pale as paper.
On the other side, Yang Kai closed his eyes and extended his Spiritual Sense outward in all directions.
A moment later, he clenched his teeth in a cold fury.