Spatial compression pressed in from all sides. Every inch of flesh bore tremendous pressure, and his bones crackled audibly. Yang Kai had always used the power of space to restrain and restrict his enemies' movements—now, facing Li Wuyi, he was finally learning what all those people he had bound before had felt.
The crushing spatial force pressing in from every direction was something the physical body simply could not withstand. If he kept forcing himself to endure, he would eventually be squeezed flat.
Yang Kai roared, and the Laws of Space surged across both palms as he slowly pushed outward to either side, as though shoving open a pair of invisible doors. With his movement, visible ripples spread outward from his hands in every direction.
The compressing spatial force immediately eased considerably.
A glint of appreciation appeared in Li Wuyi's eyes. His palms, which had been pressed together, suddenly flattened, and he drew a distant slash toward Yang Kai.
In the next instant, Yang Kai saw a spatial rift form abruptly around his midsection—as if it had always been there, only now revealing its vicious nature. His expression shifted. So the Laws of Space could be used like this, too.
Before he could marvel at Li Wuyi's ingenuity, the rift—only several feet long—had already sliced into Yang Kai's skin like an unstoppable blade. A sharp sting shot through him; even the body he took pride in struggled to defend against such an attack.
The compressing force still held him in place, making every step agonizing. There was no time to retreat now. In this moment between life and death, Yang Kai's mind was strangely calm, not a trace of panic showing as he reached out and grabbed the spatial rift.
His hand seized down, transforming into a dragon's claw, and the rift itself was caught directly in his grip. The several-foot-long tear squirmed and struggled like a pitch-black serpent, twisting and lashing, still trying to strike at Yang Kai.
His fist clenched, and the rift shattered.
Only someone who likewise commanded the Laws of Space with absolute mastery could accomplish such a feat. Anyone else who tried to touch a spatial rift rashly would meet a tragic end.
On the other side, seeing Yang Kai neutralize one of his lethal strikes so effortlessly, the appreciation in Li Wuyi's eyes deepened—though he concealed it well. The depths of those eyes remained cold as ice, as though he would not rest until Yang Kai was slain on this ground.
His flattened palms suddenly shifted apart, rotating slowly, grinding against each other…
Yang Kai's face changed drastically. The space around him had undergone an upheaval—the upper half of his space began rotating clockwise while the lower half turned counterclockwise. The rotation was slow but inexorable, and the result was a violent spatial displacement tearing through his body.
Yang Kai was instantly twisted into a grotesque posture, his upper and lower halves spinning in opposite directions, the bones within him groaning under the strain.
Shocked to his core, he once again invoked the Laws of Space, forcibly setting things right.
Hissing and tearing sounds rang out without cease. Centered on Yang Kai's position, within a radius of a hundred zhang, the void fell into utter chaos—countless tiny rifts flickered in and out of existence.
Li Wuyi's expression turned grave. His slowly rotating palms seemed to meet some tremendous resistance, their speed dwindling further and further until they gradually ground to a halt.
A furious roar erupted as the void exploded. Yang Kai's body, twisted like a dough rope, snapped back to normal. Li Wuyi's palms came together once more.
"My turn to take a strike!" Yang Kai had been battered relentlessly by Li Wuyi, who had shown not the slightest restraint. Yang Kai's temper flared. Regardless of what Li Wuyi's true intentions were, he couldn't simply keep taking the beating indefinitely.
Against this foremost expert beneath the Great Emperor—one who likewise commanded the Laws of Space—the best approach was to fight back, not flee. Running was useless against this man, and purely defending would only hasten his defeat. Only offense could serve as the best defense!
His ten fingers danced in rapid succession, and wave after wave of black crescent blades slashed toward Li Wuyi overhead. The final one was incomparably vast, harboring devastating power.
Facing the overwhelming onslaught, Li Wuyi's expression remained serene. He simply raised a hand and swept it lightly before himself, his movement elegant, as though brushing away dust. The power of the Laws of Space was smoothed flat, and the crescent blades dissipated one after another before they could even reach him. Only the last, enormous crescent blade made it to his front, but even that he deflected to the side, sending it flying past his body.
"Your Moon Blades are useless against me," Li Wuyi said, regarding Yang Kai with a calm tone.
He and Yang Kai had once discussed the Laws of Space together, exchanging insights on Cultivation. He was naturally no stranger to the Moon Blade—moreover, he had witnessed Yang Kai deploy this killing move with his own eyes on more than one occasion.
Yang Kai's expression did not change. He threw a punch: "Moon Blades are useless? Then how about this?"
As his words fell, a black sphere materialized before Li Wuyi. Within the sphere surged the aura of primordial chaos and void—the same as the breath of spatial rifts.
Li Wuyi raised an eyebrow, clearly sensing that this move's power far surpassed the Moon Blades. Eager to probe its mysteries, he extended his spiritual sense—only to have it devoured by the black sphere.
In the next instant, the sphere contracted violently, shrinking to a tiny black point. The world collapsed inward toward that point, and Li Wuyi, standing at the forefront, could not resist the collapsing force either. His entire body twisted as he was wrenched rapidly toward the black point.
With a flash, the black point vanished. The collapsing void disappeared, and on the plains below, a massive circular crater several dozen zhang across had appeared.