What a terrifying Heavenly killing formation—Yang Kai broke into a cold sweat.
Using the Primordial Origin Liquid as bait to lure people in to investigate, it gradually ensnared their minds and drew them into an illusion so profound that even pseudo-emperors and half-sages could not awaken from it, ultimately perishing right here.
The Profound Heavens Temple, this secret realm of Heaven and Earth, held not only endless opportunities but also unpredictable dangers. Throughout the ages, of the pseudo-emperors who participated in the battle for the Great Dao, those who ultimately survived numbered essentially no more than a third. The ones who died here included those killed in combat when they were outmatched, and those who perished in these very kinds of Heavenly killing formations.
And there were many such people.
There were five cocoon-like objects here. Apart from Bing Yun, whom Yang Kai could see, the remaining four were tightly wrapped up—but Yang Yan had to be one of them.
The eeriness of this place was such that even a veteran pseudo-emperor like Yang Yan could not resist it. One could only imagine what would happen to anyone else who came here. Yang Kai figured that the reason he remained unharmed was most likely because he carried a portion of the Star Boundary's will of Heaven and Earth within him.
The Profound Heavens Temple was a secret realm born alongside the very creation of Heaven and Earth, a place where the Great Dao competed. The sliver of Heavenly destiny that lurked in the unseen should be watching the progress of events here at every moment.
Yang Kai had previously complained that this invisible, intangible will of Heaven and Earth clinging to him was utterly useless. He never expected it to prove so effective so quickly.
This Heavenly killing formation was not entirely ineffective against him—he could tell from the results of his earlier deliberate contact with those threads. He too would be affected. It was only because of the Warm Divine Lotus that he did not lose himself within it. As for why the threads did not actively reach for him, it was probably because they sensed the aura of the will of Heaven and Earth. This was, after all, a Heavenly killing formation. The will of Heaven and Earth within Yang Kai allowed him to evade the hostility of the formation itself, which in turn prevented the threads from making contact with him of their own accord.
It seemed that here in the Profound Heavens Temple, this will of Heaven and Earth within him was not entirely useless—he simply hadn't discovered its uses yet. Once he figured this out, Yang Kai found himself rather curious about what kind of assistance the will of Heaven and Earth might provide him in the battles to come.
But first things first—he needed to rescue Yang Yan and Bing Yun.
He strode forward quickly and arrived before Bing Yun. His hands transformed into dragon claws, and he tore apart the threads wrapped around her, pulling her free before long.
However, Bing Yun did not immediately regain consciousness. Her eyes remained shut, and a smile lingered at the corner of her lips, as though she had glimpsed something wonderful.
Left with no choice, Yang Kai placed her into the Small Profound World, planning to revisit the situation once she awoke.
The second cocoon was quickly ripped open by Yang Kai. He took a close look, and a grin spread across his face.
Inside this cocoon was none other than a Demon Race half-sage—by the looks of it, a Corpse Demon. The moment the cocoon was torn, a wave of putrid stench blasted into his face.
His earlier conjecture had been correct. Among these five cocoons, there were indeed Demon Race half-sages. When Bing Yun had left here previously, only Yang Yan had been present. The other four must have arrived afterward, only to suffer the same fate.
Opportunities to beat a drowning dog did not come often. They were mortal enemies, so Yang Kai felt no mercy whatsoever. He first stripped the spatial ring from the Corpse Demon, then threw a punch straight at it. Under the Collapse Art, a black sphere flashed briefly and vanished—the Corpse Demon, cocoon and all, disappeared without a trace.
Eliminating a half-sage so effortlessly lifted Yang Kai's spirits considerably.
The third cocoon contained a human pseudo-emperor—one of the fifty-five legion commanders of the Star Boundary, Gan Li. Yang Kai knew of him, but they had no real relationship; the total number of words exchanged between them did not exceed three.
Since fate had brought him here, Yang Kai conveniently rescued him as well, tucking him into the Small Profound World.
The fourth cocoon held yet another Demon Race half-sage. Yang Kai repeated the process and granted it liberation.
Only when the fifth cocoon was torn open did Yang Yan's figure appear. Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had genuinely worried about what to do if the person inside the fifth cocoon turned out not to be Yang Yan. Fortunately, that scenario did not materialize.
Without expending any real effort, he had annihilated two Demon Race half-sages and rescued three pseudo-emperors from the Star Boundary. Yang Kai was in excellent spirits. By his count, since the battle for the Great Dao had begun, the number of half-sages who had perished at his hands already exceeded four—a record that even Li Wuyi probably could not have achieved in person.
Much of it was due to luck, but then again, was luck not one of the powers that allowed a warrior to climb to the peak of martial cultivation?
He turned his gaze back to the pool of milky-white liquid resting in the wooden basin, and his breathing quickened involuntarily.
Since entering the martial world, he had obtained countless rare treasures and exotic artifacts, but few could compare to what lay before him now. The Warm Divine Lotus and the Ageless Tree could be called supreme treasures, but the Primordial Origin Liquid had its own extraordinary virtues. It was the essence born from the very creation of Heaven and Earth. Every single drop of Primordial Origin Liquid contained the primordial, chaotic aura of that moment when the world was first split open. If consumed, it would surely help one comprehend the Heavenly Dao and the martial Dao.
Such a treasure laid out before him—even a Great Emperor would grow envious, let alone Yang Kai, a High-Order Demon King.
He swallowed hard, then extended a finger, dipped it into the wooden basin to collect a trace of the Primordial Origin Liquid, and placed it in his mouth. At a critical moment like this, only what made it into your stomach truly counted.