Bing Yun, Yang Yan, and Gan Li were all wounded, but compared to Yang Kai, their conditions were considerably better—nothing more than minor injuries that would heal after some rest and recovery.
Each of them checked their own bodies, confirmed that nothing was seriously wrong, and all breathed a sigh of relief.
Yang Kai searched the battlefield below for a while before flying back with a grim expression.
"What's wrong?" Yang Yan frowned.
Yang Kai tossed a Space Ring to Yang Yan and said, "Another one has fallen."
Yang Yan caught the Space Ring and probed it with her divine sense. A hint of sorrow crept across her face. This Space Ring was not a product of the Demon Domain, but rather of the Star Boundary. The relics inside were all from the Star Boundary as well—clearly, it did not belong to any Demon Race Half-Sage.
The fact that Yang Kai had found this on a Demon Race Half-Sage meant its original owner had already perished, and the culprits were undoubtedly the two Half-Sages they had just slain together.
In truth, this was not the first batch of Half-Sages they had killed, nor was it the first Space Ring belonging to a Star Boundary False Emperor they had found.
Ever since the day he had hidden Yang Yan, Bing Yun, and Gan Li inside the Small Profound World, Yang Kai had been "fishing" within the Xuantian Hall. Over the course of more than ten days, there had been three great battles in total. Including the two just now, they had slain a total of four Demon Race Half-Sages.
Yet among the corpses of these four Half-Sages, he had found three Space Rings belonging to Star Boundary False Emperors.
Under normal circumstances, how could powerhouses of the False Emperor and Half-Sage caliber perish so easily? When the Demon Saints and Great Emperors remained hidden from the world, they were invincible existences—the overlords who ruled both the Star Boundary and the Demon Domain.
But the opening of the Xuantian Hall had gathered all these overlords together in one place, and casualties were inevitable.
"That aura..." Yang Yan's expression turned contemplative as she carefully identified the residual aura lingering on the Space Ring. After a long moment, she let out a soft sigh. "If I'm not mistaken, this should belong to Wei Wufa of the Jiamao Army."
Gan Li's face changed. "He's dead too?"
Yang Yan nodded gravely and carefully stored the Space Ring away. "Wei Wufa still has disciples. We'll return the Space Ring to them later. Hopefully, there will come a day when they rise again."
"Brother Wei... he still had the Commander's Token on him. How could he have fallen so easily?" Gan Li's face was stricken with shock.
Every Commander possessed a Commander's Token, and within each one was sealed a single strike from a Great Emperor. Yang Kai had once held one as well, but it had been spent during his battle with Lord Wind in the Temple of Time. After the Great Emperors went missing, no one could forge another for him.
Among the various Commanders' Tokens, some had been used while others remained intact. Wei Wufa's Token fell into the latter category.
In theory, if Wei Wufa had truly encountered danger, activating his Commander's Token should have been enough to turn the tide. But the fact that his Space Ring had ended up in a Half-Sage's possession spoke volumes.
Upon hearing this, Yang Kai said, "The Xuantian Hall is filled with countless invisible restrictions. I imagine power at the Great Emperor level would be rendered ineffective here as well." This was the only reasonable explanation.
Gan Li's face turned slightly pale. He himself also possessed a Commander's Token and had originally believed that such a trump card would let him rest easy. But Wei Wufa's death had undoubtedly sounded an alarm for him. If he truly relied on the Great Emperor's divine power sealed within the Commander's Token, he might end up dead without ever knowing what hit him.
Moreover, Wei Wufa was an old acquaintance of his, and his strength was no small matter. In a one-on-one fight, Gan Li had no confidence he could defeat him. Of course, a life-or-death struggle was a different matter entirely—everyone had their hidden cards, and until that moment arrived, no one could predict who would emerge victorious.
But Wei Wufa's death had dealt him a tremendous shock. Since entering the Xuantian Hall, he had not encountered anyone else, nor had he been drawn into any battles. It was only when he had inadvertently fallen into that Heaven and Earth Killing Formation and been rescued by Yang Kai that things had changed. Afterward, he had remained in the Small Profound World, cooperating with Yang Kai, Bing Yun, and Yang Yan to slay their enemies. Three great battles, all resounding victories—their side had paid a nearly negligible price to kill four Half-Sages. Everything had gone impossibly smoothly.
He had never imagined that Wei Wufa would die just like that, in such an inexplicable way. On the very first night after entering the Xuantian Hall, he had shared drinks and conversation with Wei Wufa through the late hours, envisioning all the opportunities the Xuantian Hall had to offer. A chill of lingering fear ran through him—if he hadn't joined forces with Yang Kai and the others, he might very well have been the next Wei Wufa.
With his good friend fallen, the elation from slaying the two Half-Sages moments ago was instantly dampened, and a trace of bitter sympathy stirred in his heart. In this battle for the Grand Dao, even powerhouses like Pseudo-Emperors and Half-Sages were nothing more than stepping stones for others to climb toward the summit. And in the end, was he the one climbing—or the stone beneath someone else's feet?
"The cooperation between a Blood Demon and a Feather Demon isn't something many can withstand on their own." Yang Kai wiped the blood from his body with something, not bothering to change clothes. His tattered robes left him looking utterly wretched.
"Aren't you going to treat your wounds?" Yang Yan asked.
"I'm afraid there won't be time for that." Yang Kai shook his head slowly. "I keep getting the feeling that the secrets of the Xuantian Hall will soon be revealed, and the key to becoming a Great Emperor will gradually become clear. When that happens, it's bound to be a desperate fight. Before that, the most important thing is to eliminate as many Demon Race Half-Sages as we can."
The Xuantian Hall had been open for nearly a month now. While that span of time was negligible for any Half-Sage or Pseudo-Emperor, for the Star Boundary as a whole, the clock was already ticking. This opening of the Xuantian Hall was a self-protective mechanism triggered by the world's own consciousness, which had sensed a looming crisis. The world was counting on a Great Emperor-level powerhouse to emerge from within and set everything right.
Across the Star Boundary, demonic energy was gnawing away at the land ceaselessly. If the struggle inside the Xuantian Hall dragged on too long, then even if a Great Emperor were truly born, it might already be too late to turn the tide.