"So they've come after all..." Yang Kai murmured, his eyes narrowing with worry as he watched three figures step through the rift in the void.
He had good reason for concern. These three were Yu Rumeng, Bei Limo, and Chang Tian!
Yu Rumeng needed no introduction—she had been his partner in the most intimate sense and the first Demon Saint to aid him against the Demon Race. Yang Kai owed her a great deal; the explosive growth of his Soul had come entirely thanks to her Yin essence. Chang Tian had treated him exceptionally well as well, having once offered him dominion over the Hundred Spirits Continent. And while Bei Limo had initially been coerced into cooperation through the binding he held over her, over the years she had contributed no small measure to the war between the two worlds.
When Yang Kai had seen Huang Wuji and the other Demon Saints obey Mo Sheng's commands without question, he had grown secretly wary, fearing that Yu Rumeng and the others might likewise fall under that influence. But now it appeared they had not escaped the Great Demon God's grip either—and their situation seemed even worse than that of Huang Wuji's group.
The reason was plain: Yu Rumeng, Bei Limo, and Chang Tian now looked like puppets controlled by another's hand. Their expressions were blank, their eyes hollow and devoid of consciousness, as though their bodies and minds were no longer their own to command.
But even puppets, they were still three saint grade puppets!
Even as worry gnawed at him, a heavy stone lifted from Yang Kai's heart.
At the outbreak of the Second War Between Two Worlds, the ten Demon Saints had breached the boundary and deployed a secret art to pin down ten of the Star Boundary's strongest cultivators, trapping them in an unknown pocket of space.
Before long, Xue Li, Fu Yu, and Huo Bu had freed themselves—and the Demon Saints who had been their opponents back then were none other than Yu Rumeng, Bei Limo, and Chang Tian!
Now the picture became clear: Xue Li and the others had managed to break free precisely because their opponents, Yu Rumeng and the rest, were of the Demon Race themselves. No other Demon Saints had been needed to restrain them or hold them in place. By contrast, Zhan Wuhen and the others required Huang Wuji and the remaining Demon Saints to remain behind and keep them pinned down.
But Yang Kai had not known how things truly stood. With Xue Li and the others having freed themselves, he had naturally feared for Yu Rumeng and the rest, terrified that something terrible had befallen them. They were not Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, after all—he had no way to sense their auras from afar.
The current situation was grim, but at least their lives were not in danger. That was a blessing amid disaster!
"Brace yourself for despair, boy! Those who defy me never meet a good end!" Mo Sheng's voice boomed like thunder. As he spoke, the three figures that had emerged from the rift surged toward Yang Kai in unison.
Zhan Wuhen and the others went pale with alarm. They knew full well that Yang Kai's current state could not withstand any interruption, let alone a direct assault from three saint grade powerhouses. If those three closed the distance, he would have absolutely no way to defend himself.
They wanted to rush to his aid, but Huang Wuji and the other Demon Saints pressed them relentlessly, leaving not the slimmest opening. All they could do was watch as the three figures hurtled toward Yang Kai at terrifying speed, three crushing waves of awe-inspiring pressure descending upon his position. Before the figures even arrived, three devastating divine abilities had already been launched.
"Wu Kuang!" Zhan Wuhen roared.
On this battlefield, every person was stretched to their limit with no reserves to spare. Wu Kuang alone still had the strength to act. If Yang Kai was to be protected, it would have to be through Wu Kuang.
Never in his wildest dreams had Zhan Wuhen imagined fighting alongside Wu Kuang. Ever since the Battle of the Emperors in ages past, he had harbored nothing but a desire to tear Wu Kuang limb from limb—and yet here he was, forced to beg for the man's help. The whims of fate were truly cruel.
Fortunately, villainous as Wu Kuang was, he understood perfectly well that when the nest falls, no egg remains intact. Had he not grasped this, he would never have gone to such lengths to rescue the seven Great Emperors earlier.
Wu Kuang's figure drifted over and planted itself before Yang Kai, arms swinging wide. A cackling laugh spilled from his lips, his face alight with a feverish gleam—as though he had hurtled back through tens of thousands of years and returned to the glory days of the Battle of the Shattered Star Sea.
Back then, the Devouring Emperor had been the Star Boundary's most fearsome name. Back then, the Devouring Emperor had been the dread of countless living beings. Back then, the Devouring Emperor had been invincible!
"Devouring… Domain!"
A ripple of energy that devoured all things expanded outward from Wu Kuang, sweeping across a vast expanse of the void. The three divine abilities launched by the Demon Saints entered that zone and immediately began to weaken, as though something were draining their power—their decline visible to the naked eye.
But in the next instant, Wu Kuang grunted, spat a mouthful of blood, and was sent hurtling backward.
As he tumbled through the air, a furious voice exploded inside his Sea of Consciousness: "Wu Kuang, you son of a bitch—don't treat my body like it's disposable!" Duan Hongchen had witnessed the whole thing from within and was beside himself with anxiety.
After all, this body still belonged to him. How could he bear to see it suffer damage?
"Heh heh heh heh…" Blood trickled from the corner of Wu Kuang's mouth, but his grin was wider than ever. "Then let's just ignore that boy's survival and take the opportunity to devour a little more."
Duan Hongchen was struck speechless.
Yang Kai was the key to the Star Boundary's survival—how could they simply ignore him? To hunt down Wu Kuang, Duan Hongchen had once been willing to sever his own cultivation, dropping from the Great Emperor realm to the Dao Source realm, and charge alone into the Shattered Star Sea in search of clues. That sacrifice showed how much he was willing to give for the common people. His title was Hongchen—Red Dust—and the Dao he comprehended was the Dao of the mortal world. Among all the Great Emperors, none cared more deeply for the lives of the Star Boundary's countless inhabitants.
"Save the chatter—play your trump card now!" Duan Hongchen urged as the three newly arrived Demon Saints closed rapidly on Yang Kai. If Wu Kuang were at his peak, perhaps he could have held his own against the three puppet Demon Saints acting in concert. But he was merely borrowing Duan Hongchen's body to recover some measure of his strength—he was nowhere near his former glory. That brief exchange earlier had already cost him dearly.