A majesty resplendent and righteous flooded the heavens, its overwhelming pressure no weaker than that of a Great Emperor in the slightest.
Yang Kai's eyes widened in surprise as he looked skyward. In the firmament above, a black speck plummeted earthward like a falling meteor, descending at terrifying speed.
A sense of familiarity blossomed in his heart, as though the thing dropping from the sky was someone he knew intimately.
Understanding struck him in an instant, and a look of joyful disbelief spread across his face.
The black speck rapidly expanded as it fell, swiftly becoming a colossal figure several hundred zhang tall that plummeted directly toward the Great Demon God. Its killing intent was so vicious that no one doubted the catastrophic consequences of being struck.
The Great Demon God sensed it too. He looked up, rage flooding his eyes, and raised a hand to block, bellowing, "Insufficient insects—"
BOOM…
The words were cut short. The massive body slammed down before he could finish, and the sheer force of impact sent his eight-hundred-zhang frame tumbling backward. The ground split open into chasms as deep as abysses, and the entire Northern Region trembled as though struck by a cataclysmic earthquake.
"ROARRR…" An earth-shaking roar erupted from the colossal figure that had descended from the heavens. It howled toward the sky in raw exhilaration, then pounded its chest with fists the size of mountains, each strike resounding like the beat of war drums as concentric waves of sound detonated outward.
"Xiao… Xiao…?" Yang Kai stared blankly at the enormous silhouette several hundred zhang high. Were it not for the deep spiritual bond connecting them, he would scarcely have believed what he was seeing.
But the monstrous creature before him was none other than Xiao Xiao—the same Xiao Xiao who had entered the Blood Gate alongside Zhang Ruoxi all those years ago.
Compared to the past, Xiao Xiao had grown stronger by an almost inconceivable margin. The transformation was nothing short of revolutionary. Moreover, Yang Kai could sense from its body an aura of Sacred Spirit power so ancient and pure it seemed to have stepped straight from the river of history, spanning countless ages.
He suddenly remembered: the Stone Puppet lineage to which Xiao Xiao belonged carried the bloodline of the ancient Sacred Spirit Tai Yue. The very reason Zhang Ruoxi had brought Xiao Xiao into the Blood Gate was so it could inherit the primordial power of Tai Yue within the Heavenly Execution Palace.
Decades had passed. Zhang Ruoxi had been roused from her slumber to take the field against the enemy—so how could Xiao Xiao have remained inside? Its speed simply could not match Zhang Ruoxi's, which was why she had arrived first while Xiao Xiao followed in her wake.
And the Xiao Xiao of this moment had long since broken free of the bloodline shackles of the Stone Puppet clan. What stood here now was the true ancient Sacred Spirit—Tai Yue!
This was the surprise Zhang Ruoxi had spoken of.
Yang Kai threw his head back and laughed. What a surprise this was—it was more than enough. Truly more than enough. At this critical juncture when the Star Boundary's fate hung in the balance, the Great Emperors had returned one after another, Zhang Ruoxi had emerged from seclusion, and Xiao Xiao had arrived in overwhelming force… Every person he cared about had appeared. Even if he were to die here in battle right now, what regret could he possibly have? To fight side by side alongside all those dear to his heart—his entire being was flooded with incalculable joy.
In the primordial age, Sacred Spirits had ruled the land, with Dragons and Phoenixes reigning supreme. But that did not mean the other Sacred Spirits were truly inferior. In the ancient Sacred Spirit ranking that had long since been lost to time, many possessed strength equal to that of the Dragons and Phoenixes. The legendary Sacred Spirit Great Peng even fed upon Dragons and was considered their mortal enemy.
And Tai Yue—even among all the Sacred Spirits of the primordial era—had ranked near the very top. Within the Blood Gate, within the Heavenly Execution Palace, aided by Zhang Ruoxi, a descendant of the Heavenly Execution lineage, Xiao Xiao had achieved a complete fusion with the ancestral bloodline's power, restoring the glory of its forebears.
The Tai Yue that stood here now, in terms of sheer imposing presence, was in no way inferior to the two Elders of the Dragon Clan! Had that not been the case, the Great Demon God would never have been caught off guard the moment it appeared.
His enormous body tumbled through the air, and in its wake mountains collapsed, rivers reversed their flow. He was flung a distance of tens of thousands of li before he finally managed to halt, rising to his feet in utter disarray.
The Great Demon God seethed with thunderous fury.
But before he could so much as catch his breath, Zhang Ruoxi and Wu Kuang were upon him like shadows. One unleashed a sky full of sword rain while the other drew upon the miniature world floating behind him—when his great hand swept down, the peach blossoms on those ancient trees scattered into a storm of petals, each razor-sharp blossom slicing across the Great Demon God's massive frame.
Every strike contained the power to rend heaven and earth. Every move was a mortal threat.
Blood erupted from the Great Demon God's body, and he let out a roar of pain.
And that was not the end. Tai Yue—Xiao Xiao—charged again. Seizing the moment when the Great Demon God's attention was divided, it closed the distance in a few thunderous strides and hammered its mountain-like fists down in a relentless storm of blows.
Mo Sheng dared not be careless. He hastily brought up his guard.
Two colossal figures several hundred zhang tall grappled in a life-or-death struggle between heaven and earth. The sight of it left every onlooker's heart in their throat. The thunderous crashes of fist meeting fist rolled across the sky like muffled thunder, shaking their eardrums.
After three breaths, Xiao Xiao was sent flying backward, several enormous fist-shaped dents caved into its chest. A flicker of pain crossed its sharply chiseled features. Even with Wu Kuang and Zhang Ruoxi distracting the Great Demon God's energy and focus, Xiao Xiao had still come out on the losing end in this direct clash—the gap between them was plain to see.
But it now possessed the qualification to fight him.
And that was precisely the qualification the Star Boundary had been lacking.
There was no fear of losing a fight or falling short in a head-on collision—the only thing to fear was a gap so vast that the right to even try didn't exist.