But were the Great Emperors in any different position? Their synchronized strike moments ago had already drained nearly every shred of their mental and spiritual reserves.
This battle would not reveal its outcome until the very end. Based on the situation as it stood, however, whoever emerged victorious would doubtlessly pay a staggering price.
Heaven and earth cracked apart. Spiritual energy spiraled into chaos. Power raged unchecked. Figure after figure hurtled toward the Great Demon God, was battered back, charged in again, and was repelled once more—a cycle that repeated endlessly, staining heaven and earth crimson with blood.
…
Yang Kai drifted in the void, suspended in a profoundly strange state. It felt as though an invisible set of shackles had been cast off, and a deep, quiet peace had settled over him. The pain from before was gone. Every sensation had vanished. He tried to clench his fist and found he lacked the strength. He tried to move his head and found he could not.
Then it struck him—his body was gone.
In a haze he recalled: he had dragged that severed hand into this interdimensional crevice, then been struck by a tremendous shockwave, and after that… this.
What did this even mean? Had he been blown to pieces? Yang Kai stared blankly into the nothingness.
No—he did not want this. He had no intention of becoming the shortest-reigning Great Emperor in the history of the Star Boundary. He had only recently ascended to that station. He was still young, still had untold millennia to squander.
When he had sensed the enormous danger sealed within that severed hand, his mind had gone utterly clear, and only one thought had remained: get the hand away, or catastrophe would befall the Star Boundary beyond anything it could survive.
Yet now that the consequences lay before him, he could barely accept them.
Did he regret it? Searching his heart—no, not truly. If he could go back, even knowing this would be the result, he would make the same choice without hesitation.
In that world lived people who cared about him, people he cared about, people who regarded him as the most important thing in their lives. For those people, what were shredded flesh and shattered bone?
But if he really had been reduced to fragments—then what was this situation? His physical form obliterated, but his soul unscathed? How could his soul possibly have survived when his body had been utterly pulverized by that severed hand's detonation?
Yet at this very moment he clearly sensed that his soul had taken no damage. It remained perfectly intact.
Then he discovered that his soul was not simply drifting through the interdimensional crevice. It was nestled within the stamen of a seven-colored lotus. Petal after petal wrapped around him, sealing off all the danger that lurked on every side.
The Warm Spirit Lotus!
Understanding dawned in an instant. So that was it—the Warm Spirit Lotus had shielded his soul during that catastrophic blast, allowing him to survive. This supreme treasure between heaven and earth possessed unimaginable wondrous properties. Yang Kai had obtained it when he was still feeble, drawing it into his sea of consciousness. Over the decades since, the Warm Spirit Lotus had continuously nourished his soul, letting his spiritual strength climb at a formidable pace without any special effort on his part. And the Warm Spirit Lotus was itself a supreme soul treasure—it was hardly surprising that it could protect his soul at a critical moment.
Realizing this, Yang Kai felt a measure of relief wash through him.
As long as his soul endured, the loss of his physical body wasn't the end of the world. At worst, he could do the same as the Great Demon God—find someone to possess and start over from scratch.
But this was the interdimensional crevice. Aside from himself, it was unlikely anyone ever set foot here. Possession was a non-starter. That did complicate things. Without a physical body, most of his abilities were inaccessible. He couldn't even leave this crevice if he wanted to.
How was the situation back in the Star Boundary? The Great Demon God should be nearing his limit by now. He wondered whether the others could actually kill him—and what it would cost.
He was overthinking it. Yang Kai let the thoughts drift away. Stripped of his physical body, left with only his soul, he felt an inexplicable languor settle over him. And though he no longer had a form, a warm, gentle sensation still enveloped him from all sides, making him feel as if he had come home—utterly at ease.
Sinking into slumber here, letting it stretch on indefinitely… that didn't sound like such a bad choice…
His thoughts slowed, drifting toward a stillness that felt permanent.
Then, without warning, a cascade of tear-streaked faces flashed before his eyes. Yang Kai jolted awake, and a vast, suffocating dread crashed down upon his heart.
How were Su Yan and the others doing? They must have seen what happened to him. They would be devastated by now—if he couldn't make it back, what depths of grief would they sink into?
He had to return! Even without a body, he had to go back and let them know he was still alive. And as long as he could make it back, he could ask the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor to refine a Body Restoration Pill for him.
Tian Yan had once been bodiless too—it had been a Body Restoration Pill that allowed him to reconstruct a physical frame. If it could work for Tian Yan, it could work for him! True, the Body Restoration Fruit needed to refine such a pill was nowhere to be found at the moment, but his Small World's medicinal garden held the fruit tree. He had brought it into the garden years ago. All he had to do was wait long enough, and eventually it would blossom and bear fruit.
The thought prompted another realization—the World Spirit Bead!
The World Spirit Bead had always been stored inside his body. Now that his entire body had been blown to pieces, the bead was likely in a bad state as well—possibly shattered along with his flesh.
Panic flared through Yang Kai, and he hurriedly scanned his surroundings.