"You're doing all this just to control me?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
"That's right."
"There was no need for such trouble. Senior merely needed to plant a soul imprint in my spiritual sea, and the effect would have been the same."
The man sneered, "If you hadn't condensed your own Dao Seal, that would indeed have worked. But since you possess a Dao Seal, as long as it remains intact, you can find ways to break free from my control."
Yang Kai was taken aback. This was the first he'd ever heard of it. Back in the Star Boundary, controlling someone had been dead simple — as long as you were powerful enough, planting a soul imprint in their spiritual sea gave you complete dominion over them. That foolproof method had never failed. So why did it stop working beyond the Heavens?
Thinking about it more carefully, it suddenly clicked. When he had condensed his Dao Seal, he clearly remembered that all of his power, including the spiritual strength within his spiritual sea, had been drawn into the seal itself. In other words, for someone like him, the Dao Seal was his very foundation. To truly control such a person, one had to approach it through the Dao Seal — targeting the soul alone was simply not reliable enough.
But considering what had happened to Ma Liu and Jiang Sheng, Yang Kai felt a chill run down his spine. Who knew whether swallowing this centipede would send him straight to the afterlife to reunite with those two unfortunate senior brothers? If even Open Heaven realm cultivators couldn't withstand it, what chance did he have?
He wanted to say something else to buy a little more time, but the man gave him no opportunity. A massive hand shot out and clamped onto his chin, forcing his mouth open. With the other hand, the man picked up the centipede and shoved it straight in. A gentle flick of the wrist, and Yang Kai gulped the centipede down into his stomach before he could even put up a fight. Only then did he truly grasp the gap between himself and his captor.
A trail of searing heat slid down his throat and into his stomach. Yang Kai stumbled back several steps, reaching into his mouth in a desperate attempt to fish the centipede back out — but how could he? When he focused his senses, he found that the centipede, which had lain motionless inside the box, had come explosively to life inside his stomach. It transformed into a mass of pure energy that rampaged wildly through his body, and an indescribable agony crashed over him in an instant. He let out a strangled roar, his eyes bulging like copper bells.
The man stepped aside and watched coldly, his expression completely indifferent, showing not the slightest intention of lending a hand. It seemed that whether Yang Kai lived or died was entirely up to his own fortune.
Inside the cave, Yang Kai's agonized roars rang out without cease. He had never experienced such unbearable torment in his entire life. One moment his body burned with heat, as though he might ignite at any second; the next, a bone-piercing cold seized him, frost radiating from every pore as he shivered uncontrollably.
Between the alternating waves of heat and cold, his vital force plummeted at a visible rate.
A flicker of somber resignation crossed the man's eyes. He had long anticipated this, but seeing Yang Kai perform so poorly was still a disappointment. Then again, it was hardly surprising — the last two First-Order Open Heaven realm cultivators hadn't survived this stage either, tortured to death outright. How could a mere boy who had only just condensed his Dao Seal possibly pull off a miracle?
Yet without a suitable pawn, there was no way to proceed to the next phase of his plan. As for capturing another disciple of the Seven Faced Earth — who knew when that would be possible?
In the space of half an incense stick's time, Yang Kai had stopped breathing out and was barely breathing in. Blood seeped from his seven orifices, his wretched appearance identical to that of the dead Ma Liu and Jiang Sheng. His vital force had sunk to its nadir, and in another moment his soul would surely dissipate entirely.
The man let out a long, slow sigh, turned, and walked out of the cave. He gazed into the distance, the flames of vengeful fury blazing in his eyes.
A long while later, the man finally re-entered the cave and walked straight to Yang Kai's side. He looked down to find Yang Kai curled up, his entire body encased in a thick layer of frost, even his eyebrows and hair turned completely white.
After a brief appraisal, the man let out a soft exclamation of surprise. He had discovered that this young man, frozen solid like a block of ice, was somehow still alive. Although his vital force had fallen to its absolute limit, it continued to persist without being severed. This genuinely struck him as remarkable — by all reason, after such a lengthy period, this youth shouldn't have survived even if he'd had ten lives. Yet in truth, he had not quite died.
A sense of unease stirring in his heart, the man studied him more closely. His gaze was soon drawn to the blood seeping from Yang Kai's seven orifices — it was golden blood. The man could clearly feel an incredibly surging vitality emanating from it.
He extended a finger, dabbed a bit of the golden blood, and held it beneath his nose for a gentle sniff. The man's expression changed abruptly. "Dragon blood!"
When his gaze fell upon Yang Kai once more, the look in his eyes had shifted dramatically. He had never expected that among the Disciples of Qiqiao Earth, there would actually exist one with a Dragon Vein — and that, of all things, he himself had been the one to capture him.
However, this did explain why the boy had managed to cling to life despite his meager cultivation and insufficient strength. The vitality of a Dragon Vein had always been formidable, so enduring this long was hardly surprising.
His expression shifted back and forth several times. More than once, the man entertained the thought of cutting the weed at its root to eliminate any future trouble. But when he considered his own deep-seated blood feud, he found he could not bring himself to strike the blow. Capturing a Disciple of Qiqiao Earth was no easy feat — owing to certain special circumstances, he had not dared to approach Qiqiao Earth too closely. Having hidden himself in this Qiankun World for so many years, he had finally managed to wait for Ma Liu and the others to appear. That the first two had been too incompetent and perished under the Flying Black-Backed Centipede's lethal venom was one thing, but this one before him might yet prove to be a useful chess piece.
Of course, if the boy failed to hold on and succumbed to the poison, then that would simply be his own ill fortune.
Having made up his mind, the man settled in to watch and wait.
Time trickled by, bit by bit. Yang Kai lay unconscious on the ground, remaining in a state on the very brink of death throughout. That faint thread of vitality never quite severed, allowing him to linger on under the raging assault of the venom.