After sending a voice transmission to Ding Yi, Yang Kai raised his hand, a manic thought stirring in his mind as he burst into wild laughter: "Let me give you all a grand gift!"
With that, he withdrew the Six Harmonies Wishful Bag.
Unpredictable light surged into the sky, and the Magnetostatic Divine Light reappeared in the world!
The twisting, shifting radiance tore a hole straight through the great sky dome, visible for a thousand li in every direction.
A startled cry suddenly rose from the crowd: "Ah, my sword!"
With a whoosh, a long sword shot straight toward the Magnetostatic Divine Light. Behind it, a martial artist stared in slack-jawed disbelief, unable to comprehend how the artifact sword he had been gripping firmly in his hand had just flown away on its own.
"What's going on!"
"Who's doing this!"
A cascade of confused shouts erupted throughout the crowd. Every martial artist who had previously manifested a metal-related artifact went pale. Without exception, a tremendous suction force was pulling from somewhere in the void, and the artifacts in their hands were being ripped away in an instant.
The rest stood gaping at the sky, watching as artifact after artifact of every conceivable shape hurtled toward the Magnetostatic Divine Light at astonishing speed.
After a brief moment of hesitation, those who had lost their artifacts frantically formed spirit seals, channeling their divine sense in an attempt to recall their treasures.
But there was no calling them back. The Magnetostatic Divine Light's grasping power was overwhelmingly mighty—once taken, it was like throwing a meat bun at a dog, never to return.
The first man watched helplessly as his long sword plunged into the Magnetostatic Divine Light. Before he could even begin to grieve, his face drained of color, he grunted, and a mouthful of fresh blood sprayed from his lips. His aura immediately withered.
That long sword had been connected to his qi and spirit through refined bonding. Under the Magnetostatic Divine Light's scouring, it lost its spiritual resonance, and the backlash damaged his mind as well. He would need at least a year or two of recovery before he could hope to heal.
Pfft pfft pfft! Countless people coughed up blood. Every martial artist who had bonded their artifact with their spiritual sense took damage in that instant. Only those whose bonding was shallow escaped relatively unscathed, losing their artifacts but suffering no serious harm—though they still wore expressions of anguish.
"It's the Magnetostatic Divine Light!" someone exclaimed. "The Magnetostatic Divine Light can actually吸 artifact treasures! Everyone, be careful!"
Not all artifacts were taken. Hu Yi and several other Open Heaven Realm cultivators were still desperately resisting the pull on their treasures. Hearing this, their expressions turned grim. They quickly stowed their artifacts, narrowly avoiding the same fate.
In the span of just a few moments, every artifact that had been captured dimmed and crumbled into a pile of scrap metal, stripped of all spiritual essence.
"If the Magnetostatic Divine Light can seize artifacts like this, the Sword Pavilion's people are in real danger," someone murmured.
At those words, everyone seemed to snap to awareness, and all eyes shifted from the Magnetostatic Divine Light to the battlefield.
What they saw left them thunderstruck!
The sword formation that had been charging through the Imperial Sky forces, running roughshod over everyone, had at some unknown point already collapsed. Blade after blade of sword light was streaming from the Sword Pavilion disciples toward the Magnetostatic Divine Light, and no matter how desperately those Sword Pavilion members activated their techniques, they could not reclaim a single one.
The people of the Sword Pavilion all practiced the way of the sword. They further refined their artifact swords through secret arts, meaning each blade was intimately bound to its wielder's life. More than half of a Sword Pavilion disciple's power resided in that single sword.
Now that their blades had been seized, the Sword Pavilion members were like tigers with their teeth pulled out—and having lost swords that were bonded to their very lives, the sword formation was out of the question entirely.
"What's happening!" Luo Qingyun's face was a mask of horror. His own sword had not been seized—as an Open Heaven Realm cultivator, his foundation far surpassed that of an ordinary Emperor Sovereign Realm expert. The instant he sensed something wrong, he had gripped his sword tight. But even now, the blade in his hand was trembling uncontrollably, straining to fly off in a specific direction. With all his attention consumed by wrestling against his own sword, he had no mind left for fighting.
"It's the Magnetostatic Divine Light!" Lu Xuejiao shouted, her lovely face dark with fury.
"What a vicious brat!" Zhong Fan lowered his head, glaring furiously at Yang Kai, who was still grinning wildly over there.
When Yang Kai had manically shouted about giving them a grand gift, no one had imagined that gift would be a killing trap aimed squarely at the Sword Pavilion! A single move like this could bury dozens of the Sword Pavilion's elite right here!
In that lightning-flash moment, there was no time for deliberation. Zhong Fan bellowed: "Follow me!"
He was the first to stow his artifact, his dense sword intent erupting as he charged toward a薄弱 point in the surrounding crowd.
But they had previously relied on the sword formation's power to cut in and out of the Imperial Sky forces at will, striking wherever the crowds were thickest. Now that the formation was broken, extricating themselves was far from simple.
Pfft pfft pfft...
A series of muffled impacts rang out as Sword Pavilion disciple after Sword Pavilion disciple spewed blood, their complexions crumbling.