Yang Kai was hiding and dodging — not because he wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, hoping to reap the benefits after the fisherman's struggle, but because something genuinely felt off.
Setting aside the fact that these Sea Clan had clearly prepared in advance, setting an ambush in the deepest reaches of the temple to lure people into a trap — there was also the matter of the High Priest wielding the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl staff. If he had been willing to act, Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran would have been dead already!
Moments ago, Yang Kai had witnessed firsthand the power the High Priest could unleash with the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl.
But for some reason, he hadn't done so. Instead, he had been watching Ning Daoran and Qu Huachang the entire time. Even stranger, Yang Kai couldn't sense any killing intent from him at all.
As if sensing something, the High Priest suddenly turned his head and glanced toward where Urala's corpse lay, but quickly looked away, his attention returning to the battle at hand.
Four Sea Clan powerhouses clashed furiously against the two Great Cave Heaven Blessed Land Disciples, but they were simply no match for Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran. In less than half an incense stick's worth of time, they began to falter, and Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran broke through the encirclement once more.
The High Priest swept his staff again, and the aura of the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl surged outward, forcibly holding Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran in place.
"Will this ever end?!" Qu Huachang was so furious her nose nearly twisted sideways. The moment she landed, she shot the High Priest a venomous glare.
The High Priest remained as calm and unperturbed as still water, his expression unmoved.
After another stretch, Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran joined forces to drive back the four Sea Clan powerhouses — but rather than breaking through the encirclement again, they both charged straight at the High Priest.
The High Priest chuckled softly. "Go back."
He swept his staff, and that bone-piercing chill permeated the air once more. Having already suffered twice at its hands, both Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran changed color and retreated of their own accord.
A heavy weight sank in their hearts. They realized that this time, they might truly be unable to escape. With this damnable High Priest guarding the place with that staff, there was no way the two of them could leave — unless they killed him. But the staff's power was unfathomable. How could they possibly slay the High Priest?
It was at that moment that two figures appeared as if out of thin air — phantom-like, emerging from nothing. No one had noticed where they came from.
Everyone was startled.
Qu Huachang turned to look. One of the figures surged toward the High Priest like a great dragon bursting from the sea, while the other charged toward her and Ning Daoran.
It was Yang Kai and Gu Pan!
Qu Huachang was both shocked and delighted. She immediately called out, "Brother Yang, help me kill him!" Having suffered at the High Priest's hands time and again, she naturally harbored a deep grudge.
On the altar, the High Priest's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly composed himself, sneering coldly. "So there are two more. Excellent, excellent — the Ancestor should be quite pleased with you."
As he spoke, he lightly waved the staff forward once more. The Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl emitted a ring of soft radiance that looked as gentle as moonlight streaming over water but was in fact bitingly cold, descending directly toward Yang Kai.
Qu Huachang shouted, "Brother Yang, be careful! That's an innate Ice-element treasure!" Fearing Yang Kai didn't know how formidable the artifact was, she hurried to warn him.
Before her words had even faded, Yang Kai had already plunged headfirst into the moonlight, and his charging body lurched to a sudden halt.
Having previously seen the High Priest effortlessly force Qu Huachang and Ning Daoran back, Yang Kai had only an abstract sense of the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl's power. Now, bearing its force head-on, he felt it with crushing clarity.
The power was immense. When the cold washed over him, his blood nearly froze, and even the energy within his Dao Seal flowed sluggishly.
This High Priest had absolutely not unleashed the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl's full power — otherwise it would not have merely slowed his movement. It very likely could have frozen him into an ice sculpture on the spot.
Qu Huachang's face was filled with despair. She had thought that Yang Kai's arrival would catch the High Priest off guard, but somehow he had fallen prey to the same trick.
Men really were all unreliable!
Just as she was thinking this, a faint, almost imperceptible dragon's roar rang out — clear and resonant. Dragon Might billowed outward as Yang Kai's body broke free of the moonlight's shroud. The blood within him surged like a host of dragons dancing, and he charged toward the High Priest even faster than before.
Qu Huachang's beautiful eyes widened, a strange light flickering within them.
The High Priest was also taken aback. It was the first time he had encountered something that could withstand the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl's power. But having held his high position for years, he was startled but not thrown into disarray. Ancient, arcane syllables tumbled from his lips, and the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl on the staff flashed, sending a far more concentrated wave of freezing cold bearing down on Yang Kai.
"Break!" Yang Kai roared in a low voice as he charged.
Behind him, a brilliant golden sun burst into existence, blazing high like the true sun itself, radiating dazzling light. In an instant, the depths of the subterranean temple were bathed in resplendent gold.
Within the great sun, a Golden Crow danced and cried!
"A Divine Ability Manifestation!" Ning Daoran's composure cracked. Even his Dao-heart, which prided itself on remaining unmoved by all things, trembled ever so slightly.
The might of the great sun and the moonlight stood in fierce opposition, causing the Ice Soul Cold Moon Pearl to blaze with blinding radiance as well. This was not something the High Priest had actively triggered — it was the innate response of the supreme treasure, the moonlight's corrosive power now unleashing a force more than ten times greater than what the High Priest had summoned before.
Sun and moon shining together! A celestial anomaly!
The searing heat and the bone-deep cold interwove in the depths of the temple's underground chamber, leaving everyone uncomfortable and forcing them to channel their full strength just to endure.
Under the High Priest's panicked gaze, Yang Kai had already closed the distance to stand before him. One hand reached for the staff, while the other clenched into a fist and drove straight toward his face.