Ma Yuande was only a Second-Order Open Heaven—how could he possibly withstand a furious blow from Ancestor Mo Yu? The palm strike landed squarely on his back, and violent World Force surged into his flesh, rampaging unchecked as it battered his Small Universe, leaving it riddled with holes in an instant.
Ma Yuande's face went white. He spat out fragments of his internal organs, toppled from the tower ship, and lost all vital signs before he even hit the ground.
Though Ancestor Mo Yu was gravely injured and unable to exert his full strength, even a single furious strike from him was far beyond what a mere Second-Order Open Heaven like Ma Yuande could endure.
One blow, and his life was snuffed out.
Ancestor Mo Yu didn't so much as glance at Ma Yuande's corpse. With a flicker of thought, the enormous tower ship immediately shot backward. He was decisive—if there was an ambush, he knew there was no point lingering. He wanted to get as far away as possible.
But the Dharma Avatar, Yu Rumeng, and Beili Mo had come prepared. The instant Yang Kai activated the Gourd Vine, the three of them had already begun marshaling the World Force of the Demon Realm. With a simultaneous roar, that World Force surged madly toward the tower ship, and in the blink of an eye, its speed dropped dramatically. The surrounding space became thick and viscous, like a swamp.
Creaking and groaning, the now-unprotected tower ship emitted a string of labored sounds. Its speed had slowed, but it continued to retreat with dogged determination.
Even with the combined might of the Demon Realm's three rulers, they couldn't stop Ancestor Mo Yu. The sheer depth of a Fifth-Order Open Heaven's power was plain for all to see.
The tower ship was about to slip beyond the range of their World Force. The three grew desperate, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't halt its progress.
In Yang Kai's plan, given their current strength, the only way to kill Ancestor Mo Yu was to keep him trapped in the Demon Realm. They absolutely could not let him slip away like this.
At the critical moment, a colossal dragon a hundred zhang long, its body wreathed in demonic qi, came hurtling across the sky, its massive claw reaching down toward the tower ship.
Long Tian had arrived!
"Stop him!" Ancestor Mo Yu's eyes went red with fury. He'd already pushed himself to the limit fighting the Dharma Avatar and the others, and the strain had aggravated his previous injuries. He had nothing left to deal with Long Tian's strike.
However, he wasn't the only Open Heaven expert on the tower ship!
Beyond the five Yang Kai had previously spotted in the Demon Realm, three more low-grade Open Heaven cultivators were now aboard.
At Ancestor Mo Yu's roar, the three low-grade Open Heaven experts finally snapped to their senses. Each of them channeled the power of their own Small Universe, unleashing divine abilities that battered Long Tian from every direction.
A sorrowful dragon cry rang out. Dragon blood sprayed across the hundred-zhang dragon body, and scales went flying.
Long Tian held on for barely a single breath before he was sent tumbling backward, his enormous form rolling through the air before slamming into a distant hill and snapping it clean in half.
That brief delay was all Yang Kai needed. He had already produced the Protonic Divine Gourd and flipped it open, unleashing a burst of seven-colored radiance.
"That's…" Sensing the rank of the seven-colored light, Ancestor Mo Yu's face went pale with shock. He couldn't fathom why such a powerful Artifact would appear in a place like this.
Without the tower ship's protective barrier, the Protonic Divine Radiance instantly riddled it with damage, and even those Open Heaven experts had to channel their own power to resist the terrifying might of the light.
World Force surged and ebbed, and the energies grew wild and chaotic.
Even so, the tower ship was visibly pulling free of the Demon Realm's range. It had already escaped by more than half—within a few more breaths, it would break free entirely.
Yang Kai gritted his teeth, his crimson eyes scanning the void, searching for something. Then a cold gleam bloomed in his field of vision, and he finally exhaled in relief.
It had arrived at last!
The cold gleam came silently, but it quickly coalesced into a cataclysmic sword beam that slashed down upon the tower ship from above.
"What?!" Ancestor Mo Yu was stunned.
Sensing the terrifying power of that strike, Ancestor Mo Yu didn't hesitate for even a moment. He launched himself off the tower ship without looking back. And without his guidance, with all protective measures gone, how could the tower ship possibly withstand such a sword?
The sword light swept silently through the center of the tower ship, slicing through the body of a Third-Order Open Heaven expert who had been desperately trying to hold off the Protonic Divine Radiance, and vanished in a flash.
Across the raging battlefield, a brief, eerie silence fell. The only sound was the ragged panting coming from each person's mouth.
Crack…
With a soft sound, the tower ship split cleanly in two. The cut was perfectly smooth. And that wasn't all—the warrior struck by the sword beam now had a thin bloodline drawn across his forehead.
As if realizing what had happened, his eyes filled with terror and bewilderment. He turned toward Ancestor Mo Yu and opened his mouth: "Ancestor, save me!"
The words had barely left his lips when the bloodline suddenly extended downward, tracing a path all the way down between his legs.
Pfft…
Blood erupted everywhere. The Third-Order Open Heaven expert's body, just like the tower ship, split in two from the middle. His organs scattered across the ground, and he perished in an instant.