The man appeared to have witnessed something truly horrifying—his face was frozen in pure terror. Yang Kai had been struggling to encounter another soul in this place, so despite sensing that something was very wrong with the man, he couldn't simply let him walk away. He flickered forward, planted himself in the man's path, and raised a hand. "Friend, wait a moment—"
But the man acted as if Yang Kai didn't exist at all, barreling straight toward him without so much as a flicker of acknowledgment.
Yang Kai's frown deepened. He pushed a gentle pulse of energy forward, intending to stop the man, but his arm passed clean through the other's body.
The sight startled Yang Kai, and before he could even process what had happened, the man had passed through him entirely and continued onward behind him.
Yang Kai whipped his head around. There was nothing there—no one at all. It was as though everything that had just happened had been nothing more than a hallucination. A chill crept up from his heart, and his back suddenly felt ice-cold.
This damned place was riddled with strangeness from every angle. It was clearly not somewhere to linger, but Yang Kai had absolutely no clue how its mysteries worked, and for the moment he had no idea how to leave.
After walking for a while longer, Yang Kai suddenly spotted a circular platform up ahead. Something seemed to be sitting atop it.
He rubbed his eyes, his expression wary. He was certain that when he had looked in this direction earlier, there had been nothing there—but the moment his gaze swept back, the platform had materialized out of thin air.
Holding his breath and focusing his senses, he squinted at it for some time but couldn't make out what rested on top. After hesitating for quite a while, he finally began making his way over, one cautious step at a time.
Soon, Yang Kai arrived at the foot of the circular platform. He climbed a few steps, leaned forward for a look, and his face went pale—for resting atop the platform was a severed head, and its owner was none other than Qu Huashang!
How could Qu Huashang be dead here? And who had placed her head on this platform? In an instant, Yang Kai's eyes cracked with fury, and the rage surging in his chest was like a volcano on the verge of eruption, ready to burn everything under heaven to ashes.
This senior sister from Yin Yang Blessed Land had been his steadfast companion throughout their journey. Had she not carried him on her back and sprinted for her life, he would almost certainly have been killed by Yin Xinzhao and the others while unconscious. Yang Kai had come to know Qu Huashang's character well—enough that, deep down, he already considered her a friend.
Yet here she was, dead. The thought twisted a knife in his heart.
At that very moment, Qu Huashang suddenly opened her tightly shut eyes and screamed miserably at Yang Kai. "Junior Brother, save me! I'm in so much pain!"
Yang Kai stumbled backward several steps, staring at the head with alarm and suspicion.
Qu Huashang kept repeating her plea for help, but Yang Kai's expression gradually grew calm.
This was definitely not Qu Huashang's head. A dead person couldn't speak. Yang Kai was nearly certain now that he had fallen into some kind of illusion array, and everything before his eyes was nothing but a hallucination.
The instant this realization struck, Yang Kai flickered and vanished straight into the Small Sealed World.
He had hoped to use the transition to shake off the illusions plaguing him, but the moment he stepped inside, he realized something was terribly wrong. Tendrils of some unknown energy had been clinging to his body—he couldn't tell when it had attached itself. The energy carried a thick undercurrent of sinister qi, wrapping around him like vines. Had he not retreated into the Small Sealed World, he might never have noticed it.
These eerie threads of energy writhed and twisted, projecting all manner of bizarre visions.
The hallucination he had just experienced was undoubtedly caused by them.
Yang Kai's expression turned grim. He immediately channeled the Golden Crow True Fire, letting it blaze across his body.
A sharp hissing sound rang out as the sinister energy clinging to his flesh was burned clean in an instant. After confirming that nothing of that nature remained on him, Yang Kai stepped back out of the Small Sealed World.
This time, however, he was more careful. Rather than suppressing the Golden Crow True Fire, he kept it burning steadily as a protective mantle around himself.
The moment he reappeared, he heard hissing sounds erupting all around him, and wisps of black smoke rose into the air—as though something were being incinerated, just as the sinister energy had been inside the Small Sealed World.
Understanding dawned on Yang Kai. This eerie place was saturated with that sinister qi. Anyone who set foot here would be plagued by visions born of it.
The sinister qi was of considerable grade—likely a trap laid by the Blood Demon Divine Lord. But the Golden Crow True Fire was of an equally lofty grade, which was why it could suppress the qi so effectively. Any other martial artist would have been completely helpless against this.
Yang Kai grew worried. Whether it was Gu Pan and Zhang Ruoxi, or Qu Huashang and Ning Daoran, or Accountant Lang Qingshan and the others—none of them possessed his level of foundation. At this moment, they were probably already being tormented by visions.
He could almost be certain that every martial artist who had charged into the Blood Demon Divine Palace was going through exactly what he had. The difference was that he had managed to break free—there was no guarantee the others could do the same.
He looked back toward where the circular platform had been, but Qu Huashang's head was gone. The platform itself had vanished entirely.
Yang Kai let out a small breath of relief. It seemed that what he had seen really had been nothing more than a hallucination. Qu Huashang's head had not actually been severed by anyone.
The hissing continued at his sides as more sinister qi was burned away. Yang Kai pressed onward, but this time, unlike before, his mind felt clear and lucid.
After walking for some time longer, faint, wretched screams suddenly reached his ears—weak yet agonized beyond measure, as though someone were enduring unimaginable torture.