By this point, how could Kong Feng not realize that Yang Kai had been activating the defensive grand formation earlier merely to feign weakness and lure them deeper in? But even though he understood now, it was already too late.
Cursing the cunning brat inwardly, he gritted his teeth and, rather than retreating, pressed forward—the warship surged ahead with even greater speed. As a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivator, Kong Feng possessed exceptional vision and an extremely keen sense of the battlefield. Void Land had only two Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators total, and both had been wounded previously. Yue He was currently occupied channeling the jade slip to drive the grand formation and couldn't be freed, which left only Mo Mei for him to worry about.
If he could reach Yang Kai's side and have Luan Baifeng pin down Mo Mei, he could calmly seize Yang Kai and settle the entire battle. At the very least, even just distracting Yang Kai so he couldn't fully control the grand formation would suffice.
It was precisely with this thinking that Kong Feng took the gamble.
When Yang Kai saw this, he instantly grasped Kong Feng's plan. A cold snort escaped his lips, and he waved his hand. From the thousands upon thousands of streams of light, a portion immediately broke off and surged toward the Heavenly Sword Alliance's warship, while the greater remaining part hurtled like comets chasing the moon toward the Hundred Families Alliance.
The flying Artifacts of each faction retreated frantically the instant they sensed danger, simultaneously activating their own defensive formations. In a flash, multicolored radiance flickered to life, illuminating vast stretches of the starry void.
Moments later, accompanied by thunderous rumbling, the rolling waves of light engulfed the flying Artifacts of the Hundred Families Alliance entirely.
Though Kong Feng had rallied this Hundred Families Alliance in large numbers, their strength was wildly uneven—most were third-rate powers, and how formidable could the flying Artifacts of third-rate powers really be?
The moment contact was made, the protective formations of the dozen or so leading warships shattered with a boom. More streams of light swept in, and the might of countless Artifacts bloomed, blasting those dozen-plus flying Artifacts into fragments. The cultivators aboard suffered devastating casualties, blood spraying across the void.
The streams of light continued to tear forward, slamming into the protective formations of more and more flying Artifacts, setting them all trembling on the verge of collapse. Light flickered wildly as the cultivators aboard held their breath, hearts tight with dread.
Fortunately, they soon realized that this volley from Void Land, though fearsome in appearance, was not nearly as devastating as they had imagined. The thousands upon thousands of streams of light varied wildly in power, and the actual destructive force they could unleash was quite limited.
Of course, the main factor was that the Hundred Families Alliance had sheer numbers on their side—each faction shouldered only a portion of the pressure, which was barely manageable.
Even so, after that first wave, over twenty of the Alliance's flying Artifacts had been obliterated, and more than a thousand cultivators had perished in the process. Across the void, nothing remained but fragments of Artifacts and the corpses of cultivators—a scene too ghastly to behold.
Before they could even catch their breath, the streams of light that had pierced through their formation suddenly wheeled around and charged back at them!
Panic erupted. Everyone scattered and dodged frantically.
At the same time, aboard the Heavenly Sword Alliance's warship, radiance flickered as over a thousand Artifacts and over a thousand streams of light bombarded relentlessly—but all were blocked by the ship's protective formation. As a top-tier second-rate power, the Heavenly Sword Alliance had invested enormous resources into constructing this warship, Kong Feng's personal vessel, and its defensive capabilities were truly formidable.
But no defense, however powerful, could withstand unceasing assault. Even the Nine Heavens' defensive formation had been broken—how could the protective array of a single warship hold?
By the time the Heavenly Sword Alliance's warship closed to within several dozen li of Yang Kai, the barrier of light enveloping it exploded outward with a thunderous crack. Everyone aboard was exposed to the full assault of the Nine Heavens formation.
But that was already close enough.
Several dozen li might seem like a great distance, but for a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivator like Kong Feng, it was nothing more than a stone's throw!
Aboard the warship, Kong Feng snarled through clenched teeth: "Brat, let's see if you die now!"
As he spoke, he and Luan Baifeng channeled their techniques simultaneously, blasting back the surrounding streams of light. He reached out his hand to seize Yang Kai, while Luan Baifeng locked her spiritual sense firmly onto Mo Mei to prevent her from interfering. If Kong Feng could capture Yang Kai, this battle was won—and then she could calmly claim her own prisoner.
Facing the full-force attack of a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivator, Yang Kai showed no panic. He merely watched Kong Feng with cold eyes as he and Yue He simultaneously changed their hand seals. In the next instant, he thrust one hand high into the air and clenched his fist over the void, issuing a low command: "Third Formation—activate!"
Hummmm...
Heaven and earth resonated. The void shuddered. The cosmos shifted color.
Within Void Land, a terrifying aura suddenly erupted. As this aura manifested, hair-thin sword qi spread outward in every direction across all of Void Land, slicing through space itself. In that instant, whether friend or foe, every single person felt their skin sting as though an invisible blade was carving into their bodies.
Kong Feng's eyes went wide. He stared in disbelief at a single stream of light materializing deep within Void Land and cried out: "How can there still be more?!"
The grand formation enveloping Void Land—he had already witnessed the illusion array, the defensive formation, and the offensive formation. He had believed that was the entirety of it. Only now did he realize the formation still held further transformations.
Though this time only a single stream of light had appeared—far less spectacular than the thousands upon thousands from before—Kong Feng dared not treat it with the slightest contempt. Those previous streams had been impressive in sheer quantity, but their actual striking power had not been particularly devastating; otherwise, he would never have been able to press forward under that barrage. It was precisely because he knew the Heavenly Sword Alliance's warship could endure them that he had advanced rather than retreated. But this one was different. Even as a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator, Kong Feng faintly sensed a genuine threat. If this stream of light struck him, if he didn't die, he would be gravely wounded regardless!
That stream of light was a single beam of sword qi—a beam of pure white sword qi, no longer than three chi, yet radiating a feeling that could cleave heaven and earth apart.