Back during the battle against the Hundred Sect Alliance, Mo Mei had clashed with Luan Baifeng and been completely outclassed. Part of that was due to her having only recently advanced, her realm still unstable, but it was also because she had fought bare-handed, with no suitable Artifact. Had she possessed one that matched her current level at the time, things would have gone much differently.
For that reason, once the star city had been established and was thriving, Yang Kai had Bian Yuqing spend a small fortune procuring Artifacts for the Void Land's Open Heaven cultivators. Combined with the many spoils seized after the great battle, the combat power the Void Land's Open Heaven realm fighters could now bring to bear was vastly greater than before.
The Purifying Vase in Yue He's hand alone was worth a staggering forty million Open Heaven Pills — a Sixth-Order Artifact.
Artifacts used by Open Heaven cultivators were capable of carrying and amplifying World Force, something that no Artifact wielded by a warrior below the Open Heaven realm could match.
The flower petals danced through the air, a riot of blossoms flooding the void until Shen Liang and Jiang Yunshan could not tell north from south. All they could see were multicolored petals in every direction, killing intent coiling around them as though they had been trapped inside an entire world. Where could they still spot Yang Kai and the others? In a panic, they each unleashed their own secret arts, and rumbling booms echoed without cease as they stirred the winds and clouds, desperate to break free.
"Go!" The moment Yang Kai saw the two of them trapped, he barked the command without hesitation. He activated his Space Laws, enveloping Yue He and Old Bai within them, and his figure flickered as he prepared to teleport away from the spot.
The next instant, his expression changed drastically — the vast expanse of the void had been sealed off, the entire heaven and earth transformed into a cage from which there was no escape.
"Heaven Lock Earth Seal!" Yang Kai's face turned dark. The sensation was eerily familiar, and in a flash of lightning-speed thought, a figure surfaced in his mind. He gritted his teeth and roared: "Luan Baifeng!"
During the Hundred Sect Alliance's invasion of the Void Land, Luan Baifeng had aided Kong Feng. This woman's mastery of formation arts ran extraordinarily deep. If anyone could seal off an entire stretch of heaven and earth this quickly, it could only be her!
When Kong Feng had been captured, she had fled without a second thought. Yang Kai had assumed she had returned to the Black Prison — he never expected her to be here as well. In other words, the ones blocking the Domain Gate's exit were not two Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators, but three.
"Hee hee hee..." A silvery laugh rang out as Luan Baifeng's figure materialized, her gaze playfully fixed on Yang Kai. "Clever boy — you actually figured out that I'm here too. Now then, why don't you guess whether you'll make it out alive this time?"
Yang Kai glared at her furiously. "Luan Baifeng, the Void Land has no enmity with your Black Prison. Why do you keep stirring up trouble?"
He seethed inwardly. If not for this woman, he could have teleported away with Yue He and Old Bai just now — but she had sealed the very fabric of the space, rendering his Space Laws useless.
Luan Baifeng flicked one slender jade finger and replied with a smile, "We really have no quarrel, true enough. It's just that I happen to need mine slaves, and I've taken quite an interest in your Open Heaven cultivators. So here's what I'll propose — hand over all of your Void Land's Open Heaven cultivators to serve as mine slaves, and I'll let you live. What do you say?"
"You're dreaming!" Yang Kai snarled through clenched teeth. "If I survive today, I will raze your Black Prison to the ground!"
Luan Baifeng pressed a hand to her chest, her voice dripping with mock fright. "Oh my, such a temper! I'm ever so scared!"
Boom, boom...
The flower petals shattered, and two figures burst free from the boundless rain of blossoms — none other than Shen Liang and Jiang Yunshan, who had been trapped by Yue He moments ago. Both wore grim expressions. Shen Liang cast a glance at Luan Baifeng and snorted coldly, "Enough talk. Kill them first, then we'll chat!"
Luan Baifeng answered with her ever-present smile, "I may be a mere woman, but bullying the young and overpowering the weak — that's something I simply cannot bring myself to do. My contribution this time was limited to helping you trap them. If you want killing done, you'll have to do it yourselves. I'll just stand here and watch." With that, she actually took several steps backward.
Shen Liang's expression soured. He let out a cold snort and ordered, "You pin down Yue He — I'll kill that brat myself!"
Jiang Yunshan gave a single word of assent: "Good." With a sweep of the Heavenly Thunder Branch in his hand, a terrifying bolt of lightning lanced straight toward Yue He.
The moment he made his move, Yang Kai roared: "Zhu Jiuyin — are you going to act or not?!"
At those words, the expressions of Shen Liang and the others shifted dramatically. Shen Liang, who had been about to charge Yue He, immediately dropped into a defensive stance, his eyes darting in every direction as his spiritual sense surged outward.
Luan Baifeng's face tightened as well, and Jiang Yunshan produced a defensive Artifact without a moment's hesitation, shielding himself.
Before the great battle between the Hundred Sect Alliance and the Void Land, nobody had given the Void Land a second thought. Nobody had ever imagined that two Grand Holy Spirits could be hidden within such a modest territory.
After that battle, however, Zhu Jiuyin's origins had been thoroughly investigated.
This time, when Yang Kai had departed the Void Land, he had only Yue He and Bai Qi at his side on the surface — but who could say whether he had hidden reserves in the shadows? Particularly Zhu Jiuyin and Bixi, who were the very existences that every covert operator feared most.
The reason Luan Baifeng had not acted rashly was precisely her fear that Zhu Jiuyin might be lurking nearby. The instant Yang Kai shouted her name, all three of them looked as though they were facing their gravest enemy.
Seizing this golden opportunity — under Yang Kai's earlier secret instructions — Yue He and Old Bai struck in unison, unleashing their full power toward a certain point in the void.
In moments, as the terrifying force of World Force erupted, the power binding heaven and earth loosened abruptly.
Luan Baifeng had indeed set up her Heaven Lock Earth Seal in this area, but it was far from impregnable. With Yue He and Old Bai striking at full force, it was easily broken apart.