Seeing Yang Kai advancing with his spear, Mao Zhe had already fled back to Xuan Yang Mountain and now stood atop one of its peaks, his hair bristling with rage. "Boy, how dare you push this far!"
He had already retreated. He had activated every last formation and restriction protecting his own lair, and yet Yang Kai had still come chasing after him, looking every bit like he refused to let the matter go. It was absolutely infuriating.
Before this day, he had never imagined that anyone at the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm could defeat him—and not even in a one-on-one duel.
He had fought alongside Geng Qing and Zhou Ya, all three of them together, and the result was that Geng Qing and Zhou Ya had been gravely wounded and left unconscious, while even he himself had been shaken to his core.
Where had this kid even come from? A month ago, hadn't Second Brother said he was only Fifth-Order Open Heaven? In the chaos earlier, he hadn't even had time to ask what had happened.
There was no way a Fifth-Order cultivator could advance to the Sixth-Order in a single month and then wield such terrifying power.
If he had known how formidable this kid truly was, Mao Zhe would have treated him with the utmost courtesy. But now? Xuan Yang Mountain had completely fallen out with him, and the Second Mountain Lord had even been beaten to death.
The enmity was sealed. There was no possibility of reconciliation.
In moments, Yang Kai arrived before Xuan Yang Mountain. Layer upon layer of massive light barriers enveloped the mountain peaks, with arcane patterns flowing and spinning across their surfaces—the might of great formations and restrictions. Yang Kai thrust his spear hard. The barrier dimpled slightly downward before springing back to its original shape.
After testing the defenses, Yang Kai gave a slight nod. The protective formation here was not as profound as his own Nine Heavens, but it was still quite impressive. After all, Xuan Yang Mountain had stood in this Shadowless Grotto-Heaven for thousands upon tens of thousands of years. Accumulated over such an immense span of time, its foundations were not to be underestimated.
But now that he was here, there was no way he was leaving empty-handed.
He glanced up at Mao Zhe, who stood on the mountaintop watching him with cold eyes, and Yang Kai cracked a grin—a smile full of meaning that made Mao Zhe's heart skip a beat.
"What is this kid planning?!" Mao Zhe furrowed his brow.
Before he could figure it out, a low shout reached his ears.
"Dragon… Transformation!"
A piercing dragon cry shook the heavens. A colossal golden dragon head materialized behind Yang Kai, flashed once, and plunged into his body, vanishing. Immediately after, a series of cracking, popping sounds erupted.
As the noise rang out, the countless gazes from across Xuan Yang Mountain that had been fixed on the scene shot upward in alarm, then froze in terror.
Before their eyes, that small figure had transformed into a monstrous colossus.
Dragon scales covered every inch of his body. His hands had become razor-sharp dragon claws. A dragon tail lashed behind him. Two dragon horns atop his forehead gleamed as though forged from pure gold. A beard of dragon whiskers fluttered beneath his jaw, and with every breath he exhaled, the wind shifted and the clouds changed color.
If a three-hundred-zhang-tall behemoth was not shocking enough, then the colossal spear gripped in those monstrous hands was enough to freeze the blood.
The Azure Dragon Spear had also grown to several hundred zhang in length, radiating a cold, terrifying light.
Dragon might surged outward, pressing down on every person within Xuan Yang Mountain through layer after layer of protective formations, making it hard for them to breathe.
"The Dragon Clan!" Mao Zhe cried out in disbelief, his pupils contracting to pinpoints. "You're actually a member of the Dragon Clan!"
Yang Kai tossed his massive head, the breath from his nostrils so searingly hot it seemed it could burn holes through heaven and earth. He hoisted the giant spear high above him, and his voice boomed like thunder across the world: "Enough talk! Take my spear first!"
The spear crashed down without any flourish, dragging a howling tempest in its wake. Sand and stone flew through the air. The Open Heaven cultivators inside Xuan Yang Mountain screamed and scattered in panic.
Mao Zhe dared not delay. He quickly produced the formation jade slip and poured his power into it, channeling the full might of the great formation to resist.
The spear fell like a cudgel and smashed squarely onto the barrier of light.
A deafening boom erupted as the formation's light screen buckled deeply inward, its radiance flickering wildly.
Yang Kai roared, dragon cries shaking the sky, pouring even more force into his strike—but the formation held. The terrifying shockwave transmitted through the air nonetheless shook Xuan Yang Mountain as though it were experiencing an earthquake. Many cultivators stumbled and nearly fell. Those weaker Open Heaven Realm warriors coughed up blood from their noses and mouths, looking wretched.
A moment later, the formation's barrier rebounded, and Yang Kai's enormous body was pushed slightly backward, forced back several hundred zhang.
Yang Kai raised an eyebrow and praised, "Impressive! Truly impressive!"
As expected of a stronghold with tens of thousands of years of accumulation—Xuan Yang Mountain's protective formation was truly formidable, capable of withstanding his blow without breaking. A flash of fierce intent gleamed in those dragon eyes as he stepped forward again, his presence surging with menace.
Mao Zhe's eyelids twitched violently. "Junior Brother, wait! Let us talk this through—everything can be negotiated!"
Yang Kai laughed. "There's nothing between us to negotiate."
Another spear strike came crashing down, slamming into the formation barrier with a thunderous blow.
Pu-pu-pu—the sound of spitting blood. Three mid-grade Open Heaven cultivators stationed at one of the formation nodes assisting Mao Zhe coughed up mouthsful of blood, their auras instantly withering. They had clearly been injured through the shockwave alone.
Mao Zhe whipped his head to look, his heart pounding. When he turned back toward Yang Kai, he saw the attacks continuing without pause—the spear was rising once more! Gritting his teeth, he called out, "Junior Brother, the Shadowless Grotto-Heaven is neither too large nor too small—leave yourself some room, and we may meet again someday!"
Yang Kai snorted coldly. "No need. Today I'll shatter your Xuan Yang Mountain first, then put a spear through you. We won't need to meet again."