"Killing a Sixth-Order can earn you five stars?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow slightly, a vague understanding of how the Dao Discussion Assembly's scoring system worked beginning to dawn on him.
On his way here, Lu Jing had killed a few small fry as well. Combined with the points Yang Kai had earned from killing the thirteen Open Heaven masters earlier, the correlation between rank and points became immediately clear.
The scoring system appeared to be based on Fifth-Order Open Heaven as the baseline. In other words, killing one Fifth-Order would illuminate one complete star on the golden ring.
For Third-Order, you'd need to kill ten. Fourth-Order, five. And Sixth-Order yielded five times the points of a Fifth-Order. By that logic, killing a Sixth-Order Open Heaven master offered the greatest reward—but Sixth-Order Open Heaven masters weren't exactly easy prey.
Setting Yang Kai aside, all the Sixth-Order participants in this Dao Discussion Assembly were up-and-comers who had attained that level less than a century ago. Even with their exceptional starting points, they couldn't match the accumulated power of those Sixth-Order criminals who had been cultivating on the Sin Star for ages. Unless two or three of them joined forces, they had no chance of killing a Sixth-Order criminal.
The total number of Sixth-Order masters on the Sin Star wasn't huge, but there were still a dozen or twenty. If he could kill them all, he could lock down the championship of this Dao Discussion Assembly without question.
However, tracking them down one by one would be far too troublesome. Those Sixth-Order Open Heaven masters were scattered across every corner of the Sin Star, and the star was vast. Suppressed by the grand formation as he was, even if Yang Kai devoted himself entirely to the search, he might not manage to find many.
Setting those thoughts aside, Yang Kai turned to look to the side. The Grey Bone Heavenly Lord, who had been watching the fight moments ago, was nowhere to be seen. White Hair had vanished along with him—they had clearly seized the opportunity while Yang Kai was distracted to flee in a panic.
"Senior Brother Yang, they ran that way!" Lu Jing called out loudly, pointing in a direction.
"They won't get away!" Yang Kai bared his teeth in a savage grin. His massive form rapidly shrank, returning to his original appearance. The Space Laws surged, and he vanished from the spot in an instant.
Fleeing before someone who had mastered the Space Laws was an utter joke. No matter what abilities the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord possessed, as long as he left any trace, he could never escape Yang Kai's pursuit.
In this regard, Yang Kai was an absolute top-tier existence.
Tens of thousands of kilometers away, the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord wrapped around his sole remaining subordinate, White Hair, rocketed forward at breakneck speed. A layer of blood mist emanated from his body—he had clearly activated some kind of secret technique that consumed enormous amounts of energy, burning his own vital blood to fuel his desperate escape.
The scene of the Giant Clam Heavenly Lord's death had terrified him beyond measure.
Before this day, he had never imagined the Giant Clam Heavenly Lord would crumble so easily. No—it wasn't that the Giant Clam was incompetent. It was that the fellow with the Dragon Clan bloodline was freakishly powerful. As fellow Sixth-Order Open Heaven masters, the Giant Clam hadn't even been able to resist before being toyed with and killed.
His abilities were on par with the Giant Clam's. If the Giant Clam was no match for that man, then neither was he. Seizing the moment Yang Kai's attention had wavered, he had fled without hesitation.
That man was a living nightmare. If he didn't leave now, death was all that awaited him.
Whoosh…
The Grey Bone Heavenly Lord's hurtling figure came to an abrupt halt, his expression growing extremely grave as he stared ahead. A single bead of cold sweat slid down his forehead and along his cheek.
"Master?" White Hair gazed at him uncertainly.
The Grey Bone Heavenly Lord didn't answer. He simply stared fixedly ahead. The area was shrouded in thick fog, reducing visibility to zero. Even divine sense was severely suppressed here. But the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord could clearly sense it—from within the dense fog ahead, a savage and terrifying aura had locked onto him.
Like a vicious dragon lurking within.
How was this possible…
How could this man be so impossibly fast? The Grey Bone Heavenly Lord couldn't believe it. He had fled at the cost of burning his own vital blood, and yet his path had still been cut off.
White Hair had snapped back to his senses as well. Though he couldn't see anything, that didn't stop him from inferring the situation from the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord's expression. Panic surfaced on his face before quickly hardening into resolve. Channeling his power, he roared, "Master, flee! I'll hold them off for you—remember to avenge me!"
With that shout, he charged straight ahead into the fog.
Within the mist, two crimson points of light suddenly bloomed, like a pair of red lanterns.
Slap!
A scream tore through the air as White Hair was swatted to the ground by a palm that seemed to appear from nowhere, his fate uncertain.
"Foolish loyalty!" The two crimson lights wavered and slowly advanced. Gradually, the silhouette of the Dragon Clan figure materialized in the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord's field of vision.
Grey Bone glanced toward White Hair and saw that he had merely been knocked to the ground—he wasn't in mortal danger. Only then did he turn to regard Yang Kai, who was walking toward him with measured steps, and spoke in a low voice, "Does the Venerable One intend to show no mercy?"
Yang Kai came to a stop ten zhang in front of him, rolled his neck, and said flatly, "That depends on whether you'd rather live or die."
"And if I'd rather live?" the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord asked. Given the choice, who would choose death? Facing such a terrifying opponent, the Grey Bone Heavenly Lord had absolutely no confidence in his ability to win. If it truly came to a fight, his fate would likely be no different from the Giant Clam's.
Slap…
A heavy, ancient tome landed at his feet.
"With your own vital blood, write down your name. Leave behind your aura and your imprint, and you will live!"
"What is this…" The Grey Bone Heavenly Lord's brow furrowed deeply. He reached out and drew the tome toward him, flipping it open to find names written in blood—one after another, six in total.