His chest churned with roiling blood and qi, and his Small Universe trembled. Zuo Quanhui's full-powered counterattack was truly terrifying — Yang Kai hadn't even seen clearly how the man had dodged his fierce spear thrust. He could only conclude that a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator's means truly defied all conventional understanding.
He steadied himself in a rush, then focused his gaze once more. His eyes narrowed slightly.
Before the massive black vortex, Zuo Quanhui stood ramrod straight, like a sword planted in the void. And flanking him on either side were several unmistakable figures — Zi Yan, Yin Xinzhao, and the rest.
That old dog Zuo Quanhui had actually mustered the spare strength to rescue his key subordinates even after repelling Yang Kai.
Zi Yan and the others were clearly still shaken. Each of them had been heavily depleted from the fierce battle, and after being trapped by Luan Baifeng's array formation plates, they would have perished in this void if Zuo Quanhui hadn't shattered the formation with a single sword stroke and pulled them out. Standing beside Zuo Quanhui now, they had finally recovered some sense of security.
Yang Kai swept his gaze across the surroundings, and what greeted him was a scene of utter desolation.
The Heavenly Sword Palace had long since been blown to pieces. The Heavenly Sword Alliance's Open Heaven Realm cultivators had suffered uncountable casualties. Roughly a hundred still remained, fighting with desperate resolve, but their defeat and death were only a matter of time.
Danyang Tianjun's lips trembled violently, his face ashen.
The Heavenly Sword Alliance — gone!
An alliance that had been passed down through countless years, that had shone across countless generations, had been utterly destroyed in this single battle. Danyang Tianjun's heart twisted with agony. He resented Zuo Quanhui for dragging the Heavenly Sword Alliance into this quagmire, but he dared not voice his anger. After all, he and Huang Mao had both been saved by Zuo Quanhui. As long as they could escape with their lives this time, with their Sixth-Order cultivation, there would surely be a chance to rise again in the future.
"Master!" Zi Yan suddenly cried out in horror, her gaze fixed on Zuo Quanhui's midsection. There, a blood-soaked hole pierced clean through his body, and around the wound, pitch-black Golden Crow True Fire flickered and burned.
Master had been wounded! Zi Yan could scarcely believe her eyes.
The last time, in the Void Domain, Master had also been injured by Yang Kai — but that had been due to his own carelessness, and back then Yang Kai had been fighting alongside three other Sixth-Order cultivators. It hadn't been his accomplishment alone.
Yet today, in a one-on-one duel, Master had been wounded by Yang Kai once again!
Had Yang Kai's strength truly reached such a terrifying level?
Zuo Quanhui seemed not to have heard Zi Yan's words. Separated by tens of thousands of kilometers, he simply gazed at Yang Kai with a detached calm.
Yang Kai was looking back at him. His gaze drifted slightly downward, fixing on the bloody hole, and he grinned.
So, you didn't come out unscathed either!
Moments ago, Zuo Quanhui had employed some unknown technique to evade Yang Kai's savage strike, repelling him in the same motion while simultaneously rescuing Zi Yan and the others. Yang Kai had assumed the gap between himself and Zuo Quanhui was still substantial. But now it was clear — Zuo Quanhui had paid a steep price to pull that off.
Yang Kai's spirits soared! He still hadn't managed to kill Zuo Quanhui, but since he could already inflict serious wounds, how far off could the kill be?
He raised the Azure Dragon Spear slightly and looked toward Zuo Quanhui with a defiant, unruly expression, his gaze openly provocative.
Zuo Quanhui inhaled softly and spoke in a level tone: "This gift of yours today — I shall return it a hundredfold in the days to come."
Yang Kai sneered: "Don't bother waiting for another day. Let's settle this grudge right here, right now. We'll see whether it's you who dies or me who perishes!"
Zuo Quanhui slowly shook his head: "The time has not yet come!"
The moment those words left his lips, he spun around and brought his sword down in a slash aimed at the black vortex behind him!
The sight stunned Yang Kai. He had no idea what Zuo Quanhui was doing, but instinct screamed that something was very wrong.
Under that breathtaking sword stroke, the World Force of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator erupted forth, and the black vortex surged outward for a brief instant.
Without a moment's hesitation, Zuo Quanhui channeled his power, enveloped the several Sixth-Order cultivators beside him, and plunged straight into the vortex.
Yang Kai's eyes went wide in shock. Was Zuo Quanhui trying to get himself killed? The interior of a black vortex was nothing but void and chaos — even as a Seventh-Order cultivator, once inside he would never find his bearings, eventually becoming lost in the space between dimensions, trapped in a fate worse than death!
But in that same instant, Yang Kai sensed something peculiar emanating from the black vortex. It was not the aura of void and chaos — there was a faint thread of something that felt like the energy of a Heaven and Earth World.
Zuo Quanhui was trying to escape!
Yang Kai bellowed: "Where do you think you're going?!"
He activated the Laws of Space and thrust his spear forward, plunging it directly into the black vortex.
A muffled grunt was faintly audible. When he retracted the spear, blood dripped from its tip — but Zuo Quanhui and the others had already vanished, and he couldn't tell who his strike had actually wounded.
Standing before the black vortex, Yang Kai's expression grew solemn. He examined it carefully for a moment, then clenched his teeth and growled low: "A Domain Gate!"