"Well then, Uncle-Master Zuo, since you're so generous, your nephew won't stand on ceremony!" Wu Kuang bared his teeth in a savage grin, sat cross-legged, and activated the Heavenly Devouring Art. His body transformed into a bottomless pit, and the dense ambient World Force from every direction surged madly toward him.
In the blink of an eye, Wu Kuang had pushed the Heavenly Devouring Art to its absolute limit, devouring the power of heaven and earth wholesale! Feeling that endless stream of pure energy, a look of undisguised pleasure spread across his face.
Like a starving wolf clutching a warm, fragrant body — devouring soul and melting bone!
Others who were pulled into Zuo Quanhui's Small Universe could only wreak havoc through various means — even Yang Kai, powerful as he was, was no different. Wu Kuang, however, was unlike the rest. He could devour the very foundations of this Small Universe and convert it into his own power.
This was something Zuo Quanhui had never anticipated, and it would prove to be his greatest miscalculation!
He had assumed Wu Kuang had made a breakthrough mid-battle, advancing from the Fifth Order to the Sixth Order. In truth, Wu Kuang had been a Sixth Order cultivator all along, carefully concealing his true strength. He had only revealed his Sixth Order cultivation at the critical moment in order to track Zuo Quanhui's movements and pass word to Yang Kai.
Without a single word exchanged between them, Wu Kuang knew that Yang Kai understood his intentions, and Yang Kai knew exactly what Wu Kuang was planning. In a sense, they were of one mind.
There was a vast difference between destruction and devouring. Yang Kai and the others had been wreaking indiscriminate destruction throughout the Small Universe — and while that certainly inflicted unbearable damage on Zuo Quanhui and eroded the foundations of his Small Universe, it was nowhere near as efficient as Wu Kuang's approach.
Under that insatiable devouring, the Small Universe's foundations drained at a terrifying rate! Meanwhile, Wu Kuang's aura grew steadily stronger.
Yang Kai could clearly feel that Zuo Quanhui's interference against him had suddenly diminished greatly. Between continued strikes at everything around him, he let out a hearty laugh: "You've finally noticed? Too late!"
A figure materialized abruptly nearby — it was Zuo Quanhui, who had been lurking in concealment all along. At this moment, the Upper-Order Open Heaven cultivator's face was faintly pale, his hair bristling with fury. He gripped a long sword and glared: "You knew from the start?"
Yang Kai thrust his spear straight at him, the shaft blurring into a sky full of spear shadows, his expression bright with amusement: "Take a guess!"
Zuo Quanhui didn't move, but a crushing tide of sword light surged forward to meet the attack, shattering the curtain of spear shadows and striking straight for Yang Kai's vitals.
Yang Kai retreated rapidly, deflecting the overwhelming sword light, but his heart suddenly lurched. Throwing dignity to the wind, he threw himself flat on the ground.
A streak of cold brilliance shot past behind him, grazing his scalp and slicing away a few strands of hair.
When he scrambled back to his feet, Yang Kai's face was slick with cold sweat. Fighting inside someone else's Small Universe was fraught with disadvantage at every turn — and his opponent was a Upper-Order cultivator no less. Zuo Quanhui may have been gravely wounded, but even a starving camel was larger than a horse.
This fight was going to be a real one!
"Who exactly are you? You are no disciple of the Myriad Demon Heaven!"
On the other side, Wu Kuang could no longer remain seated and devour in peace. The moment he had activated the Heavenly Devouring Art, Zuo Quanhui had appeared abruptly in his field of vision, sword slashing down toward him.
Wu Kuang scrambled to fight back and flee, but after exchanging a few blows, he realized something was off about this Zuo Quanhui. The figure didn't seem to be solid at all — it was more like a projection — and it didn't possess the strength one would expect of a Seventh Order cultivator.
Though he was somewhat harried under the pursuit, he was far from helpless. Realizing that Zuo Quanhui couldn't afford to devote too much attention to him and was fighting with diminished power, Wu Kuang's composure returned. He kept the Heavenly Devouring Art running ceaselessly even as he dodged and weaved, devouring with ravenous hunger, all the while baring his teeth in that savage grin: "Of course I'm a disciple of the Myriad Demon Heaven. What kind of question is that, Uncle-Master Zuo?"
Zuo Quanhui showed no movement, yet he ghosted before Wu Kuang in an instant and thrust down with a light, almost lazy sword strike. Had Wu Kuang not been constantly shifting position, there would have been no evading that blow.
"The Myriad Demon Heaven has no such heretical art. What exactly is this technique you cultivate?" Zuo Quanhui hissed through gritted teeth, and unmistakable flickers of fear gleamed in his eyes. He had never encountered such a diabolical art — one that could devour the foundations of another's Small Universe and convert it into one's own power. Such a technique was practically a violation of heaven's laws. If anyone could cultivate it, why would advancement through the Open Heaven realm be so painstakingly difficult?
Among the dozen or so Sixth Order cultivators he had pulled into his Small Universe, Yang Kai was unquestionably the strongest. But when it came to who posed the greatest threat to him, it was undoubtedly this Myriad Demon Heaven disciple who had turned on him at the critical moment!
He still couldn't fathom why the Myriad Demon Heaven would ambush him.
At the same time, before every other Sixth Order cultivator of Void Land, a projection of Zuo Quanhui had appeared as well. These projections, however, were not particularly powerful — at best they could match each opponent, and some were even slightly weaker. Their attacks were intermittent, their movements sluggish and uncoordinated, a clear sign that Zuo Quanhui had spread himself far too thin.
Everyone had been startled at first by Zuo Quanhui's sudden appearance — a cornered tiger still had its fangs, and facing a Seventh Order cultivator, no one felt confident.
But after a brief exchange, the truth became clear, and the panic subsided.
Across more than ten battlefields, the fighting raged at full intensity. Every clash dealt further damage to the Small Universe, while Wu Kuang's Heavenly Devouring Art ran without pause, devouring Zuo Quanhui's foundations thread by thread.
Across Yang Kai's three-hundred-zhang dragon body, wound after wound peeled open, dragon scales cracked and shattered — a harrowing sight. Zuo Quanhui had devoted the majority of his attention here, and Yang Kai was truly struggling to cope. There was no immediate risk to his life, but being beaten down relentlessly was far from pleasant.
Still, if the situation continued on this way, it was exactly what Yang Kai wanted. The longer the battle dragged on, the more unfavorable it became for Zuo Quanhui. Once a critical threshold was reached, his defeat would be inevitable!
Zuo Quanhui, a Seventh Order Open Heaven, could hardly fail to recognize this. His original strategy had been to capture the leader to break the army — eliminate Yang Kai first, then deal with the rest one by one. If Yang Kai fell, it wouldn't matter how many Sixth Order cultivators Void Land had.
But after a prolonged exchange, he realized he had been far too naive. Yang Kai might have been battered into a sorry state, but it would take a great deal more than that to bring him down.
Things having come to this, there was no choice but to change tactics.
Between heaven and earth, as two figures clashed in a rapid exchange, Yang Kai's spear obliterated yet another projection of Zuo Quanhui. No blood spilled. Yang Kai was not surprised — he had already noticed that these were not Zuo Quanhui's true body, but exquisitely lifelike projections.