However, judging by Yang Kai's previous performance, that bizarre technique wasn't something he could deploy casually. Otherwise, Yang Kai could have crippled his efforts from the very start — there would have been no need to wait half a cup of tea's worth of time.
Come to think of it, it made sense. A technique that directly attacked the Small Universe World was profoundly mystical, and naturally required a lengthy buildup. That actually aligned with some of the secret knowledge Yang Kai had come across.
With that thought, Blood Crow bared his teeth in a savage grin. "There's a road to heaven, yet you won't take it. There's no gate to hell, yet you insist on barging in, brat. All the grudges between you and me — let's settle them here today!"
Yang Kai leveled his spear at him. "That's exactly what I had in mind!"
This trip to the Shattered Heavens had two purposes. The first was the Wind Spirit, and that goal had already been accomplished. What remained was tempering himself. Blood Crow's escape from the Blood Demon Cave Heaven was partly connected to Yang Kai. Since he had set the cause in motion, he naturally wanted to see it through to its conclusion.
The moment the last word fell from his lips, Yang Kai thrust his spear forward — strike first to seize the initiative!
Although Blood Crow was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven like him, Yang Kai wouldn't take this old monster who had seized a new body lightly. He wouldn't assume he could simply crush and eliminate him at will. If he truly harbored such thoughts, he would be the one paying the price in the end.
Who knew how many trump cards this old monster, who had once been an Eighth-Order Open Heaven, still held? Yang Kai had experienced them firsthand back in the Blood Demon Cave Heaven.
Faced with this fierce thrust, Blood Crow seemed to have his own murderous instincts ignited as well. His hands formed a loose grip as a pair of butterfly swords materialized in his palms. As his World Force surged, resplendent blade light flowed from the swords — each beam stretching a thousand zhang long, illuminating the void like the wings of butterflies in graceful flight.
He crossed the two swords into a cruciform guard, pressing them tight against the tip of the Azure Dragon Spear and shoving downward with brutal force, suppressing Yang Kai's piercing offensive. In the same fluid motion, he drove both blades forward, aiming to cleave off Yang Kai's head.
Yang Kai leaned his body backward. The dazzling blade light grazed past his forehead as his long spear swept upward, knocking the crossed swords aside and scraping diagonally upward toward Blood Crow's chest and abdomen.
Blood Crow's figure drifted backward with eerie, ghost-like fluidity. His right hand brought a single blade crashing down toward Yang Kai like a mountain plummeting from the heavens.
Yang Kai paid it no heed. His spear lanced out, projecting a phantom spear arc that pierced straight toward Blood Crow's throat.
World Force collided. Visible shockwaves detonated into rippling rings that spread outward. Several strands of black hair were severed from the top of Yang Kai's head, while a bright spot of crimson bloomed at Blood Crow's throat.
In the span of just three or two breaths, both combatants had already walked once past the gates of death — the danger was self-evident.
Neither afforded the other a moment to recover. As if sharing a single mind, they crashed together once more.
In battles between Open Heaven realm cultivators, what was being contested was the depth of each party's Small Universe foundation and the strength of the World Force they could mobilize. The deeper the foundation, the more powerful the World Force, and the greater the advantage. All manner of divine abilities and secret techniques, combat arts and strategies — they were nothing more than icing on the cake.
Yet a clash like the one between Yang Kai and Blood Crow, where both sides wielded Artifacts and engaged in close-quarters melee, remained rare among Open Heaven cultivators — and far more dangerous. A single misstep meant total defeat.
Blood Crow hadn't expected Yang Kai to be this savage, and Yang Kai hadn't anticipated that Blood Crow's combat experience would be this extensive. Every strike of those butterfly swords came like a stroke of divine inspiration, executed to absolute perfection. Even with his Great Freedom Spear Art to counter, Yang Kai found himself split evenly between offense and defense.
For the moment, the battle was dead even.
Xu Wang watched with blood pumping hot through his veins. As a warrior from the Bright King Heaven, what he admired most was this kind of straightforward, head-on combat. Exchanging divine abilities and secret techniques was never the forte of Bright King Heaven warriors — their physical bodies were the most powerful Artifacts they possessed, and every punch and kick carried the force to split heaven and open earth.
The scene unfolding before him was right up his alley, and battle intent surged through him in an instant. But before he could join the fray, the two surviving Blood Slaves closed in from either side — clearly intending to prevent him from linking up with Yang Kai to fight two against one.
Xu Wang had no choice but to engage.
At his peak, these two Blood Slaves, who had forced their way to the Sixth Order through evil cultivation methods with unstable foundations, wouldn't have been worth his notice. However, he had already taken a severe beating under Blood Crow's hand and had been trapped for days. His cultivation had fallen to less than seventy percent of its peak. Facing these two Blood Slaves, he found himself somewhat constrained — though he could still hold his own for the time being.
On the other side, Blood Crow grew more alarmed with every exchange!
He had sensed it when Yang Kai obliterated two Blood Slaves in the snap of a finger — this brat's Small Universe foundation was unfathomably deep. But Blood Crow had relied on his Eighth-Order roots, had escaped the clutches of Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivators more than once, and hadn't placed too much weight on Yang Kai, who was also Sixth Order.
It wasn't until they actually crossed blows that he realized this brat was an absolute monster.
Among Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators, he had never encountered anyone with a foundation this deep. Every collision of World Force left him at a disadvantage. Once or twice wouldn't have mattered, but when it happened every single time, it was enough to set his own Small Universe trembling.
What baffled him even more was Yang Kai's uncanny spear art. That long spear seemed to possess a life of its own in his hands, and even Blood Crow's own masterful combat arts couldn't gain the slightest edge.
His foundation wasn't as deep as his opponent's, his combat arts couldn't seize the advantage, and the two Blood Slaves needed to pin down Xu Wang. Relying on himself alone, there was simply no way he could do anything to Yang Kai.
The moment that thought crystallized, Blood Crow was already contemplating retreat.
He had survived for so many years — had even found an opportunity to seize a new body after being sealed away — all because he understood one thing above all else: know the times, assess the situation.
Against an enemy that could not be defeated, one must never engage recklessly. Those naive calves who weren't afraid of tigers generally died in the most wretched fashion.
Though he was reluctant to admit it, Blood Crow felt that at the Sixth-Order Open Heaven level, this Yang Kai had already reached a state of near invincibility. Short of a High-Order Open Heaven cultivator stepping in, who could possibly deal with him?
Before he could withdraw, Yang Kai had already seized another opening, locking onto that ethereal, traceless aura and activating the Bull-Fighting Secret Art.
In an instant, Blood Crow felt his Small Universe take a violent shake. Across the vast expanse of its territories, the earth cracked and mountains collapsed, wind howled and clouds darkened.
That same unreasonable technique again! Blood Crow gritted his teeth, forcibly suppressing the churning blood in his chest and calming the upheaval within his Small Universe.