The rumored Blood Slaves were nowhere to be found, and
In the span of a heartbeat, the elder who led the group made a decisive call: "He's wounded — attack together!"
He had not failed to consider fleeing, but facing a figure of such terrifying reputation, running would be nothing short of certain death. On the contrary, if the three of them joined forces, there might still be a sliver of hope.
In his prime, Blood Crow Divine Lord would have been far beyond their match, but a Blood Crow who was gravely injured and had yet to recover might not have the will to fight them.
It had to be said that the elder was an extremely decisive man. Even in his youth, he had been the kind who dared to fight and take risks. The shout had barely left his lips before he was already the first to strike, launching a devastating blow toward Blood Crow.
The woman reacted half a beat slower, but quickly followed up, unleashing a dazzling divine ability.
But the other surviving man wore an expression of pure horror. He had not heard a word the elder said — he turned tail and ran!
Blood Crow stood perfectly still, actually allowing both attacks to strike him full on. His entire lower body dissolved into a cloud of blood mist, and he let out a chilling cackle. "If all four of you had attacked together just now, this Lord might genuinely have capsized in the gutter. But now… mere two Fifth-Ordereers dare act insolently before me?"
As his words fell, the blood cloud beneath him surged outward, sweeping toward the elder and the woman.
The woman shrieked. The elder's face twisted in panic, and though he fought back with all his strength, he could not escape his fate. In the blink of an eye, both were engulfed by the blood cloud.
Moments later, the blood cloud flowed back into Blood Crow's body. Where the elder and the woman had stood, there was nothing — not even their clothing remained, corroded to nothing. All that was left behind were two Space Rings that appeared to have endured countless years of weathering.
Blood Crow's complexion grew noticeably rosier. He licked his lips and murmured, "Not enough. Still not enough!"
His gaze pierced through the void, locking onto the direction the fleeing man had gone. His figure transformed into a streak of rainbow light as he gave chase.
Before long, Blood Crow cut off the man's escape. The fellow was pale as paper and dropped to his knees immediately, kowtowing as if pounding garlic. "Spare my life, Divine Lord! Spare my life!"
Blood Crow chuckled softly. "But this Lord is very hungry. If I spare you, what am I supposed to do?"
The man was first struck with terror, then a desperate inspiration struck him, and he cried out, "If the Divine Lord wishes to nourish himself, I know a place where many people have gathered — the Divine Lord could go there!"
Blood Crow raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
The man rattled off everything he knew in a single breath, then cautiously studied Blood Crow's face. "This humble one is willing to pledge loyalty to the Divine Lord and follow his lead from now on!"
Blood Crow gave a slight nod. "You have spirit."
The man gazed at Blood Crow cautiously, a fawning smile creeping onto his face.
"Since you're so willing, then merge with this Lord — I grant you eternal life." Wisps of red mist billowed outward, flowing toward the man like two great rivers.
A scream rang out, and then everything fell silent.
Blood Crow withdrew the blood mist. His previously chaotic and unstable aura steadied another fraction. He had painstakingly cultivated half a dozen Sixth-Order Blood Slaves over the course of decades, and every last one of them had fallen in battle. Had
But with Yang Kai bearing down on him like a bone leech that could not be shaken, and with his own desperate need to recover his strength, he had no patience for wasting time on a Fifth-Order cultivator.
He turned his head toward a certain point in the void. According to the man's final words before death, that direction had somehow drawn a large number of Open Heaven realm cultivators, as though some significant discovery had been made.
The four of them had originally been investigating that area themselves, only to run into a batch of enemies they could not match, forcing them to retreat and lay low.
They had never imagined they would encounter Blood Crow Divine Lord here, resulting in the annihilation of their entire group.
Blood Crow had little interest in whatever those people had discovered. What interested him were the people themselves — each and every Open Heaven cultivator was a delicious feast laid out for him!
Of course, if he could also claim whatever they had found along the way, Blood Crow would not complain.
His figure flickered and transformed into a rainbow that streaked off in that direction, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Half an hour later, Yang Kai came hurtling through the void and landed on the shattered Spirit Continent. He surveyed the surroundings and furrowed his brow slightly.
He could detect the traces of Blood Dao secret arts that had been cast here — clearly, Blood Crow had lingered in this spot for a time. He did not know who had been unfortunate enough to cross paths with the demon, but the outcome was self-evident.
Throughout the chase, Yang Kai had very nearly lost Blood Crow's trail, but finding evidence of Blood Dao techniques here confirmed that his direction of pursuit had been correct.
Without lingering, Yang Kai pressed on deeper into the void.
Several hours later, the scene that came into view made Yang Kai's eyes widen in surprise.
At a certain point in the void, scattered either alone or in small groups, were at least two hundred Open Heaven realm cultivators. They were spread across an area spanning several dozen li, and it was unclear what they were doing.
But Yang Kai sensed a faint trace of Blood Dao aura here.
Blood Crow was here!
Anyone else might not have noticed it, but Yang Kai had been chasing the demon for some time and had fought him multiple times. His sensitivity to the Blood Dao aura had become exceedingly sharp.