The only piece of good news was that while the residual divine abilities and secret arts in this place were growing ever more powerful, their numbers had thinned considerably. Had that not been the case, the two of them might truly have had no escape left at all.
Along the way, Yang Kai had lost count of how many ancient Artifacts of bizarre designs he had seen. All those triggered divine abilities and secret arts had been unleashed by these Artifacts. Even after countless ages, these relics had not yet lost their spiritual awareness.
It was clear then that the Shattered Ruins held not just mortal danger but also wealth beyond imagination. The pity was that venturing this deep meant even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator might not have the chance to take those Artifacts away.
"Watch out!" Xia Linlang suddenly cried out.
Yang Kai's expression turned grave in an instant. When he looked ahead, he saw a beam of purple light dancing like a spirit snake. Within that light was an aura that made both of their hearts tremble.
This was undoubtedly a divine ability on par with a full-powered strike from an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator!
The purple light, which should have been dormant deep within the Shattered Ruins, had been drawn into rapid revival by the life energy of the two intruders. Its fierce killing intent locked onto both of them in the blink of an eye.
Yang Kai and Xia Linlang's faces changed simultaneously!
Fear always seemed to invite the very thing one dreaded most — just as in the vast battlefield, those who feared death were most likely to die. With this divine ability's aura already locked firmly onto them, the only way to shake it off was to overpower and dispel it head-on. There was no other escape.
Had they been at full strength, they might have stood a slim chance against such an attack. But in their current state, where could they possibly find even the faintest opportunity to dispel it?
"Move!" Yang Kai roared, darting off to the side at full speed. Xia Linlang's aura was linked with his, and she followed like a shadow.
The purple light divine ability sprang to life as though it were a living creature, shooting forward like a cat that had caught the scent of prey, hot on their heels.
Before, while fleeing from Lord Shengyang's pursuit, the two had been somewhat careful, trying to avoid triggering too many dormant abilities. But now, with the purple light divine ability chasing them relentlessly, they fled in blind panic with no time to survey what lay ahead. Even a moment's hesitation could lead to irreversible catastrophe.
Charging headlong forward had the inevitable result of triggering even more abilities that locked onto their auras.
After the time it took an incense stick to burn, more than one purple light divine ability trailed behind them. A dazzling array of multicolored lights stretched out in a vast expanse, each one at least the equivalent of a full-powered strike from a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator.
Yang Kai's scalp went numb. Xia Linlang's face was pale as parchment.
The further they went, the worse things became. Behind them, it was as though they were dragging an enormous multicolored tail. The sight was spectacular and breathtaking in its grandeur, yet every step was fraught with peril.
"Yang Kai, I'm afraid we're not going to make it!" Xia Linlang laughed bitterly even as they fled. In that moment, she was not entirely free of regret. Had she known that entering the Shattered Ruins would lead to something like this, she should have just left Broken Sky with Yang Kai when she had the chance.
Being captured by one of those Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands would have been far better than this — watching death close in slowly while being utterly powerless to do anything about it.
"Shut up!" Yang Kai barked.
"We're about to die — can't I even grumble a little?" Xia Linlang looked aggrieved.
Yang Kai couldn't be bothered to argue with her. Just then, he suddenly turned his head toward a certain direction, as though he had sensed something.
From that direction came violent, dense fluctuations of spatial power. He was a master of the Space Laws, and his perception of such forces was extraordinarily keen. To him, spatial fluctuations stood out as clearly as a lamp in the pitch-dark.
"Go that way!" Yang Kai said, immediately changing course.
He had no idea what lay ahead, but the spatial fluctuations were far too violent to be ordinary. Their situation could not possibly grow any worse than it already was — they were practically teetering at the gates of death. Heading over to investigate might yet yield a sliver of survival, which was surely better than lingering here in futile desperation.
After another incense stick's worth of time, the number of divine abilities and secret arts the two had triggered grew ever more enormous, and the multicolored lights trailing behind them thickened considerably.
Then, at a certain moment, Yang Kai's gaze fixed sharply on the void ahead, and even Xia Linlang raised a hand to cover her red lips.
In the vast expanse of void before them, there were no multicolored lights. Instead, the entire void looked like a shattered mirror — blocks of spatial fragments suspended at odd angles, jumbled and disordered, with rifts between the shards filled with the drifting mist of primordial chaos.
Traces of a spatial divine ability!
Yang Kai's eyes lit up!
When he had first sensed the countless dormant divine abilities and secret arts hidden within the Shattered Ruins, he had wondered whether among that bewildering variety, there might be a spatial ability concealed among them. But he had not encountered one along the way, which had left him somewhat disappointed.
Who would have thought that one truly existed — and had been hiding in the deepest reaches of the Shattered Ruins all along?
Yet judging from the sight before him, the shattered void was indeed the result of a spatial divine ability. It was simply that this ancient power had long since finished discharging its full force. This fragmented expanse of space was the ultimate proof.
Yang Kai's heart surged with emotion. In ancient times, there had been others who mastered the Space Laws as well, and their attainment was beyond anything he could compare to.
The devastation wrought by this single spatial divine ability was so severe that even now, the laws of heaven and earth had been unable to repair it. The void remained, scattered like shards of a broken mirror.