Yang Kai's punch had clearly struck empty void, yet Shi Zheng felt that all the force had detonated inside his own Small Universe!
He actually had a means to strike directly at his Small Universe.
This realization sent Shi Zheng into absolute terror.
The various Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands were no strangers to such techniques. For Open Heaven Realm cultivators, the Small Universe within their bodies was their foundation — their everything. Any disturbance to it could cripple an Open Heaven Realm master's combat power.
And so, over countless ages of inheritance, generations of brilliant predecessors had carved through thorns and blazed trails, comprehending numerous divine abilities and secret arts that could directly affect one's Small Universe.
Every single one was a jealously guarded secret passed down only within its respective faction.
But no matter whose techniques they were, they all left traces — something that could be anticipated and guarded against.
When he had been fighting Yang Kai moments ago, Shi Zheng had even attempted to use such a secret art of his own, but it had been utterly ineffective. Yang Kai's Small Universe had refined the Four Pillars of Heaven and Earth, making it perfectly round and flawless, rock-solid — essentially the greatest counter to all such techniques.
And yet Yang Kai's strike had come with absolutely zero warning. Even if Shi Zheng had wanted to defend against it, he wouldn't have known where to begin.
Only now did he realize — he was the ox being beaten!
Yang Kai sneered before him: "What do you think I've been fighting you all this time for? Took the hit, didn't you, you fool?"
The Ox-Beating Secret Art was indeed powerful, and its strangeness made it nearly impossible to guard against. But it had one drawback — it required a lengthy preparation phase, and the duration varied depending on the strength of the opponent.
Yang Kai had to track the opponent's World Force fluctuations all the way back to their source before he could successfully execute the Ox-Beating Secret Art.
Back in the Shattered Heaven, Blood Crow Divine Lord had suffered the same fate at the hands of this technique. Now Shi Zheng was merely following in his footsteps. The secret art was inherently designed for the weak to triumph over the strong — an uncanny method that beat the orthodox with the bizarre.
Shi Zheng spewed a cloud of blood mist a great distance away, his aura rapidly withering.
Being struck by Yang Kai's secret art inside his Small Universe had caused it to quake and his World Force to go into disarray — but that alone was only secondary. If it had been merely those injuries, Shi Zheng wouldn't have been in such a wretched state. He was, after all, a Seventh-Order master, with foundations far beyond the ordinary. Routine injuries didn't even register with him, and a trembling Small Universe could be calmed quickly enough.
The real problem was that at that very moment, he had been channeling his Divine Ability Manifestation with total concentration, every ounce of power pressed to its limit without the slightest room to slack.
And at that critical juncture, Yang Kai's punch had landed.
When the colossal sword rising behind him shattered, Shi Zheng instantly suffered a devastating backlash.
The situation was equivalent to having stabbed himself. Surviving without dying on the spot was nothing short of luck.
Yang Kai's eyes lit up at the sight. "Elder Shi truly lives up to his reputation — even in a rage, you beat yourself up! Truly admirable!"
Shi Zheng clenched his teeth, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, his heart seething with a grief and fury beyond words.
Powerful and chaotic waves of energy surged from a great distance. Yang Kai and Shi Zheng both turned to look, and there in the void, streams of brilliant light were racing toward them at breakneck speed — the numerous High-Order Open Heaven masters who had rushed over from the Star Boundary.
Yang Kai grinned at the sight and turned back to Shi Zheng. "Elder Shi, I'm afraid there's no escape for you now."
Shi Zheng's aura had clearly plummeted, his injuries far from light. Yang Kai was now confident he could take the man down single-handedly, let alone with this many High-Order Open Heaven reinforcements pouring in.
Shi Zheng could be said to have hit a dead end.
He drew a deep breath and gazed at Yang Kai with a complex expression. The fury that had consumed him moments ago dissipated without a trace, replaced by an eerie, absolute calm.
Yang Kai frowned. Something suddenly felt off, though he couldn't put his finger on why.
In the void, Shi Zheng settled into a cross-legged position and stared quietly into Yang Kai's eyes. His eyes suddenly turned pitch black — and not only that, thick black mist began pouring out from within his body.
Yang Kai's guard shot up. This aura... it felt disturbingly familiar.
He suddenly recalled the "great gift" Shi Zheng had been about to present — the thing that had burst out of that wooden box. It had carried this exact aura.
What was this? Yang Kai frowned.
"Darkness... shall be eternal," Shi Zheng said flatly. As the words left his lips, his entire body was swallowed by the churning black mist and vanished in an instant.
In the distance, the High-Order masters who had arrived from the Star Boundary first looked puzzled — then, as though recalling something simultaneously, their faces drained of color.
Yu Changdao and Yu Xiangdie, the Outer Affairs Envoy of Yin-Yang Heaven, urgently transmitted their voices: "Yang Kai, get out of the way!"
Too late. The mist-wreathed Shi Zheng detonated with a thunderous boom. Vast swathes of ink-black energy spread outward like drops of ink falling into clear water, rapidly enveloping the void. An enormous expanse plunged into total darkness, and Yang Kai, standing nearby, was caught inside it as well.
Dozens of High-Order Open Heaven masters halted in their tracks, every single one eyeing the black mist with undisguised dread. Yu Changdao and Yu Xiangdie both wore expressions of extreme worry.
But now was no time for concern. Without a word exchanged, the assembled masters moved as one with almost telepathic coordination, scattering outward to encircle the black mist that blanketed the void from every angle. Then, one by one, they unleashed their own divine abilities and secret arts, sealing heaven and locking down earth.
The combined might of dozens of High-Order masters was immense. In barely a dozen breaths, the vast stretch of void where the black mist had taken root had been transformed into an inescapable prison.