Since the beginning of his cultivation journey, Yang Kai had faced life-and-death crises countless times. During the great war between the Human and Demon Races in the Star Boundary, he had even had his physical body destroyed in a single strike by the Great Demon King Mo Sheng, only to be brought back from the dead through the Elixir Tree.
That had absolutely been the most perilous battle he had ever experienced.
Yet despite how dangerous that battle had been, it had never driven him to despair. The Great Emperors had gathered together, the Human Race had stood united with one heart, and they had possessed the strength to fight Mo Sheng. In the end, they had won a hard-fought victory and preserved the Human Race.
Now, in this moment, shrouded in the aura of death, Yang Kai was unexpectedly struck by a thought of despair.
The Ink Royal he had encountered in the Black Domain was utterly incomparable to the one before him. Imprisoned for countless years, that Royal's strength had perhaps been no more than two or three tenths of its peak. The one standing before him now, though injured, was many times more powerful than the Royal from the Black Domain.
Yang Kai turned his head stiffly and looked. Within those ink clouds, that colossal figure merely flicked a finger, and a streak of black radiance like a bolt of silk surged toward him. The motion was casual and effortless, as though he were simply swatting away an insect—and that insect about to be swatted was Yang Kai himself.
The black radiance tore through the void. Wherever it passed, space shattered. In the blink of an eye, it had arrived before him.
In that instant, time seemed to freeze.
Images flashed before Yang Kai's eyes unbidden—familiar faces cycling past like a revolving lantern, the journey of his life becoming strikingly clear in that final moment.
The aura of death descending upon him grew ever more fierce.
The dragon blood within his body roiled and howled. Facing this nearly insurmountable crisis between life and death, the power of the Dragon Vein threatened to erupt on its own. But even if he transformed into a dragon right now, he would absolutely be unable to withstand this casual strike from the Ink Royal.
The other party hadn't used much power at all. The gulf in strength was so vast that it hadn't even occurred to the Royal to take him seriously. The only reason he wanted to kill Yang Kai was his annoyance at having his location exposed and his healing process disrupted.
After that casual strike, the Royal immediately raised his head and looked in the direction of Biluo Pass. There, a dazzling streak of light as brilliant as a star was hurtling toward them at tremendous speed.
The newcomer's aura felt familiar—his old nemesis. It was the Human Race's Ancestor!
With his location now exposed, this Human Ancestor certainly wouldn't stand by and do nothing. He harbored deep wariness toward this old opponent and would need to devote his full strength to the fight. Naturally, he wouldn't waste too much effort on a mere human insect.
Crack... crack...
From the deepest recesses of his soul came the sound of something shattering. Yang Kai snapped back to awareness.
The power behind the Ink Royal's casual strike was still enough to inspire despair—it was the suppression of an insurmountable gap in strength, a chasm that could not be crossed. But having cultivated all this way and even having experienced death once before, he certainly wasn't going to simply sit and wait for the end.
Born human, he would never give up easily!
Yang Kai roared with fury, suppressing the turbulent surge of the Dragon Vein within him, refusing to transform at this critical moment. In the next instant, the cry of the Golden Crow pierced the heavens as a great sun rose slowly behind him. Immediately after, a full moon leapt into the sky, its cold lunar brilliance washing over everything, as though it could freeze the very void itself.
Sun and moon shining together—a wondrous spectacle of heaven and earth.
Even the Ink Royal, who had been closely watching the Ancestor's rapid approach, found his attention drawn to the scene, unable to resist a glance.
The Law of Space erupted forth. The sun and moon intertwined—as the sun waned and the moon waxed, the Law of Time permeated the air. The two profoundly mysterious Laws of power merged and fused together, twining like the sun and moon as they evolved into an entirely new and deeply profound Truth.
The Solar-Lunar Divine Wheel!
The great sun and full moon, spinning like a top in their interplay, surged under Yang Kai's command to meet the incoming streak of black radiance. The combined power of time and space warped heaven and earth.
Having executed this move, Yang Kai's face turned white as paper. He had already been at his limit, and forcibly unleashing this killing technique had nearly drained the power of his Small World completely. Now he truly didn't have the strength to move even a single finger.
Whether he could withstand the Ink Royal's strike, he had no certainty. But he had done everything he could. A Sixth-Order cultivator who still had the courage to fight back under the Royal's crushing pressure—there was none other, not a single one.
From here on, it was up to fate!
Seemingly inspired by Yang Kai's defiance, Feng Ying—who had been trembling under the Royal's pressure—let out a sharp, fierce cry. Forcing out what little power she had left, ten thousand swords erupted simultaneously, instantly coalescing into a small sword dragon barely a dozen zhang long that enveloped both Yang Kai and herself.
His head spinning and his vision blurring, wrapped within the sword dragon, Yang Kai could no longer see the world before him or hear any sound—only a ceaseless hum echoing at his ears.
In the next instant, a violent explosion of energy erupted, forming an unimaginable shockwave that radiated outward in all directions.
Then came endless tumbling. Yang Kai could clearly feel the sword dragon enveloping him falling apart, shattered by the residual shockwaves. If the mere aftershock carried such devastating power, one could well imagine what a direct hit would have meant.