Even when pressed flat against the ground by the great dragon, Zhufeng had shown little panic. But the moment he laid eyes on that small orb, an instinctive surge of terror coursed through him.
The orb descending toward him radiated an overwhelming sense of mortal danger. It was no illusion — the threat was real, a primal menace to his very life.
Without a heartbeat's hesitation, Zhufeng redirected every attack he had been launching at the dragon's body, unleashing a torrent of strikes aimed squarely at the orb.
In the next instant, something occurred that filled Zhufeng with horror.
No matter how he attacked, he could not so much as budge the orb, let alone arrest its descent.
It might have been the span of a single breath, or perhaps ten thousand years.
When the orb finally struck Zhufeng's body, his chest caved inward as though hit by a mountain. A mouthful of black blood burst from his lips uncontrollable, and a violent surge of power flooded through his limbs and meridians, tearing through flesh and bone with wanton destruction.
At the same time, the great dragon let out a pained roar. Its two-thousand-zhang body contracted sharply, reverting to human form. With a fierce inhalation, it sucked the orb back into its mouth.
Freed from the dragon claw's grip, Zhufeng immediately gained his liberty. Suppressing the agony of his wounds, he threw a devastating punch.
Yang Kai, reeling and barely able to stay upright, had no defense whatsoever against the blow. He was sent hurtling through the air, a mist of golden blood spraying from his mouth, his aura withering to almost nothing.
In this moment, he was practically spent. Setting aside the fact that his Small World's reserves had been completely drained, the orb he had just expelled from his mouth was none other than his own Dragon Pearl.
Long ago, deep within the Broken Sky, in the Holy Spirit Ancestral Ground, when Yang Kai's dragon bloodline had advanced to that of a true dragon, a Dragon Pearl had crystallized within him. It was the quintessence of dragon bloodline essence, the symbol of a true dragon — only a genuine dragon possessed the right to forge its own Dragon Pearl.
It functioned much the same as a demon beast's inner core. A demon beast's inner core was its very foundation; a Dragon Pearl was the dragon clan's foundation.
When a demon beast faced a powerful foe, it could release its inner core to fight. The dragon clan could do the same.
This method of attack was simplicity itself, yet its power was immense. The drawback, however, was equally severe. Once committed, the risk was enormous — if either an inner core or a Dragon Pearl was destroyed, its owner's life would be in immediate peril, quite possibly ending in death on the spot.
Because of this, Yang Kai had never once resorted to using his Dragon Pearl against any enemy, regardless of the circumstance. He was, after all, a master of the Space Dao — if he could not win, he could always flee.
But this time he had truly been driven into a corner. The secret of the Purifying Light had already been exposed before Zhufeng. If there was any way to do it, Yang Kai wanted the man dead here and now, to eliminate the threat for good.
His Small World's power was dried up. The only force he had left to draw upon was the power of his dragon bloodline. Against an enemy of Zhufeng's caliber, releasing the Dragon Pearl was the most devastating weapon at his disposal.
And it had worked — the Dragon Pearl had grievously wounded Zhufeng, caving in his very chest. But Zhufeng's furious barrage had also cracked the Dragon Pearl, nearly shattering it on the spot. And that had been his final trump card.
With the Dragon Pearl damaged, Yang Kai could not even maintain his dragon-form body.
He had played every card he held. There was nothing left with which to fight.
This battle — he and Bai Yi had lost.
Zhufeng was gravely wounded, but he was not dead. The only thing Yang Kai could do now was get Bai Yi out of here as quickly as possible — though he did not know whether he still had the chance.
He struggled to his feet, his vision a blur, his head ringing incessantly. Even standing upright was precarious; he could barely keep his balance.
Bai Yi lay not far away, motionless.
He staggered toward her, stumbling every few steps. When he finally reached her side, his legs gave out entirely, and he collapsed forward onto her body.
The weight of him pressed down, and blood immediately welled from Bai Yi's mouth, her already feeble aura flickering like a candle in a storm.
Yang Kai gripped her arm, turned her over, and hoisted her onto his back. He forced himself upright once more, each step leaving a bloody footprint on the ground, and followed the direction of his memory toward the exit.
But after only a few paces, a cold voice drifted from behind him: "Where do you think you're going?"
Yang Kai ignored it, continuing forward with unsteady but resolute steps, each one a labor.
"You won't escape—" Zhufeng's voice cut through the air, and the aura of his presence surged toward Yang Kai, clearly intent on cutting off his retreat. But before he could finish the sentence, a violent fit of coughing seized him, and a torrent of black blood erupted from his mouth.
With each gush of dark blood, his presence deflated like a punctured balloon, rapidly dwindling until it was barely perceptible.
The coughing, however, only grew more violent. He was expelling mouthful after mouthful of blood as though his life depended on it — or rather, as though he were spending it.
Yang Kai halted and turned his head. Through his blurred vision, he could make out Zhufeng's wretched state.
The man was half-kneeling not far away, a pool of ink-black blood spread before him, nearly forming a river. Blooms of blood arced from wounds all across his body — it was clear he could no longer contain the damage he had sustained.
Yang Kai wanted to laugh, but what emerged was a hoarse, rasping sound. Truly, the heavens never closed every road.
He had thought that his only remaining option was to flee. Never had he expected the situation to shift so unpredictably — the roles of hunter and prey reversing in the blink of an eye.