The instant the attack struck, Yang Kai slashed back with a single cleave. Hei Yuan's will recoiled, retreating in haste—but how could it outrun that stunning flash of blade light?
The blow landed, and Hei Yuan let out a pained roar like a wounded beast. The might of his powerful will plummeted in an instant—clearly, he had been wounded.
Just as he was gripped by both panic and dread, feeling that all was lost, he heard a sharp crack. Focusing his consciousness, he perceived that the great blade manifested from Yang Kai's crystallized will could not bear the strain—and shattered to pieces.
Hei Yuan was overjoyed. He roared at the Lord wills scattering to dodge, "His Artifact has been destroyed! Don't be afraid—help me take him down!"
The Lords turned to look and saw that it was just as Hei Yuan had said. Yang Kai's great blade had somehow shattered. Their spirits surged at once.
All of them had been fighting with bare will, and Yang Kai had suddenly produced a massive blade earlier—that had been far too intimidating for the Lords.
After shouting his command, Hei Yuan drove his own will's power to the absolute limit, surging toward Yang Kai's position. Seeing this, the Lords joined in one after another.
In an instant, the pressure on Yang Kai became mountainous.
The Soul-Severing Blade was merely an Emperor Treasure after all. Despite having been nurtured within his divine soul for so many years, it could not change its fundamental nature. It simply could not bear the full force of Yang Kai's current divine soul power. Three flashes of blade light had already been its limit—and after three strikes, the enemies remained, but the blade was gone.
Now, with Hei Yuan leading the charge, spiritual soul attacks from the surrounding Lord wills rose and fell in waves, ceaseless and unbroken. No matter how powerful Yang Kai's divine soul was, it could not withstand this.
Seeing Yang Kai's will pinned in place, seemingly unable to move, the Ink Clan Lords pressed their assault with growing ferocity. It looked as though they would overwhelm him in a single, decisive push.
Yang Kai could feel the situation turning dire. He had to admit, the Ink Clan had genuinely devised a clever countermeasure against him. In this place, his Space Laws were nothing more than decoration. What was being tested was the sheer strength of one's will—it had nothing to do with the physical body.
He needed to come up with something fast, or things would go very badly.
In a split second, Yang Kai suddenly remembered: if the Soul-Severing Blade could be manifested here, then what about the Soul-Warming Lotus? It was the supreme treasure of the divine soul. If he could manifest the Soul-Warming Lotus, this battle would be over without question.
The only thing was, he had never manifested the Soul-Warming Lotus to fight someone before. It had always been others invading his Sea of Consciousness, with him fighting back passively. And so it hadn't occurred to him until now.
The thought arose, and a radiance of seven colors suddenly burst forth from within Yang Kai.
The Lords, who had been unleashing a furious bombardment of their power upon Yang Kai, were caught off guard by the sudden seven-colored glow. None of them understood what was happening. Hei Yuan was equally unaware of what had transpired, but after so many clashes with Yang Kai, this human's endless parade of tricks had made him perpetually vigilant. The moment the seven-colored radiance appeared, he immediately sensed something was wrong. He roared without hesitation, "Take him down, now!"
The words had barely left his lips when he poured virtually every ounce of his will's power into a single vicious strike, hurtling it at Yang Kai. At this point, he no longer cared about the King's order to capture Yang Kai alive. Under such a blow, whether Yang Kai survived would depend entirely on his own fortune.
Under Hei Yuan's command, the many Lord wills likewise held nothing back, all of them frantically driving their willpower to its limit.
Formless, invisible attacks converged from every direction, engulfing Yang Kai's form completely.
Yet the seven-colored light only blazed brighter, filling the entirety of the space.
The Lord wills watched with growing apprehension. Hei Yuan held his focus, bracing for what would come.
A brief moment passed. The storm of wills subsided, and the once-chaotic space fell utterly silent. And where Yang Kai had been standing, there now bloomed a lotus radiating seven-colored light. The lotus spun in circles, emanating an aura that every Ink Clan will found deeply covetous.
"What is that?" one bewildered Lord will asked. Though none of them recognized what this seven-colored lotus was, they could all clearly sense that it would be of tremendous use to any member of the Ink Clan.
"Where is Yang Kai?" another Lord inquired about his fate. Where he had stood, besides this seven-colored lotus, there was no trace of him.
"He must be dead. That human was powerful, but surely even he couldn't survive an attack like that."
"Good riddance! That human's arrogance was overbearing, treating us as if we were nothing—he deserved to die!"
…
Not only did many Lords believe Yang Kai had perished without a trace—even Hei Yuan thought so. Yang Kai had indeed demonstrated formidable divine soul power, but no matter how strong he was, he could not have withstood the combined assault of Hei Yuan himself and so many Lords.
Still, if Yang Kai were truly dead, how would he explain this to the King?
Hei Yuan couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. And what on earth was this seven-colored lotus left behind?
Just as he was puzzling over this, the spinning seven-colored lotus—its petals unfurled one by one. And as the petals opened, a figure was revealed. The figure sat upright within the heart of the lotus, bathed in a soft, hazy glow.
When he saw that figure clearly, Hei Yuan was struck with horror.
Yang Kai was not dead. Not only was he not dead—there was not the slightest mark of injury upon him.
How was that possible?
Simply surviving such an attack would have been the absolute limit. How could he be completely unscathed?
Unless… that lotus could block every last attack.