Yang Kai stood at the bow of the ship, gazing ahead. A battered warship was fleeing toward them, pursued by a massive Mo cloud that closed the distance with alarming speed. The entire Blessed Land carried an air of impending storm.
Within the Mo cloud, one aura stood out as particularly vicious — clearly a Domain Lord-level expert. Beside that Domain Lord, hundreds of Mo creatures swarmed, among them no small number of Lord-level beings.
During the chase, waves of Mo creature secret arts bombarded the fleeing human warship from within the cloud, leaving it in constant peril and a thoroughly wretched state.
When Dawn arrived at this location, the Domain Lord was in the midst of launching an attack. From within the Mo cloud, an enormous hand emerged, blotting out sky and earth, reaching toward the fleeing warship.
On the warship, human warriors fought back desperately, but to little effect. The gap in their cultivation realms was too great, leaving them nearly powerless against a Domain Lord's assault.
Just as the dark hand was about to strike the warship, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator standing at the stern suddenly bellowed, "Activate!"
As his words fell, the void hummed. A grand formation that had long been laid in wait activated in an instant, enveloping the pursuing Mo creatures.
The warship, however, did not slow, charging straight toward the portal. With a Domain Lord present, this was no longer something they could handle. The formation couldn't truly trap a Domain Lord-level expert — at best it would buy a little time, enough for them to escape this Blessed Land.
Then they saw Dawn approaching from ahead.
Feng Ying called out loudly, "Junior Brother Zhou!"
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven who had just activated the formation looked up in surprise. "Senior Sister Feng? What are you doing here?"
Feng Ying said, "Junior Brother Yang noticed something was off here, so he brought us to investigate. What's the deal with this Domain Lord?"
That Junior Brother Zhou's face was filled with indignation. "He had been hiding within the Mo creature army, concealing his aura. I'm afraid he had ill intentions all along. I failed to notice in time and pulled him into the trap as well."
"Which Domain Lord?" Yang Kai asked.
"If I'm not mistaken, it should be Zhou Xing."
In the Biluo theater of war, whether human Eighth-Order cultivators or Mo creature Domain Lords, neither side had large numbers — only a few dozen each. The Mo creatures had slightly more Domain Lords, but not by much. After years of conflict, each side's capabilities and identities had long been exposed. The humans therefore had at least some knowledge of the Mo creature Domain Lords, unless one was newly risen, in which case they could generally identify him upon meeting.
Yang Kai silently recalled what he knew. Domain Lord Zhou Xing was documented in the intelligence distributed within the Pass. Among all Domain Lords, his strength was not the greatest — at best middling, far below the Black Abyss Domain Lord Yang Kai had once faced.
Zhou Xing's greatest ability was suppressing his aura. He could perfectly replicate the characteristics of a Lord-level Mo creature, which allowed him to easily evade the detection of human Eighth-Order cultivators on the battlefield and find opportunities to launch sneak attacks. Over the years, several human Eighth-Order cultivators had fallen victim to his ambushes and suffered severe injuries.
This time, he had hidden within the Mo creature army disguised as a Lord, clearly with malicious intent — only to be swept into this place by this small squad. Whether it was his misfortune or theirs was hard to say.
"Junior Brother Zhao was caught off guard by a sneak attack and has already fallen. We've only managed to hold out this long thanks to the formations here." The Zhou-surnamed warrior's face was full of grief. Encounters with a Domain Lord like this made squad casualties inevitable, and the Junior Brother Zhao he spoke of had been one of only two Seventh-Order cultivators in the squad.
"How much longer can you hold?" Yang Kai asked.
"Not much longer. Brother Yang, you know as well as I do — the formations we set up in our assigned Blessed Lands weren't designed to contend with Mo creature Domain Lords. Besides, he still has plenty of helpers. The grand formation will likely collapse in another dozen breaths or so."
"Are there any other formations we can use?"
"No." The Zhou-surnamed warrior shook his head. "All three formations in this area have been activated. It's thanks to those three that any of us are still alive at all. Brother Yang, it's time to go. Once he breaks free, it'll be too late."
Yang Kai looked ahead and spoke slowly, "When we entered, not a single Eighth-Order cultivator had broken away — they're all still fighting Domain Lords. If we leave now, Zhou Xing will surely follow. Out there, no one will be able to restrain him. Whether he fights or retreats will be entirely at his discretion."
The Zhou-surnamed warrior heard this and asked, "What do you intend to do, Brother Yang?"
Yang Kai summoned the Azure Dragon Spear. "Stall him! It won't be long before an Eighth-Order cultivator can disengage. Even if he manages to leave this place, there will be someone outside to deal with him. He killed our human brethren — he will pay in blood!"
The Zhou-surnamed warrior didn't hesitate and nodded immediately. "Agreed. We'll follow your lead, Brother Yang."
He knew well that Yang Kai's strength was formidable and that the Chenxi Squad's lineup was powerful. His own squad alone had no chance against a Domain Lord, but with the Chenxi Squad, they might actually stand a chance. They didn't need to kill a Domain Lord here — just buying time shouldn't be too difficult.
As they spoke, the grand formation showed signs of crumbling. Yang Kai called out in a low voice, "Zhou Xing is mine. Be careful on your own — don't aim to kill, just stall!"
In the instant his words fell, he shot forward.
The grand formation shattered with a thunderous roar. Within the Mo cloud, Zhou Xing howled in fury. A mere human squad, relying on a handful of formations, had actually managed to humiliate him — it filled him with rage. He silently resolved to exterminate every last one of those humans to quell the anger in his heart.
Humans now possessed the Mo-Expelling Pills, so he couldn't count on converting them. Naturally, killing was the only option.
But the moment this thought formed, a blinding light blazed toward him. Zhou Xing looked up and was momentarily dazed.
This Blessed Land actually had a small sun — and atop it, a three-legged strange bird soared and cried out. Moreover, the small sun was hurtling toward him at tremendous speed.
Behind the small sun, a figure followed, its aura soaring like a rainbow.