As he spoke, he extended his right hand, palm facing down, and applied a slight force. A simple pattern immediately surfaced on the back of his hand.
At first glance, the mark seemed unremarkable — nothing more than a circle.
But the moment the two Phoenixes saw it, their expressions changed instantly.
Huang Siniang even cried out in alarm: "The Sun Mark? You've been to the Chaos Dead Zone?"
Though Feng Liulang said nothing, the skin on his face twitched uncontrollably.
The two of them clearly recognized this mark, otherwise they wouldn't have reacted this way, and Siniang certainly wouldn't have blurted out the Chaos Dead Zone by name.
Yang Kai nodded. "This is a mark bestowed by Scorching Sun. And there's this…"
He extended his left hand, and with a similar exertion, the same kind of pattern appeared on the back of it — though this one was slightly different from the one on his right. It resembled a large circle with a smaller circle missing from it, as if the mark on his right hand would fit snugly inside, the two merging into one.
"The Moon Mark…" Huang Siniang didn't even know what to say anymore.
She finally understood why Ji Laosan had been so utterly powerless before this man. With these two marks in his possession, forget Ji Laosan — even the two of them as Phoenixes would likely meet the same fate if they faced Yang Kai.
Heaven and earth first split apart, primordial chaos gave birth to Yin and Yang, and from that came the Saint Spirits, and then all living things.
It could be said that Scorching Sun and Dark Moon were the origin of everything — the common ancestors of all Saint Spirits.
With these two marks in hand, no Saint Spirit could act arrogantly before Yang Kai. This was also the first time he learned that these two marks held such power.
The marks bestowed upon him by Scorching Sun and Dark Moon — he had always used them to condense the Purifying Light. Just now, while fighting that Ji Laosan, he had suddenly felt warmth on the back of his hand and instinctively activated the mark, never expecting this unexpected gain.
Of course, this suppression had its limits. When Ji Laosan had desperately channeled the power of his Dragon Pearl, he was able to break free of the suppression and transform into his dragon form.
But doing so had still damaged Ji Laosan. Had Yang Kai not voluntarily released his hold, that Dragon Pearl would have been damaged for certain.
This was only a single dragon. Yang Kai estimated that if he encountered those three ancient dragons of considerable age, the effect of these marks would be significantly diminished.
"Ji Laosan miscalculated," Huang Siniang said with a bitter laugh. With these two marks in hand, even the Dragon Clan wouldn't dare treat Yang Kai lightly. Ji Laosan's chances at the Dragon Pool seat were likely finished.
The question had been answered, which meant the long feather was now his. Yang Kai casually tucked it away, planning to study it more thoroughly when he had leisure time. The Dao of Time was, after all, the Phoenix Clan's bloodline talent — perhaps he could glean unexpected insights from it.
He couldn't help but ask one more question, his mouth running ahead of him: "Is this long feather one of your wing feathers, Siniang?"
Huang Siniang glared at him and didn't deign to respond.
Yang Kai scratched his head in embarrassment, then suddenly caught on and glanced behind Huang Siniang.
"What are you looking at?" Huang Siniang's glare intensified.
Yang Kai let out a hollow laugh.
Huang Siniang, however, sighed. "Sometimes I really do envy you humans. Your lifespans are short and your bodies are fragile, yet you possess limitless potential. We Saint Spirits may be born with powerful physiques and broad futures, but honestly, we're sometimes worse off than you humans."
Yang Kai asked earnestly: "How so?"
Huang Siniang replied: "Take you for example. You carry Dragon Clan blood, so you can cultivate the Dao of Time. And your talent in the Dao of Space doesn't seem to be lacking either, so you command two Daos simultaneously. Our Phoenix Clan can't do that — our bloodline talent is the Dao of Space, and it's the only Dao available to us. We cannot cultivate the Dragon Clan's Dao of Time. Moreover, while Saint Spirits don't face many obstacles in the early stages of growth, reaching the absolute peak is far more difficult for us than for you humans."
"The Ninth-Order Supreme?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
Huang Siniang nodded. "Among humans, there have been over a hundred Ninth-Orders, though the number isn't large. But for a Saint Spirit to cultivate to that level is extraordinarily difficult. Never mind our Phoenix Clan — even the Dragon Clan, in their entire race, has only produced a single Saint Dragon."
Above the Young Dragons were the Greater Dragons, above the Greater Dragons were the Ancient Dragons, and above the Ancient Dragons were the Saint Dragons!
Yang Kai knew that the Primordial Essence within him was the Golden Saint Dragon Primordial Essence.
That wasn't to say he himself possessed the power of a Saint Dragon — that was equivalent to the Ninth-Order Supreme realm — but merely that his Primordial Essence had originated from a Golden Saint Dragon.
That Golden Saint Dragon had been a Dragon Emperor of the Dragon Clan from the ancient era. He had learned this long ago while cultivating in the Crystal Palace at the Saint Spirit Ancestral Ground.
In theory, every dragon had the potential to grow into a Saint Dragon. But that was only theory. In reality, across all of history, how many dragons had actually achieved the Saint Dragon rank?