Against the Great Mo God Mo Sheng in that final battle, he could say he had died once already. The only reason he had been able to come back from death was entirely thanks to the Ageless Tree—it was through refining the Ageless Tree that he had reconstructed his physical body.
If he died this time, there was no Ageless Tree in the world for him to refine. That would be true death.
The very instant he unleashed the Ox-Slaying Secret Art, the sword light hurtling toward him violently trembled, as though struck by an overwhelming blow. Under the violent shaking, man and sword separated, and the figure of the Ninth-Order Mo Disciple tumbled directly out of the sword light.
But at this moment, his face was filled with terror. His entire body's Might of Heaven and Earth, along with his Ink Force, had become wildly disordered.
Even the swollen fleshy growths on his body bulged outward, then abruptly burst, sending pus splattering in every direction.
His extraordinary regenerative ability was displayed in full measure at this moment—the burst growths rapidly healed, only to burst open again, cycling over and over.
The Ninth-Order Mo Disciple's expression twisted in agony beyond measure.
A phantom projection of a small universe saturated with Ink energy suddenly manifested behind him. As a Ninth-Order, this small universe was enormously vast, its Might of Heaven and Earth dense—it truly possessed the foundation befitting a Ninth-Order Open Heaven cultivator. Yet at this moment, the small universe showed clear signs of instability.
The entire small universe seemed caught in a state of teetering on the brink. Inside it, heaven and earth cracked apart, Yin and Yang and the Five Elements thrown into chaos.
This sight stunned both the pursuing Xiaoxiao Old Ancestor and the Eighth-Order who had moved to reinforce Yang Kai.
The surrounding human warriors and the Ink Clan armies were equally bewildered.
Soon, the Five Elements force within the small universe became inverted, Yin and Yang scrambled beyond recognition.
"No!" The fleshy growths on the Ninth-Order Mo Disciple's body continued to burst ceaselessly, his face a mask of despair and disbelief—as if he simply could not accept that he hadn't died at the hands of a human Old Ancestor, only to be blown apart by a single punch from a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator.
Had he known this would happen, he would never have hurried over to throw his life away. When Mo Zhao fell, he could have fled immediately, and there might have been a sliver of survival.
He had no one to blame but his own greed—he'd wanted to kill Yang Kai before retreating.
Amid a roar of unwilling rage, the phantom projection of the small universe behind the Ninth-Order Mo Disciple could no longer maintain its stability. The entire universe suddenly became like a dilapidated house with gaps on every side, crumbling everywhere. Dense Might of Heaven and Earth mixed with Ink Force surged outward through the breaches at tremendous speed.
As his power drained away, the Ninth-Order Mo Disciple's aura plummeted at a terrifying rate.
In the span of a single blink, his aura had fallen to the Eighth-Order level.
Then the Seventh-Order.
And then… there was nothing beyond that.
This man had used Ink Force to break through his own limits, achieving advancement to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven realm. His small universe had never been sufficient to bear the weight of a Ninth-Order in the first place. When his aura fell to the Seventh-Order, the small universe could endure no longer and detonated with a thunderous boom.
The Ninth-Order Mo Disciple's features aged with shocking suddenness, his once jet-black hair turning snow-white. Under the violent surge of energy, it all fell away completely.
His body withered, his life force draining away. A perfectly intact Ninth-Order Mo Disciple had been reduced to something approaching a desiccated corpse in a matter of moments.
This husk of a body could no longer bear even the power of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator. The final result, witnessed by the human warriors and the multitude of Ink Clan in the void, was a thunderous explosion that reduced him to dust.
A Ninth-Order Mo Disciple—fallen!
The violent shockwave swept outward. Xiaoxiao Old Ancestor flickered forward with a single step and arrived beside the dazed Yang Kai, her slender hand waving to deflect the residual impact for him.
This scene left the Eighth-Order Commander who had come to reinforce them completely stupefied.
He could scarcely believe his own eyes.
What had he just witnessed?
Yang Kai threw a single punch… and blew apart a Ninth-Order Mo Disciple?
Even if it was a Mo Disciple, it was still Ninth-Order! Not some First or Second-Order nobody.
Even if he himself had intervened, he would only have been on the receiving end of a beating. How could Yang Kai, a mere Seventh-Order, have accomplished this?
Was the opponent at the end of his rope? That didn't seem right either—the sword strike the Ninth-Order had launched while charging in had carried no shortage of power, which meant he still had fight left in him.
He had been badly wounded, certainly, but a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. How had Yang Kai done it?
The Eighth-Order Commander was practically going mad.
Xiaoxiao Old Ancestor, on the other hand, pondered for a moment before her expression shifted to one of sudden understanding.
Truthfully, watching Yang Kai blow apart a Ninth-Order Mo Disciple with a single punch had been quite shocking for her as well.
But she quickly pieced together the full picture.
Earlier, that Ninth-Order Mo Disciple had followed Mo Zhao's orders to attack and kill the human Eighth-Order cultivators. Unfortunately, the humans had anticipated this—five concealed Eighth-Order fighters had revealed themselves to intercept him, joining forces with another wounded Eighth-Order to engage him in battle.
During the fierce fight, he had slain one Eighth-Order. Then, after Mo Zhao's death, when he attempted to flee, he killed another.
In other words, two Eighth-Order cultivators had fallen to his hands in total.
As a newly advanced Ninth-Order, fighting six Eighth-Order cultivators alone and killing two was an impressive display of power.
But it hadn't come without cost. He had sustained serious injuries in the battle.
The second fallen Eighth-Order had burned his essence blood to impede the enemy. Though he was cut down on the spot, he managed to delay the Ninth-Order for a crucial instant. Xiaoxiao Old Ancestor had struck him from a distance with a palm, causing him to cough blood repeatedly.