"How dare you!" One of the Domain Lords erupted in fury. A Seventh-Order, a peak Sixth-Order — who knew what mysterious techniques they were relying on — and they dared to block the way?
They didn't dare fight that human Eighth-Order, but surely they could handle these two?
Just as they were about to cut them down, a warship shot out from behind the Samsara Divine Palace. Zhao Ya's striking figure leapt from the deck, spear in hand, her expression cold and fierce as layered spear shadows surged forward with unstoppable momentum. To her left, Zhao Yebao's spatial laws surged, channeling spatial power into the spear and making Zhao Ya's attacks unpredictable. To her right, Xu Yi's temporal laws swirled around him, similarly infusing temporal energy into the spear, blending with his Eldest Senior Brother's spatial force to manifest an entirely new kind of power.
The three Disciples had all cultivated to great heights over the years. Though each had inherited one of Yang Kai's Daos, their long years of living together had made them intimately familiar with one another's power, allowing for flawless coordination.
This was a secret technique the three of them had developed for fighting side by side. With all three Seventh-Orders combining their strength in this manner, they could unleash a strike nearly equivalent to a single blow from an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator.
This spear thrust bore the unmistakable silhouette of Yang Kai's own spearwork.
The two Domain Lords actually felt a flicker of alarm. That Day Moon Divine Wheel Yang Kai had unleashed earlier had already landed them in considerable trouble, and the residual space-time energy still hadn't fully dissipated. Now these three Seventh-Orders, attacking in concert, produced a strike that also contained the subtleties of space-time power.
These three Seventh-Orders clearly had some connection to that human Eighth-Order — perhaps master and disciples!
Having made that assessment, the two Domain Lords struck without mercy. Violent waves of Ink Force surged outward, and whether it was Zhao Ya, Zhao Yebao, or Xu Yi, all three were struck as though by lightning, their faces draining of color in an instant as they each coughed up mouthfuls of blood.
Before the enemy could press the kill, Zhao Yebao reacted decisively, activating his spatial laws to envelop his Junior Brother and Junior Sister and forcibly teleporting them several hundred li away. One Domain Lord's technique exploded behind them, striking empty air, though the shockwave still sent all three tumbling end over end.
At that moment, from behind the churning Ink Force, three figures burst forward in a charge. One of them was a Stone Clan member of remarkably small stature. The instant it passed through the Ink Force barrier, it pounded its chest with both fists and let out a thunderous roar. Its diminutive form ballooned rapidly, swelling into a colossal giant a thousand zhang tall.
A Sacred Spirit — Tai Yue!
It reached down to grab both Domain Lords, but the sheer force of their attacks shattered rock from its massive hands, and it couldn't hold them.
A phoenix's cry rang out as raging flames swept across the sky. A fire phoenix materialized from thin air, opening its beak to unleash torrents of flame that scorched toward the two Domain Lords. Under the scorching heat, even the void began to twist and crack.
Qiong Qi charged in as well, its body leaping and darting as it carved through the void.
Meanwhile, on the Bixi warship, Xiao Hong and Xiao Hei each activated their own techniques and fired bombardments, and the Bixi warship itself slammed forward in a devastating ram.
The two Domain Lords were driven to the brink of madness.
These assorted freaks kept coming one after another, appearing and disappearing in an endless cycle, and it was beyond irritating. Under normal circumstances, they wouldn't have given any of them a second thought, but what was the situation now? They were fleeing for their lives! Two human Eighth-Orders and two human warships were in pursuit — if they didn't keep running, they'd end up like their three companions.
"Get out of my way!" one Domain Lord roared, unleashing a devastating wave of power in all directions.
In that instant, whether it was the diminutive Liu Yan, Qiong Qi, or the Bixi clone, all of them were blasted away, dizzy and disoriented.
They were all formidable in their own right, but against a Primordial Domain Lord going all out, they were still outmatched. Their combined assault shattered in an instant.
But it had been enough.
During the brief window in which they'd pinned down the two Domain Lords, Yang Kai, Feng Ying, the Dawn warship, and Yu Rumeng's team aboard the other Bixi warship had all caught up.
Surrounded on all sides, the two Domain Lords were instantly boxed in with no gap to slip through.
A massive battle erupted in an instant — countless techniques and secret arts crisscrossing through the air, punctuated by grunts of pain from all sides.
Every clash in that fleeting moment was a fight to the death. No one dared hold anything back.
Suddenly, a breach opened in the encirclement. The two Domain Lords didn't hesitate for a heartbeat, surging through the gap at full speed. One of them was fast enough to clear it in the blink of an eye, and even Yang Kai couldn't react in time to stop him. The second was a step too slow — before he could break free, Yang Kai had already swept his spear around.
"Get back in there!"
Under the explosive force of the blow, that Domain Lord retreated with a mixture of rage and helplessness, once again surrounded by multiple squads.
Yang Kai didn't bother tangling with this particular Domain Lord. Instead, he sent a rapid transmission to Feng Ying: "Leave this one to you!"
He himself set off in pursuit of the one who had escaped.
Feng Ying, Chen Xi, Yu Rumeng's squad, plus a gaggle of little ones — that combination was more than enough to contend with a single Domain Lord. Yang Kai didn't expect them to kill him; he only needed them to keep him pinned down.
He would chase down and kill the one who had fled first, then circle back to deal with the one trapped here.
Riding the undulations of his spatial laws, Yang Kai quickly closed the distance on the fleeing Domain Lord. But before he could make his move, his expression changed. His divine sense had detected five extremely powerful auras rapidly approaching from the direction ahead.
Five more Domain Lords?
Even Yang Kai was startled.
He had assumed that the five Domain Lords he'd encountered represented the full strength the Ink Clan had deployed in Xiangsi Domain — if not the entirety, then certainly the vast majority.
After all, each Domain Lord had their own responsibilities and couldn't be redeployed on a whim.