Once this portal passage collapsed, not only would he suffer, but those hiding inside the various Cave Heavens would as well. He had to stabilize the Void Passage no matter what.
He couldn't afford to drag this out — he needed a swift and decisive battle.
But two Domain Lords, in his current state, were truly difficult to deal with. Unless he used another Soul-Sacrificing Thorn again.
Could he endure it?
Yang Kai took a moment to examine his own soul's condition. Half a day ago, he had unleashed three Soul-Sacrificing Thorns in rapid succession, leaving his soul severely torn. However, thanks to the Warm Divine Lotus's nourishment and repair, things weren't too critical. The torn portions of his soul had improved somewhat. The key question was whether he could use another Soul-Sacrificing Thorn.
If he could endure, then everything was simple — quickly slay one of the two Domain Lords, and slowly figure out how to deal with the remaining one. If he couldn't endure, then in his delirious state, who knew what he might do.
Using the Soul-Sacrificing Thorn now wouldn't count as a fourth consecutive use, since there had been a buffer period.
He really was too weak. If his soul were powerful enough, two Domain Lords would be nothing — one Soul-Sacrificing Thorn each, and they'd be dead easy.
But while he was still hesitating, the two Domain Lords made their move. They had clearly noticed Yang Kai's distress, and the violent tremors from their earlier clash were obvious to anyone.
This was their chance to strike at Yang Kai. Even if they couldn't kill him, they could destabilize the portal passage, perhaps even shatter it — and then they would be free.
The Void currents surged with ever greater ferocity. Having made their decision, the two Domain Lords roared in unison and charged at Yang Kai from both sides, channeling their full power.
No more thinking!
Yang Kai hardened his heart. Nothing in this world was absolutely risk-free — expecting to bear no risk at all was simply impossible.
He was, at the very least, stronger now than when he had walked out of the Great Sea Phenomenon back then. And each time he tore his soul apart to deploy a Soul-Sacrificing Thorn, only to have the Warm Divine Lotus nourish and repair it afterward, his soul benefited from the process.
His soul was definitely much stronger than before.
With the buffer period of half a day, even if he used a fourth Soul-Sacrificing Thorn now, the odds of something going wrong were slim.
With his mind made up, Yang Kai watched the two Domain Lords stumbling toward him through the chaos. Instead of retreating, he charged forward, spear in hand.
The golden cross-shaped vertical slit in his left eye manifested — the World-Ending Demon Eye activating. Within its reflection, the image of one Domain Lord appeared.
The reflection twisted violently and folded in on itself.
The targeted Domain Lord instantly screamed as though struck by lightning, writhing in agony. At the same moment, Yang Kai's left eye erupted with a line of blood, and his vision blurred.
This eye technique from the Myriad Demon Heaven — he truly hadn't mastered it well enough. If an ancestor of the Myriad Demon Heaven had personally used it at full power, a single glare could probably kill someone outright.
But it was enough. In this mutual exchange of wounds, Yang Kai ignored the Domain Lord he had targeted. In the instant his soul tore, he launched a Soul-Sacrificing Thorn silently toward the other Domain Lord.
The next moment, that Domain Lord also let out a terrified roar. The pain in his soul far exceeded physical pain — it was an agony that seemed utterly unbearable.
In the span of a single breath, both Domain Lords had been gravely wounded.
Yang Kai was already there with his spear!
He thrust at the Domain Lord struck by the Soul-Sacrificing Thorn. Along the length of his spear, numerous Daos shifted and manifested, and for that instant, space and time twisted into chaos.
The Domain Lord hadn't even recovered his senses when the Azure Dragon Spear pierced through his skull.
His Domain Lord aura withered rapidly!
Yang Kai had no time to feel relieved. At this moment, a wave of dizziness hit him, and he felt as though he might lose consciousness at any second. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, barely clinging to a thread of clarity.
Although he'd had a buffer period, using this fourth Soul-Sacrificing Thorn had pushed him to his absolute limit.
There was no way he could use a fifth one in the short term.
There was still one Domain Lord left!
The surviving Domain Lord was terrified half to death. Hadn't they agreed that two working together would keep Yang Kai helpless? What nonsense — in this wretched place, the two of them had still been cut down by Yang Kai with ease.
Caught between life and death, he didn't even register Yang Kai's battered state. He simply threw out a devastating punch.
Yang Kai was sent flying backward, crashing into a churning mass of Void currents that nearly swallowed him whole.
And the moment this Domain Lord threw his punch, the already unstable portal passage seemed truly on the verge of collapsing — a rift was torn open in it.
Three powerful beings engaged in a life-and-death battle in this space, while four more Domain Lords outside were working to break through the Void. The portal passage simply couldn't hold.
Seeing the rift, the surviving Domain Lord was overjoyed and plunged straight into it.
A short distance away, Yang Kai struggled upright from the turbulent currents, his expression oddly peculiar. Though his head throbbed as though it might split open and his thoughts were scattered, he still realized what had happened — that Domain Lord had likely mistaken the rift for an escape route. Why else would he have fled so quickly?
That saved him the trouble. He didn't want to fight the remaining Domain Lord to the death anyway — he couldn't manage it anymore. He'd been wondering what to do, but now the problem had resolved itself.
That rift was no escape route. As long as the portal passage itself hadn't been destroyed, leaving was simply impossible. That rift led deeper into the Void currents.