He fled through the void, a powerful aura closing in rapidly while the stench of death surged from behind. Mo Nayi's low voice echoed beside Yang Kai's ear: "Yang Kai, you won't escape this time!"
Yang Kai made no response — he simply had no spare energy for words. In this pursuit, he had to devote his entire being to survival.
The Purifying Light surged forth once more, severing Mo Nayi's tracking aura…
This kind of situation, both Yang Kai and Mo Nayi had been through many times before.
In the next instant, Yang Kai activated the Laws of Space, preparing to teleport away. Mo Nayi's aura surged outward, striking the void around Yang Kai to disrupt his teleportation…
As if sharing a silent understanding, the two coordinated with remarkable precision.
Yet just as Yang Kai activated the Laws of Space and prepared to vanish, his own Small Universe suddenly shuddered. From some unseen depth, it was as though an invisible hand had reached in and stirred it, sending ripples cascading through what had always been a stable and perfectly rounded inner world.
The Heavenly Might within him turned chaotic without warning.
Under normal circumstances, such a disruption wouldn't have posed much of a problem — Yang Kai merely needed to restore the disordered Heavenly Might to its proper flow.
But right now, in the middle of a life-or-death chase, this development was terrifying.
His already-fading silhouette, on the verge of disappearing, solidified once more as the power within him fell into disarray. Yang Kai's expression turned grim in an instant.
Not far behind, the pursuing Mo Nayi was equally startled. In all their encounters of chase and flight, this had never happened before. Every time Mo Nayi had struck, Yang Kai had already teleported away, leaving him with no outlet for his full strength. To date, aside from disrupting Yang Kai's teleportations with raw power, he hadn't landed a single blow — a frustration that had been eating at him.
In that instant, he saw his opening. Almost on instinct, he raised a fist and launched it toward Yang Kai's position. Dense Ink Force condensed into a beam of black light that tore through the spatial barriers in a heartbeat and struck Yang Kai full on.
Mo Nayi was elated. His speed surged as he roared, "Yang Kai, die!"
He threw another punch, but this one found no target — where the black light had passed, Yang Kai's figure was already gone.
His Divine Sense spread outward like a tide, and Mo Nayi immediately pinpointed Yang Kai's location. At this moment, Yang Kai's aura had noticeably weakened — clearly the result of that landed strike.
Running out of steam? Mo Nayi recalled the momentary anomaly. He didn't know exactly what had gone wrong with Yang Kai or why he'd stumbled at such a critical moment, leaving himself exposed, but it dramatically increased the chances of a successful kill.
Not far away, Yang Kai was pale as paper. He opened his mouth and sprayed a mist of golden blood, his heart flooding with shock and fury.
Taking that long-range strike from Mo Nayi had made an already poor condition even worse. He had originally figured he only needed to drag things out for another three to five years to mount a counterattack, but now, Yang Kai estimated he might not last much longer.
A Pseudo King Lord's blow carried devastating force — not something easily withstood, especially in his weakened state.
What truly horrified and enraged him, however, was that his Small Universe appeared to have a problem.
In that fleeting moment, his Small Universe had trembled for no apparent reason, throwing his Heavenly Might into chaos. Had that not happened, the lapse would never have occurred.
But why would his Small Universe tremble? It had always been sealed and stabilized by a child tree of the World Tree — perfectly rounded, impervious to external interference. Even if he clashed head-on with Mo Nayi, the worst outcome would be being outmatched in strength and taking a beating; his Small Universe itself should never be affected.
Unless he was completely drained, his Heavenly Might entirely exhausted, shaking the very foundation of his Small Universe.
But that was impossible. Despite the heavy expenditure of combat, countless living beings resided within his Small Universe, and Heavenly Might was replenished at every moment. An exhaustion scenario simply couldn't arise.
So what had gone wrong?
Yang Kai fled on with his battered body while sending a sliver of his consciousness inward to inspect his Small Universe.
The entire inner world was permeated with unease. That momentary tremor had triggered tremendous panic across the void — the ground shook, rivers flowed backward, and there were even landslides and tsunamis, causing a number of casualties.
Fortunately, the disturbance had come and gone quickly. Now things had largely settled within the Small Universe, though powerful figures from the various Great Sects and the Void Academy were searching in all directions for the cause — finding nothing.
Yang Kai's brow furrowed deeply.
His Small Universe was unharmed, so what had triggered that disturbance? What perplexed him even more was that, at this very moment, something invisible seemed to be drawing him, calling to him.
He couldn't help but lift his head and gaze in a particular direction — the direction in which he had fought hundreds of Innate Domain Lords and unleashed his fearsome power.
Something was waiting for him there.