With a powerful enemy bearing down on them, if the formation collapsed, they would be utterly doomed.
But Yang Kai had no choice — he could only take the risk.
The formation was in turmoil. Mo Na Ye's relentless assault drove the seven combatants back step by step. One among them had already suffered severe injuries, their aura waning, blood spilling from their mouth.
With no alternative, Yang Kai could only channel the River of Time and Space, coiling it around them to block Mo Na Ye's attacks and ease the pressure on his side.
Yet even this River of Time and Space — founded upon the Dao of Time and Space, merging countless Great Daos into one — could not hold back a King Lord for long.
Ferocious strikes rained down. The great river churned violently, its waters roiling, causing Yang Kai's own blood and qi to surge wildly.
"Change formation!" he snarled through gritted teeth, forcibly maintaining his own aura. He stepped toward Yang Xiao's position, and Yang Xiao retreated at the same instant.
Though they had never drilled this formation together and were not true blood relatives, Yang Xiao owed his very existence to Yang Kai's incubation. He possessed a blind, instinctive trust in Yang Kai.
Two figures swapped positions in an instant. Yang Kai now stood at the formation's core, while Yang Xiao took his former place. Auras from all four directions converged on him, and Yang Kai rapidly adjusted and realigned them.
The previously unstable formation stabilized with astonishing speed. The declining aura began to climb like the rising sun at dawn, quickly reaching a new peak.
The price for this was that the River of Time and Space was nearly shattered by Mo Na Ye's assault. The moment the formation fully shifted, Yang Kai hurriedly regained control of the river, transforming it into a long whip and cracking it toward Mo Na Ye.
The power of the Great Dao surged, and Mo Na Ye actually stumbled from the blow. This stunned him.
Yang Kai's strength had grown far too much!
Before the Primordial Furnace had appeared, he — as a Pseudo King Lord — had hunted Yang Kai. Back then, Yang Kai had been virtually powerless to fight back, fleeing in desperation. Had the Primordial Furnace not suddenly manifested, projecting a pocket of space that gave Yang Kai sanctuary, the outcome of that pursuit might have been entirely different.
But now, with Yang Kai at the formation's core, the assembled formation actually seemed capable of standing toe-to-toe with him, a true King Lord.
This was partly due to the formation's power, but it also demonstrated Yang Kai's own formidable strength.
Indeed, his calculations had been correct. Xiang Shan's advancement to Ninth-Order was a crisis, but Yang Kai, if left alive, would always remain a greater threat.
Perhaps this time, he could kill two birds with one stone and eliminate both of them for good.
With Yang Kai at the formation's core, the human powerhouses assembled into the Seven Star Formation. Its might far exceeded that of the earlier Six Harmonies Formation — not by a small margin. Even clashing directly with Mo Na Ye, a true King Lord, they fought with measured composure, no longer reduced to the desperate scrambling of moments before.
The battle raged furiously, the void cracking apart.
Yang Xiao had already stowed away the battered Temple of Ages. This artifact had been inherited from the Great Emperor of Ages and had witnessed millennia of growth shared between him and Yang Xue. He had been forced to deploy it in desperation against the enemy, but its destruction would have pained him deeply.
No longer needing to worry about the Temple of Ages being destroyed, Yang Xiao could now devote himself entirely to coordinating with Yang Kai. Compared to the earlier burden of directing the local battle, his mind was much lighter.
After fighting for a while, Yang Kai's brow furrowed slightly.
It still wasn't enough. Even with him at the core forming the Seven Star Formation, contending with Mo Na Ye was still arduous. Ultimately, this wasn't because the Seven Star Formation itself was inadequate — it was because the participants bore injuries of varying severity.
One Eighth-Order cultivator in particular had sustained serious wounds. His aura was unstable, and the power relayed from him was far weaker than the rest. This imbalance severely hampered the entire Seven Star Formation's potential.
A thought flickered through Yang Kai's mind, and he sent a brief message to that Eighth-Order cultivator.
The cultivator immediately understood and nodded. "Everyone, be careful!"
With that, he withdrew from the formation. The others were briefly alarmed — someone pulling out mid-battle could easily cause the entire formation to collapse.
But in the next instant, a figure swiftly filled the vacated position. After a momentary tremor, the formation stabilized once more.
Lei Ying!
It had been concealing itself and prowling nearby, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Finding none, it now answered Yang Kai's mental call, replacing the gravely wounded Eighth-Order cultivator and ensuring the Seven Star Formation remained complete.
Even amidst the chaos, it found time to turn its head and flash a grin at Fang Tianci, calling out warmly: "Second Brother!"
Fang Tianci smiled and nodded in acknowledgment.
Yang Xiao was astonished. "You two are brothers? That can't be right — Brother Lei Ying is of the Yao Clan, and Old Fang is human. When did you two become kin? How did I not know about this?"
Moreover, as far as he knew, Old Fang and Lei Ying had barely interacted. After all, Lei Ying had only become active across the various Great Domain battlefields in the last millennium. Prior to that, it had spent most of its time in secluded cultivation within the Myriad Demon Realm.
As the Great Emperor of that realm, cultivating there with the assistance of a subsidiary World Tree, it achieved twice the result with half the effort.
These two, who should have had little interaction, addressing each other as sworn brothers was truly puzzling to Yang Xiao.
Fang Tianci said enigmatically: "There is a great deal you don't know."
Yang Xiao sensed there was more to his words, but now was not the time to press for details. He could only suppress his curiosity and focus on fighting the enemy.
It had to be said that Great Emperor Lei Ying's addition not only amplified the Seven Star Formation's power but also allowed it to operate more smoothly.
Yet even so, they were unable to gain a significant advantage against Mo Na Ye.
This sent a chill through Yang Xiao. Was the Ink Clan's King Lord truly this powerful? He had thought that with his godfather commanding the formation, dealing with Mo Na Ye would pose no problem. But now it seemed he had been gravely mistaken.