The humanoid flame burned fiercely, possessing a hideous, terrifying, and blurred face with all four limbs intact, composed entirely of the essence of flame.
Scorching heat swept through, and Yang Kai's residence was set ablaze in an instant. Vast swathes of buildings crumbled to dust in that very moment.
The air warped and twisted. Yang Kai's expression grew especially solemn, because he sensed a destructive and savage aura emanating from the humanoid flame.
The True Spirit of the Jade had already developed faint signs of life, but since it had not yet reached full maturity, Yang Kai had forcibly extracted it from the jade's core ahead of time. Now, it possessed only the most primitive instincts.
And that was to burn everything!
Whoosh...
A blast like a fire dragon surged from the True Spirit of the Jade's body, aimed directly at Yang Kai who stood nearby. Its speed was as fast as lightning, and its power beyond imagination.
Yang Kai's expression changed. He dodged in a hurry, but the scorching heat still grazed one of his arms.
The skin on that arm cracked into lines like parched, drought-stricken ground. Pain surged through him, and Yang Kai couldn't suppress a muffled grunt.
His gaze toward the True Spirit of the Jade grew increasingly wary and unsettled.
He cultivated the True Yang Technique, and the True Yang Energy within his body was the pinnacle of rigidity and yang. Ordinary heat could not harm him in the slightest, yet even he could not withstand the temperature of the True Spirit of the Jade.
This level of heat had already surpassed one limit and ascended to an entirely different degree.
Before he could recover his composure, the True Spirit of the Jade launched another attack.
The entirety of Yang Kai's residence held only the living aura of Yang Kai himself. The instinct to burn everything compelled the True Spirit of the Jade to fixate on Yang Kai as its target of destruction.
Streams of flame transformed into fire dragons that writhed and danced, bursting from the True Spirit of the Jade's body. In the blink of an eye, they surrounded Yang Kai completely, surging toward him with overwhelming speed.
Yang Kai's pupils dilated abruptly. Encircled from every direction, he did not have even a sliver of hope for escape.
The Yang Flame Wings, unused for a long time, spread open across his back with a swift whoosh. The fiery red wings, vast as those of a great bird, propelled Yang Kai at a speed no one could match, allowing him to burst free from the encirclement of flames in an instant.
Boom...
A thunderous explosion rang out. The entire Yang Kai residence was reduced to flat ground in an instant. Every building had vanished without a trace, and the earth had become scorched wasteland. Within the confines of the Heavenly Journey Palace, countless crimson flames danced and leaped, relentlessly pursuing Yang Kai.
Sensing the commotion, the warriors of Zhongdu rushed over.
Once he got a clear look at the situation inside the Heavenly Journey Palace, Huo Xingchen was dumbfounded. "What's going on? Young Master Kai hasn't been back for half a year, and the moment he returns he stirs up this kind of spectacle?"
Though the isolation barrier of the Heavenly Journey Palace shielded them from feeling any of the scorching heat, the destructive aura emanating from the True Spirit of the Jade made their entire bodies tremble.
"What is he doing in there?" Qiu Yimeng was anxious to the point of panic, her beautiful eyes straining to peer inside. She couldn't make out the situation at all, only vaguely sensing Yang Kai's movements within.
That blazing, fire-like world cut off any attempts at observation.
After quite some time, the chaotic scene gradually became clearer.
Yang Kai hovered silently in midair, gazing downward with a grave expression. Below him, a humanoid flame writhed and burned, its mouth releasing thunderous roars of fury.
"Oh my heavens..." Huo Xingchen was stunned, staring blankly at the great bird-like wings behind Yang Kai, momentarily lost in a daze.
Everyone was frozen in shock.
No one had known that Yang Kai possessed such hidden strength. From the beginning of the succession war until now, he had never once deployed the Yang Flame Wings.
"So beautiful!" Luo Xiaoman murmured, somewhat starry-eyed. An extraordinary gleam shone in her beautiful gaze as she stared unblinkingly at Yang Kai's back.
"Is that... the True Spirit of the Jade?" Tang Yuxian's face drained of color as she cried out in alarm.
Tu Feng's expression was equally grim, his piercing gaze fixed on the humanoid flame.
The two exchanged a glance, instantly understanding what Yang Kai was truly up against.
"What True Spirit of the Jade?" Qiu Yimeng asked urgently.
Tang Yuxian quickly recounted what had happened at the Lu residence. Hearing this, Young Miss Qiu recalled it as well.
Back then, when Yang Kai had carried back Lu Si's Yang Crystal Jade Bed, Qiu Yimeng had witnessed it with her own eyes. She simply hadn't known that Yang Kai had obtained such a dangerous treasure from within that bed.
"This is not something an ordinary person can handle!" Tu Feng frowned deeply. Even though he had already advanced to the Transcendent Realm, separated by the Heavenly Journey Palace, the True Spirit of the Jade still exerted an enormous pressure upon him.
If he were to charge in, Tu Feng estimated that he would likely be burned to death by the flames.
"Young Master appears to want to absorb the power of the True Spirit of the Jade to strengthen himself," Tang Yuxian said through clenched teeth, biting her red lip. "But this is far too reckless."
She blamed herself endlessly, feeling that she had failed to explain things clearly to Yang Kai back then, which had led him to mistakenly believe that his current strength gave him a chance to subdue the True Spirit of the Jade's power.
"Can we go help him?" Qiu Yimeng asked, her face taut with anxiety.
Tu Feng and Tang Yuxian shook their heads slowly. "That kind of temperature is not something we can endure. The reason Young Master is unharmed inside is because the technique he cultivates shares the same elemental affinity."
Moreover, they could not enter the Heavenly Journey Palace.
Qiu Yimeng was so worried that her mind had gone blank—she had completely forgotten about that.