Looking up, a colossal sword radiating heaven-shaking energy fluctuations was cutting through the brilliant blue seawater in hot pursuit, its bone-piercing killing intent raising goosebumps across Yang Kai's entire body.
Behind the giant sword, he could just make out the figure of the previous generation's Holy Maiden.
She had actually followed them down as well, bearing down with an unmistakable intent to leave not a single one of them alive.
As they dove deeper, Yang Kai urgently whispered into An Ling'er's ear, "If you want to live, start helping — there's no time for you to feel sorry right now!"
An Ling'er nodded hastily and flicked a stream of True Yuan directly into Yang Kai's body.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt his True Yuan circulating at a far more ferocious pace.
The secret art practiced by the Holy Maiden of the Nine Heavens Sacred Ground could temporarily boost his combat power, which was exactly why he had insisted on bringing An Ling'er along when he fled.
With his True Yuan surging, the Profound Heaven Sword — another of the Nine Heavens Divine Techniques — blazed to life in his hands.
Yet even with An Ling'er's reinforcement and Yang Kai pushing himself to his absolute limit, he could only conjure a Profound Heaven Sword roughly a dozen zhang long. Compared to the one Aunt Nan had manifested, it was laughably small.
The two Nine Heavens Divine Techniques charged toward each other from opposite directions and collided a moment later.
A deafening boom erupted. Yang Kai's Profound Heaven Sword shattered into dust in the blink of an eye, and the surrounding seawater churned violently. The rebounding force shoved Yang Kai and An Ling'er a considerable distance downward.
Aunt Nan's momentum appeared to stutter for the briefest instant, but she recovered almost immediately and continued her pursuit.
"What weakness do the Nine Heavens Holy Maidens have?" Yang Kai pressed urgently.
"None. You'd have to overpower her in sheer strength. But let me try to hold her back for a while!" An Ling'er clenched her teeth, allowing Yang Kai to hold her as they plummeted. From her mind, a burst of Divine Sense surged outward like a wave, crashing toward Aunt Nan.
Yang Kai faintly heard the strains of a melody, as though it rose from the very depths of the human soul. Under its influence, one couldn't help but feel drowsy and at ease.
His expression turned sharp. Yang Kai didn't dare let his guard down. He suspected this soul technique was similar to the one An Ling'er had employed back in the Temple of Divine War — both carried a calming, soothing effect on the mind.
Aunt Nan was already dead, her actions sustained by nothing more than sheer willpower. A soul technique like this was, without question, the ideal countermeasure against her.
Sure enough, his spiritual perception confirmed that Aunt Nan's movements had been affected. Her speed had dropped noticeably, and the fluctuations of her True Yuan had become wildly unstable. She appeared to be in a state of acute torment.
"That's it!" Yang Kai's spirits soared. As long as An Ling'er could stall this woman at the Sacred Emperor Realm, he was confident he could escape.
"I can't keep this up for long," An Ling'er said softly, her face drained of all color.
Yang Kai turned to look and saw that her expression was twisted in pain. He immediately understood — with her level of cultivation, using a soul technique against someone like Aunt Nan was certain to trigger a vicious backlash.
Yang Kai's face grew grim as he continued to flee, his mind racing for ways to buy more time.
He had several tricks at his disposal, but the gap in their cultivation was simply too vast. Conventional methods were completely out of the question.
The Temple of Divine War might work — it was, after all, a saint-grade artifact. But activating it would drag his own soul into that white void, and he had no guarantee he could defeat Aunt Nan in a battle of Divine Sense on that ground.
The World-Destroying Demon Eye was also devastatingly powerful, but unless Aunt Nan's Divine Sense invaded his sea of consciousness, it would be completely useless.
Beyond purifying any soul energy that breached his sea of consciousness, the Demon Eye could only absorb a warrior's soul after death.
By that logic, Aunt Nan didn't qualify as truly dead — otherwise, the World-Destroying Demon Eye would have already taken effect.
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, Yang Kai couldn't find a solution. Anxiety gnawed at him.
Then, without warning, the melody that had been ringing in his ears cut off abruptly. In the instant it ceased, An Ling'er coughed up a mist of blood, her delicate body going limp in Yang Kai's arms. She gasped for breath, looking utterly spent.
Without An Ling'er's restraint, Aunt Nan snapped back to her previous speed, the distance between them shrinking with alarming rapidity.
Fortunately, the colossal Profound Heaven Sword had vanished — for the moment, he was safe as long as she hadn't closed to within striking range.
They plunged deeper and deeper. Countless sea creatures and fish swam past on every side, and Yang Kai ignored them all.
Aunt Nan, however, was exactly as An Ling'er had described — she slaughtered every living thing in her path. All the sea beasts and fish were cut down without mercy.
The killing itself cost her almost nothing, but it did manage to slow her pursuit by a fraction.
Yang Kai had never felt time pass so slowly. Being chased by a Sacred Emperor Realm powerhouse like a maggot clinging to bone, his life hanging by a thread at every moment — it created the agonizing illusion of a day stretching into an eternity.
When the shimmering, multicolored glow of a coral reef flickered into view far below, Yang Kai's spirits surged and he called out, "Almost there!"
An Ling'er opened her eyes weakly and asked, "At this point… can you at least tell me your real name? If we're about to die, I'd at least like to know whose arms I'm dying in."