With a cold laugh, Yang Kai reached out with one hand and tore away his tattered robe, revealing his lean, muscular frame. His flesh swelled and trembled, power weaving through his body, his aura potent and refined.
Standing at the very center of the raging wind blades, he let them sweep over him, unmoved like a great mountain, enduring their shredding assault without showing the slightest sign of weakness.
"Friend, your power... it's not quite enough!"
A chorus of uproarious cries erupted.
The demon race members in the stands were astonished, their eyes filled with shock.
They had expected that with Di Xiao personally taking action this time, Yang Kai would be defeated — or even killed — in short order. But the situation before them defied all expectations.
Wrapped in a tempest of wind blades, Yang Kai's body bore only a series of small cuts and nothing more — no real damage to speak of. His physical toughness seemed to have reached some kind of absolute limit, allowing him to endure such attacks head-on.
Everyone clicked their tongues in amazement.
Yang Kai's provocation made Di Xiao's expression darken. He grinned sinisterly. "You don't know how high the heavens are or how deep the earth goes. Let me see how long you can last!"
As he spoke, his hands began to dance. The moment they moved, the tornadoes ravaging the entire death arena seemed to come alive, converging toward Yang Kai's position from every direction, leaving no blind spot untouched.
As the tornadoes drew closer, they merged and grew, and by the time they reached him, they had fused into a single colossal tornado — pitch-black, massive, and filled with an aura of killing intent.
Like a fearsome dragon, it whipped its head and tail as it roared straight toward Yang Kai.
"True Yuan Manifestation! I can do that too!" Yang Kai grinned wide. With a piercing dragon's cry, a massive dragon head materialized behind him.
It was a dazzling gold, blinding to behold, its aura utterly violent.
The dragon head snarled and swayed, and soon a longer, more robust golden dragon emerged, crashing into the pitch-black tornado. The two tore at each other.
The sky above the death arena was instantly shrouded in gold and black, the two colors glaring against each other.
This dragon of Yang Kai's came from the golden dragon pattern on his back. Previously, he could only manifest it while in a demonic state, but ever since his soul exchange with Su Yan at the Ice Sect, he could now unleash it at will. Moreover, the golden dragon carried Yang Kai's divine sense within it, making it far more agile and lethal than Di Xiao's purely martial technique.
The two dragons clashed in a scene of spectacular devastation.
Nearly everyone was captivated by the magnificent spectacle, their eyes fixed unwaveringly on the sky above the death arena, wondering which of the two dragons would prove superior.
Boom... boom... boom...
Amid deafening sounds, beams of light interwove like a volcanic eruption — brilliant and terrifying. The pitch-black tornado seemed to be suppressed by the golden dragon, retreating again and again, its color rapidly fading.
True Yang Energy was forever the bane of demonic qi. The aura emanating from the golden dragon made every member of the demon race present feel ill at ease.
Without warning, a roar tore through the air. Two figures in the death arena clashed and separated in a single instant, blood staining the ground red.
While everyone's attention had been drawn to the two dragons in the sky, Yang Kai and Di Xiao had charged at each other at some point and exchanged blows at full power.
Terrifying energy erupted, flooding every corner of the death arena. After the two figures separated, Yang Kai was hunched over, clutching his abdomen. Blood gushed from between his fingers.
The pain was excruciating. In that brief instant of collision, he felt as though his body had been pierced by a million attacks. His bare torso bore gruesome gashes so deep the bone was visible.
Di Xiao truly deserved his reputation as one of Gou Qiong's top generals. His peak cultivation at Transcendent Stage Three, his extraordinary combat awareness, and his vast battle experience had given him the decisive upper hand.
Though Yang Kai was suffering, Di Xiao was no better off.
On his arms and neck, chunks of flesh had vanished without explanation, blood dripping steadily downward. His aura churned in wild disarray, his face twisted in a grimace.
They stared at each other, panting, and their eyes simultaneously turned red. In that moment, a bloodthirsty impulse surged forth, consuming both their minds. Only one thought remained in each — kill the other!
Watching the blood flow from Yang Kai's abdomen, Xueli — who had been sitting upright in the stands the entire time — suddenly rose to her feet. Her beautiful eyes trembled, fixed on him with an expression of disbelief, as though she had discovered something extraordinary.
"My lady!" Yumo called out upon seeing this.
Xueli's delicate brows knitted tight. She took a deep breath, stared in shock for a long moment, then slowly sat back down.
Yumo looked at her with suspicion, unable to understand why Xueli had reacted so suddenly. Even though Yang Kai's performance had exceeded everyone's expectations, it shouldn't have been enough to make her lose composure like this.
What had she discovered? Yumo pondered for a while, then slowly shook his head as his attention was once again pulled to the battle below.
Killing intent surged like a tide. Even from the stands, it could be felt with perfect clarity. Even someone as powerful as Yumo found his pores involuntarily clenching, afraid that his own will might be swayed by such murderous intent.
Di Xiao was formidable indeed, and Yang Kai was no slouch either. Until this battle reached its end, no one could predict the final outcome.
Thick, rolling streams of demonic yuan poured from Di Xiao's body, plunging his surroundings into absolute darkness. Within that demonic yuan, all manner of sinister energies swirled, silently spreading outward.