Up ahead, beneath a large tree, the young man who had emerged from the Nine Heavens Holy Land some time ago had somehow appeared behind them. He stood there now with a faint, mocking smile, regarding them with clear amusement.
Everyone braced as though facing a formidable enemy, their True Yuan circulating as they stared at Yang Kai with wariness and dread.
That ghostly, unpredictable movement alone was enough to showcase Yang Kai's extraordinary abilities. These people had some discernment, and they naturally understood that Yang Kai was not someone to be trifled with.
The leader among them—a Transcendent Realm expert—released his Divine Sense at close range to probe Yang Kai. But it was like casting a stone into the ocean. The spiritual sense he sent out was devoured completely, with not the slightest feedback returning. The realization left him horrified.
"I'll hold him off for a moment. Scatter and run!" the Transcendent whispered urgently to the others.
Yang Kai chuckled lightly, paying no attention. He began walking toward them with measured steps.
With each stride closer, everyone felt an immense pressure descend from above—like a mountain collapsing, or the devastating force of an avalanche. It was utterly overwhelming, impossible to resist.
The Shenyou Realm cultivators among them could barely suppress the urge to fall to their knees. Under this crushing pressure, it felt as though they would be flattened into dust at any moment, their bodies destroyed without a trace.
"Go!" the Transcendent roared, forcibly circulating his True Yuan and launching himself into the air.
"You think you can escape?" Yang Kai snorted coldly. A strand of his Divine Sense transformed into a razor-sharp attack that pierced straight into the man's mind. In the span of a single heartbeat, it tore through the defenses of his sea of consciousness.
A jade pendant hanging from the man's body flashed brilliantly, then with a crisp crack, it exploded into powder.
The pendant had been a soul-defensive artifact capable of automatically protecting against spiritual attacks. Its grade was respectable—middle-rank Mysterious grade, at the very least.
Even so, under a single strike of Yang Kai's Divine Sense, the artifact was utterly destroyed.
The man who had leaped skyward came crashing back down. The gleam in his eyes vanished in an instant. This first-level Transcendent Realm cultivator clutched his head, rolling on the ground and screaming in agony. His wretched state sent chills down everyone else's spines.
The square-jawed young man finally grasped just how vast the gap in their strength truly was. Only now did he realize that the previous senior's words had not been exaggerated in the slightest.
Without any visible technique or movement, Yang Kai had reduced a first-level Transcendent to this state. Just how profound was his cultivation?
The agonized screams lasted less than ten breaths before gradually fading. The Transcendent cultivator lay rigid on the ground, motionless, every trace of life extinguished.
He was dead!
The remaining dozen-plus Shenyou Realm cultivators began trembling violently, their teeth chattering as they stared at Yang Kai in sheer terror, at a complete loss for what to do.
Yang Kai swept his gaze over them with indifference. Meeting his eyes, every single person involuntarily looked away.
A dozen-odd Shenyou Realm cultivators... Yang Kai found it almost laughable. Back in Zhongdu, a lineup like this would have been considered quite formidable. But after just a few years, he could now look down upon these people from above, regarding them with cold detachment.
They were ants to him.
"I have some questions. Who can answer them?" Yang Kai spoke suddenly.
Everyone was still drowning in fear, certain they were about to die. At his words, no one reacted. But that square-jawed young man was the sharpest of the bunch. He hurriedly called out, "I can!"
Yang Kai glanced at him and gave a slight nod. "Tell me—where are all of you stationed?"
"In a mountain valley roughly fifty li from your esteemed sect!" the young man blurted out at lightning speed, terrified that a slow reply would displease Yang Kai.
"How many people?"
"Three thousand, at least..."
"That's quite a number. What about the Sacred Realm?" Yang Kai pressed. Three thousand people—though fewer than half the disciples of the Nine Heavens Holy Land—if a battle truly broke out, it would all depend on the strength of the experts. If the experts won, the battle was won. If the experts lost, everything was lost.
At the Transcendent and Sacred Realm level, anything below simply didn't matter. No matter how many were thrown at the fight, they wouldn't even register.
"Liu Gui, you dare leak intelligence to the enemy? Watch your head when you get back!" someone among the Shenyou cultivators suddenly snapped back to his senses and growled in a low voice.
The others also looked displeased, glaring at the young man called Liu Gui with contempt and disgust in their eyes.
Liu Gui's expression faltered. He stammered but didn't dare say another word, only gazing at Yang Kai with timid, fearful eyes, afraid of provoking his displeasure.
Yang Kai smiled faintly and nodded. "Relax. I guarantee you—no one will know you told me any of this. So, feel free to say a little more."
As he spoke, he waved his hand. All the Shenyou Realm cultivators froze in place, unable to move or speak. Sweat beaded across their entire bodies as they trembled.
With Yang Kai's assurance, Liu Gui seemed to relax considerably. He hastily revealed everything he knew, holding nothing back.
The more Yang Kai listened, the darker his expression became.
This time, the Nine Heavens Holy Land was truly in grave danger.
The Broken Profound Palace, Battle Soul Hall, and the Netherworld Sect—these three powers had seized the opportunity while the Nine Heavens Holy Land was beset by both internal and external troubles. Not only had they rallied their own allies and kin, but they had also exploited the chaos caused by Aunt Nan Sheng out in the wider world. Through their machinations, they had convinced more than a dozen forces to march against the Nine Heavens Holy Land.
These dozen-plus factions weren't particularly powerful—each at most possessed a single Sacred Realm expert, and some didn't even have one.