Like the earth splitting and mountains collapsing, light blazed forth, and all of heaven and earth trembled.
The withered bony hand shattered into fragments, vanishing before they could even hit the ground.
Li Rong's delicate figure swayed slightly, a hint of red flushing across her beautiful face. In that clash against Korro's power, she had clearly come off worse.
But at some point, all the other powerhouses around Yang Kai had vanished.
Chang Yuan appeared again in eerie fashion, materializing to Korro's right, his body shrouded in a mass of black clouds. A pitch-black halberd was clutched in his hand—the weapon was dark throughout, radiating energy fluctuations that made one's heart tremble, as though it could devour all light.
The halberd thrust forward, breaking through the shackles of space, stabbing toward Korro's ribs.
This strike was silent and mysterious, yet it was the explosive release of Chang Yuan's full power!
Only now did this age's Demon Sovereign reveal his full strength, and even Yang Kai was secretly shaken.
The tip of the halberd was saturated with his martial intent and Demonic Yuan, converging into an attack that could tear apart heaven and earth.
"Trivial tricks!" Korro had evidently noticed it long ago. With a cold snort, neither hurrying nor dodging, a ghastly white bone shield suddenly materialized at his side.
The halberd struck the bone shield dead center. A heaven-shocking burst of energy erupted—Chang Yuan staggered back over a dozen steps, and the bone shield shattered on impact.
Korro was completely unharmed. Disbelief welled up in Chang Yuan's eyes—he had never imagined that the Bone Clan leader could be this powerful.
His current strength, though not yet at the Saint King Realm, had absolutely surpassed the limits of this world. Even Chang Yuan, who had always prided himself on his prowess, could only admit his inferiority.
Ghastly winds blew in gusts, and amid the wailing of ghosts, over a dozen skulls suddenly materialized around Korro. They swelled with the wind until they were the size of houses, darting like the wind to encircle Chang Yuan. From their eye sockets and mouths, beams of mysterious power shot outward from all directions toward the center.
They intended to slay Chang Yuan!
Chang Yuan was stunned. Before he could dodge, a beam of mysterious energy struck his body, and a flash of pain crossed his face. Even with his powerful demonic physique, he could barely withstand such a ferocious assault.
He dared not slack off any longer. As he scrambled to dodge, Meng Wuya appeared in a flash, his surging Saint Yuan erupting from within to intercept the relentless waves of attacks on Chang Yuan's behalf. Chang Yuan understood. Without a word, he coordinated, swinging his halberd as pitch-black energy spheres met the eerie beams shooting from the skulls.
Two bitter enemies who had clashed for hundreds, even thousands, of years coordinated more brilliantly in this moment than anyone else could have.
"Back then, the Saint King Realm expert here struck me down with a single blow and left me gravely wounded. Let me see how much of his legacy you lot have inherited!" Korro roared. From his sleeve, a jade-green rope suddenly shot forth. The rope seemed to possess a life of its own, swelling as it flew until it was even larger than the golden dragon Yang Kai had transformed into.
When it revealed its true form, everyone realized it was merely an Artifact.
No one knew how, over the span of several thousand years, he had managed to maintain this Artifact's power without it deteriorating.
Its appearance was simply too lifelike—it looked exactly like a flying serpent with wings sprouting from its cheeks.
The moment the flying serpent Artifact appeared, it exerted tremendous pressure on Yang Kai, giving him the illusion that a mountain was pressing down on him. His body became incredibly heavy, each step a struggle.
The flying serpent soared and danced, rings of ripple-like waves emanating from within, carrying the wondrous power of natural laws that bound everyone like ropes.
At this moment, the remaining powerhouses all felt bound and restricted, as though they were mired in a swamp—movement was difficult, and the flow of power within their bodies was disrupted.
Chu Lingxiao stepped forward to meet the flying serpent Artifact, unleashing the Demon-Locking Chain. Amidst blooming golden light, he intercepted the rings of rippling waves.
The Thunder Dragon Venerable also rushed forward, madly unleashing the power of flames and lightning, and together with Chu Lingxiao they barely managed to withstand the Artifact's might.
Korro himself did not move. With just over a dozen skulls and a single flying serpent Artifact, he had pinned down the four most powerful warriors of the age.
The four fought with everything they had, barely able to hold their own, with no strength left to target Korro himself.
Only Li Rong remained steadfastly at Yang Kai's side.
Korro turned his gaze toward Yang Kai, laughing coldly. "You should have fled—fled far, far away. But you stayed. To die at my hands, you should consider yourself honored."
As he spoke, he strolled leisurely toward Yang Kai, step by step.
As he drew closer, Li Rong's expression grew heavier and heavier. An inexplicable pressure made every bone in her body creak, as though she could be crushed at any moment.
Yang Kai sensed something was wrong. A nightmarish whisper suddenly rang out: "Demonic Frenzy!"
True Yang Energy within his body retreated frantically into his dantian. Every meridian and inch of flesh was flooded with thick Demonic Yuan. Invisible demonic patterns crawled over his skin, sinking into his flesh and vanishing, converging within him into an earth-shattering grand formation.
The power of his blood and qi surged frantically. The waves of energy within his body skyrocketed. Even the trace of his life force became incomparably more vigorous than before.
Korro halted, regarding Yang Kai with some surprise. In that instant, this youth who should have possessed only the cultivation of Transcendent Stage Three had become comparable to a cultivator at Saint Stage Three, and he could not help but show his surprise.
"So there's still such external power you can borrow. Not bad!" Korro nodded slightly, putting on an air of connoisseurship, then curled his lip. "But you'll still die. Without reaching the Saint King Realm, no one can stand against me!"
He casually pushed out a palm, and invisible pressure hurtled toward Yang Kai, as though intent on crushing him to dust.
Yang Kai pulled Li Rong behind him and pushed out a palm of his own.
A massive palm print hurtled forward to meet it, blotting out the entire sky.