Just as Nu Tao had made up his mind, Yang Kai suddenly halted his assault, frowning as if lost in thought.
The next instant, a sound erupted, and a burst of fiery red light exploded in the night, startling Nu Tao so badly that his soul nearly fled his body.
Looking closely, Yang Kai's body was now enveloped in a layer of blazing flames.
They weren't actual fire — they were the effect of his Yuan Qi becoming so dense it overflowed outward. The scorching crimson Yuan Qi wrapped around him completely, and waves of heat slammed into everything around them. The yin energy that had saturated the valley seemed to have met its nemesis, unable to gather anywhere nearby.
Yang Kai's face flickered between light and shadow beneath the glow of that fiery energy. His bare torso, his lean muscles tensed tight, looked wild and untamed — as if he could tear through the world itself.
His fists were a mangled mess of blood and flesh, and across his abdomen was a sword wound nearly half a foot long, still streaming blood, the flesh curling back in a gruesome sight. His eyes were crimson red, like a cornered beast — radiating endless madness and a bloodthirsty aura.
Evil energy, overwhelming and terrifying!
Nu Tao's expression twisted into horror. He stumbled backward several steps and cried out involuntarily: "Demonic Frenzy?!"
He had assumed Yang Kai had lost control of the Yuan Qi inside him during the fight — that his energy had run wild and devoured his consciousness.
But wasn't that supposed to only happen in realms beyond the Qi Movement Realm? How could a mere Kaiyuan Realm warrior experience something like this?
"Demonic Frenzy?" Yang Kai turned his head to look at him. His eyes were terrifying, but his expression was calm — utterly unlike what someone in a state of Qi Deviation should look like. He sneered: "Short-sighted!"
As he spoke, the Yuan Qi burning across his body pulled inward in an instant, and the sea of flames vanished, leaving only a layer of fiery True Yang Energy wrapped around his two fists.
It looked as though his fists were each gripping a ball of burning flame, the fire swaying in the wind yet never guttering out.
"You still have your senses?" Nu Tao stared at Yang Kai, bewildered, trying to find some trace of humanity in those eyes. But he was disappointed — from those crimson-red orbs, he could see no hint of anything human. There was only frenzied battle intent and the aura of slaughter.
That couldn't be right. This was clearly the state of Demonic Frenzy. His eyes had lost all human warmth — so how could he still think?
"Want to find out for yourself?" Yang Kai took a single step forward. With that one step, the distance between him and Nu Tao shrank to virtually nothing. Nu Tao's face drained of color — he never expected Yang Kai's speed to have become so terrifying.
He hastily retreated, simultaneously sweeping out one claw to try and block Yang Kai's advance.
Yang Kai's blazing right fist met the incoming hand head-on, smashing down onto Nu Tao's five fingers with a shrieking whistle of wind.
*Crack.* A crisp sound rang out, accompanied by Nu Tao's terrified scream. His body flew high into the air like a paper kite. Only after he hit the ground did searing pain shoot through his fingers. Looking down, he saw that all five fingers were twisted grotesquely — he could no longer straighten them.
The fingers were covered in burns, and every bone was shattered!
Worse still, a fierce and domineering surge of scorching Yuan Qi had invaded his body, burning through his meridians and flesh along the way.
Nu Tao dared not hesitate. He quickly reached out with his other hand, striking several acupoints on his own arm to halt the invading energy.
No sooner had he completed the motion than the light before him flared bright again. He looked up — Yang Kai had already closed the distance once more, and the flames on those two fists burned even brighter.