The Artifacts wielded by those Purple Star cultivators came in every shape imaginable—star shuttles, war chariots, flying carriages—all designed for combat in the star field, dazzling to behold.
Over on the Sword Alliance side, a large group had also suddenly appeared outside the warship, fearlessly advancing to meet them head-on. The two forces collided, and a ferocious battle erupted in an instant.
Across the void of space, halos of light expanded outward as magnificent and devastating martial techniques detonated, and the radiance of countless Artifacts blazed to life.
Purple Star and the Sword Alliance both went blood-crazy from the very start, locked in a fight to the death.
Amid that chaotic melee, Artifacts of no small caliber were riddled with holes and shattered outright. Burning fragments of these destroyed treasures shot outward like a rain of fire, their scorching brilliance dazzling and spectacular—the most resplendent fireworks imaginable, beautiful enough to stop the heart, yet intermingled with lifeless corpses, lost forever in this churning abyss.
On the chaotic battlefield, figures at the Transcendent Realm predominated. Warriors below that level were as insignificant as ants.
There were even a few figures radiating the tyrannical aura of the Sovereign King Realm, dominating the field with sweeping might. They unleashed heaven-shaking, earth-shattering divine abilities, slaughtering the weaker warriors on the opposing side without restraint. Everywhere they passed, chaos followed—countless cultivators were beaten until not even ashes remained, their souls scattered to nothingness.
Both sides sustained enormous losses.
Neither was willing to show weakness, and neither would concede easily. Reinforcements poured endlessly from each side's warships into the fray.
For a time, the battle was dead even.
In the Star Domain, both the Sword Alliance and Purple Star were first-rate powers. Each one governed at least four or five Cultivation Stars, with countless mining planets and medicine stars under their control. Drawing upon their vast reserves of resources, they could supply unimaginable quantities of materials to nurture and develop their cultivators.
Their leadership couldn't care less about this level of losses.
Yang Kai sat in silence for a long time.
He was thoroughly shaken.
He was still reeling from the devastating power of the warship's divine light cannon. Never had he imagined that such inconceivable things existed within the vast Star Domain.
Everything he had seen and heard since arriving in the Star Domain had already surpassed his wildest imagination.
He suddenly realized that the Star Domain was even more magnificent than he'd imagined, and his eyes blazed with excitement as his blood boiled hot.
He didn't retreat in fear because of what he'd witnessed. On the contrary, he found himself looking forward to it all the more.
Because only in a place this spectacular could he live a life equally extraordinary.
"Yang Kai! Yang Kai!" Shentu's voice came calling again.
Yang Kai glanced over at him.
Shentu's face was a mask of misery. He licked his cracked lips and said, "Can you spare me a few more Saint Crystals? I'm about to keel over."
His strength was nearly depleted—he had clearly reached the point of utter exhaustion.
Without a word, Yang Kai tossed him five or six Saint Crystals.
"Thanks!" Gratitude flooded Shentu's face as he offered a sincere word of thanks, then immediately began absorbing the energy.
Yang Kai calmed himself and looked around with cold, measured eyes, silently observing, listening to the footsteps echoing from within the warship's hull and the fluctuations of energy emanating from various points. His eyes gradually brightened.
After a good while, Shentu finally let out a long, heavy breath and spoke: "I've finally recovered. Damn it—if they'd fired that crystal cannon one more time, I'd be dead for sure. That was way too close."
As he spoke, he looked at Yang Kai with overwhelming gratitude. "A great kindness needs no words—I'll remember what you did today."
"Shentu, what's your real cultivation level?" Yang Kai suddenly asked in a low voice, eyeing him sidelong.
Shentu started, his expression flickering as if he were about to dodge the question, but then he broke into a grin. "You figured it out?"
"If I couldn't, I'd have to be blind," Yang Kai said flatly.
The energy fluctuations within Shentu's body hovered around the first level of the Transcendent Realm—about the same as Yang Kai's own. But during that critical moment, when Shentu had been absorbing the Saint Crystals, unusual power waves had rippled through him—something far beyond what his apparent level should produce.
Yang Kai had judged that he was concealing his true cultivation.
The ability to hide one's cultivation aboard a Purple Star warship was no ordinary skill. This Shentu was no simple character.
"Third level of the Transcendent Realm," Shentu said, his expression suddenly serious, answering in a low voice.
Yang Kai nodded, fairly certain he wasn't lying.
"Why do you ask?" Shentu looked at Yang Kai with a strange expression.
"No particular reason. But if you really have that kind of strength, we might be able to do something. It seems like there aren't many people left aboard the warship right now—all the experts have gone out to fight. Even the engine room's defenses are much weaker than usual." Yang Kai's tone was meaningful.
Originally, there had been a Sovereign King Realm expert stationed in the shadows of the engine room, but after the battle erupted, that person's aura had vanished. Yang Kai guessed he must have gone out to join the fight. Moreover, the Purple Star cultivators remaining in the engine room had been cut by more than half. Those still present besides Kemong—a third-level Transcendent Realm expert—were all first or second-level Transcendent cultivators, fewer than ten in total, each stationed at various points in the engine room's formation arrays to maintain the warship's operation.
"What are you thinking? Don't do anything reckless—these shackles are forged with Mixed Origin Stone. While they're binding us, we can't use any of our power." Shentu's expression changed as he immediately grasped what Yang Kai had in mind.
"Then we'll have someone remove them." Yang Kai flashed a mysterious smile, and his expression suddenly turned deathly weak, the aura of his vitality dimming to nothing.