Down below, under the shade of a big tree, the young man who had flown out of Nine Heavens Holy Land had at some point unknown to them appeared behind them. He was just standing there smiling casually towards their group.
Everyone realized they were in a critical situation and hurriedly pushed their True Qi as they stared towards Yang Kai vigilantly.
The method this youth had used to evade their senses and approach them was enough to demonstrate his extraordinary ability. Everyone in this patrol team had some degree of vision, so they immediately understood that Yang Kai was not someone good to provoke.
In particular, the lead Transcendent, who was the closest to Yang Kai, had constantly been trying to probe the latter’s depths but no matter how he used his Divine Sense, it was like he was staring into a bottomless sea, unable to determine anything, causing him to feel extremely shocked.
“I’ll stall him, the rest of you split up!” The Transcendent Realm leader shouted to everyone.
Yang Kai simply maintained his smile, turning a deaf ear to this man’s words as he walked towards them.
As Yang Kai approached them, everyone in this patrol team felt as if a huge pressure had descended upon them from the sky, as if they were standing in the path of an avalanche, incapable of resisting.
The Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators couldn’t help feeling like collapsing to the ground, as if under this pressure they would soon be ground into dust, bones and all.
“Run!” The Transcendent screamed, forcefully circulating his True Qi as he soared into the sky.
“You think you can run?” Yang Kai coldly snorted as his Spiritual Energy condensed into a sharp blade and shot towards the Transcendent’s forehead, in the next instant tearing apart the latter’s Knowledge Sea defences.
A small piece of jade that was worn around this Transcendent’s neck flashed brilliantly before immediately shattering.
This jade pendant was a Soul defensive artifact designed to protect against enemy Divine Sense attacks and its grade was not bad, at least Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank.
But even so, this artifact was completely destroyed by Yang Kai’s Divine Sense attack.
The man, who had just flown up into the sky, came crashing down, his eyes losing all semblance of light. The First Order Transcendent slammed head first into the ground as he let out a piercing howl, the sound passing into the ears of the surrounding Immortal Ascension cultivators, sending cold chills up their spines.
The young man with the square head realized just how massive the gap in strength between him and Yang Kai was in that instant and understood that the Senior who led his team had not made the slightest exaggeration.
The young man didn’t know what method Yang Kai had used just now, but to reduce a First Order Transcendent to such a miserable state, how deep would this youth’s cultivation have to be?
The miserable cries only lasted for ten breaths before gradually weakening and eventually stopping all together, the Transcendent Realm cultivators now lying stiffly on the ground, not moving.
Dead!
The remaining dozen or so Immortal Ascension cultivators all shuddered and the sound of their teeth chattering was audible, each and every one of them staring towards Yang Kai in horror, none of them know what to do now.
Yang Kai glanced around at them faintly, all of them quickly turning their heads as he did, none of them having the courage to meet eyes with him.
A dozen Immortal Ascension cultivators… Yang Kai couldn’t help chuckling wryly at this sight. Back when he was in the Central Capital, this kind of lineup would be considered quite formidable, but only a few years later, Yang Kai could actually completely disregard their combat strength.
These people were now no different from ants before him.
“I have some questions to ask you, who can answer me?” Yang Kai suddenly said.
These people were all scared stiff, each of them thinking they were going to die soon, so none of them reacted immediately; however, the square headed youth was actually able to compose himself somewhat quicker than the others and shouted, “I can!”
Yang Kai shot a glance towards this youth and nodded lightly, “Tell me, where are you guys stationed?”
“We have a camp set up at the base of a mountain roughly fifty kilometers from your noble sect!” The young man was afraid that if he answered too slowly it would annoy Yang Kai so he blurted out a response as quickly as he could.
“How many of you are there?”
“At least three thousand…”
“That’s certainly a lot, how many Saints?” Yang Kai continued questioning. Three thousand was less than half the number of people Nine Heavens Holy Land had, but if a fight really broke out, what was important was the number of masters each side had. If one side’s masters emerged victorious, that side would win the war.
Only those with Transcendent or Saint Realm cultivations mattered. No matter how many cultivators below the Transcendent Realm there were, their combat strength would make no difference.
“Liu Gui, if you dare reveal information to the enemy, once we return, your head will fly from your neck!” One of the Immortal Ascension cultivators in the crowd with some backbone shouted after coming to his senses.
The others in the group also turned angry and disdainful looks towards the young man named Liu Gui.
Liu Gui immediately became nervous and he didn’t dare continue speaking, only able to turn a timid and anxious look towards Yang Kai, as if worried about annoying him with this indecisive attitude.
However, Yang Kai just smiled softly and nodded, “You can rest assured that no one will ever learn you told me this information, so speak freely!”
Saying so, Yang Kai waved his hand towards the surrounding Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators causing them all to lose strength and kneel on the ground, none of them able to move or even speak, each of them sweating profusely as they shivered in fear.
Having received Yang Kai’s assurance, Liu Gui seemed to be relieved and quickly revealed everything he knew.
As he listened, Yang Kai’s expression became gloomier and gloomier.
It seemed this time Nine Heavens Holy Land was truly facing a great disaster.
Shattering Mystical Palace, War Spirit Temple, and Netherworld Sect had not only managed to rally their own allies and friends again Nine Heavens Holy Land, but taking advantage of the destruction Saintess Nan had wrought outside, they had even managed to rope in another dozen forces to their cause.
None of these dozen or so forces were too strong, each of them possessing a single Saint Realm master at most, some not even having such a powerhouse among their ranks.
However, counting the six Saints the three Sects had between them, the total number of Saints Nine Heavens Holy Land was currently facing was twelve.
In terms of numbers, the enemy had twice as many top level masters as Nine Heavens Holy Land; as for Transcendents, the difference was even greater.
If it became a fight, Nine Heavens Holy Land had no chance of winning, even with the help of the Nine Peaks Spirit Array and barrier; they would only be able to resist the enemy for a short time.
As Xu Hui had said, since the three Sects had chosen to thoroughly offend the Holy Land, they had spared no effort to ensure their victory. There was no chance they would give Holy Land an opportunity to make a comeback.
There had been no attacks since their first offensive not only because they had delivered the Holy Land an ultimatum, but also because they were waiting for more reinforcements to arrive.
Half a month later, they would no doubt invade in masse, destroy Nine Heavens Holy Land and plunder the wealth this colossus had accumulated over thousands of years before carving up its territory.
Besides the three Sects, the other forces had basically gathered here because of Saintess Nan and had no deep hatred with Nine Heavens Holy Land.
Liu Gui was born with a square head but he was also a clever person. Even under the hate filled glares of his companions, he told Yang Kai various pieces of valuable information.
After listening to Liu Gui’s words, Yang Kai had a fairly good idea of his enemy’s situation.
Nodding lightly with a satisfied expression, Yang Kai patted Liu Gui’s shoulder in a friendly manner and praised, “Young man, you have a promising future, be sure to keep on living.”
“Yes yes… many thanks for young master’s praise,” Liu Gui responded with an awkward smile, his expression suddenly changing as he stared at Yang Kai suspiciously.
A moment ago, he felt something go missing from his Knowledge Sea, but after briefly inspecting himself, he couldn’t find anything wrong.
Yang Kai smiled and explained, “As insurance, I’ll be keeping your Soul brand with me. Don’t divulge anything that happened here after you go back; otherwise, even if we are separated by thousands of kilometers, I can easily put you to death.”
Liu Gui’s face went white and he couldn’t help stumbling backwards a few steps, fumbling for his words as he shouted, “Sou… Soul brand?”
“En. Also, don’t even think of running away, with your Soul brand in hand I can sense your location, if you dare act disloyal in any way… you know the consequences.”
“Yes yes yes, I understand!” Liu Gui nodded his head rapidly. Although he wasn’t sure what Yang Kai had just done to him, he did have a vague feeling he was no longer in control of his own fate.
“Good, I’ll take my leave then!” Yang Kai grinned, his figure flickering and disappearing before Liu Gui could blink.
Liu Gui was once again stunned but soon regained his senses and pointed to his companions who were still unable to move and shouted, “What about them?”
However, he didn’t receive any response.
Liu Gui’s expression fluctuated, becoming somewhat strained.
A moment later, Yang Kai, who was heading towards the Monster Domain, heard a faint series of screams and curses from behind him. Obviously Liu Gui had started ‘processing’ his former compatriots.
Liu Gui was not a good person. That was judged when Yang Kai had seen how he acted. He was clearly the type that would use underhanded schemes and cunning to accomplish his goals. As such, in order to protect his secrets from being leaked out, Liu Gui would naturally silence the witnesses to his crimes. This kind of person was always despicable and shameless.
However, Yang Kai needed to arrange a game piece in the enemy’s camp, so he could monitor their movements, and this kind of person who greatly feared death and would do whatever it took to survive was undoubtedly a good candidate.
As for how Liu Gui would explain how he alone survived when the rest of his team was wiped out, that was his problem.
Flying forward, Yang Kai moved as fast a lightning as he followed the directions Xu Hui had given him.
After crossing the great mountain range, Yang Kai quickly felt that he had arrived in a completely different land.
The World Energy that permeated the atmosphere was a bit strange.
Just like in the Demon Land, where the World Energy was mixed with a faint Demonic Qi, a faint Monster Qi filled the Monster Domain’s World Energy aura.
However, regardless of whether it was the Monster Qi or Demonic Qi within the World Energy of either territory, it only existed because the race which lived there had subtly influenced the world around them, causing slight changes in the natural aura.
Beyond the vast mountain range lay an expansive forest.
This place was known as the Beast Sea Jungle and it was the territory of the Monster Race.
Trees which would take several people to surround were everywhere, creating shelter from the hot sun.
Yang Kai had only just entered this place before he noticed a Monster Beast staring at him. Examining it slightly, Yang Kai discovered that this Monster Beast had only reached the Sixth-Order and thus didn’t pay it any mind, continuing forward in hopes he could find a Monster Race person he could communicate with.
But soon, Yang Kai noticed that the Monster Beast he had come across earlier was different from any he had ever encountered before.
It was actually trailing him from a short distance, not rashly launching an attack but instead seemingly monitoring him.
As Yang Kai continued forward, he ran into several other Monster Beasts, all of which began following along with him just like the first one he had come across.
On top of that, this group of Monster Beasts was well organized and disciplined, obviously having a certain degree of sentience even if it wasn’t that high.
Perceiving this, Yang Kai stopped for a moment and attempted to communicate with these Monster Beasts.
Yang Kai actually had a fair amount of experience in this area as he had spent many months communicating with the Divine Tree, allowing him to convey his thoughts relatively clearly to these creatures.
