Seeing the old man glare fixedly towards him, Yang Kai did not panic. Instead, he rejoiced, his glint in his left eye suddenly becoming deep and profound as a golden pupil appeared.
Demon Eye of Annihilation!
This pure golden pupil gave off a majestic and daunting aura, as if it could see through and command everything in this world.
Lingering about this golden pupil, however, was also a kind of inexplicable haze.
Coloured Glass Divine Light!
After refining the Coloured Glass Bead that Dai Yuan gave to him, Yang Kai had successfully managed to merge some of its power with his Demon Eye of Annihilation, and although this fusion wasn’t yet complete, it could already display some effect.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation was one of Great Demon God’s innate Divine Abilities, not something Yang Kai cultivated himself but had instead inherited. Even so, as Yang Kai’s strength grew, the power of this eye also grew; as such, although Great Demon God was just a Saint King when he died, it seemed this Demon Eye of Annihilation would continue to be of use to Yang Kai in the future.
An invisible vortex appeared in this golden pupil, and from this vortex, a powerful suction emerged. The old man was shocked by this as, in the instant he met eyes with Yang Kai, he felt his Soul become disturbed, like it was being sucked away from his body.
This discovery terrified the old man and he quickly circulated his Secret Art to suppress the palpitations of his heart.
But things did not end there as the multi-coloured light that lingered about this golden eye actually began exerting another strange power, one that caused the old man’s Soul, which he had just barely managed to stabilize, to become turbulent again, to the point that he was unable to even control it anymore.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation already had the ability to draw out and absorb a cultivator’s Soul, an ability Yang Kai had relied upon to increase his comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao far beyond his current realm. This allowed him to break through at remarkable speeds without destabilizing his foundation or mood.
The Coloured Glass Divine Light, on the other hand, had a powerful suppressive effect on a cultivator’s Soul and could not be blocked by the power of the five elements. When the two effects were superimposed, the might they displayed could not be underestimated.
However, Yang Kai’s strength wasn’t very high at present, so the effect of this technique on this old man was greatly weakened, not to mention that this old man had already used his strange Monster Transformation skill, making him far stronger than an ordinary Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator.
As such, after just one breath, the old man managed to shake off the deterrence of the Demon Eye of Annihilation and Coloured Glass Divine Light.
However, this was enough. During this one breath of time, Yang Kai had sent out a dozen Space Blades from his fingertips to attack the old man. By the time the old man regained his freedom, these pitch black blades had already arrived right in front of their target.
The old man saw this approaching attack and let out a great roar, condensing two layers of light curtains in front of himself. The first of these layers was condensed of his own Saint Qi, while the second was formed from the Monster Qi of the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad.
Unfortunately for the old man, these two layers of protection were unable to stop the advance of Yang Kai’s Space Blades!
Silently, the more than a dozen Space Blades passed through where the old man stood and after slicing through his body, flew out a hundred metres before gradually fading out of existence.
The old man froze up in shock as he stared towards Yang Kai in horror. Immediately after, he lowered his head and saw many blade-shaped cuts across his body. Through these cuts, he could clearly see his destroyed organs and red blood flowing out.
“Space Force!” The old man muttered in shock as his body fell to pieces, turning into a mound of broken flesh. On his old face, his two eyes were still bulged, as if even in death, he couldn’t believe he had died in such a place.
Looking at this broken corpse, Yang Kai exhaled slightly. This battle had not been easy for him. Although Yang Yan was controlling the local Spirit Arrays to suppress the strength of this old man, after displaying his Monster Transformation Secret Technique, this old man’s strength had soared to a level far beyond what his cultivation should have allowed.
If Yang Kai had been facing this old man alone, he might not necessarily have been able to kill him.
The suction force from the Demon Eye of Annihilation pulled in the Remnant Soul of the old man a moment later. This was the Soul of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master and would be immensely helpful to Yang Kai when it came to comprehending Shi, so he naturally was not going to miss this opportunity.
After this battle, Yang Kai had a vague understanding of his current combat effectiveness. Right now, he should not have a problem fighting Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators, but whether he could kill one or not would mostly depend on their other party’s abilities. As for Third-Order Origin Realm masters, Yang Kai felt like his strength was still insufficient, but he would need to fight one to confirm his speculations.
Nearby, without the Divine Sense control of the old man, the one-handed hatchet which had transformed into a black python returned to its original appearance and fell to the ground.
Yang Kai flicked his wrist and first collected his Purple Shield before picking up the one-handed hatchet and playing with it for a moment before tossing it into his Space Ring.
Standing on the spot and silently investigating for a moment, Yang Kai quickly understood Dragon Cave Mountain’s current situation.
The intruders were all basically dead, but at a place about ten kilometres away there was a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master locked in a bitter battle against three First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators.
From the fluctuations of these auras, Yang Kai quickly judged that the enemy should be a master from Demon Blood Temple while the three First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators were, needless to say, Chang Qi, Hao An, and Ning Xiang Chen.
Although this trio’s cultivation was one Minor Realm lower than the middle-aged man from Demon Blood Temple, inside Dragon Cave Mountain’s grounds they should not have a problem defeating him. Yang Kai could tell that the battle was quite one-sided and figured it was only a matter of time before the enemy fell.
Ning Xiang Chen wading into these muddy waters and openly siding with Dragon Cave Mountain, however, was an unexpected development for Yang Kai.
After all, he did not have any kind of deep friendship with this Senior and had only spoken to him a few times during their expedition inside the Emperor Garden. Although Yang Kai knew that Ning Xiang Chen taking such actions today were in order to borrow his Firebird Artifact Spirit, Yang Kai was not offended in the slightest. The other party did not have any malicious intentions and simply wanted to request Yang Kai’s help with something, so Yang Kai had readily agreed.
This coincidence had brought a powerful reinforcement for Dragon Cave Mountain just when it needed it, so Yang Kai naturally felt grateful.
If not for Ning Xiang Chen’s presence, Chang Qi and Hao An alone would not be able to kill this master from Demon Blood Temple.
Of course, whether or not Ning Xiang Chen helped Dragon Cave Mountain did not make too much of a difference, but this unexpected surprise still pleased Yang Kai greatly.
No longer paying attention to that side, Yang Kai turned his gaze to another position and flashed a cold grin before walking over.
Inside a strange illusion, where there was no sun, moon, or stars, only a barren plain that seemed to stretch out forever, Xie Li sat cross-legged on the ground, as tranquil as an ancient well. He had tried multiple methods but was unable to even disturb the Spirit Array trapping him, allowing him to conclude that he was unable to escape with just his ability, so he decided to not waste anymore of his strength and simply wait while recuperating.
By now, Xie Li knew that this Illusion Array had no lethality, so if the enemy wanted to kill him, they would have to show up.
As the Xie Family’s strongest master, Xie Li’s mental fortitude was exceptional, but the few Saint King Realm Juniors who had followed him were a different story, all of them fixedly staring towards Xie Li, hoping that he would be able to save them.
But since Xie Li remained silent, they were helpless to do anything, none of them daring to disturb him nor try to escape on their own, so right now they felt like ants on a hot pot, anxious to the extreme.
Suddenly, Xie Li stood up and stared towards a spot not far in front of him, his eyes flashing a cold light.
As Xie Li stood up, the space in front of him visibly distorted and a moment later, a figure mysteriously appeared, as if it had passed through a transparent curtain of water and stood in front of the small group from the Xie Family.
Looking at this person’s face, Xie Li’s eyes narrowed as many thoughts quickly flashed across his mind.
Naturally, he recognized Yang Kai; after all, his son, Xie Hong Wen, had died at Yang Kai’s hands. The enmity for the murder of his child was something Xie Li had wanted to repay since the moment he learned of it, but Xie Li was also a man who knew how to read the situation and had thus not risked coming to Dragon Cave Mountain before now to find trouble with Yang Kai. With Qian Tong standing behind Yang Kai all this time, all the satisfaction Xie Li would derive from killing this boy would soon be buried with him. Since that was the case, the gains simply did not equal the losses.
And so, he had suppressed himself, looking for an opportunity to exact his revenge.
Luckily, after an infuriatingly long wait, his opportunity had finally come.
Now that he had met the target of his enmity, Xie Li naturally felt explosive anger! But Xie Li did not lose control of himself and simply stared at Yang Kai, not rushing forward to attack him recklessly.
After entering this Illusion Array, Yang Kai glanced around for a moment before casually summoning his Artifact Spirit. The Firebird spread its wings wide and condensed several fireballs the size of washbasins before shooting them towards the few Saint Kings present.
These Saint King Realm cultivators were truly quite pitiful. They had been trapped here for what seemed like an eternity, spending every moment on edge, and now they had suddenly been attacked by the Firebird whose strength was comparable to an Origin Realm master. How could they be expected to put up any resistance?
All of these Saint Kings’ hurriedly summoned defensive artifacts were unable to resist the fierce attack of these fireballs and shattered on contact, their broken fragments quickly melting under the intense heat. Next, the Saint Qi these cultivators used to protect their bodies was easily burnt away, followed by their bodies which were swiftly reduced to ashes.
In the blink of an eye, the few Saint King Realm cultivators accompanying Xie Li all died without even being able to put up a fight.
Xie Li’s expression did not change in the slightest as this happened, as if the cultivators who just died were not disciples from his family, his full attention remaining fixed on Yang Kai.
After a long silence, Xie Li took a deep breath and said, “This is our first meeting is it not? This old master’s name is Xie Li. Presumably, you know who I am.”
Yang Kai curled his lips slightly as he replied, “I know who you are, and I know why you’re here. I just have one question for you.”
“Good, before you die, this old master can satisfy your wish,” Xie Li coldly snorted, seemingly completely confident in his own strength and methods.
“Shameless boasting!” Yang Kai snickered, “Forget it, I’ve no interest in wasting time with you, just tell me where Lu Ye is, and I’ll leave you with a complete corpse.”
“Lu Ye?” Xie Li frowned, apparently not having expected this would be Yang Kai’s question, but after a complicated look flashed across his eyes, he just shook his head and replied, “I don’t know, he’s probably dead.”
“Dead? Him? …” Yang Kai muttered flatly.
It was impossible for Lu Ye to die so easily; after all, Yang Kai was certain he cut off one of the other party’s arms in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, but when next he saw him that arm had actually grown back.
This was something beyond Yang Kai’s ability to comprehend.
