Shortly after Jin Hao called out, a hidden figure emerged from within the dark jungle.
The other side so brazenly revealing themselves caused Jin Hao to tense up as he secretly circulated his True Qi. He felt the other side’s fearless actions proved that his previous conjecture had been correct; this person was likely a hidden master.
But when the figure’s appearance became clear, Jin Hao’s pupils suddenly shrunk as he stood there stunned, like he had just seen a ghost, his face showing an expression of total disbelief.
In fact, Yang Kai, who stood in front of him, also felt quite helpless.
The other side had confirmed his hiding place, so what meaning was there in continuing to conceal himself? Staying put would mean losing the initiative, so he decided it would be better to just honestly come out.
Sweeping his eyes over the surroundings, Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, instantly gaining a lot of insight into his current predicament.
“It’s you!” Jin Hao shouted, “How did you, no, how could you …”
“Survive?” Yang Kai grinned.
“Exactly! How could you still be alive?” Jin Hao’s voice was filled with confusion.
More than half a year ago, the three Ghost King Valley disciples had tried to kill Yang Kai. Yu Cheng Kun, who was the fastest, had closely pursued him while Jin Hao and Leng Shan had followed slightly further behind, but just before the two of them arrived at the top of a high cliff, they felt Yu Cheng Kun die.
At that time, Jin Hao thought that Yang Kai had managed to drag Yu Cheng Kun off the cliff, killing both of them, but more than half year later, they had actually met again, and this time, this High Heaven Pavilion disciple was not only in perfect health, he had also increased his strength substantially compared to half a year ago.
“Then, why should I be dead?” Yang Kai sneered.
“Didn’t you fall off that cliff?” Jin Hao tried to think of an explanation.
“No, I fell down, but then I climbed back up again. By the way, your Junior Brother did not have such good luck, when he fell to the bottom of the cliff he became a splatter of meat and blood, dying without a burial place. It was all very tragic.” Yang Kai said dismissively.
His plan was to use these words to disturb Jin Hao’s focus, stimulate his anger, and force him into making a mistake, but Yang Kai had not expected that Jin Hao remained completely indifferent, just standing there sneering at him.
If this had happened half a year ago, Jin Hao probably would have been angered, but now, with his own life held within the palm of another’s hand and unable to guarantee his own survival, how would he have time to worry about others?
Aware of Jin Hao’s indifference, Yang Kai frowned as he examined the three ferocious fifth-order Monster Beasts behind him, suddenly speaking with utter disdain “So you’ve abandoned your Sect and joined up with those cultivators from the Tian Lang Dynasty.”
The three fifth-order Monster Beasts were not the same species, yet they were just sitting there together, not fighting amongst themselves. Instead, they directed all their hostility towards him, so the only explanation was that they had been enslaved by someone.
Jin Hao did not have this ability, only the disciples from the Tian Lang Dynasty could enslave these Monster Beasts.
“What do you know?” Jin Hao suddenly became furious, roaring at Yang Kai, “You know nothing! How dare you slander me, deciding on your own what is right and wrong! If you have so much energy to spare, why don’t you first take care of yourself!?”
Gesturing to the beasts behind him, Jin Hao ordered, “Kill him!”
Yang Kai’s expression was tense, vigilantly watching these three fifth-order Monster Beasts.
But the three beasts only continued snarling at Yang Kai, completely ignoring Jin Hao’s orders to attack him.
“Damn it, that little slut!” Jin Hao could not help but curse. Zi Mo had let these three Monster Beasts follow him, but since they refused to obey his commands, what use were they?
“Pfft… haha… hahaha…” Seeing this farce play out before him, Yang Kai burst out laughing.
Jin Hao complexion went from red to blue, like he had been roasted over a fire then frozen in ice, too embarrassed to even retort. Yang Kai’s ridicule coupled with this embarrassing situation had completely infuriated him. Gripping his fists so hard that they bled, he cursed at his still laughing opponent, “Go ahead, laugh all you want, when I’m finished with you, you’ll never be able to laugh again!”
Done talking, two ghastly white claws suddenly burst forth, giving off a biting chill, and shot towards Yang Kai as swiftly as the wind.
These ghost claws swept forward, creating a gloomy light and a frigid aura which envelope Yang Kai, seemingly eroding away his life force.
Yang Kai’s face became serious, rapidly pushing his Yuan Qi to resist this erosion while defending himself from Jin Hao’s attacks.
The gap in cultivation between them was quite large. Jin Hao had reached the True Element Boundary Fifth Stage, two minor realms higher than Qi Jian Xing’s; however, if one compared them, their individual combat strengths were nearly the same.
This was the result of having different origins; Qi Jian Xing was a rising star disciple of the Nine Star Sword School, a famous first-class Sect, while Jin Hao was only from the Ghost King Valley, a second-class Sect.
Thus, even while Yang Kai fell into a detrimental situation, he had no concerns that he could keep his life.
Over the past month, his strength had also grown significantly.
The only uncertain factors for Yang Kai were the three fifth-order Monster Beasts that waited to the side.
These three possessed extraordinary strength, if they were to really attack together, his only hope would be to escape.
But after fighting for such a long time, Yang Kai was surprised to find that the three Monster Beasts were content to simply spectate, showing no intention of intervening; this development significantly bolstered his courage, in the next instant he activated Unyielding Will, causing his cultivation to soar straight to peak Separation and Reunion.
Jin Hao was ruthless, every attack more ferocious than the last, seemingly venting all his pent up anger and frustration here while completely forgetting Zi Mo’s orders for him to capture Yang Kai. He only focused all his might on tearing this little brat to shreds.
Seizing the upper hand, after a half cup of tea’s time, Jin Hao had left more than a dozen scars on Yang Kai, and although these were not mortal wounds, he had drawn a lot of blood.
“Haha… little brat, today you won’t escape death!” In the middle of this fierce battle, Jin Hao did not forget to show off his dominance, sneering at Yang Kai while he taunting him endlessly.
Yang Kai grit his teeth, throwing out a heavy punch, causing Jin Hao to take a defensive stance while he retreated.
Seeing an opening, Yang Kai raised both his palms, thrusting them towards Jin Hao’s chest.
Two energy fluctuations that seemed to contain a breath of life suddenly appeared; aware of this strike’s unusual power and murderous aura, Jin Hao instantly became vigilant.
The sound of a tiger’s roar and an ox’s bellow rang out as Yang Kai activated his Beast Soul Skill.
Flowing from his palms, two crimson lifelike figures thundered out.
Jin Hao’s face immediately went pale as he rapidly fell back; facing these two Monster Beast phantoms, he no longer dared to underestimate his opponent, pushing his True Qi to its limit and releasing one deadly attack after another.
Yang Kai cursed under his breath, attacking together with the two beast phantoms.
Although he successfully displayed the Beast Soul Skill, it was not what Yang Kai had wanted. During the past month, he had been researching this Beast Soul Skill’s other usage and had hoped he could successfully apply it to defeat Jin Hao here, but the Heavens seemed unwilling to let him succeed, forcing him to give up for the time being.
Jin Hao was indeed a master at the True Element Fifth Stage; even fighting together with the two beast phantoms, Yang Kai still could not gain a decisive advantage, only managing to create a stalemate at best.
After a short time, the Yuan Qi which composed the two beast phantoms was exhausted and they faded away.
Taking this opportunity, Jin Hao quickly charged forward, grinning as he yelled, “Little brat, time for you to die!”
Yang Kai wore a serious expression, lifting his palms again.
Seeing this familiar action, Jin Hao despaired. He was extremely unwilling to face those two deadly yet phantasmal Monster Beasts again. Feeling pressured into a corner, he decided to play his trump card.
The sound of cries and howls rang out as a black gas erupted from Jin Hao’s palm, the distorted image of a face ferociously roaring from within it, filled with a mix of Demonic Qi and murderous hostility. This apparition composed of grudges and resentment flew towards Yang Kai.
This scene was like deja vu.
On the day when Yu Cheng Kun and Yang Kai had both fallen from the top of that cliff, he had seen him use such a move.
Seeing this attack come out, Yang Kai was completely unafraid! He had actually been looking forward to Jin Hao resorting to this technique; it had simply not appeared until now.
A sneer appearing on his face, Yang Kai suddenly stopped moving, his entire mood becoming calm, as if he was totally unaware a crisis was approaching.
Pushing his palms out, the two strands of energy that appeared combined into one.
No White Tiger, no Divine Ox, no beast roar, only a softly glowing light emerged.
With a single step, Jin Hao dodged this light, avoiding it with extreme ease.
However, in the next instant, this soft light drilled into the body of one of the fifth-order Monster Beasts behind him! However, the Monster Beast did not produce any movement as it did so.
Success! Yang Kai was extremely happy.
Jin Hao was furious, quickly snapping, “You little brat, playing tricks and trying to scare I, your father, Jin!?”
Having just suffered greatly in his fight against those two beast phantoms, Jin Hao’s heart still had some lingering fear, so when he saw Yang Kai assume the same posture he had used to summon them the first time, he had not hesitated to play his own trump card, but the other side had only conjured up some fluff with no trace of those two ferocious beasts in sight, how could he not be angered?
However, just as his voice faded, Jin Hao anger turned to shock as an excruciating pain suddenly burst out from inside his head causing his expression to go pale as he writhed in agony. The circulation of his True Qi became turbulent as a look of horror spread across his face, quickly staring at Yang Kai in shock, “You… you were hit with my Ghost King Seal, how come nothing happened?”
At that moment, Jin Hao clearly felt that his Ghost King Seal had disappeared.
Like how that day Yu Cheng Kun had suffered great pain with his Ghost King Seal being devoured, Jin Hao was also currently experiencing this backlash.
“Hahaha, looks like it’s you who’s going to die!” Yang Kai grinned deviously.
“How are you able to destroy my Ghost King Seal?” Jin Hao’s face was filled with confusion and horror. How could he have guessed that, inside Yang Kai’s body right now, Old Demon was celebrating while feasting on his technique.
A Ghost King Seal was formed from a remnant devil soul fragment, it was cultivated by a Ghost King Valley disciple feeding it their own True Qi and Blood Essence, creating a symbiotic bond between the two, but to Old Demon it was just a delicious snack.
“Go ask your Junior Brother when you see him in the yellow river. He also experienced this before he died.” Done talking, Yang Kai summoned a drop of Yang Liquid into his hand and shaped it into a blood red sword.
Jin Hao’s hands had been tempered with Ghost King Valley’s unique secret art, resulting in his white ghostly claws being as hard as iron, not inferior to a Common Grade Low-Rank artifact in strength or sharpness. Thus in order to deal with him, a weapon formed from his Yang Liquid was the best choice.
Although Jin Hao still had the strength to fight back, with the inexplicable disappearance of his Ghost King Seal, his mental state had become unstable, and he no longer had the confidence to confront Yang Kai again, immediately deciding to retreat temporarily.
But before he could take more than three steps back, a sharp murderous intent emerged behind him, sending a shiver down his spine. Unable to respond in time, he was suddenly struck by the scent of blood as a burst of pain came from his neck.
Falling to the ground, Jin Hao struggled desperately to resist as his eyes caught sight of one of his “allied” Monster Beasts that had accompanied him biting into him. His heart instantly freezing over, Jin Hao roared towards the Heavens, “Zi Mo, you treacherous bitch!”
In that instant, he was convinced that Zi Mo had decided to kill him.
Facing this life and death crisis, Jin Hao suddenly pushed his strength to the limit, finally managing to free himself from the fifth-order Monster Beast’s fangs, and awkwardly stumbled to his feet, blood pouring out of the gash which had been left on his neck.
Barely managing to regain his footing, he was instantly assaulted by Yang Kai’s sword.
As the blood red sword chopped down, Jin Hao quickly raised his hand to block, his ghost claw displaying its incredible resilience. Even after taking a direct hit, it had only suffered a deep cut rather than being severed from his arm.
At the same time, that fifth-order Monster Beast had also rushed in, attacking together with Yang Kai against the battered Jin Hao. With his soul damaged and having suffered a heavy blow just now, Jin Hao could at most use thirty percent of his strength, so how could he possibly pose as Yang Kai’s opponent?