After only thirty breaths of time, Yang Kai had managed to cut off Jin Hao’s ghost claws. Having lost his all-important hands, Jin Hao no longer had the ability to resist. Fleeing in panic, but lacking the strength to even fly, he was soon cut down by Yang Kai and the fifth-order Monster Beast.
When Jin Hao died, the other two Monster Beasts which had been observing until now seemed to receive some instructions, quickly escaping together.
Yang Kai had been wary of their movements since before the fight began; knowing that they had been enslaved by the Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators, he fully intended to behead them, but they had escaped too swiftly and he was unable to keep up, so he reluctantly let them go.
Gently breathing a sigh of relief, Yang Kai looked over to the fifth-order Monster Beast beside him, his wrinkled brow gradually relaxing, his eyes slowly revealing a touch of satisfaction.
This battle had been significantly easier than the one he had against that Nine Star Sword School disciple.
Old Demon’s existence and this fifth-order Monster Beast’s defection were the keys to him so smoothly dealing with Jin Hao.
Up until he died, Jin Hao still did not understand why the Monster Beast, which had accompanied him, suddenly turned on him.
The root of everything was the Beast Soul Skill.
This particular usage was something which Yang Kai had unintentionally discovered. A few days ago, when he had encountered a fifth-order Monster Beast, Yang Kai had tried to display his Beast Soul Skill to summon the two beast phantoms to assist him, but for some inexplicable reason, the two beast souls merged together, turning into a glowing light which penetrated into the fifth-order Monster Beast’s body.
Immediately after, this fifth-order Monster Beast actually began to obey Yang Kai’s orders!
This inadvertent discovery made Yang Kai ecstatic, causing him to spend some time exploring just how and why this mysterious effect had come about, but his efforts had proven mostly fruitless. Unable to summon the same phenomenon again, he became quite frustrated.
The main problem was that the number of Monster Beasts he encountered had become smaller and smaller, leaving him with virtually no test subjects.
The one thing he had accomplished was naming this skill.
He called this new martial skill, which was formed by merging the White Tiger Seal and the Divine Ox Seal together, the Beast Slave Seal!
Now, he could either summon the two beast phantoms to assist him, or combine the two together to form this new martial skill.
While fighting Jin Hao, the Beast Slave Seal played a huge role. If not for the fifth-order Monster Beast’s surprise attack at the end of the battle, with Jin Hao’s means and strength, he most likely would have escaped.
This skill was amazing, absolutely more powerful when compared to the White Tiger Seal and the Divine Ox Seal’s power. When he summoned the two beast phantoms, although their attack strength was extraordinary, their overall combat effectiveness was somewhat lacking. Each of the two phantom’s combat abilities were slightly less than this single fifth-order Monster Beast in front of him; they could only achieve victory against it because of superior numbers.
Thirty kilometers away, the meditating Zi Mo suddenly opened her eyes, a flash of surprise appearing on her face, while her expression became somewhat confused.
Leng Shan, who was standing behind her, also had a startled look on her face, staring off towards Yang Kai’s direction in a trance. A trace of grief and pleasure appeared in her eyes, a complex mix of sympathy and gloating.
Although Jin Hao was her Senior Brother in their Sect, when he accepted Zi Mo’s request, it had caused Leng Shan to detest him, and she prayed he would fail and die out there rather than returning and defiling her body, sparing her from that nightmare. But now that her wish had been granted, she was left alone at the mercy of this moody Tian Lang Dynasty woman, her future filled with uncertainty.
When Jin Hao died, both of these women had sensed it through different methods.
“Your Senior Brother… is dead.” Zi Mo slowly stood up, lightly glancing at Leng Shan.
“Hmph, it’s good that he died!” Leng Shan sneered.
“Hehe, true, such a useless man, I couldn’t be more disappointed.” Zi Mo grinned dismissively, her brow frowning shortly after as she pondered, “But this person certainly has some means, managing to kill him in such a short period of time, he is definitely not some small fry…”
As Zi Mo talked, her eyes lit up, as if she had just received a new toy. Her pretty face showed a look of excitement, even her breath became slightly more rapid.
With a light step, Zi Mo began moving in Yang Kai’s direction, the dozens of Monster Beasts lying on the ground around her standing up and rapidly chasing after her.
Leng Shan glanced around for a moment, and then silently followed as well.
She knew that it was impossible for her to escape. Even if she could somehow ignore the multitude of Monster Beasts surrounding her, that thing that Zi Mo had planted in her body was enough to decide whether she lived or died.
Yang Kai put away the Blood Bead which condensed after Jin Hao died and then turned to look at the fifth-order Monster Beast by his side.
This thing was a Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard, a majestic beast with a slim stature and smooth body lines. Its every muscle hid an explosive power, each limb adorned by claws sharp enough to rip apart three inches of steel.
Yang Kai could feel that this fifth-order Monster Beast was much more powerful than the few he had killed up till now; it was probably a mid-stage fifth-order beast.
Equivalent to a fifth or sixth stage True Element Boundary cultivator.
Having said that, in a real fight, it would not be a match for a True Element Boundary fifth or sixth Stage cultivator, someone at the True Element Boundary second or third Stage would be enough to kill it.
What was slightly puzzling to Yang Kai was not its strength though, but rather its current state.
He always had a feeling that it was not completely under his control.
This feeling was very disconcerting and should be impossible under the effects of the Beast Slave Seal. However, at the moment, this Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard was restless, constantly shaking its head and tail, growling again and again.
Something was wrong!
Pondering for a moment, Yang Kai began to speculate that the method used by the Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators to enslave these Monster Beasts was somehow in conflict with his own Beast Slave Seal.
Walking up to it, while trying to sooth the Golden Shadow Leopard, Yang Kai placed his hand on its forehead, injecting his Yuan Qi into its body, examining it for any abnormalities.
After his Yuan Qi had circulated five or six times, Yang Kai finally found discovered something out of place.
Inside the skull of the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard was something that exuded a different life essence.
Yang Kai’s face became solemn as he stared at the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard, feeling it become more and more uncomfortable, now completely aware that this other life form and his Beast Slave Seal were fighting for control.
When two tigers fought, both would receive injuries, and no matter which of them won, the one that would ultimately be hurt was Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard.
Frowning, Yang Kai increased the output of his Yuan Qi while carefully controlling the path it traveled, because the foreign life form was adjacent to the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard’s Beast Core; once its Beast Core was damaged, it would certainly die.
Only after the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard had adapted to his Yuan Qi, did Yang Kai dare to further raise the amount he injected.
After repeating this process three or four times, the thing inside of the leopard’s head was finally unable to bear it any longer and rapidly burst out, desperate to escape. Aware of this, Yang Kai focused his efforts on capturing it so he could figure out what method the Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators were using to enslave these Monster Beasts.
After about ten breaths of time, a roughly three centimeter insect emerged from the Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard’s forehead.
Yang Kai reacted quickly, reaching out and grasping it in his hand.
Hastily examining it, he saw that this insect somewhat resembled a cross between a centipede and a leech, but before he could grasp anything more, the insect burrowed into his body along his finger.
Yang Kai’s face sank, quickly running his Yuan Qi.
Instantly, the insect was wrapped in his True Yang Yuan Qi and imprisoned in his meridians.
Wrinkling his brow, Yang Kai paused instead of ruthlessly killing it. He could feel that this insect was very afraid of his True Yang Yuan Qi; after all, if it wasn’t, it would not have fled Malevolent Golden Shadow Leopard earlier when he had injected his Yuan Qi into it.
Since his True Yang Yuan Qi could restrain it, naturally he had nothing to worry about.
Recalling his time on Hidden Island, the Heaven Devouring Insect had also burrowed into his body, but it had been overwhelmingly stronger than the insect which he was now facing.
Carefully checking it, Yang Kai could feel the insect in his meridians shivering, not daring to act frivolously, even more terrified than a mouse that had seen a cat.
There was also some kind of inexplicable energy emanating from this insect. It was very faint, and had he not been carefully examining it, he simply would not have found it.
“Old Demon, look at this bug. Something is odd about it!” Yang Kai frowned.
Old Demon quickly jumped into the Soul Breaker Awl and proceeded to the place Yang Kai had imprisoned this insect, spending a long time examining it before concluding, “Young Master, this insect has a thread of Divine Sense linking it to one of the Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators.”
“A thread of Divine Sense?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “Aren’t they all only at the True Element Boundary? None of them should have cultivated their Divine Sense yet, so how did they accomplish this?”
Old Demon chuckled, “Young Master, have you forgotten? You have a ray of Divine Sense imprinted on this old servant, but you are the same as them, unable to cultivate your Divine Sense yet.”
Yang Kai was suddenly enlightened, “What you mean is, someone helped them?”
Old Demon said, “Yes, Old Servant suspects that their master back in their Sect helped them inject a thread of Divine Sense into the souls of these insects so they can control them at will.”
“They control these insects, while these insects burrow into the Monster Beasts, allowing them to enslave them!” Yang Kai’s eyes shone as all the confusion weighing on his mind suddenly lifted.
Some days ago, Chen Xue Shu had told Yang Kai that each Tian Lang Dynasty cultivator had enslaved hundreds of Monster Beasts. Since then, he had always wondered how these few could possibly control so many Monster Beasts.
But now everything was clear; they were not controlling the Monster Beasts, instead they controlled these strange insects, and these insects could then direct the actions of the Monster Beasts.
Thinking till here, Yang Kai hurriedly came to the spot where Jin Hao had died, sifted through the dust, and sure enough, as he suspected, buried inside the remains was another nearly identical insect!
Grabbing it with his hand and allowing it to burrow into his body, Yang Kai ordered Old Demon to examine it, confirming shortly after that this insect also had a thread of Divine Sense embedded in it.
“Turns out that Jin Hao wasn’t working with the Tian Lang Dynasty’s cultivators …” Yang Kai muttered.
He was probably forced to collude with the Tian Lang Dynasty’s cultivators because of this insect inside his body.
This also explained why the three Monster Beasts who came with him did not obey his orders, they probably felt that Jin Hao’s position was equal to their own; it was a bit sad, but that was likely the case.
[Zi Mo …]
[That was the name Jin Hao cried out. Was the Tian Lang Dynasty cultivator controlling him called Zi Mo?]
As Yang Kai contemplated, a devious idea came to mind as a vicious smile emerged on his face, quickly asking, “Old Demon, if I incinerate these insects with my True Yang Yuan Qi, will it hurt that Tian Lang Dynasty cultivator?”
“Certainly! Although you would only be destroying two threads of Divine Sense attached to these insects, if she is caught off guard, she will definitely suffer.”
“Heh heh!” Yang Kai could not help letting out a laugh as he instantly thought up several different plots he could use to take advantage of this.
However, Old Demon suddenly interrupted, “Young Master, Old Servant has an interesting proposal, heh heh heh…”
“Oh? Let’s hear it then.” Yang Kai knew from Old Demon’s cackling that this idea of his was certainly even more devious than his own.
Silavin – 8/7/2017: LOL. If it ends off here for a week, it would be so shitty…
Silavin – 30/9/2017: Wow. This was the first one for the week. Haha :D.