However, no matter how hard he tried, the thick black Demonic Qi continued to spread unabated.

Still, the old man gritted his teeth and persevered, doing his best to fly upwards to escape, but it was as if the Evil Spirit Spring was exuding an enormous suction, like an invisible hand that was fiercely trying to pull him down into the depths.

It was almost as if he had fallen into a demonic swamp. The harder he struggled, the faster he was pulled under.

Yang Kai didn’t waste this opportunity and flew straight above the old man’s head before sending out a double palm strike, exerting a mountain like pressure on him in an attempt to force him down.

With a combination of his Burning Sun’s Three Layer Blast and his newly acquired Soul Skill, the two palm prints sent out brilliant crimson purple hue.

A Heaven shaking blow!

Although the old man had the power of an Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage master, right now he was nothing more than a caged tiger unable to display any of his strength.  With an extremely unwilling roar, he was helplessly submerged into the sea of Demonic Qi by Yang Kai’s attack.

Along with a series of pitiful howls, the old man’s faintly visible outline could still be seen struggling beneath the Demonic Qi’s surface, but unable to break free of the Evil Spirit Spring’s shackles, he simply continued to sink deeper and deeper before he gradually disappeared.

Only a few breaths later, the old man’s voice disappeared, silenced forever.

Even Yang Kai’s expression was a bit grim as he watched this scene. He hadn’t expected that this Evil Spirit Spring’s corrosive power would be so overwhelming, even able to dissolve the body of an Immortal Ascension Boundary master within mere seconds.   With his Unyielding Golden Skeleton, he could swim freely through this demonic sea, but if anyone else were to fall into it, they would only have one fate, death!

[Can my True Yang Yuan Qi shield on the platform… really withstand this?]

With a dignified expression upon his face, Yang Kai hurriedly returned to his group.

Using his Spiritual Energy so many times had really exhausted him, but outwardly Yang Kai didn’t show any signs of fatigue.

Landing back atop the pillar, Yang Kai noticed that everyone was gawking at him, obviously unable to believe that he had managed to kill an Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage master, let along accomplish the feat so easily.

Although they all knew that this was not Yang Kai’s own ability, and most of the credit belonged to the Evil Spirit Spring, it was still an extremely shocking matter.

“Ahem… well, it appears that we’re the only ones left here,” Chen Yi said lightly after awkwardly coughing, which woke the crowd of youths from their stupor.

“Yeah, everyone else died…”  Leng Shan glanced over at the empty platform opposite them, not completely convinced she wasn’t dreaming.

The matter of her Ghost King Valley seriously offending Free And Unfettered Sect this time worried Leng Shan greatly, and she feared that when they returned her master would punish all of them, but she had never expected that Yu Qing and his group, who was the only ones who knew about this, would all die here. It was quite a favourable result.

If no one from Free And Unfettered Sect made it back alive, naturally nobody would report what had transpired here.

“It’s reached us!”  Tao Yang suddenly shouted, his eyes fixedly stared outside the Light Curtain.

With the Evil Spirit Spring erupting even more violently now, the Demonic Qi sea had now finally exceeded the height of their refuge and continued upwards at an astounding pace until it had completely flooded the Evil Cavern.

As they gazed around, the only thing Yang Kai and his group could see was an endless ocean of darkness, a think black liquid that blotted out all light, which churned restlessly about them.

Outside the Light Curtain, they occasionally spotted some Evil Spirit wandering about aimlessly within the Evil Qi.

Everyone couldn’t help but thank the Heavens that they hadn’t rashly tried to escape from this cavern, or else once they had left this defensive shield, they would have soon been swallowed up by this sea of Evil Qi.

*Fssst…*  As the Evil Qi scraped past Yang Kai’s True Yang Yuan Qi shield, a constant sizzling sound rang out as the two energies collided and rapidly consumed one another.

As time passed, everyone’s nerves became taught as they stared at the Light Curtain and prayed it held.

Now, if this Light Curtain were to fail, everyone here knew that except for Yang Kai, all of them would certainly die.

*Dong dong…*

An even more violent sound echoed from the Evil Spirit Spring as its eruption became more and more intense, which caused everyone’s heart to pound even faster and all but sent them into a panic, terrified of what might happen next.

*Pu…* Suddenly, the sound of something breaking reached everyone’s ears.

Zhao Rong, the first to notice, immediately went pale as she called out in fright, “The outermost layer just broke!”

“Are you sure?”  Cheng Ying’s face also turned green as he quickly questioned.

It had only been so long yet a layer of the Light Curtain had actually been shattered. That meant if this pace kept up, it wouldn’t be long before this platform was no longer safe!

“It’s true, I just saw it!”  Zhao Rong cried out in a trembling voice.

Sometimes death was not so terrible, like when someone was suddenly slashed by a sword and died before realizing it.

What was truly terrifying was the feeling of waiting for death, the kind of long drawn out suffering, anxiety, and helplessness that grated against one’s will.

“What happens if all of them break?” Cheng Ying asked with a mournful face.

“Shut your mouth!” Leng Shan reprimanded loudly.

Immediately everyone turned and looked at Yang Kai.

All of them hoped he could once again create a miracle and save them from this crisis.

Yang Kai took a deep breath before saying, “I can condense more of these defensive shields!”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, Chen Yi letting out a happy laugh, “See, didn’t I say Brother Yang would surely have a way, hahaha!  With this there’s nothing for us to worry about.”

As long as they hid behind this Light Curtain, aside from it being unnerving, they were actually quite safe.

However, Tao Yang’s brow slightly wrinkled, as he looked at Yang Kai thoughtfully and quietly asked, “How many layers can Brother Yang put up?”

Quickly checking the amount of Yang Liquid in his dantian, Yang Kai lightly said, “Fifty layers shouldn’t be a problem.”

Hearing this, Tao Yang coughed as he choked up and stared at Yang Kai like he was some kind of monster.

The True Qi contained in a single layer of this defensive shield was enormous, as for fifty layers… Tao Yang simply couldn’t fathom how much True Qi Yang Kai had within him.

But immediately after, his brow furrowed again, and he muttered with worry, “Regardless, the problem is how long it will take before this Evil Spirit Spring eruption ends.  Even if Brother Yang goes all out, I’m afraid that this shield will only last about half an hour, if the Evil Qi hasn’t receded by then…”

Yang Kai’s brow also wrinkled. This was the point he was worried about as well.

Although he didn’t have to worry about his own safety, but the Hu Sisters were still here, and there was no way he could simply sit back and watch them die.

This pair of twin sisters had been very good to Yang Kai even back when he was still a weak little brat, so they no doubt held a special place in his heart.

Fifty additional layers was actually Yang Kai’s most conservative estimate.

If they really arrived at a critical point, he would shield the Hu Sisters in his remaining True Qi and fly the two of them out of here.

The reason he chose to stay here for now was because Yang Kai was trying his best to get along well with everyone from Ghost King Valley and Treasure Instrument Sect.

But ultimately, he was just one man and was unable to take on the responsibility for everyone here.  Although escaping at the end was somewhat selfish, in a life or death crisis Yang Kai would still prioritize those closest to him.

For a time, everyone on the platform’s mood was tense and restless.

Hu Mei Er quietly looked at Yang Kai, but seeing no signs of worry on his face, she subconsciously leaned towards him.

Hu Jiao Er, aware of her little sister’s thoughts, simply smiled and glanced elsewhere.

“That’s right, do you have any news about my Grand Master?”  Relatively unconcerned with their current situation, Yang Kai decided to inquire about his other worries and softly asked Hu Mei Er about any news related to his Sect.

“Your Grand Master?”  Hu Mei Er looked at him in confusion before quickly blushing and averting her gaze as their faces were too close.

“Ling Tai Xu.”

“Oh.”  Hu Mei Er nodded softly and quickly collected her thoughts, “We don’t know much, only that one night a great battle erupted inside High Heaven Pavilion.  It seemed like the Qiu Family lead a group of people to seize control of your Sect and then a fight broke out. I heard daddy say that Sect Master Ling seemed to have made the breakthrough to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary. Sect Master Ling is really amazing!”

“What was the outcome of that war?” Yang Kai nervously asked.

“Sect Master Ling used his incredible strength along with your four Elders to push back all of the Qiu Family’s masters, but after that, Sect Master Ling and the four Elders seemed to have disappeared.”

“That’s good.”  Yang Kai couldn’t help but breath easier, though he knew that his Grand Master wouldn’t have any issues escaping that situation, but after such a long time of not hearing any news about Ling Tai Xu, he inevitably had some worries.

“While your High Heaven Pavilion people might have been able to get away, those of us from the Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall didn’t have such luck.”  Hu Mei Er stared at Yang Kai, and her tone was slightly harsh but without any real sense of blame.

“What happened?”

“The Demon Lord came from High Heaven Pavilion, then the team sent by the Qiu Family to suppress your Sect was knocked back, on top of that it seems a very important figure from the Qiu Family went missing during the battle with no contact from them as of yet.  So the next group that came were extremely overbearing, shifting the blame onto our Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall after they couldn’t discover any traces of your Sect, therefore the members of our Sects were forced to come to the front lines of the battle against the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land to prove our innocence, or else, why would Elder Sister and I be here?” Hu Mei Er softly explained.

Listening to her story, Yang Kai finally understood why these two treasured daughters of Heaven would suddenly appear in the Ash-Gray Cloud Evil Land. They had been forcefully conscripted to fight in this war and had apparently been separated from their Sect at some point.

Unfamiliar with this place, they inadvertently moved deeper and deeper into these lands and eventually came across those Free And Unfettered Sect scum, fleeing until they wound up here at the Evil Cavern.

“I’m just joking with you, I don’t blame High Heaven Pavilion for all of this, it was the Qiu Family that were being too unreasonable!”  Hu Mei Er frantically explained after she saw Yang Kai go silent and worried that he was upset.

“Good, I understand.”  Yang Kai replied listlessly before suddenly asking, “Su Yan?  Have you heard anything about Su Yan after that?”

“No.”  Hu Mei Er shook her head lightly, apparently not knowing that Su Yan and the other High Heaven Pavilion Sect members had passed through the Void Corridor and had escaped some ten thousand kilometers away, “There’s been no word about where your High Heaven Pavilion disciples and elders have gone now, and that important figure in the Qiu Family is also still missing, so the ones who came to later to investigate took out their anger on your High Heaven Pavilion… all that’s left now is charred ruins.”

Yang Kai sighed deeply and nodded, “A-alright.”

“Um… well… don’t mind it…”  Hu Mei Er couldn’t bear seeing Yang Kai looking so depressed, but not knowing how to comfort him, she simply leaned against him and gently held his hand.

Yang Kai couldn’t help but glance over in surprise.

Hu Mei Er lowered her head in silence. In her mind she thought to herself: [We are about to die anyway. Since I already have him by my side, I don’t want to let go. At least, not now. After cultivating the Twin Qi Shared Spirit Divine Art, I began to get influenced by my Elder Sister’s perception and way of living. Ah… in the past, when I first met him, I can’t believe I was so bold as to try and seduce him! To think I would feel embarrassed now…]

(Silavin: this paragraph was written in third person but I felt that writing it in first person is sweeter.)