133: breakthrough!

The pale blue Bloodline thread at the fingertips of the Qingyun Peak Revered Master was just about to extend along the horizon toward the county area, but it suddenly curled up and dissipated as if severed by an invisible blade, and even the Spiritual Qi within his Dantian felt a slight, numbing stagnation.

He looked up at the void, a trace of gravity flashing in his eyes—only power at the level of a Demon Emperor could so easily conceal the secrets of heaven and block Bloodline sensing.

"For now, it seems Ning'er is not in immediate danger to her life, but she has been trapped somewhere by that Demon Emperor."

He immediately instructed the Elder beside him, "You must first clear out the Loose Cultivators of the Demonic Path in the imperial city, then mobilize the power of the Du Pang Dynasty to investigate the surrounding counties; you must find traces of Ning'er."

As his voice fell, a flash of blue light surrounded him, and he chased after the faint trace he had previously detected.

Meanwhile, inside an empty restaurant in Wusong County, the golden light surrounding them had just dissipated. Yang Kai steadied himself while supporting Zi Ning, his throat still stinging from where Chen Liufeng had gripped him.

The doors and windows had long been sealed shut by thick Devilish Qi, and even the daylight outside the window was tinged with a dull gray.

"Who exactly are you? What is your purpose in bringing us here?"

Yang Kai suppressed the discomfort in his throat and stared fixedly at the old man in green robes before him—although the other party had no exposed Devilish Qi, he possessed a sense of oppression more heart-palpitating than Chen Liufeng's.

The old man in green robes walked to the table and sat down. Hearing Yang Kai's question, his voice carried the hoarseness of accumulated years: "This seat is named Mo Xuan, the last of the ten Demonic Lords under the command of the former Demon Sect leader, the Huantian Demon Emperor."

"The Elder Qiu you speak of is our eldest brother—the Chief Demonic Lord, Qiu Xiangming."

"The ten Demonic Lords under the Demon Emperor, Mo Xuan?" Yang Kai felt a jolt in his heart.

He had heard about this past from Elder Qiu before, but he had never mentioned that another Demonic Lord had survived. If a mere wisp of his will attached to a sword had such power, could it be that this person's cultivation was even above Elder Qiu's?

Mo Xuan nodded, a trace of reminiscence flashing in his eyes, only to be replaced by ferocity: "Back then, the Immortal Sects launched the Immortal Dao Alliance to encircle and annihilate our Demon Sect. Eight of my Senior Brothers died in battle one after another, and our Revered Master passed away afterward due to severe injuries. Eldest Brother Qiu was trapped in encirclements and was eventually captured by the people of the Flowing Cloud Sect."

"This time, I attacked the Du Pang Dynasty to lure out the main force of the Flowing Cloud Sect, and then take the opportunity to breach the Flowing Cloud Sect and rescue Eldest Brother Qiu."

Speaking up to this point, he suddenly looked up at Yang Kai, his tone so urgent he almost grabbed the other's lapels: "Did you get your sword from Eldest Brother Qiu? Are you acquainted with Eldest Brother Qiu? How is his situation in the Flowing Cloud Sect now? Has he been tortured?"

"Elder Qiu showed me great kindness and guidance. Without him, I would not be where I am today. Although I never formally apprenticed under him, in my heart, I have long regarded him as my Revered Master."

Yang Kai was not lying. Without Elder Qiu's help, he could not have cultivated this Ninefold Mixed Origin Body Refining Art, nor could he have obtained the zhan lu sword. Without these, even if he entered the Trial Grounds of the Heaven's Pride Martial Performance, he would not have gained such massive harvests. In his heart, Elder Qiu's status was even higher than that cheap Revered Master who bestowed techniques upon him, the Flowing Cloud Sect's Grand Elder, as well as Elder Teng of the Martial Arts Arena.

Hearing this, Mo Xuan calmed down a bit, let go of his hands, and waited for Yang Kai's follow-up.

Yang Kai was silent for a moment, but ultimately spoke the truth: "Elder Qiu has not been tortured. He is currently the leader of the Shadow Guards under the Flowing Cloud Sect Revered Master, Qing Xuanzi, responsible for dark department affairs, and is not a prisoner—furthermore, his staying at the Flowing Cloud Sect was his own decision."

"What did you say?" Mo Xuan stood up abruptly. "Eldest Brother Qiu is working as a shadow guard for the Flowing Cloud Sect Revered Master? That is impossible! He was so proud back then; even the Demon Emperor praised him for being 'unyielding and upright.' How could he stoop to such underhanded, secretive work under others!"

"This is absolutely true." Yang Kai sighed. "My Sect Revered Master, Qing Xuanzi, treats him well, and he is willing to serve the Flowing Cloud Sect. The two of them had an agreement: as soon as the term expires, he will be granted his freedom. It can be considered a transaction."

Mo Xuan's face turned livid instantly, his knuckles turning white from the force, and the golden light around his body rippled with a trace of instability.

He stared fixedly at Yang Kai, seemingly trying to find traces of lies in the other's open eyes, but Yang Kai's expression was devoid of falsehood, and even Zi Ning was nodding gently on the side, confirming these words.

After a long while, Mo Xuan sat down dejectedly, muttering to himself: "Impossible... How could Eldest Brother do such a thing..."

He looked up abruptly, a flash of paranoid red light appearing in his eyes: "You must be lying to me! The Flowing Cloud Sect must have used some evil technique to control him! I must go to the Flowing Cloud Sect and ask him clearly myself!"

"If you insist on doing this, you will be making an enemy of the Flowing Cloud Sect." Yang Kai shook his head, his tone calm yet firm. "If Elder Qiu were to know, not only would he not be grateful to you, he would instead view you as an enemy."

"You need not interfere!" Mo Xuan snorted coldly, the golden light around him surging again, and an invisible force instantly enveloped the entire restaurant. "The two of you will stay here for now. This seat will not harm you, but do not think of leaving. Once I breach the Flowing Cloud Sect, I will naturally give you an explanation."

As his voice fell, he transformed into a golden light and dove into the hovering sword. The sword circled in the air once, then disappeared into the Devilish Qi outside the window as if passing through a water curtain.

Only Yang Kai and Zi Ning remained in the restaurant, and a coldness lingered in the air, dissipated from Mo Xuan's anger.

"Yang Kai, what should we do now?" Zi Ning held Yang Kai's arm, her voice filled with worry. "Mo Xuan is a Demon Emperor; we can't escape at all, and he is going to attack the Flowing Cloud Sect..."

Yang Kai gave a bitter smile. He discovered that the Spiritual Qi fluctuations of his Storage Pouch and Storage Ring were completely isolated, and it was the same situation for Zi Ning.

His Physical Body was currently covered in cracks, and several deep wounds were clearly visible to the bone. If not for the fact that he had previously refined a drop of Divine Phoenix Blood Essence, which kept him barely holding on, anyone else who had suffered such injuries would have died long ago.

"It seems I have no choice but to stake everything on one final gamble." A trace of determination flashed in Yang Kai's eyes.

He suddenly remembered the Ascension Heart Sutra that Elder Qiu had bestowed upon him. After receiving it, he had always treated it with caution and did not want to Cultivate it, fearing he would become a Devil Head. However, he had previously experimented on vengeful spirits and found no anomalies. At this moment, his Physical Body was unable to achieve a Breakthrough, so he could only focus on achieving a Breakthrough in his Qi Refining cultivation. No matter what kind of Foundation Establishment it was, as long as he reached Foundation Establishment, he would attract Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to reshape his Dao body. By doing so, he could recover from his injuries, and perhaps even borrow the power of Heaven and Earth to break the imprisonment here.

"Zi Ning, help me guard." Yang Kai sat cross-legged and slowly closed his eyes. "No matter what happens, do not disturb me."

Although Zi Ning did not know what he intended to do, she nodded solemnly, gripped the sword in her hand, and stared vigilantly at the direction of the doors and windows.

Yang Kai's consciousness sank into his Dantian. He abandoned the familiar Flowing Cloud Heart Sutra and instead followed the incantations of the Ascension Heart Sutra, compressing the congested Spiritual Qi in his Dantian bit by bit into an extremely thin thread of Qi, which surged toward a capillary in his arm that had never been opened before.

"Hiss—" The moment the thread of Qi touched the tiny meridian, a piercing, heart-drilling pain spread throughout his entire body. The meridian was too delicate, as if it would be burst apart by the thread of Qi at any moment.

Yang Kai gritted his teeth and persisted, compressing the thread of Qi a little further, and carefully let it spread along the meridian.

He discovered with pleasant surprise that, after the tempering of the Flowing Cloud Heart Sutra and the Ninefold Mixed Origin Body Refining Art, his Meridians were already several times tougher than those of ordinary Cultivators. Although those tiny Meridians had not been opened, they were still able to withstand the scouring of the thread of Qi.

The thread of Qi wove through like a thin stream, first his arms, then his legs, then his torso, and finally, even the tiny Meridians hidden in the gaps of his skull were opened one by one.

With every meridian he opened, Yang Kai felt that the Spiritual Qi within his body had gained another channel to flow through. His originally congested Dantian gradually became smooth, and even the cracks in his Physical Body, under the nourishment of the thread of Qi, began to emit a faint warmth.

He did not know how much time had passed, but when the last capillary hidden near his heart was penetrated by the thread of Qi, Yang Kai suddenly felt a soft "hum" sound from within his body—all the Meridians of his body, including those tiny capillaries invisible to the naked eye, were completely opened and cleared!

His body seemed to have turned into a perfect vessel; Spiritual Qi flowed through it ceaselessly without the slightest stagnation, and even the pain from his physical injuries eased by more than half in an instant.

Just at this moment, a muffled rumble of thunder suddenly came from outside the window, yet not a single drop of rain fell.

Yang Kai opened his eyes to see dark clouds gathering in the sky, yet they exuded an aura of clear, upright majesty, completely different from the Devilish Qi.

Immediately afterward, a golden pillar of light descended from the sky and landed precisely on the top of his head!