The strongest shadow had already been shattered, and with that, the Nine Palaces Formation had also been reduced to the Eight Trigrams Formation, which significantly reduced its might.
At the same time, Mo’s aura was not as strong as before. After two pieces of his Source were sealed by Yang Kai, his aura had been notably weakened.
As the remaining seven shadows attacked Mo, Yang Kai’s main body summoned the Profound Source Gate for a third time, suppressing and sealing another piece of Mo’s shattered body.
Mo’s aura weakened once again! The Eight Trigrams Formation was now sufficient to deal with the current Mo.
A series of fearsome attacks struck back the Battle Formation, destroying another of Yang Kai’s shadows; in exchange, Mo once again suffered heavy injuries.
The Eight Trigrams Formation had been reduced to the Seven Stars Formation.
Previously, Yang Kai’s shadows had emerged from the Space-Time River one after another, joining the Battle Formation and making it stronger, but the situation had reversed now.
As more of these shadows perished, the might of the Battle Formation also began to weaken.
The only benefit was that Mo also weakened.
Each time a shadow perished, Mo’s body would shatter and Yang Kai’s main body would seize the opportunity to suppress and seal another piece of the former’s Source.
In the end, all of the shadows disappeared, leaving Yang Kai bleeding all over, staring right across at a miserable and weakened Mo.
The current Mo had a large amount of his Source suppressed and sealed, which significantly decreased his strength. He was no longer as mighty as before, and even the rich and dense Black Ink Strength lingering around him was now extremely faint, almost invisible.
The current Mo had lost more than 90% of his Source. In other words, he only had 10% of his peak strength, which was far from prime condition.
Right then, several figures flew over and formed a circle, surrounding the battlefield.
They were the Human Race Masters who had been watching from afar, as well as the Giant Spiritual Gods Ah Da and Ah Er.
Previously, it was impossible for them to intervene in the battle. Even the two Giant Spiritual Gods were unable to approach, let alone the Ninth-Order Masters; however, as Mo’s strength suffered with the destruction of Yang Kai’s shadows again and again, the spectating Masters finally had a chance to be useful.
Mo… had lost!
It was simply impossible for him to deal with so many Masters with his current strength. Just the two Giant Spiritual Gods alone were enough to overpower him now.
Nonetheless, Mo was laughing, his voice sounding extremely cheerful.
Zhang Ruo Xi stood before Yang Kai with the Heavens Order Sword in her hand, vigilantly staring at Mo. Although Mo was in a miserable state right now, no one knew what kind of methods this ancient being still had hidden up his sleeve. As such, they still had to take necessary precautions.
“Yang Kai!” Mo’s smile faded as it shouted at Yang Kai, “Let’s settle this!”
Behind Zhang Ruo Xi, Yang Kai calmed his roiling vitality and replied, “Good!”
“Sir!” Zhang Ruo Xi shouted, “Allow me!”
She still had the strength to launch one last attack and was confident that she could take down Mo with it; so, she naturally wouldn’t let Yang Kai take the risk.
“No. There’s no need!” Yang Kai stepped forward and walked past Zhang Ruo Xi, staring at the nearby Mo. Even as victory was within his grasp, there was no trace of the pride or arrogance on Yang Kai’s face as a victor should have, rather there was only a complicated expression.
“None of you is to interfere!” Yang Kai gently ordered.
The gathered Masters furrowed their brows ever so slightly. In the current situation, the best course of action was undoubtedly to attack together and take down Mo in an instant, ending this disaster that had lasted for millions of years once and for all; however, Yang Kai actually told them not to interfere.
No one knew what Yang Kai was thinking or up to.
However, out of their trust in Yang Kai, everyone still acquiesced to his demand. Be that as it may, they still maintained their encirclement, and focused their auras. If anything happened to Yang Kai, Mo would immediately be attacked from all directions.
When dealing with Mo, there was no need to discuss honour or morals.
Despite being surrounded on all sides, Mo’s expression still remained calm. He simply stared at Yang Kai and shouted, “Come!”
As soon as he spoke, his figure rushed straight towards Yang Kai, leaving a streak of black light behind him.
Simultaneously, Yang Kai also charged towards Mo.
The moment the two figures collided, everyone’s hearts jumped to their throats.
However, the next thing that entered their sight left them relieved.
Yang Kai’s fist had smashed into Mo’s chest, while Mo’s fist had stopped right before Yang Kai’s head.
*Pu…*
Mo spurted a mouthful of black blood as his raised fist limply fell.
Standing at arm’s length from one another, when their eyes suddenly met, Mo smiled at Yang Kai.
“Many thanks!” Yang Kai nodded to him, and thought for a moment before adding, “I will let you see the world Mu wished for you to see.”
Despite the jet-black blood flowing from the corners of Mo’s mouth, a free and relieved expression appeared on his face after hearing this, “Then, that’s enough!”
Yang Kai didn’t say anything more and summoned the Profound Source Gate. As the gate cracked open, it swallowed Mo whole!
Right afterwards, the door slowly closed itself, sealing the endless darkness behind it.
Back then, it was Mu who had rescued Mo from behind this door, and after more than a million years, Yang Kai had sent him back through it.
This ancient being had lived his life. He did not dare say he didn’t have any regrets, but at the very least, his life had certainly been quite an exciting one.
*Pu…* Yang Kai spurted a mouthful of blood before sitting down cross-legged, taking out a handful of pills from his Space Ring and stuffing them into his mouth.
Everyone immediately rushed to him upon seeing this. Su Yan flew straight behind Yang Kai and sat down, allowing him to lean on her.
After a while, Yang Kai’s chaotic aura finally started to stabilize. As he opened his eyes, he saw many pairs of eyes gazing at him with worried looks.
“I won’t die,” Yang Kai comforted everyone, allowing them to relax.
Mi Jing Lun finally couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked, “Why did you thank Mo at the last moment?”
Although no one heard Yang Kai’s words of thanks, they could tell what he was saying by reading Yang Kai’s lips.
Yang Kai heaved a sigh, explaining, “From beginning to end, Mo never went all-out.”
“What?” Ouyang Lie was shocked, “He didn’t go all out? How is that possible?”
The others also had a look of incredulity on their faces. To their surprise, their battle almost ended in mutual destruction even when Yang Kai had given it everything he had. Did that mean Mo would have obtained the final victory if he had not held back?
Yang Kai continued, “It’s not that Mo didn’t use his full strength, but rather that he didn’t resort to any of his other tricks.”
Yang Kai had always been on guard against certain methods.
The Royal Lords had their Royal Lord Secret Technique, which could instantly corrupt Eighth-Order Masters. As the Black Ink Clan’s Creator, how could Mo not have similar methods? What’s more, such a method when used by Mo would surely be far more profound than what a Royal Lord could produce.
Of course, Yang Kai had the Soul Warming Lotus protecting his Soul, and the World Tree clone protecting his Small Universe, but even so, he could not say with absolute certainty that they would be able to defend against such a move.
Cang once mentioned that a mere clone could not completely negate Mo’s Black Ink Strength, only the World Tree itself would be capable of that!
So, when Yang Kai fought with Mo, he had always been on guard.
But from beginning to end, Mo had not used that mysterious method.
Was it that Mo couldn’t? Impossible!
He just didn’t want to!
Even after Yang Kai summoned his eight shadows, Mo still held a trump card that could have instantly turned the tables. Furthermore, he never needed to fight Yang Kai head-on, he could have just stalled for time, and the eight shadows from the future Space-Times would slowly have dissipated.
Not to mention, there was even a decent chance Mo could have broken away from the Nine Palaces Formation’s blockade and escaped. At the very least, it was clear Mo had no such intention. From beginning to end, he had fought with Yang Kai head-on!
At first glance, it seemed like Mo wanted to kill Yang Kai, no matter the cost, but was that really the case?
Therefore, although Mo had been fighting with all his strength against Yang Kai, he had not truly gone all out.