"Qingluo!"
Ye Yunfei rushed forward to where the already-mended spatial rift had been, shouting her name.
Yet the space ahead had returned to its original state, and Su Qingluo had vanished without a trace.
In that instant, Ye Yunfei felt completely drained. He desperately wanted to give chase, but the other party possessed the divine ability to pierce through the void and travel between realms. Ye Yunfei knew that with his current strength, it was impossible to catch up.
Watching helplessly as the woman he loved was taken away like this left Ye Yunfei feeling utterly powerless, nearly causing him to collapse on the spot.
"Strength!"
"If I possessed the pinnacle strength of my past life, no one would have been able to take Qingluo from before my eyes!"
At this moment, Ye Yunfei felt an infinite craving for power!
"Xiao Fei was taken. Mother was taken. And now Qingluo has been taken... I'm truly useless..."
Ye Yunfei stood there motionless in the starry void, his expression dejected.
It could be said that ever since his rebirth, Ye Yunfei had never felt this low.
The three most important women in his life, all taken away!
"Strength…
I must recover my Heavenly Emperor strength as soon as possible!
Only then can I properly protect those I care about!
Xiao Fei, Mother, Qingluo… wait for me. I swear, I will find you all, one by one!
And those who took you away… just you wait. I will make them pay a bloody price!"
After a moment, Ye Yunfei abruptly raised his head, clenched his fists tight like a cornered beast, and swore through gritted teeth.
***
Outside the Canghuang Realm, somewhere within the chaotic void, Su Qingluo was moving step by step further away. Suddenly sensing something, her figure paused. She turned to look back towards the Canghuang Realm, her gaze exceedingly complex.
She saw Ye Yunfei making his oath.
"With your strength, you probably will never be able to achieve it.
I am akin to a divine dragon in the heavens, while you are nothing but an ant beneath the earth. How could our pairing ever bear fruit?
Forget it. Even if this karmic bond cannot be severed now, I shall let it fade from memory."
Su Qingluo gave a light sigh, then turned around, took a single step forward, and disappeared.
***
Within the Heaven Beyond Heaven.
"I wonder if something happened to Qingluo…"
Ye Yunfei couldn't shake off an inexplicable sense of unease.
"It seems I need to find a time to return to the Canghuang Realm," Ye Yunfei thought to himself.
At this time, Situ Kong'er, Hu Miao, Huang Shang, and the others were locked in battle against a group of demonic beasts.
The number of demonic beasts encountered on this journey had been growing steadily, and their strength was also increasing.
"I finally understand now why everyone says the Heaven Beyond Heaven is dangerous. If one's strength isn't sufficient, it's simply impossible to handle these demonic beasts," Situ Kong'er suddenly said to Ye Yunfei with a sigh.
"No.
The Heaven Beyond Heaven is a famous forbidden land within Central Divine Land. Its danger definitely does not refer solely to these demonic beasts.
The Heaven Beyond Heaven's area is vast. The places we have explored so far likely account for less than one percent of it."
Ye Yunfei shook his head.
"That's also a possibility," Situ Kong'er nodded.
"Brother Su, something's off. Look, what are those creatures over there? They look somewhat like the Demon Race from the legends!"
Just then, Situ Kong'er suddenly pointed ahead and spoke to Ye Yunfei.
"Correct. They are indeed the Demon Race!"
Ye Yunfei looked forward and indeed saw a troop of creatures with ferocious features charging towards them, their bodies exuding billowing demonic energy. They were precisely the Demon Race.
"I never imagined there would be Demon Race members within the Heaven Beyond Heaven!
No wonder there are so many demonic beasts here.
It's possible these demonic beasts were brought here from the Demon Realm by those demons," Ye Yunfei thought to himself.
"Damn it!
You human martial artists, you all deserve to die!"
By this time, the troop of several dozen demons had charged forward. The leader emitted a cruel, strange laugh, then spearheaded the attack.
This leading demon was covered in blackish-blue scales, his features ferocious and bestial, resembling a wrathful Asura. Hefting a massive battle blade, he lunged forward with a gust of foul wind.
"You all, step aside. Let me handle this!"
Ye Yunfei called out lightly.
Although Situ Kong'er and the others had decent combat prowess, this was their first encounter with the Demon Race and they weren't accustomed to it.
Ye Yunfei was different. He was already very familiar with the Demon Race and had even cultivated body-tempering techniques from their race.
Boom…
Ye Yunfei charged forward. His left fist unleashed the Nine-Segment Borrowing Heaven Burial Fist, harnessing the momentum of heaven and earth, its force vast and surging. His right fist executed the True Demon God-Slaying Fist, his physical strength pouring forth unstintingly, causing the space ahead to tremble incessantly.
Within just a few punches, he had beaten that demon leader staggering back.
"Remember this, everyone. Demons are different from demonic beasts. Demonic beasts rely mainly on their powerful physical strength to fight. Demons, however, are like us human martial artists — they possess various demonic cultivation techniques and secret arts, and they also wield all kinds of weapons and magical treasures, making their combat power stronger.
Also, like the Demon Race, demons possess extremely tenacious vitality. Some of the stronger ones even possess the divine ability to rapidly regenerate limbs.
Therefore, when dealing with demons, if you want to kill them, the best method is to target their heads and shatter their Soul Bodies."
While fighting, Ye Yunfei sent voice transmissions to Situ Kong'er, Hu Miao, and the others, informing them about the Demon Race.
Bang!
Ye Yunfei's right fist suddenly erupted, unleashing tenfold his physical strength. A single punch shattered the head of that leading demon.
With a wave of his hand, Ye Yunfei extracted the Bloodline Essence from this demon.
"Using the Bloodline Essence of these demons to cultivate the Heavenly Demon Blood-Refining Body Art would be even more effective!"
Ye Yunfei shifted his gaze to the other demons, thinking to himself.
"Filthy humans! You dare to kill members of our Demon Race? You deserve death!"
The other dozens of demons, seeing this, were enraged. They all charged towards Ye Yunfei, ready to kill.
"Come then!"
Ye Yunfei activated his physical body divine abilities. His body continuously grew taller, in an instant transforming into a giant that towered into the clouds. He raised a colossal foot and stomped towards those dozens of demons.
Roar…
The Nine Divine Beasts roared furiously as they surged out from behind Ye Yunfei and charged towards the demons.
Moments later, all these demons had been slain by Ye Yunfei.
Ye Yunfei extracted all of their Bloodline Essence.
"These are all ordinary demon soldiers with relatively weak combat power. But from now on, we will definitely encounter stronger demons. Everyone needs to be careful," Ye Yunfei warned the group.
Then, Ye Yunfei led everyone to continue forward.
"I've already collected a large batch of demonic beast Bloodline Essence. After collecting another batch of demon Bloodline Essence, I can begin cultivating the Heavenly Demon Blood-Refining Body Art.
I believe this time, my physical strength will undergo an astonishing improvement."
Ye Yunfei secretly looked forward to this.
Afterwards, they began encountering more and more demons. Ye Yunfei and the others were almost constantly in a state of battle, the fights extremely fierce.
However, these high-intensity battles were also the best form of training!
In every battle, Ye Yunfei charged at the forefront, dealing with the strongest demons.
Because Ye Yunfei's physical body was formidable and possessed powerful vitality, he generally didn't face life-threatening danger. Even if he suffered severe injuries, he could recover fully in a short while.
Situ Kong'er and the others were different. If they were injured, they needed a long time to recuperate.
As time passed, the amount of demon Bloodline Essence collected by Ye Yunfei grew larger and larger.