There didn’t seem to be an end to this vast Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon, so Yang Kai wasn’t even sure if he would have a chance to leave.
Fortunately, being in this Celestial Phenomenon, both he and the sheep headed Royal Lord didn’t dare to activate too much of their strength lest they draw a counterattack to themselves.
In this way, even though the Royal Lord was significantly more powerful than Yang Kai, it was unlikely that he could capture him.
Three years, five years, 10 years… The Human and the Royal Lord were still swimming in this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon with no end in sight.
Yang Kai even suspected that this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon also had the effect of a Bewildering Array; otherwise, he should have left this place after swimming in the same direction for 10 whole years despite his slow movements.
He was initially anxious and fidgety, but he gradually became as calm as a tranquil lake.
His original plan was to make use of this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon to get rid of the Royal Lord and return to the battlefield to fight against the Black Ink Clansmen; however, 10 years had now passed, so the war should already be over.
Who won? Did many Humans lose their lives? Was the Black Ink Giant Spirit God with only half a body killed?
Yang Kai didn’t have the answers to any of those questions. At any rate, since he was in a trap, it was pointless for him to think about those things. The most pressing issue for him was that he had to leave this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon as quickly as possible.
His wounds had all healed after 10 years of recuperation, and he was at peak strength again. On the other hand, the Royal Lord was still wounded as without a Black Ink Nest, it was hard for him to recuperate.
Regardless, Yang Kai was irritated at the fact that the Royal Lord still followed closely behind him.
It wasn’t easy for him to get rid of the other party either. This Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon had significantly restricted their movements, and the Royal Lord was determined to hunt him down. Unless he had a way to kill this Royal Lord, he was helpless to shake him off.
After 10 years of exploration, Yang Kai had figured out more secrets about this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon. As he activated his Demon Eye of Annihilation, his left eye turned golden, allowing him to see through all falsities in the world. In this way, he was looking for a way out of this fog.
The Royal Lord, who was following closely behind him, helplessly discovered that Yang Kai was inconsistent in the ways he moved around. There were no regular patterns to speak of.
Finally, there came a day when Yang Kai suddenly spoke to his partner behind him, “Hey, can I have a word with you?”
The Royal Lord said smugly, “There’s no need to beg for mercy, unless you’re willing to pass me the thing Cang gave you.”
A helpless Yang Kai refuted, “I told you that old man named Cang didn’t give me anything, but you just don’t believe me. Forget it. We’ve been trapped in this Celestial Phenomenon for 10 years, and there isn’t any hope of us getting out if we keep blindly stumbling around. Recently though, I’ve discovered some traces of regular patterns in this fog. Perhaps I’ll be able to find a route to leave this place.”
Instantly, the Royal Lord’s face stiffened as he quickened his pace.
Despite noticing it, Yang Kai was unfazed, “Relax. Given my current ability, it’s unlikely I’ll be able to leave here. Therefore, I need to cultivate for some time. You don’t want to get stuck here forever, do you? If I can find a way out, it’ll be beneficial to you too.”
A myriad of expressions came over the Royal Lord as he wasn’t certain if Yang Kai was telling the truth or not. Nevertheless, Yang Kai had a point; if he could find a way out, both of them would stand to benefit. The Royal Lord was equally vexed being trapped in this damned place.
Even though they both had thousands, if not tens of thousands of years left to live, there would eventually come a day when they passed away if they remained stuck in this place.
“You want to cultivate?”
“Yes.”
“How do I know you won’t seize this chance to break through?”
It was already so hard to deal with Yang Kai when he was just a Seventh-Order Master, if he managed to make it to the Eighth-Order, the Royal Lord wasn’t confident he would ever capture him.
Yang Kai was rendered speechless for a moment, then said, “It has only been several hundred years since I reached the Seventh-Order, how is it possible that I’ll achieve a breakthrough so soon? Don’t worry. I’m just going to cultivate an Eye Secret Technique.”
“Are you being serious with me?” The Royal Lord was doubtful.
“What’s the point of me lying to you in this situation? Moreover, you will certainly be able to tell what I’m doing at this range,” Yang Kai explained, “What do you think? It has come to a point where we have to cooperate if we want to get out of this trap. Why don’t we stop making things difficult for each other?”
After giving it some thought, the Royal Lord nodded, “Good.”
Saying so, he stopped in his tracks.
Yang Kai let out a breath and stopped moving as well. There was nothing he could do if the other party insisted on chasing after him relentlessly. Even though he was still able to cultivate the Eye Secret Technique while moving around, it was far less efficient than if he could sit and focus. Without anyone interrupting him, he could concentrate on doing it.
Not long after the Royal Lord started chasing after him back then, Yang Kai activated the Demon Eye of Annihilation in an attempt to see through the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon’s mysteries.
After 10 years of hard work, he had indeed discovered some patterns in it. What made him feel even more pleasantly surprised was that the Demon Eye of Annihilation showed signs of a breakthrough.
In other words, he was about to achieve a breakthrough with this mastery of this Eye Secret Technique. The Myriad Demons Old Ancestor, who was Yang Kai’s mentor, had told him about it when they were still in the Myriad Demons Pass back then.
At that time, Yang Kai had coughed up a lot of Military Merits to get a chance to ask the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor to teach him the profundities of the two Eye Secret Techniques.
Over the years, Yang Kai had been working hard to improve these Eye Secret Techniques, but he had never had the time to really focus on cultivating them.
All the same, the chance presented itself after he barged into this Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon.
Although the Royal Lord had stopped pursuing him, Yang Kai naturally didn’t fully trust him and kept his guard up while activating his power to run a special cultivation route and improve his Eye Secret Technique. It was a process that required lots of hard work and attention to detail.
Regardless of how powerful a cultivator was or how robust their body was, they still possessed some innate weaknesses, and a person’s eyes were especially fragile.
The reason it was difficult to cultivate the Eye Secret Techniques of Myriad Demons Heaven wasn’t that they were particularly abstruse. On the contrary, it was actually quite easy to start cultivating these two Eye Secret Techniques. One just had to activate their power and run a special cultivation route around their eyes as they continuously improved their vision. As time passed, they would succeed at mastering these Eye Secret Techniques.
What was difficult was the process. The eyes were a weakness to every cultivator. By using one’s own power to train the eyes, they would either yield no results or risk damaging these sensitive organs. If one wasn’t careful enough, their eyes might explode, turning them blind.
It was said that in the early days, there were a lot of blind people in Myriad Demons Heaven because they had cultivated these two Eye Secret Techniques. Then, the high-ranking officials of Myriad Demons Heaven realised they couldn’t let this keep happening; otherwise, all their disciples would become blind. Therefore, they stopped letting ordinary disciples learn these Eye Secret Techniques. Only the brightest disciples had a chance to cultivate these Eye Secret Techniques, and they would have to pass a number of tests before they began.
Unlike the disciples of Myriad Demons Heaven, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about his eyes exploding.
That was because he had inherited his Eye Secret Techniques from Great Demon God, Mo Sheng. He had gotten the hang of the Eye Secret Techniques long ago, but his current problem was that his eyesight wasn’t acute enough. With such a natural advantage, he was far ahead of young disciples from Myriad Demons Heaven when it came to cultivating these Eye Secret Techniques. It could be said that he didn’t have to go through the dangerous initial stage of cultivation at all.
Mo Sheng had built the foundation for him, so he just had to keep on improving and master the Eye Secret Techniques.
10 years of exploring the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon was also a kind of training for Yang Kai; hence, it wasn’t surprising that he was about to achieve a breakthrough with his Demon Eye of Annihilation.
As the Royal Lord watched closely, Yang Kai sat down with his legs crossed and closed his eyes. His aura became completely still as though he was dead.
The Royal Lord’s expression changed as he had the urge to flare up and take Yang Kai’s life; however, as he considered the distance between them and the strangeness of this fog, he knew that even if he made a move now, he wouldn’t be able to achieve his goal.
Moreover, this Seventh-Order Human was certainly still wary of him. If he made a move, the other party wouldn’t just sit idly by; therefore, he could only suppress this urge.
On top of all that, if Yang Kai could really find a way out, the Royal Lord could follow him and leave this place as well. He had the confidence to deal with whatever happened afterwards, which was why he agreed to Yang Kai’s request.
As time passed, following Yang Kai’s activation of power, he felt that his left eye was getting hotter until it became unbearably scorching, as though something was stuck in his eye. Instead of feeling shocked though, he was thrilled. He knew that it was the sign of achieving a breakthrough that the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor had told him about before; therefore, he exerted more force to sharpen his vision.
Half a month later, the feeling of blockage intensified. When it reached a peak, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes. His right eye looked perfectly normal, but his left eye was blood red. His aura undulated and turned into several streams as they crashed into his left eye.
With a solemn expression, the Royal Lord stared fixedly at him.
Although he was able to learn a lot about the Humans through the Black Ink Nest in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, it wasn’t first-hand information after all. It wasn’t until he witnessed Yang Kai cultivating a Secret Technique that he realised there was a reason why the Black Ink Clan hadn’t managed to defeat the Humans after all these years of war.
While the Royal Lord was lost in his thoughts, Yang Kai started growling like an injured beast.
At the same time, not only did Yang Kai feel that his left eye was scorchingly hot, he also felt as though countless needles had jabbed into his eye. A moment later, there seemed to be innumerable ants that crawled through his body, making him feel limp and numb.
Yang Kai secretly cursed, for the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor had never told him that he would be bothered by all sorts of odd sensations when achieving a breakthrough with this Eye Secret Technique. The average Open Heaven Realm Master could easily bear such disturbance; however, it had come to a critical point where he was trying to achieve a breakthrough and the slightest anomaly could make him suffer cultivation dissonance. When that happened, he wouldn’t only risk failing to achieve the breakthrough, but his eye might also explode.
He withstood the discomfort in his eye and continued to activate his power to sharpen his eyesight. A moment later, a cloud of blood mist billowed from his left eye.
When the Royal Lord saw that, he couldn’t help arching his brow. He wasn’t even sure if he should feel pleased or worried.
He was pleased because there seemed to be something wrong with Yang Kai’s cultivation; otherwise, a cloud of blood mist wouldn’t have appeared from his eye. What he was worried about was that if Yang Kai failed in his attempt, could they still find a way out?
Although the Royal Lord was tremendously more powerful than Yang Kai, that didn’t mean he would be capable of finding a way to get out of this eerie Celestial Phenomenon.
While he was waffling back and forth in his head, Yang Kai suddenly turned to look at him. What came into the Royal Lord’s sight startled him.
He initially thought that Yang Kai’s left eye must have exploded, but at this moment, his eye was still intact. His left eye was no longer filled with redness. Instead, it was radiating a glow. Initially, Yang Kai’s eye was golden after he activated the Demon Eye of Annihilation, but it had turned into something that looked like a cross now.
The sheep-headed Royal Lord could clearly see his own figure in the reflection of Yang Kai’s eye. At that instant, he was overwhelmed with a sense of discomfort. Astounded, he realised that this was no ordinary Eye Secret Technique. What he saw in Yang Kai’s eye was definitely more than just a reflection.
Just then, a glint flashed across Yang Kai’s pupil as he grinned, “It seems that you’re badly injured. It must have been difficult for you.”
The Royal Lord’s expression turned livid. When a glint flashed across Yang Kai’s eye earlier, he had a feeling that his secrets were being pried into. He secretly cursed at this Human while simultaneously thinking that this Eye Secret Technique was indeed extraordinary.
On the other hand, Yang Kai ignored the Royal Lord and scanned his surroundings. A moment later, he straightened up and flapped his arms before moving in a particular direction.
The Royal Lord hurriedly followed him.
He had agreed to Yang Kai’s request to allow him to cultivate his Eye Secret Technique in the hope that he could get out of this fog. As for whether Yang Kai would pull a trick during this period of time, that was all but certain.
Regardless, the Royal Lord was confident that he could follow Yang Kai and get out of this trap.
Therefore, he paid close attention to every move that Yang Kai made, and he followed him closely wherever the latter went. He practically imitated Yang Kai in every way, as though he was a delayed shadow.
As Yang Kai’s Demon Eye of Annihilation had improved, he was able to see through this strange fog more clearly now; however, he wasn’t confident that he would be able to get out just yet. No one in the world could truly comprehend all the secrets behind such a Celestial Phenomenon.
Another year passed as Yang Kai silently looked for a way out. The Royal Lord had been patient as he kept a fixed distance from him when, suddenly, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared from the Royal Lord’s sight, as though everything he had seen until now was nothing more than an illusion.
The Royal Lord was slightly shocked, but he soon pulled himself together and imitated Yang Kai’s movements while moving in the same direction.
In the meantime, Yang Kai felt relieved as the sense of danger that had surrounded him for over 10 years disappeared all of a sudden. There was no longer any fog in front of him.
[I’ve finally left!] Yang Kai was elated.
After hesitating between ambushing the Royal Lord and fleeing this place for a moment, he chose the latter. Even though he could certainly catch the Royal Lord off guard, given his strength, it was impossible for him to kill his foe with a single move.
If he couldn’t kill the Royal Lord in one move, he would be tangled up with him again. By then, he wouldn’t be able to get rid of him.
It would still take some time before the Royal Lord could get out of the fog, and while the average cultivator couldn’t move across a large distance in such a short time, as a master of the Dao of Space, Yang Kai stood a great chance to escape the other party’s detection range.
After making up his mind, he hesitated no more. As he manipulated Space Principles, Yang Kai disappeared from the spot.
Three breaths of time later, the Royal Lord also left the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon. As he looked around, he realised Yang Kai was nowhere to be found. Having witnessed Yang Kai’s methods, he knew that this Human must have activated his teleportation technique and left. At that instant, his expression darkened.
It could be said that he had failed miserably in his mission. Not only did it take him such a long time, but he also achieved nothing in the end. Furthermore, he was terribly injured, and his strength had plunged.
Now that Yang Kai had left using Instantaneous Movement, it would be hard for the Royal Lord to find him again. With that said, he wasn’t willing to just give up. After examining the traces of Space Principles, he looked in a particular direction and charged forward.
Soon, he detected some energy fluctuations in front of him, and as he examined them, he became elated. That was because the energy fluctuations came from the Seventh-Order Human.
He initially thought that he had lost him, so he was surprised at the turn of events. Although he had no idea what happened to the Seventh-Order brat, he still had a chance as the other party wasn’t able to flee.
At this moment, Yang Kai was so vexed that he was about to spit blood. He felt that he had never been unluckier in his life. Not long after he escaped one trap, he fell into another.
Even though Instantaneous Movement was a Secret Technique that could help save his life, there was a certain degree of unpredictability with it. It would be fine if he was in a familiar environment as he could accurately arrive at a place of his choice; however, if he wasn’t familiar with the environment, he would have to rely on luck for where he would land as there could be danger waiting for him.
He had used Instantaneous Movement many times in the past, but he had never come across any serious threats while using it. Nevertheless, he suffered a setback this time.
After leaving the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon earlier, he activated Instantaneous Movement and fled, but it never crossed his mind that he would actually land inside a spider’s nest.
There were certain creatures that lived in the void, collectively known as Space Beasts. When Yang Kai left the Star Boundary back then, he ran into a Myriad Facets Insect. He and Zhang Ruo Xi were swallowed by that Space Beast and became separated. Yang Kai was then brought to Seven Wonders Land while it took Zhang Ruo Xi some effort to arrive at Exquisite Paradise.
There were always some Human Masters who guarded the Void Docks of Star Cities and Sects, first to inspect the people entering and leaving to ensure order was maintained, second to fend off the Space Beasts that loved harassing densely populated areas.
It took quite a number of Open Heaven Realm Masters to guard the Void Docks of every Star City to prevent accidents from happening.
Throughout his adventures around the 3,000 Worlds over the years, Yang Kai had come across many Space Beasts. When he was weak, he would stay as far away from Space Beasts as possible, and when he became strong enough, he just disregarded them.
Upon arriving at the Black Ink Battlefield, he never discovered any Space Beasts; after all, the war between the two Races had been ongoing for years, and the Space Beasts that were sensitive to danger usually stayed far away.
Yang Kai had not seen any Space Beasts during the crusade, so he thought that such creatures simply didn’t exist on the Black Ink Battlefield. Therefore, it surprised him when he came across them at this point.
This was the nest of a group of Void Ant Spiders which was located in a dead Universe World. The entire Universe World was covered in spider webs. They seemed to be a family with two adults and five children.
The adult spiders were just as large as Yang Kai’s 70,000 metres Ancient Dragon Form. On the other hand, the five smaller Void Ant Spiders were just 10,000 metres long. They looked like a cross between spiders and ants with hideous appearances and had probably been living here for eons.
Yang Kai felt that the auras exuding from the two adult Void Ant Spiders suggested that they were as formidable as the most powerful Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. It even seemed like they had traces of Divine Spirit bloodlines.
The five smaller spiders were equivalent to Seventh-Order Masters.
Usually, such levels of strength wouldn’t have bothered Yang Kai, the crux of the problem was that the void around the spiders’ nest was filled with webs of different sizes.
Right after he activated Instantaneous Movement from outside the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon, Yang Kai crashed into one of these spider webs. Worse, the webs had a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking property. As soon as he came into contact with the web, he became trapped and was unable to break free from it.
He couldn’t figure out how this family of Void Ant Spiders survived in such an environment. With that said, Space Beasts usually had some unusual powers; therefore, hostile environments wouldn’t bother them.
Thrilled to feel Yang Kai’s aura, the five smaller spiders, which had been hiding in the nest, came over and surrounded him. The two adult spiders never moved, but their eyes reflected Yang Kai’s figure.
Noticing the larger spiders’ stares, Yang Kai felt a crawling sensation on his scalp.
He had already summoned his Azure Dragon Spear and was now battling against the five smaller spiders. Despite the fact that they were only equivalent to Seventh-Order Masters, Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to kill them lest the two parents become enraged.
Furthermore, due to the spider web’s restriction, Yang Kai was in a perilous situation while he was besieged by the small ant spiders. Some spider silk coiled around his spear, making it hard for him to wield his weapon.
Just then, he felt the Royal Lord’s aura. Turning his head, he indeed saw the Royal Lord standing outside the webs and staring curiously at him.
“Help!” Yang Kai exclaimed as though the other party was his saviour.
The Royal Lord snorted and ignored him. He had been hunting Yang Kai for over 10 years now. Even though it was a shame that he couldn’t personally kill him, he wouldn’t mind seeing him lose his life here. Having made up his mind, he stood outside the spider webs and waited for Yang Kai’s eventual death.
Seeing that, Yang Kai realised his intention and shouted, “Don’t you want to know what Cang gave me before his death?”
The Royal Lord replied impassively, “Regardless of what it is, it will be useless after you die.”
Yang Kai said through clenched teeth, “I don’t think so. I’ll definitely activate that thing before I die. It’s the last method that Cang left behind to deal with Mo!”
The Royal Lord squinted his eyes, “Tell me more about it.”
Yang Kai shook his head, “I won’t tell you about it, and you won’t find out unless you save me from this place!”
“Then die.”
“You’re forcing me to do it!” Yang Kai roared as a golden light radiated from him.
The Royal Lord was instantly astounded, for the golden light indeed contained the aura that Cang had left behind.
“Even if I die, Mo will suffer as well! Mo is in a deep sleep now, so it is definitely unsuspecting of any danger. This thing might not kill Mo, but it’ll certainly injure it!” As Yang Kai spoke, the golden light shone more brightly. The golden light faintly engulfed Yang Kai as though it was ready to bring him out of this place.
The Royal Lord’s expression changed.
The reason he decided to watch on the sidelines and ignore Yang Kai’s plea was that he believed that regardless of what Cang’s trump card was, it would be rendered useless following Yang Kai’s death.
However, it now seemed that if Yang Kai was pushed over the edge, he would activate the trump card; as for what happened after that, the results were completely unpredictable.
The Royal Lord had no idea if Yang Kai was telling the truth, but Mo was the source of the Black Ink Clan. To the Black Ink Clan, it was their Supreme Being, their God, so there was no way the Royal Lord would allow anything to injure Mo.
If Mo was wounded because of him, he would never be able to make up for his mistake.
“Stop!” The Royal Lord roared.
“Cut the crap. If you don’t save me, I’ll make sure Mo suffers!” Yang Kai gritted his teeth and yelled.
The Royal Lord’s expression turned livid. He had never expected to be threatened by Yang Kai in such a situation. Suppressing his fury, he surged his Black Ink Strength, which turned into a dark tide that penetrated the spider webs.
He decided not to kill those Void Ant Spiders and instead tried to corrupt them with Black Ink Strength.
Given the fact that he was a Royal Lord, it should be easy for him to corrupt these Void Ant Spiders. As long as he succeeded, they would become loyal to him, and he would be able to easily capture Yang Kai.
Soon, the dark tide coursed through the void that was filled with spider webs before engulfing the five smaller spiders.
Seeing that, Yang Kai secretly cursed at the Royal Lord for being so cunning.
Although Yang Kai hoped that the sheep headed Royal Lord could get him out of this place, the other party was naturally not so kind-hearted. As long as the Royal Lord could corrupt these five small ant spiders with Black Ink Strength, he could take control of Yang Kai.
Seeing that the dark tide was about to swallow the little ant spiders, Yang Kai activated his Divine Sense and sent a transmission to the two larger spiders, “If you keep watching and do nothing, your children will be doomed! He’s a Black Ink Clansman!”
Yang Kai had no idea if these two large ant spiders had any spirituality, nor could he be certain whether they understood what he said; however, if he wanted to survive today, he had to provoke them into action.
The best outcome would be the large ant spiders getting into a fight with the Royal Lord; that way, he could watch the show from the sidelines.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai was bound to be disappointed, for the large ant spiders were unperturbed by his words. Even though they still remained in their nest, they just stared vigilantly at the Royal Lord without acting.
Unlike Yang Kai, this Royal Lord gave off a great sense of danger, which was why they had to keep their guard up yet didn’t dare make any rash moves.
At this point, the dark tide had engulfed the five small ant spiders, which were unable to resist as the Black Ink Strength instantly corrupted them. In just a moment, they were stained with Black Ink Strength and their originally bright eyes turned dark.
Finally realising something was wrong, the two large ant spiders started squirming anxiously and hissed.
The little ant spiders turned violent all of a sudden. They spat out threads of silk that turned into spider webs that further restrained Yang Kai.
The spider webs were not only robust, but also able to trap people. Yang Kai had suffered a setback because of them already, so he was wary of such things. Understanding the situation was deteriorating, he directly used Golden Crow Casts the Sun.
A Great Sun leaped from behind him and a Golden Crow cawed as a scorching heat spread out.
Many spider webs melted, but they came in such large quantities that even Golden Crow Casts the Sun was unable to ward them all off. Within moments, the Great Sun disappeared, and the spider webs covered Yang Kai, wrapping him up tight.
The little ant spiders surrounded him and wielded their legs; however, as soon as they got close, Yang Kai’s figure faded and disappeared. It was nothing more than an illusion.
Just as the little ant spiders were baffled, Yang Kai appeared in front of one of them with his spear in hand. With a solemn expression, he surged his World Force as his Azure Dragon Spear transformed into innumerable spear shadows and engulfed the ant spider.
In an instant, the little ant spider was rooted to the spot. All its eyes exploded and green liquid burst out of its wounds. Following that, even its head exploded.
At that moment earlier, Yang Kai had struck the ant spider countless times. Sparks were formed as his Azure Dragon Spear came into contact with its armoured head.
Even though these little ant spiders had strange abilities and formidable strength, they were still just equivalent to Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters; therefore, it wasn’t hard for Yang Kai to kill them.
The reason he didn’t make a move earlier was that the spider webs in the void had greatly restricted his movements. Moreover, he was wary of the two large ant spiders, so he didn’t dare to kill the little ones.
Now, he had no choice, for the Royal Lord had corrupted the little ant spiders. If Yang Kai didn’t kill them, he would be trapped here forever. As for what would happen after he killed them, that was the last of his concerns.
The moment the little ant spider was killed, the other four were astounded as they hurriedly retreated.
The two large ant spiders, which had been hiding in the nest, were startled for a moment before they became enraged. They started hissing angrily as they climbed through the webs and came at Yang Kai. Before they even arrived, one pointed leg scythed at Yang Kai.
Surprisingly, Yang Kai saw the shadow of a Space Secret Technique in that attack. The pointed leg broke through the blockage of space and stabbed at him.
A flabbergasted Yang Kai knew that he had underestimated these large ant spiders so he promptly raised his spear to block the attack.
The next instant, a violent force came right at his face and his Azure Dragon Spear was almost knocked away from him. Upon impact, he was sent flying away while he sprayed out a mouthful of blood.
Shortly after that, he fell into a spider web with his limbs spread wide. Regardless of how hard he tried, he was unable to break free from the restraint.
The other large ant spider that hadn’t made a move charged forward. Its figure was elusive, and with the blessing of Space Principles, it kept disappearing and reappearing as it approached Yang Kai.
Seeing that, Yang Kai felt his heart thumping in his chest, knowing that the Void Ant Spiders had cultivated the Dao of Space. Perhaps it was their Bloodline Talent.
“What are you waiting for!?” Faced with the danger, Yang Kai growled as a golden light radiated from him and Cang’s aura spread out again.
The Royal Lord’s face fell when he saw that. He initially wanted to use the ant spiders’ to kill Yang Kai, but he had no choice now but to order the four little ant spiders to protect him.
While reaching for Yang Kai, the large ant spider was evidently startled. It had no idea why its children were going against it. Then, it started hissing as though it was communicating with the smaller ant spiders, but having been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, the little ant spiders ignored it and started attacking.
At that instant, the large ant spider was flustered.
The large ant spider that had attacked Yang Kai earlier probably had some degree of sentience, and realising something, it spat out a web to cover the Royal Lord in the distance.
The Royal Lord snorted and evaded the spider web; however, the spider web expanded suddenly and covered a vast area of the void.
The surprised Royal Lord was instantly trapped, and before he could destroy the spider web, the large ant spider dashed towards him.
Still stuck to the spider web, Yang Kai was ecstatic when he saw that as he complained to himself, [They should have just fought from the start!]
With no one harassing him anymore, he could now find a chance to flee.
Without hesitation, Yang Kai surged his Golden Crow’s True Fire.
The silk threads were robust and sticky, but based on his previous experience of using Golden Crow Casts the Sun, Yang Kai was confident that he could destroy these spider webs with his flames.
This time, he summoned his Golden Crow’s True Fire as his World Force burned madly. Soon, he turned into a fireball, and as expected, the spider webs around him began melting.
When the Royal Lord, who was fighting against the large ant spider, saw this, he widened his eyes in disbelief and raised his hand to swat the ant spider away.
Although the large ant spider had a power that was equivalent to the peak of the Eighth-Order, and the Royal Lord was heavily injured, there was still a huge gap between their strengths.
If the Royal Lord wanted to kill the large ant spider, it would only take him 10 breaths to do so.
On the other hand, Yang Kai, who had just broken free from the spider web, felt his chest tightening as he realized he had underestimated the Royal Lord.
He was secretly glad that he didn’t decide to ambush him after leaving the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon a while back.
Back then, by using the Demon Eye of Annihilation, Yang Kai could see that the Royal Lord was horribly injured and even had the urge to fight it out with him. Now, it was apparent that if he had done so, he would’ve ended up in a horrible state. Although the Royal Lord had been weakened, he was still significantly more powerful than Yang Kai.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but admire himself for being able to escape from this Royal Lord for such a long time.
After driving the large ant spider off, the Royal Lord immediately tried to pin down Yang Kai; however, the large ant spider came at him again.
Infuriated, the Royal Lord threw out his fist with greater strength than the previous time and a dent was instantly formed on the ant spider’s head. It wasn’t clear whether it was dead or alive at this point.
Then, the Royal Lord bolted towards Yang Kai.
Currently, Yang Kai’s figure was burning with fire as he broke through layers of spider webs. Three breaths of time later, there were no more restraints.
Then, he activated Purifying Light and blocked the Royal Lord’s aura. The next instant, Space Principles undulated as he disappeared from the spot.
The moment Yang Kai disappeared, the Royal Lord’s aura exploded.
After such a long time, the Royal Lord had learned how to deal with Yang Kai’s Instantaneous Movement. If he did nothing, this Seventh-Order Human could move across a vast distance with ease, and although he was unable to stop Yang Kai from using Instantaneous Movement altogether, he could effectively interrupt the latter by bombarding the Void with his aura.
As expected, barely a million kilometres away, Yang Kai fell from the Void while spitting blood. Without turning his head, he continued charging forward.
“You think you can escape?” Incensed, the Royal Lord raced after him.
After they were gone, the large ant spider with a dent in its head shook its body and turned to look at its partner and four children that were still locked in an intense battle.
Even though the little ant spiders were no match for the large ant spider, the latter didn’t have the heart to kill them.
…..
Yang Kai and the Royal Lord seemed to have returned to the time before they had barged into the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon. They traversed the expansive void as one ran away from the other.
After crossing many billions of kilometres, they realised that there were no more worn-out Divine Abilities and restrictions left in the void.
It seemed that they were no longer in the Late Ancient Era battlefield. Even more wonderful Celestial Phenomena came into Yang Kai’s sight and they came in a significantly larger quantity than what could be seen on the Late Ancient Era battlefield.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but think that perhaps in the Late Ancient Era, that particular battlefield was also filled with Celestial Phenomena. However, many of them must have been destroyed during the epic conflict.
Every Celestial Phenomenon exuded a very dangerous aura, and having suffered a setback in the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon, Yang Kai was wary of them now and would not dare to dive into any of them again.
Of course, inside the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon, Yang Kai wasn’t the only one who had been made miserable. Even the Royal Lord had suffered a huge setback in that place as all his current wounds were formed while he was in the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon.
Right now, Yang Kai didn’t even have time to stop and activate the Universe Transference Law.
If he could activate the Universe Transference Law, he could make use of it to locate a Purifying Black Ink Battleship and rendezvous with his fellow Humans, but that was currently impossible.
Moreover, he had already lost his way, so he wasn’t sure how far away the Purifying Black Ink Battleships were from him. Even if he used the Universe Transference Law, he probably couldn’t connect to the Universe Array onboard one of the Purifying Black Ink Battleships.
After years of fleeing, he was still in an unfavourable position.
Every time Yang Kai used Instantaneous Movement, he would be struck by the sheep-headed Royal Lord. He could certainly bear the consequences of getting struck one or two times, but he had forgotten how many times he had been lambasted now.
After getting wounded repeatedly over the months, Yang Kai found it hard to heal his wounds despite having a Dragon Vein.
On the other hand, the Royal Lord remained the same as his injuries didn’t seem to exacerbate.
Yang Kai had to activate Instantaneous Movement more frequently, which meant that it was getting harder for him to shake off the Royal Lord. After some quick calculations, he realised that if nothing was done, he would be caught after less than half a year.
If his wounds were exacerbated, things would only get worse. That was why Yang Kai realized he had to make use of another Celestial Phenomenon.
Regardless of how strange those Celestial Phenomena were, he would be doomed if he didn’t do something. By making use of a Celestial Phenomenon, there was a chance he could survive. Upon making up his mind, Yang Kai continued to escape while scanning his surroundings.
Two months later, a vast area of blue that covered the void came into view.
Yang Kai fell into something of a daze at this sight. Although he had seen quite a number of Celestial Phenomena so far, the one before his eyes was definitely the largest and most staggering.
With it still being so far away, Yang Kai had no idea what this Celestial Phenomenon was, so he could only quicken his pace.
The Royal Lord behind him saw the Celestial Phenomenon as well and realised Yang Kai’s intention, so he also hastened himself. As he pushed his Black Ink Strength, his speed increased.
After what happened inside the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon, he couldn’t risk letting Yang Kai enter another one.
Yang Kai’s expression changed when he realised the Royal Lord’s aura was getting closer to him. Without hesitation, he manipulated Space Principles and left using Instantaneous Movement.
The next instant, he fell from the Void and sprayed out a mouthful of blood. Even so, he happened to find himself right in front of the Celestial Phenomenon.
When Yang Kai made out what the Celestial Phenomenon was, he was astounded.
From afar, he could see that the Celestial Phenomenon was vividly blue, but he had no idea what it was. It wasn’t until he was right in front of it that he realised it was a Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. It was a Great Sea that occupied a massive region of the Void.
Before this, if anyone told him that there was a Great Sea floating in the void, he wouldn’t have believed them. But at this moment, there was indeed a vast ocean before his eyes. He couldn’t help but think that there were too many unknown secrets in the Universe.
However, the Great Sea seemed to be dead. The water was so still there wasn’t even a ripple. At the same time, Yang Kai failed to detect any danger coming from it.
However, he had learned from his experience with the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon that he shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Only by entering this Great Sea would he find out if there was any danger inside.
Standing in front of the Great Sea, Yang Kai turned around and saw the Royal Lord charging towards him with an anxious expression on his face. His inaction seemed to have made the Royal Lord misunderstand something though as he shouted, “Given your current state, you’ll undoubtedly die if you go in! Why not just surrender without a fight?”
Yang Kai grinned at the Royal Lord before cocking his head to spit out some blood. After cursing the Royal Lord, he turned around and leaped into the sea boldly and without hesitation, with the thought that if he was going to die, it would be on his terms, not at the hands of the enemy!
The Royal Lord’s expression changed, stunned by Yang Kai’s resoluteness.
A moment later, he reached the Great Sea and scanned it. Next, he pushed his Black Ink Strength to engulf himself and plunged into the Celestial Phenomenon.
Soon, the Royal Lord leapt out of the Great Sea with a gloomy expression.
The Great Sea appeared perfectly tranquil from outside, but the moment he entered he realised it was extremely turbulent inside. The currents were complex and intertwined and moved with astonishing force inside the Great Sea.
The Royal Lord was shocked to find that the undercurrents were so violent that he was unable to withstand them despite his strength. Three breaths of time after he entered it, his Black Ink Strength protection was already heavily worn down.
Fortunately, the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon was unlike the previous one. When he barged into the Dense Fog Celestial Phenomenon back then, he was unable to leave no matter how he tried; however, he was able to break free from the undercurrents here with brute force.
The Royal Lord didn’t think the Seventh-Order Human named Yang Kai could survive in such an environment. Besides believing that Yang Kai was doomed to die, he also understood that the currents in the Great Sea were constantly shifting, so finding him would be all but impossible.
As he hovered in the void, a myriad of expressions came over the Royal Lord’s face. After debating on it for a moment, he turned around and left. Soon, he moved a dead Universe World to the periphery of the Great Sea.
There were countless dead Universe Worlds like this one in the void. As he pursued Yang Kai all this time, he had come across many of them; therefore, it wasn’t hard to find one.
The Universe World was fairly large, but compared with the Great Sea, it was like an ant standing in front of an elephant.
The Royal Lord stared fixedly at the Great Sea for a moment before spitting some extremely pure and dense Black Ink Strength from his mouth. The Black Ink Strength didn’t dissipate like normal however and soon condensed into a flower bud.
It was a Black Ink Nest!
Royal Lords like him who came out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction each carried their own Black Ink Nests with them. That was because Mo hoped that they would defeat the Humans and occupy the 3,000 Worlds, and in turn, return to extricate it from its prison.
Black Ink Nests were the foundation of the Black Ink Clan, so the Royal Lords would naturally carry them wherever they went.
The Royal Lord held the Black Ink Nest in his hands. He looked at it with such devotion that it was as though it was the most sacred treasure to him. Soon, he planted the Black Ink Nest and infused his Black Ink Strength into it.
The Black Ink Nest expanded rapidly and bloomed. In just half a month, many Black Ink Clansmen stepped out of the Black Ink Nest. After saluting the Royal Lord, they dispersed.
Gazing at the Great Sea, the Royal Lord snorted. Although he believed that Yang Kai was doomed, he couldn’t afford to take any chances. During this period of time, he had witnessed this Seventh-Order Human using all sorts of strange methods, so he knew it would be difficult to kill him.
Perhaps this brat named Yang Kai could break free from the Great Sea. As such, he had to stay.
However, since he was on his own, the Royal Lord couldn’t monitor the entire periphery of the Great Sea. Having said that, he had his Black Ink Nest to depend on.
Given enough time and resources, he could simply spawn enough servants to surround the entire Great Sea. If Yang Kai managed to escape, he would immediately find out about it.
Moreover, the Royal Lord was badly injured, so he could take this opportunity to recuperate. It was like killing two birds with one stone, so he chose to stay here.
As time passed, the Black Ink Nest became larger and larger and even more Black Ink Clansmen began appearing in the dead Universe World.
These Black Ink Clansmen would then spread out through the void to mine resources, which would then be deposited into the Black Ink Nest to produce even more Black Ink Clansmen.
..…
Inside the Great Sea, Yang Kai felt dizzy. He was horribly wounded, and there wasn’t a single part of his body that wasn’t bloodstained and lacerated.
He had transformed into his 70,000 metres Ancient Dragon Form, but still found it hard to resist the violent currents in the Great Sea. All his Dragon Scales were gone by this point, and his skin was covered in black bruises. Dragon Blood streamed out of his wounds constantly.
The undercurrents were not the only thing he had to deal with. Even though it was difficult, he could still persevere with his Ancient Dragon Form against those turbulent flows. What made him truly helpless was that the undercurrents contained many different sorts of Martial Domains.
The Five Element Dao Essence swirled and transformed in the undercurrents while some flows even contained potent Sword Dao Essence that cut through the skin of Yang Kai’s Dragon Form.
Every undercurrent was like a powerful Master surging their might to attack foreign enemies.
Yang Kai was swept from one undercurrent to the next, enduring so much hardship that he almost passed out.
Before he barged into the Great Sea, he understood that he would have to face unimaginable danger inside, but the strangeness of this place still astounded him.
The strengths of the undercurrents varied greatly. When he came across weaker flows, he could seize the chance to catch his breath. In times like these, he would swallow some Spirit Pills to sustain his energy.
Initially, Yang Kai didn’t have a way to deal with these undercurrents as he just let them push him around in this Great Sea.
However, as time passed, he eventually began to adapt and ride these undercurrents to minimize the damage he took.
Despite that, he still couldn’t completely avoid the impact these undercurrents had on him.
Having said that, he knew that he was just stalling for time. Sooner or later, he would be killed by the undercurrents in the Great Sea.
He wanted to find a way out, but the undercurrents were turbulent without any regular patterns, so how was he supposed to achieve such a goal?
His injuries had gotten worse, and the World Force in his Small Universe was running out. Even though Low-Rank World Fruits could quickly replenish his World Force, Yang Kai had already used them all up when escaping from the Royal Lord. Now, he could only consume Open Heaven Pills to supplement his energy.
Once the power in his Small Universe dried up completely, the consequences would be dreadful. Therefore, he had to find a way out before then, or he would be doomed.
Yang Kai had tried releasing his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings, but the undercurrents simply shredded his Divine Sense, causing him excruciating pain.
The Great Sea was so vast though that there had to be somewhere that was calm. Yang Kai didn’t believe this entire place was filled with such powerful undercurrents.
Gritting his teeth, he released his Dragon Form and returned to his Human one. As he let the undercurrents sweep him away, he scanned the surroundings with his Divine Sense irrespective of the damage this act caused.
He felt a sharp pain in his head as the damage to his Divine Sense made his facial features contort. However, he could only soldier on.
A long time passed, but just as Yang Kai was about to lose hope, he suddenly detected that there was a nearby area that was far less violent. Elated, he hurriedly activated his power and swam towards it.
The process was strenuous as his flesh was peeled from his bones. As he wielded his Azure Dragon Spear, Yang Kai stubbornly made his way across the undercurrents of the Great Sea.
An hour later, he finally broke through the blockage of the present undercurrent he was occupying and barged into the next.
Scanning his surroundings, Yang Kai realised that the less violent area was actually moving away from him. Flustered, he madly activated his power.
He had no idea what it was like in that area, but he knew that if he missed this chance, there wouldn’t be a second one. He had never been more eager to survive in his life.
The pain in his body and Soul was so excruciating that he had almost turned numb. The only thought that occupied his mind was that he had to break through all the obstacles before him and survive.
“Break!” With a great roar, Yang Kai opened his mouth and spat out a round bead.
To a Dragon Clan member, their Dragon Bead was like a Monster Core to a Monster Beast. It was the essence of their cultivation, and they wouldn’t easily summon it, but once they did, either their enemy would die, or they would perish.
Summoning a Dragon Bead to deal with enemies was a powerful trump card, but it almost always resulted in damage to the Dragon Bead. When that happened, the power of their Dragon Vein would be like a tree without roots or a river without a source, diminishing their strength to a great degree, if not crippling or killing them outright.
In the past, Yang Kai had summoned his Dragon Bead to kill a badly injured Territory Lord. As a result, his Dragon Bead was damaged, and it took him many years to restore it.
At that time, his Dragon Vein was still very weak, and he could only transform into a 30,000-metre Grand Dragon.
Now, he was an Ancient Dragon, so his Dragon Bead was significantly mightier than in the past.
This was the last move he could use. At this moment, the power in his Small Universe had almost dried up, and his physical body had reached its limit, yet the undercurrents in the Great Sea were as turbulent as ever. If even his Dragon Bead couldn’t open up a path for him to survive, he would be powerless to do anything else.
Fortunately, the Dragon Bead of an Ancient Dragon did not disappoint. The instant it was summoned, an immense power exploded forth. There seemed to be a Dragon swimming within the Dragon Bead, and the intense Dragon Pressure which was released smashed all the turbulent undercurrents in its way.
At the same time, cracks started appearing on the Dragon Bead.
Yang Kai followed his Dragon Bead closely as he broke free from the undercurrent he was currently stuck in and entered the next.
The Dragon Bead shot forward, breaking through all the obstacles as more and more cracks appeared on it.
It smashed through three undercurrents in quick succession, and just as Yang Kai was worried that his Dragon Bead would be destroyed, he felt that all the pressure around him had been lifted. It was as though he had arrived at a completely different World.
Since he entered the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, it had been one crisis after another; however, this space felt totally serene.
It was still an undercurrent, but it was significantly less violent than the ones he had encountered before. Yang Kai even had a feeling that he was surrounded by a different kind of Martial Domain, but before he could look into it, his vision turned dark, and he realised he was about to pass out.
He knew that he had reached his limits. His body, Soul, and Dragon Bead had all been damaged, so he was just one step away from death.
Without hesitation, Yang Kai quickly retrieved his Dragon Bead, which was so full of cracks that it was as though it would break apart at any moment. Following that, he blacked out and collapsed.
At this moment, Yang Kai was so lethargic and dazed that he couldn’t think straight, a clear sign that his Soul had been badly damaged.
Outside Great Evolution Pass back then, Yang Kai had experienced a similar kind of sluggishness after he used too many Soul Rending Thorns to attack a number of Territory Lords inside a Black Ink Nest Space.
He had no idea how long he remained unconscious, but when Yang Kai regained his senses, he was still in a daze.
Withstanding the excruciating pain, he soon recalled what had happened before he blacked out. Without hesitation, he emptied his mind and stimulated his Soul Warming Lotus’ power to repair his Soul.
Due to the damage to his Soul, he was unable to think clearly. Now that he was in a somewhat safer situation, his most important task was to restore himself. Other matters could wait.
The Soul Warming Lotus was a Supreme Treasure of the Universe, so even when Yang Kai was unconscious, it continued to exude its wondrous power to heal him, but now that he was wide awake, he could make far better use of its effects.
Even so, it still took Yang Kai about half a year before he managed to mostly recover from the injuries on his Soul.
He still hadn’t fully recovered, but he was at least able to think straight now. The Soul Warming Lotus would take care of the rest of the damage on its own.
While he was restoring his Divine Sense, Yang Kai did not forget to heal his physical wounds either.
He consumed lots of pills and stimulated the restorative power of his Dragon Vein to mend his wounds. Although he still looked battered, at the very least his bones weren’t visible anymore.
His injuries were severe this time; in fact, he had never been more badly wounded before. Even though there were times when he fell into perilous situations in the past, he had never been so battered.
He was almost pushed over the edge when he was pursued by the Royal Lord.
It wasn’t until now that he had time to inspect his surroundings.
After inspecting them for a while, Yang Kai had a better idea of what was going on.
He was certain that he was still within an undercurrent in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. This undercurrent was apparently carrying him as it traversed the Great Sea, as though there would never come a day when it stopped; however, this undercurrent was different from the ones he had encountered before. Those undercurrents were all filled with different kinds of Martial Domains which formed into invisible attacks that killed any invaders.
Nevertheless, the present undercurrent was stable, without a hint of murderous intent. All Yang Kai could feel was peace and tranquillity, which was a stark contrast to the other undercurrents.
He couldn’t help but wonder why there wasn’t any Martial Domain in this undercurrent. What made it different from the others?
As he continued his inspection though, Yang Kai was surprised by what he found.
In fact, there was a Martial Domain that pervaded this undercurrent as well, but it was not savage and chaotic, which was why it felt calm and tranquil.
[What kind of Martial Domain is this?]
Yang Kai emptied his mind and immersed himself in the Martial Domain. As expected, he soon felt an invisible power washing over his body; however, it didn’t have any negative impact on him, which was unlike the other undercurrents that could harm him.
All of a sudden, his entire figure shook.
That was because he finally realised what kind of Martial Domain it was.
It was a Martial Domain of Time!
If not for the fact that he had cultivated the Dao of Time and could be considered an expert in it, Yang Kai wouldn’t have noticed this.
Time was invisible and intangible. A living being could barely notice the flow of time, which went by in silence and without a trace.
However, Yang Kai could feel time flowing in this undercurrent.
Since this was a Martial Domain of Time, then the power that was washing over him had to be Time Principles. It was delicate and almost imperceptible.
All of a sudden, a name he had heard of a long time ago sprang into his mind.
[Temporal River!]
The cultivation of an Open Heaven Realm Master was all about accumulation as it took much time and effort for a cultivator to enhance the heritage of their Small Universe.
Other than consuming an Innate Open Heaven Pill which was formed in the Universe Furnace, or a World Fruit from the World Tree, there were no shortcuts to speak of when it came to the cultivation of an Open Heaven Realm Master.
Nevertheless, that didn’t mean that this rule couldn’t be bent.
There were two shortcuts when it came to the cultivation of an Open Heaven Realm Master.
Firstly, there were the Small Source Worlds. When Yang Kai was still a newly promoted Sixth-Order Master, he had entered a Small Source World in Yin-Yang Cave Heaven that had benefited him greatly.
The reason he was able to break through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm so quickly was largely thanks to his experience in that Small Source World, which saved him several hundred years of cultivation.
The second shortcut was the Temporal River.
When Xu Ling Gong led Yang Kai to the Small Source World back then, he told him about this miraculous treasure. Xu Ling Gong said that the flow of time inside a Temporal River was different from the outside world. Perhaps 10 years or even 100 years would pass in a Temporal River while only a single year went by in the outside world.
In comparison, Small Source Worlds were true shortcuts, while Temporal Rivers were more akin to the situation inside Yang Kai’s Small Universe. While one was inside a Temporal River, the flow of time was indeed real, but it was faster than in the outside world.
Yang Kai had experienced a Small Source World before, and it was indeed incredible. All the Cave Heavens and Paradises regarded them as core treasures, and only the best disciples were allowed to enter them.
Moreover, every time a Small Source World was used, it would take many years before it would be activated again as part of its Source Strength would be absorbed.
Although Yang Kai had heard about Temporal Rivers from Xu Ling Gong before, he had never seen one.
There were no known Temporal Rivers in the 3,000 Worlds, nor were there any on the Black Ink Battlefield, so Yang Kai had always thought that they were just an ancient legend.
Xu Ling Gong must have seen such a record from the ancient books in Yin-Yang Cave Heaven.
It wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai realised that Temporal Rivers were real.
If this undercurrent he was presently in was isolated, it would basically be a river.
If the undercurrents that contained different Martial Domains were isolated, in addition to the Temporal River, there would be Sword Dao River, Saber Dao River, Yin Dao River, Yang Dao River, Alchemic Dao River, and so on.
Temporal Rivers must have existed in the 3,000 Worlds before, which was why there were records of them.
Yang Kai should have realised it the instant he entered this undercurrent; however, his mind was muddled due to the damage in his Soul at the time, so he failed to notice anything.
[How was this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon formed?] Yang Kai was dumbstruck.
As he recalled it, the transformation and evolution of those Martial Domains in the undercurrents looked like different Masters casting incredible attacks at first sight, but thinking back on it now, Yang Kai realised that the intrinsic nature of all of these rivers was ancient and untraceable.
All of a sudden, something seemed to have dawned on him.
This Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon as well as the Celestial Phenomena he had and had not seen might have naturally formed when the Heavens and Earth first split apart. Those Celestial Phenomena contained the purest form of powers of the Universe, which was why the Martial Domains in this Great Sea all felt so ancient.
Only when an Emperor Realm Master realised their own Grand Dao and condensed their Dao Seal would they be capable of breaking through their shackles and ascending to the Open Heaven Realm.
There were all sorts of Grand Daos in the Universe, and each of these Grand Daos had an infinite number of variations; therefore, the Dao Seal of every Open Heaven Realm Master was slightly different.
Even for cultivators who cultivated the same Grand Dao, their Dao Seals wouldn’t be identical.
The Dao of Space that Yang Kai had cultivated was distinct and different from that of Li Wu Yi.
His mastery and understanding of the Dao of Time were also different from that of the Flowing Time Great Emperor, and could not be the same as those of Yang Xiao and Yang Xue.
The brightest cultivators who had left Yang Kai’s Small Universe often inherited his aptitudes in the Spear Dao, Dao of Space, and Dao of Time. They had a natural advantage when it came to cultivating these three Grand Daos; however, none of them followed the exact same Martial Dao as Yang Kai.
If one compared the myriad Grand Daos to a tree, then each Grand Dao was like a branch that would grow into many different twigs and leaves. Those twigs and leaves came from the same source, but they were all slightly different.
All the Grand Daos intertwined with one another, and there had to be a source, which was the very foundation of the Grand Daos.
Although there were many different Grand Daos, they all could be traced back to the same source.
If this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon was naturally formed when the Heavens and Earth split apart, the Martial Domains rich in Dao Essence in the undercurrents might not be the source of those Grand Daos, but they must contain part of the source’s aura.
In other words, these undercurrents contained the raw power of the Universe, the very foundation of all Grand Daos!
Upon that realization, Yang Kai couldn’t help grinning. His laughter was muffled initially, but as time passed, he started guffawing to the point where he cried tears of joy.
Although he had gone through so much hardship and almost lost his life, he came across such an opportunity!
To escape from the sheep-headed Royal Lord, he took the risk and dove into this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. It never crossed his mind that he would arrive at such a cultivation paradise.
There was no doubt that the undercurrents in the Great Sea were akin to innate treasures of the Universe. Their very existence was a natural wonder.
At that instant, Yang Kai even had the urge to thank the Royal Lord. If not for the latter’s relentless pursuit, he would never have come across this place.
It had only been several hundred years since he ascended to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, and although time flowed several times faster in his Small Universe than other Open Heaven Realm Masters, and he had a World Tree clone to purify his World Force, both of which allowed him to cultivate multiple times faster than average, he was still a long way off from the Eighth-Order.
Yang Kai estimated that it would be another 1,000 to 2,000 years before he could achieve a breakthrough.
That length of time seemed too daunting to him.
Initially, this reality was giving him a severe headache. He had been trying to come up with ways to increase his cultivation speed so that he could make it to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm sooner. He even had the urge to seek out the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary so that he could ask for a High-Rank World Fruit from the World Tree.
However, the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary had been elusive since time immemorial. He was extremely lucky even to have a chance to enter it back then, so it seemed practically impossible for him to go there again.
Furthermore, even if he managed to find the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, would the World Tree even give him a High-Rank World Fruit?
Just like Mo, the World Tree was one of the oldest living beings in the Universe. If it refused to give Yang Kai the World Fruit, he wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Now that he was inside a Temporal River though, Yang Kai didn’t have to worry about ascending to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm anymore.
Yang Kai wondered what the time flow differential in this Temporal River was compared to the outside world, but by analyzing the Time Principles around him and considering the density of Time Dao Essence, he believed the flow of time here was at least 10 times faster than normal.
In other words, if he spent ten years in this place, only one year would pass in the outside world.
He could cultivate in this place with peace of mind until the day he made it to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Although as a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he was no match for the sheep headed Royal Lord, he was able to evade him for several years. If he managed to ascend to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he had the confidence to flee from the Royal Lord with ease even if he was incapable of defeating him.
A fervent Yang Kai immediately fished out all sorts of resources and started refining them, but a problem soon came to his mind.
Did he have enough resources to reach the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm?
Initially, he had accumulated a staggering amount of resources, more than enough to reach the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm; after all, he had plundered quite a few Black Ink Clan territories over the years and acquired a massive quantity of cultivation materials.
However, when Cang asked for some resources to restore himself back then, Yang Kai had passed the bulk of what he owned to him.
Moreover, to escape from the Royal Lord over the years, Yang Kai had used up a large amount of the Blue and Yellow Crystals he had left. As a result, he was seriously lacking in Yin and Yang Element materials.
He certainly had sufficient Five-Element materials, but if he used up all his Yin and Yang Element materials before he ascended to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he would be in serious trouble.
However, it was pointless for him to worry about it at this point. He would find out if he had sufficient resources as he cultivated.
He then circulated his Secret Art and began refining a set of Seven Element materials. They were absorbed by Yang Kai and turned into the heritage of his Small Universe.
The speeds at which Open Heaven Realm Masters could refine materials varied. The fundamental reason was the sturdiness of their Dao Seals they had condensed when they were still Emperor Realm Masters.
The more robust their Dao Seal was, the quicker one could refine cultivation materials.
Therefore, even if two Open Heaven Realm Masters were in the same Order, the speeds at which they could refine resources could be very different. The one with a better foundation could refine materials more quickly and grow their power more rapidly. Even a slight difference would become massive over hundreds or thousands of years.
When Yang Kai condensed his Dao Seal back then, he was able to withstand the impact of Seventh-Order materials, so when it came to the speed of refining materials, only those once-in-a-generation geniuses from the Cave Heavens and Paradises were somewhat comparable to him in the entire 3,000 Worlds.
Since Yang Kai was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master now, he could fully refine a set of Fifth-Order materials in a few days.
Then, he fished out another set of materials.
The process of cultivation was dull, but the increase in power was real and exhilarating.
Therefore, despite the monotony, a cultivator was more than capable of cultivating in seclusion for hundreds of years.
Once a person was engrossed in the increase of their power, they would no longer feel the passage of time.
Half a year later, Yang Kai’s flesh wounds had mostly healed, and although his Soul was still damaged, he didn’t have to worry about it as he had the Soul Warming Lotus’ help.
However, his Dragon Bead was still full of cracks. From previous experiences, Yang Kai knew that repairing a Dragon Bead couldn’t be rushed. It required him to use the power of his Dragon Vein to nurture it slowly. Perhaps it would be restored to a perfect state again in several hundred years.
After refining another set of materials, Yang Kai opened his eyes and sensed his surroundings.
Then, he furrowed his brow because he detected some unusual changes.
Over the past six months, besides refining materials to increase his cultivation, Yang Kai had also been making use of the ambient Time Principles and Time Dao Essence in the Temporal River to comprehend the Dao of Time.
He had benefited greatly from this.
The Bloodline Talent of the Dragon Clan was the Dao of Time. Back in the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai managed to grow into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon. With the increase in the power of his Dragon Vein, his mastery over the Dao of Time had also improved significantly, growing from the Sixth Level to the Seventh Level. It was only one level behind his mastery over the Dao of Space now, which had reached the Eighth Level.
Nevertheless, that single level was still a far distance to cross.
The reason the flow of time was different in a Temporal River was that it was filled with ample Time Dao Essence.
The Time Dao Essence and Time Principles continuously washed over Yang Kai’s mind and body. This kind of impact was invisible and imperceptible to someone who had never cultivated the Dao of Time, so they wouldn’t detect any anomaly while inside the Temporal River. It wasn’t until after one left this place that they realised the flow of time was different.
On the other hand, Yang Kai could make use of these impacts to study the Dao of Time. He could even refine the Time Dao Essence directly to improve his mastery of the Dao of Time.
That was what he had been doing these past six months; however, he now realised that the Temporal River seemed to have become shorter.
The lengths of the undercurrents in the Great Sea were all different, and although he had not checked it carefully, Yang Kai reckoned that the Temporal River was about 9,000 metres long when he first entered it. Now, however, it was 500 metres shorter.
Was it because he had barged into this place and absorbed the Time Dao Essence here?
Yang Kai had no idea, but after giving it some thought, he stopped comprehending the Dao of Time and instead focused on just cultivating.
Half a year later, Yang Kai opened his eyes and scanned his surroundings once again.
The Temporal River had become shorter again, though it wasn’t as severe as the previous time. It was now about 20 metres smaller. The difference was minimal, but Yang Kai could easily detect it as he had been paying close attention this time.
These kinds of changes made him realise something.
It seemed that his presence and the absorption of Time Dao Essence were the main reasons for the shrinking of the Temporal River.
In other words, as long as he was inside the Temporal River, he would consume the amazing power in this place, and the river would continue to become shorter; after all, the Time Dao Essence was constantly washing over him, causing the flow of time in this isolated space to be different from that of the outside world.
He had only been cultivating for another half a year, but the river had become 20 metres shorter. In other words, the river would shrink about 40 metres a year if he did nothing but cultivate. As such, this Temporal River would be gone for good in around 200 years at most.
If he simultaneously absorbed the Time Dao Essence in this place and cultivated it, the river would disappear even sooner.
Upon this realization, Yang Kai’s expression darkened.
Initially, he intended to stay in this Temporal River until he ascended to the Eighth Order, but now it seemed that the Temporal River would disappear in just about 200 years.
That amount of time wasn’t sufficient for him to make it to the Eighth Order.
[What should I do now?]
After giving it some thought, Yang Kai realised that the Great Sea was vast, and it had countless undercurrents in it. Since there was one Temporal River here, there might be another. Even if this Temporal River was completely consumed, he could just go looking for the next one. As long as there were five to six Temporal Rivers of this size in the Celestial Phenomenon, he would be able to ascend to the Eighth Order.
Right now, Yang Kai’s main task was to increase his strength. He wasn’t sure if the Royal Lord had also dived into this place, but if he had, there might come a time when they bump into one another.
Regardless, where there was a will, there was a way. It was pointless for Yang Kai to overthink things at this point.
He then set his mind at ease and stopped absorbing the Time Dao Essence in the Temporal River; instead focusing all his efforts on cultivating.
Sets of materials were refined as time went by.
Just like what he had estimated, about 40 metres of the Temporal River would vanish for every year he spent in this place.
Yang Kai slowly became wholly absorbed in cultivation and lost track of the outside world.
He had never cultivated for such a prolonged period of time before. Initially, he found it difficult to adapt, but as the heritage in his Small Universe increased, he slowly got used to it.
About 160 years later, Yang Kai was shocked awake by an anomaly while cultivating.
He hurriedly opened his eyes and realised that the Temporal River was only 100 metres long now. It was originally a long river, but it had significantly shortened over the years.
Due to its length, it couldn’t even sustain its own existence anymore and as it was battered by the other undercurrents, it was on the brink of collapse.
Yang Kai could feel that the Martial Domains in the other undercurrents had broken through the isolation of the Temporal River.
His expression changed as he stored the set of materials he hadn’t fully refined and got to his feet.
It was time to leave this Temporal River.
Despite knowing that this day would come, Yang Kai still felt lost when he finally had to set out.
He had no idea if he could find another Temporal River. The undercurrents in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon were turbulent, so perhaps before he could find the next Temporal River, he would be killed by them.
However, he had no other choice.
Surging the power of his Dragon Vein, Dragon Scales started appearing on Yang Kai’s skin, including his eyelids, and his entire figure radiated a golden glow.
The undercurrents in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon were savage and Yang Kai didn’t have the confidence to resist them without relying on the power of his Dragon Vein.
He summoned his Azure Dragon Spear and let out a breath as he checked to ensure he was in peak condition.
Just as he was about to bolt out of the Temporal River, he paused as an idea sprang to his mind.
The Temporal River was only 100 metres long now, and as the other undercurrents clashed with it from all directions, it would probably fall apart soon. When that happened, this Temporal River would be gone for good.
Although the 100-metre Temporal River couldn’t be considered long, it still contained a lot of Time Dao Essence. Thinking about this precious resource, Yang Kai couldn’t help wondering if he could keep it inside his Small Universe.
The instant he had that thought, he could no longer contain the impulse to act.
Time Dao Essence was hugely beneficial to him. If he could keep it inside his Small Universe and absorb it, it would help improve his mastery of the Dao of Time.
Without hesitation, he opened a portal to his Small Universe and released his Divine Sense, which engulfed the Temporal River and drew it into the portal.
The next instant, Yang Kai’s expression changed drastically. He quickly shut the portal to his Small Universe and surged his World Force before infusing it into his Azure Dragon Spear.
His Dragon Roar reverberated as the Azure Dragon Spear transformed into a massive Dragon and shattered the blockade of the undercurrent in front of it, leading Yang Kai to charge forward.
Sparks flew from his Dragon Scales as Yang Kai groaned in pain as his Dragon Blood gushed out of his wounds.
Although his power had increased significantly, he was still horribly injured the moment he was swept into the undercurrent.
Clenching his teeth as his gaze was full of determination, Yang Kai wielded his spear and traversed the chaotic undercurrents. At the same time, he released his Divine Sense to scan the surroundings.
He had to look for another Temporal River. Only by finding one would he stand a chance to survive; otherwise, he would be tortured to death by these undercurrents.
As his Divine Sense was shredded, Yang Kai felt excruciating pain in his Soul.
The Dragon Scales that had covered his entire body were battered and blown off in quick succession.
After just an incense stick of time, Yang Kai was covered in blood. There wasn’t even a part of his skin that was left intact, but he still hadn’t managed to find another Temporal River.
One hour later, half his flesh had been ripped off, revealing many of his bones and making him look extremely miserable.
His aura was weakening fast, like candlelight amidst the storm that might put it out at any moment.
His vision was blurred, and he found it hard to sustain his Divine Sense. Every time he activated it, he felt a sting of pain that seemed to be tearing his head apart.
Yang Kai nearly fell into despair at his situation. Previously, he was lucky as he had made use of his Dragon Bead at the critical moment to plunge into the 9,000-metre Temporal River. Now though, it seemed his luck had run out.
Moreover, even though he had been nurturing his Dragon Bead for nearly 200 years now, it still hadn’t been restored as there were many cracks on it. If he used it again now, it would probably shatter.
Just as he was about to lose hope, Yang Kai faintly sensed a calm undercurrent nearby.
[Another Temporal River!]
Ecstatic, he wielded his spear and desperately swam towards that place.
A dozen breaths later, he broke through two undercurrents and entered the one after them. He quickly sensed his surroundings, and upon making sure there was no danger, he collapsed to the ground and passed out.
After two years dedicated to just recovering, Yang Kai began to assess his situation.
Even though there was no murderous intent in this second undercurrent he stayed in, it was not a Temporal River like he thought it was, for there was no Time Dao Essence in this place.
Instead, it was a coherent Grand Dao of Nature River.
The river was about 20,000 metres long, which was much longer than the Temporal River he previously stayed in.
Unfortunately, this Grand Dao wasn’t suitable for him. Therefore, for the past two years, other than recuperating, he mostly spent his time studying the 100-metre Temporal River he had put inside his Small Universe.
After the Temporal River entered his Small Universe, he was able to digest the Time Dao Essence, which allowed him to gain some new understanding of the Dao of Time.
It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing; after all, if he comprehended the Dao of Time in the Temporal River for a year, about 40 metres of the length would be consumed.
Therefore, a 100-metre Temporal River couldn’t bring about tremendous transformation to his comprehension.
With that said, Yang Kai had now found another way to cultivate.
Every undercurrent in this Great Sea was evolved from a Grand Dao. Although he could improve himself by absorbing the Grand Dao’s power in the undercurrents, the speed at which he could refine it would be much faster if he could keep it inside his Small Universe.
He had never cultivated the Dao of Nature before. In fact, among the cultivators he had come into contact with before, only those from Free and Unfettered Paradise like Ning Dao Ren had deep attainments in this Grand Dao. Every move such cultivators made harmonized with the Heavens and Earth and they believed that everything was born of Nature and should not be governed by individuals but instead lived alongside with. Cultivators of the Dao of Nature were carefree and unconcerned about worldly affairs, so although Yang Kai admired their mindset, he could never be like them.
With the previous experience of taking in the 100 metres Temporal River, he was curious about what would happen if he absorbed this 20,000 metres Nature Dao River and assimilated it into his Small Universe. Would he have a solid foundation in the Dao of Nature after he absorbed it?
In that case, the Temporal Rivers wouldn’t be the only thing he could benefit from in the Great Sea.
As long as he could absorb and refine enough undercurrents, he could integrate 10,000 Grand Daos into his Martial Dao.
The reason a cultivator had to focus on a single Grand Dao was that they had limited energy and time while there were unlimited Grand Daos. Only when one became a Master in a particular Grand Dao would they achieve something great. If someone cultivated too many Grand Daos, other cultivators of the same generation would easily surpass them for their comprehension wouldn’t be deep.
Quality was more important than quantity when it came to cultivating Grand Daos.
Yang Kai had actually cultivated quite a number of Grand Daos, which included the Dao of Space, the Dao of Time, the Spear Dao, the Alchemic Dao, and the Dao of Artifact Refining. It could even be said that he knew a thing or two about Dao of Spirit Arrays because when practising Alchemy and Artifact Refining, he would need to use some Spirit Arrays.
However, there were only three Grand Daos that he had real accomplishments, which were the Dao of Space, the Dao of Time, and the Spear Dao. He was pretty skilful in Dao of Alchemy before he entered the 3,000 Worlds, but he hadn’t practised it for a long time.
That was because he had limited energy, so it was impossible that he could spend lots of time studying every Grand Dao he came across.
Nevertheless, the unique characteristics of this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon made him realise it might be possible to do just that.
Yang Kai wasn’t sure what would happen if he managed to comprehend and integrate 10,000 Grand Daos.
With the previous experience of taking in the 100-metre Temporal River, it wasn’t hard for Yang Kai to absorb this Nature River. Although a 20,000-metre river sounded quite long, it was nothing compared with the capacity of his Small Universe.
Opening the portal to his Small Universe, Yang Kai engulfed the 20,000-metre river with his Divine Sense before drawing it in.
In just 20 breaths of time, the entire river was gone.
Before Yang Kai could inspect the changes in his Small Universe though, the surrounding undercurrents swarmed him.
Just like what he had done two years ago, he wielded his Azure Dragon Spear and summoned his Dragon Scales to protect himself. He pierced through the undercurrents and charged forward.
According to previous experiences, he had to find a safe place within an hour; otherwise, he might not be able to persevere.
Fortunately, he was now aware that there were some calm undercurrents in the Great Sea. As long as he wasn’t cursed with terrible luck, he could find a safe place and recuperate before setting off again.
In just 10 years, Yang Kai managed to recuperate five times and absorb five rivers of different Grand Daos, while the sixth time, he finally managed to enter a Temporal River again.
Upon that realization, Yang Kai was ecstatic. He hadn’t come across another Temporal River in the past 10 years, so he worried he would never find one.
Since there was a second Temporal River, there should be a third. As long as he had enough time and energy, he would find more and more.
Just like what he always did after entering an undercurrent, Yang Kai first focused on recuperating.
When he was fully healed, he finally had some time to inspect the Temporal River.
This Temporal River was longer than the previous one as it was about 13,000 metres long. He knew that he would consume about 50 metres every year just by remaining inside it to cultivate. In other words, this Temporal River could last him 250 to 260 years.
Elated, he hurriedly fished out a set of resources and began refining them.
Although the Great Sea was full of wondrous treasures, Yang Kai had never forgotten his main goal, which was to make it to the Eighth Order as soon as possible. He would only be considered truly powerful with ample heritage, while everything else was just a bonus.
Temporal Rivers were the key to his rapid increase in strength.
As he refined materials to increase his heritage, Yang Kai looked into his Small Universe and inspected the changes.
Over the past 10 years, including the Grand Dao of Nature River, he had taken in six rivers of Grand Daos with different lengths.
All six rivers were gone for good as he had fully refined them.
All these rivers contained abstruse powers as they dispersed and blended into his Small Universe.
The Dao Essences of the Grand Daos that Yang Kai had never dabbled in before started appearing in his Small Universe.
The length of a river determined the strength of the Grand Dao’s power, and it indirectly influenced his achievements in that particular Grand Dao.
According to his classifications of Grand Daos, some of the Grand Daos he had absorbed had now reached the Second Level, Peering Through the Doors.
Different Grand Daos corresponded to different Principles. Yang Kai couldn’t be considered skilful in these Grand Daos, but they had brought about changes to not only himself but also his Small Universe.
He had a feeling that there were some subtle differences in his Small Universe, but the changes were so tiny that even he, as its owner, was unable to sense them clearly.
Perhaps only after he refined even more Grand Dao Rivers would the changes in the Small Universe become conspicuous.
One thing he was certain of was that the changes were beneficial to his Small Universe.
Yang Kai was elated. The Great Sea was probably the biggest treasure trove he had ever chanced upon. In fact, it was a treasure trove of the entire Universe.
He wondered if the sheep-headed Royal Lord had barged into this place and discovered it; however, Black Ink Clansmen and Humans cultivated differently, so even if the Royal Lord had come to realize this place’s worth, there was nothing he could do.
After realizing such benefits, Yang Kai no longer confined himself to the Temporal River.
From time to time, he would go out and absorb other undercurrents before coming back to continue cultivating.
With that said, he bore some risks by doing so. The undercurrents were turbulent and flowed about randomly. If he didn’t act swiftly enough, the Temporal River would leave his detection range and he would be stuck.
Therefore, he would only absorb the undercurrents within reach every time he left. Even so, he benefited greatly from these excursions.
About 250 years later, the second Temporal River was only left with a length of 100 metres.
Just like what Yang Kai had previously done, he transferred the remnants of the Temporal River inside his Small Universe so that he could gradually refine it. Then, he set off on his adventure to look for the next Temporal River, resting in the less violent undercurrents as he traversed this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.
Time passed by slowly.
Initially, Yang Kai kept count of how many years had passed, but gradually, he had lost himself in this kind of unusual cultivation, forgetting the passing of time as he kept looking for more Temporal Rivers.
Every time he absorbed and refined any kind of calm Grand Dao River, it would bring about some changes to his Small Universe, allowing him to gain some understanding of many Grand Daos he had never touched before in his life.
His entire Small Universe was filled with traces of all sorts of Grand Daos now.
In the past, when the Humans in Void Continent cultivated, given enough aptitude, they could easily comprehend the Dao of Space, the Dao of Time, the Spear Dao, or other Grand Daos Yang Kai had dabbled in.
However, as Yang Kai refined more and more Grand Dao Rivers, the cultivators in his Small Universe now found it easier to comprehend even more kinds of Grand Daos.
The entire Void Continent was now a fertile place where cultivators could freely choose from a variety of Grand Daos and focus on the ones that interested them.
In the Void Dao Temple, many bright cultivators had reached the peak and were just one step away from ascending to the Open Heaven Realm.
However, Yang Kai was currently trapped in a place where he couldn’t even guarantee his own life, so he couldn’t release them.
The lengths of the Temporal Rivers in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon varied greatly. Some of them were thousands of metres long while some were as short as hundreds of metres, causing Yang Kai to wonder just how they were formed in the first place.
Of course, longer Temporal Rivers allowed him to stay there and cultivate for a longer time.
As he absorbed even more rivers, Yang Kai acquired some insights on many of the Grand Daos. In fact, he could now be considered something of a Master in quite a few of them.
As more and more resources of different Orders were consumed, the heritage in his Small Universe increased by the day.
It was an extremely long and unusual cultivation session and Yang Kai was fairly certain he was the first person in history who had ever cultivated this way for such a long time.
One day, when Yang Kai was engrossed in cultivating in a Temporal River, he realised there were some unusual changes occurring in his Small Universe.
Shocked, he hurriedly investigated.
As he inspected it, he felt that his Small Universe was going through an indescribable enhancement. The territories were expanding, and the World Force in his Small Universe was becoming more condensed.
The World Tree clone seemed to resonate with the changes in his Small Universe as its leaves rustled noisily and it began to madly refine his World Force.
Trails of light appeared in the sky, but they were not cracks but the manifestations of the Dao Essences of a myriad of different Grand Daos.
Furthermore, some Heavenly Manifestations appeared in different parts of the Void Continent.
The cultivators living on the Void Continent were pleasantly surprised to learn that the entire World seemed to have come alive. The Grand Daos became active, which allowed cultivators to comprehend them with ease. Therefore, many hurriedly entered seclusion to take advantage of this occasion.
Something suddenly dawned on Yang Kai.
[I’m about to break through to the Eighth Order!]
He had observed Xu Ling Gong ascending to the Eighth Order before, and he had learned a lot from that experience; however, his ascension seemed slightly different compared to Xu Ling Gong’s.
Every Open Heaven Realm Master who attempted to make it to the next Order would fall into a perilous situation, for any accident at this moment could cause their Small Universe to rupture and their life to be extinguished, and it was more dangerous the higher one’s Order became.
The Eighth Order was only one Order below the peak, the Ninth Order, so it was by no means a safe endeavour.
Although on the surface, Xu Ling Gong didn’t seem to be at any risk when he achieved his breakthrough back then, the real danger lay in his Small Universe, which others were unable to observe.
Fortunately, his ample heritage helped him get through the crisis and successfully break through.
However, some Open Heaven Realm Masters would face a bottleneck at this point, and before shattering that bottleneck, they wouldn’t be able to achieve a breakthrough.
Back then, it took the Proprietress around 200 years to break through to the Seventh Order.
Another example was Feng Ying who spent some 200 to 300 years trying to ascend to the Eighth Order. It wasn’t until the grand battle against the Black Ink Clan that she reappeared.
Initially, Yang Kai was worried he would face a similar bottleneck, but now it seemed that he had been worried for nothing.
He didn’t face any kind of bottleneck, and with ample heritage in his Small Universe, everything just proceeded smoothly.
Perhaps it had something to do with the World Tree clone, which had been in his Small Universe for hundreds of years now and helped to refine his World Force to an incredible degree. His current World Force was purer than any other Seventh-Order Master’s, and the purer one’s World Force was, the more robust their heritage was. As a result, bottlenecks simply did not exist for Yang Kai.
Yang Kai could even clearly feel that there was no danger to speak of when achieving this ascension. Although there were all kinds of different phenomena in his Small Universe, those were just the manifestations of the Grand Daos he comprehended and the results of his cultivation, which were harmless to his Small Universe.
Everything just took place smoothly.
Yang Kai had been extremely eager to reach the Eighth Order as soon as possible, but when the day finally came, his heart was as tranquil as a clear lake. He wasn’t as surprised or excited as he had imagined he would be.
He had already expected this day to come, and he was confident he would make it to the Eighth Order no matter what. It was just a matter of time before he achieved it.
His Small Universe continued to expand as it was going through an evolution, but he soon ignored the changes and continued refining materials.
On the other hand, the cultivators living in Yang Kai’s Small Universe had benefited greatly from this change. In every corner of the Void Continent, there were cultivators who gathered together as they gained greater understanding of the Grand Daos they cultivated and made breakthroughs in their comprehension.
In the Void Dao Temple, where the essence of the entire continent came together, many youths even managed to condense their own Dao Seals at this moment.
The babies born during this period of time had even more outstanding aptitudes than before.
As the Grand Daos all came alive, it made it easier for the cultivators to grasp them. The expansion of the World also widened the Martial Dao as a whole.
Gradually, all the Heavenly Manifestations disappeared and the visible traces of the Grand Daos’ manifestations vanished. The entire Void Continent returned to calmness.
However, the Emperor Realm Masters could detect that this World was already very different from the past.
For one, it had become vaster.
Cultivators formed into groups and began surveying these new lands, confirming their initial suspicions.
In the past, there was a World Barrier that they couldn’t move past, but now that barrier was gone and many more territories had appeared.
These territories were fertile, but there weren’t any living beings in them.
When the Sects got wind of this, they sent out their Masters who led many disciples to occupy these virgin lands.
Yang Kai had only placed a small number of people in his Small Universe back then, about 10 million or so.
However, the environment in the Small Universe was filled with vitality, making it a paradise where cultivators could thrive. Moreover, there were no major wars or disputes, only some minor conflicts between the various Sects.
With the Void Dao Temple’s appearance, even these conflicts also gradually vanished.
With such a peaceful environment, the number of people in his Small Universe swelled over the millennia.
As the population increased, there was a greater need for land. In the past, those from the Void Dao Temple were worried that if this went on, the entire Void Continent wouldn’t be able to accommodate the increasing population within a few thousand years.
Now though, that problem was solved.
The land mass of Void Continent had expanded by five times at the very least, so even if the rate of population growth continued as it was, there was no need to worry about not having enough living space for several tens of thousands of years.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai was oblivious to all of this because he was pondering on another issue.
Now that he was in the Eighth Order, could his power continue to increase?
Back then, he was forced to ascend to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, so theoretically, his limit was the Seventh-Order.
However, after he consumed a Mid-Rank World Fruit, his limit became the Eighth Order.
With him being in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm now, was there any future for him?
There were quite a number of Human cultivators whose limit was the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm. Many of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders had directly ascended to the Sixth Order back then. In other words, the Eighth Order was the best they could achieve in their lifetimes.
Yang Kai had asked the Eighth-Order Masters about it in the past, and he was told that after they ascended to the Eighth-Order, they could faintly feel a layer of restraint covering their Small Universes. It was this invisible restriction that confined them to the Eighth Order. Regardless of how hard they cultivated, they could never break through to the Ninth Order.
If they forcefully tried to break that restraint, they would risk their Small Universes exploding, ending their lives.
As such, it wasn’t that the Eighth-Order Masters didn’t want to keep improving themselves, but rather that their Small Universes were unable to bear greater power.
Now, Yang Kai was also an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master himself, and just like what the Division Commanders had told him, he could feel an invisible shackle on his Small Universe.
This kind of restraint was weak and barely perceptible at the moment; however, as he strengthened his power as an Eighth-Order Master, this kind of restraint would grow stronger to the point where he would be stopped from advancing further.
As he recalled his decision of ascending to the Fifth Order back then, Yang Kai did not feel regretful. At that time, under the lead of Ti Zheng, a Seventh-Order Master from Myriad Demons Heaven, several Masters stopped him from attempting to directly ascend to the Seventh-Order. This had nothing to do with personal grudges as they were just trying to prevent a potential crisis. That was because there was such a catastrophe that took place in the 3,000 Worlds in the past that made the Cave Heavens and Paradises grow distrustful of those who ascended directly to the Seventh Order who were not supervised by them directly.
At that time, if Yang Kai hadn’t ascended to the Open Heaven Realm, he wouldn’t have been able to enter the Shadowless Cave Heaven and save the Proprietress.
After pulling himself together, he continued refining the materials to strengthen his heritage.
He was still a newly promoted Eighth-Order Master, so there was some road ahead of him yet. However, once he reached the peak of the Eighth Order, that would be his limit.
There might be some ways in the Universe that would allow one to shatter the restraint on his Small Universe. At the very least, the Innate Open Heaven Pills that were born in the Universe Furnace were one way to go about it; therefore, Yang Kai wasn’t worried about it. In the future, he could go looking for the Universe Furnace so that he would have a chance to make it to the Ninth Order.
Unfortunately, those that he got from the Blood Monster Cave Heaven did not seem to have any effect on shattering the restraint on his Small Universe. Maybe it was the age of the Pills. Or maybe, there was some other reason. Regardless, Yang Kai remained hopeful that his hope lay in the Universe Furnace.
Time continued to go by slowly as he repeatedly set off on journeys to look for more Temporal Rivers. It was a rare chance, so it would be a shame if he missed it.
When looking for the next Temporal River or cultivating, he would seize the chance to refine even more Grand Dao Rivers.
Finally, there came a day when he finished refining a set of materials in a Temporal River that was still 3,000 metres long, but when he was ready to fish out another set, he realised that he no longer had complete sets of materials.
Also, added ‘Unfortunately, those that he got from the Blood Monster Cave Heaven did not seem to have any effect on shattering the restraint on his Small Universe. Maybe it was the age of the Pills. Or maybe, there was some other reason. Regardless, Yang Kai remained hopeful that his hope lay in the Universe Furnace.’
Initially, Yang Kai had a massive amount of resources.
Before he left the 3,000 Worlds for the Black Ink Battlefield back then, he had made some preparations by bringing many materials of all different Elements with him.
Over the years, he had acquired even more resources on the Black Ink Battlefield, especially when he raised chaos in the Black Ink Clan’s territory and robbed many of their cities.
Every Black Ink Clan Master’s territory had a large number of shops where there were innumerable resources for sale.
Therefore, Yang Kai had never worried about not having enough cultivation resources. When Cang asked for some resources to restore his strength, Yang Kai gave him some without hesitation.
Now, he still had a lot of materials, but those were all of the Five Elements. He no longer had any Yin or Yang Element materials with him, including the Yellow and Blue Crystals he had acquired from Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan.
Among the different sorts of materials, Yin and Yang Attribute resources were the hardest to come by. In the 3,000 Worlds, higher Order Yin and Yang Element materials were considered strategic reserves even in the Cave Heavens and Paradises. They wouldn’t use them unless they absolutely had to.
The situation was slightly better on the Black Ink Battlefield, but all in all, Yin and Yang Element materials were still much rarer than materials of the Five Elements.
Without a complete set of materials, he couldn’t continue cultivating.
He regretted using too many Yellow and Blue Crystals to block the Royal Lord’s aura back then. Every time he used Instantaneous Movement, he had to release potent Purifying Light to block the Royal Lord’s aura, and after years of running away, he had consumed a lot of those crystals.
However, it wasn’t like he had a choice. If he didn’t use Purifying Light, he would’ve been killed.
Even though he had a lot of Open Heaven Pills, consuming them to cultivate was extremely slow in comparison. Moreover, he had been staying in this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon for far too long, so he intended to leave.
This cultivation session should come to an end.
After making some quick calculations, Yang Kai realised he had spent 4,000 years in the Temporal Rivers. It only took him around 2,000 years to make it to the Eighth-Order, while he spent the next 2,000 years cultivating, which allowed him to establish himself in the Eighth-Order.
Just like that, 4,000 years had passed.
With that said, a significantly shorter amount of time had passed in the outside world. As the flow of time in every Temporal River was different, and Yang Kai wasn’t aware of the exact ratio compared to the outside world, so he was unable to calculate how much time had really passed by in the rest of the Universe.
However, he knew he had spent about 100 years outside of the Temporal Rivers, so taking some rough estimates, he guessed that somewhere between 400 and 500 years had passed in the outside world.
[How is the war between the two Races?] It wasn’t until this moment that he thought about this matter.
After such a long cultivation session, Yang Kai had almost forgotten everything about the outside world. All of a sudden, he recalled that the very reason he even barged into the Great Sea was that he was chased after by the sheep headed Royal Lord.
He hadn’t seen the Royal Lord after such a long time, so he wondered if the other party had entered the Great Sea as well, or if he was even still alive.
Yang Kai shook his head to push the thought to the back of his mind. To him, the most important thing now was to leave here as soon as possible.
When he had ample resources, he had forgotten about the passing of time in the Great Sea. Now that he didn’t have sufficient resources, it was pointless for him to keep staying here.
Nevertheless, leaving this place wasn’t so easy. There were countless undercurrents in the Great Sea that intertwined with each other, so it was hard for him to identify any kind of direction.
Having said that, Yang Kai believed that where there was a will, there was a way.
He summoned his Azure Dragon Spear and opened up a portal to his Small Universe before absorbing the 3,000 metres long Temporal River. Then, he charged towards the undercurrent nearest to him.
Unlike when he first plunged into the Great Sea, he was no longer flustered. Over the years, he had moved across the Great Sea countless times to look for more Temporal and Grand Dao Rivers, so he had learned some tricks to deal with these undercurrents.
Every undercurrent had evolved from a Grand Dao, which formed a Martial Domain. Yang Kai had never dabbled in many of those Grand Daos, so it was hard for him to react accordingly.
Now, he had devoured quite a lot of Grand Dao Rivers, including some of the Grand Dao of Space, which helped improve his mastery over the Dao of Space. By this point, it could be said that he had some basic achievements in most of the Grand Daos in the Universe, though his level of mastery in them varied greatly.
When he was particularly skilled in a certain Grand Dao, he would have it easier in the corresponding undercurrent.
For example, Yang Kai had come across several Space Dao Rivers which were full of Space Dao Essence and Void Cracks that moved about randomly. Most people would find such an environment to be a death trap. Even Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Royal Lords would find it hard to survive once they landed in such a river.
However, Yang Kai was able to traverse the Space Dao Rivers like he was strolling across a flat meadow. He just had to use his Space Principles to resonate with the currents in the river so he could ride along with it without being harmed.
After absorbing such rivers in the past, he realised his mastery over the Dao of Space had still improved, and when he came across another Space Dao River, it became easier for him to deal with it.
It was a virtuous cycle.
Now, Yang Kai wasn’t skillful in all the Grand Daos, but as long as he knew a thing or two about them, he could make use of his comprehension to ward off some of the dangers in the undercurrents. If the rivers were cohesive enough, he could even refine part of them and enhance his mastery of those Grand Daos.
Therefore, despite knowing that it would be easy to leave, Yang Kai wasn’t worried he wouldn’t be able to achieve it.
Given enough time, he could absorb and refine all the undercurrents in the Great Sea, and without these undercurrents, the Great Sea would simply cease to exist.
This would be an enormously strenuous task as just based on his observations so far, the Great Sea was so vast that it would take him several tens of thousands of years to achieve this on his own.
His experience of absorbing the undercurrents this time was different from the previous ones.
Back then, Yang Kai primarily focused on looking for Temporal Rivers to improve his cultivation while absorbing undercurrents was something he did when looking for the next Temporal River or to break up the monotony of cultivating.
However, as he focused on taking in undercurrents now, his efficiency was far higher.
This caused his Small Universe to be filled with Grand Dao Rivers that he hadn’t managed to refine. These rivers contained all sorts of abstrusities as they clashed in the Small Universe, causing some unusual phenomena.
When it became too much, Yang Kai had to look for tranquil undercurrents to refine the remnants of the rivers, and only after they were fully refined would he continue with his journey.
As he absorbed the Grand Dao Rivers, his mastery over various Grand Daos improved rapidly. He had also managed to raise his Spear Dao to the Seventh Level of Mastery.
His Mastery of the Sword Dao, which he hadn’t even properly studied before, reached the Fifth Level, Attaining Mastery Through Comprehensive Understanding.
Reaching the Fifth Level in this Grand Dao didn’t do much to add to his strength, but it was enough for Yang Kai to now be considered a Great Master in the Sword Dao.
Of course, that was just the level of Mastery he had achieved in a theoretical sense and he still wasn’t comparable to those who reached the same level through their own hard work and comprehension.
Regardless, that was none of Yang Kai’s concern as he just wanted to make use of the advancements in the Grand Daos to help him get out of this Great Sea.
Furthermore, it would take one a long time and much effort to reach the Fifth Level of Mastery in any Grand Dao, but Yang Kai only had to refine a number of Sword Dao Rivers to achieve that.
As more and more Grand Dao Rivers were extracted by Yang Kai, he found it easier and easier to traverse the undercurrents in the Great Sea.
Having said that, there was one point that made him torn between tears and laughter.
Back then, he was eager to cultivate and make it to the Eighth-Order as soon as possible, so he always exerted himself to seek out Temporal Rivers, but only found one every 10 years on average.
Now that he no longer needed Temporal Rivers to cultivate though, he chanced upon them quite frequently.
After absorbing a couple dozen Temporal Rivers of different lengths, he suddenly felt that the flow of time in his Small Universe changed once again.
In the past, the flow of time in his Small Universe was five times faster than the outside world, but at this moment, the ratio had increased significantly.
After some quick calculations, Yang Kai realised that the flow of time in his Small Universe was now about seven times faster than in the outside world.
In the meantime, he had acquired some new insights on the Dao of Time. His Dragon Vein throbbed as his Dragon Pressure spread out wantonly.
He had achieved a breakthrough in the Dao of Time!
When he visited the No-Return Pass several hundred years ago and cultivated inside the Dragon Pool, his Mastery of the Dao of Time had improved tremendously, reaching the Seventh Level.
Now, after he absorbed a few dozen Temporal Rivers, he directly broke through to the Eighth Level, bringing it to the same level as his comprehension of the Dao of Space.
With that said, Yang Kai had a feeling that he wasn’t far from achieving another breakthrough in his Dao of Space. The prerequisite was that there were enough Space Dao Rivers in this Great Sea for him to absorb and refine.
The realization made him feel ecstatic.
As he examined the changes in his Small Universe, he continued to move across the undercurrents.
…..
In the periphery of the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, there were a lot of dead Universe Worlds where Black Ink Nests had been planted, with one of them being especially huge as it belonged to a Royal Lord.
There seemed to be a powerful aura hiding in this Black Ink Nest.
About 500 years ago, the sheep headed Royal Lord arrived at this place and saw Yang Kai dive into this vast Celestial Phenomenon. After entering it himself to inspect the situation, the Royal Lord realised the Great Sea was full of danger, so he had no choice but to withdraw.
At that time, he was badly injured, and if he insisted on chasing after Yang Kai, forget about finding the latter, he might even lose his life.
Therefore, the sheep headed Royal Lord dragged a dead Universe World to this place from the void and planted his Black Ink Nest. By doing this, he could monitor the Great Sea so that he could immediately capture Yang Kai should the latter manage to somehow survive and escape. Secondly, he had to recuperate.
Now that 500 years had passed, his Black Ink Nest wasn’t the only Black Ink Nest in the periphery of the Great Sea. There were about several hundred Low-Rank Black Ink Nests.
With that said, there were no Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests yet; after all, it would consume a vast amount of energy to nurture Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, and the Royal Lord didn’t have the intention of having his own Territory Lords yet. The reason he even nurtured other Black Ink Clansmen was to help him monitor the Great Sea.
Several hundred Low-Rank Black Ink Nests were scattered around the Great Sea with only a short distance between them while almost 10 million Black Ink Clansmen had been spawned from these Black Ink Nests.
The resources in the nearby void had been fully extracted and sent to the Black Ink Nests to help nurture more and more Black Ink Clansmen.
Now, most of these Black Ink Clansmen were posted around the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, so if Yang Kai really managed to emerge, they would immediately discover him.
At this moment, a Feudal Lord was staring at the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon in front of him with a frown, sporting a doubtful expression.
He had a feeling that the Great Sea had changed somehow over the years. It seemed to have become smaller; however, the change was so gradual and minute that he wasn’t sure.
Then, he turned to look at the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest and hesitated about whether he should report this matter.
The Royal Lord was still recuperating, and although 500 years had passed, he still hadn’t fully recovered. If this Feudal Lord bothered him with a trivial matter, he was worried he would be punished.
[Perhaps I’m imagining things!]
The Feudal Lord shook his head. He had many companions who had been keeping an eye on this Great Sea as well, so if the Great Sea had really become smaller, the others would have noticed it.
Since none of them had detected it, the Feudal Lord believed that he must be overly worried.
While he was lost in his thoughts though, there was suddenly an anomaly in the Great Sea. With a start, he looked towards it intently.
He had been in this place for 300 years, but he had never seen any movement in the Great Sea, as though it was completely dead. It was odd that there were some ripples on this day.
Before he could see clearly what was happening, a figure bolted out of the Great Sea with a spear in hand. The person seemed to be fighting against an invisible enemy as his murderous intent surged and his World Force undulated.
When the person appeared, he happened to meet eyes with this Feudal Lord.
Both of them were startled, but the Feudal Lord soon came to his senses as he hurriedly retreated and howled to alert the others.
The Human that the Royal Lord had been waiting for had finally appeared!
Although the Feudal Lord had never seen Yang Kai before, he knew this was the target the Royal Lord had been looking for the moment the Human appeared.
Following the howl, the Azure Dragon Spear stabbed into the Feudal Lord’s mouth. As World Force burst forth, the Feudal Lord’s head exploded.
[Why is there a Feudal Lord here?] Yang Kai frowned. As he looked up, his doubt intensified because there was a Low-Rank Black Ink Nest on a Universe Fragment nearby. There were also quite a lot of Black Ink Clansmen wandering around this Universe Fragment.
Sweeping his eyes around, Yang Kai realized there were even more Black Ink Clansmen in the void that scattered around the Great Sea, as though they were monitoring something.
After giving it some thought, he realised what was going on.
[That Royal Lord sure is clever. I suppose he has been waiting for me to come out all this time. He must have had his own Black Ink Nest; otherwise, he couldn’t have nurtured so many Black Ink Clansmen. As soon as I left the Great Sea, regardless of direction, he’d immediately find out about it.]
It seemed that the Royal Lord never entered the Great Sea and instead was recuperating in the periphery over the years. But, how many years had Yang Kai been inside the Great Sea? Since the day he decided to leave the Great Sea, he had spent 200 years looking for a way out. During that period of time, he had simply been dragged around the undercurrents with no way to identify which direction he was headed.
Yang Kai almost lost hope after spending 200 years looking for a way out. Fortunately, his efforts had ultimately not been in vain.
Before he could ponder on this matter, a powerful aura awakened from a Universe World in the distance. Following that, he saw a burly figure shooting towards him like a meteor. Before the figure even arrived, he was engulfed in the familiar Royal Lord’s pressure.
[He’s quite quick!] Yang Kai knew that the Feudal Lords nearby must have informed the Royal Lord about his appearance through the Black Ink Nests.
The Feudal Lords in the void also started charging towards Yang Kai in an attempt to hold him down.
Yang Kai gripped his Azure Dragon Spear and grinned. Then, he dashed towards the Royal Lord, and everywhere he passed, all the Black Ink Clansmen exploded into blood mist.
In the void, the Royal Lord was startled as he wondered, [Why isn’t he running away?]
He initially thought that Yang Kai would immediately flee after leaving the Great Sea. Although this Human was weak, his skill at escaping was phenomenal.
Therefore, the moment he received the news from his subordinates, the Royal Lord dashed out of his Black Ink Nest as he was worried that Yang Kai would escape. To his surprise though, instead of running away, the Human came right at him.
What gave this Human brat such confidence? Had he forgotten about how battered he was while being chased by him 500 years ago?
Soon, however, the Royal Lord realised where the Human’s confidence came from.
As they got closer to each other, the Human’s aura surged and soon exceeded the limits of the Seventh Order before reaching the Eighth Order.
[He’s now in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm!] The Royal Lord was startled. [He broke through!? This damned Great Sea is full of deadly danger. Back then, I couldn’t even stay inside for long. It would be considered lucky for this boy to have just survived, so how did he even manage to achieve a breakthrough? Did he come across some kind of astonishing opportunity inside the Great Sea?]
The Royal Lord’s expression darkened, [So what if he’s made it to the Eighth Order? I’m a Royal Lord!]
In the past, he was unable to kill the Human because he was horribly injured, so he couldn’t fully use his strength; however, after 500 years of recuperation, his wounds had mostly healed. Although he still wasn’t in peak condition, he was already much better than 500 years ago.
Even if there were five Eighth-Order Humans in front of him, he could easily deal with them, not to mention that Yang Kai was on his own.
The only worry the Royal Lord had was about Yang Kai running; as long as the latter didn’t try to escape, everything was fine!
As the two figures charged towards each other, the distance between them shortened rapidly. Their powerful auras clashed, and before they even exchanged moves, the void had started warping.
Suddenly, the Royal Lord lost sight of Yang Kai. The next instant, he was engulfed in a powerful sense of murderous intent and innumerable spear shadows.
At this moment, Yang Kai wielded his spear as he showcased the skills he had acquired in the Great Sea. With his own Spear Dao as the foundation, he weaved the Grand Daos of Luck, Yin, Yang, Life, Death, Five Elements, Karma, Murder, Bloodlust and many others together.
The power of his spear made the entire universe tremble. Even if there was a Territory Lord in front of him, he had the confidence to destroy him with this move. It was the strongest spear attack he had ever unleashed.
Faced with this exquisite series of attacks, the Royal Lord responded with pure brute force. Circulating his Black Ink Strength madly, he forcefully pushed out his fist.
The next instant, Yang Kai was sent flying away while he sprayed out a mouthful of Golden Blood.
Overwhelming power triumphed over 10,000 skills!
Although Yang Kai had acquired much in the Great Sea and comprehended numerous different Grand Daos, it still couldn’t make up for the huge discrepancy between their raw powers.
He hurriedly stabilised himself, but instead of feeling downcast, Yang Kai was thrilled. That was because he realised he was able to compete against a Royal Lord.
Before he entered the Great Sea, he couldn’t have imagined battling against a Royal Lord as the other party only needed to land a single punch to end his life.
But now, despite still looking battered, Yang Kai had managed to trade blows with a Royal Lord.
His breakthrough to the Eighth-Order and the assimilation of many different Grand Daos had improved his strength tremendously. Yang Kai was no longer the frail Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master he used to be.
The Royal Lord was also flabbergasted. After striking Yang Kai with that punch, he didn’t rush to pursue him and instead looked down intently at his fist.
All kinds of indescribable powers swirled around his fist and they also lingered in the void where they clashed. Those powers were inscrutable, as though they had something to do with the very foundation of energy and existence themselves, something he could not understand in the slightest.
But soon, he cast those distracting thoughts away and glared at Yang Kai, murderous intent burning in his eyes.
Some 500 years ago, this Human escaped from him by diving into the Great Sea, but after emerging, he had become significantly more powerful. The Royal Lord knew he could not let such a Human escape again; otherwise, many Black Ink Clansmen would die at his hands in the future. Therefore, he was determined to kill Yang Kai regardless of what it took.
On the other hand, Yang Kai had also decided to purge this Royal Lord at all costs.
It wasn’t that he was overly confident in himself because of the increase in his strength, but rather that he knew the secrets of this Great Sea and couldn’t afford to let this Royal Lord live.
There was no denying that the Great Sea was a massive treasure trove. Although he had been trapped inside for many years, Yang Kai had benefited enormously from the experience. Such a Celestial Phenomenon was hugely beneficial to all Humans, not just him.
Perhaps he could come back in the future and cultivate here again. As such, he couldn’t let the secrets of this place be leaked out.
If he allowed the Royal Lord to live, after witnessing Yang Kai’s massive growth in strength, the latter would surely dive into the Great Sea and possibly discover its secrets.
The Grand Daos in the undercurrents were useless to the Black Ink Clan, but they were beneficial to Black Ink Disciples.
They just had to bring some Black Ink Disciples with them to reap all the benefits of this Celestial Phenomenon.
To prevent such a thing from happening, Yang Kai had to kill this Royal Lord.
Moreover, it was obvious that this Royal Lord wouldn’t let him flee either. He had been waiting in this place for hundreds of years, so now that his enemy had appeared, there was no way he would let him off.
Today, either this Royal Lord died, or Yang Kai would perish!
It just so happened that both of them were determined to destroy each other. In the next instant, Yang Kai disappeared from the spot while the Royal Lord surged his Black Ink Strength and flapped his wings.
Following that, Yang Kai abruptly appeared behind the Royal Lord and thrust out his spear.
As though there was an eye on the Royal Lord’s back, he swung his hand out, his palm seemingly able to suppress the Heavens and the Earth.
Nevertheless, he realised he couldn’t grasp his target. Yang Kai’s afterimage dissipated in his hand while the true body reappeared on his left.
Having expected this though, the Royal Lord directly pushed out his fist. The moment Yang Kai appeared, it was as though he chose to crash into the opponent’s attack.
They had exchanged over 100 moves in an instant, but they weren’t going all out yet.
Yang Kai’s afterimages scattered around the void, as though there were dozens of him appearing at the same time. Before an afterimage dissipated, a new one had appeared.
As he repeatedly thrust out his spear, Yang Kai channeled all sorts of Grand Daos into his attacks and soon there seemed to be a web of Grand Daos that engulfed the Royal Lord.
Unperturbed, the Royal Lord reacted accordingly. He knew that this Human was a Master of the Dao of Space, so despite being the stronger one, he couldn’t allow the other party to dictate the flow of this battle; otherwise, he might be the one defeated.
As he was not as skillful as this Human, all the Royal Lord could rely on was his immense power. As long as he found a chance, he could kill the other party with a single blow.
At that instant, the battle appeared quite lopsided.
One party repeatedly cast flashy attacks as he activated different sorts of Grand Daos through his spear while the other seemed clumsy but unfazed as every move he made exuded immense pressure.