Fang Tian Ci’s indifferent voice rang out, “If one day Big Brother’s consciousness falls asleep once again, who do you think should take control of Big Brother’s body, you or I?”
Thunder Shadow immediately fell silent…
Inheriting Yang Kai’s mastery of Grand Daos was also beneficial. If one day Yang Kai’s consciousness was disturbed once again, it would naturally be better for Fang Tian Ci to take over his physical body, because he would be able to bring out more of Yang Kai’s strength.
Back then, Thunder Shadow took over Yang Kai’s body first only because of an accident. At that time, Yang Kai had suddenly fallen into a coma and Thunder Shadow was the first to awaken, so taking over Yang Kai’s body was only natural.
Fang Tian Ci’s consciousness only woke up after Thunder Shadow had lost Mo Na Ye. If Fang Tian Ci had woken up first, Mo Na Ye might not have had a chance to escape.
That was why Yang Kai felt that Mo Na Ye was a scourge who could last for thousands of years and was not fated to die at that time.
“Second Brother, don’t jinx it!” After remaining silent for a moment, Thunder Shadow finally squeezed out a sentence, “Be careful in the future, it may not happen again.”
“There is always a chance for anything to happen. This has already happened before, we have to be on guard against it!”
“How could there be so many chances…”
As the two kept quibbling in his mind, Yang Kai couldn’t help but burst into laughter as he listened. He didn’t feel frustrated or anything, rather, he had a sense of novelty.
Over these years, whether he was facing powerful enemies or exploring foreign lands, Yang Kai had often been alone, without anyone to rely on. Now that he had a Human Self and a Monster Self by his side, he would not feel too lonely.
Leaving them to their own devices, Yang Kai calmly observed his surroundings.
When he first stepped into the Universe Furnace World, he found that this place was extremely rich in Shattered Dao Essence. The amalgamation of Shattered Dao Essence gave birth to all kinds of terrains and even condensed into the Infinite River. It also gave birth to extremely unique native creatures like the Chaos Spirit Clan.
However, after the Grand Dao had undergone several evolutions, the omnipresent Shattered Dao Essence had become extremely thin, and was replaced by order and stability. At this moment, the environment of the Universe Furnace World was only slightly different from the 3,000 Worlds.
[Why does the Grand Dao evolve inside the Universe Furnace? What does the evolution of the Grand Dao mean?]
When he first received information from the Human Race cultivators about this phenomenon, Yang Kai began to ponder the issue. Every time the Grand Dao evolved, he would carefully perceive the changes in his surroundings, hoping to find some kind of rule behind it; but unfortunately, he had not been able to gain anything.
It wasn’t until he went deep into the Infinite River and comprehended the mysteries of the evolution from Chaos to the 10,000 Grand Daos that he finally had some guesses, but it was extremely hard to verify them.
The Universe Furnace lived up to its name as the most Supreme Treasure. Just the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills it produced were a fantastic opportunity. The Universe Furnace World was a World of its own, and the Chaos Spirit Clan bred inside it was an extremely large and diverse group while the Chaos Spirit Kings strengths were not inferior to that of a Ninth-Order Master or Royal Lord.
However, Yang Kai had a faint feeling that the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill was not the greatest opportunity inside the Universe Furnace. The Universe Furnace itself was the real opportunity, and if he could find its true location, that would really be the biggest harvest.
But since ancient times, no one had ever seen the true body of the Universe Furnace, let alone reached it.
Yang Kai wanted to find the true body of the Universe Furnace. If he could accomplish this feat, it would definitely be of great help to the Human Race. At the very least, there would be no need for them to compete for Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills in the future.
Of course, he knew that this was a daunting task and he too might not be able to accomplish what many Great Experts had failed to do throughout the ages.
Regardless, he could only do his best and leave the rest to the Heavens!
According to the information Yang Kai had gathered so far, the Infinite River was the biggest hint. The Infinite River stretched across the entire Universe Furnace World, so it must have some kind of connection to the Universe Furnace itself.
As for the evolution of the Universe Furnace’s Grand Dao, it was nothing more than the process of the Chaos evolving into the 10,000 Grand Daos. It was just that the profound process was divided into nine steps by the Universe Furnace, allowing one to feel it more clearly and intuitively!
Yang Kai had a vague feeling that the intrinsic quality of the Universe Furnace was perhaps the profound mystery of Chaos evolving into 10,000 Grand Daos. As for the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill and the Chaos Spirit Clan it gave birth to, they were just side-effects of the process.
“Big Brother, Second Brother has ulterior motives, he wants to take over your body!” Thunder Shadow didn’t bother to haggle with Fang Tian Ci and simply pleaded his case to the higher-ups.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but laugh, but just as he was about to speak, a look of surprise appeared on his face as he looked in a certain direction, “Found it!”
Saying so, he activated Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability and flew in that direction.
In his mind, the two were still engaged in a verbal spat, but after a moment, Fang Tian Ci, who had noticed the strangeness, shouted, “Shut up and focus.”
“Ah,” Thunder Shadow suddenly became silent, but after a moment, he indignantly stated, “Look, it’s my Innate Divine Ability!”
Fang Tian Ci couldn’t bother to argue with him any further.
A moment later, Thunder Shadow’s voice rang out again, “This Chaos Spirit King really isn’t very smart. Why did it suddenly come back here? It’s as if it’s afraid that others won’t be able to find it.”
Thunder Shadow had a sense of familiarity when it laid eyes on the scenery before him. It was the exact same location where the Black Ink Clan had fought with the Chaos Spirit King over the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill previously, where the colony of the Chaos Spirit Clan was.
At that time, Xiao You had pinned down the Chaos Spirit King while he tasked a Pseudo-Royal Lord to snatch the pill, but Yang Kai and Thunder Shadow beat them to it, leading to a chase. As Yang Kai was seriously injured after, he had no choice but to escape into the Infinite River with Thunder Shadow.
When Yang Kai re-emerged, he used the Open Heaven Pill to lure away the Chaos Spirit King in order to alleviate the Human Race’s crisis. Afterwards, the Human Race and Black Ink Clan engaged in a horrific battle and no one paid any attention to the whereabouts of the Chaos Spirit King. In the end, Yang Kai found the Chaos Spirit King back here.
“Big Brother, did you know this guy would return here?” Thunder Shadow asked.
As Yang Kai quietly approached like a shadow, he casually replied, “As you said, it’s not very smart, so it was worth a shot.”
As they were communicating inside Yang Kai’s head, leaving no traces, no one outside could hear and detect them.
Although he had said so, Yang Kai was actually quite confident in his hypothesis; otherwise, he wouldn’t have come straight here.
The intelligence of the Chaos Spirit Clan was truly dismaying, even the strongest Chaos Spirit Kings were no exception.
At this moment, a large number of Chaos Entities were gathered as the colony of the Chaos Spirit Clan spread as far as the eye could see. There was also a smaller number of Chaos Spirit Clan members who had already taken on physical forms.
These Chaos Spirit Clan members happened to be gathered around in a large sphere with a certain Chaos Entity at their center. Furthermore, one could vaguely make out the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill within that flowing mass of Chaotic Force.
In addition, the Chaos Spirit King happened to be standing nearby.
Apparently, the Chaos Spirit King was extremely vigilant as it had suffered a loss once already. Its powerful Divine Sense was constantly sweeping through the void, and even the slightest oddity or movement would draw its attention.
To be honest, if it weren’t for Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability, Yang Kai could forget about sneaking into this place, and even with the help of Thunder Shadow’s mastery of the Dao of Concealment, Yang Kai was still being extremely cautious.
Bit by bit, Yang Kai slowly approached, trying his best not to leak even a hint of his aura.
Having reached the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, Yang Kai naturally didn’t fear this Chaos Spirit King, but he also had no intention of fighting it. The opposite party wasn’t a part of the Black Ink Clan and he would not gain anything by defeating it. It would be even worse if he lost, which was entirely possible. It could even be said that Yang Kai would be on the losing end if they fought, no matter the outcome.
Therefore, Yang Kai had already made up his mind to simply snatch the pill and flee!
The Chaos Spirit King’s thoughts were simple, [If you eat my pill, you must spit it out. I found it first, so it’s mine!]
Stealthily approaching, Yang Kai pushed Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to its utmost limit.
At some point, the Chaos Spirit King who was observing the surroundings suddenly turned its head, looking in the direction Yang Kai was hiding.
In front of someone as strong as this Chaos Spirit King, and a vigilant one at that, there was no such thing as a perfect concealment technique. When the distance between them reached a certain limit, Yang Kai’s existence was ultimately discovered.
Yang Kai was already prepared for this though. The moment the Chaos Spirit King noticed that something was wrong, Yang Kai surged his Space Principles and stepped forward, instantly arriving at the place where the Chaos Spirit Clan members were gathered. The next moment, loud splashing sounds rang out as he summoned the Space-Time River.
Just like last time, the enormous river carried away everything, engulfing the Chaos Entity refining the pill and the several nearby Chaos Spirit Clan members into it.
Immediately after, a violent roar mixed with a fearsome chaotic blast rushed into Yang Kai’s mind.
The Soul Warming Lotus promptly responded, radiating colourful light and blocking the Soul attack.
“Damn it…” Thunder Shadow cried out in alarm, but he didn’t make another move. Obviously, he had been dazed by this roar.
Fang Tian Ci also found it extremely unbearable. The Chaos Spirit King hadn’t even made a move yet, but his voice was already so powerful. It just showed how strong it was.
Suppressing his discomfort, Fang Tian Ci grabbed Thunder Shadow’s Soul and rushed into the Soul Warming Lotus.
While the two were protecting themselves, the Chaos Spirit King’s attack was already upon Yang Kai while Yang Kai had just finished sweeping the Chaos Spirit Clan members into the Space-Time River and was about to escape.
An earth-shattering Chaotic Force suddenly blasted Yang Kai, shattering the Void around him. A muffled grunt escaped Yang Kai’s lips before he promptly summoned his Azure Dragon Spear and thrust it towards the Chaos Spirit King.
In this brief confrontation, Yang Kai’s figure was sent flying while the Chaos Spirit King had to take a few steps back.
The next moment, Yang Kai grabbed the Space-Time River and instantly surged his Space Principle again. As he took a step forward, he disappeared and reappeared in the distance.
An enraged roar came from behind him as a powerful aura rushed over at extreme speed. Obviously, the Chaos Spirit King was already chasing after him.
Yang Kai finally experienced how helpless Xiao You felt. Being chased by such a strong existence was not a good experience, but what made him feel even more helpless was that he couldn’t really fight back against the Chaos Spirit King.
While he was fleeing, he shook the Space-Time River, and under the impact of the various Dao Strengths, the Chaos Entity and Chaos Spirit Clan members that were caught up in the river quickly dissolved.
After a short while, Yang Kai plucked out a pill, stored it away, and fled.
Inside the Soul Warming Lotus, the two passengers felt sluggish. A look of lingering fear could be found on Thunder Shadow’s face as he muttered, “That Chaos Spirit King is strong! But, it is quite unlucky to have encountered you, Big Brother.”
Twice, the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill had been snatched away by Yang Kai. The Universe Furnace had appeared so many times, but it was unlikely that such a thing had ever happened before. From this point alone, this Chaos Spirit King was truly unlucky.
Regardless of whether the Chaos Spirit King was unlucky or not, its anger was obvious at this moment. The last time it had lost its pill, it had relentlessly chased after Xiao You. As a result, Xiao You had to spend a great deal of effort to escape from it. From this, it could be seen just how persistent the Chaos Spirit King was towards the Supreme Grade Pills.
As for Yang Kai, now that he got his hands on the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill, it wasn’t difficult for him to escape from this Chaos Spirit King. How could he not be able to do what Xiao You could? All he needed to do was use his Instantaneous Movement a few times and this Chaos Spirit King wouldn’t be able to find him.
However, he didn’t do so; rather, he kept the Chaos Spirit King at arm’s length, occasionally using his Space Secret Techniques to increase the distance between them. Sometimes, he even exposed his aura so that the other party could pursue him.
Thunder Shadow couldn’t understand what was going on and asked, “Big Brother, what are you trying to do with the Chaos Spirit King?”
If he was not planning anything, why would he lead it on? He could have easily shaken it off by now.
Before Yang Kai could answer, Fang Tian Ci understood and explained, “It’s to prevent others from running into this Chaos Spirit King and suffering some kind of mishap.”
The Black Ink Clan in the Universe Furnace World had suffered great losses in the last battle. Of the two Royal Lords, one was dead and the other was seriously injured. Even the Pseudo-Royal Lords who managed to escape were mostly heavily wounded.
As long as the Human Race Masters were careful enough, even if they ran into the Black Ink Clan, they would not be in any kind of grave danger.
The only ones that could pose a serious threat to the Human Race were beings like this Chaos Spirit King, especially the one who was chasing after Yang Kai. This Chaos Spirit King happened to be enraged, so if Yang Kai were to shake it off now, and if any other Human were to encounter it, they would be doomed!
That was why Yang Kai stayed within the range of its senses so that it wouldn’t escape his control. This was also a form of protection for other Humans.
So long as it was within his power, Yang Kai would naturally do it. In any case, it wouldn’t hinder him from doing other things.
After listening to Fang Tian Ci’s explanation, Thunder Shadow finally understood, “Big Brother is very thoughtful.” He couldn’t help but mutter, “You Humans are really prudent”
Most Monster Race on Myriad Monster World were bold and vicious. They only had one principle when they encountered a crisis, overcome it by any means necessary. If they got into an argument, they would immediately resort to their teeth and claws; so, how could they have such deep and complex thoughts?
No wonder the Early Ancient Era Monster Race met with a downfall and the Human Race had gradually risen.
Ignoring this criticism, Fang Tian Ci suddenly asked, “Big Brother, did you notice something strange?”
Yang Kai instead asked back, “What is it?”
“There seems to be something wrong with the number of Chaos Spirit Kings inside the Universe Furnace.”
“You think so too?” Yang Kai raised his brow. He had also noticed this problem before, but he hadn’t given it too much thought.
“What’s wrong with the number of Chaos Spirit Kings?” Thunder Shadow interrupted, totally confused.
Fang Tian Ci simply continued, “According to Big Brother, nine Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills were formed when the Universe Furnace opened this time. Including the one in Big Brother’s possession, six of them have already been accounted for, leaving only three which are missing.”
“That’s right.” Inside the Soul Warming Lotus, a thoughtful look appeared on Thunder Shadow’s face.
“The Universe Furnace has undergone eight Grand Dao evolutions, so the ninth one should be happening soon. After nine Grand Dao evolutions, the Universe Furnace will be closed,” Fang Tian Ci added.
Thunder Shadow nodded again.
“Once the Universe Furnace is closed, the three missing pills will neither fall into the hands of the Human Race nor the Black Ink Clan, but will instead belong to the Chaos Spirit Clan. It can even be said that the three pills are currently in the hands of the Chaos Spirit Clan, but we don’t know where they are.”
Thunder Shadow looked at him, furrowing its brow as a befuddled look appeared on its face, “What are you trying to say?”
Yang Kai chuckled, “Second Brother is saying that since these three pills are now in the hands of the Chaos Spirit Clan, shouldn’t three Chaos Spirit Kings have been born by now?”
“You mean… they haven’t?” Thunder Shadow’s voice gradually became feebler and feebler.
Fang Tian Ci further added, “Three Chaos Spirit Kings should be born with the opening of the Universe Furnace this time, but what about the past? Each time the Universe Furnace opens, some Chaos Spirit Kings should have been created. But how many Chaos Spirit Kings have we seen since we entered the Universe Furnace?”
It was just one!
But according to Fang Tian Ci’s speculations, there should be a lot more Chaos Spirit Kings in this Universe Furnace, at least a few dozen.
Except, judging by the current situation, this Universe Furnace World definitely didn’t have that many Chaos Spirit Kings, otherwise, they wouldn’t have encountered only one until now.
“Perhaps there are other Chaos Spirit Kings, it’s just that we haven’t discovered them yet. But there are definitely not that many Chaos Spirit Kings in this Universe Furnace World,” Fang Tian Ci concluded.
Thunder Shadow thought for a moment before asking, “What does this have to do with the current situation?”
Fang Tian Ci chuckled wryly, “It doesn’t matter, we were just casually discussing.”
Thunder Shadow couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, thinking that these two were talking about something he hadn’t realized. He always believed that he wasn’t stupid…
Yang Kai then stated, “Perhaps the effects of the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill on the Chaos Entities aren’t as great as we think. Even if those mindless Chaos Entities can refine pills, they may not be able to immediately become a Chaos Spirit King. Rather, they may just become a relatively powerful Chaos Spirit!”
The Chaos Spirits also varied in strength. Some were as strong as Eighth-Order Masters while others were only as powerful as Second or Third-Order Masters. The gap between them was enormous.
It might be also because of this that not many Chaos Spirit Kings had been born even after so many Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills fell into the hands of the Chaos Spirit Clan!
As for the exact truth, Yang Kai didn’t dare to jump to conclusions, but this conjecture was likely close to correct.
Thunder Shadow asked, “Then, the Chaos Spirit King is relentlessly chasing us all the way just for this pill that might not even help a Chaos Entity under him advance to become a Chaos Spirit King?”
Yang Kai laughed, “In the end, we were the ones who snatched it. If it wants to pursue us, let it.”
Saying so, he suddenly turned and flew off in a certain direction. The Chaos Spirit King also pursued right behind him like a shadow.
In that direction, a Pseudo-Royal Lord, who happened to be flying through the void, suddenly tensed up as a sense of crisis gripped his heart. A moment later, a powerful and fearsome aura locked onto him.
The Pseudo-Royal Lord suddenly turned his head and saw a streak of light shooting straight towards him from a distance. That streak of light happened to be flickering and the Void around it was rippling.
Sensing that familiar and shocking aura, the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s soul nearly left his body as he shouted in panic, “Yang Kai!”
[Damn my rotten luck!]
This Pseudo-Royal Lord couldn’t figure out how he had encountered this killing star in this place!
In the last battle, after Mo Na Ye fled, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a crushing defeat, and the Black Ink Clansmen had scattered in all directions.
Fortunately, the Human Race didn’t have enough manpower to wipe them out. He happened to be quite lucky as he was not targeted by Yang Xue at that time, giving him a chance to escape that disaster with his life. He had been on the run ever since and had not stopped for a moment. Even if he ran into some Humans along the way, he would try his best to conceal himself so as to avoid exposing his whereabouts.
According to the information he had obtained from the Black Ink Disciples, the Universe Furnace would close soon. He had entered the Universe Furnace World from the Barren Territory; so, as long as he waited for the Universe Furnace to close, he would be able to safely return there. By then, the Human Race would not be able to do anything to him, no matter how many Ninth-Order Masters they had gained.
His journey had been smooth and uneventful so far, and after a long period of safety, he believed that the storm had already passed.
But much to his horror, he ran into the most difficult Human to deal with.
He had also suffered injuries in the last battle, but his wounds weren’t that serious. So, at this moment, his strength had not suffered that much. After a brief moment of fear, the Pseudo-Royal Lord became solemn and roared, “Come!”
In front of such a Human who was proficient in the Dao of Space, escaping was an unrealistic dream. The Pseudo-Royal Lord immediately made the most appropriate response, taking up an offensive stance to let Yang Kai know that even if he killed him, he would have to pay a huge price!
A Pseudo-Royal Lord was also a Royal Lord, only slightly weaker than a true Royal Lord. How could he allow himself to be trampled upon?
Seeing the Pseudo-Royal Lord in front of him assume an aggressive posture, Yang Kai was slightly surprised, but he did not take it too seriously. While the other party let out an angry roar, Yang Kai quickly closed the distance between them. After reaching a certain critical point, he raised his hand and made a grabbing motion, causing Dao Strengths to undulate around him.
The next moment, the Space-Time River gushed out with crashing sounds. The enormous river was like a whip, one end held in Yang Kai’s hand as it lashed straight towards the Pseudo-Royal Lord.
For the Black Ink Clansmen who had participated in the last battle, the Space-Time River was still fresh in their memories. A Pseudo-Royal Lord got swept into the river at that time before Yang Kai had even broken through. Yang Kai then dove into the river and slaughtered that Pseudo-Royal Lord within a few breaths.
Although Yang Kai had only managed to kill that Pseudo-Royal Lord at that time due to a sneak attack, it still showed how strange this river was.
Mo Na Ye also suffered a great loss inside this strange river.
Seeing Yang Kai summoning this enormous river once more, the Pseudo-Royal Lord immediately became vigilant. He let out a furious roar as Black Ink Strength surged around him before he punched straight towards the river.
The great river was shaken and monstrous waves rose and fell one after another. The impact almost blew the river in half.
The Pseudo-Royal Lord’s face lit up with joy, but the next moment, his expression took a turn for the worse, because although it looked like that river was about to snap in half, it ultimately didn’t. The river was like a whip, it bent a few times before ruthlessly lashing out at him again.
Dao Strengths surged violently as the Grand Daos evolved and developed. The Pseudo-Royal Lord was struck so hard that it knocked the senses out of him. In an instant, he lost his consciousness as a whip-like river wrapped around him.
Caught off guard, the Pseudo-Royal Lord was engulfed by the Space-Time River. The enormous river seemed to contain an extremely strange power while destabilizing his mind and perception.
He immediately understood why his companion had been killed by Yang Kai, who had yet to break through at that time. After having fallen in this strange river, his strength must have been greatly suppressed, making it difficult for him to display his full power.
He wanted to struggle his way out, but an irresistible force swept over and dragged him along.
“Off you go!” Yang Kai shouted, and with a flick of his wrist, the Pseudo-Royal Lord who was bound by the whip-like river was sent flying. Afterwards, Yang Kai flew off at an extremely high speed without even looking back even once.
In the rear, the Pseudo-Royal Lord looked completely dumbfounded. He was unable to understand what had just happened. Did Yang Kai come here just to humiliate him? If not, why had he not killed him?
In that kind of situation, he knew that there was no way he could escape from Yang Kai’s hands. Perhaps if he fought to the death, he could make Yang Kai pay a price, but it definitely wouldn’t be too high.
[Unexpectedly, this killing star only teased me a little and quickly fled, but why…]
The next moment, he understood.
As soon as he stabilized himself, he felt an extremely sharp and ferocious aura rapidly closing in on him from behind. Furthermore, this aura happened to be even stronger than the Ninth-Order Yang Kai.
The Pseudo-Royal Lord hurriedly looked back, and instantly saw a figure charging towards him. He had felt this aura and had also seen who it belonged to from a distance in the past. Now that he came face to face with it, it was even more terrifying.
“The Chaos Spirit King!?” He was struck with panic.
In the blink of an eye, the Chaos Spirit King was already upon him. The Chaos Spirit King’s anger was as fierce as an erupting volcano, but it didn’t pay any attention to this Pseudo-Royal Lord who was blocking his path. It just casually threw a light punch at him as if it was pushing aside a blockade. It then brushed past him and went chasing after the killing star.
“Pu…” The Pseudo-Royal Lord’s figure doubled over and he spurted out a mouthful of black blood. At the same time, his aura fiercely declined as Black Ink Strength started uncontrollably dissipating.
Even though it was just a casual punch, the power behind an enraged Chaos Spirit King’s attack could still not be underestimated. In addition, the Pseudo-Royal Lord had just been dazed by Yang Kai’s whip and was not able to defend himself properly. He was caught off guard and seriously injured in one blow.
When he looked up, he saw the Chaos Spirit King’s figure gradually disappear from his sight. He was delighted at the sight of this and could not help but laugh, taking pleasure in his enemy’s misfortune despite the tremendous pain he was in.
[Yang Kai is being chased by the Chaos Spirit King! No wonder he didn’t have time to pay attention to me.] At this moment, an old saying of the Human Race flashed in his mind, ‘The wicked will be punished by the wicked!’
[Yang Kai, aren’t you amazing? Haven’t you already broken through to the Ninth Order? So what if you’re strong!? In the face of that damn Chaos Spirit King, all you can do is flee!]
He immediately prayed in his heart that the Chaos Spirit King could put in some more effort and kill Yang Kai!
However, a smile had just bloomed on his lips when it suddenly froze.
Ripples suddenly appeared one after another in the Void right before him, just like when a stone is thrown into a calm lake. As these ripples spread outward, a figure materialized out of thin air.
In just one step, the figure was standing right before him.
“You…” The Pseudo-Royal Lord’s expression suddenly changed for the worse. At this moment, he realized he had made a mistake.
“You seem quite happy,” Yang Kai, who had just returned, looked at the Pseudo-Royal Lord with curiosity.
The other party didn’t answer, he just quickly turned around and fled.
Had he fought Yang Kai to the death when they just met, he would have been able to bite off a piece of his flesh before dying. But now that he had been seriously injured by the Chaos Spirit King, this notion had already been quashed.
He was not this killing star’s opponent even at his peak, so how could he resist when he was seriously injured.
[He did it on purpose! This killing star definitely did this on purpose! He used the Chaos Spirit King to weaken me so he could circle back using his Space Secret Technique to easily finish me off. He never had any intention of letting me live!]
“Where do you think you’re going?” Yang Kai shouted impatiently. The Chaos Spirit King had noticed his aura and had already changed directions to chase after him. If he didn’t want to fight with the Chaos Spirit King, he had to end this battle quickly.
As soon as Yang Kai spoke, he manipulated Space Principles, causing the surrounding void to become viscous, like a swamp, making it difficult for the Pseudo-Royal Lord to move.
Yang Kai already had his spear in hand, which he fiercely thrust towards the Pseudo-Royal Lord.
The next moment, a ferocious aura shot straight towards the Pseudo-Royal Lord from behind, forcing him to turn around and face it head-on. The last thing that entered his eyes was a rapidly expanding spear tip!
Pitch-black blood splashed out as the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s head blew apart. The two figures brushed past each other, but Yang Kai didn’t stop even for a moment and continued moving ahead, leaving the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s corpse behind him that still maintained a defensive posture.
A few breaths later, the pursuing Chaos Spirit King once again passed by this place and casually waved its fist. The corpse blocking its path blew into smithereens.
Inside the Soul Warming Lotus, Thunder Shadow muttered to Fang Tian Ci, “Big Brother is too sinister.”
Fang Tian Ci earnestly stated, “In battle, there’s no such thing as being too sinister.”
It wouldn’t be difficult for Yang Kai to kill a Pseudo-Royal Lord with his current strength, but he would still need to fight for a while to achieve that. A Pseudo-Royal Lord could barely be considered an existence on par with a Royal Lord, but because they were made using a Black Ink Clan’s Source Fusion Technique and were not true Royal Lords, it was difficult for them to display the full might of a Royal Lord.
With an existence like the Chaos Spirit King chasing after him, it was naturally not wise to fight with a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
On the other hand, Yang Kai could easily eliminate his opponent after weakening the Pseudo-Royal Lord by using the Chaos Spirit King, then circling back to eliminate him.
This was an example of lifting a heavy weight using borrowed strength. The chaser had unknowingly become Yang Kai’s accomplice, and if Yang Kai got the chance to kill a Pseudo-Royal Lord without any effort, why should he not take it?
Of course, it was only because the Chaos Spirit King’s intelligence was not high enough that this was possible. If it was any other Master with normal intelligence, Yang Kai’s plan would not have worked at all.
Just like before, the chase continued.
Their chase flipped the Universe Furnace World upside down.
Yang Kai didn’t have a set direction. In any case, he was just leading the Chaos Spirit King on a wild chase around the Universe Furnace World.
If he ran into someone from the Black Ink Clan, he would kill them right away, but if he encountered a Human, he would take a detour and warn them in advance, lest they get caught up in this storm.
Yang Kai might be slightly weaker than the Chaos Spirit King, but if he were to focus on escaping, the Chaos Spirit King would not be able to do anything to him. As luck would have it, the Chaos Spirit King’s sentience wasn’t very developed. It was certain that Yang Kai had snatched the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill, so it kept chasing after him relentlessly.
The number of Black Ink Clan survivors Yang Kai encountered started to decrease over time. Of course, it might have been because they had been killed, but the bigger reason was that the survivors had gone into hiding.
Right now, things were extremely unfavourable for the Black Ink Clan in the Universe Furnace World. The Human Race had four Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had split up to hunt down any Black Ink Clansmen they could find. On the other hand, the only Royal Lord on the Black Ink Clan’s side was heavily injured and was nowhere to be found.
So, how could the Black Ink Clan still have the strength to resist the Humans in this kind of situation? Naturally, they used all kinds of means to hide themselves, waiting for the Universe Furnace World to close.
Although most of them knew that another bloody battle would break out when the Universe Furnace closed, they did not have much choice in the matter.
As time passed, Yang Kai became slightly disappointed.
There was no trace of Mo Na Ye, nor was there any trace of the other three Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills.
The Universe Furnace World was quite vast. Perhaps there were some places he had yet to explore, or perhaps the three pills had already been refined, or perhaps they had fallen into the hands of some Black Ink Clansman or Human. Everything was possible.
As for Mo Na Ye, if he was Hell-bent on hiding, it wouldn’t be easy to find him.
Yang Kai was in no rush though. He could end Mo Na Ye once the Universe Furnace closed.
During this trip to the Universe Furnace, the Human Race had not only dealt the Black Ink Clan a severe blow, they had also gained four new Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Yang Kai also got his hand on another Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill which he could bring back and give to Mi Jing Lun. In short, this trip was worth it.
At some point, the Grand Dao within this World suddenly started undulating before the last remnants of the Chaos rapidly disappeared.
The ninth Grand Dao evolution was finally taking place!
After this evolution, the Universe Furnace would soon close.
As for the Chaos Spirit King who had been chasing after Yang Kai all this while, it seemed to have also noticed this and became even more agitated, pushing its speed even higher.
Be that as it may, it had never been able to close the distance between them from the moment it had started chasing Yang Kai. No matter how hard it tried, it was useless.
“Second Brother, take the helm!” Yang Kai suddenly shouted.
Inside the Soul Warming Lotus, the corner of Fang Tian Ci’s mouth twitched.
[What does Big Brother think of his body?] But after giving it another thought, he realized that it was quite appropriate to address his physical body as a ship on which the three Brothers were riding.
Without further thought, Fang Tian Ci immediately took control of the body.
However, he didn’t have full control over it, mainly because Yang Kai was still occupying the majority of his physical body, so he was unable to control it too smoothly.
It wasn’t that Yang Kai was on guard against him, but rather that he needed to focus on something else. Fang Tian Ci only needed to control the body to escape the Chaos Spirit King’s pursuit, which didn’t require much fine control.
The handover between them was extremely smooth. From an outsider’s point of view, it was impossible to spot any change in Yang Kai. He was still fleeing, and the Chaos Spirit King chasing after him was completely helpless.
But at this moment, Yang Kai was completely focused on sensing the changes in the surroundings.
When the Universe Furnace World underwent its ninth Grand Dao evolution, the Grand Daos in this World started undulating as the Chaos completely evolved into 10,000 Grand Daos. After the ninth evolution, the Universe Furnace World would finally reach perfection.
At this moment, Yang Kai also summoned his own Space-Time River and urged his Dao Strengths, churning them and studying the endless mysteries that appeared.
Inside the small Space-Time River, all Dao Strengths converged, and under Yang Kai’s control, various Dao Strengths constantly blended and fused, devouring and evolving before finally transforming into Five Elements Dao Strengths.
The Five Elements Dao Strengths mutually restrained and supported each other, rapidly transforming into Yin and Yang.
As Yin and Yang circled around each other, Time and Space became twisted and ultimately evolved into Chaos.
All Dao Strengths converged into one, and ultimately became Chaos!
This was a mysterious process Yang Kai had comprehended from the Infinite River; and at this moment, he had thoroughly confirmed this point using his own Dao Strengths’ evolution.
At this moment, the Space-Time River circling around him was no longer the Space-Time River, but a Chaos River.
The moment this Chaos River completely stabilized, a sudden change occurred.
As if a drop of water had been poured into a sizzling oil, the Dao Strengths of the entire Universe Furnace World began to violently undulate, and the Infinite River that ran through the World also began to violently surge, sending waves as high as the sky everywhere, sweeping across everything.
While the Grand Dao of the Universe Furnace World started evolving for the ninth and final time, whether it was the Humans who were searching for the traces of the Black Ink Clan or the Black Ink Clan who were hiding themselves, everyone had already gotten used to it.
After all, this kind of thing had already happened eight times before. Besides the first time when there was some surprise and confusion, everyone completely disregarded it from the second time on. This was the profound mystery of the Universe Furnace, there was no need to pay too much attention to it.
Except, this ninth evolution appeared to be different from any of the previous ones. Under the surging Grand Daos, the entire Universe Furnace World was shaking. At this moment, it was as if something was changing, but no one could see it clearly, nor could they explain it.
The Infinite River that ran through the entire Universe Furnace World, from shallow to deep, contained the mysteries of Chaos evolving into 10,000 Grand Daos.
Every evolution of the Grand Daos was also a manifestation of the mysteries of Chaos giving birth to 10,000 Grand Daos.
The Universe Furnace seemed to be demonstrating the truth of the Grand Dao to all living beings, the essence of the world itself.
When the last Grand Dao evolution occurred, Yang Kai used his own Space-Time River as a foundation and prompted the 10,000 Grand Daos to revert to Chaos. By doing just the opposite, it was no different from erecting a different flag amid this surging tide.
Vaguely, he seemed to have touched something.
At this moment, Yang Kai felt an inexplicable pressure on him from all directions, causing the Space-Time River around him to violently shake, almost collapsing it.
If one followed the Heavens, they would achieve twice the results with half the effort, but if one defied the Heavens, the opposite would happen.
What Yang Kai was currently doing was tantamount to opposing the natural order of the Universe Furnace World. When the last Grand Daos’ evolution was taking place, any act of rebellion would naturally be suppressed by this World.
The speed at which he was fleeing suddenly slowed down, but the Chaos Spirit King chasing after him didn’t appear to be affected by it at all; it was quickly closing the distance between them.
Fang Tian Ci, who had taken control of a portion of Yang Kai’s body, and was running for his life, was greatly alarmed. He might not have any idea about the exact cause behind this sudden change, but he knew that it had something to do with his main body.
Gritting his teeth, he quickly prompted Space Principles and executed Instantaneous Movement, but he didn’t teleport too far.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was completely focused on maintaining his own Space-Time River. The exploration of the Infinite River had allowed him to glimpse at some things, but he was unable to thoroughly understand them. If he wanted to verify his theory, he could only rely on this method.
He had been meaning to do this for a long time, but the Chaos Spirit King that was chasing him right now had become a potential threat. There was nothing he could do about it either. When he snatched back the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill, it was destined that he would not be able to shake off this Chaos Spirit King, otherwise, others would definitely suffer because of him.
The long river around Yang Kai kept shaking. It appeared to be on the verge of collapse, but Yang Kai continued to persevere, and soon, a look of joy overtook his face.
Because the Grand Dao evolution, which should have started and ended in a flash, had not disappeared, and was instead showing signs of intensifying.
This was undeniable proof that his actions had some effect. Although he was going against the entire World with his might alone, as the saying went, even a single rat dropping could ruin a pot of porridge.
The current Yang Kai was that dropping that had fallen into this Universe Furnace World.
The Grand Daos undulated even more fiercely, shaking the Universe Furnace World non-stop. Whether it was the Human Race or the Black Ink Clan, all of them were shocked and confused, not knowing what was happening.
At this moment, Fang Tian Ci’s voice rang out, “Big Brother, I can’t hold on much longer!”
From the start, he had only been in control of a small portion of Yang Kai’s body, and Yang Kai’s actions made his job even more difficult. Even if he used a Space Secret Technique, he was unable to teleport far. Meanwhile, the Chaos Spirit King kept relentlessly chasing after them, closing the distance to a dangerous degree!
In a moment, he might fall into the range of the Chaos Spirit King’s attacks. If that really happened, Yang Kai would not be able to do anything, he might even possibly put himself in danger.
Fang Tian Ci shouted his plea, but Yang Kai did not give any answer. It remained unknown whether he heard him or not.
Yang Kai also felt like he couldn’t hold on any longer. In the Universe Furnace World right now, when Chaos was giving birth to 10,000 Grand Daos, filling every step of this place, he could only rely on his own strength to go against it. So, he was really under intense pressure.
He didn’t even know if his actions were meaningful or not, but he had indeed caught a glimpse of some things in the Infinite River. If he didn’t verify his speculations now, he might never have another chance in his life.
He didn’t want to miss this rare opportunity, so he had no choice but to persevere.
Fortunately, his Divine Dragon Body had become stronger than ever after he had broken through to the Ninth Order. Had he still been in the Eighth Order, it would have been difficult for him to hold even this long.
At this point, every single breath felt like millions of years.
Suddenly, a fearsome attack came flying at him from behind. Apparently, the Chaos Spirit King had already reached the range it could begin attacking him.
It was also at this moment that Yang Kai, who was fully focused on circulating his strength, suddenly saw a massive, winding river.
Naturally, this was the legendary Infinite River that ran through the entire Universe Furnace World!
As a matter of fact, although this river ran through the entire Universe Furnace World, it wasn’t everywhere. Yang Kai was still quite a distance away from the Infinite River.
However, he noticed that the Space inside the Universe Furnace World had become unstable at this moment.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed this. At this moment, all the surviving Humans and Black Ink Clansmen saw this enormous river appear, flowing from an unknown source towards the end of this World.
The great river happened to be shaking, and beside it, tributaries that had never been seen before and had never been detected by any living being rapidly appeared one after another. If the massive river was a giant tree, then these tributaries that had suddenly appeared were branches…
It was difficult to calculate how many branches there were, as there were too many to count.
These tributaries flowed continuously and quickly filled the entire Universe Furnace World like a spider web. In these tributaries, what flowed was the 10,000 Grand Daos after they had evolved!
This was a remarkable sight to behold!
All the Humans and Black Ink Clansmen stared at this sudden sight in a daze. Some of them even reached out to touch a tributary close at hand, but their hands went right through it as if they were touching something illusory. There was no resistance at all.
The Universe Furnace World had undergone momentous change, but no one knew the cause behind it.
At this moment, Yang Kai, the architect behind this chaos, was coughing up blood. The Chaos Spirit King’s attack was extremely powerful and even he was unable to withstand it.
However, no anger could be seen in his eyes, rather they were shining brightly.
The moment these tributaries appeared, he knew that his previous speculations were correct!
The Universe Furnace truly existed and was hidden somewhere in this World. Its profoundness lay in its ability to derive all the Grand Daos from Chaos. Whether it was the nine Grand Dao evolutions, or the existence of the Infinite River, they were the undeniable proof.
Finding the true body of the Universe Furnace, on the other hand, was a whole other problem.
Since ancient times, every appearance of the Universe Furnace drove generations of Great Experts to enter it. Did they not think of searching for the real body of the Universe Furnace? Of course, they did!
But no one had ever found it.
Yang Kai also was not sure if he could find it, but all he could do was give it a try. If he found it, it would naturally be a reason to rejoice, but if he couldn’t find it, he wouldn’t suffer any losses either. The only problem hindering him was the Chaos Spirit King that was chasing after him. It was a nuisance!
Fortunately, now that his strength had dramatically increased, it wasn’t that troublesome.
Now the only issue before Yang Kai was how to go about his search.
Since he had managed to glimpse the mystery of how the Universe Furnace derived all the Grand Daos from Chaos, he figured he should do the opposite to create a kind of interference that would hopefully reveal some clues he could trace. With this plan in his mind, Yang Kai let himself loose.
No one had ever done such a thing before, or even mastered so many Grand Daos like him.
As the saying went, ‘When in doubt, it’s better to take a step back. Who knows, you might see the situation clearly’.
Going against the tide of the entire Universe Furnace World was equal to going against the Heavens’ Will, but it also allowed one to see more clearly.
When the tributaries appeared, the Space-Time River around Yang Kai’s body started shaking. To others, the enormous Infinite River might seem like an illusory river, but it looked completely different to Yang Kai, who was surrounded by his own Space-Time River.
Flowing in these tributaries were the 10,000 Grand Daos that were born from Chaos.
Whereas his current Space-Time River was the amalgamation of 10,000 Grand Daos returning to Chaos. The two were completely opposite to each other.
If these tributaries were like closed doors, then the Space-Time River was the key to opening them.
The next moment, the Space-Time River surged before it carried Yang Kai into the nearest tributary.
Right then, another fearsome attack shot towards Yang Kai. The Chaos Spirit King had already caught up to him and naturally, when it saw Yang Kai rush into the tributary, it refused to give up. However, no matter what it did, it was unable to harm Yang Kai in the slightest and it couldn’t even enter the tributary either. All it could do was helplessly watch Yang Kai rapidly drift away following the tributary’s flow.
The Chaos Spirit King chased after him for a while longer before finally losing sight of Yang Kai. Boundless anger surged within it as it let out a long roar, unable to contain its rage!
Inside the tributary, Yang Kai, who was protected by the Space-Time River, seemed to have transformed into an undercurrent, drifting along the flow, surrounded by extremely rich Dao Strengths.
However, Yang Kai wasn’t in the mood to refine and absorb them at this moment, mainly because he had obtained ample benefits from the Infinite River; refining and absorbing them now wouldn’t have much effect.
Furthermore, he even had a large amount of Dao Strengths sealed in his Small Universe, ready to be refined by him or others.
He had no idea where he was going, but if his guess was right, then the end or source of the tributary should be the location of the Universe Furnace.
Also, it was completely unrealistic to go against the current as the resistance was too high. He had no choice but to follow the flow.
Just as Yang Kai entered the tributary, the Universe Furnace World suddenly underwent a great change, folding the various Spaces and stacking them upon each other. The Humans who went searching for traces of the Black Ink Clan, and the Black Ink Clan who were hiding in the shadows, no matter who it was, all of them could feel that the surroundings had changed.
After a short while, every surviving outsider felt as if they had entered an independent Void. Even if they had companions nearby, they found it extremely hard to approach them. It was as if the opposite party was in a totally different Space.
“The Universe Furnace is about to close,” somewhere in the void, Blood Crow immediately frowned and warned when the Six Paths Formation he was part of collapsed for no reason. He had experienced this before, so after noticing the changes in his surroundings, he immediately understood what was about to happen.
Hearing Blood Crow’s words, the veteran Eighth-Order Masters were puzzled, “Didn’t you say that we’ll still have some time after the ninth evolution?”
Blood Crow shook his head, “It was like that last time, but it’s a little different this time. Perhaps it is different every time.”
He had participated in the appearance of the Universe Furnace only once, so how could he know if there was any kind of pattern? Judging by the current situation, the Universe Furnace would indeed be closing very soon.
At that time, all the outsiders would be expelled from this independent world and returned to their respective entrance points.
When that time came, another war would break out, and this time, the Human Race had already made preparations. They would definitely inflict heavy losses on the Black Ink Clan!
After the last battle, once the group of six had finished recuperating, they started hunting around in a Battle Formation. During this time, they had some modest gains.
Originally, they thought that there was still some time before the Universe Furnace closed, and that they would be able to make more progress, but at this moment, they decided not to ruminate too much on it.
The six Eighth-Order Masters came from the various entrances of the Universe Furnace, so once the Universe Furnace was closed, they would be forced to return to different places. Immediately, each of them cupped their fists and bid their farewells before settling down to adjust their breathing and recover their strength.
Not only them, but all of the Human Race Masters who were still active appeared to have noticed it. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and started getting ready for the imminent battle.
In comparison, the Black Ink Clansmen who were relatively well-informed were a little uneasy and restless. Although they knew that this day would eventually come, when it really did, they discovered that they had not been prepared.
The news they had received from the Black Ink Disciples had left them deeply concerned. They didn’t know what kind of terrible situation they would face after the Universe Furnace closed.
In the end, they had to return to various Great Territory Battlefields. After the Universe Furnace closed down, whether they lived or died would all depend on the outside battle situation between the Black Ink Clan Army and the Human Race Army.
Moreover, many of the Black Ink Clansmen were oblivious to this truth…
While the undercurrents were surging, Yang Kai, protected by his Space-Time River, followed along the flow of the Infinite River tributary. He had no idea where he was going or whether his actions had any meaning, but now that things had reached this point, he had no choice but to follow through.
This stream was filled with an extremely rich and pure Dao Strength, so pure that it had condensed into a liquid form that was flowing in the tributary.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but fall into deep thought. Previously, his actions had given birth to a strange change in the Universe Furnace; spiderweb-like tributaries had filled the entire Universe Furnace World in the blink of an eye. This scene had not gone unnoticed by him.
The reason he was able to enter the tributary was because he had used his own comprehension of the evolution of Grand Daos, and used Dao Strengths to stimulate the 10,000 Grand Daos to revert back to Chaos. If the tributary was a locked door, then his method was the key to opening it.
Even if others had seen these tributaries, they could forget about entering them without the corresponding means.
Although Yang Kai had used this opportunity to escape the pursuit of the Chaos Spirit King, he had no idea what would transpire next. Left with no other options, all he could do was focus on sensing the changes in his surroundings with rapt attention.
The flow of Dao Strengths was extremely fast, but when it came to the tributary, its flow was billowing and the currents violent.
Being in such a tributary, whether it was Time or Space, everything had become extremely chaotic. Although the surroundings were filled with extremely rich Dao Strengths, one’s vision was filled with impossible sights.
Yang Kai instantly understood that the Universe Furnace was about to close!
[According to Blood Crow, the Universe Furnace would close soon after the ninth evolution, but this period seems to be a lot shorter. Could it be because of me?]
At this moment, Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to think about these things. All he wanted to know was where he would eventually end up if he allowed himself to drift like this!
Perhaps the end of this tributary would allow him to discover some unknown truths!
Time and Space became even more chaotic. Yang Kai found it difficult to even calculate how long he had been inside this stream. At some point, the Space-Time River around him seemed to have suffered a huge impact, instantly shaking it and destabilizing his body. The impact was so huge that it sent his World Force and blood into turmoil.
Yang Kai’s face turned pale.
For him to suffer such an impact with his current cultivation realm meant that it was comparable to an all-out attack from a Royal Lord.
Sensing the source of the impact, Yang Kai instinctively reached out towards it. When he closed his fist, there was something in his hand.
It was a very small object, but when he opened his fist and took a close look at it, a strange expression appeared on his face.
Much to his surprise, it was a grain of sand!
Moreover, he had seen this kind of grain of sand before…
He had seen them at the bottom of Infinite River, countless of them at that, which had gathered at the riverbed.
These grains of sand were not some simple sand particles, but rather some kind of embryonic Universe World; however, because of the massive pressure and rich Dao Strength in the Infinite River, these Universe Worlds were only in their nascent form and looked like sand in a river bed.
Surprisingly, such a thing had actually appeared in this tributary…
The Infinite River that ran through the entire Universe Furnace World was the main river, and all the tributaries were part of it. Now that the grain of sand that should have existed in the depths of the main river had appeared, didn’t that mean that something inside the main river had been forced out?
Realizing this, Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly. The tributary he was in… was probably not as safe as he had imagined.
He clearly remembered that a large number of mystical Celestial Phenomena were forming inside the Infinite River. These Celestial Phenomena may have looked small and unimposing inside the Infinite River, but they were actually filled with all kinds of strange and dangerous anomalies.
[It was just a grain of sand that hit me this time, but what if it was a Celestial Phenomenon…] Yang Kai’s head immediately started spinning.
Although he was in a crisis, he was still extremely excited. The fact that things had been pushed out of the main river and into the tributary meant that the Dao Strength turbulence had swept through the entire Universe Furnace, even the Infinite River was unable to avoid it. He could not help but be excited about what astonishing discovery he would find at the end of this tributary.
Realizing that the environment he was in was not that safe though, Yang Kai became more cautious as he meticulously scanned his surroundings, lest he get pulled into some strange Celestial Phenomenon.
Fortunately, nothing of that sort happened, though quite a bit of sand was indeed flowing towards him along with the current. Yang Kai, who was already prepared for this, easily resolved the issue.
While Yang Kai was moving along the tributary towards an unknown future, the Universe Furnace World closed down amidst violently shaking, the survivors disappearing under the great repulsive force one after another.
Azure Sun Territory was a frontline battlefield where the Humans fought against the Black Ink Clan. Countless from both sides had sacrificed their lives here over the past thousands of years. There was not a single corner in this place where the blood had not been spilled and someone had not lost their lives.
But despite the numerous battles fought on this Great Territory Battlefield over thousands of years, it was still orderly and controllable.
However, a few decades ago, when the Universe Furnace suddenly appeared, a true war broke out!
No battle of that scale and intensity had been fought for thousands of years.
Countless Black Ink Clansmen fought in that battle, including a few Pseudo-Royal Lords. While on the Human Race’s side, Ninth-Order Masters, who had long been in hiding, personally stepped forward to meet the enemy.
Both sides suffered heavy casualties, but things had slowly stabilized after a large number of Masters from both sides entered the Universe Furnace.
More than half of the Pseudo-Royal Lords had entered, but the Human Race’s Ninth-Order Master had not. As such, how could the Black Ink Clan be their opponents now?
Over the next 20 years, the Human Race swept through the entire Azure Sun Territory under Luo Ting He’s leadership, setting off a one-sided massacre of the Black Ink Clan until they were completely helpless.
At present, Azure Sun Territory was basically under the Human Race’s control. Although the Black Ink Clan was still launching ambushes in some places, they were no longer a threat and would be wiped out sooner or later.
These Black Ink Clan forces also wanted to escape from Azure Sun Territory, but the various Territory Gates had already been occupied by the Humans, leaving them nowhere to run.
Originally, the Black Ink Clan believed that the Humans would launch a massive counterattack after capturing Azure Sun Territory, so massive Black Ink Clan Armies had already deployed across the nearby Great Territories, preparing for battle.
But to the Black Ink Clan’s surprise, the Human Race Army in Azure Sun Territory did not continue the triumphant march. Even the Ninth-Order Master, Luo Ting He, showed no intention of leaving Azure Sun Territory. She simply stood guard there, her thoughts a mystery.
Unable to guess the enemy’s intentions, the Black Ink Clan became a little ill at ease.
Not only was Azure Sun Territory like this, but most of the other Great Territory Battlefields were in similar situations. In Wolf Fang Territory, Wei Jun Yang, leading the Human Race Army, basically purged the Black Ink Clan before stopping.
When the news reached the No-Return Pass, Mo Yu, who was overseeing the general situation, felt both uneasy and puzzled, wondering what these two Ninth-Order Human Race Masters were up to.
At that moment he really missed Mo Na Ye. Had Mo Na Ye been here, he might have been able to see through the Humans actions. Unfortunately, Mo Na Ye had entered the Universe Furnace World, and Mo Yu did not have any other useful subordinates under him.
Except for the Great Territory Battlefields that had the two Ninth-Order Masters, where the battle already settled, war was still raging on the rest of the Great Territory Battlefields. Both the Human Race and Black Ink Clan kept investing their troops there, and large and small battles would break out almost every few days.
The Black Ink Clan had suffered massive casualties, but the Human Race’s casualties weren’t small either.
Among the many pieces of information relayed back to the No-Return Pass, there was one that Mo Yu was extremely concerned about.
And that was that no matter which Great Territory Battlefield it was, the Human Race seemed to care a great deal about the location where the Universe Furnace projection had appeared. Even if they had advantages in battle, they maintained a heavy deployment at the location of the projection Space, strictly guarding it and preventing the Black Ink Clan from approaching.
[What’s so special about those locations? Why are they specifically guarding them?]
The Human Race’s movements gave Mo Yu a bad feeling. If his hunch came to be true, then all the Black Ink Clansmen who had entered the Universe Furnace might have a disastrous end waiting for them!
Because of his hunch, he issued several orders to all the Black Ink Clansmen deployed on the various Great Territory Battlefields to pay close attention to the locations where these projections had appeared.
When the Universe Furnace’s ninth Grand Dao evolution was taking place and the Universe Furnace World started shaking, the very same scene that had occurred several decades ago reappeared. The space that was heavily guarded by the Humans suddenly became distorted and chaotic before a massive illusory phantom of the Universe Furnace manifested!
The projection of the Universe Furnace had appeared once more!
After a few decades, by the time the Universe Furnace’s projection appeared once more, the Human Race Masters on the dozen or so Great Territory Battlefields were already finished making their preparations.
Not to mention Azure Sun Territory and Wolf Fang Territory, which had practically been conquered, even the Great Territory Battlefields where wars were still raging had Humans basically completely controlling the specific areas.
The news immediately reached the Supreme Headquarters, causing Mi Jing Lun to frown.
[It’s a little fast!]
According to the information provided by Blood Crow, the last time the Universe Furnace manifested, it took over 100 years for it to close. Of course, the 100 years was the flow of time in the outside world. If one was really inside the Universe Furnace, they wouldn’t feel that so much time had passed, because Time and Space seemed to be extremely wrapped and chaotic at the very beginning, making it difficult to determine how long they had spent inside.
But it didn’t matter.
All the necessary arrangements had been made, and the rest would depend on how effective these arrangements were.
Putting down those reports, Mi Jing Lun picked up another set.
The emergence of the Universe Furnace had triggered an all-out war between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan. The Human Race was not completely prepared yet, but neither was the Black Ink Clan.
Azure Sun Territory and Wolf Fang Territory, under the leadership of two Ninth-Order Masters, had basically been reclaimed. The Black Ink Clansmen that were present there had either been killed or had fled long ago. The Territory Gates leading to two Territories were now completely in Human hands. All that was left were some finishing touches.
Several other Great Territory Battlefields were now dominated by the Human Race.
Let alone other Great Territory Battlefields, just Azure Sun Territory and Wolf Fang Territory allowed the Human Race to push forward, but Mi Jing Lun did not give the order to do so.
The Black Ink Clan Army terribly outnumbered the Human Race Army still, and the same was true when it came to top Masters. If they continued pushing on, they might not be able to achieve much while sacrificing a lot.
Once the front line was stretched too far, it would be rather detrimental for the Human Race.
If the Human Race wanted to reclaim the 3,000 Worlds, they would have to take a steady approach. They would have to sweep through the Great Territories one by one and drive the Black Ink Clan out of their homeland, where they had lived for millions of years.
As such, Mi Jing Lun was waiting for the Universe Furnace to close. Only by killing all the Black Ink Clansmen that had entered the Universe Furnace would the Human Race be free from any attack in the rear.
Otherwise, if the Human Race Masters were sent to the front lines and the Black Ink Clan were to stir up trouble in the rear, that would be quite troublesome.
And at this moment, the time had come!
What he needed to consider now was how the Human Race would proceed after reclaiming the current Great Territory Battlefields.
When the massive Universe Furnace phantom appeared, apart from Azure Sun Territory and Wolf Fang Territory, the Black Ink Clan in the other Great Territory Battlefields immediately took action.
Mo Yu had already passed down an order a long time ago that if anything unusual transpired in those locations where the Universe Furnace’s projection had once appeared, the Black Ink Clan Army should immediately engage. They should not hesitate to attack regardless of what the Humans were planning.
A huge battle instantly broke out, and this time it swept up all the occupied Great Territory Battlefields.
Not long after the projection of the Universe Furnace appeared, figures appeared inside the projection one after another. These figures were none other than members of the Black Ink Clan who had entered the Universe Furnace.
Most of them were still in a state of confusion as the majority of Black Ink Clansman did not know that when they left the Universe Furnace World, they would return to their original location.
While they were still reeling from confusion, powerful attacks came raining down on them from all directions!
The Human Race Masters, who had long been prepared, immediately used their strongest Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques.
Not only that, but the Human Race Masters who had appeared together with the Black Ink Clansmen from the Universe Furnace World also quickly assumed Battle Formations, resisting the aftershocks of the attacks from their own side, while searching for opportunities to kill the powerful enemies near them.
One after another, fearsome auras flared up before vanishing. Within moments, the Territory Lords had suffered heavy casualties and even the Pseudo-Royal Lords found it difficult to protect themselves from this barrage.
In Azure Sun Territory, Luo Ting He’s slender figure had already charged straight into the enemy lines, reaping their lives with unstoppable force. Any Territory Lord that was targeted by her was dead within three breaths.
In Wolf Fang Territory, Wei Jun Yang, dressed in golden armour and holding a long spear, went on a killing spree, leaving rivers of blood behind him.
The Territories where the two Ninth-Order Masters were stationed were basically seeing a one-sided slaughter. Only Pseudo-Royal Lords managed to hold on, but that too was only for a short while.
If things were favourable for the Human Race in some places, there would naturally be other places where they were losing ground.
Profound Nether Territory Battlefield was a Great Territory Battlefield that was once personally overseen by Yang Kai, the killing star, so the Black Ink Clan had attached great importance to it. Things had been extremely tense for Profound Nether Territory Battlefield over the past few decades. If it weren’t for the Divine Spirits’ support, Profound Nether Army would have already been lost.
Even with the Divine Spirits’ assistance, however, it was still difficult for Profound Nether Army to secure another victory. The main reason was that the enemy had deployed a large number of Pseudo-Royal Lords. Fortunately, after a series of large and small battles, the Profound Nether Army had managed to firmly control the area around the Universe Furnace projection.
But when the Universe Furnace projection appeared once more, and the Black Ink Clan Army went on offence, the Profound Nether Army actually had a difficult time holding their ground.
It wasn’t that Profound Nether Army was weak. It was an Army that had Yang Kai at its helm. In name, Yang Kai was still the Army Commander of Profound Nether Army. With a leader like him, the entire Profound Nether Army was second to none whether in terms of military strength or morale.
The main reason the Profound Nether Army was losing ground was because they had deployed most of their Masters to guard the location of the Universe Furnace’s projection, thereby weakening their forces in the other areas, which the Black Ink Clan took advantage of.
When the war broke out, the Profound Nether Army, adhering to the principle of minimizing losses, fought while slowly retreating. When the report of this was sent back to the Black Ink Clan, the Black Ink Clan Army’s leader misunderstood his enemy as weak and vulnerable, which in turn ignited the Black Ink Clan’s momentum.
While things were dragging on like this, several figures appeared in the Universe Furnace projection.
Immediately after, just like the other Great Territory Battlefields, the prepared Human Race Masters fired their Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques at the Black Ink Clansmen who had suddenly appeared.
Right then, a fearsome aura suddenly appeared, shaking Heaven and Earth before a furious roar resounded throughout the entire Profound Nether Territory, “Ou Yang Lie has come! Bastards of the Black Ink Clan! Come suffer death!”
A few decades ago, Ou Yang Lie had entered the Universe Furnace through Profound Nether Territory’s entrance!
“Ninth Order!” In the rear of the Black Ink Clan Army, the Pseudo-Royal Lord Commander’s face drastically changed as he started shaking.
When he noticed that Ou Yang Lie’s aura had reached the Ninth Order, he knew that things were looking bleak for the Black Ink Clan in Profound Nether Territory.
While the Black Ink Clansmen were in a state of panic, the Human Race were in high spirits!
Before Yang Kai had taken charge of Profound Nether Army, Ou Yang Lie was well known for his rampages in Profound Nether Territory; so, he was quite famous here.
At this moment, many old Eighth-Order Masters were both envious and gratified after hearing him announce his name and feeling the awe-inspiring might of his Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation, [Ou Yang Lie has advanced to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm! He must have obtained a Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill in the Universe Furnace!]
At this moment, the sudden appearance of a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would definitely play a decisive role in the battle.
Ever since Yang Kai started cultivating his Human Self and went into retreat, the Profound Nether Army had been lacking a central pillar to rally around. Fortunately, the war hadn’t been too intense thanks to the peace treaty, so it didn’t matter if Yang Kai was present or not.
Now that Ou Yang Lie had returned even stronger than before, his presence would undoubtedly breathe new life into the entire Profound Nether Army!
Profound Nether Army’s morale soared and their momentum rose to a whole new level as they swept through the Great Territory!
On another Great Territory Battlefield, a Pseudo-Royal Lord shouted at the top of his lungs, “Xiang Shan has broken through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm!”
Right across him stood Xiang Shan with a gaping wound on his body and blood all over, but he still had a stoic look on his face as he sent a punch towards the Pseudo-Royal Lord who had been seriously injured by him, coldly snorting, “You talk too much!”
Just one punch sent the Pseudo-Royal Lord into a fit of coughing blood.
In just a few dozen breaths, the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s aura who was fighting Xiang Shan perished under his torrential attacks!
This was the first Pseudo-Royal Lord that had fallen in this Great Territory, but it would definitely not be the last.
Killing a Pseudo-Royal Lord was entirely possible for Xiang Shan with his current strength, but to kill him so quickly was only possible because he caught his opponent off guard.
This Pseudo-Royal Lord was also quite unlucky. Just as he led the Black Ink Clan Army over, he spotted Xiang Shan who had just appeared. He happened to have fought with Xiang Shan many years ago, and very well knew just how powerful Xiang Shan was.
But at that time, he was just an Innate Territory Lord. Now that he was a Pseudo-Royal Lord, he immediately had the urge to finish off Xiang Shan.
Except, he was taken aback the moment they exchanged blows.
He had indeed become a Pseudo-Royal Lord, but Xiang Shan had advanced to the Ninth-Order Master!
Moreover, Xiang Shan, a Ninth-Order Master, kept pressing the Pseudo-Royal Lord and ruthlessly injured him at the cost of getting himself injured.
The Pseudo-Royal Lord was already caught off guard, and now that Xiang Shan was putting his life on the line, coupled with the gap between their strengths, how could the Pseudo-Royal Lord be his opponent?
Xiang Shan did not stop after killing this Pseudo-Royal Lord and instead charged at the second Pseudo-Royal Lord. The sight of Xiang Shan coming straight at him scared the Hell out of the Pseudo-Royal Lord. He immediately turned tail and fled, not caring if this action would affect the morale of his Army.
The sudden appearance of two Ninth-Order Masters and their act of eliminating the strongest enemies right off the bat had stabilized the situation of the two Great Territories. It was quite foreseeable that these two Great Territories would come under the Human Race’s complete control very soon, and the Black Ink Clansmen present in these territories would either be killed or driven away.
Aside from the Great Territories under these four Ninth-Order Masters, neither side had any obvious advantages or disadvantages in others. Even if one side had a slight edge, it was not able to affect the overall situation.
But as time passed, this situation quickly changed.
With the Universe Furnace closed, the Humans and Black Ink Clansmen returned to the entrance they entered from, and when they did, the Humans, who had obviously made preparations for this a long time ago, caught them off guard and attacked the returning members of the Black Ink Clan. This led to the end of many Territory Lords and even some Pseudo-Royal Lords.
Additionally, the Humans in every Great Territory saw the return of a large number of Eighth-Order Masters. Many of these Eighth-Order Masters had only been Seventh-Order Masters when they had entered the Universe Furnace, but when they appeared today, they had advanced to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm. It was all thanks to the Ordinary Grade Open Heaven Pills which were relatively easy to find inside the Universe Furnace compared to Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills.
Thanks to these Ordinary Grade Open Heaven Pills, nearly 90% of the Seventh-Order Masters that entered and survived had advanced to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm. As for those who failed to advance, it was because of their lacking foundation.
Many Territory Lords fell in quick succession, while many Eighth-Order Masters joined the Human Army’s ranks. Owing to these conditions, the scales of victory and defeat were slowly tilting in the Human Race’s favour.
Wars broke out on all the Great Territory Battlefields and raged like a wildfire.
Elsewhere, a large number of Black Ink Clansmen returned to the Barren Territory. As it had always been under the Black Ink Clan’s complete control, the Humans couldn’t intervene. As such, there were no ambushes here.
But compared to the number of members who had entered the Universe Furnace through the Barren Territory, the number of Black Ink Clansmen who had returned was undoubtedly quite low.
A huge Army of millions of Black Ink Clansmen had entered the Universe Furnace from the Barren Territory back then, with many Territory Lords and Pseudo-Royal Lords among them.
But now less than a million had managed to return, that was all…
It was a catastrophic loss!
The main reason was that after the great battle in the Universe Furnace, the Human Race had searched every nook and cranny for them, killing any Black Ink Clansmen they came across. Those who were lucky enough to survive had been hiding all this while until today.
Outside the No-Return Pass, figures similarly appeared one after another at a certain location in the void.
One of them was none other than Mo Na Ye, whom Yang Kai had failed to find. He had fled right after the battle, and no one knew where he had gone or where he was hiding.
The moment he appeared, he instantly surged his Black Ink Strength and activated some Secret Technique, transforming into a Black Ink Cloud and quickly escaping.
Some Territory Lords called him out from behind, but he paid no heed to their calls.
After running for a while, he felt a little puzzled, wondering where Yang Kai was.
He didn’t spot him anywhere!
According to Xiao You’s report, when the Universe Furnace closed, all outsiders who entered it would return to their original positions. In other words, they would return to the very same spot from where they had entered the Universe Furnace.
Although he had been hiding well these past few days and hadn’t exposed his whereabouts, Mo Na Ye had been constantly preparing and was always on guard because Yang Kai had entered the Universe Furnace from the same location as him. In other words, once it was closed, whether he wanted to or not, he would definitely meet Yang Kai again.
Yang Kai had already reached the Ninth Order and his strength was no longer the same. Although Mo Na Ye had also become a Royal Lord, he had suffered serious injuries in their last battle and only managed to survive thanks to luck. It was extremely difficult for him to recover in the Universe Furnace World, and once he met Yang Kai, it would not end well for him.
As such, he fled the moment he emerged from the Universe Furnace, fearing that he would fall into Yang Kai’s hands.
However, Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen at this moment. Instead, some Territory Lords had appeared.
Mo Na Ye was unable to figure out what was going on, but he couldn’t bother to waste too much time pondering about it. He just kept fleeing in the direction of the No-Return Pass. Only by escaping to the No-Return Pass and obtaining the support of Royal Lord Mo Yu could he have a chance to survive!
He did not know why Yang Kai wasn’t here, but he was thankful all the same.
Meanwhile, another war had broken out outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Thousands of Suppressing Black Ink Army soldiers stood on the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, fending off the Black Ink Clan’s attacks again and again, using the power of their artifacts and the defences of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. Be that as it may, some Black Ink Clansmen would get close enough to cause some chaos from time to time.
Fortunately, Divine Dragon Fu Guang was still here. He was even stronger than an ordinary Ninth-Order Master and thanks to him personally overseeing things, plus the powerful support of the Suppressing Black Ink Army, the Black Ink Clan in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was having a hard time breaking through their defences.
However, according to Wu Kuang’s report, the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had become a little unstable; after all, this was a Grand Restriction that Cang and the other Martial Ancestors had deployed millions of years ago. Even with Wu Kuang personally presiding over it now, it was still difficult for him to reproduce its peak strength.
Especially after the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had been opened twice, which had a significant strain on its integrity. This allowed the Black Ink Clan to easily find weak points in the Grand Restriction and continue to break it down.
What particularly worried Wu Kuang was that he could faintly feel undulations of Mo’s aura.
During the last crusade, when the Black Ink Clan Army and the Human Race Army waged war just outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Cang had fallen after using Mu’s final trump card to force Mo into a deep sleep. This was the primary reason the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction could be maintained until now.
The Grand Restriction was more than capable of sealing ordinary Black Ink Clansman in, and could even stop Royal Lords with ease, but it was definitely not capable of sealing Mo in its current condition.
The day it was fully awake would be the day the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction collapsed.
Wu Kuang had been monitoring Mo’s movements for thousands of years, and he had not noticed anything unusual all this time. But recently, Mo’s still and tranquil aura had begun fluctuating, which was undoubtedly a bad sign.
The Human Race was able to deal with the invasion of the Black Ink Clan Army, they were able to deal with Royal Lords as well, but right now they had no means to restrain an ancient existence like Mo.
When the Universe Furnace’s projection appeared once again, it triggered a battle outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Two Royal Lords forced their way out of the gap Wu Kuang had opened all those years ago, not hesitating to endure the pressure of the Grand Restriction. Seeing this, Fu Guang promptly charged straight towards them, fighting one against two, with him not faltering in the slightest.
But with Fu Guang pinned down by two Royal Lords, Innate Territory Lords took advantage of the situation and besieged the Suppressing Black Ink Army. In a flash, the battle became extremely intense.
Seemingly because Mo was showing signs of awakening, the Black Ink Clan in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction became even more active. Over the past few years, their attacks had become more and more frequent, so the Suppressing Black Ink Army had no choice but to constantly fight. This high-intensity and prolonged battle had left all extremely exhausted, but none of them had the time to rest.
While everyone was locked in a heated battle, a number of powerful figures appeared from the projection of the Universe Furnace one after another.
Back when the Universe Furnace had appeared, the Suppressing Black Ink Army had sent 50 Eighth-Order Masters inside, but only less than 40 managed to return.
Clearly, the battles inside the Universe Furnace were no less dangerous than the battles outside. The Black Ink Clan had suffered tremendous casualties, but so had the Human Race. The Eighth-Order Masters of the Suppressing Black Ink Army had lost more than 20% of their original number.
The return of nearly 40 Eighth-Order Masters undoubtedly made the Suppressing Black Ink Army breathe a sigh of relief though, and when they sensed that one aura among these returnees was extremely powerful, it further boosted their morale!
Someone had broken through to the Ninth Order!
Soon, someone confirmed who had broken through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
“It’s Xue’er! Xue’er has advanced to the Ninth Order!” Shan Qing Luo’s pleasantly surprised cry rang from a Warship cruising through the battlefield, waiting for an opportunity to kill more enemies.
Yu Ru Meng, Su Yan, and the others, who were standing beside her, were both surprised and gratified.
In fact, back when the Suppressing Black Ink Army had arranged for Eighth-Order Masters to enter the Universe Furnace to search for opportunities, Fu Guang basically tried to arrange for all of them to enter. Naturally, this was because of Yang Kai, and Fu Guang had his own considerations as well.
Nonetheless, the Wives came to a unanimous decision to give this opportunity to Yang Xue. Although they were women, they had killed a fair share of powerful enemies in their lives. Even if their Husband had made great contributions to the Human Race, they weren’t willing to take advantage of his reputation.
Everyone yearned for a chance to grab the opportunities presented by the Universe Furnace, so if all of them were to enter, they would easily become the target of criticism.
If just Yang Xue was to enter, it would not be an issue, but considering Yang Xue’s safety, Yang Xiao was also allowed to enter; otherwise, Yang Xiao, as a member of the Dragon Clan, would never have had the chance to enter the Universe Furnace.
Now that Yang Xue had reached the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, she had lived up to everyone’s expectations and efforts.
[Our dear Husband has only one Sister, so we should dote on her. I wonder if he knows that Xue’er has advanced to the Ninth Order? If he comes to know, it will definitely make him very happy.]
Just as they were thinking this, a voice drifted into their ears. It was none other than Yang Xue.
“Big Brother has broken through to the Ninth-Order in the Universe Furnace, Sister-in-Laws, there is no need to worry!”
The women were stunned for a moment before a beautiful smile bloomed on their faces.
“He always manages to achieve miracles,” Su Yan smiled, not too surprised.
Everyone thought that the peak of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm was Yang Kai’s limit, even the Black Ink Clan; however, as people who had shared their lives with Yang Kai for so many years, these women always believed that he would not resign himself to his fate and would definitely try to break through to the Ninth-Order.
And now, he had done it!
Because it was him!
The Warship continued to shuttle back and forth as the women aboard it seamlessly cooperated with each other, releasing their Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities one after another, forcefully paving a path filled with fire and blood on the battlefield.
The sudden appearance of a Ninth-Order Master had instantly turned the situation around. Black Ink Clansmen were being slaughtered at an incredible rate, and by the time the two Royal Lords who were fighting Fu Guang noticed that the things were not in their favour and wanted to flee back to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, it was already too late.
Yang Xue, holding her sword, stood before the gap, blocking it. She hesitated for a moment before allowing the first Royal Lord to rush back into the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and then joining forces with Fu Guang to attack the second.
After an intense battle, the Royal Lord fell!
Many Royal Lords had pushed their way out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction over the years, but under Fu Guang’s personal supervision, they were rarely able to do anything.
Vice versa, it was now very difficult for Fu Guang to kill a Royal Lord. Most of the time, these Royal Lords would flee back to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction at first notice of things not in their favour, and Fu Guang was simply powerless to do anything, despite his fearsome strength.
But this time, with the addition of Yang Xue, a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and thanks to her act of letting one Royal Lord escape, the remaining Royal Lord lost any chance of surviving.
Finally, they managed to win after a hearty and delightful battle, but the Suppressing Black Ink Army did not rejoice. Instead, they silently regulated their breathing and started preparing for the next battle!
At the same time, Fu Guang and Yang Xue also received a piece of bad news.
This news came straight from Wu Kuang, who was presiding over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
As the reincarnation of Shi and a Ninth-Order Master himself, Wu Kuang was now able to control the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to a great extent. All these years, the Black Ink Clan kept coming out of it, partly because of the Black Ink Clan’s efforts and partly because Wu Kuang was intentionally controlling it, relieving the pressure inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
After all, he wasn’t the true Shi and the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had been in a state of disrepair for many years. Its internal pressure was too high. If he didn’t find a way to relieve it, he wouldn’t be able to control it in his current state.
Every time the Black Ink Clan came out, there would only be one or two Royal Lords, which was thanks to Wu Kuang’s careful control. Had he not been regulating the Grand Restriction, the number of Royal Lords that would manage to come out would have been far greater. The Suppressing Black Ink Army only had so many people, so even with the help of a powerful weapon like the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, they would not be able to deal with so many Black Ink Clansmen.
Once the number of Black Ink Clansmen exceeded the limit of what the Suppressing Black Ink Army could endure, they would surely be destroyed.
And now, even though Wu Kuang’s strength was increasing by the day, he was slowly losing control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. The next time the Black Ink Clan tried to break out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, they would be accompanied by a few Royal Lords. He could not say for sure whether it be two or three, or even more. All he could do was do his best and ask Fu Guang and Yang Xue to make preparations.
Pure Dao Strength coursed through Yang Kai’s body, leaving him disoriented. Helpless, he had no choice but to follow the flow.
According to his speculations, the source or end of the river was bound to have some grand secrets. Going against the current was too difficult, even for Yang Kai, who had already reached the Ninth Order, so he could only go along with it.
It was a strange feeling, as if he was really in a real river, flowing into the distant unknown, sometimes calm and sometimes surging.
After an unknown period, Yang Kai felt the flow around him become faster, like a river flowing down a slope. Moreover, the size of the tributary suddenly increased and the Dao Strength around him became even denser.
He immediately understood that the tributary he was in had merged with the other tributaries.
After a while, it merged with a few more tributaries, and the flow of the river became even faster.
As he continued to merge with the other tributaries, the tributary became bigger and stronger, forcing Yang Kai to use his Space-Time River to protect himself from external forces.
At one point, Yang Kai was hit with a sense of weightlessness, as if he was falling from a waterfall. Fierce water was swirling around him and no matter how hard he tried, he could not maintain his balance.
Amid the intense Dao Strength fluctuations, Yang Kai found it difficult to even maintain the Space-Time River around him. Then, at some point, he felt like he was spewed out from somewhere.
This kind of feeling was quite odd…
By the time he somehow managed to stabilize himself, the tributary was nowhere to be seen. Without any external forces acting on him, Yang Kai stood quietly in place, furrowing his brow.
[Is this the end of the tributary? Where am I?]
He turned his head and started looking around, but the next moment, he froze and gawked in a daze.
In his sight was a massive furnace, rapidly disappearing into the distance. This furnace was simple and unadorned, and covered in complex patterns. An incredibly ancient aura was radiating from it.
“The Universe Furnace!” Suddenly, Thunder Shadow’s voice rang in his mind, seemingly shocked by this sight.
Yang Kai’s recent actions had left him somewhat confused, but now he finally understood that Yang Kai’s purpose was to explore the mysteries of the Universe Furnace.
And now, the greatest mysteries of this World had truly appeared before his eyes.
The massive furnace flying through the void before them was no different from the one that had been projected onto the various Great Territory battlefields. If it wasn’t a Universe Furnace, what was it?
The only difference was that the projection was illusory, while the one in front of them was real and tangible!
Yang Kai was awoken from his daze by Thunder Shadow’s cry of surprise, and just when he was about to chase after the furnace, dazzling colourful rays spewed out from the furnace’s mouth.
As soon as these colourful rays appeared, they scattered in all directions. Many sand-like particles suddenly expanded, transforming into the embryonic form of Universe Worlds. A strange Celestial Phenomenon suddenly expanded and occupied a vast space as rich and pure Grand Daos surged out of the Universe Furnace, filling this stretch of the void that was originally filled with Chaos.
Right then, a grain of sand came flying straight at Yang Kai. Without the pressure from the Universe Furnace, this grain of sand finally revealed its true form. As the distance between Yang Kai and the grain of sand shortened, it quickly transformed into the embryonic form of a Universe World that was no smaller than the Star Boundary.
Yang Kai hurriedly used Instantaneous Movement to dodge.
When he was exploring the depths of the Infinite River, Yang Kai had seen these grains of sand and knew that they were not ordinary. Now that they had left the Universe Furnace, they had finally revealed their true appearance.
As they were just the embryonic forms of the Universe World, they were barren and devoid of vitality, but as long as the conditions were right, they would gradually become complete and give rise to living creatures in the future.
The Universe Furnace was still rapidly advancing as more colourful rays continuously shot out of its mouth.
Yang Kai finally understood how he happened to have arrived at this place. Apparently, he was spat out by the Universe Furnace after he entered the tributary and followed it back to its source.
The flow of the tributary was only because the Universe Furnace was erupting.
This was not the 3,000 Worlds, nor was it Black Ink Battlefield, but a place he had never set foot in before.
Having lived and cultivated for so many years, Yang Kai could be considered an experienced and knowledgeable man, but what he was seeing right now was far beyond anything he had ever imagined.
After having calmed himself down, Yang Kai continued chasing after the Universe Furnace, occasionally avoiding the suddenly expanding celestial bodies and Celestial Phenomena that came flying at him.
Since he reached the Outer Universe, Yang Kai had always had a nagging doubt in his mind.
How did the Great Territories, Universe Worlds, and strange yet magnificent Celestial Phenomena come to be? Rumour had it that when Chaos was first split into Heaven and Earth, it gave birth to many Great Territories and Universe Worlds, but who or what could have possessed such great power to accomplish such a feat?
Even if the world itself evolved, it should still have a source!
The exploration of the Infinite River had allowed Yang Kai to witness the sand grain-like embryonic forms of the Universe Worlds, as well as the exquisite Celestial Phenomena in their nascent state. Although he had gained some insights, they were vague and incomplete.
But at this moment, everything became clear!
The source of everything was here, the Universe Furnace!
The 3,000 Worlds, the Universe Worlds, and even the remnants of the Celestial Phenomena on the Black Ink Battlefield, they all originated from the Universe Furnace, brought about by its eruptions since the dawn of existence.
What he was seeing right now was the true process of how Heaven and Earth split apart!
It was an awe-inspiring sight.
In his mind, Fang Tian Ci and Thunder Shadow were also staring fixedly at this scene. Even the usually noisy Thunder Shadow had stopped talking.
It was a scene that no ordinary person would ever see in their lifetime.
Perhaps, since ancient times, no one at all had ever witnessed this!
What Yang Kai was currently feeling was hard to describe. He wasn’t excited about being able to see the true nature of this world, but rather, he was at a loss.
“The Chaos Spirit King!” Thunder Shadow’s shout suddenly rang in his mind.
Yang Kai immediately activated Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to conceal his figure and aura.
The next moment, a fearsome aura emerged all of a sudden, gushing out along with dense Dao Strengths. Surprisingly, it was a Chaos Spirit King.
And it was not just a Chaos Spirit King, many other Chaos Spirit Clan members also came gushing out of the Universe Furnace, arriving at this void.
Yang Kai had thought it was the Chaos Spirit King who had a grudge with him, but when he took a closer look, he found that it was not the case.
Whether it was the appearance or figure of this Chaos Spirit King, Yang Kai had never seen it before. Its aura was still not as firm and stable as the previous one, and its physique even bore some resemblance to the Black Ink Clan.
“This should be a newly born Chaos Spirit King,” Fang Tian Ci stated.
For this opening of the Universe Furnace, three Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills were still unaccounted for. There was a high chance they had fallen into the hands of the Chaos Spirit Clan, so it wasn’t surprising for a new Chaos Spirit King to be born.
This should be the newly-born Chaos Spirit King.
Seeing this Chaos Spirit King appear here, Yang Kai roughly understood how it had been spat out. The other party seemed to be a little unaccustomed to the outside world, but after a brief pause, it quickly flew off into the distance and soon disappeared from Yang Kai’s sight.
A large number of Chaos Spirit Clan members followed after it.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai continued chasing after the Universe Furnace while concealing himself.
More and more embryonic Universe Worlds and Celestial Phenomena appeared, with occasional Chaos Spirit Clansmen and Chaos Spirit Kings among them. Yang Kai even saw the one who had a grudge against him, but thanks to Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability, the other party didn’t notice him.
Like the first Chaos Spirit King, this Chaos Spirit King also quickly fled in a seemingly random certain direction and soon disappeared.
“So that’s how it is,” Thunder Shadow’s voice rang out in his mind, “No wonder we didn’t see many Chaos Spirit Kings inside the Universe Furnace. It seems our previous speculations were wrong. It’s not that the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills can’t create Chaos Spirit Kings rapidly, but that most of these Chaos Spirit Kings were spat out and not in the Universe Furnace.”
“That should be the case,” Fang Tian Ci also agreed with him.
Previously, when they were discussing the number of Chaos Spirit Kings inside the Universe Furnace with Yang Kai, they had some doubts. Logically speaking, since the Universe Furnace had opened so many times, there should have been many Chaos Spirit Kings inside, dozens of them at least. But from beginning to end, they had only seen one Chaos Spirit King.
At the time, Yang Kai had speculated that the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills might not be completely effective for the Chaos Spirit Clan and could not create Chaos Spirit Kings right away, only slightly stronger Chaos Spirit Clan members.
But by the looks of it, his speculation was incorrect. A Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill had a high chance of producing a Chaos Spirit King. It just turned out that when the Universe Furnace closed, sand grain-like Universe Worlds, as well as the Celestial Phenomena and even Chaos Spirit Clansmen were spewed out by it.
This was equivalent to a purge.
The one who had formed a grudge with Yang Kai was probably one of the survivors from the last great purge.
While chasing the Universe Furnace, Yang Kai kept an eye on everything happening along the way; wherever the Universe Furnace passed, the Universe seemed to be reborn, though everything was primitive and desolate.
Perhaps after countless years, this stretch of the Universe would be filled with vitality, but right now, it was destined to be filled with nothing but death and silence.
After an unknown period of time, the Universe Furnace’s eruption gradually weakened, as if it was nearly finished spewing out everything inside. Finally, nothing gushed out of the Universe Furnace.
“Chaos!” Yang Kai suddenly whispered.
“What?” Thunder Shadow asked.
“Chaos!” Yang Kai repeated, “The edge of the Universe is Chaos!”
As a matter of fact, Yang Kai had already noticed it when he was first spewed out of the Universe Furnace. It was filled with nothing but Chaos, just like when he had first entered the Universe Furnace.
There was no order inside the Chaos, everything was extremely chaotic.
However, after the Grand Daos inside the Universe Furnace had evolved nine times, the Chaos had evolved into order.
And after everything inside the Universe Furnace had been expelled into this void filled with Chaos, it had washed away the disorder. Especially the rich and pure 10,000 Grand Daos, which seemed to neutralize the Chaos.
But no matter what, it was still a place filled with Chaos.
Before the Black Ink Clan’s invasion, the 3,000 Worlds were flourishing and each Great Territory had its own unique style. The Great Territories were connected by Territory Gates, forming an extremely complicated yet interconnected Great World.
The Human Race had lived in such a Great World for countless years, ultimately dominating it; however, there was also a Black Ink Battlefield outside this Great World, which was originally the frontline battlefield against the Black Ink Clan consisting of various Great Passes made by the Human Race’s Ancestors.
The Black Ink Battlefield was vast and boundless.
The deepest region that the Human Race had reached now was the location of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
Yang Kai might have gone a bit farther when he was chased by the Royal Lord and fled deeper into the void, eventually hiding inside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.
But what was behind the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction?
What was further behind the Celestial Phenomena Sea?
Where was the end of the Universe?
Yang Kai had thought about these questions before, but he could not find any answer to them.
Until today, when his actions allowed him to see the real body of the Universe Furnace, allowing him to find the answer to his question.
The edge of the Universe was Chaos!
It could even be said that the Universe had no end, because Chaos itself was disorderly and chaotic.
If the 3,000 Worlds and the Black Ink Battlefield were considered a single entity, then this whole entity should be surrounded by endless Chaos.
The eruption of the Universe Furnace was slowly transforming this Chaos into a part of the Universe, expanding its borders without limit.
Realizing this, Yang Kai failed to stop his laughter, [No wonder no one has been able to find the true body of the Universe Furnace all these years. It does exist, but it is at the very edge of the Universe. Who would have even thought of coming here to search for it?]
[And so what if I found it?]
Yang Kai had previously considered whether he would have a chance to refine the Universe Furnace if he could find its true body, but looking at it now, he understood that this idea was completely impossible.
Such a treasure was not something the Human Race could control. It was the Source of the Universe, of everything. Trying to refine it would be akin to trying to refine the Universe itself. Compared to such an endeavour, finding a way to kill Mo would be child’s play.
Just as Yang Kai’s thoughts were racing, the Universe Furnace that was flying through the void underwent another change.
All of a sudden, a powerful suction came from the furnace, devouring the Chaos in the nearby void in a flash.
The massive and majestic Universe Furnace seemed to have transformed into a bottomless pit. It only seemed to draw in Chaos however, while whatever it had spewed out, whether it was the embryonic Universe Worlds, various Celestial Phenomena, or even the invisible and formless Dao Strengths, they were completely unaffected.
Furthermore, the devouring force became stronger and stronger, so strong that an enormous vortex visible to the naked eye had appeared at the mouth of the Universe Furnace.
Watching this from afar, Yang Kai was stunned, but not too surprised.
When he was in the Universe Furnace World, Yang Kai had discovered that whether it was the Infinite River that flowed across the entire Universe Furnace World or the nine Grand Dao evolutions of the Universe Furnace, all of them involved the mysteries of the Chaos evolving into 10,000 Grand Daos.
When he first entered the Universe Furnace, it was also filled with Chaos, and it was in that Chaos-rich environment that all kinds of strange things were born, even the Chaos Spirit Clan.
But the key question was where did the Chaos in the Universe Furnace come from?
It came from here!
The Universe Furnace was located at the edge of the Universe and swallowed Chaos to fill itself. Whenever it reached its limit, it would convert this Chaos into 10,000 Grand Daos.
And when the Universe Furnace had been filled to its limit, it would appear once more!
When the Chaos inside the Universe Furnace had completely evolved into the 10,000 Grand Daos, the Universe Furnace would close and everything inside would be spewed out, expanding the Universe further.
This was a true Samsara…
It could be said that regardless of whether it was the world the Human Race had explored or the world they had not set foot on, both had been created by the repeated Samsara of the Universe Furnace.
This process had been going on for countless years, and perhaps it would continue until the Chaos was completely consumed by the Universe Furnace.
It was like a painting that was being painted from ancient times to the present, grand and magnificent. Compared to this, the war between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan seemed so small and insignificant.
Yang Kai followed the Universe Furnace, staring at it in a daze, his heart rapidly beating until finally, after a long time, he suddenly stopped.
There was no need to follow any further. After witnessing the entire process of the Universe Furnace expanding the Universe, witnessing the cycle of the Universe Furnace devouring and expelling, Yang Kai had figured out the origin of how Worlds were created and how the Universe came to be. It could be said that many of Yang Kai’s doubts had been answered.
However, no matter how one looked at such a painting, it was still shocking.
His original intention was to find the true body of the Universe Furnace and try to refine it to see if he could use it for himself.
Yang Kai had indeed found the real body of the Universe Furnace, but he no longer had any thoughts about refining it, because after witnessing everything, he knew that was nothing but a fool’s dream.
“Big Brother, how do we go back?” After a long silence, Thunder Shadow suddenly asked a crucial question.
Yang Kai had been expelled by the Universe Furnace along with the tributary. Now that the Universe Furnace was swallowing the Chaos, it had obviously closed down. In other words, the members of the Human Race and Black Ink Clan inside the Universe Furnace had already left, so how could he return?
Even if he were to rush into the Universe Furnace now, it would be meaningless, not to mention the fact that there was still a question of whether he could. Even if he did somehow manage to get inside, there was a high chance he would be trapped and unable to escape. Then he would have no choice but to wait for the next time the Universe Furnace opened.
It was hard to say when the Universe Furnace would open again. Maybe it would open in 10,000 years, or perhaps it would be hundreds of thousands of years, no one could say for certain.
Yang Kai turned a deaf ear to Thunder Shadow’s question, and instead silently circulated his strength, trying to connect with the World Tree.
Even at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Yang Kai only needed to connect with the World Tree to reach it. After receiving the Old Tree’s guidance, he could then enter the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.
Unfortunately, he did not get any response this time.
Although he had expected this, Yang Kai was still a little disappointed after having gotten the confirmation.
The reason he was able to connect to the World Tree was because he had refined and saved thousands of Universe Worlds in the past. Each of these Universe Worlds had a corresponding World Fruit on the Old Tree, and through this relationship, he had formed a close connection with it.
So, whenever he wanted, he could use the World Tree’s power to enter the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.
It could be said that the World Tree itself was connected to all the remaining Universe Worlds and the 3,000 Worlds itself. Back then, Yang Kai had left behind a completely dead Universe World just outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction so that he could easily check up on it whenever he wanted.
However, this place was at the edge of the Universe, and the World Tree’s connection clearly couldn’t reach such a distant and mysterious location, so it was naturally impossible to reach out to it.
“If we go in the opposite direction, we’ll eventually find our way back.” Yang Kai heaved a sigh.
Perhaps it would take an incomparably long time for him to return to the 3,000 Worlds, but that was the only way.
Although he had miscalculated and this venture didn’t yield much tangible results, the fact that he was able to witness the Universe Furnace swallow and refine Chaos, giving birth to the new Universe Worlds, made this trip completely worthwhile.
This might not enhance his strength, but it would have a profound impact on his future path.
After taking one last deep look at the rapidly departing Universe Furnace, Yang Kai turned around and set off!
In his mind, Fang Tian Ci heaved a sigh, “Mo Na Ye really got it easy!”
Thunder Shadow was stunned for a moment before quickly responding, “Right, that guy’s luck is too good.”
Originally, if everything had gone as usual and nothing unexpected happened, Yang Kai and Mo Na Ye would have appeared at the same location when the Universe Furnace closed. With Yang Kai’s current strength, the heavily injured Mo Na Ye, who had not been able to recover, would not have been his opponent. Most probably, Yang Kai would have killed him on the spot, thereby eliminating a strong enemy of the Human Race.
However, Yang Kai’s actions gave Mo Na Ye a chance to survive.
The Universe Furnace was already closed and Mo Na Ye had most likely escaped back to the No-Return Pass. Yang Kai had no idea how long it would take for him to return, but by the time he did, Mo Na Ye might have already recovered from his wounds. By then, it really would not be that easy for Yang Kai to kill him.
Nonetheless, it was useless to mull over what had already happened. So long as he was strong enough, he would have a chance to kill Mo Na Ye.
Hurrying along and gazing towards the horizon, Yang Kai calmed himself. When the Universe Furnace appeared, it triggered a war between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan, one that should be in full swing right now.
Fortunately, the Human Race had given birth to four new Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Universe Furnace, him, Xiang Shan, Yang Xue, and Ou Yang Lie.
Yang Xue should have returned to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction so she could not partake in the war in the 3,000 Worlds for now.
Xiang Shan and Ou Yang Lie, on the other hand, could lead an Army to fight the Black Ink Clan. Counting Luo Ting He and Wei Jun Yang, who had just advanced to the Ninth Order, the Human Race now had four Ninth-Order Masters to rely on.
As long as they did not make any rash moves, taking care of the Black Ink Clan shouldn’t be a problem.
Rather, Yang Kai was slightly worried about Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing’s side. These two had been suppressing the Black Ink Giant Spirit God in Wind Mist Territory. When the war broke out between the two sides, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God would definitely not sit by and watch; there was a high chance that it would make a move.
If it insisted on escaping, there was nothing the two Ninth-Order Masters could do.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had left a trump card with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao in the past. So, even if the Black Ink Giant Spirit God managed to escape, the Human Race would still be able to contain it.
Hopefully, by the time he returned, things had not become too bad.
Thinking so, Yang Kai ordered Fang Tian Ci, “Second Brother, you take the helm.”
Fang Tian Ci promptly agreed and took control of his body, teleporting forward using Space Principles.
Had anyone else been stranded at the edge of the Universe, even if it was a Ninth-Order Master, it would have taken them an incredibly long time to make it back, but Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space. Even if he was at the edge of the Universe, he would still be able to return after some time.
Furthermore, he had Fang Tian Ci to assist him.
At this moment, while Fang Tian Ci had taken over a part of his body, Yang Kai focused on digesting the gains he had obtained from the Universe Furnace.
On the day the Universe Furnace closed, the members of the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan inside returned to the dozen or so Great Territory Battlefields.
The Human Race, which had been preparing for this a long time, dealt a heavy blow to the Black Ink Clan. In Azure Sun Territory and Wolf Fang Territory, the two Great Territory Battlefields which the Humans had basically conquered, most of the returning Black Ink Clansmen were either killed and heavily injured. Apart from a few Pseudo-Royal Lords who managed to make it out alive somehow, there were no other survivors.
Having broken through to the Ninth Order, when Ou Yang Lie and Xiang Shan returned to Profound Nether Territory and Blood Flame Territory respectively, the Black Ink Clan was caught off guard. The two went on a killing spree, killing many Black Ink Clansmen and traumatizing the survivors.
Afterwards, the Profound Nether and Blood Flame Armies gathered their entire force and attacked the Black Ink Clan’s main camps under the leadership of the two Ninth-Order Masters!
The two sides engaged in a fierce battle with blood and flesh covering the endless void.
Although the Black Ink Clan’s side had a few Pseudo-Royal Lords, their numbers were still insufficient to deal with these two newly promoted Ninth-Order Masters. For a time, the momentum of the Human Race Armies in Profound Nether Territory and Blood Flame Territory was unstoppable. The Black Ink Clan Army collapsed the moment they clashed, suffering countless losses.
At the same time, the Azure Sun and Wolf Fang Armies, who had already finished their preparations, sent troops to the nearby Great Territory Battlefields under the leadership of Luo Ting He and Wei Jun Yang.
The battle situation in every Great Territory Battlefield was different. In some, the Human Race occupied the advantage, and in others, the Black Ink Clan held the upper hand. Naturally, there were also those where both sides were basically evenly matched.
But despite the situations, favourable and unfavourable, the fact was that the Human Race had gained many new and powerful troops. The only thing waiting for the Black Ink Clan was defeat!
The Human Race Armies led by the Ninth-Order Masters were basically invincible!
In just three years, the Humans conquered another two Great Territory Battlefields.
At this time, the battle led by Ou Yang Lie and Xiang Shan in Profound Nether Territory and Blood Flame Territory had also come to an end. Since the Black Ink Clan did not have spare Royal Lords to send, it was extremely difficult for their Army to resist the Human’s offensive.
Of the dozen or so Great Territory Battlefields, the Human Race had already reclaimed six. The Supreme Headquarters spread this news far and wide, boosting the Human Race’s morale greatly.
As the war raged, the recruitment office on the Star Boundary was also filled with a crowd eager to enlist. In fact, ever since the recruitment office was established, cultivators kept coming in a constant stream to sign up. But as the situation was unclear before, and a full-scale war had not broken out between the two races, the recruitment office had a lot of restrictions on the number of new recruits they could accept.
But now, a full-scale war had broken out between the two sides, and this was a war that concerned everyone’s survival. This war would eventually end with the total destruction of one side. As the battlefront would be extended every time the Human Race reclaimed lost territory, the requirements imposed on the recruitment office for new recruits had been lowered.
A large number of newcomers constantly passed through this place and were sent to various battlefields to fill up the numbers.
After thousands of years of accumulation, the Human Race had indeed created many Masters, especially the Star Boundary and Myriad Monster World. Many talented individuals had been born on these two Universe Worlds thanks to the World Tree clone’s feedback. The newly promoted Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order Masters might not be able to do anything against the Black Ink Clan alone, but if they were gathered into an Army of tens of thousands, the power they could display would be unimaginable.
At the Supreme Headquarters, Mi Jing Lun was also constantly transferring various resources and personnel to various battlefields to ensure the logistics of the Army.
Fortunately, the Human Race had got their hands on quite a lot of spoils of war when they had recaptured those Great Territories. Although the Human Race was still lacking in resources, it was not to the point where they were starving.
After recapturing the six Great Territory Battlefields, the six Armies split up and moved closer to the remaining battlefields where war was still raging. They converged with the original Human Race Armies of those Great Territory Battlefields, assisting them in resisting the Black Ink Clan.
The battle became extremely fierce and the Black Ink Clan found it difficult to resist the Humans at the beginning; but soon, the Black Ink Clan responded with appropriate countermeasures.
The primary reason the Human Race held the initial advantage was the presence of several Ninth-Order Masters leading the Armies. It was difficult for the Black Ink Clan to compete with them.
Although there were some Territory Lords who had the potential to become Royal Lords, they still needed time and could not be counted on for now
But the Black Ink Clan had Pseudo-Royal Lords! Moreover, creating a Pseudo-Royal Lord didn’t require much time. It only required a large number of Innate Territory Lords and a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
Back when the Universe Furnace had appeared, Mo Yu passed an order to gather all the uninjured Innate Territory Lords at the No Return Pass with a heavy heart, using them to create a few dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords in order to destroy any opportunities the Humans might get!
At that time, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a huge loss of manpower. It could be said that almost all of the Innate Territory Lords who had come out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction at the beginning of the war were wiped out.
Nonetheless, it was worth it. The few dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords had indeed posed a huge threat and caused a lot of trouble to the Human Race.
Now, however, less than 20 Pseudo-Royal Lords were left. It was difficult for them to contend with the Human Race with just these Pseudo-Royal Lords.
The Black Ink Clan needed even more Pseudo-Royal Lords!
Fortunately, the Black Ink Clan had such capital.
The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was breached years back, and around 2,000 Innate Territory Lords had escaped from it. These Innate Territory Lords had suffered heavy injuries while escaping and were unable to do anything for a while. After Yang Kai came to learn of this, he began hunting and took out many of these Innate Territory Lords. Mo Na Ye even tried to set a trap for Yang Kai using these heavily injured Innate Territory Lords as bait, but the Black Ink Clan ultimately failed and had lost many of these Innate Territory Lords.
Nonetheless, many Innate Territory Lords still managed to escape with their lives and had been recuperating at the No-Return Pass all these years!
The Black Ink Clan was not lacking in resources either, and thanks to this abundance, most of these Innate Territory Lords had already recovered from their injuries after decades of rest and recuperation.
The loss of six Great Territory Battlefields had sent Mo Yu into a rage and he once again decided to create Pseudo-Royal Lords.
Today, at the No-Return Pass, one Innate Territory Lord after another walked into the Black Ink Nests under Mo Yu’s orders before their fearsome auras vanished. Be that as it may, death was not the final outcome, the sacrifice of life was for that moment of rebirth!
The next moment, High-Rank Grade Black Ink Nests started violently shaking before collapsing one by one. Soon after, one powerful Pseudo-Royal Lord after another emerged from the collapsed Black Ink Nests.
Today, 50 Pseudo-Royal Lords were created in the Black Ink Clan!
Without any delay, these 50 new Pseudo-Royal Lords left the No-Return Pass under Mo Yu’s orders, dispatched to support the various Great Territory Battlefields.
The addition of 50 Pseudo-Royal Lords instantly put a lot of pressure on the Human Race.
Surprisingly, the Human Race Army’s ferocious advancement was stopped!
After having reclaimed four Great Territories in just three years, most Humans believed that the coming war would be as easy and smooth as the autumn wind sweeping away the fallen leaves, but to everyone’s dismay, they once again entered a stalemate.
Every time a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm joined the battle, the Black Ink Clan would send at least three Pseudo-Royal Lords to confront him or her. It was extremely difficult for the Ninth-Order Masters to do anything in this kind of situation.
Fighting for several years, countless lives on both sides were lost, and there was no end in sight to the bloodshed.
A few years later, the Human Race ceased their offensive and instead sent out teams led by Masters to find opportunities to kill Black Ink Clansmen.
They had some results as they managed to lure a few Pseudo-Royal Lords into ambushes where they were killed in one fell swoop by the Ninth-Order Masters.
After having suffered losses a few times though, the Pseudo-Royal Lords became more cautious and no longer dared to act alone, lest the Humans take advantage of them.
Nonetheless, they failed to break the stalemate. All in all, battles of all sizes erupted from time to time, but no one was able to gain much advantage.
This situation continued for several decades!
In the last few decades, neither side was able to advance any further after the Human Race took back six Great Territory Battlefields. Everyone was filled with energy, but had nowhere to use it.
Many people had already realized what the problem was. Although the Human Race had several Ninth-Order Masters, they lacked a method to quickly kill Pseudo-Royal Lords. It could also be said that they lacked a Master who could break through the ranks of a million enemy troops and strike fear into the hearts of the Black Ink Clan.
The Ninth-Order Masters were strong enough to kill Pseudo-Royal Lords in one-on-one combat, but as the Pseudo-Royal Lords never acted alone anymore, they could not do anything to them either.
If there was a Master who could quickly kill a few Pseudo-Royal Lords in a head-on battle, the Human Race would definitely be able to break the stalemate and rout the Black Ink Clan’s forces!
Xiang Shan may have been stronger than the others, but he couldn’t accomplish such a feat.
There was only one person who could do such a thing!
The Lord of the Star Boundary, Army Commander of the Profound Nether Army in name, the one who was best at creating miracles, the one who was invincible in the same realm, Yang Kai!
When he was in the Seventh Order, he killed Feudal Lords as easily as cutting melons and chopping vegetables. When he was in the Eighth Order, he slaughtered Innate Territory Lords like chickens and dogs. Now that he was in the Ninth Order, it would be a piece of cake for him to deal with a few Pseudo-Royal Lords.
Unfortunately, no one knew where Yang Kai was right now.
The Human Race knew that Yang Kai had entered the Universe Furnace from the entrance on the Black Ink Battlefield. In other words, when the Universe Furnace closed, he should have appeared outside the No-Return Pass.
If that was the case though, he should have returned by now.
In the beginning, no one had paid much attention to this; after all, it would take some time to return from the Black Ink Battlefield, but it had now been several decades, yet there was no sign of him.
This begged the question, did something happen to him? If not, how could he have disappeared for so long?
Did the Black Ink Clan make preparations and set up an ambush near the projection space when he returned from the Universe Furnace, perhaps catching him off guard?
But the Black Ink Clan knew nothing about this. So, how could they have set up an ambush in advance? Furthermore, even if the Black Ink Clan had set up an ambush, they would have been able to kill him now that he had reached the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
On top of that, the Human Race was certain that Yang Kai had not been ambushed. At the very least, he had not died at the hands of the Black Ink Clan.
For thousands of years, Yang Kai’s name was a beacon of hope to the Human Race, a symbol of faith, but to the Black Ink Clan, it was synonymous with disaster, an existence they greatly hated. If Yang Kai really died at the hands of the Black Ink Clan, they would never have kept it a secret. They would have definitely made a big fuss about it and publicized it to attack the morale of the Human Race Army.