Martial Peak
chapter-5667

The Blood Gate was forged by Heaven’s Order with her Blood Essence. It was the Restricted Area of the Ancient Wild Lands that even the most powerful of Monster Race dared not approach carelessly.

Only the successor of the Heavens Order Bloodline was qualified to open the Blood Gate!

Unfortunately, after the death of Heaven’s Order, her Bloodline fell into obscurity. Her descendants were unable to revive their ancestral glory and gradually fell into decline and risked disappearing entirely.

Later, Zhang Ruo Xi’s Bloodline was awakened and she entered the Blood Gate, taking Xiao Xiao with her. Xiao Xiao’s current strength was inherited from the Source of the Divine Spirit, Tai Yue.

Many Monster Race Masters from the Star Boundary had benefited from the Divine Spirit Sources inheritance from the Blood Gate, and some were still active in the Great Territory Battlefields today. This included Luan Feng and Fan Wu. While they only had a trace of Divine Spirit Bloodline in them originally, which was far from pure, when they obtained the appropriate Source, they could be called true Divine Spirits. Afterwards, many of them even journeyed to the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land to cultivate, further purifying their Bloodlines.

Yang Kai suddenly looked a bit confused when he thought about this.

If the Divine Spirits had their Bloodline, then what was the Heaven’s Order Bloodline Zhang Ruo Xi had? This kind of Bloodline had a natural restraint on all Divine Spirits, which could be seen only from Zhu Jian’s reaction just now.

Just by walking by each other, a Master on Zhu Jian’s level felt uneasy around Zhang Ruo Xi, a mere Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.

In fact, when Zhang Ruo Xi stood in front of Yang Kai, even he could not help but feel an innate sense of unease coming from his Dragon Vein!

However, due to their familiarity with each other, and knowing that Zhang Ruo Xi couldn’t harm him, this uneasiness was easily ignored.

If it had been someone else, that feeling would be enough to trigger Yang Kai to be more cautious.

Oddly, he had never felt this way in the past. Either Zhang Ruo Xi’s Heavens Order Bloodline had grown tremendously, or Yang Kai’s Dragon Vein had grown so pure that it was now able to sense Ruo Xi’s Bloodline more strongly.

“Sir, you are very knowledgeable, so Ruo Xi has a question for you.” Zhang Ruo Xi spoke softly.

Gu Pan had already waved her hand and created a barrier that surrounded the three of them, separating them from the outside.

Yang Kai immediately understood that what Ruo Xi wanted to say must be extremely personal to her; otherwise, Gu Pan would not have been so cautious. He immediately nodded and said, “Go ahead.”

Zhang Ruo Xi said, “Sir, you know that after Ruo Xi condensed her Dao Seal, refined appropriate materials, and became a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, the final realm I could reach was the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, right?”

Yang Kai nodded. He naturally knew about this matter, because he had once asked Zhang Ruo Xi if she wanted to start over and refine Sixth-Order materials. After all, there was still a gap between the Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order. Back then, he still had some Tai Yi Soul Cleansing Water on hand. As long as Ruo Xi was willing to try, then she could wash away the Powers accumulated in her Dao Seal and begin from scratch.

However, doing so involved a great deal of risk, as the Dao Seal was at stake and any slight carelessness could be fatal. Ruo Xi also felt that refining Sixth-Order materials was a bit too much for her aptitude, which was why Yang Kai did not insist on it.

“Now that Ruo Xi is a Seventh-Order Master and has reached the peak of her cultivation…” Zhang Ruo Xi then continued to explain.

She followed Gu Pan around the battlefield over the years to kill countless enemies and had accumulated countless Military Merits, so she was never short of cultivation resources. The current environment for the Human Race soldiers had a multitude of dangers as well as opportunities. As long as they dared to dedicate themselves to the war, they could use their Military Merits to exchange for anything they wanted. It was unlike before when all the good stuff was hoarded by the Cave Heavens and Paradises, out of reach of ordinary cultivators.

Zhang Ruo Xi was very hardworking and exchanged her Military Merits for lots of resources; thus, she was always cultivating, which was why it was not surprising that she could reach the peak of the Seventh Order.

“But Sir…” Ruo Xi appeared bewildered as she looked up at Yang Kai, “Ruo Xi still feels that her cultivation has not reached its limits, like there are no shackles on my Small Universe.”

Yang Kai was listening attentively, and now his expression was even more intense as he asked, “Is that true?”

What Zhang Ruo Xi said was not that alarming initially, but her final words sent shockwaves through Yang Kai’s heart.

[Why can she not feel the shackles on her Small Universe? It’s too strange]

The moment Yang Kai broke through the Eighth Order, he could already feel the shackles on his Small Universe, and they only became more noticeable the more he cultivated.

The Human Open Heaven Realm Method had a major flaw which limited one’s ultimate potential, a fact that Yang Kai only recognized recently.

Cang and his nine compatriots went to the World Tree to gain enlightenment regarding the Open Heaven Realm method, so that the originally weak Human Race could rise up. It could be said that these Martial Ancestors had contributed immensely to the Human Race.

Without the Open Heaven Realm method, the Human Race would not be what it is today.

It was because of these 10 Martial Ancestors that the future generations of the Human Race were able to achieve their current success and Yang Kai was full of respect for them.

However, it was undeniable that the Open Heaven Realm method was imperfect. If it was perfect, then it would not put unbreakable limits on one’s future achievements. A truly perfect method would allow one to continue treading their Martial Dao as long as they were willing to put in the necessary effort.

In a sense, the Open Heaven Realm method was a dead end.

Anyone who initially broke through to the Fifth Order would have a hard limit of the Seventh Order in the future. The Sixth-Order would end at the Eighth-Order.

A World Fruit from the World Tree could extend that limit by a single Order, allowing a person to climb a little higher on their Martial Dao, but it was still limited.

Yang Kai achieved the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, then took a Mid-Rank World Fruit. He was now at the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, and although he was not quite at the peak, he was nearly there.

When he was still cultivating in the Star Boundary’s World Tree Clone, he felt the invisible shackle on his Small Universe growing tighter with time. The shackle was like a lock that pinned down his Martial Dao to prevent any possibility of it moving forward. It also locked his Small Universe from further expansion. This became more obvious as Yang Kai’s own heritage increased.

Every Master who had reached the end of their own Martial Dao could clearly feel this invisible shackle on their Small Universe.

The shackle existed with the birth of one’s Small Universe when advancing to the Open Heaven Realm; however, Zhang Ruo Xi said that she could not feel this shackle, which was rather unbelievable.

If Ruo Xi’s cultivation was at the peak of Seventh Order, she should have clearly felt this restriction long ago.

It was no wonder Gu Pan blocked this area. This was a big deal and would spread like wildfire if it got out.

“Who else knows about this?” Yang Kai asked solemnly.

Ruo Xi turned her head, looked at Gu Pan, and said, “Besides you, only Senior Sister Gu knows about this.”

She wanted to ask Yang Kai for advice as soon as she realized her situation; unfortunately, Yang Kai was now in a high position and his whereabouts were highly unpredictable. Strong in will but weak in strength, Zhang Ruo Xi could only keep this secret to herself for the time being. Luckily, she was able to see Yang Kai during the formation of the Suppressing Black Ink Army; otherwise, she really did not know what she should do.

In Lang Ya Paradise, although some Elders cared for her, she could not totally trust them. Furthermore, she believed only Yang Kai could handle this.

Yang Kai was the only person in the world who could make her feel totally unreserved.

Yang Kai nodded slightly as Ruo Xi’s caution was appropriate.

The limits of one’s Small Universe was the eternal bane of all Human Masters. If they could find a way to break this shackle, the Human Race would certainly have many more Masters.

Most old Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had reached the end of their Martial Dao long ago, so even if it was only a faint hint of a chance to break through to the Ninth-Order, they would not hesitate to risk everything to seize it.

If Zhang Ruo Xi’s situation was leaked, the Supreme Headquarters would undoubtedly try to investigate, regardless of the possible drawbacks or consequences.

When that happened, Zhang Ruo Xi would lose all freedom and become a test subject.

“Can I see your Small Universe?” Yang Kai asked.

Ruo Xi agreed immediately and opened her Small Universe.

Yang Kai’s Divine Sense entered it and immediately felt the aura of her World Force, which was extremely pure and strong.

This Small Universe itself was nothing special, other than its territory being larger than a normal Seventh-Order Master’s. Indeed, as Ruo Xi said, she was already at the peak of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.

However, Yang Kai soon chuckled and asked, “Why are you hoarding so many Small Stone Race members?”

Ruo Xi’s Small Universe had fully materialized as she was in the Seventh Order, and it seemed she had purposely transplanted many flowers and plants into it, making it both beautiful and vibrant.

However, in a corner of her Small Universe, there were some 200 Small Stone Race members of both the Yang and Yin variety. They were both equally distributed, and most were very strong. There were even some 1,000-metre-tall Eighth-Order Small Stone Race Masters among them.

Yang Kai naturally knew the origin of these Small Stone Race members. Previously, in the Ancestral Land, he handed the Small Stone Race Soldiers he ‘borrowed’ from Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan and passed them to those Seventh-Order Array Masters, tasking them with bringing them back to the Supreme Headquarters.

The Supreme Headquarters naturally distributed these Small Stone Race members to strengthen the Human Race soldiers.

Naturally, the cost for a Small Stone Race Soldier would correspond to its Order, so the powerful ones were not cheap. Human Soldiers would obtain these Small Stone Race members from the various bases in the Great Territory Battlefields and then refine them to use against the enemy.

Generally speaking, a single person could only refine a handful of Small Stone Race Soldiers as their sentience was too low. They were very rebellious and even when refined, it was very difficult to command them when there were too many.

Yang Kai was well aware of this; thus, nowadays, when the Human Race soldiers were fighting with the Black Ink Clan on the various battlefields, most of them had a few Small Stone Race members with them. Quite often the Human Race soldiers relied on the bravery of these Small Stone Race soldiers to get out of tricky situations or to kill strong enemies.

In this way, they were of great help to the Humans.

Yang Kai was a bit puzzled about why Ruo Xi hoarded so many though; after all, these things were exchanged for Military Merits and their cost was not cheap, especially for those in the Eighth Order. After all, having something equivalent to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would give her a significant boost in fighting strength.