Martial Peak
chapter-5742

Yang Kai made his way through the void with a tiny, feline Monster Race Master sitting on his shoulder. It was his Monster Self, Thunder Shadow.

Alas, Yang Kai found it lamentable that he could not take too many of the jellyfish-like Chaos Entities with him and left the place with Thunder Shadow in tow. Initially, he wanted Thunder Shadow to give him a ride as he wanted to experience what it was like to have a mount, but Thunder Shadow refused. Instead, he shrunk down and took a seat on Yang Kai’s shoulder.

Yang Kai could not do anything about it. Since Thunder Shadow did not want to do it, Yang Kai was not going to force him.

At this moment, Yang Kai looked somewhat hesitant as he held a miniature Black Ink Nest in his hand.

This was one of his spoils after killing all those Territory Lords. After inspecting it up close, he confirmed that it was a Low-Rank Black Ink Nest; however, since it could be used to communicate inside the Universe Furnace, it meant that there had to be a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest somewhere inside this space to use as a hub for the Black Ink Clan’s communications.

Otherwise, the Black Ink Clan would not have been able to use the Black Ink Nest Space to communicate.

Now that Yang Kai had this small Black Ink Nest with him, he could use it to spy on the Black Ink Clan and glean some useful information.

The only thing he had to worry about was if the Black Ink Clan realised something and sealed the Black Ink Nest Space with him inside.

If that happened, his Soul would also be trapped and he would not be able to escape. He had experienced this once before, but fortunately for him, he had been protected by the Soul Warming Lotus. At that time, he managed to kill and injure quite a number of Territory Lords and Black Ink Disciples with Soul Rending Thorns. That was what eventually forced the Black Ink Clan to undo the seal, which allowed him to escape.

At the time, Yang Kai was still part of the Great Evolution Army, so the situation was not quite the same.

He was inside the Universe Furnace now, and if his Soul did get sealed up, it would hinder him from accomplishing his goals in this place.

After mulling it over for a short while, Yang Kai sighed and crushed the miniature Black Ink Nest. He was certain that the Black Ink Clan would have their guard up against the possibility of someone spying on them. If he did enter the Black Ink Nest with his Soul, he might end up falling into their trap.

Just to be safe, it was better for him to avoid stirring up any possible trouble.

Just then, the void began to rumble and shake. Yang Kai immediately halted and took in the surroundings with his senses.

Thunder Shadow, who was sitting on Yang Kai’s shoulder, also turned solemn as he said quietly, “The first evolution is happening!”

‘Evolution’ was the word used to describe the change that would happen with the chaotic Shattered Dao Essence inside the Universe Furnace. Such changes would happen a total of nine times, and once all nine were complete, the environment inside the Universe Furnace would become vastly different. It was also the signal that the search for opportunities inside the Universe Furnace was about to come to an end.

Blood Crow was the one who provided the Humans with this information. He had firsthand experience from the previous time the Universe Furnace emerged, and although he did not get a Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill and was not a part of any major fights back then, he did manage to come back out of the Universe Furnace alive. Furthermore, thanks to what he found, he easily broke through and reached the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm.

The jade slip that Liao Zheng gave Yang Kai not only mentioned the different Grades of Open Heaven Pills and the existence of the Chaos Entities, but it also included information about the changes and evolutions that happened within the Universe Furnace.

The Universe Furnace was filled with Shattered Dao Essences, and anyone who entered would immediately sense that.

Due to the effects of these Shattered Dao Essences, the environment inside the Universe Furnace was similarly chaotic and disorganised. Even Time and Space were both less defined in this space, allowing for a large number of Chaos Entities to be born.

It was possible that an environment like this would not affect the Black Ink Clan much. Their bodies were made up of Mo’s Creation Force and they did not cultivate the Grand Dao; however, the environment did affect the Human Race Masters greatly, especially concerning their Dao Strengths.

In the outside world, Dao Strengths filled every single corner of the Universe. Open Heaven Realm Masters could harness their own Dao Strengths to resonate with the Universe’s Grand Dao, which allowed them to channel part of that strength.

However, inside the Universe Furnace, the Grand Dao was shattered and Dao Essence was chaotic, so there was nothing they could use to enhance their own attacks.

Only the Humans’ physical strength and the World Force inside their Small Universes were not affected.

Yang Kai’s body, with his Dragon Vein, was not affected by him being inside the Universe Furnace, and his ability to use the World Force from his Small Universe was not affected either; however, when trying to manipulate local Space Principles or Time Principles, their effects would be weaker here.

That being said, this did not affect the Human Masters too much as they relied mainly on their own power when engaged in battle. Nevertheless, they were still weakened to a certain extent.

However, the environment inside the Universe Furnace was not static.

Each time the Universe Furnace showed up, the World inside would undergo nine rounds of Grand Dao evolution. Blood Crow had no clue as to why this happened or why nine times instead of eight or seven, but either way, that was what happened.

As a result of each evolution, the Shattered Dao Essence that filled the Universe Furnace would slowly become more refined, and after all nine times, the Shattered Dao Essence would have changed into a complete and structured Dao Essence.

This change had a direct and significant impact on the Universe Furnace World.

Upon entering the Universe Furnace, everyone felt that the World inside was vast and boundless, but that was mainly due to the haziness in the dimensions of Time and Space. If one was unable to define the structure they were inside, it was impossible to determine its size or scope.

However, as the Shattered Dao Essence gradually became more and more refined, the space would also become more clearly defined.

When it came to this Space, the disorder of the Universe Furnace before would slowly morph into one that could be defined and measured through the continuous rounds of evolution.

And, this was only the shallowest of the changes that happened.

Blood Crow said that during his last foray into the Universe Furnace, after nine rounds of evolution, the Universe Furnace started feeling as if it was a real Great Territory, and countless Universe Worlds popped up inside at some point. Every one of the Universe Worlds had been filled with the aura of new life.

He could not figure out where those Universe Worlds came from and could only speculate that they were a result of the rounds of evolution.

This was how the environment inside the Universe Furnace was changed by the evolution of the Grand Dao.

For both the Humans and the Black Ink Clan who came in, this change greatly affected them.

The Universe Furnace World was currently boundless and never-ending. Even though many Masters from the two Races had entered, it was not that easy to encounter anyone else, be it an ally or an enemy. Most of the time, they would brush past others without even knowing about it despite being fairly near to each other.

However, with each round of evolution, the Shattered Dao Essence slowly became more refined, and the environment inside the Universe Furnace World would grow clearer.

Blood Crow even suspected that the Universe Furnace World that emerged after all nine rounds of evolution was the true nature of the Universe Furnace World, and everything that had been visible before that could simply be an illusion. It was as if the real environment had been shrouded by a layer of fog.

Both the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan sent many of their Masters into the Universe Furnace, with some 7 million or so Black Ink Clansmen entering from the entrance in the Barren Territory alone.

With so many living beings inside a single Great Territory, the chances of running into each other increased manifold.

Thus, inside the Universe Furnace, it was rare to have a major fight break out during the early evolutions. Most of the time, it would simply be one-on-one fights, or perhaps skirmishes between small groups.

However, as the evolutions continued, the Space inside the Universe Furnace World slowly became more defined and the seemingly boundless area would become a lot more crowded.

There was no way of discerning the pattern of evolution. No one knew when the next evolution would happen, but whenever it did, there were clear signs.

Right now, Yang Kai was standing still as he took in the changes to the environment and found that the information had been accurate. The Shattered Dao Essence that made up the Universe Furnace World had become ever so slightly more refined. It was not a significant change, but it had indeed changed.

[Why would there be an evolution of Dao Essence inside the Universe Furnace?] Yang Kai had pondered this question when he first received the information from Liao Zheng, but he could not think of a reason why, so he decided to wait until he experienced the evolution for himself to see whether he could learn anything from it.

Alas, he was just as clueless as before…

In just a few moments, the rumbling stopped. The evolution had started abruptly, and it stopped just as quickly.

Yang Kai tried to use his Divine Sense to scout around him and realised that it was a little better now. He could inspect a greater radius around him, though it was still far less than the maximum he could perceive outside.

The Shattered Dao Essence inside the Universe Furnace was still a great hindrance to his ability to search and inspect from a distance.

“I sense murderous intent!” Thunder Shadow suddenly growled. He crouched defensively on Yang Kai’s shoulder as lightning began to spark across his skin.

Yang Kai was startled. He nearly wondered whether Thunder Shadow had made a mistake when he abruptly sensed a powerful aura approaching him from behind.

Just as Yang Kai noticed the newcomer, the latter noticed him as well and sent his aura forward. Upon realising that it was Yang Kai, the newcomer was shocked and elated as he roared, “Hand over the Open Heaven Pill, Yang Kai!”

As soon as Yang Kai heard what was said, he figured out what was going on. It was clear that the Territory Lords who were fighting against Thunder Shadow had called for reinforcements, but this one had arrived too late. The Territory Lords were dead and Yang Kai had the Open Heaven Pill.

Thus, this Master from the Black Ink Clan followed the traces left behind and chased Yang Kai and Thunder Shadow down.

Yang Kai did waste some time collecting the jellyfish-like Chaos Entities after all.

The newcomer was a Pseudo-Royal Lord; otherwise, he would not have been as overbearing as he was when he realised it was Yang Kai. The moment the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s aura shot towards Yang Kai, the latter was able to figure out how strong his opponent was.

After swiftly gauging both their powers, Yang Kai immediately came to a conclusion. He could not defeat this one!

Yang Kai had crossed paths with Pseudo-Royal Lords many times. Even though he managed to slaughter Di Wu in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, he only did so thanks to many favourable conditions and advantages of the terrain they fought on, so it was hard for him to repeat that feat.

Previously, when he was outside the No-Return Pass, Mo Na Ye had managed to hunt him down until he had nowhere to hide. Thus, Yang Kai knew full well the power differential between him and a Pseudo-Royal Lord.

He did have Thunder Shadow with him now, but he knew a fight would only result in unnecessary loss.

Therefore, Yang Kai swiftly decided to flee as he began manipulating Space Principles.

While the Shattered Dao Essence around him did affect his use of Space Principles, it also interfered with Divine Sense, so he did not need to travel nearly as far to escape the perception of a Pseudo-Royal Lord. In this way, the suppression from the environment affected all of them equally.

Yang Kai even felt leisurely enough to still be in awe at his Monster Self, Thunder Shadow. He knew that in terms of strength, he was a lot stronger than his Monster Self, but Thunder Shadow had sensed the murderous intent before Yang Kai noticed the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s presence. [Is it because of how innately sensitive those from Monster Race are?]