Martial Peak
chapter-5747

The key to forming a Battle Formation was to have strong trust and the willingness to place one’s life in the hands of another. The Human Race Masters have never lacked this, while that was something that those of the Black Ink Clan had never truly possessed.

Moreover, since Thunder Shadow was Yang Kai’s Monster Self, even though he was part of the Formation’s six members, Yang Kai, as the Core, only needed to coordinate the powers of Ou Yang Lie and the other three Eighth-Order Masters. There was no need for him to pay attention to his Monster Self. As such, the difficulty of presiding over this Formation was just like presiding over a Five Elements Formation. Despite never having worked with each other before, when Ou Yang Lie and the others appeared, and when Yang Kai integrated his aura into the Formation, the Core position immediately shifted to him. In an instant, the Battle Formation was formed as if it had been practised countless times.

Sensing the strength and power of the Battle Formation, Meng Que knew that his troubles were going to be great.

As the thought flashed through his mind, the surrounding space was already rippling. An alarm was set off in Meng Que’s heart when a long spear shadow suddenly stabbed towards his face.

This spear was thrust with the combined powers of Yang Kai, four Eighth-Order Masters, and a Monster Race Great Emperor, so its might could practically shatter the space inside this Universe Furnace World. Even the chaotic Shattered Dao Essence that filled this place was swept away.

This spear, which was covered in the rich Dao Strengths from both the Dao of Time and the Dao of Space, seemed to have come from some point in the past towards a moment in the future.

It was endlessly changing and felt completely unpredictable.

Meng Que’s face paled and he quickly gathered his strength to defend himself. Rich Black Ink Strength poured out into a barrier, but the spear pierced through all the obstacles unhindered, drawing a spray of black blood.

Meng Que gritted his teeth and backed away as quickly as possible!

However, Yang Kai followed him like a shadow and his spear transformed into a rain of shadows, moving fast at times and slow at others. Various Dao Strengths condensed, with the Dao of Time and the Dao of Space forming a core, creating infinite subtleties.

The four Eighth-Order Masters and Thunder Shadow who were in the Formation with Yang Kai followed closely behind, emptying their minds and bodies and channelling all their power into Yang Kai through the Battle Formation.

The situation on the battlefield was instantly flipped upside down. Yang Kai, who had been suppressed until he barely had strength to remain panting, had now gained the upper hand and overpowered Meng Que to the point where he could barely counterattack.

In terms of their might alone, Yang Kai and the others should be at a similar strength to Meng Que after forming the Battle Formation; however, the Dao Strengths that Yang Kai wielded were extremely profound. As he wielded the Dao Strengths while drawing power from Ou Yang Lie and the others, Yang Kai’s attacks became much sharper and completely unpredictable.

While others may not be able to feel it much, Meng Que, who was currently fighting against Yang Kai, could clearly understand the difference.

There were many attacks that Meng Que was confident that he could block, but though he should have deflected or resisted them, the result ended up astonishing him instead.

Each spear thrust seemed to have a clear attack pattern, but they would always fall out of his predictions at some point, causing him to make a misjudgment and causing a disadvantage in his defences.

It was as if Yang Kai’s attacks were not aimed at the current him, but rather at him from some point in the past or the future…

Dealing with such a situation was unusually difficult for Meng Que. Through the support of the Battle Formation, Yang Kai was currently no lesser to him both in terms of momentum and power. If that alone were the case, then a fight like this would probably end up in a situation where neither could do anything to their opponent.

However, the methods that this Human was using were too bizarre…

What Meng Que could not understand was how this Human could actually endure this level of exertion.

Meng Que had also practised the Four Symbols Formation with other Territory Lords before and knew the difficulty of holding a Formation together. It required not only the trust and cooperation of the others, but also the ability to bear a heavy load as the Core.

Serving as the Core of the Formation was equivalent to gathering everyone’s energy into their own body. If the power was too great, then it would be difficult for one’s body to handle it.

Yang Kai had already been battered by Meng Que previously, and now that he was presiding over the Six Paths Formation, he was basically gathering the strengths of the five other Masters into his own body, and the pressure alone was enough to crush any Eighth-Order Master, yet he was taking it as if nothing was wrong.

Meng Que seemed to remember then that this guy was not actually a pure Human, but rather part of the Dragon Clan…

Dragons were famed for their thick skin and strong flesh to begin with, so it seemed reasonable for Yang Kai to be able to withstand such pressure in this case thanks to the sturdiness of his body.

These thoughts made Meng Que furious. He was clearly one step away from success, yet he failed to achieve his goal at the very end, which left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Killing Yang Kai and obtaining the Open Heaven Pill, were both great feats. Why should he have to stay under that bastard Mo Na Ye’s feet forever?

Because Mo Na Ye had more brains than he did?

Because Mo Na Ye had become a Pseudo-Royal Lord before he did?

Anger burned inside Meng Que. Black Ink Strength surged alongside World Force. The Universe Furnace World began to show cobweb-like cracks where their battle was held, but they quickly reverted to their original states.

A Pseudo-Royal Lord was not to be trifled with when they decided to lay everything aside to put up a desperate fight. As each powerful Divine Ability or Secret Technique was released by Meng Que, Black Ink Strength that emanated from him could practically cloud over the entire void.

It was not because Meng Que was willing to fight so desperately, but because he had no other choice. Now that Yang Kai had formed a Battle Formation with the other Masters, it was impossible for them to just let Meng Que go like that. No matter what happened, a full-blown fight was going to break out.

Meng Que was initially confused by Yang Kai’s sudden surge of power, but now that he had gained his bearings, his situation was no longer as miserable as before.

He was not a complete fool, so he would not insist on fighting Yang Kai to the death. Instead, he focused less on dealing damage to Yang Kai and more on killing Ou Yang Lie and the others in the Battle Formation. There was no need to kill too many, just one would be enough to break the Formation, then the initiative would fall back into his hands.

However, even though Meng Que could trouble Yang Kai a little bit, it did not lead to any substantial progress. His intentions were obvious, and Yang Kai would never give him the chance to achieve them. Everyone had entrusted their lives to him, so he would naturally not disappoint them.

This battle was a fierce one that sent trembles through the void from the aftershocks.

At one point, Yang Kai slowed down his attacks. The miserably battered Meng Que, covered in black blood, finally saw an opportunity to dodge out of the Formation’s attack range. As his body shook, he turned into over 100 Black Ink Clouds that flew off in all directions.

Yang Kai had no intention of pursuing him, but there was a slight look of regret in his eyes.

Without delay, he maintained the momentum of the Six Paths Formation and forcibly enveloped Ou Yang Lie and the others with Space Principles before moving far away.

A while later, once they had left that battlefield, Yang Kai and the others emerged at a mountain range formed by the chaotic Shattered Dao Essence.

With one thought, the Battle Formation that they kept up all this while finally dissipated.

In the next moment, everyone grunted, and each one spat out fresh blood from their mouths, even Yang Kai and Thunder Shadow did the same. Yang Kai’s body was swaying and his face was as pale as a sheet of paper. Holding on with the Azure Dragon Spear to support him, he declared, “I will stand guard for everyone, so heal up first.”

Ou Yang Lie and the other Eighth-Order Masters had mixed expressions on their faces, but they did not say anything more. They all nodded and sat down cross-legged, each taking out Spirit Pills and stuffing them into their mouths.

Yang Kai stood while holding his spear and silently circulated the power of his Dragon Vein to heal the injuries on his body; he did not stop surveying their surroundings so that they were not taken advantage of by other enemies.

Fortunately, there were no Chaos Spirits here, only some Chaos Entities, which as long as they were not provoked, would not come over to bother them.

Thinking back to the battle earlier, Yang Kai still felt a little bit of regret; after all, he did not get to cut down that Pseudo-Royal Lord called Meng Que. It was not that Yang Kai wanted to let him off, but that he had no other choice.

He had already been injured by Meng Que before Ou Yang Lie and the others came to support him, and the others had also been fighting another Pseudo-Royal Lord before, so they more or less had their share of injuries.

It was fair to say that everyone but Thunder Shadow was injured before they formed the Six Paths Formation.

After getting into the Formation and engaging in a bloody battle with Meng Que, the powers of Ou Yang Lie and the others constantly converged on Yang Kai, while each of Meng Que’s attacks were also distributed to everyone.

Everyone came out of the battle more wounded than before. It was already getting difficult for them to hold on.

If Meng Que had not fled then, Yang Kai would have been forced to use devastating moves with the help of the Battle Formation that though it might have killed the enemy, would likely result in Ou Yang Lie and the others dying as well. As for himself, Yang Kai was confident that he could survive thanks to the toughness of his body, but it was difficult to say how badly he would be injured.

Even now, the wounds that Yang Kai had sustained were extremely serious. Half of them were from fighting with Meng Que alone, while the others were from the subsequent fight in the Formation.

However, he did gain some insight from this fight. His previous guesses were correct that, if he were to act as the Core of a Five Elements Formation, then that was enough for him to compete with a Pseudo-Royal Lord.

This time, Yang Kai was not able to gain much of an advantage even with a Six Paths Formation because none of them were at their peak strength.

As time passed, when everyone was still healing, the void’s Grand Dao shook.

The Universe Furnace’s third evolution had arrived.

Everyone was startled, but they were relieved to know that it was not an attack.

Seeing that Yang Kai was still standing guard for them nearby, Ou Yang Lie stood up, “Junior Brother, you should heal up too. Let me stand guard instead.”

Yang Kai shook his head, “I recover quickly, so don’t worry, Senior Brother.”

Ou Yang Lie looked him up and down and realized that indeed, his rate of recovery was much faster than the rest of them despite not actively cultivating, so he did not continue insisting and sat back down instead.

However, even if Yang Kai had a powerful Dragon Vein, it was still Thunder Shadow who recovered first.

The main reason for that was because Thunder Shadow was unharmed before they formed the Formation, so his injuries were the least severe. With his Monster Self to stand guard, Yang Kai could finally focus on healing.

After an unknown period of time, everyone who was healing opened their eyes one by one. Even though they could not say that they had fully recovered, they were at least fine now.

Ou Yang Lie sighed, “It is a shame that we let that Pseudo-Royal Lord go.”

Yang Kai laughed, “There’s no shame in that. Unlike us, the Black Ink Clan have no place to rest or heal in the Universe Furnace World. He came out of that fight badly injured, so he likely only has 50% of his strength left. He won’t be able to do much from now on.”

It was because of such considerations that Yang Kai did not insist on fighting Meng Que to the death; otherwise, the threat of letting a Pseudo-Royal Lord like him go would be too great for the other Eighth-Order Masters, in which case, Yang Kai would have tried much harder to kill him instead of just trading wounds.