Martial Peak
chapter-5754

In fact, with Yang Kai’s current strength, it would not be difficult even if he were to face a couple of Acquired Territory Lords head-on; however, with his new tactics, he could move with even more secrecy. Till death, those Territory Lords wouldn’t even be able to see who killed them.

While Zhan Tian He and the rest watched on in shock, Yang Kai casually tossed the Territory Lord’s corpse aside before circulating his Dao Strengths again, causing a current to surge through the Space-Time River, sending waves splashing in all directions.

A faint glimpse of dense Black Ink Strength could be seen escaping from several places, as well as the figure of the Territory Lord trapped inside.

Clearly, another Territory Lord was struggling to escape from the Space-Time River.

After a few moments, when the Dao Strengths receded, the Space-Time River disappeared, and the Territory Lord trapped inside was revealed. Only, it did not take long before the Territory Lord’s vitality was burned out as well. Looking at him, his body seemed to not have a single piece of healthy skin, as if he had been cut a billion times with a sharp blade. Even more bizarre was the fact that the Territory Lord gave off a very, very old feeling, as if he had lived for hundreds of thousands of years before he died…

Zhan Tian He and the others watched in awe at the river formed out of the Dao Strengths of Space and Time, which was truly too bizarre.

After trying it out on the two Territory Lords, Yang Kai was able to make a general assessment of his new technique. The Space-Time River was certainly more useful in terms of trapping and containing opponents, while the Sun and Moon Divine Seal had greater explosive killing power.

In terms of lethality, the two were more or less the same, but the consumption was rather for the Space-Time River; after all, Yang Kai had to constantly circulate his Dao Strengths in order to keep it flowing.

However, it was still within a tolerable range and would not be a great problem as long as the battles did not drag on.

The party then continued on their way.

As time passed, they would occasionally gain a harvest, and if they encountered any Black Ink Clansmen, they naturally wouldn’t have a good ending. If they encountered any cultivators, alone or those in small groups, Yang Kai would take them in temporarily until they gathered enough with the ability to protect themselves before leaving them to form their own groups.

After all, it was not a good idea to gather too many people in one place. While it would ensure their safety, the harvests would also lessen.

In this way, Yang Kai’s group never exceeded 12 in total.

Zhan Tian He and the others never thought that fighting with the Black Ink Clan could be so simple and easy. They had also fought with Masters of the Black Ink Clan, like Territory Lords, on each of the Great Territory Battlefields, and though it was not difficult for them to defeat an Acquired Territory Lord with their strength, killing one was never easy.

However, no Territory Lord so far had been able to escape alive with Yang Kai around. Every last one of them were cleanly killed off.

There was only once that they encountered a Pseudo-Royal Lord moving along with several Territory Lords where both sides charged at each other with full momentum. However, after just one exchange of blows, the Pseudo-Royal Lord was taken aback. After only fighting for a few breaths, the Pseudo-Royal Lord fled in a hurry, but Yang Kai would not relent. He chased down their target with a group of Masters in tow until finally injuring the Pseudo-Royal Lord at some cost to themselves before giving up the chase.

Zhan Tian He and the others naturally understood what Yang Kai was trying to do. Pseudo-Royal Lords were the greatest threats to the Humans in the Universe Furnace World, so even if they were unable to kill them in battle, they had to make sure to injure them to cut down the combat strength of their opponent, lest the Pseudo-Royal Lord cause trouble for the other Human Race Masters.

Those from the Black Ink Clan had difficulty recuperating in this place, so getting injured inside of the Universe Furnace was extremely undesirable for them.

If not for the fact that there were still several Territory Lords with the Pseudo-Royal Lord, Zhan Tian He and the others had to wonder whether Yang Kai could keep him trapped here as well.

The Pseudo-Royal Lord escaped, but the Territory Lords with him were all killed, so it wasn’t a total loss.

This trip had been very fruitful both in battle successes and material harvest.

Those from the Black Ink Clan had also collected some Ordinary Grade Open Heaven Pills, so after they were cut down, these naturally went into Yang Kai and the others’ pockets.

The only unfortunate part for Yang Kai was that he neither encountered his Human Self nor sensed the existence of another Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill.

For him, his only goal during this trip into the Universe Furnace was to reunite with his other Selves and find Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills, of which he had already obtained one, leading to Ou Yang Lie’s breakthrough to the Ninth Order. However, his Human Self was nowhere to be found. Yang Kai had also checked with the other Masters for any news about Fang Tian Ci, but it was to no avail.

They travelled around in the Universe Furnace, experiencing 2 more of the Grand Dao evolutions, and as that number continued to rise, so did the frequency of their encounters with both the enemy and their own people.

This was undoubtedly proof that the space inside this world was gradually becoming clear and not seemingly boundless as it felt before. Perhaps, just as Blood Crow’s information stated, after the Universe Furnace Grand Dao evolved nine times, this Universe Furnace World would reveal its true self.

Several torn-up bodies floated around in the deep and boundless void, alongside some broken artifacts scattered around next to them. One of the corpses had its eyes wide open. Though the body was lifeless, he still stood upright, glaring angrily ahead of him as if he was fighting with all his might even after death.

Besides that, there were even fragments of Small Universes floating around the void with Black Ink Strength lingering around them. Most likely, these fragments were from these people willingly sacrificing them.

Yang Kai and the rest stared at the scene in front of them with heavy hearts.

During this time, they had constantly been taking in other Human Race Masters before they broke up into smaller groups. Now, other than Thunder Shadow, they had five members.

Zhan Tian He and the original two were still with him, while the newcomers were Lin Wu, a recently-joined straggler, and a veteran Eighth-Order Master from Xi He Paradise, Tian Xiu Zhu, an old acquaintance of Yang Kai.

Lin Wu was pretty lucky. He had entered at the peak of the Seventh Order and obtained several Ordinary Grade Open Heaven Pills in this Universe Furnace World, then found a place to refine and advance to the Eighth Order. It was the reverberations from his advancement that were picked up by Yang Kai and his group, who just happened to be passing by. When they went over to investigate the situation, they had also taken him into their group.

Otherwise, with Masters from the two sides moving around in groups now, Lin Wu would not be in a good position if he ever encountered any enemies moving alone.

The reason he was able to safely refine the Spirit Pill and advance by himself without the interruption of any enemies was undoubtedly because he was extremely lucky; however, at this moment, the face of the newly advanced Eighth-Order Master did not look the slightest bit happy. Instead, he was sad and angry.

There were Eighth-Order Masters who died here, and more than one at that. Judging from the remnants of this battle, there were at least four or five Eighth-Order Masters who died here.

In this Universe Furnace World where Masters from the two sides gathered, every moment was a life-or-death struggle and fights could not be avoided.

Yang Kai and the others had also encountered many battlefields left behind after great fights had broken out, including the bodies of those from the two sides, who had died in battle.

However, it was a first for them to see as many as five Eighth-Order Masters dead in a single fight.

After all, the gathering of that number was enough for a Four Symbols or Five Elements Formation. Even if such a group encountered a Pseudo-Royal Lord, they were not without a fighting chance.

The Pseudo-Royal Lords were more careful in these special conditions, and unless they were not fully confident, they would not fight with such recklessness.

“There had to be at least two Pseudo-Royal Lords, or one accompanied by several Territory Lords,” Zhan Tian He contemplated solemnly, “Some of the Eighth-Order Masters must have just advanced recently, so their cultivation had yet to stabilize, which is why their Small Universes got easily corrupted by Black Ink Strength and they had to sacrifice parts of them in order to avoid being fully corrupted.”

The fragments of Small Universes left behind here had been sacrificed by the Human Race Masters during battle, which also formed the basis of Zhan Tian He’s speculation that they were newly-advanced Eighth-Order Masters.

Even if the Eighth-Order Masters could not best the Pseudo-Royal Lords, their Small Universes would not be so easily corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Moreover, most of them had brought Evil Purging Divine Spears. The Purifying Light sealed within them could be used at critical moments in order to disperse the Black Ink Strength in their Small Universes.

Being forced to sacrifice part of their Small Universe meant that the heritage of their Small Universes as Eighth-Order Masters was still not enough, and even the Purifying Light sealed within the Evil Purging Divine Spears used was not enough.

Otherwise, who would sacrifice a part of their own Small Universe in a battle like this? That would only cause their strength to decrease, and they would die even faster.

Yang Kai was silent.

There was nothing wrong with Zhan Tian He’s assessment, but there could be another possibility! However, it was hard to glimpse any more clues just from looking at the remnants left on this battlefield. The Shattered Dao Essence that filled this void had long washed those clues away.

If it was the other possibility though, then things would be troublesome.

Even Yang Kai’s team could face the danger of losing their lives at any moment.

“We should lay them to rest.” When he saw the Eighth-Order Master who was still glaring furiously even in death, Yang Kai sighed. From his appearance, this must be one of the rising stars that did not die on the Great Territory Battlefields, but died here instead.

Red-eyed, Liu Fei Fei immediately went forward and stored the tattered corpses. She had participated in the war a long time and it was not as if she was new to seeing death. After so many years fighting on the frontline, she had seen countless familiar faces fade away, yet she could not help but feel saddened and pained every time she saw such a scene.

She often wondered why the Black Ink Clan existed, and how great it would be if they had never been.

But the Heavens did not give them what they wished for. They were born in turbulent times, living in the midst of the confrontation between the two Races. In order to rise up and gain control of the Universe, then facing death was inescapable!

Just like with the Eighth-Order Masters who died here. They did not even know who they were killed by, let alone where to seek revenge.

Every cultivator was mentally prepared to face death when they entered the Universe Furnace World, as their Seniors had warned.

Once one entered the battlefield, life or death was up to destiny, and success or failure was up to the Heavens!