Martial Peak
chapter-5772

Given the deadlock, if any party had one more powerful Master, the outcome of the battle would be affected.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Xiao You mustered his courage and engaged with Ou Yang Lie again.

Although his power had been weakened significantly following Yang Xue’s sneak attack, it didn’t mean he was powerless to fight. As he pulled himself together and focused on defending himself, he wouldn’t be defeated so soon.

The Masters from both sides had tacitly divided the battlefield into three places. The first was where a Ninth-Order Master was dealing with a Royal Lord, the second was where a Ninth-Order Master was clashing with the Chaos Spirit King. The third and final place was where the Human Race Masters, who had formed many Battle Formations to protect Xiang Shan, were fending off the Black Ink Clansmen’ siege.

The battles were so intense that the void itself trembled.

The noise spread in all directions and attracted more Human Race Masters to come over and lend their fellow Humans assistance. Nevertheless, even more Black Ink Clansmen were rushing over as well.

The Black Ink Clan could communicate with each other through the Black Ink Nests, so they could easily summon more people. Mo Na Ye had also stopped recuperating and was on his way.

The Black Ink Clansmen had obviously decided to go all in for this battle where thousands of Masters from both sides were involved. If they won, they would deal a heavy blow to the Humans.

Whenever the Universe Furnace opened up in the past, even though both sides would fight, there had never been such a large-scale battle before.

…..

While the fight raged outside, Yang Kai and Thunder Shadow were oblivious to everything as they swam through the Infinite River. At this moment, Thunder Shadow crouched down on Yang Kai’s shoulder as lightning flickered around him. He seemed to have turned into a lightning ball.

Thunder Shadow was frustrated, but pleased at the same time.

It never crossed his mind that he would one day feel bloated after consuming too much Dao Strength in a single day.

The Dao Strengths in the depths of the Infinite River were pure, primitive, and rich. As long as one could reach this place, they would gain unimaginable benefits.

Unfortunately, even though the Universe Furnace had appeared many times before, rarely could anyone step into the Infinite River. Even the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could hardly reach Yang Kai’s current depths.

Although the Infinite River didn’t look menacing from the outside, it was actually filled with mortal danger. Without sufficient understanding of their own Grand Dao, one wouldn’t be able to resist the corruption of the currents. It was a challenge to one’s body, Soul, and Grand Daos.

There was no doubt that the Ninth-Order Masters were powerful, and they had strong attainments in their Grand Daos, but they had merely met the criteria. Without the Soul Warming Lotus protecting their Soul, and a Word Tree clone or Four Universe Pillar sealing and stabilizing their Small Universe, they would not be able to move around freely in the Infinite River.

As such, no one managed to snatch the countless opportunities in the Infinite River over the aeons.

At that moment, Thunder Shadow was envious of his main body. As an Open Heaven Realm Master, Yang Kai had a Small Universe, so even if he couldn’t refine the ambient Dao Strengths yet, he could still take them away.

In fact, he had absorbed many Dao Strengths and sealed them in his Small Universe. In any case, he had never closed the portal to his Small Universe, so the Dao Strengths continued to stream into his body.

After giving it some thought, Thunder Shadow realised he shouldn’t be envious. When Yang Kai found his Human Self, the three Selves would be united. By then, all the benefits that Thunder Shadow gained would blend into the main body, and everything else wouldn’t matter.

Upon that realization, he felt less frustrated.

A long time later, Yang Kai closed the portal to his Small Universe as though he was full.

He had split his Small Universe into many areas where different types of Dao Strengths were sealed.

These Dao Strengths looked like coloured ribbons or creeks that moved around in those areas.

Yang Kai had refined a massive amount of Dao Strengths in the Infinite River. Now, it could be said that he had learned over 10,000 Grand Daos. The Grand Daos that he had previously only dabbled in improved significantly and reached the Sixth or Seventh Level.

Even the Grand Daos he had never touched before, which included Thunder Shadow’s Thunder Dao, reached the Fifth or Sixth Level.

Countless Dao Essences were present in his Small Universe now. Following the advancements in his mastery over these Grand Daos, he gained new insights.

Since time immemorial, no one had ever learned so many Grand Daos, nor had anyone attained such mastery in them.

Yang Kai had reached his limit, so he was no longer able to refine more Dao Strengths. He had also sealed many of them in his Small Universe. If he kept doing that, he wouldn’t be able to take it anymore.

He was only trying to escape from his enemies, so he didn’t expect to gain such massive rewards. To him, it was more valuable than acquiring several Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills, which were not useful to him as the Dao Strengths here were immensely beneficial.

Without stopping, Yang Kai brought Thunder Shadow to dive deeper. He wanted to find out what lay at the bottom of the Infinite River.

The progression from the outside to the inside of the Infinite River went like this; chaos split into Yin and Yang, which transformed into Five Elements, which then gave birth to 10,000 Grand Daos.

What else was there after the 10,000 Grand Daos? Was there any further evolution?

To a powerful cultivator like Yang Kai, the secrets at the deepest part of the Infinite River were deathly attractive.

Although the Infinite River was expansive, one could tell from the outside that there must be an end. Nevertheless, as Yang Kai brought Thunder Shadow to explore the river, they seemed to have plunged into an abyss with no end in sight.

There had to be some secrets at the deepest part of the river.

Over 10,000 types of Dao Strengths gathered together. Although they were clearly distinct, they could also integrate. When several related Dao Strengths clashed, they might form an entirely new Dao Strength.

When a particular Dao Strength was stimulated, it might also split into several Dao Strengths.

As Yang Kai dove deeper, he witnessed a lot of wonders.

At the same time, he felt increasingly pressured. At the top of the river, the Dao Strengths were considered peaceful, which was the reason he and Thunder Shadow were able to absorb them.

However, as they went deeper, the Dao Strengths became increasingly unsettled, which mounted even more pressure on Yang Kai.

He had been trying to sustain the Space-Time River to protect Thunder Shadow and himself from the Infinite River’s erosion; fortunately, he had already gained massive benefits by improving his mastery over many Grand Daos. Otherwise, he couldn’t have persevered.

As time passed, the Space-Time River contracted and stuck close to the pair, which was caused by powerful external pressure.

As they went deeper, the originally stable Space-Time River started shaking. Regardless of how hard Yang Kai tried to stimulate his Dao Strengths, he was unable to keep the Space-Time River stable.

At this point, the Dao Strengths had become violent as every coloured ribbon or undercurrent carried immense power. As Yang Kai was struck, he found it difficult to take charge of where he was heading.

Thunder Shadow appeared worried as he had a feeling that his main body was doing something dangerous, but he wasn’t in any place to dissuade him. As such, he could only activate his Dao Strengths and help sustain the Space-Time River to drive off the external force.

A long time later, when the external force reached a critical limit, Yang Kai felt as though he had passed some kind of divide. The originally colourful environment where all sorts of Grand Daos came together descended into chaos all of a sudden, after which he saw nothing but endless darkness.

All the pressure disappeared abruptly, leaving Yang Kai puzzled.

[Did everything return to chaos after the Grand Daos integrated and bloomed? In that case, wouldn’t that make it a cycle? If I dive deeper, would I come across the scene where Chaos split into Yin and Yang, and everything started over on repeat?]

Nevertheless, Yang Kai realised that something was amiss.

The chaos in this place was different from the one at the beginning of the Infinite River, which was desolate and still. The chaos in this place was tinged with a different sort of charm.

The darkness in this place wasn’t pitch black; instead, there were some flickering lights.

As Yang Kai looked at those weak lights, he fell into a dazed state.

The flickering lights were special beings. They were natural creations, not living creatures. They came in different sizes and shapes. Some looked like Chaos Entities while the others did not.

Yang Kai felt that he had seen these natural creations before, but he couldn’t recall where.

Thunder Shadow, who had been crouching on his shoulder, suddenly said, “Big Brother, I think those things are dangerous.”

As a beast, he instinctively felt that these seemingly ordinary things were filled with unpredictable danger. If they struck them, they would be in hot water.

Oblivious to him, Yang Kai stared fixedly in a particular direction where there was a washbasin-sized existence that looked like seaweed getting tangled up. A round of light glowed in the periphery of that thing.

He had a feeling that he had come across these things before, but he couldn’t remember where, which was odd.

Given his cultivation, Yang Kai was able to remember everything he saw. If he had really seen these things before, he wouldn’t forget about them.

As he looked intently, he soon had an illusion that this washbasin-sized seaweed-like thing was magnifying before his eyes. In the blink of an eye, it became a colossal being.

It was magnificent and ancient. Standing in front of this existence, Yang Kai felt that he was as insignificant as dust, which made him feel flabbergasted.

Then, he came to his senses, finally realising why he felt that these things looked familiar to him. He had also recalled where he had seen them before.

Strictly speaking, the things he saw back then were not the same as the ones before his eyes; they were beings with similar qualities.

They were dangerous Celestial Phenomena that lay in the depths of Black Ink Battlefield.

He couldn’t recognise them at first glance because every Celestial Phenomenon was different. Furthermore, the Celestial Phenomena he came across at the depths of Black Ink Battlefield were massive. The largest Celestial Phenomenon he had seen was just as vast as a Great Territory, and it contained unimaginable danger. Even a Ninth-Order Master or a Royal Lord might not survive if they barged into such a place.