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Translator: Silavin & Sara
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Even after racking his brains for quite some time, Yang Kai could not think of a way to get it done. He had no choice but to give up now as it was more important for him to find a Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill. He could always return to this place and think of something later on if he had a chance.
However, before he started moving, he sensed something. He immediately turned around and stared into the distance, and at the very next breath, he melded into the Void with Space Principles.
A few breaths later, he saw a silhouette rushing towards him from a distance. The silhouette’s Black Ink Strength was prominent, clearly a Territory Lord. However, Yang Kai could tell that this was an Acquired Territory Lord as his aura was not as strong as that of an Innate Territory Lord.
Yang Kai could easily kill an Acquired Territory Lord without even breaking a sweat. He was waiting in secret to make his move when he noticed what the Territory Lord was holding.
After just a moment of hesitation, Yang Kai decided against attacking; instead, he hid his tracks and chose to tail the Territory Lord in secret.
It was because he saw the Territory Lord holding a miniature Black Ink Nest, and from the latter’s urgency, it was clear that he was heading somewhere in a rush.
Thanks to Yang Kai’s many years of experience battling against the Black Ink Clan, he knew that miniature Black Ink Nests were used for communication purposes. Back when he was hovering outside the No-Return Pass and the Innate Territory Lords were hunting him down, they used these miniature Black Ink Nests to pass messages between them.
However, that was not its only usage. If the Black Ink Clan were willing to pump in the resources, they could turn these into real Black Ink Nests.
Seeing as how the Territory Lord was grasping the Black Ink Nest and was moving in such a hurry, it was easy enough for Yang Kai to deduce that the Territory Lord must have made contact with his clansmen and was using the Black Ink Nest to lead him to them.
Instead of killing just one, it was better to root out a bunch of them. That was why Yang Kai decided against killing this Territory Lord immediately.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai was taken aback by the fact that the communicative function of the miniature Black Ink Nests was still working inside the Universe Furnace. However, the Territory Lord whom he and Liao Zheng joined forces to kill did not have a miniature Black Ink Nest with him.
After giving it some thought, Yang Kai realised the reason behind this.
The Black Ink Clan knew nothing about the Universe Furnace, so naturally, they would not be as well-prepared as the Humans. This Territory Lord must have had a Black Ink Nest with him because he was already carrying it around even when he was outside.
Even though Yang Kai was following the Territory Lord the whole time, the latter had no idea that a Human Master was tailing him. This was not only due to their power differential, but also due to the mysteriousness of the Dao of Space. As long as Yang Kai wanted to stay hidden, a mere Acquired Territory Lord would not be able to detect his presence from afar.
Yang Kai patiently tailed the Territory Lord as he pondered the possibilities of the situation taking place up ahead.
Since the Territory Lord was quite likely moving in a rush after being called upon by his clansmen, it was either because they had found something valuable or they had gotten into a fight with the Humans. Either one of these outcomes would still be bad for the Humans.
By following in secret, Yang Kai might be able to alleviate any dangers that had befallen his allies.
Yang Kai thought that the situation would only be one of the two possibilities, so when he suddenly felt a weak reaction from his Great Sun and Moon Marks, he was thunderstruck!
There was no denying that Yang Kai was deeply frustrated and upset over the fact that he had witnessed the creation of the nine Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills and had let them slip away from him.
Even though he left a mark on each of them, he did not get a reaction after all this time and was beginning to suspect that the mark he left might have dissipated; thus, he was stunned that he felt a reaction now by coincidence!
Yang Kai suppressed his exhilaration and carefully tried to sense the direction where the reaction came from. To his surprise, it was exactly where the Territory Lord was heading. Did that mean the Black Ink Clan discovered a Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill?
Who were they fighting against to get it then?
Yang Kai had no clue now, but he would find out once he arrived at the battle.
After travelling for an unknown amount of distance, Yang Kai suddenly sensed the commotion of a battle up ahead, and it was a pretty intense one.
Yang Kai peered into the distance and was a little startled by what he saw.
A large part of the void was filled with countless jellyfish-like creatures of various sizes. They were giving off multicoloured light that glimmered and dimmed. Even the solidity of their forms kept changing which made them look incredibly peculiar.
Several figures were scattered among the sea of jellyfish. Some were fighting while others were moving around.
There was no sign of any Humans.
There was someone from the Monster Race though.
Its five-metre-long body shifted like flowing water. The leopard print on its skin was bright as it dazzled like reflected light. At times its form became phantom-like and at other times it solidified.
It was fighting against several Territory Lords alone.
Thunder Shadow Great Emperor!
Yang Kai never thought he would encounter his Monster Self here. Truth be told, when his Monster Self was in the process of becoming a Great Emperor back at the Myriad Monsters World, Yang Kai had specifically gone over to stand guard, but after that, he did not pay any attention to his Monster Self.
That was because he did not have to. As a Great Emperor, his Monster Self would have an easy, untroubled cultivation journey in the Myriad Monsters World.
From the looks of it now, that was precisely the case. His Monster Self’s cultivation had reached the peak of the Eighth-Order Monster Emperor Realm. Although his Monster Self was using Primal Art to train its Monster Core, just like Fang Tian Ci, it was still held back by Yang Kai, its true body’s limit. Right now, his Monster Self’s cultivation was also at the limit and he could not break through any further.
When Fang Tian Ci was breaking through to the Open Heaven Realm, he possessed everything needed to become a Seventh-Order Master, but in the end, he ended up as a Sixth-Order Master. This was because of Yang Kai. Regardless of whether it was his Human Self or his Monster Self, their cultivation journey was hindered by the limits of their true body.
When the Universe Furnace surfaced, Yang Kai knew that both his Human Self and his Monster Self would enter and reunite with him. Throughout this journey, apart from trying to track down the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pills, Yang Kai had also been on the lookout for signs of his Monster Self and Human Self.
He had checked with Liao Zheng and the others too, but they had not seen anything either.
However, he did not expect to reunite with his Monster Self under such coincidental circumstances.
It was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
That being said, the biggest and most joyous surprise was the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill among the sea of jellyfish.
At the very centre of the huge swarm of jellyfish, there was one that was at least 10 times bigger than the others and it had clearly devoured a Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill which could be spotted when its body turned translucent.
Yang Kai did not know whether it was his Monster Self or the Black Ink Clan who first discovered this Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill, but it was evident that the fight had been going on for quite a while now. The Black Ink Clansmen could use the miniature Black Ink Nest to call for aid, but Yang Kai’s Monster Self was alone in a one-against-many fight.
Despite being alone, Thunder Shadow Great Emperor was not as disadvantaged as one might imagine; after all, in most cases, the average Monster Race Master was stronger than the average Human Race Master in the same equivalent realm, Monster Race Masters had far stronger bodies than normal, and Thunder Shadow himself had an Innate Divine Ability that allowed him to blend with the shadows and become hard to detect. By striking suddenly and powerfully now and then, Yang Kai’s Monster Self was just barely able to put up a fight against the group of Territory Lords.
Naturally, this was also thanks to where the fight was taking place.
The large swarm of jellyfish were most likely Chaos Entities, but they were different from all other Chaos Entities that Yang Kai had previously seen. Although they were still shifting through various states of solidness, they had fixed forms. They seemed harmless enough, but when someone else came into contact with them, the person would be hit with a peculiar attack.
Yang Kai saw a Territory Lord flying backwards after being hit by Thunder Shadow. When the Territory Lord crashed into a jellyfish, it looked as if he lost his consciousness as his eyes glazed over. It was a while before he regained mental clarity.
Thunder Shadow was about to kill the Territory Lord when another one came over and rescued his clansman.
The jellyfish-like Chaos Entities… were rather strange.
It was clear that Thunder Shadow had suffered at their hands too, so when it fought against the Territory Lords, it tried its best to avoid touching them. However, that meant it could not move around as freely as normal.
It appeared to be a fiery battle between the two sides, but in reality, both were seriously hindered by the environment and could not go all out.
The Territory Lord that rushed over had clearly received instructions beforehand. Upon arrival, he did not show himself at once and instead quietly crept towards the battlefield in an attempt to sneak up on Thunder Shadow and deal a deadly blow.
Unfortunately, he was not particularly skilled at keeping himself hidden. He had just approached the battlefield and had not even entered the swarm of jellyfish when Thunder Shadow noticed him with a single glance.
The Territory Lord was a decisive one however, and since he had been discovered, he openly revealed himself, but before he could do anything to Thunder Shadow, a Territory Lord stared behind him in shock and quickly shouted, “Watch out!”
All at once, the Territory Lord felt an overwhelming sense of danger envelop him, as if death itself had come. Before he could recover from his shock, he felt a sharp pain. He looked down and saw a spear sticking out of his chest, with World Force surging along it.
[Someone snuck up on me and attacked me!]
What was most terrifying was the fact that he had not noticed anything until the moment the person attacked.
[Who!? Who snuck up on me?]
All sorts of thoughts flashed across the Territory Lord’s mind as he tried to escape, but he could not move…
Space seemed to have solidified around him, and World Force flowed strongly from the spear in his chest…
A violent force erupted and the Territory Lord’s body exploded into a shower of bloodied scraps. The Black Ink Strength that escaped from his body leapt out like a wild horse and swiftly turned into a Black Ink Cloud.
An invisible force surged as the Black Ink Cloud dispersed to reveal a young man with a spear in hand. He flicked his blood-soaked spear and smirked.
“Yang Kai!” The Territory Lords gasped as the colour drained out of their faces. They were petrified and no words could describe the bitterness they felt right now.
How could things end well for them after running into the killing star here?
Most importantly, why did they run into him?
The Universe Furnace was vast and boundless and they had relied on the miniature Black Ink Nests to gather themselves here. No Humans had been drawn over even after their lengthy fight with this Monster Race Master; yet now, it was Yang Kai of all people who showed up.
Thunder Shadow was also taken aback. The lightning in its mouth flashed and crackled, but soon, a Human-looking grin broke out across his face.
He thought that this would turn out to be a fierce struggle between two evenly matched opponents and was fully prepared to flee if things took a turn for the worse. A Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill was valuable, but his life was even more so. He knew what his priorities were.
What he did not expect was Yang Kai’s arrival.
The situation was a lot simpler now. It was going to claim the lives of these Territory Lords and collect the Supreme Grade Open Heaven Pill.
Thunder Shadow was assured and confident, while the Territory Lords were panicking. As for the jellyfish-like Chaos Entities, they just shifted about, giving off their multicoloured glow which illuminated the different reactions from both parties.
Outside the battlefield, Yang Kai lifted his spear and pointed it in front of him as his voice boomed all across the place, “How dare you bully Third Brother?! You must have a death wish!”
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