Martial Peak

Yang Kai returned to Profound Nether Territory.

In just several months, things had gotten on the right track when it came to training the Profound Nether Army. Based on Yang Kai’s initial plan, they had managed to build 10 forward outposts which served as resting places for the Human soldiers. Every forward outpost was guarded by at least three Eighth-Order Masters to ensure its safety.

During this period, the Profound Nether Army had broken up and scattered around the territory. On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan had repeatedly tested the waters and confirmed that the Eighth-Order Masters indeed wouldn’t make a move, allowing them to finally set their minds at ease.

Now, no large-scale battles were occurring in the entire Profound Nether Territory, though the number and intensity of smaller conflicts had soared.

Since the Human soldiers had scattered around, the Black Ink Clan soldiers had to follow suit. The soldiers of both Races now clashed and killed each other in every corner of this territory.

In every great battle in the past, the fights between the Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords were the focal point as well as the key to determining victory or defeat; however, after the peace deal, the Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords abstained from taking part in any kind of fighting. Now, the Seventh-Order Masters and Feudal Lords took centre stage. The Squads, led by Seventh-Order Squad Leaders, went all out to destroy the enemy, while some powerful Feudal Lords now rose up to lead their subordinates to slaughter the Humans.

Inside his palace, Yang Kai had started cultivating in seclusion.

It hadn’t been a long time since he ascended to the Eighth-Order in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon; as such, there was still much room for improvement in the Eighth-Order Realm for him.

Nevertheless, to increase his strength quickly, he had to actually sit and cultivate hard. He had been travelling around everywhere for the past 100 years, never having a chance to focus on his cultivation.

This was another reason he was eager to secure a peace deal with the Black Ink Clan. The need to train the next generation of Human soldiers was the primary reason, but Yang Kai also needed such an environment so he could enter retreat to cultivate. The Eighth Order was indeed his limit, but he was far from being at the peak of this Realm.

Right now, he needed to use Soul Rending Thorns to swiftly kill Innate Territory Lords, but if he managed to reach the peak of the Eighth Order, he had the confidence to pull off the same feat without the help of Soul Rending Thorns.

The accumulation process in the Eighth-Order was extremely long. Fortunately, Yang Kai had a World Tree clone.

The reason Duan Hong Chen and the others could rapidly increase their cultivation was that they had the Star Boundary’s help. They were Great Emperors acknowledged by the Star Boundary’s Will; as such, the abundance of heritage in the Star Boundary could be absorbed by them so they could cultivate far more swiftly.

The Great Emperors of the Star Boundary had gained massive benefits by sharing the benefits of a World Tree clone between them, but Yang Kai had a World Tree clone all to himself in his Small Universe.

He wasn’t short on any resources either. What he needed was a stable, safe place to cultivate.

While the Human soldiers were training, Yang Kai had to cultivate hard as well; hence, he had no choice but to secure a peace deal with the Territory Lords. 

Yang Kai had one more reason to secure a stable environment for himself; for a long time, he would probably fall into a weakened state. He had no idea how frail he would become, but he was certain that his strength would be significantly weakened.

As such, he had to force the Territory Lords off the battlefield before he could carry out his plan with peace of mind.

Yang Kai ordered that unless it was a critical matter, no one was to disturb him, and then he set up multiple layers of restrictions around his cultivation chamber to ensure he was not interrupted.

A large amount of resources were stored in his Space Ring so that he could use them at any moment. It had come to a point in his cultivation where consuming Open Heaven Pills to cultivate was far too inefficient; hence, he had to refine Seventh-Order or even Eighth-Order sets of resources.

Having said that, even though he had loads of resources, Yang Kai only had a small amount of Eighth-Order ones. The resources he possessed were mostly in the Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order.

All the same, the resources were more than enough.

In the past, no one could ever squander resources to cultivate like him; after all, even though the Cave Heavens and Paradises had a large reserve of Five-Element resources, high Order Yin and Yang Element materials were still extremely rare.

On the other hand, Yang Kai had countless Yellow and Blue Crystals, so Yin and Yang materials were the least of his concerns. On the contrary, it was a lack of high Order Five-Element resources which restricted his lavish consumption.

Yang Kai hadn’t been able to cultivate with uninterrupted focus for a long time, so as a massive amount of resources were consumed by him, he could sense the heritage of his Small Universe gradually increasing. This kind of noticeable growth was quite gratifying.

While cultivating, he also diverted some of his attention to monitor the entire Void Continent, for he had to look for a suitable carrier to carry out his next plan. 

Before Yang Kai parted ways with Wu Kuang outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the latter had taught him a method that would help him break through to the Ninth Order. It was a kind of Secret Art created by Shi back when he was alive.

Cang and the others each had different talents, and among them, Shi was skilful in the formulation of Secret Arts and Techniques. Evidence of this was he was the one who created the astonishing Heaven Devouring Battle Law. In modern times, some 50% of all Secret Arts and Techniques that the Human Race had inherited had traces of Shi’s influence.

As such, this method passed down from him was extremely precious.

However, even though Shi had worked out this Secret Art, he had done so after the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was established. No one had cultivated the method before, so no one could be certain if it was even feasible at all.

All the same, Yang Kai didn’t mind giving it a try as the Eighth Order was the limit in his lifetime. Giving a dead horse medicine can’t harm it after all.

This couldn’t be helped.

There was no doubt that as an Eighth-Order Master, he could charge around Profound Nether Territory and slaughter Innate Territory Lords; however, what would happen a few thousand years from now?

By then, there would be new Royal Lords in the Black Ink Clan and new Ninth-Order Masters in the Human Race. As an Eighth-Order Master, how useful would he be then? Any random Royal Lord would be able to kill him with ease when that time came.

Yang Kai wanted to secure a place for himself in the future when battling powerful enemies. It wasn’t like he could just sit back and pin all his hopes on the next generation.

For that reason, he longed to become a Ninth-Order Master.

It would be wonderful if this method worked, but even if it didn’t, there was no harm in giving it a shot.

The Three Selves Source Reconstitution Art was the method that Shi had come up with. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a Secret Art, it was more of a Secret Technique that was supposed to make up for the deficiencies in the Open Heaven Realm method that had been passed down from the Late Ancient Era.

During that era, Cang and the others made use of the World Tree’s power to gain enlightenment into the Open Heaven Realm cultivation method, which allowed the Humans to rise to power and build a foundation that lasted for many generations.

However, there were some clear deficiencies in this Open Heaven Realm method. Strictly speaking, it was incomplete.

That was because every cultivator who used this method to make it to the Open Heaven Realm had their own innate limit.

The Fifth Order was the limit for those who directly ascended to the Third Order. Similarly, the Sixth Order and the Ninth Order were respectively the limits for those who directly made it to the Fourth Order and Seventh Order.

What about the road after the Ninth Order?

The Martial Dao was a long journey of exploration, so there wasn’t a true peak or limit to speak of.

Cang and the others might’ve realised the deficiencies in this method; however, this method was the only option available for the Humans at that time. Given enough time, the Martial Ancestors might have devised a more perfect method of cultivation, but the Great Monsters roamed the Universe in that era and Humans struggled to survive. Hence, they didn’t have time to experiment with and adjust the method.

Cang had said that he was still a Ninth-Order Master, though he was further ahead than the current Ninth-Order Old Ancestors.

He also declared that there was a higher Realm beyond the Ninth Order.

While Cang was stuck in the Ninth Order, it was the same case for Shi, Mu, and the others. That was because the Open Heaven Realm method they had cultivated was incomplete. As such, the road ahead of them had been cut off when they reached the Ninth Order. Regardless of how far they went, they were unable to move past the Ninth Order.

Having been trapped in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction for several million years, Shi kept pondering this issue and eventually came up with a solution. Before he merged with the restriction, he had sent out a thread of consciousness, which surmounted countless obstacles and was reborn. He had the intention to start over and cultivate from the beginning, but unfortunately, his wish wasn’t granted in the end.

Eventually, Wu Kuang, Shi’s partial reincarnation, passed down this method to Yang Kai.

Over the past 100 years, Yang Kai had been trying to comprehend this method. He had memorised every bit of it and fully understood every detail. What he had to do now was put it into action.

According to Shi, it seemed that the Universe itself had a Will. When Mo plunged the Universe into chaos, that Will led the 10 Martial Ancestors to enter the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. With the World Tree’s help, they comprehended the Open Heaven Realm method, which allowed them to fight Mo’s expansion. In the following aeons, those who had the chance to enter the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary and obtain World Tree clones were akin to cards that Will had drawn in order to protect itself.

However, those cards were all basically destroyed. Yang Kai was just the latest example and probably the last one.

During the Primordial Era, Divine Spirits ruled over the Universe, and during the Early Ancient Era, the Monster Race was the most powerful force. It wasn’t until the Late Ancient Era that the Humans rose to dominance.The source of thɪs content is N(o)vᴇl(F)ire.nᴇt

If the Heavenly Way really had a Will, there was no denying it favoured these three kinds of living creatures, for their presence represented three different magnificent eras.

These three kinds of living creatures were probably the chosen ones of the Heavenly Way’s Will during the different eras. If Yang Kai could merge these three favoured existences into his own being, he might be able to make up for the deficiencies and find a way forward in his cultivation.

Although the method sounded abstruse and even a bit fantastical, it wasn’t actually difficult to put it into action.

Yang Kai just had to come up with a way to integrate the powers of these three kinds of living creatures. Simply put, he had to cultivate Soul Clones, which were his Divine Spirit Self, Monster Self, and Human Self. As these three Selves united, he might be able to break through the shackles of the Open Heaven Realm and ascend to the Ninth Order.

It was for this reason that he headed to the Demon Realm back then and retrieved Embodiment. He had to get prepared for cultivating the Three Selves Source Reconstitution Art by taking back his other living Soul Clone.

Yang Kai was originally a Human, but in the past, he happened to obtain a Divine Dragon’s Source. Gradually, his bloodline was Dragonized, and after he cultivated in the Dragon Pool, his Human bloodline was permanently purged. Now, he was technically a pure Divine Spirit. Moreover, he was a part of the Dragon Clan, the head of the Divine Spirits. There was no doubt he was formidable in his own right.

As such, he already had a Divine Spirit Self. Now, he needed a Human Self and a Monster Self.

Regardless, Yang Kai decided to cultivate his Human Self first as it was probably the easier one. If there were any problems in the future, he could slowly make some adjustments.

Therefore, during his retreat, while he consumed the resources to cultivate, Yang Kai had also been paying attention to everything on the Void Continent.

Presently, the Void Continent could be considered prosperous. Following Yang Kai’s increase in strength, his Small Universe’s capacity had also greatly expanded. The most conspicuous change was that the Small Universe’s territory had become larger.

As a result, there had also been an increase in population. The flow of time in his Small Universe was different from that of the outside world, and with the World Tree clone’s presence, more and more youths with extraordinary aptitudes appeared. Most of them became part of the major Sects and learned how to cultivate there. When they reached a certain age or level of cultivation, they would be invited to the Void Dao Temple, thus becoming disciples of the Dao Temple.

There were still some conflicts in the Void World. There had been the rise and fall of different families and Sects; regardless, there was one powerful force that had stood the test of time.

It was none other than the Seven Stars Sect.

After all, the Dao Lord was the Supreme Elder of the Seven Stars Sect. As such, no one had the guts to offend Seven Stars Sect; instead, they were all eager to flatter them.

Meanwhile, even though the Seven Stars Sect was the most powerful in the entire Void World, they remained humble and righteous, never committing any kind of outrage or offence since it rose to power several tens of thousands of years ago. For that reason, many talented young people dreamed of joining the Seven Stars Sect, which helped further strengthen the Sect’s foundation and inheritance.