Martial Peak

Chapter 5615: Exiting Retreat

Yang Kai had travelled far and wide since he started cultivating and considered himself quite knowledgeable, but the Heaven Devouring Battle Law was still the most profound and powerful Secret Art he had ever encountered.

This wasn’t a surprise though seeing how it was deduced by the Martial Ancestor most skilled at creating Secret Arts and Techniques, Shi. Even the core Secret Arts used by the Cave Heavens and Paradises paled in comparison to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law.

Of course, it also had obvious drawbacks. This Secret Art allowed a cultivator to devour anything and everything which possessed even the slightest bit of energy, embracing and consuming all of creation like how every river eventually flowed into the sea. However, a cultivator’s body wasn’t a sea and what was being devoured weren’t rivers.

Unbridled devouring of external power for oneself could help a cultivator gain a large amount of strength quickly, but having too many kinds of strength gathered in one’s body was akin to drinking impurities which would affect one’s mentality. Hence, this Secret Act could easily cause dissonance in one’s cultivation.

Since Wu Kang had the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus, which kept one’s physical body completely free of all impurities, he could safely practice the Heaven Devouring Battle Law while others couldn’t. Only one Heaven Devouring Great Emperor had ever existed since ancient times for this exact reason.

In truth, the ones who were the most suited to cultivate this Secret Art were the Stone Spirit Clan members. The Stone Spirit Clan possessed the innate ability to extract and purge all impurities, so it was a perfect match for them to practice this Secret Art.

Embodiment, who Yang Kai retrieved from the Demon Realm, had cultivated using the Heaven Devouring Battle Law.

Compared to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, the Grand Evolution Immortal Blood Light Scripture didn’t have as many drawbacks. However, it had a huge limitation because it could only devour Blood Essence.

Yang Kai merged the advantages of the two Secret Arts and deduced the Heaven Devouring Blood Light Scripture. Though it wasn’t as profound as the Heaven Devouring Battle Law or even the Great Evolution Indestructible Blood Light Scripture, it was incredibly well suited for his Monster Self.

The growth of the Monster Race had always been accompanied by bloodshed. After a battle, the victorious Monster would devour the losing Monster’s physique and Monster Core.

This sort of devouring was instinctual, so Yang Kai only turned that instinct into an Innate Secret Art which greatly accelerated his Monster Self’s growth rate.

This only worked because devouring and refining power from a Monster Beast’s physique and Monster Core wouldn’t have large drawbacks compared to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law. Since the power contained in a Monster Beasts’ physiques and Monster Cores was already compatible with other members of the Monster Race, even without the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus, a Monster Race member’s body could naturally expel any impurities while this new Secret Art helped it far more efficiently and effectively refine that strength for its own use.

Now, there were clear results.

In just a short 500 years, his Monster Self advanced to the Monster Emperor Realm and rose to claim the mantle of Great Emperor.

Yang Kai only felt a bit remorseful now because his Monster Self would no longer be able to kill other members of the Monster Race recklessly and devour their Monster Cores and essence.

Now that his Monster Self was a Great Emperor, the entire Myriad Monsters World was its territory, and all Monster Race members looked up to him, so if it did start a massacre, it would break the balance and might even lose the acknowledgement of the Myriad Monsters World.

Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Monster Self didn’t necessarily need to use such methods to gain more strength. Moreover, there weren’t many Monster Emperors in the Myriad Monsters World in the first place, so even if it killed them all, it wouldn’t gain much growth.

His Monster Self was now the Myriad Monsters World’s only Great Emperor and could follow the example set by Zhan Wu Hen and the others by absorbing World Force directly from the World itself to cultivate. In that sense, it could use the entire Myriad Monsters World’s power without having to share it with any others. Unless a second Great Emperor rose up, Yang Kai’s Monster Self could easily break through to the Sixth-Order, Seventh-Order, or even the Eighth-Order Monster Emperor Realm extremely quickly!

In this way, its growth rate would greatly surpass even Zhan Wu Hen and the other Star Boundary Great Emperors.

His Human Self had a World Tree clone inside his Small Universe, while the title of Great Emperor gained by his Monster Self allowed it to cultivate the power of the World Tree clone in the Myriad Monsters World. Both his Soul Clones had promising futures.

Currently, the Humans and Black Ink Clan were maintaining a delicate balance. The agreement between the two Races stated that besides the six Great Territories where any form of war was permitted, the Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords were not allowed to interfere in the ongoing battles; however, no one could be sure when this balance would be broken.

After a rough estimation, Yang Kai realised that it had been about 1,000 years since the Great Armies had retreated from the Barren Territory Battlefield. During this millennium, the Human Race had seen the rise of many talented individuals, but so had the Black Ink Clan.

Even though Yang Kai was in retreat inside the World Tree, it didn’t mean he didn’t know what was happening outside. He was a Great Emperor of the Star Boundary, so nothing that happened in the Star Boundary escaped his senses.

There were also reports coming in from the 13 Battlefields, so Yang Kai knew the Humans had gained several rising stars that shone brightly in each of the Great Territories. Of course, many highly regarded and aspiring youths had also died in battle.

On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan had successfully nurtured a new batch of Territory Lords. Though these Territory Lords weren’t as strong as Innate Territory Lords, they symbolised infinite possibilities as they could one day become Royal Lords.

With how much territory and resources the Black Ink Clan had conquered, they could nurture quite a lot of Royal Lords if they were willing to dedicate all their resources to this pursuit.

Both Races were gathering their strength for the future, so the relative calm they were maintaining was just an illusion. Once one of the clans gained enough of an advantage to wipe the other out, the final battle would commence.

How long would that take? 2,000 years? 3,000? No one could say for certain.

However, Yang Kai knew that there wasn’t much time left.

Judging by the situation on the battlefields, the Human Race didn’t have much of an advantage. Many aspiring individuals had directly broken through to the Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, saving them a lot of cultivation time; however, these individuals still needed a long time to enhance their heritages before advancing to the Eighth and Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realms.

On the other hand, with their Black Ink Nests, though the Black Ink Clan had to steadily rise up from the very weakest as well, they could still advance quicker than the Humans.

Therefore, it could be estimated that when a new Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master appeared among the Humans, the Black Ink Clan would also see the birth of new Royal Lords.

After returning to the Star Boundary, Yang Kai threw himself into his secluded cave mansion and started another round of cultivation.

Years went by.

Yang Kai had completely lost track of time and his secluded cave mansion had slowly been covered in a thick layer of green leaves. Now, if passing Open Heaven Realm Masters didn’t look closely, they would never notice that there was a tree cave here. 

A full 1,200 years later, the sealed-up cave mansion opened again, and Yang Kai emerged.

After more than a thousand years of seclusion, and adding on the time from before he was interrupted by his Monster Self’s advancement, Yang Kai’s retreat lasted for 1,700 years.

This wasn’t the longest time Yang Kai had ever spent cultivating, that distinction belonged to his stay in the Temporal Rivers inside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, where from his perspective he had secluded himself for some 4,000 years. 

Since he had spent so much time in retreat though, Yang Kai had depleted all the resources he had gathered. One had to know that the number of resources he had collected was simply unfathomable as he had huge piles of various valuable things he had gained through various exploits over the years, but now, all of that was gone.

Of course, with such a huge expenditure, he had achieved equally great results.

Though he hadn’t reached the peak of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he was not far from it. Also, his Small Universe now had countless living beings inside, which would constantly bring him more benefits. Even if he didn’t enter retreat ever again, he would have still reached the peak of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm in short order. That was also his limit in this lifetime.

Yang Kai gently clenched his fists as he felt the majestic strength inside his Small Universe.

If he encountered an Innate Territory Lord now, he was confident that even without using a Soul Rending Thorn, he could kill the other party within 10 moves. 

This was something impossible for him 1,700 years ago.

After nearly 2,000 years of retreat, Yang Kai was eager to find some ignorant Innate Territory Lord and test his current strength. Unfortunately, that idea could only exist in his head, for if he took action, it would violate the peace deal.

For now, the Human Race wasn’t ready for a final battle with the Black Ink Clan, and neither was Yang Kai.

A shadow flashed before Yang Kai’s eyes at that moment as a slender figure landed nearby. The woman had a surprised expression as she exclaimed, “Palace Master!”

Looking at the familiar face, Yang Kai nodded lightly, “You’ve worked hard.”

Hua Qing Si had already broken through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. After all, many years had passed, and the High Heaven Palace didn’t lack cultivation materials, so it wasn’t hard for her to break through from the Sixth Order to the Seventh Order. However, the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm was her limit because her aptitude back then was average and she only made her initial breakthrough to the Fifth-Order. 

“I’ve only done what is necessary,” Hua Qing Si replied humbly as she observed Yang Kai and discovered that while his appearance didn’t change much after all these years, his aura had become heavier. This showed that Yang Kai’s strength had significantly increased after this retreat.

“I have something for you to do,” While Yang Kai spoke, he casually waved his hand, and in the next instant, 800 hundred people appeared before them.

All of them were at the peak of the Emperor Realm, and judging by their auras, they had all condensed their Dao Seals and refined all sorts of materials. They were now just one step away from breaking through to the Open Heaven Realm.

These people were naturally the disciples gathered in the Void Dao Temple over the years. 

While looking at the situation, Hua Qing Si understood what Yang Kai meant; after all, it wasn’t the first time she had seen this scene before. As such, she simply nodded, “Palace Master, please rest assured that I will make the necessary arrangements.”

After that, she addressed these Emperor Realm Masters, “Follow me.”

The Emperor Realm Masters respectfully bid the Dao Lord Yang Kai goodbye before leaving with Hua Qing Si.

Once the Head Manager distributed Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills, the group of Emperor Realm Masters started breaking through to Open Heaven Realm outside of the Star Boundary. This scene attracted many bystanders.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood in place and used his Divine Sense to cover the entire Star Boundary. Instantly, he heard a multitude of conversations.

While listening, Yang Kai soon understood the latest situation on the various Great Territory Battlefields.

In general, both clans were still maintaining their side of the agreement, and it seemed like it would stay that way for some time to come. Besides the ones in those six Great Territory Battlefields, the other Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters remained silent.

On the contrary, the six Great Territory Battlefields which had remained unchanged from the beginning now had very few ordinary soldiers as many Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters now used these vast expanses as their own battlegrounds. 

While quite a number of new Territory Lords had appeared in the Black Ink Clan, the Humans also had many new Eighth-Order Masters, all of whom swarmed into those six Great Territory Battlefields, intending to temper themselves while weakening the enemy’s strength by killing their top Masters. It could be said that the intensity of the battles in those six Great Territory Battlefields vastly exceeded all others.

There were constantly Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords dying in battle, which was very tragic news.

After 1,700 years of retreat, Yang Kai was now eager to move his body. Moreover, he had long decided to search for the first Primordial Light after finishing his latest retreat. To his knowledge, the Primordial Light was the only instrument capable of completely wiping out Mo; therefore, after gathering some intel, Yang Kai flew up to the sky and soon left High Heaven Territory.