Martial Peak

These 200 Small Stone Race members alone represented a massive amount of Military Merits.

What made Yang Kai feel even stranger was that he did not feel any traces of refinement from these Small Stone Race members.

It was as if Zhang Ruo Xi was just hoarding them and had no intention of using them.

Ruo Xi’s voice echoed within the Small Universe, “Ruo Xi can tell you more about this later. Actually, this is also something Ruo Xi wants to consult Sir about.”

Yang Kai was slightly surprised. Could there be any special purpose for Ruo Xi to hoard these Small Stone Race members? However, since Ruo Xi already mentioned this, he could only set aside his concerns and continue to investigate her Small Universe.

His Divine Sense soon reached the edge of her Small Universe.

The Small Universe of an Open Heaven Realm Master was not fundamentally different from a real Universe World. The edge of it could be called the World Boundary, which was both a natural protection to ensure that the World Force of the Small Universe would not leak out, and also a shackle to limit the cultivator’s growth and strength.

When an Open Heaven Realm Master cultivated using materials and pills, their heritage would grow, which would result in the expansion of their Small Universe.

For example, although a new Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a veteran Fifth-Order Open Heaven Master were technically in the same Order, there was a huge difference in the density of their World Force and even the size of their Small Universe.

The size of their Small Universe, and the richness of their World Force directly affected the strength of an Open Heaven Realm Master.

Therefore, on the Black Ink Battlefield, cultivators who were invaded by Black Ink Strength and had to give up a portion of their Small Universe to save themselves would see a drastic drop in their strength. If one sacrificed too much of their Small Universe, they might even see their Order regress. In the worst-case scenario, an Open Heaven Realm Master’s Small Universe would completely destabilize after large portions of it were sacrificed, resulting in death.

Moreover, once a Master gave a large part of their Small Universe, it would become incomplete and have a great impact on any attempts at a breakthrough in the future.

In this Universe, only a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit could repair one’s Small Universe.

Xiang Shan once gave up too much of his Small Universe and regressed to the Seventh Order. Now, he had repaired his Small Universe and cultivated back to his peak; however, because of his actions back then, there were still some flaws in his foundation, making it extremely difficult for him to advance to the Ninth Order despite having the capital and aptitude to do so.

The Four Universe Pillars and the World Tree clones could stabilize and insulate one’s Small Universe from outside influence, making it both impervious and flawless. It was precisely because the mysterious power of these treasures affected the World Boundary of a person’s Small Universe, making it resistant to external invasion. On top of that, even if Black Ink Strength somehow made its way into the Small Universe of a person with one of these treasures, it could be easily suppressed and sealed.

A cultivator would reach a bottleneck when the expansion of their Small Universe reached its limit. If they broke through this limit, the Master would advance to the next Order and their Small Universe would expand greatly. Naturally, the strength of that cultivation would dramatically change as well.

Ruo Xi was now at the peak of the Seventh Order, and her Small Universe should have hit its limit, one that should be insurmountable in her life. It was reasonable to say that her World Boundary couldn’t expand any further.

Knowing this, Yang Kai conducted a small test to push the limit.

In an instant, a mountain shook in the Ruo Xi’s Small Universe and the World Boundary rippled.

Yang Kai was surprised and immediately withdrew his energy.

After all, a cultivator would feel uncomfortable when their Small Universe was disturbed from the inside. Luckily, Yang Kai was able to quickly retract his energy and did not cause any harm to Ruo Xi.

Gu Pan asked from the side, “How is it?”

“It’s really strange…” Yang Kai frowned and continued, “Ruo Xi does have the potential to continue improving her cultivation.”

Through this test, Yang Kai was able to determine that Zhang Ruo Xi’s cultivation had reached a bottleneck, but not the end of her Martial Dao.

With a little more effort, she could break through this bottleneck and advance to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm!

This was shocking!

Yang Kai had travelled all over the Universe for many years and had come into contact with all kinds of cultivators, including many High-Ranking Open Heaven Masters, but none of them could overcome their innate shackles like Ruo Xi could.

Even he himself was now restricted by the invisible shackle of his Small Universe.

Gu Pan was both happy and relieved to hear Yang Kai’s assessment. She had looked into Zhang Ruo Xi’s situation before and came to the same conclusion; however, she was not confident in her own judgment.

Now that Yang Kai had come to the same conclusion, it was basically a certainty.

This was good for Zhang Ruo Xi. Previously, her peak was the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm; however, now she might be able to become an Eighth-Order or even a Ninth-Order Master!

Yang Kai thought for a moment and asked, “Has Ruo Xi ever eaten a World Fruit?”ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novelenglish.net . (ꜰ)ire.ɴet

Zhang Ruo Xi shook her head and said, “No, I haven’t.”

Yang Kai nodded at the expected answer. World Fruits were so precious that ordinary people could not get a hold of one. If Ruo Xi had eaten a World Fruit, then she would not be as doubtful of her situation.

“Sir, can you figure out what’s going on with Ruo Xi?” Zhang Ruo Xi asked.

Yang Kai shook his head, “I’ve never heard of a situation like this before, but I can see that the foundation of your Small Universe is solid and your heritage is strong. So, there’s nothing wrong with it, and it should be beneficial to you, rather than harmful. As for why this is the case… I have a speculation.”

“Please enlighten me, Sir!” Zhang Ruo Xi looked at him eagerly.

Yang Kai said, “It concerns your Bloodline! The Heavens Order Bloodline you awakened should have some peculiarities. It should be this peculiarity that allows you to overcome the innate shackles of the Open Heaven Realm.”

“What Sir means is…”

“Let’s put it this way,” Yang Kai explained, “Your Bloodline is different from that of the Human Race. If you look at the vast Universe, only the Divine Spirits have true Bloodline Inheritances. The Divine Spirits do not have limits on their cultivation; they just need to constantly refine their own Bloodline and awaken their ancient inheritance to advance. In other words, they can continue to get stronger as long as they put in enough effort and have enough resources. Humans on the other hand, who cultivate using the Open Heaven Realm method, have innate limits. Divine Spirits clearly have incomparable advantages. Your Heaven’s Order Bloodline may also be related to a Divine Spirit Bloodline, so the growth of your strength is somewhat similar to that of a Divine Spirit…”

At this point, Yang Kai suddenly realized a problem with his theory.

If the Heavens Order Bloodline was really a Divine Spirit Bloodline, then Zhang Ruo Xi should also have innate shackles because she relied on the Open Heaven Realm method of the Human Race to cultivate.

Take Yang Kai himself, he could be considered a pure-blood Dragon Clan member now, but because he used the Open Heaven Realm to cultivate, no matter how pure his Dragon Vein was, he was still limited by his innate shackles to the peak of the Eighth-Order. Even his powerful Dragon Vein was restricted. It seemed he could not take that last one-metre step to become a Divine Dragon even when he cultivated in the Ancestral Land.

Only when he reached the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm would his Dragon Vein naturally be able to advance to the next stage.

Although Su Yan had a Phoenix Clan Bloodline, as long as she relied on the Open Heaven Realm method, she would suffer from this shortcoming as well.

The Open Heaven Realm method was inherited from the 10 Martial Ancestors, which was in line with the Heavenly Way. It was certainly not perfect, but it had helped with the cultivation of the Human Race for countless aeons.

If the Masters wanted to be free from the restrictions, then they should not cultivate using the Open Heaven Realm method; however, as soon as they used it to cultivate, they would definitely be limited by it in the future.

Divine Spirits did not need to cultivate using the Open Heaven Realm method. They were the first to be blessed by the Heavenly Way and ruled all under the Heavens long before the 10 Martial Ancestors gained enlightenment about the Open Heaven Realm method. They have been using their Bloodline as their main way to cultivate since ancient times. The purer their Bloodline, the more powerful they were.

Zhang Ruo Xi also used the Open Heaven Realm method to advance to the Open Heaven Realm though, so even if the Heavens Order Bloodline was really a kind of Divine Spirit Bloodline, it should be limited by the restrictions of the Open Heaven Realm method, but she was not.

Unless…

The Heaven’s Order Bloodline was more powerful than any Divine Spirit Bloodline! Such power would be sufficient to overcome the innate shackles of the Open Heaven Realm method.

Considering all these, Yang Kai could not help but feel bothered.

[Was the Heavens Order Bloodline much more powerful than the Divine Spirit Bloodlines?] He really had not thought about it before.

However, after careful consideration, it seemed that… it was possible!

Back in the Star Boundary, Heaven’s Order was the nemesis of all Divine Spirits. All the Divine Spirits that plagued the world were captured by Heaven’s Order and stripped of their Sources, which she then sealed in the Blood Gate for countless years.

Even when Zhang Ruo Xi was only in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, an Eighth-Order Divine Spirit like Zhu Jian could feel a sense of suppression just being near her. Even Yang Kai felt so when she was close to him!

All signs indicated that Zhang Ruo Xi’s Heavens Order Bloodline was much more powerful than any Divine Spirit Bloodline!

[What exactly is the Heavens Order Bloodline?] Yang Kai was now considered to be very knowledgeable and had seen many things; however, he had never heard of the Heavens Order Bloodline anywhere else except in Zhang Ruo Xi!

Yang Kai had a hunch about the truth, but he was unsure about it…

“Sir?” Zhang Ruo Xi whispered when she saw that he was lost in his thoughts.

“Hmm?” Yang Kai came back to his senses.

“As Sir said, my current situation is similar to the Divine Spirits, so can I become an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master?” She asked excitedly.

The Human Race was now at war for its very survival, and although a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master wasn’t weak, any random Territory Lord could easily kill them, especially the Innate Territory Lords who were far more powerful than the Acquired ones.

Zhang Ruo Xi had been able to stay safe and sound all these years mainly because she had been following Gu Pan around. Due to her relationship with Yang Kai, Lang Ya Paradise had taken great care of her. If she was just an ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, it would be much riskier for her on the battlefield.

However, if she could become an Eighth-Order Master, then she would be much safer in the future and more lethal to the enemies on the battlefield.

Yang Kai nodded and said, “Advancing to the Eighth Order is not a problem. I saw your Small Universe and you are at the limit of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Once things have settled down, you should enter retreat and cultivate hard. I will personally stand guard for you until you break through to the Eighth Order!”

“Many thanks, Sir!” Zhang Ruo Xi said with a beautiful smile.