Martial Peak

“A projection!” Yang Kai frowned. This was not something he had considered. He only thought that the situation was rather strange.

If the Universe Furnace was about to emerge, then why did more than a dozen or so illusory phantoms appear across the various Great Territory Battlefields? There was even one here. On the other hand, if these illusory phantoms were just projections of the Universe Furnace, then the situation would make much more sense. 

“Was this information obtained by the Black Ink Clan?” Yang Kai inquired.

Mo Na Ye shook his head as he replied, “It’s my guess!”

Yang Kai nodded lightly. There was no need to doubt Mo Na Ye’s intentions too much. Based on the information he possessed at the moment, he would probably cto the sconclusion if he had the tto calm down and analyse the situation.

“What else?” Yang Kai probed further.

Mo Na Ye pondered in silence for a moment, “Based on my observations, the projections are slowly solidifying. I’m sure you’ve noticed as well, Brother Yang. It has been several months since the projections first appeared. By my estimation, it will take another two years for the projection to completely materialize. I speculate that the Universe Furnace will only appear in the world once the projections have fully solidified!”

Looking around, Yang Kai examined the degree of projection’s solidification compared to a few months ago and did sestimation, arriving at the sconclusion as Mo Na Ye. At the current rate, it would indeed take two years for the projection to solidify completely.

“Although the tof the Universe Furnace’s emergence can roughly be determined, the location of its emergence remains a mystery. There are more than 10 projections at different locations, so it is difficult to determine the exact location of the Universe Furnace’s emergence. Nevertheless, I believe there are two possibilities.”

“What are the two possibilities?” Yang Kai questioned.

Mo Na Ye glanced at Yang Kai in resentment. After being enemies for so many years, they were very familiar with each other by now. Yang Kai’s actions might seem rash and impulsive, but he only took them after much consideration. With his intelligence and the information he just received, it would not be difficult for him to reach his own conclusions if he bothered to put his mind to work on the matter.

However, he was either too lazy to think for himself or he was trying to figure out just how much information the Black Ink Clan had gathered. That was why he was holding the lives of these Territory Lords hostage in exchange for information. Unfortunately, there was nothing Mo Na Ye could do in retaliation.

“The first possibility is that the Universe Furnace’s true body will randomly appear at one of the locations of the projections, and the rest of the projections are mere illusions.” Mo Na Ye expressed his conjectures, not daring to conceal anything. In any case, he was simply guessing as well so there was no harm in sharing. “The second possibility is… all the projections are closely connected to the true body; hence, the Universe Furnace will appear wherever the projections are located!”

Yang Kai listened seriously and nodded lightly, “That’s a reasonable hypothesis. Indeed, these are the only two possibilities.”

It was not difficult to form these conjectures based on the existing information. Be that as it may, neither Mo Na Ye nor Yang Kai was aware of something crucial. The true body of the Universe Furnace would not be revealed even when these projections solidified. In fact, this SuprTreasure had never been seen before throughout the long course of history. On the contrary, these projections would simply transform into entrances leading into the Universe Furnace once they were fully solidified. The so-called opportunities were hidden inside the Universe Furnace.

It was not that Mo Na Ye and Yang Kai were dull-witted, just that the information they possessed was too little for them to form an accurate conjecture. Besides, they both had preconceived notions about the Universe Furnace. Since it was called the Universe Furnace, they naturally assumed that it was something akin to a mysterious Alchemy Furnace. How could they have known that this Alchemy Furnace would contain a Sealed World of its own?

Mo Na Ye did not continue speaking. It was not that he didn’t want to, but that he had no other valuable information to share. Hence, he immediately started racking his brains for anything he could think of…

Yang Kai did not pester Mo Na Ye either. Sinking deep into thought, he suddenly recalled something. He honestly did not know much about the Universe Furnace. The only knowledge he had was that the Universe Furnace contained Innate Open Heaven Pills that could help a cultivator break through their inherent shackles.

However, he only heard that the world would be thrown into a storm of bloodshed whenever the Universe Furnace emerged!

At the time, Yang Kai had not known much about the 3,000 Worlds. His cultivation was also quite low, which resulted in a shallow understanding of that statement. He had simply assumed that a SuprTreasure was something everybody would want to obtain, so the so-called storm of bloodshed would be caused by the infighting between the Masters from the Cave Heavens and Paradises. It would now seem that his assumption had been incorrect.

For countless years since the Late Ancient Era, the Cave Heavens and Paradises had committed their elites to the Black Ink Battlefield to wage a never-ending war against the Black Ink Clan. All Ninth-Order Old Ancestors also resided on the Black Ink Battlefield to guard the Great Passes. There might be many Cave Heavens and Paradises, but they had always been united against their common enemy.

With an external enemy threatening them, how could the Masters of the Cave Heavens and Paradises create a storm of bloodshed over the opportunities that could be found in the Universe Furnace? The Old Ancestors would never allow such foolishness to occur. If the Universe Furnace were to appear, they would step forward to manage the situation themselves. If that were the case, then where would the storm of bloodshed cfrom?

Yang Kai soon realised something important.

According to the information he received from Mo Na Ye, the projections of the Universe Furnace seemed to appear in places where a large number of living beings had died in battle. When the Universe Furnace appeared in the world recently, the projections had appeared on the various Great Territory Battlefields, the Barren Territory, the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, and even this place. This was the best evidence to support that statement. If this was the case now, then what about the past?

Although there had been conflicts in the 3,000 Worlds in the past, there were all sminor conflicts between various Sects. Even if there were any casualties during these conflicts, the cultivation of these deceased cultivators would not be high.

Unlike the tranquillity in the 3,000 Worlds, the war had never ceased on the Black Ink Battlefield. Every tthe Black Ink Clan attacked any of the Great Passes, massive numbers of living beings would lose their lives.

If the number of deaths and the strength of the fall cultivators were related to the criteria for the projections of the Universe Furnace to appear, then the Black Ink Battlefield undoubtedly met these requirements. By that logic, had the projections of the Universe Furnace always appeared on the Black Ink Battlefield whenever the Universe Furnace manifested in the world in the past? In that case, the so-called storm of bloodshed could be explained. It was not caused by the internal struggles among the Human Race, but the confrontation between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan.

Yang Kai suddenly recalled that he had obtained a few Innate Open Heaven Pills from the Blood Monster Divine Palace in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven.

After he left the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, Lan You Ruo had gone into retreat and attempted to advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Yang Kai had given her an Innate Open Heaven Pill to help boost her chances of success, but she ultimately did not need it.

He later took the tto examine those Innate Open Heaven Pills carefully and discovered that the medicinal efficacies were indeed more potent and profound compared to ordinary Open Heaven Pills; however, they did not contain any miraculous effects. He then proceeded to toss them somewhere and forgot about them.

At the time, Yang Kai speculated that those Open Heaven Pills were too old and had not been preserved properly which caused their medicinal efficacies to deteriorate over the millennia. He had felt a slight sense of regret, thinking that Blood Monster Divine Monarch had wasted such precious resources. Looking back now, he realised that the medicinal efficacies of the Innate Open Heaven Pills should not have deteriorated even if they were improperly preserved.

The only explanation was that those Open Heaven Pills themselves were not as miraculous as the rumours proclaimed. In that case, where did the rumours about the Universe Furnace that were passed down from ancient times cfrom?

Also, the Blood Monster Divine Monarch… Since he managed to obtain Innate Open Heaven Pills, did that mean he had the opportunity to compete for the Universe Furnace? Be that as it may, he had clearly never gone to the Black Ink Battlefield before. Where did he get the opportunity to compete for the Universe Furnace? He was not from the Cave Heavens or Paradises after all. How did he obtain the qualifications for the opportunity?

[Looks like it’s tforto have a chat with Blood Crow!] Yang Kai silently made up his mind. He was certain he could gain a lot from speaking with Blood Crow, but he had to escape from this place first.

Yang Kai was getting excited when Mo Na Ye finally thought of a topic worth mentioning, “Brother Yang, don’t you think this place is a little strange?”

Yang Kai replied indifferently, “A SuprTreasure is present. It’s only natural for something strange to happen.”

Mo Na Ye nodded, “That’s true. The Space here is extremely twisted and distorted. Since it comes from the projection of the Universe Furnace’s true body, then there must be a close connection between them. You are proficient in the Dao of Space, Brother Yang. Why don’t you try to trace it back to its source and locate the Universe Furnace’s true body? You might find something if you can do that.”

Yang Kai glanced at Mo Na Ye in surprise. To be honest, he had not considered such a possibility. It was more accurate to say that he had not even considered things from this angle in the first place. Mo Na Ye must have been forced into a desperate situation for him to cup with such a great idea.

Thus, Yang Kai nodded at Mo Na Ye in respect, “Although I know you don’t have the best intentions, just this idea alone is worth three lives!”

Mo Na Ye did not know what expression to make, so he simply squeezed out a forced smile. This thought had indeed been an impromptu idea, but he had to admit he had another purpose. If Yang Kai could use the Dao of Space to determine the location of the Universe Furnace’s true body, then the Black Ink Clan could prepare specific countermeasures in a targeted manner.

Therefore, Mo Na Ye immediately concentrated on the movements around Yang Kai. He watched intently as Yang Kai sat down cross-legged and surged his Space Principles in an attempt to trace the mysterious roots of this place.

Yang Kai initially had little gain from his efforts. The space in this place was extremely warped and distorted. Even if he could use his understanding of the Dao of Space to eliminate the influence of this warped Space on his movements, he had little success in tracing the roots of the strange phenomenon occurring here. Nevertheless, he suddenly recalled his Cow Punch Secret Technique.

The principle of Cow Punch was to track the enemy’s aura back to its source. It was a Secret Technique specifically made to target the Small Universe of his enemies. He even managed to slaughter a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with this Secret Technique!

[If something as ethereal as a Small Universe can be traced back to the roots, what more the true body of the Universe Furnace?] Yang Kai acted as soon as the thought occurred to him. The Space Principles around his body becmore and more ethereal, almost as though he was about to melt into the Void. He slowly moved his hands as though plucking at invisible strings, trying to trace everything back to its origin.

While Yang Kai was working hard, the Black Ink Clansmen were secretly communicating with each other through a constant stream of Divine Sense transmissions. Although Mo Na Ye had made an agreement with Yang Kai that the lives of each Territory Lord would be spared in exchange for a piece of information, the information provided was clearly far from enough. There were several dozen Territory Lords trapped in this place. How much information could Mo Na Ye realistically provide?

At best, it would be amazing if Yang Kai could spare the lives of a dozen or so Territory Lords. As for the rest… they would not be able to escape his murderous reach. Hence, they had to cup with a self-protection strategy before Yang Kai started taking action. Otherwise, there was no guarantee whose life would be spared by Yang Kai.