The damaged soul had not yet fully recovered. No matter how powerful the Warm Divine Lotus was, it still needed time to take effect. But the martial dao true intent that had been washed down gradually settled within Yang Kai's sea of consciousness, waiting for him to absorb and comprehend.
Without hesitation, he stepped into the ancient battlefield. Just as before, the power of time from all around surged toward him, giving Yang Kai a dizzying sensation of temporal disorientation.
But last time he had arrived as a mere clone, and after being affected by the power of time, things had been rather cumbersome. Now that his true body had come, his resistance was naturally incomparable.
At the very least, he no longer experienced that sensation of his thoughts grinding to a halt.
Step by step he advanced, covering a hundred zhang in less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense. Yang Kai raised an eyebrow slightly—he knew that last time, it had taken him an entire day to cover that same distance.
The advantages of coming in person were evident.
He didn't go any further, because he knew that if he took even one more step, the two forces intertwined within this ancient battlefield would surely torment him again. His damaged soul had yet to finish recovering, so naturally he intended to wait until it was fully restored before making any further plans. The reason he had entered this ancient battlefield in the first place was simply to secure more time for Cultivation.
Calculating the distance carefully, Yang Kai sat cross-legged on the spot. He allowed the Warm Divine Lotus to continue repairing his soul while simultaneously comprehending the refined power within his sea of consciousness, absorbing the martial dao true intent of those two powerful beings.
Time slipped by like a white horse passing a gap in the wall, like clouds drifting and dogs chasing across the sky. After several days had passed in a flash, his damaged soul was once more full and complete. Having weathered this tribulation, Yang Kai's already formidable soul had grown a shade stronger. It wasn't much, but it was enough to offset many days of bitter Cultivation.
The moment his soul recovered was precisely the moment he finished comprehending the refined power within his sea of consciousness. These two forces, originating from two different powerhouses, had fundamentally incompatible natures and could never truly fuse together. But after being cleansed by the Warm Divine Lotus, all superficial distinctions had been stripped away, leaving behind only the purest martial dao true intent—and so Yang Kai had been able to absorb them both.
As the saying went: the ten thousand paths all lead to the same destination. Nothing could be truer.
The sea of consciousness that had turned pitch-black due to his demonic transformation now bore a speck of golden light. Within that dark expanse it was negligible, yet strikingly conspicuous—like a single spark on the open plains, as though one day it might ignite a towering inferno.
Yang Kai rose to his feet and found that his thoughts flowed with perfect clarity, unobstructed by any impediment. The power of time still flowed through his surroundings, but it no longer affected him in the slightest. He understood that this was the benefit of comprehending and absorbing that sliver of martial dao true intent.
But this was only the outermost fringe of the ancient battlefield, where the residual power of time and the laws of time were at their weakest. If he ventured deeper, things would undoubtedly be a very different story.
He stepped forward, and just as Yang Kai had anticipated, the moment his foot fell, two majestic forces invaded his body without preamble—the power of time from the Great Emperor of Time, and the other force.
Last time he had come as a clone and feared the unknown, so he hadn't been able to feel things clearly. But now, sensing them with care, he found that the other force was indeed deeply imbued with demonic nature, resonating with the demonic yuan within his body.
This only strengthened his conviction: whoever had fought the Great Emperor of Time to the death on this battlefield—if not the Great Demon God—must have been some other supreme powerhouse from the Demon Realm.
Understanding dawned. No wonder he had been able to comprehend and absorb the martial dao true intent of both of them. He had originally thought it was a stroke of blind luck, but now he realized this particular fortune was not something just anyone could seize.
He had never received the Great Emperor of Time's direct legacy, but at least he had once practiced the Time Flowing Seal and gained the barest sliver of insight into the laws of time. In that sense, he shared a karmic connection with the Great Emperor of Time that transcended time and space. With that foundation in place, he was naturally able to comprehend and absorb the Great Emperor of Time's martial dao true intent.
By the same logic, when he had advanced to the rank of Upper Demon King, the laws of heaven and earth from the Demon Realm had influenced him, plunging him into a demonic state. His emperor yuan had transformed into demonic yuan, and only the Warm Divine Lotus had preserved that final spark of clarity in his sea of consciousness, preventing him from fully becoming a member of the demon race.
He was already half a demon! And so he had been able to comprehend and absorb the martial dao true intent of that demon powerhouse as well.
It all seemed like coincidence, but who could say whether it was fate's random bounty or the workings of heaven's design? It was Yang Kai and Yang Kai alone—anyone else who came here would likely gain nothing. On the contrary, they would have their hearts eroded by this martial dao true intent, ruining their Cultivation.
Even Yang Xiao and Yang Xué, had they come, would only have been able to absorb the portion of martial dao true intent belonging to the Great Emperor of Time. Against that demon powerhouse, they would have been utterly powerless. Unable to comprehend or absorb it, they would instead have had their temperament corrupted.
Having figured this out, a sincere smile crept across Yang Kai's lips. He kept walking, advancing step by step.
Last time he had come as a clone, which had made a rather inadequate vessel, so Yang Kai had only held out for a short while before being forced to retreat. Now that his true body had arrived, this vessel was far, far more resilient than a mere wisp of a clone.
If the previous clone had been a small pond, then his true body was a vast lake, capable of bearing much more. He still couldn't withstand the ravaging of those two titanic forces, of course—but Yang Kai wasn't suicidal. He knew perfectly well where his limits lay.
Five hundred zhang!
The strength of his vessel, combined with the martial dao true intent he had previously comprehended and absorbed, allowed Yang Kai to press forward a full five hundred zhang before he was finally forced to stop. He had reached the point where he could go no further. To push on would risk injuries that could never be healed.
Pain tore through his soul like it was being ripped apart. His physical body hurt so badly it was nearly unbearable, trembling uncontrollably. Tiny droplets of golden blood seeped from every pore. Yang Kai clenched his jaw, fists balled at his sides, his face twisted into a terrifying grimace.
The Warm Divine Lotus was already radiating seven-colored radiance, ceaselessly repairing his damaged soul. With the Warm Divine Lotus, Yang Kai had no fear that his soul might scatter to the winds.