The two great armies locked in battle were strikingly distinct from one another. Every creature bore a conspicuous symbol on its chest—one marked with a blazing sun, the other with a crescent moon—corresponding perfectly to the forces they wielded.
Yang Kai burst into the area and, upon first laying eyes on these two bizarre armies, found his mind utterly blank.
What in the world were these things? Since when did the Chaotic Death Domain have creatures like these?
Where was Big Brother Huang? Where was Big Sister Lan?
But upon closer inspection, he actually spotted Small Stone Tribe members among both armies. Compared to the ones he kept in his Small Universe, these were far more massive, and the power they could unleash was nothing short of astonishing.
Could these actually be the Small Stone Tribe he had left behind all those years ago?
Yang Kai could hardly believe it.
The last time he had visited the Chaotic Death Domain, in order to settle the argument between Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan over what to call each other—and to put an end to their fighting—he had brought out some of the Small Stone Tribe from his Small Universe and handed them over to the two of them to train. Each side would pit their Stone Tribe against the other to determine who would take the elder role and who the junior.
This method of dispute resolution had delighted both Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan. After a period of training and several rounds of skirmishing, the results were mixed.
Yang Kai had also reaped considerable benefits from it. The Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals he had brought to the Domain of Ink were all obtained right here in the Chaotic Death Domain. Over the years, the Light of Purification he had channeled had saved countless human warriors from the corruption of the Ink Force.
Had it not been for spending a full four thousand years within the Great Sea Heavenly Phenomenon, his supply of Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals would not have been depleted so quickly.
As for Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan, such clashes were nothing more than a game to them—a way to pass the tedious ages and simultaneously resolve their disputes.
But after Yang Kai had left the Chaotic Death Domain, the Small Stone Tribe seemed to have undergone some inexplicable and baffling transformations.
Glancing between the Small Stone Tribe he kept in his own Small Universe and the two massive armies now clashing before him—shattering the earth and cracking the sky—he desperately wanted to find those two and ask how on earth they had raised these creatures.
The largest Small Stone Tribe member in his Small Universe stood barely half the height of a person. Yet here, the mightiest ones towered to a hundred zhang, their bodies radiating a terrifying ferocity that was no less imposing than the aura of an Eighth-Order Human cultivator.
Two armies like these, deployed into the outside world, would be enough to sweep through most of the great Sects. Even facing an Ink Clan force of equal numbers, they would hold their own in battle.
Still, when one considered the extraordinary power of Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals, it was perhaps not so surprising that the Small Stone Tribe under Zhuozhao and Youying's care had undergone such changes.
The Small Stone Tribe was a race Yang Kai had discovered in a newly found Great Domain beyond the Star Boundary—one that no one had ever encountered before.
Their characteristics were remarkably similar to those of ants, with clearly defined internal roles. As long as there was an entity akin to a queen and sufficient resources, the race could multiply and expand with astonishing speed.
Their demand for resources was minimal. Anything containing energy could serve as their sustenance.
The reason Yang Kai had kept a population of the Small Stone Tribe in his Small Universe was that their reproduction brought benefits to his Small Universe ten times greater than an equivalent number of humans.
The time flow in his Small Universe was far faster than the outside world, so raising the Small Stone Tribe allowed him to save an enormous amount of cultivation time, accelerating his growth in strength.
After advancing to the Sixth-Order, he had broken through to the Seventh-Order in less than a thousand years—a feat to which the Small Stone Tribe's contribution was indispensable.
It could even be said that his advancement to the Eighth-Order owed not only to the Great Sea Heavenly Phenomenon but also to the proliferation of the Small Stone Tribe.
However, Yang Kai had never dared let the tribe expand too much. The population within his Small Universe was always maintained at a stable level, because once the numbers grew too great, their demand for resources would spike accordingly.
Such a concern was obviously no issue for Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan.
Resources? The Chaotic Death Domain was overflowing with Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals, and those crystals were, at their very essence, condensations of Zhuozhao and Youying's own power.
In other words, if the two of them so desired, they could accelerate the Small Stone Tribe's expansion at will. And because their own power was of such an exalted grade, after more than a thousand years of evolution, the Small Stone Tribe here in the Chaotic Death Domain had undergone inexplicable changes—giving rise to elite warriors that were comparable to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Human cultivators.
Yang Kai had come to the Chaotic Death Domain for two reasons: first, to persuade Zhuozhao and Youying to join him, and second, to deal with the tail that had been doggedly pursuing him.
But the moment he stepped inside, only to find two great armies of the Small Stone Tribe locked in combat, it was entirely beyond his expectations.
Judging by the state of things, the game between Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan was still ongoing—and it had already begun to take on a different character.
He had barely finished piecing together the reason behind the Small Stone Tribe's transformation when the Ink Clan King Lord burst into the domain in hot pursuit.
Yang Kai was about to flee again when an unexpected turn of events erupted.
The two Small Stone Tribe armies, which had been engaged in fierce battle, suddenly halted their conflict the instant the Ink Clan King Lord appeared. Every member of the Stone Tribe—regardless of size, regardless of strength—as though seized by some invisible force, turned their heads in unison to stare at the Ink Clan King Lord.
The next moment, a hundred-zhang-tall Small Stone Tribe warrior threw back its head and unleashed a thunderous roar. It beat its chest with both fists, sending showers of stone chips cascading down, then charged ferociously at the Ink Clan King Lord.
Yang Kai could clearly see the flames of hatred blazing in the creature's eyes.