Five million to eight million — let's split the difference and call it six and a half million. That was quite the army. Were the Ink Clan planning to wage a war inside the Universe Furnace?
Then again, the Ink Clan's understanding of the Universe Furnace was probably worse than his own. They likely hadn't anticipated that the interior would be this complex. Millions of troops dumped inside would be of negligible use.
Yang Kai quickly considered another point: "If millions entered through the same entrance, why are you the only one here? Where are the rest of the Ink Clan?"
The Lord shook his head. "After entering, I couldn't find a trace of any other clansmen. That entrance seems to possess the marvel of inverting heaven and earth — every clansman who passed through was scattered in a different direction."
Frowning, Yang Kai felt a thread of worry stir in his heart.
Millions of Ink Clan soldiers had entered through the same entrance, and all of them had been separated. The human powerhouses would be no exception. In other words, once inside the Universe Furnace, everyone would essentially be fighting alone — or scrambling to find companions as quickly as possible for mutual support.
But finding companions inside the Universe Furnace was far from easy.
Most of the humans who had entered this time should be Eighth-Order cultivators. Alone and unaccompanied, running into an Ink Clan Domain Lord wouldn't be the end of the world — their strength was comparable, and they could put up a fight. But encountering a pseudo-King-Lord like Monaye? That would likely mean death.
This expedition to the Universe Furnace was going to cost the human side a staggering number of powerful cultivators. Although the General Headquarters had surely made arrangements — after the Universe Furnace's projection had manifested, he had been trapped inside it the entire time and had maintained no contact with the human side.
With Mi Jinglun's thoroughness and experience, he would certainly have gathered as much intelligence about the Universe Furnace as possible and prepared countermeasures for every foreseeable scenario.
If he encountered any isolated humans along the way, he could lend them a hand, Yang Kai thought to himself, smoothing the worry in his heart. The situation was what it was — worry changed nothing. Anyone from the human side who had dared enter the Universe Furnace to compete for fortune had already steeled themselves to die here.
On the other hand, the Ink Clan's forces would be equally scattered, and they knew far less about the Universe Furnace than the humans did. They would have no contingency plans for this situation. In the short term, then, the humans' overall position might not actually be worse than the Ink Clan's.
This particular Ink Clan Lord had spent most of his time at the Unreturning Pass, and had entered through the Void Domain's gate, so his knowledge of outside intelligence was limited. Yang Kai asked several more questions, but the Lord knew nothing of use — every answer was a blank stare and stammering silence.
Certain he would get nothing more of value, Yang Kai saw no reason to waste any more time. He slowly raised one hand.
Sensing the killing intent, the Lord hastily cried out: "Lord Yang Kai! I'll trade a piece of intelligence of great value to the humans for my life!"
"Oh?" Yang Kai regarded him with interest. "Intelligence of great value to the humans? What is it?"
Beads of sweat formed on the Lord's forehead, but he pressed on through gritted teeth: "I know Lord Yang Kai is a man of his word. You never go back on a promise—"
"Enough. If this intelligence proves useful, I'll spare your life."
Yang Kai cut him off impatiently.
The Lord let out a breath of relief and said cautiously: "It's about the Opening Heaven Pills that your humans are fighting over!"
Yang Kai's brow shot up. "You've seen the Opening Heaven Pills?" He had activated the Solar Lunar Mark when he arrived, and there had been no resonance — meaning the nine Opening Heaven Pills he had branded were not nearby. Where had this Lord seen them?
As this疑惑 formed, the Lord pointed behind him. "Devoured by that monstrous thing! I saw it with my own eyes. That's exactly why I was fighting it — I wanted to kill it and reclaim the Opening Heaven Pills!"
Yang Kai turned to look. Inside that mass of ink-black clouds, something was churning and thrashing wildly — the bizarre creature born from this place.
The corner of his mouth twitched as the truth dawned on him.
The Opening Heaven Pill this Lord had seen was indeed an Opening Heaven Pill, but not the kind Yang Kai was pursuing. It was a different variety of far lower grade.
He had personally witnessed the genesis of both types of Opening Heaven Pills, which was how he knew they came in different grades. But the Ink Clan didn't know that. This Lord had seen one Opening Heaven Pill and assumed it was the tremendous fortune the human powerhouses were fighting over.
The intelligence wasn't wrong, exactly — it was just... missing the mark by a wide margin.
Yang Kai's palm descended toward the Lord. The might of heaven and earth surged forth, and the Lord was sent tumbling backward, spewing black blood. He had assumed Yang Kai was going back on his word and that he was dead for certain, but after landing he found himself still alive.
"Get lost!" Yang Kai's voice drifted over from a distance.
The Lord, as though granted a reprieve from death, shouted: "Thank you, Lord Yang Kai!" Disregarding his grievous wounds, he transformed into a wisp of ink-black cloud and fled at full speed.
A severely wounded Lord would have his strength drastically diminished. Letting him go posed no real threat, and since Yang Kai had already made the promise, he had no intention of going back on his word.
If anything, he could use this Lord to spread some news — that Yang Kai had already obtained an Opening Heaven Pill! That would draw the attention of some powerful Ink Clan figures toward himself and ease the pressure on other human powerhouses.
After all, even if he couldn't defeat a pseudo-King-Lord level opponent, escaping was never a problem.
Right now, what truly piqued his curiosity was why that creature wanted to devour the Opening Heaven Pills!