The world inside the furnace had only undergone its first evolution. The chaotic, disordered traces of the Dao had improved only slightly, and the place remained incomprehensibly vast. Finding an ally in such a place would be incredibly difficult.
The real worry was that instead of finding an ally, he might draw the attention of yet another enemy.
Based on the intelligence he had gathered from his earlier encounters with Liao Zheng and the others, at least a dozen or two Pseudo King Lords from the Mo Clan had entered this place—possibly more.
If another Pseudo King Lord showed up, Yang Kai would have no way to handle the situation.
But things had already come to this. There was no other option—he could only stick to the plan.
While fleeing, Yang Kai quietly opened the gate to his Small Universe and shut it again in a flash. His figure shot away without the slightest pause.
It looked as though he had done nothing at all, but Lei Ying, who had been squatting on his shoulder the whole time, keenly perceived that in the instant the gate had opened, Yang Kai had released one of the jellyfish-like Chaos Bodies he had previously collected.
The moment the Chaos Body was released, it happened to be in a phantasmal state—imperceptible to vision, undetectable to divine sense. Yang Kai had clearly calculated the timing.
Lei Ying understood what Yang Kai was doing without needing any explanation and split off a portion of his attention to monitor what was happening behind them.
The next instant, Meng Que came hurtling after them. Just as the Chaos Body revealed its form and its body bloomed with kaleidoscopic colors, he crashed straight into it.
It gave Meng Que quite a fright. Although he was confident that his strength far exceeded Yang Kai's, he did not dare let his guard down against this enemy who had brought endless trouble to the Mo Clan for thousands of years. While in pursuit, he had maintained constant vigilance at all times, afraid of stumbling into some trap.
Yet despite all that, he had still fallen for Yang Kai's trick.
This jellyfish-like Chaos Body—Meng Que had come across ones like it at the site where the Domain Lords had fallen. He hadn't examined them closely back then, but the moment he collided with this one, he immediately felt an invisible, formless wave of chaotic force erupt from within it, battering his mind.
Meng Que's consciousness went hazy for a split second. On pure instinct, he slapped out a palm and knocked the Chaos Body blocking his path aside…
Up ahead, Lei Ying watched the whole scene unfold with crystal clarity. He licked his paw and remarked in a leisurely drawl, "It works… but not all that well!"
Yang Kai nodded.
The psychic assault emitted by the Chaos Body could indeed disrupt the Pseudo King Lord chasing them, but the duration of interference was far too short—nothing like the devastating effect it had had on those Mo Clan Domain Lords before.
After all, this was a Pseudo King Lord. In terms of sheer level, there was no difference between one and a human Ninth-Order Master or a true King Lord. Such a being naturally possessed tremendous resistance against psychic attacks.
That meant his plan to use the Chaos Bodies he had collected to force a decisive battle with this Pseudo King Lord had fallen through. At best, the Chaos Bodies could serve as a minor distraction—they couldn't be the key to victory.
Truth be told, facing a Pseudo King Lord's pursuit, Yang Kai had at least two ways to deal with him. It was just that the price of either method was far too steep, and neither was worth the cost.
Better to keep looking for allies.
Round and round they went in the furnace world, where both time and space were hopelessly blurred. Two figures, one chasing and the other fleeing, crossing who knew how many miles.
Under Yang Kai's deliberate guidance, Meng Que never managed to catch up, yet he couldn't bring himself to give up such a valuable target. He had no choice but to keep up the pursuit.
By now, Meng Que had noticed certain telltale signs. While his cunning couldn't compare to Mo Naye's, he was still a Pseudo King Lord, and he had access to a wealth of intelligence on Yang Kai. After this prolonged chase, it was impossible to miss that Yang Kai was deliberately stringing him along.
Having figured that much out, however, he couldn't work out what Yang Kai was actually planning—or whether some hidden scheme was at play. The uncertainty gnawed at him, filling him with unease.
As the chase continued, the void trembled as the Great Dao surged. The second evolution arrived—just as sudden and just as brief as the first. When it passed, the fractured traces of the Dao had become a little more refined.
With his profound comprehension of the Dao of Space and the Dao of Time, Yang Kai perceived these changes far more directly than anyone else.
The allies he sought were still nowhere to be found.
Until, at a certain moment, Yang Kai suddenly sensed the violent shockwaves of an intense battle up ahead. His heart sank. He extended his senses carefully.
The next instant, his brows knitted together.
After two evolutions, the interference during his scans had lessened somewhat compared to the start. As a result, Yang Kai quickly identified the combatants ahead—it was a clash between humans and the Mo Clan.
On the human side, there were roughly four or five distinct auras, all Eighth-Order. The fact that they had gathered together so quickly likely meant they had leveraged the bonds between their physical bodies when entering the Qiankun Furnace.
The Mo Clan powerhouse they were fighting radiated an overwhelming aura that unmistakably carried the might of a King Lord—it was clearly another Pseudo King Lord.
The worst possible scenario had come to pass.
All along this flight, the allies Yang Kai had hoped to encounter were, at minimum, three Eighth-Order cultivators traveling together. That way, combined with himself and Lei Ying, they could easily form a Five Elements Formation and teach the Pseudo King Lord behind him a proper lesson.
Ordinary Eighth-Order cultivators in a Five Elements Formation could roughly hold their own against a Pseudo King Lord. But with him serving as the formation's core, their chances of defeating a Pseudo King Lord would be quite high. Killing one outright—that would indeed be difficult.
Running into one or two isolated Eighth-Order cultivators would have been acceptable too.
What he had feared most was exactly this situation—a number of Eighth-Order cultivators already locked in formation against a Pseudo King Lord.