Chapter 3177, Responding in Kind Translator: Silavin & Tia Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys Wu Heng had no intention of obstructing the darkness since the darkness’ speed of engulfment was not as fast as he had imagined. Instead, he sneered at the sight. Although they were both Star Field Masters, the time they had spent as Star Field Masters was too different. It was only natural for differences in their abilities to appear. It had not been long since Yang Kai became a Star Field Master, so there was no way he could unleash the true power of a Star Field right away. That was also why the speed of devouring was so slow. Wu Heng slowly retreated, bit by bit. He watched the situation coldly without doing anything as he waited for the moment to launch his counterattack. Yang Kai stood in Heng Luo Star Field with his eyes closed tightly. His current state was rather strange. His Divine Sense pulsed erratically, as though it permeated the entire Star Field and was gnawing on something with a giant mouth. A piece of the Starry Sky that clearly did not belong to Heng Luo Star Field had appeared next to the Void Corridor. Not only were there meteors of all sizes drifting about, but slightly varying World Principles could also be felt within this region. More importantly, it was having some minor incompatibilities with Heng Luo Star Field. Although both Grand Desolation Star Field and Heng Luo Star Field were Star Fields with roughly the same World Principles, they still had their differences. It was similar to the differences between the Principles of Cultivation Stars formed in the same Star Field. These differences were not obvious on the surface, but the more powerful the Cultivation Star, the more apparent the differences became. The Heaven Devouring Battle Law operated with the Heng Luo Star Field as its base. It had a piece of the Starry Sky as its stomach and was digesting the space it had just devoured. Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling amazed. Despite using the entire Star Field as his foundation to activate the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, everything was still governed by his will. He could clearly perceive all the details of the process as the Star Field slowly digested the space it had devoured. The World Principles of that piece of Starry Sky that originally belonged to Grand Desolation Star Field quickly collapsed and were gradually assimilated and influenced by the Principles of Heng Luo Star Field. Both sides merged together and slowly became one. [I can’t believe that there’s no obstruction. Where is Wu Heng?] Logically speaking, the absorption process should not be going so smoothly. Yang Kai was certain that Wu Heng had safeguards in place, but he had yet to notice anything getting in his way. Thus, it was puzzling him greatly. Strange though it may be, his movements were not the slightest bit hindered. Yang Kai controlled the power of the Star Field, transforming it into a kind of invisible power that engulfed the other Star Field’s Starry Sky. At the same time, he had the Star Field itself operate the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to digest whatever was being devoured immediately after. Yang Kai did not know how long had passed when a strong force of resistance suddenly came from the opposite side and the space he had devoured was quickly snatched back from his grasp. That wasn’t all though as an extremely terrifying force also swept through the dense darkness and tried to consume his mind in return. [Is he finally making his move?] Yang Kai had long been waiting for this moment, so he was not flustered. He didn’t even bother to defend against this attack and simply allowed the force to slip through the darkness and rush toward him. On the other side of the darkness, Wu Heng was laughing coldly. His eyes were full of mockery. [It’s true that a newborn calf isn’t afraid of tigers. I would have let all those incidents pass without a fuss if this Yang Kai had been willing to leave things be. Instead, he turned around and tried to devour my Star Field! How can I swallow this humiliation if I don’t teach him a lesson or two!?] The wider the darkness spread, the larger the area of engulfment. Accordingly, the more mental capacity Yang Kai had to use to maintain the process. When Wu Heng was certain that Yang Kai couldn’t withdraw his mind immediately, he boldly made his move and prepared to strike a heavy blow at him using the power of his Star Field. Just like what happened in Heng Luo Star Field before, the darkness receded from Grand Desolation Star Field like an ebbing tide to reveal the Starry Sky that had been devoured previously. It wouldn’t take long for everything to return back to normal if nothing unexpected occurred. All of a sudden, Wu Heng’s smile stiffened as he noticed something off. His eyes widened to the size of saucers as the power he had sent through the darkness had encountered an invisible barrier. Forget about taking the opportunity to cause harm to his opponent, he couldn’t even proceed any further than that. Moreover, the place where the barrier was located was within the Starry Sky that belonged to him! [How can this be!? How can my own Starry Sky put up such strong resistance against me?] Wu Heng felt his heart sinking, and an uneasy feeling grew in his heart. Concurrently, the darkness stopped receding, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not make it retreat any further than this. When Wu Heng lifted his eyes to look in that direction, his jaw fell open in astonishment and his eyes were filled with disbelief. A black hole sporting a diameter of several hundred kilometres entered his vision. The inside of the black hole was a chaotic piece of nothingness. It looked like the world did not exist yet, and it gave off a terrifying feeling. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 The heart of the black hole should have been where the Void Corridor was located, but was the Void Corridor originally this large? It has expanded by more than 100 times at least! [What is going on? Has my Star Field been refined by him?] That was the only explanation as to why the Void Corridor had expanded into a black hole with a diameter of several hundred kilometres. That was because the Starry Sky where the black hole was located no longer belonged to Grand Desolation Star Field. The loss of this region of Starry Sky was due to it being completely refined, leaving only a black hole filled with nothingness behind. [How in the world did he do it!?] Wu Heng even suspected that there was a problem with his eyes. He had spent the last three years devouring a large portion of Heng Luo Star Field’s Starry Sky; however, he had simply swallowed it up and not digested it yet. If he had, Yang Kai would not have been able to snatch it back so easily. Devouring and refining were two different things, similar to a mortal eating a meal. Eating a bowl of rice was different from digesting a bowl of rice. Something that had been eaten could be thrown up again, but something that had been digested truly belonged to that person. His three years of hard work had only been ‘eating’. On the other hand, Yang Kai had ‘digested’ a portion of his Starry Sky. Wu Heng’s original plan also included this step of ‘digestion’. Unfortunately, that part of his plan had to wait until he had completely engulfed Heng Luo Star Field and refined the Source of Heng Luo Star Field before it could begin. That process might take hundreds of years, or maybe even thousands of years. Even so, that time spent was worth it in terms of improving his strength. ‘Digesting’ a Star Field was not something that could be done in a short period of time. Wu Heng had been convinced of that fact prior to this; however, he felt as though his common sense had been greatly impacted after witnessing the scene in front of him. The entire process had only taken a day, from the time Yang Kai began devouring the Star Field to the time Wu Heng had moved to stop Yang Kai. In short, Yang Kai had managed to ‘digest’ an area covering several hundreds of kilometres wide in just one day! Wu Heng did not believe that Yang Kai had that sort of ability. [Don’t tell me… Is it possible that the Heng Luo Star Field is of a higher level compared to the Grand Desolation Star Field? If not, how can such a bizarre thing happen?] “This is bad!” The moment Wu Heng became distracted, his expression changed drastically and he immediately connected with Grand Desolation Star Field’s Source and suppressed the black hole with all his might. [I have to get rid of that black hole as soon as possible! Otherwise, the more time passes, I won’t just be losing this small amount of territory. It could very well end up in the millions of kilometres!] Now, more than ever, he deeply regretted not closing the Void Corridor earlier. He had allowed Yang Kai to fight back; whereas if he had not been stubborn and closed the Void Corridor right away, the connection between the two Star Fields would have been cut off and this tragedy would never have occurred. In any case, it was useless to regret now so he could only make up for his mistake and pray it wasn’t too late. The Source Strength of Grand Desolation Star Field flashed a dazzling light inside Wu Heng’s Knowledge Sea. It had clearly been pushed to the limits as a pressing force enveloped the black hole from all directions. Even so, the force couldn’t get any further than the edges of the black hole. The moment it came into contact, even the ubiquitous Source Strength showed signs of being swallowed and digested. Wu Heng’s complexion became flushed after trying hard for some time while his gaze was fixed intently on the black hole. Rage brewed in his chest, causing his entire being to resemble a volcano that was about to erupt. The aura around him was very dangerous. “Yang Kai!” He yelled up to the sky, feeling extremely unwilling. Regardless of how unwilling he was to admit the truth, as of this moment, he had completely fallen into a disadvantage in his fight against Yang Kai. The black hole was no longer under his control. The patch of Starry Sky where the black hole was located had fallen into Yang Kai’s hands completely and was now part of the latter’s territory. Thus, Wu Heng was unable to close the Void Corridor no matter how much of the Star Field Source Strength he used. As long as the black hole existed, the connection between the two Star Fields could not be cut off unless Yang Kai took the initiative to retreat! Yang Kai was obviously not going to retreat. At the moment, he was experiencing a feeling of joy spreading in his heart. He couldn’t wait to swallow up the entire Grand Desolation Star Field. Why would he worry about Wu Heng’s feelings? The Heaven Devouring Battle Law was certainly worthy of being the most powerful Secret Art ever created. To sum up its essence in a single word, it would be ‘plunder’! It did not matter if the other party was willing or not. It plundered every single useful thing it came across without exception. Cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law as an individual would have brought about terrifying consequences; however, Yang Kai was using the entire Star Field as a sort of proxy to activate this Secret Art, which instantly gave birth to something majestic that could engulf the entire world. He was extremely certain that devouring and absorbing the entire Grand Desolation Star Field would not be a problem given enough time. The progress in the beginning could not be considered fast. Nevertheless, Yang Kai became more and more proficient in the application of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law as time passed. In turn, the speed of devouring and absorbing increased significantly. In less than a month, the black hole in Grand Desolation Star Field that initially started out with a radius of only several hundreds of metres had expanded to several tens of thousands of kilometres. That pitch-black hole stretched out across the Starry Sky of Grand Desolation Star Field and looked extremely horrifying. Moreover, the black hole was still expanding continuously and showed no signs of stopping whatsoever. Meanwhile, the speed of expansion was also increasing imperceptibly. Wu Heng’s expression was so sorrowful that he looked like his parents had just been killed and his wife had been stolen away. Grand Desolation Star Field was damaged, and the most obvious change was a black spot that had appeared in a certain part of the Star Chart in his Knowledge Sea. The black spot wasn’t that large relative to the size of the entire Star Chart; however, it was as though a drop of ink had been dripped onto a beautiful painting. It had destroyed the overall harmony and beauty of the picture. What was even more depressing though was that the ink was slowly spreading out into its surroundings. Sooner or later, the entire painting would be dyed black. When that time came, Grand Desolation Star Field would change its surname to ‘Yang’. It wasn’t that Wu Heng did not resist. He had been in a constant war against Yang Kai for the past month, but nothing he did was able to stop his opponent from devouring his Star Field. [How does a fledgling Star Field Master, who just refined the Star Field Source not too long ago, have such power? If I had such power, I would have turned Heng Luo Star Field into my backyard a long time ago!] It wasn’t until this moment that Wu Heng realized how bad his situation was. If this matter was not handled well, forget about increasing his cultivation, he might lose everything instead.