Wu Jiang’s death was a huge blow to Hong Hu, which led to him losing focus while still under the combined assault of the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
How could Ding Yao and the others miss this opportunity? Their figures flickered as they instantly closed the distance between Hong Hu and them.
The distance between both sides had shortened to only a few hundred metres. They were now so close that it was almost as if they were face to face.
The connected auras of the five Eighth-Order Masters formed a Battle Formation which acted to suppress the enemy in the centre. The closer the five of them got, the stronger this suppression became.
With the Formation shrunk to this extent, Hong Hu found it difficult to even move. His Black Ink Strength was not flowing smoothly, and his strength had decreased by nearly 50%. When the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters closed the Battle Formation even further, Hong Hu was completely rooted to the spot. Although he struggled with all his might, trying to escape, his movements were countless times slower now. At this moment, let alone five Eighth-Order Masters, even a Seventh-Order Human could easily kill him.
Knowing that he could not escape this disaster, Hong Hu laughed in anguish before completely giving up struggling. He stared at Ding Yao, and asked, “What do you want to do?”
Ding Yao simply ignored him altogether and took out a strange box from his Space Ring. The box was a perfect cube and made of some unidentifiable material.
The moment this box appeared, not just Ding Yao, but even the other four Eighth-Order Masters looked cautious and solemn with a slight trace of fear visible on their faces. Obviously, the contents of this box were something extraordinary and could even pose a threat to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like them.
In fact, that was indeed the case; after all, it was meant to be used to deal with Territory Lords. Something that posed no threat to Eighth-Order Masters would naturally be useless against a Territory Lord.
Their attitude made Hong Hu feel even more uneasy. Under nervous gazes, Ding Yao formed a hand seal and opened the box before gathering World Energy in his mouth and gently blowing into it.
Immediately after, a white mist-like object flew out from the box and enveloped Hong Hu.
The next moment, Hong Hu’s entire body was covered in frost, which quickly spread outward and enveloped him, turning him into a giant block of ice.
The block of ice was crystal clear. Even looking from afar, Yang Kai and the others found the frozen Hong Hu looked alive. He still maintained the state before he was frozen, even the fear in his eyes was clearly visible.
But this wasn’t the end. Ding Yao raised his hand and took out something resembling a coffin; however, it was massive and obviously not something made for humans, but rather was specially made for the Black Ink Clan.
Ding Yao formed hand seals and the frozen Hong Hu was sent into the giant coffin under his guidance before the lid closed. Ding Yao then formed another set of hand seals as dazzling streaks of light shot straight towards the coffin.
Soon, the coffin’s lid was spotted with faintly glowing runes. The runes formed a chain, wrapping around the giant coffin before slowly disappearing.
Success!
Ding Yao and the others glanced at each other before slightly nodding.
It was the first time the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters attempted to capture a Territory Lord alive; fortunately, everything went smoothly and there were no major mistakes.
With a Territory Lord in their hands, the weapon to deal with the Black Ink Clan would be developed even faster.
“Good job.”
Just as Yang Kai and the others were watching everything with rapt attention, a voice suddenly rang in their ears.
Everyone turned their heads and saw Xiang Shan wearing a green robe, calmly floating over. Everyone might have been exhausted after the battle, but the fact that Xiang Shan was able to approach them without anyone noticing was still a great testament to his strength.
“Greetings, Senior Xiang!” Everyone respectfully bowed and cupped their fists.
Xiang Shan waved his hand as Yang Kai and the others involuntarily straightened up.
“Hong Hu isn’t the strongest amongst all the Territory Lords, only somewhere around the middle of the ranks, but in terms of caution, he is second to none. Your efforts lowered his guard and successfully lured him out. Although I could have advanced to the Eighth Order at any time, the timing of my initial attack had to be perfect. If I acted too early, it would only alert the enemy, and if he sensed that something wasn’t right, he would have immediately fled. So, when I made my move, I had to ensure that I could pin him down.”
Breeze Squad Leader Wan Zheng Xin pursed his lips and nodded, “Junior understands!”
He knew that the reason why Xiang Shan had come and explained himself to them, Seventh-Order Masters, was because when the Breeze Squad’s Warship had been attacked by Hong Hu, Xiang Shan had not taken action to save it. If Xiang Shan had taken action at that time, their Warship would definitely have remained safe, and they wouldn’t have more than a dozen seriously injured and three dead.
But that was not the best time for Xiang Shan to act.
There was no need for him to explain himself in the first place. Wan Zheng Xin was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Master and a Squad Leader, he understood that the situation called for Xiang Shan to not make any move. Nonetheless, Xiang Shan still explained it to them.
“When my Junior Brothers stepped onto this Black Ink Battlefield, they all resolved to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Human Race if need be. It is our greatest honour to lay down our lives on the battlefield.”
Xiang Shan slightly nodded his acknowledgement, “Now that this matter has been settled, you can accompany me here and rest for a while.”
“Yes!” Everyone nodded their agreement.
It was true that they needed to recuperate. The five Special Operations Squads had consumed a great deal of strength in this battle, and every Squad had suffered injuries of varying degrees. The Warships of Old Turtle and Breeze Squads were also severely damaged.
Xiang Shan also needed to rest after just recovering his Eighth-Order cultivation. Although there was no problem with his cultivation, he still needed some time to consolidate it. What’s more, the five Special Operations Squads here needed someone to look after them as they recuperated, and Xiang Shan was the best candidate.
While they were talking, Ding Yao and the others had already finished making arrangements.
After a brief communication, the five Eighth-Order Masters surrounding Hong Hu each activated the Universe Transference Law and returned to Blue Sky Pass. Meanwhile, the other three Eighth-Order Masters led by Lu An were responsible for escorting the giant coffin to the forward base and quickly disappeared from everyone’s sight.
Xiang Shan and the five Special Operations Squads were left behind to rest.
The Special Operations Squads flew towards the asteroid to find a place to recuperate, while the Purifying Black Ink Battleship that had been summoned was retrieved by Xiang Shan.
In fact, when they had planned to use this Purifying Black Ink Battleship, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already been mentally prepared for it to be destroyed by the Territory Lords, but Hong Hu was too skittish, so after discovering that Xiang Shan had returned to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he immediately made a run for it, completely ignoring the giant Warship.
Of course, even if he really did attack the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, Xiang Shan would not let him succeed so easily.
After putting away the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, Xiang Shan headed straight towards the place where Dawn was recuperating.
Seeing him arrive, Yang Kai swiftly got up, but was just as quickly made to sit back down by Xiang Shan.
Xiang Shan sat cross-legged across from him, looking at him with a smile, “I heard that the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was built by you?”
Yang Kai blushed with shame and stated, “Junior simply provided the idea. The one who really refined it was someone else.”
He found it a bit strange. It had been over a century since he had arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, and a lot of time had passed since the Purifying Black Ink Battleships entered service, so why was Xiang Shan acting like he didn’t know about it?
As if he could see through what was going on in Yang Kai’s mind, Xiang Shan explained, “I’ve been in a retreat for the last three centuries. When I came out, everything had changed quite a bit.”
Yang Kai understood. Since Xiang Shan had been in seclusion for three hundred years, it was natural for him to be unaware of the existence of the Purifying Black Ink Battleships. How could ordinary people have the privilege to be in a retreat for so long? Only someone like Xiang Shan, who had once been an Eighth-Order Master, would be permitted to enter seclusion for several hundred years.
“It’s good to have some changes. I’d be more concerned if nothing had changed during that time,” Xiang Shan stared into the depths of the void, his gaze deep and profound, “Too much time has passed, yet we Humans haven’t made any progress on the Black Ink Battlefield. Generation after generation of sacrifices have only brought about a temporary peace, but how long can this status quo last? So, Humans need to change. Some of the new things you’ve brought with you will be of great advantage to us.”
Changing the topic, Xiang Shan asked, “Judging by your previous fight with Hong Hu, it seems you still have some trump cards you haven’t used?”
Yang Kai agreed, nodding, “Indeed, but their strength is limited. Even if I used them, it may not have made much difference.”
Attacking with his Dragon Bead and the Purifying Light were Yang Kai’s last two trump cards, but if he were to really use his Dragon Bead, it might crack again. In the worst-case scenario, it might even be destroyed. Then, it would take him uncountable years to recover.
As for Purifying Light, it was definitely a powerful weapon against the Black Ink Clan, but if Yang Kai used it, at most he would be able to catch Hong Hu off guard and injure him, but it wouldn’t be able to achieve a decisive effect.
At that time, the secret of the Purifying Light would also be exposed. Aside from the fact that he might attract the attention of the Black Ink Clan, even Grandmaster Ma Fan’s research would be threatened.
As such, Yang Kai had been holding himself back from using these two trump cards. Fortunately, Xiang Shan had taken action at the right time, so there was no need to play those cards.
“Among the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, I’ve seen many elites and geniuses, but you are the only one I know of who dares to challenge Territory Lords alone and yet is able to escape unscathed.”
Yang Kai stated, embarrassed, “Junior is seriously injured and my entire body is in excruciating pain.”
Xiang Shan smiled, “At the very least, you’re still alive. Surviving is the most important. If you survive, you can break through to the Eighth Order. And when you’ve become stronger, you’ll be able to suppress those Territory Lords!”
Just like when he was the invincible Western Army Commander, no one was his match!
Xiang Shan had seen too many elites fall on the Black Ink Battlefield in his life. All of them would have become pillars for the Human Race in the future. Even he himself had almost died in the great battle back then, but now, most of these pillars had fallen, with few surviving till today.
Therefore, no matter what, only by surviving could one have hope.
“Senior, was this a plan to capture a Territory Lord alive?” Yang Kai asked.
Xiang Shan replied, shaking his head, “The plan here is just a smokescreen, the real plan is being carried out at the forward base.”
“The forward base?” Yang Kai asked in surprise, “Has a fight broken out?”
The two races had been confronting each other on the front lines for decades now, engaging in small skirmishes over a wide range, but there had been no major battles. When Dawn left the forward base, there were no signs of a war breaking out, but judging from Xiang Shan’s words, something was happening there now.
Xiang Shan coldly snorted, “The Black Ink Clan wanted to stop me from breaking through to the Eighth Order, so they couldn’t allow the forward base to send reinforcements. The best way to do so was to start a war and restrain the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters there. So, a large-scale conflict should have broken out over there.”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded after hearing this.
Just to prevent one man from advancing to the Eighth Order, the Black Ink Clan was willing to break the status quo that had been maintained for decades. It would undoubtedly have been arrogant if anyone else had said this, but since it was Xiang Shan, it was not far-fetched.
Yang Kai turned in the direction of the forward base, wondering how the battle was going, but with the current state of Dawn, it was impossible for them to participate right now.
Xiang Shan reassured with a smile, “Rest for now. If we hurry back in a few days, we might be able to finish the job.”
The void became calm and peaceful.
After a few days, everyone’s condition had significantly improved. Every Squad Leader gathered their men and put away their respective Warships before activating the Universe Transference Law under Xiang Shan’s leadership and returning to the forward base.
By now, the battle at the frontlines had come to an end, and as before, the Black Ink Clan had once again suffered a great loss.
Although the Black Ink Clan had the absolute advantage in numbers, the Human Masters had long been accustomed to facing enemies that outnumbered them.
Be that as it may, the reason why this battle had ended so quickly was because the Black Ink Clan no longer wanted to continue fighting. In fact, when the Territory Lords sensed the death of Wu Jiang, they knew that their plan had failed. Although they didn’t know what had happened to Wu Jiang and Hong Hu, they had clearly fallen into the Human Race’s trap once more, which resulted in the demise of yet another Territory Lord.
The reason they quickly pushed this war was to occupy the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters so that Wu Jiang and Hong Hu could succeed in their task. Now that they had failed, there was no point in continuing to fight.
Without knowing what other tricks the Humans were hiding up their sleeves, the Territory Lords didn’t want to take any more risks; as such, they decisively retreated over 10 million kilometres!
The soldiers of the forward base chased for a while and managed to eliminate quite a lot of Black Ink Clansmen, but under the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ command, the Human Army did not go too far and returned after just a couple of days.
By the time Yang Kai and the others returned, they were facing a situation where they didn’t have a chance to participate.
According to postwar statistics, some 200,000 Black Ink Clansmen were killed in this war, several hundred of whom were Feudal Lords, but no additional Territory Lords had been eliminated.
It wasn’t a particularly good result, but considering that the Humans were fighting the Black Ink Clan at the forward base and not the Great Pass, it was still acceptable.
After this battle, the situation calmed down. The Black Ink Clan had completely given up over half of their territory. In fact, if the Humans were to travel between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base, they would no longer see any traces of the Black Ink Clan, nor would they see the Black Ink Clansmen and Humans ‘hunting’ each other anymore.
Blue Sky Pass had achieved great success in their campaign against the Black Ink Clan. When the news spread to other Passes, it immediately caused morale and envy to soar.
Nonetheless, everyone knew that Blue Sky Pass’ success could not be repeated.
The basis for this victory was the battle outside Blue Sky Pass fought a few decades ago. In that battle, Blue Sky Pass had used a century-long plan to kill over 30 Territory Lords at once, dealing a heavy blow to the Black Ink Clan.
Blue Sky Pass had Yang Kai find and open portals to the Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens, where these traps were set up, but other Passes had no such person with similar skills.
On top of that, the crusade and establishing a functional forward base in the Black Ink Clan’s territory required two Universe Arrays to act as transit points, allowing the Humans to rapidly attack the Black Ink Clan as well as retreat to Blue Sky Pass. If the Expeditionary Force advanced deeper without these transit points, the Black Ink Clan would eventually exhaust their strength, resulting in mass casualties.
Right now, Yang Kai was the only one who could arrange Universe Arrays.
Blue Sky Pass’ victory was closely tied to Yang Kai’s existence, and there was only one of him, so the other passes could not reenact the same feat.
Furthermore, the Black Ink Clan forces in the other Theatres had become much more vigilant after this news spread. Now, the Black Ink Clan was extremely cautious when they were besieging the Great Passes. They were afraid that they would repeat the same mistake they had made at Blue Sky Pass and fall into the traps and schemes of the Humans.
But no matter how the Black Ink Clan at other Great Passes investigated, they failed to find any similar traps outside the Great Passes, which put them at ease.
From the moment the Human cultivators stepped into the Black Ink Battlefield, they would have to undergo a great battle every 100 years or so. Furthermore, they were unable to relax even after the battle as they had to collect resources, recover their strength, and make preparations for the next war.
The special environment of the Black Ink Battlefield also trapped the Human Race at the Great Passes, making them unable to move forward or retreat. Even if they went looking for cultivation resources, they were unable to venture too far or risk being ambushed.
However, this situation at Blue Sky Pass had changed a little.
The loss of the latest battle had caused the Black Ink Clan to completely give up on the idea of reclaiming their lost territory. Now, whenever the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass went out, as long as they didn’t venture beyond the forward base and into Black Ink Clan territory, they basically didn’t encounter any enemy forces. The vast void had become Blue Sky Pass’ backyard where the Humans could roam freely.
In this peaceful situation, the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass could focus on cultivating to increase their strength.
This peaceful cultivation period lasted for two centuries!
No one could quite get accustomed to the quiet atmosphere and everyone was feeling extremely uneasy.
No battle had broken out for the last 200 years, which was simply unbelievable in a special environment like the Black Ink Battlefield, but this was the result of the many great victories in the Blue Sky Theatre.
Furthermore, judging by the Black Ink Clan’s attitude, this peace might last even longer.
The Black Ink Clan could not recover from the massive casualties they had suffered in only two centuries.
Most of the Human Race soldiers rarely had a moment of peace, but now that they had plenty of resources and time, they worked hard to cultivate and their strength increased rapidly. In the last two centuries, the number of Seventh-Order Masters had increased by almost 300.
But not everyone was able to relax.
Compared to the leisure most ordinary soldiers enjoyed, the busiest people of Blue Sky Pass were undoubtedly the Alchemists and Artifact Refiners.
The crusade carried out by Blue Sky Pass was just a test, and after it concluded, the higher-ups discovered many issues.
The first problem they faced was the supply of Purifying Black Pills. These pills were critical to ensuring that their soldiers would not be corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Although there was still the Purifying Light to rely on, only Yang Kai could replenish it, and the total supply was limited.
As such, once a large-scale crusade began, Purifying Black Ink Pills would be the best weapon to deal with Black Ink Strength. These pills were needed in massive quantities, enough so that each soldier had at least a few dozen of them.
Therefore, over the past 200 years, Blue Sky Pass’ Alchemists had been refining Purifying Black Ink Pills day and night. Not only was Blue Sky Pass acting like this, but so were the other Passes.
Besides the Purifying Black Ink Pills, there was also the problem of Warships.
During the crusade, many Warships suffered serious damage and could not be repaired promptly. The Fifth-Order or Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would be exposed to danger without the protection of the Warships; as such, the Artifact Refiners were also working hard to refine more.
The goal was to at least ensure that every Squad had a backup Warship, so that when the first was inevitably disabled or destroyed, they would have a spare.
The entire Blue Sky Pass had nearly 40,000 soldiers, and each Squad had 12 to 15 members or so. The Artifact Refiners thus had to refine some 3,000 extra Warships to meet the requirements.
This was a huge project; compared to the Alchemists, the Artifact Refiners had to work even harder.
Be that as it may, all this effort was worth it as in the near future, all of this hard work would pay dividends.
Yang Kai had been cultivating all the while.
Two centuries of accumulation was enough to raise his strength by another step. Although he was still far from reaching the Eighth Order, he had made great progress compared to 200 years ago; after all, other cultivators could only rely on refining the Open Heaven Pills and various cultivation materials, but his Small Universe was special. Even if he didn’t refine any resources, his foundation would still continue to grow.
The accumulation over time made his rate of growth extremely impressive.
Coupled with the World Tree Clone in his Small Universe, Yang Kai’s refining speed was much faster than an ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and his World Force was both purer and denser than ordinary.
He was not in retreat all the time. In fact, no one could cultivate in retreat for a long time in a place like the Black Ink Battlefield.
Every decade or two, he would take Dawn out on patrol. Although the Black Ink Clan had completely abandoned a large part of their territory and no one would run into any Black Ink Clansmen while patrolling the rear, they still had to maintain vigilance and could not lower their guard just because of that.
Every Squad had to take turns patrolling, so Dawn was no exception.
In addition to patrolling, they still had to mine resources in turns. A large number of resources had been discovered in the territory currently occupied by the Humans in the Blue Sky Theatre. Naturally, these resources needed to be harvested. Fortunately, the soldiers could move these Universe Worlds to the nearby forward base or Blue Sky Pass with the help of the Void Yin Yang Mirrors, which saved them a lot of time.
Occasionally, after cultivating in retreat for too long, Yang Kai would exit to relax on his own, either going to the Pill Hall to help refine Purifying Black Ink Pills or the Refining Hall to help refine the Warships.
He had some level of attainment in both Alchemy and Artifact Refining, but compared to those Great Grandmasters, he was naturally far too lacking. Although he couldn’t preside over a project, he could offer some help.
He even took some time to visit Myriad Demons Pass.
After spending a massive amount of Military Merits, Yang Kai was able to obtain private tutelage from Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor on the mysteries of the Demon Eye of Annihilation and Black Purgatory Eye!
After his last battle with Hong Hu, Yang Kai realized that he still had too few trump cards. Although he was strong and could easily crush a Feudal Lord, facing a Territory Lord was a bit difficult.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel’s power was extraordinary, but Territory Lords had methods to deal with it. He could not summon his Dragon Bead right off the bat either, while Purifying Light was related to too many secret projects so he could not use it whenever he wished. After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai still felt that he should put more effort into the Myriad Demons Cave Heaven’s two Eye Secret Techniques.
The various opportunities he had obtained from these two Eye Secret Techniques had not been a result of his own cultivation. Although he had received some guidance from an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master from Myriad Demons Heaven before coming to the Black Ink Battlefield, he had made minimal progress. He could not tap into the full power of these two Eye Secret Techniques.
Under such circumstances, the guidance of the Old Ancestor of Myriad Demons Heaven was extremely valuable to him. Although it cost a lot of Military Merits, Yang Kai didn’t regret it.
Yang Kai spent an entire month at the Myriad Demons Pass, where he learned all kinds of profound knowledge from the Myriad Demons Heaven Old Ancestor, making it a fruitful trip.
On top of that, the total amount of Military Merits he had didn’t decrease much as before Yang Kai left, Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor asked him to find and open the portals of the hidden Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens around the Pass.
Obviously, the Old Ancestor had heard about how Blue Sky Pass wiped out the Black Ink Clan Army and killed some 30 Territory Lords in the process. He was eager to follow suit.
Be that as it may, the success of this plan would depend on how vigilant the Black Ink Clan was.
Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t refuse such a request. Although it took him over a year, as long it helped the Humans kill more enemies, he considered it time well spent.
In general, Yang Kai’s cultivation was much easier than others’. He could spend less time on it, but still achieve far more than anyone else. This was his greatest advantage.
Yang Kai’s cultivation was most frequently interrupted to assist Grandmaster Ma Fan in further refining the Evil Purging Divine Spear and performing some experiments on the captured Territory Lord.
Hong Hu, who had previously been captured by Ding Yao and the others, was now imprisoned in a secret underground room at the forward base. This secret room was filled with all kinds of Arrays and restrictions, so even a Territory Lord like Hong Hu couldn’t break out.
The Territory Lord was not experimented upon as frequently as the Feudal Lords who came before him, but tests were still run every three to five years.
Yang Kai was not required to do much, just pour Purifying Light into the Evil Purging Divine Spear refined by the Grandmaster Ma Fan. As for the rest, he didn’t need to worry about it.
Naturally, Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters would conduct the actual experiments.
The research of the Evil Purging Divine Spear took Grandmaster Ma Fan a great deal of effort and time, and the progress was slow. Over the past two centuries, the general shape of the Evil Purging Divine Spear remained almost unchanged, but Yang Kai could feel that each time Grandmaster Ma Fan refined the Evil Purging Divine Spear, it would be different from before.
The results of these experiments were sometimes good, sometimes bad.
The reason why they had to run tests once every three to five years was not because of some problem on the Human Race side, but rather because of Hong Hu.
Every time they experimented on him, the Evil Purging Divine Spear would be stabbed into him and the Purifying Light would be instantly released, injuring him. Even though he was a Territory Lord, it would still take him three to five years to recover.
Only after he had fully recovered would they be able to conduct the next experiment.
This was a test of patience. Fortunately, whether it was Grandmaster Ma Fan or the other Eighth-Order Masters, none of them lacked patience.
As for Hong Hu, who had been captured alive, he had spent two centuries of imprisonment in this hellish torture.
Compared to Wu Jiang, who had fallen in the last battle, Hong Hu once felt that his luck was quite good. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters did not want to kill him and instead focused on capturing him alive from the very beginning. Otherwise, the one who had died that day would not have been Wu Jiang, but him.
He believed that the Eighth-Order Humans didn’t have a specific goal, but randomly chose one between Wu Jiang and him.
For any sentient being, survival was a basic instinct; only if one was alive could there be hope. However, after two centuries of imprisonment and torture, Hong Hu finally realized that sometimes, it was better to be dead than alive.
A life worse than death was the best description of his current situation.
As a Territory Lord, his strength and willpower were naturally second to none, but every time an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master stabbed that damnable spear into his body and that dazzling white light erupted, Hong Hu felt like he was being boiled alive.
He didn’t know what kind of Secret Technique this light was, but he knew that it contained a kind of power that perfectly countered Black Ink Strength. His Black Ink Strength rapidly melted under this power.
This was simply the nemesis of Black Ink Strength, the natural enemy of the entire Black Ink Clan.
The fact that the Human Race had actually mastered this kind of Secret Technique caused Hong Hu to greatly panic.
In fact, when he first saw this dazzling white light, Hong Hu remembered a certain event.
Three centuries prior, when the Black Ink Clan Army attacked Blue Sky Pass, there was a moment when a similar dazzling light erupted at a certain spot on the battlefield.
At that time, Hong Hu was quite far away from that location, so he was not able to see it clearly and only caught a glimpse of that pure light before it faded away. It was not long after that the aura of a Territory Lord was extinguished.
At that time, the Territory Lord had been fighting Zhong Liang, so Hong Hu subconsciously thought that Zhong Liang had used some kind of Secret Technique. Although he didn’t see it clearly, the white light gave him a very dangerous feeling.
After that, Hong Hu paid close attention to the battlefield, but he never sensed any signs of that Secret Technique being used again. After discussing it with the other Territory Lords, all of those who had sensed the white light felt the same sense of unease.
The Territory Lords secretly paid attention to this and tried to find out the mysteries of this white light to no avail.
Furthermore, that white light never appeared again after that incident. So, the Black Ink Clan gradually forgot about it.
Only after Hong Hu was captured did he personally witness how this white light came into being and he finally understood that this Secret Technique had always been in the hands of the Humans. It was only that after the first time, it had never been used on the battlefield again.
It was a power that could suppress Black Ink Strength, but the Human Race had not used it. What this meant was already self-evident, and coupled with the hellish experiments the Humans had been conducting on him over the years, how could Hong Hu not understand the intentions of the Humans?
This Secret Technique had great limitations. Probably, only very few Humans could Master it, so it was impossible to disseminate it broadly. That was why the Humans wanted to refine this spear, so they could distribute this Secret Technique in the form of an artifact.
Once the Humans succeeded, the defenceless Black Ink Clan would face a huge disaster, and the first to bear the brunt of this crisis would undoubtedly be the Territory Lords. Because the Humans were experimenting on a Territory Lord like him, they were definitely targeting the Territory Lords.
Once too many Territory Lords died, the foundation of the Black Ink Clan would be shaken and the entire race would be in danger.
Hong Hu wanted to spread this news, but how could he do that? Right now, all he could do was endure the torment and torture.
Since even someone from the Black Ink Clan could realize this, how could Yang Kai fail to notice it?
The Evil Purging Divine Spear affected a lot of things, so before it was distributed everywhere and to everyone, the secret of the Purifying Light must not be exposed; otherwise, it would make the Black Ink Clan vigilant, making it difficult to get achieve the maximum effect.
That was why Yang Kai held himself back from using Purifying Light when he was facing Hong Hu that day.
Three centuries ago, when he, Feng Ying, and the others returned to Blue Sky Pass, Yang Kai had used Purifying Light amidst the Black Ink Clan Army. It could even be said that it was an accident. Although this event had made the Black Ink Clan somewhat vigilant, they did not take it too seriously. Every once in a while, they would encounter some methods of the Human Race that they did not know about, but if it was essentially a one-off, it wouldn’t arouse much suspicion. However, if Purifying Light appeared again and again, the Black Ink Clan would definitely take precautions.
After two centuries and dozens of experiments and improvements, the development of the Evil Purging Divine Spear finally reached its final stage.
Today, Yang Kai was awakened from his cultivation and followed Zhong Liang and Grandmaster Ma Fan into the underground chamber.
Hearing footsteps, Hong Hu, who had been resting in the secret room, opened his eyes. When he saw the three of them arrive, a trace of pain and helplessness flashed across his eyes.
For the past two centuries, every time these three came together, they would torment him to the point where he was unable to resist.
After having gone through these Hellish experiments a couple dozen times already, Hong Hu had become a little numb to the whole ordeal. So, when he saw these three arrive again, he understood what he would be going through once more.
Under his cold gaze, Grandmaster Ma Fan took out the reforged Evil Purging Divine Spear from his Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai reached out and took it. He carefully examined it before raising his brow, “It’s a finger length shorter than last time, and it seems the materials are also different.”
Grandmaster Ma Fans explained with a nod, “I have made some changes. In the past, the refinement of the Evil Purging Divine Spear required quite a lot of skill and rare materials. This time, the skill required to refine it has been lowered and the materials used have also been reduced.”
This was going to be mass-produced, so the requirements for Artifact Refining skills and materials had to be reduced as much as possible. For example, the previous Evil Purging Divine Spear that had been refined by Grandmaster Ma Fan was powerful and sufficient for battle, but only Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters could refine it, which hindered its production on a large scale.
Things that couldn’t be supplied in large quantities couldn’t play much role in a war waged by millions upon millions of people. At most, they could only be used by elite soldiers in individual duels.
On top of that, they also had to consider the consumption of materials. In short, the easier and cheaper to refine, the better.
Currently, the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s research was no longer conducted by Grandmaster Ma Fan alone, but rather led by him and included Dong Guo An Ping and another Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster. The Evil Purging Divine Spear was the result of their brainstorming.
The three Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters were extremely concerned about it and spent basically all of their time, when they were not refining Warships, on it.
Now was the time to verify the results.
Yang Kai cast Purifying Light and enveloped the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his grip. Under the effect of the arrays engraved in the artifact, the Purifying Light flowed into the spear like water and was quickly sealed inside.
Yang Kai took a look at the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his hand before turning to Zhong Liang, “Shall we start?”
Zhong Liang nodded his agreement, “En, let’s begin.”
Saying so, Zhong Liang quickly formed a set of hand seals as the faint buzzing of Spirit Arrays echoed across the room.
The next moment, Hong Hu, who was imprisoned and unable to move, regained his freedom and quickly retreated several dozen meters, glaring at Yang Kai with a look of rage on his face.
He knew that the thing in this Human kid’s hand was about to attack him. If he couldn’t avoid it, another round of torture would follow. Even if he managed to avoid it, it would keep coming at him until he couldn’t avoid it. Nonetheless, he still struggled.
He had never thought about escaping from this place. Facing two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, one of them being Zhong Liang, he was obviously outmatched. Furthermore, there were all kinds of Spirit Arrays surrounding this place. Unless he broke these Spirit Arrays, he would never be able to escape from here.
Just as Hong Hu was preparing himself, Yang Kai poured World Force into the Evil Purging Divine Spear. Which instantly started vibrating lightly before shooting straight towards Hong Hu, leaving a streak of light in its wake.
The reason why Yang Kai was the one doing the experiment was because his cultivation was just right. If Zhong Liang had personally taken action in this sealed environment, Hong Hu wouldn’t have been able to avoid this attack no matter what and there would have been no point in experimenting. On the battlefield, one had to consider the unexpected situation where a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would run into a Territory Lord. The results of this experiment would determine whether or not the Evil Purging Divine Spear could guarantee the lives of the Seventh-Order Masters under such dire circumstances.
When he used the Evil Purging Divine Spear, Yang Kai felt that its speed was slightly faster than before. This was clearly because of a change in Artifact Refining process.
The Evil Purging Divine Spear was fast, but Hong Hu was faster. By the time the streak of light shot towards him, Hong Hu was already prepared to react appropriately. His figure flickered about the room, dodging the oncoming streak of light.
Yang Kai didn’t care about his attack missing its target for this had happened dozens of times in the past two centuries. Having fought several dozen times with each other, they were already familiar with each other’s tricks and techniques.
With a surge of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, the streak of light seemed to have been given life as it nimbly chased after Hong Hu like a shadow.
If they were in the vast void and Hong Hu was already on guard, Yang Kai might not be able to do anything to him; after all, the difference in their strength was still quite large. But they were in a secret underground room at the forward base, and although it was quite spacious, it still had boundaries.
In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Hong Hu, who had been dodging the streak of light all this time, was forced into a corner where he was unable to dodge in any way. Seeing the streak of light rapidly approaching him, a trace of ruthlessness flashed on his face as he unleashed a punch.
Even before his punch reached its target, dense Black Ink Strength emerged from his fist and instantly enveloped the Evil Purging Divine Spear.
Right then, pure white light bloomed from the tip of the spear, mostly dispersing the Black Ink Strength, but the streak of light didn’t slow down, not in the least, and shot straight into Hong Hu’s chest.
Even someone as strong as a Territory Lord had his skin and flesh torn apart by the streaking light as the Evil Purging Divine Spear pierced him. In the next instant, Hong Hu’s body went stiff before it started violently quivering as he let out a deafening cry, like a wounded beast.
The Purifying Light sealed in the Evil Purging Divine Spear had erupted!
Generally speaking, even though the Evil Purging Divine Spear had a certain degree of lethality, its ability to actually kill a Territory Lord was quite minimal. Nonetheless, its main focus was not to kill, but to inject Purifying Light into its target, which was the best weapon against the Black Ink Clan.
With a furious roar, Hong Hu grabbed the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his abdomen and fiercely removed it, drawing a fountain of blood with it. But Zhong Liang, who had been waiting all this time, rushed straight at him without giving Hong Hu any chance to breathe.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them became locked in a fierce battle, causing the surrounding barriers to wildly flash.
Yang Kai and Grandmaster Ma Fan quickly retreated until they were standing at the edge of the barrier.
The layers of shields in the underground room were enough to withstand the fight between Zhong Liang and Hong Hu for a while without being destroyed; of course, they would not be able to withstand the shockwaves from the battle between an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Territory Lord forever, but it was already good enough.
Zhong Liang attacked with all kinds of lethal moves as a fearsome murderous intent radiated from him, forcing Hong Hu to focus on dealing with him. Under normal circumstances, even if a Territory Lord like Hong Hu couldn’t defeat Zhong Liang, he wouldn’t be defeated in a short time.
But this time, Zhong Liang only took an incense stick worth of time to beat Hong Hu to the point that his entire body was riddled with wounds and his aura was extremely weak. He did not have even a little bit of strength to fight back.
After a short while, Zhong Liang returned with a refreshed look on his face. Hong Hu’s enormous body lay limp on the ground like a corpse, his aura extremely feeble.
“20%!” Zhong Liang looked towards Grandmaster Ma Fan with an excited look on his face, “This is the result when Yang Boy used the Evil Purging Divine Spear and the Purifying Light had to be released before the spear hit its target. If an Eighth-Order Master like us were to use it, we should be able to bring out the full power of the Evil Purging Divine Spear. It should be somewhere between 20% and 30% effective in the field.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan let out a long sigh of relief, “Finally!”
Although this experiment could be already considered a success judging by the results, nothing was certain before they had obtained Zhong Liang’s evaluation.
After dozens of experiments and countless days of brainstorming and improvements over the past two centuries, the current Evil Purging Divine Spear was finally ready to be put into use on the battlefield.
A 20% suppressive ability was the criterion set by the higher-ups, because according to the Eighth-Order Master’s estimations, if the Evil Purging Divine Spear could reduce the strength of a Territory Lord by 20%, they could easily kill them.
If it was any less than 20%, it would greatly lower the chances of a kill. In that kind of situation, if the Territory Lord felt that things were not looking good for them, they would be able to escape. And once they had their guards up against the Evil Purging Divine Spear, the next time they used it, they would have lost the element of surprise and it would not be as effective.
20% might not seem much, but it was actually quite substantial. For instance, if Hong Hu’s strength had not been reduced by 20%, with the usual gap between Zhong Liang and Hong Hu’s strength, it would have taken the two at least half a day to determine a victor. But now, Zhong Liang only took an incense stick to beat Hong Hu up so badly that the latter couldn’t even fight back. If he wanted to, he could even have taken Hong Hu’s life.
Comparing the two situations, the Evil Purging Divine Spear played a decisive role.
“Grandmaster, many thanks for your hard work. After two centuries, the dark clouds have finally been dispelled and we can see the face of the Sun!” Zhong Liang gave a deep bow, “If we annihilate the entire Black Ink Clan someday, Grandmaster will have made the greatest contribution!”
Ma Fan waved his hand casually and humbly stated, “Humans and Black Ink Clan cannot coexist. This old man only did what he was supposed to do. This old man doesn’t care if it’s meritorious or not, just don’t forget what you promised me.”
Zhong Liang solemnly assured, “Of course not!”
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of agreement Zhong Liang had with Grandmaster Ma Fan, but since it related to someone’s privacy, he wouldn’t rashly ask about it. The successful development of the Evil Purging Divine Spear had lifted his spirits. With this artifact, the Human Race’s crusade was just a matter of time, although much preparation would still need to be done.
Furthermore, if Yang Kai’s guess was correct, he would have his hands full in the near future.
As expected, Zhong Liang turned to look at Yang Kai and ordered, “The matter of the Evil Purging Divine Spear will need you to cooperate. The refining method of this artifact will soon be sent to all the Great Passes, so it won’t be long before a stockpile of Evil Purging Divine Spear will be sent to Blue Sky Pass. At that time, you will need to seal Purifying Light into all of them.”
The corners of Yang Kai’s brow twitched as he accepted his fate, “Junior understands.”
Once the refining method of the Evil Purging Divine Spear was made public, the other Passes would start mass-producing them. Any Artifact Refining Grandmaster could refine one, but only Yang Kai could seal Purifying Light in them.
Yang Kai could vaguely see painful days ahead of him.
The trio left the underground room after everything was settled. As for Hong Hu who was lying on the ground, no one paid him any attention.
Humans had spent a great deal of time and effort to capture him, even using Xiang Shan as bait to draw Hong Hu out and capture him alive so that Grandmaster Ma Fan could experiment on him.
The Humans kept him alive because he was the test subject for the Evil Purging Divine Spear, so he was useful. But now that the Evil Purging Divine Spear had been developed, there was naturally no need to keep him alive.
Furthermore, it was quite dangerous to imprison a Territory Lord in this place. Hong Hu was definitely doomed.
Yang Kai once again went into a retreat to cultivate. Since he knew that he wouldn’t have much free time in the future, he naturally treasured this opportunity all the more. Furthermore, both the forward base and Blue Sky Pass had been peaceful for a long time now, so there was nothing else he could do other than enter retreat.
Last time, when he visited Myriad Demons Pass, Yang Kai had received personal guidance from the Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor, which greatly advanced his comprehension of the two Eye Techniques. Be that as it may, the cultivation of his Eye Secret Techniques required time. Before he left, the Myriad Demons Cave Heaven’s Old Ancestor gave him a jade slip which recorded his insights on these two Eye Techniques. This was a good opportunity for Yang Kai to carefully study them; in addition, cultivating the Eye Techniques would not interfere with refining cultivation materials and increasing his Small Universe’s heritage; he could do all of this simultaneously.
In the blink of an eye, five years went by.
Yang Kai was roused from his secluded cultivation. He exited the secret room and found a man waiting outside.
“Senior Brother Wang!” Yang Kai cupped his fist in greeting. Senior Brother Wang was Zhong Liang’s adjutant, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Usually, whenever Zhong Liang had any orders, he would be the one to pass them on.
Since Senior Brother Wang had personally come to find him, it must be at the behest of Zhong Liang.
Sure enough, Senior Brother Wang reported, “Sir Army Commander has summoned you, Junior Brother. Please follow me.”
Yang Kai nodded and followed Senior Brother Wang to the Army Headquarters of the forward base. Zhong Liang was waiting for him, and when he saw Yang Kai arrive, he didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point, “It’s time. Return to Blue Sky Pass.”
Yang Kai immediately understood what was going on after hearing this and accepted the order right away, “Yes!”
Yang Kai did not leave immediately after accepting the order though; instead, he stood in his spot for a moment before suddenly waving his hand. The next moment, two figures appeared in front of him, a man and a woman, both of them at the peak of the Emperor Realm.
Zhong Liang’s eyes lit up at the sight of the two, “Another batch of good seedlings?”
The reason he said this was because Zhong Liang had seen this happen multiple times already. There were no Emperor Realm Masters on the Black Ink Battlefield. Everyone who arrived here was at least a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Only Yang Kai’s Small Universe had Emperor Realm cultivators.
It had already been more than two centuries since Miao Fei Ping was brought to the Black Ink Battlefield by Yang Kai. Before that, Yang Kai had established the Void Dao Temple in his Small Universe to select outstanding geniuses. The flow of time in Yang Kai’s Small Universe was four times faster than the outside world, so while only two centuries had passed outside, 800 years had gone by in his Small Universe.
Over the past 800 years, the mortals of his Small Universe had already given birth to dozens of generations. The World Tree Clone had been very effective in nurturing these people and there were now many cultivators with outstanding aptitudes in Yang Kai’s Small Universe. Currently, there were thousands of disciples in the Void Dao Temple, all of whom could be said to be dragons amongst men, the best of the best.
It had to be known that the Void Dao Temple’s selection criteria were extremely harsh. Ordinary geniuses could not enter the Void Dao Temple, only geniuses among geniuses were qualified.
Those cultivating in the Void Dao Temple didn’t have to worry about food or clothing, nor did they lack cultivation resources, so their rate of growth was extremely fast. When they reached the peak of the Emperor Realm, the Void Dao Temple Master would explain to them the mysteries of the Open Heaven Realm and the outside world. If they wanted to improve further, Yang Kai would bring them out and allow them to advance to the Open Heaven Realm on the Black Ink Battlefield, becoming a part of Blue Sky Pass.
Over the past two centuries, over 100 cultivators had left Yang Kai’s Small Universe. On average, one would appear every two or three years. Each of them would advance straight to Sixth-Order. There had been two who had even broken through directly to the Seventh Order!
Directly to the Seventh Order! In other words, these two had a chance of reaching the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm in the future! Who wouldn’t be jealous of such talent?
In comparison, although those that directly advanced to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm would only be capable of reaching the Eighth-Order, these kinds of geniuses would still be Core Disciples in the various Cave Heavens and Paradises in the 3,000 Worlds. Every single one of them would enjoy the same kind of treatment as Qu Hua Shang and Gu Pan. Basically, geniuses like them would only appear once every century, but they actually appeared in batches from Yang Kai’s Small Universe.
The World Tree Clone’s feedback was extremely potent! And this situation was when it was Yang Kai’s Small Universe, which had a very low population. It was difficult to imagine what kind of grand effect it would have in the Star Boundary which had a far larger one.
Of course, his Small Universe’s population might not be as huge as that of the Star Boundary, but because of the difference in time flow, he also had his own advantages. The Star Boundary could not compare with his Small Universe in this regard. All in all, Yang Kai’s Small Universe and the Star Boundary had their own unique strong points.
At first, Yang Kai would carefully look after the disciples who had come out of the Void Dao Temple, and guide them one by one. Before they had ascended to the Open Heaven Realm, Yang Kai had carefully prepared everything for them and even personally guarded them when they were breaking through.
However, as the number of people increased, Yang Kai found that it was too time-consuming and exhausting to do this by himself. On average, one person would leave his Small Universe every two or three years. It took months or even half a year to prepare everything for them and ensure that their breakthroughs would be smooth and successful.
Once or twice would be nothing, but doing it a few dozen times or even 100 times was not something Yang Kai could take anymore.
So, Yang Kai had left this matter to Blue Sky Pass a long time ago.
The disciples, who came out of the Void Dao Temple, were handed over to the higher-ups of Blue Sky Pass, leaving the rest to them. This was mainly due to his own indolence, but much to Yang Kai’s surprise, it was welcomed by the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
It was not surprising when he thought about it though, because the aptitude of these disciples was quite outstanding. Any one of them would have a chance of advancing to the Eighth Order in the future. Every Cave Heaven and Paradise would be ready to snatch up such geniuses.
Unknowingly, these disciples from the Void Dao Temple had attracted the attention of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The reason they had fought over these disciples wasn’t because they wanted to take them in as Legacy Disciples. They were on the Black Ink Battlefield where they could lose their lives at any moment, so taking them in as Disciples didn’t hold much meaning because no one knew how long they could live or how long their Disciples would live.
The reason why they were fighting over it was mainly because they had gotten bored over these past few years. Most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already cultivated to the utmost peak of their Martial Dao, and could not advance any further. Yang Kai still needed to cultivate in retreat to improve his own foundation, but they did not have to.
It could be said that in a situation where there was no battle, most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were idle. At times like these, anything could spark their interest, such as these newcomers who had just come from the Void Dao Temple.
Particularly when all these newcomers had outstanding aptitudes and were only in the Emperor Realm. They had extremely high potential, and as a result, every single one of the cultivators who had come from Yang Kai’s Small Universe was extremely popular in Blue Sky Pass.
Yang Kai was quite happy to see this. There were over 60 Eighth-Order Masters gathered in Blue Sky Pass, so no matter what field these disciples liked or what talents they had, they would be able to find a suitable Master. So now, when any disciple wanted to leave the Small Universe, Yang Kai would leave them to Zhong Liang.
At this moment, the two Emperor Realm Masters, one male and one female, were slightly taken aback by Yang Kai’s appearance. They quickly bowed to Yang Kai, “Greetings, Dao Lord!”
Yang Kai had basically not appeared in his Small Universe for the past few hundred years, so no one had seen his true appearance in that time. The ordinary disciples of the Dao Temple didn’t know about the mysteries of the Void World, but for those who wanted to leave and improve their Martial Dao, the presiding Temple Master would explain everything to them. He would tell them that the first person they meet after leaving this world would be the Dao Lord of the entire Void World, its true Master.
At the same time, he would inform them about the situation they would face after leaving the Dao Temple and advancing to the Open Heaven Realm. If these disciples still decided to go ahead, Yang Kai would bring them out. And if they were afraid of the dangers of the outside world and wanted to protect themselves, Yang Kai would not force them; after all, fighting with the Black Ink Clan was not something they could force upon someone.
Those disciples who chose to stay in the Small Universe naturally wouldn’t have another chance to break through to the Open Heaven Realm. Every choice had its pros and cons, so it was best to stick to their own choice.
For the past 1,000 years, the Void Dao Temple had raised many elite disciples. The disciples, who were eligible to leave and advance to the Open Heaven Realm, had basically all chosen to leave. Only a few of them remained in the Small Universe. Cultivators were basically obsessed with cultivation, so every one of them wanted to seek a higher Martial Dao. This kind of temptation could not be quashed by some small dangers.
Yang Kai nodded to the two disciples in response before explaining, “Since you’ve left the Void Dao Temple, I’m sure you understand what’s going on in the outside world. You’ll slowly understand everything. As for the matter of advancing to the Open Heaven Realm, someone will help you prepare for it.”
The two disciples listened quietly and repeatedly nodded.
Yang Kai turned to Zhong Liang, “Martial Uncle, this Junior will take his leave first.”
Zhong Liang didn’t even look at him and waved him away, intently gazing at the two disciples with a happy smile, “Go, go.”
Yang Kai instantly disappeared from his spot.
After he left, the two disciples glanced at each other before turning to Zhong Liang. The latter’s smile made them a little confused, so they secretly released their Divine Sense to investigate, but the next moment, they discovered that this amiable-looking Senior’s cultivation was as deep as the sea, and they were unable to gauge its depth.
[So this is an Open Heaven Realm Master!] The two of them immediately understood. They were both at the peak of the Emperor Realm, so no one in Void World was stronger than them. One had to be at the legendary Open Heaven Realm for them to be unable to detect their cultivation, and an extremely high Order one at that.
“Greetings, Senior!” The two quickly bowed.
Zhong Liang chuckled, “There’s no need to be so polite. En, what Order of materials did you use to complete your Dao Seal?”
Although he knew that those who had come out from Yang Kai’s Small Universe would at the very least advance straight to the Sixth Order, there was always a chance that one of them could break through straight to the Seventh Order, and naturally, Zhong Liang was hoping that these two were such seedlings.
The male disciple replied, “Senior, both Senior Sister and I have Sixth-Order Powers in our Dao Seals.”
[Sixth-Order, huh…] He wasn’t disappointed; after all, even in a place like Yang Kai’s Small Universe, it wasn’t easy to cultivate a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. There had only been two in the past two centuries.
Zhong Liang was still all smiles, “Great!”
While they were talking, a few figures suddenly barged in like bulls. Before the first person even stopped, a voice came from behind, “Another good seedling? It’s finally this Gou’s turn, right?”
“Hold on, this old Master has been waiting for 150 years already, it should be this Old Master’s turn!”
Someone sneered, scoffing, “Naturally, the one who strikes first has the advantage, who would want to discuss order with you, old fart?”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting in front of the Juniors? It’s not like we’re fighting or killing enemies, so why does it come down to who strikes first? It should be all about fate!” The one who spoke suddenly turned to look at the female disciple and put on an amiable smile, “Little girl, this King thinks you and I are fated, so why don’t you join this King? This King is an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. With this King’s guidance, killing the Black Ink Clan in the future will be as easy as flipping your hand!”
“Who isn’t an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master here?” Immediately, some people became unhappy and released their Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm aura.
Before the two Void Disciples could figure out what was going on, a group of people suddenly rushed in and started shouting at each other, and the next moment, tremendous pressure fell upon them, making everything go black before their eyes.
“Damn it, these two kids fainted!”
“Senior Brother Yun, quickly withdraw your aura! They are only Emperor Realm Juniors, how can they withstand your Eighth-Order aura?”
“Damn… I actually forgot about that. It’s been a long time since I last saw an Emperor Realm brat…”
The corner of Zhong Liang’s mouth twitched, watching all the chaos that had descended into the hall. He started regretting sending a message to these idle and bored Eighth-Order fools. [These two must have been traumatized by these Eighth-Order bastards. Next time, if any good seedlings appear, I will not let them rush in at once like this.]
After leaving the two disciples for Zhong Liang to deal with, Yang Kai left and used the Universe Transference Law and returned to Blue Sky Pass.
He was not worried about the two Emperor Realm Masters advancing to the Open Heaven Realm. They would be personally guided by an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master during their breakthrough, which would be more useful than his guidance.
Not to mention, he had personally refined a batch of Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills and left them with Zhong Liang. Every single one of these disciples who had come out of the Void Dao Temple had an outstanding aptitude to begin with, and they had reached their current cultivation with slow and steady steps. So, with the help of a Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill, it would be a snap for them to advance to the Open Heaven Realm.
In fact, none of the Void Dao Temple’s disciples had failed to break through to the Open Heaven Realm. This was partly because of their solid foundations, and partly because the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill could increase the success rate of their breakthroughs. So, how could they fail?
In comparison, the future prospects of these disciples far exceeded that of ordinary Cave Heaven and Paradise disciples because their starting point was extremely high.
Nonetheless, cultivating in a special environment like the Void Dao Temple also had its drawbacks, which was their lack of real battle experience.
There weren’t many disputes in Void World right now, and even if there were some, they were minor and happened only between Sects. The status of the Void Dao Temple was special; besides sparring with fellow disciples, most of these kids had never seen blood, much less death.
Growing up in such a sheltered greenhouse was perhaps their greatest shortcoming, which might cause them to act poorly in a life-and-death situation.
Nonetheless, the Blue Sky Theatre had been peaceful for a long time, so even if they wanted to find some Black Ink Clansmen to practice with after they had broken through to the Open Heaven Realm, it was impossible.
Yang Kai had always wanted to set up a Black Ink Nest in his Small Universe and use the sub-nest to nurture some weak Black Ink Clansmen, allowing the disciples of the Dao Temple to familiarize themselves with how to fight with this enemy. Unfortunately, his attempts had all failed.
If he wanted to place the sub-nest, he would need to ensure a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest was permanently under Human control, and Yang Kai could not do something about that.
Therefore, one could not judge these disciples based on their smooth and unhindered cultivation, because it remained unclear how much strength they could display during battle. Everything depended on their future performance.
However, there was something else that made Yang Kai quite happy.
This was these disciples’ compatibility with the Dao of Space, Dao of Time, and Spear Dao.
These three Great Daos were Yang Kai’s foundation, especially the Dao of Space. Yang Kai had mastered it the most, followed by the Dao of Time.
In his Small Universe, there were quite a lot of Dao Essences of these three Grand Daos. Dao Essence could not ordinarily be seen or touched, but it could be comprehended.
Perhaps it was because they had grown up in Void World since birth that their compatibility with these three Grand Daos were very high.
Of over 100 Open Heaven Realm Masters who had come from his Small Universe, four of them could cultivate the Dao of Space, three could cultivate the Dao of Time, and as many as 20 could cultivate the Spear Dao.
Some people also displayed extraordinary talent in Alchemy and Artifact Refining, which was definitely related to Yang Kai’s attainments in the two Grand Daos. Although the Dao Essences of Alchemy and Artifact Refining were not as rich as his three main Grand Daos, they were still plentiful. If a cultivator who lived and grew up in Yang Kai’s Small Universe was naturally gifted in these Daos, it would be very easy for him or her to comprehend the mysteries contained within these Dao Essences.
Overall, the future cultivation path of the disciples of his Small Universe was somewhat related to the Grand Daos he himself dabbled in. Such a proportion was already quite impressive.
Yang Kai had no intention of accepting any more Disciples. To him, Zhao Ye Bai, Zhao Ya, and Xu Yi were more than enough.
Not to mention, the Dao of Space and Dao of Time were both extremely unorthodox Grand Daos. Ordinary cultivators would find them extremely difficult to even gain a basic understanding of them, let alone cultivate them. Even the Spear Dao was not the easiest to master.
However, many of the cultivators from Yang Kai’s Small Universe were inherently able to cultivate these two Grand Daos. This was one of the reasons why the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters valued these disciples.
During Blue Sky Pass’ crusade, Yang Kai’s Universe Arrays played a huge role, but Yang Kai was just one person. So, Blue Sky Pass’ success was difficult to replicate in other Theatres.
Be that as it may, if these talented disciples succeeded in cultivating the Grand Dao of Space, they would definitely be able to play a great role in the future.
Whether it was the Dao of Space or the Dao of Time, basically no one in the entire Blue Sky Pass could teach them besides Yang Kai, but Yang Kai had no time to give these disciples personal guidance at all times. As such, he had engraved his insights on these two Grand Daos and many related Secret Techniques onto jade slips and offered them to the War Materials Hall over a century ago.
If anyone needed to cultivate these two Grand Daos in the future, they could acquire this knowledge by spending Military Merits in the War Materials Hall.
Although Blue Sky Pass had not faced any battle in a long time, it was still easy for cultivators to earn some Military Merits. They could obtain them by mining resources, going out on patrol, or assisting in Alchemy and Artifact Refining, so there was no need to worry about their future cultivation.
Of course, if Yang Kai had free time on his hands and was in a good mood, he would summon these disciples to teach them. In the past two centuries, Yang Kai had given two lectures, one on the Dao of Space and one on the Dao of Time, allowing these disciples to reap great benefits.
All in all, since Yang Kai had already arranged things for the disciples coming out of his Small Universe, he did not need to rack his brain and waste any more effort.
After returning to Blue Sky Pass through the Universe Array, Yang Kai immediately went to report to the Eastern Army Headquarters.
Ding Yao didn’t say anything to him and simply asked his adjutant to lead him to a storage room.
Although he already knew what to expect, Yang Kai still could not help but gasp in shock at the sight before him. There was nothing else in the secret room but piles and piles of Evil Purging Divine Spears.
By a rough count, there were at least a few dozen piles in here, and if there were a few hundred Evil Purging Divine Spears in each pile, that would mean there were at least 10 or 20 thousand in total.
Yang Kai felt his face twitch as he muttered, “So many.”
The adjutant smiled and stated, “Junior Brother, sorry to trouble you, but this matter can only be handled by you. No one else can do this.”
Yang Kai nodded, “I understand,” He then asked, “Is everything here?”
The adjutant replied, shaking his head, “Most of them are here, but some Passes still haven’t sent their batch yet. They should be coming soon.”
“En,” Yang Kai resigned to his fate.
The adjutant bid his leave, “Then, I’ll take my leave first.”
After he left, Yang Kai began examining these Evil Purging Divine Spears. Very soon, he discovered the number of Evil Purging Divine Spears in each pile differed, ranging from 200 to 300.
Furthermore, there was an empty Space Ring in front of each pile, marked with a specific Great Pass’ name. Seeing this, Yang Kai understood that each pile of Evil Purging Divine Spear corresponded to a different Pass.
After sealing the Purifying Light into the Evil Purging Divine Spears, he still had to store them back into the Space Ring and send them back through the Hyper Space Array.
Refining the Evil Purging Divine Spear apparently wasn’t easy. It had been five years since the Evil Purging Divine Spear was successfully tested on Hong Hu.
In five years, even after mobilizing every Artifact Refiner in an entire Great Pass, they had only managed to refine 200 to 300 Evil Purging Divine Spears. One could only imagine how long it would take to refine each of these artifacts.
Grandmaster Ma Fan had once mentioned casually that it would take at least a year for an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster to refine an Evil Purging Divine Spear; after all, this was a weapon that would be used to deal with Black Ink Clan Territory Lords, so its requirements for Artifact Refining were extremely harsh. The slightest mistake would cause the entire refining to fail.
In other words, an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster could only refine one artifact a year at most, and this was under the premise that everything went smoothly. If he failed once or twice, it would be normal for him to refine only one in a few years.
How many Artifact Refining Grandmasters could a Great Pass have? Blue Sky Pass had three, so it was reasonable to assume that most other Passes had a similar number. Under the presumption that there was no failure in refining, the number of Evil Purging Divine Spear a Pass could refine in 5 years was still only 10 to 15.
In fact, it might be even less than half of it; after all, the chances of failure were high when refining an unfamiliar artifact.
Ergo, Yang Kai was puzzled how each Pass was able to refine between 200 and 300 in just half a decade. Their quantity did not match his estimates and far exceeded his calculations.
But after he took a closer look, realization dawned upon Yang Kai.
These Evil Purging Divine Spears were divided into two categories. One matched the specs that had been successfully tested on Hong Hu. These were the Evil Purging Divine Spear that could reduce a Territory Lord’s strength by more than 20%, while the other had the specs that had been tested on the Feudal Lord a long time ago and could reduce such a Master’s strength by around 30% while having minimal effect on Territory Lords.
The latter was slightly longer than the former, and their refining technique was obviously cruder. According to Yang Kai’s estimations, the latter didn’t require an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster to refine, as long as one’s skills had reached the Artifact Refining Grandmaster level, they could make one.
By the looks of it, Blue Sky Pass had shared the methods of refining both Evil Purging Divine Spears with the other Passes, who subsequently refined both types.
Obviously, there was a deeper consideration for doing this.
Territory Lords were equivalent to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, who were the cornerstones of their respective race. The Humans would need to use the Evil Purging Divine Spears refined by the Great Grandmasters in order to deal with Territory Lords, but it was quite difficult to refine such Evil Purging Divine Spears so the output was not high. Furthermore, it would be an overkill to use such a weapon against a Feudal Lord.
And so, the Evil Purging Divine Spear refined by the Artifact Refining Grandmasters would come in handy. These Evil Purging Divine Spears weren’t as powerful as the Territory Lord version, but their production rate was much higher, they were perfect for using it against Feudal Lords, who were much larger in number.
Yang Kai had no idea how the higher-ups of the Human Race categorized these Evil Purging Divine Spears, so for the time being, Yang Kai categorized the smaller number of Evil Purging Divine Spears refined by the Great Grandmasters as Heaven Grade, while the lower grade Evil Purging Divine Spears refined by the Grandmaster were Earth Grade.
Overall, the ratio of Earth to Heaven Grade Evil Purging Divine Spears was about 12:1.
What he needed to do now was infuse the Purifying Light into all these Evil Purging Divine Spears.
Looking at the piles before him, Yang Kai once again realized he had a long and toilsome task ahead of him!
Yang Kai sat down cross-legged before casually picking up an Evil Purging Divine Spear from the closest pile. After discerning its Grade, he enveloped it in Purifying Light. Just like before, the Purifying Light flowed into the Evil Purging Divine Spear like water under its influence and soon disappeared.
Because he had to take the Grade of the Evil Purging Divine Spears into consideration, when he infused the Purifying Light into the Heaven-Grade Evil Purging Divine Spear, Yang Kai chose higher quality Yellow and Blue Crystals. This way, the strength of the Purifying Light infused into it would be even greater, allowing the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters to deal with the Territory Lords more easily.
As for the Earth-grade spears, the quality of the Yellow and Blue Crystals he chose was slightly worse. In any case, they would only be used to deal with the Feudal Lords, so even if they were slightly weaker, it wouldn’t matter either.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t slow, he was unable to stand the sheer number of Evil Purging Divine Spears. It took him a few days to finish the pile closest to him, after which he picked up the Space Ring that was originally placed before the Evil Purging Divine Spears and stowed them into it.
Soon after, Blue Sky Pass sent these items back to the Great Pass corresponding to the Space Ring.
Days went by, and just when he was finished with a few dozen piles of Evil Purging Divine Spears, a few dozen rings carrying more Evil Purging Divine Spears were delivered to him.
Yang Kai kept toiling away, but considering that each Evil Purging Divine Spear could take the life of a Feudal Lord or even a Territory Lord, all the effort was well worth it.
By the time he was finished with the Evil Purging Divine Spears sent by all the Passes, over half a year had already gone by.
Afterwards, Yang Kai exited the secret room and went to report to the Eastern Army Headquarters.
Ding Yao didn’t say anything and just nodded slightly.
“This Junior has finished arming the Evil Purging Divine Spears, I will be returning to the forward base now,” Yang Kai reported. The forward base might not have faced any enemies for a long time, but they still needed to patrol occasionally.
“You don’t need to return to the forward base. Remain at Blue Sky Pass for now.”
Yang Kai was slightly taken aback, “Is there a new mission?”
Ding Yao shot a glance at him, “Are you hoping for a new mission?”
Yang Kai clucked his tongue as he defended himself, “No, no, nothing like that. Peace is best.”
Ding Yao waved him off impatiently as Yang Kai quickly excused himself.
Walking out of the Army Headquarters, a slight furrow appeared on Yang Kai’s brow. Ding Yao’s sudden order to stay at Blue Sky Pass was a bit confusing, but since it was an order, he could only comply.
Yang Kai returned to his residence, deactivated the restrictions and walked into the small courtyard. Just as he was about to use this opportunity to go into a retreat, he felt something amiss.
He looked around and noticed life auras coming from the rooms on either side of the courtyard.
[Someone is here?]
Yang Kai was confused, but after carefully sensing it, he discovered that the auras belonged to Feng Ying and Bai Yi.
[Wait. Why are they back?]
Yang Kai had returned to Blue Sky Pass from the forward base for various matters over the years, but he had always returned alone while Dawn had always been guarding the front lines. He might be the Squad Leader, but Dawn was strong enough to carry out various missions without him.
Dawn had not returned with him this time either, so Yang Kai didn’t understand why Feng Ying and Bai Yi were here.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai walked to the left wing and gently touched the restriction. Soon, Feng Ying appeared in front of Yang Kai.
“Squad Leader, you’re back?” Feng Ying immediately commented.
Yang Kai nodded in response, “Why have you also returned?”
Feng Ying answered, “The Pass ordered us to return, so we have.”
“Ordered?” Yang Kai was a bit astounded. He originally thought that Feng Ying and Bai Yi had returned for some reason, but after knowing that it was an order from the Pass, there was nothing left to say.
Feng Ying, after hesitating for a moment, finally added, “Not just our Dawn Squad has been recalled, even Junior Brother Chai’s Squad was recalled, along with several other Squads.”
“Senior Brother Chai is also back?” The corner of Yang Kai’s brow twitched. The so-called Senior Brother Chai was none other than the Old Turtles Squad Leader Chai Fang.
Feng Ying pursed her lips as a smile bloomed on her face. “Junior Brother Chai came looking for you earlier.”
“Why is he looking for me?” Yang Kai cautiously asked.
Feng Ying replied, emphasizing each word, “‘Junior Brother Yang took great care of this Chai on the battlefield, so this Chai should naturally treat Junior Brother Yang well and express my gratitude.’ Well, these are Junior Brother Chai’s original words.”
This was obviously a threat! As the Old Turtles’ Warship was slow, it was easier for them to be robbed of Military Merits on the battlefield, and Dawn had done this the most. Chai Fang had naturally marked this loss down.
The Gadfly Squad’s moniker was not just for show.
But then again, it wasn’t that Dawn Squad enjoyed snatching others’ Military Merits; rather, when they saw other Squads entangled with the Black Ink Clan Squads on the battlefield, there was nothing wrong in eliminating the enemies. Who would even care about Military Merits in that kind of situation? After all, the priority was to kill Black Ink Clansmen.
But obviously, Chai Fang didn’t think so. When they were fighting on the front lines, it wasn’t the right time to quibble with Dawn over this, but now that they had been recalled, he naturally wanted to settle accounts.
Of course, he was not planning to fight it out with Yang Kai or Dawn. He also knew that Dawn was trying to help them many times. Nonetheless, as Special Operations Squads, there was always some competition between them. Since they could not beat Dawn in kills, he naturally had to find something else to regain his face.
Yang Kai immediately spat in disgust, “He can go to Hell!”
Feng Ying stated, pursing her lips, “You should tell Junior Brother Chai this yourself.”
“Forget it, let’s just ignore him. I’ll be going into retreat and cultivate. Senior Sister, you should also rest.”
Saying so, Yang Kai turned around and entered his room.
Be that as it may, Chai Fang was not going to let Yang Kai have his way. Who knew how he got the news, but the very day Yang Kai returned to his residence, Chai Fang rushed over.
Although the courtyard had privacy restrictions, they were unable to withstand Chai Fang’s all-out harassment. He also knew that Yang Kai and the others would not have entered life-or-death close-door cultivation at this moment, so he acted without scruples.
Alarms kept blaring as the restrictions activated. Whether it was Yang Kai, Feng Ying, or Bai Yi, none of them were able to peacefully cultivate.
Helpless, Yang Kai had no choice but to come out. He deactivated the restriction and looked at Chai Fang with a look of disgust, who was making a ruckus outside the courtyard, “Senior Brother Chai, why are you here instead of cultivating?”
Chai Fang maliciously grinned as he palmed his fist, “Didn’t Senior Sister Feng tell you? Why does Little Brother ask when you already know the answer?”
Yang Kai helplessly asked, rubbing his forehead, “Does Senior Brother want to fight?”
Chai Fang decisively replied, “No! Although we’re not from the same Sect, we’ve fought side by side on this battlefield for so many years, so how can we fight? This Chai doesn’t know how to control his strength. What if I injure you, Junior Brother?”
Of course, he was just being stubborn and unwilling to admit defeat!
The main reason Chai Fang was refusing was because he felt that he was definitely not Yang Kai’s opponent. Yang Kai could even kill a Territory Lord. Although there were circumstances, such as taking advantage of the situation, few Seventh-Order Masters in the entire Human Race had ever killed a Territory Lord.
Chai Fang had witnessed Yang Kai fight with his own eyes. A Feudal Lord was no different than a chicken before Yang Kai; his terrifying strength had long surpassed the Seventh Order. In terms of combat strength, Chai Fang admitted that he was far inferior to Yang Kai, so how could he fight him? He would simply be digging a pit for himself.
“Then, what does Senior Brother want?” Yang Kai asked.
Chai Fang meaningfully grinned as he swiped his Space Ring and took out a jug of wine, “This Chai did not lie when I said I wanted to express my gratitude. Look, I’ve brought everything.”
Yang Kai immediately understood. Since the Old Turtle Squad had lost to Dawn on the battlefield, he wanted to regain face in a drinking competition.
Looking at the wine jug in Chai Fang’s hand, Yang Kai immediately felt frustrated.
He had once engaged with Chai Fang in a drinking contest back at the forward base. In the end, Yang Kai lost and became completely inebriated. He was ridiculed by the other Squad Leaders as a result.
Men were very strange creatures. In the eyes of almost all men, one’s alcohol capacity was also a standard of their worth. If one’s alcohol capacity was as vast as the sea, they would naturally be able to drink to their heart’s content. If a man got drunk after just three glasses, he was simply not a man.
Yang Kai was now a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with a robust foundation and strong physique. Not to mention a single jug of wine, even a hundred or a thousand jugs wouldn’t be enough to make him drunk. If his World Force was taken into account, he could easily detoxify any amount of wine.
But since it was a drinking competition, they naturally would not be using any of their strength. There would be no point in competing if they really used their World Force.
During the drinking competition, everyone would seal their strength and compete with their innate capacity.
In this aspect, Chai Fang seemed to have a higher capacity than Yang Kai.
“Senior Brother, I still need to cultivate. How about this, I’ll just accept this wine as…”
Before Yang Kai could finish speaking, Chai Fang pushed him into the courtyard, “Enough with the nonsense, since this Chai has come today, I don’t plan on leaving.”
Yang Kai staggered back, helplessly watching Chai Fang take out a set of chairs and a table. He then took his seat and gestured to Yang Kai to take the seat across from him. He was staring at Yang Kai very fiercely, assuming the posture that either you die or I perish.
Yang Kai reckoned that he was most likely doomed today!
“Sit! Why isn’t Junior Brother sitting? If you don’t sit, I’ll think that you’re looking down on this Chai!” Chai Fang glared angrily.
Yang Kai forced a laugh, “Senior Brother, there’s no need to go this far.”
Helpless, he sat down opposite Chai Fang.
The moment he sat down, Chai Fang instantly pushed the jug of wine to Yang Kai. Afterwards, he took out another jug, opened the lid, and poured it down his throat.
The corner of Yang Kai’s brow twitched staring at this. Chai Fang had completely emptied the jug in less than a dozen breaths. He then wiped his mouth and stated, “Good! Junior Brother, please help yourself. This Chai will first drink a few jugs to moisten my throat.”
Saying so, a small mountain of wine jugs appeared beside him with a wave of his hand, and he started drinking them like they were water.
[Damn it!] Yang Kai’s heart was gripped with apprehension. If this continued, he would definitely lose. The only choice he was left with was to call for reinforcements!
Taking advantage of the other party’s drinking, Yang Kai secretly sent a message.
A short while later, Yang Kai finally finished his jug, but Chai Fang had already finished four or five. They were on completely different levels.
Fortunately, a figure rushed in from outside at that moment. Seeing the oncoming figure, Yang Kai called out enthusiastically before anyone could understand what was happening, “Fei Ping, you’re here? Come, let me introduce you. This is the Old Turtle’s Squad Leader, Chai Fang!”
Chai Fang shot him an annoyed look, “Why are you introducing me? Do you think that I don’t know everyone in your Squad?”
After so many years of competing with each other, how could he not know who was who?
Yang Kai defended with a smile, “Fei Ping has admired Brother Chai for a long time and has praised Brother Chai many times to me, saying that Brother Chai’s Squad always took the lead and fought bravely when in battle. Fei Ping, now that Squad Leader Chai is here, why don’t you offer him a few toasts.”
Hearing Yang Kai’s suggestion, Miao Fei Ping didn’t dare act disrespectfully and had no choice but to pick up a wine jug and respectfully offer, “Squad Leader Chai, this Junior offers you a toast.”
Chai Fang didn’t refuse and simply glanced at Yang Kai, “Treacherous bastard!”
*Gulp gulp gulp…* Miao Fei Ping quickly downed the entire jug of wine.
Just as he was finished drinking, someone else came in.
Yang Kai called out enthusiastically once again, “Senior Brother Qi, you are here? What a coincidence, Squad Leader Chai is here as a guest. He was worried about no one being able to accompany him, but Senior Brother Qi, your capacity is like the sea, come here and drink with Squad Leader Chai.”
Qi Tai Chu chuckled, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
A moment later, Yang Kai shouted again, “Senior Brother Shen is here…”
One by one, the members of Dawn kept arriving. After seven or eight of them arrived, Chai Fang couldn’t stand it any longer. He slapped his hand on the table and angrily shouted, “Bullying me with numbers, are you?! You Gadflies are too much! As expected, if the foundation is crooked, the house will be too! Yang Kai, you have reinforcements, but do you think that this Old Master doesn’t?”
Saying so, he took out a communication artifact and sent a message with his Divine Sense.
Not long after, several figures flew over from all over Blue Sky Pass. Yang Kai didn’t back down either and quickly summoned the remaining Dawn members.
A moment later, some 90 people were gathered in the small courtyard, bustling with noise and excitement. Because of all the noise, Feng Ying and Bai Yi were unable to remain in seclusion.
Yang Kai and Chai Fang, who were sitting across from each other at the table just as before, were now completely surrounded by members of their respective Squads.
Chai Fang fiercely glared at Yang Kai and shouted, “Brothers, Sisters, Squad Leader Yang has taken care of us quite a lot on the battlefield! He has saved us so many times, but we never got a chance to repay him! Let’s show him proper gratitude today!”
Yang Kai bitterly smiled, “Squad Leader Chai, you’re really too polite, it would be impolite not to repay your gift in return. Since Squad Leader Chai is such a good drinker, let’s let him drink to his heart’s content today!”
At first, whether it was Yang Kai or Chai Fang, both of them were conscious and could drink themselves, but soon their vision became blurry and stars began to shine before their eyes.
Nonetheless, the other members of the Squads were not willing to let them go and opened their mouths and poured wine into them.
*Gulp gulp…*
*Gulp gulp…*
Feng Ying and Bai Yi stood together, watching from afar, the former sighing, “A pyrrhic victory indeed, sacrificing 800 soldiers just to slay 1,000 of the enemy!”
Bai Yi vigorously nodded like a chicken pecking rice.
At one point, Yang Kai’s body went limp and slid under the table.
The drunken Chai Fang on the opposite side broke into loud laughter, “This Old Master won!”
Saying so, he also collapsed onto the table.
Both Squad Leaders got knocked out together, but the members of both Squads had yet to enjoy themselves to their heart’s content. A few female members of the Old Turtles Squad even took out some cooking utensils and started preparing some snacks to go with the drinking. Seeing this, Feng Ying and Bai Yi also stepped forward to help.
The courtyard was bustling with noise and excitement.
Both Special Operations Squads were rivals on the battlefield, but they were also inseparable comrades-in-arms. It was the same during the drinking competition.
Everyone was drinking in either groups of three or five. At some point, everyone was drunk, their eyes were droopy and red. Even Feng Ying and the other women had a slight blush on their faces.
Even though they were all Open Heaven Realm Masters, because no one used their World Force to detoxify themselves, their alcohol tolerance was still limited. Of course, they could still hold their liquor because of their powerful physiques.
The empty wine jugs piled higher and higher as more and more fell to the ground, dead drunk.
After an unknown period of time, the entire courtyard had people lying here and there, knocked out; not a single person was left standing. As for Feng Ying and Bai Yi, they were unable to continue drinking long ago and had returned to their rooms to rest.
The bustling courtyard had become completely silent and peaceful.
Under the table, Yang Kai, who was knocked out, secretly opened his eyes. After confirming that the drinking competition was over, only then did he pop his head up, taking the support of the chair. But the next moment, he saw a pair of eyes staring at him from across the table.
When their eyes met, both Yang Kai and Chai Fang were awkward and embarrassed!
Yang Kai had secretly used his strength to detoxify himself, but he didn’t expect Chai Fang to do the same.
[Shameless bastard!] Both of them cursed in their hearts.
After calming himself down, Yang Kai sat back down with no change in his expression. He then took out a tea set and started carefully brewing.
Chai Fang remained silent and waited for the tea.
A moment later, the fragrance of tea filled the air as Yang Kai poured two cups and pushed one to Chai Fang.
Chai Fang picked up the cup and took a sip.
For a moment, alternate sounds of sipping filled the silent courtyard.
After finishing a pot of tea, Chai Fang suddenly opened his mouth and stated, “I’m afraid that something big is about to happen.”
Yang Kai slightly furrowed his brow, “Senior Brother noticed?”
Chai Fang nodded his affirmation, “It seems you did too.”
Yang Kai continued, “Generally, 80% of the Pass’ forces are concentrated at the forward base, and this status quo has been maintained for over 200 years. Although there hasn’t been any fighting for a long time, we still need to be on guard against the Black Ink Clan’s counterattack. In light of this, it’s a little unusual to suddenly recall two Special Operations Squads.”
Chai Fang added with a nod, “It would have been nothing if it was just our Squads; but recently, many Squads had been returning one after another. All of them must have received recall orders. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but all these Squads belonged to the different Divisions and Battalions. In other words, none of the returning Squads belonged to the same Battalion.”
“Do you have some hypothesis?” Yang Kai asked.
Chai Fang shook his head, denying, “I have no idea. I was hoping you had heard something.”
This was the main reason why he had come to Yang Kai. The drinking competition was just a bonus.
Yang Kai frowned, voicing his thoughts, “If the Pass is planning an attack, they should have gathered their forces at the forward base; but for some reason, they have been recalling us.”
“It seems little brother doesn’t know anything.”
Although Yang Kai suspected that whatever the Pass’ upper echelons were planning had something to do with the newly developed Evil Purging Divine Spear, he believed that doing so would be a reckless thing.
He might have infused Purifying Light into quite a lot of Evil Purging Divine Spears, but each Pass still had only 200 to 300 in total. These Evil Purging Divine Spears could be given to the elite soldiers, but it would not change the course of the war that much; after all, the Evil Purging Divine Spears were one-time-use consumables.
In his opinion, the Evil Purging Divine Spears would be best used only after amassing a considerable amount of them. They should either not use them, or use them only to force the Black Ink Clan into a corner.
Since this matter concerned the Evil Purging Divine Spear, Yang Kai couldn’t reveal too much to Chai Fang.
“The higher-ups have always been very secretive, so I’m afraid no one will know what they’re planning until the last moment,” Chai Fang couldn’t help but grumble.
It was the same when they had used Xiang Shan’s breakthrough to lure the Black Ink Clan Territory Lords out last time. The Special Operations Squads had no idea and tried to protect Xiang Shan at the cost of their lives, but in the end, the upper echelons of the Pass had been well prepared.
But it was only reasonable to not inform them, because only when they put their lives on the line would the Territory Lords believe that the Human Race had not planned some kind of trap. Had they known the plan beforehand, they might have revealed some clues.
“Senior Brother, don’t worry about it. If they’re really planning to do something, we will know soon enough,” Yang Kai comforted.
Chai Fang nodded slightly, “Junior Brother, if you receive any news, please inform me as soon as possible so that I can make preparations.”
“Good!”
“Then, this Chai will take his leave first.” Chai Fang stood up and shouted, “All of you, get up! Don’t keep lying like corpses! 50 of you lot were beaten by just 30 people, stop making fools of yourselves!”
As soon as his voice fell, the members of both Squads lying in the courtyard got up one by one. Everyone circulated their strength to dispel the effects of the alcohol. The members of the Old Turtle Squad looked very ashamed while the Dawn Squad, on the other hand, was beaming with smiles.
Under Chai Fang’s lead, the Old Turtles quickly left and Dawn’s members also left after them, leaving the courtyard in a mess with Yang Kai alone, who silently tidied up everything.
A few days later, Yang Kai, who was cultivating, was once again summoned to the Army Headquarters.
But the moment he stepped into the Army Headquarters, he heard a familiar angry shout coming from the main office, “Why can’t I go? Old Zhong Liang promised me!”
[Grandmaster Ma Fan?]
Yang Kai was slightly taken aback. He had no idea that Grandmaster Ma Fan had returned to Blue Sky Pass. Grandmaster Ma Fan had been staying in the forward base since he had arrived at the Black Ink Battlefield. Since he was here, Yang Kai felt that the situation inside Blue Sky Pass was even more complicated than he expected.
Moreover, Zhong Liang’s promise that Grandmaster Ma Fan had just spoken about was quite concerning.
When the Evil Purging Divine Spear experiment was over, Grandmaster Ma Fan reminded Zhong Liang to not forget his promise, and Zhong Liang assured him that he had not.
Yang Kai didn’t know what Zhong Liang had promised to Grandmaster Ma Fan, but by the looks of it, things had gone wrong. Ding Yao seemed to disagree, which had caused Ma Fan to burn with fury.
While these thoughts were running in his mind, he walked into the office. As he had guessed, he saw Grandmaster Ma Fan inside, but the old man was like an angry rooster, glaring at Ding Yao. Meanwhile, Shen Tu Mo tried to persuade him, “Grandmaster, please calm down. Brother Zhong had indeed promised you, so logically speaking, Brother Ding and I should accept Brother Zhong’s decision, but times have changed. The Evil Purging Divine Spear was invented by you, so you need to oversee the project if further modifications are required. The Evil Purging Divine Spear will determine the future of the Human Race and change the course of its future. Ergo, Grandmaster should remain at Blue Sky Pass for the big picture.”
“Bullshit!” Grandmaster Ma Fan spat in anger. Yang Kai could not help but shrink his neck at the sight of this.
Even an ordinary Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master wouldn’t act so presumptuously before these two Army Commanders; however, not only was Ma Fan an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but he was also an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster.
“This old man already has one foot in the grave, so why would I care about the big picture? That’s something you Army Commanders need to worry about, what does it have to do with me? The reason this old man has been holding on even after so many years is that I am unable to face my ancestors. Now that I have a chance to fulfil my lifelong wish, you guys are not letting this old man go? What kind of bullshit logic is that? Besides, although this old man was in charge of developing the Evil Purging Divine Spear, the refining process has already been spread to the other Passes. If any improvements are needed in the future, those old farts can figure it out, so why should I worry about it?”
Shen Tu Mo earnestly advised, “Grandmaster, the battlefield is dangerous, and this operation will be different from the past. No one can guarantee anything.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan shot him a long look, “What? Are you afraid this old man will be a burden? This old man doesn’t just know how to refine artifacts, I also know how to kill enemies. If it weren’t for your lack of Artifact Refiners, this old man wouldn’t have been sitting in the rear and would have charged into the Black Ink Clan’s base many times already. Furthermore, if this old man really did die on the battlefield, it would be a worthy death! When I meet my ancestors in the next life, this old man can proudly tell them that I died on the Black Ink Battlefield. My ancestors will definitely praise me!”
Shen Tu Mo was rendered speechless. Even he could not use force against someone like Grandmaster Ma Fan, and judging by the old man’s attitude, it was pointless to persuade him.
Grandmaster Ma Fan suddenly turned to Yang Kai, “You said that the Evil Purging Divine Spear is connected to the future of the entire Human Race, so you are afraid that something will happen to me and asked this old man not to go, but the true key to the Evil Purging Divine Spears is that brat! The Evil Purging Divine Spear would be nothing more than a piece of trash without his Purifying Light. You recalled him, so that means you planned to deploy him with the Army? What the Hell!? A Seventh-Order boy can go, but this old man can’t? I don’t give a damn! I’m going whether you like it or not, whether you allow me or not. Hell, this old man will go alone if I have to!”
Saying so, he turned around and left, not even giving Yang Kai so much as a glance.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but pucker his lips. He suddenly felt like he had run into an unexpected disaster. He couldn’t understand why these big shots had to drag him into their quarrel.
[I was right, the Pass is indeed planning something, and judging by Grandmaster Ma Fan’s words, it seemed like we are going somewhere. This explains why all those Squads have been recalled.]
That was alright too. Everything was peaceful at Blue Sky Pass, and the Black Ink Clan had been holed up in their nests for the last two centuries. Since Blue Sky Pass won’t be facing any battle any time soon, deploying forces elsewhere where they might be needed was a good idea.
The Great Passes had never been able to provide any real assistance to one another since ancient times, because they were too far apart and the amount of resources needed to transport so many people was too great. But since Blue Sky Pass had enough resources and leeway, they could ignore such a cost.
While these thoughts were running through his mind, there was no change in Yang Kai’s expression as he cupped his fist, “Sirs.”
Ding Yao and Shen Tu Mo both nodded slightly.
Shen Tu Mo looked at him and asked, “You heard everything, right?”
Yang Kai nodded in response.
“What do you think?”
Yang Kai didn’t hesitate to voice his guess, “Is the Pass planning to send reinforcements to another Pass to defend against the Black Ink Clan?”
When Shen Tu Mo heard that, he answered, “Yes, and no…”
Yang Kai was confused.
Then, Shen Tu Mo fell silent as if he were thinking about how to explain this matter to Yang Kai; after all, it was not a simple matter to understand.
It took quite some time before Shen Tu Mo spoke again “It’s been about 300 years since you arrived at the Black Ink Battlefield, and although that’s not a long time, you’ve already gathered more experience than the average soldier could gather after battling the Black Ink Clan for thousands of years. Moreover, you’ve also been to places that even the Eighth-Order Masters had never gone. Have you ever wondered why the entire Black Ink Battlefield is so large and vast?”
Yang Kai answered in his mind, [Why would I wonder about that? Even if I did, would I be able to find the answer?]
However, now that Shen Tu Mo had brought it up, it naturally evoked Yang Kai’s curiosity. He was right. Why was the Black Ink Battlefield so vast? Among the 3,000 Worlds, any Great Territory could be described as vast beyond what the eye could see, none was even comparable in scope and scale to the Black Ink Battlefield.
The area of the Black Ink Battlefield had already gone way past the area of a Great Territory. It was like the Black Ink Battlefield was never-ending.
After sighing, Shen Tu Mo explained, “According to some ancient texts, in the era when the Universe was just created, the Black Ink Battlefield was also divided up into many Great Territories, each of them flourishing and filled with life. Each Great Territory was separated by Territory Barriers, but connected through Territory Gates, similar to the 3,000 Worlds. However, the rise of the Black Ink Clan changed everything. Born out of nowhere, the Black Ink Clan’s natural aggressiveness and unique reproductive methods made it easy for them to dominate the Great Territories.
Whenever the Black Ink Clan fully conquered a Great Territory, that Great Territory would start to corrode and the Territory Barriers around it would collapse, resulting in it merging with the adjacent Great Territories to become an even larger area. Then, like a snowball rolling downhill, the Great Territory would become larger and larger, which is why the Black Ink Battlefield is so vast.”
While scrunching his eyebrows, Yang Kai asked, “In other words, the Black Ink Battlefield we’re standing in now is the product of merging countless Great Territories?”
“That’s right.” Shen Tu Mo nodded.
It was his first time hearing such a description. It was quite interesting.
Yang Kai continued, “Sir, why does the Territory Barrier collapse after the Black Ink Clan fully dominates a Great Territory? Also, how do we conclude whether the Black Ink Clan has fully conquered a Great Territory?”
Shaking his head, Shen Tu Mo replied, “I don’t know either. All the knowledge I have about this matter comes from reading those ancient historical records, but the contents in those documents aren’t complete anymore, and no one can determine if the contents written are real or fake. However, this theory is able to explain why the Black Ink Battlefield has such a vast area.”
“Then, where did the Black Ink Clan come from? A typical Black Ink Clansman is bred from a Black Ink Nest, and Black Ink Nests are divided into different Ranks. A Low-Rank Black Ink Nest is the sub-nest of a Mid-Rank one, so if we trace that logic, what is the primary nest, where were the Royal Lord Black Ink Nests originally spawned from?”
That question had confused Yang Kai for a long time, but he still hadn’t found an answer to it. Ever since he found out about the secret behind the Black Ink Nests, he began to wonder about their origin; therefore, he seized this opportunity to ask Shen Tu Mo, wanting to get an answer to his questions.
However, Shen Tu Mo shook his head, “I don’t know. Before you discovered the secrets behind the reproduction of Black Ink Nests, we Humans had no idea they were even linked.”
That answer naturally disappointed Yang Kai, but when he thought about it, he suddenly had a more pertinent question to ask, “Sir, why are you telling me these things?”
Just now, Yang Kai was asking about why so many Squads had been recalled from the forward base, so how did the topic suddenly change to this?
Shen Tu Mo answered, “I’m telling you these things because the higher-ups are planning a new operation, and it involves not only Blue Sky Pass but all the Great Passes.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, “Is an all-out crusade about to begin?”
Ding Yao, who had been silent throughout the conversation, finally spoke up, “It has something to do with that, but before we begin the crusade, we must finish this first! Just shut up, listen, and don’t ask any questions.”
Obediently, Yang Kai stopped talking.
Shen Tu Mo continued, “Back in the ancient era, the Black Ink Clan were on a rampage, and the Great Territories were falling rapidly. In the face of this threat, some Human Great Experts banded together and created 108 Great Passes in the Black Ink Battlefield to fight back against the Black Ink Clan. This initiative has blessed the following generations to this day. Without these 108 Great Passes, the current 3,000 Worlds might have already become the Black Ink Clan’s territory, and you and I might never have existed. Although these 108 Passes seem to be fighting independent campaigns, in reality, we are all closely connected into one, creating a strong line of defence.”
While he was talking, he stretched out his hand and drew something in the air. Then, pure World Force gathered together to become a large tapestry of light.
Under his control, the light rays were divided into two distinctive areas, one white and one black. He then pointed at the white area, “This region corresponds to the 3,000 Worlds.”
After that, he pointed at the black area, “And this represents the Black Ink Battlefield.”
He then pointed at the middle area between the two, and a drop of golden light suddenly appeared, “This is the No-Return Pass, which has been guarded by the Dragon and the Phoenix Clans since ancient times. It is also the only connection point between the 3,000 Worlds and the Black Ink Battlefield. All reinforcements from the Cave-Heavens and Paradises, as well as our resources from the 3,000 Worlds, must pass through the No-Return Pass. So, we can say that the No-Return Pass is the 3,000 World’s last line of defence!”
With a wave of his hand, Shen Tu Mo caused more than 100 golden lights to appear in the Black Ink Battlefield region and arrange themselves into a semicircle that shielded the No-Return pass.
This was the first time Yang Kai clearly saw the actual arrangement of all 108 great passes in the Black Ink Battlefield. He asked in shock, “Is this the real arrangement of all the great passes?”
Shen Tu Mo nodded and explained, “That’s right. Such an arrangement can ensure that every great pass has a Theatre to defend, and as long as we can defend our own Theatres, the Black Ink Clan will never be able to step foot in the 3,000 Worlds.”
Yang Kai was astonished, “The Ancient Great Experts’ abilities are truly awe-inspiring.”
At that moment, Ding Yao came forward with his hands behind his back, “We Humans have been relying on this defence line to hold back the Black Ink Clan for countless years. Although we’ve sacrificed more elite soldiers than we can count, we were able to ensure the freedom of the 3,000 Worlds. However, something happened 30,000 years ago, which completely changed our situation.”
While saying so, he stretched out his hand, and under Yang Kai’s gaze, one of the over 100 golden lights suddenly turned black.”
Yang Kai felt his heart sink and could vaguely guess what had happened 30,000 years ago.
As he expected, Ding Yao elaborated, “30,000 years ago, the Black Ink Clan managed to break through Great Evolution Pass, which was guarded by Great Evolution Paradise. The Old Ancestor of Great Evolution Pass led tens of thousands of soldiers to fight with the Black Ink Clan for several years, and the whole Army was almost wiped out while the Old Ancestor himself died in battle. Since then, Great Evolution Pass has been in the hands of the Black Ink Clan.”
Despite having guessed as much, Yang Kai still felt depressed when hearing Ding Yao mention this incident. Almost the entire Army of a Great Pass was wiped out, and even the Old Ancestor overseeing the Pass had died in battle. That battle must have been a huge blow to the Humans as it was not only the loss of a Great Pass, but also the annihilation of a Paradise!
That was the first and only time since ancient times that Humans lost a Great Pass.
That battle also caused the Great Evolution Paradise to wither away.
The Humans considered that matter a great shame, which is why Yang Kai had never heard about it directly despite joining the Black Ink Battlefield for over 300 years. Those who knew about this were mainly the Eight-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, who wouldn’t tell him such things. Cultivators under the Eighth Order had no idea about this incident. In fact, Yang Kai first heard about this news from Hei Yuan Territory Lord.
Yang Kai didn’t know what actually happened 30,000 years ago that caused Great Evolution Pass’ demise, but he knew that something was obviously not right about that battle because not only was the Army almost wiped out, but even the Ninth-Order Old Ancestor had been killed.
“An Old Ancestor’s strength is on par with that of a Royal Lord, or possibly even slightly superior, so how could the Black Ink Clan manage to easily defeat a Great Pass with an Old Ancestor assuming command? Also, why did the Great Evolution Pass fall so quickly?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.
Ding Yao explained, “Though an Old Ancestor can fight a Royal Lord to a standstill quite easily, what about when it’s two against one?”
Yang Kai was shocked, “Did the Black Ink Clan deploy two Royal Lords to that battle?”
Nodding, Ding Yao replied, “We only learned about this after the fact. It’s not easy for a Human to advance to the Ninth Order, but that is true for the Black Ink Clan’s Royal Lords too. Such a Master might not appear even once in several thousand years. Back then, there had only been one Royal Lord in the Great Evolution Theatre, and he had been fighting with the Great Evolution Pass’ Old Ancestor for countless years, so they knew each other very well. However, one of the Territory Lords advanced to become a Royal Lord, and the Black Ink Clan was able to keep that hidden from Great Evolution Pass’ Old Ancestor. Then, while the Old Ancestor was in the midst of fighting with the old Royal Lord, that newly advanced Royal Lord managed to launch a sneak attack and severely injure the Old Ancestor. How could the Old Ancestor win a battle in such a situation?”
Shen Tu Mo added, “Although the Great Evolution Pass’ Old Ancestor died in battle, he was able to bring down one of the Royal Lords with him. In a way, his death wasn’t in vain.”
In a battle, where it was two against one, and being severely injured, the Great Evolution Pass’ Old Ancestor still managed to kill one of the Royal Lords before he died. It was a feat worthy of being recorded in history.
“Though you’re only a Seventh-Order Master, you’ve joined many secret operations, so you must know that the Humans are preparing for a grand crusade.”
With a nod, Yang Kai replied, “I understand.”
Then, Ding Yao pointed at the black dot symbolising the Great Evolution Pass, “If we want to start a crusade, we must first take back Great Evolution Pass! Otherwise, our lines will have a critical weak point. This is the purpose of the recent personnel rearrangement made by the Inner Sanctum. Not only is it happening in Blue Sky Pass, but also at the other Great Passes.”
Yang Kai now understood the situation.
In the meantime, he also finally understood why Grandmaster Ma Fan was so excited back then. He was one of the few remnants of Great Evolution Paradise, and now that he found out that the Humans were planning to take back Great Evolution Pass, of course, he would want to have a part in the campaign. Great Evolution Pass was the place that his ancestors shed blood to protect and where they were buried. Standing from Grandmaster Ma Fan’s point of view, he had to go take a look no matter what and pry their lost Great Pass from the Black Ink Clan’s clutches as revenge for his ancestors.
However, Shen Tu Mo and Ding Yao were wary about that and didn’t want Grandmaster Ma Fan to join the operation, which would naturally lead to the latter flying into a rage. In such a situation, perhaps everyone would be against him joining this operation.
In fact, Yang Kai even suspected that Grandmaster Ma Fan was able to be enlisted into the Black Ink Battlefield 200 years ago because the Humans had been planning to take back Great Evolution Pass even then.
Of course, that was just his own speculation, and there was no way to confirm it.
The Humans wanted to take back the Great Evolution Pass. That was big news, and just thinking about it made Yang Kai feel excited.
As far as the main crusade went, the first step was to recover Great Evolution Pass. That was because the Great Pass had fallen into the hands of the Black Ink Clan, and if not recovered, once the Humans began their crusade, the Black Ink Clan might harass them from the rear. Therefore, the Humans had to tie up all loose ends that might affect their crusade before it could begin.
Yang Kai suddenly thought of a problem, “Sirs, according to your story on how Great Evolution Pass fell into the hands of the Black Ink Clan, there must still be a Royal Lord assuming command over there. If we want to defeat a Royal Lord, we must have an Old Ancestor with us. Could it be that the Old Ancestor from our side will be personally leading the Army to Great Evolution Pass?”
Although it had been quite a while since Blue Sky Theatre had seen open hostilities, the Old Ancestor still couldn’t leave the Great Pass at will. Once the Black Ink Clan discovered that the Old Ancestor had left, they might try something. By then, they wouldn’t be anyone restraining the Black Ink Clan’s Royal Lord, and although Blue Sky Pass could not be easily overtaken, such a battle would definitely cost them the forward base. Once that was gone, all their hard work for hundreds of years would be wiped away.
Blue Sky Pass wouldn’t do such a stupid thing.
Shen Tu Mo replied, “There will be an Old Ancestor leading the Army in this battle to recover our territory, but not the one from our Pass.”
Yang Kai frowned, “Who would it be?”
It wasn’t an easy decision to let the Old Ancestor leave a Theatre, regardless of which Great Pass they were overseeing.
“You also know this Old Ancestor.”
“Someone I know?” Yang Kai was stunned. When he thought about it, he knew only three Old Ancestors. One was Blue Sky Pass’ Old Ancestor, one was Yin-Yang Pass’ Old Ancestor, and the other was Myriad Demons Pass’ Old Ancestor. He hadn’t met the other Old Ancestors yet.
But Shen Tu Mo just said that the battle to recover their territory had nothing to do with the Old Ancestor of Blue Sky Pass, so there were only the Old Ancestors of Yin-Yang Pass and Myriad Demons Pass.
“The one leading this campaign will be the Old Ancestor of Yin-Yang Pass.”
The image of the gluttonous little girl immediately appeared in Yang Kai’s mind, and his brow twitched slightly. He thought it might be the one from Myriad Demons Pass, but did not expect it to be the one from Yin-Yang Pass.
That person was not very reliable! Was it really feasible for her to lead the Army to recover Great Evolution Pass?
However, Yang Kai was more concerned about another thing, “If she leaves, who will assume command of Yin-Yang Pass?”
Just as Blue Sky Pass’ Old Ancestor couldn’t easily leave Blue Sky Pass, Yin-Yang Pass had the same situation. The presence of each Old Ancestor was a great deterrent to the Black Ink Clan.
Hearing his question, Ding Yao hesitated for a moment and said, “200 years ago, Yin-Yang Pass’ Southern Army Commander, Wu Qing exhibited signs of a breakthrough, so he returned to the 3,000 Worlds via the No-Return Pass. He then succeeded in breaking through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm at Red Clouds Cave Heaven!”
Not knowing whether he had felt it wrongly, Yang Kai felt that Ding Yao was full of envy when he said that; however, Yang Kai was still surprised by the news, “Senior Wu has advanced to the Ninth Order?”
Ding Yao and Shen Tu Mo nodded together, and Shen Tu Mo urged, “This is a top-secret matter. Even in Yin-Yang Pass, only the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters know about it, so don’t make a big fuss about it.”
Yang Kai nodded instinctively, but his mind was still in a state of shock.
Wu Qing had broken through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm!
This was great news to the Humans because they now had another Old Ancestor. Now, Yin-Yang Pass had two Old Ancestors.
But then again, before he went to Yin-Yang Pass last time, he had heard about Wu Qing from the others. Wu Qing carried a Profound Fish, one of the Four Universe Pillars, so he did not fear the Black Ink Strength’s corruption. As he was already very strong, he would frequently dive into the Black Ink Clan’s territory alone and stir up trouble. The Black Ink Clan in Yin-Yang Theatre resented him very much, but they couldn’t do anything about it.
Wu Qing had been an Eighth-Order Master for many years and had been on the verge of a breakthrough for some time now; therefore, he was known as the one who was most likely to break through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm in recent years. That wasn’t a secret among the Great Passes, but no one knew when or even if he could advance successfully.
No one knew if he would suddenly have a bought of enlightenment and break through, or perhaps he would stay in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm for another 10,000 years without any change. It was not just a matter of accumulation, but also about luck and opportunity.
It was not until more than 200 years ago that Wu Qing had an epiphany and immediately returned to Red Clouds Cave Heaven via the No-Return Pass.
Ordinary cultivators who came to the Black Ink Battlefield could never return to the 3,000 Worlds, but it was different with Wu Qing’s situation because he had the Profound Fish, so it was impossible for him to be corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Moreover, he was in a special state whereby he was about to make a breakthrough, so his return was permitted as it had strategic importance.
Another reason was that the process of advancing into the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm would cause a huge commotion, so if Wu Qing remained in Yin-Yang Pass during his advancement, the Royal Lord would definitely become aware of it. Once the Black Ink Clan noticed, they would become warier.
Therefore, the best choice was for Wu Qing to return to the 3,000 Worlds and quietly break through at Red Clouds Cave Heaven first.
It could be said that every Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master that was about to break through to Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm would be returned to the 3,000 Worlds to their Master Sect before they break through.
After Wu Qing had advanced to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he stayed in Red Clouds Cave Heaven for more than 200 years to stabilise his Realm before secretly returning to Yin-Yang Pass.
Only after his return did the Humans prepare to implement the plan to recover Great Evolution Pass.
With Wu Qing, the newly advanced Ninth-Order Old Ancestor, assuming command of Yin-Yang Pass, the situation at Yin-Yang Theatre would not change much, and the veteran Old Ancestor of Yin-Yang Pass would be free to lead the Army to take back Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai had met with Wu Qing during his previous trip to Yin-Yang Pass, but they hadn’t said much to each other, so he wasn’t very familiar with him. Regardless, Yang Kai was still happy that Wu Qing was able to advance into the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
However, he soon thought of another thing, “Since Senior Wu has advanced into the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm without the knowledge of the Royal Lord in the Yin-Yang Theatre, why doesn’t he team up with the Old Ancestor at Yin-Yang Pass to deal with the Royal Lord there?”
The Old Ancestor of Great Evolution Paradise was sneak attacked by a newly advanced Royal Lord more than 30,000 years ago under similar circumstances, resulting in his demise.
The Humans could simply return the favour.
While shaking his head, Ding Yao explained, “That’s too big of a risk, and there are too many uncontrollable factors. A Royal Lord is not like a Territory Lord or a Feudal Lord. When it comes to life-or-death situations, even if there is no chance of survival, a Royal Lord has a high chance of dragging someone down with them. It’s not easy for us Humans to gain an Old Ancestor, so we cannot afford to take that risk.”
Back then, the Old Ancestor of Great Evolution Pass was still able to kill a Royal Lord despite being sneak attacked and outnumbered. A Royal Lord’s strength was basically on par with that of a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so there was also a chance that they could do the same.
As long as there was such a chance, the Humans would not risk it.
Smiling, Shen Tu Mo elaborated, “Because an Old Ancestor and a Royal Lord aren’t that easy to kill, each Great Pass can barely maintain a balance. If the Black Ink Clan acted according to what you just proposed, who knows how many Great Passes we would have lost.”
“What do you mean by that?” Yang Kai frowned in confusion.
Shen Tu Mo continued to explain, “There are a number of Theatres with more than one Royal Lord. For example, the Great Battle Theatre. There are two Royal Lords there while we only have one Old Ancestor standing guard.”
Hearing that, Yang Kai was very surprised, “There are two Royal Lords in the Great Battle Theatre?”
“What’s so surprising about that?” Ding Yao glanced at him, “Some Human Great Passes have two Old Ancestors, but the total number of Royal Lords is most likely still higher.”
Yang Kai looked bewildered, “I always thought that every Great Pass only had one Old Ancestor and the corresponding Theatre only had one Royal Lord.”
Frowning, Shen Tu Mo asked, “Who told you that?”
While shaking his head, Yang Kai replied, “No one.” It was all his own assumption, but now it seemed that he was being naive.
Thinking about it, no one had ever told him explicitly that each Great Pass had only one Old Ancestor that corresponded to one Royal Lord.
Though there weren’t many Old Ancestors, how could they possibly be distributed perfectly evenly so that all Great Passes only had one? There had to be a few extras somewhere.
It was the same for the Royal Lord.
It just so happened that the three Great Passes he visited only had one Old Ancestor and one Royal Lord.
“On the Black Ink Clan’s side, both their Feudal Lords and Territory Lords outnumber our Seventh-Order and Eighth-Order Masters, so it’s only normal for their Royal Lords to outnumber our Ninth-Masters too. However, the actual number is irrelevant to the overall situation. Although there are fewer Ninth-Orders Open Heaven Realm Masters in some Theatres, they are still able to maintain a balance with the Royal Lords and keep each other in check.”
Yang Kai nodded his head, indicating that he understood.
Using Great Battle Pass as an example, although there was only one Ninth-Order Old Ancestor facing two Royal Lords, along with the risks of attacking the Great Pass, as long as the Old Ancestor acted prudently, there wouldn’t be any danger.
“We’ve strayed a bit too far off-topic,” Shen Tu Mo waved his hand and said, “Let’s put all these to the side. What we have to do now is to recover Great Evolution Pass. Originally, you weren’t supposed to be involved in this matter because, as Grandmaster Ma Fan said, you are the key to the Evil Purging Divine Spear. The future of the Human Race is at stake, and we wouldn’t allow you to head to such a dangerous battlefield so easily. If you were to have any accidents, the whole crusade would be in jeopardy.”
Smiling playfully, Yang Kai added, “Though I don’t know the reason, Dawn will be participating in this battle to recover the Great Pass, right?”
[I’m sure no Human soldier would want to miss such an opportunity.]
Shen Tu Mo nodded, “Indeed! The Old Ancestor from Yin-Yang Pass specifically requested you to join the Army, saying that your Small Universe can help her restore her strength and recover from her injuries. We naturally need to cooperate when such a request is made.”
Yang Kai suddenly understood the situation.
The last time he was in Yin-Yang Pass, he had used his Small Universe to help the Old Ancestor heal from her wounds. It seemed like after tasting the benefits he could offer, she had developed a liking for them.
This was only reasonable as she would turn into a child if she were seriously injured, and normal healing methods had little effect on her. She could only restore her injuries in a Bustling World.
Yang Kai’s Small Universe just happened to be a place where countless ordinary beings flourished and was perfectly suitable for her healing process. Also, the flow of time inside his Small Universe was different from the outside world, so it could be said that if they had Yang Kai with them, the chances of success in this campaign to recover their territory would increase greatly.
The recovery of Great Evolution Pass was related to their future crusade, and the Old Ancestor from Yin-Yang Pass had personally requested Yang Kai to follow them; therefore, considering the overall situation, Blue Sky Pass couldn’t refuse.
This was the reason Ding Yao and Shen Tu Mo told Yang Kai so much; otherwise, how could a Seventh-Order Junior be qualified to know so many operational details? Since it was an order from the higher-ups, they were just carrying them out.