No one in the East-West Army was aware that the Old Ancestor wasn’t with them until just now.
However, she was a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, after all. Although she was injured, Xiang Shan and the others would never be able to track her if she wanted to do something furtively.
Now, there was only one person who might be aware of the Old Ancestor’s whereabouts.
Soon, a Seventh-Order Master was summoned to this place.
Mi Jing Lun took a look and realised that the person was someone he knew. It was Yang Kai, who had previously come to the North-South Army to pass on information about the change in war strategy. Mi Jing Lun still vividly remembered this Seventh-Order Junior. In the first great battle against the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre, it was Yang Kai who led two Special Operations Squads from the North-South Army to crush the enemy Army on the battlefield.
The members of those two Squads had lost all combat capability after a few hours of fighting, but Yang Kai continued charging across the battlefield on his own using just his Divine Manifestation to break up the Black Ink Clan’s formation.
It could be said that this Seventh-Order Master had made a huge contribution in that battle and created a chance for the North-South Army to achieve a breakthrough.
At this moment, Yang Kai was puzzled. He was cultivating on Dawning Light when he was suddenly summoned by the Army Commanders, so he could only come over in a hurry. However, he had no idea why he was summoned to this place.
Seeing that all the leaders of the Army were around, he quickly saluted them one by one and asked, “What orders do you have for me?”
Xiang Shan looked at him, “Do you know where the Old Ancestor is?”
“Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao?” Yang Kai was surprised that they had summoned him to this place to ask about the Old Ancestor’s whereabouts. How was he supposed to know? He had been cultivating aboard Dawning Light since they set sail.
“Xiao Xiao?” These Eighth-Order Masters were shocked, for it was the first time they heard of this name.
The names of the Old Ancestors were basically a mystery. Even the Eighth-Order Masters might not be aware of them; after all, the Old Ancestors had lived for a very long time, so long that many of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were not even born yet when the Old Ancestors first stepped onto the Black Ink Battlefield.
Only those extremely old Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might know the names of some of the Old Ancestors, but they wouldn’t easily bring such information up, must less tell anyone about it casually.
Therefore, rarely anyone knew the name of any Old Ancestor.
It was expected that they were surprised when they heard Yang Kai mention the Old Ancestor’s name, for it didn’t sound very imposing.
Yang Kai coughed and explained, “100 years ago, the Old Ancestor suddenly declared that from that day on, her name would be Xiao Xiao. It’s a sad story, so let’s not discuss it further. Anyways, isn’t the Old Ancestor with the Army?”
Xiang Shan refuted, “Why would we ask you about it if she was with the Army?”
“I have no idea either,” Yang Kai appeared innocent.
Xiang Shan frowned, “The Old Ancestor has repeatedly recuperated inside your Small Universe over the years, so you’re the closest to her. Do you really have no clue where she might have gone?”
The North-South Army had fought to keep the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Pass bottled up all this time. On the other hand, the East-West Army had suffered immense losses to devastate the enemy in the Royal City. Now that the two Armies finally came together, the Old Ancestor was nowhere to be found.
They would be the laughing stock if such news was spread.
Just as Yang Kai was about to shake his head again, he suddenly recalled something and muttered, “I think I know where the Old Ancestor is.”
Liu Zhi Ping asked anxiously, “Where is she?”
Yang Kai replied, “If I’m not mistaken, the Old Ancestor must have returned to the Royal City.”
“She’s gone back to the Royal City?” Liu Zhi Ping was startled.
Yang Kai explained, “This is what happened. When we left the forward base and set sail for Great Evolution Pass a while back, the Old Ancestor came to me to get a few sets of Space Beacons. Like these.”
As he spoke, he fished out a set of Space Beacons.
“Two Space Beacons make up a set. They’re something I learned how to create many years ago and can be considered a kind of space artifact. These two Space Beacons are linked using Space Principles, so you just have to put one of them in a certain place, then channel your strength into the other to activate the link and instantly move to the first one from across a distance. It’s similar to using a Space Array. Initially, they were only usable by those who could use Space Principles, but over the years I’ve managed to improve them to work with World Force. The primary advantage is that these are much more discreet and portable compared to a Space Array.”
As he spoke, Xiang Shan and the others were examining the Space Beacons.
Liu Zhi Ping frowned, “Why did the Old Ancestor ask you for these Space Beacons? Why are you sure that she’s gone to the Royal City?”
Yang Kai explained, “Over the years, the Old Ancestor has been fighting the Royal Lord every 20 years or so to ensure he can’t recuperate in peace. In the final battle, she intended to finish him once and for all, but she failed in her attempt for various reasons, though she did manage to severely injure him. Now that she has gained such an immense advantage, she certainly wouldn’t want to just let him recuperate. However, there’s a great distance between Great Evolution Pass and the Royal City, so even if she is powerful, it would take her several days to reach the Royal City, not to mention all the enemy territory she would have to cross. With the help of my Space Beacons, she can reach her destination far more quickly.”
The Eighth-Order Masters understood what he meant.
Now that the Royal Lord was wounded, denying him the chance to heal himself would give a huge advantage to the Humans. In order to sustain that advantage though, the Old Ancestor had to harass him from time to time. She certainly couldn’t kill the Royal Lord, but just by revealing her aura near the Royal City, she would easily frighten the latter.
To achieve that, these Space Beacons would be the perfect tool.
Liu Zhi Ping fell into her thoughts for a moment, then said, “You mean, since the beginning, the Old Ancestor never intended to let the Royal Lord recover?”
“I believe so.”
It was clear where the Old Ancestor was now. She must have made use of the Space Beacons to head to the Royal City to taunt the Royal Lord. At the thought of this, Liu Zhi Ping couldn’t help offering a silent prayer for the latter. Black Ink Clansmen recuperated by falling asleep in Black Ink Nests, and once they were interrupted, they wouldn’t be able to recover efficiently.
It was imaginable that the Royal Lord wouldn’t be in the mood to recuperate if the Old Ancestor came to harass him whenever he fell asleep.
The reason the Old Ancestor was doing this was obvious; she was preparing for the future crusade.
However, Xiang Shan focused his attention on something else. After examining the Space Beacons for a bit, he asked, “Can these things help the Army to ambush the enemy?”
Since they could make use of Space Beacons to move around swiftly, there would be times when these things might bring unexpected results.
For example, when they were fighting against the Black Ink Clan, they could send a single Squad out as bait. However, when hostilities broke out, 100 people could appear out of nowhere and catch the Black Ink Clan off guard.
“Perhaps,” Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to say whether the idea was feasible or not.
Xiang Shan stopped asking, and then put away the set of Space Beacons. Clearly, he didn’t intend to return them to Yang Kai.
Since they had figured out the Old Ancestor’s whereabouts, they stopped feeling bothered. The Army continued moving towards Great Evolution Pass.
It had been roughly 150 years since the two Armies respectively departed from Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass, and they finally came together at Great Evolution Pass.
When they set out, there were a total of 60,000 soldiers and some 120 Eighth-Order Masters in the two Armies.
Presently, as the two Armies gathered together, there were only around 30,000 soldiers and 70 Eighth-Order Masters left.
The rest had died in battle.
…..
In the void, a group of Black Ink Clansmen were rushing towards the Royal City.
They were the ones that had departed from Great Evolution Pass. With Hong Di leading the way, there were several hundred thousand soldiers, and more than 20 Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples. They could be considered a substantial force.
Presently, Hong Di was deluged with mixed feelings. First, he had lost his home territory; after all, that was a place he had managed for 30,000 years. Not only had he returned it to the Humans, he had also lost his Black Ink Nest.
Even though he could get a new territory and Black Ink Nest in the future, he was probably the only one who had been defeated, and then forced to surrender his territory in the history of the Black Ink Clan, which was why he felt humiliated.
Second, he had been gripped by a sense of apprehension while heading towards the Royal City.
He wasn’t worried that Mi Jing Lun would deceive him. Although he only interacted with Mi Jing Lun once, he knew that the latter wasn’t a fool. It would do the Humans no good to make things difficult for the Black Ink Clan at this juncture; therefore, Hong Di was not worried that the North-South Army would attack them.
What he was truly worried about was that he might come across the East-West Army and the Human Old Ancestor on the way to their destination.
As such, he led his Army on a wide detour two days after they departed from Great Evolution Pass. They wouldn’t dare to move in a straight line for fear of running into the Human Army on its way from the Royal City.
However, Hong Di was still feeling anxious. Following his order, the Black Ink Clan soldiers hastened their pace so that they could return to the Royal City as quickly as possible.
If not for Hong Di rushing them, they would not have arrived at this place just one month after departing from Great Evolution Pass, considering the fact that they had made a detour.
From afar, they could see the magnificent Royal City, and Hong Di felt his eyes welling up with tears. Although the Royal City now appeared dilapidated, it still gave him a sense of security.
He could even feel the Royal Lord’s aura exuding from the Royal City.
[We’re home! We no longer have to feel on edge all the time!]
Many of the Territory Lords shared the same sentiment. Only when they saw the Royal City could they set their minds at ease.
However, that sense of security was suddenly and abruptly shattered.
An extremely powerful aura that sent a shockwave across the Territory Lords appeared literally out of nowhere in the void.
Although many of them hadn’t faced one before, they could instantly deduce that this aura belonged to a Human Old Ancestor.
The smile on Hong Di’s face froze as he turned to look at the source of the aura.
An alluring figure had appeared just over 1 million kilometres away. It was none other than Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
Just as Yang Kai had suspected, by leaving behind some Space Beacons along the way, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao managed to return to the vicinity of the Royal City almost instantaneously.
She didn’t intend to kill the Royal Lord, or even get into a fight with him, she just wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to recuperate in peace. By showing herself like this, she wanted to tell the Royal Lord that she would visit him from time to time, and that he best be prepared to welcome her at a moment’s notice.
Initially, she intended to head straight to the Royal City to make a bit of a scene, but the instant she appeared, she detected a large group of people just a million kilometres away.
As she turned her head, she made eye contact with Hong Di.
This came as a pleasant surprise to her.
She instantly realised that they were the Black Ink Clansmen who had come from Great Evolution Pass; therefore, she joyfully charged towards them.
It would be hard for her to make a move if all the Black Ink Clansmen hid in the Royal City, as with the help of the Black Ink Nest, the Royal Lord could still fend her off.
However, these Black Ink Clansmen were still quite some distance away from the Royal City, so they had nowhere to run, and no one to depend on as the Royal Lord certainly wouldn’t leave the Royal City to rescue them.
The Black Ink Clan Army descended into chaos in the next instant. The Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples joined forces to defend against the Old Ancestor, but even though they could keep themselves safe with some difficulty, they were unable to stop her from slaughtering the lower soldiers.
Therefore, after the Old Ancestor ran into the Black Ink Clansmen from Great Evolution Pass in the void, she managed to slaughter 100,000 of them, including a Territory Lord and 3 Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples. The rest fled to the Royal City in a hurry.
When the Royal Lord realized what had happened, he was so furious that he coughed up blood.
The Old Ancestor returned half a day after the East-West Army and North-South Army rendezvoused, her aura simply appearing in one of the Purifying Black Ink Battleships.
Apparently, she had made use of the Universe Array aboard to directly return from the Royal City.
None of them asked whether she had achieved anything, for it was apparent to them that she was in a good mood.
Given the situation in Great Evolution Pass though, the Old Ancestor’s good mood didn’t last for long, especially when Xiang Shan led her to the military drill ground where she had to face over 100 Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples.
Since the Black Ink Clan had left, these Black Ink Disciples had been seated with their legs crossed. They did not speak or feel angry, for they knew that they had been abandoned and there was nothing to be done about it.
“We asked Yang Kai to give it a try by bringing a Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple to somewhere else. Even though he had managed to dispel the Black Ink Strength from the Black Ink Disciple’s body using Purifying Light, the ultimate outcome wasn’t pleasant. The moment the Black Ink Strength dissipated, the Black Ink Disciple’s Small Universe ruptured and he perished as a result,” Xiang Shan said in a small voice beside the Old Ancestor, “These people cannot be saved. How should we deal with them, Old Ancestor?”
The Old Ancestor glanced at these Black Ink Disciples and nodded gently, “I will handle this.”
Saying so, she stepped forward.
In front of everyone, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao stopped in her tracks and swept a glance over these Black Ink Disciples. Then, she cupped her fist and bowed to them.
The reason she saluted them was to acknowledge the contributions they had made before they became Black Ink Disciples.
Although they were now Black Ink Disciples, and perhaps they had even killed some Human soldiers in the fight against the North-South Army, it wasn’t their true intention. Their minds had been twisted by the Black Ink Strength.
When they were still soldiers of Great Evolution Pass, they had done everything they could to defend it and ensure the safety of those in the 3,000 Worlds; therefore, even though they were Black Ink Disciples now, they deserved the Old Ancestor’s final respects.
The next instant, an amazing force swept across the entire military drill ground. Affected by the force, these Black Ink Disciples, who were originally expressionless, started feeling some emotions stir in their hearts.
The eyes of many Black Ink Disciples cleared up as they wore faint smiles.
Some of the Black Ink Disciples let out a sigh and closed their eyes.
There were also some Black Ink Disciples whose eyes filled up with tears.
At that instant, they seemed to have found their Human hearts they had lost 30,000 years ago.
The Old Ancestor remained in a bowing posture for a long time, and when she straightened her back, all the Black Ink Disciples on the military drill ground had lost their lives. However, they appeared to be at peace. In the last moments of their lives, they knew they were dying as Humans. That was the best blessing they could ask for.
“Bury them,” the Old Ancestor ordered and turned around to leave.
Xiang Shan respectfully saw her off.
…..
They were in the midst of rebuilding Great Evolution Pass, so the soldiers were swamped with work.
The Black Ink Clan had occupied Great Evolution Pass for 30,000 years, and they had many alterations and arrangements. It could be said that other than the framework, everything in Great Evolution Pass had been changed.
For example, the residences were no longer suitable for Humans. The Black Ink Clan came in many different sizes and shapes, but most of them were still much bigger than Humans; therefore, the residences originally belonging to the Humans were not suitable for them. After they occupied Great Evolution Pass, they started constructing huge and weirdly shaped buildings.
Since the Humans had retaken Great Evolution Pass, these buildings certainly wouldn’t be kept.
There were also those Spirit Arrays and artifacts that were installed on the walls of the Great Pass. They would refurbish what they could, and replace what they couldn’t. There was a lot of work to do.
Nevertheless, these weren’t urgent matters. The foundation of the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre had been severely damaged, so they wouldn’t come over to harass Great Evolution Pass in the near future. The Humans had ample time to make repairs.
That was the reason Xiang Shan targeted the Royal City first instead of heading straight to Great Evolution Pass when devising the overall strategy.
Now, his plan had proven to be effective. The Black Ink Clan were in a half-dead state, so the Humans could focus on rebuilding Great Evolution Pass and not worry about being disturbed.
Many of the things in Great Evolution Pass had been destroyed or modified, with the only original building still standing being the Main Conference Hall.
The Main Conference Hall was already enormous to begin with, so the Black Ink Clan didn’t bother changing it after occupying Great Evolution Pass.
At this moment, Grandmaster Ma Fan wept while kneeling in front of the throne made from bones in the Grand Hall.
The throne was made from the bones of the Human Masters the Black Ink Clan killed when they conquered Great Evolution Pass 30,000 years ago. Every bone in the throne belonged to an Open Heaven Realm Master who was in the Seventh Order at the very least.
The throne was huge, which went to show just how many High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters had lost their lives in the war 30,000 years ago.
At that time, Grandmaster Ma Fan had just joined the Sect, and Great Evolution Paradise was still considered powerful. He had guidance from his Senior Brothers and care from his Honoured Master, so it had been smooth sailing in his cultivation journey.
One day though, a catastrophe befell his Sect. All the powerful Masters had to leave, down to the Fourth-Order and Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
In the end, only the weakest disciples and juniors were left in Great Evolution Paradise. All the Open Heaven Realm Masters had gone off to battle.
At that time, Grandmaster Ma Fan knew that his Sect was in dire straits, but he had no idea what had happened; however, after the Senior Brothers, Senior Sisters, and Elders all left the Sect, they never returned.
It wasn’t until a long time later that Grandmaster Ma Fan learned the truth through various means. Great Evolution Pass had been conquered, so all the Masters from Great Evolution Paradise had to rush over to provide help. In the end, they were all killed.
30,000 years had passed, and Great Evolution Paradise gradually became insignificant and was replaced by a rising Sect. However, Grandmaster Ma Fan had always yearned to come to the battlefield where his Seniors had fought and retake Great Evolution Pass one day.
That day had finally come.
None of the other soldiers in Great Evolution Pass now could understand how he truly felt at this moment.
It was because of the war 30,000 years ago that the Humans realised the downside of having one Sect guard each Great Pass. Before that, every Cave Heaven or Paradise had been responsible for protecting its own Great Pass.
After they lost Great Evolution Pass, the Humans employed a different strategy to deal with the Black Ink Clan. Masters from all the Cave Heavens and Paradises would be gathered together in each Great Pass. By doing so, they could complement each other’s abilities and better position themselves to deal with the enemy.
Since then, none of the Great Passes had been lost again.
…..
Just like everyone else, Yang Kai was swamped with work and was currently tinkering with something in a certain Grand Hall.
While he was working, Liu Zhi Ping stepped inside.
Seeing her, Yang Kai saluted, “Senior Liu.”
Liu Zhi Ping nodded gently and asked, “How is it going here?”
Yang Kai replied, “It’s better than what I’d expected. The Black Ink Clan seemed to have had the intention of making use of the Space Array here to ambush the other Human Great Passes; so, after conquering Great Evolution Pass, they didn’t damage it. Instead, they actually tried to repair it. However, due to their lack of expertise, they did a sloppy job.”
There was a similar Grand Hall in every Great Pass, and it was also the most important place in a Great Pass. This was because there was a Hyper Space Array in this Grand Hall that could be used to connect to other Great Passes.
It was with the help of these Space Arrays that the Great Passes could communicate with each other; otherwise, it would be extremely difficult for the Great Passes to exchange information, for it would take an ordinary soldier years to travel from one Great Pass to the adjacent one in the expansive Black Ink Battlefield.
The Space Array in Great Evolution Pass was damaged, but it was apparent that it was the Humans who did it, not the Black Ink Clan.
In other words, 30,000 years ago, the moment the soldiers in this place realised that Great Evolution Pass was lost, they promptly destroyed the Space Array so that the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t be able to use it to cause trouble.
However, the person who made a move only damaged the Space Array instead of destroying it. Apparently, he had envisioned that the Humans would retake Great Evolution Pass one day in the future, and they would have to repair the Space Array. If he directly destroyed it, the Humans might not be able to rebuild it in the future.
After occupying Great Evolution Pass, the Black Ink Clan tried to repair the Space Array, but it wasn’t like just anyone could repair this thing. Their 30,000 years of effort didn’t yield any meaningful results and instead turned this place into a mess.
In the entire Great Evolution Army, Yang Kai was the only one who was an expert in the Dao of Space. Since he was able to arrange Space Arrays, there was no reason that he couldn’t repair this one.
Therefore, after the Army entered the Great Pass, Yang Kai received the order and hurriedly came to this place.
He even suspected that, besides helping her with her recuperation, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had also requested he join the Great Evolution Army to repair or even rebuild the Hyper Space Array.
Hearing Yang Kai’s words, Liu Zhi Ping breathed a sigh of relief.
If the Space Array was completely destroyed, it would be quite troublesome to them. If they couldn’t transmit information and establish contact with the other Great Passes, they wouldn’t be able to collaborate with the others when the crusade began in the future.
Since it could be repaired, there wouldn’t be a problem.
“However, I’ll need some helpers and materials,” Yang Kai said.
Liu Zhi Ping nodded, “Repairing the Space Array is among our top priorities right now. Whatever you need, just requisition it.”
Yang Kai nodded as it wasn’t necessary for him to be overly formal with her at this point. He fished out an empty jade slip and infused his Divine Sense into it. A moment later, he passed it to her and said, “I’ve listed all the materials I need. They should be in the Army’s reserve. As for the helpers, just get me some Array Masters.”
Liu Zhi Ping took the jade slip and looked into it before nodding, “I’ll send you the people and materials within half a day.”
Sure enough, just half a day later, several Array Masters came over in a hurry. The materials Yang Kai needed were also sent to this place.
These Array Masters were all respectable figures, and although their cultivations varied, all of them had lived very long lives and had great accomplishments to their names. They were not a match for Yang Kai when it came to combat, but even 100 Yang Kais wouldn’t be comparable to them when it came to arranging Spirit Arrays.
Nevertheless, these Array Masters had little to no knowledge about Space Arrays. This couldn’t be helped, as this was a matter of innate talent. A Master of the Dao of Space had a huge natural advantage when it came to arranging Space Arrays, so although these Array Masters had studied the Space Arrays of different Great Passes, they had only scratched the surface.
Therefore, the moment they heard that Yang Kai needed some people to help repair the Space Array, these Array Masters became fervent and quickly applied for the job. They almost got into a fight because of it.
Eventually, these several Array Masters at the scene snatched the job by suppressing the others with their status and reputation. The Junior Array Masters were disgruntled, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Although they were revered Array Masters, they didn’t put on airs when it came to acquiring new knowledge.
Yang Kai directly instructed them on what to do and assigned jobs to them. This Hyper Space Array was complicated as it could connect to Great Passes that were billions of kilometres away. As such, Yang Kai would personally repair the key components, while the less significant parts were left to these Array Masters.
The creation of the Great Passes dated back to ancient times, and over countless years, generations after generations had built upon the foundations that were there until they were able to reach the scale they had today.
Even though there had been many expansions, the core of each Great Pass would not change too much, firstly because of how important these locations were that even the slightest change may disrupt everything, and secondly because they were powerless to even change anything due to the loss of understanding.
For example, the Grand Hall where the Space Array was located.
This Grand Hall contained a very ancient aura, a legacy of the ancient Great Expert’s work that contained mysteries that were beyond the reach of this generation’s cultivators.
The same was true of the Universe Temples in the Great Territories of the 3,000 Worlds. All of these were legacies of ancient Great Experts.
So, when several Universe Temples fell into disrepair, the Cave Heavens and Paradises were unable to fix them and they were simply allowed to fall into decay until Yang Kai appeared. With the help of the Universe Array inside of the Universe Temples, he gained further enlightenment in the Dao of Space while simultaneously comprehending how to repair and even construct new Universe Arrays.
The Universe Arrays in the Universe Temples and the Hyper Space Arrays in the Great Passes were products of the same era and thus had many similarities.
Yang Kai was able to arrange a Universe Array, so naturally, it was no trouble for him to repair the Space Array here.
It only took time and effort.
After working for half a year, Yang Kai finally completed the repairs.
Inside the Grand Hall, several highly respected Array Masters were gathered together, and when they saw Yang Kai standing at the center of the array, a bald Grandmaster yelled out, “Yang Boy, will it succeed this time?”
This Array Master had high achievements and had reached the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Reasonably, he should not be affected by the ails of mortals, but somehow, his head had gone bald.
Yang Kai gave him a thumbs up, “Definitely!”
Another Array Master, who was as fat as a ball snickered at his words, “That’s what you said last time, and that’s also what you said the time before that when you almost destroyed this thing. Yang Boy, if you’re not confident, then please don’t attempt it.”
During the past half a year, there had been bumps in the road to repairing the array. Many times, after the repairs were ‘completed’ and energy was circulated through it, problems would appear in unexpected places. Sometimes the problems would be small, but sometimes they would be big.
The small problems were no matter and would not cause any real trouble, but if big problems appeared, it could very well lead to the collapse of the entire array.
That was the case of the time before the last where a black hole appeared out of thin air in the Grand Hall that almost swallowed everything and everyone into it.
Fortunately, Yang Kai moved quickly and was able to suppress the black hole; otherwise, these Grandmasters might still be wandering the Void Crack to this day if they were unlucky.
So now, every time Yang Kai activated the array, the Grandmasters would all stand far away lest anything were to go wrong.
“This time will definitely work out!” Yang Kai said with certainty.
Several problems appeared the last few times, but they had all been fixed after the cause was identified, and Yang Kai had verified that there were no more issues this time. If it still did not succeed, then he would have cultivated the Dao of Space all these years in vain.
The recesses in each corner of the array were filled with crystals containing the powers of the Seven Elements. Each crystal was extremely precious and contained the condensed essence of many cultivation materials.
The Puppet Army that Xiang Shan deployed previously also made use of these energy crystals; however, each one of those puppets needed at most a fingernail-sized piece of crystal in order to power it for a long time. For this one transmission test, there were more than 100 crystal placed in the array.
It was because of this immense consumption that the Space Arrays in each of the Great Passes were not used casually.
Divine Sense surging, Yang Kai made one last check to ensure that he had missed nothing before circulating his World Force and connecting with the Grand Array beneath his feet.
The array hummed and a pattern was illuminated. The crystals placed in the recesses were also rapidly drained.
Under the nervous watch of the Array Masters, the Void began to distort at the centre of the array.
The bald Grandmaster raised his brow and cheered, “It’s working!”
Something like this had not happened in the previous few attempts, but the distortion of space now meant that the Space Array was functioning, a sign that it was going to succeed.
The Void twisted more and more, and as the energy drained away from the crystals, a Space Gate at the centre of the array seemed to be vaguely taking shape.
However, it always seemed to fall short, never really taking shape from start to end.
It seemed that the energy crystals were about to be depleted, and if it were to happen before the Space Gate fully formed, then this attempt would fail as well.
The Array Masters could not help but hold their breath.
However, even after waiting for a long time, the Space Gate continued to writhe unstably. Seeing that the energy crystals placed in the Grand Array were about to be completely depleted, Yang Kai suddenly stepped forward and reached out, grasping the constantly churning Space Gate that refused to take shape, and with some massaging, Space Principles rippled like dough being kneaded.
The well-respected Grandmasters were all dumbfounded by this scene.
What amazed them even more was the fact that Yang Kai’s seemingly reckless actions actually had an unexpected effect.
The Space Gate was actually stabilizing.
Immediately after, Yang Kai stepped through it, and at the same time, the energy of the array was fully consumed. The Space Gate turned into a fluorescent glow before disappearing.
Gone with it was also Yang Kai’s figure!
The Grandmasters were stunned.
The energy around the Grand Hall, which had been in disarray due to the activation of the array, had regained its peace. The Grandmasters all looked at each other, wondering, “So, was that a success or not?”
The fat Grandmaster was even more concerned about another matter, “Nothing will happen to Yang Boy, right?”
“Should we report this to the Army Commanders?”
…..
Discussions bounced back and forth as the Grandmasters were at a loss as to what to do, but very soon, they decided to go and report the matter. That was because they had no way of dealing with the current situation, so the only thing they could do was let the higher-ups take charge.
Soon after, Xiang Shan, Liu Zhi Ping, and the others rushed over, and after getting the rundown about what happened, they were also at a loss. Finally, they could only continue up the chain of command and report the matter to the Old Ancestor while waiting for any news from Yang Kai.
With his proficiency in the Dao of Space, he should be able to find his way back even if this attempt was a failure, not to mention that he was the one who took the initiative to step through the Space Gate. He might have his own ideas.
At the same time, Yang Kai was struggling to navigate through the Void.
He was a little confused as to why his previous attempt had gone awry. The repairs had already very much been perfected after going through a few mistakes, and the Space Gate should have opened successfully after the array was activated.
But in actual fact, something seemed to be interfering with it from inside the Void, preventing a stable connection from being established.
Even though the Space Gate did take shape with his help, if he did not find the root of the problem, then the soldiers would still not be able to use the Space Array to travel safely from one Great Pass to another in the future.
If Yang Kai wanted to figure out what was wrong though, he could only investigate it personally.
He was not worried about not being able to get back as he had left a trail of Space Principles along the way, so if he ran into a dead end, he could just return the way he came.
Ever since entering this stretch of Void, Yang Kai discovered that there really was a problem. An invisible force seemed to be preventing him from advancing, even with his mastery over the Dao of Space. Since it could hinder him, what more need be said about others? If they were to come here, then they would likely struggle to even take a step forward.
Yang Kai kept going, but could not find the cause, which made him even more confused.
However, this teleportation could not be considered a complete failure, because he could sense a link to the target of Great Evolution Pass’s Space Array ahead.
During this attempt, his destination was Wind and Cloud Pass, which was one of the closest Great Evolution Pass. If everything went well, then he would have been transported directly to Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array.
That was because the Space Gate would only form if the target ahead could be detected.
However, the path was full of obstructions, a sign of another failure, which was extremely contradictory.
Meanwhile, in the Grand Hall where Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array was located, several Army Commanders and Eighth-Order Division Commanders were gathered around, led by the Eastern Army’s Army Commander, Yuan Xing Ge, staring intently at the centre of the array.
There was a distorted Space Gate that had been writhing around for more than an hour now.
Every time a Great Pass transported materials or soldiers here, a Space Gate would always open at the centre of the array, but it always opened and closed quickly.
The situation today was unprecedented.
So, the soldiers standing guard here immediately reported the problem when they discovered it, and the top brass of Wind and Cloud Pass came to investigate without daring to dally.
Under the watch of the many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the Space Gate remained the whole time, but it never took a proper shape.
After waiting for a long time but seeing no other movements, Yuan Xing Ge turned his head around and asked, “Is it possible to see which Great Pass is trying to connect to us?”
One of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders who stepped forward shook his head, “There’s too much distortion, so we are unable to ascertain it.”
Yuan Xing Ge frowned slightly, “What will happen if the Space Gate never takes shape?”
The Eighth-Order Master said, “The worst-case scenario is that the teleportation fails, and whoever was being sent will fall into the Void Crack and stay there for the rest of their life.”
“Is there anything we can do here to help?” The Northern Army’s Army Commander Tian Lu asked, “Even though I have no idea why such a thing would happen, it’s clear that something has gone wrong during the teleportation on the other side. If there is anything we can do to help, then we should try to lend a hand.”
The Eighth-Order Master shook his head, “It’s difficult. Teleportation involves the Dao of Space, and there are no cultivators who cultivate this Dao in Wind and Cloud Pass. To intervene rashly would only make the situation worse, I’m afraid.” After a pause, he added, “In this situation, we can only hope that whoever is coming will be lucky.”
“Then, we shall just wait,” Yuan Xing Ge concluded.
Tian Lu came over and asked in a whisper, “Should we report this to the Old Ancestor?”
Yuan Xing Ge was silent for a moment before shaking his head, “No need. Even though the Old Ancestor’s cultivation is strong, he may not be a solution for this matter.”
It would be a shame for them to bring the Old Ancestor here if he were unable to provide a solution.
As they spoke, the warping Space Gate seemed to distort even more. Surprised, everyone quickly looked over.
In the next moment, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the Void, spreading left and right as if to tear through a barrier. Following that, someone came out of the Space Gate and shouted, “I’m finally out!”
After saying that, he looked up to see many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters staring at him. Thus, Yang Kai quickly saluted, “Greetings, Sirs!”
30,000 years ago, when Great Evolution Pass was taken, some of the Human soldiers damaged the Space Array in order to prevent the Black Ink Clan from using it to cause trouble.
When the Black Ink Clan occupied Great Evolution Pass, they did not destroy the Space Array, but instead tried to repair it; so, there was no problem with the basic framework of Great Evolution Pass’ Space Array. With Yang Kai personally attending to it, half a year went by, and the repairs were basically complete.
When he activated the array and set the destination to Wind and Cloud Pass, the Space Array could be said to be operating normally, and a Void Corridor was opened between Great Evolution Pass straight to Wind and Cloud Pass.
Only, this corridor was not quite the same as usual. Yang Kai’s way here had been fraught with obstacles, and if not for his mastery of the Dao of Space, it was entirely possible that he would not have made it.
It was a struggle!
As soon as he popped out of the Void and saw the many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters staring at him, Yang Kai’s thoughts spun for a moment before he realised what was going on.
This was the destination he had inputted into Great Evolution Pass’ Space Array, so there must have been signs that someone or something was trying to teleport over, which drew the attention of the higher-ups.
That was the reason why so many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were gathered here.
A few of them were familiar to Yang Kai, so he must have seen them from afar the last time he came to Wind and Cloud Pass.
Yuan Xing Ge nodded lightly, “Which Pass are you from? What has gone wrong with this Space Array, and why did it take so long for you to appear?”
Cupping his fist, Yang Kai quickly said, “Great Evolution Pass, Yang Kai!”
As soon as he said that, a commotion broke out as all the faces of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters changed.
Tian Lu exclaimed, “Great Evolution Pass? You came from Great Evolution Pass?”
“What is the situation at Great Evolution Pass?”
“If you came from Great Evolution Pass, does that mean that it has been retaken?”
…..
One after another, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters asked their questions. It was easy to see just how concerned they were.
After the establishment of the Great Evolution East-West Army at Wind and Cloud Pass, and the North-South Army at Azure Void Pass 150 years ago, the two forces had sailed towards Great Evolution Theatre from opposite directions, pincering the Black Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass with the intention of recovering it.
For over 100 years, nobody had any idea what the situation in the Great Evolution Theatre was, or how its recovery was progressing.
Every Great Pass was waiting for news from the Great Evolution Army with bated breath.
Even though they knew that the Great Evolution Army was mighty and equipped with the finest arms, almost twice as strong as the force guarding any of the Great Passes, they had to venture deep into the Black Ink Clan’s territory for a war with no shelter or fallback position, no one could say whether they would ultimately gain victory or suffer defeat.
Since the war began, 150 years had passed.
Now, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master suddenly appeared from the Space Array and claimed to have come from Great Evolution Pass. How could the Eighth-Order Masters of Wind and Cloud Pass not feel thrilled to hear the news?
“Did you truly come from Great Evolution Pass?” Yuan Xing Ge asked him. This matter was far too important for them to take lightly.
Yang Kai answered, “Sir can verify it easily.”
An Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master on the sidelines suddenly spoke up, “Yang Kai, this name… Could you be the Yang Kai who can use Purifying Light?”
“It is this Yang!” Yang Kai nodded.
Everyone immediately understood.
There were countless Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters on the Black Ink Battlefield, but if there was anyone whose name could be remembered by the Eighth-Order Masters of almost all of the Great Passes, then Yang Kai was likely the only one.
The emergence of Purifying Light gave the Humans a way to fight against Black Ink Strength for the first time in history, and as the sole possessor of Purifying Light, Yang Kai’s name naturally became widely known.
Only, not many people had actually met him in person. Add on the fact that he had mentioned the three words Great Evolution Pass earlier, and everyone’s focus had fallen on that instead while none of them paid attention to his name.
If it was the Yang Kai who could use Purifying Light, then he had to be from the Great Evolution Army, no doubt about it.
Yuan Xing Ge knew that the Old Ancestor had personally requested that Yang Kai join the campaign to recover Great Evolution Pass. It seemed like his presence was of some help to the Old Ancestor’s recovery.
Though he had no idea what help a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would be in the recovery of a venerable Ninth-Order Master, since it was the Old Ancestor who named him, she naturally had her reasons.
“Has Great Evolution Pass been retaken?” Yuan Xing Ge asked.
Yang Kai replied, “Half a year ago, the Great Evolution East-West Army and North-South Army rendezvoused at Great Evolution Pass and successfully recovered the Great Pass!”
“Wonderful!” One of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters exclaimed. They had waited 150 years to hear this news, so none of them could help but be overjoyed.
“How are… Great Evolution Army’s casualties?” Tian Lu asked.
Yang Kai answered in a pained voice, “The total number of soldiers stationed at Great Evolution Pass currently number around 33,000, with around 70 Eighth-Order Masters.”
Hearing this figure, everyone fell silent.
They knew the initial composition of the Great Evolution Army, so this number indicated that after fighting for 150 years, almost half had perished, which was enough to show just how brutal the war had been. It had to be known that such losses were almost the entire garrison strength of a normal Great Pass.
However, all of them knew that this was the price that had to be paid. For the Army to lead a campaign to Great Evolution Theatre without a Great Pass to rely on, and with the Black Ink Clan occupying favourable conditions and an advantageous position, how could they possibly have retaken Great Evolution Pass successfully in 150 years without paying a steep price?
Now, all they could hope was for the dead to rest in peace.
Yuan Xing Ge nodded lightly, “Since you came from Great Evolution Pass, it means that the Space Array there has been repaired. This is an important matter. I must send someone to verify it.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Of course. Only… there seems to be a problem with this Space Array.”
“What problem?” Yuan Xing Ge asked.
Yang Kai gave him a basic summary of what he encountered in the Void Corridor, “However, this Junior has yet to find what the problem is exactly.”
Yuan Xing Ge was silent for a moment before continuing, “We will know once we give it a try.” They had also seen the anomaly with the Space Gate earlier and knew that Yang Kai’s words were true.
At once, they instructed their subordinates to make preparations for a transit to Great Evolution Pass.
The soldiers guarding the Grand Hall were all familiar with the process, so they set up the necessary materials quickly and soon, everything was ready.
At Yuan Xing Ge’s signal, the array was quickly activated.
The patterns lit up and the Grand Array hummed. Following the rapid draining of energy from the crystals, a Space Gate quickly opened!
“Huh?” Yang Kai looked flabbergasted.
He had clearly encountered a problem when he was teleporting from Great Evolution Pass to Wind and Cloud Pass, so going from Wind and Cloud Pass to Great Evolution Pass should result in the same issues; however, from what he could see now, there were no obstructions during this activation of the Grand Array, and the Space Gate was now opened normally.
The cultivator in charge of the array went forward to check before moving over to report, “The array is working fine. It has successfully connected with Great Evolution Pass.”
“Let me see,” As he spoke, Yang Kai had already stepped onto the array and activated his Space Principles, investigating the situation with his Divine Sense.
A few moments later, something that baffled him even more appeared.
During his investigation, he realized that there were indeed no problems this time, which only added to his doubts and suspicions.
[If there were truly no issues, then what happened earlier?]
“I will personally make a trip to Great Evolution Pass,” Tian Lu announced. As Wind and Cloud Pass’s Northern Army’s Army Commander, he was qualified enough both in status and strength for this task, and it was a perfect opportunity to have him investigate the situation personally.
Yuan Xing Ge nodded, “Then I shall trouble you, Brother Tian.”
Without further ado, Tian Lu turned around and stepped through the Space Gate, quickly disappearing from sight.
Yuan Xing Ge did not wait in place, but rather turned to Yang Kai, “You, come with me.”
He had received a transmission through his Divine Sense just now, naturally from the Old Ancestor of Wind and Cloud Pass who noticed what was going on here and had questions for this Yang Kai who had come from Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai complied.
Following Yuan Xing Ge, it did not take long for them to arrive at an extremely remote corner of Wind and Cloud Pass which could almost be considered an inconspicuous nook, a place that was easy to miss even for the soldiers in Wind and Cloud Pass who lived here year-round if they did not pay attention.
There were not many buildings here, but it seemed more like some fields and gardens had been planted. It was a land of green mountains and clear waters with several lazy oxen grazing at the foot of the mountain.
Upon arriving here, Yang Kai noticed that this was not truly a part of Wind and Cloud Pass, but rather the Small Universe of a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master.
Everything one could see before them was the scenery inside that Small Universe.
This Small Universe gave one a sense of ease, but it was strange that Yang Kai would be able to step into this Small Universe inside Wind and Cloud Pass without any sense of abruptness. Everything seemed perfectly natural, as if this Small Universe had already become a part of Wind and Cloud Pass.
Yuan Xing Ge stood in front of the old oxen grazing on the grass and bowed to one of them, “Old Ancestor, I brought him.”
Yang Kai’s eyes practically fell out of their sockets. [Why is the Old Ancestor of Wind and Cloud Pass an Ox? Is this his Avatar?]
He had never met the Old Ancestor of Wind and Cloud Pass before. Though, when he had stopped by Wind and Cloud Pass 150 years ago, and Yang Kai had felt the power of the Old Ancestor and the Royal Lord during their confrontation, that was only from a distance.
Surprisingly, the old ox that was grazing on the grass could even speak human words, “So this is the boy? I have some impression of him. That little girl from Yin-Yang Pass told me about him last time.”
The ‘little girl’ from Yin-Yang Pass that he was talking about should be Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
They were both similarly Old Ancestors, but there was still a huge difference between them in seniority. The Old Ancestor of Wind and Cloud Pass was clearly much older than Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
Yang Kai did not dare to dally and quickly bowed to the old ox, “Great Evolution Army’s Yang Kai greets Old Ancestor.”
A wrinkled face suddenly peeked out from behind the ox, glancing at him with an obscure smile on his lips. He passed the tender blades of grass in his hand to the old ox, feeding it leisurely.
Yang Kai immediately felt embarrassed.
He thought that the Old Ancestor was the old ox, but it never occurred to him that he was actually just hidden behind the cow.
“The reoccupation of Great Evolution Pass is a joyous event. Inform the rest of the Great Passes, this is a matter worth celebrating for all of us,” the Old Ancestor said, “However, this Old Master is more interested in the matters of the fight between the Great Evolution Army and the Black Ink Clan. This Old Ancestor has called you over for no other reason than to find out about what the Great Evolution Army has encountered over the years, so please speak casually.”
“Yes!” Yang Kai answered respectfully.
Even though the Old Ancestor said that he could speak casually, Yang Kai did not dare to take him up on his word.
At once, he told him of the Great Evolution East-West Army’s encounter with the Black Ink Clan Army shortly after their departure from Wind and Cloud Pass, and about how Xiang Shan had deliberately let a Territory Lord escape to lure the tiger from the mountain, as well as about the Puppet Army numbering in the tens of thousands without sparing any resources while they were on the march, which were then released as they approached Great Evolution Pass to draw the Black Ink Clan’s attention while their Army went straight into the Black Ink Clan’s territory to attack. The whole army at that time seemed like a long Dragon, eliminating everything in its wake.
After that, the East-West Army set up camp outside of the Royal City, and with the help of weaponized Universe Worlds, attacked the Royal City multiple times. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Royal Lord fought in each battle, mutually wounding one another before the former recovered inside Yang Kai’s Small Universe. While Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would always make a complete recovery after 20 years, she would feign being injured so that the Royal Lord would lower his guard. Over the past 100 years, she was able to accumulate a significant advantage, and in their last battle, she was almost able to kill the Royal Lord.
Then, Yang Kai spoke of the bloody battles that the North-South Army fought with the Black Ink Clan Army in order to stop them from leaving Great Evolution Pass and returning to the Royal City to provide reinforcements.
He also spoke of the East-West Army’s withdrawal from the Royal City, the panic of the Black Ink Clansmen at Great Evolution Pass, and the negotiations with the North-South Army which led to the Great Evolution Army taking back Great Evolution Pass without further bloodshed.
Bit by bit, Yang Kai tried to detail everything to the best of his abilities and retell the encounters of the Great Evolution Army over the years.
After he finished, he also felt a bit reminiscent about the campaign that lasted over 100 years. East-West Army’s Xiang Shan and North-South Army’s Mi Jing Lun used their strategic talents to the fullest, and if not for the two of them overseeing their respective fronts, even if they had twice the amount of troops, it would still be a far-fetched dream to recover Great Evolution Pass within just 150 years.
Yuan Xing Ge was silent, so nobody could tell what was on his mind.
After hearing everything, the Old Ancestor nodded, “You have all worked hard.”
Yang Kai did not dare to take credit for the feat and cupped his fist, “This Junior was just one soldier at the front. It was thanks to the dedication and ingenuity of all the Seniors that today’s successes were achieved.”
The Old Ancestor smiled at him, clearly pleased with his humility.
However, the Old Ancestor knew that perhaps even the boy in front of him had no idea what a difference his arrival made to the entire Black Ink Battlefield.
Not to mention the Purifying Light which was able to dispel and cleanse Black Ink Strength, the Purifying Black Ink Pills which were being mass-produced in each Great Pass was also found by Yang Kai when he was exploring a Sealed World. There were also those Purifying Black Ink Battleships that were with each Army. Which one of these innovations did not have this boy’s mark on them?
Now, it was also easier for Humans to mine for resources thanks to the existence of the improved Void Yin-Yang Mirrors.
Without all of these, how could the Human Race even have hoped to retake Great Evolution Pass? Furthermore, how could they plan for a future crusade?
It could be said that though the cultivation of this boy in front of him was not very high, he was the key point that brought change to the landscape of the entire Black Ink Battlefield. Even a venerable Ninth-Order Master could not underestimate someone like this because, oftentimes, such existences were able to make great differences with just a small bit of power in places that they themselves do not even realize, which was enough to influence the fortune of an entire Race.
The Old Ancestor did not ask any more questions. He had only called Yang Kai over here to find out about the situation of the Great Evolution Army’s campaign, and now that he knew, he would not bother with saying anything more.
The Old Ancestor continued feeding tender grass to the Black Cattle by hand, appearing just like an old farmer in the mountains, not the least bit imposing.
Yuan Xing Ge withdrew with Yang Kai.
Before leaving, the Old Ancestor gifted Yang Kai several dozen kilograms of beef as a reward for his taking the time to travel here. The beef was very fresh and the blood had still not dried, as if it had just been butchered.
After exiting the Old Ancestor’s Small Universe, Yang Kai carried several dozens of kilograms of bloody beef with him and asked Yuan Xing Ge with an expectant look on his face, “Sir, this beef… is there anything special about it?”
He could not bring himself to ask such a question in front of the Old Ancestor himself.
Now that he was out though, he didn’t have to be so cautious. Yang Kai just could not settle down if he did not find out.
Yuan Xing Ge pondered for a moment before saying, “The texture is… good?”
Yang Kai’s face went dark, “Sir, you know I don’t mean that…” He rubbed his brow for a moment before deciding to speak frankly with him, “Old Ancestor’s beef, will there be any special effects after eating it?”
Yuan Xing Ge advised, “You’ve seen the Black Cattle that the Old Ancestor was feeding. Did you notice it having any sort of divine bloodline in it?”
Yang Kai thought about it for a moment and shook his head, “They were just ordinary Black Cattle.”
Yuan Xing Ge looked askance at him, “Then what were you expecting?”
Yang Kai was suddenly struck speechless, but he was also unrelenting, “Is this beef from the cattle raised by the Old Ancestor?”
Yuan Xing Ge gave him a vague answer, “I suggest you take it back and cook it into soup. The cattle that Old Ancestor rears are somewhat gamey and are not very tasty.”
He spoke, appearing experienced.
Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. When he looked at the several dozen kilograms of bloody beef in his hands, he sighed and silently put them away.
In the end, it was still a gift from an Old Ancestor, so he would make some soup with it once he returned and hand it out to the members of Dawn Squad so that they could enjoy the taste. Everyone had been working quite hard, after all, these past 150 years.
After returning to the Grand Hall where the Space Array sat, some Eighth-Order Masters were still waiting there, in no hurry to leave.
Yuan Xing Ge asked, “Has Brother Tian Lu not returned yet?”
An Eighth-Order Master shook his head, “We haven’t received any news yet.”
Yuan Xing Ge nodded before turning to Yang Kai, “What about you? Will you wait here?”
Yang Kai cupped his fist, “This Junior came here to test the effects of the Space Array. Now that the task is complete, it is time for me to return to Great Evolution Pass.”
Yuan Xing Ge did not stop him, “In that case, go on.”
The soldiers guarding this area were asked to prepare the supplies for teleportation and soon, Yang Kai was standing at the centre of the array. Once the Grand Array was activated and the Space Gate opened, he disappeared without a trace.
He was expecting a repeat of what he encountered earlier, but this journey was completely smooth.
Soon, Yang Kai reappeared on the Space Array at Great Evolution Pass, where a group of Array Masters scrambled over to ask about the situation earlier.
Yang Kai gave them a simple rundown of what he experienced, but he himself could not quite figure out where the problem lay.
“Did someone from Wind and Cloud Pass come earlier?”
The bald Grandmaster answered, “En, a man who called himself Wind and Cloud Pass Northern Army’s Army Commander, Tian Lu. He is currently speaking with Army Commander Xiang Shan and the others.”
The fat Grandmaster then asked, “Yang Boy, has our Space Array been fixed or not?”
Yang Kai frowned, “I think we can consider it fixed.”
“Then what happened earlier?”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment, “Perhaps there was a blockage in the Void since the corridor between these two places had not been open for so long? Then, after I went into it myself, the blockage was cleared?”
The Grandmaster were all speechless at his uncertain explanation.
However, other than this, there did not seem to be any other explanation. After all, it was only Yang Kai’s first transit where a problem arose. After that, everything was smooth whether it be for Tian Lu coming over from Wind and Cloud Pass or Yang Kai’s return trip.
From this alone, it seemed like the Space Array had been repaired.
Since the repairs had been completed, the higher-ups had to be informed.
Yang Kai personally went to Liu Zhi Ping to report on the matter, and she naturally praised him. At once, arrangements were made for news of the successful recovery of Great Evolution Pass to be passed around to each of the Great Passes.
It was only natural that the entire Race be informed of such good news; after all, everyone was paying great attention to this matter, and the sooner the news got to them, the better.
Soon, a jade slip bearing Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s aura was sent through the Space Array to each Great Pass, with the good news recorded into each of them.
A lot of resources were spent each time the Hyper Space Array was used. Depending on a cultivators’ realm, the consumption of the materials also varied. On the whole, the higher one’s cultivation, the higher the consumption would be; however, if they were only sending things such as jade slips, then the consumption could be minimized.
So, with the current stock of resources at Great Evolution Pass, it was enough to support simple matters such as sending out jade slips.
However, they had to send a jade slip to each of the Great Passes, so it would still take a considerable amount of time to complete.
After many days had passed, Great Evolution Pass had opened and closed the Space Array over 100 times so that they could send out the more than 100 jade slips that they had.
During this time, Yang Kai stayed by the array, monitoring its condition.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. No abnormalities appeared in any of the activations, so all of the jade slips were also sent out successfully.
With that, it seemed as if Great Evolution Pass’s Space Array truly had been repaired.
Elsewhere, news of their success was met with great joy in all of the Great Passes as 30,000 years of humiliation were finally wiped away.
It was clear to the higher-ups that Great Evolution Pass had been retaken, which meant that the Human Race’s crusade was not far off, so they were all secretly preparing for it.
In fact, as early as when the Human Race decided to take back Great Evolution Pass, they had already been preparing for the crusade. The Evil Purging Divine Spear created by Grandmaster Ma Fan was the greatest weapon for this crusade, and in order to hide it, Great Evolution Army did not dare to use it during the entire war to retake Great Evolution Pass, fearing that news would get out, putting the Black Ink Clan on guard.
If they had made use of the Evil Purging Divine Spears, it would have been much easier to recover Great Evolution Pass and they would have suffered fewer losses, but this would be detrimental to the entire Human Race in the long run.
…..
One day, Yang Kai was leading Dawn’s Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters around, searching for a suitable location.
Dawn was still an incredibly powerful team. Even though they lost Qi Tai Chu in the previous war, they had recruited Blood Crow, so Dawn’s Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters still numbered 8 in total.
Yang Kai’s intention bringing these Seventh-Order Masters out this time was not to stir up trouble with the Black Ink Clan.
The Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre were now hiding in their Royal City, licking their wounds, so how could they dare to come all the way to Great Evolution Pass?
These Seventh-Order Masters were all brought here to help act as Protectors.
150 years had passed since Yang Kai departed from Blue Sky Pass, and with the flow of time in his Small Universe being four times faster than the outside, it meant that nearly 700 years had passed in Void Continent.
During these 700 years, many new disciples had cultivated to the peak inside the Void Dao Temple, and there were now 10 youths who had the qualifications to advance to the Open Heaven Realm.
The nurturing of the World Tree clone was constantly impacting Yang Kai’s Small Universe, which allowed Void Dao Temple’s disciples to grow so quickly.
Previously, during the war against the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre, Yang Kai was in no position to allow these disciples to break through, but now that things had settled down, there was no need for him to worry as much as before.
10 cultivators needed to break through to the Open Heaven Realm, so Yang Kai alone could not stand guard for all of them. As such, he dragged all of the Seventh-Order Masters of Dawn out here so that they could help out. With the current vision and abilities of Dawn’s Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, standing guard for these little ones was no problem at all.
It did not take long for him to settle on a spot in the void. After looking left and right and confirming that there were no issues, Yang Kai waved his hand, and as the Void distorted before 10 Emperor Realm cultivators appeared out of thin air in front of him.
There were both males and females among them, occupying half of the numbers each, all of them sharing one characteristic, and that was that they all looked young and vigorous.
There were only two possibilities for a cultivator looking so young, and that was either that they had cultivated beauty techniques, or that they had grown up very quickly. As long as one was able to grow quickly in strength and make progress in their cultivation, then time would not leave as many traces on their appearance.
The Emperors before them were clearly part of the latter. Due to the nurturing power of the World Tree clone, as well as their own innate talent for cultivation, these youths ascended rapidly on their Martial Dao.
10 peak Emperor Realm cultivators were all gathered in the Void Dao Temple. They had long received Yang Kai’s Divine Sense transmission that asked them to get everything prepared.
Some of them had been waiting for this day for many years.
In the Void Dao Temple of today, it was no longer a secret that one could advance to the Open Heaven Realm after the Emperor Realm. It was also no longer a secret that this entire Void World was the Small Universe of the Dao Lord. There were even statues of Yang Kai erected in the Dao Temple for the disciples to worship day and night.
Yang Kai even revealed matters concerning the Black Ink Battlefield to the disciples in the Dao Temple, all so they could make a choice.
Once they step into the Open Heaven Realm, they will have to join the Black Ink Battlefield and fight against the Black Ink Clan.
If they were unwilling to fight the Black Ink Clan, then they could choose to remain in his Small Universe and the Emperor Realm.
These 10 had chosen to advance to the Open Heaven Realm, which meant that they had made the mental preparation to do battle with the Black Ink Clan. In fact, basically every Emperor Realm Master who could take that step made the same choice. Once a cultivator stepped onto the Martial Dao, then they would keep climbing higher to reach even more dazzling sights. Fear of danger was never a reason to stop.
Once they left Yang Kai’s Small Universe and emerged into the outside world, anyone would more or less feel unaccustomed. This had nothing to do with their strength or foundation, but rather the general change in environment; however, they had cultivated to the Emperor Realm after all, so it did not take long for them to settle down.
In the next instant, everyone revealed looks of pleasant surprise and saluted respectfully, “Disciples greet the Dao Lord!”
The disciples paid respects to Yang Kai’s lifelike statue inside of the Void Dao Temple at the beginning of each day and night, so they were naturally incomparably familiar with this face. Moreover, they had expected to meet the Dao Lord himself when they came out, and sure enough, that was exactly what happened.
This was their Dao Lord, and the entire Void World was the Small Universe of this Dao Lord. They were born inside of that Void World where they cultivated and grew, so in some sense, it was the Dao Lord who gave them everything. Previously, they merely worshipped him in a spiritual sense, but now that they had seen him in the flesh, the feeling was even more direct.
It could be said that though the Dao Lord was not the same as their biological parents who gave birth to them, his existence was not far off from that. All the living beings in the Void World could be said to be the Dao Lord’s descendants.
Even though Feng Ying and the others were surprised, they had already heard about this and just looked at the 10 Emperor Realm cultivators who appeared with curiosity.
Only Blood Crow’s eyes were almost popping out of their sockets in surprise.
Since joining Dawn, Blood Crow had always seemed out of place and did not interact with the others at all. If Yang Kai had not dragged him out today, he probably would not have agreed to be here.
Even though he had been around the Black Ink Battlefield for some time, he still knew next to nothing about Yang Kai, so it was unsurprising that he would be shocked at the sight of these Emperor Realm cultivators.
“You have living beings in your Small Universe?” Blood Crow asked in surprise.
There was simply no other way to explain the origin of these Emperor Realm cultivators.
Yang Kai glanced at him, “Is that so strange?”
Blood Crow was incredulous, “Aren’t you worried about disturbances in your Small Universe during a fight, leading to their deaths?” However, he seemed to understand something after saying that, “You must have one of the Four Universe Pillars!”
That was the only way to ensure the stability of one’s Small Universe, and also the only way for an Open Heaven Realm cultivator in the Seventh Order to nurture sentient lives within their Small Universe.
Yang Kai did not explain anything. He indeed possessed one of the Four Universe Pillars in the past, but its function was largely replaced by the World Tree clone. Meanwhile, that World Spring had been given to Ding Yao. Not only did the World Tree clone have the effects of the Four Universe Pillars, but it also had many effects that the Four Universe Pillars did not have.
It was not that he did not trust Blood Crow, there was just no point in explaining.
“What have you brought these Emperor Realm cultivators out for?” Blood Crow asked with a frown, “Even though there are no Black Ink Clansmen here, the Black Ink Battlefield is no place for them.”
Even a Low-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master would be courting death if they were to appear in such dangerous lands. The minimum requirement for the Cave Heavens and Paradises to send people here was the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm!
Right now, all of the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivators in each Great Pass were those who had fallen there from the Sixth or Seventh-Order.
Feng Ying smiled, “Senior Brother Blood Crow, why don’t you take a look at these little ones’ conditions?”
Blood Crow frowned and gazed at them before muttering in surprise, “They are all about to ascend?”
“It’s more than merely ascending,” Feng Ying shook her head with the same smile still on her face.
Blood Crow also caught sight of something at this point and he could not help but feel shaken, “They’ve all condensed Sixth-Order Elements in their Dao Seals?”
He had a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation after all, and he was an Eighth-Order Divine Monarch in his past life, so if he looked carefully, he would notice some hints. The 10 Emperor Realm cultivators in front of him all had the aura of Sixth-Order Element Powers inside their bodies, obviously left from the completion of their Dao Seal.
“Exactly so!” Feng Ying smiled.
Blood Crow was surprised and turned to look at Yang Kai to ask, “How did you cultivate them?”
An ordinary Sixth-Order Master may not mean much to him, but that was different for those with the qualifications to advance straight to the Sixth-Order. People like this were considered to elite disciples of any Cave Heaven or Paradise as they were expected to reach the Eighth Order in the future.
In his previous life, that was his limit as well.
One or two was not impossible, but for 10 to appear at once…
A unique method of nurturing them was clearly being used.
Yang Kai did not want to explain too much, but since Blood Crow was asking, he could only reply, “Has Brother Blood Crow heard of the Star Boundary’s World Tree clone?”
Blood Crow tried to recall for a moment before saying, “I’ve heard of it. It is said that the World Tree clone contains miraculous powers that can nurture the living beings of that World.” After escaping from the Blood Monster Cave Heaven, he went straight to the Shattered Heaven and stayed there for some time before finally being scooped up and jailed by Bright King Cave Heaven. During his days in the Shattered Heaven, he had indeed heard rumours about the World Tree in the Star Boundary, but he did not know too much about it since he did not pay much attention to it.
Yang Kai nodded, “That is exactly right, and there is one in my Small Universe right now.”
Blood Crow could not help but gape in awe, speechless for a long time…
[What kind of luck does this brat have? To be able to bring even a World Tree clone into his Small Universe… did the high-ranking members of the Human Race really allow him to do such a thing?]
As the two of them were talking, one of the girls among the 10 Emperor Realm cultivators looked at one of the people in front of her with a look of pleasant surprise.
There was a total of 9 of Dawn’s members who came out during this trip, 8 Seventh-Order Masters and 1 Sixth-Order Master.
The Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was none other than Miao Fei Ping.
Apart from Yang Kai’s three Disciples, Miao Fei Ping was known as the first Open Heaven Realm Master to emerge from his Small Universe.
The names of all of the Dao Temple disciples who dared to step into the Open Heaven Realm were recorded in the Dao Temple for those who came later to honour them.
Miao Fei Ping’s great name was at the top of the list!
Miao Fei Ping was brought here for no other reason than because he was the pioneer to advance into the Open Heaven Realm from Void World, and his presence should boost the confidence of those who came after him. It was also Miao Fei Ping’s request he be brought along.
The female Emperor Realm cultivator was currently staring straight at Miao Fei Ping.
Naturally, Miao Fei Ping noticed her gaze when she was staring so openly. Even though his name was recorded down in the Dao Temple, there was no statue of him, unlike Yang Kai. Even if the disciples of the Dao Temple did know about his existence, they still would not be able to recognize him immediately. After all, more than 1,000 years had passed in Void World since he left.
Four eyes suddenly met, and the female Emperor Realm cultivator seemed to notice that her stare was too blunt, so she smiled apologetically.
Miao Fei Ping nodded his head in greeting.
It was then that Yang Kai spoke, “You are all disciples of the Dao Temple and your aptitude is the best in the Void World. I believe that you more or less have some understanding of the situation in the outside world after living in the Dao Temple all these years. Now that you’ve taken this step, naturally no one will stop you from advancing. However, let me say this first. The Black Ink Battlefield is a place fraught with dangers, and once you complete this step, there will be no going back. Let me ask all of you one last time, are you willing to advance to the Open Heaven Realm and offer your strength to the Human Race, holding no complaints even if you are to die on the battlefield?”
“We are willing!” 10 people shouted in unison. In fact, nobody would say they were unwilling at this point.
Yang Kai was clear about this as well, so he simply nodded, “Since you came from my Small Universe, then you all have a connection with me. In the future, if I find anyone who fears death, disobeys orders, and drags their fellow allies down on the battlefield, do not blame me for taking care of you personally!”
The 10 of them answered respectfully in unison once more.
Only then did Yang Kai flick his wrist, sending out 10 streams of light, “These are Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills, they will help you in your advancement, so take and refine them.”
Obeying his order, they all swallowed the Spirit Pills before sitting down cross-legged and circulating their strength.
It did not take long for them to refine a single Spirit Pill, and soon, all 10 of them opened their eyes again.
Yang Kai nodded at Miao Fei Ping, signalling for him to step forward and introduce himself, “My name is Miao Fei Ping. I’m sure all of you are familiar with this Miao!”
The eyes of the 10 Emperor Realm cultivators lit up upon hearing this.
How could they not be familiar with that name? As the first person to emerge from Void Dao Temple and advance to the Open Heaven Realm, Miao Fei Ping’s name could be said to be second only to the Dao Lord, Yang Kai, in the Dao Temple.
They may have felt a little nervous when facing Yang Kai, but they felt more affection towards this pioneer who shared their roots.
“Greetings, Senior Brother Mao!” The female Emperor had a sweet mouth and quickly gave him an elegant bow.
Everyone also followed suit.
Miao Fei Ping cheerfully extended his hand to have them rise, “Advancing to the Open Heaven Realm is not a difficult task, especially since you come from the Dao Temple and have stable foundations. You only need to remain focused when you are advancing. Steady yourselves, and nothing will happen to you. Moreover, Squad Leader… the Dao Lord has given you each a Heavenly Yuan Stabilizing Pill, which can increase the success rate of your advancement to almost a certainty. It is the best advancement Spirit Pill that you can find in existence.”
Everyone’s confidence was boosted by his words.
Miao Fei Ping also talked about the problems he faced during his own advancement so that they all had a clear idea of what to expect.
“The Seniors here will stand guard for you. I will await your successful advancement!”
After saying that, he returned to Yang Kai’s side.
Yang Kai signalled with a nod, “Each of you go with one of them.”
Feng Ying and the other Seventh-Order Masters had been waiting for half a day, so when they heard his words, they naturally did not hesitate to wrap their own World Force around one Emperor Realm cultivator each and bringing them away into the distance.
Soon, there were only three people left in front of Yang Kai.
He could not watch after the advancement of 10 people at once, but three should be no problem. As they were about to go their separate ways, Miao Fei Ping volunteered, “Squad Leader, I’ll take care of one of them.”
Yang Kai turned to look at him and asked, “Are you sure?”
Miao Fei Ping smiled, “Right now, I’m an established Sixth-Order cultivator. It should be no problem for me to stand guard for someone.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Then, you can be in charge of one.”
“Yes!” Miao Fei Ping responded and glanced at the three people left. He thought about choosing one of the male cultivators, but after meeting the gaze of that female cultivator from before, he changed his mind for some reason and smiled, “Junior Sister, come with me.”
8 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and 1 Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Indeed, nothing should happen with them standing guard for a group of Emperor Realm cultivators while they advance to the Open Heaven Realm, especially since these disciples who came from the Dao Temple all had solid foundations and stable Dao Seals. Combining the help of the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills that Yang Kai gave them, their advancements could be said to be smooth and steady with only one or two occasional minor hiccups, but nothing dangerous happened.
The heart of the female Emperor Realm cultivator who Miao Fei Ping was in charge of became slightly hurried when she was advancing, but thanks to his timely help, she was able to calm herself and finish her breakthrough without incident.
The Powers of the Seven Elements merged in their bodies, splitting Heaven and Earth apart and creating a Small Universe.
Continuous auras of the birth of universes could be felt in the void.
In a matter of days, 9 Open Heaven Realm Masters had come to this spot, and celebratorily, 19 left.
The newly-advanced Juniors were all overwhelmed with joy. To go from the Emperor Realm to the Open Heaven Realm was a massive leap in strength. If it were merely advancing to the Low-Rank Open Heaven Realm, then the jump would not have been too obvious, but all 10 of them had advanced directly to the Sixth Order.
After returning, as long as they focused on stabilizing their realms, then once they familiarised themselves with their power, it could be said that their strength would increase around 100 or even 1,000 times compared to what they had before.
In this respect, the Heavenly Way could be considered unfair.
Those with outstanding aptitude and talent were able to leave their peers far behind in the process of advancing to the Open Heaven Realm.
The fools with no aptitude were left to fumble around at the bottom of the Open Heaven Realm, if breaking through to that realm was even possible.
But when had the Heavens ever been completely fair?
The 10 newly advanced Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivators were left with Feng Ying to bring back to Great Evolution Pass to settle in.
Generally speaking, newly-advanced Open Heaven Realm cultivators couldn’t be relied on because a lot of time had to be spent for one to stabilize their cultivation. One had to familiarize themselves with the new surge of power; otherwise, they would not be able to perform at their full potential when facing off against an enemy.
This could take several years, or even decades.
Fortunately, now that a sort of peace had settled over the Great Evolution Theatre, these 10 newcomers had plenty of time to get used to their situation. This was also the reason why Yang Kai kept holding them in and not letting them out of the Small Universe until now.
During the bloody war with the Black Ink Clan previously, letting them out would only have brought trouble to all parties.
On the way back, the 10 newcomers gathered around Miao Fei Ping, bombarding him with all sorts of questions.
The main reason for that was because Miao Fei Ping shared their roots. They had all come from the Void World, so there was not much of a gap between them. Instead, they had a natural sense of camaraderie with each other.
This was different for Feng Ying and the other Seventh-Order Masters. No matter how amiable and easy to approach Feng Ying and the others presented themselves, these Juniors would still have some reservations.
Miao Fei Ping was also happy to pass on his experiences to the younger generation. Back when they were at Blue Sky Pass, he was often the one who mentored the Open Heaven Realm Masters that emerged from Yang Kai’s Small Universe.
All the Open Heaven Realm Masters who came out of the Void World had received Miao Fei Ping’s kindness.
Faced with everyone’s questions, Miao Fei Ping was naturally eager to answer anything he could and spoke without hesitation.
The sudden change in environment and the sudden acquisition of far greater power meant that the newcomers had a lot of questions they needed answered.
9 of the 10 were exactly that way, while only one of them was silent, but they were still listening intently.
The quiet one was the female Emperor Realm cultivator who Miao Fei Ping was in charge of previously.
After listening quietly for a long time, the young woman seemed to have made some sort of decision and suddenly sped up, coming to the side of Feng Ying who was leading the trip back towards Great Evolution Pass.
Noticing her approach, Feng Ying turned around and smiled, “What happened? Are you struggling with something?”
The young woman shook her head and transmitted her voice silently to her, “Martial Aunt Feng, I heard from Senior Brother Mao earlier that we are all fighting against the Black Ink Clansmen in units called Squads?”
Feng Ying nodded, “That’s right. Squads are the most basic grouping in our Human Army.”
The young woman asked hesitantly, “Then… Then, can I join your Squad?”
Feng Ying was a little surprised. Nobody had ever asked her for such a request before. In fact, many Open Heaven Realm Masters had emerged from Yang Kai’s Small Universe over the years, each one of them starting from the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm at least, with a small minority of them even directly reaching the Seventh-Order.
However, Yang Kai was only responsible for bringing them out, while the rest was not his concern.
It was not that it was too much trouble, he was just trying to avoid arousing suspicion.
After all, more and more people would come out of Yang Kai’s Small Universe in the future, so as time went on, Yang Kai’s lineage was bound to grow immensely.
If these people were to all gather together, an isolated atmosphere might form around them, which could not be permitted on the Black Ink Battlefield.
In this brutal war, origin and status meant nothing, all were brothers and sisters in arms who lived and died together.
Yang Kai was well aware of this, so the cultivators who he brought out back then at Blue Sky Pass were basically all handed to the Army Commanders to be taken care of while he did not need to interfere much.
Right now, there was plenty to do in Great Evolution Pass and everyone was busy; otherwise, Yang Kai would not be leading Dawn’s Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters personally to act as Protectors.
It was easy to see the results of this from Dawn’s current configuration. Out of all the cultivators that came out of the Void World, Miao Fei Ping was the only one who joined Dawn. The rest were all scattered throughout the Squads of different Divisions.
This was also because Yang Kai had known and interacted with Miao Fei Ping for a long time.
If Yang Kai really intended to gather his own forces, then the entirety of Dawn would be in the Sixth Order and Seventh Order. Moreover, he would be highly revered by his subordinates who would not dare to disobey his orders.
When she first heard this young woman’s request, Feng Ying’s first thought was that Yang Kai might not agree; after all, Dawn already had the maximum 50 members, so there was no need or ability for them to take on newcomers.
However, Feng Ying was as intelligent as she was beautiful, so when she saw the young woman blushing while putting forth such a request, combined with the scenes she saw by chance before, she had a faint guess. As such, instead of outright rejecting her, she asked, “Why do you want to join our Squad?”
The young woman replied as if expecting this answer, “The Dao Lord has given us everything we have. Now that this disciple has gained some success in cultivation, this disciple wishes to stay by the Dao Lord’s side and offer her strength.”
This young woman was clearly a bad liar as her eyes were constantly darting left and right while speaking, not at all daring to look straight at Feng Ying.
Feng Ying laughed lightly and questioned, “Truly?”
The young girl nodded incessantly, “Truly!”
“Then swear on it!”
“Ah?”
“Just kidding,” Feng Ying laughed and explained, “Every Squad has an upper limit for members, and even as a Special Operations Squad, Dawn’s upper limit is 50. We currently have exactly 50 members, so if you wish to join Dawn… then the only chance you’ll get is if there is a battle and Dawn’s numbers are cut down.”
The young woman quickly waved her hand when she heard what she said, “In that case, this disciple will not join Dawn. Martial Aunt, just take what this disciple said earlier as nonsense and don’t take it too seriously.”
“However…” Feng Ying’s heart softened when she saw the genuine expression on her Junior’s face, “If the Squad Leader himself asks the Army Commander personally, then perhaps an exception can be made.”
The young woman lowered her gaze timidly and shook her head, “There’s no need to bother the Dao Lord.”
She had never wanted to cause trouble for anyone ever since she was a child, so she wasn’t about to start now.
Feng Ying stared at her for a moment before asking, “What is your name?”
The young woman answered, “Disciple is called Xiao Cai.”
Feng Ying nodded, taking note of her answer, “If there are any questions you have about cultivation, feel free to approach me with them.”
Xiao Cai thanked her respectfully.
At the same time, on the universe fragment where Great Evolution North-South Army’s forward base was once located, as space warped, Yang Kai stepped out of the distortion. Several Open Heaven Realm Masters stationed nearby were surprised when they saw him and could not help but stare for a moment, but they all came over to greet him once they realized who he was.
After handing over the 10 newly-advanced Open Heaven Realm Masters to Feng Ying, Yang Kai came straight here.
It was for no other reason than that the Black Ink Nest was here.
When the Black Ink Clan withdrew from Great Evolution Pass, a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest was left behind. Yang Kai was not sure about the details, but he heard that it was a request from Army Commander Mi Jing Lun to the Territory Lords. Though reluctant, the Black Ink Clan had no choice but to agree.
It had to be said that keeping the Black Ink Nest behind was simply a stroke of genius for the Humans. Yang Kai had no idea what Mi Jing Lun was thinking back then, but once he learned that a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest had been left behind, he had to praise Mi Jing Lun.
If there was anything that the Humans were starkly inferior at in comparison to the Black Ink Clan, then would be their numbers and growth cycle. The next most critical disadvantage they had though was the ability to transmit information.
Transferring information was simply too convenient for the Black Ink Clan, as through the power of the Black Ink Nests, information could be exchanged between Black Ink Clansmen from different Theatres instantaneously, much less within the same Theatre.
In this respect, the Humans were far inferior to the Black Ink Clan. Right now, it was quite easy for Humans to send messages from Great Pass to Great Pass through the use of Space Arrays, but when the Great Evolution Army was out on their campaign, someone had to make the trip in person to deliver messages between the different fronts.
Yang Kai had also received orders to search for the location of the North-South Army near Great Evolution Pass before, and Adjutant Li Xing was also ordered to deliver news to the North-South Army about the final battle at the Royal City. For an ordinary Seventh-Order Master, it was a month’s journey from the Royal City to the Great Pass, and fortunately, he did not have to report back; otherwise, it would be another month on the road.
That was a huge gap in time.
If there were urgent Army matters that had to be passed on, then even a delay of a few hours could cause a major incident, let alone a journey lasting several days to a month.
Mi Jing Lun must have thought about this, which was why he would demand the Black Ink Clan to leave the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest behind. He intended to use it to build up the intelligence network on the Humans’ side.
However, such a thing would be extremely difficult to put into practice.
It was true that the Black Ink Nest was now in Human hands, and it was also a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest that was of sufficient quality; however, it had been half a year since they retook Great Evolution Pass, and Mi Jing Lun was still unable to implement the intelligence network plan that he had in mind.
Yang Kai had been working constantly with the Array Masters at Great Evolution Pass to repair the Space Array, so he was not too sure about what the situation was at this time. The only reason he came here was to create a Low-Rank sub-nest to put into his Small Universe so that he could incubate Black Ink Serfs to allow the Void Dao Temple’s disciples a chance to get some real combat experience against the Black Ink Clan before advancing to the Open Heaven Realm and joining the war.
He had this idea in mind when he was still stationed at Blue Sky Pass; only, it was unfortunate that even though he had moved a sub-nest into his own Small Universe back then, once the higher Rank Black Ink Nest outside was destroyed, the sub-nest was also destroyed, which left him with nothing.
In the Blue Sky Theatre, they couldn’t allow any Black Ink Nests to remain outside; otherwise, the Black Ink Clan might be able to reclaim them sooner or later.
The situation was different now. The Black Ink Clan’s foundation in the Great Evolution Theatre had been severely damaged and even the Royal Lord himself had sustained heavy injuries. Moreover, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would go and visit him every now and then, leaving him no opportunity to recover.
Under such circumstances, the Humans could make use of this Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest that fell into their hands.
The entire Black Ink Nest was moved over here after the reoccupation of Great Evolution Pass, where Array Masters set up barriers to isolate and contain the Black Ink Strength which was regularly released from it.
The current situation on the universe fragment was clear. The huge Black Ink Nest was located at the centre and isolated by Spirit Arrays so that no Black Ink Strength was spreading out into the periphery, allowing the Human soldiers to move around it freely.
The one currently standing guard here was the Great Evolution Southern Army Commander, Ou Yang Lie.
Even though there was little worry that the Black Ink Clan would try to come and snatch this Black Ink Nest, one could never be too careful. A strong Master was needed on standby, and an Army Commander was undoubtedly the strongest available.
The reason why Ou Yang Lie was here was because he had taken the initiative to volunteer for the post. Since he was still recovering from his wounds, it made no difference whether he stayed inside of Great Evolution Pass or here since the two were now just half a day’s travel apart.
The Southern Army’s temporary Army Headquarters was also located here, so after arriving, Yang Kai received permission to enter and as soon as he did, he saw a slightly pale-faced Ou Yang Lie reprimanding his Disciple.
“You lazy brat! Even dragging your feet when I asked you to go to Great Evolution Pass to pick up some wine! I don’t know what those legs of yours are even for!”
Gong Lian stood in front of Ou Yang Lie with downcast eyes, allowing his Honoured Master to spit all over him without moving. He was clearly no stranger to this situation.
After Ou Yang Lie finished reprimanding him, Gong Lian answered lazily, “Honoured Master, Martial Uncle Mi said that your body is still injured, so you should not drink excessively. He asked me to watch over you so that you can recuperate well.”
Ou Yang Lie glared at him and almost raised his nostrils into the air as he said stubbornly, “Martial Uncle Mi, Martial Uncle Mi, am I your Honoured Master or is Big Head Mi your Honoured Master?”
He jabbed Gong Lian’s head with his finger, “I taught you since young to listen to your Honoured Master, and now look at you! Not listening to anything I say anymore, but you’re happy to listen to anything Big Head Mi says! Tomorrow, I’m going to expel you from my Sect, then you can go and look for Big Head Mi and ask him to be your Master!”
Poor Gong Liang was still a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so watching him being reprimanded like a small child made Yang Kai widen his eyes in surprise.
Moreover… Big Head Mi? Mi Jing Lun’s head was not particularly big…
This scene of a Master scolding his Disciple was so intense that Yang Kai felt that it was better for him not to watch it at all. Just as he was about to withdraw, Ou Yang Lie suddenly turned his head over as if he just saw him and called out, “Yang Boy, you’ve come?”
Yang Kai had no choice but to grit his teeth and cup his fist, “Greetings, Senior Ou Yang!”
Then, he turned to Gong Lian, “Senior Brother Gong!”
Gong Lian returned his greeting.
Ou Yang Lie walked over with a laugh and wrapped his arms affectionately around Yang Kai’s shoulders, “You’ve come just in time. The Inner Sanctum has just sent word that they want you to set up a Space Array here. The materials have already been prepared. Have a look and see where it’s more suitable to set this thing up.”
Yang Kai came to this universe fragment for his own reasons regarding the Black Ink Nest, but he did also have proper business. Xiang Shan wanted him to help them set up a Space Array here so that those from the Inner Sanctum could come and go with ease. Naturally, Ou Yang Lie had been informed beforehand.
“Anywhere is fine, I can arrange the Space Array wherever Senior Ou Yang finds suitable.” Yang Kai smiled back.
Ou Yang Lie sighed, “If only my Disciple was as obedient as you are, constantly talking back to me, it’s just aggravating, wouldn’t you say?”
What could Yang Kai say? He just turned a deaf ear to it.
Ou Yang Lie lowered his voice, “Have you got any wine?”
Before Yang Kai could answer, Ou Yang Lie glanced over with a stern gaze, “Don’t tell me you don’t. I know you’re raising living beings in your Small Universe, so you should have anything and everything.”
The killing intent in those eyes seemed to suggest that he would slaughter him without a burial if Yang Kai dared to let the word ‘no’ slip from his mouth.
Yang Kai sighed, “Senior Ou Yang, you haven’t fully healed yet. You shouldn’t drink.”
Ou Yang Lie bristled, “Don’t lecture me like Big Head Mi. We’ve campaigned against the Black Ink Clan for 150 years, and I’ve been enduring all that time. Now, I can’t even celebrate with alcohol after we’ve won the war? What kind of reasoning was that? Enough with the nagging, bring me some wine!”
Saying so, the arm around Yang Kai’s shoulder grew increasingly heavy, which made Yang Kai feel at once that his bones were about to dislocate…
A short time later, in an open space, Yang Kai was busy setting up a Space Array.
On the side, Ou Yang Lie was sitting in the middle of a pile of wine bottles, drinking happily, cheering in glee after finishing each one in a wonderful mood.
Not far from him, Gon Lian was eyeing Yang Kai with a grimace, which made Yang Kai feel embarrassed to meet his gaze.
Something like setting up a Space Array could not be easier for Yang Kai. With all the materials in place, it took him less than an hour to finish everything.
An Array had already been set up at Great Evolution Pass that synced with this one. Yang Kai personally stepped onto the array to check and made sure that there were no problems before handing it over to their use.
By now, Ou Yang Lie had already drunk his fill and was sitting slumped on the ground, tapping his knees and singing his heart out.
Even though Ou Yang Lie had a gruff appearance, his voice was actually pretty good. Even though Yang Kai had no idea what he was singing, his song had a boldness to it that was quite interesting.
After walking over to Ou Yang Lie’s side, Yang Kai cupped his fist, “Senior Ou Yang, the Space Array is completed.”
“En, good work,” Ou Yang Lie spoke in a good mood, wine bottle still in hand.
“Furthermore, this Junior has a presumptuous request.”
“Speak!” Ou Yang Lie spoke with narrowed eyes that showed an indescribable sense of carefreeness.
“This Junior wishes to obtain a sub-nest to place inside of his Small Universe to aid in the cultivation of the disciples in my Small Universe. Senior should know that many Sixth and Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters have walked out of this Junior’s Small Universe. Unfortunately, before stepping into the Black Ink Battlefield, none of them have ever encountered the Black Ink Clan before. If they were able to face some Black Ink Clansmen during their growth period, it will be beneficial to them when they truly enter the battlefield in the future.”
Ou Yang Lie nodded at his words, “Fair enough, but it is useless to speak to me about this. I’m just the doorman here. You’ll have to ask the Old Ancestor for permission.”
Yang Kai answered, “The Old Ancestor has already agreed. She told me to come see you.”
Ou Yang Lie suddenly grinned meaningfully, “It’s useless even if the Old Ancestor agrees.”
Yang Kai was confused, “This Junior does not understand.”
Ou Yang Lie reached out and pointed at the Black Ink Nest enveloped by the Spirit Array behind him, “Because there’s nothing we can do about it right now either.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai was even more confused.
Ou Yang Lie guzzled another mouthful of wine before directing Gong Lian, “Take him in and show him.”
After accepting his order, Gong Lian turned to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, come with me.”
“Many thanks!”
Halfway through following Gong Lian into the Black Ink Nest, Yang Kai laughed bitterly, “Brother Gong, please don’t blame me. I had no other choice.”
Naturally, he was talking about Ou Yang Lie’s request for wine.
Gong Lian waved his hand, “Honoured Master insisted, so Brother Yang was in no position to resist. I understand. In fact, Honoured Master’s injuries have already stabilized so a little wine won’t hurt him. Martial Uncle Mi is only worried that he might drink excessively, which is why he told me to keep an eye on him.”
Yang Kai sighed, “It’s tough for you too, Brother Gong.”
Gong Lian chuckled, “I owe Honoured Master for raising and teaching me. Now that this Gong has made some achievements in cultivation and can take care of himself, it is naturally necessary to repay those favours to Honoured Master. This much is nothing.”
As they were speaking, they arrived at the interior of the Black Ink Nest.
Yang Kai was naturally incomparably familiar with things like this Black Ink Nest. He had been in and out of many Black Ink Nests, including Low-Rank and Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests.
He was also the one who first found out that the Black Ink Nests could communicate with each other. Before that, the Humans had an inkling but had no proof on the matter.
It could be said that there was nobody more familiar with the Black Ink Nests than him in the entire Human Race.
“Martial Uncle Mi asked the Black Ink Clan to leave this Black Ink Nest behind because he hoped to create an intelligence network for the Humans using it. If we can use the Black Ink Nest the way the Black Ink Clan uses them, then in the future, passing information around will be much easier for our Race. Brother Yang should also know how far away each Great Pass is, and once a war breaks out, it becomes very difficult for Armies to contact each other. If this network could be established, it would be very useful for our future crusade.”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
“Currently, there are no problems with feeding it resources. The Black Ink Nest is able to absorb materials instinctually; however, after absorbing the materials, all of the energy will automatically be put towards the birth of new Black Ink Clansmen. We’ve not been able to create sub-nests.”
“Why is that?” Yang Kai frowned. He had seen how higher Rank Black Ink Nests created sub-nests before, so he knew it should not be anything difficult.
“Because we Humans have no way of controlling the Black Ink Nests currently,” Gong Lian explained, “Brother Yang may know that to control the Black Ink Nest, one needs to connect one’s Divine Sense with it Black Ink Nest’s consciousness and become one with it to control it.”
“Indeed!”
“And that is where the problem lies. Connecting to the consciousness of the Black Ink Nest was not a problem, the problem is that the Black Ink Clan has already set up an ambush inside the existing network, so as soon as any Human makes a connection, they are instantly attacked by the force of more than a dozen Territory Lords in an instant. In a contest of Spiritual Energy alone, our Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters are naturally unafraid of any single Territory Lord. However, our people can only fight alone, while the Black Ink Clan can borrow the strength of several Black Ink Nests in order to attack in a group, meaning no Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master can withstand it. The few Eighth-Order Division Commanders who tried before have all suffered varying degrees of injuries to their Soul.”
Yang Kai finally understood.
He had experienced something similar before. Previously, he had also connected to the Black Ink Nest’s consciousness to locate other Black Ink Nests, and it was then that he was attacked by the consciousnesses of many Feudal Lords in the strange space.
Fortunately, he had the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, so even though he was facing off against many foes alone, he still managed to defeat the Black Ink Clan.
What the Humans were encountering now was exactly the same issue Yang Kai encountered back then.
The Black Ink Clan must have known that the Humans would try to connect to the Black Ink Nest to make use of it, so they had prepared over a dozen Territory Lords to wait in ambush inside of that strange space. As soon as they sensed the intrusion of a Human’s consciousness, they would immediately attack.
Under such circumstances, would any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master be able to resist? Furthermore, if the few Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had not withdrawn in time, then they might have incurred irreparable damage to their Souls and perished.
Gong Lian continued, “The Old Ancestor has tried it once, but the Territory Lords must have sensed the Old Ancestor’s strength and took the initiative to withdraw when they sensed her. As such, even the Old Ancestor is helpless in this matter.”
It was an awkward situation that the Great Evolution Army was facing.
Despite having the Black Ink Nest in their hands, they had no way of using it effectively, yet it was too much of a waste to just destroy it.
Naturally, the Old Ancestor was not afraid of the Territory Lords; however, after they sensed the Old Ancestor’s strength, the Territory Lords lying in ambush would immediately escape, leaving the Old Ancestor helpless.
Also, it was not as if they could just have the Old Ancestor wait on standby inside of the Black Ink Nest forever.
Yang Kai did not anticipate this situation. He thought that the Humans would long have begun preparing the information network after having obtained the Black Ink Nest for so long, but now it seemed that more consideration was required for this matter.
It was true that he severely injured and even destroyed many Feudal Lord consciousness back then in the strange space of the Black Ink Nest. With the Soul Warming Lotus’s protection, he left the Feudal Lords in a miserable state despite fighting one against dozens, but he was only facing Feudal Lords and one Territory Lord back then.
Now, it was numerous Territory Lords who had set up an ambush in that strange space, and they had a clearly defined plan this time… Whether it be the scale or the situation, it was very different from before.
Yang Kai was confident that his Soul was by no means inferior to any Territory Lord, so in a one-on-one, he didn’t fear defeat. Moreover, with the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, he was fearless against any attack on his Soul.
However, if the number of Territory Lords was too great, then there was not much he could do about it either.
That was unless he could borrow some kind of powerful external force.
After a short pondering, Yang Kai said, “Many thanks, Brother Gong. I will return and see if I can come up with a solution to the situation here.”
Gong Lian didn’t give him a hard time and just smiled, “Take your time with it, Brother Yang, it’s not an urgent matter. What’s more, the higher-ups are also thinking up ideas. Surely it will be solved sooner or later.”
Yang Kai nodded and parted with Gong Lian. Without disturbing Ou Yang Lie who was still enjoying his drinks, he teleported back to Great Evolution Pass through the Space Array that was just completed.
While they were in Blue Sky Pass, Dawn Squad’s members all lived in their own scattered residences; however, now that they had arrived at Great Evolution Pass, the higher-ups took account of the fact that many Squads had been reorganized recently and the members needed to get to know each other better, so basically all the members of each Squad were housed in one place or area.
Dawn was assigned to a large courtyard near the outskirts of Great Evolution Pass with a few dozen houses, enough for all the members to share.
After returning to the courtyard, it was quiet. Save for Ning Qi Zhi, who was still recovering, the rest were nowhere to be seen.
Currently, the entire Great Evolution Pass was in a state of disarray and practically all of the Great Evolution Army’s soldiers were busy reorganizing everything, building or repairing various facilities around Great Evolution Pass, so there was no time for them to idle.
Yang Kai went to see how Ning Qi Zhi’s injuries were doing first and was relieved to see that he had improved a little. It was Ning Qi Zhi’s Small Universe that was damaged in the previous war, an extremely troublesome injury to have for an Open Heaven Realm Master, so the recovery process was also extremely slow.
However, the fact that there were improvements meant that there was nothing to worry about.
This allowed Yang Kai to breathe a sigh of relief. During the bloody battle at the Royal City, losing Qi Tai Chu was already a great heartache for him, so Ning Qi Zhi could not encounter any accidents.
After telling Ning Qi Zhi to take care of himself, Yang Kai left to see the Old Ancestor.
He needed the Old Ancestor’s help to deal with the matter concerning the Black Ink Nest; after all, they had to face off against many Territory Lords who were lying in ambush. Since the Old Ancestor was not able to handle it alone, he could only borrow her strength.
After interacting with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao for so many years, the two of them had already grown incredibly close with each other, so after arriving at the Old Ancestor’s chambers, Yang Kai entered straight away without having to announce himself or inform anyone.
In a stone pavilion located in a small garden, the Old Ancestor was joyfully chewing on candied fruit, leaving crumbs all over her mouth.
Yang Kai sat down on a chair in front of her and casually poured himself a cup of water, drinking it all, and then sighing deeply, looking preoccupied.
The Old Ancestor didn’t even spare a glance at him.
After finishing one stick of candied fruit, she took out another and continued eating.
If one had to say what kind of thing Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s Space Ring carried the most of, then it had to be snacks. During the days she spent recovering in Yang Kai’s Small Universe, he often took her to the most bustling cities, and even he did not know how much food she had bought and hoarded up during those years.
“Something you need?” The Old Ancestor finally spoke after finishing another stick of candied fruit.
“Nope!” Yang Kai chuckled, “Just thought I’d pay a visit.”
“En,” the Old Ancestor responded casually and did not pay him any more attention.
Yang Kai was wondering how he should bring this up to the Old Ancestor in a less abrupt way. He was mainly here to borrow something from her, and despite how well they knew each other, he would inevitably find it embarrassing to just outright ask for it.
The Old Ancestor had seen through that, but since Yang Kai did not speak, she just left him to stew in his thoughts.
Soon, a small handful of bamboo skewers had already piled up in front of the Old Ancestor. Candied fruits were very sweet, but too much of them were bad for the teeth. Clearly, the Old Ancestor had quite the craving, but after a satisfied sigh, she looked around before her eyes finally stopped on Yang Kai, and she beckoned him with her finger.
Yang Kai quickly straightened his back and put his ear forward, ready to listen to the Old Ancestor’s instructions.
However, the Old Ancestor simply wiped her sugary hands on his sleeve…
Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, “If you wanted to wipe your hands, wouldn’t it have been better if I fetched you some water instead?”
“I prefer it this way!” The Old ancestor snapped back, “What are you going to do about it?”
Yang Kai held his forehead.
After a moment, with her hands cleaned, the Old Ancestor took out a cup from somewhere and pushed it in Yang Kai’s direction.
Yang Kai diligently filled it up for her.
After taking a sip of water, the Old Ancestor spoke leisurely, “Tell me, what have you sought me for?”
Yang Kai told her frankly, “I would like to borrow something from you.”
“Like what?”
“A Soul-type artifact!”
The Old Ancestor was surprised, “What do you need a Soul-type artifact for?”
Yang Kai explained, “To deal with the Territory Lords who are lying in ambush inside of the Black Ink Nests. They have no way of dealing with the Black Ink Nest over there, right? If I had a strong enough Soul-type artifact, then I might be able to solve the problem.”
The Old Ancestor frowned, “Don’t be reckless! Currently, you are no more than a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Each one of the Territory Lords lying in wait is as strong as an Eighth-Order Master. Moreover, as soon as they sense that a Soul is connecting from here, they will immediately launch an attack. Even with a Soul-type artifact protecting your Soul, you might not make it out safely.”
Yang Kai laughed, “Many thanks, Old Ancestor, for your concern, but since I’ve said so, I’m confident in my ability to succeed. Old Ancestor may not know this, but I came into possession of certain treasure during the early days of my cultivation, and with the protection of that treasure, the Territory Lords, and even the Royal Lords cannot do anything to my Soul.”
The Old Ancestor was a little surprised at his words, but she soon asked thoughtfully, “The treasure you speak of, it couldn’t be the Soul Warming Lotus, could it?”
There was a pair of lotuses that were Supreme Treasures of the Universe, the Soul Warming Lotus that nourished and protected one’s Soul, and the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus that kept the body of the one in possession of it in an immaculate state. Who had not heard of these two Supreme Treasures before?
However, such treasures had always been considered unique existences, and those who were able to possess either of them were those who held great destinies. Not just anyone strong could obtain such a treasure.
If there was any treasure in the world that could allow a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to resist the Spiritual Energy attack of a Royal Lord, then it had to be the Soul Warming Lotus, so the Old Ancestor was able to guess it almost immediately.
Yang Kai nodded, “It is indeed the Soul Warming Lotus.”
The Old Ancestor almost did not dare to believe him, but since Yang Kai had told her so, he was clearly not joking around with her. After a moment of silence, she sighed, “Your luck is really enviable, to be able to obtain the Soul Warming Lotus. Moreover, to obtain it early on in your cultivation… It is no wonder why I have always felt that your Soul did not match your cultivation; it was thanks to the Soul Warming Lotus.”
Since Yang Kai had obtained the Soul Warming Lotus early on in life, after nurturing it for so many years, his Soul would naturally be much tougher and stronger than ordinary.
“It was just by chance!” Yang Kai said modestly. Reflecting on the experiences he went through on his Martial Dao, obtaining the Soul Warming Lotus could be considered his most fortuitous encounter of all.
Only a few people whom he was very close with knew about his possession of the Soul Warming Lotus; after all, it was too precious a thing to be revealing it casually.
As for the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus in Wu Kuang’s possession, there was perhaps no one else but him and Wu Kuang himself who knew about it.
Even though the Old Ancestor had been healing in Yang Kai’s Small Universe for many years, she had no idea about the Soul Warming Lotus.
“With the Soul Warming Lotus’s protection, you do not need to worry about the Soul attacks of those Territory Lords; however, even if your Soul can fight against the Territory Lords, you still may not be able to defeat them in a one against many fight.”
“That is why I came to see you,” Yang Kai rubbed his hands together and looked excitedly at her, “So that I can borrow a powerful Soul-type artifact!”
The Old Ancestor finally realized, “So, that’s the idea you came up with. With the Soul Warming Lotus to protect yourself, you want to boost your offensive strength with an artifact, and if you were able to severely injure a few of them, then the Black Ink Clan probably will not dare to use the Black Ink Nest to lay an ambush for us again.”
“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded, “If we can solve this problem, then our people can begin building our own intelligence network.”
“A good plan!” The Old Ancestor nodded, “Unfortunately, I don’t have any Soul-type artifacts to lend you.”
Yang Kai had a speechless look on his face. Of all the possible scenarios he had thought up, he never expected this one.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said, “When I advanced to the Ninth Order, I gave up on all external aids other than a single favoured artifact. You should know that when one’s cultivation reaches my realm, the greatest thing one can rely on is oneself. Not only are most auxiliary weapons and devices useless, they can even impede the purity of one’s Dao.”
The Old Ancestor’s words sounded as if she were trying to explain the state of a venerable Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to him, but was it still not a kind of teaching?
Yang Kai listened thoughtfully.
The Old Ancestor soon changed the topic though, “Even though I do not have a Soul-type artifact to lend you, I do have something that should suit your needs… In fact, other than you, there is probably nobody else who can properly make use of this thing.”
Yang Kai was intrigued, “What is it?”
The Old Ancestor flicked her hand and a jade slip appeared. Then, she casually tossed it over to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai reached out and grabbed it, then he immersed his Divine Sense and began investigating the jade slip’s contents.
Soon, a look of astonishment appeared on his face, “Soul Rending Thorn? Who came up with such a crazy thing?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao explained, “In the early days of the Shattered Heaven, there existed an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who lived in seclusion and did not appear in public. He was likely defending against the possibility that the Cave Heavens and Paradises might try to capture him. After painstakingly researching for many years, he thought up such a terrible and unorthodox artifact, mainly to use against the venerable Ninth-Order Masters of the Cave Heavens and Paradises, not knowing that there was not a single Ninth-Order Master present in the 3,000 Worlds. At that time, I was also merely in the Eighth-Order. Since he was involved in the murder of one of my Yin-Yang Cave Heaven’s disciples, I visited him and obtained this.”
The Old Ancestor did not mention what became of that Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master in seclusion, but since this Soul Rending Thorn was now in the hands of this Old Ancestor, then that Eighth-Order Master’s fate could be easily guessed.
Even if both were in the Eighth Order, two cultivators could have vastly different strengths, especially when comparing those who came from great forces with deep heritages such as those Cave Heavens and Paradises and rogues without any foundation to depend on.
Yang Kai had once been chased down by Bright Sun Divine Monarch Cheng Yang in the Shattered Heaven when he was in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm, but he was still able to get away from him in the end somehow.
However, if it had been an Eighth-Order Master from any of the Cave Heavens or Paradises back then, he wouldn’t have been so lucky.
That was the difference.
Even though Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had also been in the Eighth Order back then, she had the foundation to advance to the Ninth Order, so how could a vagabond Eighth-Order Master with below-average strength compare to her?
With her taking action personally, the previous owner of this Soul Rending Thorn probably did not fare well.
Still, it had to be said that the man did have some talent to be able to develop this Soul Rending Thorn. If this thing was used well, it could help one defeat a far stronger foe. The developer of this Soul Rending Thorn mainly came up with it to defend himself against Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, but if the gap in strength was too wide, it was still impossible for it to have any effect.
The Soul Rending Thorn was both a profound Secret Technique and also a type of artifact, and neither was of any use without the other. With only the Secret Technique but without the artifact, one would be unable to perform the technique, but with only the artifact and without the Secret Technique, it would still also be impossible to use.
The Secret Technique and the artifact were both indispensable.
And, just as the Old Ancestor said, there was nobody that could truly use this thing to its fullest potential but Yang Kai.
To Yang Kai, this was a huge boon.
After bidding farewell to the Old Ancestor, Yang Kai sent out a message and quickly received a reply, after which he went straight towards one of Great Evolution Pass’ walls.
In just a few moments, he arrived and saw a figure working restlessly on a certain part of the wall.
Yang Kai went up to him and greeted, “Grandmaster.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan was busy at work. The World Force in his body was surging and he was sweating as hard as rain. Without even lifting his head, he answered, “You’ve come just in time. Help me with this.”
Currently, the busiest group of people in the entire Great Evolution Pass were the Artifact Refiners and Array Masters. Great Evolution Pass had only been recovered half a year ago, so many things needed these professionals’ help fixing and setting up. All of the Array Masters and the Artifact Refiners were too busy to even pay attention to anything else.
As one of the only few Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters in Great Evolution Pass today, Grandmaster Ma Fan naturally had even less free time than others.
Moreover, he was more motivated to work than anyone else because this was Great Evolution Pass, the place the ancestors of Great Evolution Paradise had guarded. Although it had been lost for 30,000 years, the Human Race was finally able to snatch it back from the hands of the Black Ink Clan.
Ma Fan would put everything that he learned in his life to good use so that Great Evolution Pass could become an impregnable fortress where the mistakes of their ancestors from 30,000 years ago would never be repeated!
He also knew that Yang Kai had the skills of an Artifact Refining Grandmaster, and this was enough to act as an assistant, which was why Ma Fan even accepted a call from Yang Kai earlier. If it had been anyone else, Grandmaster Ma Fan wouldn’t have bothered speaking to him in the first place, must less ask for his help so carelessly.
Yang Kai naturally did not refuse. He went up and asked how he could help, and soon began immersing himself in work alongside Grandmaster Ma Fan.
From the moment Yang Kai arrived until the job was done, almost half a month passed. It was not until Grandmaster Ma Fan had completed the superstructure of a large artifact that they finally stopped.
Both of them were exhausted and left the remaining matters to others to finish up as they found a secluded place to adjust their breathing.
It was only half a day later that Grandmaster Ma Fan finally opened his eyes and took out a wine bottle to wet his lips. After smacking his lips in satisfaction, he sighed, “I’m getting old. I would never be this tired in my youth. I’d be in good spirits even after working non-stop on Artifact Refining for a few years.”
Yang Kai laughed, “You’re still in your prime, you’re not old at all.”
Grand Master Ma Fan glanced at him, “So, what have you sought me for?”
Yang Kai quickly answered, “I came to ask Grandmaster to refine some artifacts for me!”
Saying so, he handed over the jade slip that he had prepared earlier.
Grandmaster Ma Fan accepted it and poured his Divine Sense inside to check it, soon frowning as he asked, “Where did you get this from? It’s quite a sinister thing.”
The jade slip that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao gave to Yang Kai was comprehensive, containing both the Secret Technique and the refinement method of the Soul Rending Thorn. Even though it was not a confidential, or even a particularly important matter, it was still given to him by an Old Ancestor after all, so Yang Kai could not casually pass it around without her permission. So, what he handed to Grandmaster Ma Fan was merely the refinement method, which he had transcribed into a new jade slip.
Even though it was merely the refinement method and was lacking the corresponding Secret Technique, someone of Grandmaster Ma Fan’s capability could tell at a glance what the usage of this thing was. If it were created, there was no telling what kind of treachery and chaos it could facilitate, and that was why he commented on it being sinister.
“The Old Ancestor was the one who gave it to me,” Yang Kai explained, as there wasn’t a need to hide it.
Grand Master Ma Fan was slightly taken aback, but then he took a closer look at the jade slip and said in wonder, “Is there an accompanying Secret Technique for this artifact?”
Yang Kai gave him a thumbs up at once, “Great Master’s vision is truly sharp.”
Grand Master Ma Fan looked up at him, “Since it was given by the Old Ancestor, I won’t ask any questions. Still, I must remind you that using this thing will surely cause grave injury to yourself, so you’d best only use it when absolutely necessary.”
Yang Kai replied seriously, “Rest assured, Grandmaster. I know what I’m doing.”
“En,” Grandmaster Ma Fan rose without commenting further, “Come with me.”
Yang Kai followed behind him.
Great Evolution Pass had its own Refining Hall now.
In fact, since Great Evolution Pass’s reoccupation by the Human Army, the higher-ups had given top priority to establishing a functioning Refining Hall and Pill Hall, two key places that Great Evolution Pass’ foundation would be built on.
However, most of the Artifact Refiners were busy outside, so when the two of them stepped into the Refining Hall, not many people were inside.
Hundreds of Warships were moored at the large square outside of the Hall, both big and small, making for quite a spectacular sight.
These Warships were all in need of repair. When the East-West Army departed from the Royal City to Great Evolution Pass, the Artifact Refiners and Array Masters had already fixed up many of the Warships, but that was only a patch-up job as time was limited.
After arriving at Great Evolution Pass, the priority was to restore Great Evolution Pass, so most of the Warships had yet to be fixed and were thus all moored here.
They had to wait until the Artifact Refiners and Array Masters were finally free before they could be worked on.
After arriving at an open furnace, Grandmaster Ma Fan asked, “Are all the materials ready?”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded.
In fact, the material requirements for the Soul Rending Thorn weren’t high. Apart from one or two rare items, it was mostly comprised of ordinary materials.
On second thought, it was not surprising since it was created by an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who was hiding in seclusion in the Shattered Heaven. He naturally had to consider his access to materials, and if the materials needed were too rare, then he would not be able to get them.
After taking out all of the materials, Grandmaster Ma Fan’s Divine Sense surged for a while, and then he tossed the jade slip back to Yang Kai, “I made a few modifications that may enhance their power, but considering that there is still an accompanying Secret Technique, I dare not guarantee that the modifications will be compatible. Have a look at it yourself. If it’s fine, then we will refine the artifacts based on this.”
Yang Kai received the jade slip and looked over it. After a moment, a delighted look appeared on his face, “Sure enough, Grandmaster has discerning eyes. These changes are subtle, but enough to increase the power of these things by about 10%. As for the Secret Technique, it is relatively flexible so it won’t be affected.”
It could be said that the Secret Technique would not be troublesome to perform for anyone as long as they were a cultivator. Only, not everyone could afford the cost of casting it.
So, Grandmaster Ma Fan’s changes had no negative effects.
Since it was confirmed that everything was fine, Grandmaster Ma Fan began refining without dallying.
In fact, Yang Kai himself could have refined them; after all, he was also a Grandmaster Artifact Refiner. However, he was going to be using them against Territory Lords, so having Grandmaster Ma Fan work on them would naturally help to guarantee the Soul Rending Thorns’ might. Moreover, if he were to refine them himself, it would take far longer.
Day after day, Grandmaster Ma Fan refined Soul Rending Thorns while Yang Kai provided some help from the side.
Various subtle Artifact Refining techniques were performed by Grandmaster Ma Fan’s hands, and he did not try to avoid being seen either, oftentimes working with the intent for Yang Kai to observe more closely.
Under these circumstances, Yang Kai was able to make a considerable improvement in the Dao of Artifact Refining, which he had to admit was a surprise.
The first Soul Rending Thorn took Grandmaster Ma Fan a month to complete. The completed Soul Rending Thorn was just like a long needle the length of a finger. It was dark all over, as if it had been coated with a strong poison.
But in fact, this thing was not poisonous at all.
Yang Kai picked it up and studied it, using his Spiritual Energy to refine it a little and found that nothing unusual happened, which meant that the refinement was a success.
He thought that Grandmaster Ma Fan would be able to refine the Soul Rending Thorn faster and faster as time went on, but every single Soul Rending Thorn took him an entire month to finish.
This proved one thing, that though it was Grandmaster Ma Fan’s first time refining this artifact, he had still achieved his limit from the very start, which was why the time consumed in its creation did not decrease with subsequent attempts.
A year later, 12 Soul Rending Thorns were successfully refined and the materials Yang Kai prepared were all used up.
Only then did Grandmaster Ma Fan’s hand stop, “Is this enough?”
Yang Kai grinned, “It’s enough.”
He trusted that the Territory Lords also would not be foolish enough that he would be able to use the Soul Rending Thorns 12 times. It would be best if he only had to kill off a few Territory Lords before they all retreated.
12 of them had been created just in case the unfortunate happened.
Now that the Soul Rending Thorns were ready, Yang Kai bid farewell to Grandmaster Ma Fan and returned to Dawn’s courtyard so he could begin refining them.
The courtyard was still quiet with all of Dawn’s members busy with work outside; however, he did happen to bump into Feng Ying who had returned to check on Ning Qi Zhi’s injuries.
After a brief exchange with Feng Ying and making sure that Ning Qi Zhi’s injuries showed no signs of deterioration, Yang Kai did not find the need to visit him again either.
It was hard enough for a badly injured member to be left to recuperate quietly by himself while everyone was out busy, so it was not good to visit him constantly either.
Just as he was about to walk away, Feng Ying pulled him to a quiet place and whispered, “Squad Leader, can our Squad take on any more people?”
Yang Kai had no idea why she suddenly brought this up and replied, “Blood Crow and two others are joining Dawn so we just happen to have 50. We’re already full, you know that.”
Feng Ying said, “I know, but can’t you go and have a talk with the Army Commander and ask if we can add one more person?”
Yang Kai did not understand, “Who is it that you are so concerned about?”