Space was an extremely mysterious thing. There had been countless talented geniuses who had led their eras throughout the ages, but how many of them could thoroughly study the mysteries of the Dao of Space?
Even the current Yang Kai didn’t dare say that he had fully comprehended the essence of the Dao of Space, he had simply walked further and saw more of the Dao of Space than others.
He had been to the Void Crack many times, so he was naturally no stranger to this omnipresent Void Turbulence.
Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to find a direction or any kind of regularity here, but for those who were proficient in the Dao of Space, the movements of the Void Turbulence were still quite noticeable.
Although it had been determined that Great Evolution Pass’ Core had been lost in the Void Crack, no one knew where it was exactly.
After 30,000 years, perhaps the Core had drifted far away along with the Void Turbulence’s flow.
What Yang Kai needed to do now was to find some clues that he could use to find the Core in this boundless expanse.
This was undoubtedly a difficult task.
The only piece of good news was that the Core shouldn’t have drifted too far away; otherwise, it wouldn’t have disturbed the stability of the Void Corridor between Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass.
Yang Kai tried his best to recall the place where the Void Corridor was disrupted back then. His figure moved through the Void Turbulence like a fish through water as he pushed his Space Principles.
Meanwhile, Yuan Xing Ge, at Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array, ordered, “Send a message to Great Evolution Pass and inform them of the situation here.”
The Great Evolution Army had no idea how long it would take for Yang Kai to find the Core in the Void Crack, but they must still be waiting for news.
The soldier on duty nodded in response and quickly prepared a blank jade slip. He recorded everything that had transpired here with his Divine Sense before activating the Space Array and sending the jade slip to Great Evolution Pass.
The moment the two Arrays connected, Yang Kai, who was in the Void Crack between them, sensed it. Via his Divine Sense, he quickly discovered that something was rapidly passing through the local space.
Very soon, he understood that it should be a message sent by Wind and Cloud Pass to Great Evolution Pass.
[Yuan Xing Ge is quite meticulous, while I was a bit sloppy. I should have reported to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao before I left. But since Wind and Cloud Pass has sent a message, it should be fine now.]
Yang Kai found nothing as he investigated along the direction of the Void Turbulence flow, which frustrated him slightly. Had he known that Great Evolution Pass’ Core was lost in this Void Crack, he wouldn’t have been so quick to open up the Void Corridor that day. That was undoubtedly the best opportunity to find the Core, because he could find the source of the disturbance.
The source of this disturbance was definitely the location of the Core.
Unfortunately, after he cleared the passage between the two Passes, these clues were also erased.
Nevertheless, there was no point in crying over spilt milk; no one had expected such a situation to occur.
[Perhaps… I could sabotage Great Evolution Pass’ Space Array and try to recreate the event from 30,000 years ago?]
Just as this thought flashed across Yang Kai’s mind, he shook his head and quashed it. Sabotaging the Space Array wouldn’t be a problem, and repairing it wasn’t an issue either, but the chances of reconstructing the exact circumstance from 30,000 years ago were far too low. Even the slightest error could throw the entire attempt off.
Right now, the best solution was to search, slowly and painstakingly. Perhaps he might even obtain some benefits.
Just as Yang Kai was looking around, he suddenly felt a strange reaction from his Space Ring. He quickly stopped and focused his Divine Sense.
The next instant, a look of shock appeared on his face as an extremely rich fluctuation of Space Principles began to radiate from his Space Ring.
Before he could figure out what was going on, a seven-coloured figure of light flew out from his Space Ring. The figure of light twisted and transformed, taking the shape of a young woman in front of him.
Yang Kai stared at the figure before him in shock and muttered, “Si Niang?”
This young woman was none other than Huang Si Niang, who should be back at the No-Return Pass.
[How is Si Niang here, and how did she appear from my Space Ring!?]
[Also, aren’t the Phoenix Clan and Dragon Clan bound by the Bloodline Great Oath that prevents them from leaving the No-Return Pass unless they are under threat of extermination?]
While Yang Kai was reeling from the shock, Huang Si Niang stretched lazily and chanted “I’m finally out!”
After glancing around, she was a little taken aback by her surroundings and muttered, “You’re cultivating the Dao of Space here? No wonder I felt strong fluctuations of Space Principles.”
If it weren’t for the fact that she had noticed the extremely chaotic fluctuations of the surrounding Space Principles, she wouldn’t have appeared.
She had thought that Yang Kai had encountered some kind of enemy and was currently locked in battle, but contrary to her assumption, he was actually swimming through the Void Crack.
Yang Kai sized up Huang Si Niang for a moment before hesitantly guessing, “A Soul Clone?”
When she first appeared in front of him, Yang Kai really thought that Si Niang had come here in person, but after carefully examining her, he discovered that she had not. This should be a type of Soul Clone because the Huang Si Niang in front of him wasn’t as powerful as he had seen before. However, this was clearly somewhat different from an ordinary Soul Clone.
Si Niang had no intention of explaining and just slightly nodded her agreement to his question, “Yup.”
Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “That tail feather?”
Si Niang grinned.
Yang Kai smacked his forehead, voicing his thoughts, “I was wondering why you were so generous when we first met, it turns out you had this in mind.”
Back at the Phoenix Nest, Si Niang had said that she had lost a bet with Feng Liu Lang, and as a result, she had to give him a tail feather.
Yang Kai was quite puzzled by this; the two of them had made a bet, so how was he related? But, it was the tail feather of a Phoenix, from which he could comprehend the Dao of Space, so Yang Kai naturally happily accepted it.
But by the looks of it, it wasn’t because of his outstanding charisma and charm, but rather because Huang Si Niang had other plans.
This tail feather wasn’t just an ordinary tail feather. It had probably been refined by Huang Si Niang into something similar to a Soul Clone. She had gifted it to Yang Kai with the intention to sightsee around the Black Ink Battlefield.
Si Niang really liked to join in on the fun, but unfortunately, she couldn’t leave the No-Return Pass, nor did the Black Ink Clan come attacking, so she spent her days in her Phoenix Nest, bored to death.
Although a large number of Humans, who would come to the No-Return Pass and would be sent to the various Great Passes, would appear every few years, they were all ordinary Humans. How could Si Niang lower herself to interact with them?
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was different. He was partially a Dragon at that time. So, giving him a tail feather was no big deal.
In truth, Si Niang hadn’t schemed against Yang Kai in this matter, she just hadn’t told him the whole truth because she had some selfish motives.
Although a Space Ring was a sealed space, with the Phoenix Clan’s attainments in the Dao of Space, it naturally wouldn’t be difficult for Si Niang to escape even if Yang Kai placed the tail feather inside one.
The reason she had appeared at this time was because she had sensed dense fluctuations of the Space Principles and had thought that Yang Kai was fighting with the Black Ink Clan, so she had come out to join in.
As a result, she appeared in the Void Crack.
“Your Soul Clone is not restricted by the Bloodline Oath?” Yang Kai asked.
Huang Si Niang pursed her lips, “It’s just a Soul Clone, why would it receive any restrictions? It’s not a big deal if my main body doesn’t leave the No-Return Pass.”
Yang Kai just nodded along in response.
“What are you doing in such a place?” Huang Si Niang looked around, and when she saw nothing but Void Turbulence, disappointment filled her face.
Although her tail feather was similar to a Soul Clone, it wasn’t really one, so she couldn’t maintain this state indefinitely. At most, she could only manifest around three times before it became ineffective.
This was a waste of an opportunity, so she was truly annoyed.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, was overjoyed, “Si Niang, you came just in time! I have something I need your help with.”
Huang Si Niang couldn’t help but gawk at his happy expression…
After Yang Kai explained the situation, Huang Si Niang nodded, “Understood. Since that’s the case, let’s split up and search.”
Saying so, her figure flickered as she transformed into a seven-coloured streak of light and disappeared into the Void Turbulence.
Yang Kai watched in amazement.
Although his mastery of the Dao of Space had reached an extremely high level and he had no problem traversing through this turbulent Void, Huang Si Niang was a Phoenix with an innate Bloodline Talent for the Dao of Space, allowing her to literally feel at home in this kind of environment. He couldn’t repeat the same feat.
This had nothing to do with mastery.
If he could be considered a person who had practised and mastered the art of swimming, then Huang Si Niang and the other Phoenixes would be fish born in the ocean.
Be that as it may, if he were to think about it from a different perspective, he had his own advantages. Although their Bloodline Talent was indeed powerful and beneficial, it was also set in stone with predefined limits. This was also why the Phoenix Clan was unable to repair the damaged Universe Temples.
The Human Race had made many innovations and come up with a lot of applications for the Dao of Space, something the Phoenix Clan couldn’t compare to.
In any case, it should not be a problem to find the Great Evolution Pass Core with the help of Huang Si Niang.
As for how she would inform him after finding it, that was something Yang Kai was not worried about. The advantages the Phoenix Clan could display here were beyond his reach. Since Si Niang had left so quickly, she definitely had a way to find him again.
Keeping his thoughts to himself, Yang Kai also shuttled through the Void Turbulence and began carefully searching.
Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything, until he sensed a strange movement in the Void near him at some point. Yang Kai focused his senses to investigate and found that a seven-coloured beam of light was rapidly approaching him through the Void Turbulence.
“I don’t know if it’s what you’re looking for, but there’s something strange over there,” Huang Si Niang reported before turning around and leading the way.
Yang Kai quickly chased after her.
A moment later, the two stopped somewhere in the Void Crack, staring at the strange scene before their eyes. Yang Kai became slightly absent-minded at the sight of this.
He had travelled through the Void Crack many times, but he had never seen anything like this.
The Void Turbulence had almost solidified into a sphere-like object. Even now, more turbulence was still being pulled in from the surroundings and merging with this anomaly, slowly enlarging the sphere.
Who knows how long it had existed for it to reach its current size.
“Is this what you’re looking for?” Huang Si Niang asked.
Yang Kai shook his head, “I’m not sure, but it might be.”
There was nothing else in this Void Crack apart from this strange thing; furthermore, the surrounding Void Turbulence was extremely chaotic because of this object, so it was quite possible that it had disturbed the Void Corridor before.
Huang Si Niang looked at it for a moment before replying, “It’s going to be a bit difficult to deal with this.”
Yang Kai humbly asked, “Can you take it out directly?”
Huang Si Niang shook her head, “This thing is formed from an immense amount of Void Turbulence. Even if you could force it open, once the structure is disturbed, the flow around here will surely become extremely violent and chaotic, to the point where this section of the Void Crack will be torn to pieces and scatter about randomly.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement, “Then we’ll have to slowly peel it open.”
Inside the Void Crack, there was a strange object formed from countless turbulent flows. Not to mention Yang Kai, even Huang Si Niang had never seen anything like it before.
However, Yang Kai could vaguely sense that there was something inside this strange anomaly; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to draw in the surrounding Void Turbulence.
This thing was most likely Great Evolution Pass’ Core which Yang Kai was looking for.
In that case, the only way to extract the Core would be to separate the individual streams of Void Turbulence that had accumulated over the past 30,000 years.
This was undoubtedly an extremely complicated task.
Huang Si Niang felt quite exasperated. Back then, she had given her tail feather to Yang Kai mainly because she wanted to accompany him and find an opportunity to join in on the fun and kill a few Black Ink Clansmen, but the first time she showed herself, Yang Kai was ordering her around like a labourer.
If one were to compare this spherical object before them to a ball of yarn, then the countless turbulent currents in and around it would be the threads. These threads were interweaving and overlapping each other layer by layer in a complete mess. If one wanted to unravel these currents, it would be equivalent to extracting the threads from it one by one until it was revealed what was hidden inside. This required great willpower and patience.
This was undoubtedly the most brute force method, but it was also the only method available.
After Yang Kai reached this conclusion, he took action. He used Space Principles to form a barrier around the sphere, isolating it.
He had to first isolate it because this sphere was constantly drawing in the surrounding Void Turbulence. If he didn’t isolate it, he would never be able to completely clear the turbulent flows.
For the current Yang Kai, forming a barrier was a simple matter.
A moment later, an isolation field created by Space Principles enveloped the sphere.
Space Principles continued to fluctuate as Yang Kai’s Divine Sense surged towards the sphere, searching for weak spots to exploit.
After a while, a stream of Void Turbulence attached to the sphere was drawn out and then pushed out of the barrier by Yang Kai, discarding it into the Void Crack.
The first step was always the hardest. After the first successful attempt, Yang Kai found the second to be much simpler.
After removing several dozen streams of Void Turbulence, Yang Kai turned to the bored Huang Si Niang and called out to her, “Si Niang, don’t just stand there, help me.”
He had no idea how many streams of Void Turbulence had been gathered in this sphere over the past 30,000 years. Some had fused together while others had split apart, so the exact number was impossible to determine. All that was certain was that there was an enormous amount of them. It would take him a lot of time and effort if he were to try to separate them all by himself.
Huang Si Niang glared at him fiercely, “You want this Great Aunt to help? Does it look like I owe you some great debt or something?”
Despite saying so, Huang Si Niang still carried joined in. The next moment, Yang Kai felt powerful fluctuations of Space Principle radiating from her as she drew out a turbulent flow with a gentle wave of her hand.
She was many times faster than him at this.
Yang Kai was extremely impressed. The Phoenix Clan really deserved its title.
Moreover, Huang Si Niang became faster and faster with her subsequent attempts. After a brief familiarisation, her pair of fair hands began to move back and forth, flicking her fingers with great speed. Every time she flicked her fingers, Space Principles would undulate around her, quickly drawing out the turbulent flows around the sphere.
Obviously, this was an extremely profound application of the Dao of Space.
While Yang Kai was quietly extracting the Void Turbulence, he was also stealing her knowledge in an open and aboveboard manner. He split his attention between Huang Si Niang and his task, appreciating the profound mysteries of the Dao of Space.
This kind of application of the Dao of Space was extremely profound. Someone who had not cultivated the Dao of Space would definitely be bewildered at the sight of this, but it took Yang Kai only half an hour to fully grasp its essence.
For a time, the two of them stood side by side in front of the strange sphere, using their strength to frantically extract the threads from it.
The size of the giant sphere decreased as the Void Turbulence around it decreased.
Whether it was Yang Kai or Huang Si Niang, the speed at which they separated the Void Turbulence became faster and faster until each of them reached their respective peaks.
Yang Kai silently calculated, and according to his current speed, it would take him half a year at most to completely remove the turbulence that made up this sphere. He would be able to see what was hidden inside then.
It was most likely Great Evolution Pass’ Core; after all, nothing else would be lost in this kind of damned place.
However, after a month or so, Huang Si Niang suddenly stopped and turned to Yang Kai, “I can’t persist any longer, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Saying so, her figure flickered as she flew towards Yang Kai.
When she was halfway, the seven-coloured streak of light transformed back to the tail feather, which was quickly grabbed by Yang Kai.
Whether Si Niang could hear him or not, Yang Kai still thanked her, “Many thanks for your hard work.”
But judging by this, it became clear that the tail feather was indeed somewhat different from a Soul Clone. At the very least, normal Soul Clones wouldn’t exhaust their strength so quickly.
Yang Kai didn’t know if Huang Ning Si could use this clone again, but he reckoned it was possible.
He carefully placed it into his Space Ring. In any case, Si Niang could break through the barrier of the Space Ring herself, so if she wanted to appear, she would show herself.
Without Si Niang’s help, Yang Kai had no choice but to work alone. The original half-year estimate was instantly doubled.
Yang Kai didn’t find this exercise boring though. This experience of extracting Void Turbulence was very rare and happened to be like a test of his mastery over the Dao of Space. He had already reached his limit in terms of speed of extracting the Void Turbulence. If he could break through this limit, perhaps his mastery over the Dao of Space would improve.
From then on, Yang Kai continued to try all sorts of methods to extract the Void Turbulence, gaining a little each time.
At some point, he suddenly stopped and focused his attention on the sphere.
After a long time of extraction, the sphere had reduced to the height of only two people combined, and the thing hidden inside seemed to have finally revealed some clues.
Yang Kai faintly felt a strange energy fluctuation coming from inside the sphere but he did not dare to jump to any conclusions and carefully examined everything again.
The next moment, he was overjoyed. Apparently, his guess was right, this sphere was most likely Great Evolution Pass’ Core.
He continued to draw out the Void Turbulence without any more hesitation.
As the surrounding turbulent flows were stripped away one by one, the true appearance of the thing hidden inside finally revealed itself.
After another 10 days, Yang Kai managed to extract the last of the turbulent flows and finally saw the exact appearance of the thing inside, and that left him baffled.
The thing in his sight was not Great Evolution Pass’ Core like he was expecting, but rather the remains of a Human cultivator.
A long time had passed since this Human had died. The corpse was riddled with wounds with its flesh having withered under the effects of the Void Turbulence
Judging by the state of the corpse before its death, the expression on its face could be considered peaceful.
Yang Kai didn’t know what Order this old man was when he was alive, but he could faintly feel residual Space Principles from his remains.
These residual Space Principles were not something left behind by the Void Turbulence, but rather they belonged to this person from the start.
In other words, this man should have cultivated the Dao of Space to some extent when he was still alive. However, after Yang Kai scanned him, he reckoned that this man should have just started cultivating the Dao of Space.
If that wasn’t the case, the man wouldn’t have remained trapped in the Void Crack and would have found a way out long ago.
It was precisely because of these faint traces of the Dao of Space left in the remains that the surrounding Void Turbulence gathered and gradually formed a sphere-like object.
Looking at the remains in front of him, Yang Kai could imagine how this person had reacted after being trapped here.
No matter what Order this person was when he was alive, it would be difficult for him to find a way out of the Void Crack. If he wanted to leave, he would have to find a pattern to the Void Turbulence.
After many years of observation and study, although he had suffered a great deal, he had finally managed to gain some insights into the Dao of Space. If he had sufficient time to continue cultivating, he might have made some progress in the Dao of Space and escaped.
Unfortunately, for various unknown reasons, his strength was completely exhausted and had no way to replenish his energy. As such, he was unable to resist the Void Turbulence and eventually died of old age or injuries.
After countless years, Yang Kai finally found him.
This scene was quite different from what he had imagined. He thought that 30,000 years ago, the soldiers of Great Evolution Pass had used the Space Array to send the Core to Wind and Cloud Pass at that critical moment, but now it seemed that it was not just a simple delivery of the Core, but someone carrying it.
There was no Great Evolution Pass Core in sight, but Yang Kai wasn’t disappointed, because if it were him, if he fled with the Core, he would not be carrying it by hand.
It must have been stored in this man’s Small Universe or Space Ring.
As the man was already dead, his Small Universe had certainly collapsed. No matter what the Small Universe had inside of it, it would have been destroyed.
Yang Kai turned his focus to the Space Ring on this man’s right hand. He bowed to the corpse before approaching it and removing the Space Ring.
When he scanned it with his Divine Sense, he discovered that all the restrictions on this Space Ring had been removed in advance. In other words, anyone who obtained this Space Ring would be able to easily retrieve its contents.
The removal of the restrictions should have been done by this Senior before his death.
Even though he was in a desperate situation and about to die, he still firmly believed that someone would someday find him and retrieve the thing he had hidden.
Thinking so, he could not leave behind any restrictions on his Space Ring, because if he did, it would only cause trouble for those who came to retrieve it in the future. If the Space Ring was destroyed while trying to remove the restrictions, its contents would be lost.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to investigate the contents of the Space Ring.
The large space inside was empty, which was a given as this man must have used up everything he could while he was trapped here.
Inside the Space Ring, there was only an Identity Token and a few artifacts.
What caught Yang Kai’s attention though was a sparkling, translucent white jade tree.
Yang Kai slightly furrowed his brow. He didn’t sense anything special about this white jade tree. It looked like an ornamental artifact.
[Is this Great Evolution Pass’ Core?]
[If not, where is the Core?]
He didn’t touch the small tree; after all, this place wasn’t safe. If the jade tree was really Great Evolution Pass’ Core, it wasn’t suitable to be taken out here.
Yang Kai took out the Identity Token and checked it for a moment before a sigh escaped his lips.
Although 30,000 years had passed, the Identity Token of the various Great Passes of the Human Race hadn’t changed much. That’s why, when Yang Kai saw this Identity Token, he knew that it belonged to a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Because he also had such a token.
The Identity Token contained information about the other party, but unfortunately, even this information had become incomplete under the erosion of time. All Yang Kai could make out was his surname and middle name, which was Zhao and Yi respectively, as for the given name, he could not make it out.
It was truly a pity.
Countless people had sacrificed their lives on the Black Ink Battlefield, leaving only their names behind on the Monument of Heroes.
As for this Senior Zhao, he might not even be able to leave his full name behind.
This was quite a terrible era. Generation after generation, heroes of the 3,000 Worlds laid down their lives on the Black Ink Battlefield.
But it was quite a wonderful era too. Despite countless sacrifices, people kept stepping forward to take the place of the fallen, rising to fight one after another.
It was not that they were not afraid of death. They had finally reached the Open Heaven Realm after painstakingly cultivating for so many years and their lifespans were extremely long, so who wouldn’t want to live a little longer?
Be that as it may, people kept vehemently offering up everything they had for the sake of the Human Race. The peace of the 3,000 Worlds had been forged with the blood and lives of these heroes, despite more than 99% of the people there being completely unaware of the Black Ink Clan’s existence!
After bowing once more, Yang Kai put away the Space Ring and collected the remains of this Senior Zhao before turning around and flying away.
Finding his way back was a simple matter for him, and he quickly found the right direction and flew straight through the Void Crack.
A few days later, at Great Evolution Pass’ Space Array…
The soldiers on duty were staring at the Space Array with rapt attention. Not just them, but even Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was waiting here.
It had been almost a year since Yang Kai had travelled to Wind and Cloud Pass using the Hyper Space Array. Soon after, Wind and Cloud Pass had sent a message to inform of the situation; therefore, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao knew that Yang Kai was searching for Great Evolution Pass’ Core in the Void Crack right now. But whether or not he could find it, or even if Great Evolution Pass’ Core was really lost in the Void Crack, was still speculative.
All the Great Evolution Army could do now was wait.
At the same time, they also hoped that Yang Kai’s guess was correct; otherwise, the loss of the Core would be extremely detrimental to the upcoming crusade.
At some point, the Space Array suddenly began to hum and it lit up as a portal slowly appeared.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, who was watching closely, suddenly narrowed her eyes. The soldiers on duty also hurriedly started moving to locate the source of the transmission.
But before they could figure out what was happening, a pair of hands suddenly emerged from the portal. A mysterious force surged out from those hands as they fiercely pulled apart from each other, forcefully tearing open the portal which had yet to fully take form.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s figure leapt out of the portal and breathed a long sigh of relief.
Although he was proficient in the Dao of Space, staying in the Void Crack for an extended period was anything but pleasant. The feeling of emptiness and chaos would make anyone feel anxious.
Sensing Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s, Yang Kai quickly walked towards her.
“Well?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked.
“I found something.”
While speaking, Yang Kai handed over the Space Ring to the Old Ancestor and at the same time took out Senior Zhao’s remains.
The Old Ancestor’s eyes turned slightly dim when she first laid eyes on the corpse. Only after a moment did she finally examine the contents of the Space Ring.
Soon, she too let out a long sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Yang Kai asked in a low voice, “Is it the Core?”
Xiao Xiao nodded her affirmation, “It’s the Core.”
Yang Kai was finally able to relax. He was really afraid that the white jade tree was not Great Evolution Pass’ Core. If it wasn’t, this trip would have been in vain.
“Is this the soldier who left Great Evolution Pass with the Core that day?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked, looking at the remains.
Yang Kai nodded, “Yes.”
Yang Kai hadn’t carefully examined the remains back in the Void Crack, but now that he had taken them out, he found that there was a huge wound on its back, deep enough to see bone. Even after so many years, it showed no signs of healing.
It was easy to imagine that when Great Evolution Pass was about to be breached, this man surnamed Zhao must have taken the Core and stepped into the Space Array, preparing to send it to Wind and Cloud Pass.
But the moment the Hyper Space Array was activated, the Black Ink Clan must have broken through. The soldiers there had to stop the Space Array from operating, which caused the transmission to go awry, and severely injured him in the process.
With the transmission cut off, Senior Zhao was lost in the Void Crack for countless years before finally succumbing to his injuries.
Before his death, he had made the utmost effort to place Great Evolution Pass’ Core into his Space Ring and remove its restrictions, entrusting the completion of his task to the later generations.
It could be said that if it weren’t for this Senior’s efforts, Yang Kai wouldn’t have been able to find the core so easily. This was a mission handed down 30,000 years ago.
“Bury him with full honours,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao ordered.
Yang Kai agreed with a nod, “Of course.”
Since the Core had been found, Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about the rest. Under the Old Ancestor’s charge, the Core was installed in Great Evolution Pass before she issued a general order. Immediately after, the auras of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters appeared one after another inside Great Evolution Pass, gathering towards someplace.
…..
Every Great Pass had two extremely special places.
One was the Monument of Heroes, which recorded the names of generations of fallen heroes who died in battle.
The other was the cemetery, the final resting place of the fallen ancestors.
Every battle against the Black Ink Clan was extremely intense, and many had lost their lives in battle, leaving behind nothing but a name on the Monument of Heroes.
But there were still some who died with intact corpses. Their remains were collected by the survivors and buried in the cemetery.
To the soldiers of the Black Ink Battlefield, dying in battle was not the ideal outcome, but it was an acceptable one.
Every soldier who stepped onto the Black Ink Battlefield had the will to lay down their life if need be.
Even after generations of sacrifices, all the soldiers firmly believed that the Black Ink Clan would be exterminated one day, purging the enemy from the Black Ink Battlefield once and for all.
Great Evolution Pass’ cemetery didn’t have many remains of past heroes. 30,000 years ago, the Black Ink Clan had occupied Great Evolution Pass, and although the Monument of Heroes was left intact, the cemetery had to be rebuilt.
The previous cemetery had already been destroyed by the Black Ink Clan. To refine the enormous throne of bones for the Royal Lord, the Black Ink Clan had not only collected the remains of the Human Race Masters from the battlefield, but even the ones buried in the cemetery, which finally led to the creation of the throne of bones for Great Evolution Theatre’s Royal Lord.
At present, this throne had already been dismantled by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the remains buried in the cemetery along with the remains of the soldiers who had died in the battle to retake Great Evolution Pass.
There were more than 10,000 remains buried in the cemetery. Many of the martyrs had died without leaving behind anything apart from the mark they had left on the Monument of Heroes.
Yang Kai was quietly waiting in front of the cemetery.
Not long after, a streak of light flew over from the horizon before landing in front of him.
Before saying anything, the newcomer first respectfully bowed towards the cemetery then asked, “What is it?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan had immediately rushed over after receiving Yang Kai’s message, but he didn’t know why Yang Kai had chosen this location.
Normally, no one would come to the cemetery, and every time they did, it meant that someone who had died in the battle was going to be buried.
Those who died in battle didn’t need to be mourned, the survivors only needed to diligently cultivate, raise their strength, and kill more Black Ink Clansmen. This was the best way to comfort the dead.
“Do you know this Senior?” As Yang Kai spoke, he took out Senior Zhao’s remains and placed them in front of him.
Grandmaster Ma Fan shot a glance at them and was instantly stunned.
Although it was impossible to see the original appearance of this man after his corpse had dried out and shrivelled from exposure to the Void Crack for so many years, there still remained traces of his past visage.
In the past, when Great Evolution Pass was in critical need of assistance, all the Open Heaven Realm Masters of Great Evolution Paradise had rushed to the battlefield where they ultimately died in the final battle. If this Senior surnamed Zhao was someone who had come to support Great Evolution Pass, Grandmaster Ma Fan should be able to recognize him.
This was also why Yang Kai had sent him a message.
Senior Zhao had already passed away, but if it was possible, he should try to find out his full name so it could be properly inscribed onto the Monument of Heroes.
Reality proved that Grandmaster Ma Fan recognized this Senior.
Grandmaster Ma Fan started trembling. He knelt on the ground and respectfully kowtowed three times to the remains before slowly standing up and whispering with slightly red eyes, “He is my Great Evolution Paradise’s Martial Uncle Zhao Yi Huan!”
Yang Kai slightly nodded, confirming that Grandmaster Ma Fan was right.
Grandmaster Ma Fan suppressed his excitement and asked, “Where did you find him?”
Yang Kai heaved a sigh, “In the Void Crack between Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass. When Great Evolution Pass was breached, Senior Zhao took the Core and attempted to bring it safely to Wind and Cloud Pass. Unfortunately, Space Array was disabled at that time to prevent the Black Ink Clan from using it and he was trapped in the Void Crack mid-transit.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan immediately understood everything.
Only a few people knew about the loss of Great Evolution Pass’ Core, but Grandmaster Ma Fan was one of them.
This was because Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had made preparations for all eventualities; on one side, she constantly harassed the Royal Lord, asking him for the Core, while one the other, she asked the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters in the Pass to see if they could refine a replacement.
Unfortunately, even with Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Artifact Refining Masters skills, their progress was dreadfully slow.
The core of every Pass was an ancient artifact. It wasn’t that the people of that era were necessarily more skilled in Artifact Refining than the current generation, but the Artifact Refiners of that era must have spent an enormous amount of time, effort, and resources to refine these cores. What Grandmaster Ma Fan and the others lacked most to refine a replacement was time.
“So you’ve also found the Core?” Grandmaster Ma Fan suddenly asked.
Yang Kai nodded.
“No wonder…”
It was no wonder so many Eighth-Order auras had appeared just now and gathered. It turned out that the Core had been found. Obviously, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao wanted to borrow the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ strength to install the Core and run some tests.
As his Sect Elder’s remains had been found, Grandmaster Ma Fan threw the matter of the Core to the back of his mind and helped Yang Kai bury his Martial Uncle in the cemetery without a moment of hesitation.
In truth, Ma Fan wasn’t that close with this Martial Uncle Zhao Yi Huan. In the era Great Evolution Paradise fell, Grandmaster Ma Fan had only recently entered the Sect and was just one of many young disciples. Although he was highly regarded by his Honoured Master, he hadn’t come into contact with too many top Masters of the Sect. In fact, he had only seen this Martial Uncle Zhao a few times.
He especially remembered the day when all of Great Evolution Paradise’s Open Heaven Realm Masters were mobilized. This Martial Uncle Zhao, like many other Martial Uncles and Ancestors, looked back at Great Evolution Paradise’s gate before leaving and never returned.
When they saw each other again, they were already separated by life and death.
Martial Uncle Zhao’s remains had been found, but the remains of his Honoured Master and many of his Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters who had reached the Open Heaven Realm had not even left a single bone behind.
After burying Senior Zhao Yi Huan’s remains, Grandmaster Ma Fan personally went to the Monument of Heroes to engrave his name on it.
Yang Kai accompanied him.
The remains were brought back by him, so he naturally had to finish what he started.
Yang Kai’s heart sank when he laid his eyes on the numerous names on the Monument of Heroes.
It had only been a few centuries since he arrived at the Black Ink Battlefield, but even so, he had experienced the loss of countless peers.
In the battle against the Black Ink Clan at the Royal City, Qi Tai Chu could be said to have died under his command!
Even if he was proficient in the Dao of Space and was invincible amongst his peers, he could not save Qi Tai Chu’s life in such a chaotic battlefield.
This was his greatest regret on the Black Ink Battlefield so far, and he didn’t want to experience such a thing ever again.
That was why he had to become stronger!
Yang Kai silently prayed that no new names would be added to the Monument of Heroes and that all the soldiers joining the crusade would be able to return safely.
Suddenly, a humming sound reverberated from somewhere inside Great Evolution Pass before it began to violently shake, causing Yang Kai to lose his footing.
Immediately after, figures hurriedly flew high up to investigate in all directions, one after another.
The next moment, an invisible shockwave quickly spread out from somewhere.
Yang Kai’s expression became serious as he turned to look at Grandmaster Ma Fan.
Grandmaster Ma Fan stated in a heavy voice, “The Core has been activated.”
Only now did Yang Kai come to realize what happened. At that moment, he had thought that the Black Ink Clan had come to attack.
To his surprise, it was the Core he had brought back being activated.
As for Great Evolution Pass, with its Core installed, it was completely different from before.
If the Great Evolution Pass of the past was an inanimate object, then the current Great Evolution Pass gave Yang Kai the feeling of a living being, as if it had transformed into a giant beast.
And this giant beast was currently starving. Only the lives of the Black Ink Clan could satiate it.
The tremors disappeared as quickly and suddenly as they came, and Great Evolution Pass returned to normal after just a few breaths.
Like it was a sleeping dragon that suddenly poked its head out of its cave, looked around for a moment, and then withdrew.
Everyone could feel that the Great Evolution Pass had changed.
“The crusade is about to begin, get ready,” Grandmaster Ma Fan stated before flying towards the source of the tremors. He was extremely curious about Great Evolution Pass’ Core and naturally wanted to study it too. If one day the core was damaged, a Great Grandmaster Artifact Refiner like him would be needed to repair it.
Watching Ma Fan’s figure grow smaller and smaller, Yang Kai’s heart began to rapidly beat in excitement.
[The crusade is finally here!]
Whether or not the Humans could finally live in peace depended on the results of this crusade. If they could really purge the Black Ink Clan from the Black Ink Battlefield, there would no longer be any threat to the 3,000 Worlds. Generations of elites would no longer have to leave their homes for the battlefield where their only fate was death.
Yang Kai’s figure flickered as Space Principles fluctuated and he disappeared from his spot.
The concept of a crusade was not something new. Humans had been thinking of launching a crusade for a long time, but this idea had become impossible to implement for various reasons.
First and foremost, the corruption of the Black Ink Strength could not be resolved.
The Humans had countless eras of experience in defending the Great Passes and resisting the Black Ink Clan’s invasion, but if they were to actively go on offence, too many variables would come into the equation. No one could guarantee that a crusade would be successful, and if things didn’t go as planned, the entire Black Ink Battlefield’s defence line would very likely collapse. At that time, even with the Dragon and Phoenix Clans defending the No-Return Pass, they still wouldn’t be able to resist the Black Ink Clan’s invasion and danger would befall the 3,000 Worlds.
It wasn’t until Yang Kai entered the Black Ink Battlefield that real plans for a crusade were gradually formulated.
It was as if he had appeared specifically to make the Human Race’s counterattack possible.
Black Ink Strength, which had given a headache to the upper echelons of countless generations, had been easily resolved after his arrival. Whether it was the Purifying Light or the Purifying Black Ink Pills that were developed later, Humans finally had the means to resist the corruption of the Black Ink Strength. Owing to these two methods, not a single Human had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength in the last few centuries.
Not only that, but many Black Ink Disciples who had appeared on the battlefield had been captured and rescued.
After solving the problem of Black Ink Strength, what the Humans needed to consider next were resources.
Resources were of critical importance in any war. Cultivators needed resources to heal their wounds, cultivate, arrange Spirit Arrays, refine Warships, and so forth.
The Black Ink Battlefield was extremely rich in materials as there was an enormous amount of dead Universe Worlds to mine them from.
Be that as it may, it had been extremely difficult for the Humans to extract these resources. They could only mine a few resources within the range of the Great Passes after every war, and the time they had was never more than a few decades because they had to retreat before the arrival of the Black Ink Clan’s next attack.
A large portion of the resources that the Humans used were sent from the 3,000 Worlds.
As such, the Humans at the various Passes would ration everything, from cultivation resources to food and clothing. Every single piece of material was hard won, and every Open Heaven Pill was extremely precious.
Those, who had never been to the Black Ink Battlefield would find it difficult to imagine that a group of High-Rank Open Heaven Realm cultivators would be living such frugal lives.
But this problem was also solved by Yang Kai’s arrival.
The proliferation of the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors made it extremely easy for the Great Passes to mine resources. This mysterious set of artifacts seemed to have been specially invented for the Black Ink Battlefield.
During the war to regain Great Evolution Pass, Xiang Shan had ordered the Artifact Refiners of the East-West Army to refine tens of thousands of puppets just to attract the attention of the Black Ink Clansmen at Great Evolution Pass. The amount of resources he had spent was enormous.
He would have never dreamed of doing something like this before the appearance of the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors.
As the problem of Black Ink Strength and the resources had been taken care of, all that was left was to compare the strength.
In terms of numbers, the Black Ink Clan had an innate advantage. Every Great Pass had a population of around 30,000 Human soldiers, but in the corresponding Theatres, the Black Ink Clan Army always numbered in the millions. Although the vast majority of Black Ink Clansmen had quite low strength, there was no lack of Masters like Territory Lords.
If the Humans didn’t have enough strength, the crusade would only be an empty threat.
Feudal Lords were not of much concern and many died in every war, but killing a Territory Lord was a whole different concept.
The Evil Purging Divine Spear was born for this purpose!
This weapon would play a crucial role in the crusade. To hide this tool, the Great Evolution Army, despite being equipped with such weapons, had never used the Evil Purging Divine Spears no matter how many casualties they suffered in the mission to retake Great Evolution Pass.
Because once it was used, the news would quickly spread to the other Theatres and the Black Ink Clan would have their guards up against it. By then, the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s effectiveness in the other Theatres would become much more limited.
This was a trump card that the Human Race had painstakingly developed and hidden, and it would definitely give the Black Ink Clan a huge unpleasant surprise.
The birth of the Evil Purging Divine Spear was also related to Yang Kai.
Although this artifact was created by Grandmaster Ma Fan, the Purifying Light in every Evil Purging Divine Spear was personally sealed there by Yang Kai.
Considering everything, this crusade was almost driven by a single person, transforming an idea into reality.
How could the Human Ninth-Order Old Ancestors not value Yang Kai? This was why they had paid such a price to reach an agreement with the Dragon Clan to send him to the No-Return Pass.
Even if he was invincible amongst his peers, the strength of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was still insufficient in the grand scheme of things. Only with his new Ancient Dragon Form could he have sufficient strength to protect himself on the battlefield.
Yang Kai still didn’t know what price the Ancestors had paid to obtain the chance for him to enter the Dragon Pond.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao didn’t say anything, nor did he ask as it was meaningless to do so. Killing more of the Black Ink Clansmen on the battlefield was the best way to repay the Ninth-Order Masters.
..…
Yang Kai once again began sealing the Purifying Light into the Evil Purging Divine Spears.
He had already sealed Purifying Light in a lot of spears, but more had been amassed over the years. Now that the crusade was imminent, it was naturally better to have as many of these spears as possible to deal with the Feudal Lords and Territory Lords.
Almost all the Artifact Refiners of the other Great Passes had toiled hard to refine these spears and send them to Great Evolution Pass.
After having sealed the Purifying Light, Yang Kai sent batches of these spears back.
While Yang Kai had his hands full, the soldiers of Great Evolution Pass were not idle. Currently, a large number of Universe Worlds had been gathered at the periphery of Great Evolution Pass and tens of thousands of soldiers were mining resources without rest.
If a war broke out, these calm and peaceful days would come to an end. Naturally, they had to take advantage of this opportunity to accumulate more resources.
Time slowly passed by.
In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
Outside Great Evolution Pass, the members of the Dawn Squad were bustling about on a Universe World, including Yang Kai.
Yang Kai was already finished with the accumulated Evil Purging Divine Spears two months ago, but he hadn’t gone to rest and had instead come over to help.
If they were to send him even more Evil Purging Divine Spears later, he would naturally seal Purifying Light after they had reached a certain amount.
Suddenly, a staggering aura welled up from inside Great Evolution Pass. Even though it was hundreds of thousands of kilometres away, this aura was still majestic and imposing.
The aura belonged to none other than the Old Ancestor.
All the busy people instantly stopped whatever they were doing and looked towards Great Evolution Pass.
On the other side, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s voice rang out clearly, “Great Evolution Army, gather inside the Pass!”
After relaying the orders, the aura disappeared as if it had never existed.
Yang Kai looked at the nearby Shen Ao as his expression slightly changed.
Shen Ao let out a long sigh, “It’s time!”
Yang Kai slightly nodded in agreement.
The crusade was about to begin!
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai shouted, leading his Squad towards Great Evolution Pass.
In the void, the other Squads who were mining the Universe World also started gathering towards Great Evolution Pass like birds returning to their nest.
In less than an hour, tens of thousands of Great Evolution soldiers had gathered in the central square before the Monument of Heroes.
Although a staggering amount of people had gathered here, not a single sound could be heard. There was only a deafening silence and a fearsome aura permeating the square.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao happened to be standing right before everyone, dressed in plain clothes. On her left was the Eastern Army Commander Xiang Shan and the Western Army Commander Liu Zhi Ping. On her right was the Southern Army Commander Ou Yang Lie and the Northern Army Commander Mi Jing Lun.
Behind them were the Eighth-Order Division Commanders. There were a total of 74 people.
Originally, there were 73, but Xu Ling Gong had advanced to the Eighth Order 200 years ago, so now there was one more.
It might seem like a lot, but one had to remember that when the Great Evolution Army was first established, the four Armies had a total of over 60,000 soldiers and 120 Eighth-Order Masters.
To retake Great Evolution Pass, dozens of Eighth-Order Masters had died, and nearly half of the Great Evolution Army’s soldiers below the Eighth-Order had fallen.
Over the past 30,000 years, besides the day Great Evolution Pass was breached, the casualties suffered in the war to regain Great Evolution Pass were undoubtedly the highest and most tragic.
Every battle with the Black Ink Clan was extremely dangerous. This war was related to survival of the two Races, so everyone had a reason to kill the enemy.
Right then, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s clear and sonorous voice reverberated from the forefront, “More than 360 years ago, the Great Evolution East-West Army was established at Wind and Cloud Pass, and the North-South Army was established at Azure Void Pass. The two Armies marched together towards Great Evolution Theatre, and after a lengthy war spanning over 150 years, we finally managed to regain Great Evolution Pass. Both Armies suffered heavy losses, but… all of their sacrifices were worth it.”
“Retaking Great Evolution Pass means that the Human Race’s line of defence no longer has any flaws! But retaking Great Evolution Pass wasn’t our ultimate goal, it was just the starting point! Perhaps many of you have heard of a crusade over the years and have been eagerly anticipating it. Today, Great Evolution Pass is ready, as are all the other Great Passes.”
“The Black Ink Clan has wreaked havoc on the Black Ink Battlefield for countless millennia, and we Humans have been forced to passively defend the various Great Passes all this time. Although we have paid a great price and sacrificed countless lives, we had no choice but to remain passive, incapable of going on offence. It is not that we did not want to, it was that we simply could not afford to!”
“However, defending alone will not solve anything. Again and again, each generation has left the problem to the next, but it is our era now. Should we leave this problem to the next generation, and let them take care of it? No one wants to see their children and grandchildren fight the Black Ink Clan on the Black Ink Battlefield, unable to see any hope of victory.”
“Our ancestors didn’t want this either. They already did their best, and without their persistence, effort, and sacrifice, we wouldn’t be standing here today and speaking such nonsense!”
“That is why we must embark on this crusade! We now have everything necessary to do so!”
“We are born in a good era, because we will be the generation that completely eradicates the Black Ink Clan. We will witness the end of this great war that has lasted for countless aeons, and every single one of you will play an important role in it.”
“This time, we will trample flat the Royal City and slaughter every single enemy. Not one will be spared!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s voice gradually became louder as her slender figure rose high up, giving off a noble and majestic aura.
“Kill!” Xiang Shan, who was standing behind her, shouted.
“Kill!” The Eighth-Order Division Commander Masters shouted in unison.
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
The voices of the tens of thousands of soldiers shook the world as the entire Great Evolution Pass was enveloped in a palpable murderous intent. Every soldier felt their blood boil and couldn’t wait to find Black Ink Clansmen to kill.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao raised her hand and the battle cries instantly stopped. Her eyes swept across the entire Army as she gently stated, “The dead cannot bear witness to victory. Only by surviving can we see the end of the Black Ink Clan!”
Saying so, she bowed to the tens of thousands of soldiers.
The several dozen Eighth-Order Division Commander Masters behind her also bowed.
She was paying her respects to all the soldiers who had sacrificed themselves for countless years all so the upcoming crusade could be possible.
Tens of thousands of soldiers bowed in return!
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao straightened up and shouted, “Everyone, prepare yourselves! The crusade… has begun!”
Her figure flickered and disappeared.
The other Eighth-Order Masters also quickly dispersed.
Although Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had said that they would begin the crusade today, Great Evolution Pass was still quite far from the Royal City, so it would take some time for them to reach there.
When the Great Evolution East-West Army retreated from the Royal City towards Great Evolution Pass, it took them a full month to return, and that was travelling in a straight line without any kind of obstructions.
Just as Yang Kai was about to take a step forward, a voice suddenly called out to him, causing him to turn his head and nod slightly.
After instructing the people from the Dawn to leave, Yang Kai made his way to the Eastern Army Headquarters.
The one who had sent him a transmission just now was Xiang Shan.
Yang Kai wasn’t the only one summoned. There were several others as well.
Old Turtle Squad Leader, Chai Fang, Profound Wind Squad Leader, Ma Gao, Snow Wolves Squad Leader, Yao Kang Cheng.
Counting Yang Kai’s Dawn Squad, all four of Great Evolution Army’s Special Operations Squads had been called up. Each of these elite Squads possessed combat power that far exceeded other Squads.
Among them, the Old Turtle Squad was the same as the Dawn, conscripted from Blue Sky Pass while the Profound Wind and Snow Wolves Squads came from other Passes.
Be that as it may, they became members of the Great Evolution Army after being assigned here, no matter their origins.
Yang Kai had cooperated with these two Squads before. When the Great Evolution East-West Army attacked the Black Ink Clan’s rear, he had been ordered by Xiang Shan to head towards Great Evolution Pass in search of the North-South Army. After completing his mission, Yang Kai did not immediately leave and instead joined the North-South Army to block the Black Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass.
During that battle, he had led these two elite Squads to cut across the battlefield several times, breaking through the Black Ink Clan’s lines and scattering them into more manageable groups.
In that battle, he had used Golden Crow Casts the Sun many times to open the path, killing countless Black Ink Clansmen in the process.
Ma Gao and Yao Kang Cheng were extremely impressed by Yang Kai. They too were veteran Seventh-Order Masters; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to become Squad Leaders of Special Operations Squads.
But they had never anyone as fierce as Yang Kai in their long career on the Black Ink Battlefield.
Although Yang Kai had rarely shown himself over the years, he had interacted with these two, so he was no stranger to them.
The crowd of tens of thousands of soldiers had already dispersed by now. Since the crusade had begun, they naturally had to make preparations to engage the Black Ink Clan.
Only the four Squad Leaders headed towards the Eastern Army Headquarters.
They looked at each other before Chai Fang asked, grinning, “Can you guess why Big Head Xiang is looking for us?”
The corner of Yang Kai’s brow twitched.
Ma Gao and Yao Kang Cheng were even more shocked by Chai Fang’s address…
Although the Big Head Xiang and Big Head Mi monikers started from the Old Ancestor and had already spread across Great Evolution Pass, everyone only used them in private. There really weren’t many people like Chai Fang who blatantly used them in public.
The Old Ancestor felt that Xiang Shan and Mi Jing Lun were both people with thoughts as vast as the sea, so they must have big heads.
However, even if the Old Ancestor and Ou Yang Lie could call them as such, the Seventh-Order Masters could not use such monikers freely.
If Xiang Shan heard them, they would be in big trouble.
Chai Fang didn’t take it seriously, however, and just stated, “‘Big Head’ is the Old Ancestor’s praise for those two, what does it matter even if they hear it?”
As soon as he finished speaking, an azure hand suddenly stretched out from the Eastern Army Headquarters, grabbing towards Chai Fang.
Chai Fang was beside himself in shock. Just as he was about to dodge, an invisible force restrained him. The giant hand grabbed him and ruthlessly threw him out. Chai Fang disappeared from everyone’s sight, accompanied by his distancing scream.
Yang Kai and the other two shot a furtive glance at the fading figure, but their expressions remained unchanged even after seeing this.
They acted like they didn’t see anything!
Ma Gao asked, “Brother Chai asked a good question, why did the higher-ups summon us this time? Brother Yang, do you know something?”
In the entire Great Evolution Pass, not to mention the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, not even the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would come into such frequent contact with the Old Ancestor like Yang Kai. So, if anyone knew something, it would be Yang Kai.
However, Yang Kai just shook his head in response, “I haven’t heard anything, but since all four of us were called here, it must be related to something only our Squads can do. If I had to guess, they’re calling us to scout out the route, spy on enemy movements, or something similar.”
Yao Kang Cheng nodded in agreement after hearing this, “That makes sense. I heard from my Martial Uncle that since Great Evolution Pass’ Core has been found, the Great Pass can now be mobilized. But even the Old Ancestor alone won’t be able to move such a massive Mobile Palace Artifact. At least 60 Eighth-Order Masters would be needed to help her for things to go smoothly.”
“60!?” Ma Gao’s face was filled with surprise, “Right now, there are a total of 74 Eighth-Order Masters in Great Evolution Pass. With 60 of them gone, doesn’t that mean that only 14 Eighth-Order Division Commanders will be able to move freely?”
“That’s right,” Yao Kang Cheng nodded in agreement, “Those 14 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters probably need to guard the Pass to prevent any accidents, so the responsibility of scouting will probably fall on us. Brother Yang’s guess should be correct.”
Yang Kai suddenly thought of another problem, “Great Evolution Pass’ movement requires the combined efforts of the Old Ancestor and 60 Eighth-Order Masters, so wouldn’t it be the same for other Passes? If so, most of the Passes’ strength will be greatly reduced during the crusade. If they run into the Black Ink Clan Army, they will definitely be thrown into confusion.”
There were currently 74 Eighth-Order Masters in Great Evolution Pass, but that was because there had been 120 Eight-Order Masters when the Great Evolution Army was first established. Although many of them had died in battle, the number of remaining Eight-Order Masters far exceeded the average in the other Great Passes.
It was doubtful whether all the other Great Passes even had 60 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. If so many Masters were required to drive the Great Passes, these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would not be able to easily take action.
For example, Blue Sky Pass which Yang Kai was most familiar with. Originally, it had about 60 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, but after transferring Xiang Shan and four other Eighth-Order Masters, it definitely did not have enough.
He had only made a casual guess on why Xiang Shan had summoned the four Squad Leaders over, but by the looks of it, his guess might be spot on.
An Eighth-Order Master could not be easily dispatched, but scouts would be needed to reconnaissance missions during the crusade. The Special Operations Squads were perfectly suited for this kind of mission.
An Army always needed scouts. Even when Great Evolution’s East-West Army retreated from the Royal City, scouts still led the way.
Not to mention, this was the Human Race’s crusade.
As they spoke, they arrived at the Army Headquarters of the Eastern Army.
The one guarding the door was an old acquaintance, Xiang Shan’s adjutant, Li Xing. When he saw the Squad Leaders arrive, he stated with a smile, “The Army Commander is waiting for everyone, please go in.”
There was no need to report anything.
A moment later, Yang Kai and the others saw Xiang Shan standing with his hands behind his back inside the Army Headquarters. A Universe Chart was floating in front of Xiang Shan, his Divine Sense happened to be surging as if he was studying something.
Yang Kai and the others didn’t disturb him.
After waiting for a moment, Xiang Shan finally put away the Universe Chart and placed it on the table before speaking, “Your guesses are correct. I called you here because I want you to leave first and act as scouts.”
The corners of the trio’s brows twitched.
[How much free time do you have on your hands? You heard everything we were talking about on our way. Were you eavesdropping?]
No wonder Chai Fang had been thrown out of Great Evolution Pass when he called out Big Head Xiang.
“On Great Evolution’s side, the Old Ancestor and many other Eighth-Order Masters will need to work together to activate the Core and drive the Great Pass. As such, not many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters are left who can move about freely, and the few who can have their own responsibilities and cannot be dispatched easily. After much deliberation, we concluded that your Squads would be the best to scout the way ahead and identify enemy positions.”
Yang Kai and the others nodded and cupped their fists, “Sir, please explain what we should do.”
Xiang Shan explained, “The goal of Great Evolution’s crusade this time is the Royal City and the Royal Lord! In the last war when we retook Great Evolution Pass, the Black Ink Clan suffered heavy casualties, and the Royal Lord was severely injured. Right now, the forces of the Black Ink Clan are basically all holed up in the vicinity of the Royal City, but because of Old Ancestor’s actions these past few years, the Royal City’s defences have become extremely tight, so even the slightest movement will likely alert the Black Ink Clan Army.”
“In this crusade, our Human Race’s chances of victory are quite high. What we need to consider is how to achieve our goal of wiping out the Black Ink Clan with the smallest losses, so we need to catch them off guard.”
“What you need to do is very simple. First, you’ll set out and scout the situation ahead. If you encounter the Black Ink Clan, try not to engage them if possible, but if you do, you must kill them all. Do not let the Black Ink Clan find out about the Great Evolution Army’s movements.”
In this crusade, with Great Evolution Pass being mobilized, it would be difficult to not be discovered. This was not just a single Warship or two that could use some kind of Spirit Array or some kind of artifact to conceal its movements. If Great Evolution Pass moved, it would naturally be quite grand and majestic, and it would quite easily be detected by the Black Ink Clan from a distance. Once the Black Ink Clan discovered Great Evolution Pass’ movements, they would be able to react in advance and the Great Evolution Army would lose the element of surprise.
That was why Yang Kai and the others needed to set out first. Firstly, to spy on the situation, and secondly, to eliminate any possible scouts of the Black Ink Clan on the attack route.
“You don’t need to worry too much about your safety. The Old Ancestor’s actions over the past few years might have caused the Black Ink Clan to go on high alert, but none of the Territory Lords dare to act rashly because the Old Ancestor has gone to bother them from time to time. The Black Ink Clan soldiers patrolling outside the Royal City will at most be led by Feudal Lords, which should be no problem for your Squads to deal with them.”
The three nodded in agreement after hearing this.
The Territory Lords didn’t dare to show their faces, for they had no idea when the Old Ancestor would show up. If they were caught outside the Royal City and ran into the Old Ancestor, they would die truly meaningless deaths. So, although the Black Ink Clan had many teams out patrolling the periphery of the Royal City, none of them were led by Territory Lords.
Without a Territory Lord, the safety of the four Special Operations Squads was guaranteed.
As he spoke, Xiang Shan suddenly raised his head and glanced towards the door before lightly snorting, “Get in here!”
Chai Fang’s head popped in from the outside, swollen and looking extremely miserable. Still, he walked in with an ingratiating smile and bowed low, “Greetings, Senior.”
Xiang Shan ignored him and turned to Yang Kai, “Your Space Beacons will be very useful. You and other Squads can use them to send messages. If there is any danger, you can also quickly rush to support one another.”
“Understood!” Yang Kai replied.
Ever since Xiang Shan came to learn that the Old Ancestor was able to rush to the Royal City so quickly with the help of the Space Beacon, he had asked Yang Kai to refine as many of them as possible. The materials required to refine Space Beacons were fairly common, but only someone with high proficiency in the Dao of Space could make them. In Great Evolution Pass, only Yang Kai was capable of this.
“It’s going to take a long time to reach the Royal City. All of you should rest for the next half a year before setting off.”
Yang Kai and the others nodded in unison.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “Sir, I heard from the Old Ancestor that all the Great Passes will set out for the crusade. Did everyone discuss it beforehand?”
Xiang Shan replied, “Naturally. If we want to completely eliminate the Black Ink Clan, all the Theatres will have to act in unison. Just dealing with one or two would be pointless.”
The Black Ink Clan was born from the Black Ink Nest. Their reproductive ability was far greater than the Humans. So long as one or two High-Rank Black Ink Nests remained, the Black Ink Clan would have a chance to rise from the ashes.
To completely eliminate the Black Ink Clan, all Theatres had to act together and eliminate all the High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
There were differences in strength and distance between the Great Passes and the Royal Cities of each Theatre, so the individual crusades would also look quite different from one another.
For instance, in the Great Evolution Theatre, victory was already set in stone. The Royal Lord, who had yet to recover from his injuries, was simply no match for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. Even if he borrowed the power of the Black Ink Nest, he could only offer stubborn resistance.
Without the Royal Lord in the picture, even if the Black Ink Clan had many Territory Lords, the Human Race had the Evil Purging Divine Spears.
The Evil Purging Divine Spears were destined to shine in the upcoming war.
However, in other Theatres, the Black Ink Clan was basically at full strength, so some Great Passes were destined to have a tough battle ahead of them.
Many people might die in this crusade, but if their deaths could bring eternal peace to the 3,000 worlds, every Human soldier was willing to make that sacrifice.
Xiang Shan told the four some more details before letting them leave.
Not long after they left the Army Headquarters, the four heard a humming noise coming from the depths of Great Evolution Pass as it began quaking once more.
Immediately after, many Spirit Arrays hidden in the depths of Great Evolution Pass began operating and started radiating with energy.
The next moment, the Pass that had remained motionless for countless years slowly started moving forward as if it was being pushed forward by an invisible force.
Yang Kai and the others glanced at each other and could see the excitement in each other’s eyes.
With Great Evolution Pass moving forward, the crusade had officially begun.
After bidding goodbye to each other, they returned to their respective residences.
Inside Dawn’s courtyard, Yang Kai summoned all the Squad members and informed them of the plan that would commence in half a year. Everyone instantly rolled up their sleeves in anticipation.
Since they had withdrawn from the Royal City over 200 years ago, they had not fought with the Black Ink Clan again. During this time, the supply of resources was abundant, allowing everyone in Dawn to improve their strength. Many of the Fifth-Order Masters had regained their Sixth-Order cultivation, so they couldn’t wait to fight with the Black Ink Clan.
Unfortunately, they had been busy overhauling the various parts of Great Evolution Pass over the past many years. After Great Evolution Pass had been repaired and reorganized, they had been mining resources. In other words, there had been no opportunity to fight with the Black Ink Clan.
What was the point of simply increasing their strength if they couldn’t kill the Black Ink Clan?
Now, an opportunity was right before them.
Everyone dispersed to rest and condition themselves.
Yang Kai turned his head towards a certain room as a slight furrow appeared on his brow.
Inside this cultivation room, Feng Ying had been in retreat for many years and had yet to exit; no one knew what her condition was.
Back when Yang Kai was making a soup out of the beef gifted to him by Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor at Dawn’s camp, Xu Ling Gong happened to come over and drink a bowl of it. He had heard that it was a gift from an Old Ancestor and suddenly received an epiphany. He used that opportunity to break through to the Eighth Order in one fell swoop.
The beef soup was just an ordinary soup and had no special properties at all; nonetheless, Xu Ling Gong had a preconceived notion in his mind and felt that the soup was something mystical and the opportunity did not come from himself but was thanks to the soup.
While observing Xu Ling Gong breaking through to the Eighth Order, Feng Ying also gained some benefits and went into a retreat. It had been 200 years since then, but there had been no movement.
This was also something that had been bothering Yang Kai recently.
Upon arriving at the Black Ink Battlefield, the first person he encountered was Meng Qi, but to protect the secret of the Void Corridor, Meng Qi had decisively committed suicide.
Feng Ying was the second Human soldier he had run into, and it was thanks to her help that he was able to gather a group of Black Ink Disciples, restore their minds, and slaughter his way back to Blue Sky Pass.
After the creation of Dawn, Feng Ying had fought shoulder to shoulder with him, sharing life and death many times over.
Yang Kai was quite excited about the results of her retreat and hoped that everything would go well.
But by the looks of it, Feng Ying’s retreat did not seem to be going smoothly, otherwise there would not have been no movements for the past two centuries.
Outsiders could not help her in this situation though. Everything would depend on her own fortitude and fortune.
Looking towards the room, Yang Kai heaved a light sigh, “Senior Sister, the crusade has begun. If you don’t come out soon, you’ll miss it.”
…..
Every soldier who had just entered the Black Ink Battlefield learned that the Great Passes were really just giant Mobile Palace Artifacts, but since ancient these Mobile Palace Artifacts had only served as the strongest defensive shields and had never been sent into battle before.
Today, the tens of thousands of soldiers of Great Evolution Pass witnessed this magnificent feat.
It wasn’t just Great Evolution Pass, over 100 Great Passes across the vast Black Ink Battlefield set off on their crusade at almost the same time.
It really wasn’t an easy task to control such a massive Mobile Palace Artifact. At least one Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm and 30 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had to be stationed at the Core in order to just move it.
It also needed 30 Eighth-Order Masters to remain on standby.
Its initial speed was very slow, almost as slow as a turtle’s crawl, but the speed of Great Evolution Pass gradually increased with time.
A month later, it had already reached the speed of an ordinary Dao Source Realm Master.
Another month later, it was comparable to an Emperor Realm Master.
Another month later, its speed was no worse than a Low-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master.
Such a colossus object could be said to be unstoppable when it started moving. Whether it was a big asteroid or an entire Universe World, the Great Pass would smash through it like rotten wood.
Another month later, the speed of Great Evolution Pass had reached its limit, about on par with a Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. This was still far slower than the Army’s normal marching speed, but that could not be helped.
At this speed, it would take at least half a year to reach the Royal City.
They had not encountered a single Black Ink Clansman along the way. Just as Xiang Shan had said, the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre had been completely defeated and were now too scared to move out, concentrating almost all their forces near the Royal City.
When the speed of Great Evolution Pass had reached its limit, the Old Ancestor and the Eighth-Order Masters were finally able to have a bit of respite and restore their energy. They did not need to constantly use their strength to drive Great Evolution Pass’ Core to accelerate the massive Mobile Palace Artifact.
Meanwhile, the tens of thousands of Great Evolution soldiers did not remain idle either. Many of the Universe Worlds in Great Evolution Pass’ way had been smashed to pieces, and the resources in those Universe Worlds could not be wasted. In other words, the soldiers left Great Evolution Pass one after another to collect the resources from these shattered Universe Worlds under Xiang Shan’s command.
After collecting them, they only needed to activate the Universe Transference Law to return to Great Evolution Pass.
Like this, they picked up a lot of materials along the way.
It wasn’t that Xiang Shan was managing things economically and methodically, but rather that everyone had seriously underestimated just how much Great Evolution Pass consumed to keep moving. Great Evolution Pass had accumulated a massive amount of resources over the past few centuries, but now that it had truly started moving, everyone realized that the consumption of resources was too intense.
Since there was a chance to collect more resources, Xiang Shan would naturally not let this opportunity go. Because once they reached the Royal City, they would not be able to collect them.
A few months later…
The four Special Operations Squads were assembled at Great Evolution Pass’ eastern gate, comprised of a total of 200 Open Heaven Realm Masters, with nearly 40 in the Seventh Order, making up 20% of the total.
This was quite a magnificent lineup.
Although there were many people here, no one was making even a single noise; all of them were just silently waiting.
At a certain moment, Great Evolution Pass’ barriers parted and a gap was opened.
“Let’s go!” Yang Kai shouted as the Dawn’s members, who had been waiting for a long time, rushed out.
Following closely behind them were the Old Turtles, followed by the Profound Wind and Snow Wolves Squads.
After exiting Great Evolution Pass, the four Squad Leaders immediately summoned their respective Warships as their Squad members boarded and took their respective positions.
The Warships’ Arrays started humming before the four Warships shot straight ahead, rapidly flying away from Great Evolution Pass, leaving dazzling trails of light in their wake.
Although Great Evolution Pass’ current speed was fast, comparable to a Mid-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master, it was still a colossal entity so it had reached its limit.
A Warship, on the other hand, was different. No matter how slow a Warship was, it would still be much faster than the current speed of Great Evolution Pass.
The four Warships did not immediately scatter. There was still some distance to the Royal City, so this location was safe. Since they would not run into any Black Ink Clansman yet, there was no need to disperse.
To carry out this mission, each Warship had undergone a certain degree of modification, which greatly enhanced their stealth and mobility. Many offensive Arrays were sacrificed for this.
Yang Kai was standing on the deck of the Dawning Light with a Universe Chart in his hand, checking the direction and leading the other three Warships.
Originally, the Human Race Universe Charts didn’t include the topography of Great Evolution Theatre; after all, the Black Ink Clan had occupied Great Evolution Pass for 30,000 years, so no one knew about the exact situation of Great Evolution Theatre.
But as a matter of course, as the Great Evolution East-West Army invaded the Black Ink Clan’s territory on their way to the Royal City, and then on their way back to Great Evolution Pass, the Chart Masters accompanying the Army were able to create a new Universe Chart that would be of great use in the upcoming crusade.
At maximum speed, it wouldn’t take long for the Warships to reach the Royal City, but they were not aiming solely for speed as their job was to maintain a certain lead on the Great Pass to provide reconnaissance information.
The Black Ink Clan was currently terrified of the sudden and elusive intrusion of the Old Ancestor, so no Territory Lord dared to wander outside the Royal City. At the same time, the defences of the Royal City had become extremely tight because of the Old Ancestor’s constant harassment.
The Black Ink Clan’s surveillance range should be half a month’s distance away from the Royal City at the Great Pass’ current speed.
In other words, the four scouting Squads should encounter the Black Ink Clan soldiers monitoring the vicinity of the Royal City within a month and a half if they maintained a two-month lead on Great Evolution Pass.
After sending a Divine Sense transmission to Chai Fang and the other two Squad Leaders, informing the three about the situation, all three of them nodded in response.
The following journey remained uneventful. During this time, all the members of the Squad, except those who were responsible for maintaining the ship’s systems, were quietly cultivating.
A month and a half later, Chai Fang’s voice suddenly rang in Yang Kai’s ears, “Brother Yang, it’s time.”
The meditating Yang Kai immediately opened his eyes and stared deep into the void before slightly nodding.
“Everyone, just shout if you run into trouble, don’t try to be a hero, the Old Ancestor is right behind us. If we win this battle, we won’t have to worry about anything. I hope that I will see all of you at the celebration banquet where we will drink till we pass out!” Ma Gao laughed.
Yao Kang Cheng added, “I have a few jars of fine wine that have been fermenting for 1,000 years. We’ll drink them together at the celebration banquet!”
“You’re making me thirsty,” Chai Fang smacked his lips.
Everyone broke into laughter.
“Disperse!” Yang Kai shouted as the four Warships quickly scattered. At the same time, the Illusion Arrays on each Warship were activated.
If they wanted to hide themselves, Illusion Arrays were the easiest and the most convenient method. Illusion Arrays personally set up by the Array Great Grandmasters of the Great Pass were more than enough to hoodwink the eyes and ears of the Black Ink Clan patrols.
Although nothing had physically changed about the current Dawning Light, if one wasn’t close and didn’t look carefully enough, they would only see an asteroid floating in the void.
Countless asteroids were floating about in the void, so why would the Black Ink Clan pay attention to one more?
Dawning Light kept moving forward at a steady pace.
After 10 days, a slight furrow appeared on Yang Kai’s brow as he stared into the dark void ahead.
The situation was indeed as the Old Ancestor had stated. For the past 200 years, the Black Ink Clan had been trying their best to create a defensive line, fearing that the Humans would once again invade the Royal City.
The Black Ink Clan had suffered heavy losses in the last war, and even the Royal Lord had suffered serious injuries which had yet to heal. Thus, the Black Ink Clan did not want to fight the Humans again.
If it was possible, they would rather give up the Royal City and seek refuge in another Theatre. At the very least, it would not be so vexing.
But that was impossible. The Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest was at the Royal City; giving up the Royal City was equivalent to giving up the High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
As far as the Black Ink Clan was concerned, the High-Rank Black Ink Nests were their very root and foundation. How could they give one up so easily?
So, they had elected to establish a defensive perimeter in order to block any Human offensive, and the way they did so was extremely simple. By spending an inordinate amount of resources, they had spawned many Black Ink Nests and then used those nests to produce a massive amount of Black Ink Strength to fill the space around the Royal City.
Regardless of what method the Humans could use to deal with the corruption of Black Ink Strength, so long as the Humans were within the range of Black Ink Strength, the Black Ink Clan would always have an advantage.
One had to admit that although this method was expensive and time-consuming, it was quite effective.
At the very least, after over two centuries of hard work, the distance which would need ten days to reach the Royal City had been filled with the Black Ink Strength. Furthermore, the Black Ink Strength was denser, the closer it was to the Royal City.
The Black Ink Clan was like a fish in the water in such an environment, whereas it was anything but easy for the Humans.
The Dawning Light was about a month’s journey from the Royal City, but they were still able to see the billowing pitch-black darkness in the Void ahead. This was the result of the Black Ink Clan’s efforts over the last two centuries.
Because the Old Ancestor often came to the Black Ink Clan territory to harass them, she was well aware of this situation. She had also killed a few Black Ink Clansmen who had left the Royal City to arrange things, but her killing had not produced much effect.
Even if the Old Ancestor killed a group of Black Ink Clansmen, the Black Ink Clan would just send another team, and the Old Ancestor couldn’t just remain here.
Yang Kai furrowed his brow at the sight before him. This environment was extremely unfavourable for the Human Race. Although the Humans would not fear the corruption of Black Ink Strength as long as they were inside a Warship, High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters still needed to go out to fight effectively.
Even if they took Purifying Black Ink Pills in advance, the effects would be greatly reduced if they remained in such an environment for an extended period. Once the effects of the Purifying Black Ink Pill expired, things would turn dangerous for the Humans.
Be that as it may, the Humans didn’t have much of a choice in the face of such a situation. The only option they had left was to use Great Evolution Pass to launch a lightning-fast attack and eliminate the Black Ink Clan as rapidly as possible.
How many Human Masters would die in such a reckless battle?
Yang Kai had no idea, nor did he want to think about it. Any sacrifice was worth it to destroy the Black Ink Clan once and for all, but the fewer the sacrifices necessary, the better.
Silently, Dawning Light sailed through the void and entered the region filled with Black Ink Strength.
This was the outermost ring of the Black Ink Clan’s defensive perimeter. Black Ink Strength here wasn’t very rich, but so long as the Black Ink Clan had sufficient time and invested enough resources, this outer ring would become the inner ring.
Yang Kai secretly rejoiced that Great Evolution Pass had only been preparing for two centuries before setting off for the crusade. If they had delayed a few more hundred years or even 1,000 years, the upcoming war would surely be multiple times more difficult.
The moment Dawning Light entered the region covered in Black Ink Strength, a pair of eyes from over 10 million kilometres away looked over.
They belonged to a Feudal Lord, and after gazing in the Dawning Light’s direction for a moment, he waved his hand.
Immediately after, a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman stepped forward, “Sir Feudal Lord.”
“There’s something strange over there. Something entered the defence perimeter. Go investigate.”
An aggrieved look immediately appeared on the High-Rank Clansman’s face as his heart started rapidly pounding in fear.
This wasn’t surprising though, as the Human Old Ancestor had been coming over quite frequently as of late. Would death not be certain if they were to run into her while checking out the situation?
Nonetheless, as a subordinate of the Feudal Lord, he didn’t dare refuse the latter’s orders.
However, he didn’t go alone to investigate. Although it would not matter how many went if they really encountered the Old Ancestor, it was still better than going alone.
After a while, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman led a dozen or so others and flew in the direction pointed out by the Feudal Lord.
The team led by the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman travelled a few million kilometres.
Yang Kai had already noticed them rushing over a few moments ago. It was not that Yang Kai was trying to investigate, but rather he could feel the energy fluctuations coming towards them, and they were getting stronger and stronger as more time passed.
Since Yang Kai and the others were here to act as scouts, they would naturally conceal themselves and keep a sharp lookout. On top of that, no one in Dawn was actively using their Divine Sense to scan their surroundings to prevent revealing themselves.
Everyone on Dawning Light held their breaths.
The team of a dozen or so Black Ink Clansmen stopped a few thousand kilometres away from the Dawning Light, and the leading Black Ink Clansman carefully observed them for a moment before the tension left his face.
To his relief, it was just an asteroid, and not the Old Ancestor.
After confirming the situation, he had no intention of approaching to investigate further; after all, this had happened quite frequently over the years. The asteroids and universe fragments drifting through the void had no set pattern and would cross the defensive line every now and then.
After having confirmed that there were no problems, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman waved his hand and led his team back.
The members of the Dawn immediately breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of their departure.
The High-Rank Black Ink Clansman might not be that strong, and his eyesight might not be that sharp, so if they stayed calm, it was possible he wouldn’t see through the Illusion Array’s disguise. As long as he attacked Dawning Light though, they would have been immediately exposed.
Fortunately, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman didn’t seem to be the diligent type, which allowed Dawning Light to avoid detection.
Shen Ao stated via transmission, “Squad Leader, there’s something strange about this!”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
It was indeed a little strange.
Dawning Light had just crossed the Black Ink Clan’s defence perimeter, but the Black Ink Clan had immediately set out to investigate. There was no way this was just a coincidence.
If it wasn’t a coincidence though, could it be that the defensive perimeter made up of the Black Ink Strength also served as a detection net? Was the Black Ink Clan able to sense anything that entered a specific range?
The Old Ancestor had never mentioned anything about this, so Yang Kai could not say for certain.
Of course, this wasn’t the Old Ancestor’s fault. Every time she came here, she would head straight for the Royal City, so how could she have the time to pay attention to such minor details? What’s more, even if the Black Ink Clan patrols detected the Old Ancestor, the first thing they would do is run, not come to investigate.
Since the Black Ink Clan had arrived as soon as the Dawning Light crossed the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line, it would not hurt to be extra careful.
Dawning Light’s Arrays were already operating at their lowest strength to prevent exposing themselves.
Their original plan was to dive deeper into the Black Ink Clan’s territory and spy on their movements, but after this event, Yang Kai promptly ordered to change the Dawning Light’s direction and continue moving forward at a reduced speed.
He wanted to know if everything that had happened was just a coincidence or if the Black Ink Clan had detected their intrusion. If it was just a coincidence, then it would be a one-off instance, but if they did detect their intrusion… then the four scouting Squads would only be able to play a limited role.
After all, so long as they entered a certain range, the Black Ink Clan would be able to detect them. Dawn was already lucky enough to avoid exposure once, so Yang Kai didn’t dare bet the life and death of his Squad members on something as uncontrollable as luck.
Dawning Light continued drifting forward, silently and stealthily.
Although they were still at the edge of the enemy defence perimeter, they would still occasionally encounter a few patrolling Black Ink Clansmen. All of these patrols were led by Feudal Lords with a dozen or so lower-rank Black Ink Clansmen following them.
Judging by this, it was quite apparent how much importance the Black Ink Clan attached to this defensive line, and how afraid they were of some Human Master breaking into it.
The more this was the case, the more it showed that the Black Ink Clan was at the end of its rope.
Since ancient times until now, when had the Black Ink Clan ever been so passive on the Black Ink Battlefield? They had always been the ones attacking the Great Passes on a large scale. Even if they suffered heavy casualties, they would quickly refill their ranks and make a comeback within a few decades.
Every time, the Humans warded off the Black Ink Clan, but only after painstaking efforts and sacrificing countless lives. Generation after generation, elites were sent from the 3,000 Worlds to the Black Ink Battlefield, but they barely managed to hold the line.
Now, the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre no longer had the capital to act arrogantly.
This was the dawn of Humanity’s victory, the glory of Great Evolution Pass.
About half a day later, another team of Black Ink Clansmen flew towards Dawning Light, but they left soon after a brief investigation and finding nothing unusual.
Yang Kai and Shen Ao, who were standing on the deck, looked at each other with serious expressions on their faces.
It wasn’t just a coincidence. The Black Ink Clan could notice any intrusion of their defence line.
“I did not notice anyone spying on us, so how did the Black Ink Clan discover us?” Shen Ao asked in confusion.
Yang Kai thought for a moment before replying, “Perhaps it’s because of the Black Ink Nests.”
“The Black Ink Nests?” Ning Qi Zhi was confused.
Yang Kai slightly nodded, “Old Ancestor told me a few things about the Royal City. After the withdrawal of the Great Evolution East-West Army, there was nothing unusual about the Royal City at first, but after a decade or so, the Black Ink Clan began to set up this kind of defensive line. So where did the Black Ink Strength come from? Naturally, it came from Black Ink Nests.”
Bai Yi suddenly interjected, “I spotted two Black Ink Nests from where we just passed by. Judging by their sizes, they should be Low-Rank.”
Shen Ao was beside himself in shock, “You can see them?”
Bai Yi looked at Yang Kai and asked, “Squad Leader, you can see them too, right?”
The reason she could see this was because as a disciple of Divine Feather Paradise, she had to cultivate Eye Secret Techniques in order to facilitate her archery skills.
Yang Kai also cultivated special Eye Techniques. The Eye Secret Techniques of Myriad Demons Heaven were not inferior to those of Divine Feather Paradise, perhaps even superior in some aspects.
Shen Ao and the others all looked towards Yang Kai with a look of curiosity on their faces.
Yang Kai gave the confirmation, nodding, “Indeed, there were two Low-Rank Black Ink Nests. Just as the Old Ancestor suspected, the Black Ink Clan seems to have gathered all the Black Ink Nests outside the Royal City to set up a defensive line filled with Black Ink Strength.”
Originally, there was one High-Rank Black Ink Nest and nearly 100 Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest in Great Evolution Theatre. Furthermore, there were a few dozen Low-Rank Black Ink Nest under each Territory Lord.
In short, there were at least 1,000 Low-Rank Black Ink Nests spread throughout the Great Evolution Theatre, and that was not even counting the High-Rank and Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests.
Although a number of them had been destroyed during the Great Evolution East-West Army’s incursion, that was only a small part. The Black Ink Clan still had a lot of Black Ink Nests remaining.
Where did these Black Ink Nests go? Others might not know, but how could the Old Ancestor who had attacked the Royal City repeatedly not?
The dozens of Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests had all been moved to the Royal City to be better protected.
The Black Ink Clan had no choice in this matter, as there was no safe place for the Black Ink Clan in the entire Great Evolution Theatre apart from the Royal City. If the Black Ink Nests remained outside, they were at risk of being destroyed by the Humans at any moment.
Furthermore, many more Low-Rank Black Ink Nests were arranged in the periphery of the Royal City, which were then used to produce Black Ink Strength using large amounts of resources, creating a strong defensive line.
In other words, Low-Rank Black Ink Nests could be found almost everywhere in the periphery of the Royal City. These Black Ink Nests would constantly generate Black Ink Strength, filling the defensive line and expanding it outward.
Every time the Old Ancestor attacked, she would destroy many Black Ink Nests, but once she made a move, her position would be exposed, and the other Black Ink Nests were quickly evacuated.
Dawning Light entered the range of two different Low-Rank Black Ink Nests, and they were detected every time. So, it was obvious that the Black Ink Strength did serve as a monitoring tool.
Perhaps the Feudal Lord in charge of the Black Ink Nest could sense when something came into contact with the surrounding Black Ink Strength.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai ordered, “Inform the other three Squads about this and tell them to be on guard.”
The current situation was a bit problematic. If they were lucky, they might be able to smoothly bypass the enemy patrols, but if they were down on their luck, and if one of the Black Ink Clansmen who came to investigate launched an attack at them, Dawning Light would instantly be exposed. The Illusion Array set up on the Dawning Light only had concealing effects, it didn’t provide any form of defence.
Having received the order, Shen Ao quickly took out some Space Beacons and sent messages to Chai Fang and the others.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai turned his gaze in the direction of the Royal City. They were about a month’s journey away from the Black Ink Clan Royal City, so when Great Evolution Pass arrived, it would definitely be discovered by the Black Ink Clan. At that time, the Royal City would quickly be able to gather its forces and prepare for the incoming attack.
A month was more than enough time for the Black Ink Clan to prepare completely.
Whereas Great Evolution Pass would lose its element of surprise.
Was there any way to hoodwink the eyes and ears of the Black Ink Clan?
The only way to do so would be to take down some of the Black Ink Nests in the outer ring without being discovered.
It would be difficult, but not impossible!
Having made up his mind, Yang Kai ordered, “Carefully retreat from here and follow along the edge of the defensive line.”
He planned to first investigate the situation of the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line. The defensive line built using many Black Ink Nest might have appeared like one enormous wall, but in reality, it was bloated and uneven, so there may be some flaws.
The reason why Yang Kai wanted to withdraw was because he did not want to intrude into any Black Ink Nest domains anymore. After all, they would be investigated every time they entered a new detection range.
They might have been lucky so far, but each new inspection increased the risk of getting caught.
Under the prudent control of the Dawn Squad’s members, Dawning light drifted through the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line and retreated.
Once they were out of danger, Shen Ao reported in a low voice, “The other Squads have replied back, the Old Turtle Squad and Profound Wind Squad had the same idea and have withdrawn from the defensive line to search for a gap to infiltrate. On the other hand, the Snow Wolves Squad said they want to go deeper.”
“Deeper?” Yang Kai furrowed his brow.
Shen Ao nodded in response, “Brother Yao said that since the Black Ink Nests are all placed on the outer ring to build the defensive line, once the defensive line is pushed outward, the Black Ink Nests would definitely move along with it. In other words, there are no Black Ink Nests in the inner ring. No Feudal Lords should be guarding the inner perimeter, which would make it safer to set up a reconnaissance position.”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before replying, “That may be so, but the Black Ink Strength in the depths of the defensive line is also denser, and many Black Ink Clan squads should be patrolling that zone, so it’s not necessarily safer than the periphery. If we get caught in the periphery, we can still find a chance to escape, but if we get caught deeper inside…”
The consequences would be dire.
It had also crossed his mind, but as a scout of the main Army, Yang Kai naturally had to prioritize keeping Great Evolution Pass’ movements a secret.
Eliminating the Black Ink Clan’s eyes and ears, increasing the chances of Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack being successful was the appropriate choice.
Still, they might be able to obtain more information if they ventured deeper.
“Can you still contact him?” Yang Kai asked.
Shen Ao denied, shaking his head, “Brother Yao has already cut off contact.”
Although the disturbance caused by their communication was extremely small, if a Master happened to be nearby, they might notice it.
Since Yao Kang Cheng was leading the Snow Wolves Squad deeper into the enemy defence line, he would naturally not contact Yang Kai and the others. The safest choice would be to keep the Space Beacon in his Space Ring to avoid any possible mistakes.
Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning.
Still, Yao Kang Cheng must have his own plans, so Yang Kai didn’t object. In any case, the other party was a veteran Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Furthermore, there were four Squads present, three of which were on the periphery, so entering the inner circle was indeed a better use of their resources.
Be that as it may, Yang Kai had originally wanted to discuss with the others about letting Dawning Light scout the inner region; after all, he was proficient in the Dao of Space, so if they got caught, he could take the cultivators under Seventh-Order into his Small Universe to escape. Dawn had better chances of escaping if they ran into trouble than any other Squad.
Now that the Snow Wolves had severed contact though, Yang Kai had no choice but to give up on this idea.
All he could do now was hope that everything went smoothly. Yao Kang Cheng was indeed right; all the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests were arranged at the periphery to act as detectors. So, even though the Black Ink Strength was denser in the inner region, it would be easier to sneak around.
At the very least, the Feudal Lords managing the Black Ink Nests would not be able to monitor everything at such a distance.
Perhaps they might gain something different.
Yang Kai threw this matter to the back of his mind and focused on searching for flaws in the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line as Dawning Light moved around the periphery.
They did not have that much time as they had only advanced a two-month distance ahead of Great Evolution Pass. In other words, Great Evolution Pass would be arriving within two months. If they failed to take care of the Black Ink Clan’s detection net by then, the surprise attack would be exposed.
Two months might seem like a long time, but it wasn’t easy to find a gap in this massive Black Ink Strength defensive line.
With the Black Ink Strength continuously spreading over time, the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line was constantly moving outwards. Fortunately, given the vast area that needed to be covered, the outer edge of the defence line did not advance very quickly.
Dawn did not encounter the Old Turtles or Profound Wind Squads as it continued its search.
The Black Ink Clan’s defensive line was a huge sphere centred around the Royal City, covering a range of about one month’s distance from the Royal City.
Currently, the three Squads, including Dawning Light, were moving along the outer arc of this sphere.
The chances of running into each other in such a large area were quite slim.
At a certain point, Yang Kai, who was attentively observing from the deck, seemed to have noticed something as he looked back.
Much to his surprise, a large ‘ship’ was flying straight towards Dawning Light from the depths of the void.
Yang Kai’s heart immediately leapt into his throat.
Much to their shock and dismay, there was a Black Ink Clan ‘ship’ out here away from the defensive line. If it crashed into them, Dawning Light would definitely be exposed. Even if it didn’t crash into them, the Black Ink Clansmen on the ship might try to brush the ‘asteroid’ in their path aside. At the time, Dawning Light would undoubtedly be exposed.
Everyone aboard Dawning Light immediately looked nervous. Yang Kai signalled with his eyes and, in a flash, everyone secretly circulated their strength, preparing to attack at any moment.
If they were fast enough, they might be able to eliminate the Black Ink Clan on the ship before the enemy inside the defensive line noticed anything. Of course, there was also a possibility that they might get exposed. But at this moment, they could only take a gamble.
When they were just 100,000 kilometres away from each other, the Black Ink Clan ship changed directions, almost brushing past Dawning Light as it plunged back into the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line.
Everyone immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
It was quite dangerous. It was not dangerous for Dawning Light to be exposed as Dawn was strong enough to eliminate everyone on the Black Ink Clan ship. However, once they were exposed, things would become complicated for the other three Squads, especially the Snow Wolves Squad which was deep behind enemy lines. The Snow Wolves were in a very dangerous position, and once the Black Ink Clan started investigating more carefully, they would have no place to hide.
Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.
But what puzzled Yang Kai was why there were still Black Ink Clansmen roaming about outside. Where did they come from and what were they doing?
With a flash of thought, his left eye turned into a golden vertical eye. Thanks to the Demon Eye of Annihilation, Yang Kai’s vision pierced through the layers of Black Ink Strength and followed after the ship.
It was not just him observing, Bai Yi was also spying on the enemy, obviously having the same concerns as him.
Under the watchful eyes of the two, the ship headed straight for the nearest Low-Rank Black Ink Nest. When it was halfway there, they ran into a team of Black Ink Clansmen who had come to investigate the situation, whereafter they joined up and continued towards the Black Ink Nest.
Soon, the ship arrived before the Black Ink Nest.
A tall Feudal Lord walked out from the Black Ink Nest and chatted with another Black Ink Clansman who came down from the ship. After receiving a Space Ring from the other party, the Feudal Lord nodded before returning to the Black Ink Nest.
The large ship didn’t stop for long. After handing over a Space Ring, it turned around and once again brushed past Dawning Light before disappearing off into the void.
Aboard Dawning Light, Yang Kai and Bai Yi had seen everything clearly and looked at each other, exchanging glances.
Bai Yi voiced her guess in a low voice, “Resources!”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement, “It has to be.”
Shen Ao and the others, on the other hand, were all confused. A confused Ning Qi Zhi immediately asked, “What are you two going on about? What’s up with that Black Ink Clan ship? And why did it come out so quickly?”
No one else in Dawn had cultivated a powerful Eye Secret Technique, so they couldn’t see what transpired under the shroud of the Black Ink Strength.
Bai Yi shot a glance at Yang Kai, and seeing that he had no intention of explaining, she replied, “The Black Ink Clansmen on that ship are responsible for harvesting and delivering resources. Naturally, they went to continue mining.”
Realization immediately dawned upon Shen Ao, “The Black Ink Clan must have consumed an unimaginable amount of resources to set up such a massive defensive line. Not only are these Low-Rank Black Ink Nests in the periphery consuming tremendous resources, but even the Mid-Rank and High-Rank Black Ink Nests in the Royal City must be consuming resources. Even if the Black Ink Clan has amassed mountains of resources over the years, they might be struggling to make ends meet now. They must be sending these ships out to mine more.”
“En,” Bai Yi nodded in agreement, “The Black Ink Clan must be sending out members to mine resources like the ones on that ship, and none of them are very strong. The Black Ink Clansmen on that ship were basically all Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen, with a few High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen overseeing them.”
The Feudal Lords were all stationed near the Royal City or in the defence line, so such a dangerous task like mining resources could only be left to the High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. If the Old Ancestor really attacked, they would be the first ones to die.
“Why didn’t we see them before?” Ning Qi Zhi furrowed in confusion.
Yang Kai conjectured, “The Black Ink Clansmen mining resources must come and go in a hurry, and we’ve been travelling around the periphery, so it’s not strange that we haven’t seen them.”
If they had remained in one place to monitor a specific Black Ink Nest, they would have seen many Black Ink Clan ships returning from mining resources, but Dawning Light had been drifting about searching for flaws in the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line, so it wasn’t a surprise they had missed such a quick exchange.
In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.
The Black Ink Clan didn’t patrol outside the defensive line, so the Squads didn’t encounter any danger. On the other hand, they saw Black Ink Clan ships returning from mining resources twice.
It wasn’t until a month later that Yang Kai, who had been standing on the deck observing the defensive line the whole time, had a change in expression. The next moment, his left pupil turned golden as he focused his attention towards the interior of the Black Ink Clan’s perimeter.
After silently observing for a while, he let out a long sigh of relief.
At last, he had finally found a gap which he could exploit.
Perhaps it was because the defensive line outside the Royal City was too large, or perhaps it was because there weren’t enough Black Ink Nests, but the number of Black Ink Nests were noticeably sparser in the defensive line where Dawning Light was currently at.
In this spot, so long as he could somehow take down the three adjacent Black Ink Nests, the gap would be wide enough for Great Evolution Pass to pass through unnoticed.
Of course, Great Evolution Pass would need to coordinate with them; otherwise, the nearby Black Ink Nests would definitely notice such a massive object passing through; after all, the Feudal Lords weren’t blind.
After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai took out a jade slip and recorded a message on it with his Divine Sense before handing it to Shen Ao, “Send it back to Great Evolution Pass and ask them about their status.”
The position he was eyeing was different from the route planned for Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack. It was slightly to the left, so if Great Evolution Pass wanted to attack from this position, they would have to change course.
Yang Kai had no idea if Great Evolution Pass would be able to change course or not, so he first sent the message to ask. He would only take action if they could; otherwise, there would be no point in taking down these three Black Ink Nests if Great Evolution Pass could not come here.
The entire plan hinged on Great Evolution Pass’ cooperation and coordination.
Shen Ao quickly sent the jade slip back to Great Evolution Pass through a Space Beacon.
Yang Kai had to wait a bit to receive the reply, a full three hours, in fact. Obviously, Great Evolution Pass’ side needed some time to calculate everything.
Traces of Xiang Shan’s Divine Sense could be felt on the jade slip sent by Great Evolution Pass, with the message reading, “Great Evolution Pass can change course, but it will take a few more days. Be careful.”
It wasn’t an easy task to change the course of a massive Mobile Palace Artifact like Great Evolution Pass. It was completely different from the Warships, which could nimbly and swiftly change direction with the coordination of a few Mid-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters.
The change in the course of Great Evolution Pass required the combined efforts of the Old Ancestor and many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. What’s more, even making a small detour required a massive amount of space to act as a buffer.
Fortunately, Great Evolution Pass was still a month away from Yang Kai’s position at its current speed. If it had been even a bit closer, Great Evolution Pass might not have been able to cooperate.
Xiang Shan’s affirmation meant that his plan was feasible. The problem now was how to approach the Black Ink Nest and quickly eliminate the Black Ink Clansmen guarding it without alerting the enemy.
These Black Ink Nests were only guarded by Feudal Lords, so destroying them was not an issue.
The difficult part was how to prevent the Black Ink Clan on guard from passing on the news.
Communication between Black Ink Nest was far too convenient, and Dawn would inevitably be exposed once they took action. If they failed to immediately kill the Feudal Lords and seize control of the Black Ink Nests, word of the attack would immediately spread.
No matter how convenient the Dao of Space was, it wasn’t much use in this situation.
After pondering the issue for a while, Yang Kai felt that he could only use the Black Ink Clan’s mining teams.
He had seen these teams approach the Black Ink Nests directly, and with his current strength, so long as he was close and found his target, he could instantly kill the Feudal Lord in charge.
He would need to take some risks, but they were still within acceptable limits.
Under this command, Dawning Light slowly stopped and waited quietly.
Yang Kai wasn’t sure when the Black Ink Clan mining teams would return, but as there were so many of them, one would surely appear soon.
After about 10 days, Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes and stared off into the void.
A Black Ink Clan ship was rapidly approaching from that direction, and judging by past examples, it would enter the defensive line and transfer the resources to the Black Ink Nest.
After observing the route of this ship, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense undulated as he issued a command.
The next moment, Dawning Light, which had remained motionless for more than 10 days, began drifting again like a rogue asteroid.
In a flash, it happened to be blocking the way of the Black Ink Clan ship.
A High-Rank Black Ink Clansman was standing on the deck, vigilantly scanning the surroundings. Fear was clearly visible on his face.
This was not surprising as the Human Old Ancestor had been attacking Royal City quite frequently recently. Although they were a fair distance from the Royal City, no one knew from which direction the Old Ancestor would appear. If she appeared somewhere nearby, they would not be able to take even a casual attack from her.
As such, he would always be on edge every time he returned from outside.
The reason the Black Ink Clan mining teams came and left in a hurry was firstly because they were entrusted with a crucial mission, and secondly and most importantly, they were terrified of running into the Old Ancestor.
In contrast, mining resources outside was relatively safe.
At the very least, since they were far away from the Royal City and with no signs of the Human Army attacking, there was no threat to them.
After observing for a moment, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman breathed a sigh of relief. There were no signs of explosions coming from the Royal City, so the Old Ancestor was probably not here.
[Strangely enough, that Old Ancestor seemed to have calmed down quite a bit and has not shown her face for a while. Just a few years ago, she would come every two or three months. Rumour has it that the Royal Lord had flown into a rage over this, and many of his close aides lost their lives due to his rampage.]
He secretly rejoiced that he was not on duty at the Royal City; otherwise, he would have to live a life of constant fear.
An asteroid happened to be blocking their way, but the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman didn’t care.
In the vast void, asteroids like these were fragments of shattered Universe Worlds and could be found everywhere; it was quite a normal sight.
Be that as it may, the Black Ink Clan ships weren’t very sturdy as the Black Ink Clan’s craftsmanship wasn’t very good. The ships at most could be used as big flying artifacts, a far cry from Human Warships which were extremely sturdy. Even an asteroid like the one in their way could damage the ship if they simply rammed into it.
While the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman was feeling faintly envious of the Human Race’s ability to refine Warships, he suddenly noticed something amiss.
Gazing at the asteroid, he was surprised to find that it was constantly changing its direction.
[What’s going on?]
Before this High-Rank Black Ink Clansman could figure out what was wrong, a cold and grim face suddenly appeared in front of him.
He didn’t even sense when the other party had arrived.
[A Human face…]
[Enemy attack!]
The High-Rank Black Ink Clansman’s reaction was quite quick. He realized what was going on in the blink of an eye, and instinctively raised his fist as he was about to shout.
But the surrounding space instantly froze. His hand, which had barely twitched, was frozen in place.
Not only that, an immense pressure came bearing down on him, under which he was unable to muster the strength to utter a single word.
Immediately, a large hand covered his face as everything went black before his eyes and he fell unconscious.
The space around the ship vibrated, and by the time Shen Ao and the others arrived, all the Black Ink Clansmen aboard the ship had been terminated.
There were three High-Rank and a dozen or so Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen on the ship, with the strongest of the three High-Rank Clansmen only equivalent to Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Taking care of such a force was as easy as breathing for Yang Kai.
Dawn quickly boarded the ship, silently and stealthily.
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and stored Dawning Light in his Small Universe before ordering, “Everyone below the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm, enter my Small Universe.”
Saying so, he opened a portal to his Small Universe.
Now that they had seized the Black Ink Clan’s ship that was transporting resources, they would then be going into the enemy’s defensive line to infiltrate the Black Ink Nest.
Dawn had a lot of members, 50 in total, so if all of them boarded the ship, they would be easily caught no matter how much they tried to conceal their auras. Having just the Seventh-Order Masters outside was the best choice. If they ran into trouble, the Seventh-Order Masters would be able to quickly escape.
Everyone complied and entered the portal, following Miao Fei Ping’s lead.
Soon, only Yang Kai’s group of seven remained on the ship.
Yang Kai quickly understood the structure of the Black Ink Clan’s flying artifact after a quick scan of it with his Divine Sense. The Black Ink Clan’s artifacts were refined by Black Ink Disciples, so there was nothing special about it.
“Take the pill!” Yang Kai ordered again before everyone quickly took out a Purifying Black Ink Pill and swallowed it.
With the World Tree clone in his Small Universe, Yang Kai was not afraid of the corruption of Black Ink Strength, but the same was not true for Shen Ao and the others. Although a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could resist the corruption of the Black Ink Strength for a short time by covering themselves with their own strength, they could not maintain such a state for an extended period. Additionally, resisting the Black Ink Strength’s corruption would greatly consume one’s World Force and also create quite an obvious energy fluctuation which would immediately expose them.
The Purifying Black Ink Pill was the most effective way to prevent the corruption of Black Ink Strength.
Yang Kai looked at Ren Bing Bai and stated, “Brother Ren, you fly the ship.”
Ren Bing Bai agreed with a nod, “En!”
Saying so, he turned and left, heading to the cabin.
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before he flew out of the ship, punched a hole in the bow and tore off a few planks before returning.
All the Black Ink Clansmen on the ship had been killed already, so they didn’t have any way to disguise themselves. All he could hope was that the tattered state of the ship would attract the attention of the Black Ink Clan and make it easier for them to act.
On the other side, Ren Bing Bai had already activated the ship’s Spirit Arrays. The ship hummed as it flew towards the defence line shrouded in Black Ink Strength and plunged into it.
Yang Kai solemnly stated, “Everyone, conceal your auras as best you can. Very soon, a Black Ink Clan patrol will be coming to investigate; at that time, I will restrain them and you will quickly kill them.”
According to his previous observations, every time a foreign body broke into the defence line, the Black Ink Clan team from the closest Black Ink Nest would be deployed to investigate. Of course, it was not an absolute, and there were exceptions sometimes, but it was true for most cases.
While everyone was concealing their auras, Yang Kai did the exact opposite. Not only did he not converge his aura, but he began leaking a large amount of Black Ink Strength.
He wouldn’t have been able to do this if it was in the past. Although his Small Universe had sealed quite a lot of Black Ink Strength, it wasn’t this rich.
But now, there was a Low-Rank Black Ink Nest in his Small Universe, constantly producing Black Ink Strength and incubating the Black Ink Serfs for the disciples of the Void Dao Temple to fight.
It was now easy for him to emanate such rich Black Ink Strength, all he needed to do was pull some from the Black Ink Nest and release it.
In the blink of an eye, the entire deck of the ship was shrouded in a thick layer of Black Ink Strength, concealing everyone’s figures.
The ship rapidly flew forward, but after a moment, Bai Yi suddenly sent a transmission, “A Black Ink Clan squad is approaching.”
Obviously, the Black Ink Nest had sensed that something had entered the perimeter and sent a patrol to investigate.
Both sides quickly approached each other.
Dawn’s Seventh-Order Masters quickly got ready to attack.
A short while later, the investigating squad of Black Ink Clansmen laid their eyes on the ship. At a glance, they could tell that the ship was heading towards the Black Ink Nest and Black Ink Strength was surging from the deck.
The leading High-Rank Clansman was greatly confused though. He had no idea what was wrong with his fellow clansmen and why they were giving off so much Black Ink Strength.
Looking at the damaged bow, it seemed like it had been attacked by someone.
He figured that they had run into Humans outside; otherwise, he was unable to explain the current situation.
While they were still in a daze, the ship suddenly sped up and arrived before them in the blink of an eye. The Black Ink Clan patrol was stunned, and before they could react, the surrounding space solidified as a tremendous suction force emerged from the ship. The Black Ink Clan team was unable to control themselves and were all pulled towards the ship in a flash.
What greeted them next was Dawn’s Seventh-Order Masters’ attacks.
Although there were over a dozen Black Ink Clansmen in this patrol team, since no Feudal Lord was leading them, they were unable to mount any resistance against the Seventh-Order Masters of Dawn and were instantly killed.
Without making any sound or leaking any aura, the ship continued flying forward, as if the Black Ink Clansmen had never appeared.
The disappearance of over a dozen life auras should have been noticed if there were any Black Ink Clansmen nearby, but as the Black Ink Nests were still quite far and Dawn finished everything quickly and without leaking too much energy, they were able to take down the enemy patrol without anyone’s notice.
In any case, this was just the first step. The next test was to capture the Black Ink Nest. If they succeeded in taking down the Black Ink Nest, Dawn would have successfully pried open a gap in the Black Ink Clan’s defence perimeter, but if they failed…
If they were exposed, all they could do was make a big commotion to attract the attention of the Black Ink Clan and use this opportunity to warn the Old Turtle Squad, Profound Wind Squad, and the Snow Wolves Squad that was deep behind the Black Ink Clan’s lines to retreat.
A short time later, the Black Ink Nest was already faintly visible.
The Black Ink Clan had most of their troops defending the Royal City, and the defensive line they had set up was so huge that almost all of the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests had been used. As such, each Low-Grade Black Ink Nest should not have too many Feudal Lords guarding it.
Yang Kai reckoned that there should be two or three at most.
Dawn had more than enough strength to take down such a force without leaving any traces.
Yang Kai sent a transmission to everyone, “Later, I will enter the Black Ink Nest straight away, while you all deal with the Black Ink Clansmen outside. I will also use Space Techniques to assist you.”
In order to cut off the Black Ink Clan’s communication with the outside world, Yang Kai had to enter the Black Ink Nest and instantly seize control of it. Only he could do this.
Shen Ao nodded, “Don’t worry, there will be no disturbances.”
Yang Kai nodded before looking ahead. There was a Black Ink Nest ahead, and many Black Ink Clansmen were gathered outside. One of them even happened to be a Feudal Lord.
The other Black Ink Clansmen also looked over, while the Feudal Lord’s brow wrinkled in suspicion.
This was not surprising though as the ship returning to transport resources seemed a bit strange. Its hull was damaged and its deck was shrouded in a thick layer of Black Ink strength, making it difficult to see inside clearly.
Most importantly, the Black Ink Clan team who had gone to investigate had not yet returned.
It never crossed his mind that a Human would even dare to enter this place, but he instinctively felt that something was off about this situation.
Without waiting for the ship to approach, the Feudal Lord shouted, “Stop! Which team are you with?”
Currently, the resources required by the Black Ink Nests were all provided by the subordinates of the Black Ink Nests’ Feudal Lords, the Royal City was not responsible for them. Not only that, but the Royal City also needed them to provide resources.
After all, every time the Human Race Old Ancestor attacked, the Royal Lord would have to use a large amount of the Black Ink Nest’s power to fight her off, so the consumption was enormous.
Generally speaking, every Feudal Lord had sent more than one team to extract resources, ranging from two to five in total.
As such, the Feudal Lord had no idea which mining team had returned, but he could confirm that they should be subordinates, because his symbol was on the ship.
Yang Kai, who was on the ship, replied in panic, “Sir Feudal Lord, we encountered a Human Race Master outside and were outnumbered, the rest of my team all died in battle!”
Naturally, this was just nonsense to attract the other party’s attention.
As expected, the Feudal Lord’s expression changed after hearing this and he asked in fright, “You encountered a Human?”
The Black Ink Clansmen around him also fell into panic.
It should be known that the Great Evolution East-West Army had attacked the Royal City time and time again, traumatizing the Black Ink Clan. Every time the Humans attacked, the Black Ink Clan would suffer massive casualties.
Since ancient times, there had never been a Theatre like Great Evolution Theatre, where the Black Ink Clan was so completely suppressed and frightened.
They used to look down on the Humans as Great Evolution Pass was the only Great Pass the Black Ink Clan had ever occupied. They believed that the Black Ink Clan Army of Great Evolution Theatre was the most powerful Black Ink Clan Army!
That all changed a few hundred years ago, and ever since that war ended, the Black Ink Clan had invested everything into constructing a defence line of Black Ink Strength to prevent the Human Race Army from attacking again, but now even the mining team so close to the perimeter had encountered Humans?
[Are the Humans about to launch another attack?]
[Will the Royal Lord be able to resist this time?]
[Will Great Evolution Theatre be the first to be conquered by the Humans?]
For a time, many distracting thoughts flashed across the Feudal Lord’s mind.
Meanwhile, the ship was rapidly approaching.
“Attack!” Yang Kai shouted as he urged his Space Principles, enveloping the entire region ahead of him. At the same time, his figure flashed past the Black Ink Clansmen outside and rushed straight into the Black Ink Nest.
He wanted to find the Feudal Lord in charge of this Black Ink Nest and take him down first!
Under the imprisonment of the surrounding space, all of the Black Ink Clansmen immediately went stiff, while the weaker Black Ink Clansmen were fully immobilized.
At that moment, an arrow silently flew out from the ship, almost keeping pace with Yang Kai.
The arrow flew straight towards the Feudal Lord’s chest, and if everything went smoothly, it would have pierced through his body and reaped his life.
But in the end, the other party was still a Feudal Lord. In this moment of life and death, he somehow managed to move his body to the side just a little, so while the arrow still pierced through him, it missed his vitals.
“Damn it!” Bai Yi ground her teeth.
Her archery skills had already reached the realm of perfection, so it would have been a piece of cake for her to kill a Feudal Lord with a single arrow under normal circumstances. She had accompanied Yang Kai everywhere over the years, and countless Feudal Lords had lost their lives to her arrows.
But she could not use any powerful Secret Techniques in this place, so the arrow she loosed was only able to display 70% of her power. She thought that it would be enough to kill her opponent, but contrary to her expectations, she had underestimated her enemy and made a mistake.
Seeing that the Feudal Lord was about to shout, a cold glint flashed past Bai Yi’s eyes as she prepared to fire a second arrow. Her arrow was extremely fast, so she would have ample time to kill the Feudal Lord before he could raise a fuss.
But before she could fire an arrow, a sea of blood suddenly appeared over the Feudal Lord and instantly drowned him. Not only the Feudal Lord, but even the dozen or so clansmen around him were not spared.
A thick malevolent aura was emanating from the suddenly formed Blood Sea.