“Let him go!” The woman ordered Yang Kai.
Yang Kai gazed down at Ji Lao San, who was being held by him and grinned slightly, “Then you have to make sure he doesn’t bother me again.”
The woman gritted her teeth and replied, “Rest assured, he won’t bother you anymore.”
Yang Kai lowered his eyes, “The same mistake can’t be repeated thrice. I hope he remembers this lesson.”
Even though he spoke in a casual tone, the message was clear. Ji Lao San provoked him twice, but he simply subjugated him without hurting a single hair on his head. His patience, however, had a limit. If there was a third provocation, the response would undoubtedly be harsher.
Of course, Yang Kai wouldn’t kill him, but he could beat him to within an inch of his life. Those from the Dragon Clan had great vitality and could recover easily from almost any injury. As long as their Source and Dragon Bead were not harmed, any wound could be restored no matter how severe it was.
With the strange skill Yang Kai displayed previously, Ji Lao San would be powerless to fight back if Yang Kai really wanted to deal with him.
However, since when had the Dragon Clan ever been threatened in this way before?
As a result, as soon as Yang Kai said those words, a large number of Young Dragons and Grand Dragons became enraged, and it was impossible for the female Grand Dragon who was in front of Yang Kai to stay composed.
After a lengthy period of holding herself back, the female Grand Dragon clenched her teeth and murmured, “He will.”
Upon her reply, Yang Kai flashed a smile and tossed Ji Lao San towards her. When she grabbed him, she gave Yang Kai a threatening glare before turning and fleeing with Ji Lao San in her arms.
“Great Evolution Pass’ Yang Kai greets three Seniors,” Yang Kai said as he turned to face the three visibly older people at the gate.
He had no idea what rank these three held, but according to their Dragon Pressure, it was clear that they were the strongest present.
Two of them were old men while the last was an old woman. They most likely held high statuses in the Dragon Clan.
One of the old men nodded lightly and said, “The Dragon Clan is well aware of the intention behind your arrival here, but we need some time to prepare. You shall temporarily live in the No-Return Pass and wait patiently for us.”
[I don’t even know what I am here for, so how do you know? If you do know, you should let me know first!]
However, the old man obviously had no intention of explaining anything to Yang Kai and just left with the two others once he finished.
Once those three Seniors left, the rest of the Dragon Clan also left, with no plans to further interact with Yang Kai.
Then, he was left alone, perplexed.
The Dragon Clan’s alienation became clear too.
This trip to the No-Return Pass was filled with uncertainty since Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao didn’t explain anything to him before he set out. Furthermore, the Dragon Clan didn’t bother to tell him anything either when he arrived. Instead, he was simply told to wait.
[So, why am I waiting? For how long should I wait?] He had no answers.
This sense of being completely out of control was quite distressing.
Fortunately, Yang Kai was not a child. In a situation like this, his only course of action was to seek information from someone.
So, Yang Kai hurriedly turned back, fixing his eyes on the colourful-robed young woman who was preparing to leave and said, “Miss, please stay for a moment.”
The young woman stopped when she heard him and turned back with a smile,” Are you referring to me?”
Yang Kai then approached her quickly, nodded, and said, “I was impulsive just now. I hope Miss won’t mind.”
His courteous manner was now in stark contrast to the domineering man who had just subjugated Ji Lao San.
“What’s the matter?” The colourful-robed young woman asked as her eyes flickered with interest.
“I’m new here and I don’t know anything. I would like to seek some guidance from you,” Yang Kai replied, blushing.
The brows of the colourfully robed young woman became crescent-shaped, and she proudly twitched her brows at her partner, giving an impression of how she was expecting this.
Her companion, meanwhile, was unresponsive to her.
Yang Kai on the other hand pretended he didn’t notice.
“What do you wish to ask?” Inquired the colourfully robed young woman.
“I’m not sure what Miss can enlighten me on,” Yang Kai replied.
The colourful-robed young woman laughed, “You are so strange. Don’t you know what you want to know? It’s really unreasonable for you to ask me to enlighten you without at least describing what you want to learn.”
Yang Kai responded with a wry smile, “Please don’t blame me, Miss. Regarding the current visit in the No-Return Pass, I’m genuinely baffled. I’m not sure what I am supposed to be doing here.”
“Didn’t your Old Ancestor mention anything to you?” The woman asked curiously.
“Not at all.”
“In that case…” The woman tapped on her crimson lips and then proceeded to say, “En, I’m in a good mood today. Follow me.”
With that being said, she led the way and Yang Kai followed closely.
After a while, they eventually arrived beneath the enormous Parasol Tree. The three figures moved around, and soon came to a branch. The young woman simply waved her hand and a portal emerged in front of them.
“Space Principles?” Yang Kai asked with furrowed eyebrows.
Just like how the colourful-robed young woman reacted when she saw Yang Kai’s use of Space Principles previously, Yang Kai’s reaction now was arguably the same as hers was.
“Come in,” the woman said with a triumphant smile that suggested she had anticipated his reaction.
Yang Kai followed the woman and her companion into the portal. They soon arrived at a location with stunning mountains and rivers.
The view was as beautiful and refreshing as a spring day. The mountains were pristine, and the lakes were crystal clear, not to mention the gently flowing clouds and mist. It was truly a majestic view.
This was some kind of Sealed World.
Yang Kai was no stranger to the existence of Sealed Worlds; after all, the Small Universe of a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master was a Sealed World. The Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens left behind after the death of High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters on the Black Ink Battlefield were also Sealed Worlds.
Yet this Sealed World gave him a different feeling.
This place seemed to still maintain the aura of the dawn of Chaos and the first division of the Heavens and Earth. The ancient aura was everywhere, giving Yang Kai the illusion of him entering a long-forgotten wilderness.
“These are the real Phoenix Nests.” The young woman’s words resonated in his ears, “The Nirvana Parasol Tree was there at the birth of the Phoenix Clan. There are as many Phoenix Nests on the Nirvana Parasol Tree as Phoenixes in this Universe. The Phoenix Nest is the root of every Phoenix, and this space is different from the outside world.”
Yang Kai instantly understood. It was no wonder the ancient aura was preserved here. It was because this aura was created by the Nirvana Parasol Tree itself, which had survived since long ago and remained pure and unspoiled like this.
[So these are Phoenix Nests!]
Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel ashamed for having assumed that the Phoenix Clan would physically build their nest on the Parasol Tree just like any other bird.
Yang Kai quietly reminded himself to avoid basing future decisions solely on the surface.
Then, he saw the young woman straighten her body and move right into a huge nest.
Yang Kai looked up at the sky and silently followed.
The three figures flew inside and sat down cross-legged.
Yang Kai took an inquisitive look around and soon realised that from the outside, it appeared to be a massive bird nest, but that once he entered, it was totally different.
Without time to investigate carefully, Yang Kai briefly cupped his fist, “Great Evolution Pass’ Yang Kai. How may I address the both of you?”
The woman gave a gentle smile and replied, “Huang Si Niang.”
Then, she pointed at her companion, “Feng Liu Lang!”
Yang Kai wasn’t certain how to deal with it because their names seemed to be a little too simple. In the Phoenix Clan, the males were surnamed Feng while the females were surnamed Huang, which made it concise and clear.
At least, it was convenient to address them this way.
He was too lazy to delve into the subject, but as he wanted to say something out of courtesy, Huang Si Niang continued, “Before you ask something, I have something to give you.”
Yang Kai was taken aback. He had just arrived and he was already receiving gifts? [Were those from the Phoenix Clan all this friendly?]
Immediately, he sat upright, and said solemnly, “I dare not reject anything from Seniors.”
While he may have previously addressed her as though they were on an equal footing, he was actually aware that this woman’s age was measured in tens of thousands of years. She could even be his ancestor.
Huang Si Niang smiled, “You’re really good at talking. Humans sure are sweet.”
Yang Kai placed his hand on his chest, “Everything I have said, I said from the bottom of my heart. I wonder what Senior would like to give me?”
“This,” While speaking, Huang Si Niang took out a long feather and handed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai could tell it was extraordinary just by glancing at the flowing light of the long feather, which was the tail feather of a Phoenix.
[What did she give me this for?]
Seemingly noticing Yang Kai’s doubts, Huang Si Niang explained, “I lost the bet with Liu Lang just now, so this is the prize.”
Yang Kai instinctively felt something was wrong; after all, even if she lost the bet, why did the prize end up with him?
But now that it had been handed over, it wouldn’t do any good to reject it, especially when he had other requests for her. As Yang Kai received the feather, his body shook.
He didn’t perceive anything by just looking at the long feather’s flowing light, but once he held it, he at once understood that the long feather was covered with an exceedingly potent Space Principle fluctuation.
Although it was clear that he was holding the long feather in his palm, due to the fluctuations of Space Principles, it appeared to be both tangible and intangible at the same time, as if it could enter into the Void at any moment.
Ordinary people would have a tremendously difficult time just holding something like this, but fortunately, Yang Kai was also an expert in the Dao of Space. With just a little effort, the light flowing off the long feather suddenly took shape.
[This is wonderful!] Yang Kai felt that if he fully comprehended the secrets within this feather, it would help him improve his understanding of the Dao of Space.
Huang Si Niang and Feng Liu Lang exchanged glances, and both could see that the other was surprised to witness this scene.
They once saw Yang Kai use Space Principle and were aware of his mastery over the Dao of Space; however, now they felt as though they had underestimated him too much.
Yang Kai raised his head, “Si Niang is an expert in the Dao of Space?”
“Is there a problem with the highest-ranking members of the Phoenix Clan being experts in the Dao of Space?” Huang Si Niang covered her mouth and smiled.
“Are you saying that all the high-ranking members of the Phoenix Clan are experts in the Dao of Space?”
“You didn’t know?” She asked curiously.
Yang Kai blinked, “I was not informed of this.” Additionally, even though he had never seen a pure Phoenix Clan member, he was greeted by Qing Luan, Yuan Chu, and others in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. They could be considered a branch of the Phoenix Clan, but they didn’t look as though they were Masters of the Dao of Space.
Similarly, even with her Ice Phoenix Source, Su Yan showed no indications of mastering or even understanding the Dao of Space.
Thus, Yang Kai was really caught by surprise.
“Most Humans won’t know much about the Divine Spirits, but you’re from a Cave Heaven or Paradise, no? How could you not have known? Didn’t your Elders tell you about it?”
Yang Kai became a little speechless and replied, “I’m actually not from any of the Cave Heavens or Paradises.”
Huang Si Niang understood instantly, “No wonder. Since you’re not from any of them, it’s to be expected that you don’t know much about such things. Every Divine Spirit possesses their own unique Bloodline Talent, an innate Talent that is distinct from that of your Human Race. Just like how the Bloodline Talent of the Phoenix Clan is the Dao of Space, the Bloodline Talent of the Dragon Clan is the Dao of Time. If not, how could the Dragon and Phoenix Clans become the leaders of all Divine Spirits?”
Yang Kai’s eyes widened so much in shock that they almost fell out, “The Bloodline Talent of the Dragon Clan is the Dao of Time?”
Huang Si Niang became more confused, “You don’t even know that? Then, do you cultivate the Dao of Time?”
“I do.” He nodded.
“That should be expected. If you don’t have a Dragon Source or have Dragon Clan Blood in your, how would you be able to cultivate the Dao of Time?”
Yang Kai became speechless upon her saying this, but instinctively, he felt something was wrong.
His cultivation of the Dao of Time was not heavily influenced by his Dragon Vein or his Dragon Source. Instead, it all began for him with a piece of the inheritance left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor. The opportunity he met by chance previously helped him comprehend the Time Flies Seal Divine Ability, which allowed him to begin cultivating the Dao of Time. After much studying, cultivation, and some other opportunities, he had reached his current level of proficiency in the Dao of Time. What did any of that have to do with the Dragon Clan?
But if he thought about it further, since the Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time, it could be argued that his success in the Dao of Time was due to his Bloodline Talent.
It made Yang Kai confused about whether his comprehension of the Dao of Time was due to his Dragon Clan bloodline, or his own talent.
Suddenly, he shook his head, “Wait, Si Niang, before I came to the No-Return Pass, I met quite a number of Dragon Clan members, but only one of them was proficient in the Dao of Time. In fact, forget being proficient at it, they didn’t even have a foundation in it. How can this be explained?”
“You met Dragon Clan members in other places?” Huang Si Niang was taken aback.
Yang Kai gave a serious nod. He was referring to Zhu Qing’s branch of the Dragon Clan. There weren’t many Dragon Clan members on Dragon Island in the Star Boundary at any one time, but there were always a few, yet none of them had ever cultivated the Dao of Time before Yang Xiao.
Now, all those Dragon Clan members had travelled with Yuan Chu to the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, located in the depths of the Shattered Heaven, to continue their cultivation. Since it had been such a long time, they should all have grown stronger.
Some of them might even have advanced to become Grand Dragons.
Feng Liu Lang, who had been silent up until now, cut in, “It’s not surprising that there are Dragon Clan members roaming about outside. My forefathers once told me that there were other Dragon Clan members that committed mistakes and were exiled from the Ancestral Land as a result.”
Huang Si Niang appeared to have remembered this as she casually nodded.
“The ones you met must have been Young Dragons,” he continued while turning to face Yang Kai.
“Why Young Dragons?” Yang Kai inquired humbly.
Yang Kai was quite knowledgeable about Grand Dragons as they were equivalent to High-Rank Open Heaven Masters in their Dragon Forms which were at least 10,000 metres long. But, what about Young Dragons?
Huang Si Niang smiled and explained, “Anyone below the Grand Dragon rank is considered a Young Dragon.”
Yang Kai understood instantly. It was pretty much what he thought, but the Dragon Clan’s hierarchy was really thoughtless; everything only depended on the size of their true body and their strength. If any Dragon Clan member was unable to breakthrough to become a Grand Dragon, would they only be able to stay a Young Dragon for their entire life?
However, it was clear that nothing of the sort would occur. The Dragon Clan was extremely talented, so even if they did not cultivate and only lazed about all the time, their strength would keep increasing over time regardless. They would eventually be strong enough when they had reached a sufficient age.
The Human Race was incomparable in this aspect.
Once more, Yang Kai questioned, “What about the Dragons above the Grand Dragon rank?”
“Above the Grand Dragons are the Ancient Dragons,” Huang Si Niang stated.
Young Dragons, Grand Dragons, and Ancient Dragons were the three standard divisions of the Dragon Clan.
Yang Kai had a vague feeling that the three old Dragon Clan members he had met before were Ancient Dragons. If Young Dragons corresponded to the realms below the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, and Grand Dragons corresponded to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, then Ancient Dragons should at least correspond to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
This suggested that the Dragon Clan was likely running out of talent as there were only three Ancient Dragons in such a large Clan. If things continued in this manner, the Clan would eventually go extinct.
“According to what Si Niang said just now, I assume that Young Dragons are not proficient in the Dao of Time?”
“Not only the Dragon Clan, but nearly all Divine Spirits are this way. The three stages of our long life are the development stage, the adolescent stage, and the mature stage. The Young Dragons fall under the Dragon Clan’s developmental stage. As long as they enhance their Dragon Vein, they will inevitably become stronger and larger. When a Young Dragon becomes a Grand Dragon, their Bloodline Talent will fully awaken and they will be able to master the Dao of Time. The same goes for the Phoenix Clan, but the only difference is that our Talent is the Dao of Space,” Huang Si Niang replied.
“So, that’s how it is…” Yang Kai instantly understood the reason Zhu Qing and the others still had no grasp over the Dao of Time. Though the Dragon Clan was considered very strong in the Star Boundary, they were still just Young Dragons. Their Bloodline Talent in regards to the Dao of Time was still dormant and would only slowly awaken when they had grown to become Grand Dragons.
This made Yang Kai suddenly think of his Adopted Son, the little White Dragon, Yang Xiao.
Raising a brow, he asked again, “Are there any exceptions?”
Huang Si Niang smiled, “Exceptions are always possible. Some have their Bloodline Talents awaken while they are still Young Dragons. They are regarded as extremely gifted individuals; however, in the lengthy history of the Dragon Clan, such individuals could be counted within 5 fingers.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but frown upon her answer. If that was the case, Yang Xiao seemed to be quite the gifted one.
Yang Kai deserved some credit for the birth of this boy as Yang Xiao’s dragon egg appeared to have some kind of accident after Fu Zhun gave birth to him. Yang Xiao had been unsuccessful in breaking free of his shell, resulting in his vitality growing thinner and thinner over time. Fortunately, when Yang Kai went to Dragon Island at that time to stir up trouble, he ‘unintentionally’ found the location of Yang Xiao’s dragon egg.
In order to hatch him, Yang Kai put in a great deal of effort.
As a result, this young boy had a natural sense of closeness to him and had known him as though Yang Kai was his Father, now Adopted Father, since birth. In addition to that, the relationship between Yang Kai and Dragon Island softened up a bit thanks to Yang Xiao.
Soon after his birth, this young boy demonstrated his talent in the Dao of Time. Yang Kai initially believed it was because of his own comprehension; after all he used a lot of his own Blood Essence when Yang Xiao was being hatched, so naturally, inheritance from Yang Kai was to be expected.
Yet, it appeared now that this was not inheritance from his Blood Essence.
This was unmistakably a Dragon Clan Bloodline Talent; yet, Yang Xiao had it since birth while other Dragon Clan members had to reach the Grand Dragon stage in order to awaken it.
Later, Yang Xiao and Yang Xue received Flowing Time Great Emperor’s Legacy Inheritance, became his Inheritance Disciples and gained possession of the Flowing Time Temple. Looking back now, it was as though everything was predetermined. The Bloodline Talent of the Dragon Clan was the Dao of Time, and Yang Xiao had become the Disciple of Flowing Time Great Emperor, which would greatly help him with his future cultivation.
Yang Xiao was clearly one of the few exceptions that Huang Si Niang spoke of. Of course, this was not limited only to the Dragon Clan, but also other Divine Spirits. There were always some existences that showed their uniqueness at a very young age and these existences would somehow achieve great things one day.
The trip to the No-Return Pass had been well worth it for Yang Kai.
Even just learning this information from Huang Si Niang was a very valuable; not to mention, he had something waiting for him on the Dragon Clan’s side as well.
Was his mastery of the Dao of Time thanks to his own talent or due to his Dragon Clan Bloodline?
After giving it some thought, he believed that it might be both. If so, Su Yan might be able to awaken her Phoenix Clan Bloodline Talent once she got strong enough. By then, she would be able to master the Dao of Space as well.
This was very exciting news to him.
His cultivation of the Dao of Space, however, must be the result of his own talent; after all, he lacked the Phoenix Clan Bloodline, so he could not have gotten influenced by it.
Looking at the long feather in his hand, Yang Kai said, “This Junior dares not accept such a precious gift so lightly. Si Niang, is there any way that I can assist you in exchange for this gift?”
Although it was only a feather from the Phoenix Clan, Yang Kai valued it highly. He would undoubtedly benefit if he used this feather to further understand and cultivate the Dao of Space because it carried insights of the Phoenix Clan’s intrinsic talent in the Dao of Space.
This was a precious opportunity, so Yang Kai couldn’t just take it for nothing.
Unexpectedly, Huang Si Niang covered her mouth and giggled, “I don’t need help with anything. This is only a prize. You should just keep it.”
Yang Kai sensed that it wasn’t quite right for him to simply accept the gift, but since she had said so much, he couldn’t object to it either. This gift was just too alluring and he also believed that the Phoenix Clan wouldn’t try to harm him.
Even if Huang Si Niang would ask him to do something by bringing up this gift matter later, he would comply under the condition that it didn’t go against his own principles.
Such was what he thought in his heart to repay her. Nevertheless, he still stated for show, “It’s not appropriate for me to be rewarded for nothing, is it?”
Huang Si Niang took a deep look at him and saw through his thoughts. With a snicker, she stated, “You just said that you dare not reject a gift from your Seniors and now you say you shouldn’t be rewarded for nothing? Humans really don’t know what they want, huh?”
Yang Kai let out a dry laugh upon hearing that.
“If you really feel bad, let me ask you a question. This feather would serve as a reward if you answered me,” stated Huang Si Niang.
Yang Kai straightened up his position, “Si Niang, please ask.”
“What technique did you use to defeat Ji Lao San just now?”
As soon as those words left his mouth, Feng Liu Lang looked over curiously as well. Though they were both strong, they couldn’t understand how Ji Lao San ended up that way.
Ji Lao San clearly had superior momentum in that confrontation. Moreover, it was incredible that a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was able to effortlessly capture a Grand Dragon who was approaching 50,000 metres twice.
It was impossible for a Divine Spirit to be so vulnerable, let alone someone from the Dragon Clan.
Though they were just spectating for fun previously, the defeat of Ji Lao San more or less embarrassed both Clans. If word of this situation spread, people would start looking down on the Divine Spirits.
“Oh, I did not do anything in particular,” Yang Kai was surprised that the Phoenix Clan members brought up the subject first. He thought the Dragon Clan would be the ones asking about it, but since Huang Si Niang brought it up, he did not intend to keep it a secret. In that moment, he suddenly had a feeling that it would have some effect, but he did not know it would have such a strong impact on the Dragon Clan until he tried it.
Having said that, Yang Kai extended his right hand, palm down, and with light pressure, a simple pattern appeared on the back of his hand.
At first glance, the pattern appeared to be nothing special but a simple circle; however, as soon as the two Phoenixes noticed this mark, their expression darkened.
“The Great Sun Mark!? You’ve been to the Chaotic Dead Territory!?” Huang Si Niang exclaimed in shock.
Feng Liu Lang remained silent yet his expression twitched non-stop.
These two must have identified this mark; otherwise, they would not have reacted in this manner and Si Niang would not have uttered ‘Chaotic Dead Territory’.
“This is the mark of the Sun’s Burning Light, and this…” Yang Kai remarked with a nod.
He stretched out his left hand, and with a slight exertion, a pattern appeared on the back of the hand as well. However, this pattern was different from the one on the right hand, and if the pattern from the right hand were to be inserted into the left one, the two should fit exactly; two for one.
“The Great Moon Mark…” Huang Si Niang was at a loss for words.
Now, they understood why Ji Lao San was so vulnerable in the face of this individual. Even with Yang Kai just showing them these two marks, the two Phoenixes felt breathless, so nothing need be said about Ji Lao San who had been targeted for suppression.
In the beginning, there was Chaos. When Chaos split apart, Yin and Yang were formed. From Yin and Yang, all Divine Spirits and living beings were born.
The Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer were regarded as the progenitors of all things and the first ancestors of all Divine Spirits.
With these two marks in hand, no Divine Spirit could lift their head in front of Yang Kai. It was also the first time he was aware that these two marks had such an effect.
The two marks he received from the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer had always been utilised solely to condense Purifying Light; however, as he was facing Ji Lao San just now, Yang Kai felt a heat on the back of his hands and unconsciously activated the marks, which resulted in that unexpected situation.
Of course, any form of suppression had its limits. Ji Lao San freed himself from the suppression by pushing himself beyond his limits and summoning his Dragon Bead.
However, doing this would ultimately cause Ji Lao San serious harm, and his Dragon Bead would have been damaged if Yang Kai did not release him promptly.
On top of that, this effect was so pronounced because Yang Kai had been facing a Grand Dragon; if it had been one of the three Ancient Dragons, the effect of the marks would likely have been greatly reduced due to the vast gap in strength between him and them.
“Ji Lao San picked a bad fight,” Huang Si Niang grinned bitterly. Even the Dragon Clan would not dare to undervalue Yang Kai with these two marks adorning his hands. There was a huge chance that Ji Lao San would not have his position in the Dragon Pool this time.
The question had already been answered, and Yang Kai now officially owned the long feather that was in his palm. He carefully put it away with the intention of studying it later when he had more free time. The Dao of Space, was, after all, the Phoenix Clan’s Bloodline Talent, so he might have some unexpected gains.
“Was this long feather from one of your wings?” He inquired once again.
Huang Si Niang gave him a sullen look before ignoring him.
Yang Kai scratched his head in confusion, then, as he suddenly realised something, he glanced at her back.
“What are you looking at?” Huang Si Niang turned around and glared even more fiercely.
To which Yang Kai responded with a wry smile.
Huang Si Niang then sighed, “Sometimes, I am quite envious of you Humans. Despite having a short lifespan and a weak body, you have unlimited possibilities. For Divine Spirits like us, however, we are born with a strong physique and a promising future, but we are incomparable to the Human Race in many cases.”
Yang Kai asked humbly, “What do you mean?”
“Take you, for instance. You have a Dragon Clan Bloodline, so you can cultivate the Dao of Time. Plus, you have quite the talent in the Dao of Space, so you can use both Grand Daos. We Phoenixes, on the other hand, only have the Dao of Space as our sole Bloodline Talent, so we can’t cultivate the Dragon Clan’s Dao of Time. Furthermore, though Divine Spirits don’t encounter many challenges throughout our formative years, we will have to go through much more exacting challenges than you Humans if we want to reach our highest potential,” she replied.
“Like the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm?” Yang Kai frowned.
Huang Si Niang responded with a nod, “Even though there aren’t a lot of Ninth-Orders Open Heaven Realm Masters among the Humans, there are still more than 100 of them. It is very challenging for us, Divine Spirits, to cultivate to such a realm. Take the Dragon Clan for example. There is only one Divine Dragon among the whole clan.”
Above Young Dragons were the Grand Dragons, followed by the Ancient Dragon, then finally the Divine Dragons!
Yang Kai was aware that the Dragon Source that resided in his body was the Golden Divine Dragon’s Source.
This wasn’t to claim that he possessed the strength of a Divine Dragon as that would be equivalent to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Still, his Source originated from a Golden Divine Dragon.
What’s more, it was from a Dragon Emperor who lived in ancient times! Yang Kai had become aware of this when he entered the Crystal Palace in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land to cultivate.
Theoretically, every Dragon Clan member had the potential to become a Divine Dragon, but that was only in theory. In reality, there weren’t many Dragon Clansmen that succeeded in growing into a Divine Dragon since ancient times.
Furthermore, only the strongest of Divine Dragons were granted the title of Dragon Emperor.
The Phoenix Empress, on the other hand, was the title that corresponded to that title in the Phoenix Clan.
Yang Kai laughed as he heard Huang Si Niang bemoaning herself and said, “It’s not that simple. The vast human population is the reason why there are so many Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. On the other hand, there are only a few members of the Dragon and Phoenix Clans. Having one Divine Dragon is already quite a high ratio.”
“That may be the reason, but given that the Divine Spirits are rare to begin with, how would we know that it wasn’t due to the restrictions of the Heavenly Way?” Huang Si Niang smiled.
Her words made Yang Kai think.
Then, Huang Si Niang continued, “You came to me to ask the reason why Ji Lao San was so hostile to you earlier, right?”
This wasn’t the first time she had mentioned Ji Lao San, so Yang Kai immediately recognised that Ji Lao San was the Grand Dragon who had blocked him before. He thus nodded and said, “I have a guess, but I don’t know the specific reason.”
Huang Si Niang chuckled, “It seems like you’re quite the smart one. The reason why Ji Lao San targeted you was because you took away benefits that belonged to him.”
“What benefits?”
“The Dragon Pool! The Phoenix Clan lives in this Immortal Parasol Tree, and the Phoenix Nests here will help us strengthen our bloodlines and gain a better grasp of the Dao of Space. The Phoenix Clan has the Immortal Parasol Tree while the Dragon Clan has the Dragon Pool. They are very different existences, but serve almost the same function. A member of the Dragon Clan can quickly enhance their Dragon Vein when they cultivate in the Dragon Pool, saving them a lot of time. However, the Dragon Pool isn’t always accessible. The time between each opening is at least a few thousand years, with the last time it opened being 3,000 years ago. Ji Lao San has been waiting for this day for such a long time, plus it is finally his turn this time. How could he easily agree while you just came along and snatched the opportunity that belongs to him when he was so close to greatly increasing his strength?” Huang Si Niang said.
Yang Kai was at a loss for words. Although he knew that he must have somehow threatened Ji Lao San’s benefits as there would be no reason for the latter to wait for him outside the No-Return Pass otherwise, he didn’t expect it to be related to the Dragon Pool’s opening.
It was no wonder that Ji Lao San showed such rage when he first approached him. Yang Kai would have not tolerated it either if it was him.
“The Dragon Pool is only open to those of the Dragon Clan. You are the first individual who was born a Human with an acquired Dragon Clan Bloodline that has been allowed to enter the Dragon Pool. The Human Race must have paid a lot in exchange for this opportunity. Besides, Ji Lao San is not the only one who is unhappy; others in the Dragon Clan are also unhappy.”
This was also the reason behind the Dragon Clan’s approval of Ji Lao San’s assault against Yang Kai. If Yang Kai lost to Ji Lao San, the Humans wouldn’t be able to say anything about it either; after all, the chance to enter the Dragon Pool to cultivate was rare, so no weakling would ever be given such an opportunity.
However, neither Ji Lao San nor the Dragon Clan at the No-Return Pass imagined that Yang Kai, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Human, would be able to defeat a Grand Dragon with such ease.
When Yang Kai heard this, he frowned, “What price did the Human Race pay?”
“I have no idea about that,” answered Huang Si Niang while shaking her head, “It must have been a trade between the Dragon Clan and the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors of the Human Race. Despite us living together in the No-Return Pass, we hardly ever speak to one another. As long as the Dragon Clan members do not disclose anything, we, the Phoenix Clan, won’t stick our nose into it either.”
Yang Kai sighed in his heart, finally understanding everything.
He would undoubtedly encounter numerous dangers during the upcoming crusade, and while he might be strong for his realm, he was ultimately only a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
On the Black Ink Battlefield, even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could be killed at any moment, let alone a Seventh-Order Master.
Yang Kai had just ascended to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm a few hundred years ago, meaning he was still a long way away from the Eighth-Order.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao probably felt like he couldn’t make a breakthrough to the Eighth Order in the short time they had left, so she ordered Yang Kai to head to the No-Return Pass.
It seemed he now owed her a huge favour.
“The Dragon Clan has always acted aloof with the Humans, except for the Ninth-Order Masters, of course, as the biggest fist will always have a say in things. But relatively speaking, the Dragon Clan hates Humans like you who intentionally or unintentionally get the chance to integrate with a Dragon Source. The Source originally belonged to the Dragon Clan after all, but now, it has merged with Humans like you. In the eyes of the Dragon Clan, this is an intolerable blasphemy. If you had not come from the Black Ink Battlefield, I’m afraid that you would have been be torn apart by those Ancient Dragons on sight. They would take away your Dragon Source before you even left the No-Return Pass.”
This was another reason why the Dragon Clan had acted so cold towards him.
In the end, Yang Kai’s foundation was still Human.
It might be said that him merging with the Golden Divine Dragon Source was his own opportunity; yet, from the perspective of the Dragon Clan, it was disrespectful to their ancestors.
This applied not only to the Dragon Clan members of the No-Return Pass, but to the Dragon Clan members in Dragon Island as well. When Zhu Qing first encountered him, she engaged in a battle with him in an effort to reclaim the Dragon Source from his body. Of course, that little episode wound up with her losing the rice she wanted to steal a chicken with.
The later easing of the relationship with the Dragon Island Dragons was largely due to the birth of the small White Dragon, Yang Xiao, plus the fact that Yang Kai provided help when Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, caused trouble in Dragon Island.
Listening to all this, Yang Kai finally understood the reason for his visit to the No-Return Pass as well as the hostile attitude the Dragon Clan had towards him. Yang Kai believed his time cultivating in the Dragon Pool wouldn’t be simple or peaceful, despite the agreement between the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the Dragon Clan.
As such, he needed to make some plans.
Of course, the attitude of the Dragon Clan wasn’t enough for him to just give up. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had hoped that he would be able to get stronger to defend himself with the help of the Dragon Pool, so he had to give it his best.
“When will the Dragon Pool open?” Yang Kai asked again.
“The Dragon Force of the Dragon Pool has recently surged, indicating that the opening of the Dragon Pool will be in the coming months; however, the opening of the Dragon Pool is a significant occasion for the Dragon Clan, so they are still in preparation.”
Yang Kai only feared that he would have to wait for several dozens to hundreds of years. If so, there was no point as the crusade would have already started or even ended by then. Such a situation wasn’t impossible either because, for Races with as long a lifespan as the Divine Spirits, several dozen to hundreds of years was just like a snap of the fingers to a mortal.
If it was only a matter of a few months, Yang Kai could still afford to wait.
After pondering for a while, Yang Kai asked, “Since the Bloodline Talent of the Phoenix Clan is the Dao of Space, why didn’t the Human Race come to you for help to repair the Universe Temples in the 3,000 Worlds during the early years when they were only damaged and not yet disabled?”
In the end, he was asked to solve this particular problem, causing him to spend a lot of time studying the Universe Array in the Universe Temple in order to repair those abandoned Universe Temples.
Yang Kai previously believed that the Human Race was helpless because there wasn’t anyone proficient enough in the Dao of Space until his appearance. But now that he was aware of the Phoenix Clan’s ability, it made him question this conclusion.
“It is true that those in my Phoenix Clan are naturally skilled in the Dao of Space, but this is a Bloodline Talent that we innately possess, which is very different from the Human Race’s mastery over the Dao of Space through rigorous training and studies. So, the way members of the Phoenix Clan interpret and use the Dao of Space is quite different from the way Humans do, which makes our methods and knowledge somewhat incompatible. Additionally, repairing the Universe Temple not only requires knowledge of the Dao of Space, but also of the Dao of Spirit Arrays, so it wasn’t an issue that the Phoenix Clan could easily resolve. Besides, both the Dragon and Phoenix Clans are restricted by the Great Ancestral Bloodline Oath to not leave the No-Return Pass.”
“Oh,” Yang Kai plainly remarked. To think of it, though the Phoenix Clan members were proficient in the Dao of Space, it didn’t mean that they knew how to repair the Universe Arrays.
On top of that, there was the Great Ancestral Bloodline Oath.
Yang Kai didn’t know much about what this Great Oath mentioned, but since ancestral bloodlines were involved, it was clearly something quite serious.
He also inquired about some Dragon Clan information that wasn’t confidential, so Huang Si Niang answered him honestly.
After half a day, Yang Kai stood up sincerely to show courtesy, “Many thanks, Si Niang, for dispelling all of my doubts.”
He would still be perplexed at this point if Huang Si Niang hadn’t explained so much to him. Even though there would always be a path to the destination, it would be preferable if he had known what he was about to encounter sooner so he could prepare himself.
Looking at it now, the Dragon Clan and the Ninth-Orders Old Ancestors must have reached an agreement. The Dragon Clan would uphold its end of the bargain as long as Yang Kai did not willingly withdraw. Regardless, Yang Kai was unsure if there would be any obstructions along the way.
“It’s nothing. It has always been boring living in the No-Return Pass all these years. It’s unusual for something interesting and fun to happen, so it was quite nice being able to watch the show just now,” Huang Si Niang said honestly. As to whether her words would offend the Dragon Clan, they clearly wouldn’t; they were prideful, but not neurotic.
“I have another request, and I hope Si Niang will agree to it,” Yang Kai bowed with a sincere attitude. He had to humble himself as he requested help. It didn’t matter because Huang Si Niang might appear to be a young woman, but she should already be quite old.
“Tell me. Then, I’ll decide.” Since Huang Si Niang was not a fool, she didn’t agree immediately.
Yang Kai chuckled upon her reply and said shyly, “This is this Junior’s first visit to the No-Return Pass, and I have nowhere to stay. The Dragon Clan doesn’t seem to have the intention of welcoming me either. I’m part of the Dragon Clan nevertheless, so it is sad to see them treating me like an outsider. Can I temporarily stay here at Si Niang’s place since there is still some time before the Dragon Pool opens? You won’t let me live on the streets, will you?”
“You want to borrow a place at my residence?” Huang Si Niang looked at him and chuckled.
“It’s not for nothing. Si Niang, do tell me if you need any help. Or perhaps I can pay for it?” Added Yang Kai hastily.
“What do you have that would benefit me?” Huang Si Niang spat disdainfully.
Putting aside that Yang Kai wouldn’t be very wealthy as he was only a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, even if he had anything valuable, Huang Si Niang might not be interested because Divine Spirits like her had acquired many great things over the course of their long lives.
Yang Kai hurriedly took out a set of Yellow and Blue Crystals and handed them over, “Si Niang, are these good enough?”
He had a lot of wonderful things in his possession, but Yang Kai surmised that the only items that could impress a Phoenix were the Yellow and Blue Crystals; after all, these things came from the Chaotic Dead Territory and were the condensed power of Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan.
The Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer were the common ancestors of all Divine Spirits, so these Crystals should be quite alluring to the Divine Spirits.
However, he was somewhat unsure as the Yellow and Blue Crystals, which he always regarded as resources to generate Purifying Light, didn’t hold any special meaning to him. He took them out just to give it a try.
What surprised him was when Huang Si Niang saw the Yellow Crystal and Blue Crystal, her eyes lit up and she swiftly snatched them up. After some examination, she looked up and asked, “Are these from the Chaotic Dead Territory?”
“You’re right!” Yang Kai gave a big thumbs-up to Huang Si Niang, “Si Niang’s eyes are as sharp as a hawk’s. You have excellent observation skills!”
Huang Si Niang did not react to his obvious toadying.
She put away the crystals as she turned her palm, saying, “Good. You really do know how to show your sincerity. I’ll let you temporarily live here.”
“Many thanks, Si Niang!” Yang Kai rejoiced, “Then, this Junior shall go take a rest. It has been a tiring journey here. I won’t be disturbing Si Niang for now.”
With that being said, he rushed away in a blink of an eye.
The inner space of the Phoenix Nest was actually really large.
Watching his leaving figure, Huang Si Niang shook her head and said, “That slippery brat.”
Feng Liu Liang, who had been silent the whole time, said suddenly, “You normally don’t like to interact with Humans. You sure were acting very differently today.”
The arrival of Humans was not rare at the No-Return Pass as it was the only transit point between the 3,000 Worlds and the Black Ink Battlefield, so fresh manpower was sent here quite frequently.
Still, over the years, Huang Si Niang never had such interaction with any Human.
Huang Si Niang glanced at him and pointedly stated, “I don’t believe that you didn’t feel it.”
Feng Liu Lang replied, “It seems like it’s not my imagination. That kid has a Phoenix Clan’s aura on him.”
“This is also what I find to be unusual,” Huang Si Niang replied with a nod, “He already possesses a Dragon Source, so he couldn’t possess a Phoenix Source as well, right?”
“The coexistence of Dragon and Phoenix Sources in a single body is impossible; it should be that he has recently been in close contact with someone from our Clan.”
Huang Si Niang shook her head, “As far as I know, he has been on the Black Ink Battlefield for hundreds of years and has had no chance to come into contact with anyone from our Clan. Even if he had, the aura would have quickly dissipated. I’m not sure why this is happening either.”
“Those from the Phoenix Clan are rare, and most of them are currently living within the Immortal Parasol Tree. However, there are still some who wander outside. I have no idea if they are still living or not, but perhaps we can locate one of them if we identify who he interacted with,” he replied.
“That’s why I want to keep him here.”
By keeping Yang Kai close, they could observe him more easily. Although Yang Kai had taken out a set of Yellow and Blue Crystals, which contained the essence of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer from the Chaotic Dead Territory, they were actually quite useless to Huang Si Niang.
Just when they were talking here though, the entire Phoenix Nest shook abruptly, making Huang Si Niang’s beautiful face pale.
…..
Atop a mountain, some distance away, Yang Kai was sitting cross-legged.
His World Force surged, and Space Principles rippled, resonating with the rich Space Dao Essence contained in this Sealed World.
When Yang Kai entered the Phoenix Nest, he saw that the Universe’s ancient aura was still preserved here. Additionally, because it was a Phoenix Nest of the Phoenix Clansman, Space Dao Essence was incredibly rich and abundant.
With the help of these Space Dao Essences, the Phoenix Clan members could continue to cultivate and become stronger in their own Phoenix Nest, which was why it was said that the Phoenix Nest was the root of every Phoenix.
If someone else came to a Phoenix Nest, they would only get to experience the ancient aura of the Universe.
But it was different for Yang Kai as he benefited greatly from the incredibly rich Space Dao Essence present in this place. His mastery over the Dao of Space could be made stronger by absorbing and refining these Dao Essences. At the same time, comprehending the differences of the Grand Dao of Space between ancient times and now would further enhance his mastery.
In addition, as this Dao Essence was preserved in its most primitive form, it made it simple for Yang Kai to refine it as it was extremely pure, without any trace of impurity.
To Yang Kai, that place was a cultivation paradise!
This was an unexpected gain. He had intended to cultivate and better his Dragon Clan Bloodline in the Dragon Pool when he arrived at the No-Return Pass, but before he had even entered the Dragon Pool, he gained advantages from the Phoenix Clan.
Fate was truly unpredictable.
On his side, Yang Kai devoured and refined the Space Dao Essence in the Phoenix Nest eagerly, while on Huang Si Niang’s side, her beautiful face paled due to how quickly the Space Dao Essence in her Phoenix Nest was dissipating.
She needed to cultivate like him too, and although the Immortal Parasol Tree would gradually replenish the Dao Essences even if they dissipated completely, Yang Kai’s method of cultivating was akin to him drying out the lake to catch all the fish.
It was not beneficial for her if the Dao Essences here were all consumed; after all, replenishment took time, and if the balance in the Phoenix Nest was disrupted, the entire structure would be at risk of rupturing.
Yang Kai’s action right now was comparable to him stealing all of her family’s property.
To be honest, Huang Si Niang knew that once Yang Kai started to cultivate, the Space Dao Essence in her Phoenix Nest would definitely decrease, but she never expected such a situation.
She and Feng Liu Lang both greatly underestimated Yang Kai’s mastery over the Dao of Space; he might even be a level higher than them.
With the suction force emerging from Yang Kai, the Phoenix Nest experienced a world-trembling shock.
[Is he even Human?] Huang Si Niang and Feng Liu Lang felt that they were incomparable to Yang Kai when it came to cultivating the Dao of Space at this point.
A loud cry echoed throughout the Phoenix Nest as Huang Si Niang shot into the air quickly rushing over to Yang Kai.
Moments later on the Immortal Parasol Tree, a portal opened up. Yang Kai, who was held by the neck by Huang Si Niang, was tossed out onto his butt, “Scram!”
Yang Kai stood up and rubbed his behind, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “Si Niang, if there’s anything wrong, you can speak to me nicely. Why get mad?”
“I have nothing to say to you, thief! Leave!”
With an innocent look, Yang Kai cried, “How can I be a thief? I’ve paid to stay… No. I have paid the rental and greeted you, Si Niang. I was just temporarily using your place to cultivate. Why did Si Niang kick me out?”
Just as the words left his mouth, a Yellow Crystal and a Blue Crystal were thrown onto him, “I’m returning those to you. Never come back again. Ever.”
Those crystals weren’t anything precious and she only kept them because they were unique. Did he really think that they meant a lot to her?
When angered, a Phoenix was incredibly strong. Yang Kai’s face was also swollen as a result of him not being able to dodge the crystals.
And as he saw the portal closing, Yang Kai said anxiously, “Si Niang, I have something to say! I’ll stop being so aggressive and be more easy-going when I cultivate!”
There was no response. Huang Si Niang had already sealed up the portal to her Phoenix Nest, fully restricting him from entering.
However, Yang Kai could feel minor traces of the portal, and if he tried, he might be able to forcefully break in. But, he would suffer even if he succeeded since the owner no longer welcomed him.
Things had changed once again…
Yang Kai stood alone on a branch of the Immortal Parasol Tree feeling dejected.
Multiple Young Dragons passing by looked up from below and glared at him, making him even more embarrassed.
Though the No-Return Pass was large, he had nowhere to go after Huang Si Niang kicked him out. Did he really have to spend his nights on the street? The situation would still be alright if it was only a matter of one or two days since he could just walk around and time would fly by, but this was a matter of months. If word of this spread, it would embarrass not just him, but the rest of the Human Race as well.
Moreover, he had just tasted the benefits of a Phoenix Nest. After merely whetting his appetite, he was kicked out, leaving him craving for more.
The Phoenix Nest was really an excellent place for him to cultivate. According to the levels of mastery he pioneered, his Dao of Space was currently at the Eighth Level, Summiting the Peak, so if his skill were to ascend to the level above, the Ninth Level, it would reach Shocking History and Dazzling the Present.
Yang Kai believed that when he successfully reached this level, even if he couldn’t make a breakthrough with his cultivation, his strength would certainly grow significantly.
How could he be content to just let himself be kicked out?
There was nothing he could do while standing outside the portal as no matter how he pleaded, appealed, or vowed to the Heavens and Earth, Huang Si Niang was adamant about not letting him back in.
After trying for some time, Yang Kai eventually gave up as he still had some shame.
At last, he sighed. There had to be a place for him somewhere else.
He raised his head and surveyed the surrounding area, and then he leapt and landed on another tree branch. He greeted the void in front of him, “Junior Yang Kai greets Senior. This is my first time at the No-Return Pass and I have nowhere to go. Could you lend me a spot in your precious home to temporarily live in?”
The Void swirled in front of him, followed by the appearance of a portal, causing Yang Kai’s face to brighten up.
A woman with bright eyes and bright teeth protruded from the portal and looked at Yang Kai with a disgusted expression, scolding, “Go away!”
Saying so, she immediately retreated, followed by the portal closing.
That made Yang Kai terribly embarrassed. [Just say no if you’re not willing to lend me a place. Why come out and scold me?]
After appealing his case for some time, Yang Kai approached another branch, gave a respectful salute, and then asked for a place to temporarily live.
Due to his proficiency with the Dao of Space, it was simple for him to locate the hidden Phoenix Nests on the Immortal Parasol Tree.
However, the Phoenix Clan members’ attitudes towards him remained essentially the same. If they had a mild temperament, they wouldn’t show up at all and just ignored him, allowing him to just yell outside for a bit.
As for the hot-tempered ones, they either opened the door to scold him or assaulted him in moderation to chase him away, with no intention of hurting him.
Yang Kai realised there was likely no hope of seeking shelter from the Phoenix Clan after getting rejected about 7 or 8 times in a row.
He was also unsure whether the Phoenix Clan had some sort of mysterious way to communicate with each other. Either way, all the Phoenix Clan members should have already known what happened between Huang Si Niang and him previously, or they would have no reason to reject him so stubbornly.
Borrowing a place to stay for a month or two wasn’t an issue, the problem was him stealing from the owner while lodging in their home. How would anybody let him inside after learning about such thievery?
Now, he was not permitted to enter the Phoenix Nest and the Dragon Clan did not welcome him. Despite how large the No-Return Pass was, Yang Kai actually had no place to stay. This was certainly one of the most distressing situations he encountered after so many years of cultivation.
Again, he arrived in front of another portal, bowed to salute and asked sincerely for a place.
As expected, there was no reaction. Perhaps this was a mild-tempered Phoenix, so they did not bother with or assault Yang Kai.
No matter the situation, he couldn’t just force his way in if the owner didn’t open the door.
Exasperated and dejected, he wanted to head to another Phoenix Nest to try his luck; however, just when he turned to leave, he frowned, carefully examining the Void in front of him.
After some time of examination, he flashed to another Phoenix Nest.
He had changed multiple locations before making his way over to Huang Si Niang’s Phoenix Nest. He lifted his hand and knocked on the Void in front of him, saying, “Si Niang, I have a question.”
There was no response from Huang Si Niang, as she was obviously ignoring him.
Yang Kai continued, “I’m really here to just ask a question, not to borrow a place.”
The Void rippled a little, and Si Niang stuck her head out with a cautious look on her face, “What?”
Yang Kai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, [You’re still a noble and powerful Phoenix, there’s no need to be so on guard against me.]
He looked into the Phoenix Nest and before he could say a word, Huang Si Niang reprimanded, “What are you looking at? You can’t come in. If you need to say something, say it. Otherwise, leave!”
Yang Kai wanted to ask if he could come in for a conversation, but after seeing Huang Si Niang’s attitude, he was scared that he would receive another scolding if he did.
Brushing off that thought, he said, “I just made my way across the Immortal Parasol Tree, visiting many Phoenix Clan Seniors and I came onto something odd.”
Huang Si Niang sneered because she witnessed what happened. This Brat was thick-skinned enough to say that he was only ‘visiting’ them after getting rejected so many times.
Then, he pointed to the Phoenix Nest he visited last, “The portal of that Phoenix Nest seems to have not been opened for many years. Is the Senior cultivating in retreat inside? There hasn’t been any motion from it. Could they have encountered an accident?”
Huang Si Niang glanced in the direction he pointed, frowned, and replied in surprise, “You can tell that the portal hasn’t been opened for many years?”
“Every time a portal is opened, it will leave a few unnoticeable traces. These traces are undetectable to others, but you and I should be able to see them, right?” He nonchalantly said.
“En,” Huang Si Niang replied flatly, understanding that this Brat really did have a higher comprehension of the Dao of Space than her; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to notice things like this.
She initially couldn’t be bothered anymore, but still explained out of kindness, “There are some Phoenix Nests that have no owners. The owner of the Phoenix Nest you were referring to hasn’t returned for a long time.”
Although members of the Phoenix Clan were scarce, some were still born over time. Most of the Phoenix Clan members lived on the Immortal Parasol Tree, but there were always some others venturing outside.
The majority of these venturing Phoenix Clan members had been involved in accidents and perished, whereas some might have come across accidents where they were stuck and were unable to flee. The Phoenix Nest of these members remained, but nobody had entered them for many, many years.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up when he heard it, “An ownerless Phoenix Nest?”
Huang Si Niang knew what he was up to based on his expression and said with a smile, “There are as many Phoenix Nests on the Immortal Parasol Tree as there are Phoenixes in my Phoenix Clan. A Phoenix Nest is the origin of a Phoenix Clan Source. In other words, the existence of both is interconnected. Unless the Source is destroyed, the Phoenix Nest will remain forever. Those Phoenix Nests which currently have no owner may have already been involved in an accident and have fallen. Nevertheless, their Source survived. However, it is most likely that those carrying these Phoenix Sources aren’t pure Phoenix Clan members, so they can’t locate this place and arrive here.”
The slightly sidetracked Yang Kai then said, “What Si Niang means is that every Phoenix Clan member’s Source correlates to a Phoenix Nest. If the individuals who obtain the Phoenix Clan Source discovers this place, they will be able to own their personal Phoenix Nest?”
“Correct,” Huang Si Niang nodded.
Any existence that arrived here and cultivated in their Phoenix Nest would eventually transform into a pure Phoenix Clan member, regardless of how they attained their Phoenix Clan Source.
“So that is how it works!” Yang Kai muttered.
“Nothing else, right? If there’s nothing else, stop bothering me.” Without allowing Yang Kai to respond, she snapped and retracted her head.
“Si Niang, wait…” Yang Kai raised his hand to stop her but was too slow.
According to her attitude, Huang Si Niang made it obvious that she didn’t want to talk to him anymore.
Of course, Yang Kai didn’t push the issue, but if what Si Niang stated was accurate, then one of these ownerless Phoenix Nests on this Immortal Parasol Tree would belong to Su Yan, another to Jiu Feng, and another to Liu Yan!
These three individuals possessed Phoenix Clan Sources.
Now, things were getting interesting.
Yang Kai scrutinised his surroundings, then once again arrived at the ownerless Phoenix Nest. He rubbed his chin and pondered.
On the other hand, in Huang Si Niang’s Phoenix Nest, Feng Liu Lang asked after holding it back for a long time, “Why did you mislead him?”
She snorted lightly, “To keep him busy. Or else, he would come to disturb me again. So annoying!”
Feng Liu Lang sighed, deep down knowing Yang Kai was about to get in trouble again.
Huang Si Niang did not lie to him, but she did not make things clear either.
It was true that each Phoenix Nest on the Immortal Parasol Tree corresponded to a Phoenix Clan Source; but also, those Phoenix Clan Sources were the only keys to unlock these Phoenix Nests.
Without the corresponding Phoenix Clan Source, no matter how proficient Yang Kai was with the Dao of Space, he would never be able to open these unowned Phoenix Nests.
There was an undetermined amount of Phoenix Nests. Since the creation of the Universe, the Immortal Parasol Tree, and the Phoenix Clan, the number of the Phoenix Nests had increased and decreased as a result of several factors over the ages.
A greater number of Phoenix Nests indicated a greater amount of Phoenix Sources remaining, and decreased Phoenix Nests indicated decreased Phoenix Sources; nonetheless, these two factors were unrelated to the life or death of a Phoenix. Even when a Phoenix Clan member fell due to an accident, as long as their Source remained, their Phoenix Nest would never be destroyed.
If anyone obtained that Source by chance and cultivated it in a Phoenix Nest in the No-Return Pass, they would have the opportunity to shed their former body to be reborn as a pure member of the Phoenix Clan.
In fact, just like the Phoenix Clan, the Dragon Clan was the same, with the exception that Dragon Sources were from the Dragon Pool; hence, for both the Dragon and Phoenix Clans, those places were the root of their entire Clan; the Dragon Pool being the Dragon Clan’s origin and the Phoenix Nests being the Phoenix Clan’s origin.
Yang Kai once wondered if the decline of talents would lead to the eventual extinction of the Dragon Clan, but this was simply impossible. As long as the Dragon Pool remained, the Dragon Clan would never go extinct. There might be situations where the Clan becomes momentarily weak and vulnerable, but that was unavoidable if it was the will of the Heavenly Way.
However, the fact that there were ownerless Phoenix Nests on this Immortal Parasol Tree surprised Yang Kai.
Didn’t that mean he could enter the ownerless Phoenix Nests at will?
As the saying went, one would wear out iron shoes seeking their feet.
Besides, Huang Si Niang didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping him from entering these ownerless Phoenix Nests. Wasn’t this a tacit agreement?
[Tsk… Si Niang isn’t so cruel after all.] Her seemingly unintentional words actually pointed him towards a beneficial path.
Yang Kai restrained his excitement as he made his way to an unowned Phoenix Nest. Verifying that the nest had not been opened in many years, he got to work.
Space Principles rippled as he made a wiping movement to connect to the Phoenix Nest Portal.
Initially, he thought that it wouldn’t be that difficult to open this portal because he was already proficient enough in the Dao of Space. Besides, this portal didn’t have any special barrier to it, making it simpler to access.
However, Yang Kai soon discovered that things weren’t so simple.
The Phoenix Nest portal indeed had no barrier and he could also sense that it was right in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried to open it, the portal showed no signs of budging.
The Phoenix Nest’s portal seemed to be locked by an invisible force.
Yang Kai at first believed that his approach was incorrect, but as the portal remained shut even after several days of trying, he gradually understood the issue.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t proficient enough in the Dao of Space but that the Phoenix Nest actually had some other requirement in order to be opened.
Yang Kai concluded as such because the Phoenix Nest portal in front of him appeared to be locked by an invisible force and he probably needed the right key to open it.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but sigh as he recalled what Huang Si Niang said to him and her attitude at that time.
He was tricked!
Now, Yang Kai figured the matching Phoenix Source was necessary in order to unlock this Phoenix Nest. In other words, the key to these Phoenix Nest portals was the Phoenix Sources themselves.
Even though he had a higher mastery over the Dao of Space compared to many, he was unable to enter without the key; after all, the Immortal Parasol Tree was a unique existence that was born soon after the Universe came into existence. It could be said that it was a type of Supreme Innate Treasure. How could anything related to such a treasure be so easily accessed?
The hope that was sparked previously was put out ruthlessly, causing Yang Kai to feel dejected again.
He would still be fine if he hadn’t known the benefits of the Phoenix Nests for his cultivation; however, not only was he aware, he even got a taste. It was simply a terrible feeling not being able to have access to it anymore.
Yang Kai, still a little in disbelief, circled the Immortal Parasol Tree once more, searching for portals that had been closed for a very long time.
He tried three other Phoenix Nests consecutively, all to no avail.
When he got to the fourth Nest, Yang Kai assumed the situation would be the same, but after exerting quite a bit of force, the Void in front of him rippled, and a portal hazily formed.
Yang Kai looked on in pleasant surprise.
As he was ready to use go all out to pry open this portal when he suddenly felt that something was wrong. This portal didn’t seem to be responding to his actions, but rather a different power from the inside.
Yang Kai’s expression darkened, [Oh no.]
Sure enough, a Phoenix’s head appeared from the portal, asking as it glared at Yang Kai with blood-red Phoenix eyes, “Little bastard, what do you think you’re doing disturbing me?!”
Saying so, its sharp beak was aimed at Yang Kai, attempting to peck him.
Yang Kai’s hair stood on end. This seemingly normal peck might actually open a big hole in his body if he was hit by it; possibly even tearing apart his Soul in the process.
This Phoenix Nest was not at all an unowned Phoenix Nest, its master had simply been in retreat for a long time, which was why it hadn’t been opened in many years.
Thinking about it now, Yang Kai realized that this was probably the case for other seemingly ownerless Phoenix Nests.
As the saying went, when one often walks by the river, getting wet is inevitable.
“Senior, this is a misunderstanding!” Yang Kai shouted as he pushed his Space Principles madly, instantly disappearing from where he stood.
When he reappeared, he had already 100,000 kilometres away from the No-Return Pass; however, he was in a mess quite dishevelled at this point; his clothes were torn, and he had a wound on his chest from which Golden Blood was oozing.
On the Immortal Parasol Tree, a cold snort resounded, “Next time, I’ll take your life!”
Then, the Phoenix’s head withdrew as the portal shut.
Now, things were really awkward for Yang Kai.
Though he reacted in the shortest time possible and even used Space Principles in order to escape, the Dao of Space was still the Grand Dao all Phoenix Clan members cultivated.
Yang Kai was unable to escape from that peck no matter how he struggled or tried to flee, suffering an injury in the end.
Fortunately, it seemed the Phoenix Clan had an innately gentle temperament, so the one Yang Kai offended did not have any intention of killing him ruthlessly. If it was the Dragon Clan that he had insulted, Yang Kai would likely be locked in a life-or-death battle right now.
Inside her Phoenix Nest, Si Niang laughed riotously as she watched the commotion, whereas Feng Liu lang shook his head, thinking that the Human would stop causing a commotion after suffering such a loss.
After all, Yang Kai had no idea which Phoenix Nests were unowned and which had simply not been opened due to the owner being in retreat for a long time.
But Feng Liu Lang immediately realised that he was wrong.
After spending some time outside, Yang Kai changed into a different outfit and casually ran back to the Immortal Parasol Tree to continue what he was previously doing.
Feng Liu Lang was speechless, [Why is this Human so stubborn? The Phoenix Nests will never open unless the owner’s Source is present. He should know this already, so why waste time?]
Still, Yang Kai, who had prior experiences now, started acting more cautiously. He dared not cause a huge commotion even with the Phoenix Nests that seemed to have no owner, fearing that there would be another Phoenix coming out to peck at him.
He was currently searching for specific Phoenix Nests.
Despite the size of the Immortal Parasol Tree, there weren’t many members of the Phoenix Clan. Consequently, there weren’t many Phoenix Nests.
There were only roughly 100 of them.
In other words, the number of Phoenix Clan members was only around 100. This also counted the numerous Phoenix Clan Sources lost outside. Yang Kai estimated that there were approximately only 40 or 50 members of the Phoenix Clan who were still residing on the Immortal Parasol Tree.
Still, this was already a huge force considering it was the Phoenix Clan! Each mature Dragon was equivalent to a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master, and due to their long lifespan and inherited bloodline, they only required time to strengthen themselves to ascend to the level equivalent to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, without having to go through many risks.
A process similar for all Divine Spirits.
Since there weren’t many Phoenix Nests, Yang Kai had little trouble locating all of them and after 4 hours, he stood in front of a specific one.
This was another Phoenix Nest that had not been opened for many years.
If Yang Kai hadn’t felt a trace of a familiar aura flowing out of this Phoenix Nest, he would not have been able to determine whether there wasn’t an owner inside or not.
It was that familiar aura that confirmed that this Phoenix Nest was ownerless.
Or at least, the owner was not in!
This was because the Fire Phoenix aura coming from this nest belonged to Liu Yan.
The Phoenix Source that Liu Yan owned today dated back to Martial Flame Great Emperor who had attained the Phoenix True Fire by chance many years ago. After cultivating with it, Martial Flame eventually ascended to become a Great Emperor of the Star Boundary.
It was during that period that Heaven Devouring Great Emperor, Wu Kuang, had caused chaos. As a result, all the other Great Emperors of the Star Boundary fought him in a deadly battle in the Shattered Star Sea.
In that battle, Wu Kuang’s body was destroyed as a result of his defeat. Along with his ‘death’, several other Great Emperors, namely Azure Sea Great Emperor, Martial Flame Great Emperor, Yuan Ding Great Emperor, and Cyan Lotus Great Emperor perished.
That was the time when Wu Kuang overpowered everyone else and ruled like a tyrant. But, in the end, his actions led to public outrage which ultimately got him ‘killed’.
It was later revealed that Wu Kuang faked his own death, and many years later was resurrected. However, the tale of him using his own power to kill numerous Great Emperors remained, fascinating all who heard it.
No other Great Emperor had possessed strength on par with Wu Kuang’s.
After the fall of the Martial Flame Great Emperor, the Phoenix True Fire remained in the Shattered Star Sea. When Yang Kai travelled to the Shattered Star Sea for training, he obtained the Phoenix True Fire and later gave it to Liu Yan to refine.
Consequently, he could easily recognise the aura of this Fire Phoenix Source because he was very familiar with it.
The Phoenix True Fire, strictly speaking, was actually a Phoenix Source.
The aura that was just barely noticeable on the Phoenix Nest in front of him undoubtedly came from the same source as the Phoenix True Fire that he gave to Liu Yan.
Now that this had been confirmed, Yang Kai could act boldly without having to fear a Phoenix Clan member showing up to deal with him.
But to his disappointment, despite being certain that Liu Yan was the Phoenix Nest’s owner, he was still unable to open it.
He didn’t continue because he knew that the Phoenix Nest wasn’t that simple to open from previous experience.
After half a day of searching on the Immortal Parasol Tree, Yang Kai stood in front of another Phoenix Nest. If he was not mistaken, Jiu Feng should be the owner of this Phoenix Nest; however, he wasn’t really sure as he had not interacted with Jiu Feng frequently, so he didn’t have a vivid memory of her Source’s aura.
There was a high chance it was, though!
He had found Liu Yan and Jiu Feng’s Phoenix Nest, so what about Su Yan’s?
There would definitely be a Phoenix Nest here that belonged to Su Yan.
At this moment, Yang Kai had no hope of entering the Phoenix Nest to cultivate and further strengthen his understanding and mastery over the Dao of Space, so all he wanted was to find out where Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest was located so he could help guide her here in the future where she would be able to cultivate with peace of mind.
Moments later, as Yang Kai stood on a branch of the Immortal Parasol Tree and looked at the Void in front of him, he smiled gently.
[Found it.]
Su Yan should be the owner of the Phoenix Nest in front of him. He was very familiar with that aura; after all, she was his first wife, and their many times of cultivating together had already connected their auras. When Yang Kai arrived here, he almost immediately recognised this Phoenix Nest as Su Yan’s.
This familiar aura made Yang Kai sigh in reminiscence. He had not seen Su Yan for hundreds of years before entering the Black Ink Battlefield, and now several hundred more years had passed, yet his parting with her and the others felt as though it only happened days before.
To a Master like Yang Kai, the higher their cultivation, the less emphasis they put on time.
Back when he was still young, Yang Kai felt every day was extremely precious; but, as he became stronger, even a simple retreat could take years.
His greatest desire used to be to mature quickly and obtain the freedom and strength that came with it, but looking back now, he realised how precious the time when he was a carefree kid was.
That was a period of time that could only remain in his memories.
He had spent his entire life travelling around, from South to North and back again. Though there had been a lot of women around him, he had never really spent much time with them.
Yang Kai felt deeply that there was more time spent away from his family and loved ones than with them since he began his journey on the Martial Dao.
It was still fine before as there would always be occasions to gather, but after he had entered the Black Ink Battlefield, he knew he would never see them again unless the Blank Ink Clan was completely eradicated.
[Was all this really worth it?] He thought to himself.
But Yang Kai’s expression quickly changed to one of determination, [No, it is!]
The current short separation was necessary to prepare for the long-term reunion afterwards. He would finally be at peace and bring his lovely companions to travel across mountains and rivers and enjoy himself when the battle in the Black Ink Battlefield was over.
For that reason, he had to become stronger in order to survive.
The familiar aura lingered around his fingertips as he extended his hand to touch it, as if he was brushing Su Yan’s face.
As he reached out, Yang Kai’s expression soon filled with shock, which then quickly turned to joy. With a flash, he rushed into the portal in front of him and disappeared.
The next moment, two figures appeared on the Immortal Parasol Tree together. Both Huang Si Niang and Feng Liu Lang looked at the place where Yang Kai disappeared in extreme disbelief.
Si Niang’s eyes bulged as she muttered in a hoarse voice, “He went in?”
Feng Liu Lang nodded lightly, confirming, “He went in.”
Si Niang’s thoughts were all over the place, “How?”
Feng Liu Lang had no idea how to reply either, so he just said, “Just like that…”
“Nonsense!” She glared at him. She had been observing Yang Kai, so of course she knew he went in just like that. The point was, how did he get in?
That was a Phoenix Nest!
Besides, it was not just any Phoenix Nest!
While the two were talking, more Phoenix Nests opened up, and figures emerged from the portals, obviously having noticed something. These people were all attractive men and women of varying ages, and they were all staring in the direction of where Yang Kai had disappeared.
A woman with a particularly noble and dense aura emerged. She appeared to be 15 or 16 years old on first impression; however, if one paid closer attention, she seemed to be in her early 20’s. Strangely enough, after observing her for some time, she suddenly appeared to be in her mid 30’s.
This woman’s age seemed to be a true mystery.
She then asked in a soft voice, “Has someone returned to the Clan?”
Huang Si Niang and Feng Liu Lang exchanged glances before quickly bowing and explaining everything that had just happened.
The group of Phoenix Clan members were shocked to learn that a Human from afar opened this Phoenix Nest. What’s more, this Human was no ordinary Human, but rather a Human that had refined and fused with a Dragon Source!
The Phoenix Nest was opened by such a person!
This had never happened before.
The Phoenix Clan members started chattering and demanded that the brat be dragged out of the Phoenix Nest and punished. Phoenix Nests were the root of the Phoenix Clan after all, so no one other than the Phoenix Clan members were permitted to set foot inside of them. However, a half-Dragon Human had now entered one. How could such blasphemy be tolerated?
If this Phoenix Nest could be opened by an outsider, wouldn’t everyone be able to access the other Phoenix Nest in the future?
Many Phoenix Clans members shared the same thoughts and attitude. In the Immortal Parasol Tree, more than half of the 40 Phoenix Clan members supported this plan.
The smaller half did not explicitly state their viewpoint, but it was clear that they did not disagree.
What they were most concerned about was how this Human managed to enter this Phoenix Nest.
The ability to enter a Phoenix Nest indicated that an individual owned a Phoenix Source. But, how was it possible that a Human who was confirmed to possess a Dragon Source also had a Phoenix Source?
Despite the Dragon and Phoenix Clans being said to coexist, side by side, certain things like their Sources could never coexist inside a single individual. This was fundamental knowledge.
After countless years of peace and tranquility, the Immortal Parasol Tree became lively because of Yang Kai’s unprecedented actions, and almost all the Phoenixes Clan members that were able to come out from retreat, came out.
The Dragon Clan was immediately alerted by the commotion and many of them throughout the No-Return Pass released their Divine Sense, immediately understanding the whole story in an instant.
The incident shocked the Dragon Clan as well.
The Human who was sent over to take advantage of the Dragon Clan had entered a Phoenix Nest of the Phoenix Clan before even stepping foot into the Dragon Pool?
Having lived with each other for so many years, how could the Dragon Clan not know about the mysteries of the Phoenix Nest? They were equally perplexed as to how a bastard who refined a Dragon Source would be qualified to enter an ownerless Phoenix Nest.
It had been many millennia since the No-Return Pass had been this lively. Even though Masters from the 3,000 Worlds would frequently be sent to different Great Passes through the No-Return Pass, their stays here were always brief. Additionally, due to the authority of the Dragon and Phoenix Clan, these Humans were also well-behaved in the No-Return Pass, not daring to be the least bit presumptuous and always departing with haste.
This Human, on the other hand, not only embarrassed the Dragon Clan when he first arrived, but he also violated the Phoenix Clan’s sacred home. It made everyone speechless.
Phoenix Clan’s issue, though, was not the business of the Dragon Clan; thus, all they did in this situation was observe the commotion.
On the Parasol Tree, the Phoenix Clan members were filled with rage, especially the Young Phoenixes that denounced Yang Kai loudly. On the contrary, the older Phoenixes soon fell silent, their eyes filled with pensive light.
There were many things that the Young Phoenixes were unaware of, but the older ones had already heard certain stories from their forefathers.
The Phoenix Nest that was opened was not an ordinary Phoenix Nest, it was a Phoenix Nest that belonged to a previous generation Phoenix Empress. After a certain incident, that Empress’ Source went missing, its location unknown even now. As such, wasn’t the opening of this Phoenix Nest an indication of something?
Even this generation’s Phoenix Empress had shown herself. She was a noble woman who had an extremely dense aura. Her strength was comparable to the Dragon Emperor as well as the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Humans. It could even be said that a Dragon Emperor and a Phoenix Empress were stronger compared to Ninth-Order Old Ancestors.
Without such a Master assuming command, they wouldn’t be able to maintain the safety and security of the No-Return Pass throughout the years.
But in the end, even with the Empress present, the Phoenix Clan members were unable to drag Yang Kai out from the Phoenix Nest because they lacked the ability to do so.
Though they were Phoenix Clan members, they couldn’t simply open a Phoenix Nest that did not belong to them. In other words, they couldn’t really do anything unless the Human willingly came out.
…..
The Phoenix Nest belonging to Su Yan was fully covered with snow and ice, making the whole World snow-white in colour.
In mid-air, Yang Kai surveyed his surroundings as he admired the beauty and magnificence of this place.
This was a world sealed in ice and snow, so it was absolutely freezing. The fact that Su Yan owned this Phoenix Nest made it reasonable that this was the case.
Su Yan’s Phoenix Clan Source was an Ice Phoenix Source, so naturally, her Phoenix Nest was filled with Ice Principles.
The cold inside was the kind that permeated one’s soul. Even Yang Kai felt a bit uneasy when he first arrived here, but thankfully, he felt much better after circulating his World Force.
A moment later, he felt overjoyed.
Just like Huang Si Niang’s Phoenix Nest, this place was filled with dense, primordial Space Dao Essence. On top of that, this Dao Essence was 10 times denser than it was in Huang Si Niang’s nest.
That was an immense difference!
This was also a reasonable situation though. The Phoenix Clan members cultivated in their Phoenix Nests, where they refined the ambient Space Dao Essence to enhance their own understanding of this Grand Dao. At the same time, the mysterious power of the Immortal Parasol Tree would replenish the Space Dao Essence. Of course, as long as the Phoenix Clansman could maintain a balance, the Dao Essence of their Phoenix Nest would never completely deplete, allowing them to slowly cultivate for as long as they wished.
However, it was different for Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest.
Throughout the years when nobody refined the Space Dao Essence in this ownerless Phoenix Nest, the Dao Essence had accumulated to become very dense.
This did not apply only to Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest, but every ownerless Phoenix Nest on the Parasol Tree; with the abundance of Dao Essence varying with the years since they became ownerless.
If any Phoenix Clan member that was roaming outside managed to find their way here and open their Phoenix Nest, their strength would undoubtedly increase immensely in a short time. This was a type of reward for returning to one’s roots.
Right now, this circumstance was a great blessing for Yang Kai.
He had got a taste of it at Si Niang’s place, but was soon kicked out before he had eaten his fill.
The circumstance now here at Su Yan’s place was equivalent to serving him a table of delicacies when he was starving.
Of course, Yang Kai would want to feast.
He didn’t fear that this would harm Su Yan in any way since the Space Dao Essence in this place was dense after countless years of accumulation. As long as he cultivated in moderation, he would not dry out the Dao Essence here, which would also be replenished after he left. When Su Yan visited in the future, she could still enjoy the gifts of this Phoenix Nest.
Yang Kai sat down cross-legged after he found a random ice peak. As Space Principles rippled, the World resonated and the Space Dao Essence in this Phoenix Nest was quickly absorbed by him.
Refining this incredibly pure and ancient Dao Essence was of enormous advantage to Yang Kai’s comprehension of the Grand Dao. On top of that, it helped him understand the differences between the ancient and current Grand Dao of Space, which was also extremely beneficial.
Yang Kai already caused quite a commotion at Si Niang’s place, but now he caused a bigger one in Su Yan’s place.
He seemed to have transformed into a bottomless abyss, incessantly swallowing the ambient Space Dao Essence. Consequently, he felt that he gained a deeper, broader sensibility of the Dao of Space.
Though there was no one to guide Yang Kai as he cultivated in the Phoenix Nest, the primordial Dao Essence was the best teacher. By consuming and refining these Dao Essences, he was able to reflect, identify his weaknesses, and eliminate the bad while retaining the good.
His mastery of Dao of Space increased rapidly.
A few months flew by quickly.
Yang Kai opened his eyes and reviewed his gains.
He didn’t achieve a breakthrough, but his mastery of the Dao of Space had evidently been enhanced, and this enhancement of his Grand Dao improved his strength too.
By just lifting his hand, Yang Kai could feel the quivering motion of the Void around him.
Yang Kai remained as tranquil as an ancient well, though such a result was certainly pleasing to him. Cultivating in this Phoenix Nest for a few months was far more beneficial to him than cultivating outside for many years.
The only thing that saddened him was that despite greatly enhancing his comprehension of the Dao of Space, he didn’t seem to have any signs of breaking through to the next level of mastery.
According to his own division of a Grand Dao, the last stage was Shocking History and Dazzling the Present, a stage that few had ever attained throughout history.
Though he did not break through this level, he had gained a lot, so he had no regrets. He believed that he would eventually reach such mastery one day in the future.
Deciding it was time, he stopped cultivating. The initially dense Space Dao Essence in this Phoenix Nest had noticeably diminished after his months of intensive refining, precisely like those in Huang Si Niang’s Phoenix Nest had. He couldn’t just keep cultivating though because Su Yan would eventually return here to cultivate in the future; the more Space Dao Essence he absorbed, the less would be left for Su Yan.
The situation right now was just right. He had absorbed a sufficient amount of Dao Essence which would be replenished by the Immortal Parasol Tree over the coming years. That way, it would not cause any hindrance to Su Yan when she arrived here to cultivate.
Moreover, Yang Kai also believed that it was pointless for him to keep cultivating as he couldn’t break through to the final level of mastery simply by absorbing the Phoenix Nest’s Space Dao Essence. In order to reach the highest stage, he had to fully understand the Dao of Space by himself.
Besides, he didn’t know when the Dragon Pool would be opened. If he accidentally missed it while he was cultivating here, the Dragon Clan would definitely not wait for him.
It was thus time for him to leave.
After feeling the familiar aura of this place one last time, Yang Kai shifted his thoughts and pressed on something in the Void.
The Phoenix Nest portal opened, and he exited.
Yang Kai was startled by the scene in front of him. Many sets of eyes that were dispersed across the Parasol Tree glared at Yang Kai with all sorts of emotions including scrutiny, confusion and even hatred.
Under the envelopment of so many Divine Sense, Yang Kai’s body froze up.
[What’s happening?]
Yang Kai was confused. Without having the need to count, he could judge that at least 30 pairs of eyes were focused on him. Furthermore, based on the Divine Sense intensity, several Phoenix Clan members who were equivalent to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were present.
He knew that the whole Phoenix Clan had gathered in this place.
No ordinary person could have the opportunity to witness a single pure-blooded Phoenix throughout their entire life, yet Yang Kai was not delighted even if there were several dozens of them in front of him now. This was all due to their unfriendly expressions which looked as though they wanted to tear him apart.
[I’m being blocked by the Phoenix Clan now? Why? There’s no need for this. All I did was make use of Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest. The Phoenix Clan members won’t be that petty, right?]
“Why are you all here?” Yang Kai stated dryly while squeezing forth a smile.
There was no response.
Yang Kai secretly began condensing his Space Principles, preparing to flee at any moment. Although the Phoenix Clan members were also experts in the Dao of Space, and he might not be as fast as them if he tried to flee, it was his only hope.
That was his last resort since he didn’t want to cause too much trouble.
As he locked eyes with Huang Si Niang, intending to ask about the situation by glances, she openly pretended not to notice.
It made Yang Kai curse in his heart, [This woman is too wicked! If it weren’t for her invitation, how could I have come to the Immortal Parasol Tree? But, when things turn out like this, she pretends not to know me!]
Yang Kai made several assumptions about the existing circumstances. It was undoubtedly due to his entrance to the Phoenix Nest despite the fact that he was a Human, but wasn’t this just too much?
He couldn’t help but get a headache. Since ancient times, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans had guarded the No-Return Pass. Though there were other Divine Spirits, these two Clans were still the most crucial among them.
The Dragon Clan wasn’t very pleased with him already, so if he offended the Phoenix Clan as well, he might have no way out.
[What now?]
While he was pondering, a noble looking woman suddenly asked, “Do you possess a Phoenix Clan Source?”
Although he did not feel any kind of pressure or intimidation from this woman as he turned to face her, Yang Kai felt a kind of pull from her deep stare, as though his very soul was about to be pulled from his body.
Under such a gaze, any lies or deceptions would be seen through and extremely disrespectful.
Yang Kai’s heart trembled a little, knowing that this woman was not someone he should provoke. She had no intention to coerce him, but her strength was so great that even a simple gaze and question was enough to feel stifling.
He had experienced a similar feeling from a few other individuals before, and all of which were Old Ancestors.
“Senior, you are…” he asked, though he already had guessed it in his heart.
Following that, Huang Si Niang, who finally showed some righteousness, explained, because she was aware that Yang Kai was not well versed with the Phoenix Clan, “This is the current Clan Head of my Phoenix Clan.”
The Phoenix Clan Head was naturally just a title, similar to the Clan Head of the Dragon Clan.
Yang Kai quickly bowed to salute, “So it is Madam Clan Head. I apologise for my rudeness.”
The Phoenix Clan Head nodded lightly and frowned as she said, “Though you have the aura of our Clan, you don’t seem to carry a Phoenix Clan Source.”
Yang Kai replied honestly, “Madam, this Junior does not have a Phoenix Clan Source.”
“Then, have you come in contact with a Phoenix Clan member before this?” She asked again.
“Yes,” Yang Kai was secretly at a loss for words. It had been hundreds of years since he was in contact with a Phoenix Clan member, so how were these Phoenixes even able to sense that? Were the Phoenix Clan members’ noses that sensitive, or did they have any other methods to tell?
Yang Kai was unaware that Huang Si Niang had invited him for a conversation at the Phoenix Nest only because she could feel a Phoenix’s aura in him. Otherwise, how would any Phoenix Clan member allow a random stranger to enter their Phoenix Nest, given their haughty character?
Even the Dragon Clan members that were living in the No-Return Pass with them wouldn’t get such treatments.
“How is the individual you came in contact with doing right now?” The Phoenix Clan Head asked once again.
Yang Kai thought for a while before replying, “She is doing well and should currently be cultivating in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land.”
“The Ancestral Land…” She muttered softly, with a hint of nostalgia on her face. The Ancestral Land was something long not mentioned by both the Dragon Clan or the Phoenix Clan. Ever since they took charge of the No-Return Pass, they had never visited the Ancestral Land.
It appeared to be some sort of fate that a Phoenix Clan member entered the Ancestral Land to cultivate.
In the No-Return Pass, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans were somewhat aware of some of the secrets of the Ancestral Land.
“Is she a Human?” The Phoenix Clan Head continued to question. Most of the Phoenix Clan Sources left outside were found and refined by Humans. If the Source could be integrated, then their Bloodline would slowly be altered. In addition to that, if they were strong enough and had enough opportunities, they would be able to arrive at the No-Return Pass and cultivate in a Phoenix Nest on the Immortal Parasol Tree, allowing them to shed their former body and be reborn as a pure-blooded Phoenix.
Of course, this did not solely apply to the Human Race. Any other being with a pure enough Phoenix Clan Bloodline could easily refine and fuse with a Phoenix Clan Source.
“Indeed.”
“Are you close with her?” If it wasn’t for this reason, that person’s aura wouldn’t linger on him.
“Uh… she is my Wife,” Yang Kai scratched his cheeks shyly.
“Wife…” The Phoenix Clan Head was startled for a moment. Though the Phoenix Clan’s structure was different from the Human Race’s, she could somehow understand the meaning of the term “Wife”.
A woman with a Phoenix Source became the Wife of a man with a Dragon Source.
This type of occurrence had hardly happened throughout history. Both the Phoenix Clan and the Dragon Clan were equally arrogant. What was more was that there were not many Sources of these two Clans left outside.
“Have you both… bonded?” The Phoenix Clan Head asked again.
Yang Kai’s face blushed, [This woman… how could words like that leave her mouth? How am I supposed to answer that? Furthermore, wasn’t it normal to perform such acts as partners? Why does she have to ask about everything?]
“… Yes,” he murmured in response.
This time, many members of the Phoenix Clan were unable to control their anger, especially those who had previously been glaring at Yang Kai, were now much more furious with murderous intent blazing in their eyes. If it wasn’t for the Clan Head being there, they might have already jumped out to murder this brat who sullied the purity of the Phoenix Clan.
With an expression that indicated she had now fully understood the situation, the Phoenix Clan Head said, “No wonder you can open her Phoenix Nest.”
As they had bonded with each other, their auras naturally mixed. As a result, the aura of the woman’s Phoenix Source lingered on Yang Kai’s body, which was enough to gain the approval of the Phoenix Nest, allowing him to enter.
Of course, if enough time passed and the aura faded or dissipated, the Phoenix Nest would not be accessed so easily. It could only be said that the Phoenix Clan member aura that lingered on Yang Kai was just enough to get the approval of the Phoenix Nest.
After listening to the Phoenix Clan Head’s words, Yang Kai suddenly understood too, “Senior, you mean that the reason why I could enter the Phoenix Nest is due to the remnants of my Wife’s aura?”
She nodded lightly, “There is no other explanation than this.”
Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
In fact, he had made a guess when he entered the Phoenix Nest, but he wasn’t that concerned about it because he was just too happy at that moment. This woman’s words had just helped to confirm his initial suspicions.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for him to be able to enter Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest but not Liu Yan’s or Jiu Feng’s. Putting Jiu Feng’s aside as Yang Kai rarely interacted with her, he had actually quite often been together with Liu Yan. The only thing he lacked with her was the interchanging of auras.
In that case, it was all thanks to Su Yan that he managed to enter the Phoenix Nest.
“The Ancestral Land…” The Phoenix Clan Head murmured softly again, she would not have paid it any mind it if she didn’t know the whereabouts of other Phoenix Clan members, but now that she knew there was one cultivating in the Ancestral Land, she felt it was time to find a way to bring her home.
The Phoenix Empress didn’t linger for long, and after inquiring as to how Yang Kai was able to access the Phoenix Nest, she turned and left.
The majority of the Phoenix Clan members were cold and aloof. Typically, they cultivated by themselves, without minding others’ business; there were very few members who enjoyed being nosey like Huang Si Niang. There wouldn’t be as many Phoenix Clan members coming out to investigate if they hadn’t noticed the odd occurrence in a Phoenix Nest.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was panicking. With the Phoenix Clan Head’s presence, these Phoenix Clan members dared not cause any trouble; at most, they would just glare at him. However, if she left, Yang Kai guessed that he would be in for a lot of pain, judging by the posture of these Phoenixes around him.
He just couldn’t understand how he had offended them.
Usually, he could use his magnificent Space Secret Techniques against the Black Ink Clan, but in the face of the Phoenix Clan, that might not be useful.
So, before the Phoenix Clan Head stepped into her Phoenix Nest, Yang Kai shouted, “Senior, please wait a moment. I have something to ask about my Wife.”
The woman turned around in confusion, “What do you have to ask?”
Yang Kai rubbed his hands and replied awkwardly, “Uhm… there are too many people, so it’s not convenient for us to speak here. Could we find a private place to speak, Senior?”
The Phoenix Clan Head looked at him with a tiny smile on her face, aware of his intentions. Yet, she didn’t think he was timid or a coward as anybody would be afraid if they were glared at by so many Phoenixes with hostile intents.
It was already quite the smart move, being able to quickly think of a solution to save himself in a situation like this as a Seventh-Order Human.
Though the Phoenix Clan members wouldn’t kill him, beating him black and blue was a possibility.
Thus, she nodded lightly and said, “Follow me.”
Without having to perform any action, a portal appeared in the Void, followed by her entering it.
Yang Kai was overjoyed and he hurriedly followed her. As he made his way through the crowd around him, he couldn’t help but smile and say, “Excuse me. Excuse me.”
The Phoenixes didn’t stop him, as it was clear that the Clan Head was offering him shelter. If they made the situation difficult for him, it would be the same as not respecting the Clan Head. Consequently, they could only give way, even though they felt tremendous indignation.
Moments later, Yang Kai entered the portal as well.
Huang Si Niang, who watched from start to finish, sneered, “He’s quite the bold one.”
Yang Kai’s situation was somewhat related to her, so she initially wanted to invite him to her Phoenix Nest to hide from the Phoenix Clan members temporarily, but who knew this brat was bold enough to seek help from the Clan Head herself.
[He really doesn’t see himself as an outsider here.]
Meanwhile, Feng Liu Lang, who was standing next to Si Niang, frowned slightly, “He’s too sly. I don’t like him.”
The setting of Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest and the current Phoenix Clan Head’s Phoenix Nest were polar opposites. This place was scorchingly hot as dense Fire Principles filled the air.
Yang Kai instantly understood that the current generation leader of the Phoenixes was a Fire Phoenix!
He was still surveying the surroundings as he followed the Phoenix Clan Head into the Phoenix Nest when she asked, “Is there really something you wish to ask, or was that just an excuse?”
In a more serious manner, Yang Kai replied, “I actually do have something to ask.”
In the previous moment of crisis, he didn’t give it much thought because all he wanted to do was to use the status of the Phoenix Clan Head to escape, but now, he genuinely had a question.
She nodded lightly, “Go on.”
Yang Kai then stated, “Si Niang explained to me something about the Dragon Clan and my position there as a Human with a Dragon Source. This Junior would like to know what mindset the Phoenix Clan has in such circumstances. Does the Phoenix Clan also think that other Races do not deserve the Phoenix Clan Source, and should be marginalized if not eliminated?”
Upon hearing that, she did not answer his question but instead asked, “Do you know where both the Dragon and Phoenix Sources are from?”
Yang Kai thought for a while and answered, “Si Niang said that Phoenix Clan Sources are born from Phoenix Nests. There are as many Phoenix Clan members as there are Phoenix Nests. As for the Dragon Clan… do they come from the Dragon Pool?”
No one had told him about the origin of the Dragon Sources, but since the Dragon Pool was the root of the Dragon Clan, it was not surprising that Yang Kai thought of it this way.
The Phoenix Clan Head nodded, “Not bad. A Phoenix Source originates from a Phoenix Nest, whereas a Dragon Source comes from the Dragon Pool. This is one of the reasons our two Clans are hailed as leaders of all Divine Spirits. Both Dragons and Phoenixes are extremely strong and their numbers are quite large as well. Of course, this is in comparison to other Divine Spirits. Since you are a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Human, I believe you have also come into contact with other Divine Spirits, but have you met a Divine Spirit Clan that is as numerous and powerful as the Dragon Clan?”
Yang Kai shook his head.
Although the Divine Spirits he encountered couldn’t be counted as many, they were unquestionably not few as well.
For example, Zhu Jiu Yin and Shan Qing Luo were the only two members of the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider Clan he knew of.
Then there was the Mie Meng Mother and her Son pair.
The Divine Spirits he saw in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary appeared mostly as individuals. There might be more of them, likewise, there were likely to be Clans that he hadn’t noticed.
Only the Kun Clan in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land had a few more members, but there weren’t more than 10 of them.
In comparison, the Dragons and Phoenixes each had dozens of clansmen, which indeed made them far stronger and larger Clans.
Logically speaking, the more powerful a Race, the more problems they would face in terms of reproduction, but the situation was somewhat different for the Dragon and Phoenix Clans.
Due to their ability to produce the Dragon and Phoenix Sources, the Dragon Pool and Phoenix Nests were the foundation of these two Clans. With more Sources, naturally, there would be more clansmen, and as long as the Dragon Pool and the Phoenix Nests were not destroyed, both Clans would never go extinct.
In contrast, other Divine Spirits did not have such advantages. The continuation of their bloodline and reproduction solely depended on the bonding between clansmen.
The Dragon and Phoenix Clans could not only rely on the bonding of their clansmen, but also on the Dragon Pool and the Phoenix Nests. With these two Supreme Treasures, they would not end up like the diminishing of other Divine Spirits even if their Clans did not expand too much.
“The Dragon and Phoenix Clans have produced a large number of Clansmen over the ages, no less than tens of thousands of them. Among these Clansmen, it is not unusual to encounter accidents outside which result in death. If they pass away, their blood and Source will naturally be lost too. If the blood or Source is acquired, refined, and integrated by a member of another Race, it will lead to that individual having either a Dragon or Phoenix Clan Bloodline. Of course, far more blood is lost than Sources, so the former is much easier to come across than the latter”
Yang Kai nodded his head continuously in agreement, as he was one such example, so he resonated with her words deeply.
“In most cases, blood lost by the Dragon and Phoenix Clans will be obtained by you Humans due to your enormous population and widespread activity. So, other than the pure-blooded in this world, there are also other living beings that have some Dragon Clan Bloodline or Phoenix Clan Bloodline in them. Naturally, your descendants might carry a thin trace of the Dragon Clan Bloodline or Phoenix Clan Bloodline.”
“This is something that both the Dragon Clan and my Phoenix Clan are aware of. A Divine Spirit’s Bloodline Inheritance is incredibly mysterious. No matter how thin the Bloodline is, given enough time, there will come a day when it will be purified and awakened. One becomes more and more like a Dragon or Phoenix as that day approaches, regardless of whether you are originally Human or a member of any other Race.”
“However, Bloodline alone is insufficient if one wishes to become a True Dragon or Phoenix; a Source is also required.”
“In reality, the Source and Bloodline are complementary. Those who possess a Divine Spirit Source are definitely owners of a Divine Spirit Bloodline, but many may have a Divine Spirit Bloodline but not necessarily own a Source. Do you understand so far?”
Yang Kai nodded, “The Source is the root, and the Bloodline is the derivative of the Source. Just like the Flood Dragons, though they have a Dragon Clan Bloodline, they do not have Dragon Clan Sources.”
“Indeed. This is exactly how it works. However, if these Flood Dragons managed to purify their Bloodline to a certain extent, a Source can evolve from it. When that occurs, they can transform into a True Dragon and become an official member of the Dragon Clan.”
“So… does that mean if I could refine my Dragon Vein to a certain degree, I would officially be part of the Dragon Clan?” Yang Kai seemed to have some thoughts in his mind.
The Phoenix Clan Head looked at him briefly and said, “You can put it that way. This is the same for the Phoenix Clan as well.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but think of Qing Luan and others in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. According to the woman’s words, existences like Qing Luan and Yuan Chu all possessed strong Phoenix Clan Bloodlines, which would only require one last step before evolving into Sources. After taking that step, they would officially become pure-blooded Phoenix Clan members.
Of course, even if they didn’t take this step, they were still powerful Divine Spirits.
“It is just that… You know how the Dragon Clan is. There is an abundance of living beings in this World with Dragon Clan Bloodlines whereas there are very few who have a Phoenix Clan Bloodline.”
Yang Kai gave an awkward laugh. [It’s the nature of a Dragon to be lascivious!]
“It’s still acceptable if you solely possess a Dragon Clan Bloodline. The Dragon Clan wouldn’t care about that since there are many living beings that have a Dragon Clan Bloodline as a result of the Dragon Clan’s own actions. You, however, possess a Dragon Source, which means something to the Dragon Clan. If your Source is taken away and returned to the Dragon Pool, the Dragon Clan will undoubtedly have an additional heir in the future.”
Yang Kai frowned, “The Dragon Clan do such things?”
To which she shook her head and replied, “Not anymore. If it was a long time ago, they would certainly do so. While it is also conceivable for you to strengthen your Bloodline and eventually turn into a pure member of the Dragon Clan, that is merely a possibility. Instead of clinging to that faint hope, it was preferable for them to simply extract your Source and return it to the Dragon Pool.”
The Phoenix Clan Head was referring to an extremely ancient period when she said that it was a ‘long time ago’, but the Dragon Clan definitely did such things back then.
However, given Yang Kai’s current standing, it was clear that the Dragon Clan didn’t like him but wouldn’t do anything to him either.
“What about the Phoenix Clan?” This was the issue that Yang Kai was concerned about.
The Phoenix Clan Head knew what he was thinking, so she smiled and said, “Rest assured, the Phoenix Clan will not be as unscrupulously as the Dragon Clan. Since your Wife has the Phoenix Clan Source, that is her opportunity and it also means that she is a member of my Phoenix Clan. If she comes to cultivate in her Phoenix Nest in the future, she will certainly be able to fully awaken her Phoenix Clan Bloodline.”
Yang Kai heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing her words.
The Phoenix Clan was indeed far more friendly than the Dragon Clan.
“My Wife can come and cultivate in her Phoenix Nest?” Yang Kai asked again.
“Of course.” She nodded.
This was great news. Su Yan had already been cultivating in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land for some time, which meant her strength must have been greatly increased. If she came to her Phoenix Nest to cultivate now, she might be able to purify her Bloodline and become a pure-blooded Phoenix Clan member.
After all, her Source was no ordinary Source, but the Source of a Phoenix Empress, even stronger than the woman in front of Yang Kai now.
He had to find a way to bring Su Yan and the others over here, but now that he was on Black Ink Battlefield, it was pretty challenging for him to do so.
It seemed like he had to ask for a favour from the Phoenix Clan.
After the matter was brought up to the Phoenix Empress, she smiled and replied, “Even if you didn’t ask, I would have done so. There is nothing I can do if I don’t know the whereabouts of my clansman, but now that I do, I will bring her back to the Phoenix Nest.”
Pleasantly surprised, Yang Kai quickly thanked her.
More and more, he felt that the Dragon Clan’s actions were unreasonable. Just look at the Phoenix Clan. The Phoenix Clan Head herself had already made plans to fetch Su Yan who was still currently in the Ancestral Land. Whereas for Yang Kai, he came all the way here, just to almost get punched by a member of the Dragon Clan upon his arrival at the No-Return Pass. It was just too much.
She smiled and remained silent. She did not lie when she spoke earlier. She indeed sincerely wanted to fetch the Human with the Phoenix Clan Source back to the Phoenix Nest to cultivate, hoping that she would be able to purify her Bloodline and transform into a pure-blooded Phoenix.
One thing, though, was not mentioned. If that Human was unable to become a pure-blooded Phoenix, she would have to spend her entire life in the Phoenix Nest until she died.
It was impossible for the Phoenix Clan to allow their Sources to be leaked out anymore, so this was also a way for them to retrieve and retain them.
Su Yan would be one of them if she had the ability to transform into a pure-blooded Phoenix. If not, her Source would remain in the Phoenix Nest to produce new clansmen after Su Yan passed away from old age.
“Within a few days, the Dragon Pool will open, and there will certainly be battles. Are you prepared?” The Phoenix Clan Head abruptly shifted the topic out of concern that Yang Kai would figure out the Phoenix Clan’s hidden intent.
Yang Kai was a little confused, “We need to fight to enter the Dragon Pool?”
The woman shook her head and replied, “There is no need to fight to enter it, but there will always be battles inside the Dragon Pool.”
Yang Kai continued to ask humbly, “Senior, would you care to further enlighten me?”
The Phoenix Clan Head paused briefly, as if debating whether or not to tell him, but even if she didn’t, Yang Kai would soon find out when he entered the Dragon Pool. So, she continued, “The Dragon Clan’s root is the Dragon Pool, so cultivating inside is significantly beneficial to purifying a Dragon’s Bloodline. This results in the Dragon Clan members battling for the few available slots every time the Dragon Pool is accessible.”
There was a limited number of spots available in the Dragon Pool. No one told Yang Kai about this before, but he had guessed it himself; otherwise, Ji Lao San would not have blocked him on his way to the No-Return Pass.
Just like how Huang Si Niang said, Ji Lao San had waited for this opportunity for a very long time, but just when his turn finally arrived, his spot was snatched by Yang Kai. How could Ji Lao San tolerate it?
“In general, when the Dragon Pool opens, a portion of the Young Dragons and a number of Grand Dragons will enter. As for the Ancient Dragons, it wouldn’t help much even if they cultivated in the Dragon Pool since their Bloodlines are already close to the peak. As such, no Ancient Dragons will enter the Dragon Pool.”
“As far as I know, there are 3 spots for Young Dragons and 10 for Grand Dragons. Ji Lao San had one of them, but his spot was taken by you,” the Phoenix Clan Head cast a thoughtful glance towards Yang Kai, as if to suggest that Yang Kai should now understand why Ji Lao San was after him.
Yang Kai simply listened in silence, after all, he sort of figured this out already.
“Unlike our Phoenix Nests, which are visible to the naked eye, the Dragon Pool is a mysterious place. Since ancient times, only Dragon Clan members have been able to connect with it and open it. It is also solely the Dragon Clan members who have entered the Dragon Pool, who would know exactly what the Dragon Pool is like. Even the Phoenix Clan is not fully aware of the details. That being said, from what I understand, the deeper you dive into the Dragon Pool, the greater the benefits you can obtain. So, when you enter the Dragon Pool, you should head as deep as you can. Who knows? You might be able to gain something unexpected if you can dive deep enough.”
“Since fighting is inevitable in the Dragon Pool and the Dragon Clan also loves battling, your time in the Dragon Pool might not be easy.”
Hearing this warning, Yang Kai was unconcerned and declared lightly, “As long as no Ancient Dragon enters, none of them can be my opponent.”
Yang Kai was also a Grand Dragon, so why would he be afraid of other Young and Grand Dragons in the Dragon Pool?
After entering the Dragon Pool, those Dragon Clan members would be fine if they didn’t make trouble for him, but if they dared to do so, they would definitely be humiliating themselves.
The Phoenix Clan Head appeared to want to warn him about something, but after some consideration, she replied as she softly nodded, “Fair enough. That is all I know about the Dragon Pool.”
With a courteous bow, Yang Kai said, “Many thanks, Senior, for enlightening me.”
The woman simply waved her hand and replied, “You must be worth it since the Human Race is willing to send you here. Even though the Dragon and Phoenix Clan are different from you Humans, everyone’s stance on the Black Ink Battlefield remains the same. You would have learned of these things when you entered the Dragon Pool even if I didn’t mention them to you.”
Shaking his head, Yang Kai insisted, “No matter what, it is always better to be prepared than to have to make decisions on the spot.”
The Phoenix Clan Head smiled lightly, “I’ll let you know when the Dragon Pool is about to open.”
Yang Kai understood her implications, “Then, this Junior shall not disturb Senior anymore.”
Saying so, he flew off and found a quiet spot in her Phoenix Nest. After sitting down cross-legged, he started to rest.
He didn’t refine or absorb the ambient Space Dao Essence here because he had already gained enough from Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest, so it would be pointless to do so again. Instead, he needed to figure out how to digest and absorb his recent gains.
Besides, the Phoenix Clan Head was kind enough to allow him to temporarily take refuge in her home, it would be extremely ungrateful of him to also try to steal her belongings.
Several days went by.
As Yang Kai was reflecting on the Dao of Space, a voice sounded in his ears, “The Dragon Pool will soon be opened. You should go.”
As the words sounded, the Void in front of Yang Kai rippled and a portal formed.
Yang Kai instantly stood up, paid his respects to the Phoenix Clan Head, then stepped through the portal.
Looking at the place where Yang Kai disappeared, the woman closed the portal while thinking to herself, [This time, the Dragon Clan will probably have to suffer a bit.]
The Dragon Clan was unable to determine what kind of Source Yang Kai had refined because he hadn’t shown any of its aura since arriving at the No-Return Pass. So, they only thought of it as any ordinary Dragon Source; after all, the Dragon Clan had left behind a sizable number of Sources outside, many of which now belonged to living beings that had a Dragon Clan Bloodline. Those Sources were not conceived by the Dragon Pool, but rather born after a Bloodline had reached a sufficient purity.
The Dragon Clan didn’t know about his Source, but the Phoenix Clan Head had some guesses.
Because he was able to access that Phoenix Nest.
In ancient times, a Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress of a certain generation sacrificed their lives to seal a Black Ink Giant Spirit God. They had fallen at that time and their Sources vanished along with the shattering of the Void.
Back then, the Black Ink Clan was threatening the 3,000 Worlds. Consequently, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans lacked the time and resources necessary to search for the Emperor and Empress’ Sources due to the urgency of the situation.
After many years, when the situation finally stabilised, no traces remained to be followed.
The Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress’ Source of that generation were thus lost forever.
However, based on the situation of the Phoenix Nest, even though the Phoenix Empress’ Source was missing, it should still exist somewhere. Otherwise, the corresponding Phoenix Nest would also be destroyed if the Source had been destroyed.
Since the Phoenix Nest remained, it indicated that the Source was safe. Only its location remained unknown.
Now, many years later, a Human boy with a Dragon Source arrived at the No-Return Pass, received the approval of that generation’s Phoenix Empress’ Phoenix Nest, and easily entered it.
There were several indicators that suggested the Source refined by this Human should be that generation’s Dragon Emperor’s.
Since the Sources of the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress were lost at the same time, it was no surprise that they would be found at the same time too.
If this was the case, those trivial Grand Dragons would be no match for him, and even the Ancient Dragons of the Dragon Clan might face a lot of pressure in front of him.
At this moment, dozens of the Dragon Clan members had gathered in the massive square of the No-Return Pass.
However, except for a few Young Dragons, all other Dragon Clan members had transformed into their Human Forms. Those few Young Dragons lacked the proper fine control over their power, so they found it less energy consuming to simply remain in their Dragon Form.
Though they were titled Young Dragons, some were several thousands of metres long. Some were hovering above the square while some were curled up nearby, Dragon Pressure lingering in the air.
In the square, five statues had been erected, all of them in the form of a True Dragon, with the only difference being their colour.
One was red, another was white, one was gold, then green, and finally black. They were lifelike despite being statues, and at first glance, they looked like genuine Dragon Clan members.
The five statues formed a circle around the square; the mystery behind this unknown.
Other than the statues, the Dragon Clan members had all gathered, including the three Ancient Dragons that Yang Kai saw the other day.
When Yang Kai approached, the Dragon Clan members seemed to be making some preparations, and the three Ancient Dragons were each murmuring something.
There was no room for any mistakes because the opening of the Dragon Pool was a huge affair to the Dragon Clan.
Yang Kai didn’t stand on ceremony at all, flying straight over to Ji Lao San after a quick glance around and asking, “I’m not late, right?”
Ji Lao San was concentrating when he heard the voice. As he turned his head to see that it was Yang Kai, his expression darkened with rage.
When Yang Kai first came to the No-Return Pass, Ji Lao San was humiliated by him. He was a Grand Dragon, yet a Seventh-Order Human actually grabbed and carried him by the neck as if he was a common chicken. His dignity was fully swept away under the attention of all the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan.
Every time he thought of the scene that day, he felt so humiliated that he wanted to cough up blood.
Today’s unexpected encounter with Yang Kai was just like meeting an old enemy face-to-face. He was so enraged that he almost transformed into a Grand Dragon to fight it out with him again.
Fortunately, he understood that now was not the time to act impulsive, so he kept his temper under control, snorted bitterly, and disregarded Yang Kai directly.
Despite being rebuffed, Yang Kai acted like he and Ji Lao San were close friends and he chatted nonstop, “You’re Brother Ji, right? We’ve met before. Could you tell me what to look out for when entering the Dragon Pool? This is my first time, and I don’t even know what to do after entering Dragon Pool. If Brother Ji knows something, please teach me a thing or two.”
Ji Lao San gave him a cool look while remaining silent.
Yang Kai then continued with pursed lips, “Brother Ji, you are a Dragon Clan member after all. You wouldn’t be that petty, right? The previous occasion was really a minor misunderstanding, why take it personally? If nothing works, I am willing to be carried by the neck by you once.”
As the saying went, never mentioned someone’s pain. No matter how good Ji Lao San’s self-control was, he couldn’t bear it anymore and shouted, “You court death!”
With an innocent expression, Yang Kai blinked at him and asked, “Why is Brother Ji so angry?”
Just as Ji Lao San was about to speak, one of the Ancient Dragons abruptly opened his eyes and glared in their direction. He did not say a word, but the coercion in his silence was repleted with warnings.
Ji Lao San froze, whereas Yang Kai quickly controlled his demeanor.
It would not be wise for Yang Kai to enrage an Ancient Dragon at this time, so after he sensed the warning, he immediately stopped talking.
What was currently taking place should be the Dragon Pool’s opening ceremony, a cumbersome, long, and boring ritual.
While the whole Dragon Clan was paying full attention, Yang Kai was incredibly disinterested.
Despite having a Dragon Vein, he was born Human, making it challenging for him to comprehend the current mood of the Dragon Clan.
Finally, after half a day, the ceremony finally seemed to be winding down. Together, the three Ancient Dragons opened their eyes, and the middle one yelled, “Today marks the opening of the Dragon Pool, which will harness the ancestral power to aid Dragon descendants to strengthen their Bloodline. May our descendants continue endlessly and our Clan last forever!”
Immediately after, there were endless, continuous Dragon Roars. These roars shook the No-Return Pass, and Dragon Pressure filled the air.
At the same time, the five enormous Dragon statues that were in the square underwent an odd change. They were obviously statues, yet they appeared to be coming to life at this very moment, all of their eyes shining brightly.
Yang Kai noticed a faint tremble of the Dragon Source in his body, as if it was somehow connected to one of the statues.
He couldn’t help but be in shock and as he focused his gaze on the statues, noticing that the one that had some kind of connection with his Source was the dazzling, golden statue.
While cultivating in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land’s Black Ink Sealing Land, inside the Dragon Clan’s Sacred Treasure, the Crystal Palace, Yang Kai witnessed the ancient battle where the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress of old suppressed and sealed a Black Ink Giant Spirit God. From that, he knew that the Source he possessed belonged to the Dragon Emperor of that generation, the Golden Divine Dragon.
Naturally, given the circumstances, he was bound to make some associations.
Those five statues were all of the different colours, yet the golden one was connected with him.
[If that’s the case… these five statues were Dragon Emperors from different generations? Otherwise, there is no way to explain this sensation.]
In other words, there had been a total of five Dragon Emperors in the Dragon Clan’s history. Undoubtedly, this number was quite small compared to the number of top Human Masters, but to the Dragon Clan, it was already quite a high number due to their long lifespans. It had to be acknowledged that a Dragon Emperor was the strongest in the entire Clan; so, if there weren’t any accidents, such a Master would only pass away due to old age.
Since ancient times, the Dragon Clan had had five Dragon Emperors in succession. There should also be one in this generation, but Yang Kai had yet to see him and was unsure of his whereabouts in the No-Return Pass.
The connection he felt was extremely subtle, which should also be undetectable by other Dragon Clan members according to their reaction.
Yang Kai focused hard on it, but couldn’t feel anything special about it.
While he was in deep concentration, the three Ancient Dragons of the Dragon Clan all shook their bodies and assumed their Dragon Forms.
Young Dragons, Grand Dragons, Ancient Dragons, and Divine Dragons were the different divisions of the Dragon Clan. The length of their body alone could reveal their cultivation. They were Young Dragons if they were below 10,000 metres; they were Grand Dragons if they were between 10,000 and 50,000 metres; the Ancient Dragons ranged from 50,000 metres to 100,000 metres, with anyone at or above 100,000 metres being a Divine Dragon.
The strongest Master among the Divine Dragons was the Dragon Emperor!
For instance, Ji Lao San’s Dragon Form, which measured close to 50,000 metres when he previously transformed, could be deemed the upper bound of being a Grand Dragon. If he entered the Dragon Pool this time, he would certainly ascend to the ranks of Ancient Dragon.
If was for this reason that Yang Kai was blocked outside the No-Return Pass by him. How could Ji Lao San easily let this go when Yang Kai had taken his chance to ascend? Of course, the Dragon Pool would still open in the future, but nobody knew how long it would take.
The three Ancient Dragons had obviously been cultivating for a very long time, so they had basically reached the 100,000 metres limit. If they had fully transformed to their original size, the No-Return Pass might not be able to contain them.
So, the three Ancient Dragons didn’t assume their full transformed state and instead restricted their size to about 10,000 metres long.
Still, they were tremendously intimidating.
Yang Kai was shaken by the sight.
Although he had never witnessed these three Ancient Dragons battling, their might should be greater than that of any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master he encountered judging just by the intensity of their auras.
He couldn’t help but wonder how long the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might survive against such existences without succumbing.
The disadvantages of the Divine Spirits were very clear; their long lifespan meant slower growth; however, their long lifespan was also advantageous to them as they were basically unbeatable compared to Masters of equivalent realm due to their powerful physique and their long accumulation.
Not to mention, the Dragon Clan was the leader of all Divine Spirits; therefore, they were even more powerful than regular Divine Spirits.
All three Ancient Dragons had different colours. One was black, one was green and another was cyan.
The variation in colour symbolised the variation in their Source attributes, such as Yang Kai, whose Source attribute was Gold or more generally, Metal, which made his innate abilities sharper and more deadly.
Transformed into their Dragon Forms, the three Ancient Dragons hovered back and forth in the air while various Secret Techniques were activated that caused time to fall into chaos.
Yang Kai didn’t know what they were doing, but it was quite obvious that they were opening the Dragon Pool.
The Phoenix Clan Head previously claimed that unlike the Phoenix Nests, which were basically attached to the Immortal Parasol Tree and were visible to the naked eye, the Dragon Pool was a mysterious and magical location that could only be reached by the Dragon Clan.
However, Yang Kai clearly felt the existence of the Dragon Pool in the Void, which meant it was not an ethereal existence and could still be sensed.
[How can this be explained?]
He couldn’t understand and was too lazy to figure it all out; after all, he was not a pure-blooded Dragon Clan member, so he didn’t know a lot of the secrets of the Dragon Clan.
The five Dragon Emperor statues grew more and more lifelike as a result of the three Ancient Dragons’ actions. The magical power from the statues quickly infused and converged into one.
Yang Kai stared and observed that the power was slowly rotating amongst the five statues, its speed increasing more and more.
Less than an incense stick later, a vortex-like portal appeared in the centre of the five statues.
Yang Kai felt an incredibly violent force emanating from that vortex, and he knew in his heart that this was the entrance to the Dragon Pool. The force was so strong that even he dared not underestimate it.
Looking around, all the Dragon Clan members had no reactions, as if they were just waiting.
After another moment, the whirling vortex settled and transformed into a stable portal.
Immediately, the Ancient Dragon who had just spoken, roared, “The Dragon Pool is opened. Enter now!”
As soon as he completed his sentence, three figures flashed in the direction of the vortex, followed by 10 more afterwards.
Yang Kai could clearly see that the three figures in front had comparatively weak auras and he assumed that those were the Young Dragons, while the 10 figures behind who had much stronger auras that were practically identical to his own were the Grand Dragons.
The reason why there were fewer Young Dragons and more Grand Dragons was because the Dragon Clan had difficulty reproducing. And as a result of the Dragon Clan’s long lifespan, the number of Grand Dragons greatly exceeded the Young Dragons after the accumulation of years and centuries.
Just like what the Phoenix Clan Head told Yang Kai, there were three Young Dragons slots and 10 Grand Dragons slots during this opening of the Dragon Pool. Since Yang Kai had taken Ji Lao San’s slot, there should only be 9 Grand Dragons entering the Dragon Pool.
However, there were 10 that entered just now. Ji Lao San, who was standing next to Yang Kai, hurried to the front of all the Grand Dragons, as though he was worried that if he took any longer, he wouldn’t be allowed to enter.
[What is going on?] Yang Kai was stunned.
He was also unsure of if there was a limit to the number of individuals who were permitted to enter the Dragon Pool, or if it wouldn’t make a difference if there was one more, but at this point, he knew he couldn’t fall behind.
If there really was a limit to the Dragon Pool’s capacity and only 13 individuals could enter, he could only stare blankly at them if these 13 went in before him.
Although the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the Dragon Clan had reached an agreement and Yang Kai wouldn’t be left out like this, there was always room for precaution.
As his thoughts flashed, he immediately disappeared from his original spot and appeared on top of the vortex, plunging in head-first.
This scene stunned all the Dragon Clan members, especially the three Ancient Dragons, who shook their heads incessantly.
This Human really wouldn’t obey their rules.
The Dragon Clan had no means to leave him out and had simply added another slot; however, everyone in the Dragon Pool would receive fewer advantages as a result because the amount of benefits to be had by cultivating in the Dragon Pool was fixed; the more people who went in, the fewer benefits each would receive.
To have three Young Dragons and 10 Grand Dragons was the maximum limit.
It was difficult for the Dragon Clan members to reject the Humans sending over someone with a Dragon Source. They initially wanted to let Ji Lao San give up his place, but after giving it some thought, they decided to just add another slot.
He was just a Human after all. Even if he managed to refine a Dragon Source, the benefits he could gain from entering the Dragon Pool should be limited; hence, it would not affect the others in the grand scheme of things.
Every time the Dragon Pool was opened previously, the Young Dragons would enter first, followed by the Grand Dragons. But now, that Human ran in first.
It couldn’t be helped, though, as he was proficient with the Dao of Space. The whole thing happened so quickly that even the three Ancient Dragons were not able to stop him.
Still, his actions made the Ancient Dragons’ expression darken and they secretly made the decision to never agree to such a request from the Human Race again, no matter the compensation offered.
[What does he think the Dragon Pool is?]
Behind Yang Kai, the three Young Dragons and 10 Grand Dragons followed and entered the Dragon Pool orderly in an extremely quick manner.
After every acknowledged Dragon Clan member entered the Dragon Pool, the three Ancient Dragons sealed the portal. It would take several years before the portal would reopen. When it was opened next, there would hopefully be an increase in the number of Grand Dragons and Ancient Dragons.
At least two of the ten Grand Dragons had a chance to join the ranks of the Ancient Dragons by their calculations; the other Grand Dragons were still short on their accumulations and had only entered the Dragon Pool this time to strengthen their Bloodline. It wouldn’t be until the next time that these Grand Dragons would have a chance to break through.
Yang Kai was wrong when he made the assumption that the Dragon Clan only had three Ancient Dragons; after all, how was it possible that there were just three of them after so many years of accumulation?
It was just that these three were the oldest and the strongest, so they were the leaders of the Dragon Clan, in charge of all day-to-day activities, including the Dragon Pool’s opening.
…..
Inside the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai was shocked.
He couldn’t help but feel strangely at home as soon as he arrived at this place.
Compared to what he experienced in the Star Boundary, it was entirely different here; after all, he wasn’t exactly born in the Star Boundary though he considered it his home.
But in the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai had a feeling like he had returned to his mother’s womb, which helped him to relax both mentally and physically.
It might be due to the magical power of the Dragon Pool that Yang Kai, without taking the initiative, transformed into his Grand Dragon Form the moment he entered.
It seemed like they could only exist in their Dragon Forms in this place.
His over 35,000 meters Dragon Form indicated that he was quite strong even among the Grand Dragons.
Yang Kai didn’t take any action immediately and instead silently assessed his body while sensing his surroundings.
His Dragon Vein was oddly active, a sign of his Bloodline surging.
On the other hand, the environment around him felt like an extremely deep pool, with water all around him.
[Is this how the Dragon Pool got its name?]
The water in the pool did not appear to be ordinary; instead, it had an unusual power that, if absorbed and refined, would greatly help a Dragon enhance their Bloodline.
Yang Kai faintly understood why the Dragon Clan valued the Dragon Pool so much.
This place could strengthen a Dragon’s Bloodline Power, and it also existed as the root of the Dragon Clan, so it was not surprising that they considered it sacred.
Before he could savor the wonders held in the Dragon Pool’s water, there was a burst of Dragon Roars all around, followed by the forms of True Dragons appearing all around.
After following him into the Dragon Pool, the three Young Dragons and the 10 Grand Dragons also transformed into their Dragon Form involuntarily just like him.
The Young Dragons were all less than 10,000 metres long, while the Grand Dragons ranged in length from 25,000 metres to close to 50,000 metres long.
As soon as these Dragons entered the Dragon Pool, they immediately dispersed and surrounded Yang Kai.
[What’s going on?] Yang Kai scrutinised his surroundings with his large Dragon Eyes.
The aura of the Grand Dragons locked Yang Kai and it was obvious that they had malicious intentions.
[Since it was inconvenient to attack me outside, are they trying to take action now that we are in the Dragon Pool?]
It seemed that the Phoenix Clan Head’s warning about battle occurring in the Dragon Pool was true; it wouldn’t be that easy for him to gain benefits from this place as a Human.
One of them was a familiar Black Dragon, who appeared to be Ji Lao San.
Ji Lao San had shown his Dragon Form outside the No-Return Pass, though he was quickly forced back into his Human Form after being captured by Yang Kai. Despite this, Yang Kai would not forget this Dragon Form so quickly.
As Ji Lao San narrowed his eyes, he stared at Yang Kai fiercely, and after moments of struggling, he let out a Dragon Roar, “The top 10,000 metres of the Dragon Pool is yours. If you dare to dive any deeper, don’t blame us for not being polite with you!”
Yang Kai listened in a daze.
For Yang Kai, who was 35,000 metres long in his Dragon Form, 10,000 metres of space was naturally insufficient. Even if he coiled himself up tight, it would still take more than 10,000 metres of space for him to fit. Ji Lao Shan clearly did not have his best interests in mind when he gave this ultimatum.
This should be a consensus of all Dragon Clan members as they roared incessantly after those words left Ji Lao San’s mouth; their Dragon Pressure in the air flowing towards Yang Kai.
The Dragon Pressure was very useful when it came to opponents with a weaker Bloodline even if they were stronger in terms of cultivation. Yang Kai’s own Dragon Pressure played a significant role when he was dealing with Zhu Qing’s Dragon Clan previously.
It was evident from the Dragon Pressure of Ji Lao San and others that their Bloodlines were extremely strong since they succeeded in ascending to the rank of Grand Dragon.
Any Grand Dragon, including those just below 50,000 metres, would not be able to sustain themselves being enveloped by that much Dragon Pressures.
Even Yang Kai felt a lot of pressure, but he was still able to resist it.
After warning Yang Kai, Ji Lao San stared at him fiercely again, flicked his Dragon Tail, and plunged down to the depths of the Dragon Pool, followed by the other Grand Dragons and Young Dragons.
Before leaving, Ji Lao San’s eyes gave off the impression that he was still unwilling and reluctant.
In truth, he had petitioned for all the Grand Dragons to immediately team up after entering the Dragon Pool to force Yang Kai out, preventing him from exploiting the Dragon Clan’s benefits.
Battle was inevitable in the Dragon Pool, and besides, the Dragon Clan was not a submissive race. The Dragon Clan frequently engaged in deadly battles each time the Dragon Pool was opened in an effort to occupy a better position, with the winner being able to gain more advantages.
However, the three Ancient Dragon Elders rejected this idea. After all, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Old Ancestors were the ones who arranged this whole thing and they had paid quite the price in order to send Yang Kai over.
Furthermore, the three Ancient Dragons knew that Yang Kai, as a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, seemed to be important to the Human Race’s upcoming crusade in some way.
If they outright forced him out without allowing him to gain any advantages, it would be hard for them to explain to the Human Race.
Since he couldn’t be forced out, the only option was to let him stay in the Dragon Pool’s shallowest part. Although not much, there would be benefits for him in this situation, and it wouldn’t harm the Dragon Clan’s interests; thus, they wouldn’t be violating their deal with the Human Race.
Regarding this way of handling the situation, Ji Lao San was somewhat reluctant because Yang Kai shamed him so greatly that all he wanted was to rip him to pieces to vent his rage.
However, he had to comply with the Elders’ words while deep down, he hoped that Yang Kai wouldn’t be so obedient so that he would have an opportunity to discipline him and reclaim the dignity he had lost.
On the other hand, Yang Kai was left helpless as the Grand Dragons and Young Dragons dove deeper into the Dragon Pool.
He was not an idiot, though. Since Ji Lao San allowed him to occupy the Dragon Pool’s shallowest place and prevented him from descending any further down, didn’t that indicate that there were more advantages to be had by diving further?
Yang Kai was naturally unconcerned about Ji Lao San’s threat. How could Ji Lao Shan speak against him like this after being defeated? As long as these Dragon Clan members didn’t join forces, he feared nothing.
He did not, however, instantly dive deeper into the Dragon Pool because he wanted to verify his theory, so he remained in place and silently observed the situation.
The water around the pool did indeed have a marvelous power concealed within, and this power clearly benefited no other living beings than the Dragon Clan.
When his Dragon Vein pulsed, Yang Kai could clearly feel the magical power in the Dragon Pool being absorbed into his body, enhancing his own Bloodline and purifying it.
The Dragon Pool was simply a cultivation paradise for the Dragon Clan. Even if one did nothing in this place, their bloodline could be rapidly enhanced.
In addition, this was only the shallowest part of the Dragon Pool, so what would happen if he went deeper?
Having noticed the effect of the cultivating at this shallow part of the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai wasted no time and swept down with a flick of his body.
But, he frowned immediately after. He initially wanted to manipulate Space Principles to hurry deeper, but was taken aback when the Space Principles which he usually used at any time and anywhere could not be activated in this place.
[Is there some kind of restriction in the Dragon Pool?]
After trying several attempts, he confirmed that he couldn’t manipulate Space Principles here at all.
In this Dragon Pool, it appeared that only the Dragon Clan’s different techniques could be used.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but chuckle. He was wondering how Ji Lao Shan had the audacity to speak to him so condescendingly after being defeated so badly, but now he understood.
Yang Kai originally thought that it was because there were a lot of allies on Ji Lao San’s side, but now he knew that it was due to the Dragon Pool’s restrictions on any external forces.
Ji Lao San, a Grand Dragon with a Dragon Form of close to 50,000 metres, would really not be scared of him, who was only 35,000 metres long, in this place if they both could only rely on the techniques of the Dragon Clan.
With a quick thought, the back of Yang Kai’s right claw slightly heated up, and the Great Sun Mark appeared on it.
His thoughts flashed again and on his other Dragon Claw, the Great Moon Mark appeared.
It seemed like the Dragon Pool couldn’t restrict these Marks from the Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer, but this was only natural as the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer were the Ancestors of all Divine Spirits. Consequently, no matter how great the Dragon Pool was, it could not restrict the Marks granted by both these Ancestors.
Yang Kai had only wanted to test whether he could access the two marks in the Dragon Pool, but when he really activated them, he discovered that the magical power contained in the water of the Dragon Pool rapidly began flowing into the two marks.
His own Source swiftly surged, and another dormant power in his body reawakened, fused into his Bloodline, it purified it at an astonishing speed.
Yang Kai was tremendously shocked.
He previously used these two marks given by the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer to condense Purifying Light. With the Great Sun Mark absorbing the Yellow Crystals’ power and the Great Moon Mark absorbing the Blue Crystals’ power, Purifying Light could be formed under the fusion of the purest Yin and Yang.
Yang Kai was surprised by these two marks when he was blocked by Ji Lao San. Under the activation of these marks, Ji Lao San was immediately powerless to resist.
Now, there was another new pleasant surprise.
These two marks were able to absorb the mysterious power of the Dragon Pool.
With these two marks, Yang Kai could benefit more from the Dragon Pool than any other Dragon Clan member.
As for the power that was reawakened in his body, it was the power given to him by Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan when they left the Chaotic Dead Territory the first time.
Yang Kai knew nothing about it except that this power could greatly help the enhancement of his Bloodline.
This power had already been awakened twice before, once right after he left the Chaotic Dead Territory, and again when his Dragon Bead cracked in battle. Both times, this power had greatly enhanced his Bloodline. It also rapidly repaired the damage to his Dragon Bead, fixing what would normally have taken hundreds or even thousands of years in less than a decade.
However, that power was simply too profound and mysterious as it did not run out once his Dragon Bead was restored and instead just fell dormant again.
Now, it was once again reawakened with the guidance of the Dragon Pool!
This power already served the purpose of purifying one’s Bloodline, so coupled with the power of the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai instantly felt tingles all over, like he was shedding his former body and being reborn.
His Bloodline was clearly being enhanced at an astonishing speed. His Dragon Bones made audible cracking sounds, his Dragon Scales shivered slightly, and Dragon Blood oozed out from his skin.
He certainly felt that his Dragon Form was growing.
However, this situation didn’t last long, and less than an hour later, due to the Great Sun and Moon Marks’ incredible absorption rate, the power in the water of the Dragon Pool was significantly reduced. This reduction caused the just awakened power to slowly fall dormant once more.
In his heart, Yang Kai understood the mysterious force granted to him by Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan, the Great Sun and Moon Marks, and the Dragon Pool’s power all needed to work in tandem. The Dragon Pool’s power was the stimulant that awakened the mysterious power, and his Marks were the beacons which drew in the water’s power; thus, in order to continue strengthening himself, he needed more Dragon Pool power.
However, after his intense absorption, there was not much Dragon Pool power left nearby. So, it would not be as effective if he remained and continued to absorb the power from there.
When Yang Kai inspected himself, he realised that his Dragon Form had increased by about 20 to 30 metres in this short period of time.
An increase 20 or 30 metres to a body that was 35,000 metres long was nothing, but this was just the beginning!
After releasing the Great Sun and Moon Marks, Yang Kai looked down with his Dragon Eyes, [The Dragon Pool power deeper down should be far denser than it is here since Ji Lao San and the rest all rushed down there.]
Without hesitation, Yang Kai flicked his tail and rushed down to the depths of the Dragon Pool.
How would Yang Kai care about Ji Lao San’s warning? The most important thing right now was to gain as many benefits as possible from the Dragon Pool.
As Yang Kai guessed, the deeper he went into the Dragon Pool, the more intense the mystical power became; however, he did not have any intentions to stop. Since he knew this, it was obvious that the deeper he dove, the better.
This might be the only time he could ever enter the Dragon Pool; thus, he should endeavor to reap as many benefits as possible.
The Dragon Pool seemed bottomless, and Yang Kai dove down tens of thousands of metres, but still saw no signs of any of the other Dragon Clan members. It made him wonder if the space inside the Dragon Pool was somehow distorted. There were three Young Dragons and 10 Grand Dragons who just came in, there should be no reason why there were no signs of them.
Finally, after several thousand more metres, Yang Kai finally came across Dragon Clan members.
Two Young Dragons, both at only around 7,000 to 8,000 metres long, were fighting. They did not use any peculiar Secret Techniques and simply used their physical strength. Yang Kai arrived just as the two Young Dragons were engaged in a fierce melee. They roared as they clawed each other ruthlessly as Dragon Scales were torn off and Dragon Blood splashed everywhere.
Yang Kai was surprised as he did not expect that the Dragon Clan’s internal clashes would be so violent and bloody.
Yang Kai could guess that they were fighting for this spot. This place was already several tens of thousands of metres deep into the Dragon Pool, which appeared to be limits of these Young Dragons. Although they could get more benefits if they went further down, they might not be able to withstand the pressure.
They could grow rapidly by purifying their Bloodline at the physical limit of their bodies, so the deeper position in the Dragon Pool would only belong to the one who was strongest.
The two Young Dragons were about the same size and strength and were in an intense fight when Yang Kai arrived.
The two Young Dragons seemed to sense Yang Kai’s aura and suddenly stopped fighting. They turned their heads towards him and one of them shouted angrily, “How dare you come down here!”
The other Young Dragon also roared, “Get out of here, or I’ll teach you a lesson!”
Yang Kai’s huge Dragon Form passed between them, and with a swipe of his Dragon Tail, he sent the two Young Dragons flying.
How dare these two Young Dragons of less than 10,000 metres speak so disrespectfully to him!? They were so ignorant that Yang Kai did not even bother to reply to them.
When Yang Kai dashed past them, the two Young Dragons tumbled as their vitality roiled. They stared momentarily in the direction that Yang Kai disappeared before they suddenly roared in unison and rushed towards each other to continue their struggle.
They were too weak to be Yang Kai’s opponents, so since their warnings were ignored, they did not try to stop him. There were other Grand Dragons deeper down who would naturally drive Yang Kai away.
The fight was in full swing with the winner getting to stay while the loser would have to retreat.
Yang Kai went down another 10,000 metres and encountered the third Young Dragon.
For this opening of the Dragon Pool, only three Young Dragons had entered. The strength of the previous two was hardly worth mentioning as they were only between 7,000 and 8,000 metres long; thus, they were obviously still far from becoming Grand Dragons. However, this third one was about to advance.
Yang Kai took a quick glance and saw that this Young Dragon’s body size was over 9,000 metres long. If nothing untoward happened, he would break through to the Grand Dragon rank by the end of this Dragon Pool session.
This was also the reason why he could cultivate at this depth without any worries, because he was much stronger than the two Young Dragons above and could occupy a deeper position.
On the contrary, the earlier two Young Dragons had to fight for the best position above.
This Young Dragon was more sensible than his companions. When he sensed Yang Kai’s aura approaching, not only did he not try to stop him and simply made way for him.
He was not looking for trouble and Yang Kai naturally also did not bother him, so he just brushed past the Young Dragon and continued down deeper.
This time, Yang Kai did not encounter a Grand Dragon until he dove another 100,000 metres down. However, this Grand Dragon was less than 20,000 metres in length, so he should be one of the weaker Grand Dragons.
This Grand Dragon wanted to stop Yang Kai, but after looking at Yang Kai’s more than 35,000 metres Golden Dragon Form, he restrained himself.
Within the Dragon Clan, Golden Dragons were known for their ferocity and lethality. With the same Bloodline purity and same body size, none could defeat a Golden Dragon. Yang Kai was almost twice his size, so he knew that he was no match.
The main thing was that Yang Kai seemed to be diving deeper and was not trying to steal his territory.
Yang Kai continued his descent and came across two more Grand Dragons who simply made way. So far, his journey was uneventful.
Yang Kai realized a pattern as he dove deeper. The Young Dragons were separated by about 10,000 metres of depth, while the Grand Dragons were about 100,000 metres apart.
Every 100,000 metres there was a Grand Dragon, so it could be said that the power of the Dragon Pool within 100,000 metres was owned by the Dragon Clan member who took up station there.
This should be a Dragon Clan rule passed down from ancient times.
Yang Kai was outraged when he realized this. How could Ji Lao San only permit him the top 10,000 metres of space? That wasn’t even enough for him to stretch his body. Such impudence!
However, Yang Kai was alarmed at how deep the Dragon Pool was. He was already hundreds of thousands of metres deep, and still was nowhere close to the bottom. Could it be that the Dragon Pool was millions of metres deep? Did it even have a bottom?
He swam through the territories of two more Grand Dragons before he was finally stopped by one.
This Grand Dragon was about the size of Yang Kai, around 35,000 metres long. When this Grand Dragon saw Yang Kai approaching from above, he was furious and roared, “Your courage isn’t small! How dare you come down here!?”
He did not waste any time and lunged towards Yang Kai with his Dragon Claws.
With a 35,000 metres long Dragon Form, these Dragon Claws were both enormous and sharp. Even if Yang Kai was also a Grand Dragon, he would lose a chunk of flesh if he was hit by these claws.
When he attacked, the Grand Dragon also activated his Dragon Pressure as he rushed towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai had expected such a situation. Earlier, he did not encounter any obstacles because those Young Dragons and Grand Dragons felt that they were not his match, and would only make fools of themselves if they attacked him. Now that this Grand Dragon was similar in size, it was only normal that he was challenged.
Since his opponent had used his Dragon Pressure, Yang Kai did not hesitate to use his Source to counter.
However, this time he did not use the Great Sun and Great Moon Marks as there was no need to.
Yang Kai had felt threatened when the 10 Grand Dragons collaborated to pressure him, but it was totally different now that they were one-on-one. When the invisible Dragon Pressure hit him, Yang Kai was totally unaffected. On the contrary, the Grand Dragon that initiated the attack became frozen in place with his claws extended.
Yang Kai slapped his claw on the Grand Dragon’s enormous head, and unleashed a violent strike which sent the Grand Dragon flying away, leaving deep gashes and cracking many Dragon Scales on his opponent in the process.
The Grand Dragon roared painfully, and when he finally managed to stabilize himself and turned to look around, he only saw the figure of Yang Kai continuing down into the depths of the Dragon Pool.
He did not dare to pursue and just stopped in place, shocked and shaken by the encounter.
There was simply no comparison between their Dragon Pressures, which was akin to a competition of their respective Bloodline Power and the might of their Source.
Although the Dragon Clan knew that Yang Kai had a Dragon Source, they just assumed it as an ordinary Source. Even if a Human had the opportunity to integrate a common Dragon Source, he would still not amount to much. At the most, he could have some characteristics and abilities of the Dragon Clan and cultivate some of the Dragon Clan’s Divine Abilities. They still believed this Human to be incomparable to the true members of the Dragon Clan.
They were astonished when they first saw that Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was actually 35,000 metres in length. Very few Humans could refine their Dragon Vein to this extent.
However, the moment their Dragon Pressures were compared, this Grand Dragon knew that everyone in the Dragon Clan had greatly underestimated this Human.
Yang Kai’s Dragon Pressure was far stronger than his, which meant that either his Bloodline Power or his Source was significantly more powerful.
The strength of one’s Bloodline was intuitively represented in the size of the Dragon. The stronger and purer the Bloodline, the larger the body. Which was why the Grand Dragons had to go deeper into the Dragon Pool to cultivate compared to the Young Dragons.
The Dragon Pool was of great help in refining their Bloodline.
Between him and Yang Kai, there was essentially no difference in their size, which meant there was a negligible difference in their Bloodline Power.
That meant that it was all about their Sources!
The opponent’s Source was far superior to his own!
The Grand Dragon was slightly lost in his thoughts; however, more than anything, he was curious about what Dragon Source this Human had managed to acquire. How could the Dragon Source owned by a mere Human be more powerful than that of Pureblooded Dragon?
Moreover, it was a significant difference between them.
[Did this Human managed to find the Source of a Divine Dragon? How could that be?] Throughout the ages, the Dragon Clan did not have many Divine Dragons, with most of them only managing to become Ancient Dragons. A Divine Dragon was among the most powerful existences in the Universe, so it was basically impossible for a Divine Dragon to die outside and lose their Source.
[No… indeed there was one! One lost Divine Dragon Source, and it was not an ordinary Divine Dragon either! The third generation Dragon Emperor’s Source!]
The Grand Dragon was shocked when he reached this conclusion. If this was really the case, then none of them could act brazen in front of this Human. What’s more, no Grand Dragon who had entered the Dragon Pool this time would be his match. When the few Ancient Dragon Elders learned of this Human’s existence, they would have to reassess him.
While the Grand Dragon was pondering doubtfully, Yang Kai had already gone down another 100,000 metres and easily brushed off a 40,000 metres long Grand Dragon.
Dragon Pressure was incredibly useful in the Dragon Pool. Yang Kai did not need to fight the Dragons head-on as with his Dragon Pressure he could just intimidate his opponent into giving way.
The deeper he went down, the more intense the Dragon Pool power became, and the more powerful the Grand Dragons he encountered.
Yang Kai encountered a Grand Dragons of 40,000, 43,000, 45,000, and 48,0000 metres in succession…
All the way through, with his Dragon Pressure flaring, no one dared to oppose him.
Yang Kai had yet to meet Ji Lao San, who was close to 50,000 metres and only a step away from becoming an Ancient Dragon. He was the strongest in this batch of Grand Dragons that entered the Dragon Pool; thus, he would certainly be at the deepest part of the Dragon Pool to cultivate.
Yang Kai was puzzled about him snatching Ji Lao San’s spot in this opening of the Dragon Pool. Logically speaking, if he were to take up a spot from the list of Dragons that entered this time, it should have been from one of the weaker ones.
However, it seemed that the Dragon Clan considered that Ji Lao San was about to advance to become an Ancient Dragon; thus, even if he did not enter the Dragon Pool this time, it would not matter too much. Entering the Dragon Pool would only speed up the process a bit, so they made him give up his spot.
Yang Kai was not sure as to why they allowed Ji Lao San to enter Dragon Pool thereafter, but that was none of his concern.
After descending more than 1 million metres into the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai finally encountered Ji Lao San.
The huge Dragon Form was nearly 50,000 metres long and coiled up, hungrily devouring the mysterious power of the Dragon Pool, causing the surrounding water to churn rapidly.
At the first sight of Yang Kai’s figure, Ji Lao San became furious and roared, “Ignorant Human, what impudence!”
This Human was allowed to enter the Dragon Pool, but was supposed to remain in the top 10,000 meters. This was already a great gift from the Dragon Clan, so how dare he dive so deep!?
Ji Lao San already had a grudge against Yang Kai, and now that he had seen his enemy, he could not hold back. He swayed his Dragon Form and pounced.
Despite his rage and hatred, Ji Lao San did not underestimate Yang Kai. Previously, he somehow lost to this Human twice, so he knew the latter was not to be taken lightly.
If they were outside, Ji Lao San would not have dared to act so reckless until he knew what trick Yang Kai was using.
But this was the Dragon Pool.
Within this domain, all external abilities could not be used. The only thing they could rely on was the Dragon Clan’s own strength and techniques.
He was about to break through to become an Ancient Dragon, so how could he be afraid of Yang Kai who was just a Grand Dragon of around 35,000 metres?
Since Yang Kai ignored his warnings, this time he would teach the former a good lesson. It was also a chance to avenge his previous shame. Whether Ji Lao San would kill Yang Kai remained to be seen as that would depend on the latter’s attitude. If Yang Kai begged for mercy, he would consider being merciful and let him live.
With many thoughts passing through his mind, Ji Lao San opened his maw.
*Hou!*
A Dragon Roar suddenly filled the surroundings with intense Dragon Pressure.
Ji Lao San’s huge figure froze in place, and the roar he was about to unleash caught in his throat.
The Dragon Roar just now was not Ji Lao San’s, but Yang Kai’s.
The Dragon Pressure suppression was incredible, and Yang Kai had not held back. Since Ji Lao San blocked his way, he immediately opened his mouth and roared, unleashing the might of his Source to cut through the latter’s Dragon Pressure.
The next moment, Ji Lao San watched helplessly as Yang Kai’s claw slapped his face. He took the full force of the immense power and his whole body was sent tumbling into the distance.
He hissed painfully as Dragon Blood blurred his vision. Ji Lao San even felt his nose had collapsed.
“That bastard is really brutal!” He snarled.
Meanwhile, the Golden Dragon had already swam deeper into the Dragon Pool, with only a faint golden glow looming in the depths.
The faint golden glow soon disappeared as it was too dark to be seen.
Ji Lao San froze in place and had no intention of pursuing. He also appeared stunned and uncertain of what he should do.
A pure-blooded Dragon Clan member, who was about to break through to become an Ancient Dragon, was smacked aside by a Grand Dragon who was only 35,000 metres in length, and was also a Human!
No one in the Clan would believe such an encounter, but it was the truth!
Ji Lao San still could not figure out why he lost to Yang Kai the last time they fought; however, the reason for his defeat just now was obvious and undeniable.
He realized that Yang Kai’s Dragon Pressure… was much stronger than his own, to the point where he was frozen in place by the Bloodline Suppression. If that was not the case, it would have been impossible for him to not fight back when he was more than 10,000 meters bigger.
Ji Lao San was shocked when he came to this realization.
He was about to advance to become an Ancient Dragon, so the only ones that could exert total Bloodline Suppression against him were the Pureblooded Ancient Dragons in his Clan.
But what was Yang Kai? He was a Human, so even if he had the coincidental opportunity to refine and integrate with a Dragon Source, that did not change his original nature.
So, how could he exert such potent Bloodline Suppression?
There was only one explanation for this situation.
The Source that Yang Kai refined… was extraordinarily powerful. Even if the original owner had died, the innate strength of the Source did not weaken much. The only possibility was that Yang Kai’s Source was a remnant of a powerful ancestor of the Dragon Clan!
[An Ancient Dragon Source? No, that wouldn’t be enough. Could it be a Divine Dragon Source?]
Ji Lao San shuddered at the thought. Could the Source that this Human had refined be a legendary Source of the Dragon Clan?
If so, it was understandable that he was not Yang Kai’s opponent. It was also no wonder that Yang Kai could reach this deep without the other Grand Dragons stopping him.
Even Ji Lao San was no match for him, let alone other Grand Dragons who were not as powerful as him.
The biggest clue as to Yang Kai’s Source’s origin was his Dragon Form Golden in colour. Golden Dragons were very rare in the Dragon Clan, and only two or three Golden Dragon Sources had been lost throughout history, with one in particular being of special importance.
[This is something big!] Ji Lao San’s heart began to pound.
Although he was only a Grand Dragon, he knew how much effort the Dragon Clan had spent searching for that lost Source; unfortunately, they could not find anything after countless years and had to finally give up the search.
Unexpectedly, that Source had returned, refined by a Human.
If he was not in the Dragon Pool, Ji Lao San would have gone to report this to the Elders immediately. Now that the Dragon Pool was sealed though, it would be years before it opened again.
He suppressed his multitude of thoughts and comforted himself. If Yang Kai really had ‘that’ Source, then it only made sense that he was no match for him.
He felt much better when he thought about it this way.
Yang Kai smacked him, moved on, and did not seize his territory. That alone was a blessing in disguise.
Without wasting any more thought on this, Ji Lao San quickly focused on refining the Dragon Pool’s power. He was just one step away from becoming an Ancient Dragon, so he could definitely succeed during this training session. It would not be too late to seek revenge against that hateful Human after he advanced to become an Ancient Dragon.
It was impossible for a 35,000 metres Dragon to achieve a breakthrough in just a few years by absorbing the benefits of the Dragon Pool.
When the Dragon Pool opened once again in a few years, he would be an Ancient Dragon and that Human would still be a Grand Dragon. Even though Yang Kai’s Source was powerful, Ji Lao San would no longer be suppressed so easily. He could then settle their accounts.
[What was that Human’s old adage? Yes, ’10 years is not too long for a gentleman to seek revenge!’]
Yang Kai stopped when he was 500,000 meters away from Ji Lao San.
At this position, he began to feel a trace of pressure not from his body, but from his Dragon Vein.
The further down the Dragon Pool one dove, the denser the ambient power, so this position was 100 times better than the top 10,000 metres he was original granted. However, each Dragon Clan member had their own limit.
That was why the three Young Dragons and 10 Grand Dragons occupied different positions to cultivate based on their own strength.
This location was the limit for Yang Kai as he could feel that if he were to go further down, not only would he not be able to get more benefits, it would probably be detrimental to him.
Upon realizing this, Yang Kai decided not to dive any deeper.
He allowed his body to float in the pool of water while he activated his Golden Divine Dragon Source, devouring and refining the power contained in the Dragon Pool.
All of a sudden, the Dragon Veins in his body throbbed and Dragon Blood flowed through his veins like numerous raging rivers were connected to it.
Invisible power was absorbed into his body and integrated into his blood to refine the power of his Dragon Bloodline.
The tingling sensations came again, and Yang Kai instantly felt like a million ants were gnawing on his body from the inside, drawing a roar of agony from his mouth.
When he first entered the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai tried to devour the Dragon Pool’s power to refine his Bloodline, and although he got some benefits, those were only superficial.
Moreover, the power at the top of the Dragon Pool was not very dense.
Now that he had descended more than 1.5 million meters into the Dragon Pool, where the power was 100 times denser than at the top, the benefits gained were not the same.
Yang Kai looked forward to it eagerly as he wondered just how far his Dragon Bloodline would be refined after he finished cultivating in the Dragon Pool.
An Ancient Dragon was equivalent to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Yang Kai was not a pure-blood Dragon Clan member and could not exert the full power of an Ancient Dragon, but even so, he would still attain an immense increase in strength if he reached that level.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao considered that the crusade was dangerous and Yang Kai’s Seventh-Order cultivation may not be enough for him to protect himself. Thus, she along with the other Old Ancestors struck a deal to allow him to come to the Dragon Pool to enhance his strength. If he could advance to become an Ancient Dragon, then Yang Kai’s ability to protect himself during the crusade would be greatly increased.
Yang Kai didn’t know what price the Human Race paid to get him into the Dragon Pool and the Dragon Clan did not mention it, so he didn’t bother to ask. Since the price was already paid, he certainly had to make sure he got their money’s worth.
This trip was for him to improve his Bloodline as much as possible to become as strong as he could.
After gradually getting used to the gnawing sensations, Yang Kai immediately activated the Great Sun Mark and Great Moon Mark on his two Dragon Claws.
Generally, when the Dragons entered the Dragon Pool, they would do everything they could to devour and refine the mysterious power in the water. They would activate their own Dragon Source and use it to draw in and refine the power of Dragon Pool. That was the only way for them to strengthen themselves.
However, Yang Kai was different. The Great Sun Mark and the Great Moon Mark could not only draw out the pure power in the Yellow and Blue Crystal, it was also capable drawing in the power of the Dragon Pool.
As soon as the two Great Marks appeared, Yang Kai’s two Dragon Claws instantly turned into two black holes and the rich Dragon Pool power flowed into his body and was devoured by him.
Instantly, Yang Kai’s complexion changed dramatically.
The power absorbed by the Great Sun and Great Moon Marks was so immense that he could not endure it. His Grand Dragon body began to break open with countless wounds out of which his Dragon Blood spurted.
It was no wonder that the Dragon Clan members cultivated in the Dragon Pool at positions according to their own limits. Although the Dragon Pool power was beneficial to them, absorbing too much was counterproductive. If Yang Kai continued to devour the power of the Dragon Pool in this manner, in less than half an hour, his own Source would not be able to endure it.
He was secretly glad that he did not dive any deeper.
He was about to stop when Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed again.
The power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer, dormant in Yang Kai’s body, suddenly roared to life.
Previously, when he tried it at the top of Dragon Pool, the power of Dragon Pool was not too strong, and it was well within Yang Kai’s tolerance; thus, he did not feel anything strange as his Bloodline improved extremely quickly.
Now that the Dragon Pool power he had swallowed exceeded his limits, the effect of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer’s power suddenly became obvious.
When these two powers revived in his body, the intersection of Yin and Yang seemed to turn into an invisible millstone that began to swiftly and effectively grind and refine the Dragon Pool power he had devoured into his body.
In an instant, Yang Kai felt a great reduction in the pressure. The uncomfortable feeling immediately eased and was replaced by an incomparable sense of comfort.
His Dragon Bones emitted a cracking sound. Naturally, when his Dragon Form was growing, his skin would begin to crack and his Dragon Scales begin to tremble continuously; however, he did not feel any pain. There were only tingling sensations as his wounds cycled between opening and healing.
Yang Kai suddenly had an epiphany.
When Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan gifted some of their power to him, they had already considered a situation such as this.
Perhaps it was obvious to them that Yang Kai would come to the Dragon Pool one day. When that happened, the benefits they gave him would be revealed to the fullest.
The power of Yin and Yang converged in his body, and the invisible millstone continued to grind. The immense power of the Dragon Pool was quickly turned into pure nutrients for Yang Kai’s Bloodline.
In just a stick of incense of time, Yang Kai felt his own Dragon Form increase by about 100 metres.
This increase was extremely alarming. The stronger the Dragon Clan member, the more difficult it was to enhance their Bloodline. Although Yang Kai already some 35,000 metres in length, his Bloodline still had huge room for improvement. Without some external help, just cultivating on his own, an increase of 100 metres would normally take at least several dozens of years for a Dragon.
This was also the reason why Yang Kai hardly deliberately aimed to cultivate his Dragon Clan Bloodline, because it was simply too time consuming.
Dragons all had extremely long lifespans, and since they guarded the No-Return Pass all year round, hardly facing any attacks, there was enough time for them to focus on such things. It was something they could afford to do while Yang Kai could not.
Previously, at the top of Dragon Pool, Yang Kai also activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks to draw in the power of Dragon Pool, but in that position, more than an hour had passed before his Dragon Form increased by a mere 20 metres, which was not comparable to the current efficiency.
This was the great benefit that the Dragon Pool could bring.
The rapid strengthening of his Bloodline meant an increase in strength. The feeling was so intoxicating that Yang Kai soon immersed himself entirely in it, hungrily devouring the power of the Dragon Pool around him.
…..
Dragon Clan had three families. Ji, Zhu, and Fu.
The Dragon Clan did not have a surname in the beginning, but as the leaders of all Divine Spirits, from some unknown era onward, the Dragon Clan began to have its own surnames.
Zhu Wu You was one of the few Young Dragons of this generation of Dragon Clan. Although he was considered a Young Dragon, the truth was he was already several hundred years old. A Dragon’s growth was extremely slow, after all. He was only 7,000 metres long and was considered the youngest of the entire Dragon Clan.
The Dragon Clan actively supported the cultivation of all Young Dragons; after all, it was very difficult for the Dragon Clan to reproduce and any pure-blooded clansmen was extremely precious.
In fact, not only the Dragon Clan, but all Divine Spirit’s had difficulty reproducing. It was very common for countless years to pass without the birth of a new clansman.
It was still bearable for the Dragon Clan as they could get a new clansman in the span of hundreds or thousands of years. Some Divine Spirit Clans completely withered as they could not give birth to new life even in hundreds of thousands of years.
This could be the will of the Heavenly Way to achieve some kind of balance; after all, any Divine Spirit would eventually grow to be extremely powerful as time passed.
As one of the only three Young Dragons in the clan today, Zhu Wu You was naturally qualified to enter the Dragon Pool to cultivate.
The last time the Dragon Pool was opened was before he was born, so he did not have that opportunity. Thus, this was his first time entering the Dragon Pool to cultivate.
Although it was his first time entering the Dragon Pool, there was no need for any guidance as he was a pure-blood Dragon Clan member. His Bloodline Inheritance was enough for him to easily understand everything about the Dragon Pool.
Zhu Wu You was cultivating at the uppermost 10,000 metres of the Dragon Pool. As he activated his Source, he absorbed and devoured the mysterious power in the Dragon Pool. He purified his Bloodline and repaired the wounds on his body.
In order to occupy a deeper position, he fought his own clansmen fiercely; however, he lost in the end.
As the loser, he had to retreat to a higher position. This was an established rule of the Dragon Clan.
There was no shame in his defeat, as his opponent’s Bloodline was a little stronger than his, and more importantly, his opponent was much older and experienced.
Still, while devouring and refining the Dragon Pool power and silently licking his wounds, Zhu Wu You was still sore about the defeat. When his injuries healed and his Bloodline became stronger, he would go and fight with that Young Dragon again, determined to snatch a better position.
Although the clan Elders were generous in facilitating the Young Dragons’ cultivation, when in the Dragon Pool, they had to rely on themselves to fight for benefits.
Half a month passed by, but as Zhu Wu You was silently cultivating, he suddenly opened his eyes. He felt that something was strange as he looked around, like his surroundings had somehow changed.
After a few moments of careful observation, Zhu Wu You finally realized what was wrong.
The Dragon Pool power had become incredibly weak at his location.
[What is happening?] Zhu Wu You began to worry. His position was bad enough to begin with, and now the Dragon Pool power had become incredibly thinner! How could he refine his Bloodline properly in this scenario?
[Was the stored power in the Dragon Pool too weak when it opened? I’ve only been cultivating for half a month. Could I have already absorbed almost all of the power within the top 10,000 metres?]
He originally thought that he would be able to advance this time; after all, his more than 7,000 metres long Dragon Body was not too far from becoming a Grand Dragon. One trip to the Dragon Pool to cultivate should be enough for a breakthrough.
However, if the Dragon Pool power was too thin, then it was not possible for him to achieve a breakthrough.
After taking a closer look at himself, he realized that his Dragon Form had increased by more than 100 metres in this half a month of cultivating. This was acceptable as he could cultivate in the Dragon Pool for several years this time; however, now that the Dragon Pool power had become so thin, it would be extremely difficult to further improve and grow.
After pondering for a while, Zhu Wu You swam down. Since his own region did not have enough Dragon Pool power, he could only rob others of it. He knew that he would have had to do this at some point, but he did not expect it to be so soon.
A short while later at 10,000 metres down, he heard a roar, “Zhu Wu You! You court death!”
Zhu Wu You coldly snorted and snapped back, “Enough nonsense. The last time I was careless, but this time I’ll show you what I’m capable of!”
Amid the roars, the two Young Dragons, one around 7,000 and the other around 8,000 metres long, entangled and began to claw at and bite each other. The fight was vicious and bloody.
In the Dragon Pool, no external powers could be utilized. The Dragon Clan could only rely on their own skills. The Dao of Time was a Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent, but the two Young Dragons were not qualified to utilize this power. During their fight, they could only pit their physical strength against the other. From time to time, they might use their Dragon Clan Secret Techniques, but for the most part it was just a brutal melee.
This battle lasted for half a month, and both Young Dragons were now badly injured. A large portion of the Dragon Scales on Zhu Wu You’s head were torn off, exposing bloody wounds. Zhu Wu You’s opponent, Fu Qian’s abdomen had a wound of more than several tens of metres long. It even exposed his squirming internal organs.
Fu Qian looked at Zhu Wu You in disbelief, not knowing why he was so desperate to fight for this place.
When the Dragon Clan members entered the Dragon Pool, they naturally had to fight for better territory; however, the fights weren’t life-or-death struggles. After all, the Dragon Pool was meant to cultivate in and for them to get stronger. The stronger one would keep the better position while the weaker one would retreat. That was the rule of cultivating in the Dragon Pool.
When he first entered Dragon Pool, Fu Qian fought with Zhu Wu You, and came out the winner; as such, he remained at the deeper position while Zhu Wu You swam up.
Half a month later, Zhu Wu You came to challenge him again, which surprised Fu Qian. Since he had already defeated Zhu Wu You once though, he was unafraid.
Still, their battle this time was different. Zhu Wu You was much fiercer, to the point where he seemed almost desperate. It was as if he was willing to fight to the bitter end, proof of which was that Zhu Wu You did not retreat even after battling for half a month.
Fu Qian was extremely annoyed. The Dragon Pool was only open for a short period, so any time spent on fighting was taken away from cultivating. What Zhu Wu You was doing was completely detrimental to both of them.
“Zhu Wu You, have you gone insane?” Fu Qian asked in frustration. He had acted according to the rules and did not offend him, so why was he so determined?
Zhu Wu You raised his head and declared arrogantly, “Cut the crap! If you think that you’re not my opponent, then go up, this place belongs to me!”
Fu Qian was furious, “Outrageous! Since you refuse a toast, don’t blame me for not showing mercy.”
“Come!”
And so, the two Dragons began their fight again after the brief exchange; however, this time, it only took around two days before the injured Young Dragons suddenly separated, both of them now looking around in all directions.
After a few moments, Fu Qian looked over and remarked, “What’s going on? Why has the Dragon Pool power become so weak?” He could sense that the Dragon Pool power contained in the water had become so thin that it was no longer useful for him to cultivate.
Zhu Wu You said, “Ha… You feel it too, right?”
Fu Qian suddenly realized, “The Dragon Pool power above somehow got depleted, so you came down here to steal from my territory?” Zhu Wu You was not his match, yet he kept desperately fighting for this position. There had to be a reason, and Fu Qian knew what it was.
Zhu Wu You grunted and replied, “Do you think I have nothing better to do?”
Fu Qian became even more annoyed with this confirmation. This bastard ran out of Dragon Pool power and came to rob from him. Now both of their positions were depleted of power.
“Still, why is the Dragon Pool power so weak?” Fu Qian wondered as he suppressed his anger.
The Dragon Pool power was naturally not unlimited. If it was, then a Dragon Clan members could all just live in the Dragon Pool all year round and sooner or later they would all become Ancient Dragons. Each time the Dragon Pool closed after being used, it would take hundreds to thousands of years to reopen again. That was because the Dragon Pool required time to restore its power.
When the power of the Dragon Pool was basically fully restored, it would reopen. Thus, there was no fixed duration to the time between its closure and the next opening. It all depended on how long the Dragon Pool needed to restore itself.
However, generally speaking, the time between openings did not differ much and it happened sufficiently frequently to meet the needs of the Dragon Clan.
This time, something was clearly different.
Zhu Wu You was now in a much better mood as he was not the only one who encountered this anomaly.
“Who knows? Maybe there was too much consumption last time.”
Fu Qian shook his head. If it really was due to the Dragon Pool being depleted too much during the last opening, then the Elders would definitely have delayed the opening of the Dragon Pool. Now that the Dragon Pool had been opened, it meant that the power of Dragon Pool was enough to meet the needs of the Dragon Clan members who entered. It did not make sense for the power to be used up so soon.
However, right now, it was a fact that the Dragon Pool power was so thin in Fu Qian’s territory, while it must be the same for Zhu Wu You.
What should they do now?
When Fu Qian was at a loss, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Zhu Wu You’s eyes wandering around, looking down into the depths every now and then.
Fu Qian was shocked and asked, “Zhu Wu You, what do you intend to do?”
Zhu Wu You glanced at him and said with a snort, “You clearly know the answer to that.”
Fu Qian frowned and then whispered, “Big Brother Ji is not to be messed with.”
There were a total of three Young Dragons in this generation of Dragon Clan. The Ji family Young Dragon was the oldest and had the longest dragon body, so he was the strongest.
Only the two of them addressed him as Big Brother Ji, so it did not mean that he was the strongest within the Ji Family. For instance, Ji Lao San was about to break through to become an Ancient Dragon. They grew up in a different era, so each generation of the Dragon Clan addressed each other differently.
Big Brother Ji was a Young Dragon who had already exceeded the 9,000 metres mark, unlike the two of them who were still some ways away from their breakthrough.
When they entered the Dragon Pool this time, neither Zhu Wu You nor Fu Qian had the intention to compete with Big Brother Ji. They knew that they were not his match and could not compete for his territory.
However, now they might not have a choice but to fight. If they did not compete for a better territory with stronger Dragon Pool power, how could they train and improve their strength?
Thus, one look at Zhu Wu You’s wandering eyes and Fu Qian knew what he was thinking.
Zhu Wu You followed up, “I know that Big Brother Ji’s is more than 9,000 metres and just one step away from becoming a Grand Dragon, but although neither of us are his match and even if we join forces we probably won’t win, how can we not try to fight for his territory under the current circumstances?”
Fu Qian could not help but shrug and asked, “Aren’t you afraid that Big Brother Ji will beat you to death?”
Zhu Wu You replied, “Needless to say, I am expecting serious injuries. As long as the fight does not kill me though, I will be able to carve out some space to gain some benefits.”
This was what he did previously, while fighting with Fu Qian, as he was refining and devouring the Dragon Pool power around them the whole time. Although he was injured and scarred during the half a month of fighting, he managed to refine a lot of Dragon Pool power which was then used to refine his Dragon Vein.
Zhu Wu You knew he really was not Big Brother Ji’s match, so his intention was not to drive the latter away. As he said, as long as Big Brother Ji did not kill him, he could always reap some benefits.
It was better than waiting up here with nothing to gain.
With his mind made up, Zhu Wu You swooped down with a shake of his tail.
“You’re really going?” Fu Qian was shocked that Zhu Wu You was acting so bold.
Zhu Wu You coldly snorted and said, “To the brave go the spoils. Stay up there if you’re too scared!”
Fu Qian hesitated and remained where he was, but a short while later, he gritted his teeth and chased after Zhu Wu You. As Zhu Wu You said, the power of the Dragon Pool in his territory was already very thin; thus, there was no point in staying here. He had to go to compete for a better territory. Perhaps he could even take advantage of this Dragon Pool contest to advance to become a Grand Dragon.
Moments later, Big Brother Ji roared angrily, “You gave you the guts to come down here!? You court death!”
Dragon Pressure pulsed through the area as Dragon Force stirred.
Zhu Wu You and Fu Qian joined forces to battle Big Brother Ji. It was two against one, but they were still no match for the latter and were beaten to a pulp. However, the two Dragons were determined not to retreat and as they were being beaten, they continued frantically devouring and refining the power of the Dragon Pool around them.
Big Brother Ji was furious and his attacks became increasingly ruthless.
After about half a month of fighting, the three Young Dragons were now locked in a three-way standoff, each of them looking at the others from a short distance.
Big Brother Ji was apoplectic and his eyes were shooting daggers. He was ready to devour and rip apart the both of them.
Zhu Wu You grinned and tried to appease him, “Big Brother Ji, please don’t be angry. I did not want to come here, but Fu Qian enticed me to come down with him to nibble some of the Dragon Power here. I could not resist the temptation and followed along with him. Now that you’ve beaten me until I can hardly open my eyes, I hope that you’re done venting your anger.”
Fu Qian was stunned and turned his head to look at Zhu Wu You as he said angrily, “What are you talking about? You were the one who…”
Zhu Wu You snorted as he snapped back, “What? Didn’t I say that Big Brother Ji is not to be messed with? Yet you want to come to disturb him. Look at how messed up you are now. If you go out of the Dragon Pool, even your parents won’t be able to recognize you.”
“You… I…” Fu Qian was dumbfounded.
“Well, let’s not talk about the past since what was done cannot be undone. Now that the power of the Dragon Pool in Big Brother Ji’s territory is almost depleted, we have no reason to fight any more,” Zhu Wu You shouted coldly.
Fu Qian’s eyes rolled scornfully and was dumbfounded. Previously, he had the impression that Zhu Wu You was despicable, but now he knew that he was also shameless.
Zhu Wu You turned his head to look at Big Brother Ji and asked, “Now what do we do? Do we wait for the Dragon Pool to open again and go back in disgrace?”
Big Brother Ji was furious and did not know how to vent his anger. If possible, he really wanted to hammer these two to death; however, as Zhu Wu You said, now that his Dragon Pool power was almost depleted, there was no point in fighting any longer.
The current Dragon Pool session was an opportunity. With his more than 9,000 metres long Dragon Form, he could easily be promoted to become a Grand Dragon; however, he still had a way to go until he broke through. It was not that easy to advance without the help of sufficient Dragon Pool power.
It would be embarrassing if he did not advance to become a Grand Dragon when the Dragon Pool reopened.
He was the only Young Dragon who was expected to advance, unlike Zhu Wu You and Fu Qian.
“What are you trying to say?” Big Brother Ji snarled through gritted teeth and restrained his anger.
Zhu Wu You scoffed and said, “Since we’re in this situation, as the Humans say, in for a penny, in for a pound!” Zhu Wu You’s eyes then glanced downward.
Fu Qian went pale as he stuttered, “Y-Y-You…”
Previously, when Zhu Wu You proposed stealing some of Big Brother Ji’s Dragon Pool power, Fu Qian already felt that he was too outrageous. Now it was even more excessive that he was considering competing with the Grand Dragons below.
Those were Grand Dragons!
How could they even hold back their wrath when three Young Dragons intruded into their territory?
“Shut up!” Zhu Wu You shouted with utter contempt, “What a coward!”
Fu Qian almost choked to death.
When Big Brother Ji did not say a word, Zhu Wu You was disappointed and sighed as he lamented, “For generations, our Dragon Clan has constantly guarded the No-Return Pass. It sounds honorable, but at some point it seems we lost our courage. Now, we dare not even compete in a fight. Sigh, I guess I will just go back to my own territory and have a good sleep and wait for the Dragon Pool to open again. I am the weakest among us, so it’s fine for me not to become a Grand Dragon this time. But, Big Brother Ji, if you are not going to become a Grand Dragon this time, then I’m afraid you’ll ultimately be punished.”
Big Brother Ji muttered, “Stop taunting me.”
Zhu Wu You chuckled, “How dare I? Big Brother Ji is the leading figure of our generation. Fu Qian and I have always taken you as a role model, right?”
Fu Qian was confused for a moment.
Zhu Wu You cursed in his heart, this moron was truly incompetent when it came to using his head.
Zhu Wu You brushed Fu Qian aside and said, “There is not much time left in this opening of the Dragon Pool. Our advancement has been very slow. If we don’t think of a way forward, we will stagnate as we are. I don’t know about you guys, but I refuse to accept this situation. Big Brother Ji, as long as you say the word, I, Zhu Wu You, will fight with you. At the very least, I’ll lead the charge against the Grand Dragon below!”
In any case, they were all going to become punching bags, so it really made no difference who was beaten up first and who was last. At least, if they went together, they could share the beatings. Going alone would be disastrous. Regardless, he had to drag Big Brother Ji and Fu Qian along. When the Grand Dragon below wanted to punish them, as the weakest Dragon Clansmen among them, his share of responsibility should be limited.
“You’re willing to take the first blow?” Big Brother Ji looked at Zhu Wu You in surprise.
Zhu Wu You appeared like he was suicidal and yelled confidently, “I’ll take the opening blow!”
On seeing that he was so determined, Big Brother Ji nodded satisfactorily and said, “Good, let’s head down then!”
Fu Qian suddenly came to his senses and shouted, “Wait! Setting aside the fact that there are Grand Dragons down there, the three of us are only Young Dragons. We may not be able to withstand the pressure below!”
Zhu Wu You looked at him with frustration and yelled, “Are you stupid? The Dragon Pool power above us is so weak, so how dense can it be below? Yes, in the past, we could not handle the intensity at those depths, but now it is different.”
Fu Qian thought about it and admitted, “You have a point.”
Zhu Wu You braced up and said, “Then let’s do it?”
Big Brother Ji and Fu Qian looked at each other and both nodded their heads.
“Let’s go!” Zhu Wu You did not hesitate, and with a flip of his Dragon Tail, he swam deeper down.
A short while later, a Grand Dragon roared, “Three little brats! You’ve got some nerve coming down here!”
Zhu Wu You immediately screamed and shirked the responsibility, “Big Brother Ji brought us here, Third Uncle! Don’t hit my eyes, I can’t see…”
Big Brother Ji was immediately offered up as a sacrifice.
…..
These three Young Dragons had very little experience with the Dragon Pool, so although they could clearly sense the reduction of the Dragon Pool power, they all thought that it was due to the lack of power stored in Dragon Pool itself.
It was different for the Grand Dragons. Some of them had come to Dragon Pool multiple times, and although there was always some difference in the stored power in the past, the difference was usually not significant.
This time was different.
The power in the Dragon Pool was decreasing at a terrifying rate, and a few Grand Dragons with great strength could even clearly perceive that there was an invisible force deep below that was pulling in and devouring the mysterious power.
The Dragon Pool power was weakening at an incredible rate from top to bottom.
As a result, the Dragon Pool power at the respective Dragon Clan members’ territories was rapidly depleting.
When the Dragon Pool power weakened, the Dragons could not get the necessary benefits and could only dive deeper down to fight for and snatch new territories.
Initially, Zhu Wu You went to grab Fu Qian’s territory. Then the two Young Dragons joined forces to grab Big Brother Ji’s territory. Now the three Young Dragons came to challenge a Grand Dragon for his territory.
Now, three months later, the team has expanded to two Grand Dragons and three Young Dragons.
Zhu Wu You was now very happy. At this point, he would no longer be beaten up when they challenged another Grand Dragon for space in their territory. While the Seniors fought, he only needed to observe from far away and take the opportunity to refine the Dragon Pool power.
Indeed, the further they went down, the stronger the Dragon Pool power became, but unfortunately it did not last long before it ran out.
Since ancient times, no Young Dragon had ever descended more than 100,000 metres into the Dragon Pool; however, this time, these three Young Dragons vastly exceeded this feat.
In a span of just three months, Zhu Wu You and Fu Qian’s Dragon Forms had increased several hundred metres in length, and Big Brother Ji was about to break through to become a Grand Dragon.
They were only Young Dragons with huge room for improvement, so although they were only following behind their Seniors, their growth was very obvious.
Zhu Wu You silently pondered. With such a rate of improvement, he now stood a good chance of becoming a Grand Dragon during this Dragon Pool cultivation session.
Looking at the Seniors who were now fighting, Zhu Wu You grinned sinisterly. [Fight, keep fighting! Fight so that we, the Young Dragons, can continue to reap the benefits!]
As the Dragon Clans members above fought fiercely, Yang Kai was hungrily devouring the power of the Dragon Pool and tempering his Dragon Vein at a depth of more than 1 million metres.
He had grown tremendously.
When he entered Dragon Pool, his body was roughly 35,000 metres. Now, after only half a year, he had almost reached the limit of a Grand Dragon.
He was just one step away from reaching 50,000 metres and becoming an Ancient Dragon.
In half a year, his Dragon Form had increased by 15,000 metres! That meant that he had grown 2,500 metres per month, or around 80 metres every day on average.
Of course, the longer he grew, the slower his rate of growth. Initially, Yang Kai could grow close to 100 metres in a day, but now, he was not growing as quickly.
It was not easy for him to become an Ancient Dragon; in fact, Yang Kai had stagnated for more than 10 days now.
He had reached a bottleneck!
Yang Kai did not have any issues when he advanced from a Young Dragon to a Grand Dragon; however, now he felt resistance when he sought to advance from a Grand Dragon to an Ancient Dragon.
In fact, any Dragon’s breakthrough to the realm of Ancient Dragon was a big hurdle and was often accomplished by using a special Secret Technique. This was not part of a Bloodline Inheritance though, but was instead developed through Dragon Clan’s own research over the generations.
For a pure-blood Dragon Clan member, when he or she was ready to advance to become an Ancient Dragon, the Dragon Clan’s Elders would teach them this Secret Technique. Just like Ji Lao San, who was about to break through to become an Ancient Dragon, he was taught this method by the Ancient Dragons of the Ji Family before he entered the Dragon Pool. However, Yang Kai did not have this opportunity. No one taught him how to achieve the breakthrough. After arriving at the No-Return Pass, while the Phoenix Clan was willing to interact with him somewhat, the Dragon Clan totally ignored him. Needless to say, they did not share with him the typical breakthrough method.
Yang Kai also realized the problem when he went 10 days without any progress. Although he was still devouring the Dragon Pool power, it was not much help to him like before. Previously, every drop of Dragon Pool power was able to refine and enhance his Bloodline and Dragon Vein such that he became more powerful.
He did not know how long the Dragon Pool would remain open this time, but it certainly would not be too long. If he does not become an Ancient Dragon by the time it closed, then he would be disappointing Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the other Human Masters who obtained this opportunity for him.
This was the first time Yang Kai encountered such a situation, so he had no clues about how to deal with it.
Looking around, Yang Kai grit his teeth and swam deeper into the Dragon Pool.
Six months ago, this was the limit of his Bloodline and Dragon Vein. Over the past six months, his Dragon Form had increased by 15,000 metres, and his Dragon Vein had improved tremendously; thus, this depth was no longer the limiting factor.
Now, he was qualified to go deeper.
Yang Kai’s thought process was very simple. Since his Dragon Vein had reached a bottleneck, then he needed to use a lot of energy to overcome it. As long as he had sufficient energy, he would be able to achieve a breakthrough!
After diving several hundreds of thousands of metres, Yang Kai felt like he had reached his limit once again; however, this time he did not stop and instead continued to descend.
Since he decided to accumulate more power to force a breakthrough, he had to go deeper; after all, the Dragon Pool power was naturally denser at the deeper depths.
Only after diving another million metres did he finally stop.
[This is about right.]
At this point, Yang Kai felt a huge pressure on his Dragon Vein. Any further down and he would be courting death rather than seeking a breakthrough.
The surrounding Dragon Pool power was incredibly dense, more than 10 times what it had been at his previous position.
It would not make sense if he could not break through to become an Ancient Dragon here.
Yang Kai composed himself and then activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks on his Dragon Claws. Instantly, the rich power of the Dragon Pool surged into his body.
Yang Kai’s Dragon Eyes instantly rolled backward as he felt as though he had severely overeaten. He felt extremely uncomfortable and nauseous.
However, he did not stop and instead urged the Great Sun Mark and Great Moon Mark to continue drawing in the ambient power.
As before, when stimulated by this immense influx, the dormant power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer awaked. The power of Yin and Yang converged, turning it into an invisible millstone, grinding the incoming Dragon Pool power so that it was softer and easier to absorb.
Earlier, with the help of this power, Yang Kai was able to refine the Dragon Pool power easily without feeling too much pressure.
But not anymore. Even with the power of Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan helping him, the huge Dragon Pool power began to accumulate in his body, causing his blood to run wild and his Dragon Vein to pound.
Pain ripped through all parts of his body, and the place where Yang Kai hovered instantly glowed a bright golden color.
The Dragon Pool water around him became tainted with Dragon Blood as Yang Kai could feel his own skin cracking.
The power accumulated in his body was too much, and he was unable to refine and absorb it fast enough, so he ended up wounding himself.
Yang Kai clenched his teeth and held on, letting his Dragon Blood spurt out. Under the intense pain, his Dragon Scales almost stood on end while trembling.
However, at this moment, his Dragon Vein was like a sealed funnel. No matter how much Dragon Pool power was swallowed and refined, he could not absorb any of it.
If his Dragon Vein could not absorb the power, it meant that he could not strengthen it and he could not advance to become an Ancient Dragon!
Yang Kai did not care though, as he firmly believed that as long as he persisted, there would be a moment when this situation would change.
Just as Yang Kai activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks, in the madness of devouring the power of Dragon Pool, a pair of giant eyes opened a million metres below and looked upward.
Previously, when Yang Kai was devouring the Dragon Pool’s power 2 million metres above, the being below did not feel anything; however, now that Yang Kai was only 1 million metres away, he was able to perceive the disturbance in the Dragon Pool.
Since the isolation power of the Dragon Pool was very strong. Even though this being could only vaguely perceive something was happening, it couldn’t really tell what was happening.
It took a few moments of silent observation before the beast with the giant eyes frowned and muttered, “What reckless idiot is trying to use the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art?”
It was not that the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art could not help one achieve a breakthrough, it was just too difficult and the requirements for success were prohibitively high. Special means must be used to absorb the huge Dragon Pool power, and the whole refining process was also extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake could result in one’s Dragon Vein being destroyed.
In ancient times, the Dragon Clan did utilize this method to refine their Dragon Vein to achieve breakthroughs and strengthen themselves; however, in those days, there were too many Dragons who failed. Failure meant that their foundation was severely damaged. It would take hundreds to thousands of years in order to recover from such damage, if it was even possible. In serious cases, the Dragon’s death was even possible.
This resulted in many in the Dragon Clan falling.
The Dragon Clan was already scarce in numbers; thus, they could not accept such risks.
Therefore, the Masters of the Dragon Clan spent a lot of effort to develop a set of Secret Techniques specifically for breaking through. After generations of improvements, this Secret Technique was now all but perfected.
With this Secret Technique to use during the breakthrough to the realm of Ancient Dragon, although it was much slower than the ancient method, and the process was not as efficient, it was a lot safer. At least, when the breakthrough failed, the Dragon Clan member could try again.
It had been many generations since someone from the Dragon Clan last used the ancient method to breakthrough.
But now, someone had appeared and was trying to do exactly that.
Although he also appreciated the determination of this Junior, the Dragon Clan did not approve of this method. Members of the Dragon Clan had long lifespans, but they were few in number. There was no shame in taking the safe path and avoiding unnecessary risks when time was not a concern.
Now that this Junior had chosen to use the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art, the being in the depths could not stop him, nor could he offer any assistance. It would be impressive if this Junior could use the ancient method to advance and become an Ancient Dragon, but if not, it was his own choice and no one else was to blame.
The only thing the being in the depths really cared about was that this Junior was making a lot of noise. He did not know what method was being used to draw in the power of the Dragon Pool, but even from a million metres below he had noticed.
He was thankful that his cultivation was not at a critical juncture, otherwise he would have been disturbed by that Junior.
The beast with the giant eyes pondered for a moment before he dove deeper down until he could no longer feel the disturbances above him. He then stopped and resumed his meditation.
Yang Kai’s Dragon Eyes continued to ooze blood, looking extremely appalling, as the golden light around him bloomed to the extreme.
He was suffering from intense physical pain, which would have been bearable if that was all; however, his restorative ability was incredibly strong and after his physique was torn apart, it began to heal and would then be torn yet again. And so, the process repeated itself over and over again.
Yang Kai felt like he was being subjected to the cruelest torture. The so-called death by 1,000 cuts could never be compared to his current situation.
However, it still wasn’t enough!
Several days of persistence with intense sufferings did not yield the slightest progress. He was now out of ideas and furious.
He was furious because he did not know how long he had to suffer and endure.
He was also angry because if someone from the Dragon Clan could advance to become an Ancient Dragon, there was no reason he could not achieve a breakthrough. Although he was a Human, his Source was no worse than any others in the Dragon Clan.
With bloodshot eyes, Yang Kai gritted his teeth, and descended more than 100,000 metres further.
During this time, the Great Sun and Moon Marks continued to draw in the power of Dragon Pool. Simultaneously, the Yin-Yang millstone continued to grind and refine this power to nourish his body.
The unbearable pain pushed Yang Kai almost to madness.
Yet, he had no intention of stopping.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s concern was reasonable. The Human Race’s crusade would certainly be dangerous, so Yang Kai’s Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation might not be able to protect himself. It was difficult for him to improve his strength within his current Order in such a short period; thus, the only option was to strengthen his Dragon Vein. Now that he had this opportunity, he could not let it go to waste.
With this thought in mind, Yang Kai gritted his teeth and persevered.
At one point, he could not hold back anymore and roared.
While he was in intense pain, the battle of the Dragon Clan members above him had almost ended. The three Young Dragons and a few Grand Dragons were all badly mauled.
One of the Grand Dragons was particularly angry and gritted his teeth as he roared, “You bastards!”
In the past, although there were Dragons fighting for territory in the Dragon Pool, they basically only sparred against each other. Whoever was strongest stayed and whoever was weakest retreated.
This time, he was quietly cultivating in his own territory, but several Grand Dragons and three Young Dragons suddenly came at him…
He was alone, so how could he fight off so many enemies at once? Even when he valiantly resisted, he was beaten to the point where his Dragon Scales were sent flying and Dragon Blood spattered all about.
As he spoke, he glared viciously at the three Young Dragons and snarled, “Never mind that the Grand Dragons came to fight for territory, what are you three Young Dragons doing here!?”
Zhu Wu You and the other two Young Dragons were startled when questioned by this Grand Dragon.
Their 13th Uncle was not known for his graciousness, so he might shift all the blame back to them.
Naturally, the three Young Dragons felt a bit remorseful, but they had little choice as the situation had forced them to follow the Seniors down the Dragon Pool to fight. Otherwise, they could not obtain any benefits at their original depths.
In the silence, a Grand Dragon sighed as he explained, “Shi Liu, we can’t help it. The power of the Dragon Pool above has been depleted, so there was no way for us to cultivate.”
Fu Shi Liu shouted angrily, “So you came down here to rob from me?”
Another Grand Dragon said, “That has been the rule of the Dragon Pool since ancient times, what do you have to complain about?”
Fu Shi Liu glared viciously at the Grand Dragon who spoke second. He really could not complain when his other clansmen were competing for his territory; however, they came as a group to fight him for his territory, which was why he was so angry.
There was no point in dwelling on this subject now, though, as the Dragon Pool power in Fu Shi Liu’s territory had almost been depleted as well.
Suppressing his anger, Fu Shi Liu looked down into the depths of the Dragon Pool and asked, “Did something change down there? Why is the power of the Dragon Pool so weak this time?”
A Grand Dragon replied, “If you carefully sense what is happening below, there seems to be some kind of force that is drawing in and devouring the power of the Dragon Pool at an incredible rate. That’s why our positions were affected. If I’m right, it should be because of ‘that’ Senior down there.”
Upon hearing this, the other Grand Dragons seemed enlightened.
Another Grand Dragon nodded and said, “Yes, if it’s really due to him, then it explains the changes in the power of the Dragon Pool. If he is trying to achieve a breakthrough, then he will certainly need a lot of power.”
“Then what do we do? We won’t know how long he will take to break through. We can’t just wait here and do nothing!”
“Naturally, we cannot wait here. Since there is no more Dragon Pool power up here, then we should continue down. As long as we’re careful not to interfere with him, we should be fine.”
All the Grand Dragons nodded in agreement while the three Young Dragons were confused.
Zhu Wu You came up to Big Brother Ji and whispered, “What are they talking about? Who is the one down below?”
Big Brother Ji replied, “How would I know?”
Zhu Wu You was surprised and exclaimed, “Not even you know?”
A nearby Grand Dragon glanced over and coldly snorted, “Three Brats, don’t be so curious. You will know when it is time for you to know.”
As they were talking, the other Grand Dragons already began to swim downward while the Grand Dragon who spoke to Zhu Wu You immediately shouted, “Keep up, all of you. This is a rare opportunity. Normally it would be impossible for you little ones to visit the depths that we’re going to.”
Zhu Wu You immediately flicked his tail and followed.
He also did not expect the situation to go this far. Initially, he went to Fu Qian’s territory to fight for benefits. Now, half a year later, this team has expanded to include all three Young Dragons and seven Grand Dragons.
There had never been a time when the situation in the Dragon Pool was like this.
What Zhu Wu You was more curious about was who the Grand Dragons were referring to; unfortunately, the Grand Dragons would not tell him anything and he could not do anything about it.
After a long journey, they encountered two more Grand Dragons, but no fights broke out because they also felt that something was abnormal in the depths below.
After explaining the situation, the group expanded again.
Now there were three Young Dragons and nine Grand Dragons descending to the depths of the Dragon Pool. Except for the strongest Ji Lao San, the rest of the Young Dragons and Grand Dragons were all gathered together.
Soon, the group arrived at Ji Lao San’s territory.
The leading Grand Dragon took a look from afar and stopped the clansmen behind him.
The other Grand Dragons were puzzled, looked towards Ji Lao San and also sensed something.
Only the three Young Dragons were completely confused and did not understand why everyone had stopped. The isolation power in the Dragon Pool was too strong at this depth, and they were too weak to detect the situation Ji Lao San was in.
Zhu Wu You was blunt, impatient, and spoke without thinking twice, so he swam towards the lead Grand Dragon and asked softly, “Uncle Shi Liu, what is the situation down there?”
Fu Shi Liu glanced at him, wanting to ignore this cheeky brat, but he soon realized that Zhu Wu You would just keep pestering him if his curiosity was not satisfied, so he reluctantly explained, “He’s about to break through.”
Zhu Wu You was surprised and exclaimed, “Third Uncle is about to achieve a breakthrough just half a year after entering the Dragon Pool?”
Fu Shi Liu replied, “Your Third Uncle was just one step away from becoming an Ancient Dragon. Furthermore, his Source is not bad. There is nothing strange about taking only half a year to achieve a breakthrough. In fact… this can already be considered slow. Previously, we all believed that he would only need three months to break through.”
The reason for the delay must be that the Dragon Pool power had become thinner, causing Ji Lao San to take a few more months to accumulate enough.
Big Brother Ji asked with great concern, “Uncle Shi Liu, now that the Dragon Pool power is so weak, will Third Uncle be affected?”
Fu Shi Liu replied, “Of course he will be impacted if he does not accumulate enough power. Now that he has accumulated enough though, his Bloodline is undergoing a transformation and the need for external power is not as great. Thus, the depletion of the Dragon Pool power will not interfere with his breakthrough.”
Big Brother Ji heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this.
There would be trouble if Ji Lao San’s breakthrough failed. However, it appeared that the weakened power of the Dragon Pool had no impact on his Third Uncle, which meant that the latter’s breakthrough was a certainty. Henceforth, the Dragon Clan would have another Ancient Dragon.
They were able to sense that Ji Lao San was at a critical moment of breakthrough; thus, the Dragon Clan team stopped so as not to disturb him.
As Ji Lao San was about to achieve a breakthrough, Yang Kai was also happy in the deeper parts of the Dragon Pool.
He felt that his Dragon Vein was undergoing some amazing changes, and his Bloodline had become purer and more condensed.
He was not afraid of the changes to his body and more afraid that nothing would change since that would mean that all his efforts had been in vain.
The pain was intense and Yang Kai grunted repeatedly, but it was mixed with joy and excitement.
Then suddenly, Yang Kai’s entire body was invigorated and he felt as if he had broken through some kind of shackle, allowing his Dragon Vein and Bloodline to suddenly rise to a higher realm.
His skin cracked and his Dragon Scales that were trembling began to shed.
This sudden change caught Yang Kai off guard. Dragon Scales could be said to be a Dragon’s strongest protection. With his current length of 50,000 metres, even if he took a direct blow from a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Master, his Dragon Scales might not fall off.
But now, a few had actually shed on their own.
Before he knew what was happening, more Dragon Scales fell from his body.
Yang Kai was shocked.
He did not know if this was a good sign; after all, without their Dragon Scales, how could a Dragon protect itself? Not to mention, his Dragon Scales gave him a majestic and imposing look. Without those Dragon Scales… he looked naked and hideous.
Yang Kai could not even bare to imagine a naked Dragon without scales.
Yang Kai was powerless to stop the continued shedding of his Dragon Scales though. At the same time, his Dragon Bead was pulsing. Every time the Dragon Bead pulsed, a mysterious power would escape and be absorbed into his Dragon Vein.
In just half an hour’s time, Yang Kai’s body had been stripped clean of Dragon Scales and he had indeed become a fully naked Dragon.
[Is this how a Dragon breaks through? Is it always like this?]
Yang Kai was not sure if his Dragon Scales could still grow out. Although it was likely that they would grow out again, there was always a chance that they might not as he was not a pure-blooded Dragon Clan member.
If they really didn’t grow back…
Yang Kai secretly made up his mind that if that happened, he would never show his Dragon Form to others in the future; it would simply be too embarrassing.
While he was thinking that, fresh blood oozed out of his cracked skin, and strangely enough, the fresh blood that oozed out was not golden.
Yang Kai had been bleeding Golden Blood since long ago.
But now, instead of Golden Blood, the fresh blood oozing out of his body was red in colour.
Yang Kai could not be bothered to think about his image now. As the fresh red blood continued to seep out, it seemed that some wonderful changes were happening within himself. It was as if something was being purged from his body along with the blood…
A thought suddenly flashed across Yang Kai’s mind.
[Is this because I’m Human!?]
A Divine Spirit Source was an extremely profound and mysterious treasure. Anyone who had attained a Divine Spirit Source had the capacity to transform into a true Divine Spirit if they could cultivate it to the limit.
Dragon and Phoenix Clan Sources were no exception.
However, the chances of this were very slim, which was why the Dragon Clan had an innate dislike for Yang Kai. Even if he managed to obtain and refine a Dragon Source, it did not change the fact that he was still Human. At best, he only managed to acquire an impure Dragon Bloodline.
Although Yang Kai previously bled Golden Dragon Blood, that was not the blood of a Pureblood Dragon. At his core, he was essentially still Human.
Now, Yang Kai could clearly feel that he was being transformed into a Pureblood Dragon, and the Human part of him was being purged.
He was shocked as he did not expect this to happen during his advancement to becoming an Ancient Dragon.
As a Human, Yang Kai never felt inferior to any other Race. The Human Race was indeed inherently weak, without all the innate advantages a Divine Spirit possessed; however, it was the weakness of the Human Race that enabled it to have so many possibilities.
Without humans, the 3,000 Worlds would be empty and uncivilized, completely lacking in culture, though the beauty of nature might be more apparent.
If he was not Human, he would not have been able to see the Black Ink Battlefield, where the countless Human soldiers sacrificed their lives to protect their homes and families.
As a Human, Yang Kai did not feel inferior. Since he was born weak, then he had to try harder to be strong.
Compared to the Divine Spirits, the Human Race could really be considered weak.
Even so, he was born a Human, and was proud of it.
Was his root as a Human going to leave him now?
Yang Kai suddenly felt a bit conflicted. He had never considered this possibility previously. He had always assumed he would be a Human even if he possessed a Dragon Source.
However, at this moment, he began to think a lot about such matters.
He never imagined that he would care so much about being Human.
The Dragon Bead was still pulsing endlessly, and as his Bloodline continued to agitate, more portions of his Human physique were rejected. Now, his close to 50,000 metres Dragon Form was covered in fresh red blood.
Yang Kai opened his mouth and released a deep Dragon Roar.
Why should he care about being a Human or Dragon? As long as he could kill the Black Ink Clan, what did it matter? So what if his Human blood was purged? Did that mean that he was no longer a Human?
He was born and raised by Humans! His parents were still in the Star Boundary!
More fresh blood poured out and soon completely engulfed Yang Kai. His Dragon Roar gradually subsided and the Dragon Pool fell silent.
At the same time, further up the Dragon Pool, another Dragon Roar sounded.
Ji Lao San had become an Ancient Dragon!
Although the power of the Dragon Pool had weakened considerably, he had accumulated enough to achieve a breakthrough.
Of course, his advancement was not as problematic as Yang Kai’s; after all, he was a pure-blood Dragon and did not need to purge anything from his body. It was easier for him since he could omit this step.
Had he been in Yang Kai’s position, it was unclear if he could achieve a similar breakthrough.
If Ji Lao San took on Human Form, he would appear as a youth who looked about the same age as Yang Kai, but in reality, he was many times older than Yang Kai.
Dragons were strong and had long lifespans; however, they grew extremely slowly. After nearly 10,000 years, Ji Lao San finally shed his former body and was reborn, breaking through his Bloodline shackles and advancing to become an Ancient Dragon.
The excitement was overwhelming, and he continued to roar in celebration.
Amid the Dragon Roars, Ji Lao San’s nearly 50,000 metre long Dragon Body finally achieved a breakthrough.
His Dragon Vein was enhanced as his Dragon Form continued to extend.
500 metres, 1,000 metres, 2,000 metres, finally the increase slowed to a stop at nearly 3,000 metres.
Each breakthrough a Dragon accomplished was accompanied by a leap in strength. Although when compared to before entering the Dragon Pool, he had only grown around 3,000 metres, Ji Lao San’s strength now was leaps and bounds greater than before. Now, he would be able to fight and defeat three of his previous selves from before he entered the Pool!
If he encountered that Human’s Dragon Pressure again, he was confident that he would be able to block it without any difficulty.
The other party might have obtained a Divine Dragon Source, but he was only a Grand Dragon, how much of the Source’s strength could he utilize?
After advancing to become an Ancient Dragon, Ji Lao San’s immediate desire was to seek revenge and regain his dignity.
Of course, it was impossible for him to kill Yang Kai as the Humans had some agreement with the Dragon Clan. He would be in big trouble for killing the Human, but certainly, a beating was acceptable. Fights in the Dragon Pool were a common affair and would not draw any attention from the Elders.
Therefore, after his breakthrough, Ji Lao San immediately dove down towards the depths of the Dragon Pool.
“Where is Third Uncle going?” Zhu Wu You asked when he sensed that Ji Lao San’s aura was getting further and further away.
A Grand Dragon next to him thought, “He must have gone to pick a fight with that Human.”
Of course, that was only to be expected when he was so agitated and impatient when he left.
Zhu Wu You froze and asked, “Hey, how come I haven’t seen that Human as we descended all the way here?”
Big Brother Ji looked at him scornfully and said, “Are you stupid? Since you did not see him, he must be deeper down; otherwise, why would Third Uncle swim deeper in anger?”
Zhu Wu You remarked in disbelief, “Does that mean that Human is so powerful he could dive deeper than Third Uncle?”
Among these current Dragons in the Dragon Pool, Ji Lao San was the strongest with the purest Bloodline. Thus, his territory was the deepest in the Dragon Pool compared to the other Dragon Clan members who entered this time. How could that Human have gone so much deeper than Ji Lao San? Was his Bloodline and Source so much more powerful?
Zhu Wu You’s casual remark caused the Grand Dragons to look at each other and begin to wonder what was going on.
“Let’s follow,” said a Grand Dragon before he immediately swam down after Ji Lao San.
Even if they were not going down for the spectacle, the Dragon Pool power at this level had been depleted and they had to go deeper for their respective needs. Since they had to go deeper anyway, they might as well tag along to see how Ji Lao San dealt with that Human.
All the Young Dragons and the Grand Dragons had naturally encountered Yang Kai when he was diving deeper into the Dragon Pool and had lost to him. Thus, they felt humiliated and were eager to see him being taught a lesson by Ji Lao San.
They wanted that Human to know that the Dragon Clan was not to be messed with. The only reason why they were not his match was because they were not strong enough.
Along the way down, the Grand Dragons slowly began to have an ominous feeling.
This couldn’t be helped, as it was getting too deep.
The position where Ji Lao San was before should be the limit of his tolerance, but now, they had dived 2 million metres down and still they did not see the Human. They even began to suspect that the Human had been overconfident, dove too deep, and been crushed by the pressure of the Dragon Pool.
But then, why had they not seen any signs of his remains?
If he was not crushed, that would be even more terrifying.
The Grand Dragons were also aware of this and the atmosphere suddenly became a lot more serious. Although the three Young Dragon did not give it much thought, they could sense how solemn the situation was getting. Even the normally talkative Zhu Wu You kept quiet along the way.
Hundreds of thousands of metres further down, the lead Grand Dragon’s eyes suddenly lit up as he exclaimed, “Third Brother!”
All the Dragons fixated their eyes on Ji Lao San, who was one step ahead of them. Now, he had stopped to one side and did not descend any further. None of them knew what he was doing.
Soon, all the Dragons arrived at Ji Lao San’s position and the lead Grand Dragon said, “Congratulations on your advancement, Third Brother. The Dragon Clan now has one more Ancient Dragon.”
The other Grand Dragons also congratulated Ji Lao San.
Among the three Young Dragons, Zhu Wu You went all out to flatter Ji Lao San. He praised him as the unrivaled Dragon in the world and the number one Dragon in history!
It was an exaggeration for him to be deemed as the number one Dragon; however, at only 10,000 years old, to have become an Ancient Dragon, Ji Lao San was definitely extremely talented even among the Dragon Clan.
Many older Dragons were not as talented and would go through their entire life as Grand Dragons, were never able to take the final step to breakthrough.
On average, the Grand Dragons who had the ability to take this step were around 20,000 years old. This alone indicated how gifted Ji Lao San was.
However, what was strange to all the Dragons was that Ji Lao San did not react to their well wishes at all. In fact, he appeared quite sullen, puzzled, and in disbelief as he continued to look straight down.
The Dragons looked in the direction of where he was staring, but could not see anything.
“Third Brother, what happened? Aren’t you happy that you’ve become an Ancient Dragon?” A Grand Dragon, who had spoken earlier, asked in bewilderment.
If he became an Ancient Dragon, he would be so overjoyed that he could not sleep. Ji Lao San, on the other hand, looked bitter and dejected, which was really quite puzzling.
Zhu Wu You also asked, “Where is that Human? Has Third Uncle already killed him?”
That Human was too arrogant. When they entered the Dragon Pool earlier, he was slapped aside by that Human. Unfortunately for Zhu Wu You, he was not strong enough to beat that Human; otherwise, he would have fought with him to the end.
It would be fine if he was beaten by his own Dragon Clan Seniors, but how dare a mere Human beat him?
Since Zhu Wu You was incapable of taking revenge on his own, he could only count on Ji Lao San.
When he said this, a Grand Dragon asked, “Yes, where is that Human? Why is he nowhere to be seen?”
Ji Lao San, who had not moved, sighed unnoticeably before motioning slightly with his head, indicating the Human was below.
The expression of the Grand Dragon, who asked the question, changed as he remarked in disbelief, “He’s down below?”
Ji Lao San was about to nod, when he suddenly frowned and shouted, “Brace yourselves!”
As he said that, he used his Dragon Force to bring the three Young Dragons into his protection.
The other nine Grand Dragons were bewildered and couldn’t help wondering, [Brace ourselves? For what?]
They soon knew the answer. Deep in the Dragon Pool, a strange sound like that of a heartbeat pulsed. It was extremely faint, but at the same time, all the Dragons felt their Bloodlines resonate with it. The unusual feeling caused the Dragons to become very anxious and they began to surge their Dragon Pressure.
This was only the beginning though. Following the initial pulse, a powerful Dragon Pressure suddenly erupted and enveloped all the Dragons, immediately causing them to feel a sense of intense dread. They felt helpless, like children facing a fully grown man. Their throbbing Bloodlines were instantly suppressed as they looked at each other in panic.
Not only the Grand Dragons, but even Ji Lao San, who had just become an Ancient Dragon, felt suffocated.
Only then did the Dragons understand why Ji Lao San had brought the three Young Dragons under his protection. If he had not done so, the Dragon Pressure would have been too much for them and they likely would have been instantly crushed.
Luckily, this intense pressure disappeared as quickly as it came.
A Grand Dragon wondered aloud, “Was that from ‘that’ Senior?”
That feeling felt familiar to him, as he had once angered one of the clan’s Ancient Dragon Elders. When that Elder became angry, he unleashed a type of Dragon Pressure that felt similar to what they had just experienced.
Although he did not specify exactly who he was talking about, Ji Lao San was aware of the situation in the Dragon Pool and naturally understood who he meant.
Still, he slowly shook his head and said, “No.”
“No?” Everyone gasped.
The Grand Dragon was asked in surprise, “Who then?”
From their position, the Grand Dragons could not see the situation below, but Ji Lao San, who had become an Ancient Dragon, was clearly able to sense something; otherwise, he would not have stopped here. Before the strange pressure swept over them, Ji Lao San had reacted in advance, which meant that he could see the situation at a much deeper depth than them.
Ji Lao San did not answer, though he appeared to be very reluctant and in utter disbelief.
Another Grand Dragon hazarded a guess, “Third Brother, if it is not from that Senior, don’t tell me it was from that Human?”
Even he felt foolish for asking such a question. How was that even possible? The Dragon Pressure they felt was extremely pure, and they had all seen that Human in his Grand Dragon From as he descended through the Dragon Pool.
Although the Dragon Pressure he showed was indeed potent, if they closely scrutinized it, that Human’s Dragon Pressure was still impure. It must have something to do with him being a Human.
Although he had refined and merged with a Dragon Source and had a Dragon Clan Bloodline, fundamentally, he was still Human.
So, it was impossible that a Human caused such a commotion.
But unexpectedly, Ji Lao San muttered, “It was him.”
All the Dragons were shocked.
“How can that be?” They exclaimed in total disbelief.
Ji Lao San laughed bitterly. If they asked him, who was he supposed to ask?
Who could tell him what had happened? He should be full of joy when he advanced to become an Ancient Dragon. He then dove deeper into the Dragon Pool to look for the Human to restore his dignity. How could he have anticipated encountering such a situation. It was totally inexplicable.
The Dragon Scales on the Human had completely shed, and his Dragon Body was covered in a layer of fresh red blood that continued to ooze out, encompassing him entirely.
The Dragons next to him were not strong enough to see the situation below, but Ji Lao San was able to see some of it.
That was not a Human figure in the Dragon Pool below, it was a huge blood cocoon with a Human that had transformed into a pure-blood Dragon.
When they first came to this depth, there was still some Dragon Pool power around; however, that power was now madly flowing into the blood cocoon and disappearing. Now, the Dragon Pool power where they were had also been depleted.
However, that Human was now at the critical juncture just like he was previously. He had accumulated enough power and it was no longer a big deal if there was insufficient Dragon Pool power in the surrounding waters.
Furthermore, this blood cocoon… was about 50,000 metres long.
This was what made it so difficult for Ji Lao San to accept.
When he entered the Dragon Pool, he was just a step away from becoming an Ancient Dragon, yet he spent half a year to break through after much effort.
What about that Human?
When he entered the Dragon Pool, he was only 35,000 metres.
Half a year later, he was now 50,000 metres?
That was an increase of 15,000 metres!
Since ancient times, no Dragon who entered the Dragon Pool to cultivate had ever seen such a terrifying increase in size. 15,000 metres! How many years of cultivation was required to achieve that?
At first, Ji Lao San also thought that the Dragon Pool’s change had something to do with the Senior below. Now, it seemed that was not the case. Rather, it must be caused by this Human; otherwise, how could he have grown by so much in such a short time?
The more Ji Lao San thought about it, the harder it was for him to accept.
Ji Lao San had become an Ancient Dragon and had keener eyesight than the others, so he could see that the Human was at the critical juncture on the verge of a breakthrough.
This was also the reason why he did not descend any further.
He wanted to regain his dignity, but he would endanger the life of the Human if he were to interfere at such a crucial moment. If the other side failed to break through because of his interruption, it would become a blood feud that only death could end.
Furthermore, he was unsure if he could even get near with the intense, pulsating Dragon Pressure.
Muffled grunts were emitted irregularly from the blood cocoon below, as if a powerful life was being awoken. Along with each muffled grunt, a powerful wave of Dragon Pressure would burst forth.
The Grand Dragons were at a loss as to what to do.
After a long silence, Ji Lao San finally said, “There’s no telling how long it will take him to break through. So, take care and go around him to cultivate deeper in the Dragon Pool.”
There was no point in them all waiting here. The opening of the Dragon Pool was an opportunity for the Dragons to cultivate, so they should not be wasting their time idling around.
“What about you, Third Brother?” A Grand Dragon asked.
Ji Lao San pondered for a moment and then said, “I’ll stay here to observe the situation.”
Since he had achieved a breakthrough and become an Ancient Dragon, it could be said that he had achieved his goal for this trip into the Dragon Pool. It did not matter if continued to cultivate or not.
More importantly, he wanted to wait for Yang Kai’s breakthrough, and then have another match with him to determine once and for all who was better. The humiliation that Yang Kai caused him in front of the No-Return Pass had to be settled. Since now was not a good time, he simply had to wait until Yang Kai was done with his breakthrough.
The Grand Dragon who asked the question must have sensed Ji Lao San’s intentions, and did not try to talk him out of it; he simply nodded and said, “Good. Third Brother, take care.”
It seemed this Human had a thing or two up his sleeve. The commotion during the breakthrough was intense, so if he became an Ancient Dragon, his strength would probably be quite profound and Ji Lao San might not be his match. If he was not careful, he might lose to the Human again; however, since Ji Lao San insisted, it was inappropriate for him to try to convince him otherwise.
Since a decision had been made, the Grand Dragons placed the three Young Dragons in the middle for protection then swam around the Dragon Pressure filled area below to dive deeper into the Dragon Pool, soon disappearing from sight.
At this moment, Yang Kai’s entire body was wrapped in the blood cocoon and his mind was empty and totally relaxed like never before.
His Dragon Vein was pulsating and his body was undergoing a radical transformation.
After a period of time, he suddenly felt an inexplicable restraint.
He stretched his limbs and with crackling sounds, the bindings were torn open like a thin membrane.
He was slightly shocked and quickly realized that there was nothing really restricting him. Instead, there was a blood cocoon that had wrapped around him at some point.
The blood cocoon was naturally the part of him that was Human, and now, with the purity and strength of his Dragon Vein reaching a certain height, the part had been discarded.
When the blood cocoon was torn apart, it shattered to pieces and scattered into the flow of the Dragon Pool.
Yang Kai literally shed his former body and was reborn!
With a resounding Dragon Roar, Yang Kai’s Dragon Pressure reverberated throughout the Dragon Pool and brilliant golden light was emitted from all over his body.
Ji Lao San watched from afar filled with a complicated expression as the golden light was so glaring that he could hardly open his eyes…
His breakthrough to the Ancient Dragon realm was not nearly as eventful.
In contrast to his bitterness, Yang Kai appeared quite joyful.
His Divine Sense surged and he quickly examined his own body, feeling as if his Dragon Vein had never been so pure and strong. His 50,000 metres form was even more fearful and appeared invincible.
Yang Kai was even more satisfied that his Dragon Scales had regrown!
He was no longer naked like before.
Although the new Dragon Scales still look a bit delicate and not as strong as before, they were new and would harden over time.
When his scales matured, they alone would be able to block off a blow from an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
After Ji Lao San advanced to become an Ancient Dragon, he grew in length by about 3,000 metres. However, Yang Kai did not, mainly because the Dragon Pool power here was completely depleted. If there was enough Dragon Pool power around, his body would have grown tremendously.
Yang Kai was full of joy and laughed loudly, but his laughter came out as continuous Dragon Roars.
Ji Lao San narrowed his eyes and clenched his claws, muttering to himself, “So noisy…”
The next moment, he saw a blur and Yang Kai’s huge body instantly rushed towards him.
Ji Lao San backed up instinctually as he and exclaimed, “What?”
He had remained there to wait for Yang Kai to advance to become an Ancient Dragon, planning to fight him to determine who was stronger. However, when the moment came, he became hesitant.
This couldn’t be helped as his opponent’s Dragon Pressure was significantly stronger than his. Having just broken through, Yang Kai would not be familiar with his new strength and wouldn’t be able to restrain himself. Worse, even from so far away Ji Lao San already felt his Dragon Vein being suppressed.
If they fought now, the only possibly result would be him being one-sidedly beaten.
Not only that, when Yang Kai broke through to the Ancient Dragon realm, his Bloodline was completely refined and he had become a Pureblood Dragon.
Unlike before, Ji Lao San no longer saw Yang Kai as someone who was half Dragon and half Human.
Now, this Golden Dragon in front of him could be considered as his clansman, although he still hated Yang Kai’s guts…
Yang Kai looked at him with his Dragon Head tilted and seemed to be smiling. He then said, “Relax, I came to thank you!”
Although he was wrapped in the blood cocoon and his mind was emptied, he could still perceive what was happening in the outside world. After his breakthrough, the events that had transpired would naturally be recalled.
Yang Kai was surprised that Ji Lao San did not take advantage of the crucial period before his breakthrough to interrupt him. With his prior arrogance, it would not be surprising for the latter to interfere so as to disrupt his advancement.
However, Ji Lao San did no such thing.
This saved Yang Kai a lot of trouble.
“There’s no need to thank me!” Ji Lao San coldly snorted and stared at Yang Kai with narrowed eyes as fury raged in his heart.
It was as if Yang Kai did not notice it, or perhaps, he did not care about the other party’s attitude. He just turned his head towards the bottom and said, “I just made a breakthrough and need some Dragon Pool power to continue to refine. The power here had been depleted, I’ll be heading down now.”
After saying so, his body flicked and he swam down the depths of the Dragon Pool.
*Pa…*
As Yang Kai was departing though, his Dragon Tail flicked and hit Ji Lao San’s body, throwing him far away.
After he managed to stabilize himself, Ji Lao San gritted his teeth and roared, “Bastard!”
Ji Lao San was convinced that Yang Kai did it on purpose, whipping him with his tail because he sensed that Ji Lao San still wanted to fight with him.
After cursing, Ji Lao San became a little dismayed. He was also an Ancient Dragon now, so how could he just accept being smacked by a tail for no reason? He was hit by Yang Kai only because the moment Yang Kai made a move, his Dragon Pressure had suppressed Ji Lao San which caused his reaction to become extremely slow.
Ji Lao San secretly sighed, knowing his desire to fight against Yang Kai was pointless. Since Yang Kai knew that Ji Lao San was not his match, he smacked him with the tail as a warning to him.
He had now confirmed that Yang Kai had refined a Divine Dragon Source; otherwise, it was impossible for him to have such powerful Dragon Pressure.
The Golden Divine Dragon Source; it could be none other than that legendary existence.
Ji Lao San felt a little better when he thought of it that way. He was not inferior to Yang Kai, it was just that his Source was not as strong as that legendary Ancestor’s.
The day his Source reached the height of a Divine Dragon, he would be able to take on Yang Kai!
With this thought in mind, Ji Lao San hastily headed deeper into the Dragon Pool.
At the same time, Yang Kai was already dove quite deep. He met the three Young Dragons and the nine Grand Dragons, all of whom quickly moved away with looks of disbelief.
Nonetheless, he did not care. He was starving now.
It was not the regular feeling of hunger. It came from the depths of his Bloodline.
Yang Kai had just achieved a breakthrough to become an Ancient Dragon with extremely pure and strong Dragon Vein. Now, all he wanted was to devour more power to satiate and strengthen himself. Unfortunately, the Dragon Pool power in his previous territory had been depleted.
Thus, he could only continue deeper down into the pool, so as to fill the void his Bloodline made him feel.
After passing those Grand Dragons and Young Dragons, Yang Kai did not know how much farther he swam down, but eventually he activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks, and the huge Dragon Pool power poured into his body, turning into powerful nutrients.
Yang Kai felt a wave of relief.
With the sound of bones cracking from within his Dragon Body, his 50,000 metres Dragon Form that had just stabilized began to grow rapidly.
Not only that, as his own Bloodline had been purified, the secrets hidden deep within it had begun to awaken.
The Dragon Clan’s inheritance!
The inheritance of Humans relied heavily on various ancient books and careful instruction from one’s Elders. However, Divine Spirits were different.
A Divine Spirit’s inheritance was always hidden deep within their Bloodline. Even without the guidance of any Elders, or any ancient books and records, as long as their Bloodline was purified to a certain degree, these inheritances would naturally awaken.
This was a kind of innate response to the scarcity of Divine Spirits.
Even if there were few Divine Spirits in the Clan, and there were no Elders to guide the next generation, their inheritance could not be cut off so simply. After all, according to the Heavenly Way, Bloodline Inheritance was the basis of a Divine Spirit’s strength. It was an inheritance that could be ensured so long as the Divine Spirit’s Bloodline remained.
Now that Yang Kai had advanced to become an Ancient Dragon, he started benefiting from this inheritance.
He was consuming the power of the Dragon Pool to enhance his body, while feeling the gift from the depths of his Bloodline.
The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time!
Yang Kai’s attainments in the Dao of Time were not low. At least, he had not met anyone who had gone farther than himself with this Grand Dao. According to his own classification, he had reached the sixth level of Exceeding the Ordinary to Reach the Extraordinary.
Although there was still a huge gap when compared to his mastery over the Dao of Space, which was at the eighth level, Summiting the Peak, it was not bad at all.
Throughout history, the only person he knew of who might be able to surpass him in the Dao of Time was Flowing Time Great Emperor.
Perhaps it was possible for Yang Xiao and Yang Xue to have surpassed him as well; after all, these two children were the Successors of Flowing Time Great Emperor. Even so, they were probably still a bit too young.
The Dao of Time was extremely difficult to master. Yang Kai had already reached the sixth level, but had made no further progress for many years.
With the Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Inheritance, and his own Dragon Vein, which had been refined to the point that he transformed to become a Pureblood Dragon, many obscure points from the past were now clear.
Yang Kai was overjoyed. This trip to the No-Return Pass was a huge success. Just achieving a breakthrough to become an Ancient Dragon was worth the effort. Not to mention, he could now improve his mastery over the Dao of Time.
He also managed to reap a lot of benefits from the Phoenix Clan.
While Yang Kai was thirstily absorbing the Dragon Clan Inheritance from his Bloodline, the beast with the giant eyes looked on angrily from the depths of the Dragon Pool.
[Who the Hell is this little bastard?] He had already moved far away from Yang Kai previously, but how could he have known that Yang Kai would continue chasing after him. Did he really think that an old man like him would not dare to teach others a lesson?
The beast with the giant eyes was at least several hundreds of thousands of metres away from Yang Kai, so at such a distance, even if he was extremely strong, it was difficult for him to fully perceive the situation due to the isolation power of the Dragon Pool.
He could only detect there was some commotion where Yang Kai was.
[This Brat hasn’t broken through yet?] The beast with the giant eyes felt a little strange. [How could he have not broken through after he swallowed so much Dragon Pool power? Could it be that this Junior’s talent is just that horrendous?]
However, it was clear that this little one was very determined.
The beast heaved a sigh and was satisfied that Yang Kai had the right attitude. He could not blame Yang Kai for not being talented enough. He would just go deeper and give this brat some room to cultivate. After all, he couldn’t fight with a brat just because he was disturbed.
The beast with giant eyes did not intend to help Yang Kai. A Dragon’s breakthrough depended mainly on themselves and outsiders could not help.
The giant beast silently swam down another hundred thousand metres until it finally could not feel the disturbances above.
Time flew by and two months later, Yang Kai’s body size increased again by nearly 10,000 metres. Now his Dragon Form was almost 60,000 metres.
50,000 metres was the baseline for being an Ancient Dragon, which was comparable to a newly advanced Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Yang Kai’s 60,000 metres Dragon Form meant that he had firmly established himself in this realm.
It was unimaginable for a Dragon to grow by 10,000 metres within two months. If Dragons really could grow at such speeds, there would have been a terrifying number of Ancient and Divine Dragons throughout history.
This was all because Yang Kai was able to devour enormous amounts of the Dragon Pool power during that short period of time, and even that was only possible with the assistance of the Great Sun and Moon Marks. The Yin-Yang Power left behind by the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer was also essential as it acted like a millstone to grind and refined the power from the Dragon Pool so Yang Kai could more easily absorb it.
However, Yang Kai also noticed that the more he progressed, the more difficult it became to improve.
When he first came here, his body size could increase by several dozens to over 100 metres a day, but currently, it was down to less than a dozen metres a day.
One reason was his Dragon Vein was stronger and purer, so the same amount of Dragon Pool power was unable to enhance him as much as before. The second was the Dragon Pool power at his location had again been depleted.
After such wanton consumption, the Dragon Pool power was much thinner than before.
This time, Yang Kai did not wait for the Dragon Pool power to be completely depleted. As soon as he felt that the power was significantly weaker than before, Yang Kai proceeded downwards another 100,000 metres.
The beast with the giant eyes was disturbed once again and flared his nostrils furiously.
“What’s the meaning of this? Is that Brat intentionally taunting me?” He wondered.
He was understandably upset, but once again, he decided to avoid a confrontation by swimming deeper.
Another two months later, he felt a disturbance from above. It appeared like the annoying Junior had descended again.
The beast’s veins at his temples throbbed in frustration. Suppressing his anger once again, he continued descending through the Dragon Pool.
He decided that three times was the limit of his tolerance. One more intrusion into his territory and he would be forced to discipline that Brat!
Two months later, the beast with the giant eyes looked up again, but now he was not angry and instead full of doubts as he once again perceived movement from above.
He previously thought that those movements were made by that Junior using the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art, but now it seemed like something was amiss.
After so much time, whoever it was should have achieved a breakthrough already. If he or she had failed at achieving a breakthrough, then this Junior should have been crippled if not killed by the amount of Dragon Pool power they had absorbed. How could they just continue to cultivate?
Now curious and suspicious, he gathered his aura and silently swam upward to have a look at what was going on.
Yang Kai was dividing his attention between devouring the Dragon Pool power with the Great Sun and Moon Marks, and cultivating the Dao of Time using the Bloodline Inheritance he had just unlocked.
The main reason why Yang Kai went deeper every two months was he was aware of the inconveniences he was causing the Grand Dragons and Young Dragons above.
The Dragon Pool power seemed to bubble up from bottom to top, so if he depleted all the Dragon Pool power where he was, then the Grand Dragons and Young Dragons above him would not be able to cultivate properly.
Thus, when he sensed that the Dragon Pool power around him was getting thinner, he would descend another hundred thousand metres.
Even if he was eating all the meat, leaving some soup for others was only polite.
It had been half a year since his breakthrough, and his achievements were significant already. His Dragon Form had increased by nearly 20,000 metres, for a grand total of 67,000 metres. On top of that, his gains in the Dao of Time were significant.
Yang Kai felt that with a little more effort, he would be able to ascend to the next level of mastery over the Dao of Time.
When that happened, his Dao of Time would reach the seventh level, Standing Above All Others Within Sight.
However, while he was concentrating on his cultivation, he suddenly had a strange feeling.
The Yin and Yang power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer in his body was rapidly weakening.
Yang Kai was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized that the two powers were about to run out.
The power Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan gifted him back then had already purified his Bloodline and Dragon Vein several times over the years. Even now, they were intermingling like a millstone, grinding the Dragon Pool power for him to absorb.
Unfortunately, these powers were not his own and would eventually run out one day.
Yang Kai was also prepared for this, but obviously did not expect it to be so soon.
He was not disappointed however. If it was not for this Yin-Yang Millstone helping him, he would never have been able to refine the Dragon Pool power so quickly, even if he could withstand the huge amount he absorbed into his body. His progress would not have been so rapid.
Yang Kai had already gained enough benefits. Before entering the Dragon Pool, his Grand Dragon body was only 35,000 metres in length, but one year later, he had grown to 67,000 metres. In this time, his Dragon Vein had become incomparably pure.
How could he not be satisfied with his achievements and progress?
The external power was not his anyway. The power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer had already helped him lay a solid foundation. How far he could go in the future depended largely on him.
As the power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer weakened, the invisible millstone in his body also began to collapse.
Yang Kai soon felt the pressure inside his body increasing.
When the millstone was grinding, regardless of how much Dragon Pool power he devoured, it was quickly refined and absorbed, but that was over now. Too much absorption was now causing him to become bloated.
Yang Kai suspected that if he continued on like this, he would eventually explode and die.
The Dragons who entered the Dragon Pool would dive to an appropriate depth, claim a stretch of territory, and cultivate. The further they went down, the denser the power became. However, they had to be able to absorb and refine the Dragon Pool power to benefit from it.
Each member of the Dragon Clan had to find their own limits when entering the Dragon Pool.
Yang Kai relied on the power of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer to ignore these limitations and dive to a depth of over 1 million metres with a meager size of 35,000 metres.
The power Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan gave him declined extremely quickly, like an arrow at the end of its flight. Just half an hour after Yang Kai noticed the diminishing returns, the two forces had completely disappeared without a trace.
Yang Kai frantically stopped the Great Sun and Moon Marks, but even so he felt a lot of pressure. The Dragon Pool power he was wantonly absorbing before now felt like a huge burden he could barely resist with the power from his Dragon Vein. What’s more, the outside pressure was also beginning to affect him as he could not absorb the ambient power.
He could not remain at this depth any longer or something bad would happen to him.
With his mind made up, Yang Kai decided to head back up.
However, when he opened his eyes, he was shocked.
Two huge eyes were staring at him, glimmering and full of curiosity.
Yang Kai was now 67,000 metres in length, which was a considerable size, so if he felt that the entity in front of him was huge, then what was looking at him must be enormous!
Yang Kai’s Dragon Pressure instantly surged and he almost clawed at the stranger who was looking at him.
However, he managed to hold back at the last moment because he could see what was in front of him was a huge Dragon Head.
Looking behind the Dragon Head, he could not even see the end of this being.
In an instant, Yang Kai could tell that this was an Ancient Dragon, an extremely powerful Ancient Dragon with a body of almost 100,000 metres!
If the Ancient Dragon realm started at 50,000 metres, then above 100,000 metres would naturally be the Divine Dragon!
Yang Kai immediately knew who it was and asked, “Senior Fu Guang?”
When he was previously a guest in Huang Si Niang’s Phoenix Nest, Yang Kai deliberately asked her about the Dragon Clan’s situation. Huang Si Niang saw no reason to keep anything from him if the information was not confidential.
According to Si Niang, there was a Divine Dragon in the Dragon Clan, who was the current Clan Head.
The number of Ancient Dragons should be more than a dozen, but they were usually cultivating in seclusion and were not openly seen by others. The ones who presided over the affairs of the Dragon Clan at the No-Return Pass were the three Ancient Dragons that Yang Kai once greeted. They were also known as the three Elders of the Dragon Clan.
Those three Ancient Dragons were very old and powerful, but they had all exhausted their potential and so there was no hope of them ever advancing to become Divine Dragons. In other words, their current strength was their limit and there was no possibility of them advancing further.
However, among the members of the Dragon Clan, there was one Ancient Dragon who had reached the upper limits of his current realm but had not exhausted his potential and thus had hope of breaking through to become a Divine Dragon.
Fu Guang.
More than 5,000 years ago, Fu Guang had already reached the limits of the Ancient Dragon realm and then entered retreat deep in the Dragon Pool. He had not been seen since. According to Si Niang, Fu Guang would either become a Divine Dragon and emerge from the pool, or die in the Dragon Pool’s depths. If he died, then his Dragon Force would escape into the Dragon Pool, leaving behind a legacy for the future generations.
Without such determination, an Ancient Dragon who was attempting to make the final breakthrough would not easily enter the Dragon Pool.
Throughout history, the Dragon Clan had many Ancient Dragons who died in the Dragon Pool without ever stepping out of it.
Rumour had it that there were many Dragon Bones buried in the deepest part of the Dragon Pool. Of course, Si Niang was part of the Phoenix Clan and could not be sure about this; however, they all lived in the No-Return Pass so it was normal to have some understanding of each other.
Fu Guang had been in retreat in the depths of the Dragon Pool for 5,000 years. No one knew how he was doing, only that he was still alive. Still 5,000 years was nothing for a Dragon Clan member.
The Dragons had extremely long lifespans, so 5,000 years was considered brief when living more than 50,000 years was a given.
What’s more, each time the Dragon Pool opened, it was impossible for the later generation Dragon Clan members to descend anywhere near where Fu Guang had secluded himself; thus, none of them knew if his retreat was going smoothly.
However, for him to remain in the depths of the Dragon pool for 5,000 years, it was obvious that progress was not coming easily to him.
When an Ancient Dragon, who was close to becoming a Divine Dragon, appeared at this depth of the Dragon Pool, Yang Kai was certainly able to guess his identity.
This was a White Dragon, and even at this depth in the Dragon Pool, it was difficult to hide its pure glory.
Although the Ancient Dragon did not exert any Dragon Pressure, Yang Kai felt stifled just by being stared at by those eyes. Although his Source was slightly inferior to Yang Kai’s, this Ancient Dragon’s Bloodline was much stronger than his.
Fu Guang nodded lightly and asked curiously, “Which Family do you hail from?”
The Dragon Clan was divided into three Families, the Fu, Zhu, and Ji. The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline was being continued by these Three Families.
Which was why Fu Guang was surprised that he did not feel the Bloodline aura of any of these Three Families from this young one.
Moreover, if he was not mistaken, when he first perceived this youngster, he was using the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art, which meant that he was not yet an Ancient Dragon.
Under up close observation, this youngster was already a nearly 70,000 metres long Ancient Dragon. It was simply unimaginable for a Dragon to have such a huge improvement in less than a year’s time.
Even for someone as gifted as himself, it was impossible to have such an achievement. Throughout history, no Dragon had ever grown so rapidly. It was completely beyond Dragon Clan’s ability to understand how this could be accomplished.
While asking the question, Fu Guang inadvertently looked at Yang Kai’s two front Dragon Claws.
When he noticed the Great Sun and Moon Marks, he realized that they must have something to do with this Junior’s rapid growth and the enormous consumption of Dragon Pool power.
“Senior, I am not a Dragon of the No-Return Pass.” Since he was sure that the Ancient Dragon before him was Fu Guang, Yang Kai had nothing to fear. At least, he would not be attacked for no reason.
“You’re not a Dragon of the No-Return Pass?” Fu Guang was slightly surprised as he continued to ask, “Did you return to your roots from the outside to pay respects to your ancestors?”
Yang Kai shook his head and explained, “No. I am Human. It was a coincidence that I had the opportunity to refine a Dragon Source and advance to become an Ancient Dragon. During that process, my Bloodline was purified.”
Fu Guang was even more surprised and exclaimed, “Human? Those few stubborn old goats actually agreed to let you into the Dragon Pool?”
He obviously knew the stubbornness of those Ancient Dragons. The Dragon Pool was fundamental to the existence of the Dragon Clan, so no one was worthy to enter it except for the pure-blood Dragons.
He wondered what they were thinking to let a Human enter the Dragon Pool.
However, Fu Guang soon nodded lightly and said, “Whether you were a Human or not before, now that your Bloodline is pure, you can be considered part of the Dragon Clan. Furthermore, you are already an Ancient Dragon.”
As he said, he continued to study Yang Kai. He noted that Yang Kai’s Golden Dragon Source was extremely powerful. If he was not mistaken, it should be the legendary Source that was lost all those eons ago.
[No wonder those stubborn old goats were willing to let him enter the Dragon Pool. They must have taken this into consideration.]
Unaware of the other party’s thoughts, Yang Kai was slightly stunned when he heard what Fu Guang said and said with a touch of dismay, “Yes, this Junior is part of the Dragon Clan now.”
Fu Guang laughed slightly and asked, “What’s the matter? Are you reluctant to give up being a Human?”
Yang Kai replied, “Not really. It’s just that… I’m not used to it yet.”
Fu Guang nodded and said, “Although someone like you is very rare, there have been a few recorded in my Dragon Clan’s history. I do not understand your feelings as there is no downside to being part of the Dragon Clan. At least when comparing to others in the equivalent realm, the Dragons are much stronger than Humans.”
He then changed the topic and asked, “Those two Marks, are they from the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer?”
“Senior’s vision is truly sharp. They are indeed from those two Seniors.”
Yang Kai was not surprised; since Huang Si Niang could recognize the origins of the two Marks at a glance, there was no reason why Fu Guang could not.
Fu Guang swam around Yang Kai with some curiosity and asked, “Those two Marks can draw in and absorb the Dragon Pool power? I’ve never heard of anything like them before. However, since they are Marks granted by those two, it’s not surprising that they have this ability. What I wonder is how you managed to withstand such a huge amount of power inside your body? By right, you should have exploded long ago.”
He had been observing Yang Kai for a while and was truly puzzled by this situation.
Yang Kai explained, “When those two Senior’s granted me their Marks, they also gifted me a portion of their pure Yin and Yang Powers. When this Junior sucked in the Dragon Pool power, the Yin and Yang Power turned into something like a millstone and ground it down, allowing me to rapidly absorb and refine the Dragon Pool power.”
Fu Guang was amazed and exclaimed, “There is such a thing?”
He had never known of such a possibility. Even the entire Dragon Clan knew nothing about this; otherwise, the ancient books would have records of these capabilities.
This brat in front of him not only had the marks of the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer, but he had also received a part of their powers. That meant that they considered him in high regard.
The Burning Light and Serene Glimmer would never grant their powers to others lightly. At least, Fu Guang had never heard of anyone having such an opportunity before.
“Come, come, activate those two Marks again,” Fu Guang asked eagerly.
Yang Kai shook his head rapidly and said, “Senior, unfortunately, this Junior has exhausted the Yin and Yang Powers of those two. If I draw in any more Dragon Pool power, I won’t be able to handle it.”
“What are you afraid of? Just do as I say. I’m here and will take care of you.” Fu Guang spoke with utmost confidence, as if he wanted to reassure Yang Kai and let him act boldly.
Yang Kai was at a loss for what to do and about what Fu Guang’s intentions were. However, considering that Fu Guang was close to becoming a Divine Dragon, he was surely not a match if things got out of hand.
Besides, it should not matter if he just demonstrated the two Marks’ ability a little for Fu Guang to see.
With that in mind, Yang Kai nodded his head and said, “In that case, Junior will show you how they work.”
He then activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks on his two Dragon Claws. The moment the marks shone, they started to suck in the rich Dragon Pool power from the surrounding area.
Yang Kai was prepared to stop at a moment’s notice as he did not have the Yin-Yang Millstone inside him anymore. He really could not withstand too much Dragon Pool power entering his body.
However, just as he activated the two Marks, Fu Guang made his move. His nearly 100,000 metres Dragon Form vibrated immediately and his Dragon Scales stood on end.
As he did so, Fu Guang’s Dragon Body suddenly turned into what seemed like a bottomless abyss, madly devouring the incoming Dragon Pool’s power.
Feeling his Dragon Vein roar and his bones crack loudly, Fu Guang’s eyes lit up.
Yang Kai was not experiencing too much pressure, because almost 80% of the Dragon Pool power drawn in by the Great Sun and Moon Marks was being intercepted by Fu Guang, leaving a mere 20% to enter Yang Kai’s body.
Although it was still a bit uncomfortable for Yang Kai, it was within his ability to tolerate. At least he would not be at risk of dying anymore.
Yang Kai suddenly understood Fu Guang’s intention of requesting him to activate the Great Sun and Moon Marks.
Si Niang said that Fu Guang had been in retreat in the depths of the Dragon Pool for 5,000 years. If he had not broken through yet, it meant that advancing from an Ancient Dragon to a Divine Dragon was no easy task.
If Yang Kai could help him achieve a breakthrough, it would be an enormous favour, not only to Fu Guang himself, but to the entire Dragon Clan.
The Dragon Clan had only one Divine Dragon right now, so their overall strength would soar with an additional one.
As Yang Kai was thinking about this, Fu Guang signaled to Yang Kai to stop.
Yang Kai obediently did as he was told.
Fu Guang pondered silently while glancing at Yang Kai every now and then, as if he was thinking about how to make a request. He also appeared very hesitant.
Yang Kai was amused and wondered just what he was going to say.
[What is there to hesitate about? The advancement to become a Divine Dragon should be far more important compared to owing a favour or some notion of pride.]
Nonetheless, even with such thoughts, he did not say anything and just waited in silence.
After a long time, Fu Guang said awkwardly, “Kid, do you want to dual cultivate with me?”
Yang Kai was shocked and stuttered, “D-Dual… dual cultivate… with you?”
[What the Hell are you talking about!? Why did you suddenly bring this up? Are you actually a female Dragon? But, it doesn’t look like it, and your voice is obviously too low to be that of a female….] Yang Kai doubtfully thought.
Fu Guang nodded seriously and said, “Yes, cultivate with me! See, you can draw in an enormous amount of Dragon Pool power by using those two Marks. However, you can’t digest it all, so I can digest most of it for you while you absorb the rest yourself.”
Yang Kai choked and remarked, “O-Oh… ahem, so… this is what you meant by ‘dual cultivate’ with you?”
He thought that Fu Guang was… referring to something else.
Fu Guang said with a straight face, “Of course! What else could I have meant?”
Yang Kai was speechless, and even suspected that Fu Guang did not understand what the connotation was. In Fu Guang’s mind, dual cultivation simply meant cultivating together.
Noticing that Yang Kai did not agree immediately, Fu Guang said, “Of course, this is more beneficial to me, but I will not let you suffer a loss. Let’s do this. You are now a pure-blood Dragon and can only enhance your Bloodline on your own without anyone’s guidance. However, my Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent is the Dao of Time. If you agree to my request, I can give you a few pointers while you cultivate.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up when he heard what Fu Guang said and exclaimed, “Really?”
Fu Guang nodded, “Of course.”
“Many thanks, Senior!”
Even if Fu Guang did not offer to give him pointers on improving his mastery over the Dao of Time, Yang Kai was already planning on helping him. If Yang Kai really helped him become a Divine Dragon, then the Dragon Clan would owe him a huge favour. Now, with the added benefits on top, Yang Kai would certainly not refuse.
“Do you agree?” Fu Guang asked to confirm.
“This Junior can’t think of a reason to refuse.”
“Very good.” Fu Guang slithered his Dragon Form and continued, “This matter cannot be delayed. Come with me.”
It had been over a year since the Dragon Pool opened, so Yang Kai would leave in at most a few years’ time. Thus, Fu Guang did not want to waste even a single moment.
Yang Kai followed Fu Guang closely, diving deeper into the pool.
He did not know how deep they went, but Yang Kai felt that he had reached his limit. If he went any deeper, the dense Dragon Pool power around him would kill him even if he did not activate the Great Sun and Moon Marks.
Yang Kai was not surprised that Fu Guang looked so relaxed; after all, there was a difference of over 30,000 metres between their sizes. Fu Guang was on the cusp of becoming a Divine Dragon, so it was only natural that he would be able to resist the pressure better than himself in the Dragon Pool.
Fu Guang also sensed this and without waiting for Yang Kai to say anything, he took the initiative to stop and said, “This will do.”
Yang Kai promptly replied, “As you wish, Senior.”
Fu Guang was very considerate and explained, “You should slowly activate the Great Sun and Moon Marks and progressively draw in the Dragon Pool power. You don’t have to do it all at once, just slowly adjust it.”
Yang Kai nodded and replied, “I’ll try.”
He had never tried to control the Great Sun and Moon Marks, because previously, he had the Yin-Yang Millstone in his body to help him grind however much power he could draw in.
Now that he was going to help Fu Guang cultivate though, it was necessary to use a more refined method.
“Coil up your body,” Fu Guang said.
When Yang Kai heard this, he quickly coiled himself into a ball.
Fu Guang placed Yang Kai in the middle and wrapped him with his body for protection.
On seeing this, Yang Kai felt a lot more assured. In this way, the Dragon Pool power sucked in by the Great Sun and Moon Marks would be devoured by Fu Guang first, and only what he could not take in would flow to him.
Thus, Yang Kai’s safety was guaranteed.
The Great Sun and Moon Marks were activated and the Dragon Pool power began to swirl around them.
This time, Yang Kai deliberately tried to control the two Marks and found that it was actually not difficult to manipulate them. When Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan gave him these two Marks back then, this should have been taken into consideration.
However, the Marks still pulled in the Dragon Pool power at an alarming rate.
This place was already a few million metres deep into the Dragon Pool, so the surrounding power was very dense. Any kind of suction force would draw the power in like tsunami.
Fu Guang grunted as his huge form shook. His Dragon Scales stood on end and his body instantly became like a bottomless abyss, devouring the Dragon Pool power that he absorbed.
Yang Kai, who was surrounded by Fu Guang’s Dragon Body, was a bit nervous, but soon realized that he had worried over nothing.
The majority of the Dragon Pool’s power was swallowed up by Fu Guang, and not a single bit came to him.
Seeing this, Yang Kai gradually strengthened the power of the Marks, and more Dragon Pool power was drawn.
Yang Kai slowly increased the suction force of the Marks until he reached about 70% of maximum when he began to feel some of the power overflowing to him. That also meant that Fu Guang was at the limit of how much he could absorb.
He gestured to Yang Kai, who understood and strengthened the power of the marks a bit more. With Fu Guang’s cooperation, the excess Dragon Pool power that flowed to Yang Kai was devoured and refined by him.
Both Yang Kai and Fu Guang were silently adapting to the current pressure of the incoming power.
Yang Kai found that without the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer’s Yin-Yang Millstone to assist him, he could not refine all the Dragon Pool power that he drew in and a large part of it simply passed through his pores and back out into the Dragon Pool.
Previously, with the Yin-Yang Millstone, no matter how much Dragon Pool power he drew into his body, Yang Kai was able to refine it quickly and not a drop remained.
This was also the reason why he was able to advance to become an Ancient Dragon so quickly and grow to a shock 67,000 metres in one session.
Now, without that millstone, Yang Kai finally felt the difficulty of a Dragon cultivating and breaking through. It was no wonder that Fu Guang had not been able to attain a breakthrough even after staying in the depths of Dragon Pool for 5,000 years.
If he, as an Ancient Dragon of 67,000 metres was already having difficulty, there was no need to mention Fu Guang, who was only one step away from becoming a Divine Dragon.
Yang Kai did not know if this attempt could help Fu Guang break through his bottleneck; however, since Fu Guang had made the request, he could only do his best and leave the rest to fate.
Unlike Yang Kai’s current relaxed situation, Fu Guang’s devouring of the Dragon Pool power was much more intense.
Yang Kai could even hear the Dragon Vein inside Fu Guang roaring like a river. Apart from that, the latter’s body would occasionally crack open and Dragon Blood would gush out everywhere.
This was obviously the result of the pressure he was under.
Although he looked miserable, Fu Guang’s spirits appeared buoyant, but this couldn’t be helped. Before Yang Kai entered the Dragon Pool, he had also tried using the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art, drawing in as much power of the Dragon Pool as possible to use the pressure to break through his own shackles.
However, in these 5,000 years, little progress was made. It seemed his body had reached a limit and it was impossible to advance any further to become a Divine Dragon.
He had pondered a lot during these 5,000 years.
The Ancient Method was actually quite useful in terms of refining his Dragon Vein, the problem was that he simply could not draw in enough Dragon Pool power to meet the requirements for a breakthrough.
That was why after he saw the Great Sun and Moon Marks on Yang Kai Dragon Claws, Fu Guang began to think that if Yang Kai could help him pull in a massive amount of Dragon pool power, he might have an opportunity to achieve a breakthrough.
The two Marks proved to be more effective in drawing in the Dragon Pool power than the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art that he was using. Previously, while cultivating, Fu Guiang vaguely felt some subtle changes to his Dragon Vein so he knew it was working. Although he could not see any signs of breakthrough, any change was better than none.
His only fear was nothing changing at all.
Now, however, the changes were far more noticeable.
If he could succeed this time, then the entire Dragon Clan could become more prosperous in the future!
Since ancient times, the Dragon Clan had produced numerous Ancient Dragons; however, there were very few Divine Dragons. There were never more than three in the same era with the biggest reason for this being that the last hurdle was just too difficult to overcome.
If Fu Guang could breakthrough and become a Divine Dragon using this new method though, then the next time an Ancient Dragon wanted to break through to become a Divine Dragon, they could simply ask Yang Kai for help.
If all went well, the number of Divine Dragons in the Dragon Clan might achieve new hights.
With this hypothesis in mind, he looked at Yang Kai as if he had found some kind of precious treasure.
Several more days passed, and both Yang Kai and Fu Guang had completely adapted to the pressures they were under.
Fu Guang suddenly opened his mouth and spat out his own Dragon Bead.
The Dragon Bead was quite large, round, flawless, and completely white.
Yang Kai also had a Dragon Bead, but his was incomparable to Fu Guang’s.
Fu Guang’s Dragon Bead seemed to have no other characteristics than being beautiful; however, Yang Kai could feel the Heaven destroying and Earth shattering power contained within it.
This was the result of Fu Guang’s Dragon Force.
For Dragons, their Dragon Bead was just like a Monster Beast’s Monster Core, the foundation of their existence. It was also their trump card when facing a strong enemy. In times of desperation, a Dragon could take out their Dragon Bead to attack the enemy.
Of course, there were great risks involved in doing this, which was why a Monster Beast would not summon their Monster Core unless desperate, much less a noble Dragon.
Yang Kai had done it once before in order to kill Zhu Feng Territory Lord, but that one single clash had resulted in his Dragon Bead being damaged, and without the help of Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan’s power, it would have taken him hundreds if not thousands of years to recover.
He did not know what Fu Guang was doing by suddenly spitting out his Dragon Bead at this time; however, it was soon obviously that this was how the latter was planning to guide him on how to better master the Dao of Time.
“Watch carefully.” As Fu Guang shouted, the Dragon Bead began to rotate. From that Dragon Bead, pure Dragon Force emerged and formed a layer of haze around the bead.
At the same time, the flawless white Dragon Bead also began to transform. The white Dragon Bead soon turned into different colours and the entire Dragon Bead became pockmarked. Not only that, the Dragon Bead seemed to have a strange power surging within it.
Yang Kai’s Dragon Eyes widened as he stared at this scene, and soon he was shocked.
What he saw was no longer a Dragon Bead, but rather a Universe World. The haze of Dragon Force was the barrier around this Universe World.
This was a newborn lifeless Universe World, but with the convergence of the Powers of the Seven Elements, a transformation began to occur and the barren Universe World also gradually changed.
At first, an ocean appeared. Then some green began to spread around. The originally white Dragon Bead became green and blue.
The aura of life slowly appeared in the sea, and soon spread to the land.
The first lives were very fragile and could not withstand any disturbance. The slightest interference and it spelled disaster for them.
Rebirth followed each destruction and eventually, life took a hold and managed to tenaciously survive. Over time, life flourished and the whole World thrived.
Yang Kai realized that Fu Guang was using his Dragon Bead to show him the evolution of the Dao of Time.
Time was an extremely subtle power, more mysterious and esoteric than even the Dao of Space.
The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time, so they had no need to deliberately cultivate it. When a Dragon’s Bloodline became pure to a certain degree, the inheritance hidden deep in their Bloodline would awaken. Still, it was very difficult for a Dragon to master this power.
Yang Kai did not know for certain before, but now he had to admit that his ability to cultivate the Dao of Time was linked to his Dragon Bloodline.
Otherwise, it would not make sense for him to be able to cultivate the Dao of Time while being proficient in the Dao of Space.
Now he was now an Ancient Dragon and his Dragon Vein was extremely pure, so his Bloodline Talent had awakened. All that was needed was for him to enhance his own understanding in the Dao of Time.
Fu Guang’s display greatly made up for this. He was an Ancient Dragon who was just a step away from becoming a Divine Dragon. Looking at the entire Dragon Clan, it could be said that apart from the current Dragon Clan Head, he was the most powerful.
With the help of his own Dragon Bead, Fu Guang displayed the wonders of the Dao of Time for Yang Kai, with no regard for how much of his strength he used up from his Source. This was an opportunity that not just anyone could have.
Even Fu Guang would not have done such a thing if he had not requested Yang Kai’s help.
Yang Kai’s mind and Soul had been completely absorbed by the Dragon Bead. It was as if he was inside of it, experiencing all the wonders of the Dao of Time.
It was as if he was sucked in and could no longer feel the passage of time in the outside world.
Every moment was like tens of thousands of years.
The whole World’s living creatures became extinct just before the Universe collapsed under a violent shock and turned into an empty black abyss.
Yang Kai’s eyes finally blinked and his mind regained its clarity.
He saw Fu Guang swallowing his Dragon Bead back into his mouth and looked at him with an odd expression.
Fu Guang originally thought that Yang Kai’s attainment in the Dao of Time would only be superficial; however, when Yang Kai’s mind and Soul became immersed in his Dragon Bead, Fu Guang realized that something was wrong. This kid’s attainments in the Dao of Time were not low at all. In fact, he could perceive that the Time Principles Yang Kai could manipulate were extremely powerful and profound. Apart from Fu Guang, the only ones that could be compared were the Clan Head and the three Elder Ancient Dragons.
As for the other Ancient Dragons, they were all probably inferior to this boy.
Moreover, he could clearly feel that Yang Kai’s mastery over the Dao of Time had advanced another level just now.
“How is it?” Fu Guang asked.
Yang Kai slowly came to his senses and said gratefully, “Many thanks, for your guidance, Senior.”
Fu Guang’s feeling was right. Yang Kai had indeed taken another step forward in his mastery over the Dao of Time, reaching the seventh level, Standing Above All Others Within Sight.
The most obvious change was the speed of time flow in his Small Universe.
Previously, the speed of time in his Small Universe was four times faster than that of the outside world.
Now, it was five times faster.
The faster time flow in his Small Universe meant that the living beings in his Small Universe could grow more rapidly while the Spirit Herbs planted in his Small Universe could also be harvested more frequently. Most importantly, Yang Kai’s own heritage would accumulate faster.
Although Yang Kai did not know how much real time had passed outside, his mind had been following the transformation of the Universe within Fu Guang’s Dragon Bead for countless eons, sensing the mysteries in the flow of time.
It was not surprising that he could make a breakthrough in mastery.
Fu Guang nodded lightly, “So, it was not in vain. The Dragon Pool is about to reopen, you should leave soon.”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded as he asked, “How long has it been?”
“Almost three years.”
Three years? It seemed like an instant.
“Senior, you…” Yang Kai suddenly felt a little hesitant. He had gained a lot from this session, but Fu Guang did not seem to have attained a breakthrough. If he left at this time, that would mean that everything had been for naught!
Seeming to sense Yang Kai’s thoughts, Fu Guang said, “The power I have accumulated is already enough. All that remains is the evolution of my Bloodline. No external force can help me now.”
Over the past three years, the Dragon Pool power that Yang Kai drew using the Great Sun and Moon Marks was almost equivalent to what Fu Guang would take in after 100 years of effort. This showed the immense power of the two Marks.
Previously, Fu Guang could not take this final step because the Ancient Dragon Vein Tempering Art he was using could not draw enough Dragon Pool power at once to apply sufficient pressure to force a breakthrough. However, this was not a problem with the Great Sun and Moon Marks.
Although he could draw the same amount of Dragon Pool power in 100 years as Yang Kai did for him in three years, that did not mean that the effect was the same.
Without Yang Kai’s help, he might not have been able to take this final step in 100 years, or even 1,000 years.
Now, Fu Guang could feel that his Bloodline was changing, so it was time to finally take that last step.
Maybe when the Dragon Pool opened again, the Dragon Clan would have another Divine Dragon!
Yang Kai was relieved to hear him say that. He did not want to owe someone a favour. Fu Guang had instructed him on the Dao of Time, and Yang Kai helped him to advance to become a Divine Dragon. Thus, there was a mutual gain and neither owed the other.
A Dragon Scale suddenly flew towards Yang Kai and Fu Guang said, “Bring this to those three old ghosts and you will get the rewards that you deserve.”
Yang Kai reached out and grabbed it. He had a feeling that the Dragon Scale had been marked by Fu Guang’s Secret Techniques but he did not know what it said.
He had no intention to pry either as he had not done anything wrong to the Dragon Clan during his trip to the Dragon Pool, except for devouring a lot of Dragon Pool power. He even did Fu Guang a favour.
Although he was now a pure-blood member of the Dragon Clan, and he had purged the part of him that was Human when he broke through, subconsciously, Yang Kai still felt like he was Human.
A flash of light suddenly came from above. The light came from afar but seemed to penetrate the entire Dragon Pool.
Immediately afterwards, a low voice sounded from above, “Time is up, quickly leave the pool.”
The voice was naturally from one of the Ancient Dragon Elders.
Without delay, Yang Kai nodded slightly at Fu Guang and said, “Farewell, Senior. I hope to hear good news from you the next time we meet.”
Although Fu Guang said he had accumulated enough power, and all that was left was Bloodline conversion, things might not go so smoothly.
Just look at the number of Divine Dragons who had appeared throughout the Dragon Clan’s history and one would understand. If it was so easy to break through and become a Divine Dragon, then the number of Divine Dragons in the Dragon Clan would not be so low.
“Go on,” Fu Guang nodded lightly.
Yang Kai flicked his Dragon Tail and swam into the beam of light.
This glowing path seemed to have the effect of warping space. He did not know how the Dragon Clan managed to do it, but Yang Kai, who was millions of metres deep into the Dragon Pool, reached the top after just a blink of an eye.
At this moment, in the huge square of the No-Return Pass where the five statues of the Dragon Emperors stood, a portal appeared.
Dozens of Dragon Clan members gathered from all directions. 13 Dragons then rushed out of the vortex, one after another, appearing in the No-Return Pass.
Instantly, the Dragons roared one after another, causing the void to shake.
However, the Dragon Clan was stunned after seeing the condition of those who entered. Even the three Ancient Dragon Elders frowned.
This could not be helped though; after all, the growth of those that went in seemed too small during this Dragon Pool cultivation session.
Their expectation was, among the three Young Dragons, the one called Big Brother Ji was sure to advance to become a Grand Dragon; after all, he was already over 9,000 metres and was not far from breaking through. A few years of training in the Dragon Pool should have been enough to cross this divide.
Zhu Wu You and Fu Qian were a little further behind, but if they were lucky, they might also be able to advance to become Grand Dragons.
Although one Young Dragon had indeed advanced to become a Grand Dragon, he was just over 10,000 metres, which clearly indicated that he had broken through not too long ago.
Zhu Wu You and Fu Qian’s progress was even more pitiful. They were barely 9,000 metres each, still a long way from becoming Grand Dragons.
This was only the Young Dragons’ performance though, and the Grand Dragons were even more disappointing.
Among the 10 Grand Dragons who entered, at least two or three should have reached the Ancient Dragon realm.
However, only Ji Lao San had become an Ancient Dragon while the others were still Grand Dragons. Even their growth was unsatisfactory.
The Three Ancient Dragon Elders had never seen a batch of descendants with such poor performance before. It could be said that this was definitely the group of Dragons with the smallest achievements in the Dragon Pool in history.
Some distance away, Huang Si Niang was sitting on a branch of the Immortal Parasol Tree, dressed in her usual colourful robes. She swung her legs leisurely as she looked on eagerly at the unfolding drama.
When she saw the state of the Dragons that emerged out of the Dragon Pool, she smiled and muttered, “I knew it. When they let that Human into the Dragon Pool, I knew that there would be a negative effect on the other Dragons. It turns out that I was right.”
Feng Liu Lang stood next to her and frowned as he said, “Didn’t the Dragon Clan ever consider checking his Source?”
Huang Si Niang pursed her lips and said, “The Dragon Clan is too proud. Even if that Human had refined a Dragon Source, it was of no importance to them. Additionally, they made some agreements with the Old Ancestors from the Human Race, so they would not waste their energy checking. What they did not know is that the Source that Human obtained was extremely powerful.”
Yang Kai had the Golden Divine Dragon Source, the Source of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor. While the Dragon Clan did not know about this, the Phoenix Clan had guessed it before he went in.
This couldn’t be helped, as Yang Kai had been able to access a Phoenix Nest on his own.
That Phoenix Nest belonged to the Phoenix Empress of the same era as the Third Generation Dragon Emperor. The Sources of these two were lost together, and had never been found.
Since Yang Kai was able to enter that Phoenix Nest, and he said that his Wife obtained the Source of that generation’s Phoenix Empress, it was likely for that Dragon Emperor’s Source to be with him.
Since the Dragon Clan was too lazy to check, the Phoenix Clan Head also did not bother to tell them. By letting such a person into the Dragon Pool, there certainly would be some impact.
That was why when the Dragon Pool reopened this time, Huang Si Niang waited to watch the drama unfold.
It was so boring staying at the No-Return Pass and there was no place to have fun when they were cultivating in their Phoenix Nests.
Huang Si Niang did not understand what Yang Kai did in the Dragon Pool, but why did the Dragons who entered with him grow so little? Could their lack of performance be related to him? Even if his Source originally belonged to the Third Generation Dragon Emperor, it should not have such a dramatic effect, right?
Nonetheless, her doubts were soon answered.
Zhu Wu You went straight to his parents’ side and shouted, “That Yang Kai fellow is such a bastard! He snatched so much of the Dragon Pool power that we did not have enough for us to cultivate with!”
Zhu Wu You’s parents, an Ancient Dragon and a Grand Dragon, both frowned when they heard what had happened.
It was common for clansmen to fight in the Dragon Pool for more power. When they first entered the Dragon Pool, they also fought with their other clansmen for a better position.
Thus, Zhu Wu You’s accusations were quite flimsy.
Zhu Wu You’s Father, an Ancient Dragon, immediately reprimanded, “What is there to complain about if you are not as good as that Human? Furthermore, that Human should be able to transform into a Grand Dragon. Even if he fought with others, he wouldn’t bother with your position. You’ve always been too lazy which is why you did not advance much this time!”
Zhu Wu You felt aggrieved and explained, “No Father, that guy really has something strange about him. I don’t know what method he used, but he was somehow able to quickly devour an enormous amount of Dragon Pool power. My strength is weak and I occupied the uppermost position, but just half a month after entering the pool, the position where I was no longer had any Dragon Pool power at all.”
“The Dragon Pool power was depleted that rapidly?” Zhu Wu You’s Mother, a Grand Dragon, appeared stunned.
Zhu Wu You nodded and continued, “Yes, so I went to Fu Qian’s territory to fight for a better position, but after just half a month of fighting, his place also did not have any Dragon Pool power left. We continued descending through the pool to fight with the others, but no matter how deep we dove, the Dragon Pool power did not last long. It not only happened to where we three Young Dragons were, but also the places occupied by the Senior Grand Dragons. Go ahead and ask them if you don’t believe me.”
The Ancient Dragon turned his head and looked doubtfully at the others who had just emerged, to which all of them nodded in agreement.
Upon hearing the explanation and seeing their collective reaction, the Dragons, who were waiting in the square, loudly remarked.
“No wonder all those who entered the Dragon Pool this time have not improved much.”
“How can that be? The power of Dragon Pool should have been sufficient, how could it have dried up so quickly?”
“The Dragon Pool power seeps up from bottom to top. If too much power is consumed at the lower depths, it would disrupt the replenishment above and then the top would dry up. But… how can a mere Human have that kind of ability?”
“Or could ‘that’ Senior be the cause of it?”
“It’s possible. If his breakthrough was imminent, he would naturally require a tremendous amount of Dragon Pool power and it would not be surprising for him to disrupt the density above.”
“If it was really because of ‘him’, then these brats were just unlucky to enter the Dragon Pool at this time.”
“…”
Zhu Wu You did not know who they were referring to. Fu Guang had been cultivating in the Dragon Pool for the past 5,000 years, and Zhu Wu You was only a few hundred years old; thus, he did not know of Fu Guang.
Zhu Wu You’s parents certainly knew about Fu Guang though. If it was really because of him that these Dragons did not advance much during this Dragon Pool cultivation session, then there was nothing they could do about it. After all, an additional Divine Dragon in the clan was worth far more than having a few more Grand Dragons or Ancient Dragons.
When Zhu Wu You heard their speculations, he complained, “Why do you all keep referring to ‘that’ Senior? It was all due to that Human! Ask Third Uncle Ji if you don’t believe me. Third Uncle Ji saw it clearly when that Human broke through!”
“A breakthrough?” The group of Dragons all gasped in surprise.
Frankly, the Dragon Clan did not know the specifics and extent of that Human’s Dragon Bloodline; after all, Yang Kai had never exposed his Dragon Form or Pressure to them. They only knew that he was a Grand Dragon and even that was revealed to them by the Human Old Ancestors.
As Huang Si Niang said, the Dragon Clan had their pride and even though Yang Kai managed to refine a Dragon Source, they did not take him seriously and did not bother to investigate.
An old Ancient Dragon Elder looked at Ji Lao San and asked, “Did that Human really achieve a breakthrough in the Dragon Pool?”
Ji Lao San nodded meekly.
Before he entered the Dragon Pool, his Dragon Body was nearly 50,000 metres. Now, when he left the Dragon Pool, he was only 55,000 metres.
But what about that Human?
When Yang Kai entered the Dragon Pool, he was 35,000 metres, yet after just half a year, he managed to break through to become an Ancient Dragon. Now that three more years had passed, there was no way to guess just how much he had grown.
Ji Lao San was a pure-blood Dragon! To think that he could not even compete with the advancement rate of a mere Human in the Dragon Pool! He was utterly ashamed of his poor performance compared to that dastardly Human.
The three old Ancient Dragon Elders looked at each other, and they all saw the doubt in each other’s eyes.
They were all both surprised and doubtful that the Human had achieved a breakthrough in the Dragon Pool.
According to the information they received from the Old Ancestors, that Human should only be a Grand Dragon. If he had achieved a breakthrough, then was he not an Ancient Dragon now?
This was a bit abnormal. Throughout the ages, the Dragon Clan had indeed lost a lot of Dragon Sources and many different individuals from difference Races had obtained them. However, one growing to such an extent was extremely rare.
On the other hand, when they learned that the reason why their clansmen who entered Dragon Pool grew so little was due to that Human, those Dragon Clan members surrounding the place became agitated. Some of the Grand Dragons even instigated the rest to teach Yang Kai a lesson when he emerged from the pool.
From Dragon Clans’ standpoint, it was already an exception to allow an outsider to enter a sacred place such as the Dragon Pool. If the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors had not come to an arrangement with the Dragon Clan, there was no way the latter would have agreed.
It was enough that he was allowed to enter the Dragon Pool and gain some small benefits, but now, it turned out that he interfered with the growth of a dozen clansmen, how could this be tolerated?
The Dragon Pool did not open regularly and every Dragon Clan member cherished the opportunity to enter it to cultivate.
While the Dragons were busy complaining about what the Human did, a golden light appeared at the swirling entrance of the Dragon Pool, followed by a large Dragon head rushing out of it.
An intense Dragon Pressure immediately engulfed the area and the noisy square instantly fell silent.
Amid the loud Dragon Roar, a huge Dragon quickly emerged from the Dragon Pool. Those who were complaining angrily moments ago, now looked up at the sky in a daze.
The three Ancient Dragon Elders were also flabbergasted.
Ji Lao San’s face began to twitch involuntarily…
70,000 metres!
A full 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon! He was coiled above the No-Return Pass, glowing in splendid golden light. It was awe-inspiring and the brilliance was simply unparalleled.
Ji Lao San was filled with bitterness when he saw it and muttered internally, [70,000 metres!]
When Yang Kai entered the Dragon Pool, he was only 35,000 metres, yet after just a few years, his Dragon Form had doubled in size?
Throughout the ages, no Dragon had ever been able to cultivate to such an extent in just one session in the Dragon Pool.
As a 70,000-metre Dragon, Yang Kai was already considered to be extremely powerful as an Ancient Dragon within the Dragon Clan.
What caused Ji Lao San to be speechless was that, under Yang Kai’s Dragon Pressure, he actually felt his hands and legs go limp. He was completely subdued.
Not only him, but many other Dragons, who were also Ancient Dragons, felt suppressed by the Human’s Dragon Pressure. Naturally, this came from their own Bloodlines being suppressed.
“A Golden Dragon…” the old woman of the three Elders exclaimed in disbelief.
Another Elder was staring at one of the five Dragon Emperor statues. Naturally, the Third Generation Dragon Emperor’s statue at this time, also began to glow with a golden light. The aura from it resonated with the Dragon in the sky, as if there was a connection between the two.
“So that’s how it is!” This Elder murmured. Under such circumstances, if he still could not guess the origin of Yang Kai’s Source, then he would be a disgrace to his position.
The Dragon Clan had also searched for this lost Source. Other than the Dragon Clan, the Phoenix Clan also searched for it but they missed the best period and were unsuccessful in the end.
However, both the Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan knew how powerful these two Sources were, so it should be impossible for them to be destroyed. Even if they could not find them, it did not mean that they did not exist anymore.
However, no one expected that this missing Source would reappear in front of Dragon Clan in such a way. Immediately, the Ancient Dragons who knew the details had mixed feelings.
They all thought that Yang Kai’s Source was just an ordinary Dragon Source, and there was nothing for them to worry about as the Dragon Clan had lost many such Dragon Sources. It was their fortune and opportunity for those who had found these lost Dragon Sources to obtain them.
However, if this Source involved the Third Generation Dragon Emperor, then its significance was totally different. That Source could pave the path to reach the peak.
Yang Kai’s huge Dragon Form hovered over the No-Return Pass for a short time before he shrank down, transforming back into his Human Form as he landed in the square.
Feeling the prying eyes all around, Yang Kai knew that his presence had brought the Dragon Clan a lot of doubts. At the very least, he could no longer hide his refinement of the Golden Divine Dragon Source.
The Dragon Clan should have a lot of questions for him.
Yang Kai decided to speak first before they could ask any questions, “Greetings Three Elders, Senior Fu Guang has an object for this Junior to pass on to you.”
Theoldest-lookingg Elder in the center, held back his initial questions and instead asked in surprise, “Fu Guang? You met Fu Guang in the Dragon Pool?”
“Yes,” Yang Kai nodded firmly.
“How is he doing?” The old man asked with concern.
Yang Kai replied, “Senior Fu Guang is well.”
“What did he want you to bring back?” The old female Elder asked.
Yang Kai handed over a Dragon Scale from Fu Guang. The old woman took it, focused on it, and after a while, she handed the Dragon Scale to another Elder. She then looked at Yang Kai in disbelief.
When the other two Elders also finished examining the Dragon Scale, they looked at each other silently, seemingly reaching a tacit understanding between them.
The middle Elder nodded slightly and looked warmly at Yang Kai as he said, “Since you have shed your former body and been reborn, your Bloodline is now pure. From now on, you are a member of the Dragon Clan.”
In fact, the moment Yang Kai rushed out of the Dragon Pool, the three Ancient Dragon Elders already felt this.
Yang Kai was not the same as when he first came to the No-Return Pass.
Yang Kai had a strong Human aura when he first came to the No-Return Pass; however, when he emerged from the Dragon Pool, that aura was completely gone. He now exuded the aura of a Pureblood Dragon.
After checking Fu Guang’s message in the Dragon Scale, the three Ancient Dragon Elders also learned what happened inside.
As they had previously thought, Yang Kai had indeed refined the lost Source of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor. This was confirmed by Fu Guang.
He was also highly regarded by the Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer, who granted him the Great Sun and Moon Marks. It was because of these two Marks and another gift from those two Seniors that he was able to devour the Dragon Pool’s power and grow so rapidly.
It was also because of this reason that those who entered the Dragon Pool during this session performed so poorly.
It was not that they had no aptitude, just that all the benefits were taken away by Yang Kai.
If Yang Kai had been the same as when he first arrived at the No-Return Pass, the Dragon Clan would not have let him off as the future of the Dragon Clan depended on those Juniors. Hindering their growth infringed on the Dragon Clan’s interests which was simply intolerable.
However, since Yang Kai was also a part of the Dragon Clan now, he was considered a clansman. Clansmen will naturally compete and fight for benefits; thus, the Elders could not accuse anyone of wrongdoing.
Not to mention, Fu Guang left behind a message that he was now able to take the final step in his advancement because of Yang Kai’s help.
Fu Guang’s advancement to become a Divine Dragon was undoubtedly more important than the growth of those dozen or so descendants.
Yang Kai was now a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon, and had returned with the Source of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor. This was more than enough to make up for the losses of the young ones this time.
When the old man Elder then looked up at the clansmen, he announced, “The Dragon Clan has been in decline for many years and our numbers are withering. Now, a new clansman has returned to strengthen and bring glory to our Dragon Clan!
The other two Elders beside him roared in unison, “Glory to the Dragon Clan!”
“Glory to the Dragon Clan!”
…..
Yang Kai was slightly stunned, [So, I’m really now a member of the Dragon Clan?]
Although it was true that when he advanced to become an Ancient Dragon, he had purged the Human part of him and became a pure-blood Dragon, it still felt uncomfortable for him to become a member of the Dragon Clan.
Yang Kai actually did not care too much about whether his Bloodline was Human or Dragon; after all, he was not born in the Dragon Clan, and did not attach that much importance to his Bloodline.
However, when the three Ancient Dragon Elders declared it in such a manner, that meant that he became a member of the Dragon Clan.
Many Dragon Clan members were eager for Yang Kai to come out of the Dragon Pool so that they could teach him a lesson; however, after the three Elders’ declaration and cheers, they no longer dared to create any trouble.
The Divine Spirits highly valued the concept of community. If Yang Kai was an outsider, they would naturally make some comments; however, since he was now a clansman, there was nothing more to say.
Even Zhu Wu You, who was the most irritated by Yang Kai, had roared along, not to mention the other Dragon Clan members.
Only Ji Lao San rolled his eyes furiously as he thought, [That makes him part of our Clan? If so, then how can I get my revenge?]
However, when he thought about it, Yang Kai was now a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon, while he was only 55,000 metres. His Bloodline Power and Source were both inferior to Yang Kai’s now. If he were to try to seek revenge, he was doomed to fail. He sighed inwardly and admitted defeat. At least he knew that he was too weak to seek revenge now.
On the Parasol Tree, Huang Si Niang was very excited as she watched the entertaining show unfold before her eyes.
She knew that Yang Kai’s trip to the Dragon Pool would certainly cause a stir; however, she never expected it to end up with him being accepted by the Dragon Clan and becoming part of it.
The Phoenix Clan and Dragon Clan had been living together at the No-Return Pass for many years, and were both basically numb to each other by now. However, in the end, they were all on the same side. If the Dragon Clan became stronger, it was also beneficial for the No-Return Pass.
It had been many years since the No-Return Pass had experienced a war, but more power was never a bad thing.
As the rest of the Dragons were still cheering, the three Elders looked at Yang Kai warmly and appeared very friendly towards him.
A pure Bloodline was not enough for them to show such favour to Yang Kai; however, the Source he refined was the Source of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor.
That Source itself contained the Heavenly Grand Dao. If Yang Kai managed to fully inherit it, then he would be able to advance to a level comparable to the Third Generation Dragon Emperor, which meant becoming a Divine Dragon.
Divine Dragon… Throughout the ages, how many Divine Dragons had there been in the Dragon Clan?
Furthermore, Fu Guang’s hidden message in the Dragon Scale also mentioned Yang Kai’s Great Sun and Moon Marks, which, when activated, could draw in the Dragon Pool power at an incredible rate. This was a remarkable help for those in the Dragon Clan trying to achieve a breakthrough to the Divine Dragon realm.
If another Ancient Dragon in the clan was ready to advance to become a Divine Dragon, they could request for Yang Kai’s help, which would greatly increase their chances of success.
The three Ancient Dragon Elders had reached the limits of their own cultivation. Still, did that not mean they were not eager to take that next step?
They all wanted to, but they were constrained by their Bloodline and could not advance.
If Yang Kai’s Great Sun and Moon Marks could give them a boost, then it might be possible for them to achieve a breakthrough. Although there was not much hope, it was at least worth a try.
Of course, that was a consideration for the future. Fu Guang was still in the Dragon Pool and could not be disturbed. When Fu Guang emerged, perhaps the three Ancient Dragon Elders might also give it a try.
At least, one could always hope.
The three Ancient Dragon Elders gladly accepted Yang Kai, who had such a pure Bloodline, and undoubtedly had a bright future that would greatly benefit the entire Clan.
The old man Elder in the center of the group asked, “Now that Yang Kai has joined the Clan, should his name be included in the Dragon Tome?”
“Yes!” A low voice suddenly came out of nowhere. The voice was loud and it sounded like a grand bell. At the same time, Yang Kai felt a Divine Sense sweeping over him.
The Divine Sense was comparable to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s.
Yang Kai’s heart fluttered as he realized that the origin of this Divine Sense was probably the Head of the Dragon Clan. The one and only Divine Dragon alive today.
In the Dragon Clan, Young Dragons had bodies that were under 10,000 metres. The strength of those in the Dragon Clan was very different. A newborn Young Dragon was very fragile, perhaps even worse than an ordinary Human cultivator; however, when their body grew to 9,000 metres, they were equivalent to a Human just below the Seventh Order.
More than 10,000 metres, they became Grand Dragons, which was equivalent to Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Above 50,000 metres, they were Ancient Dragons, which were equivalent to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
At 100,000 metres, they became Divine Dragons. That was comparable to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Old Ancestor.
Of course, the strength and rank were divided as such, but when they really fought, the Divine Spirit of the same realm would most likely be more powerful. The Divine Spirits had too many advantages that the Humans did not.
For example, Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was now 70,000 metres. According to the Ancient Dragon classification, his strength was considerable. If he transformed into his Dragon Form, he could take on a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Today’s Dragon Clan had only one Divine Dragon. However, this Dragon was not considered to be a Dragon Emperor because Divine Dragons also had those who were weak and strong. The current Head of the Dragon Clan felt that he was not qualified to be considered a Dragon Emperor.
Such a situation was not unique, or even uncommon in the long history of the Dragon Clan; otherwise, the Dragon Clan would have far more than five generations of Dragon Emperors, all of whom were the most powerful Masters of each generation of Divine Dragons.
Yang Kai knew that the Dragon Clan had a Divine Dragon, but he had not seen him yet. This time, the Divine Dragon also did not show up, but only responded when the Ancient Dragon Elder asked a question.
Yang Kai did not know what the Dragon Tome was as he had never heard of it before. When Huang Si Niang told him about the Dragon Clan, she did not mention anything about a Dragon Tome. He did not know if she also did not know about it or simply didn’t mention it for some reason.
As Yang Kai was wondering, one of the male Elders said, “Come with me.”
He then led the way, accompanied by the other two Elders.
Yang Kai followed behind them.
The other Dragons stopped cheering and followed behind Yang Kai solemnly. Sensing this atmosphere, Yang Kai realized that having his name entered into the Dragon Tome was an extremely solemn event for the Dragon Clan.
A short while later, they arrived at a simple temple where the three Elders entered in turn, followed by Yang Kai. As for the other Dragons who followed them, they all stopped outside.
The temple was extremely spacious, but the interior was very simple. It gave an unusually empty feeling.
At the head of the Grand Hall was an altar, which was surrounded by Dragon Force that acted as a kind of barrier.
Yang Kai squinted and saw that the altar seemed to be suspended on an irregular stone slab-like object.
The slab appeared to be about the size of a washbasin and was covered by a restriction. Yang Kai also did not see any other unique objects, and guessed that this was the Dragon Tome mentioned by the Elder.
[What the Hell is this?]
As he was wondering, the three Dragon Clan Elders stood at the three corners of the altar. Each used a Dragon Clan Secret Technique and then with a mysterious Dragon Roar, the restriction opened.
Moments later, the old man Elder shouted, “Open the Dragon Tome!”
After he shouted, the three Ancient Dragons opened their mouths and spat out their respective Blood Essence, which fell into the Dragon Tome.
The seemingly mundane Dragon Tome quickly swallowed up the Dragon Blood from the three Ancient Dragons, and in the next moment, it began to emit a faint glow.
As the Dragon Tome flew out, the male old Elder reached out and caught it. He then turned around, looked at Yang Kai, and said, “The Dragon Tome has existed since the beginning of the Universe and has witnessed the birth of the first Dragon and the inheritance of generations upon generations. Since ancient times, it has recorded the names of 14,362 Dragons. You are the 14,363rd.”
Yang Kai raised his brow slightly at this new information. The Dragon Clan had been around for ages and this Dragon Tome was something that was created when the Dragon Clan first appeared.
He had never heard of this before.
If every pure-blood Dragon was recorded in the Dragon Tome, that meant there were less than 15,000 of them that had been born thus far.
It was an extremely small number.
However, considering the Dragon Clan had extremely long life spans and great difficulties reproducing, the low number was not that surprising.
During this trip to the No-Return Pass, Yang Kai had encountered three Young Dragons, but this was actually quite rare for the Dragon Clan as, in the past, it was not unusual for thousands of years to go by without a single newborn clansman.
The old female Elder looked at Yang Kai with a smile and said, “Perhaps in the past, you did not know of the existence of the Dragon Tome. When your name is recorded in the Dragon Tome, not only does it mark the Clan’s recognition of you, it is also a great benefit for you.”
Yang Kai said humbly, “Please enlighten me, Elder.”
The old woman Elder smiled and said, “Firstly, the Dragon Tome keeps track of the life or death of anyone whose name is recorded within. If a clansman encounters a crisis outside, they can call for help from the Clan by using a Secret Technique which is connected to the Dragon Tome. Secondly, the Dragon Tome is connected to the Dragon Pool. If you really meet with misfortune outside and die, if there is still a trace of your Source spirituality in the Dragon Tome, with the dual powers of the Dragon Tome and Dragon Pool, there is a chance you may be reborn in the Dragon Pool.”
Yang Kai was shocked by this and exclaimed, “Resurrection? As in, back from the dead?”
The Elder nodded, “Indeed!”
Yang Kai was now completely dumbstruck.
The first power of the Dragon Tome was not too significant, but the second ability was completely outrageous.
Yang Kai had experienced a kind of resurrection once before. When he fought with the Great Demon God Mo Sheng in the Star Boundary, his physical body was completely destroyed.
That time, he was able to come back from the dead with the help of the powers of the Immortal Tree and the Soul Warming Lotus. That was a combination of extremely good fortune and opportunity.
Yang Kai did not want to experience that again; after all, dying was not a pleasant experience.
However, who could guarantee that they would not die? Especially in an environment like the Black Ink Battlefield, where Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master perished at a not infrequent rate, not to mention a minor Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like him.
Recording his name in the Dragon Tome meant that it could be used to basically turn back and bring back a dead Dragon inside of the Dragon Pool. This would be an extremely appealing prospect to anyone.
However, Yang Kai soon realized that something was amiss and asked, “Is there a price to pay for coming back to life?”
It was simply too Heaven-defying to bring back the dead. Previously, he had to refine the entire Immortal Tree before he could rebuild his body, and the Immortal Tree was an extremely precious treasure of the Universe, close to the ranks of Supreme Treasures.
Even if the Dragon Clan had the power of resurrection, it should be impossible to do it at will. If they could, then the Dragon Clan would be truly immortal and indestructible. How could such a community be so withered?
Setting aside the rest, if the Third Generation Dragon Emperor had been resurrected, then Yang Kai would not be standing here today.
The old man Elder nodded and said, “Indeed, it is natural to pay a huge price to be resurrected. Additionally, no one can guarantee the success of this process. Truthfully, the chance of success is very small. In Dragon Clan’s history, the number of times the Dragon Pool and Dragon Tome have been used to resurrect someone is not more than 10, and among these ten attempts, only three succeeded.”
Yang Kai now understood. He knew full well that such a Heaven-defying technique was impossible without serious constraints.
In the entire Dragon Clan’s history, they only attempted about 10 resurrections. One would expect that each time, it must have been for an extremely important member of the Dragon Clan. When the Third Generation Dragon Emperor fell, the Dragon Clan must have done it, but unfortunately, it did not succeed. Otherwise, the Third Generation Dragon Emperor would still be alive.
What’s more, the probability of success was less than 30%, which could be considered very low.
Even if it was very low though, that was also a ray of hope and it was enough to motivate anyone.
The Dragon and Phoenix Clans were worthy of being the heads of the Divine Spirits, who won the favour of the Heavens.
The Dragon Clan had the Dragon Tome which had the powers of resurrection while the Phoenix Clan also had the ability to resurrect with their Nirvana Fire. Even so, both Clans had restrictions placed on them when it came to the act of resurrection.
Such Clans were truly worthy to be the leaders of the Divine Spirits.
“What does Junior need to do?” Yang Kai asked.
The old man Elder said, “Use your Source and leave your mark on the Dragon Tome.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly and asked again, “After recording one’s name, does the Dragon Tome place any restrictions on this Junior?”
The old man Elder replied, “Indeed. There is one small restriction.”
“Please tell me, Elder.”
“Do you know why the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan are absent from the greater Black Ink Battlefield?” The old man Elder asked instead of answering.
Yang Kai shook his head. In fact, he had been wondering about this previously.
The No-Return Pass was located at the rear of the Human Race’s defensive line and served as the final barrier to the 3,000 Worlds. Although the location was of great strategic importance, over the years, except for when the Black Ink Clan took over Great Evolution Pass and launched an attack, this place had not encountered any battles at all.
Both the Dragon and Phoenix Clans were powerful in their own right, and as Divine Spirits they had a much higher ability to resist invasion by Black Ink Strength. With there not being any full-blown wars at the No-Return Pass, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans could have easily sent some of their people to support the Human Race on the Black Ink Battlefield, especially when the battles were the most intense.
However, across the entire Black Ink Battlefield, there was no signs of the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan fighting. It was only the Human Race.
“Divine Spirits are not as powerful nor as effective as your Purifying Light in terms of restraining and eliminating Black Ink Strength.”
It was not surprising for the Dragon Clan to know about his Purifying Light, which was a powerful tool for the Human Race to deal with Black Ink Clan. Even though the No-Return Pass was situated at the rear, they would have heard about such a monumental development on the battlefield against the Black Ink Clan.
The power of the Divine Spirits also had a certain degree of restraining effect on Black Ink Strength. The Black Ink Giant Spirit God was sealed in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land by the Third Generation Dragon Emperor and the Phoenix Empress. After countless years, the Ancestral Strength of that place constantly wore down the Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s Black Ink Strength, until it finally ground it down completely.
Otherwise, when Yang Kai helped open the seal years back, the Ancestral Land would have been devastated.
“The reason why Dragons and Phoenixes do not appear on the Black Ink Battlefield is related to an ancient agreement between us and the Human Race’s Great Experts.”
The old man Elder continued, “In that agreement, the Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan were made responsible for guarding the No-Return Pass. Unless there is an existential threat to the Clan, they are not allowed to leave the No-Return Pass.”
This agreement was simple, but was so important it became known as the Bloodline Great Oath. This was why there were no signs of Dragons and Phoenixes in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, and none of them on the Black Ink Battlefield.
Yang Kai could not understand and asked curiously, “But, why?”
Why would there be such a pact, and how could the Divine Spirit Clans, who were always proud and aloof, accept such terms? This was as good as the Human Great Expert restricting their freedom.
How could the two Clans agree to this?
The male old Elder said, “I do not know what the Ancient Masters were thinking; however, in this current situation, if there wasn’t this agreement, then the numbers of Dragons and Phoenixes would definitely have been fewer than it is now.”
Without this agreement, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans could enter and leave the battlefield at will, but who could guarantee that they would survive the fight? Under the powerful attacks of the Black Ink Clan, even mighty Dragons and Phoenixes could fall.
They could accept a few clansmen dying on the battlefield, but what about significant numbers of deaths? If a few important clansmen died and the entire Clan became agitated and rushed to the battlefield, it might lead to complete extinction.
It was because of this agreement that the two Clans could continue to remain at the No-Return Pass. Although the days were boring, at least they did not need to face the many risks of the battlefield.
From this point of view, perhaps it was not the ancient Human Great Expert who restricted the freedom of two Clans, but rather the two Clans choosing this of their own accord.
“But what does this have to do with this Junior recording my name on the Dragon Tome?” Yang Kai asked with a frown.
The Elder replied, “If you record your name on the Dragon Tome, then you must also honour this agreement.”
“In other words, if I record my name on the Dragon Tome, I have to stay at the No-Return Pass and cannot return to the Black Ink Battlefield?” Yang Kai exclaimed.
“Indeed,” The Elder nodded.
This agreement was known as the Bloodline Great Oath for a reason. If Yang Kai was not a pure-blood Dragon, it would be fine, but now that his Bloodline was pure, once he recorded his name in the Dragon Tome and officially joined the Dragon Clan, he would be subject to the same restrictions. If he broke them, he would face backlash from his Bloodline.
Yang Kai swept his eyes over the three Dragon Clan Elders in front of him, who all appeared very calm.
If Yang Kai had not taken the initiative to ask, they would not have said anything. It was not that they intended to hide anything, for if they did, they could simply have not explained at all.
Of course, the message that Fu Guang sent back on the Dragon Scale indicated that Yang Kai’s Great Sun and Moon Marks were extremely useful to the Dragon Clan. If possible, they wanted Yang Kai to remain at the No-Return Pass.
Not to mention the three of them, there were also other Ancient Dragons in the Clan who either wanted or needed to break through in the future. If Yang Kai helped them with their breakthrough, then their chances of success would greatly increase. Maybe by as much as 30%!
A 30% increase could not be underestimated; after all, over time that would mean a 30% increase in the number of Divine Dragons for the Dragon Clan!
Nonetheless, since Yang Kai took the initiative to ask, they had to explain it clearly. They did not intend to deceive him.
The benefits of recording one’s name in the Dragon Tome were indeed enormous and the possibility of coming back from the dead with the powers of the Dragon Tome and Dragon Pool were very tempting.
However, what was the use of all these benefits if he could not leave the No-Return Pass?
Yang Kai’s trip here was to improve his strength, mainly in preparation for the Human Race’s crusade. If he was now forced to remain in the No-Return Pass, how could he take part in the crusade? He would also have wasted Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s efforts and expectations.
Amidst the silence, the old female Elder said, “Yang Kai, the Source you received is the Source of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor. This Source is remarkable. Additionally, you have transformed from a Human to a Dragon. Once you record your name in the Dragon Tome, you can maintain your Family name and establish a new branch family of the Dragon Clan. This would be a huge contribution to the Dragon Clan!”
The old woman Elder’s message was obvious. If Yang Kai stayed at the No-Return Pass and sired a few more Young Dragons, then the Dragon Clan would add the Yang Family to the existing Fu, Zhu, and Ji Families. Furthermore, he would be the founding patriarch of this new Family!
Not just anyone could receive such an honour. The Dragon Clan has existed for countless aeons, but so far, only three family branches had been established.
As soon as Yang Kai recorded his name on the Dragon Tome, there would be another family branch, and Yang Kai would immediately become the first Ancestor of this Dragon Family branch.
Another Elder, who had not spoken so far, also added, “We’re not asking you to remain at the No-Return Pass and idle for the rest of your life. With your Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation, even with your 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon Form, your role on the Black Ink Battlefield will be very limited. However, if you stay in the No-Return Pass, your presence would be of great benefit and importance to the future of the Dragon Clan.”
“If you want, you can also bring your family to the No-Return Pass. Although we are also technically on the Black Ink Battlefield, it has been quite peaceful over the years. Now that Great Evolution Pass has been retaken, the Black Ink Clan can no longer come to harass us.”
“That’s right. You have family in the 3,000 Worlds, right? There is no such thing as security on the Black Ink Battlefield, so your loved ones must be extremely nervous about your safety. How could you continue to let them worry?”
The three Dragon Clan Elders took turns to persuade Yang Kai to record his name on the Dragon Tome and remain at the No-Return Pass.
However, when they saw that Yang Kai remained so indifferent, the three Elders knew that their persuasions were ineffective. Even if he was young compared to them, he was still a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with a strong and resolute heart. If he could change his mind after just a few words of persuasion, then it would be impossible for him to have the cultivation he had today.
The old male Elder said again, “There is no hurry to decide on recording your name in the Dragon Tome. Why don’t you stay at the No-Return Pass for some time and carefully consider first. If you really do not wish to stay, no one can force you to.”
Yang Kai slowly shook his head and said, “This Junior appreciates the kindness of the three Elders, offering me the opportunity to record my name on the Dragon Tome and your invitation to stay at the No-Return Pass. This Junior is eager to live such a peaceful life, but many of my companions are still on the Black Ink Battlefield. The Human Race is about to embark on a grand crusade, but this Junior’s cultivation was too low. Perhaps as the Elders have said, my presence may not make much of a difference on the battlefield, but every pair of hands helps. Millions of my predecessors have fallen on the battlefield to stop the Black Ink Clan. This Junior is not that powerful, but I would like to follow the example of my ancestors. If I fall somewhere on the battlefield, it will only be because I am not strong enough. No one else is to be blamed.”
The old man Elder said solemnly, “So, you’ve made up your mind.”
Yang Kai took a step back, cupped his fist, bowed, and shouted, “For the common people, for the 3,000 Worlds, I will continue to fight until my dying breath!”
The old female Elder sighed softly and said no more.
The old male Elder then said, “In that case, we will not force you. About the matter of recording your name in the Dragon Tome… when the Black Ink Clan has been eliminated, you can come back to the No-Return Pass and we will help you do so.”
“Many thanks, three Elders!” Yang Kai bowed again, “I’ve inconvenienced you for too long now. I shall take my leave.”
“The battlefield is dangerous, be careful in whatever you do.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly, turned around and rushed out of the temple as the group of Dragon Clan members looked on with heavy hearts. He then flew out of the No-Return Pass.
Although the other Dragons were outside the temple, they saw and heard what happened inside and understood that Yang Kai did not record his name in the Dragon Tome.
Zhu Wu You went over to Fu Qian and whispered, “Is that guy stupid? He would rather go out courting death than to take up such a great reward.”
Fu Qian looked on as Yang Kai departed and sighed softly, “Why keep sharpening a sword if you don’t intend to use it?”
Zhu Wu You blinked at him for a moment before he snarled, “You are just as stupid.”
Fu Qian glared at him and barked, “You know shit!”
…..
When he was about to leave the No-Return Pass, Yang Kai stopped and turned his head to look at the Immortal Parasol Tree. He saw Huang Si Niang sitting on a tree branch, looking at him with a smile, and Feng Liu Lang standing next to her.
“Are you leaving?” Huang Si Niang asked with a smile.
“I am.” Yang Kai nodded, thought about it for a moment, turned around again and bowed to her, “Many thanks for helping out with my Wife’s affairs.”
Huang Si Niang waved her hand and said, “Think nothing of it. Is there anything you want to tell her?”
Yang Kai shook his head and said, “There is nothing to say.”
After a pause, he then asked, “The Dragon Clan and the Phoenix Clan had an ancient agreement with the Human Great Experts. After recording one’s name on the Dragon Tome, the Dragon Clan had to remain in the No-Return Pass, how about the Phoenix Clan?”
Huang Si Niang pursed her lips, patted the branch she was sitting on and said, “Once you have your own Nest on the Immortal Parasol Tree, you need to stay at the No-Return Pass.”
Yang Kai nodded blankly. It seemed that both the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan had similar restrictions. For the Dragon Clan, even if one did not record their name on the Dragon Tome, he could still cultivate in the Dragon Pool. However, the same could not be said about the Phoenix Clan. If one wanted to cultivate with the Phoenix Clan, it required possessing their own Phoenix Nest.
Now, Yang Kai understood that if Su Yan really came here, she would be restricted to the No-Return Pass.
Yang Kai cupped his fist and said, “I will take my leave now. If I come back, it will be a triumphant return!”
Huang Si Niang snickered, “Shameless boasting! Then, I’ll wait for your good news!”
As soon as he finished, he dashed away and then a loud Dragon Roar could be heard from the distance. A golden light flashed brightly as the Dragon Pressure faded away!
In the void, Yang Kai transformed into his 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon Form.
He did not do this to intentionally show off. The void was silent and no one would see even if he wanted to show off. He was overjoyed because he had gained so much during this trip to the Dragon Pool. His Dragon Body was only 35,000 metres when he first entered the Dragon Pool, but after emerging, it was 70,000 metres long.
Not only did his size double, but his Dragon Vein and Dragon Bloodline had become completely pure, allowing him to transform into a True Dragon.
This dramatic increase in size meant a huge increase in strength; however, his Small Universe still only had the heritage of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Thus, it would take time for Yang Kai to get used to this sudden surge in power. He had to find a way to adapt, otherwise, it may be a problem if he had to face powerful enemies.
It took Yang Kai half a year to travel from Great Evolution Pass to the No-Return Pass. Now, even if his mastery over the Dao of Space had improved, it would still take roughly half a year for him to return.
This was the perfect opportunity to get familiar with his new strength.
During the journey, Yang Kai swung his Dragon Claws and whipped his Dragon Tail from time to time. Occasionally, he would use Dragon Clan Secret Techniques, and sometimes, he would summon the Azure Dragon Spear. His two Dragon Claws would grab the spear and wield it around as if he was fighting invisible enemies.
If anyone saw this scene, they might think that this Golden Dragon had gone insane.
Yang Kai could not help it though. The Human Race crusade was about to begin, and he did not want to enter the battlefield before he familiarized himself with his newfound powers.
It was a very fruitful trip to the No-Return Pass.
On top of the improvement of his Bloodline, he had gained a massive amount of Space Dao Essence from Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest.
The Space Dao Essence in her Phoenix Nest was created from the Immortal Parasol Tree and contained the mysteries of the Grand Dao of Heaven and Earth from the primordial era, so it was a great tonic for Yang Kai.
Although it did not take him to the next level of master in the Dao of Space, it did enhance his comprehension immensely.
The main reason was that Yang Kai’s own attainments in the Dao of Space were already very high, and it would be very difficult for him to ascend to the next level.
Inside the Dragon Pool, when he helped Fu Guang to draw in the Dragon Pool power, the latter even used his Dragon Bead to demonstrate to Yang Kai the mysteries of the Dao of Time.
That enabled Yang Kai to break through the shackles of his understanding of the Dao of Time, reaching the next level of mastery.
His Dragon Bloodline had grown and his two Grand Dao’s had improved tremendously.
At this moment, Yang Kai felt very fulfilled, both in terms of his strength and his perception of the two Grand Daos. He was totally unrecognizable as compared to when he left Great Evolution Pass.
If he could completely digest all the gains from this No-Return Pass trip, Yang Kai believed that his strength would improve by leaps and bounds.
It didn’t take much effort to familiarize himself with the power of his new Dragon Form, all he needed was slow and steady accumulation.
Yang Kai focused more on comprehending the Daos of Time and Space.
The rapid advancement of his two Grand Daos gave him a faint sense of enlightenment.
The Dao of Space was his main Grand Dao, and his achievements in the Dao of Time were perhaps due to his Bloodline. In the past, his mastery over the Dao of Space mainly affected his use of Space Principles, and the Dao of Time, his use of Time Principles; the two were not related to each other.
Even though he had once created the powerful Secret Technique, Sun and Moon Divine Wheel, that was mainly through chance and coincidence. So, he did not give it much deep thought.
But as his comprehension of the Grand Daos advanced, it became clear to him that Time and Space had always been closely related.
Space was unable to exist on its own, and so was Time.
From ancient times until now, the existence of the Universe was interwoven with both Time and Space.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel combined Time and Space Principles, but that was something Yang Kai achieved subconsciously. Now when he gave it another look, he noticed that his Sun and Moon Divine Wheel had many flaws and had a lot of room for improvement.
Faintly, Yang Kai was struck with a flash of inspiration. If one day, he was able to perfectly fuse Time Principles and Space Principles, his Sun and Moon Divine Wheel would definitely become much more powerful. It would become possible for him to kill Territory Lords using this Secret Technique even when he was only in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Be that as it may, it was extremely difficult to fuse these two. As Yang Kai tried, his strength fluctuated wildly, but he was unable to accomplish anything. He felt like something was missing.
The feeling of being unable to cross the hurdles to reach your goal when they were within sight and you clearly knew how to reach it was extremely frustrating. It could easily cause one’s mind to grow restless.
This was one of the reasons so many cultivators had suffered from cultivation dissonance while cultivating in retreat throughout history. If one mulled over something too deeply, it would form an obsession, causing their focus to narrow and form an endless cycle of frustration and failure. As a result, they would either lose all confidence or lose their minds, which in turn would cause their Grand Dao to collapse.
Having learned the lessons from history, Yang Kai didn’t want to suffer from cultivation dissonance because of this. So, every time his mood became restless, he would relax and focus on the changes brought about by the growth of his Dragon Form.
By varying his routine, he avoided unnecessary problems.
A few months later, Great Evolution Pass entered his sight.
Yang Kai collected his thoughts and reverted from his Dragon Form. When he saw the dense figures stationed on the walls of Great Evolution Pass, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief.
He was really afraid that if he returned too late, he would miss the crusade.
From the looks of it, the crusade had yet to begin. After giving it another thought, he realized that it was not surprising. The round trip to the No-Return Pass cost him a year, and counting the time he had spent at the No-Return Pass, it should be just about five years since he left.
The Human Race Army should not be ready yet.
Space Principles fluctuated as he arrived in front of Great Evolution Pass in a few Instantaneous Movements.
The soldiers on duty had long noticed the strange movements, but after seeing Yang Kai’s face, they quickly let him pass.
When he returned to Great Evolution Pass, he saw soldiers bustling around inside the Pass, as if they were preparing for war.
Yang Kai had no idea about what the situation in the other Theatres was like, but if the crusade were to start right now, the Great Evolution Army would definitely be unstoppable. With the confidence gained from their previous victory over the Black Ink Clan and the addition of the Evil Purging Divine Spears to their arsenal, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to destroy the Royal City.
As for whether they could kill the Royal Lord or not, that would depend on the means of Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Suddenly, a Divine Sense sweep surged from somewhere. Naturally, it belonged to none other than the Old Ancestor.
As soon as the Divine Sense came in contact with him, it withdrew.
Without any hesitation, Yang Kai flew away, following the source of the Divine Sense.
A short while later, he arrived at the Old Ancestor’s residence, where Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was lazily lying on a chair inside her garden. She sized him up before asking, “How was your trip?”
Yang Kai replied respectfully, “It was quite worthwhile. I gained a lot.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao slightly nodded as she teased him, “You didn’t leave your name in the Dragon Tome?”
Yang Kai was taken aback, “You know about the Dragon Tome?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao pursed her lips, “It’s not like it’s some kind of secret, so why shouldn’t I know about it?”
In truth, the only reason she knew about it was because she was a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor. Ordinary Humans would have never have heard of the Dragon Tome. Even Yang Kai had only learned about it after visiting the No-Return Pass and completely purifying his Bloodline.
“The Dragon Clan wanted me to record my name in the Dragon Tome, but this Junior refused.”
“Mhm,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao casually nodded. If he really recorded his name in the Dragon Tome, it would be impossible for Yang Kai to return to Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai suddenly furrowed his brow and asked, “Were you injured recently?”
He had already noticed that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was a bit pale. He thought it was because her injuries had yet to heal, but after giving it a closer look, he noticed that something was off. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s aura was clearly unstable.
This could not be due to old injuries acting up.
The only possibility was that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was injured recently.
“I’ve been going to the Royal City more frequently these days,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao casually replied.
Yang Kai was speechless, “Why fight with the Royal Lord? Isn’t harassing him enough?”
During the previous war, repeated battles had caused the Royal Lord’s injuries to pile up, while Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s frequent visits after the war ended prevented him from healing in peace. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao didn’t need to fight with him, all she needed to do was disturb him from time to time, frustrating him, and eliminating any chance he had to recover.
Yang Kai could not understand why Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had suddenly become so aggressive.
Saying so, he spread out his Small Universe.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao furrowed her brow at the sight, “It’s just some small wounds. I’ll be fine in a few days.”
Yang Kai shook his head and asserted, “You’re the Old Ancestor, so this matter concerns the entire Great Evolution Army. It’s more important for you to quickly recover.”
The Old Ancestor politely refused, “I know you’re doing this out of goodwill, but I’ve spent a lot of time healing in your Small Universe. My recovery comes at the cost of its Bustling World Essence, which will have some negative impact on you.”
Yang Kai requested once more, smiling, “This Junior understands, but such losses won’t affect me too much. You should focus on healing yourself.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao glanced at him before sighing, no longer insisting.
Suddenly, her expression changed, “Your Small Universe…”
Yang Kai explained with a smile, “My Dragon Bloodline was purified and my mastery over the Dao of Time improved. Now, the flow of time in my Small Universe is faster than before.”
A faster flow of time made it easier for the Old Ancestor to heal her injuries.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had lived there for hundreds of years inside of his Small Universe, so she naturally could sense the changes here.
The Old Ancestor’s injuries weren’t too serious, and she had completely recovered after staying a few months in Yang Kai’s Small Universe, while only a month had passed in the outside world.
After recovering from her wounds, the Old Ancestor suddenly stood up, “Don’t be in a hurry to leave, wait here for me.”
Saying so, she soared into the sky. Yang Kai quickly retracted his Small Universe as his face twitched slightly, staring in the direction the Old Ancestor had left.
After recovering from her injuries, the Old Ancestor had gone to cause trouble for the Royal Lord once more, so it was no wonder she told Yang Kai not to leave. Apparently, he would have to help her heal from her injuries after she returned.
As he had expected, the Old Ancestor returned in less than half a day later, but her condition greatly surprised Yang Kai.
Although he couldn’t find anything wrong with her appearance, Yang Kai could clearly feel that the Old Ancestor’s injuries were much more serious than last time.
Needless to say, he quickly spread his Small Universe and let the Old Ancestor enter to heal.
After a few more months, when the Old Ancestor had completely recovered, she left the Pass once more.
The Old Ancestor returned after half a day again, and this time her face was pale and there were traces of dried blood stains on her clothes.
…..
After repeating this process several times, each time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was injured more severely. When the Old Ancestor returned from her fifth excursion, Yang Kai finally couldn’t bear it any longer and persuaded, “Old Ancestor, there’s no need to rush. The crusade is imminent. At that time, we’ll first cut his wings and then, with the cooperation of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders, we can slowly take care of the Royal Lord.”
Yang Kai really could not understand what the Old Ancestor was trying to achieve. Although he helped her mend her injuries and the Royal Lord was now even more heavily injured, the Royal Lord could rely on the power of the Black Ink Nest to empower himself. Fighting alone in the Royal City wasn’t beneficial to the Old Ancestor.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao gave him the feeling as if she wanted to quickly finish off the Royal Lord.
Hearing this, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao bitterly smiled, “It’s not what you think. I have my reasons.”
Yang Kai was confused.
As if she felt a little apologetic, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao explained with a smile, “I’m not trying to kill that Royal Lord. His injuries might be quite serious, but it would be quite difficult for me to kill him without the cooperation of the Army. I’ve been going over to visit him only because I want to get something back from him.”
“What is it?” Yang Kai was taken aback.
[Does the Royal have something that belongs to the Old Ancestor? Could it be that she had lost it while fighting with him last time?]
But that should be impossible. With the Old Ancestor’s cultivation, how could the Royal Lord have secretly snatched something from her?
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was silent for a moment, seemingly hesitating about whether or not to tell Yang Kai about this, but in the end, she still chose to give him the answer, “Every Great Pass is a huge Mobile Palace Artifact, you should know this.”
Yang Kai nodded his agreement.
This was something he had learned when he first laid eyes on Blue Sky Pass; however, despite being a type of Mobile Palace Artifact, the Great Passes were simply too large and difficult to control. Even the Old Ancestors overseeing each Great Pass were unable to control them freely despite their fearsome strength.
“Every Great Pass has its own Core, and with the help of that Core, the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors can control their respective Great Passes. With the assistance of others, a Mobile Palace Artifact like the Great Pass can also be used to attack the enemy.”
“The Core is similar to an Array Core of a Grand Array. The Great Pass is nothing without its Core, just a giant, immobile fortress. The Great Pass can’t be used for anything other than for defense in such a state, but if you have its Core, the Great Pass can really be used as a Mobile Palace Artifact. Unfortunately, the Core of the Great Evolution Pass… has been lost. If I’m right, it should have fallen into the hands of the Royal Lord, so I must retrieve it.”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded.
Judging by the Old Ancestor’s words, if they had the Core, Great Evolution Pass wouldn’t have to remain in place and could instead be brought to the Royal City at some cost. At that time, how could the Royal City possibly resist the powerful Great Evolution Pass? Even if all they did was charge right at the Royal City, the Great Pass would easily smash the Royal City.
However, the Core of Great Evolution Pass had been lost, and without it, Great Evolution Pass could not move.
After giving it another thought, Yang Kai did not find it strange. Great Evolution Pass was in the possession of the Black Ink Clan for 30,000 years. Although they had recovered it now, why would the Black Ink Clan leave behind such an important thing? It was very likely that it had been taken away long ago.
This was the reason why Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been frequently haunting the Royal Lord. With the crusade approaching, if Great Evolution Pass didn’t have its core, they wouldn’t be able to mobilize the Pass. This would make it impossible for them to coordinate with the other Great Passes.
So no matter what, she had to retrieve the Core of Great Evolution Pass.
Hearing this, Yang Kai frowned, “Since the Core is so important, the Black Ink Clan must have also realized it already, so why would they return it just like that?”
“En,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao let out a long sigh. The Black Ink Clan definitely wouldn’t return something so important to the Human Race. If she was the Royal Lord, she would rather destroy the Core than let the Humans take it back.
This was also the reason why she had been attacking the Royal Lord so frequently as of late, only to return empty-handed.
“Can’t we refine another one?” Yang Kai asked.
Clearly, there was no hope of getting it back, and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao must also know this, but she was just doing what she could while leaving the rest up to the Heavens.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head, “The Core is an ancient artifact and the method to refine it has long been lost in the annals of history. Although the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters in the Pass have been researching the problem, they haven’t found any clues as of yet.”
The loss of Great Evolution’s Core was only discovered during the recent restoration so they were currently pressed for time. Even Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster were at a loss.
Refining a new Core would not only be extremely difficult, it would also cost an astronomical amount of resources and take an absurd amount of time, probably 1,000 years at best.
1,000 years… a lot of things could happen over such a long period.
The Human Race currently had the advantage in various Theatres, especially in Great Evolution Theatre, so there would not be a better time to launch the crusade and eliminate all the Royal Cities in one fell swoop. If they delayed things for too long, the Black Ink Clan might be able to rise from the ashes once more.
If they couldn’t find the Core of Great Evolution Pass by the time the crusade began, the Great Evolution Army would no longer be able to borrow the power of the Great Pass and would have no choice but to fly over on their Warships to confront the enemy.
In that case, the Great Evolution Army’s casualties would definitely be higher than the other Human Race Armies.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai couldn’t help in this matter. The only thing he could do was heal Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s injuries, hoping that the Royal Lord wouldn’t be able to take her harassment eventually and return the Core.
Although the chances were slim.
Be that as it may, Yang Kai finally understood why the higher-ups had spent so much manpower and resources to rebuild Great Evolution Pass after retaking the Pass after listening to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
He did question why they were so heavily fortifying Great Evolution Pass in the past. Though he did not put it in words and kept such thoughts to himself, he couldn’t help feeling that this was a wasteful endeavour as the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre had already been routed and trapped in the Royal City. Thus, restoring the Pass without the Black Ink Clan being capable of attacking them seemed somewhat pointless.
Thus, he thought of it not as repelling assaults by the Black Ink Clan, but rather, for the sake of sentiment.
Now it was clear he had made too many incorrect assumptions.
The various repairs done to Great Evolution Pass were not just for the sake of sentiment or appearance, but rather in preparation for the crusade. As long as they could find the Core, the entire Pass would be their greatest reliance in the coming war.
…
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao continued going out once every two or three months, returning each time with varying injuries.
If she ended up in this state, the Royal Lord definitely wouldn’t have fared any better; after all, he had yet to recover from his past injuries. If it weren’t for the power of the Black Ink Nest in the Royal City, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would have killed him already.
The current Royal Lord was simply struggling at death’s door.
Whether Great Evolution Pass could get its Core back, the Great Evolution Army would definitely defeat the Black Ink Clan Army when the crusade began. That would be the time for him to lose his head.
However, as time passed, Yang Kai could clearly feel that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s temper was getting worse and worse. More often than not, she would start cursing the Royal Lord for being ignorant and calling him a stubborn oaf when she returned from the Royal City.
Every time this happened, Yang Kai would choose to remain silent.
Rather, it would be even stranger if the Royal Lord really gave her Great Evolution Pass’ Core just because she went to him and asked for it.
It was just a thought, one Yang Kai didn’t dare say out loud, afraid he would be cursed along with the Royal Lord.
Today, when Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao returned from her trip to the Royal City, she was so gloomy that it felt as if darkness was oozing from her. She landed in Yang Kai’s Small Universe, began healing from her injuries, and began her usual rant about the Royal Lord.
All this went in Yang Kai’s left ear and out through the right as he kept nodding in agreement like a chicken pecking rice.
This had already happened many times before, so Yang Kai had long since become accustomed to it. Now well prepared, he casually took out a stick of candied fruit and handed it to her. The Old Ancestor took a sidelong glance at him before accepting it, but she still did not forget to scold the Royal Lord while she aggressively crunched on the snack.
Yang Kai remained calm, quietly studying the Daos of Time and Space.
Suddenly, Yang Kai raised his head, looking at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
The Old Ancestor was just about to unleash another barrage of curses, but when she noticed his unusual movement, she furrowed her brow and asked, “What is it?”
Yang Kai asked, “Old Ancestor, you said that the Royal Lord keeps denying that he took Great Evolution Pass’ Core, yes?”
This was not the first time the Old Ancestor had mentioned this, but Yang Kai had never taken it seriously; after all, there was nothing he could do to help in this situation except aid the Old Ancestor with her recovery.
While the Old Ancestor was recuperating, most of Yang Kai’s attention was focused on comprehending the Dao of Time and the Dao of Space to improve in the short peaceful time he had on hand. And he had indeed gained a lot over the past few months.
The advancement of his Dragon Bloodline had improved his mastery and understanding of the Dao of Time, and by refining and absorbing the abundance Space Dao Essence in Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest he had enhanced his comprehension of the Dao of Space.
When the Old Ancestor mentioned this matter again just now though, Yang Kai suddenly realised that he had overlooked something very important.
The Old Ancestor rebuked with a snort, “Would he dare to admit to such a thing if he did it?”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment before asking, “If Great Evolution’s Core was still there when the Black Ink Clan occupied Great Evolution Pass, would the Black Ink Clan be able to use it?”
The Old Ancestor explained, “Although Great Evolution Pass was created by Humans, in the end, it’s just a giant Mobile Palace Artifact, so with sufficient energy anyone can control it. The Royal Lord is comparable to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so he wouldn’t be able to control Great Evolution Pass on his own; however, if with the help of the Territory Lords under him, controlling Great Evolution Pass wouldn’t be a problem. After all, the Black Ink Clan has many Territory Lords.”
“Then this situation is a bit strange,” Yang Kai looked at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, “If they were able to move Great Evolution Pass, why did the Black Ink Clan just leave it here? If I were the Royal Lord, I would have brought Great Evolution Pass back to the vicinity of the Royal City to act as another fortified base of operation. I might have even directly treated Great Evolution Pass as my own Royal City.”
The Black Ink Clan Royal Cities were nowhere near as sturdy as the Human Race’s Great Passes. By making such a Pass into his Royal City, the Royal Lord would never need to worry about the Human’s taking it back, which would give him a huge boost in security and face.
He believed that no Royal Lord could resist this temptation.
The Old Ancestor slightly frowned, “Actually, I’ve also been wondering about this issue as well…”
Yang Kai’s eyes slightly lit up, “Great Evolution Pass’ Core really may not be in the hands of the Black Ink Clan.”
The Old Ancestor shook her head, denying the possibility, “But if the Core is not in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, where could it be?”
“Could it have been destroyed?” Yang Kai asked, “Back then, the Old Ancestor of Great Evolution Pass died in battle. Perhaps someone felt that the situation was dire enough for the Humans that they decided to destroy the Core rather than let it fall into enemy hands.”
At a time of crisis, something as important as the Core would definitely be destroyed rather than left behind.
“While that’s possible, it’s not very likely. Every Great Pass’ Core is extremely sturdy, so only a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could destroy it. When Great Evolution Pass fell, there was only one Old Ancestor here, and at that time, he should have been fighting with the two Royal Lords, so how could he have had time to destroy the Core?”
“Then there’s only one possibility,” Yang Kai stated as he put away his Small Universe and beckoned her, “Old Ancestor, please follow me.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s face was filled with confusion, nonetheless, she quickly chased after him, asking, “What are you thinking?”
Yang Kai shook his head, stating, “I’m not certain, but we’ll know after giving it a try. Old Ancestor, please wait patiently.”
Xiao Xiao didn’t pursue the matter any further.
Soon, the two arrived at Great Evolution’s Space Array Hall.
When the soldiers on duty saw the Old Ancestor arrive, they quickly stepped forward and bowed.
One of the soldiers asked, “Does the Old Ancestor want to go to another Great Pass?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and pointed at Yang Kai, “It’s his business, you should ask him.”
The man nodded and turned to Yang Kai, “Where is Junior Brother Yang going?”
Yang Kai thought for a moment before stating, “I’ll have to trouble Senior Brothers to activate the Hyper Space Array.”
The guards immediately started getting everything set up.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked, furrowing her brow, “Do you suspect that when Great Evolution Pass was breached, someone sent the Core to another Great Pass using the Space Array?”
Yang Kai nodded, “If the Core is not in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, and it has not been destroyed, then that is the only possibility left. After all, they did not outright destroy the Space Array, believing that the Humans Race would come back one day to retake the Pass.”
No one knew what had happened 30,000 years ago; after all, on the day Great Evolution Pass fell, except for those who had been captured, almost everyone, from the Old Ancestors to the ordinary soldiers, was wiped out.
However, just as Yang Kai had said, if the Core was not in the hands of the Black Ink Clan and was not destroyed, the only way to send it away was through the Space Array!
Perhaps on that day, someone had stepped through this Space Array, shouldering the heavy responsibility of preserving Great Evolution Pass’ Core!
“If it really was sent to another Great Pass, why would that Great Pass not report it?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head in response.
Yang Kai answered with a smile, “If they don’t know, how can they report it?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was confused.
At this moment, the guard on duty stated, “Junior Brother Yang, everything is set. Where should we set the location?”
Yang Kai stated without hesitation, “Wind and Cloud Pass!”
Saying so, he stepped onto the Array.
The Space Array hummed and energy surged as the lines of the Array flashed, enveloping Yang Kai’s figure in a dazzling glow. By the time the light disappeared, Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen.
At the same time, inside Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array Hall lit up. The guards promptly reported the situation, while searching for the source of the disturbance.
Soon, they found out that it was someone arriving from Great Evolution Pass.
A moment later, Yang Kai’s figure appeared on the Space Array.
“Junior Brother Yang!” A Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master cupped his fist and greeted Yang Kai. The last time Yang Kai came here, he was also on duty, so he immediately recognized Yang Kai.
Yang Kai returned the greeting, “Greetings, Senior Brother.”
The Seventh-Order Master asked, “What business does Junior Brother Yang have here?”
Under normal circumstances, very few people would travel between the Great Passes, because each teleportation would consume a massive amount of resources. If it was just information that needed to be shared, then a jade slip would be sufficient.
The Evil Purging Divine Spears, Purifying Black Ink Pills, and even the refining method of the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors were all shared with other Great Passes by sending out jade slips.
It had to be something very important for Yang Kai to teleport here in person.
Yang Kai stated outright, “There are indeed some things I need to discuss, may I ask which Army Commander is free right now? I would like to ask them about something.”
The Seventh-Order guard agreed with a nod, “Junior Brother, please wait a moment, allow me…”
Before this person could finish, a voice came from outside, “What’s the matter?”
The moment the voice rang in everyone’s ear, a figure stepped into the hall.
Everyone quickly bowed.
Yang Kai looked over and saw an old acquaintance, Wind and Cloud Pass’ Eastern Army Commander, Yuan Xing Ge!
The last time Yang Kai came here, it was this Army Commander who took him to meet Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor.
“Greetings, Senior Yuan,” Yang Kai bowed.
Yuan Xing Ge lightly nodded in response before solemnly asking, “What did you come here for?”
Anytime someone travelled between the Passes, it was accompanied by a major event. So, he immediately rushed over after receiving this news.
Yang Kai replied, “I have something I want to ask you.”
“Speak.”
“When Great Evolution Pass was breached 30,000 years ago, did anything unusual happen with Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array?”
“30,000 years ago…” Yuan Xing Ge was speechless, “This Yuan only arrived at Wind and Cloud Pass 10,000 years ago.”
How could he know anything about what had happened 30,000 years ago? It was too long ago. In fact, he wasn’t even born 30,000 years ago.
“Is there anyone alive from 30,000 years ago in the Pass?”
“There is… but they won’t necessarily know about this.”
Everyone had their own duties they were assigned to. Apart from the person guarding it at the time, it was unlikely anyone else would know anything about the matters of the Space Array.
After a moment of silence, Yuan Xing Ge asked, “Is this important?”
Yang Kai earnestly nodded, “It is of critical importance.”
Yuan Xing Ge turned around and stated, “Follow me, I’ll take you to the Old Ancestor.”
There was no point in asking others about this. It was best to just ask the Old Ancestor; after all, it had certainly been over 30,000 years since the current Old Ancestor began presiding over Wind and Cloud Pass.
A moment later, Yang Kai saw Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor tending his cattle in the manifestation of his Small Universe at a secluded location in Wind and Cloud Pass once more.
Receiving Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s reminder, Yang Kai carefully observed this time and found that there was indeed an old ox with a broken horn, secretly guessing that it should be an extremely powerful Monster Beast.
After all, anything that could make Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao pay attention to would be surely extraordinary.
Perhaps sensing Yang Kai’s gaze wandering on its ribs, the old ox, that was casually eating grass, raised its head and mooed.
Yuan Xing Ge stepped forward and whispered a few words to the Old Ancestor, who nodded and asked, looking at Yang Kai, “Why do you suddenly want to inquire about what happened 30,000 years ago?”
Yang Kai cupped his fist and answered, “Reporting to Old Ancestor, Great Evolution Pass’ Core is missing.”
Yuan Xing Ge’s expression slightly changed after hearing this, but this was also well within his expectations; after all, the Black Ink Clan had occupied Great Evolution Pass for more than 30,000 years, so they definitely wouldn’t leave the Core behind.
Be that as it may, what he could not understand was what the loss of the Core had to do with Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array 30,000 years ago.
Without waiting for them to ask, Yang Kai explained, “Junior suspects that when Great Evolution Pass was breached, the Human soldiers from that time took the Core and tried to send it to Wind and Cloud Pass.”
The Old Ancestor looked at him with interest, “Why do you think so?”
Yang Kai replied with a serious look on his face, “If I were a Great Evolution soldier 30,000 years ago, and saw that the Old Ancestor would fall in battle and the Great Pass was likely to fall, my priority would be to think of a way to protect the Core. And if I wanted to protect it, the only way to do so would be to send it to a nearby Great Pass via the Space Array.”
The Old Ancestor nodded in agreement, “Hmm, that makes sense. Continue.”
“The Passes adjacent to Great Evolution Pass are Wind and Cloud Pass, and Azure Void Pass. At that time, the situation would have been urgent, so they would have definitely chosen one of these two.”
“Then why Wind and Cloud Pass and not Azure Void Pass?”
Yang Kai explained, “After recovering Great Evolution Pass, this Junior managed to repair Great Evolution Pass’ Hyper Space Array, but during the final tests, something went wrong when I tried to teleport to Wind and Cloud Pass. Something was interfering with the Space Array, preventing a smooth connection from being established between the two Passes. I had no choice but to enter the Void Corridor and break through the interference personally, allowing the Space Array to function smoothly. Senior Yuan should know about this.”
The nearby Yuan Xing Ge lightly nodded in agreement.
That day, when Great Evolution Pass’ Space Array connected to this place, a portal had opened, but nothing came through from the other side. It was only after waiting for a very long time that Yang Kai finally arrived.
As this had never happened before, the soldiers on duty that day immediately reported it to Yuan Xing Ge and the Army Commander of Wind and Cloud Pass’ Northern Army, Tian Lu.
Eventually, Yang Kai did arrive, solving the mystery.
Back then, Yang Kai was unable to understand what went wrong with the teleportation. Although he had transited the entire Void Corridor to investigate, he was still unable to find the reason.
What’s more, apart from the first time, nothing unusual happened with the later teleportations. So, Yang Kai didn’t pay any much attention to this matter. He only thought that it was because the Void Corridor had not been used for a long time and needed to be smoothed out or unblocked.
But now, it suddenly struck him that this was not the case.
There was a high chance that something was stuck in the Void Corridor and was interfering with its stability. So, even if they were able to determine the direction and open the portal, nothing was able to pass through it.
If Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao hadn’t told him about Great Evolution Pass’ Core, it would have never occurred to Yang Kai that these two seemingly unrelated matters were actually closely related.
Obviously, the Old Ancestor understood this and asked, “So you suspect that Great Evolution Pass’ Core was lost in the Void Crack and the power it gave off was interfering with the passage between the two Passes?”
Yang Kai nodded, “That is my hypothesis.”
As for what exactly happened that day, no one knew. And it was impossible to investigate what had happened 30,000 years ago as everyone who knew had most likely already died.
However, if Yang Kai’s speculations were true, then a Great Evolution Pass soldier must have brought the Core with them and tried to send it to Wind and Cloud Pass through the Space Array 30,000 years ago. But, just as the Space Array was activated, the Black Ink Clan must have breached Great Evolution Pass.
The moment the Core was sent, the soldiers must have disabled the Space Array in haste, causing the Void Corridor to become unstable. The Core must have been lost in the Void Crack then because of this, and that is why it had not been found in the last 30,000 years.
“However, these are all my speculations, so I need some kind of proof before taking further action.”
This was the reason why he had come to Wind and Cloud Pass to inquire about the situation. If something unusual had happened with the Hyper Space Array of Wind and Cloud Pass back then, it would greatly bolster his conjecture.
“Mhmm.” The Old Ancestor nodded lightly, “Wait a moment, 30,000 years…is a very long time.”
Even a Master like the Old Ancestor might not be able to recall what happened so long ago. Not to mention, the Old Ancestor might not have been paying attention to the Space Array at the time.
As such, he needed to calm his mind and search his memories for the scene from 30,000 years ago to find some clues.
The verdant mountains and clear waters sunk into silence for the moment as the Old Ancestor’s eyes drooped, as if he had fallen asleep.
Yang Kai and Yuan Xing Ge quietly stood in place, respectfully waiting.
Only a few old oxen were leisurely eating grass nearby.
At first, everything seemed normal, but as time passed, the verdant mountains began to slightly quake and ripples appeared on the calm and clear waters.
It was obvious that the Old Ancestor was mobilizing his strength. It happened in the distant past and there was no specific point in time, so it was not easy to find a small bit of trivial information even for someone as strong as the Old Ancestor.
After half a day, Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor suddenly raised his head.
The trembling Small Universe instantly calmed down.
Yang Kai focused his gaze on him.
The Old Ancestor lightly nodded to Yang Kai, “It seems your guess is right on the mark. The day Great Evolution Pass was breached, a portal had indeed opened at our Space Array, but it disappeared right after it appeared. Even the soldiers on duty were unable to locate its origin, so this matter was left unsettled.”
Yang Kai excitedly cried, “So the Core really isn’t in the hands of the Black Ink Clan.”
Although he felt that his guess was correct, it wasn’t until the Old Ancestor here personally confirmed that something unusual had indeed happened with the Space Array that he was certain.
This was great news.
As long as Great Evolution Pass’ Core was not in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, it became a simple matter.
If the Core really was in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, that would be rather troublesome. Although Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been pressuring the Royal Lord, why would the Royal Lord easily compromise? If he really had the Core, he would definitely not return it unless she killed him.
And how could a Royal Lord who could mobilize the power of his Black Ink Nest be so easy to kill? No matter how serious his injuries were, so long as he was in his Royal City, he could use the Black Ink Nest to fight with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. If he was pushed into a corner, he might even be able to drag Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao down with him.
This was something Great Evolution Pass could not bear.
But now… Yang Kai felt a little sorry for the Royal Lord.
Speaking of which, he had been to several Theatres, but he had never seen such a miserable Royal Lord. He was basically bullied and humiliated by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao time and time again, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Presumably, when Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked him for Great Evolution Pass’ Core, a look of despair must have filled his face.
He could do nothing about it if he did not have it.
Yuan Xing Ge asked, “Just now, you said that you vaguely sensed some kind of disturbance in the Void Corridor. Does this mean that Great Evolution Pass’ Core is still there?”
“Yes,” Yang Kai nodded in agreement.
“Can you find it?”
Yang Kai took a deep breath, “This Junior will do his best.”
In this World, there were not many who stood a chance of finding an artifact that had been lost for 30,000 years in the Void Crack.
On the Divine Spirit’s side, the Phoenix Clan with strong Bloodlines might be able to, but on the Human Race’s side, only Yang Kai was capable.
After confirming that Great Evolution Pass’ Core was still lost in the Void, Yang Kai bid farewell to Yuan Xing Ge and quickly returned to the Space Array.
“Senior Brothers, please activate the Space Array.” Yang Kai bowed.
The soldiers on duty immediately started setting everything up.
Yuan Xing Ge was silent for a moment before asking in a low voice, “How confident are you?”
Yang Kai replied with a smile, “I won’t return unless I find the Core.”
Yuan Xing Ge glanced at him for a moment before cautioning, “Your own safety is of utmost importance.”
“I understand!” Yang Kai earnestly replied. The Spirit Array was set, so he stepped forward.
The Grand Array buzzed before a dazzling glow enveloped Yang Kai and he disappeared.
If it was a normal teleportation, Yang Kai would probably appear in Great Evolution Pass after just a few breaths, but this time, he had to enter the Void Corridor to search for the Core, so he had to interrupt the teleportation.
As soon as he sensed the power of Space Principles from the Space Array, Yang Kai immediately used his own Space Principles to resist the pulling force he felt.
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai appeared in the turbulent Void.
In the Void Crack, Void Turbulences were the most dangerous thing. These turbulences had no set pattern and moved randomly, like wild beasts.
If anyone who didn’t have a high comprehension of the Dao of Space was pulled into a Void Turbulence, they would lose all sense of direction and become trapped forever.
Only a miserable fate awaited a person trapped in the Void Crack.
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.
Although the Blood Sea was giving off an extremely evil aura, it was also extremely restrained.
Just from this, it could be seen that the person controlling it was extremely skilled.
In the entire Dawn Squad, the only one who cultivated Blood Principles was Blood Crow; thus, only he could have cast the Blood Sea.
This was the first time everyone had cooperated with Blood Crow while fighting an enemy ever since he joined Dawn. That’s why, it came as a surprise that he was able to display such a Blood Sea.
Though this technique gave off a skin-crawling aura, it was extremely effective.
At the very least, the Feudal Lord and the dozen or so Black Ink Clansmen who were trapped in the Blood Sea couldn’t make a single sound.
Bai Yi ignored all this and instead fired a few arrows, taking out the High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen who had yet to react.
Just as she took action, Shen Ao and the others also attacked. They all rushed towards the Black Ink Clan without using any Secret Techniques or artifacts to kill as quietly as possible.
Inside the Black Ink Nest, Yang Kai’s figure flickered as he instantly arrived at its core.
He was extremely familiar with the internal structure of Black Ink Nests so he knew where its key positions were.
After looking around and seeing that the core area was empty, with no one guarding it, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
He was really worried that a Feudal Lord would be on guard in this central area. If that was the case, the Feudal Lord would have instantly sounded the alarm about the enemy attacking.
Fortunately, it seemed luck was on their side today.
After giving it another thought, it was not surprising. The main task of the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests set in the periphery of the Royal City was to generate Black Ink Strength and expand the defence perimeter. The Feudal Lords of the Black Ink Nests were surely busy at the Black Ink Pool, so there was no point standing by in the central area; after all, what would they do inside the Black Ink Nest Space, chat with other Feudal Lords?
Without any hesitation, Yang Kai continued deeper, making a beeline straight to the Black Ink Pool’s location.
Finally, he saw a Feudal Lord and a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman.
The High-Rank Black Ink Clansman was standing before the billowing Black Ink Pool, holding a Space Ring and constantly pouring various materials into it for refining.
The Feudal Lord was sitting completely still near the Black Ink Pool, his consciousness apparently linked with the Black Ink Nest.
The Human Race had done a lot of research on the Black Ink Nest they acquired. Furthermore, Yang Kai was stationed in the vicinity of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest captured by Great Evolution Pass for many years, studying its various functions and characteristics. As such, Yang Kai could tell that this Feudal Lord was controlling the Black Ink Nest to produce Black Ink Strength with just a glance.
Generally, when resources were thrown into the Black Ink Pool, the refined energy could be used in two ways for a Low-Rank Black Ink Nest. First, it could be used to breed more Black Ink Clansmen, and second, it could be used to produce Black Ink Strength.
If no one was present to control the Black Ink Nest, then it would simply perform both functions.
The current task of the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests was to expand the defence line, so the only thing they needed to do was produce Black Ink Strength.
The moment Yang Kai barged in, it was the Feudal Lord who suddenly looked up before the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman could react.
The next moment, Yang Kai’s grim smile entered his sight.
“You…” The Feudal Lord was beside himself in shock, but before he could get up, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansman next to the Black Ink Pool exploded into a blood mist. Immediately after, a strange wave of energy swept over the Feudal Lord, freezing both his body and mind in place.
In a flash, a spear pierced through his head, blowing it apart.
Yang Kai put away the Azure Dragon Spear and breathed a long sigh of relief.
He had taken control of this Black Ink Nest. It might have seemed simple, but any other Seventh-Order Master would never have achieved this.
To make the attack that killed the Feudal Lord, Yang Kai had simultaneously used Time Principles and Space Principles.
Under the Time Principles, the Feudal Lord’s thoughts became sluggish, and under the Space Principles, his body became stiff, rendering him unable to avoid Yang Kai’s fatal attack.
After scanning the Black Ink Nest with his Divine Sense and confirming that there were no more Black Ink Clansmen inside, Yang Kai exited it without any hesitation.
When he arrived outside, he found that all the Black Ink Clansmen outside were dead, all that was left was a billowing Blood Sea.
As Yang Kai focused his gaze, a slight furrow appeared on his brow.
“Help!” Suddenly, Blood Crow’s voice rang in his ear as the Blood Sea parted, creating a passage.
Yang Kai immediately flew along the passage into the Blood Sea. Soon, he saw a Feudal Lord surrounded by the Blood Sea. At this moment, the Feudal Lord was rapidly casting Secret Techniques to attack the surrounding Blood Sea, his body violently surging with Black Ink Strength.
While this Feudal Lord was pretty strong, Blood Crow could easily defeat him given enough time. Unfortunately, the current situation did not allow him to drag things out so he directly sent a transmission to Yang Kai, requesting assistance.
Yang Kai raised his Azure Dragon Spear and thrust it towards the Feudal Lord. The sharp spear broke through the barriers of space and pierced straight through the unsuspecting Feudal Lord.
A fountain of Black Blood immediately gushed out from the Feudal Lord as Yang Kai pulled out his spear.
Immediately, Blood Crow broke into a maniacal laughter.
Yang Kai’s expression instantly changed as he quickly retreated.
Just as he withdrew from the Blood Sea, it strangely converged into a single place, transforming back into Blood Crow. The many Black Ink Clansmen that were previously submerged in Blood Sea were nowhere to be found.
Blood Crow, on the other hand, had a satisfied look on his face, even letting out a loud burp.
A strange look appeared on Bai Yi and the others’ faces at the sight of this.
Yang Kai’s expression became even more serious as he ordered, “Clean everything up and quickly get inside!”
At the same time, Yang Kai reached out and grabbed Blood Crow by the neck, dragging him into the Black Ink Nest.
The Black Ink Nest was pretty big, so Yang Kai quickly found an empty space and let Dawning Light out. Afterwards, he jumped onto the deck, towing Blood Crow by the neck.
Blood Crow tried to struggle his way out but he was unable to break free from Yang Kai’s grasp. His face immediately became ugly as he shouted, “Let me go!”
No matter what, he was still a Senior to Yang Kai, so he found it disgraceful to be hauled around by the neck by a Junior.
“You’re courting death!” Yang Kai shouted, gnashing his teeth, “Do you know what you’re doing?”
Blood Crow gave a lackadaisical smile, “What do you think I’m doing?”
As he spoke, Bai Yi and the others also rushed over and came to the deck in succession, staring at Blood Crow silently.
As if he sensed everyone’s attitude, Blood Crow lightly chuckled, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling disgusted just because I ate a few Black Ink Clansmen?”
Shen Ao corrected, furrowing his brow, “Brother Xue, it’s not like that, but…”
“There’s no need to explain,” Yang Kai glared at Blood Crow, “I know you cultivate the Great Evolution Immortal Blood Light Scripture and can refine the Blood Essence of others to increase your cultivation, but the Black Ink Clan!? You’ve been on the Black Ink Battlefield for so many years, so I don’t think that you need me to explain it to you. If you refine the Black Ink Clan’s Blood Essence, can you stomach it?”
Blood Crow indifferently replied, “If I can’t stomach it, what would I have eaten all these years?”
Yang Kai’s expression changed, “This isn’t the first time?”
Blood Crow lightly chuckled as a sliver of Black Ink Strength surged in between his brows.
The Black Ink Clan had Blood Essence which could be refined, but that was naturally filled with Black Ink Strength. Refining Blood Essence also meant being contaminated by Black Ink Strength. On the battlefield, the slightest mistake would lead to horrendous consequences; he could be corrupted by Black Ink Strength and become a Black Ink Disciple.
Blood Crow indifferently rebuked, “Don’t speak to me about the Grand Dao. This King resurrected for the sake of greater strength; otherwise, this King wouldn’t have died back then. The Great Evolution Immoral Blood Light Scripture is a wondrous Secret Art, and not nearly as simple as you think. It’s not a problem to refine the Blood Essence from the Black Ink Clan, and as for the Black Ink Strength, there is naturally a way to resolve it now.”
The method he was referring to was none other than the Purifying Light. Not to mention that Yang Kai was right next to him. If Yang Kai noticed something was amiss, he would naturally be able to purify the Black Ink Strength in his body.
Even if there was no Yang Kai, the purifying light sealed inside the Black Ink Purifying Battleships would work just fine.
This was not the first time Blood Crow had refined the Black Ink Clan’s Blood Essence; in fact, he had done so many times on the battlefield. Each time, he would find an opportunity to use the Universe Transference Law to return to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
Yang Kai asked in a serious voice, “Are you sure there is no problem?”
Although the Purifying Light could purify and expel Black Ink Strength, it was only effective against the Black Ink Disciples who had been corrupted by the Black Ink Strength. As for Blood Crow, he was actively refining it. Yang Kai couldn’t be certain if there was any Black Ink Strength hidden in him.
“There’s no problem, for now,” Blood Crow slowly shook his head in response, “If some problem really does present itself, just kill me.”
Yang Kai stared deeply at him, “I won’t show any mercy.”
If it really reached a point where even the Purifying Light couldn’t save him, Yang Kai would have no choice but to take his life. This was the path that Blood Crow had chosen, so he couldn’t blame others.
Blood Crow went around Yang Kai and headed for the cabin, wearing an indifferent expression on his face.
Currently, apart from Dawning Light, there were only four Purifying Black Ink Battleships that had Purifying Light in the entire Great Evolution Army. If Blood Crow wanted to safely refine the Black Ink Clan’s Blood Essence, he had to do it in an environment filled with Purifying Light.
Watching him leave, Yang Kai secretly heaved a helpless sigh.
He had also mulled over this before. The Great Evolution Immortal Blood Light Scripture that Blood Crow was cultivating after returning from the dead was indeed a wondrous Secret Art, but it was equally evil. The user of this technique could only improve their strength by relying on their own cultivation technique, which was quite a slow and tedious process, or by devouring and refining the Blood Essence of the others, which was by far the best option for the users of Blood Light Scripture.
On the Black Ink Battlefield, whether it was the Black Ink Clansmen or the Black Ink Disciples, both possessed quite a lot of Black Ink Strength in their bodies, so refining their Blood Essence was quite a risky process.
Yang Kai thought that Blood Crow wouldn’t be so bold, but by the looks of it, he had underestimated his determination to pursue greater strength.
But who did not pursue greater strength in this miserable era? Yang Kai was also like that, so were the members of Dawn, and so was the entire Great Evolution Army.
Only with greater strength could one play a greater role in the battle against the Black Ink Clan.
Be that as it may, Blood Crow’s method of increasing his strength was somewhat different from others.
Now that it was already a done deed, Yang Kai couldn’t possibly ask Blood Crow to spit out the Black Ink Clansmen, it simply didn’t work like that.
“Have you tidied up things outside?” Yang Kai asked.
Shen Ao reported with a nod, “It’s all cleaned up, but this way, it’ll be easy for us to expose ourselves.”
There should be Black Ink Clansmen outside the Black Ink Nest, defending it. When Yang Kai used the Demon Eye of Annihilation to observe them, he saw that every Black Ink Nest was guarded by the Black Ink Clan.
Now though, this Black Ink Nest was completely undefended. If a Black Ink Clan patrol were to pass by, they would definitely become suspicious.
“Should we put on a disguise?” Shen Ao asked.
Yang Kai refused, shaking his head, “No need. If the Black Ink Clansmen really come to investigate, putting on a disguise would be pointless. Furthermore, we don’t have to maintain this position for long. Great Evolution Pass will arrive in half a month at most, so we just need to hold out until then.”
It shouldn’t be a problem to hold out for half a month. What they needed to do now was to quickly take down the other two nearby Black Ink Nests.
When Yang Kai observed from the periphery of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, he noticed that as long as he could take down these three neighbouring Black Ink Nests, an exploitable gap would appear.
As long as Great Evolution Pass disguised itself a little and entered through this gap, they would be able to completely avoid the eyes and ears of the Black Ink Clan and make it to the Royal City, catching the Black Ink Clan off guard.
Since everything had gone smoothly when they launched a surprise attack using the Black Ink Clan’s ship. Yang Kai planned to simply use the same method to capture the other two Black Ink Nests.
There was still about half a month before Great Evolution Pass’ arrival, so Yang Kai wasn’t in a hurry to attack the nearby two Black Ink Nests.
What he was more curious about was whether the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line was really as effective as they had thought.
With this Black Ink Nest under their control, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to verify this.
Without any delay, Yang Kai arrived at the chamber where the Black Ink Pool was and opened a portal to his Small Universe, allowing the Black Ink Nest to absorb his World Force and use it as a bridge to connect their consciousnesses.
At first, he felt nothing out of the ordinary, but when Yang Kai immersed his mind and carefully sensed his surroundings, he felt his consciousness expanding. Not only had the Black Ink Nest become a part of him, but even the surrounding void seemed to be within his reach.
The range of his consciousness was the area filled with the Black Ink Nest’s Black Ink Strength, though the further away it was from the Black Ink Nest, the blurrier his perception became.
Nonetheless, he was able to detect a foreign body if it intruded into the region.
As he had guessed, the defence line formed by the Black Ink Strength did serve as the warning system. This was also the reason why the Black Ink Clan sent a team to investigate them the two times they had approached to within a certain range of the Black Ink Nests so quickly.
Although Great Evolution Pass had seized a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest and had done a lot of research on it over the years, they had no idea that it had such a function.
It wasn’t that the people studying the Black Ink Nest were careless, but rather that the Humans had invested all their energy into spawning sub-nests. Why would they even think about producing Black Ink Strength? For one, the Black Ink Strength was highly dangerous to the Humans.
Even the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest in Yang Kai’s Small Universe only gave birth to the weakest Black Ink Clansmen and did not produce any Black Ink Strength beyond what he deemed absolutely necessary.
As such, Yang Kai was also oblivious to this function of the Black Ink Nests.
After carefully examining it for a moment and making sure he hadn’t missed anything, Yang Kai finally relaxed somewhat.
By the looks of it, the Black Ink Clan’s defence line had two purposes; firstly, it served as a detection net, so once a Human broke in, the Black Ink Clan would be alerted, and secondly, it would create an advantageous environment for the Black Ink Clan to fight in.
Over the years, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests had been constantly producing Black Ink Strength, enveloping the region around the Royal City, making it difficult for Human cultivators to enter this place.
This was the Black Ink Clan’s strategy to protect themselves.
Correspondingly, if the Black Ink Nests’ warning was only effective to this extent, then his previous plan would work. If he could capture the nearby Black Ink Nests, then a gap would appear in defence line. At that time, Great Evolution Pass would be able to pass through and charge straight at the Royal City undetected.
The Black Ink Clan probably hadn’t even imagined that the Great Passes could be moved!
The Great Passes had remained in place for countless millennia. Although they were strong and sturdy, they had only been used for defence, never to attack.
Now, they were being mobilized for the first time ever. The Humans would definitely be able to catch the Black Ink Clan off guard with this move. Furthermore, the influence of the Black Ink Strength on the Humans would be greatly diminished with Great Evolution Pass acting as a barrier and shield. If someone was not able to withstand the Black Ink Strength’s invasion, they could simply return to Great Evolution Pass and recuperate.
This was unlike before, where they could only rely on Warships.
Warships were constantly at risk of destruction, but if the Black Ink Clan wanted to destroy Great Evolution Pass, it would be extremely difficult.
Suddenly, hurried footfalls came from outside. Yang Kai returned to his senses and looked towards the entrance.
Shen Ao hurriedly walked in and looked at Yang Kai with a solemn expression, “Squad Leader, Bai Yi said that a Black Ink Clan team is approaching.”
“How many?” Yang Kai asked.
[That’s surprising. We just seized this Black Ink Nest, and now a Black Ink patrol is coming? Did one of the nearby Black Ink Nests notice the disturbance and come to investigate?]
Dawn was extremely fast and had completely suppressed the fallout from their attack, so being noticed was unlikely, especially since even the closest Black Ink Nests were quite some distance away and there was a thick cloud of Black Ink Strength between them. Logically speaking, it should be impossible for them to detect anything.
“I don’t know,” Shen Ao shook his head.
Yang Kai hurriedly went out and soon arrived outside.
The Seventh-Order Masters of Dawn were hiding at the entrance of the Black Ink Nest, concealing their auras.
Seeing Yang Kai arrive, Bai Yi waved at him and pointed in a certain direction.
Yang Kai focused his gaze, using the Demon Eye of Annihilation, and noticed a Black Ink Clansman was indeed flying towards them.
Only one!
In this place, where everyone moved around in teams of no less than a dozen, it was quite strange to see a lone Black Ink Clansman acting like this.
Judging by the approaching aura, it was a Feudal Lord, and they seemed to be heading straight for this particular Black Ink Nest.
[Damn it!]
Originally, Yang Kai wanted to quickly capture the two nearby Black Ink Nests to prepare for Great Evolution Pass’ attack, but he had never expected such an unforeseen event to occur. Be that as it may, since this Black Ink Clansman had come knocking on their door, Yang Kai and his Squad had no choice but to silence him.
The occupied Black Ink Nest had a huge flaw, which was that the Black Ink Clansmen here had been completely wiped out. With not a single Black Ink Clansman guarding this place, if the other party became even a little suspicious, he would very likely realize that something was amiss.
Nevertheless, Dawn could do nothing about it. Yang Kai could not ask Shen Ao and the others to disguise themselves as the difference between Humans and the Black Ink Clan auras was too great. Their physiques also didn’t match.
Many Black Ink Clansmen did have humanoid forms, and although some were Human-sized, most of them were far taller and imposing, with various warped shapes.
Everyone thus held their breaths.
The Feudal Lord quickly approached.
What made everyone heave a sigh of relief was that the other party appeared to be completely oblivious to the capture of the Black Ink Nest. It did not look like it even crossed this individual’s mind that Humans could accomplish this. He simply approached in a seemingly casual manner.
Soon, the newcomer arrived in front of the Black Ink Nest. The Feudal Lord examined it for a moment before curiously calling out, “Lord Bo Gao, why is there no one guarding this place? Where did your subordinates go?”
Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly as he learned for the first time that the Feudal Lord he had killed inside the Black Ink Nest was called Bo Gao.
Furthermore, this guy appeared to know him.
This made Yang Kai curious about the purpose of the other party’s visit.
Yang Kai immediately had an idea as he replied in a hoarse voice, “The defence line has been frequently intruded upon recently, so they have all gone to investigate. Sir Feudal Lord has his hands full with the Black Ink Nest, so he is unable to reply. Sir, please come inside.”
He couldn’t disguise himself as Bo Gao, so he could only pretend to be one of Bo Gao’s subordinates.
Presumably, the other party wouldn’t be able to find any fault.
“En,” as expected, the other party didn’t suspect anything and simply walked towards the Black Ink Nest.
However, after taking just one step, he instantly retreated.
Yang Kai cursed, gnashing his teeth. This Feudal Lord was quite crafty.
[Perhaps he really hadn’t noticed anything before, but my reply gave him the confirmation that something was wrong, or perhaps the absence of the Black Ink Clansmen alerted him, so he pretended to move forward before retreating.]
This time, Yang Kai was caught off guard.
Fortunately, Yang Kai’s reaction was extremely fast. With a single Instantaneous Movement, Yang Kai appeared beside the Feudal Lord and pounced at him.
The next moment, the Feudal Lord who was about to retreat suddenly froze as Yang Kai’s fist landed on his head, releasing a massive amount of World Force. The Feudal Lord immediately felt dizzy.
But this wasn’t the end of it. Yang Kai got a firm hold of his opponent and began bombarding him with punches.
The Feudal Lord felt extremely aggrieved. He was still a Feudal Lord, but he was being beaten to the point where he couldn’t even fight back. Every time he mustered some strength, it would be dispersed by the other party’s violent assault.
A moment later, he spat out a mouthful of blood as all the colour drained from his face.
Yang Kai grabbed hold of this Feudal Lord and returned to the Black Ink Nest in a flash before throwing him to the ground like a dead fish.
Shen Ao and Ning Qi Zhi glanced at each other, speechless.
[The Squad Leader has grown even stronger.]
Ordinary Seventh-Order Masters couldn’t easily kill Feudal Lords since both were in equivalent Realms, let alone capture one alive, but Yang Kai was able to snatch up the other party like a helpless child.
Although they were shocked, their hands did not stop. Seals were sent out one after another, isolating the Black Ink Nest from the outside world.
After a dozen breaths, the half-dead Feudal Lord slowly regained his senses. He shook his head and opened his eyes, only to see several Humans glaring at him.
The Feudal Lord was beside himself in shock.
Yang Kai summoned his Azure Dragon Spear with a wave of his hand and thrust it straight at the other party’s eyes, arrogantly asking, “Do you want to live or die?”
The Feudal Lord didn’t dare to move and kept his mouth shut, sensing the Azure Dragon Spear’s sharpness.
“If you want to live, then answer my questions and perhaps I’ll spare you!”
The Feudal Lord’s expression changed several times before he grit his teeth and snarled, “Forget it, you won’t get anything out of me.”
He also realized that the other party had no intention of sparing his life.
It was obvious they wanted to obtain information from him, but Humans and the Black Ink Clan could never coexist. So what if he gave them the information they wanted to know? After they were done with him, he would undoubtedly die!
He might as well just commit suicide.
Saying so, the Black Ink Strength in his body started surging as he let out a low roar and he charged at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai’s spear nailed him to the ground as black blood flowed out of his wounds, “Hmph, want to die? Not so easy.”
He turned his head and shouted, “Blood Crow!”
Blood Crow appeared on the deck and condescendingly looked at the Feudal Lord.
“I’ll leave him to you! Get everything out of him.” While speaking, he tossed the Feudal Lord to Blood Crow with a flick of his spear.
Blood Crow’s eyes lit up as his figure suddenly transformed into a billowing mass of blood mist that rushed towards the Feudal Lord.
A look of fear appeared in the eyes of the Feudal Lord, despite being prepared for death.
He wasn’t afraid of dying; otherwise, his attitude wouldn’t have been so unyielding just now.
However, there was a difference in the way one died.
Although he didn’t know what technique this Human named Blood Crow cultivated, the appearance of this Blood Sea gave him an extremely discomforting feeling.
It pulsed with a malevolent aura not inferior to the one given off by Black Ink Strength.
The Blood Sea continued swirling, without making the slightest noise.
Yang Kai put away the Azure Dragon Spear.
Shen Ao leaned over and whispered, “Is it fine, doing this?”
Yang Kai lightly snorted, “What can I do if he insists? Rather than letting him eat on the battlefield, I might as well let him have his fill right now! If there is no other choice… I’ll handle it personally!” As he was speaking, murderous intent flashed across his face.
Yang Kai would not show any mercy if Blood Crow really got corrupted by the Black Ink Strength.
A moment later, the swirling Blood Sea converged and transformed back into Blood Crow’s figure.
The Feudal Lord who was surrounded by the Blood Sea was nowhere to be found.
Blood Crow’s face was aglow as he could hardly suppress the Blood Qi in his body. After devouring over a dozen Black Ink Clansmen’s Blood Essences, two of which were Feudal Lords, he was just barely holding on, somehow.
On the deck, Blood Crow casually tossed two Space Rings to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught them and examined them. One Space Ring was quite ordinary. It didn’t have anything particularly eye-catching, containing the normal amount of wealth a Feudal Lord would possess.
The other Space Ring, on the other hand, was quite eye-catching.
[This guy… was loaded!]
The second Space Ring was filled with all kinds of resources, enough to dazzle even Yang Kai. Although Yang Kai had already seen marvelous things and mountains of treasure before, he couldn’t help but be shocked by the wealth of this Feudal Lord.
The Feudal Lords he had met before weren’t nearly this rich.
Blood Crow clarified, “Those don’t belong to him. The first Space Ring was his, and the second one was taken from the Black Ink Nests.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai raised his head and asked. He had some guesses, but nothing conclusive.
Blood Crow belched before continuing, “This guy came from the Royal City and was tasked to collect the resources from the Black Ink Nests. Let’s put it this way, the Black Ink Nests in the periphery belong to individual Feudal Lords. These Feudal Lords will send out their subordinates to mine for resources. A part of these resources will be used by themselves to produce Black Ink Strength and expand the defence line, while the rest will be kept aside. The Royal City periodically sends people to collect these remaining resources.”
Yang Kai finally understood the gist of the matter.
Right now, resources were extremely important to the Black Ink Clan. Whether it was for expanding the defensive line, or re-supplying the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests or even the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, they all required massive amounts of resources.
Even though the Black Ink Clan had amassed a tremendous amount of resources over the millennia, since they were trapped in the Royal City, they had to find a way to replenish their reserves.
And that source was the mining done by the Black Ink Clansmen in the outer ring!
[No wonder the Feudal Lord suddenly came here alone. It turns out that he was here to collect resources. Judging by the items in the second Space Ring, he must have gone to many other Black Ink Nests.]
“What else?” Yang Kai asked.
Blood Crow answered, “There are about 20 or 30 people in charge of collecting resources like him, all of them scattered in different directions. As you know, the Black Ink Clan’s defence line is quite wide, and quite a distance out from the Royal City, so they need so many people to carry out this task. The Territory Lords won’t bother to do something as tedious as this, so that leaves the Feudal Lords.”
Yang Kai lightly nodded. It was understandable.
Moreover, this should not be the only reason. The Territory Lords were also afraid of Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and had no idea when she would suddenly appear to attack. They would feel much safer in the Royal City than outside on their own.
If a Territory Lord ran into Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao while away from the Royal City, they would just die in vain.
“Interesting!” A grin appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he suddenly thought that he could make good use of this opportunity.
Originally, he had planned to use the same method as last time to take down the two adjacent Black Ink Nests. But doing so entailed too many uncontrollable variables. Luck played quite a big role in them seizing this Black Ink Nest unnoticed.
If they played the same trick again and again, and for some reason, the Black Ink Clan became vigilant, the risk of being exposed increased dramatically.
But this new information had given Yang Kai a chance to employ another method.
He could just pretend to be a Feudal Lord sent by the Royal City to collect resources.
Yang Kai turned to Shen Ao and ordered, “Send a message to Chai Fang and Ma Gao. Tell them to stop sneaking around outside and come here. Also, try to contact Yao Kang Cheng and have them withdraw as well.”
“Yes!” Shen Ao quickly took out some Space Beacons and sent the messages.
Holding the Space Ring in his hand, Yang Kai started stroking his chin, pondering. When Bai Yi and the others saw his eyes darting around, they immediately understood that he was scheming something, so they didn’t disturb him.
Soon after, Shen Ao raised his head and reported, “Chai Fang and Ma Gao have sent their replies. They will arrive in half a day, but I still can’t get in touch with Yao Kang Cheng.”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow. Yao Kang Cheng’s actions were bordering on recklessness, but since he could not get in touch with him, Yang Kai could only hope that everything was going smoothly for him and his Squad.
“You guys stand guard outside in turns. Meanwhile, I’ll keep on the lookout in the central area,” Yang Kai ordered before entering the Black Ink Nest.
On the deck, Blood Crow patted his stomach before turning around and returning to the cabin as he still needed to properly refine the Blood Essence he consumed. A chill ran down everyone’s spine at the sight of this.
Half a day later, Yang Kai, who was keeping an eye out from inside the Black Ink Nest, vaguely sensed a foreign body intruding the Black Ink Nest’s detection range and immediately sent a message, having the rest of Dawn go on high alert.
But shortly after the first disturbance, Yang Kai felt another body intruding on the defence line.
Yang Kai knew that it was the Old Turtle and Profound Wind Squads.
As he had expected, a team of people stealthily made their way over shortly after.
Their leader was none other than Chai Fang.
Chai Fang was quite smart. He knew that the Warship would be too conspicuous, so just like Dawn, he put away the Warship and took everyone below the Seventh-Order into his Small Universe when they entered the perimeter. He only arrived with a few Seventh-Order Masters.
Bai Yi, who was guarding the entrance, had already noticed them and guided them inside.
When he saw Yang Kai sitting by the Black Ink Pool, Chai Fang couldn’t help but be in awe. He immediately cupped his fist and congratulated, “Brother Yang, this Chai admits defeat!”
Their Squad had also been wandering around the periphery for many days. They too were thinking of taking down a Black Ink Nest and hiding inside the Black Ink Clan’s defence line.
But it was easier said than done. Although the Old Turtle Squad was quite strong, it was still difficult for them to silently capture a Black Ink Nest.
On the other hand, Dawn had accomplished just that. Needless to say, Yang Kai deserved the most credit for succeeding in this difficult task. No one was his opponent in the same Realm, so he could quickly crush a Feudal Lord, which was critical to moving about undetected.
“That’s very kind of you.” Yang Kai continued, “Please wait a moment, the Profound Wind Squad will be arriving soon.”
Chai Fang lightly nodded and led his Squad to Dawning Light. After thinking about it for a moment, he also let out his Squad members from his Small Universe.
Unlike Yang Kai, whose Small Universe had a robust foundation, his Small Universe felt slightly bloated after keeping so many Open Heaven Masters inside. If he were to run into an enemy and be forced to fight, Chai Fang would have some trouble circulating his World Force, which would lead to a sharp drop in his strength. Under such circumstances, he just might lose a fight he should have easily been able to win.
The Profound Wind Squad also arrived in a short while. Everyone had gathered except for the Snow Wolves. After asking around, Chai Fang, and Ma Gao finally learned that Yao Kang Cheng had led his Squad deeper into the Black Ink Clan’s defence line.
This made them feel a bit uneasy. Although there were no Black Ink Nests in the inner ring of the defence line and it might be harder to be detected, there was always a chance. If they ran into a large group of Black Ink Clansmen, things could become quite dangerous for them.
Nonetheless, things were out of their hands as they could not reach them.
Without mulling over it much, Chai Fang went straight to the point, “Brother Yang, why have you summoned us here? What orders do you have?”
Yang Kai answered, smiling, “I don’t dare to give you orders, but I do need your help.”
Ma Gao nodded after hearing this, “Brother Yang, if there’s anything you need, feel free to speak. Since we are all tasked with scouting, we should naturally help each other.”
“Then I’ll cut to the chase. It’s like this, I’ve observed from the outside that, although the Black Ink Clan is completely invested in constructing this defence line using the Black Ink Strength, because they have expanded it too much too quickly, it’s not very tight. As long as we can capture three adjacent Black Ink Nests, we can blind the eyes of the Black Ink Clan and Great Evolution Pass will have a chance to quietly sneak past and head to the Royal City unnoticed.”
While speaking, he tapped the floor, “This is the first one. We will need to take down two more nearby, but Dawn needs to remain here in case anything goes wrong. So, I need your help to capture the other nests.”
Ma Gao and Chai Fang glanced at each other before nodding their compliance. The former added, “Since Brother Yang has summoned us here, surely he must have some kind of plan, right? What do you want us to do?”
Yang Kai started explaining, “I do have a plan. Originally, I was planning to use the same trick I used to capture this nest, but now I have a better idea. Previously, a Feudal Lord came here…”
Next, Yang Kai explained what happened with the recently arrived Feudal Lord.
Ma Gao raised his brow, “Collecting resources…”
Chai Fang was not all brawns and no brains, rather he was quite sharp, so he immediately understood what Yang Kai had in his mind, “Brother Yang wants to disguise himself as a person collecting supplies and openly approach the other two Black Ink Nests?”
Yang Kai nodded, “Rather than sneaking around and possibly raising the opposite party’s guard, it would be better to act boldly.”
“Indeed, I’m sure that it would never occur to the Black Ink Clansmen on guard that the person approaching them so blatantly actually had ill intentions towards them.” Ma Gao agreed, “But Brother Yang, there is still a problem. According to what you said, the one collecting the supplies was a Feudal Lord. If you were to disguise yourself, you can at best disguise yourself as a Black Ink Disciple, which would still be suspicious.”
Yang Kai had disguised himself as a Black Ink Disciple more than once. Apart from him, no one else could do this because they did not possess Black Ink Strength, but Yang Kai was different. His Small Universe even had a Black Ink Nest inside, so it wasn’t difficult for him to withdraw some Black Ink Strength.
Yang Kai explained with a smile, “About 20 to 30 people are collecting supplies, and I don’t think that all of them would be Feudal Lords. If some Black Ink Clansman asks, I have an excuse. So long as I can get a chance to approach the Feudal Lord overseeing the Black Ink Nest, we’ll already be halfway to success!”
For Yang Kai, the only problem was how to approach the Black Ink Nest. As long as he could get close to the Black Ink Nest without raising any alarms, the rest was easy. When he led his Squad here, he had completely disregarded the Black Ink Clansmen in the vicinity and charged straight into the Black Ink Nest as he was afraid that the Feudal Lord in-charge of the nest would sound the alarm.
Fortunately, the other party was a bit lax, probably never having expected a Human to be so courageous as to directly charge into his Black Ink Nest.
But Yang Kai couldn’t place his hopes on the carelessness of others for the next two Black Ink Nests. It was better to have everything under his control.
The Black Ink Clan troops stationed at every Black Ink Nest were quite strong, with more than one Feudal Lord standing guard. Since Yang Kai needed to focus on dealing with the Master of the Black Ink Nest, he needed help to take care of the other Black Ink Clansmen.
Since Dawn had to stay here, he was left with no choice but to ask for the Old Turtle and Profound Wind Squads’ help.
“Since Brother Yang has considered things thoroughly, we will cooperate with you. As for how we should act, I hope Brother Yang has planned everything,” Ma Gao quickly agreed.
“But of course,” Yang Kai had formulated a complete plan and quickly explained it to them.
Ma Gao and Chai Fang kept nodding again and again when they heard the plan. They found it to be quite feasible. It would be a piece of cake to take down the two adjacent Black Ink Nests if all went well. In fact, if they had enough manpower, they could capture as many as they wanted.
But if they captured too many, they might expose some flaws. So, it was not necessarily a good thing to take things that far.
After a brief discussion, Yang Kai got up and stated, “We shouldn’t delay. I’ll leave now, everyone, wait for my signal.”
Ma Gao and Chai Fang nodded before exhorting, “Brother Yang, be careful.”
Yang Kai waved and flew out of the Black Ink Nest, heading straight towards the adjacent region.
Usually, a Black Ink Disciple was no different from an ordinary Human, so Yang Kai didn’t need to openly use the Black Ink Strength in his Small Universe to disguise himself. If he did that, he would be exposing a big flaw.
Nevertheless, there was one thing he needed to pay attention to.
The Black Ink Disciples in Great Evolution Theatre had already been cultivating for 30 millennia, so those who had survived had broken through their innate shackles.
In other words, most of these Black Ink Disciples had grotesque deformities. Yang Kai had seen many of these Black Ink Disciples, and all of them had such characteristics.
If he wanted to disguise himself as a Black Ink Disciple, he needed to pay special attention to this.
Fortunately, this was not difficult for him.
As he silently moved the Black Ink Strength in his Small Universe and gathered it on his neck, causing the flesh there to bulge, giving the impression of a tumour.
At the same time, the Black Ink Strength around him became richer and denser.
Anyone who saw this would never imagine he was a normal Human.
Silently calculating the distance between them, Yang Kai crossed the boundary between the two adjacent Black Ink Nest in just two hours, stepping into the adjacent Black Ink Nest’s territory.
Soon after he crossed the boundary, he saw a team of Black Ink Clansmen approaching him. Obviously, they had noticed his intrusion and came to investigate.
Yang Kai didn’t try to avoid them, rather he made a beeline towards them.
The opposite party became a bit vigilant, but after seeing the distant Yang Kai’s appearance, the expression of the Feudal Lord leading the team relaxed.
When both sides met each other, Yang Kai cupped his fist humbly, “Greetings, Sir.”
Although the strength of a Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple was similar to that of a Feudal Lord, a Black Ink Disciple’s status was still relatively low in the Black Ink Clan, so Yang Kai felt it was not a problem to call this individual ‘Sir’.
The Feudal Lord slightly nodded before curiously asked, “Are you here to collect supplies?”
“Yes, Sir!” Yang Kai answered.
Yang Kai secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
When he was investigating the previous Feudal Lord’s Space Ring, he knew that the Feudal Lord had already gone to many Black Ink Nests; otherwise, there wouldn’t have been so many materials inside.
Yang Kai was really afraid that the Feudal Lord had already been here. In that case, it would definitely be suspicious if another person came to collect supplies so soon after.
By the looks of it, no one had come here to collect supplies yet.
The Feudal Lord asked, a bit confused, “What about Jiu Ka? Wasn’t he responsible for this region?”
The Feudal Lord who was devoured by Blood Crow was apparently called Jiu Ka! The Black Ink Clan had a very weird naming style, it was very archaic, quite different from the Humans of the current era.
They were probably influenced by the Humans of that era.
Yang Kai put on a forced smile as he gave an excuse, “Sir Jiu Ka said he had other matters to attend to, so he asked me to come here in his place…” He then took a pregnant pause before whispering, “Sir also knows how the Old Ancestor is acting, what if…”
He did not finish the sentence. He just assumed a look that said ‘you understand it, right?’
Hearing this, the Feudal Lord sneered, “That guy really knows how to loaf around. Isn’t he afraid of the higher-ups blaming him?”
To be honest, every Black Ink Clansman in the outer ring was afraid of the sudden arrival of the Old Ancestor, and it wasn’t like it had never happened before. Every time the Old Ancestor came, she would annihilate every Black Ink Clansman in her path.
They were setting up a Black Ink Strength defence line, but the hidden truth was that they were also taking a huge risk. Jiu Ka was terrified of the Old Ancestor and didn’t dare to leave the Royal City. So, it was reasonable for him to order a Black Ink Disciple to help perform his duties.
“Follow me,” the Feudal Lord stated before turning around and flying back.
Yang Kai nodded before flying shoulder to shoulder with the Feudal Lord. Meanwhile, he also kept up with pleasantries, praising and thanking the other party for working hard these days.
He was completely acting like a Black Ink Disciples.
The Feudal Lord was also apparently a talkative fellow. Seeing Yang Kai act so familiar, he also began chatting with him.
But Yang Kai only spouted some useless nonsense and didn’t dare try to obtain any information, lest he expose himself.
After walking for a while, the Feudal Lord casually asked, “Which Territory Lord’s Black Ink Disciple are you?”
Warning bells started ringing in Yang Kai’s heart. He didn’t know if the other party was testing him or just asking casually. The sudden question didn’t give him much time to ponder either, so Yang Kai replied in a casual manner, “I am Sir Che Kong’s subordinate.”
Che Kong Territory Lord’s position was quite high in the Black Ink Clan. During the last war between the Great Evolution East-West Army and the Black Ink Clan at the Royal City, Che Kong was made the Army Commander by the Royal Lord, so it made sense for him to have many Black Ink Disciples under him. It was hard to believe that this Feudal Lord out on the outskirts knew all of them.
Even Yang Kai, who had spent so many years in Blue Sky Pass, did not know all the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass. After all, there were too many of them.
If it was true even for him, the same must be true for the Black Ink Clan.
The other party must have casually asked, so as long as he didn’t reveal too many flaws, it shouldn’t be a problem.
But Yang Kai had no idea if this Feudal Lord was familiar with Che Kong or not.
Hearing Yang Kai’s reply, the Feudal Lord couldn’t help but look at Yang Kai, frowning, “You are Sir Che Kong’s Black Ink Disciple? Why have I never seen you before?”
[Is this guy also Che Kong’s subordinate? I’ll be damned!]
Yang Kai secretly cursed his bad luck. Originally, he had thought of using Che Kong’s name, but now it seems that he had just picked a rock and smashed it on his foot.
If this Feudal Lord really was Che Kong’s subordinate, he would definitely recognize the Black Ink Disciples under Che Kong.
Noticing the suspicion in the other party’s eyes getting stronger and stronger, Yang Kai immediately added with a sigh, “I am Sir Che Kong’s subordinate now, but I used to be Sir Zhe Chong’s subordinate!”
Zhe Chong had died in the battle at Great Evolution Pass a long time ago, so there was no one left to verify his identity.
As one of Zhe Chong’s former subordinates, since his Master died in battle, Yang Kai would definitely have to submit to another Territory Lord.
“So you were at Great Evolution Pass?” The Feudal Lord finally found it logical as to why he had never seen this Black Ink Disciple before.
“Indeed,” Yang Kai nodded his affirmation, now finding this Feudal Lord quite annoying. Had he not worried about giving himself out too early, he would have already stabbed his Azure Dragon Spear straight into the Feudal Lord’s mouth.
Yang Kai’s story might have passed preliminary scrutiny, but he kept his guard up, for there was a flaw in his narrative.
As expected, the other party was not a fool, so a frown appeared on the Feudal Lord’s brow as he asked, “When Sir Hong Di led the Army to retreat from Great Evolution Pass, he had an agreement with the Eighth-Order Human Masters at that time. Not only did he have to leave behind his own Black Ink Nest, but he also had to leave all the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples behind. How did you make it out of there?”
If Yang Kai had really been at Great Evolution Pass, it would have been impossible for him to appear here.
Yang Kai explained with a sigh, “We tried to break past the Human Army’s blockade to assist the Royal City multiple times, but we never succeeded. During the second battle, I was seriously injured and on the verge of death, so I had no choice but to find a place to conceal myself and stabilize my injuries. It wasn’t until Sir Hong Di retreated from Great Evolution Pass and passed by that I managed to rejoin the Army.”
He was bound to make a slip of the tongue if he kept speaking too much. A single lie would require more lies to cover up. If the Feudal Lord kept questioning Yang Kai, Yang Kai was not sure if he could dispel his doubts.
A look of sadness appeared on his face as he sighed, “We fought many battles at Great Evolution Pass, and lost countless Territory Lords. There, a Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple like me was just an ant. It’s already a miracle that I survived.”
His words seemed to have touched the other party’s heart, who let out a long, forlorn sigh, “It was the same at the Royal City, even Sir Royal Lord… Forget it, let’s not talk about this anymore. The Humans are still a great threat to my Black Ink Clan, but sooner or later we will wipe them out!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but nod, “That day will surely come.”
Yank Kai sneered in his heart. Since the Black Ink Clan wanted to exterminate the Humans, why would they let Black Ink Disciples live? The hatred between the two Races was irreconcilable to the point that they had no hope to coexist in this vast universe.
The Feudal Lord remained silent for the rest of the journey.
Yang Kai was more than happy with his situation.
From the other party’s attitude, it was clear that he didn’t doubt Yang Kai. Now, half of his plan had succeeded, the remaining half would depend on whether he could successfully capture the Black Ink Nest.
A moment later, the Black Ink Clan team arrived before the Black Ink Nest.
The Feudal Lord turned around and exhorted Yang Kai, “Wait here, the supplies are with Mao Bo. I’ll go and bring them to you.”
“Many thanks, Sir!” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Mao Bo seemed to be the name of the Feudal Lord in charge of this Black Ink Nest, the Master of this place.
The leader of the Black Ink Clan team who brought him here was most likely a subordinate of Mao Bo.
After spending some time with the Black Ink Clan, Yang Kai had some understanding of how their hierarchy worked.
There were quite a lot of Feudal Lords under a Territory Lord’s command, ranging from several dozen to 100 or so.
But at most 30 Feudal Lords would have their own Black Ink Nest.
Most of the Feudal Lords did not have their own Black Ink Nest. Under normal circumstances, these Feudal Lords who didn’t have a Black Ink Nest would choose to submit to those who had a Black Ink Nest, which could be regarded as a superior and subordinate relationship, but also a cooperative one.
After all, the Feudal Lords with Black Ink Nest also wanted their territories to become stronger. This way, when they were summoned to fight against the Human Race, not only would they be able to display greater strength, but they would also be able to protect themselves better.
The Master of the first Black Ink Nest occupied by Dawn was called Bo Gao, but there was another Feudal Lord at the Black Ink Nest, who was devoured by Blood Crow.
The situation was very similar to the Black Ink Nest here.
Yang Kai scanned the entire Black Ink Nest with his Divine Sense and found that there were only two Feudal Lords here. One was the one who had brought him back just now, while the other was the one who was in charge of the Black Ink Nest called Mao Bo.
As for the others, they were all High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. There were not too many of them either, about 50 in total.
[This will work!]
[It would be even better if Mao Bo came out of the Black Ink Nest.]
While he was pondering, the Black Ink Clan Feudal Lord returned and handed Yang Kai a Space Ring, “These are the supplies.”
Yang Kai took it and pretended to examine it before putting it away.
Presumably, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t dare to embezzle when it came to this matter.
Cupping his fist, Yang Kai addressed the Feudal Lord, “Many thanks, I’ll head to the next location.”
The Feudal Lord nodded in response.
Yang Kai turned around to leave, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly turned around, slapping his head, “How foolish of me, I forgot to tell you one thing.”
The Feudal Lord asked, “What is it?”
Yang Kai sheepishly looked around before continuing in a low voice, “Sir Territory Lords have found how the Old Ancestor is appearing and disappearing out of thin air. Before coming here, Sir Che Kong ordered me to inform the Feudal Lords about it, so that everyone in the outer ring can carry out a joint investigation to find anything suspicious.”
Hearing this, the Feudal Lord’s eyes lit up after hearing this, “The Territory Lords have already found the reason?”
Over the years, the Black Ink Clan had suffered many losses at the hands of the Old Ancestor, but even now, they still had not figured out how she was able to come and go like a ghost.
This was not only a thorn in Royal Lord and Territory Lords’ hearts, but also a source of extreme fear for the outer ring Feudal Lords.
If they could at least figure this out, they would be much less afraid of the Humans.
The Feudal Lord was overjoyed after hearing Yang Kai say that the Territory Lords had found the how of the Old Ancestor mysteriously appeared and disappeared.
Yang Kai solemnly nodded, “This matter is confidential, so before leaving, Sir Che Kong ordered the outer ring Feudal Lords to use the Black Ink Nest to perform a thorough search.”
“Search for what?” The Feudal Lord asked in a low voice.
“For a certain thing.” While speaking, Yang Kai took out a Space Beacon and handed it to the Feudal Lord, “This.”
“What is this?” The Feudal Lord took it and carefully examined it, but did not find anything special about it.
Yang Kai kindly explained, “I have no idea what this is either, but the Territory Lords should know. What I can confirm is that the Old Ancestor somehow uses this thing to travel to the vicinity of the Royal City.”
“There’s a strange energy lingering around it…” The Feudal Lord muttered.
Yang Kai patiently added, “It should be the energy of Space Principles.”
“Space Principles…” Realization immediately dawned upon the Feudal Lord, “No wonder.”
Obviously, he was not unfamiliar with Space Principles.
“There should be quite a number of these things in the vicinity of the Royal City, so we must carefully search for them. In addition, I would like to ask Sir Mao Bo to step out of the Black Ink Nest so that he can memorize its aura, as Sir Mao Bo is in charge of the Black Ink Nest. It will be easier to investigate with the power of the Black Ink Nest.”
“En,” the Feudal Lord nodded and handed the Space Beacon back to Yang Kai, “Wait a moment, I’ll go and bring Brother Mao Bo.”
“Many thanks!” Yang Kai cupped his fist.
The Feudal Lord entered the Black Ink Nest once more and returned with another Feudal Lord a moment later, who stretched his hand towards Yang Kai after seeing him, “Show me.”
Yang Kai casually tossed as he stated, grinning, “Sir, please look carefully.”
The next moment, 10 Space Beacons flew towards the two Feudal Lords.
The two Black Ink Clan Feudal Lords were taken aback, [So many?]
This was especially true for the Feudal Lord who had communicated with Yang Kai earlier. He had thought that since the Old Ancestor used it to travel, it must be extremely valuable and rare.
But much to their surprise, Yang Kai suddenly threw over 10 of them.
Before they could figure anything out, the Space Beacons suddenly started radiating strange energy fluctuation, and immediately after, figures appeared out of thin air one after another.
Each Space Beacon corresponded to a figure. 10 Space Beacons were equal to 10 people!
Also, the surrounding space instantly solidified, giving the Black Ink Clansmen the feeling of falling into a quagmire.
[What’s going on?] The two Feudal Lords were utterly confused, and so were the High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen.
“Kill!” Yang Kai shouted as he thrust his spear towards Mao Bo.
He was the Master of the Black Ink Nest, so as long as he was taken down, there was nothing to fear.
The moment Chai Fang and the others appeared, they dispersed in all directions. Chai Fang and two other Seventh-Order Masters charged straight at the other Feudal Lord, casting various restrictive methods.
The other seven Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were like wolves in a flock of sheep, ruthlessly slaughtering the High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen.
“You… Humans!” Mao Bo shouted in horror. If he still didn’t know he had fallen into the Human’s trap at this point, he would have lived all his life in vain.
What he couldn’t fathom was how someone, who looked so much like a Black Ink Disciple, could be a normal Human. Be that as it may, his movements weren’t slow at all. Instantly, his consciousness communicated with the Black Ink Nest and the next moment, the giant flower bud shaped nest started trembling slightly as a tremendous amount of Black Ink Strength surged towards him.
Just like the Royal Lord could use the power of his Black Ink Nest at the Royal City to increase his strength, the Feudal Lords could also do the same. Of course, the boost in strength they received was not nearly as significant as the Royal Lord’s.
At the critical moment of life and death, Feudal Lord Mao Bo had to go all out.
Unfortunately for him, Yang Kai’s spear was faster. It easily destroyed Mao Bo’s hastily condensed defensive barrier and pierced straight through his forehead.
Mao Bo’s eyes cracked wide in disbelief.
He could not be considered as weak among the Feudal Lords, and had even personally killed a Seventh-Order Human in one-on-one combat in the past. Today though, his opponent was only a Seventh-Order Human, but he was simply unable to block that spear thrust.
A powerful shockwave swept outward as Mao Bo’s head exploded, leaving a headless corpse floating lifelessly in the void.
The vibrating Black Ink Nest instantly calmed down after having lost his control.
Yang Kai short forward, smashing Mao Bo’s headless corpse to pieces before rushing into the Black Ink Nest.
There might be other Black Ink Clansmen inside the Black Ink Nest, so he quickly went inside to take total control of it. He did not need to manage the battle outside.
Chai Fang and the others had the absolute advantage and would take care of it properly.
There were indeed a few High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen inside the Black Ink Nest, but none of them was at the core area.
Mao Bo had been staying inside the Black Ink Nest all the while; as such, the High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen didn’t dare to do anything outside their jurisdiction.
Yang Kai went on a killing spree with his spear. After he had confirmed that all the Black Ink Clansmen in the Black Ink Nest had been annihilated, he exited casually.
The battle outside was over by the time he arrived.
The 10 High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters of the Old Turtle Squad were more than enough to deal with a single Feudal Lord and a group of less than 50 weaker Black Ink Clansmen.
The Feudal Lord who had led Yang Kai here fell at the hands of Chai Fang and the other two Seventh-Order Masters in less than five breaths while the remaining small fry were unable to cause any trouble.
By the time Yang Kai emerged from the Black Ink Nest, not only had all the Black Ink Clansmen been taken out, even the battlefield had been cleaned up by Chai Fang and the others.
“Come inside,” Yang Kai beckoned everyone.
Chai Fang and the others entered the Black Ink Nest in single file.
After entering the Black Ink Nest, Chai Fang released the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship as everyone landed on the deck, looking at each other, grinning.
“Is there any problem?” Chai Fang asked in a low voice.
Yang Kai shook his head, “It should be fine.”
The battle was finished very quickly. In addition, there was quite a bit of distance between them and the other Black Ink Nest, so the fallout of their battle wouldn’t reach them.
“I’ll go bring the others,” Yang Kai stated before activating Space Principles and disappearing into thin air, leaving behind only a Space Beacon.
Yang Kai returned a short while after. He then opened a portal to his Small Universe as 40 people walked out one after another.
They were the members of the Old Turtle Squad.
Previously, all the Old Turtle Squad members below the Seventh Order had been left with Dawn to facilitate a rapid deployment. Now that they had taken over this Black Ink Nest, they needed the full Old Turtle Squad to guard it, which was why the remaining members were brought over.
The Black Ink Strength inside the Black Ink Nest was quite dense and strong, so even a Seventh-Order Master would find it hard to bear for a long time. The Purifying Black Ink Pill might provide some help, but it was not suitable for an extended stay in an area filled with Black Ink Strength.
A Warship, on the other hand, could provide firm protection. As long as the Warship’s Defensive Arrays remained intact and active, there was no risk of being corrupted by Black Ink Strength.
Yang Kai didn’t stop to rest after helping the Old Turtle Squad settle down at the Black Ink Nest and immediately headed towards the third target.
This trip was even easier than the last, thanks to his prior experience.
When he met with the Black Ink Clan team, who had come to investigate the situation, Yang Kai didn’t say he was here to collect supplies; after all, such an excuse was a little risky.
If the Feudal Lord he had killed first had already collected the resources from here, he would have to come up with a new story to slip his way out of it.
Saying that the Royal City had discovered how the Old Ancestor mysteriously appeared and disappeared, and wanted all of the Feudal Lords in charge of the Black Ink Nests in the outer ring to carry out a joint search was a much better excuse.
As expected, the Black Ink Clan did not find it suspicious. Not only did they not become suspicious, they even became quite excited.
To them, if they could unravel the mysteries of how the Old Ancestor was randomly showing up out of thin air, they would have a safer future.
After arriving in front of the third Black Ink Nest, Yang Kai used news of the Space Beacons to easily lure out the Master of the Black Ink Nest, and using the same trick, Yang Kai tossed out a handful of Space Beacons and attacked.
But he was cooperating with Ma Gao’s Squad this time.
All the Special Operations Squads were almost equally strong, except Yang Kai’s Dawn Squad, which was much stronger thanks to the latter.
Under the cooperation of 10 Seventh-Order Masters, the Black Ink Clansmen guarding this Black Ink Nest were swiftly wiped out.
As such, the third Black Ink Nest was successfully occupied.
The three adjacent Black Ink Nests covered quite a wide area of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line. Now that they had been captured, a hole had appeared in the detection net. So long as Great Evolution Pass disguised itself slightly, it would be able to pass through this hole and rush to the rear of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line undetected.
Obviously, Great Evolution Pass must have some kind of Illusion Array installed on it, so disguising itself would be a piece of cake.
They had now occupied three Black Ink Nests. Dawn was stationed at one, the Old Turtles at another, and the Profound Wind Squad at the last one.
Things settled down from the moment, but it would be hard to say after some time had passed. The Black Ink Clan would definitely grow suspicious if three Black Ink Nests fell silent for too long, but delaying things for 10 days or half a month shouldn’t be a problem.
Great Evolution Pass would have arrived in half a month at most.
So long as Great Evolution Pass could pass through the defence line, Dawn and the other Squads would only have to keep up this act for a few more days. Even if the Black Ink Clan noticed after that, it would be too late. It would be difficult for them to respond in time. At the very least, it would be difficult for the Black Ink Clan forces stationed at the perimeter to rush back to help defend the Royal City. As such, the forces of the Royal City would be weakened.
Originally, Yang Kai thought that taking down the three adjacent Black Ink Nest was enough, as this was also the minimum requirement for Great Evolution Pass to quietly sneak through the enemy defence line.
But now that he had such a good strategy, Yang Kai felt like he could take over an additional Black Ink Nest.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take down even more after that, it was just that he was lacking in manpower. Right now, each of the three Squads was guarding a Black Ink Nest, while he alone could guard the fourth. If he took a fifth, there would be no one left to guard it.
After all, it would be difficult for the others to last long in the Black Ink Nest without the protection of a Warship.
Three Black Ink Nests were the lowest requirement. If there were four, it would naturally be better, as the margin for error would be bigger.
Having made up his mind, Yang Kai gave a word of advice to Dawn before continuing on his way without a moment of delay.
The fourth Black Ink Nest was taken down quite easily, just like the previous two. All Yang Kai had to do was use the Space Beacon as an example. The Black Ink Clansmen out in the defence line were extremely concerned about the Old Ancestor, so when they heard that the Territory Lords had solved the mystery of the Old Ancestor’s mysterious appearance and disappearance, they were overjoyed, which easily lured out the Feudal Lord guarding the Black Ink Nest.
But he didn’t expect to be greeted with Yang Kai’s spear.
This time, Dawn’s Shen Ao and the others worked together with him. After taking down the Black Ink Nest, Dawn’s members didn’t stay and instead used their Universe Transference Law to return to Dawning Light.
Yang Kai remained alone at the Black Ink Nest, monitoring the situation in the outer ring.
Everything remained calm and peaceful for the next few days.
He occasionally contacted the three Squads, but nothing unusual happened in their respective areas.
The Black Ink Clan didn’t seem to have many dealings with each other. But thinking about it, all the Black Ink Clansmen inside these Black Ink Nests were extremely wary of the Old Ancestor. If they could hide in their Black Ink Nests, who would be willing to come out?
Even the Feudal Lords who had gone out to collect supplies were on edge.
When Yang Kai had told the second Black Ink Nest’s Feudal Lord, that Jiu Ka Feudal Lord was afraid of the Old Ancestor and had asked him to go, it might have been a casual excuse, but it was clearly not an unlikely scenario.
Otherwise, the Feudal Lord wouldn’t have shown such an expression.
There were still 10 days until Great Evolution Pass arrived!
Today, while Yang Kai was sitting in the Black Ink Nest, monitoring the movements of his surroundings, a Space Beacon on him suddenly had a subtle reaction.
He had a lot of Space Beacons in his possession, basically in sets of two, which corresponded to each other. When they were not in use, he would usually store them in his Small Universe.
But Yang Kai had kept a few on him. These Space Beacons were the ones used to contact the other Special Operations Squads and Great Evolution Pass. He couldn’t put them in his Small Universe, or else, the World Barrier would isolate from the outside world and the others would not be able to contact him.
After a quick check, Yang Kai immediately noticed that the Space Beacon was linked to the Snow Wolves Squad.
The Snow Wolves Squad had gone deeper into the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, and there had been no messages from them since then. In order to avoid exposing their whereabouts, Yao Kang Cheng had taken the initiative to cut off all contact with the outside world.
But today, Yao Kang Cheng suddenly sent a message. Obviously, they must have found something worth reporting.
Yang Kai promptly took out the Space Beacon as a jade slip appeared in front of him the very next moment.
Yang Kai caught the jade slip and scanned it with his Divine Sense. His expression became solemn the very instant.
“Royal Lord!”
There was just an extremely simple message on the jade slip, nothing else.
[Royal Lord? Why did Yao Kang suddenly mention the Royal Lord? Did he want us to be wary of him?]
Furthermore, it was a very short message, as if Yao Kang Cheng was in a rush; otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent such a short message.
It should be brought to notice that recording a message on a jade slip was only a matter of a single flash of thought. It could be considered lightning fast, so why did Yao Kang Cheng only record the words ‘Royal Lord’ and nothing else?
Yang Kai suddenly had a very bad feeling, but he did not try to contact the other party in a moment of worry.
Yao Kang Cheng might have encountered some kind of danger for him to send a message in such a hurry. If Yang Kai rashly contacted him, it might expose the Snow Wolves location.
[Right now, all I can do is wait for him to contact me.]
Yang Kai became sombre as he gripped the Space Beacon, patiently waiting.
One day, two days, three days…
Nothing happened.
Finally, after three days, Yang Kai let out a long sigh of resignation. Since Yao Kang Cheng had not contacted him in these three days, that either meant he was still in danger, or… he had met with some kind of misfortune.
There might not have been any Black Ink Nests in the inner circle of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, making it comparatively harder to get caught, but it was actually far more dangerous because, if they made any mistakes, it would be difficult to escape.
Yang Kai knew this, and so did Yao Kang Cheng.
Be that as it may, as the Territory Lords did not leave the Royal City unless the situation forced them to, it should not be impossible for the Snow Wolves to escape given their strength, even if they encountered some kind of danger.
Unless they were surrounded by a very large number of Feudal Lords!
When Yao Kang Cheng had sent a message stating that he would take the Snow Wolves Squad deeper behind the defence line, Yang Kai was also considering taking Dawn deeper into enemy territory. After all, Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space and had quite a bit of experience fleeing from mortal danger. It could be said that he was well-versed in the art of escaping.
Unfortunately, Yao Kang Cheng had cut off contact with him before he could suggest this. Yang Kai was unable to reach the former and was left with no choice but to leave him to his own devices.
Originally, Yang Kai thought that even if Yao Kang Cheng was caught, he would not be in any critical danger, but by the looks of it, he had taken things for granted.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to activate the Space Beacon, but as he had expected, he received no response.
There could only be two reasons for this. One was that the Space Beacon had been destroyed, and the other was that Yao Kang Cheng had put it in his Small Universe or Space Ring, so he couldn’t reach him.
It was not a big deal if it was the latter. It meant that Yao Kang Cheng was definitely in hiding with the Snow Wolves Squad, but if it was the former… then things were rather disastrous for the Snow Wolves.
What exactly did he encounter?
What did he mean by ‘Royal Lord’?
Did Yao Kang Cheng run into the Royal Lord? If he really did run into the Royal Lord, it was a given for the Snow Wolves Squad to not be able to escape. No matter how serious the Royal Lord’s injuries were, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. A Royal Lord was not someone that a Seventh-Order Master could challenge.
Even Yang Kai himself might not be able to escape if he really encountered a Royal Lord. There was too big of a gap between them, so the Dao of Space might not necessarily be of any use.
If Yang Kai was in Yao Kang Cheng’s place, facing certain death, or worse, capture, he would have destroyed the Space Beacon, and committed suicide if need be!
Because if he was captured by the Black Ink Clan and turned into a Black Ink Disciple, Great Evolution Pass’ operation would be exposed, and all their plans and preparations would be wasted.
Destroying the Space Beacon would also ensure the safety of the other Squads. Only by embracing death would they be able to prevent the news of Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack from falling into enemy’s hands.
Every Human soldier was well aware of this and was prepared to lay down their life if necessary.
But how did Yao Kang Cheng encounter the Royal Lord?
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been harassing the Royal Lord now and then over the past two centuries, especially for the matter of Great Evolution Pass’ Core. She even fought with the Royal Lord several times in recent years, making it impossible for the latter to recover from his injuries and forcing him to hole up in the Royal City to protect himself.
Only by borrowing the power of his Black Ink Nest in the Royal City could the Royal Lord contend with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
The Royal Lord couldn’t stray too far away from the Royal City, for doing so would be akin to courting death.
Logically speaking, no matter how rash the Snow Wolves Squad was, they would never approach the Royal City. So, they could not have run into the Royal Lord.
However, the message Yao Kang Cheng sent contained the words ‘Royal Lord’!
What was going on?
Was the Snow Wolves Squad safe? What did ‘Royal Lord’ mean?
Yang Kai felt a headache coming on, but he couldn’t find any clues.
He had to guard the Black Ink Nest he was occupying and could not travel around to investigate.
After pondering for a moment, Yang Kai informed Chai Fang and Ma Gao about the Snow Wolves Squad’s message and told them to be on guard as there was something strange happening on the Black Ink Clan’s side.
Yang Kai sent another message to Dawn, whereupon Shen Ao arrived at Yang Kai’s side with the help of the Space Beacons.
When they met each other, Yang Kai didn’t waste any time and directly stated, “Brother Shen, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of this place and monitor the situation outside. If there is any movement, please inform me immediately.”
Shen Ao nodded “Alright.”
“Also, when you think you’ve almost reached your limit, get someone else to replace you.”
“Understood.”
One had to be connected to the Black Ink Nest to monitor the surroundings, but doing so allowed Black Ink Strength to slowly seep into one’s body.
As a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, Shen Ao’s cultivation was not weak in any way, so if he took a Purifying Black Ink Pill, he could resist such invasion for a while, but not for long.
He had to ask the other members of the Dawn Squad to replace him when necessary. Only by doing so would they be able to monitor the situation outside at all times, so as to prevent anyone from intruding.
This was something Yang Kai had no choice but to ask. If he wanted to find out more about Yao Kang Cheng’s situation, he had no other choice but to place his hopes on the Black Ink Nest Space and see if he could obtain any useful information.
Once his consciousness was connected to the Black Ink Nest, his consciousness would enter the Black Ink Nest Space. In this situation, he would be unable to perceive anything happening in the outside world.
If some Black Ink Clan team came to check on this place, Yang Kai would not be able to hide things from them, and if they attacked him, he might not even be able to react. So, he needed someone to cover for him before entering the Black Ink Nest Space.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have called Shen Ao over.
After making the necessary arrangements, Yang Kai immediately walked towards the centre of the Black Ink Nest.
After a short while, he sat down cross-legged and sighed before opening his Small Universe and connecting his consciousness to the Black Ink Nest, using his World Force as a bridge.
Yang Kai had done this more than once, so he was just traversing a familiar path.
A few days ago, when he had captured the Black Ink Nest, the thought of using this method to obtain some information about the Black Ink Clan did cross Yang Kai’s mind, but it was a little dangerous. Right now, the four scouting Squads’ main purpose was concealment, so not taking any risk was the better choice. So, Yang Kai had not taken any action for the past few days.
However, since the Snow Wolves Squad seemed to be in some sort of trouble, and Yao Kang Cheng’ had sent such a cryptic message, he had no choice but to take the risk and enter the Black Ink Nest Space to investigate.
Nonetheless, he was not afraid of giving himself away. One’s Soul would basically manifest after entering the Black Ink Nest Space, and as each person’s Soul fluctuations were different, even if one could take another person’s appearance, it was impossible to imitate another person’s aura. So, if two people knew each other well, they would be able to recognize each other at a glance.
But who could recognize him in this damned place?
Perhaps one of the Territory Lords may recognize him; after all, Yang Kai had used many Soul Rending Thorns to seriously injury and even kill a number of Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples in order to seize control of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest at Great Evolution Pass. Those who were still alive would definitely remember his Soul Avatar.
Be that as it may, if the Territory Lord didn’t come into the picture, basically no one would recognize him.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai still felt that it was best to be extra careful, because his Soul was extremely powerful. Although he was only a Seventh-Order Master, his Soul was comparable to those in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm or the Territory Lords.
The sudden appearance of a Soul of such calibre would certainly stick out among a group of Feudal Lords and their subordinates.
Yang Kai was here to gather information, so he didn’t want any complications.
As such, Yang Kai suppressed his Spiritual Energy as best he could and entered the Black Ink Nest Space.
As usual, this vast space seemed to be extremely large, but also extremely small, without any specific concept of space.
Yang Kai didn’t take any specific form, just moving about as a kind of amorphous mist. After a brief examination, he found that there weren’t many Soul Avatars in the Black Ink Nest Space, only about 30 in total, and many of them had remained in the most basic form just like him.
30 was quite a normal figure, as this was the space of a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest. Each Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest should have about this many Low-Rank Black Ink Nests hatched from it.
Most of the people who came here were the Souls of the Feudal Lords under the same Territory Lord, but there were also High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen’ Souls.
The High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen were naturally not the Masters of the Black Ink Nests and had only been ordered to remain here to communicate with the other Black Ink Nests.
It could be said that many of the Soul Avatars left here weren’t the Masters of the Black Ink Nests. Most of them had been ordered to remain here to pass on messages at a moment’s notice and gather information.
This was also the reason why Yang Kai dared to enter this place. If everyone knew each other, he would have been caught the moment he entered.
After entering the Black Ink Nest Space, Yang Kai didn’t immediately take any action. He just quietly waited in a corner, observing the situation
As if everyone sensed that someone new had appeared, the surrounding Divine Senses swept over, but they soon ignored him.
Although most of the Soul Avatars entering this space were acquainted with each other, some unfamiliar faces would come in from time to time, so there was nothing strange about this.
Yang Kai secretly let out a sigh of relief. By the looks of it, he had successfully snuck in.
Inside the Black Ink Nest Space, Divine Senses kept surging again and again as naturally, the various Soul Avatars were communicating with each other. Some Soul Avatars did not conceal their thoughts from outsiders, allowing anyone to read their transmissions, but there were also a few who were secretly sending messages between acquaintances. As for what they were discussing, only they knew.
There were also many people like Yang Kai who just idled by the side, not participating in any chat. As such, Yang Kai did not particularly stand out.
After waiting for a while longer, Yang Kai finally began to wander around, reading the messages in the surroundings.
He did not manage to obtain any useful information after wandering about for half a day. The conversation between these Black Ink Clansmen was quite a mix. Some of them were thinking about how they would invade the 3,000 Worlds of the Human Race in the future and gather a large number of Black Ink Disciples to lord over, while others were worried about the situation of the Royal City; after all, the Royal Lord was seriously injured and the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre was trapped. So, the Black Ink Clan’s situation was quite a mess.
There were also a few Black Ink Clansmen who seemed to be diligently cultivating.
After another half a day, Yang Kai had successfully infiltrated a few Black Ink Clan groups and chatted with them.
At the end of the day, Yang Kai had lived in the Black Ink Clan for many years, so he was quite familiar with their habits and lifestyle. As such, he did not reveal any flaws.
Had it been anyone else, they definitely wouldn’t have been able to participate in these conversations, thereby failing to obtain any information on the Black Ink Clan once they exposed flaws.
The conversation between the several Black Ink Clansmen shifted again and Yang Kai was finally able to lead them to a comparison of strength.
Yang Kai added, “The Seventh-Order Humans are equivalent to the Feudal Lords on our side, while the Eighth-Order Humans are on par with the Territory Lords, but if we really fought against a Human of equivalent realm, we rarely win.”
Sighing deeply, he wore a look of worry for the future of the Black Ink Clan.
One of the Feudal Lords disagreed, “There’s nothing we can do about that. Human cultivation mainly depends on a lot of accumulation over time, so their foundation is firmer. We, on the other hand, can use the Black Ink Nests to quickly increase our strength, so we’re naturally lacking a bit in comparison. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have any advantages. Human growth is slow, and it’s not easy for Masters to appear. Although it’s not easy for us either, we’re much better than Humans in this regard.”
Another Feudal Lord agreed, “That’s right, our Feudal Lords might not be the match of their Seventh-Order Masters in a one-on-one fight, and even our Territory Lord might not be their Eighth-Order Masters opponent, but we still have the advantage in numbers.”
Yang Kai poured a bucket of cold water on them, “It is said that many Territory Lords at Great Evolution Pass died in battle, and the Royal City similarly suffered massive casualties. Although many Eighth-Order Masters from the Human Race have also died, generally speaking, it is still the Territory Lords who suffered more casualties. Many familiar faces have long since disappeared, and even the Territory Lords have fallen, let alone the Feudal Lords.”
The Black Ink Clansmen who were merrily chatting with each other suddenly felt a chill run down their spines and none of them was able to respond.
Yang Kai thought that the mental fortitude of these people was too poor, how could they just give up after a few words? Seeing this, he decisively continued to rub salt into their wounds, “Sir Royal Lord also… in this situation, what should we do in the future?”
Everyone let out a long sigh as the hearts of the Black Ink Clansmen tightened up.
A Feudal Lord who had been silent all this while coldly snorted, “So what if the Humans are strong now? Sooner or later, they will be our slaves.”
Yang Kai shook his head, refuting, “We can’t be so blind and arrogant. Before the Human Race Army attacked us, we all used to think that the Humans were nothing, but now we’re trapped in the Royal City, and we are doing everything to form a defence line to prevent the Humans from attacking.”
The nearby Feudal Lords all nodded.
Before the arrival of the Great Evolution Army, the Black Ink Clan of Great Evolution Theatre were extremely proud of themselves, because they were the only Theatre that had managed to capture a Human Great Pass. In the entire history of Humans and Black Ink Clan, the Humans had only lost Great Evolution Pass. The Black Ink Clan had never managed to repeat this feat in any other Theatre.
But the Black Ink Clan here was completely routed when the Great Evolution Army arrived. In the end, the Black Ink Clan was forced to leave behind a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest and all their Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples in order to escape from Great Evolution Pass. In addition, the Royal City suffered massive damage and casualties.
If they could turn back time, they would never underestimate the Humans again.
The Feudal Lord who was opposing Yang Kai let out a cold snort before rebuking, “The defence line is necessary. It’s fine if the Humans don’t attack, but if they dare do, they’ll definitely suffer.”
Yang Kai curiously asked, “Why is this Sir so confident? Have the higher-ups made some special arrangements that we don’t know of?”
Yang Kai assumed a humble look on his face as he asked while the others in the conversation also became curious.
The Feudal Lord hesitated for a moment, but ultimately, he answered in a low voice, “I don’t know whether higher-ups have made any arrangements or not, but the Royal Lord… seems to have recovered.”
Yang Kai’s heart clenched tight, [The Royal Lord has recovered?]
[How did he recover?]
[That’s impossible! The Royal Lord hadn’t been able to enter his Black Ink Nest to heal all these years as Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao hadn’t given him the opportunity to do so. It’s impossible for the Royal Lord to recover without entering his Black Ink Nest.]
Not only did Yang Kai think so, but the other Feudal Lords also thought the same. One of them quickly asked, “Has the Royal Lord really recovered? Is this news accurate? Where did you learn about this?”
The Feudal Lord stuttered, unable to explain.
Yang Kai’s voice turned heavy as he stated, “Sir, this concerns the Royal Lord, you can’t speak irresponsibly. It’s fine as it was just in between us, but if word of this got out, I’m afraid the Territory Lords will condemn you for speaking nonsense!”
Yang Kai didn’t know if the Territory Lords would really do such a thing, but in any case, making a big deal of things was currently to his advantage.
The Feudal Lord hurriedly defended himself, “I’m not speaking nonsense, it’s just…”
“What?”
“It’s just that… a few days ago, we faintly felt the aura of the Royal Lord’s attack. Although it was only for a fraction of a breath, it was definitely the Royal Lord’s attack.”
When the Feudal Lords heard this, all of them became extremely excited and quickly asked whether it was true or not. The Feudal Lord naturally insisted that he was not the only one who had sensed it as the other Feudal Lord in his Black Ink Nest had also sensed it.
Yang Kai’s heart sank as he asked, “How many days ago?”
The Feudal Lord casually replied, “Three days ago.”
[Three days ago…]
[It was right when Yao Kang Chen sent me that message.]
[Did Yao Kang Cheng really encounter the Royal Lord?]
The Feudal Lords all became excited while Yang Kai too pretended to be overjoyed, but he was in no mood to ask any more questions.
The Snow Wolves Squad had encountered the Royal Lord. By the looks of it, their fate had been sealed; after all, they were only a Special Operations Squad; they might have a chance to escape if they encountered a Territory Lord, but if they encountered the Royal Lord… death was the only possible outcome.
[Yao Kang Cheng must have sent me a message at the last moment to inform me of this, but unfortunately, he simply had no time; so, the jade slip only contained the words ‘Royal Lord’!]
[The Snow Wolves Squad… perished!]
[Most likely, they all died together.]
Yang Kai’s heart ached even more.
The reason for this conjecture was that the remaining three Squads had yet not been found out. If the Snow Wolves Squad still had survivors, they would definitely be turned into Black Ink Disciples. Once they became Black Ink Disciples, not only would Dawn and the others be unable to hide themselves, even Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack would be exposed.
If they weren’t all instantly killed, suicide was the only option to prevent themselves from being turned into Black Ink Disciples!
Since Dawn and the others were still safe and sound, and there were no unusual movements in the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, it meant that no one from the Snow Wolves Squad had fallen into the hands of the Black Ink Clan.
Murderous intent surged in Yang Kai’s heart as he couldn’t wait to exterminate all the Black Ink Clan Soul Avatars in this Black Ink Nest Space.
Nevertheless, he also knew that if he followed this impulse, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
The reason why the Feudal Lord had only suspected that the Royal Lord had recovered was mainly because of the distance.
All the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests were about a month’s journey from the Royal City. If the Royal Lord was at the Royal City, then even if he attacked, they would not have been able to sense it unless he really went all out.
But why would the Royal Lord go all out against the Snow Wolves Squad?
The Royal Lord would have to be much closer to their Black Ink Nest for them to be able to sense his casual attack. At most, the conflict would be a 10-day journey away from their position.
The Royal Lord would not have left the Royal City if he had not recovered; after all, he would be too afraid of running into the Old Ancestor otherwise.
After staying in the Black Ink Nest Space for another hour, Yang Kai finally found an opportunity to leave.
The moment his Soul returned to his body, he made a quick scan with his Divine Sense and noticed that Ren Bing Bai was the one overseeing the Black Ink Nest currently. Shen Ao should not have been able to hold on and left, asking Ren Bing Bai to take over.
Yang Kai walked to the centre and chatted with Ren Bing Bai a little before asking him to return to Dawning Light.
Ren Bing Bai noticed that something was not right and asked, “Squad Leader, is something wrong?”
Yang Kai nodded, “The Snow Wolves Squad… might be no more.”
Ren Bing Bai was beside himself in shock, “What happened?”
Yang Kai replied, “They might have run into the Royal Lord!”
“The Royal Lord!” Ren Bing Bai involuntarily exclaimed in shock, “They went to the Royal City?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “Yao Kang Cheng would not have taken such a risk. He must have run into the Royal Lord outside. When you return, tell everyone to be extra careful.”
“Understood,” Ren Bing Bai solemnly agreed.
After he left, Yang Kai thought about it for a moment before messaging Chai Fang and Ma Gao about the Snow Wolves Squad, telling them to raise their guard to the highest limit.
Nonetheless, if they did encounter the Royal Lord, they would simply be unable to do anything no matter how careful they were. The gap in their strength was too wide. Right now, all Yang Kai could do was pray that they could hold on a few more days until Great Evolution Pass arrived.
Immediately after, Yang Kai also sent a message to Great Evolution Pass to inform them about the Royal Lord’s suspected recovery.
Yang Kai received a reply from Great Evolution Pass soon after.
The Old Ancestor had personally sent him a reply which read, “I’ve got a pretty good idea of the Royal Lord’s injuries. It’s impossible for him to recover in such a short time. Is there a mistake in the information?”
Yang Kai quickly messaged back, informing her of everything he had learned in the Black Ink Nest Space.
This time, it was not the Old Ancestor who messaged but Xiang Shan instead. He asked him to be careful and immediately flee if it came to that, meaning he should escape all alone.
Yang Kai’s Small Universe had a World Tree clone; so, he didn’t need to worry about being turned into a Black Ink Disciple. He was also proficient in the Dao of Space. As such, his chances of escaping with his life were still decent.
But if he tried to escape with the others, that would be really unrealistic and everyone would definitely be wiped out.
Yang Kai didn’t reply and instead a deep furrow appeared on his brow.
[The Old Ancestor clearly said that it’s impossible for the Royal Lord to recover, but then again, the Feudal Lord said that he had sensed the aura of the Royal Lord’s attack three days ago. What’s going on here?]
Yang Kai was completely confused.
Everything remained calm and peaceful over the next few days. No Black Ink Clansman visited the four Black Ink Nests occupied by the three Squads, and they remain safe and sound, unexposed.
Yang Kai had entered and exited the Black Ink Nest Space several times. Now, he could be considered a familiar face there and was able to chat with many of the Feudal Lords freely, but despite his best efforts, he was unable to obtain any useful information.
The Feudal Lord who said that he had felt the Royal Lord’s aura had not entered this Black Ink Nest Space since that day, so Yang Kai was unable to find him to ask about the situation further.
All this while, Yang Kai frequently contacted Great Evolution Pass to track their progress.
According to Great Evolution Pass’ original schedule, they should have arrived at the Black Ink Clan’s defence line a few days ago, but as Yang Kai had taken out Black Ink Clan’s eyes and ears by occupying four Black Ink Nests, Great Evolution Pass could now sneak through without being detected. To do this, however, the Pass had to change course, which delayed them for several days.
Today, Yang Kai was sitting in the Black Ink Nest and closely monitoring the surroundings after getting a message.
After about the time it takes to boil a cup of tea, he suddenly felt something intruding into his Black Ink Nest’s detection range, and it was something massive!
Great Evolution Pass had arrived!
Yang Kai instantly scurried outside and looked towards the location where the defence line was disturbed, but he failed to see anything. Not even his Divine Sense could find anything.
Only when he activated his Demon Eye of Annihilation that he was able to see through all illusions and finally make out a massive distorted shadow rapidly approaching.
They might have captured the four adjacent Black Ink Nests and created a hole in the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, but Great Evolution Pass still needed to disguise itself; otherwise, if a random Black Ink Clansman was passing by, he could easily spot the giant Great Evolution Pass.
By the looks of it now, Great Evolution Pass must have activated a fairly large Illusion Array. With this Illusion Array, Great Evolution Pass was completely hidden from ordinary means of detection.
Great Evolution Pass was extremely fast, so it quickly passed by Yang Kai’s Black Ink Nest and continued straight towards the Royal City.
At the same time, several figures flew out from Great Evolution Pass silently like ghosts one after another.
Yang Kai clearly saw everything and promptly used his Divine Sense to guide them over.
A short while later, a total of 500 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters arrived before Yang Kai. He then beckoned to them before leading them into the Black Ink Nest.
He had no idea what Great Evolution Pass had planned or why they had sent 500 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters to him, but obviously, the higher-ups had something in mind.
Soon, he became aware of the plan.
Xiang Shan personally messaged Yang Kai and informed him that the main mission of these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the four Special Operations Squads was to exterminate as many Black Ink Clansmen and Low-Rank Black Ink Nests in the outermost ring!
Right now, Great Evolution Pass had successfully snuck into the Black Ink Clan’s defence line and was heading straight for the Royal City, but no matter how lax the Black Ink Clan’s security might be, Great Evolution Pass couldn’t remain hidden until they reached the Royal City.
Great Evolution Pass would definitely be exposed midway.
Nevertheless, it was more than enough already. So long as the Black Ink Clan didn’t have enough time to prepare, Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack would have been a success. The rest of the battle would depend on their respective strength.
Once Great Evolution Pass was exposed, the Black Ink Clansmen setting up the defensive perimeter would be recalled to the Royal City. The three Special Operations Squads and the 500 Seventh-Order Masters’ mission was to kill as many Black Ink Clansmen as possible and weaken the Black Ink Clan forces to lay the foundation for the upcoming battle.
These 500 Seventh-Order Masters did not simply represent their own strength, however. All of them were either Squad Leaders or Vice Squad Leaders.
Their respective Squad members and Warships were all stored in their Small Universe.
These 500 people represented more than 200 Squads!
Yang Kai saw many familiar faces among these 500 people, including Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue.
After Xu Ling Gong had advanced to the Eighth Order, Yang Kai hadn’t seen them for over two centuries, but he had never expected for them to also advance to the Seventh Order.
On second thought though, it was not surprising. Whether it was Qing Kui or Su Ying Xue, both had remained in the Sixth Order for a long time and had accompanied their Honoured Master Xu Ling Gong on the Black Ink Battlefield for several centuries, so it was normal for them to make progress in their cultivation.
Now, the two of them had formed a Squad, and as they were quite familiar with each other, they could kill their enemies quite efficiently.
Qing Kui reported, “Brother Yang, before we came here, the Army Commander said that you will be in charge of this operation. Our only mission is to kill as many Black Ink Clansmen as possible.”
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement, “In that case, this Yang has been entrusted with a big mission. This battle is very important, so I hope Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters will give their all in the coming days.”
An old Seventh Order assured with a smile, “Don’t worry, this Old Master has been waiting for this day for many years. Even if I die, I will not let the Black Ink Clan have an easy time.”
Yang Kai quickly shook his head, “Don’t think like that. Currently, we hold a huge advantage. If you can survive through this, that would be best. The Black Ink Clan has no roots, so their lives are not as precious as ours. Senior Brother, you might not be young, but if you can break through to the Eighth Order, you may be able to live for many more years. Who knows, when you return to the 3,000 Worlds, you may even be able to marry a few beautiful wives and give birth to a few children and enjoy the joys of family life.”
The men in the crowd burst into laughter while Su Ying Xue and the other female Seventh-Order Masters couldn’t help but glare sharply at Yang Kai.
The old man laughed even louder, “Junior Brother is right, then should this Old Master cherish my life a bit!?”
“But of course!” Yang Kai didn’t waste any more time and mobilized his World Force as he stretched his hand out and created a ball of light before him.
“I don’t know how much everyone knows about the situation, so I’ll give you a brief overview.” He pointed at the light spot and continued, “This is the Royal City!”
As he spoke, he activated his Black Ink Strength as it spread outward from the speck of light, becoming thinner the further it went from the speck of light.
“This is the Black Ink Clan’s current defence line, filled with Black Ink Strength.” As he spoke, several light dots appeared at the outermost perimeter.
“Are these the Black Ink Nests?” Qing Kui looked at the thousands of light dots and thoughtfully asked.
Yang Kai nodded his affirmation, “That’s right, these are all Black Ink Nests. The Black Ink Clan now possesses quite few Territory Lord Black Ink Nests and I estimate that several dozen of them have been relocated to the Royal City. Each Territory Lord Black Ink Nest has a few dozen Feudal Lord Black Ink Nests which were either brought over as well or newly spawned to enhance the defence line, so there are somewhere between 2,000 to 3,000 Black Ink Nests in the periphery of the Royal City.”
Everyone was slightly shaken.
Thousands of Low-Rank Black Ink Nests was quite a huge number.
But it was also normal. If there were fewer, the Black Ink Clan would not have been able to set up such a massive defence line.
“Currently, the outermost Black Ink Nests are about a month’s journey from the Royal City,” Yang Kai reached out and pointed to one of the specks of light, “This is where we are, and the three closest Black Ink Nests are also under our control.”
His explanation was extremely simple and clear. Even though everyone had just arrived here, they instantly understood the general situation.
“The Black Ink Clan’s defence line can be seen as a giant sphere, and the Royal City is located in the centre of this sphere. Since the higher-ups want us to take care of the Black Ink Clansmen in the outer ring to have an edge in the upcoming battle, we have to kill as many of these Feudal Lords as we can. The more Feudal Lords we can kill, the more advantage we can gain in the upcoming war.”
“There are more than 200 Squads here, so starting from these four Black Ink Nests, we will move outward, eliminating all the enemies along the way. As long as we move swiftly, we will be able to eliminate many of the Black Ink Clansmen before they know what hit them.”
“According to our prior investigations, there are basically two or three Feudal Lords guarding each Black Ink Nest. One is responsible for the production of Black Ink Strength to expand the defence line, while the other is responsible for guarding it.”
“So, what I’m proposing is that a team of two Squads is the requirement to swiftly crush a nest and kill the enemies guarding it.”
Each Human Squad had at least two Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so if two Squads were to form a team, then four Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would be moving together, which was the bare minimum to guarantee success. Of course, some teams would have more Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and would naturally be stronger.
On top of that, the Humans also had their Warships’ support. As such, it would be a simple matter for two Squads to deal with a single Black Ink Nest.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Yang Kai’s expression then became solemn as he added, “A Feudal Lord can also use their Black Ink Nest to increase their strength when in close proximity, so when you engage the Black Ink Clan here, if possible, start by destroying the Black Ink Nest before targeting the Feudal Lords.”
“In addition… I’m sure all of you have Evil Purging Divine Spears with you. This spear is extremely effective against the Black Ink Clan, but if you aren’t sure that you can take your opponent out, don’t use it so we avoid revealing its existence. The Evil Purging Divine Spear… must be first used on the Territory Lords.”
“We understand,” the old man acknowledged with a nod.
“If you understand, then there’s no problem. Let’s split up.”
Saying so, Yang Kai quickly began to divide the teams. Right now, they had four Black Ink Nests under their control. With over 200 Squads distributed evenly, each of these four Black Ink Nests would temporarily house 50 Squads.
It was naturally impossible for all of them to move together. Once the war broke out, all these Squads would split up and attack the Black Ink Nests in the periphery of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line in pairs.
Of course, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t be so stupid as to remain in place and wait to be killed. Once the Royal City transmitted the news of the invasion, the Black Ink Clan would definitely return to defend it. At that time, it might turn into a pursue-and-kill situation, or even a chaotic battle.
Xiang Shan didn’t expect Yang Kai and the others to be able to exterminate all the Black Ink Clansmen at the defence line’s periphery, nor did Yang Kai think they would be able to do so; after all, taking out thousands of Black Ink Nests without being noticed within a few days was simply not realistic.
They could only do their best to reduce the Black Ink Clan forces.
This could be seen as the vanguard battle of Great Evolution Pass, while the main battle was at the Royal City!
A short while later, all the Seventh-Order Masters left, leaving only 100 or so people behind on Yang Kai’s side. Qing Kui summoned his Squad’s Warship and told them to rest and recover.
With the Battleship’s protection, no one needed to waste their strength to resist the Black Ink Strength’s invasion.
Yang Kai didn’t remain idle either. He constantly entered and exited the Black Ink Nest Space to scout for information.
Great Evolution Pass had already snuck its way into the defence line, but it would still take it a month to reach the Royal City.
Yang Kai didn’t know how long Great Evolution Pass could remain hidden, but the longer it could, the more advantageous it would be for the Human Race. As long as it could avoid detection for half a month, it would not matter if they were exposed after that.
Three days, five days, ten days…
Yang Kai still had not received any news.
Hundreds of Seventh-Order Masters stood ready inside the four Black Ink Nests.
When half a month later, there was still no news, Yang Kai let out a long sigh. Great Evolution Pass’ surprise attack had succeeded. The Black Ink Clan had failed to notice even to this point, so even if they discovered Great Evolution Pass in the next breath, it would be too late for them to make proper preparations.
Not long after, a Space Beacon on Yang Kai finally vibrated as a jade slip emerged out of thin air. Yang Kai promptly grabbed it and scanned it with his Divine Sense and found only one word, “Attack!”
The message came from Great Evolution Pass, and judging by the Divine Sense fluctuations on it, it was sent by Xiang Shan’s adjutant, Li Xing!
Great Evolution Pass had been discovered.
This was no surprise. Great Evolution Pass was so massive that even if it was hidden by an Illusion Array, it was less than half a month away from the Royal City now. It would definitely run into some Black Ink Clansmen and get discovered.
But the Black Ink Clansmen who had discovered Great Evolution Pass should have already vanished from the face of this world, so the Black Ink Clan still hadn’t sent any notice.
In other words, the Black Ink Clansmen in the periphery Black Ink Nests were still unaware of the situation.
This was the perfect opportunity to act. If they waited any longer, once the Black Ink Clan spread the news, Yang Kai and the others would lose the element of surprise.
Yang Kai, who had been sitting cross-legged for half a month, finally stood up, attracting Qing Kui and the others’ attention.
“Move out!” Yang Kai stated in a low voice before messaging Ma Gao, Chai Fang, Shen Ao, and the others.
The next moment, over 100 figures flew out from the Black Ink Nest in groups of two or three. One after another, Warships were summoned as Squad members stepped out from the Seventh-Order Masters’ Small Universes and boarded. After everyone had taken their positions, Spirit Arrays hummed as dozens of Warships flew off in different directions at breakneck speed.
This was the scene at Yang Kai’s Black Ink Nest, but it was playing out at the other three Black Ink Nests too.
At this moment, more than 200 Human Squads spread out from the four Black Ink Nests along the outer ring of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line.
Although there were many people, they moved in an orderly, precise fashion.
A great war was about to break out!
Yang Kai didn’t leave and instead remained inside the Black Ink Nest. Just as the Warships left, his consciousness entered the Black Ink Nest Space.
Without wasting any time, Yang Kai stepped into the Black Ink Nest Space and immediately shouted through his Divine Sense, “Sir Royal Lord has sent a secret order, move closer to me to receive it!”
Inside the Black Ink Nest Space, the two or three groups of Black Ink Clansmen who were conversing with each other all looked towards him strangely.
Firstly, Yang Kai only displayed the Soul fluctuations of a Feudal Lord, so if the Royal Lord had any orders, why would he ask him to relay them?
Secondly, even if there was a secret order, this ‘Feudal Lord’ could simply transmit it throughout the Black Ink Nest Space. Why would they need to get close?
Although some of the Black Ink Clansmen found the situation odd, they did not give it a deep thought as it was related to the Royal Lord.
Not long after, all the Souls in the Black Ink Nest Space had gathered around Yang Kai.
One of the Black Ink Clan Feudal Lords asked, “What instructions does the Royal Lord have?”
At this moment, Yang Kai had taken the form of a Black Ink Clansman that closely resembled Humans. He looked at everyone with a smile before stating, “Sir Royal Lord has determined that there is a Human spy amongst you, so… all of you must die!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the Spiritual Energy he had been hiding all the while erupted all of a sudden and hurtled out in all directions.
When the Black Ink Clansmen heard the words ‘Human spy’, all of them were taken aback, and by the time Yang Kai reached the word ‘die’, they still had not recovered from the shock and were struck by Yang Kai’s fearsome Soul attack with their guards down.
In an instant, overwhelming Spiritual Energy engulfed all the Black Ink Clansmen in the Black Ink Nest Space like a massive tide.
This time, Yang Kai had pushed his Soul to the limit, throwing all caution to the wind. There were easily 50 or so consciousnesses gathered here, many of them Feudal Lords. It would be difficult to find so many Feudal Lords together outside, unless there was a war raging.
More importantly, it would be a troublesome task for Yang Kai to kill so many Feudal Lords in a real battle.
The Black Ink Nest Space was a good place in this regard. As long as his Spiritual Energy outburst was strong enough, Yang Kai would have a chance to eliminate everyone here in one fell swoop.
The very moment his Spiritual Energy burst forth, the Souls of all the High-Rank Clansmen and the seven or eight Feudal Lords closest to Yang Kai instantly collapsed. Even Yang Kai’s Soul was shaken and his Soul Avatar momentarily distorted.
Although his Spiritual Energy was on par with an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s, it was not easy for him to deal with so many enemies like this at once.
The High-Rank Clansmen were helpless in the face of such overwhelming force, but while the Feudal Lords might not have been on guard against Yang Kai, the moment they were attacked, they instinctively fought back. When their Souls clashed with each other, it was too much for Yang Kai to fight so many alone.
Even so, the Souls that had yet to collapse were shaken by this violent outburst and were momentarily stunned.
During the brief interlude that followed, a seven-coloured light suddenly blossomed as a seven coloured lotus flew out from Yang Kai’s body. The next moment, it suddenly expanded into a giant lotus and enveloped all of the Black Ink Clansmen’ Souls.
By the time the Black Ink Clansmen came to their senses, they were already standing on the Soul Warming Lotus.
At the very centre of the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar grimaced in pain, but that didn’t stop him from attacking.
An overwhelming barrage of Spiritual Energy attacks rained down on the Black Ink Clansmen, instantly killing several of them.
All the surviving Black Ink Clansmen turned pale in fright. Up until now, none of them had been able to figure out what just happened, all they knew was that their fellow clansman, who had been spending a lot of time here recently, suddenly erupted with a Territory Lord’s might and went on a killing spree.
Under the intense Spiritual Energy pressure from someone as strong as a Territory Lord, all of them were terrified and restless, as if they were treading on thin ice.
Watching their fellow clansmen around them constantly fall or suffer heavy injuries, the remaining Black Ink Clansmen didn’t dare to remain any longer and immediately tried to leave the Black Ink Nest Space and return to their physical bodies.
But something happened that completely dumbfounded them. Normally, they could leave the Black Ink Nest Space with a single thought, but today, it was as if some kind of force was blocking them, preventing them from withdrawing their consciousnesses, and leaving at the mercy of the other party.
While the Black Ink Clansmen were shaking in fear, Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised.
He never thought that the Soul Warming Lotus could exhibit such an effect. He was just giving it a try, but had not expected this to happen.
This idea came from the time he was previously trapped in the Black Ink Nest Space. In the past, when he tried to wrest complete control of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest, the Black Ink Clan had trapped him in the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest Space through some unknown method. He was trapped in that space for several years as a result, and if it was not for the Soul Warming Lotus, he would have died.
He did not know how to seal the Black Ink Nest Space, so he took out the Soul Warming Lotus and tried to use it as a kind of barrier to keep everyone enveloped within it from leaving. In the best-case scenario, it would work, and if it did not, he would not have lost anything from trying. Much to his surprise, it indeed worked, and better than he had expected.
At this moment, all of the Black Ink Clansmen had been pulled into the Soul Warming Lotus, so unless they broke through from the Soul Warming Lotus’ restrictions, they would not be able to leave the Black Ink Nest.
[Interesting!]
The Black Ink Clansmen’ wails and curses rang out to no end.
No one could understand why this fellow clansman had become so bloodthirsty.
They were trapped, unable to fight back and unable to escape. Despair soon engulfed all of the Black Ink Clansmen.
Yang Kai didn’t waste any time talking, nor did he use any Soul Secret Techniques, he simply bombarded them with pure Spiritual Energy attacks, relying on his higher cultivation to crush his enemies.
One after another, the Black Ink Clansmen fell.
Yang Kai broke into crazed laughter as he went on a killing spree.
He had spent quite a few years on the Black Ink Battlefield. He had even killed Territory Lords, the backbone of the Black Ink Clan, but there had never been a day when he could kill so many so easily.
It wasn’t just because of a gap in strength though, but also because the Human Race had finally taken the initiative to attack after countless years.
The crusade began with him!
After an incense stick worth of time, Yang Kai turned his gaze to the last survivor. The Soul Avatar of the last Feudal Lord was incomparably dim and as he stared at Yang Kai, he asked in disbelief, “Why? Why are you doing this!?”
Even now, it never occurred to him that Yang Kai might be a Human. When Yang Kai was spending his days here, this Feudal Lord had talked to him many times and Yang Kai had seemed to fit right in, so he really couldn’t understand why Yang Kai had suddenly killed so many of his clansmen.
“Because you’re all wastes. The Royal Lord no longer needs you.” Yang Kai looked at him coldly.
“The Royal Lord doesn’t need us anymore…” The Feudal Lord felt as if he had been struck by lightning and his Soul becoming dimmer. He didn’t want to believe this, but this revelation was quite a huge blow to him.
Yang Kai did not give the opposite party any chance to ask further questions and shot a bolt of Spiritual Energy at him, blowing the opposite party apart.
After just an incense stick worth of time, the once lively Black Ink Nest Space only had one person remaining, Yang Kai. The rest were dead.
Yang Kai might have killed a lot of enemies, but he had to pay a price in the form of damage to his Soul. Nonetheless, he didn’t take these injuries seriously. Thanks to all the times he had used the Soul Rending Thorn, Yang Kai was now accustomed to the pain of having his Soul injured.
As long as his Soul wasn’t instantly destroyed, the Soul Warming Lotus would eventually restore the damage.
Be that as it may, he still regretted a little that he hadn’t cultivated any powerful Soul Secret Techniques. It would have made it a lot easier for him to kill his enemies in this place.
[Should I cultivate some Soul Secret Techniques when I return? Otherwise, I would have no choice but to attack in this clumsy manner the next time I encounter a similar situation.]
But on second thought, there might not ever be a fight against the Black Ink Clan like this again. It would be completely pointless to cultivate such techniques in that case.
Yang Kai ridiculed himself and was about to head out; but suddenly, he noticed something and began carefully inspecting it.
After a while, a strange look filled his face.
Much to his surprise, the Souls of the Black Ink Clansmen he had killed were actually absorbed by the Soul Warming Lotus and refined into pure Spiritual Energy that was now being used to repair the injuries he just incurred.
Yang Kai was ecstatic!
[The Soul Warming Lotus can even do something like this!?]
It had been many years since Yang Kai first acquired the Soul Warming Lotus, but it was only today that he realized that it could actually refine the Spiritual Energy of others for his use.
[Could it be that this is the true way to use the Soul Warming Lotus?]
Thinking back, he realized that he had never dragged an enemy into the Soul Warming Lotus to fight before.
Even during the numerous battles he had fought over the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest, he would only hide inside the Soul Warming Lotus and rely on it to resist the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Territory Lords. When he recovered, he would come out and use the Soul Rending Thorns to kill his enemies before returning to the Soul Warming Lotus to recover.
As such, even though he had killed many Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, their Spiritual Energy was not absorbed by the Soul Warming Lotus after their deaths.
As far as Yang Kai knew, the greatest use of the Soul Warming Lotus lay in its defensive and restorative capabilities.
Today, he learned something completely different. All the Black Ink Clansmen in this space had died inside the Soul Warming Lotus’ bounds, and when their Souls collapsed, all their dispersed Spiritual Energy was absorbed by the Soul Warming Lotus.
After the Spiritual Energy was purified by the Soul Warming Lotus, it was transferred to Yang Kai, repairing and strengthening his Soul.
This effect reminded Yang Kai of Wu Kuang’s Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus, which also had a similar effect of refining all physical impurities.
If it weren’t for the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus, Wu Kuang’s energy would have been incomparably impure with his constant use of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, and he would have never been able to have his current achievements.
The Twin Lotuses were Innate Supreme Treasures.
The Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus allowed Wu Kuang to absorb all kinds of energy without any worries. He could absorb anything, and never worry about any form of sequelae.
And as Yang Kai was now discovering, the Soul Warming Lotus could also remove the impurities from any form of Spiritual Energy, allowing the wielder to easily absorb it and strengthen their Soul.
One benefited the physical body, the other the Soul.
Yang Kai could not help but break into laughter after this unintentional discovery. Had he not destroyed the Souls of so many Black Ink Clansmen here today, he would have been forever oblivious to this ability of the Soul Warming Lotus.
But on second thought, even if he had known this earlier, he might not have used this method to kill his enemies.
His Soul getting stronger was a wonderful experience, but circumstances still mattered.
His cultivation was at the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, while his Soul was comparable to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s. Although his Soul was a realm higher than his cultivation, it did not have much impact on him.
But if his Soul was comparable to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master while his cultivation remained at the Seventh-Order, there would be an imbalance between his physical body and Soul which would bring about unforeseeable consequences.
More raw power doesn’t always equate to being stronger. Only strength that one could freely control was true strength.
It wasn’t too late to discover the effects of the Soul Warming Lotus though, so Yang Kai didn’t feel that he should be frustrated about this.
Thanks to this pure Spiritual Energy nourishing his Soul, not only did Yang Kai’s Soul quickly recover, but it even grew slightly.
Having finished everything here, Yang Kai withdrew his consciousness and left the Black Ink Nest before shooting off into the void. Immediately afterwards, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest exploded behind him.
500 Seventh-Order Masters commanding over 200 Squads had already dispersed to attack their targets. It was a perfect opportunity to eliminate as many Black Ink Clan forces as possible before Great Evolution Pass was completely discovered and the enemy reacted.
Yang Kai didn’t return to Dawning Light. Even in his and Feng Ying’s absence, Dawn still had seven Seventh-Order Masters overseeing it. Coupled with a highly customized Warship like Dawning Light, Dawn would not have any problem taking care of a few Low-Rank Black Ink Nests. In fact, even without Dawning Light, Dawn could split up and attack two different Black Ink Nests at once and still have no issues.
Yang Kai used Space Principles to swiftly cover a vast distance in the void.
A moment later, he had already entered the detection range of another Black Ink Nest.
A few breaths after that, the Black Ink Nest was already before him. The Black Ink Nest had just dispatched a team to check who had invaded their territory, and both sides ran into each other just 100,000 kilometres away from the Black Ink Nest. Yang Kai’s aura surged as he thrust the Azure Dragon Spear out, his figure shooting forward as he passed through the Black Ink Clansmen.
The next moment, the Black Ink Clansmen exploded one after another behind him. Even the Feudal Lord leading them was no exception.
The next instant, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest that was 100,000 kilometres away also suffered a terrible blow. The Black Ink Clan suffered massive casualties and shortly after, a stalwart and grotesque figure flew out of the damaged Black Ink Nest, his eyes filled with anger and confusion.
He was using the Black Ink Strength of his Black Ink Nest to strengthen the defence line, so he was completely focused on his task and was caught completely off guard when the fearsome attack struck his Black Ink Nest. Not only was he injured, but even his Black Ink Nest was almost destroyed.
The Feudal Lord immediately looked towards the source of this attack, only to spot a man holding a spear rapidly approaching him.
The Feudal Lord was beside himself in shock.
[Human!]
[A Human has actually come to attack this place!?]
[I’m not his match!]
Although he didn’t know why a Human was attacking, and alone at that, he could feel just how powerful this person was and instantly knew he was not the other’s opponent.
The Feudal Lord was a little perplexed at the same time. The other party was clearly radiating the aura of a Seventh-Order Master, but he found the momentum of this Human even more threatening than some Eighth-Order Masters he had seen from afar.
After having realized this, the Feudal Lord simply did not dare to remain any longer. But just as he was about to turn around and flee, the space around him froze for a moment.
This one moment was the difference between life and death.
The Azure Dragon Spear lightly brushed past the Feudal Lord’s head, like a light breeze of wind, but that was enough for the Feudal Lord’s head to explode, sending a fountain of black blood spurting from his neck as his headless corpse twitching in place.
Yang Kai’s figure skimmed past the Feudal Lord as he timely picked up his Space Ring while he was at it. The next moment, he was already millions of kilometres away using Instantaneous Movement.
One Black Ink Nest, two Black Ink Nests, three Black Ink Nests…
Wherever Yang Kai passed, all the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests would explode into pieces, and all the Black Ink Clansmen guarding them, whether they were Feudal Lords or High-Rank Clansmen, would die on the spot. All of them were powerless to resist.
The Black Ink Clan’s defence line was massive, so there was quite a huge distance between each Black Ink Nest, but this distance was nothing for Yang Kai thanks to his Mastery of the Dao of Space.
He was able to destroy three or four Black Ink Nests an hour.
No one could match this speed, even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could not do this. An Eighth-Order Master might be able to eliminate all these Black Ink Clansmen with one move, but in terms of speed, Yang Kai had the distinct edge.
Moreover, Yang Kai’s tremendous combat strength which made him invincible in the same Realm allowed him to exert power nearly on par with an Eight-Order Masters. Ergo, killing these Black Ink Clansmen was as easy as flipping his hand.
This was his greatest advantage.
The Black Ink Nests in the outermost ring of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line were destroyed one after another and not a single Black Ink Clansman at these nests was spared. Nearly 500 Black Ink Nests disappeared in just a short span of half a day.
Almost 10% of these Black Ink Nests had been destroyed by Yang Kai alone, whereas the remaining 90% were taken out by the 200 Squads.
In other words, Yang Kai had eliminated nearly 50 Black Ink Nests in just half a day, while the 200 Squads only managed to destroy two or three Black Ink Nests each on average.
It wasn’t that these Squads were weak. With two Squads working together, each team basically had four or five Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The Low-Rank Black Ink Nests and their guards were basically powerless against such a force, but the Human Squads wasted most of their time travelling between targets.
After another half a day, the tally had further increased.
The sudden disappearance of so many Black Ink Nests in just one day had not gone unnoticed by the Black Ink Clan.
Great Evolution Pass had yet to be exposed. Even if some passing Black Ink Clansmen noticed Great Evolution Pass, they were quickly silenced by the Eighth-Order Division Commanders guarding it before they could sound the alarm.
However, the mass culling of Low-Rank Black Ink Nests and the deaths of so many Feudal Lords was more than enough to alert the Black Ink Clan.
The Black Ink Clan wasn’t stupid. There must be some reason for so many Black Ink Nests to suddenly lose contact with the Royal City, with an enemy attack being the most likely case.
The Royal City thus issued a series of orders, dispatching teams led by Feudal Lords to investigate the situation.
In the blink of an eye, the Royal City began preparing for battle as a murderous atmosphere filled the air.
Yang Kai had already lost count of how many Black Ink Nests he had destroyed, but he was having the time of his life; he could slaughter members of the Black Ink Clan to his heart’s content without any worries. Thanks to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s constant harassment, the Territory Lords were too afraid to leave the Royal City unless absolutely necessary. As such, all the Black Ink Nests only had Feudal Lords overseeing them, which was no different from fish on the chopping block for Yang Kai. No one could resist his Azure Dragon Spear.
Not only was Yang Kai on a killing spree, but even the other Squad was swiftly eliminating all the enemies they could find, especially the three Special Operations Squads who left a trail of corpses and blood everywhere they passed by. No Black Ink Nest’s forces could withstand the rampage of these three elite Squads.
At some point, when Yang Kai was heading to another Black Ink Nest, he suddenly caught sight of something strange; a massive Black Ink Nest rapidly flying towards the Royal City. The Black Ink Nest was tightly guarded by dozens of Black Ink Clansmen, who were vigilantly escorting it.
Yang Kai immediately understood that the existence of Great Evolution Pass must have finally been exposed, and so had the destruction of the Black Ink Nests at the hands of Human attackers.
Otherwise, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have acted in such a manner.
The Royal City’s side should have ordered the Black Ink Clansmen in the outermost ring of the defence line to return and defend.
The Feudal Lords could not bear to part with their Black Ink Nests, so even if they were retreating, they tried to bring their Black Ink Nests along, but this inevitably slowed them down.
In the end, this group of Black Ink Clansmen was unable to escape. Yang Kai chased after them and started another slaughter, which lasted no more than a dozen breaths. When he left, everything was destroyed, even the Black Ink Nest.
After coming across this situation, Yang Kai stopped moving around the periphery and instead started advancing towards the inner circle.
From this moment on, the mission of the 200 Human Squads switched from ambush to pursuit!
Three days later, Yang Kai had no idea where his pursuit led him, nor how many Black Ink Clansmen he had killed. Since the start of his assault, his pace had never halted.
But because the Black Ink Clan had started returning to defend the Royal City and were no longer staying in place, his efficiency had greatly decreased.
Yang Kai needed to find traces of the Black Ink Clan in the vast void.
Fortunately, most of the Feudal Lords couldn’t bear to part with their Black Ink Nests, so even if they were returning to the Royal City, they were bringing their Black Ink Nests with them. And this made them an easy target. He could clearly spot them using his Demon Eye of Annihilation, no matter the great distance between him and them as Black Ink Nests were simply too massive to hide.
Another Black Ink Nest was destroyed by Yang Kai, along with dozens of Black Ink Clansmen. The two Feudal Lords were unable to believe that they couldn’t even withstand a single attack from a Seventh-Order Human Master.
The shattered pieces of the Black Ink Nest flew everywhere.
Just as Yang Kai was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eyes and focused his gaze towards it.
The next moment, his expression changed as he instantly moved towards it and stopped before a door-sized object which did not seem to be crafted from some kind of sturdy metal.
After staring at it for a moment, Yang Kai reached out and picked it up.
After studying it for a moment, his face turned dark and gloomy.
Although he had expected this, when he saw this object, Yang Kai was certain that the Snow Wolves Squad… was no more!
The object in his hand was a material used by the Humans to refine Warships. Specifically, this was an alloy of ores that was sturdy and a good conductor of World Force, which made it extremely suitable for refining the hull of a Warship.
Since he found it here, it meant that a Human Warship was destroyed in this place. This was a part of its wreckage.
Other than the Snow Wolves Squad’s Warship, no other Human Warship could have arrived at this location before now.
Since he had found the wreckage here, what had happened to the Snow Wolves Squad was quite clear.
Combined with the message Yao Kang Cheng had sent him that day, Yang Kai could not help but be shaken up.
Did they really encounter the Royal Lord?
But Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was certain that the Royal Lord had not recovered yet.
This place was still some 10 days’ journey from the Royal City and could be considered the middle part of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, so how could the Snow Wolves encounter the Royal Lord here?
If the Royal Lord was heavily injured as Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said, then he would never appear here.
But if the Snow Wolves hadn’t run into the Royal Lord, how could they have been so powerless that even their Warship was instantly destroyed?
It had to be known that as a Special Operations Squad, the Snow Wolves also had a custom Warship which was vastly superior to ordinary Squad-Grade Warships. The Snow Wolves had spent countless Military Merits on their own Warship, requesting the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters at the Pass to modify and enhance it. With such a Warship and their own strength, even if the Snow Wolves Squad ran into a lone Territory Lord, they would still have been able to retreat without too much trouble.
However, Yao Kang Cheng only had enough time to hurriedly send a brief message before falling silent.
Yang Kai might have seen so many deaths that he was already accustomed to it, but his mood still became heavy.
There were not many Special Operations Squads. Each Great Pass only had a handful at most, and each of their Squad Leaders had a high chance of advancing to the Eighth Order.
Many of the current Eighth-Order Division Commanders once used to be Squad Leaders of such elite Squads.
Not to mention, the Snow Wolves Squad had 10 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in total, so it was not just Yao Kang Cheng who had good chances of advancing to the Eighth-Order.
Now that they had been completely wiped out, the Human Race had lost a couple Eighth-Order seedlings.
But this was still not what weighed most heavily on Yang Kai’s mind. The thing he was most concerned about was the condition of the Royal Lord, and whether or not the Royal Lord had personally killed the Snow Wolves Squad.
Unfortunately, no one knew what had happened back then, so the only way to learn what happened was to wait for the real war to begin.
Yang Kai put away the remains of the Warship before his aura surged. He was like a bright lamp in this dark and dreary void filled with the Black Ink Strength. The next moment, he left a dazzling trail of light in his wake as he shot off, searching for a target to vent his anger.
Yang Kai encountered the returning Black Ink Clan forces in the vast void from time to time, and all the Black Ink Clansmen he ran into were mercilessly killed.
Five days later, Yang Kai, who was hunting the Black Ink Clan, suddenly noticed powerful energy fluctuations coming from a certain direction. Someone was fighting!
He immediately flew towards the source to check up on the situation; whereupon he saw a Human Warship circling around a Low-Rank Black Ink Nest, attacking it until it was riddled with holes.
A Feudal Lord stood atop this Black Ink Nest, angrily roaring while casting a series of Secret Techniques, though he was unable to do anything to the Warship.
When the two races encountered each other in the void, the Humans, who possessed Warships, always had a huge advantage. Whereas the Feudal Lords, who were unwilling to abandon their Black Ink Nests, essentially became a target.
What’s more, at this point, it was basically impossible for the Feudal Lords to abandon their Black Ink Nests. A Feudal Lord could use his or her Black Ink Nest to empower themselves and fight back against the Human Squads, but if they abandoned it, they would lose all their chances of making it out alive.
The Human Squad was just an ordinary Squad with a dozen or so members, led by two Seventh-Order Masters.
By the time Yang Kai arrived, the Black Ink Nest was already on the verge of collapsing. A few High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen courageously shot straight towards the Warship under the orders of the Feudal Lord, but none of them was able to even get close before being blown to pieces by various attacks fired by the Warship’s arrays.
By the looks of it, this group of Black Ink Clansmen would not be able to hold on for much longer. The Black Ink Nest would be destroyed in at most an hour, and by then, only one or two Feudal Lords would remain alive.
Victory was set in stone for the Humans!
Yang Kai didn’t mind adding a flower to the bouquet before him and also attacked with his spear as his fierce aura locked onto the owner of Black Ink Nest from afar.
The Feudal Lord’s heart jumped into his throat and he immediately turned his gaze towards Yang Kai, but all he saw was a rapidly approaching spear tip.
The Feudal Lord was also a decisive person, so upon realizing that things were not looking good for him, he madly mobilized the power of his Black Ink Nest. His aura suddenly exploded as he sent a palm strike towards Yang Kai.
A shockwave spread outwards as Yang Kai and the Feudal Lord flew past each other, continuing on for several tens of thousands of kilometres before they stopped and stabilized themselves. The next moment, Yang Kai’s skin split apart as blood spurted from a fresh wound that had been inflicted on him.
The Feudal Lord’s desperate counterattack had ultimately managed to injure Yang Kai.
The number of Black Ink Nests Yang Kai had destroyed in the past few days since the war started was hard to count, and the number of Feudal Lords that had perished at his hands was even higher.
Furthermore, Yang Kai would always go all out every time he attacked, trying to eliminate the enemy in the shortest time possible so that he could quickly rush to the next location.
It was impossible to remain unscathed in such a high-intensity battle.
Currently, the number of wounds on Yang Kai’s body was almost the same as the number of Black Ink Clansmen he killed. If it wasn’t for his powerful Dragon Vein, these wounds alone would have rendered him immobile.
The strongest aspect of a powerful Dragon Vein was its tenacity and recovery ability. So, Yang Kai did not take these small wounds seriously.
On the other hand, at this moment, the huge Black Ink Nest behind Yang Kai had been split in half, and the Master of the Black Ink Nest, the Feudal Lord who had clashed with him, was missing half of his body.
The Feudal Lord was not dead yet, but he was quickly reduced to blood mist under the constant barrage of the Human Race Warship.
By the time Yang Kai returned to the battlefield, the fight was already over.
The Squad Leader must have seen Yang Kai before as he quickly stepped forward and greeted, “Brother Yang!”
He was secretly in awe. Yang Kai’s entire body was currently surrounded by a thick murderous intent, one so dense that it was almost tangible, which was proof of just how many Black Ink Clansmen he had killed over these last few days.
Yang Kai’s body was covered in blood and wounds, the glorious trophies of his battles along the way.
Yang Kai nodded slightly before curiously asking, “Where did you come from?”
He had not seen the two Seventh-Order members of this Squad among the 500 Seventh-Order Masters assigned to him previously. Although he didn’t know all 500 of them personally, he still had some impression of their faces.
The Seventh-Order Master, who had greeted him, replied, “A number of us were deployed from Great Evolution Pass under orders from the Army Commander to intercept the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen.”
Yang Kai immediately understood. Xiang Shan’s arrangement was thorough and reasonable.
500 Seventh-Order Humans had been sent to ambush the Black Ink Clan’s outer defence line, but once the Black Ink Clan received the news about the impending attack, the Feudal Lords on the periphery would definitely be recalled to the Royal City.
On the other hand, Great Evolution Pass was right ahead of the returning Feudal Lords. So, Great Evolution Pass had deployed a few Squads to intercept these returning Feudal Lords.
Yang Kai also realized that he must have killed his way around the entire perimeter of the Royal City, otherwise he wouldn’t have encountered someone from Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai did not waste any more time on small-talk. He raised his Azure Dragon Spear and cautioned, “Be careful, if you encounter a strong enemy, try to team up with the other Squads. There should be some of our people nearby.”
Yang Kai instantly teleported away after having cautioned the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
The Seventh-Order Master incessantly sighed, looking in the direction he disappeared, “Even though we are both in the Seventh-Order, I can never match him!”
All of them had witnessed Yang Kai’s might with their own eyes. The same enemy, against whom their Squad had been battling for a long time, was taken out by Yang Kai in just one attack.
There was a massive gap between them.
The others in the Squad consoled their Leader with a smile, “We don’t have that kind of power, so we can’t move alone, but there is no need to belittle ourselves. War is not fought by one man alone.”
The Seventh-Order Squad Leader nodded in agreement, “That’s right, this is a war, a life and death struggle between two races. We just have to do what we are capable of doing.”
Next, he pointed in a certain direction and shouted, “Let’s head in that direction!”
Everyone loudly responded as the Warship set sail.
Elsewhere, Yang Kai silently calculated the speed and route of the Black Ink Clan’s forces before he proceeded around the Royal City once more while slowly approaching it, moving in a large spiral path.
Everyone was drawing closer to the Royal City; the Human Race was like this, and so was the Black Ink Clan. At some point, they were bound to run into each other.
A great war could break out in the inner ring of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line at any moment.
The Humans had killed innumerable Black Ink Clansmen, while suffering almost negligible casualties.
The Black Ink Clan had spent a great deal of time and effort to construct a massive defence line. Originally, they thought that they could use it to block the Human Race’s advance, but now, this defence line was nothing more than a flower vase. It could even be considered a burden.
All the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests had been moved to the outermost ring in order to expand this defence line, which meant thousands of Black Ink Nests and at least twice as many Feudal Lords had been sent out. Individually, the forces of these Black Ink Nests weren’t worth considering, but taken as a whole, over 5,000 Feudal Lords and dozens of times more soldiers was a formidable force.
Such manpower was indispensable to the current Black Ink Clan.
If such a force were to be cut off and eliminated before the real battle even began, the Black Ink Clan’s overall strength would suffer greatly. Furthermore, the loss of so many Feudal Lords would result in a big gap in the command hierarchy between the highest and lowest levels of the Army.
After several days of continuous ambushes and raids, the Black Ink Clan had lost over 2,000 Feudal Lords and at least 10 times as many High and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen.
If these 2,000 Feudal Lords and tens of thousands of Black Ink Clansmen were gathered in one place, the Human Race Army would have to pay a huge price to eliminate all of them.
But so far, the Human Army had lost less than 30 soldiers.
The reason for this was because these Feudal Lords were scattered quite far away from each other. As long as the Human forces found an opportunity, they were quickly eliminated one by one.
The war had yet not started, but the Humans had already established a great advantage, so how could they not win?
While the Human Squads were triumphantly advancing, the Black Ink Clan was fleeing in a great panic, fleeing in the Royal City’s direction. In the end, only a very few managed to escape from the Human Race’s pursuit and interception.
Only the Black Ink Clansmen in the direction opposite of Great Evolution Pass’ arrival stood a chance of escaping back to the Royal City.
Of course, if they were down on their luck, they might run into Yang Kai, who was circling around the Royal City.
After 10 days, Yang Kai was flying across the void with his spear, blankly looking around.
It had been over a day since he had last seen any Black Ink Clansmen, and it was not as if they had all been killed.
The Black Ink Clansmen stationed at the outer defence line were a month’s journey from the Royal City if they were bringing their Black Ink Nests along with them. Great Evolution Pass was only discovered 15 days after it crossed the periphery of the defence line, so the Black Ink Clan should have started heading back to the Royal City after receiving that message.
Only 10 days had passed since Great Evolution Pass was discovered. In other words, the returning Black Ink Clansmen who were still alive should still be some 20 days away from the Royal City.
Some of them might have been faster, and some might have been slower, some would have been farther from the Royal City and some would have been closer, but all in all, there would not be that much gap between them.
But Yang Kai failed to find any. There was nothing but empty void around him.
About 30% of the Black Ink Clansmen in the outer defence line had been eliminated, so the remaining 70% must be scattered in various directions. It might seem that there were still quite a lot of them alive, but it wasn’t that easy to find them.
After a quick calculation, Yang Kai realized that Great Evolution Pass was now just a few days away from the Royal City.
The huge battle was imminent!
Yang Kai stared into the void for a while before putting away the Azure Dragon Spear and disappearing soon after.
The final battle would be fought at the Royal City in a few days. Considering this, the best course of action was to conserve his strength, so he returned to Great Evolution Pass!
Yang Kai reappeared aboard a Purifying Black Ink Battleship anchored in Great Evolution Pass.
Before he could regain his senses, a hubbub of noises entered his ear.
“Don’t block the way, keep moving, keep moving.”
“Eh, so soft… what is it?”
“Which little bastard is touching this Great Aunt? Surnamed Cao, was it you!? I knew it! You always had dirty intentions towards me! You always pretended to be dignified, but today you’ve finally revealed your true colours!”
“Junior Sister, what are you saying? I never had any dirty intentions towards you!”
“What do you mean? Are you saying this Great Aunt is ugly?”
“No, no, absolutely not…”
“What do you mean then? Explain yourself!”
…
“Senior Brother, you’re stepping on my foot.”
“This Old Master is injured, my guts are flowing out, which blind fool even knocked into this Old Master’s wound, Aiya… it hurts like Hell.”
…
“Keep moving, keep moving, don’t stop!”
…
Yang Kai was completely dumbfounded.
Looking around, he soon noticed that the Universe Array was completely overcrowded with people continuing to teleport back from the outside. It was so cramped that people were literally stepping on each others’ toes.
Although the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was not small, the location of the Universe Array was not too big. Normally, it could only accommodate a few dozen people, but now hundreds of people were attempting to return through it, causing it to become quite crowded.
No one had expected this either.
Yang Kai thought to himself, [I guess the higher-ups have sent out orders to return to the Great Pass to prepare for the upcoming battle; otherwise, something like this wouldn’t be happening.]
Be that as it may, it was not that big of a deal. It might be a bit chaotic, but the cultivators were all quickly returning from outside so this couldn’t be helped.
If all of them were to remain here, it would only become more crowded.
Yang Kai went along with the flow and soon arrived at the Space Array setup. He stepped into the Array with the others, and activated his strength. The next moment, he appeared on the deck of the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
Just as before, no one stayed on the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s deck.
After a short while, Yang Kai finally arrived at an open space and made a quick scan with his Divine Sense, but he failed to locate Dawning Light.
There was also a Universe Array on Dawning Light, so as long as it was within range of the Universe Transference Law, he could sense it.
But since he was unable to locate Dawning Light, the only possibility was that it had been taken into someone’s Small Universe.
[I guess Shen Ao and the others are back already.]
Yang Kai swiftly made his way to Dawn’s courtyard, and as he had expected, he could sense the aura of Dawn’s members from inside, but all of them seemed to be conditioning themselves, preparing for the upcoming battle.
Yang Kai didn’t disturb them and simply returned to his room where he sat down cross-legged and stuffed some pills into his mouth to recover his stamina and energy.
Tens of thousands of soldiers had gathered inside Great Evolution Pass, getting ready for the attack.
In the void, the massive Great Evolution Pass headed straight towards the Royal City without hiding itself.
Since their presence had already been exposed, there was no need to hide anymore.
This was also a way to let the Black Ink Clan know that the Human Race was determined to win this War. The mobilization of Great Evolution Pass represented that the tens of thousands of Human soldiers would not stop for anything. Anyone who dared to stand in their way was destined to die a tragic death.
…
At the same time, in the Royal City…
The Royal Lord was sitting inside his huge Royal Palace, his face pale and gloomy.
Obviously, his injuries were very serious and he had yet to recover.
Several hundred years ago, he had fought with the female Human Old Ancestor repeatedly over 100 years, during which time both sides suffered great losses. He suffered serious injuries in those successive battles, and the same was true for the Old Ancestor. In the end, both had taken a huge hit, and they were no longer able to display their peak in battle anymore.
But he had no idea that the Old Ancestor was just putting on an act. Each time they fought back then, she had fully recovered and was only feigning weakness to get him to lower his guard.
In the final battle of that war, the Old Ancestor suddenly brought out her peak combat strength and thrashed him to the point where he could barely escape. Had several Territory Lords not led a massive number of troops over from the Royal City to rescue him, the Old Ancestor would have killed him that day.
The Territory Lords and the Black Ink Clan Army who had come to rescue him all sacrificed their lives, but the Royal Lord managed to survive.
Even now, the Royal Lord could not understand how the Old Ancestor had managed to recover from her injuries so rapidly. Logically speaking, it was impossible for her to recover so quickly from injuries like those.
Unfortunately, the Old Ancestor did really recover.
In that battle, he fled back to the Royal City where he barely held on to his life by relying on the power of his Black Ink Nest to resist the Old Ancestor who doggedly chased after him.
Nevertheless, his Army had suffered crippling casualties.
It was also because of that battle that the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre lost all ability to compete with the Humans.
Fortunately, the Humans had also withdrawn soon after the battle ended to retake Great Evolution Pass and restore it.
While it might have been humiliating, the Royal Lord breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Human Race Army retreat that day.
At last, he could recuperate in peace.
But to his dismay, things did not pan out as he had expected. The Old Ancestor suddenly returned alone a few days after he entered the Black Ink Nest to recuperate. Shocked, he hurriedly leapt out of the Black Ink Nest, unable to care about anything else but the enemy at his doorstep.
This was just the beginning of his suffering though.
For the next 200 years, the Old Ancestor would return every now and then, either releasing her Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm aura from afar to threaten the Royal City, or she would just directly attack and raise chaos. Many Black Ink Clansmen died at her hands, but there was nothing the Royal Lord could do other than remain near the Royal City where he could take advantage of his Black Ink Nest to repel the Old Ancestor.
Two centuries… It had been a full two centuries, but the Royal Lord’s injuries had not improved at all. The Royal Lord’s eyes burned with rage just recalling her figure.
He had never encountered such a difficult opponent.
Left with no choice, he could only order the Feudal Lords to take their Black Ink Nests and construct a Black Ink Strength barrier around the Royal City.
The Human Race would return someday, the Royal Lord was certain of this, and so were the Territory Lords; thus, they had to take precautions.
The Black Ink Strength defence line could restrict the movements of the Human cultivators, whereas the Black Ink Clansmen would be like fish in water. If a war really broke out one day, this defence line might be able to tip the scales in their favour.
Because of this, the Black Ink Clan had expended an enormous amount of resources, consuming almost everything they had amassed over the previous 30,000 years.
But it was well worth it. The Black Ink Strength defence line covered a vast area around the Royal City, which would require even the strongest Masters several days to cross, providing a safe zone for the Black Ink Clan.
Any Human who dared to cross this defence line would definitely meet a terrible end.
When they received the news that the Human Race had attacked, the Territory Lords and even the Royal Lord weren’t too surprised, but to their shock and horror, another piece of news soon reached their ears.
The Black Ink Clansman who had discovered the movements of the Human Race reported that the Humans were not attacking in a fleet like in the past, but had instead brought the entire Great Evolution Pass with them.
Instinctively, none of the Black Ink Clan higher-ups were willing to believe it.
But when Hong Di Territory Lord personally went out to investigate and saw that massive weapon of war advancing towards the Royal City, no matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to believe it.
He had presided over Great Evolution Pass for 30,000 years, so he was incomparably familiar with it, knowing every nook and cranny like the back of his hand.
[Great Evolution Pass… is really coming.]
When they received this piece of news, all the Territory Lords were beside themselves with shock.
Great Evolution Pass could actually move!? How could such a massive object be moved? More importantly, the Black Ink Clan had occupied Great Evolution Pass for 30,000 years but never discovered that it could be controlled.
They knew that Great Evolution Pass was a giant Mobile Palace Artifact, but apart from that, they knew nothing else.
A massive Great Pass like that was attacking, with all its powerful offensive and defensive arrays. It was hard to say how effective the Black Ink Strength defence line that the Black Ink Clan had shed sweat and blood to set up would be against this unprecedented move by the Humans.
Now, even in an environment filled with Black Ink Strength, if the Human soldiers felt like they couldn’t hold on any longer, they could simply return to Great Evolution Pass to rest and recuperate.
All of the Territory Lords stared at Hong Di with a look of blame on their faces.
Hong Di felt indignant about this misplaced anger.
He might have been in charge of Great Evolution Pass for 30,000 years, but at the end of the day, it was still an artifact refined by the Human Race. How could it be that easily controlled without some kind of special technique?
That wasn’t the most important point though. The crucial issue was how Great Evolution Pass managed to sneak past the Black Ink Strength defence line without anyone noticing. There might be some areas in the defence line with weaker surveillance than others, but certainly no gaps big enough to miss the enormous Great Evolution Pass sailing by. They should have received news of the invasion a month ago when Great Evolution Pass intruded past the defence line.
But in reality, they only learned of it half a month after Great Evolution Pass had crossed the defence perimeter.
That’s the most unusual point!
In any case, there was no point in pursuing who was responsible for which failure right now. The Black Ink Clan had already lost an estimated 20% to 30% of the Lords and their subordinates stationed at the outer defence line, as well as at least 1,000 Black Ink Nests. They had suffered extremely heavy losses.
The entire Great Pass was invading, so clearly, the Humans were planning to wage a final battle with them. If they couldn’t stop the Humans this time, the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre would be annihilated.
At present, all the Territory Lords were gathered at the Royal Palace. When they arrived, the air in the palace was already so heavy that the Territory Lords did not dare to speak, but soon after, the Royal Lord gave them even worse news than they had imagined.
This was not just happening in Great Evolution Theatre. From the information he had received, all the Human Race’s Great Passes were moving towards the Royal Cities in their corresponding Theatre.
This was not just a battle for dominance of a single Theatre, but a total war between the two Races!
This was truly unprecedented.
Such a large-scale deployment could not have been organized in just one or two years.
The Human Race had clearly been planning this for a very long time!
Now that they were mounting an all-out assault, it was perfectly clear that they were planning to have a decisive battle with the Black Ink Clan. After this war ended, only one race would survive.
The Territory Lords were all shocked. In their minds, the Humans had always been passive and focused entirely on defence. The Black Ink Clan could attack whenever and wherever they wanted, and they could retreat as they pleased. This status quo had not changed for countless millennia.
It was true that the Black Ink Clan would suffer massive casualties every time a war broke out, but the true Masters would almost all survive. The ones who died were the weak and insignificant soldiers. For the Black Ink Clan, even if these weak clansmen perished in droves, so long as they had the Black Ink Nests and ample resources, they could replenish their ranks without limit.
But it was different for the Humans who always had far fewer soldiers. Every single death for them was a significant loss.
As such, the Territory Lords had always believed that someday, they would be able to wipe out all the Humans and take down the Great Passes one by one before ultimately invading and conquering the 3,000 Worlds.
The Black Ink Clan had been coveting the flourishing 3,000 Worlds since forever, where they could enslave countless Black Ink Disciples and feast upon the innumerable complete Universe Worlds. It was the world that the Black Ink Clan most yearned for.
But now, the Human Race had actually launched an attack in every Theatre with the clear intent to wipe them from existence.
After a heavy and depressing silence, Hong Di couldn’t bear it any longer and stated, cupping his fist, “Sir Royal Lord, the Humans are approaching with unstoppable momentum. Great Evolution Pass is also exceptionally sturdy. If it hits the Royal City, the Royal City would definitely be destroyed.”
When the Great Evolution East-West Army invaded the Royal City last time, they had outfitted dozens of Universe Worlds with thousands of Spirit Arrays to use them as giant weapons, causing the Black Ink Clan to suffer greatly. The Black Ink Clan had to split their forces in every battle to defend against the Universe Worlds which were hurled at them, resulting in the deaths of many of their clansmen.
The situation was already bad when it was just Universe Worlds, but now, what was charging at them was actually the Great Pass itself!
Of course, Great Evolution Pass was inferior to the Universe Worlds in terms of pure size. Even the smallest Universe World was countless times bigger than Great Evolution Pass.
But size was not the standard by which to measure a threat.
When the Universe Worlds were used to attack, the Territory Lords could blast them to pieces through joint attacks without much difficulty, so they weren’t a big threat to the Royal City as long as proper precautions were taken.
In contrast, Great Evolution Pass was the sturdiest Human artifact known to exist. Furthermore, it was surrounded by countless barriers, so no one could guarantee that they would be able to destroy it.
If Great Evolution Pass crashed into the Royal City, it would be akin to smashing an egg with a rock. The Royal City would not be able to resist.
Not to mention, there were still tens of thousands of Human soldiers inside Great Evolution Pass. They were not some inanimate statues. They would surely defend and counterattack when the Black Ink Clan tried to attack Great Evolution Pass.
“Great Evolution Pass is only a few days away from the Royal City, if we don’t think of a way to defend ourselves before it arrives, I’m afraid all will be lost,” a Territory Lord muttered.
“How should we fight back?” One of the Territory Lords asked.
“The Pass is barreling right towards us, and the Royal City cannot stop it. In that case, we have only one choice, and that is to dodge it. If the Human Race wants to destroy the Royal City using Great Evolution Pass, we must do everything possible to stop them.”
In truth, the destruction of the Royal City was not that big of a deal for the Black Ink Clan. The place where the Royal Lord resided was the Royal City, so if the Royal City was destroyed, they could simply move to another location and rebuild.
However, the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest was in the Royal City, and the Black Ink Nest didn’t have any real defensive capabilities. If the Royal City was destroyed, the Black Ink Nest would be destroyed along with it, and if that happened, the injured Royal Lord would not be able to borrow its power to resist the Old Ancestor.
In his current state, without his Black Ink Nest, the Royal Lord was not the Human Old Ancestor’s match. His defeat or worse, death, would greatly affect the morale of the Black Ink Clan Army.
In the face of the oncoming Great Evolution Pass, many Territory Lords felt that the best way to deal with it was to avoid it.
Hong Di indifferently replied, “How can we avoid it? Great Evolution Pass is a Mobile Palace Artifact. Even if we could move the Royal City, our speed would undoubtedly be slower than Great Evolution Pass. Even if we managed to dodge their attack once or twice, we will have to face them sooner or later.”
He had previously gone to investigate the situation of Great Evolution Pass and knew that the Royal City could not avoid it.
“Are we just going to sit here and wait for the Humans to attack then?” Angrily asked the Territory Lord who had spoken up earlier.
Hong Di shook his head, “Great Evolution Pass has travelled quite a long distance to reach here, so the Humans should only have enough strength to launch a single attack if we fight back. As long as we make a united effort and block that one strike, we can protect the Royal City. What follows will be a war between the two Races. Although the Humans are strong, we still hold the advantage in numbers. Whether it’s apex Masters or weaker soldiers, our Black Ink Clan has always had this advantage, so why should we fear them?”
This might have been the case, but all the Territory Lords knew that the Human Race’s combat strength couldn’t be judged purely based on numbers; otherwise, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have been so badly beaten that they were now afraid to even leave the Royal City.
“We’ll have to pay a great price to stop the advancing Great Evolution Pass.”
After travelling such a huge distance, the massive Pass had gained an incredible amount of momentum. The Black Ink Clan would have to put their lives on the line if they wanted to halt it. Not to mention Feudal Lords, even the Territory Lords might fall if they were not careful.
“Even if we have to pay a great price, we must stop it,” Hong Di proclaimed as a stern and ruthless look took over his face.
Back then, he was forced to leave behind his Black Ink Nest and all of the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples, all so that surviving Black Ink Clansmen could safely leave Great Evolution Pass. This had left a huge stain on his reputation and many Territory Lords even looked down on him over the years, feeling that he had lost the face of the Black Ink Clan.
Not a moment went by without Hong Di not wanting to fight it out with the Humans again to prove his strength and that his choice that day had been forced.
Now that the Humans were invading, it was a crisis for the Black Ink Clan, but it was also an opportunity for Hong Di! As long as he could inflict heavy losses on the Humans in this battle, he could wash away his previous humiliation.
If he could kill an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, that would be even better.
Che Kong also agreed, nodding, “Avoiding the enemy is not the strategy to win a war. We have spent so much time and effort to set up such a massive defence line, but now we want to escape with the Royal City? Our Black Ink Clan cannot afford to lose face like this. Centuries ago, the Human Race used schemes and deception to severely injure the Royal Lord, causing our Black Ink Clan to suffer heavy casualties. Their victory in that battle has blinded the Humans and made them arrogant, making them look down on us as weak and unworthy of fear. But things are different now. Since they dare to act so presumptuously, let us make sure that they all perish here.”
Turning around, he cupped his fist towards the Royal Lord sitting on his throne and bowed, “Sir Royal Lord, your subordinate requests you lead all the Territory Lords to defend the Royal City to the death and stop Great Evolution Pass!”
The Royal Lord remained completely silent. Originally, he had two wings filled with the Black Ink Strength on his back, but now only one remained. The other one had been ripped off by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao in the final battle 200 years ago and he had yet to recover it even now.
Since the Royal Lord had not spoken, the Territory Lords could only wait.
After a good long while, the Royal Lord finally nodded, “We will use the Royal City as the battlefield. We will kill the Old Ancestor and annihilate the Human Race Army!”
The Territory Lords’ spirits rose as they shouted in unison, “Kill the Old Ancestor, annihilate the Human Race’s Army!”
Their morale was instantly boosted.
Who knew where their confidence was coming from.
A moment later, Territory Lords filed out of the palace, preparing to resist the advancing Great Evolution Pass. In a flash, the Black Ink Clan Armies in the Royal City were mobilized, forming a defensive perimeter outside the Royal City.
All the Territory Lords knew that the future of both races depended on this battle. If the Humans won, there would no longer be a place for the Black Ink Clan to survive in Great Evolution Theatre, and vice versa, the Humans would perish!
No one dared to lower their guard as they prepared to place all their cards on the table.
For a moment, the Royal City was shrouded in a thick murderous intent.
Far away, Great Evolution Pass flew forward at maximum speed.
News kept coming from the frontline, allowing the Human Race’s higher-ups to keep track of the Black Ink Clan’s deployment.
Inside the Main Conference Hall, a slight furrow could be seen on the faces of Xiang Shan and the others. The Black Ink Clan’s actions were truly suspicious. All of them believed that when Great Evolution Pass charged at the Royal City, the Black Ink Clan would move the Royal City, avoiding a head-on clash, but by the looks of it, the Black Ink Clan wanted to put up a stubborn resistance.
But could they?
And even if they somehow managed to resist the initial strike, would the Black Ink Clan be able to deal with the upcoming battle? The Royal Lord was heavily injured, and even if he could use his Black Ink Nest to resist the Old Ancestor for a time, how long could he last?
Once the Royal Lord was defeated, the Black Ink Clan would not be able to resist.
Where was the Black Ink Clan’s confidence coming from?
Everyone was confused by the Black Ink Clan’s deployment, but there was no time to think too much about it. Great Evolution Pass’ attack was already in motion. If the Black Ink Clan tried to resist, then they would have to face them head-on.
…..
Three days later, Yang Kai left his room…
His injuries had completely healed after a few days of recovery, illustrating just how potent a Dragon Vein could be when it came to healing injuries.
Every member of Dawn was already gathered in the courtyard. When Yang Kai walked out of his room, he swept a glance over everyone. He did not give any speech or anything, he just slightly nodded and ordered in a heavy voice, “Let’s go!”
There was no need for any additional words. Everyone knew that this battle would be far more dangerous than any they had fought before. Most of these 50 members of Dawn might perish in this war, but no one had any intention of cowering.
The Human Race had waited for this day for countless millennia. Even if they had to sacrifice all their lives to obtain victory, so what?
One after another, Squads left their residences and headed towards the walls.
Yang Kai led Dawn to a certain section of the wall at the bow of Great Evolution Pass. Looking around, he found the place completely jam-packed. Whether it was above or below, there were people everywhere.
Every Array and artifact on the city walls was manned by someone, ready to activate them at a moment’s notice.
Even though there were so many people present, not a sound could be heard.
Everyone was eagerly waiting for the moment the clash with the Black Ink Clan would begin.
When Yang Kai looked towards the horizon, he could already see the outline of the Royal City. Nonetheless, they were still quite a distance away and the Black Ink Strength was extremely rich here, so he couldn’t see it clearly.
Suddenly, a figure flew to Yang Kai’s side. Yang Kai promptly turned around and greeted, cupping his fist, “Martial Uncle Xu!”
Xu Ling Gong lightly nodded in response before exhorting, “The battlefield is always changing, be careful out there.”
“I understand,” acknowledged Yang Kai.
“This battle is not going to be easy. The Black Ink Clan will have more Territory-Lord-level Masters available to fight than we have Eighth-Order Division Commanders to contain them. We need to tighten our defences, so 20 Eighth-Order Masters will remain inside Great Evolution Pass, which will further widen the gap in numbers. We might have the Evil Purging Divine Spears now, but no one can say for sure how effective they will be in combat. If you encounter a Territory Lord or Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple on the battlefield, don’t try to fight them head-on, try to draw them to me.”
“Yes!”
Yang Kai silently calculated in his heart. Great Evolution Pass had a total of 74 Eight-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so if 20 remained in Great Evolution Pass to strengthen its defenses, that would leave only 50 or so who could fight.
Although he had no idea how many Territory Lords the Black Ink Clan had, they should have at least 70 to 80.
Not to mention, they still had many Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
The Humans were indeed at a disadvantage in terms of high-level combat power. As for how they planned to overturn this disadvantage, it would depend on how effective the Evil Purging Divine Spears turned out to be.
If they managed to eliminate a bunch of Territory Lords or Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples with the Evil Purging Divine Spears at the outset of the battle, the pressure on the Human Race would be greatly reduced.
More importantly, if the Humans wanted to win, they did not just need to reduce the pressure they were facing, but gain a decisive advantage.
At the end of the day, the fact remained that the Human soldiers were fewer in number than the Black Ink Clansmen. Things would become chaotic during the battle, so even if Great Evolution Pass was within reach, one might not be able to reach it in a moment of crisis.
Things would turn much smoother if Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could obtain a victory at the outset of the battle.
As for Xu Ling Gong’s suggestion of luring any Territory Lords or Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples to him, Yang Kai had no plan to heed it.
Xu Ling Gong had only just broken through to the Eighth-Order two centuries ago, so even though his cultivation had stabilized, his foundation was nowhere near as strong as the veteran Eighth-Order Masters. He might not fall into a disadvantage against a single Territory Lord, but if he was up against two, then he would most definitely be overpowered.
Yang Kai, on the other hand, might appear to be just a Seventh-Order Master, but he had obtained an enormous amount of benefits at the No-Return Pass and could now transform into an Ancient Dragon, so fighting a Territory Lord was not a problem for him.
The current Yang Kai could be said to be a Pseudo Eighth-Order Master!
Xu Ling Gong quickly left. Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had their own assignments. They would immediately engage the Territory Lords once the battle began, so it was impossible for them to move together with a Squad.
Not far away, Xiao Cai was standing next to Miao Fei Ping. She hesitated for a moment before finally urging, “Senior Brother Miao, you have to be careful. If you can’t defeat the enemy, remember to return to Dawning Light.”
Miao Fei Ping’s cultivation speed was extremely fast. As the Human Race had ample resources now and quite a few years had gone by since he left Yang Kai’s Small Universe, he had already advanced to the Seventh Order a few years ago.
This would be the first time he would be fighting against the Black Ink Clan after advancing to the Seventh Order.
Miao Fei Ping glanced at her and assured her with a smile, “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. But you also need to be careful.”
Xiao Cai nodded, “I’ll be staying inside Dawning Light and only activating the Spirit Arrays, so it won’t be too dangerous.”
On the battlefield, the ones in the most danger were the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, who would have to leave their Warships to engage the enemy. On the other hand, the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like Xiao Cai wouldn’t be in much danger as long as their Warship was not destroyed.
Of course, if the Warship was destroyed, the Fifth and Sixth-Order Masters would likely face total annihilation.
Since ancient times, there had been countless incidents where entire Squads were wiped out.
“We’re just half a day away!” Yang Kai suddenly shouted.
Yang Kai was able to see farther and more clearly than others thanks to his Demon Eye of Annihilation; as such, he was able to spy on the situation of the Royal City.
The Black Ink Clan had deployed their Army outside the Royal City and were prepared to meet them head-on!
There was more than just one line of defence outside the Royal City. In fact, there were a total of five lines of defence. Moreover, every single line of defence contained a large number of Black Ink Clansmen.
That was especially true for the outermost line of defence, where at least a million Black Ink Clansmen were stationed. They were densely packed and crowded together with so many of them assembled they seemed to fill the void. Hence, they gave off an imposing pressure when seen from afar.
The Black Ink Clan Army had suffered terrible losses during the war 200 years ago. Nevertheless, 200 years had passed since then. The Black Ink Clan had recovered some of their foundation during this period, so there were now more than a million among them who could fight.
In fact, the Black Ink Clansmen stationed at the outermost line of defence were not even included among these numbers. That was because they were miscellaneous Serfs who could not even compare to the Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. Their role was just to sacrifice themselves to whittle down the strength of the Human Race Army.
Only the Black Ink Clan could so easily choose to abandon such a large number of clansmen because they could afford the losses. Besides, the Great Evolution Army was aggressively marching forward, so if the Royal City could not be defended, then these miscellaneous Serfs were bound to die anyway. They might as well be useful before they die.
The higher-ups among the Black Ink Clan had no mercy for these Serfs; after all, they were even willing to sacrifice their own lives to defend the Royal City, much less these weaklings.
Due to their inferior strength and low sentience, these Black Ink Serfs had absolute loyalty towards the powerful Black Ink Clansmen and were not afraid of death.
The distance between both parties grew closer and closer.
Four hours later, the Great Evolution Army was only a few million kilometres away from the Black Ink Clan’s first line of defence. The Human Race soldiers standing on the city walls could clearly see the enormous formation formed by the millions of Black Ink Clansmen. Thus, they couldn’t help feeling slightly intimidated.
Nevertheless, they approached closer and closer.
At a certain moment, a furious roar rang out from the depths of the Great Evolution Army, “Kill!”
In the direction of the Royal City, the Human Race soldiers who were raring for battle immediately activated and poured their World Force into the Spirit Arrays and artifacts under their command. The void trembled and hummed incessantly. In the next moment, countless blasts of light burst out from Great Evolution Pass and rained down on their enemies ahead.
At the same time that the Humans made their move, the millions of Black Ink Clan Serfs charged towards the Great Evolution Army without fear of death.
They were weak. The strongest among them were comparable to Dao Source Realm Humans, but most of them were even weaker than that. Even so, they charged forward fearlessly and ferociously despite facing the formidable offensive of the Human Race.
The bombardment from the various Spirit Arrays and artifacts rained down upon the miscellaneous soldiers of the Black Ink Clan, and it didn’t take much effort for a large number of them to evaporate into nothing.
Black Ink Strength grew more concentrated in the aftermath.
Be that as it may, the attacks from the Human Race Army continued to pour down like a fierce torrential rain. The speed of the entire Great Evolution Pass did not reduce in the slightest even though the streams of lights blasting out from its walls swept across the void and wantonly slaughtered the Black Ink Clan.
It was a one-sided massacre.
The Black Ink Serfs who weren’t even considered real soldiers couldn’t even come within 100,000 kilometres of Great Evolution Pass. They were all blown to bits halfway through their forward charge.
However, none of the Human cultivators cheered for joy. They knew that this was just the beginning and the real battle had yet to commence.
Every time Great Evolution Pass advanced another 100,000 kilometres, the number of Black Ink Serfs would reduce sharply by about 100,000 as well. The first line of defence had essentially been broken, but more Black Ink Serfs followed close behind, and judging from their demeanour, they seemed determined not to back down no matter what.
Their efforts eventually paid off. During the last 100,000 kilometres, the Black Ink Serfs finally breached the 100,000 kilometres defence perimeter of Great Evolution Pass and some of the Black Ink Clansmen were even able to launch Secret Techniques at the Great Evolution Army.
Fortunately, the Defensive Arrays of Great Evolution Pass were active and such weak attacks couldn’t even cause ripples to spread across the outer layer of the Pass, resulting in no damage at all.
The violent energy gradually subsided, and the continuous offensive became increasingly sporadic. Eventually, there was no further movement. The entire process took no longer than an hour. The Black Ink Clan’s first line of defence formed by over a million Serfs had been completely annihilated!
If the two armies were to face each other in the open, the Human cultivators would not have had such an easy victory even though their enemies were just sacrificial pieces. It was just that these miscellaneous soldiers were intent on dying from the beginning. They wanted to sacrifice themselves in exchange for whittling away at the momentum of Great Evolution Pass. That was why most of them were annihilated within an hour.
A large patch of Black Ink Strength that was dense to the point of becoming solid was in Great Evolution Pass’s wake.
Waiting ahead of them now was the Black Ink Clan’s second line of defence. There were only 300,000 Black Ink Clansmen stationed in this line of defence, but even so, the Human cultivators did not take their enemies lightly. That was because the second line of defence was mainly formed by Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen.
The Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen were equivalent to Low-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters. If there were only one or two of them, or even several hundreds of them, Great Evolution Pass could simply plow through them without caring, but an Army of 300,000 was not something Great Evolution Pass could afford to underestimate. If these Black Ink Clansmen were to launch a coordinated attack, they would heavy damage to the defences of Great Evolution Pass.
As usual, the Spirit Arrays and the artifacts in Great Evolution Pass began to buzz as they closed to within 1 million kilometres and countless streams of light blasted forward.
Naturally, the Black Ink Clan was not willing to sit around and wait for their deaths. The 300,000 Low-Rank Clansmen did their best to dodge these attacks from Great Evolution Pass and close the distance between them.
A distance of 1 million kilometres was too far for these Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen to effectively attack as their Secret Techniques would not carry any real power across such a vast distance. Only by approaching could they become a threat to Great Evolution Pass.
Countless corpses were strewn across the void as every stream of light that shot out from Great Evolution Pass would reap many of the Black Ink Clansmen’s lives. Regardless of the Human’s efforts though, it was still difficult to stop the offensive of the Black Ink Clansmen.
The surviving Black Ink Clansmen flew forward, stepping over the corpses of their brethren and steadfastly forging a path forward at the cost of countless sacrifices.
After losing nearly 30% of their number, the surviving Black Ink Clansmen finally advanced to a suitable distance. With a ferocious roar, numerous Secret Techniques blasted out from among the Black Ink Clansmen and shot towards Great Evolution Pass.
A transparent light barrier suddenly emerged outside Great Evolution Pass. The incoming Secret Techniques slammed into the light barrier and caused noticeable ripples to spread across its surface like countless rocks being thrown into a lake.
As both sides rapidly approached each other, they attacked with increasing ferocity.
It was just that the Human cultivators had Great Evolution Pass as a shield while the Black Ink Clan were completely exposed. The Human cultivators could kill the Black Ink Clan, but the Black Ink Clan could not kill a single Human cultivator. At the very least, that was the case as long as the defences of Great Evolution Pass were not breached. It was obvious which side held the upper hand.
Clouds of black blood exploded in the void as most of the Black Ink Clansmen died tragically.
Yang Kai stood on the city wall with a solemn expression.
Although less than 2 hours had passed since the battle began, the Human Race had slaughtered more than a million Black Ink Clansmen. Nevertheless, that did not affect the foundation of the Black Ink Clan. The Black Ink Clansmen being killed right now were merely those who had been abandoned.
Seeing as the weaker Black Ink Clansmen were so fearless, it could be conceived that they had prepared themselves to fight the Human Race to the death. This was going to be a tough battle!
Be that as it may, Yang Kai did not make a move. Even though he could easily attack from this distance, his strength as an individual would not make much of a difference under these circumstances. There were many other Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters on the battlefield after all. Besides, he had to ensure that his strength remained at its peak for when it was really needed.
The Humans quickly broke through the second line of defence.
Unlike how the first line of defence had been completely annihilated though, only slightly more than half of the Black Ink Clansmen in the second line of defence had been eliminated while quite a few had survived unscathed. Their strength was much greater than those Serfs after all, so it stood to reason that their rate of survival on this kind of fast-moving battlefield would be much higher.
These surviving Black Ink Clansmen did not scatter and retreat either and instead pursued Great Evolution Pass from behind. Surrounding Great Evolution Pass from all sides, they did their best to move about while attacking madly.
Naturally, Great Evolution Pass retaliated in all directions via the Spirit Arrays and artifacts that were deployed on its walls. For a time, there were traces of battle all around the advancing Great Evolution Pass.
The Black Ink Clan steadily continued to plummet in numbers; however, the third line of defence loomed before the Humans, and it was different from the second.
From a million kilometres away, the Black Ink Clansmen who formed the third line of defence began taking action. Numerous pitch-black attacks rained down on Great Evolution Pass, causing countless ripples to appear on the defensive light barrier.
The third line of defence was mainly formed by High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. Their numbers were not high, only 100,000 or so; however, there were also many Feudal Lords among their ranks. This was part of the Black Ink Clan Army’s main forces!
Their approach was also completely different from the Black Ink Clan’s first two lines of defence. They did not show signs of rushing forward seeking death. Whilst they attacked Great Evolution Pass, they also did their best to avoid and dodge the attacks from Great Evolution Pass.
The Human cultivators could no longer slaughter their enemies indiscriminately like before.
That was not all. When Great Evolution Pass penetrated the third line of defence, the 100,000 Black Ink Clansmen, most of whom were still alive given the vast engagement distance, scattered to both sides. They retreated and maintained a relative distance from Great Evolution Pass while simultaneously launching attacks. Like a large net, they swept about, seemingly trying to engulf Great Evolution Pass within their midst.
Yang Kai could clearly sense that Great Evolution Pass’s speed had decreased. It was not too obvious, but he could also detect that the glow of the defensive light barrier was gradually growing dimmer.
The Great Pass’ shields might be extremely powerful, but no defence could withstand an unending barrage of attacks.
The Black Ink Clan survivors from the second line of defence merged with the third line of defence; thus, their overall strength increased sharply.
Meanwhile, Great Evolution Pass continued to forge a path forward. Everywhere the Great Pass went, the auras of countless Black Ink Clansmen vanished out of existence, their broken corpses left strewn across the battlefield.
It didn’t take long for Great Evolution Pass to arrive at the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence. This particular line of defence was not very different from the third line of defence, but the proportion of Feudal Lords had increased significantly.
The approach of the fourth line of defence was identical to the third line of defence. They refused to confront Great Evolution Pass directly and instead kept their distance while maintaining a steady bombardment to shave away at the Human’s strength.
Then, they merged with the survivors of the Black Ink Clan from the second and third lines of defence to greatly increase the density of their attacks. Even so, they could not stop the advance of Great Evolution Pass.
The Royal City was getting closer and closer, and standing on the walls, the Human cultivators could now clearly see the majestic Royal City. They also saw the Black Ink Clan Army surrounding the Universe World where the Royal City was situated!
Needless to say, that was the Black Ink Clan’s final line of defence and the core of their Army. All the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Black Ink Disciples were stationed there. As long as Great Evolution Pass could penetrate this line of defence, the Great Pass could brutally ram the Royal City.
With how tough and sturdy Great Evolution Pass was, the Royal City would be destroyed if the two were to collide.
[Can we break through the final line of defence?] The Human cultivators did not know. They could only do their best to slaughter their enemies.
On the other side, the Territory Lords gathered outside the Royal City.
Che Kong stared into the distance, watching the movements on the battlefield. Then, he suddenly snorted in derision, “Looks like we’ve overestimated the Humans. They are not a threat to the Royal City.”
Judging by the current situation, the Great Pass would not be able to withstand their joint forces even if it could advance towards them. It was bound to be stopped outside the Royal City.
As long as the Great Pass could be intercepted and the Royal City could be protected, the rest would depend on the close-quarters melee between the two Armies. Under those circumstances, the Black Ink Clan which held an overwhelming advantage in numbers might yet prevail.
Upon hearing what Che Kong said, Hong Di frowned slightly and chided, “Don’t be careless. The Humans are very cunning. Since they dared to come here in such a manner, they will surely have other tricks hiding up their sleeves.”
One of the Territory Lords snorted derisively, “Hong Di, have you grown fearful of the Humans after suffering defeat at their hands? Why are you lauding the strength of the Humans and undermining your own prestige before the battle even begins?”
Hong Di shook his head lightly, “I am not lauding the strength of the Human Race. It’s just that… Based on past battles, the Black Ink Clan has always suffered greatly every time we underestimated them.”
The Territory Lords scowled at those words, but after giving it another thought, they could not deny the truth behind that statement. They had never thought highly of the Human Race in the past, but where had that gotten them? Not only had the Humans retaken Great Evolution Pass, but the Royal City had also been thrashed by the Humans 200 years ago. At this point, they were so embarrassed that they couldn’t even hold their heads up high. If the Human Race Army had not taken the initiative to withdraw back then, the Black Ink Clan would have had a hard time surviving at all.
For a time, they couldn’t help reconsidering their contempt towards the Human Race.
If it was something that the Black Ink Clan could notice, then it stood to reason that the Humans would notice too. They might even have a clearer understanding of the situation compared to the Black Ink Clan; after all, they were the ones controlling Great Evolution Pass. The Humans were bound to have a better understanding of the situation.
After breaking through the third line of defence, Great Evolution Pass charged towards the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence. Nevertheless, Great Evolution Pass had inevitably lost its initial indomitable momentum after being intercepted by millions of Black Ink Clansmen.
[It’s like trying to wade through a quagmire!] That was what all the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass felt at that moment.
Shen Ao leaned towards Yang Kai and whispered, “Squad Leader, it will be bad if things continue at this rate. The speed of Great Evolution Pass is dropping, and the Territory Lords have yet to take action. If they make a move now, we will be stopped before we can even reach the Royal City.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly at those words, but looking around, he replied, “I’m sure the higher-ups have a plan. Let’s just wait and see first.”
The Army was deployed to all four walls of Great Evolution Pass. Whether it was the Spirit Arrays or the artifacts, the arrangements were similar no matter where one stood. Moreover, Human cultivators were standing at attention beside the Spirit Arrays and artifacts.
Seeing as Great Evolution Pass had charged forward in a straight line, the ones exchanging blows with the Black Ink Clan’s four lines of defences were mainly the soldiers facing the Royal City. In other words, the deployment on the other three walls had not played much of a role in this battle so far. The most they had done was to counter some of the Black Ink Clansmen attacking from the sides or the rear.
At present, Great Evolution Pass had only exerted around 25% of its full strength!
Great Evolution Pass had spent countless resources preparing for this moment for the past 200 years; hence, the deployment of soldiers to the other three walls could not be mere decorations. They were bound to play a role in this battle.
Just as Yang Kai was pondering in silence, the interception from the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence became much fiercer. Great Evolution Pass trembled constantly, and the shield enveloping Great Evolution Pass shuddered visibly.
Either because they noticed the decline of Great Evolution Pass’ momentum or because they received orders from the Territory Lords at the rear, the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Army intercepting Great Evolution Pass became significantly more ferocious.
“Switch!” A sharp shout suddenly came from the depths of Great Evolution Pass. It was none other than Xiang Shan.
In the next moment, a rumble came from within Great Evolution Pass. Dense energy spread out in all directions, and the entire Great Pass trembled as though experiencing an earthquake. There seemed to be some sort of Grand Array being activated! Immediately following that, Great Evolution Pass that had been charging straight towards the Royal City slowly began to rotate under the impetus of an inexplicable force.
In the beginning, the speed of rotation was not very fast. Great Evolution Pass was extremely enormous after all. Even with the help of a Grand Array, it was not an easy task to move the entire Great Pass. Nevertheless, the speed increased significantly with the passage of time.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up. He immediately understood what the higher-ups were planning.
Needless to say, they could not rely solely on one wall of Great Evolution Pass during their assault on the Royal City. Only by rotating Great Evolution Pass in this manner could the deployments on the other three walls be used to their full potential.
A short while later, the wall that was originally facing the Royal City had turned to face the left. Meanwhile, the soldiers who had been standing at the ready on the adjacent wall came face-to-face with the Black Ink Clan blocking them.
After holding back for so long, the long-prepared soldiers quickly pushed their strength. The lines of Spirit Arrays lit up on top of the walls, resonating with each other over the distance. Artifacts came to life and numerous beams of light blasted out towards the Black Ink Clan Army with unstoppable power! Half the void was illuminated in an instant!
The Black Ink Clan in front suffered heavy casualties as a result.
Outside the Royal City, the expressions of the Territory Lords changed slightly at the sight. Meanwhile, Hong Di sighed softly. Although he had guessed that the Human Race would have another trick up their sleeves, he never expected it to be something like this.
Just as how the Territory Lords had not expected Great Evolution Pass to travel over such a great distance, they also never expected Great Evolution Pass to slaughter enemies by rotating itself in flight. If it was a small Human Warship, they might not have been so surprised by this turn of events; however, it was extremely unexpected for something as large as Great Evolution Pass to be so nimble.
In this way, the Human cultivators in Great Evolution Pass would be able to maintain their peak strength at all times even though the number of attacks during each wave against the Black Ink Clan would not change by much. Nevertheless, their combat strength more than doubled in an instant thanks to this strategy.
Great Evolution Pass continued to rotate. After the soldiers on the wall facing the Royal City fired off three rounds of attacks, the wall they were stationed upon was rotated out of the firing arc. Then, the soldiers on the wall that was now facing the Royal City began attacking. In this way, they formed a continuous and endless barrage.
The fourth line of defence that was supposed to whittle away at the strength of Great Evolution Pass immediately fell into jeopardy and it was only a matter of time before Great Evolution Pass broke through their defences.
Be that as it may, the Territory Lords remained motionless. They were stationed at the final line of defence, so the Royal City was located directly behind them. As long as the situation became dire, they did not dare to act rashly lest the soldiers under their command become disordered. If that were to happen, the Humans would easily be able to break through the defences.
Inside the void, following the rotation of Great Evolution Pass, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on the walls continued to blaze brightly. Every wave of attacks was sent out with great enthusiasm and ferocity.
The Black Ink Clan defenders were losing their lives at a steady pace.
Out of the four lines of defence, the first line of defence was formed from a million Serfs that had been completely annihilated. The second line of defence mainly consisted of Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen and supplemented by some of the stronger Serfs. They too been soundly defeated.
On the other hand, the third and fourth lines of defences mainly consisted of High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. The Feudal Lords were also stationed at these lines of defences, along with their respective private troops. These were the main strength of the Black Ink Clan Army. Unfortunately, they had suffered heavy casualties. At least half of the Black Ink Clan Army had been eradicated already, yet they could not stop the advance of Great Evolution Pass.
Despite such an overwhelming victory, the price the Humans paid was no more than the malfunction of several Spirit Arrays and artifacts that could not withstand the burden of such intense usage and the depletion of strength among the Human cultivators.
Naturally, there were Array Masters and Artifact Refiners beside the Spirit Arrays and artifacts ready to repair and replace them as soon as possible. Likewise, there were other cultivators on standby to replace the cultivators who had expended too much World Force. Therefore, Great Evolution Pass maintained the power of their ongoing assault at all times.
An hour later, the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence collapsed.
Only the final line of defence remained, but that was also the most difficult one to breach because the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples were stationed there, along with a million more Black Ink Clan soldiers!
Could Great Evolution Pass break through the final line of defence and destroy the Royal City? Nobody knew. All they knew was that they had to do their very best!
A million kilometres away, a powerful aura erupted just outside the Royal City. Immediately after that, a series of pitch-black attacks shot out from that direction. The Territory Lords had taken action! Knowing that they could not allow the Great Pass to approach any closer, they made the first move to intercept the enemy.
The Human Race seemed to have expected this attack, so when the Territory Lords took action, the rotating Great Evolution Pass abruptly vibrated. The shield protecting Great Evolution Pass had initially grown dimmer after having to withstand countless attacks over such a long time and was now so faint that it seemed about to shatter at any moment; but at that moment, the dim light barrier abruptly emitted a dazzling radiance and became unimaginably solid.
Yang Kai clearly felt the aura of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters coming from deep within Great Evolution Pass. Even the aura of the Old Ancestor was mixed in. The Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestor had taken action!
At present, there were at least 30 Eighth-Order Division Commanders stationed at Great Evolution Core, controlling Great Evolution Pass. Together with the strength of the Old Ancestor, how powerful would the shields be?
The Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering attacks were somewhat weakened after crossing the 1 million kilometres gap, but the force behind them remained extremely terrifying as they accurately slammed into the light barrier around Great Evolution Pass.
The thick light barrier bent inward and fluctuated under the barrage but remained intact. There were no signs of damage, and the light didn’t even dim.
Seeing this scene from afar, the Territory Lords grew solemn. Nevertheless, the movements of their hands did not stop. Endless varieties of Secret Techniques blasted towards Great Evolution Pass in quick succession.
For a time, the space between the rotating Great Evolution Pass and the Black Ink Clan’s last line of defence churned violently as wild explosions occurred everywhere.
However, the Human soldiers did not cheer with joy. Seeing as the Old Ancestor was working together with the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, it would be odd if the protective barrier they created with the help of the Great Pass’ Spirit Arrays could not defend against such attacks.
It could even be said that the attacks of these Territory Lords would not break through the defences of Great Evolution Pass even if they exhausted all their strength in the attempt.
The true obstacle lay ahead.
As soon as Great Evolution Pass advanced to within 200,000 kilometres of the final defence line, the million-strong Black Ink Clan Army would be able to attack freely. Each of these soldiers’ individual strength was incomparable to the Territory Lords, but they held an overwhelming advantage in numbers. After all, how many Territory Lords were there compared to the troops in the Black Ink Clan Army? With enough grains of sand, one could even build a mountain.
Looking from a distance, the Black Ink Clan Army stationed at the final line of defence outside the Royal City were eager for battle. Not to mention, the Black Ink Strength being channelled by so many Black Ink Clansmen made the void distort in that direction.
Several hundred thousand kilometres passed by in the blink of an eye and soon Great Evolution Pass was only 200,000 kilometres away from the Black Ink Clan’s final line of defence!
As expected, the Black Ink Clan Army attacked all at once. Countless energy fluctuations converged into a tidal wave that spread out in all directions. At the same time, the Black Ink Strength attacks covered the entire void and rained down upon Great Evolution Pass.
Many of the Human soldiers subconsciously clenched their jaws nervously. If the defences of Great Evolution Pass could not defend against this round of attacks, then more than half of the Human soldiers stationed on the walls would be killed or injured in an instant. As for Great Evolution Pass, it was an extremely powerful Mobile Palace Artifact in the first place, so it would probably be fine.
In the split moment between life and death, nobody made any strange movements. Everyone had absolute trust in the abilities of the Old Ancestor and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
At the same time that the Black Ink Clan attacked from just 200,000 kilometres away, the defensive shield covering Great Evolution Pass seemed to undergo some kind of profound change. A gorgeous brilliance suddenly flowed across the surface of the light barrier and the interior of Great Evolution Pass was shrouded in a kaleidoscope of colours for a moment.
The first wave of attacks arrived, fiercely bombarding the light barrier like countless raindrops falling from the sky. The attacks caused numerous ripples to spread out across the surface of the shield, and as more attacks arrived, the ripples became more and more prominent.
All of a sudden, the rotation speed of Great Evolution Pass increased sharply. It was clear that this method was meant to relieve some of the pressure on that section of the shield.
At the same time, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on the wall of Great Evolution Pass that was facing the Royal City began to blast out attacks.
It was naturally impossible for the Humans to passively take a beating without retaliating in kind. While the defence of Great Evolution Pass was jointly supported by the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the Old Ancestor, the soldiers on the walls would be responsible for killing the enemy.
The best defence was offence. If they could annihilate all the Black Ink Clansmen in front of them, then defence would no longer be required.
Across the gap, attacks from both sides intertwined with each other in the void as both sides fervently bombarded each other. Many of the Secret Techniques collided with each other mid-flight, erupting into brilliant explosions before vanishing into nothing.
Meanwhile, the ripples spreading across the shields covering Great Evolution Pass became more and more numerous. Be that as it may, the Human soldiers would not be in any danger as long as the light barrier remained intact.
On the contrary, the million-plus soldiers of the Black Ink Clan Army were densely packed together without any additional form of protection. The Human Race Army would be able to slaughter their enemies easily as long as any of their Secret Techniques landed among the Black Ink Clan Army. It was only a matter of how many they could kill with each attack.
The original one million kilometres between both parties shrank to just 100,000 in short order. Nevertheless, the momentum of Great Evolution Pass remained magnificent against the intense attacks coming from the Black Ink Clan Army.
Yang Kai suddenly looked up. The light barrier around Great Evolution Pass was fluctuating. It was sometimes dim and sometimes bright; thus, he knew that even the defence formed by the joint efforts of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders and the Old Ancestor would not last for very much longer.
The Black Ink Clan’s offensive was too fierce. More importantly, there were too many of them. If Great Evolution Pass intended to ram the Royal City, then there was no way to change the direction of their forward movement, making them an easy target.
*Kacha…*
A slight cracking sound suddenly rang out. Yang Kai immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw that a fissure had formed at a certain spot of the light barrier after withstanding thousands of attacks from the Black Ink Clan. Fortunately, the crack was fleeting. It was evident that the Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestor were still pouring their strength into the light barrier to repair the crack.
*Kacha…*
More cracks began to form in different locations, only to be repaired almost immediately, the cycle repeating over and over again.
As they got closer to the Black Ink Clan Army, the situation in Great Evolution Pass became more and more perilous and the seemingly solid defence seemed likely to shatter at any moment.
Xiang Shan’s furious roar suddenly cut through the universe, “Prepare to engage the enemy!”
After hearing the order, Yang Kai and the other Squad Leaders quickly summoned the Warships of their respective Squads. The Squad members swiftly boarded, and with a hum from the Spirit Arrays, a hole was opened in the light barrier!
The cracking sounds continued to ring out as more and more breaks appeared. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the Old Ancestor were clearly having a hard time maintaining the shield and keeping up with the speed at which the cracks were forming.
At a certain moment, one corner of the light barrier covering Great Evolution Pass reached its limit and shattered. A hole suddenly appeared in the originally impenetrable light barrier.
Before the hole could be repaired, a torrent of Secret Techniques slipped inside through the hole in the light barrier and slammed into Great Evolution Pass. Loud explosions rang out incessantly. When the Black Ink Strength erupted everywhere, a large number of houses collapsed and the entire Great Evolution Pass shook violently from the impact.
Several Squads who happened to be stationed at the spot suddenly found themselves in the middle of the storm of attacks. It was fortunate that those Squads had already summoned their respective Warships, so their Squad members were able to take shelter. The Warships provided some protection against the aftermath of the attacks, but even then, some of the Warships swayed unsteadily under the powerful impact.
When the Squad members came back to their senses, the Warships had been badly damaged. They were fortunate that there were no casualties among them; however, this was just the beginning. Following the first break that appeared in the defences of Great Evolution Pass, a second immediately opened. Then, a third hole…
For a time, the entire Great Evolution Pass seemed to transform into a broken house with a leaking roof that was dripping water everywhere. Even though the Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestor at Great Evolution Pass’ Core were doing their best to speed up the repairs, it was difficult for them to recover from the declining situation.
The Secret Techniques from the Black Ink Clan constantly blasted into the depths of Great Evolution Pass, causing the entire structure to be in dire straits for some time.
At this moment, Yang Kai was personally overseeing the Defensive Spirit Array of Dawning Light. Although he drew upon his great strength to activate the power of the Defensive Spirit Array, Dawning Light wobbled unsteadily as Great Evolution Pass shuddered from the various impacts.
All of a sudden, an aura vanished somewhere in Great Evolution Pass. Everybody’s expressions darkened. The first casualty had finally appeared among the Humans since their assault on the Royal City began.
This was an inevitable occurrence. The Humans had gone all out in their assault on the Royal City, so how could the Black Ink Clan hold back their strength? Both the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan had a blood feud between them that would only end with the destruction of one party.
Due to the sudden advance of Great Evolution Pass, the distance between the Pass and the Black Ink Clan’s fifth line of defence rapidly closed until they were practically face to face. Although the Black Ink Clan Army had suffered heavy casualties, their overwhelming advantage in numbers remained. The foundation of their Army remained undamaged despite the great casualties they suffered.
Seeing that Great Evolution Pass was approaching but they were powerless to stop its advance, the Territory Lords roared furiously. Under their command, the hundreds of thousands of remaining Black Ink Clan Army soldiers split into three groups. One group would be in charge of defending against the enemy while the two would try to flank and encircle Great Evolution Pass.
In the blink of an eye, Great Evolution Pass charged forward like a wolf entering the lion’s den and attacked with great ferocity.
The Black Ink Clan’s fifth line of defence was located just 1 million kilometres away from the Royal City. It could be said that the Royal City would have to face the full power of Great Evolution Pass alone if the latter successfully broke through the final line of defence; therefore, the Black Ink Clan neither could nor dared to avoid the attack.
Faced with the aggressive assault of the Humans, the Black Ink Clan knew that they could not stop the advance of their enemy by remaining solely on the defensive. Hence, they could only use this method to try to wear down the strength of the Humans to achieve their goals, and their methods proved effective.
Surrounded by enemies on three sides, the defences of Great Evolution Pass became more and more unstable. The Eighth-Order Division Commanders and the Old Ancestor had given up on maintaining the defence around some areas and were simply trying their best to maintain the remaining parts instead.
The entire Great Evolution Pass was constantly being bombarded by the Secret Techniques of the Black Ink Clan, and most of the houses in Great Evolution Pass had been levelled. However, two places were completely unaffected by the chaos. These two areas were the Monument of Heroes and the cemetery!
Even at such a critical juncture, the Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestor continued to divert part of their strength to protect these two places from harm. They wanted their ancestors who died on the Black Ink Battlefield to witness the victory of the Human Race over the Black Ink Clan. They also wanted to show their ancestors that all the sacrifices and efforts in the past had been worthwhile and that the younger generations had continued to inherit their legacy!
*Kacha…*
The loudest cracking sound so far filled the air. The shield around Great Evolution Pass trembled unsteadily, as though it could crumble to pieces at any time.
Xiang Shan’s furious shout resounded at that moment, “Attack!”
The Territory Lords outside the Royal City roared in return, “Stop them!”
The decisive moment had arrived. Great Evolution Pass was now just 1 million kilometres away from the Royal City, and the Black Ink Clan Army stopped retreating.
At this point, they had no place left to retreat. The Royal City was right behind them, so if they could not stop the advance of Great Evolution Pass here, then the Royal City would fall into danger. Therefore, they had to stop Great Evolution Pass at all costs.
A large number of Black Ink Clansmen charged towards Great Evolution Pass fearlessly. Bearing the brunt of the attacks coming from the Spirit Arrays and artifacts, they exploded into mist in the void; however, their sacrifices paved the way for their comrades behind them.
The rotation speed of Great Evolution Pass had reached the limit, and the Pass practically completed a rotation every 30 breaths. Meanwhile, all the soldiers on the walls were madly drawing out the power of their Small Universes to stimulate the power of the Spirit Arrays and artifacts under their command to the maximum extent.
The Warships did not remain idle either. Now that the decisive moment had come, the Warships joined the battle and launched countless attacks towards the enemy.
The power of the Secret Techniques from both sides collided with each other in the void, and the aura of numerous Black Ink Clansmen would vanish from existence with every passing moment. On the other hand, the interior of Great Evolution Pass had been seriously damaged by the barrage of Secret Techniques from the Black Ink Clan. All the buildings had been razed to the ground, and many Human soldiers lost their lives in battle.
*Kacha…*
The light barrier of Great Evolution Pass finally shattered completely, and the muffled grunts of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters echoed through the air. It was obvious that they had suffered some backlash when the Grand Array collapsed.
Consequently, the entire Great Evolution Pass was exposed to the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Army. The violent energy fluctuations in front caused space to become extremely chaotic, and Great Evolution Pass that had lost its defences was like a tiger without claws.
Even so, it was enough.
In the next moment, Great Evolution Pass successfully charged past the Black Ink Clan’s final line of defence. Countless attacks were fired from Great Evolution Pass and spread out in all directions. The Black Ink Clan blocking the way forward were either killed or severely injured!
Some of the Territory Lords coughed up blood incessantly while some of the Feudal Lord exploded and died. At the same time, several Warships inside Great Evolution Pass erupted into balls of flame. The desperate attacks that took place during the brief moment of contact left both sides reeling from the impact.
Now that the Black Ink Clan’s defences had been breached, the Royal City lay just ahead. Thus, the Eighth-Order Masters and Old Ancestor channelled all their strength into accelerating Great Evolution Pass.
The Black Ink Clan Army pursued and blasted Secret Techniques at Great Evolution Pass without pause. Nevertheless, they could no longer effectively prevent the advance of the Pass.
Even so, nobody among the Human Race was happy. In the clash that occurred during their breakthrough moment, the general direction of the Pass seemed to have undergone some subtle changes even though they managed to breach the Black Ink Clan’s final line of defence.
Great Evolution Pass was originally supposed to collide with the Royal City directly, but all the impacts caused their path to deviate slightly. Although they would still collide with the Universe World where the Royal City was located, nobody could guarantee the effects of the collision.
What worried them even more was that the Universe World where the Royal City was located seemed to be moving. Although the speed was slow, there was no denying that it was moving.
The Royal Lord was currently overseeing the situation inside the Royal City, and it should not be difficult for him to relocate the Royal City with his abilities.
Unfortunately, both parties were too close to each other now. At this point, it was already too late for Great Evolution Pass to change direction.
The 1 million kilometres distance was crossed in what seemed like a fleeting moment.
Under the anticipation of the Humans and the horror of the Black Ink Clan, the enormous Great Evolution Pass brutally slammed into the Universe World where the Royal City was located.
The Universe World shattered, causing the entire Royal City to suffer a severe shock. On the other hand, Great Evolution Pass continued unabated and flew off into the depths of the void.
Looking back, they saw that the Universe World had broken into several pieces! What’s more, the majestic Royal Lord Black Ink Nest wobbled unsteadily, as though it might collapse at any moment.
The figure of the Royal Lord suddenly appeared above the Black Ink Nest. He stabilised the shaking of the Black Ink Nest with his large hand, then he glanced towards Great Evolution Pass that was travelling into the distance and coldly snorted.
Upon seeing that scene, Yang Kai and the others couldn’t help feeling a slight twinge of regret. Great Evolution Pass had travelled across such a vast distance and endured so much just to make that one collision possible. If they had successfully destroyed the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest, then the rest of the battle would have been much easier.
Unfortunately, it was not so easy to destroy the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest. The Royal Lord had remained behind to protect the Royal City, so even if the Old Ancestor had tried to attack the Black Ink Nest just now, they might not have succeeded in their attempt. Not to mention, she could not act rashly since she had to guard against any unexpected movements from the Royal Lord.
As a result of their mutual restraint against the other, the Black Ink Nest was ultimately unharmed. Be that as it may, it was not as though the Humans had not gained anything from their attempt.
Numerous Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests were smashed to pieces when Great Evolution Pass collided with the Universe World. Following the collapse of the Universe World, many of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests that were originally secured around the asteroid fragment scattered and drifted away into the void.
There were as many as 80 Territory Lords in the Royal City, basically on par with the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Correspondingly, there were many Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests that had been secured around the vicinity of the Royal City.
The Territory Lords could borrow the power of their respective Black Ink Nests if they were in the vicinity. Now that several of the Black Ink Nests had been destroyed, it was equivalent to weakening the strength of those Territory Lords by extension. This result would be extremely beneficial for the upcoming battle.
The Black Ink Clan on the Universe World were in an uproar, and the Black Ink Clan Army soon gathered in the surroundings.
Meanwhile, the speed of Great Evolution Pass reduced drastically after colliding with the Universe World.
The Humans were here to annihilate the Black Ink Clan, so it was naturally impossible for them to leave after slamming into the Royal City once. On the contrary, the impending fight was the real battle that would determine the fate of both Races.
Great Evolution Pass kept going without stopping after colliding with the Universe World where the Royal City was located. At Great Evolution Pass’ Core, it took great effort for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Eighth-Order Division Commanders to jointly decelerate the massive Great Evolution Pass, eventually stopping it about 5 million kilometres away from the Royal City’s original position.
It was just the right distance, neither too far nor too near. Not only would this distance provide a path of retreat for the Human soldiers, but they would also have enough space to attack the Royal City without worrying about the fallout affecting the rear.
Tens of thousands of soldiers stood at the ready inside Great Evolution Pass, prepared to move out at any moment.
Meanwhile, the surviving Black Ink Clan Army around the Royal City was also re-organizing. It crossed the Royal City and came to the opposite side as they quickly deployed their defences about 1 million kilometres out.
In the end, time was too short though. Before the Black Ink Clan could finish their preparations, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on the walls of Great Evolution Pass resumed firing towards them. The streams of lights still contained immense power, causing the enemy to scream in agony. Many of them also lost their lives with every blast.
The Warships set out from Great Evolution Pass at the same time, gathering together to form an enormous fleet, which then swiftly approached the Royal City under the leadership of the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
As the army marched forward, a few dozen figures in Great Evolution Pass transformed into streams of light and sped towards the Royal City. These figures that emitted an impressive and overwhelming aura were none other than the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who would participate in the battle.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao took the lead. Her figure flickered several times before she arrived above the Royal City. Slamming her slender jade hand downward, she gathered the World Force in the palm of her hand and a warcry burst from her lips, “Show yourself!”
Following her shout, the Royal Lord’s wretched figure emerged from within the Royal City. His complexion was pale and his aura was weak. Even the colour of the single pitch-black wing on his back seemed dull.
Despite being injured for so many years, he had not had a chance to recuperate from his wounds; thus, he bemoaned his poor luck and ill fate to have met such a crazy woman from the Human Race.
Now that his opponent had taken the initiative to come and knock on his door, he had no choice but to fight regardless of his reluctance. After all, there was nobody else among the Black Ink Clan here who could compete with the Old Ancestor except him. If he relied on the Territory Lords under his command, they would suffer massive casualties in a face-to-face meeting with the Old Ancestor without his protection.
It was not the first time the two top Masters had fought with each other. They had fought each other several times in the war 200 years ago, and even more times after that; therefore, they were familiar with each other’s habits and combat strength like the back of their hands.
The Humans had travelled from afar with the determination to annihilate the Black Ink Clan, so both top Masters didn’t bother probing at each other when they engaged in this battle. They immediately unleashed various lethal moves as soon as they clashed. The dense World Force and Black Ink Strength collided together, instantly causing the world around them to pale.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao clearly wanted to drag the battlefield elsewhere, lest they harm the Human Race Army; however, how could the Royal Lord willingly cooperate? If they fought near the Royal City, he could borrow the power of his Black Ink Nest to bolster his strength. In contrast, he could only rely on his own strength if he was dragged far from the Royal City. What’s more, he couldn’t fight Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao on equal terms in his current condition.
After some back and forth, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao finally managed to drag the battlefield about 2 million kilometres out, but she was powerless to go any further. After all, there was nothing she could do when the Royal Lord refused to move away from the Royal City.
Nevertheless, 2 million kilometres was enough. With this distance, the fallout of their battle would not be deadly to the Human Race Army, though it would still affect them greatly. Of course, if the Human Race Army was affected, the Black Ink Clan Army would not escape unharmed. Neither side would benefit from this situation.
Immediately after Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s departure, the 50 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who would be fighting in this war rushed towards the battlefield and charged straight at the Black Ink Clan Army.
If these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters fought inside the ranks of the Black Ink Clan Army, the latter would surely suffer enormous damage. The Black Ink Clan was unwilling to see such an outcome of course, so over 60 Territory Lords and 20 Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples were dispatched as soon as they saw that the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were approaching.
In terms of numbers, they far exceeded the Eighth-Order Human Masters! This couldn’t be helped though, as no matter which realm, the Black Ink Clan would always exceed the Human Race in terms of numbers.
Although the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Territory Lords was nearly equal after the battle to reclaim Great Evolution Pass 200 years ago, the situation was different now that they had used Great Evolution Pass to launch an offensive. 20 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were needed to remain in Great Evolution Pass at all times to provide the necessary protection for it and also to maintain a place of refuge for the Human soldiers.
During the battle, the Human soldiers would always need some time to rest and recover. Retreating to Great Evolution Pass was their best option; therefore, these 20 Eighth-Order Division Commanders could not leave their posts easily. The only ones who could actively participate in the battle were the 50 or so remaining Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
In the blink of an eye, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters met the Territory Lords and Black Ink Disciples in the void. Following a brief moment of chaos, they split off into several groups and scattered in all directions. While they were scattering in all directions, these larger groups were further dispersed into smaller groups. The fight was intense thanks to the various Secret Techniques that were unleashed in every direction.
Many of the Eighth-Order Human Masters had to fight against two opponents. Fortunately, the Humans boasted deeper heritages, so even if they had to fight in a two-against-one battle, they were only slightly disadvantaged. Nevertheless, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had one-on-one battles with the Territory Lords had a much easier time. They held the upper hand in the battle and were steadily forcing their opponents to retreat.
Needless to say, there was no need to worry about Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. Even though the Royal Lord was borrowing the strength of his Black Ink Nest, he could barely stop her violent onslaught. At this moment, he only had enough strength to parry her attacks but not enough to counterattack.
The fact that the battle between the strongest Masters of both the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan was the first to break out was also something that the Human Race had deliberately planned. For the Human Race Army to attack, the Black Ink Clan Army had to be restrained; otherwise, the Humans could not stop the powerful offensive of the Territory Lords.
Chaos reigned and the entire universe shook from the impact of battle. Nevertheless, the Great Evolution Army marched forward with steady purpose. Relying on the support of Great Evolution Pass behind them, the enormous fleet closed to within 1 million kilometres of the enemy lines.
The Spirit Arrays and the artifacts on the Warships hummed and glowed brightly. Then, an overwhelming wave of attacks rained down upon the Black Ink Clan Army. Naturally, the Black Ink Clan soldiers would not sit around and wait for their deaths. They surged their Black Ink Strength and retaliated vigorously.
The Secret Techniques from both sides collided with each other and vanished from existence; however, many of the Black Ink Clan’s attacks were somewhat weak due to the distance. It was the complete opposite for the Humans. By relying on the Spirit Arrays and artifacts, their attacks had far greater range and lethality on average compared to the Black Ink Clan.
As a result, the Black Ink Clan suffered heavy casualties before the two armies even officially met. This situation infuriated the Commander of the Black Ink Clan Army. With an order from him, the Army of hundreds of thousands immediately charged towards the Human fleet.
The distance between both parties rapidly narrowed. At the same time, the power of their respective Secret Techniques and artifacts burst forth without stopping. The Black Ink Clan Army suffered serious casualties while the protective shields around the Warships flickered wildly.
Just as both armies were about to clash in battle, the Human Race Army split to both sides and circled around the flanks of the Black Ink Clan Army.
In terms of numbers, the Humans had always been at an absolute disadvantage. That was why, since ancient times, the Human Race Army had always focused on mobility and hit-and-run tactics whenever they waged war on a mass scale. They avoided a direct confrontation with the Black Ink Clan to maximize their advantages and minimize the enemy’s. Every single soldier in Great Evolution Pass had experienced hundreds of battles and participated in countless life-and-death struggles. They were quite familiar with the tactics to use against the Black Ink Clan.
When the Human Race Army split, the Black Ink Clan Army followed suit and gave chase. When the Human Race Army divided their forces again, so did the Black Ink Clan Army. It was not as though they did not know that the Humans were trying to divide their forces up into more manageable numbers, it was just that the situation forced them to mirror the enemy’s choices.
In just a cup of tea’s time, the Human’s huge fleet had been divided into countless small teams that wandered around the chaotic battlefield. Each small team basically consisted of two or three Squads supporting and providing reinforcements to each other. The Spirit Arrays and the artifacts on the Warships never stopped firing and every violent blast that was fired towards the enemy would reap some Black Ink Clansmen’s lives.
Dawn was not required to cooperate with other Squads. That was because Dawn was capable of fighting alone even in this situation. There was a total of 50 members of Dawn, including 8 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, giving them a powerful line-up. Even if they encountered a Territory Lord, they would stand a fighting chance against the enemy. Not to mention, they also had a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Yang Kai, who was invincible among those in the same Realm.
At this moment, with Yang Kai leading the way, Dawn’s eight Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters took up positions around Dawning Light and were slaughtering their enemies. There was nobody who could defeat them. Dawn was like a sharp blade, indiscriminately slicing through the Black Ink Clan Army. All those who dared to stand before them were killed on the spot.
As usual, Yang Kai sliced his way through the battlefield. The Azure Dragon Spear was all-conquering, cutting through enemies like dry weeds and rotten wood. There was only one issue that was giving him a slight headache. The battle between Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Royal Lord could not be considered near, but it was not far either. The fallout from their clash heavily affected both the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army.
When he was inside Dawning Light, the impact had not been too obvious thanks to the protection given by its defensive arrays. Now that he was fighting outside Dawning Light though, he was struck by considerable shockwaves every time the two exchanged blows.
If the fallout had such an effect on him, what more need be said for the other Seventh-Order Masters? It was fortunate that the Black Ink Clan also suffered from the same detriments, so nobody gained any advantage from the situation.
The energy was extremely disordered across the chaotic battlefield. Although the Black Ink Clan died in droves, the Humans were also beginning to suffer casualties. Even with the mutual support from two or three Squads, there were bound to be times when accidents occurred.
There were simply too many Black Ink Clansmen. Moreover, the opponents were the core forces of the Black Ink Clan Army. As the elites among the Black Ink Clan, they were incomparable to the cannon fodder and miscellaneous soldiers who could be cut down without much effort.
What’s more, as the confrontation dragged on, the Black Ink Clansmen who were originally stationed at the lines of defences on the other side of the Royal City arrived to provide reinforcements. As a result, the number of Black Ink Clansmen on the battlefield seemed to increase no matter how many were killed.
In the middle of the fierce battle, Yang Kai abruptly turned to look in a certain direction. In the next moment, his figure shifted slightly and vanished from the spot. The members of Dawn were not surprised by his sudden disappearance. Shen Ao quickly took over Yang Kai’s leading position, his power in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm surging wildly. He took command of Dawning Light and continued forging a bloody path across the battlefield.
On the other side, Yang Kai’s figure suddenly appeared somewhere in the battlefield. As soon as his figure emerged, the Golden Crow’s cry sounded. A Great Sun leapt out, then the Azure Dragon Spear pierced towards a burly figure in front of him with the Great Sun at its tip.
Despite the sudden ambush, the figure did not seem surprised. He coldly snorted and ferociously slammed his fist out. The Great Sun was forcibly extinguished, and Yang Kai was thrown backwards. The vitality in his chest tumbled about turbulently.
Likewise, the Black Ink Clansman who counterattacked staggered two steps backwards before he could stabilise his figure, his expression filling with astonishment. He never expected a Seventh-Order Human to be capable of meeting his attack head-on. Not only was the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master unhurt, but the attack even managed to push him back.
This Black Ink Clansman was a Territory Lord, one who was not being restrained by an Eighth-Order Division Commander!
Now that both the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army were fighting each other, most of the higher-ups on both sides were being mutually restrained.
The battle between Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Royal Lord was not something others could interfere with. Meanwhile, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters occupied the attention of many of the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples. However, the Territory Lords still outnumbered the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, which was why the Human Army had anticipated that some of them would remain among the Black Ink Clan Army even after the battle began.
Similar situations had cropped up in the past. Seeing as the Black Ink Clan had an advantage in numbers, it was only natural that they would figure out a way to use this advantage to the maximum.
During a confrontation between the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army, the presence of a Territory Lord was too much of a threat to the Human soldiers. Naturally, the Human Race Army had adopted corresponding measures against such situations.
Before Yang Kai arrived, the Territory Lord had been bombarding a Warship with indiscriminate attacks. Although the Warship had the protection of two Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, they could not stop the Territory Lord’s rampage and the Warship seemed on the verge of collapse. Not only was the body of the Warship damaged, but the defensive light barrier had also grown extremely dim.
If nobody had come to help, it would not have taken much longer for the Warship to collapse. Even the two Seventh-Order Masters might not escape alive if that were to happen. As for the Squad members below the Seventh Order, they were bound to die a miserable death. Therefore, Yang Kai’s arrival was very timely.
Having escaped their predicament, the two Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters on the Warship nodded lightly at Yang Kai to express their thanks. Then, they immediately joined up with a nearby passing Squad and sped off into the distance.
The Territory Lord tried to prevent their escape, but Yang Kai charged forward to intercept him; hence, he was forced to give up on his original target and raised his palm to strike Yang Kai. At the same time, he was slightly surprised. Why did the Human Squad leave without regard for the survival of this Seventh-Order Master? How much confidence do they have in this man? Did they believe that he alone could kill a Territory Lord?
Although the Territory Lord was reluctant to admit the truth, this Human had indeed shown might that was unusual for a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. A Seventh-Order Master of this calibre was most likely an elite among elites. Killing this person here would be more worthwhile than killing a hundred ordinary Human cultivators.
Following that thought, murderous intent immediately appeared in the Territory Lord’s eyes. His attacks flew out like a torrent as the Black Ink Strength in his body surged violently.
Yang Kai was instantly at a disadvantage. In a battle between a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Feudal Lord, he was perfectly capable of overwhelming his opponent and killing the enemy without help from others. Unfortunately, Yang Kai’s strength was still lacking when his opponent was a Territory Lord. There was an evident gap in strength due to the difference in their cultivation. Nevertheless, it was not easy to kill Yang Kai even if he was weaker than his opponent.
While defending against the barrage of attacks, Yang Kai tried to lead his powerful opponent in a certain direction nearby. There were sounds of a battle between an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Territory Lord coming from that direction.
Seeming to notice what Yang Kai was planning, the Territory Lord sneered coldly and increased the ferocity of his attacks.
An unexpected violent energy fluctuation suddenly came from afar, slamming through the void. Both Yang Kai and the Territory Lord were shaken and affected by the energy fluctuation. That was clearly the fallout caused by the battle between Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Royal Lord.
From the moment those two began fighting, the shockwaves of their battle would occasionally propagate outward and sweep across both armies. The aftermath did not discriminate between friend or foe, so as long as one was standing on the battlefield, they would be negatively affected.
Comparatively, the Human Race Army was faring slightly better than the Black Ink Clan. That couldn’t be helped though as the Humans had the protection of their Warships, while the Black Ink Clan did not. Whenever the shockwaves struck, the defences of the Warship were enough to negate most of the impact. Aside from the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters fighting outside the Warships, the soldiers inside were not greatly affected.
The same could not be said for the Black Ink Clan. It did not matter whether the other party was a Feudal Lord, a Territory Lord, a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman, or a Low-Rank Black Ink Clansman, they would often be knocked off balance whenever the violent energy fluctuations struck. It might be nothing more than a momentary effect, but even a brief moment could prove fatal for them.
That was indeed the reality. Many Black Ink Clansmen would lose their lives every time the fallout of the great battle swept across the battlefield. Unfortunately for Yang Kai, it was now his turn to suffer the consequences.
When the shockwave hit, both Yang Kai and the Territory Lord stumbled in response; however, the Territory Lord’s cultivation was ultimately much higher so he recovered quicker and ferociously threw his palm towards Yang Kai’s head.
At the juncture of life and death, Yang Kai forcefully shifted his head to the side. The Territory Lord’s palm slammed straight into his shoulder, resulting in a violent explosion of Black Ink Strength. The explosion left his shoulder torn and bloody.
Yang Kai grunted in pain while, at the same time, he thrust the Azure Dragon Spear towards the Territory Lord’s heart. His actions forced the Territory Lord, who wanted to go for the kill, to make a quick retreat.
Without waiting for the Territory Lord to regain his balance, Yang Kai actually threw himself forward and unleashed a flurry of thrusts with the Azure Dragon Spear, creating a wall of spear shadows that engulfed his opponent.
The Territory Lord was extremely taken aback. It could be said that he had not held back in the slightest during his previous attack. Even if a Seventh-Order Human somehow survived after taking a direct hit from him, they should have lost all combat ability and become helpless. But contrary to his expectations, this Human cultivator was very different. Not only did he survive, he even became increasingly aggressive.
[Are Humans supposed to be… this sturdy?]
Unbeknownst to the Territory Lord, Yang Kai was now a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon. In terms of physical resilience, even most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could not compare to him. The palm strike had indeed wounded Yang Kai, but it had not affected his combat capability.
After a round of fierce attacks, the Territory Lord was so dishevelled that he seemed slightly worse for wear, which made him angry out of shame. Just as he was about to deal a lethal blow, a sharp aura locked upon him and a terrifying sword light came slashing down on him immediately after that. Shocked, the Territory Lord hastily dodged aside.
“Go!” Xu Ling Gong rushed over, holding a blade in both hands. His aura was very imposing. When he unleashed an attack at the Territory Lord, he simultaneously shouted at Yang Kai.
“Martial Uncle Xu, will you be alright?” The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth twitched, and he looked at Xu Ling Gong in concern.
That couldn’t be helped. Xu Ling Gong already had a Territory Lord as his opponent, so dragging another Territory Lord into his battle clearly meant that he would have to face two opponents on his own.
It had not been long since he advanced to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, so while fighting a single Territory Lord would not be an issue, fighting two-against-one would be… dangerous!
Yang Kai had not meant to ask Xu Ling Gong for help. He had originally planned to lure the Territory Lord to a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to restrain the Territory Lord.
That veteran Eighth-Order Master only had one Territory Lord as his opponent, so with his profound heritage accumulated over the millennia, fighting in a two-against-one battle would temporarily not be difficult for him. Unfortunately, that was not necessarily the case when it came to Xu Ling Gong.
Nevertheless, Xu Ling Gong simply happened to be in the vicinity. He had probably noticed Yang Kai’s situation and dragged his opponent over to help Yang Kai on his own initiative.
Upon hearing Yang Kai’s question, Xu Ling Gong widened his eyes and roared furiously, “Enough nonsense! Hurry up and get lost! I’m going to kill these two today!”
While speaking, his attacks became fiercer and fiercer. Even his complexion became flushed. More importantly, the two Territory Lords were pushed back by his ferocious assault.
Yang Kai glanced at the situation and knew that his words had aroused Xu Ling Gong’s competitive spirit. There was nothing else he could say, so he could only encourage Xu Ling Gong, “In that case, don’t overexert yourself.”
After saying that, he sped off into the distance. He did not stay behind to help Xu Ling Gong as even if he stayed behind and joined forces with him, he might not be able to kill either of these Territory Lords in a short time.
Yang Kai’s greatest advantage was that he was invincible among those in the same realm! Therefore, what he needed to do right now was kill as many enemies below the Territory Lord level as possible! The more he killed, the less pressure the Human Race Army would face!
Three breaths of time after Yang Kai left, Xu Ling Gong grunted in pain and his courageous and invincible aura vanished without a trace. In an instant, he was soundly beaten back by the two Territory Lords. His heritage was too lacking in the end, so fighting two-against-one was simply too difficult for the current him!
Although he was no match for his enemies, Xu Ling Gong would have no issue protecting himself for the time being; however, it was hard to say how he would fare if the battle dragged on.
The fierce battle continued as Yang Kai navigated through the battlefield, searching for the figures of the hidden Territory Lords. Including the one from before, he found a total of three. He attacked them and lured them towards the nearby Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and left them to be restrained by the Division Commanders.
There were bound to be more than three Territory Lords overseeing the Black Ink Clan Army, but Yang Kai only managed to find so many. As for the rest, they would surely be restrained by others as long as they made a move so he did not have to worry about them.
The Royal Lord and the Old Ancestor had their own battlefield. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and the Territory Lords also had their own battlefields. The same was true for the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army! Although their battles entangled with each other, they did not interfere with one another.
Yang Kai swept across the battlefield like lightning and everywhere he went, the Black Ink Clan suffered heavy casualties under his Azure Dragon Spear. After confirming that there were no other unoccupied Territory Lords, he returned to Dawning Light. It was time to take action! Everything he did just now was simply part of the preparations for this moment.
That was especially true now that the Territory Lords were borrowing the power of their respective Black Ink Nests in the Royal City to kill the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters faster.
As a result, the original stalemate was broken. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were now at a disadvantage, and the newly-advanced Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like Xu Ling Gong were even more at risk. If the Human Race Army did not take action now, the Eighth-Order Masters might end up losing their lives on the battlefield.
Just as that thought crossed his mind, a sharp whistle came from a certain corner of the battlefield. The seemingly never-ending whistle rang out loud and clear. Even the chaotic energy fluctuations could not prevent the whistle from being transmitted across the battlefield. It was clearly some kind of signal.
When the whistle sounded, the atmosphere among the Human Race Army underwent a subtle change. Everybody seemed to become more spirited as they summoned the secret weapon that had been hidden for many years!
Somewhere on the battlefield, Xu Ling Gong was completely dishevelled. There was no sign of his energetic boasting and bluster from before. Faced with the violent bombardment from two Territory Lords, he had no choice but to flee and dodge their attacks. Nevertheless, there were times when he failed to dodge, resulting in his entire body being drenched in blood.
When the whistle sounded, he cheered loudly, “It’s finally time!”
He had endured for so long. Despite facing the risk of death on multiple occasions, he had not brought out the secret weapon. He was worried that he might reveal their trump card in advance and cause the other Black Ink Clansmen to become vigilant. It was one thing if the secret weapon was not used; however, if the secret weapon were to be utilised, then he had to ensure that everyone could wield the secret weapon at the same time so that the maximum effect could be exerted.
At this moment, the agreed-upon signal had finally resounded across the battlefield.
Xu Ling Gong broke out into a ferocious grin. Ignoring the pincer attack coming from the two Territory Lords, he abruptly summoned two long spears into his hands.
A violent assault was followed by two grunts of pain. Meanwhile, Xu Ling Gong coughed up fresh blood. Although several of his bones had been broken, he threw his head back with wild laughter, “Die!”
World Force flared as the two Evil Purging Divine Spears shuddered slightly and transformed into two streams of light that pierced towards the two Territory Lords who were basically at arm’s length.
Xu Ling Gong did not hesitate to use his body as bait to draw the two Territory Lords in close, catching them off guard when they were immersed in the joy of winning. The two streams of lights struck them squarely in the chest, pushing them back quite a distance.
In the next moment, a brilliant light exploded out. The light was extremely dazzling, without the slightest impurities. Like two little Suns, they enveloped the two Territory Lords, causing their expressions to immediately change drastically. They didn’t even have time to think about killing Xu Ling Gong before they were filled with a sense of terror.
That couldn’t be helped as, all of a sudden, they could feel the invasion of some kind of foreign power into their bodies. Moreover, that power seemed to be the nemesis of their Black Ink Strength. Wherever the energy flowed inside their bodies, the Black Ink Strength that had accumulated there for thousands of years melted away. Even the Black Ink Strength that was everywhere in the void fizzled and evaporated without a trace when the light touched it.
On the battlefield, the area shrouded by the light became a large empty vacuum. All the Black Ink Strength in that area was completely purified in an instant. Moreover, the light did not just appear at the two spots around Xu Ling Gong, but at countless places across the battlefield. These lights illuminated the entire battlefield like the endless Stars in the sky!
The sudden turn of events caused the Black Ink Clansmen suffering from the effects to panic. In all the years that they fought the Humans, they had never seen such an occurrence or experienced such strange power before. It was a power that was opposite to their Black Ink Strength, one that could restrain and even eliminate it!
While the Black Ink Clan was in a state of panic and terror, the Humans did not remain idle. The power of the Evil Purging Divine Spears erupted, causing the energy within the Black Ink Clansmen to become disordered. At the same time, the Human Race Masters charged towards their enemies.
The original stalemate across the battlefield was instantly broken. One after another, the aura of the Feudal Lords began to vanish. Those who were eligible to utilise the Evil Purging Divine Spears on the battlefield were the Seventh and Eighth-Order Masters; thus, their opponents were mainly Feudal Lords and Territory Lords.
As soon as the loud whistle rang out, the Seventh-Order Masters unleashed their attacks upon the Feudal Lords. Purifying Light was indeed the nemesis of Black Ink Strength. When the balls of light that resembled Great Suns burst forth, the Black Ink Strength surrounding them was fully dispelled. Furthermore, the energy within the Black Ink Clansmen either dissipated or became disrupted.
The secret weapon that had been hidden for so many years finally blazed brightly at this moment and achieved brilliant results.
Somewhere on the battlefield, Xu Ling Gong disregarded the wounds on his body even though he was coughing up blood violently. After pulling out the two Evil Purging Divine Spears, he raised his blade and charged towards the nearest Territory Lord. The sword light on his blade gleamed with absolute murderous intent.
The nearest Territory Lord who had been affected by the Purifying Light sealed within the Evil Purging Divine Spear was completely distracted at the moment. Most of his strength had been diverted to mitigate the threat of the Purifying Light; hence, the most he could do was hastily punch at Xu Ling Gong when the sword light came slashing down on him.
The World Force of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and the Black Ink Strength of a Territory Lord collided and intertwined with each other on this small battlefield. During the brief confrontation, Xu Ling Gong’s chest caved inward and what came out of his mouth was no longer just blood but also bits and pieces of his organs.
After he passed by his enemy though, the body of the Territory Lord behind him split into two halves. Pitch-black blood sprayed everywhere like a fountain. At the moment of death, both halves of the Territory Lord’s face were filled with complete disbelief. He seemed surprised that he had died, killed in one move by a seemingly weak Eighth-Order Master.
Xu Ling Gong, who had just advanced into the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm 200 years ago, had slain a Territory Lord in his first two-against-one battle!
He burst into maniacal laughter, feeling as though he had never been happier in his life. There was no denying that he had killed many Black Ink Clansmen in the past, including several Feudal Lords; however, how could killing those Feudal Lords compare to the satisfaction of killing a Territory Lord?
He was under a lot of pressure! His youngest Disciple was married to Yang Kai. In the past, Xu Ling Gong could rely on his higher cultivation and take advantage of his status as an Elder to discipline this son-in-law of his. Unfortunately, that advantage disappeared when Yang Kai advanced to the Seventh Order.
Even Xu Ling Gong had to admit that he was lacking when compared to Yang Kai’s overwhelming strength against peers of the same realm. Not to mention, there were quite a few Territory Lords who had died at Yang Kai’s hands over the years.
On the contrary, he had not killed a single Territory Lord even though he was the Elder. How could he hold his head high in front of Yang Kai? How could he seek justice on behalf of his beloved Disciple if Yang Kai were to bully her?
Fortunately, things were different now. He had killed a Territory Lord! And this was just the beginning. He was going to kill even more Territory Lords in the future! His gaze shifted and landed on the other Territory Lord. Then, he rushed at the enemy with his blade flashing brilliantly.
The remaining Territory Lord had been stunned by the sudden death of his companion. At the same time, he was also distracted by his efforts to resist the Purifying Light that was eroding his body. When he saw Xu Ling Gong rushing at him like a vengeful ghost, a sense of fear flooded his heart. He did not dare to fight Xu Ling Gong any longer; thus, he quickly turned around and fled for his life.
“Where are you trying to run!?” Xu Ling Gong roared furiously. Raising his blade, he tried to pursue his enemy, but he only managed to take a few steps before he coughed up blood as though he was trying to purge all the organs from his body. At the same time, the imposing aura around him weakened rapidly.
When he brought out the Evil Purging Divine Spears, he had used his body as bait and forcefully withstood the pincer attack from both his opponents. Therefore, he was heavily injured. Killing one of the Territory Lords in one blow was his limit. He no longer had the strength to pursue the second.
If his opponent had stood his ground and fought, the Territory Lord would most likely have succeeded at killing Xu Ling Gong on the spot despite the effects of the Purifying Light.
It was just that the Territory Lord had been thoroughly frightened by the Purifying Light that invaded his body. Not to mention, he did not know whether this Eighth-Order Human was truly exhausted or simply feigning weakness. His priority was to escape alive, so he did not even dare to pause for a single moment.
In the end, Xu Ling Gong could only watch helplessly as the Territory Lord slipped into the midst of the Black Ink Clan Army and used the numerous Black Ink Clansmen to conceal his whereabouts.
“Waste!” He cursed furiously. [I’m already in such dire straits. How can you flee in fright instead of trying to kill me!? How can such a shameless Black Ink Clansman be a worthy opponent for the Humans who willingly lay down their lives to achieve victory in this battle!?]
It wasn’t just Xu Ling Gong who managed to kill a Territory Lord. Across the battlefield, more than a dozen Territory Lords lost their lives in that brief moment of confusion. Several Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples also lost their lives in that encounter.
The Black Ink Clan lost nearly 20 of their top Masters in a matter of breaths! How many combat forces comparable to an Eighth-Order Master in strength did the Black Ink Clan gather? It was not an exaggeration to say that 30% of the Black Ink Clan’s combat forces were eliminated just moments after the Evil Purging Divine Spear made its debut. Most of the remaining Territory Lords had also been heavily wounded by the Evil Purging Divine Spear. The rich Purifying Light had invaded their bodies, causing them unbearable pain.
In the direction of the ruined Royal City, the Black Ink Nests suddenly began to rumble loudly. The rumbling sounds were followed by extremely thick Black Ink Strength that gushed out from them.
After becoming affected by the corrosion of the Purifying Light, the Territory Lords no longer had regard for anything else. They drew upon the power of their respective Black Ink Nests in desperation and used their power to repel the Human Masters and resist the corrosion of the Purifying Light.
Although doing so allowed them to reduce some of their declining momentum, it was not enough to block the violent offensive of the Eighth-Order Masters. Many of the Territory Lords remained in jeopardy, seemingly at risk of losing their lives at any moment.
What horrified the Territory Lords even more was that the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters fighting them would summon more Evil Purging Divine Spears from time to time. Hence, they were so terrified that they could not concentrate on fighting their enemies.
The Black Ink Clan could not understand where the Humans obtained such deadly artifacts! Logically speaking, it should be very difficult to refine artifacts that were so lethal to Territory Lords. There should not be many of these artifacts; otherwise, the Humans would have brought them out a long time ago. Be that as it may, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were not the only ones who could summon these artifacts. Even the Seventh-Order Humans had a seemingly large supply of these accursed spears.
The Great Suns that were formed from the pure white light could be seen everywhere on the battlefield. Almost every time one of the Great Suns manifested, another Territory Lord would fall. In the time it took to boil a cup of tea, the Black Ink Clan Army which originally held an obvious advantage suffered crippling casualties.
Unlike the Black Ink Clan’s terror-stricken panic, the Human Race Army’s momentum surged to newfound heights.
Everybody knew that the maximum effectiveness of the Evil Purging Divine Spear had been brought out at this moment. After keeping the secret for so many years, their trump card specially created to fight the Black Ink Clan had finally proven its worth in battle.
However, the Black Ink Clan’s vigilance and wariness were now raised to the limit. The next time the Evil Purging Divine Spears were utilised in battle would no longer have such an unprecedented effect. Moreover, the Evil Purging Divine Spears were not invincible even though Purifying Light was the nemesis of Black Ink Strength. The Purifying Light sealed within the Evil Purging Divine Spears was limited after all. Once the Black Ink Clansmen used their Black Ink Strength to eliminate the Purifying Light, the Purifying Light would lose its effect.
This was especially obvious when many of the Territory Lords could borrow the strength of their Black Ink Nests around the Royal City. As long as they were willing to consume enough Black Ink Strength, it would not take long for them to completely remove the Purifying Light that had invaded their body. At that time, they would no longer be troubled by the Purifying Light. Their strength would also recover quickly. That was why the Human Masters wanted to capitalize on their current advantage to the fullest. These few breaths of time were extremely important.
For that reason, Xu Ling Gong continued to slaughter nearby enemies with great enthusiasm despite being seriously injured. If he dragged things out for too long, the advantageous situation brought about by the initial appearance of the Evil Purging Divine Spears would be lost. This was something the Humans knew, and the Black Ink Clan would also learn the truth after a short period of panic.
Therefore, the surviving Black Ink Clan Masters were desperately running and hiding from the attacks of the Human Race Masters while borrowing the power of their Black Ink Nest to remove the poison in their body without regard for loss. The moment they recovered would be the moment the Black Ink Clan struck back.
The experts of both the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan were vying for this slim window of opportunity; thus, their battle became even fiercer than before.
Yang Kai led the members of Dawn across the battlefield. They were practically invincible, ploughing through the enemy lines leaving naught but destruction in their wake. Everywhere they went, countless Black Ink Clansmen were either killed or critically injured.
In one corner of the battlefield, an Eighth-Order Division Commander was vigorously bombarding an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple with attacks. The might of his Secret Techniques and artifacts blasted continuously, causing the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple to retreat frantically. The situation was very dangerous, and the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple seemed to be at risk of being killed at any moment.
However, the Eighth-Order Division Commander did not seem to be happy about holding the upper hand in this battle. On the contrary, he was scowling deeply. That couldn’t be helped as the opponent’s behaviour was giving him a subtle sense that something was wrong.
When he first set foot on the battlefield, he had wanted to engage one of the Territory Lords as his opponent. If possible, it would be best if he could restrain two Territory Lords at the same time. He was a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master after all. Having immersed himself in this Realm for so many years, he had the qualifications for such a feat.
Unfortunately, the situation on the battlefield was very fickle and there were many times when things did not go as planned. As soon as he stepped onto the battlefield, this Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple had taken the initiative to attack him. There was no reason for him to hold back when his opponent had come looking for him themselves; thus, he immediately fought against him.
He originally believed that the other party was a mere Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple; moreover, the other party seemed to be the type to have broken through his limitations to advance into the Eighth-Order with the help of Black Ink Strength. Even if he had cultivated for many years, there was bound to be a gap in his heritage compared to true Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Defeating him or even killing him should not be difficult.
However, it was not until they began fighting each other that the Eighth-Order Division Commander noticed that something was wrong.
The strength of this Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple seemed lacking indeed. He was badly beaten and covered in wounds, but he would always avoid all lethal attacks without fail. Even the Evil Purging Divine Spear that was activated just now had been avoided completely!
It had to be said that the activation speed of the Evil Purging Divine Spear was very quick. In an ambush, there was practically no Territory Lord who could avoid this attack. So many Evil Purging Divine Spears had been activated just now, and the number of Territory Lords who managed to avoid the attack could be counted on one hand. Be that as it may, this Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple had somehow done just that.
Ever since they began fighting, there was only one word to describe the feeling that the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple gave this Eighth-Order Division Commander: Monster! He did not mean the type of Monster with Monster Qi. On the contrary, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s various behaviours and responses to the crises gave off a feeling of incongruency.
In fact, the scene seemed rather familiar. He couldn’t help recalling a certain battle he had fought when he was much younger. In that battle, it was obvious that his strength was much greater than his opponent’s. Be that as it may, he did not slay his enemy immediately. He took his time and toyed with his enemy instead. By pretending to be weak, he eventually lured his enemy into a fatal opening and killed him in one fell swoop.
At this moment, the other party gave him the same, but opposite feeling. It felt exactly like how he had hidden his strength and put on an act in the past.
[Is this guy hiding his true strength?] The Division Commander could barely believe it.
In a comparison of real strength, a true Eighth-Order Master was generally stronger than a Territory Lord. On the other hand, Black Ink Disciples who borrowed the power of Black Ink Strength to surpass their innate limitations were even weaker than Territory Lords. In other words, an actual Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master should be significantly stronger than an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
During a one-on-one battle, Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples would usually bring out everything they could as trying to hide their true strength would put them at risk of dying at any moment.
[I can’t believe this guy can afford to hide his true strength. Just how powerful is he? What are his intentions?]
The Eighth-Order Division Commander could not understand. Regardless of what intentions the other party might have though, his goal remained to slaughter the other party. Fighting an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple for so long and failing to harm the other party even after utilising the Evil Purging Divine Spear was extremely humiliating.
Nevertheless, this veteran Division Commander did not let his guard down. Focusing his attention, his offence suddenly became significantly more violent. To slay his enemy as soon as possible, he even chose to burn a part of his Blood Essence.
The intensity of the assault suddenly increased by a significant margin. The Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple was caught off guard. Thus, his condition gradually worsened.
“Ha…” A sudden sigh sounded in the ears of the Eighth-Order Division Commander. Following that fleeting sound, a sword light flashed towards him.
He immediately felt all the hairs on his body standing on end. A terrible sense of crisis enveloped him, making him feel as if he was about to die; therefore, he hastily retreated without the slightest hesitation as his field of vision was filled with the glare coming from the sword light before him.
Ninth-Order!
His opponent was actually in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm!
At that moment, the Division Commander finally understood the root of the strange feeling he had been having. His speculation was correct, his opponent had indeed hidden his true strength. However, he never imagined that the other party would be a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
The Human Race had been fighting the Black Ink Clan for countless years, and over the millennia, many Human cultivators had fallen into the hands of the Black Ink Clan and been transformed into Black Ink Disciples. Therefore, there would always be Black Ink Disciples in every Theatre.
However, most Black Ink Disciples did not survive for very long. The Black Ink Clansmen would always order the Black Ink Disciples under their command to fight desperately so that they could escape safely whenever their lives were in danger on the battlefield. As a result, 90% of these Black Ink Disciples would not have enough time to grow before they lost their lives on the battlefield.
Before the appearance of Purifying Light, the Human Race had also been merciless in their treatment towards Black Ink Disciples. They believed that death was the best extrication for the Black Ink Disciples.
Under normal circumstances, even a single Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple would rarely be found.
However, Great Evolution Theatre was special. During the war 30,000 years ago, many soldiers from Great Evolution Pass had been transformed into Black Ink Disciples. Furthermore, this Theatre did not experience war for a long time. That was why many Black Ink Disciples had enough time to grow and develop into Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
Be that as it may, a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had never emerged from any of the Theatres before!
It had to be said that a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was an existence equivalent to an Old Ancestor, which was the highest combat force among the Human Race.
Unexpectedly, a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had appeared here.
The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had used a Secret Technique to conceal his cultivation; moreover, he had pulled off this trick without anybody being aware of his actions.
Despite exchanging blows for so long, the Eighth-Order Division Commander had only felt that his opponent was somewhat strange. He subconsciously felt that his opponent might have concealed their strength, but he never imagined that his opponent would turn out to be a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
[It turns out that… a Black Ink Disciple can actually reach the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.] This particular thought suddenly crossed his mind at this moment.
It was well known that Black Ink Disciples could borrow the power of Black Ink Strength to break free of the innate shackles of their Order and achieve heights that would never be reachable for them under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, that would only happen under ideal circumstances.
The Human Race had discovered that the process of advancement among the Black Ink Disciples that disregarded their actual limitations came with very high risks. Almost every Black Ink Disciple who surpassed their limitations had various physical deformities. More importantly, every advancement they experienced was many times more dangerous than a normal advancement experienced by the Human Race. The probability of death was extremely high.
That was why the ideal circumstances would remain as nothing more than ideal circumstances. It should have been near impossible for a Black Ink Disciple to advance to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm with the help of Black Ink Strength. For a Black Ink Disciple, that process was almost guaranteed death! Be that as it may, there were always exceptions. That was why there were so many miracles in this world.
A Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had suddenly appeared on the battlefield. That was simply shocking. Not to mention, he had hidden his true strength while fighting with an Eighth-Order Division Commander. The fact that he had not killed his opponent after so long clearly indicated that he was harbouring evil intentions.
[He is aiming for the Old Ancestor!] The Eighth-Order Division Commander instantly figured out the other party’s aim. Just as he was about to open his mouth to shout out a warning, he abruptly discovered that his strength was draining rapidly and he could not make a single sound.
At the same time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s voice reverberated throughout the universe from a certain corner of the battlefield, “I thought it was a second Royal Lord. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a Black Ink Disciple. I wouldn’t have found you if you remained hidden, but now that you’ve taken the liberty to show yourself, you shouldn’t think of leaving again!”
After her words rang out, an enormous Yin-Yang Fish suddenly appeared and seemed to cover the entire void. The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, who had merged with a sword light that was slashing towards her, was caught off guard and crashed straight into the Yin-Yang Fish, his figure freezing in place for a moment.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao did not give him any time to recover. Her slender jade palm thrust down on him. Her might as a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was fully revealed as she extinguished the sword light and dragged him into her battle.
Meanwhile, the Royal Lord fervently drew upon his strength to attack. It was clear he intended to work together with the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple to kill Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
At this moment, the vast battlefield came to an abrupt halt.
All the Human soldiers were shocked, as were most of the Black Ink Clansmen. Only the Territory Lords were unmoved by this sudden revelation. They took advantage of the situation to escape from the onslaught of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders and hurriedly directed their Black Ink Strength to eliminate the Purifying Light in their bodies.
There was a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple under the command of the Royal Lord. It was evident that they were aware of the fact, but such an important secret was known only to the Territory Lords. Those below the Territory Lords were completely oblivious to this fact. These measures were taken to prevent the secret from being revealed; otherwise, they would not have been able to catch the Humans by surprise.
Aboard Dawning Light, Yang Kai finally had the answers to his previous doubts amidst his shock.
The Snow Wolves Squad had gone missing within the inner ring of Black Ink Clan’s defence line. It was pretty much confirmed that they had been completely wiped out in one blow; however, the Squad Leader Yao Kang Cheng of the Snow Wolves Squad had sent him a message at the very last moment. The message only contained the words ‘Royal Lord’.
Yang Kai had always assumed that the Royal Lord had taken action, but when he reported the news back to Great Evolution Pass, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao insisted that the Royal Lord had yet to recover from his wounds. The Royal Lord couldn’t leave the Royal City, much less attack the Snow Wolves Squad from that position.
Likewise, Yao Kang Cheng’s last message couldn’t be fake. They must have encountered an opponent far beyond their capabilities or their message would not have been sent in such a hurry.
The Old Ancestor’s judgement had conflicted with the message from the Snow Wolves Squad; therefore, Yang Kai had always been unable to figure out if there were any faults in the information they provided.
The answer was now in front of them. The Snow Wolves Squad had not encountered a Royal Lord, but a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple!
A Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple and a Royal Lord were fairly similar in strength, so under such rushed circumstances, Yao Kang Cheng had probably mistakenly thought that their opponent was a Royal Lord and frantically sent a warning containing the words ‘Royal Lord’. After that, the entire Squad had either been eliminated or committed suicide to prevent the secret of Great Evolution Pass’ imminent attack from being exposed.
Their sacrifice had not been for nought though. Thanks to their brief message, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been forewarned.
From her statement earlier, it could be inferred that she had been guarding against any possible enemies during her battle with the Royal Lord. It was just that she had expected an additional Royal Lord, not a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
If she had been unprepared, the sword light from earlier would most likely have injured her. Fortunately, she had been warned in advance and could safely resolve any issues that popped up even if the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had ambushed her out of nowhere.
The three top Masters immediately engaged in battle, and the fallout from their clash became even more ferocious.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had held the absolute advantage during the previous one-on-one battle with the Royal Lord only able to defend himself but not fight back. Now that there was an additional Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple in the fray, the situation became disadvantageous for her instead. Her advantage no longer existed now that she was fighting against two opponents!
There was one fortuitous thing. After a brief exchange of blows, she quickly determined that it had not been long since the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple succeeded in his advancement. Only 100 or 200 years at most. He could be considered a newly-advanced Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, so his heritage was quite weak. Combined with the fact that Black Ink Disciples were already weaker than true Human Masters in the same Order, she managed to protect herself even though she had to face two opponents in the equivalent realm as herself. If her opponents had been Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like herself, she would not have lasted for long.
Judging from the timing, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had succeeded in his advancement after the Great Evolution Army withdrew from the Royal City; otherwise, it was impossible for him to stay out of the battle 200 years ago. He had most likely been in retreat to advance to the Ninth Order at the time.
After the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple stepped forward, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao calmed down considerably. It was far more difficult to defend against an arrow in the dark than a spear in the light. Therefore, it was always better to have her enemy in the open than hidden in the shadows.
On the contrary, the Royal Lord was so furious that he nearly went mad with rage.
The fact that the Black Ink Disciple under his command had advanced to the Ninth Order was extremely confidential. It was also the reason he dared to confront the Humans directly in this battle. He had wanted to catch the Old Ancestor by surprise with the help of his Black Ink Disciple. As long as they could severely injure her, the Black Ink Clan would be victorious in this battle.
Who could have known that the Old Ancestor would somehow know in advance? His plans had come to nothing as a result. With the situation being what it was now, it would not be easy for him to eliminate the Old Ancestor.
The battle between these three caused space to shatter with every impact.
On the other hand, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and crossed more than half of the battlefield in an instant. Before he even arrived, he balanced a Great Sun on the tip of his Azure Dragon Spear and smashed his way through the densely-packed Black Ink Clan Army.
The Black Ink Clan retreated hastily wherever the Great Sun appeared, and countless corpses were left behind in Yang Kai’s wake.
Yang Kai grabbed hold of a dishevelled figure and shouted, “Let’s go!”
He did not return to the Dawning Light; instead, he headed straight in the direction where Great Evolution Pass was located.
“Watch out!” The Eighth-Order Division Commander yelled breathlessly in warning. A Black Ink Clansman had come from the front to intercept them, evidently targeting the heavily injured Eighth-Order Division Commander.
This person was none other than the Eighth-Order Division Commander who was heavily injured by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. Division Commander Cha Pu!
Although the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had only just broken through, the power of his attacks was not something Cha Pu could defend against with his strength alone. There was a huge difference in strength between an Eighth-Order Master and a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple after all.
That final sword slash had nearly chopped Cha Pu in half at the waist. At this moment, there was an enormous gash at his abdomen where one could clearly see wriggling organs. More importantly, there was dense Black Ink Strength and ghastly Sword Qi lingering around the wound.
The wound could be said to be extremely serious. Even a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Cha Pu could not bear such an injury and instantly lost his combat ability.
An Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who had lost his combat ability would naturally catch the attention of countless Black Ink Clansmen on this chaotic battlefield where enemies were everywhere.
In Cha Pu’s current condition, any random Feudal Lord would be able to kill him without much effort. If Yang Kai had been one step slower, Cha Pu would have lost his life to the enemy by now.
As soon as the aura of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple burst out, Yang Kai’s attention was focused on Cha Pu’s situation. That was why he immediately rushed over to provide support. Besides, he was the only person who could have achieved such a feat. Nobody else would have been able to arrive in time even if they wanted to offer assistance.
Thanks to a stroke of luck, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had focused his attacks on the Old Ancestor when his identity was revealed. He had wanted to catch Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao by surprise. For him, Cha Pu was merely collateral damage and thus did not target him deliberately.
If the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had attacked Cha Pu seriously, the Eighth-Order Division Commander would not still be breathing. A Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was still in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm after all. An attack from a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was not something an Eighth-Order Human could withstand.
“Move!” Yang Kai roared. At the same time, he used the Azure Dragon Spear to sweep away the various obstacles in his path and forged a bloody path forward as he made his way to Great Evolution Pass.
Unfortunately, the Black Ink Clan Army was unwilling to watch a heavily injured Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master escape and quickly gave chase. A large number of Black Ink Clansmen instantly gathered to pursue them aggressively from behind. Various Secret Techniques simultaneously rained down on them.
Both Yang Kai and Cha Pu staggered from the impacts.
It was unknown whether it was due to orders from a Territory Lord or just bad luck, but no matter where Yang Kai went, more and more Black Ink Clansmen would appear to block his path. The enemies pursuing him from behind did not lessen in numbers either, seemingly determined to ensure that Cha Pu did not escape alive.
Even with the help from various nearby Warships, the situation was getting worse.
Yang Kai did not dare to carelessly use Instantaneous Movement either. Under these circumstances, while he would be fine after using Instantaneous Movement, Cha Pu was too heavily wounded to withstand the pressure caused by traversing the Void. In the worst case, Cha Pu could end up dying at his hands instead of the enemy’s.
“Brother Yang!” A shout suddenly entered Yang Kai’s ears, “This way!”
Turning in the direction of the voice, Yang Kai saw a solidly built Warship carrying a huge tortoise shell on its back coming towards him. Several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were standing outside the Warship, joining forces to slaughter the surrounding enemies. The person who shouted at him earlier was none other than Squad Leader Chai Fang.
Yang Kai hurriedly sped in that direction while the nearby Warships quickly restrained the numerous Black Ink Clansmen closing in from all directions.
After great effort, both parties finally met up with each other and Yang Kai arrived on the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship with some manoeuvring.
The energy fluctuations rampaged wildly outside. It was a massacre. Meanwhile, the inside of the Warship was also very hectic. The Old Turtle Squad’s members were fervently channelling the power of their Small Universes to either maintain the operation of Spirit Arrays or control artifacts to attack the enemy.
Yang Kai placed Cha Pu down and finally had the time to stuff some Spirit Pills into the latter’s mouth. Looking down at Cha Pu, his expression became solemn.
In such a short period, Cha Pu’s injuries seemed to have worsened considerably. It could be seen how terrifying the power of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was. Even an established Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Cha Pu could not withstand power from a single sword slash, even if he was not the intended target.
Yang Kai swiftly activated Purifying Light to envelope Cha Pu, trying to eliminate the Black Ink Strength that was invading the latter’s body.
The Black Ink Strength was a minor issue that the Purifying Light could dispel easily; however, the horrifying Sword Qi lingering around the wound was not something Yang Kai could handle. That could only be resolved by the Old Ancestor or Cha Pu himself.
“Be careful!” Cha Pu warned. Afterwards, he was too weak to say anything else.
Yang Kai nodded. Slipping out of the Warship, he rushed towards Chai Fang and the others. He brushed past them and shouted at Chai Fang, “Escort him back to Great Evolution Pass!”
Chai Fang did not hesitate to agree and immediately ordered his Squad members, “Withdraw!”
They hurriedly rushed back into the cabin, and under the control of the Old Turtle Squad members, the bulky Warship immediately turned around and retreated towards Great Evolution Pass under the indiscriminate bombardment from numerous Black Ink Clansmen.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s figure flickered about wildly as he unleashed a barrage with the Azure Dragon Spear to stop the Black Ink Clansmen who were chasing from behind. Wielding his Supreme Limitless Spear Art without restraint, Yang Kai swept through the enemy ranks like a hurricane. It only took an instant for the Black Ink Clansmen in front of him to vanish like snowflakes melting under the scorching Sun.
Yang Kai stood in the void by himself, fending off the advance of his enemies with his strength alone. However, he only lasted for 10 breaths of time before his body stiffened. Coughing up a mouthful of Golden Blood, he staggered backwards.
He excelled at wandering around and killing his enemies. Unfortunately, he needed to remain in place if he wanted to create an opportunity for the Old Turtle Squad to retreat. He couldn’t last for very long while trying to maintain a stationary position. Not to mention, the overwhelming attacks could not just be dismissed. Every time Yang Kai blocked an attack, he would consume a portion of his strength. There was no saying when the battle would finally end, so even if the heritage of his Small Universe was impressive and his strength far surpassed his peers in the same realm, he could not afford to squander his power without any inhibitions.
Taking a moment to glance behind him, Yang Kai saw that the Old Turtle Squad was still surrounded by the Black Ink Clan in all directions. A storm of attacks rained upon the Warship like a torrential downpour, causing the light barrier around the huge tortoise shell to flicker wildly. Be that as it may, the Old Turtle Squad’s momentum did not reduce in the slightest and soon they had approached to within 1 million kilometres of Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a sense of relief. The Old Turtle Squad might not have anything else that was special about them, but their entire Squad could be described with one word, ‘Tough’! And it wasn’t just their Warship that was tough. As far as he knew, Chai Fang and his Squad members had all cultivated extremely powerful defensive Secret Techniques. Even if they met a powerful enemy they could not defeat, they could defend themselves for some time.
This particular characteristic of the Old Turtle Squad certainly played a huge role at this moment.
If Dawn had been the one to escort Cha Pu instead, things might not have gone so smoothly. Dawn’s overall strength was not inferior to the Old Turtles’, but they would have a hard time persisting if they were surrounded and attacked by so many Black Ink Clansmen.
At 1 million kilometres, they had arrived within the range that Great Evolution Pass’s static defences could assist them.
Seeing the large number of Black Ink Clansmen chasing after the Old Turtle Squad, the Spirit Arrays on the walls of Great Evolution Pass began to hum and shine with light. What followed immediately after that was the power of the artifacts shooting across the sky like a hail of meteors.
The attacks brushed past the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship with incredible precision and slammed straight into the midst of the pursuers. Countless Black Ink Clansmen were sent flying by the blasts, and the auras of numerous Black Ink Clansmen vanished in large hordes. There were even Feudal Lords among the lives lost.
Upon seeing the ferocious assault coming from the Great Pass, the pursuing Black Ink Clansmen did not dare to move forward recklessly. Against such a heavy barrage, they would be blasted to smithereens before they managed to reach Great Evolution Pass.
Besides, there was nothing they could do even if they could reach Great Evolution Pass. 20 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were overseeing and protecting Great Evolution Pass. With so few numbers on their side, the Black Ink Clan couldn’t break through the defences of Great Evolution Pass.
A heavily injured Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who had lost his combat ability was not worth such a huge sacrifice from the Black Ink Clan.
At this moment, Yang Kai no longer paid attention to the movements of the pursuers. With a shift of his figure, he began wandering the battlefield again to hunt down his enemies and did not bother to rejoin the members of Dawn.
At present, the situation on the battlefield had become clear. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was fighting the Royal Lord and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple in a two-against-one battle. Meanwhile, the Territory Lords on the battlefield were being restrained by the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Therefore, there was practically nothing that could threaten Yang Kai’s safety on this battlefield. Moreover, he did not believe that the Black Ink Clan had any more hidden Territory Lords or Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
Now that the battle between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan had reached this point, both sides had already brought out all the power that they could despite not much time having passed. After all, the Human Race had taken out the Evil Purging Divine Spears that had been kept secret for years. How could the Black Ink Clan afford to keep anything else hidden at this point?
The vast battlefield could almost be said to be a place where Yang Kai could rampage without restraint. As long as he did not take the initiative to court death, there was practically nothing that could threaten his life. For him, it was simply a matter of how many enemies he could kill.
Dawn was not weak, so even without him, they could run rampant across the battlefield without any issues. More importantly, Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space so he would be able to maximise his advantage by fighting alone.
From time to time, flashes of pure light that resembled Great Suns would explode somewhere on the battlefield. Those were the Evil Purging Divine Spears that were constantly being activated.
For this battle, Great Evolution Pass had distributed all the Evil Purging Divine Spears that they had been stockpiling all these years. Almost every Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had received two or three Evil Purging Divine Spears. When faced with a powerful opponent, the Evil Purging Divine Spears would often break the stalemate and allow them to slaughter their enemies.
However, now that the existence of the Evil Purging Divine Spears had been revealed, their effects were not as impactful as their debut. The Black Ink Clan had become vigilant now, and no matter how fast the Human Race cultivators activated the Evil Purging Divine Spears, they would still need to take some time.
This was unlike at the beginning when the Human Masters had activated the Evil Purging Divine Spears at the same time, shocking both the Territory Lords and Feudal Lords. They Black Ink Clan had never seen such an artifact before, so how could they have known about them having such a great restraining effect on Black Ink Strength?
The situation might be favourable, but the battlefield was still tense.
There was nothing that needed to be said about the Old Ancestor’s situation. She was powerless to slaughter her enemies even if she could handle them in a two-against-one battle.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were also busy fighting the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples at the moment. The sudden emergence of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had shocked all the Eighth-Order Division Commanders.
The Territory Lords, who were originally being heavily suppressed, had taken advantage of that momentary shock to break free from the restraint of the Human Masters and desperately draw on the power of their Black Ink Nests to remove the Purifying Light that had invaded their bodies. Although many of them had been killed, even more of them had managed to escape death.
To pull off that explosive moment, many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had gotten severely wounded.
Take Xu Ling Gong for example. The newly-advanced Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had fought in a two-against-one battle, and for the sake of killing his enemies, he had not hesitated to reveal an opening as bait. He had forcefully withstood a blow from each of his two opponents when the Evil Purging Divine Spears were activated.
It was true that he had indeed killed an enemy, but his strength had been seriously compromised due to his injuries. The assault of another Territory Lord had left him in a miserable state.
Similar situations like his could be seen everywhere on the battlefield. The higher-ups of the Human Race were showing signs of being suppressed even though their numbers were now almost equal to their enemies. The situation might be grim, but that was the price that they had to pay to slay their enemies.
Without their previous efforts, it would have been impossible for 20 Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples to be killed so swiftly.
It had to be said that most ordinary wars between the two races would last from several decades to over 100 years, but the number of Territory Lords who fell during that time would never exceed the fingers on one’s hand. Be that as it may, nearly 20 Territory-Lord-level Masters had lost their lives in just a few breaths. The Evil Purging Divine Spears were worthy of being the Human’s trump card.
The Eighth-Order Division Commanders might not be in shaky condition, but the Warships under the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ command were at peak condition.
Although the Great Evolution Army only had 30,000 troops against the Black Ink Clan Army of nearly 1 million, the rate at which the Humans were killing the Black Ink Clansmen was astonishing. In half a day of intense battle, hundreds of thousands of Black Ink Clansmen had been killed, their tattered corpses and remnant Black Ink Strength scattered across the entire battlefield.
The Human Race also suffered many casualties. In such a huge battle, it was inevitable for losses to occur on both sides.
Warships would explode from time to time, but fortunately, the Humans had many years to prepare for this clash. The Squad Leader of every Squad had a spare Warship in their possession. Every time a Warship blew up, they would immediately summon their spare Warship and continue their bloody battle with the Black Ink Clan.
In the past, the Human Race did not have such means because the refining of each Warship required extensive amounts of materials. The Human soldiers already lived a frugal life at that time, with even their cultivation resources being used sparingly, so where would they find the extra resources to refine spare Warships?
However, the lack of resources stopped being an issue that plagued the Human Race once the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors entered circulation throughout the Great Passes. Coupled with their efforts in plundering the Black Ink Clan’s territory, it stood to reason that the Humans would have more resources to go around than before.
That was also the reason why the overall strength of the Human soldiers had improved significantly over the recent 500 years. With a steady supply of resources, there was no need for them to be stingy in their cultivation.
Every Squad at Great Evolution Pass had their own spare Warship, except for Special Operations Squads like Dawn. Special Operations Squads did not have spare Warships because their primary Warships were specially refined and customised by the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters themselves. Moreover, the customisation of the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on their Warships had cost them countless Military Merits.
In any case, if the situation was so dire that even the Warships of the elite Squads were destroyed, then the Human Race would not be far from defeat. At that point, it would no longer make much of a difference whether they had a spare Warship or not.
The cawing of the Golden Crow reverberated across the battlefield again as a Great Sun leaped out to illuminate the surrounding darkness. Even the Black Ink Strength could not block out this brilliant light. When the Great Sun exploded, countless Black Ink Clansmen were vaporized.
Yang Kai breathed heavily as he looked around with his spear raised. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters scattered across the battlefield were all locked in desperate battles while the Black Ink Clan Army had rallied and was now surrounding the Warships that were moving across the battlefield.
The situation was extremely dangerous.
Before the crusade began, everyone knew that this would be a tough battle and obtaining victory would not be an easy feat.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from Great Evolution Pass were desperately fighting a bloody battle for the very future of the Human Race. All their efforts were to protect the safety and peace of their future; hence, they did not hesitate to risk their lives for their cause.
It was just that the appearance of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was simply too unexpected. If not for the intervention of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, the situation might not have been so dire.
Although the Royal Lord could borrow the power of his Black Ink Nest to hold off the Old Ancestor, if the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had not joined forces with the Royal Lord, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would have had more than enough power to fully restrain the Royal Lord and several Territory Lords at the same time.
If the Old Ancestor had helped to restrain several Territory Lords, the Eighth-Order Division Commanders could have broken the current stalemate. Unfortunately, that plan was no longer feasible. The joint assault of the Royal Lord and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple left her powerless to do anything else.
Yang Kai gritted his teeth and glanced in the direction of the Royal City.
He was no match for a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, but a Territory Lord was feasible in his current state. Unfortunately, even if he fought at his hardest, he could at most occupy a single Territory Lord at best, which would be meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Rather than wasting his effort, he might as well utilise his strength to the fullest and hunt down more Feudal Lords.
However, if he could destroy the Black Ink Nests in the Royal City and prevent the Territory Lords from borrowing their power, then the current deadlock would also be broken.
Once the Black Ink Nests of the Territory Lords were destroyed, they would not be able to rely on any other external aids. The situation of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders should improve significantly as a result.
It could also be said that… if the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest was destroyed, then the Old Ancestor might even have the opportunity to slay the Royal Lord.
However, entering the Royal City to destroy the Black Ink Nests would not be an easy feat. Even though Yang Kai was standing on the chaotic battlefield, he could clearly sense the aura of several Territory Lords stationed at the Royal City.
The Black Ink Nests were critical to the Black Ink Clan, so how could they not assign a few Territory Lords to protect them?
According to the previous estimates of the higher-ups among the Human Race, before the war began the Black Ink Clan had 70 to 80 Territory Lords on their side, more or less equal to the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Division Commanders. In addition, they also had some 20 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Black Ink Disciples under their command.
Be that as it may, there were not that many Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Black Ink Disciples on the battlefield. At least 20 Territory Lords must have remained in the Royal City to guard the Black Ink Nests.
That was an extremely powerful force. Judging from the current situation, guarding the Black Ink Nests had been a fail-safe plan. The reason why so many Territory Lords had stayed behind was to guard against the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of Great Evolution Pass.
Just as how the Human Race had analyzed the strength of the Black Ink Clan, the Black Ink Clan had also made a judgement on the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters the Humans had. If not all of the Human Race Masters had taken action, then how could the Black Ink Clan dare to go all out? In the end, both sides had left a large number of top Masters to protect their important locations in order to prevent the other party from causing trouble.
Although Yang Kai was tempted to cause a ruckus at the Royal City, he did not dare to act rashly with so many Territory Lords standing guard.
Just as he was mulling over these ideas, Xiang Shan’s voice suddenly entered his ears, “Target the Royal City’s Black Ink Nests!”
Yang Kai’s eyes immediately lit up at those words. Xiang Shan was asking him to destroy the Black Ink Nests in the Royal City!
[Looks like I was not the only one with this idea.]
It would seem that Xiang Shan had the same thought regarding the method to break this stalemate, or rather, with his abilities, Xiang Shan probably came up with this plan a long time ago but had been waiting for the right moment to carry it out. He probably issued the order to Yang Kai now because he had finally figured out the appropriate countermeasures.
The Eighth-Order Army Commander, who had fallen to the Seventh-Order before clawing his way back up after thousands of years, immediately displayed an unparalleled strategic talent as soon as he returned. It could be said that the Great Evolution East-West Army only managed to defeat the Black Ink Clan 200 years ago thanks to Xiang Shan’s leadership. He had established a huge advantage for the Human Race in the Great Evolution Theatre, and that advantage had continued to this day. That battle also laid the foundation for the Great Evolution Army’s current crusade.
For that reason, Yang Kai held great respect and admiration for Xiang Shan.
Although Yang Kai could not lead an army into battle, he excelled at carrying out individual assaults on his enemies. All the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were being watched closely at the moment, so none of them could extract themselves and head to the Royal City. That made a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Yang Kai the best choice for this task. Not to mention, he was different from ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Yang Kai was confident that he would succeed at the task as long as he could seize the opportunity. The Black Ink Nests had almost no defensive strength at all, so as long as he could find a way to get close, Yang Kai could easily destroy several of them without much effort.
Under Xiang Shan’s order, Yang Kai did not hesitate to head straight for the Royal City while not daring to make too much of a commotion, lest he catch the attention of the Black Ink Clan Army.
At the same time, at a distance 5 million kilometres away from the Royal City, Great Evolution Pass continued to rotate slowly under the urging of the 20 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters stationed there. Meanwhile, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on the walls of the city constantly shot towards the Royal City, forcing the Black Ink Clan to assign some of their troops to defend it.
Great Evolution Pass had travelled a great distance for this war, so naturally it could do more than simply launch a single ramming attack. Its role was not just to provide a powerful shield for the Human Race, its offensive and defensive abilities were absolutely lethal weapons on the battlefield. In fact, the very existence of Great Evolution Pass restrained a large part of the Black Ink Clan’s power.
Yang Kai flew around various battlefields, approaching the Royal City without a trace. He did not know what Xiang Shan was planning; however, the latter clearly had an arrangement in place since he had issued such a command.
All Yang Kai could do now was trust in Xiang Shan and act when the opportunity arose.
At that moment, a furious roar sliced through the entire battlefield, “Go! Kill all the Eighth-Order Humans!”
That was the voice of the Royal Lord.
It wasn’t just the Human Race that was trying to break the stalemate. The Black Ink Clan was also trying to achieve the same.
For the Human Race, destroying the Black Ink Nests in the Royal City was the key to breaking the stalemate. On the other hand, killing the Eighth-Order Division Commanders was the Black Ink Clan’s key to victory.
The Black Ink Clan might not have had such capital in the past, but they did now. They had a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple!
At the start of the battle, this Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had remained hidden, disguising himself as an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple during his battle with Cha Pu. He has been looking for an opportunity to attack the Old Ancestor. It was a pity that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had received a warning in advance, so she was fully prepared. The terrifying sword slash he unleashed at her had not gotten the desired effect. On the contrary, he exposed his whereabouts and was dragged into Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s battle, unable to extricate himself.
He was now working with the Royal Lord. Although they had managed to suppress Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, dragging out the battle in this manner was not going to accomplish anything. Compared to fighting with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, it would be more efficient if he hunted down the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters instead. With his Ninth-Order strength, none of the Eighth-Order Humans engaged in battle with the Territory Lords would be able to defend themselves against him.
When the Royal Lord let out that ferocious roar, he also struck out at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao with all his strength so that the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple could escape. The reason for his shout was also to distract and disturb her focus.
Contrary to the Royal Lord’s expectations, she did not even attempt to stop the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple from leaving, instead increasing the intensity of her attacks on him.
The Royal Lord’s felt his heart clench slightly, vaguely sensing that something was wrong. Logically speaking, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao should have been desperate to prevent the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple from leaving; however, she had done the exact opposite…
Her seemingly illogical choice made the Royal Lord feel uneasy. Having suffered terrible losses due to her schemes in the past, anything that felt out of place made him wary. Nevertheless, the Royal Lord did not have the time to ponder on the matter as her attacks were so fierce that he had to concentrate on defending himself. How could he dare to be distracted at a time like this?
The Royal Lord wasn’t the only one who was taken aback. Even the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was stunned. Be that as it may, his opponent’s choice happened to be exactly what he wanted, so he quickly stopped thinking about the issue and spun around to attack the nearest Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
The Eighth-Order Division Commander was already drenched in blood. His current situation was similar to Xu Ling Gong’s. They were both fighting two-against-one battles, but as a veteran, his heritage was much stronger than Xu Ling Gong’s. That was why he was in better condition despite also fighting two opponents at once.
After activating the Evil Purging Divine Spear, this Division Commander had forcefully withstood the attacks from both enemy Territory Lords and took the opportunity to kill one of them. Unfortunately, he was now severely injured and stuck in a protracted battle with the other Territory Lord.
A sharp aura locked onto him without warning. Before the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple even arrived, a sword slash was unleashed from afar. The terrifying power behind the sword slash even tore space apart in its path.
The Sword Qi not only enveloped the Eighth-Order Division Commander, but also affected the Territory Lord who was fighting him.
The Territory Lord’s expression changed drastically, and he soundly cursed the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple in his heart. Nevertheless, his movements were quick. All the Black Ink Strength in his body surged, and he quickly retreated to avoid being affected by the Sword Qi.
In the next moment, this Territory Lord’s figure stiffened in shock. That was because many powerful auras suddenly emerged from the surroundings and encircled him from all directions.
[Eighth-Order Humans! Why are there so many Eighth-Order Humans here!?]
The thought had only just passed through his mind when countless fists slammed into his body from all sides. He was beaten to the point where he coughed up blood continuously. Even though he was severely wounded in an instant, his life was not in danger; however, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s Sword Qi fell upon him at that moment!
“No!” He howled, desperately using all his might to defend himself against the sword wave. Be that as it may, how could his severely injured body achieve such a feat? When the Sword Qi enveloped him, his enormous figure was instantly cut to pieces as the horrifying Sword Qi sliced off all his vitality.
The Territory Lord’s vitality dissipated quickly. He widened his eyes, as if he couldn’t believe that he was dying at the hands of the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple instead of the Human Race.
Just before his death, he saw several Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters charging towards the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple through his blurry vision. Every one of them was incredibly powerful!
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had hidden themselves amid the chaotic army no longer had the intention to conceal themselves at this moment. They quickly drew upon their World Force and attacked the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
Nobody knew when these five Eighth-Order Masters had entered the fray. It wasn’t just the Black Ink Clan that had failed to notice their presence, even the Human cultivators had not noticed them.
It could even be said that these five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would not have had the chance to shine if things had gone according to plan. Their original task was to remain at Great Evolution Pass and control its Core. While providing the necessary protection for the Pass, they were also supposed to guard against any Territory Lords who dared to attack the Pass directly.
Unfortunately, the original plans could not keep up with the changes on the battlefield. It was only natural for the Humans to adapt the necessary countermeasures following the appearance of a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple among the Black Ink Clan’s forces.
These five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were the candidates chosen by the Army Commanders to deal with the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
Five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might not be enough to confront a Master like Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao; however, it had not been long since the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple broke through to his current realm, so five veteran Eighth-Order Masters working together should be just enough to restrain him.
There was a huge battle between the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army; hence, violent energy fluctuations filled the void. It was not strange for them to be able to sneak out of Great Evolution Pass without anybody noticing.
In the next moment, the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters engaged the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple in battle. The Eighth-Order Master who had been targeted by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s Sword Qi earlier also joined in the battle without regard for his injuries even though he was coughing up blood. He drew upon his World Force madly as he attacked his imposing opponent.
While the six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were joining forces to restrain the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, the aura of several hidden Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters suddenly appeared in the vicinity of the Royal City. Every one of their auras shone brilliantly as they openly charged towards the Royal City without hiding. Every one of them gave off an imposing momentum and even on this chaotic battlefield, they were extremely eye-catching.
“Impudence!” Che Kong, who had remained behind in the Royal City to oversee the protection of the Black Ink Nests roared furiously. How could he not know what the Human Race was planning when he saw the Eighth-Order Masters charging towards the Royal City?
The Humans clearly intended to destroy the Black Ink Nests and weaken the combat power of the Territory Lords and the Royal Lord. The reason Che Kong remained behind was precisely to guard against such actions.
There was no need for him to issue any commands. Even without a word from Che Kong, several Territory Lords had already taken to the skies to intercept the incoming Eighth-Order Humans.
Numerous Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had been dispatched here, 10 in total. Counting the five who were dispatched to restrain the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple earlier, a total of 15 Masters had been deployed at this point.
20 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had initially remained to guard Great Evolution Pass. Now that 15 of them had been dispatched, only five remained behind.
No matter what happened, those five could not be sent out. If they were to leave, they would only be left with the meagre deployment on the walls and the current defensive force that remained in Great Evolution Pass. If the Black Ink Clan tried to attack Great Evolution Pass at that point, then the Humans would not be able to defend it with just those forces alone.
10 Territory Lords rose to meet the 10 incoming Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Although there were 20 Territory Lords who stayed behind to guard the Royal City, they did not dare to all move rashly under these circumstances. The consequences would be terrible if they fell for the Human Race’s trap to lure them away from their posts.
The Masters of both sides collided in the void and immediately split into ten different battlefields.
One of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters laughed loudly, “One isn’t enough! Bring me another!”
Despite speaking such arrogant words, rather than fighting, he stubbornly endured the attacks of his Territory Lord opponent and forced his way towards the Royal City. Even if he was horribly beaten, he did not retreat in the slightest.
He wasn’t the only one! There were six of them who echoed his sentiments! The other four Division Commanders were somewhat weaker, so they did not boast arrogantly and simply concentrated on the opponent in front of them.
The Territory Lords fighting those six Division Commanders were infuriated by their words.
Although the Territory Lords were generally weaker than the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the gap between their strengths was not that big. In a one-on-one battle, an Eighth-Order Master would have no problem holding the advantage against a Territory Lord, but killing the latter would be quite difficult. In fact, if they were not careful, the Division Commanders would instead be injured by the Territory Lords.
That was also why those clansmen weaker than Territory Lords in the Black Ink Clan Army would often suffer countless casualties after a huge battle, but most of the Territory Lords would retreat with their lives. Their strength gave them enough power to protect themselves from deadly harm.
It was bad enough that the Eighth-Order Humans were aiming to destroy the Black Ink Nests, but on top of that, they not only ignored the retaliation of the Territory Lords but also openly taunted them. Their behaviour was simply outrageous.
In such a situation, it was only natural that the Territory Lords would not show mercy.
Out of the six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters with such thoughts, one of them was beaten so soundly that he could barely continue forward. Thus, he could only turn around to concentrate on his opponent and give up on the idea of trying to restrain another Territory Lord.
The other five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters continued charging towards the Royal City.
Che Kong was absolutely furious. The actions of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters clearly indicated that they were aiming to draw out and pin down the Territory Lords. It would seem that they were determined to destroy the Black Ink Nests.
If the protection around the Black Ink Nests weakened, then the risk of them being damaged or destroyed would increase significantly. Unfortunately, the Territory Lords did not have control of the situation.
Seeing the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters getting closer and closer to the Black Ink Nests, five more Territory Lords beside Che Kong prepared themselves to move out at any given moment.
All of a sudden, the sound of laughter rang out, “Old Liu, you’re getting old. You shouldn’t act like us youngsters. Be careful not to get your old bones broken by the enemy!”
One of the older Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters seemed to be having trouble advancing. Although he wanted to slip past the defences of his opponent and attack the Royal City, he evidently could not handle taking on a second Territory Lord.
In such a short time, he had been struck numerous times by his Territory Lord opponent, and although his injuries were nothing serious, it would be risky if things were to continue at this rate. Not to mention, the situation would only worsen if anything were to happen to him.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master called Old Liu seemed to have realised that he had bitten off more than he could chew. After considering the situation at hand, he stopped pushing himself so hard and laughed self-deprecatingly, “You’re right. These old bones can’t take such a beating. It must be nice to be young and strong like you little ones! Good, I’ll leave it to you!”
Out of the ‘little ones’ he mentioned, who among them were not at least a few thousand years old? It was just that he was even older than them.
After saying that, Old Liu immediately retreated to focus on his opponent and instantly reversed his declining momentum as a result.
Six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had charged into the Royal City, but two were forced to drop out along the way; therefore, only four were left.
The remaining four were evidently the elite among the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Even though their opponents were attacking them ferociously, they easily continued to lead the battle towards the Royal City.
If the Black Ink Clan were to ignore these Eighth-Order Masters, then the Black Ink Nests would be in danger once the fallout of their battle swept across the Royal City. For that reason, no matter what, the Black Ink Clan could not sit around and do nothing.
There were many Black Ink Nests in the vicinity of the Royal City, so when Che Kong saw that Old Liu had voluntarily retreated, he couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved.
The Black Ink Clan had no trouble dealing with the four incoming Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Che Kong glanced to the left and right before four Territory Lords soared up and joined their companions to engage the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Likewise, the four Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were not careless. Seeing that another four Territory Lords were joining the battle, they knew that they had reached their goal. Not only did they stop trying to approach the Royal City, but they also gradually moved the battle away from it.
In reality, they could no longer control the situation as it was a two-against-one battle. If the Territory Lords wanted to lure their battle out of the Royal City to prevent the fallout from damaging the Black Ink Nest, then they could only follow along.
On a battlefield not far away from the Royal City, Yang Kai suppressed his strength as he fought with the Black Ink Clan while keeping watch on the movements of the Royal City.
10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had taken action to lure 14 Territory Lords away from the Royal City. Although the results were not ideal, they had barely managed to achieve their goal.
It had to be said that these Territory Lords could borrow the power of their Black Ink Nests too, so if they were not so wary of the Evil Purging Divine Spears, they might not be in such miserable conditions. Under the premise that the Territory Lords could borrow the power of their Black Ink Nests, in a two-against-one battle, they could threaten the life of any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
There were now six Territory Lords remaining. Among them was the exceptionally powerful Che Kong.
What was Xiang Shan planning?
There were not many people left among the Human Race who could be dispatched. Were they planning to abandon the protection of Great Evolution Pass and send out the remaining five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters?
Just as Yang Kai was mulling over these matters, Che Kong was also pondering over the same question.
The Black Ink Clan had a record of the number and identity of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters after they fought each other so many times.
All but one of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters active on the battlefield were known to the Black Ink Clan. The unfamiliar face had most likely advanced to become an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master in the recent 200 years; however, that particular Eighth-Order Master was out on the battlefield. Not to mention, he was heavily wounded, so there was no need to worry about him.
There were five other known Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had yet to reveal themselves. Che Kong shifted his gaze to look at Great Evolution Pass. The defences around Great Evolution Pass seemed sturdy, and the entire Great Pass was slowly rotating on the spot. That clearly indicated that there were still Eighth-Order Humans overseeing Great Evolution Pass and controlling the enormous artifact.
Were all five of the known Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in Great Evolution Pass? Even if not all of them were there, at least three had to have remained behind; otherwise, the defences of Great Evolution Pass would not be so sturdy.
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Che Kong calmed down.
It didn’t matter whether those five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had remained in Great Evolution Pass. Even if all five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had been dispatched, the Black Ink Clan had six Territory Lords remaining. After sending out five Territory Lords to restrain their enemies, he would be the only one left in the Royal City. Be that as it may, he alone was enough to ensure the safety of the Royal City.
[The Human Race has run out of tricks!]
Just as that thought crossed Che Kong’s mind, a sudden commotion came from a certain corner of the chaotic battlefield. Countless streams of lights shot out in all directions as three Warships emerged from that direction and charged towards the Royal City.
There was a large number of Black Ink Clansmen pursuing them from the rear; however, the pursuers were intercepted by other Warships. Flashes of light blazed across the sky as the soldiers on both sides fought ferociously.
The three Warships were clearly different from ordinary Warships. They were larger and sturdier. Moreover, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on these Warships were much more powerful than usual. In particular, the Warship in the lead carried a huge shield that resembled a tortoise shell on its back. Countless attacks from the Black Ink Clan smashed into the shield and created bright sparks, but those attacks caused almost no damage at all.
The three Special Operations Squads had arrived!
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up at the sight. He had neither contacted these elite Squads nor asked them to come and provide support; therefore, their timely arrival clearly indicated that they were part of Xiang Shan’s plan.
If an ordinary Squad were to face a Territory Lord, they would have a hard time fighting back or even escaping; however, each Special Operations Squad could hold off a Territory Lord for some time.
It was obvious that Che Kong knew about these elite Squads among the Human Race.
A month ago, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had eliminated one of them that had infiltrated their defence line.
Therefore, Che Kong immediately understood the intentions of the Human Race when he saw the three distinctive Warships. They were planning to continue their efforts to tie down the Territory Lords.
There were no pursuers behind them, and there were no obstacles in front of them. With Old Turtles Squad leading the way, these three Special Operations Squads rushed towards the Royal City at maximum speed. Before the Warships even arrived, lights from the arrays and artifacts started flickering.
Chai Fang’s laugh reverberated across the universe, “All of you can go to Hell!”
The instant he finished speaking, over 50 attacks were shot out from the three Warships towards the Royal City.
The Royal City was located on a Universe World. Previously, Great Evolution Pass crashed into it and smashed it into several fragments. Although these fragments had hastily been drawn together again, the city no longer looked as magnificent as it used to.
The attacks from the Warships of these three Special Operations Squads rained on the Black Ink Nests in the Royal City.
Every attack was equivalent to an all-out strike of a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. One or two such attacks might not bother the Territory Lords, but 50 all at once was intimidating enough.
With Che Kong leading the way, all six remaining Territory Lords made a move at the same time. As thick Black Ink Strength burst forth, they managed to intercept all the attacks.
However, the people on the Warships didn’t stop at one volley.
Although several dozen Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests and one High-Rank Black Ink Nest were located in the same city, due to their enormous size they were spread somewhat far apart from each other.
Therefore, these six Territory Lords had to protect a vast area.
The Humans took full advantage of this and dispersed their attacks over the widest range possible, forcing the Territory Lords to move around different parts of the Royal City to defend against them.
A while after the battle started, Che Kong turned furious and roared, “Impudent!”
Although these Territory Lords managed to work together and intercept all the attacks from the Warships to ensure that the Royal City remained unharmed, they couldn’t keep doing this forever.
Now, it seemed as though they were the puppets being pulled around by these Warships. The Humans could dictate which direction they had to go and any slight negligence might cause a Black Ink Nest or two to be destroyed.
There wasn’t even a single Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master on these Warships, but the Humans had the nerve to be so reckless. That was why Che Kong was infuriated.
Staring at the Warships, he squinted his eyes and ordered, “Kill them!”
All of these Territory Lords were equally vexed, so the instant Che Kong gave the order, three Territory Lords charged towards the Warships while withstanding the attacks.
Seeing that, Chai Fang, who was aboard the Old Turtles’ Warship, roared, “Scatter!”
Their main objective was to draw out and pin down the defending Territory Lords, not engaging in a life-and-death battle with them.
On any other battlefield, these Special Operations Squads might be able to put up a good fight against these Territory Lords; however, this place was too close to the Black Ink Nests which the Territory Lords could draw strength from, leaving these elite Squads at a serious disadvantage.
They could only try to persevere for as long as possible while withstanding the Territory Lords’ attacks.
Following Chai Fang’s order, the Warships dispersed in three different directions. Without any need for discussion, the three Territory Lords respectively selected a Warship and gave chase. As Black Ink Strength undulated, powerful Secret Techniques were cast at the Warships.
[Only three Territory Lords left!]
Yang Kai had been paying close attention to the Royal City. Seeing what was going on, he knew this was the best chance for him to make a move.
Unless the Black Ink Clansmen had gone mad, there would always be some Territory Lords left to protect the Royal City no matter how they were baited and taunted. In other words, Yang Kai had to break through their interception to destroy the Black Ink Nests.
It was just a matter of how many Black Ink Nests he could destroy.
There was no denying that he wasn’t a match for these three Territory Lords; however, the Special Operations Squads might not be able to persevere for long. Once that happened, all their efforts so far would go to waste.
There were still five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in Great Evolution Pass, but they most likely couldn’t leave.
If they could make a move, they would’ve done so instead of letting these Special Operations Squads launch an assault on the Royal City.
Although it would be difficult to achieve his goal, things had come to the point where Yang Kai had no other choice but to act. He just hoped that Xiang Shan had other arrangements to follow up.
Upon making up his mind, Yang Kai stopped hiding strength as he swept his Azure Dragon Spear across his opponents. Half of the Black Ink Clansmen that had been dealing with him were instantly slaughtered.
Yang Kai didn’t bother to kill the rest and instead, he manipulated Space Principles to arrive at the Royal City in the blink of an eye. Presently, he was hovering somewhere near three gigantic Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests.
He didn’t head straight to the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, even though that would be the ideal target. If he could destroy the High-Rank Black Ink Nest first, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would be able to kill the Royal Lord given their current conditions.
However, Che Kong was stubbornly protecting the High-Rank Black Ink Nest and had not moved away from it from the beginning of the battle. Therefore, Yang Kai might not be able to achieve his goal by targeting the High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
On the other hand, there were quite a number of Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests that were left unprotected. He planned to take advantage of the fact that the Territory Lords were spread too thin at this moment.
The instant Yang Kai appeared, Che Kong and the other two Territory Lords were stunned. None of them could have expected that a Human was able to enter the Royal City with such ease.
More importantly, they had not sensed this Human’s presence before his appearance.
The Territory Lord nearest to Yang Kai immediately pounced on him and barked, “Don’t you dare!”
Certainly, there was nothing in the world that Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to do.
The blood feud between the two Races was irresolvable. The Humans had been preparing for years, and they were determined to achieve their goal. Yang Kai definitely wouldn’t go easy on his opponents at this point.
The next moment, he swept out his Azure Dragon Spear as his World Force surged through it.
As he wielded the weapon, three Black Ink Nests were cut in half and collapsed to the ground.
The Territory Lord charging at Yang Kai widened his eyes in disbelief and before the Human could make another move, he pushed out his palm.
His Black Ink Strength formed into a colossal palm that engulfed Yang Kai.
On the other hand, somewhere on the battlefield, the moment the Black Ink Nests collapsed, a Territory Lord who had been dealing with an Eighth-Order Division Commander realised that his aura had plunged. With his heart pounding against his chest, he turned to look at the Royal City and saw his Black Ink Nest falling to the ground.
His heart sank.
With the Black Ink Nest’s help, he could deal with this Eighth-Order Master, and neither side could gain the decisive edge. If anything, he was in a slightly more advantageous position.
Now that his Black Ink Nest had been destroyed though, his strength plunged to his usual level.
This wouldn’t have mattered usually as it didn’t impact him profoundly. Nevertheless, he was in a life-and-death battle, and the sudden drop in power could cost him his life.
This Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was an experienced warrior, so he certainly wouldn’t let such a chance slip through his fingers. He instantly summoned and hurled an Evil Purging Divine Spear at his opponent.
As the Purifying Light exploded, the Territory Lord was sent into a panic.
Fortunately, he had been vigilant against this artifact, so the moment the other party summoned it, he rapidly retreated. Even so, the Purifying Light seemed to be burning his body, which caused a lot of his Black Ink Strength to dissipate.
Although the Evil Purging Divine Spear couldn’t cripple the Territory Lord, it affected his strength and mobility significantly. The relentless Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master summoned his Divine Manifestation at that moment and engulfed the Territory Lord in it, causing the latter to howl in pain as blood spurted from his wounds.
What’s more, on the vast battlefield, a similar scene was playing out in two other locations.
After the three Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests were destroyed, the strength of the corresponding Territory Lords was impacted. The Eighth-Order Masters that had been dealing with them seized the chance to suppress their opponents.
In the Royal City, Che Kong still steadfastly guarded the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, not daring to move away from it. As he watched Yang Kai being suppressed by a Territory Lord, he breathed a sigh of relief.
This Seventh-Order Human’s movements were too elusive; however, it was just the Humans’ wishful thinking that they could rely on this single person to destroy their Black Ink Nests. How was a weak Seventh-Order cultivator supposed to make a scene in front of three Territory Lords?
[Although he’s clever not to target the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, there’s nothing much more he can do…]
While Che Kong was still thinking so, he suddenly felt a powerful aura coming from the place where the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had disappeared along with an immense pressure.
The other two Territory Lords noticed this as well and turned their gazes in that direction with solemn expressions.
The next moment, a high-pitched Dragon Roar reverberated across the void.
From the thick cloud of darkness, a golden light burst forth. A gigantic Dragon Head rose up, its golden eyes blazing like two Great Suns, giving off an imposing aura.
“A Dragon!” Che Kong exclaimed.
On the Black Ink Battlefield, most of the Black Ink Clansmen in the various Theatres had never seen a member of the Dragon Clan before. However, it was a different case in the Great Evolution Theatre. Some time after they first occupied Great Evolution Pass, they had launched an attack on the No-Return Pass.
Therefore, the veteran Black Ink Clan Masters in the Great Evolution Theatre were familiar with the Dragon Clan. They had even exchanged moves with the Dragons and Phoenixes outside of the No-Return Pass.
Without any surprise, they were soundly routed and forced to flee for their lives.
There were not a lot of Dragons and Phoenixes in the No-Return Pass, but each one of them was incredibly powerful. The Black Ink Clansmen even felt that it was harder to deal with those creatures than the Humans.
Che Kong had engaged in an intense battle with an Ancient Dragon back then and was impressed by the other party’s power as well as the other side’s resistance to Black Ink Strength.
The Dragon Head that had risen out of the darkness was huge. Che Kong speculated that the Dragon was just as enormous as the Ancient Dragon he had fought in the past.
Moreover, the Dragon Pressure emanating from this being was far too intense to be that of a mere Grand Dragon.
There was no doubt that this individual was an Ancient Dragon.
Upon realising the other party’s true strength, Che Kong expression warped as he roared, “Stop him!”
The other two Territory Lords realised that they were in a critical situation as well. They initially thought that the attacker was just a Seventh-Order Human, so they were caught completely off guard when he transformed into an Ancient Dragon.
As the Dragon Pressure permeated the air, darkness scattered and a colossal figure came into the Territory Lords’ sight.
It was a magnificent creature even with its long body coiled up onto itself.
The two Territory Lords charged towards the Ancient Dragon as they cast their Secret Techniques.
Yang Kai lifted his head and roared to the Heavens. The Golden Dragon Scales on his Dragon Form gave off a dazzling radiance as a torrent of Dragon Breath was released from his giant maw to stop the Territory Lords from moving closer. At the same time, he swept his Dragon Tail out.
*Hong Long Long…*
With one great sweep, over 10 Black Ink Nests around Yang Kai’s enormous figure were smashed like straw amidst a storm, and that was just the beginning. Wielding the outrageously massive Azure Dragon Spear in his Dragon Claws, Yang Kai unleashed another sweep in front of himself, cutting down even more Black Ink Nests.
The Royal City was instantly thrown into turmoil as the already damaged Universe World it sat upon was at risk of collapsing at any moment.
The three Territory Lords widened their eyes in fury. Regardless, Che Kong still refused to move away from the High-Rank Black Ink Nest. He could only cast powerful Secret Techniques from afar. Upon impact, Yang Kai staggered as his Dragon Scales were smashed in and his Dragon Blood scattered.
Even though his enormous Dragon Form was menacing and intimidating, it had its shortcomings.
For one, dodging attacks was almost impossible.
The other two Territory Lords endured the Dragon Breath and appeared at both sides of Yang Kai. They roared as their figures expanded. Using their Black Ink Strength, they respectively transformed into 10,000-metre-tall figures and grabbed hold of Yang Kai’s Dragon Horns. By exerting all their strength, they somehow managed to force Yang Kai’s 70,000-metre-long Dragon Form back.
As the two Territory Lords were doing their best to repel Yang Kai, Yang Kai was repeatedly slashing at them with his Dragon Claws.
However, the two Territory Lords didn’t dare to release him and were determined to drag him out of the Royal City; after all, if they engaged in a battle here, many more Black Ink Nests would be destroyed regardless of the outcome. If they accidentally let this Human damage or even destroy the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest, they would be condemned as the greatest sinners in the annals of the Black Ink Clan’s history.
The moment Yang Kai was hurled away, the two Territory Lords, who had transformed into 10,000-metres tall figures using their Black Ink Strength, shrunk significantly as countless wounds appeared on their bodies.
Nevertheless, they didn’t back down. Surging their Black Ink Strength to expand their bodies again, they pursued Yang Kai.
They couldn’t give this Dragon Clan member a chance to breathe; otherwise, even more Black Ink Nests would be destroyed.
In just one breath, this Dragon had managed to destroy nearly 20 Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, but that wasn’t even the most significant loss. Without their Black Ink Nests to empower them, some 20 Territory Lords would see a drastic drop in strength which was enough to affect the outcome of the entire war.
The two Territory Lords were still reeling from the shock, but they were determined to kill Yang Kai at any cost.
Meanwhile, Che Kong still steadfastly guarded the High-Rank Black Ink Nest. While glaring at Yang Kai with resentment, he paid close attention to the surroundings.
Did the Humans have other hidden hands to play? He had no idea. A Dragon had never appeared in any Theatre before, but there was one who had joined the battle now. Given the unprecedented situation, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Humans still had other arrangements.
At this moment, Che Kong felt like he was on pins and needles.
He was the only Territory Lord left guarding the Royal City now while five known Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters still hadn’t shown themselves. It could be said that the Black Ink Clan was in a perilous situation.
The Royal Lord and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple noticed the anomaly in the Royal City and were now doing their best to shake off their opponents and return.
Nevertheless, the Old Ancestor and the six Eighth-Order Division Commanders were determined to hold these two back, so for the moment, the Royal Lord and Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple were unable to get rid of the Humans.
After waiting for a while, Che Kong realised there wasn’t any anomaly in Great Evolution Pass’ posture, allowing him to slightly set his mind at ease.
It seemed that those five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were unable to leave Great Evolution Pass; otherwise, they would have made a move a long time ago given the current state of the war.
On the other hand, even though Yang Kai’s power increased significantly after he transformed into his Ancient Dragon Form, he still found it difficult to deal with two Territory Lords.
Moreover, these Territory Lords had abandoned all thoughts of retreat and were determined to kill him as quickly as they could, so they went all out while also madly drawing energy from their Black Ink Nests, granting them a sharp boost in strength.
Being a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon, Yang Kai could wield power on par with a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but he still found it difficult to fight two Territory Lords at once.
His Dragon Scales were constantly blasted off and his Dragon Blood gushed from his wounds. He was in so much pain that he roared continuously.
Despite looking battered, Yang Kai had not suffered any critical wounds yet. Dragon Clan members had thick skin and strong flesh, and Yang Kai was no exception.
As time passed though, he became increasingly anxious. If he couldn’t break through these Territory Lords’ blockade, he wouldn’t be able to raise chaos in the Royal City. If he couldn’t destroy those Black Ink Nests, he couldn’t cut off the sources of those Territory Lords’ powers. That would put the Humans in a disadvantageous position on the battlefield.
Furthermore, he could already sense that there was more than one Eighth-Order Division Commander who had lost their lives.
It was extremely dangerous on this battlefield, and with a number of Territory Lords already having fallen, there was no way the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could remain unharmed.
There was still no movement from Great Evolution Pass. Just like what Yang Kai had expected, the remaining five Eighth-Order Masters didn’t seem to show signs of making a move. It seemed that they were unable to leave the Pass.
In fact, the five Eighth-Order Masters who had stayed back in the Pass had been paying close attention to the battle. It wasn’t that they were not willing to lend a hand, but they were simply unable to do so.
Great Evolution Pass was an enormous Mobile Palace Artifact. Previously, it took the combined power of the Old Ancestor and 30 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters just to move this artifact to this place.
Only with so many powerful Masters could they provide the necessary World Force to effectively drive Great Evolution Pass.
Now, the Old Ancestor and most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had join the battle, leaving just five Eighth-Order Masters to control the Core. It could be said that these five had become one with this core. Unless the Old Ancestor returned to take over, they were unable to leave. If they made a rash move now, not only would their lives be at risk, but the Core might also explode. If that happened, the entire Great Evolution Pass would collapse, and the thousands of soldiers who stayed behind to man the walls would die.
Given the circumstances, these five Eighth-Order Masters wouldn’t dare to be impetuous; therefore, they were unable to directly take part in the battle.
Locked in an intense fight, Yang Kai stowed away his Azure Dragon Spear. Although the gigantic Azure Dragon Spear was immensely destructive, he was a colossal Ancient Dragon now, so he felt clumsy using such a weapon. In fact, it was easier for him to just use his Dragon Claws instead.
These Territory Lords’ 10,000 metres figures were covered in wounds, and they would shrink from time to time; however, they could always draw more energy from their Black Ink Nests to ensure they remained at peak strength.
Yang Kai had made several attempts to break their siege and charge towards the Royal City, but these Territory Lords would always stop him. They were practically in a deadlock now.
In such a situation, Yang Kai wasn’t without a trump card. Nevertheless, even if he used it, he wasn’t certain if it would allow him to reach the Royal City; therefore, he had been hesitating.
The three Territory Lords who had been lured away by the Special Operations Squads now showed the intention of returning to the Royal City. Although they were powerful enough to suppress these elite Squads, it was hard for them to kill Chai Fang and the others in short order.
Realising the Territory Lords’ intentions, Chai Fang and the others certainly wouldn’t let them go. They were initially trying to draw the Territory Lords away, but at this moment, they took the initiative to provoke them and stop them from returning to the Royal City.
With that said, they were unable to hold them for long. If these Territory Lords were determined to leave, Chai Fang and the others wouldn’t be able to stop them as they were not powerful enough.
As such, Yang Kai decided that he couldn’t keep waiting. There was still some hope if he made a move now, but if this situation dragged on, everyone’s efforts would go to waste when the three Territory Lords returned to the Royal City.
At the thought of this, Yang Kai prepared to use his trump card.
Just then, a faint Dragon Roar was heard coming from Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai became startled and turned back to look at Great Evolution Pass, only to see a ray of light charging forward from that direction. The ray of light was able to move across a million kilometres in the blink of an eye.
Detecting the familiar aura, Yang Kai was elated. What he heard wasn’t a real Dragon Roar, but a Sword Roar.
A slender figure was seen shooting out of Great Evolution Pass with a sword in hand. As sword lights undulated, innumerable sword waves formed into a tremendous Sword Dragon.
The magnificent Sword Dragon shot across the void and swiftly arrived near Yang Kai the next instant. It was the Myriad Swords Dragon, which was Feng Ying’s Divine Manifestation.
When Yang Kai first encountered Feng Ying all those years ago, she had used this Divine Manifestation to slaughter a small army of enemies. It was a Divine Manifestation that she had cultivated for thousands of years and was more destructive than most High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters’ Divine Manifestations.
At that time, Feng Ying was just a Seventh-Order Master, but now, she had broken through to the Eighth-Oder. Apparently, she had just exited seclusion.
Yang Kai had no idea when she stopped cultivating in retreat or when she ascended to the Eighth Order, but she had come at the right time.
Back when they were stationed in Blue Sky Pass, Feng Ying was already incredibly strong.
This was only natural though as she was the closest to breaking through to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm in the entire Blue Sky Pass at the time. Although there were a lot of Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in every Great Pass, rarely would any of them hold the title of strongest below the Eighth-Order.
Before Yang Kai’s arrival, Feng Ying was undoubtedly the most powerful Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master in Blue Sky Pass.
Of course, Xiang Shan wasn’t included in these rankings as he was initially an Eighth-Order Master who had his cultivation regress after being plotted against by the Black Ink Clan.
The Eighth-Order Division Commanders in Blue Sky Pass had high hopes for Feng Ying, but it wasn’t smooth sailing when it came to her ascension.
It had been 200 years since she started cultivating in seclusion. Before Great Evolution Pass set out, Yang Kai had checked in with her and realised that Feng Ying still hadn’t shown signs of breaking through.
She had cultivated hard for the past 200 years, and at this moment, she was like a butterfly that had broken free from its chrysalis. The Myriad Swords Dragon was like an impenetrable Grand Dragon. The splendid Sword Dragon widened its jaws and directly devoured a Territory Lord.
As Sword Qi permeated the void, the Sword Dragon swayed about wildly. Violent exchanges of moves could be felt coming from inside the Sword Dragon, but the Divine Manifestation remained intact and ensured that the Territory Lord couldn’t break free.
Yang Kai was thrilled upon seeing that.
Feng Ying was still as powerful as ever. Not long after she ascended to the Eighth Order, she was already able to restrain a Territory Lord who was drawing strength from his Black Ink Nest.
Yang Kai had no idea what the outcome of the battle would be, but the most pressing issue for him had been resolved.
Since one of the two Territory Lords blocking him had been restrained, there was only one left now.
Yang Kai widened his maw and let out a deafening roar before clawing at the Territory Lord before him. As his immense physical strength burst out, the Territory Lord’s 10,000-metre figure, which was formed from Black Ink Strength, was wounded.
The other party’s life or death didn’t concern Yang Kai as he directly returned to his Human Form. Then, he attempted to skirt past the Territory Lord and head to the Royal City.
The Territory Lord had a robust physique though, and although he was injured, he was still combat capable. Realising Yang Kai’s intention, he roared and threw his fist towards the Human.
Yang Kai, who was ready to manipulate Space Principles and leave, staggered slightly. The Void had been disturbed by the Territory Lord’s blow, so he was unable to use Instantaneous Movement for the time being.
A furious Yang Kai turned around as a Great Sun and Full Moon leapt from behind him. The Sun and the Moon glowed brilliantly as Time Principles and Space Principles undulated. The Sun and the Moon swirled around and formed into a kaleidoscope which then shot towards the Territory Lord.
An amazing power seemed to disturb both time and space in the surrounding region.
It was the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel!
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel was a Secret Technique that Yang Kai had developed. However, compared with his relatively simple Golden Crow Casts the Sun Divine Manifestation, profound Space-Time Strength formed the basis of the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel, making it even more powerful.
When Yang Kai was still in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he used this Secret Technique to seriously wound a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. And in the Seventh Order, he had already used this attack to damage more than one Territory Lord.
It was an intimidating Secret Technique that could be used against Masters who were more powerful than Yang Kai because the Space-Time Strength which radiated from it could influence the enemies’ senses and perception.
In fact, Yang Kai hadn’t used this Secret Technique for some time. As his strength increased, there was rarely any opponent that could force him to bring out this trump card.
When he activated the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel this time though, he realised it was different from before. The main difference was that this Secret Technique had become even more powerful and the Space-Time Strength which pulsed from it seemed more complete somehow.
At that instant, a realisation dawned upon Yang Kai, [So… this is what the real Space-Time Strength is supposed to look like.]
The reason for such a change was largely due to his experience at the No-Return Pass. During his trip to the No-Return Pass, his Dragon Vein had improved tremendously. From a Grand Dragon, he grew to a 70,000 metres Ancient Dragon, which was a shocking increase.
With the refinement in his Bloodline came the improvement in his Bloodline Talent, and the Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time.
Before Yang Kai entered the Dragon Pool, he had refined a lot of Space Dao Essence in Su Yan’s Phoenix Nest, which enhanced his mastery over the Dao of Space. His comprehension of the Dao of Time and Dao of Space had grown significantly, which was why his Space-Time Strength, which evolved from the two Grand Daos, had become even more powerful.
He even had a feeling that if he could improve his mastery over the Dao of Time to be on par with his mastery of the Dao of Space, his Space-Time Strength would reach a whole new level. As for what the changes would be, he wasn’t sure. Regardless, this allowed him to see a path forward.
However, it wasn’t easy to bring his Dao of Time up to the same level as that of the Dao of Space.
Yang Kai had been cultivating the Dao of Space for centuries, and he was quite gifted in it; however, according to his own classification, he had only reached the Eighth Level, Transcending the Mundane.
His Dao of Time was initially stuck at the Sixth Level, Exceeding the Ordinary to Reach the Extraordinary. Nevertheless, his experience in the Dragon Pool helped him reach the Seventh Level, Standing Above All Others Within Sight.
In other words, his mastery over the Dao of Time was still one level below his Dao of Space. If he did not encounter some special opportunity, he would need to work harder to improve his Dragon Vein to strengthen his mastery over the Dao of Time.
All these thoughts only stayed in his mind for a short while. For now, was not the time to ponder on them. In such a situation, he had to enter the Royal City as quickly as possible and destroy the Black Ink Nests.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel charged towards the Territory Lord, causing the latter’s mind and body to become sluggish. When he finally came to his senses, it was already too late for him to dodge.
The Territory Lord roared as thick Black Ink Strength condensed around his body. His figure expanded significantly as his muscles swelled. Instead of backing down, he actually crashed into the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel.
Heaven and Earth seemed to collapse at that moment as countless cracks formed in the void. The Territory Lord’s aura plunged sharply, but he still survived.
Although the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel was extremely powerful, it wasn’t enough to kill a Territory Lord.
Surrounded by innumerable Void Cracks, the Territory Lord was enraged. With blood still dripping from his body, he changed towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai, who was flying towards the Royal City, instantly noticed the other party’s imposing aura and Black Ink Strength closing in on him. It was apparent that the Territory Lord was preparing to use a deadly Secret Technique.
Without hesitation, Yang Kai took out a glowing feather from his Space Ring and tossed it at the opponent behind him. At the same time, he shouted, “Lend me a hand, Si Niang!”
The feather shot towards the Territory Lord, and on its way, it flashed and transformed into a beautiful and majestic bird. A furious Huang Si Niang ground her teeth as she snapped, “Smelly Brat!”
Life had been boring for her stuck at the No-Return Pass. Although a lot of Humans would pass through the No-Return Pass and head to the different Great Passes, the Phoenix Clan was aloof and therefore wouldn’t easily come into contact with them.
Furthermore, their ancestors had made a Bloodline Great Oath in the past that unless their Race was at risk of extinction, they could not leave the No-Return Pass.
Therefore, Huang Si Niang had stayed in the No-Return Pass since birth. Although the Great Pass was vast, it was still like a cage to her. She was fed up with her unchanging life and longed to go out and have a look at the beauty of the 3,000 Worlds. When Yang Kai arrived at the No-Return Pass back then, she saw a chance.
This Human had the aura of a Dragon, so she didn’t mind interacting with him. By using a bet as an excuse, she gave him one of her feathers. In reality, the feather contained a type of Soul Clone. Restricted by the Great Oath, Huang Si Niang was unable to leave the No-Return Pass, but that restriction didn’t apply to her Soul Clone.
Previously, when Yang Kai entered the Void to look for Great Evolution Pass’ Core, Huang Si Niang detected the unusual movements of space and took the initiative to reveal herself. It was with her help that Yang Kai managed to find Great Evolution Pass’ Core.
However, Huang Si Niang didn’t intend to appear this time, but Yang Kai forcibly summoned her in such a perilous situation.
Her real strength was equivalent to that of an Ancient Dragon; nevertheless, this was just a Soul Clone, so her power now was no different from that of a Grand Dragon. A Grand Dragon was roughly on par with a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. With that said, a Grand Dragon would be slightly stronger.
Still, her Soul Clone couldn’t possibly be a match for a Territory Lord. Faced with the Territory Lord, her Soul Clone would most likely end up in a horrible state or even be destroyed. Regardless, she didn’t have a choice.
The Territory Lord was hurtling towards her, but the instant he saw an enormous, dazzling bird in front of him, he exclaimed in shock, “A Phoenix?!”
Not only had a Dragon Clan member appeared, but there was also a Phoenix Clan member now! Had the Masters from the No-Return Pass made a move?
When that thought crossed his mind, this Territory Lord was naturally flustered, for the Dragons and the Phoenixes were extremely difficult to deal with. Many Territory Lords still remembered the debacle they experienced when they launched an attack on the No-Return Pass in the past.
They had a million-strong Black Ink Clan Army and several dozen Territory Lords, but in a single engagement, the Dragon and Phoenix Clans tore them apart and even slaughtered several Territory Lords.
Therefore, the Territory Lords in Great Evolution Theatre were extremely wary of the Dragons and Phoenixes. It didn’t matter that a single Dragon Clan member had appeared on the battlefield, but with a Phoenix Clan member also now revealing herself, it was expected that he started getting worried.
However, he soon realised that this Phoenix Clan member before him wasn’t very powerful. At the very least, she was much weaker than he was. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his palm towards Huang Si Niang.
Seeing this, a cold glint flashed across Huang Si Niang’s eyes. Her wings were so big that they seemed to cover the entire sky, and as she flapped them, flashes of light swirled around her body and warped the local space.
Then, her wings fluttered as her figure distorted. The next instant, the Territory Lord crashed into an invisible wall and a deep gash from which black blood gushed out appeared on his chest.
Horrified, the Territory Lord swiftly retreated. He realized he had been attacked by the opponent just now, but he didn’t even see her movements clearly.
In other words, she must have gotten close to him in the blink of an eye and slashed at him before she returned to her original position the next instant, making it seem as though she had not moved at all. There was no denying that she had used a Phoenix Clan Secret Technique powered by her Bloodline Talent in the Dao of Space.
The Black Ink Clan from the Great Evolution Theatre had dealt with the Dragons and Phoenixes before, so they knew about these Innate Secret Techniques. Many of them had suffered serious setbacks when they fought Phoenix Clan members in the past.
Yang Kai was concentrating on reaching the Royal City, so he didn’t see what had happened, but if he had, he would have been amazed by Huang Si Niang’s methods.
His mastery of the Dao of Space was greater than that of Huang Si Niang, but when it came to their utilisation of Space Principles, he was no match for her.
Although her move earlier appeared ordinary, it was the manifestation of extremely precise control of Space Principles, something Yang Kai wasn’t capable of. After all, this was the Phoenix Clan’s Bloodline Talent. Using Space Principles was as natural as breathing to her.
Following the attack, Huang Si Niang was momentarily surprised as well. The power of her Soul Clone was only equivalent to that of a peak Grand Dragon, so she knew she was not a match for a Territory Lord; therefore, she was surprised that her move had actually forced the other party back.
After some observation though, she finally realised the reason behind it. This Territory Lord was heavily injured, and a shocking Space-Time Strength was still swirling around his wounds, causing his strength to plunge.
It was obviously Yang Kai’s doing.
[At least that brat has some conscience left, not leaving his Great Aunt a completely healthy Territory Lord to deal with.]
Given this Territory Lord’s condition, Huang Si Niang figured she could stall him for some time even if she couldn’t defeat him.
Only a moment had passed since Yang Kai summoned Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone, who then blocked the pursuing Territory Lord, but with that brief opening, Yang Kai manipulated Space Principles and returned to the Royal City.
Seeing this, Che Kong directly threw an attack at him from a distance.
Yang Kai sneered and disappeared from the spot, causing Che Kong to miss his target.
When he reappeared, he was already hovering in front of a Black Ink Nest. Yang Kai wasn’t certain whose Black Ink Nest it was because there were many nests scattered around the ruins of the Royal City.
Yang Kai summoned his Azure Dragon Spear again and struck the Black Ink Nest, cutting it in half. Without stopping, he charged towards the next Black Ink Nest.
Che Kong widened his eyes in fury and bellowed, “You court death!”
As he spoke, he surged his Black Ink Strength and cast a profound Secret Technique at Yang Kai.
Unfortunately for Che Kong, he couldn’t fully unleash his power for that would cause too much damage and potentially destroy more Black Ink Nests. On the other hand, Yang Kai had no such concerns as he agilely moved around the Black Ink Nests, using them as cover to dodge Che Kong’s attacks, fully taking advantage of the latter’s restraints.
Barely a moment later, five Black Ink Nests had been destroyed.
One party had no constraints while the other had to act cautiously. The Royal City was in a perilous situation.
In fact, Che Kong wasn’t the only one in the Royal City; there were still quite a number of Black Ink Clansmen around.
However, he was the only Territory Lord left. Even though there were a lot of Black Ink Clansmen, none of them were capable of stopping Yang Kai. As he wielded his Azure Dragon Spear, he killed Black Ink Clansmen and destroyed Black Ink Nests all at the same time.
Seeing this, Che Kong was infuriated. Given his passive position, he was unable to protect those Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. He couldn’t pin his hopes on the other Territory Lords either. It had come to a point where all the Territory Lords were dealing with their own opponents, so they were unable to return to the Royal City to help.
Che Kong could still protect the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest and ensure it wouldn’t be impacted; however, if all the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests were destroyed, the war would still be lost.
Without the support from their Black Ink Nests, the Territory Lords would be no match for the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and their new weapon.
Now, Che Kong was the only one who could deal with Yang Kai. As he gritted his teeth, he leaped into the air and pounced at him.
Che Kong was one of the top three Territory Lords in the Great Evolution Theatre, stronger than even many Eighth-Order Masters.
Although it was a risk leaving the High-Rank Black Ink Nest at this point, the only way for Che Kong to resolve the current crisis was by killing this Human quickly, so he decided to proactively make a move instead of waiting for death.
As a veteran Territory Lord, Che Kong had good judgement in the face of a crisis, and he had made the right choice.
It was also the outcome that Yang Kai wanted to see though. This Territory Lord had been guarding the High-Rank Black Ink Nest doggedly, a problem to which Yang Kai didn’t have a good solution. Now, the chance presented itself as Che Kong had pounced at him.
In truth, regardless of what choice that Che Kong had made, it wouldn’t affect Yang Kai one bit.
If this Territory Lord never stayed away from the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, Yang Kai could just go around the Royal City and destroy the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. As long as he could smash enough of them, the Eighth-Order Division Commanders would be able to gain a decisive advantage.
Although there was a huge gap between their strengths, Che Kong wouldn’t be able to stop Yang Kai if the latter transformed into an Ancient Dragon and raised chaos in the Royal City.
Now that Che Kong had decided to temporarily abandon the High-Rank Black Ink Nest and chase after his opponent though, Yang Kai felt that it was the best chance for him to deal a fatal blow to the High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
There was an unbreakable bond between Black Ink Nests. Higher-rank Black Ink Nests were the source of the lower-rank Black Ink Nests.
For example, a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest could breed dozens to over 100 Low-Rank sub-nests. Even if all of these sub-nests were destroyed though, the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest wouldn’t be affected.
However, if the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest was destroyed, all the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests would wither as well.
The sub-nests could not untether themselves from the higher-rank Black Ink Nest they were bred from and survive on their own. The Humans had repeatedly verified this fact.
Although Yang Kai had been kicking up a storm in the Royal City for quite a while, he had only managed to destroy half of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. In other words, there were still half of them that remained standing and it would take him some effort to destroy all of them.
However, if he could directly destroy the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, all the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests would fall with it. Only by destroying the High-Rank Black Ink Nest could he deal a fatal blow to the Black Ink Clan once and for all.
Therefore, the moment he saw Che Kong charging towards him, Yang Kai took the initiative to approach him instead of backing down.
Seeing that, Che Kong was enraged. He extended his hands into the void and summoned out a spear. As he surged his Black Ink Strength, he pushed the weapon towards Yang Kai.
This artifact was apparently made for him by one of the Artifact Refiners who had become a Black Ink Disciple. Although it wasn’t a very high-grade artifact, Che Kong was the one using it after all. Even Xiang Shan wouldn’t be able to ignore an attack cast by a top Territory Lord like Che Kong.
However, an unfazed Yang Kai continued flying forward, as though he didn’t see the attack coming. While mid-flight, he roared and turned into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon again.
He had no choice but to assume his Dragon Form. Despite being the strongest Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master among all the Humans, Yang Kai was still no match for his opponent. Only by turning into an Ancient Dragon could he deal with a Territory Lord.
He stared fixedly at Che Kong with eyes as bright as two Great Suns. The next instant, the authoritative-looking eyes reflected Che Kong’s figure and the reflection contorted all of a sudden.
Che Kong, who was shooting towards Yang Kai, felt a mysterious force flooding through him, causing him to become sluggish. Still, he was a powerful Territory Lord and with a surge of his power, he easily shook of the influence of Yang Kai’s Eye Secret Technique.
After the Eye Secret Technique was broken through, Golden Dragon Blood started streaming from Yang Kai’s eyes. Nevertheless, that brief moment of sluggishness was all Yang Kai needed.
Space trembled as Yang Kai roared. At this moment, he seemed to be enduring some unbearable pain as his Dragon Roar sounded heart-wrenching and could make anyone weep for him. At the same time as the Dragon Roar sounded, Yang Kai’s aura plunged tremendously.
However, instead of becoming excited, Che Kong was shocked for he had a bad premonition all of a sudden.
Before he could figure out the reason behind this ominous feeling, he felt a sharp pain in his head. It was as though an invisible force had penetrated his defence and torn into his Soul, disorienting him greatly.
At that instant, his mind turned blank as he couldn’t think straight. Still, he thrust out the spear in his hands instinctually.
A Dragon Roar sounded again, but this time it was because Yang Kai’s belly had been wounded by Che Kong’s spear, which resulted in his Dragon Blood gushing out. Despite having robust Dragon Scales all over his body, they couldn’t stop Che Kong attack.
Certainly, it also had something to do with the fact that Yang Kai’s mind was in a mess. Just now, he had sacrificed a large piece of his Soul to power his last Soul Rending Thorn.
Back then, after Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao taught him how to refine and use the Soul Rending Thorns, Yang Kai had looked for Grandmaster Ma Fan to create some for him.
Even with Grandmaster Ma Fan’s mastery in Artifact Refining, it still took him a year to 12 Soul Rending Thorns.
After that, Yang Kai entered the Black Ink Nest Space with his Soul and dealt with the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples lying in ambush there. All in all, he had used 11 Soul Rending Thorns to injure or kill that number of Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
It was only then that the Humans managed to completely take over the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest near Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai had kept the last Soul Rending Thorn on him since then, and he finally found a chance to use it now.
Soul Rending Thorns were extremely powerful artifacts that specifically targeted the Soul, and coupled with the special method to use them, Yang Kai managed to single-handedly destroy several formidable enemies inside the Black Ink Nest Space. The Masters who had been wounded by his Soul Rending Thorns all ended up in a horrible state.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had said that it was an artifact and Secret Technique that seemed to have been specially invented for Yang Kai.
Every time Yang Kai used this artifact, he had to sacrifice a part of his Soul to power it. Even the strongest cultivators, including the Old Ancestors, couldn’t repeatedly discard pieces of their Soul.
Perhaps they could do it one or two times, but if they did it frequently, even the Old Ancestors wouldn’t be capable of bearing the consequences. Once their Soul was too badly damaged, their consciousness would become muddled or even worse, collapse. By then, they would be no different from a living corpse.
However, Yang Kai was different. With the nourishment and protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, his Soul would always recover as long as it wasn’t instantly destroyed.
Despite that, he could only use the Soul Rending Thorn once in this situation.
This place was different from the Black Ink Nest Space where he could summon his Soul Warming Lotus and hide inside it after using several Soul Rending Thorns. The Soul Warming Lotus was the strongest shield when it came to Spiritual Energy, but this place was a chaotic battlefield and Yang Kai was surrounded by enemies, so what did it matter if his Soul survived while his body was destroyed?
Furthermore, the feeling of getting one’s Soul torn apart was simply unbearable. Even someone like Yang Kai would become paralysed on the battlefield if he had to go through this multiple times in short order.
As the user of the Soul Rending Thorn, Yang Kai was enduring immense pain; however, Che Kong, who had been struck by the Soul Rending Thorn, was suffering from excruciating pain. The moment his Soul was pierced, his facial features contorted and his eyes lost focus as he howled like a wild beast.
As these two figures, one small and the other large, clashed, they both became sluggish for a moment and roared in agony.
Yang Kai had quite a lot of experience dealing with this kind of pain though, so he managed to steady himself faster and viciously swiped Che Kong away with his claw.
The violent force of a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon burst forth, and even a Territory Lord as strong as Che Kong was unable to withstand it when he was not protecting himself. With numerous bones cracking, and his Black Ink Strength becoming a mess, his gigantic figure was sent flying away like an arrow as he sprayed out black blood while tumbling through the void.
Yang Kai ignored his own injuries and continued forward. Even though Che Kong’s spear was still stuck in his belly, and he couldn’t move around agilely being a 70,000-metre Dragon, he still manipulated Space Principles and appeared right in front of the High-Rank Black Ink Nest the moment he sent Che Kong flying.
This Black Ink Nest was much larger than any of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests Yang Kai had seen, and it had been in the Royal City for countless years. Over the years, it continuously produced Black Ink Strength and nurtured innumerable Black Ink Clansmen.
It was the very foundation of the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre.
Without delay, Yang Kai swept his Dragon Tail across the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, causing it to be smashed to the ground.
All the Black Ink Clansmen within the Black Ink Nest turned to mist following Yang Kai’s powerful attack. These Black Ink Clansmen were not powerful to begin with. The reason they even stayed inside the Black Ink Nest was to feed resources into the Black Ink Pool so that the Royal Lord would always have enough Black Ink Strength to draw from. How were they supposed to block Yang Kai’s attack?
It wasn’t until this moment that Che Kong stabilized himself. Enduring the sharp pain in his head, he lifted his gaze just in time to see the High-Rank Black Ink Nest collapsing to the ground.
He was dumbfounded. The High-Rank Black Ink Nest had been destroyed. He couldn’t believe his own eyes.
Only three breaths of time had passed from the time he struck out at Yang Kai to the destruction of the High-Rank Black Ink Nest. Despite the short amount of time, it was enough to undermine the very survival of the entire Black Ink Clan in this Theatre.
Che Kong’s heart sank. It was not an exaggeration to say this was the end of the world for them.
When Yang Kai was destroying the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests earlier, even though Che Kong was furious, he wasn’t in a state of despair. That was because the Royal Lord was still fighting against the Old Ancestor, and they also had the new Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. They still had a chance to repel the Humans.
But now, the High-Rank Black Ink Nest had been destroyed. All their hopes were shattered following the destruction of this Black Ink Nest and Che Kong felt cold all over his body.
At this moment, he regretted his decision. He shouldn’t have moved away from the High-Rank Black Ink Nest no matter what.
Somewhere on the battlefield, the Royal Lord could be heard roaring in a heart-wrenching voice, “Che Kong!”
His Black Ink Nest had been destroyed. Although there were 20 Territory Lords who stayed back in the Royal City, they were unable to protect his Black Ink Nest.
[Wastes! Every last one of them!]
At that instant, the Royal Lord had the urge to leave the battlefield and kill Che Kong and the other Territory Lords who stayed back in the Royal City to vent his fury; however, he was unable to do so. The moment his Black Ink Nest was smashed to the ground, he was no longer able to draw energy from it.
Although he wasn’t in peak condition from the start, he could still fight against Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao with the help of his Black Ink Nest. Now that his Black Ink Nest was gone for good though, how was he supposed to deal with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao?
Upon realising that her opponent’s aura had plunged, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao knew that it was a chance she couldn’t afford to miss. She exerted more force with her attacks and bellowed, “Suffer death, Mo Zhao!”
Mo Zhao was the name of this Royal Lord.
Those from the Great Evolution Army were not aware of this Royal Lord’s name, but having fought against this opponent for so many years, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao certainly knew his name. During their exchanges of moves in the past, they occasionally engaged in some small talk, and that was when they learned each other’s names.
It seemed that a lot of Royal Lords had the surname Mo. So far, around 70% of the Royal Lords’ names that the Humans were aware of shared the same surname.
On the other hand, the Territory Lords had all sorts of strange names. The Humans had always wondered if those Territory Lords would change their names once they became Royal Lords one day.
As Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao bellowed, she cast several Divine Abilities at Mo Zhao, causing his huge figure to stagger and bleed.
In just a few breaths, Mo Zhao’s aura plunged again, as though all his injuries accumulated over the years broke out at the same time. He no longer looked as majestic as a Royal Lord should be.
Initially, he could still fight back against Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, but barely 10 breaths after the destruction of his Black Ink Nest, he fell into a complete disadvantage.
On the other hand, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was increasingly assertive. It seemed that she was determined to destroy her opponent.
No longer a match for the Human woman, Mo Zhao roared, “Save me!”
If no one could lend him a hand, he would most probably be killed by this Old Ancestor.
There was only one person he could seek help from, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple who was still dealing with the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Presently, only this Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was able to interfere in the battle between the Old Ancestor and the Royal Lord.
The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was indeed powerful. Although six Eighth-Order Masters had joined forces to fight him, they still couldn’t gain the upper hand, and instead, they had been suppressed by this Black Ink Disciple. Three of them were seriously injured as blood spurted out of their wounds.
Hearing Mo Zhao’s call for help, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple wielded his sword as his Sword Qi exploded and drove the six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters away before he turned and raced towards Mo Zhao.
Certainly, he had noticed that the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest had collapsed, so he knew that the Black Ink Clan had lost the battle and they couldn’t stay there any longer. Under such circumstances, the only chance to flee from here was for him to join forces with Mo Zhao.
But how could the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters simply stand by and watch?
These six Division Commanders were all experienced warriors, so there was no way they would let their opponent just go at this point. They soon charged forward again and unleashed Secret Techniques and even summoned their Divine Manifestations to pin down this Black Ink Disciple.
These Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were determined to make their opponent stay and didn’t even care if they were heavily wounded in the process.
Hence, two groups of the most powerful Masters entered into an even more intense struggle.
On the other hand, after Yang Kai accomplished his task in the Royal City, he shouted, “The Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest has been destroyed! Death to the Black Ink Clan!”
His loud voice reverberated across the void.
A hush fell on the clamorous battlefield as both the Humans and the Black Ink Clansmen seemed to be digesting this shocking news.
The next instant, countless Humans chanted at the same time as their voices shook the Void.
“Death to the Black Ink Clan!”
“Death to the Black Ink Clan!”
“Death to the Black Ink Clan!”
…..
The Human soldiers felt their morale soar while the Black Ink Clan became anxious and confused.
The battlefield had been chaotic as the soldiers of the two Races clashed, so none of them paid any attention to the happenings in the Royal City. Therefore, both the Humans and the Black Ink Clansmen were not aware that the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest had been destroyed until Yang Kai’s announcement.
Certainly, the Black Ink Clansmen wouldn’t believe Yang Kai, but within moments, the Royal Lord cried out for help. That was when all the Black Ink Clansmen fell into a state of fear and depression.
It seemed that the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest had really been destroyed. Otherwise, the Royal Lord wouldn’t have called for help all of a sudden.
At that instant, the morale of the Black Ink Clan plunged into the abyss.
It had been quite a while since the war started, and both Races had suffered immense losses. With that said, the Black Ink Clansmen were not unable to fight. If they remained united, the Humans might not be able to wipe them out. The Humans might win the battle, but the losses they suffered would also be unbearable.
However, at this moment, all the Black Ink Clan soldiers were flustered and many lost all will to fight. Forget the weaker Black Ink Clansmen, even the Territory Lords felt the urge to throw down their weapons and run for their lives.
Most of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests had been destroyed even before the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest fell, so the Territory Lords could no longer draw energy from them. On the battlefield, more and more Territory Lords were killed in rapid succession. Although some of the Eighth-Order Masters had lost their lives as well, the Black Ink Clan suffered far more significant casualties.
It seemed that the Royal Lord was no longer able to persevere, and once he was killed, the Territory Lords would certainly die as well. Both Races had been fighting for millennia, and the blood feud between them was irresolvable. The Black Ink Clansmen didn’t think that the Humans would be magnanimous enough to spare them when the war ended.
At the thought of this, the surviving Territory Lords lost the determination to fight on. Nevertheless, it was because of this that they fell into an even more perilous situation.
The destruction of the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest seemed to be a catalyst that propelled the Humans to an absolute advantage on the battlefield.
The Special Operations Squads, who had been suppressed by the three Territory Lords, finally had a chance to catch their breath.
The three elite Squads, led by the Old Turtles, respectively held up one Territory Lord each. They were initially on the losing side, and their Warships had all taken significant damage. They would have to retreat soon; otherwise, fatalities would soon begin to appear among them. Once their Warships were shattered, many, if not all of them would lose their lives.
However, at this moment, these three Territory Lords were no longer determined to kill and instead began focusing on fleeing.
Certainly, Chai Fang and the others wouldn’t grant their wish. They did everything they could to tie down their opponents, and as expected, the Territory Lords were enraged.
On the battlefield, the Humans fought on while the Black Ink Clansmen were routed and attempted to flee.
On the other hand, Yang Kai was having a hard time in the Royal City.
Right after he announced the destruction of the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest, he felt that all his fury accumulated over the years had been vented. However, his thrill was short-lived as Che Kong soon charged at him with a dark expression.
This time, Che Kong no longer held back any of his strength. Being one of the top Territory Lords, his full power was quite intense. Although Yang Kai was now a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon, his Dragon Scales were still blasted off by his opponent. His bones cracked, and one of his eyes was almost blinded.
The power that Che Kong showcased at this moment was even greater than that of even Xiang Shan.
After just 30 breaths of time, Yang Kai knew that he was no match for the other party. If not for the fact that the Dao of Space was abstruse and elusive and his Dragon Form was incredibly sturdy, he would’ve been beaten to death by now.
There was no denying that he was in a perilous situation.
Yang Kai wasn’t born as a member of the Dragon Clan and had only grown into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon because of an opportunity in the Dragon Pool; it wasn’t a result of his own hard work in terms of training and gradual growth; therefore, he didn’t have enough control over his Dragon Form’s power yet.
In other words, he wasn’t able to fully bring out the strength of his Ancient Dragon Form at this moment.
If he had grown into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon through hard work over many millennia, he wouldn’t have looked so battered despite not being a match for Che Kong.
When his opponent’s fist struck his head, Yang Kai started seeing Stars, and he felt as if his skull had cracked. Infuriated, he snarled, “Che Kong, the Royal Lord will die soon, and then you’ll be next!”
Since he couldn’t defeat Che Kong, Yang Kai could only threaten him, hoping to intimidate the other party into escaping.
Although letting Che Kong off would be potentially problematic in the future, Yang Kai didn’t want to be entangled in this life-and-death battle any longer.
However, Che Kong was unfazed as he refuted coldly, “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to kill you first.”
He was truly resentful of Yang Kai. He was responsible for protecting the Royal City, but Yang Kai still had the nerve to destroy so many Territory Lord Black Ink Nests in front of him. In the end, Yang Kai had even smashed the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest.
Now, Che Kong wasn’t sure if the other party was a Human or a Dragon Clan member.
When Yang Kai was a Human, it was apparent that he was just a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but when he transformed into a Dragon, he was a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon, which was odd.
Regardless of Yang Kai’s real identity, Che Kong could only vent his anger by killing him.
Che Kong had considered running away, but he didn’t think he could succeed. The other Territory Lords might be able to flee, but he didn’t have a chance to do so because he was one of the most powerful Territory Lords, so the Humans would undoubtedly prioritize killing him.
Che Kong’s stubbornness was giving Yang Kai a headache as it seemed the former was determined to drag him down to the Yellow Springs.
The Humans had gone through lots of hardship since the crusade started, and they finally saw hope of victory. Perhaps after this war, they would be able to destroy all the enemies on the Black Ink Battlefield once and for all and then return to the 3,000 Worlds.
Yang Kai’s friends and family members were still waiting for him, so he didn’t want to lose his life here.
It was vexing that he had used up all the Soul Rending Thorns. If he could cast a second Soul Rending Thorn at Che Kong at this time, he could significantly weaken him despite not being able to kill him.
[His Black Ink Nest might still be around. Otherwise, he couldn’t possibly remain so powerful. I have to find his Black Ink Nest and destroy it…] All of a sudden, Yang Kai felt his chest tightening. [Wait. What am I thinking? His Black Ink Nest is still around? How could that be?]
Supposedly, since the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest had been destroyed, all the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests should have started withering as well. After all, those Territory Lord Black Ink Nests were bred from the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest, and they couldn’t survive on their own.
However, at this moment, there were still about a dozen Territory Lord Black Ink Nests standing in the Royal City.
[What’s going on?] A lot of ideas flashed across Yang Kai’s mind and he soon took a glance at the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest and formed a speculation.
The Royal Lord Black Ink Nest had been smashed to the ground by his tail sweep earlier, but it hadn’t been completely destroyed. In its current state, it had affected the Royal Lord’s ability to draw energy from it, which was proven by the fact that the Royal Lord now appeared weak and feeble while fighting against Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao; however, it wasn’t dead yet.
Since the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest hadn’t been fully destroyed, it certainly didn’t have a huge impact on the surviving Territory Lord Black Ink Nests.
Realising Yang Kai’s intentions, Che Kong exerted more force with his attacks, giving the opponent no chance to approach the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest again.
[I can’t drag this out any longer.]
Yang Kai looked around and saw that in different parts of the battlefield, the Eighth-Order Masters were locked in intense battles with the Territory Lords. There was no denying that the Humans had gained the upper hand; however, if Yang Kai lured Che Kong to those Eighth-Order Masters, their efforts so far might go down the drain.
In that case, there was only one place he could go.
Having made up his mind, he braced himself to endure one of Che Kong’s blows, which caused his Dragon Form to stagger before he charged towards Great Evolution Pass while calling out, “Help!”
Great Evolution Pass was hovering 5 million kilometres away from the Royal City.
While it was rotating slowly, the arrays and artifacts installed on the walls continuously shot at the Black Ink Clan soldiers. It had been a while since the war started, and the arrangements around Great Evolution Pass had killed a lot of enemies.
Certainly, the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass could see the golden 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon fleeing in their direction.
Hearing Yang Kai’s call for help, they activated the power of the arrays and artifacts and rained down attacks on the enemy behind him without hesitation.
At that instant, countless flashes of light cut across the void and reached for Che Kong.
However, Yang Kai’s figure was colossal and Che Kong was following behind him, so the attacks from Great Evolution Pass couldn’t directly strike him.
Upon that realization, Yang Kai quickly returned to his Human Form. While spraying out a mouthful of blood, he flew towards Great Evolution Pass.
As a result, Che Kong fell into a dangerous situation.
Although most of the attacks missed their target, dozens of them rained down on him in a constant barrage, so many of them still hit their mark.
Yang Kai crossed a million kilometres in the blink of an eye.
When Che Kong endured the storm of attacks and reached somewhere near Great Evolution Pass, Yang Kai was nowhere to be found.
While he was on the way earlier, he was faced with the powers of the arrays and artifacts from Great Evolution Pass, which disturbed the space around him and caused him to lose track of his enemy.
[Where is he?]
Soon, Che Kong detected Yang Kai’s aura. He was strong, so it was expected that his Divine Sense wasn’t weak either. Unless Yang Kai had already left this battlefield, Che Kong would definitely find him if he was determined to do so.
When Che Kong found Yang Kai though, his expression turned livid.
That was because after Yang Kai lured him to this place, he wheeled around and returned to the chaotic battlefield. At this moment, he didn’t intend to hide his whereabouts at all. He transformed into his 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon Form again and charged around the battlefield.
Now, essentially all of the Territory Lords were occupied with their own battles, so a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon like Yang Kai was like a tiger barging into a flock of sheep. No one was a match for him.
Every time Yang Kai let out his Dragon Breath and wielded his Dragon Claws, hundreds of Black Ink Clansmen exploded into blood mist. While he was at it, he kept looking in Great Evolution Pass’ direction. Despite being majestic, he appeared as though he was ready to flee at any moment.
Che Kong was enraged as the fury stuck in his chest was like a volcano that was about to erupt.
[That brat has gone too far!]
An incensed Che Kong directly turned around and charged towards the battlefield. The attacks from Great Evolution Pass rained down on him from behind, causing his Black Ink Strength to undulate and his figure to shake.
Seeing that his opponent was chasing after him again, Yang Kai was vexed.
Left with no choice, he returned to Human Form and darted in a particular direction on the battlefield. While on his way, he avoided passing through places where the Humans gathered and instead stuck closer to the Black Ink Clan forces
Che Kong had apparently gone insane, so Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to lure him to the Human soldiers lest they be implicated.
The opponent’s powerful aura locked onto him like an anchor, causing his brow to twitch. It was a sign that he was constantly in danger.
Given such a situation, Che Kong was still determined to kill Yang Kai, which went to show how angered he was.
Although Yang Kai was a Master of the Dao of Space, Che Kong was swift as he relentlessly pursued his target. Wherever they went, the Black Ink Clan soldiers, who had lost their morale, suffered miserably. They were either killed by Yang Kai or lost their lives after getting hit by the fallout of Che Kong’s attacks.
It had come to a point where Che Kong couldn’t be bothered with accidentally killing his own clansmen. To him, Yang Kai was the culprit who had destroyed all their Black Ink Nests, so even though the Black Ink Clan had lost the war, he was determined to end Yang Kai’s life.
As the chase dragged on, the gap between them shortened.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai turned around and dashed towards the Royal City.
He hadn’t forgotten that there were still a couple dozen Black Ink Nests that were still standing. Moreover, the reason Che Kong was still so powerful must have something to do with the fact that his Black Ink Nest was still around.
To get rid of his pursuer, Yang Kai had to destroy Che Kong’s Black Ink Nest first.
“Courting death!” Che Kong instantly figured out Yang Kai’s intention; however, he was unable to stop him on his own. Seeing that Yang Kai was getting closer to the Royal City, Che Kong roared, “Bo Gen, kill him!”
Somewhere in front of Yang Kai, a Territory Lord was tangled up in a fight against the Old Turtle Squad.
Since he started battling against this Special Operations Squad, Bo Gen had managed to injure Chai Fang and the others. While there were 10 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Old Turtle Squad, none of them was in good shape now.
Previously, Bo Gen had drawn energy from his Black Ink Nest, allowing him to use a power that exceeded his own limits.
However, when Yang Kai kicked up a storm in the Royal City, his Black Ink Nest was among those destroyed. Without the Black Ink Nest’s assistance, Bo Gen’s power returned to normal, which was why the Old Turtles were able to deal with him.
Nevertheless, they were all wounded. Even though they had given their all, the Old Turtles could only ensure that they wouldn’t lose.
They couldn’t kill this Territory Lord named Bo Gen.
Even if all the Seventh-Order Masters of the Old Turtle Squad were still at peak strength, they couldn’t kill a Territory Lord, not to mention that they were all injured now.
Similarly, it was difficult for Bo Gen to destroy them. The Old Turtle Squad’s defence was impenetrable, and all the members specifically cultivated defensive Secret Arts. As such, they all had thick skin and strong flesh.
Hearing Che Kong’s roar, Bo Gen used a powerful Secret Technique without hesitation. As his Black Ink Strength undulated, he cast this Secret Technique at the Old Turtle Squad. At the same time, he whirled around and pounced towards Yang Kai.
Seeing that, Chai Fang, who was leading his team members to deal with the Territory Lord, bellowed, “Stop him! Activate the sealing array!”
The moment he finished speaking, the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship started shining brightly. Something that looked like a tortoise shell expanded rapidly and occupied a large area in the void.
Bo Gen, who was trying to leave, was suddenly rooted to the spot. The moment of delay cost him the chance to extricate himself.
The gigantic tortoise shell soon folded and entrapped everyone inside.
After that, Bo Gen and the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship were nowhere to be found.
It was apparent that they had been trapped inside the tortoiseshell and now a fierce struggle where only one party would survive would ensue.
That was a dangerous move for the Old Turtles. If a Territory Lord decided to go all out, they might not be able to withstand his attacks.
Yang Kai skirted past the tortoise shell and roared, “Hang in there, Brother Chai! I’ll be back to help you kill the enemy soon!”
Chai Fang’s voice sounded from the shell, “There’s no need! I’ll kill this Territory Lord myself!”
Yang Kai fell silent. [Fine. Since you want to act tough, I’ll let you be. Let’s see if you ask for my help later.]
While he was distracted by this thought, someone warned him from afar, “Brother Yang, watch out!”
Instantly, Yang Kai was alarmed as he lifted his Azure Dragon Spear and thrust it to the side without hesitation.
Struck by an immense force, he was sent flying away while spraying out a mouthful of blood.
Another Territory Lord, who was previously dealing with the Profound Wind Squad, had arrived.
On the battlefield, every Territory Lord had their own opponents, who were mostly Eighth-Order Division Commanders. Those Territory Lords who were dealing with the Eighth-Order Masters could naturally not shake off their opponents.
Therefore, it was the three Territory Lords who were battling against the Special Operations Squads that were able to help out.
The Old Turtle Squad’s opponent had been trapped inside a giant tortoise shell, while the one facing Dawn wasn’t strong enough, so he was unable to shake off his opponents. Unfortunately, the Profound Wind Squad’s enemy escaped from Ma Gao’s suppression and launched a sneak attack on Yang Kai, causing the latter to suffer a setback.
Seeing that, a relentless Che Kong roared, “Well done!”
He also seized this chance to push out his palm at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai hadn’t stabilised himself when Che Kong’s attack arrived. Flustered, he raised his spear to defend himself, but his actions were futile. His arms shook and as his body cracked. Even his chest was indented, and the blood he sprayed out was mixed with pieces of his organs.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai borrowed the momentum of this blow to continue charging towards the Royal City, coughing up blood the whole time.
Meanwhile, Che Kong’s expression was extremely dark.
He and the other Territory Lord had successfully attacked, but they were still unable to kill Yang Kai. There was no denying that it was hard to deal with this brat.
If an average Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was struck with their attacks, they would be badly wounded if not killed outright.
However, even though Yang Kai was injured, his mobility wasn’t affected one bit.
Che Kong had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that Yang Kai was a member of the Dragon Clan.
A Dragon’s defence and physique far surpassed that of a Human’s; after all, every Dragon Clan member was covered with Dragon Scales. Although their Dragon Scales were not visible when they were in Human Form, their defence remained strong.
The Territory Lords’ attacks might have been offset by Yang Kai’s hidden Dragon Scales.
Many ideas flashed across Che Kong’s mind, but it didn’t slow him down.
The other Territory Lord intended to chase after Yang Kai as well, but the Profound Wind Squad pounced on him. Ma Gao was so furious that his face contorted. The illusory phantom of his Small Universe flashed across his back as he led his Squad members to cast a barrage at this Territory Lord.
They blamed themselves for failing in their duty to prevent Yang Kai from being ambushed, so they were naturally enraged.
The Old Turtle Squad and Dawn Squad had managed to pin down their opponents. Was the Profound Wind Squad any weaker?
At that instant, all the Profound Wind Squad members exerted themselves to attack this Territory Lord. They had mainly been trying to stall for time while defending themselves earlier, but they had given up on that now. They were determined to make sure this Territory Lord wouldn’t shake them off again even if they had to suffer casualties along the way.
On the other hand, Yang Kai arrived at the Royal City and bolted towards a Black Ink Nest. While on his way, he roared, “Che Kong, open your dog eyes wide and watch!”
He swept his Azure Dragon Spear across a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest, causing it to collapse to the ground.
Without stopping, he continued dashing forward. Soon enough, another Black Ink Nest collapsed. A moment later, another Black Ink Nest was destroyed. In the blink of an eye, three Black Ink Nests had been shattered.
When Yang Kai flew out the other side of the Royal City, he felt his face twitching wildly. Che Kong was just too lucky!
There were only a couple dozen Black Ink Nests left in the Royal City, and he had destroyed three of them. However, none of them belonged to Che Kong as his aura remained powerful.
The success rate was neither high nor low as he had cut three out of some 20 Black Ink Nests. Furthermore, he had demolished several Black Ink Nests a while ago, but Che Kong still hadn’t been affected one bit.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but acknowledge that Che Kong was a lucky person.
He didn’t intend to completely destroy the High-Rank Black Ink Nest as it had already fallen to the ground and the Royal Lord was no longer able to draw energy from it, which was enough.
Since the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest had survived his attack, Yang Kai decided to let it be for now.
The Humans possessed a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest, and after years of research, they found out a lot of the Black Ink Nest’s secrets. If they could obtain this half-dead High-Rank Black Ink Nest, they might be able to learn even more.
Things were looking up in the Great Evolution Theatre, causing Yang Kai to wonder how the Humans in the other Theatres were doing. Therefore, he reckoned that he should keep this High-Rank Black Ink Nest. Perhaps it would prove to be useful in the future.
Two figures subsequently left the Royal City and darted towards Great Evolution Pass again.
While running away, Yang Kai bellowed, “Shoot him!”
Soon, innumerable flashes of light shot out from Great Evolution Pass, as if history was repeating itself.
However, with his previous experience, Che Kong figured out that Yang Kai wanted to use the attacks from Great Evolution Pass as a screen to shake him off so he could make a fuss on the battlefield again.
Therefore, he quickly locked his aura onto Yang Kai, ensuring that the latter wouldn’t be able to flee.
The aura was like a needle as well as a lock. While Yang Kai felt a threat behind him, he was also unable to activate Instantaneous Movement.
The instant Space Principles undulated, Che Kong’s aura would flare up and destabilize the Void, ensuring that Yang Kai was unable to flee.
Over the years, even though Yang Kai had repeatedly made use of Space Principles to escape opponents, there were distressing moments when he was faced with much stronger enemies.
After all, Instantaneous Movement wasn’t invincible.
As long as the Void around Yang Kai was sufficiently turbulent, he wouldn’t be able to teleport away.
Two figures circled around Great Evolution Pass at a great speed. While spitting blood, Yang Kai grinned, “Let’s see how much longer you can persevere!”
This kind of action put Che Kong in a disadvantageous position.
There were all sorts of arrangements on the walls of Great Evolution Pass which could be used to rain down a constant stream of attacks on Che Kong while Yang Kai, who was at the front, was unaffected.
They repeatedly circled Great Evolution Pass.
During the third round, Che Kong started finding it unbearable. His gigantic figure trembled as he was struck by the attacks from Great Evolution Pass over and over again. Soon, he realised that he couldn’t just keep getting hit without counterattacking.
Infuriated, he threw out his fist at Great Evolution Pass.
Upon impact, the light barrier around the Pass shook, but it remained undamaged.
Seeing that, Yang Kai snorted. Now, five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were controlling the Core and sustaining the defences around the Great Pass. There was no way Che Kong could damage the Great Pass on his own.
Che Kong was distracted when he made a move earlier. Seizing the chance, Yang Kai activated his power and shook off the aura locked onto his figure. The next instant, he activated Space Principles and disappeared.
Detecting something, Che Kong turned around and saw Yang Kai hovering above an enormous Black Ink Nest in the Royal City.
A distance of five million kilometres was short for a powerful cultivator, especially one skilled in the Dao of Space. An unrestrained Yang Kai could cross such a distance in a flash.
However, he didn’t immediately destroy the Black Ink Nest beneath him; instead, he eyed Che Kong from a distance and sneered.
Che Kong barked, “Don’t you dare!”
Yang Kai scoffed, “Your expression tells me that this is indeed your Black Ink Nest.”
He had gained some useful information after being tangled up with Che Kong for such a long time. At the very least, he had faintly detected the direction where his opponent drew more Black Ink Strength from.
By tracing this trail, he soon found Che Kong’s Black Ink Nest.
Che Kong was lucky earlier as he wasn’t affected one bit after Yang Kai destroyed three out of more than 20 or so remaining Black Ink Nests. Now that his Black Ink Nest had been found though, it seemed that he had run out of luck.
While roaring, Che Kong charged towards the Royal City in an attempt to stop Yang Kai.
Nevertheless, it was too late. For a Master of the Dao of Space like Yang Kai, he could move across hundreds of thousands of kilometres in the blink of an eye, so regardless of how fast Che Kong was, it would take him at least a few breaths to reach his enemy. He was unable to stop Yang Kai.
Yang Kai raised his hand as World Force swirled around his palm. The next moment, he pushed his palm out.
Under the influence of an immense force, the Black Ink Nest trembled before being ground to paste. All the Black Ink Strength within the Black Ink Nest formed into a gigantic Black Ink Cloud, shadowing a large area of the Royal City.
With the previous experience where the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest wasn’t completely shattered, Yang Kai realized that his move at that time wasn’t ruthless enough; therefore, he made sure to completely vaporize this Black Ink Nest, leaving no trace of it behind.
The moment the Black Ink Nest was destroyed, Che Kong’s imposing aura plunged and his figure became sluggish.
The destruction of the Black Ink Nest did not only make him lose the source where he could draw energy from, but it also caused some backlash to him.
Usually, this kind of impact was negligible and it wouldn’t harm him one bit.
However, at this moment, there was a pair of eyes that sensitively caught this momentary weakness.
Right after Yang Kai destroyed the Black Ink Nest and Che Kong’s aura plunged, a figure shot out of Great Evolution Pass and launched an attack. He had been waiting for quite a while.
A ferocious aura locked onto Che Kong and the attack from behind was like an ominous wind from Hell, causing him to nearly jump out of his skin.
It was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master!
At this critical moment, an Eighth-Order Master launched a sneak attack on him.
[Is it one of the Eighth-Order Masters who was staying in Great Evolution Pass?] Che Kong was unable to figure it out. He chased after Yang Kai to Great Evolution Pass twice, and during the second time, he circled around the Pass three times. However, those Eighth-Order Masters didn’t seem to have the intention of making a move even then.
Che Kong had a feeling that they were unable to make a move for some reason. That was why he had the guts to stick so close to Great Evolution Pass. It never crossed his mind that an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would assault him at this moment.
His fury over the destruction of his Black Ink Nest was replaced by extreme fear. At this critical moment, he had to save himself instead of chasing after Yang Kai.
He hurriedly turned around and surged his Black Ink Strength before casting a Secret Technique.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s World Force and the Territory Lord’s Black Ink Strength clashed as their figures trembled. The figure from Great Evolution Pass left just as quick as he came. The moment he came into contact with Che Kong, he was sent flying away and spraying out a mouthful of blood. On the other hand, even though Che Kong was forced backwards, he wasn’t as battered as his opponent.
There was no denying that Che Kong had gained the upper hand during this exchange. Despite the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s majestic attack, he seemed as frail as a piece of paper.
Finally, Che Kong identified the Eighth-Order Master who launched an attack on him.
He was none other than Cha Pu!
The weaker Black Ink Clansmen knew little about the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, but a Territory Lord like Che Kong was well aware of the enemies’ information.
Therefore, he could instantly recognise this Eighth-Order Master. [I see! I’m surprised that it’s him.]
Cha Pu was previously injured when the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple revealed himself. If not for the fact that the Black Ink Disciple’s target was the Old Ancestor, Cha Pu would’ve been killed by the surprise attack.
Despite that, Cha Pu was still badly wounded in that clash. After that, Yang Kai came over in a hurry and saved him before bringing him back to Great Evolution Pass.
In fact, as a veteran Eighth-Order Master, Cha Pu was fairly strong. However, he had lost the ability to fight after being wounded by the Black Ink Disciple. Therefore, he could only recuperate in Great Evolution Pass.
Che Kong had almost forgotten about him.
Who could have thought that a wounded Eighth-Order Master would launch a sneak attack on him at that instant?
That was the reason Cha Pu was easily driven off after being struck, for the Black Ink Disciple had severely wounded him. There was no way he could suppress such a serious injury in such a short time. Although he had made a rash move, the fact that he wasn’t killed by Che Kong’s all-out counter-attack showed the depths of his heritage. Wounded for a second time, Cha Pu was unable to make a second move.
Presently, he was sent flying away towards Great Evolution Pass with a livid expression.
Without hesitation, Che Kong chased after the man.
Although Yang Kai was despicable, Che Kong had realised it was difficult to deal with him after their brief clash. Yang Kai wasn’t powerful in his Human Form, but he could make use of Space Principles and the Great Pass to deal with his opponent. Now that Che Kong’s Black Ink Nest was destroyed, he might not be able to kill him.
On the other hand, Cha Pu was different, for Che Kong had the confidence to kill him.
Ending an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s life was tempting to Che Kong. Since the Black Ink Nests were now all dying, he had to take any chance he could get to weaken the Humans’ collective power.
However, before Che Kong could make a move, a figure appeared in front of him suddenly and almost stood face-to-face with him.
Che Kong widened his eyes in disbelief and roared, “You dare provoke me still?!”
Yang Kai should consider himself lucky that Che Kong didn’t find fault with him. Nevertheless, after he destroyed the Black Ink Nest, he didn’t immediately run away. Instead, he had the nerve to get in Che Kong’s way.
[Does he think I’m a pushover!?]
Che Kong was infuriated. He was one of the most powerful Territory Lords in the Great Evolution Theatre. Even some of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were no match for him. Even though he was no longer able to draw energy from his Black Ink Nest, there was no way a Seventh-Order Human was a match for him.
While roaring, he extended his hand and grasped Yang Kai.
Just as he was ready to exert more force with his hand and squeeze Yang Kai to death, the latter also extended his hands and turned them into Dragon Claws before gripping Che Kong’s shoulders. With a hideous expression, he roared, “Die! Die! Die!”
Every time he cursed at Che Kong, his Divine Sense flared as pure Spiritual Energy burst forth like a tsunami.
Che Kong became rooted to the spot as his facial features warp in agony. He was going through so much pain that he couldn’t stop howling.
Yang Kai wasn’t feeling any better. All his bones cracked as Che Kong tightened his grip; however, he was still laughing like a madman.
Their faces were in such close proximity that they almost came into contact with each other, and both of them appeared deranged. Seeing that, the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass felt a crawling sensation on their scalps.
Despite the distance between them, they could clearly feel the violent fluctuations of Spiritual Energy bursting out of Yang Kai.
At this moment, he was engaging in a Soul battle with Che Kong.
This was a fight without any technique, simply a brutal clash that might lead to mutual destruction. It was dangerous for two Divine Senses to clash as even if one party was stronger, their Soul would inevitably be weakened and damaged by the other party.
If there was serious damage to one’s Soul, that person would become a living corpse.
[He’s putting his life in danger! It’s too brutal!]
All the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass widened their eyes in disbelief. They were shocked by Yang Kai’s savage move that was akin to mutual suicide, fearful of what might happen to him.
On the other hand, Yang Kai was not worried about his safety at all. The higher-ups also knew that he had the Soul Warming Lotus, and with it, there was no need to worry about this kind of damage to his Soul.
However, it was a different story for Che Kong.
He was previously struck by a Soul Rending Thorn, so his Soul had already suffered a serious injury. Now that he was faced with Yang Kai’s all-out Spiritual Energy attack, he started seeing Stars and feeling dizzy.
Back when Yang Kai was in Royal Lord Black Ink Nest Space, he had used 11 Soul Rending Thorns and killed and crippled a lot of Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
Although some of them ultimately survived, they were badly wounded and might not have recovered to this day. This went to show how powerful the Soul Rending Thorns were.
With that said, everyone in the Black Ink Nest Space was a Soul Avatar, which magnified the effectiveness of Soul Rending Thorns.
Although a Soul Rending Thorn was still extremely powerful in the outside world, it wasn’t as fatal as in a Black Ink Nest Space where one lacked a physical body to help protect themselves.
Despite that, Che Kong couldn’t have possibly remained unharmed after getting struck by a Soul Rending Thorn.
However, after Yang Kai cast the Soul Rending Thorn earlier, Che Kong was only momentarily affected and soon regained his composure.
Yang Kai didn’t think the other party was powerful enough to ignore the Soul Rending Thorn’s impact; after all, he had sacrificed quite a bit of his Soul to power that Soul Rending Thorn. Since it was also damaging to him, there was no way it wasn’t harmful to a Territory Lord.
Even though the Soul Rending Thorn wasn’t as effective in the outside world as it was inside the Black Ink Nest Space, it couldn’t be completely ineffective.
The only explanation was that Che Kong had used a Secret Technique to suppress the damage to his Soul.
The Black Ink Clan had suffered a huge setback because of the Soul Rending Thorns a while back, so they must have been vigilant against these strange artifacts now.
Since it was just a suppressed injury, it was easy for Yang Kai to target this weakness.
In the battle against Che Kong earlier, Yang Kai didn’t target his Soul at all. He hadn’t forgotten about it, but instead wanted to numb the other party’s sense of wariness.
When they were circling around Great Evolution Pass earlier, Cha Pu had sent a Divine Sense transmission and said that he could help, but Yang Kai had told him to wait.
Cha Pu was badly wounded, so even if he made a move at that point, it wouldn’t have been impactful.
Only after Yang Kai destroyed Che Kong’s Black Ink Nest would there be an opening for Cha Pu to make a move.
A sneak attack from a heavily wounded Eighth-Order Master might not be enough to kill Che Kong, but what about a series of attacks on his Soul?
At this moment, Yang Kai could clearly feel that Che Kong’s Soul was being shredded.
The Soul of a top Territory Lord was just as powerful as any Eighth-Order Master.
Although Yang Kai’s Soul was essentially on par with an Eighth-Order Master’s, his current actions would only lead to mutually assured death under normal circumstances. No one could gain the upper hand in such a fight.
Nevertheless, it was different now. After their Divine Senses clashed several times, Che Kong was clearly in a disadvantageous position. He kept roaring in pain while his gigantic body trembled.
He could no longer even exert enough force with his hand to hold Yang Kai in place. It was apparent that the damage to his Soul that he had been suppressing finally broke out and the Soul Rending Thorn was madly digging in.
Yang Kai didn’t bother to shake off the other party’s grasp as he just continued to pummel Che Kong with his Spiritual Energy. The invisible force exploded in Che Kong’s head, causing his seven orifices to bleed.
“Just die already!” Yang Kai roared and exerted more force with his Dragon Claws before pulling Che Kong’s arms off, causing blood to spurt out from the fresh wounds.
Che Kong howled and staggered backwards. While his vision had turned blurred, he saw Yang Kai charging towards him and was consumed with fear.
He didn’t panic when the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest was destroyed, but now that his life was at risk, he could no longer keep his cool.
The instant he felt the murderous intent flooding through him, his mind became a mess and he couldn’t summon his strength at all. He turned around and attempted to flee.
The void around Che Kong became viscous all of a sudden as Yang Kai raised his hands and two marks appeared. The powers of Blue and Yellow Crystals were drawn from his Small Universe as they gathered together between his palms and turned into the purest white light.
All the surrounding darkness was driven off.
Before the war began, all of the Seventh-Order Masters had received a certain amount of Evil Purging Divine Spears, including those from Dawn.
However, Yang Kai received none of those.
Evil Purging Divine Spears damaged and killed Black Ink Clansmen with Purifying Light, but Yang Kai was the one who sealed all the Purifying Light inside the Evil Purging Divine Spears, which was why he didn’t need any for himself.
If he wanted to deal with the Black Ink Clan, he could just directly activate Purifying Light.
When he arrived at Blue Sky Pass after escaping from the Black Ink Clan’s territory back then, he had used Purifying Light on a wounded Territory Lord. After that, he had not openly shown the white light in front of any Black Ink Clansmen again for the past several hundred years.
It wasn’t that he did not want to, but that he had been warned not to.
A long time ago, Zhong Liang had told him not to activate Purifying Light in public. At that time, Zhong Liang explained that this power was the best weapon against the Black Ink Clan; however, Yang Kai was still too weak. If this power was revealed too soon, he would surely be targeted by the Black Ink Clan.
Zhong Liang even wanted him to stay in Blue Sky Pass and never enter the battlefield, but Yang Kai soon snuck out of the Great Pass to join the fight.
Now, it seemed that those at the top were already getting prepared for the crusade back then.
Purifying Light was a secret weapon that could catch the Black Ink Clan off guard during the crusade.
Now that the Evil Purging Divine Spears proved to be a great success, Yang Kai no longer needed to hide his ability to use Purifying Light.
The bright light soon engulfed Che Kong. If he were still at the peak of his power, he could have dodged it easily; however, his Soul had been damaged and he couldn’t think straight, so it was too late when he realized he was in danger.
The pure white light cast the darkness away and covered a large area in the void, including Che Kong.
The thick Black Ink Strength seemed to have come across its arch nemesis, and as it clashed with the pure light, it was rapidly vaporized.
On the other hand, Che Kong seemed to be going through the most horrible torture imaginable as he screamed in agony, his facial features contorting uncontrollably.
In the blink of an eye, this powerful Territory Lord looked like a dilapidated house as a large amount of Purifying Light entered his body through his pores and seven orifices and eroded the source of his power.
Che Kong had never expected that he would one day be invaded by a corrosive power just like the Humans had suffered for so long.
This was no different from the Black Ink Strength’s effects on Humans.
While Che Kong’s energy was in a mess, Yang Kai reached him and fiercely thrust his spear through his opponent’s head.
Yang Kai had channelled all his strength into the weapon and, with a clever use of Space Principles, the spear ignored any form of distance and directly penetrated Che Kong’s head.
Yang Kai’s World Force exploded, and before Che Kong could even think about defending himself, his head exploded.
Swinging his spear down, Yang Kai cut the other party’s body in half, finally causing the Territory Lord’s aura to dissipate and vanish. He had managed to kill a Territory Lord.
Moreover, Che Kong wasn’t just any Territory Lord, he was one of the most powerful Territory Lords. The Territory Lord that Yang Kai and Bai Yi had joined forces to kill all those years back wasn’t even comparable.
Blood mist spread out as thick Black Ink Strength exploded and turned into a sea of darkness. The undulations were more violent than when Yang Kai destroyed those Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests.
However, the sea of darkness was soon wiped away by the Purifying Light.
The bright light contracted soon after and left Yang Kai standing in the void all on his own with the spear in hand. His entire figure was soaked in blood and his murderous intent still hadn’t subsided.
All the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass stared intently at him.
They had watched the life-and-death battle from start to finish, and although Yang Kai had made use of Great Evolution Pass’ power and Cha Pu had made a move to shock the enemy, Yang Kai still pulled off a stunning feat by killing a powerful Territory Lord despite being just a Seventh-Order Master.
There was never such a brave and fearless Black Ink Clansman. Only the Humans could succeed at defeating enemies stronger than themselves in one-on-one battles.
All the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass broke into a fit of cheers and even more attacks soon sent out to the rest of the battlefield.
“Che Kong is dead…”
Initially, Yang Kai wanted to loudly announce Che Kong’s death to boost the Humans’ morale, but right after Che Kong’s demise, an even more powerful aura swelled up like a final blaze of glory.
Following that, the Royal Lord roared, “You think you’ve won just by killing this King? The Human Race will forever be our slaves! That day will surely come! Black Ink Eternal!”
On the battlefield, both the Humans and the Black Ink Clansmen turned to look at the source of the voice.
In fact, they couldn’t see anything because the battlefield was too chaotic, especially in the region where Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and Mo Zhao had fought. The moment these eyes turned to look at the battle, all they could see was an endless region of darkness explode all of a sudden.
At the same time, the Royal Lord’s aura vanished.
Mo Zhao was dead!
It wasn’t the first time the Humans managed to kill a Royal Lord in history, but Mo Zhao’s death had a profound impact on the Great Evolution Theatre. It meant the end of an era, and the arrival of another.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shot out from the cloud of darkness, and despite her petite figure, she appeared incredibly imposing against the weltering darkness.
There were blood stains on her clothes, and her face was slightly pale.
Although she had successfully killed the Royal Lord, she was also wounded. When the Royal Lord was still able to draw energy from his Black Ink Nest in the beginning, they could be considered equally matched.
The reason she could kill Mo Zhao so quickly was that his Black Ink Nest had been smashed.
Mo Zhao was badly wounded to begin with, and without his Black Ink Nest’s support, his strength instantly plummeted.
Even in such a condition though, he couldn’t be considered a weakling. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao couldn’t kill him without suffering wounds in the process.
However, she didn’t have time to recuperate at this moment. After killing Mo Zhao, she headed straight towards the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
She had not forgotten that there was still a powerful foe on the battlefield. Only by killing him could the Humans seize victory in this war. If such an enemy managed to flee, there wouldn’t be any peaceful days for the Great Evolution Army.
The Black Ink Disciple was initially bogged down by six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters; however, after a prolonged fight, only five of them remained as one had been killed.
The fallen Eighth-Order Division Commander had already been seriously injured to begin with, so when the Royal Lord was in a perilous situation earlier, the Black Ink Disciple flared up in an attempt to save Mo Zhao. It was that Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who sacrificed his life to stop him from leaving the fight.
Although the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple managed to kill the Eighth-Order Division Commander, the latter’s sacrifice bought enough time for the other five to re-engage.
After such a long time, the Black Ink Disciple and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were all exhausted and wounded. With five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters joining forces, it wasn’t easy for the Black Ink Disciple to break through their siege.
That was why the deadlock persisted.
Nevertheless, the instant Mo Zhao passed away, this Black Ink Disciple knew he was doomed.
He had just broken through recently, so he was certainly not Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s match. Although the Old Ancestor was wounded and exhausted, he wasn’t in any better shape.
Therefore, the moment Mo Zhao fell, this Black Ink Disciple grit his teeth as a red light radiated from him and his Blood Essence surged.
He started burning his own Blood Essence and the ferocity with which he wielded his sword increased sharply.
All five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were taken aback; however, one of them charged forward instead of backing down. A red light also shone from his body as it seemed that he was determined to make the enemy remain even at the cost of his life.
The Black Ink Disciple wasn’t the only one who could burn his Blood Essence. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could also do that.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao knew that they couldn’t let this Black Ink Disciple flee, and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were also aware of that.
However, there was a huge price to pay to stop a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple who was determined to flee.
Although five of them had joined forces, four of them retreated at this moment while the remaining one dashed forward.
Those who backed down sported sorrowful expressions.
As the sword light subsided, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master lost his life.
“Bastard!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao roared. The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple killed an Eighth-Order Master right in front of her, so she had a good reason to be enraged.
From a distance, she pushed out her palm and struck the Black Ink Disciple’s back, causing him to cough up blood.
At the same time, the surviving four Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters surged their World Force and charged towards the enemy.
As the Secret Techniques landed, the Black Ink Disciple was tossed about like a rag before exploding into pieces.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were startled for a moment, but before they could celebrate their victory, the pieces of flesh all turned into sword waves and penetrated their defence before gathering together in a place that was several hundred thousand kilometres away.
In the blink of an eye, the sword waves condensed into the Black Ink Disciple’s figure; however, his aura was much weaker than before, and his face was pale.
“Gathering Ten Thousand Sword Body!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao sported a solemn expression as she directly identified the Black Ink Disciple’s Secret Technique.
Great Evolution Paradise was destroyed 30,000 years ago, but just like any of the 72 Paradises, they had their unique Secret Techniques.
Gathering Ten Thousand Sword Body was one such technique. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might not be aware of it, but Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was someone who had lived long enough to witness what had happened back then. Certainly, she knew of this Secret Technique.
Even in the Cave Heavens and Paradises, not everyone was allowed to cultivate this kind of Secret Techniques. Only the brightest talents with exceptional aptitudes were able to comprehend and master them.
Since this Black Ink Disciple was able to master Gathering Ten Thousand Sword Body, it showed that he had an outstanding aptitude. If not, he wouldn’t have ascended to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm after being corrupted by Black Ink Strength.
Gathering Ten Thousand Sword Body was an extremely powerful Secret Technique and it was rumoured that when a person had fully mastered it, they could transform themselves into 10,000 Swords Waves and slash out at the world around them.
The reason the Black Ink Disciple had used this Secret Technique, however, wasn’t to kill, but to escape.
Mo Zhao was killed, so Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was able to deal with him now. If he did not escape, he would certainly perish as well.
After his figure took shape, the Black Ink Disciple turned into a sword light and madly broke through the battlefield with his indestructible Sword Qi. Wherever the sword light went, the powerless Human soldiers directly exploded into blood mists. Even Warships were cut in half by the sword light.
Although Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao gave chase, she was unable to catch up quickly.
As time passed, the Black Ink Disciple’s lead would surely shrink and the Old Ancestor would be able to pin him down, but for the moment, he was unstoppable.
“Dodge him!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao ordered.
However, the Humans in the way might not be able to run away.
The next instant, the colour drained from Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s face as she roared, “I’ll let you off if you spare his life! But if you dare to kill him, I’ll hunt you down and rip you to pieces slowly no matter how long it takes!”
Right after the Old Ancestor shouted, Yang Kai, who was still ecstatic over having just killed Che Kong, felt his skin tightening and a crawling sensation on his scalp.
At this moment, he was planning to lend the Old Turtles a hand.
With the help of their custom Warship’s power, the Old Turtle Squad had trapped a Territory Lord. It wasn’t clear what was going on inside the barrier, but Yang Kai was still worried.
If the Territory Lord was pushed into a corner, the Old Turtles might not survive.
Nevertheless, before he could move, Yang Kai felt a ferocious aura locking onto him. The owner of the aura was so powerful that even Che Kong paled in comparison.
It was the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple!
Yang Kai had never expected that the Black Ink Disciple would charge towards him after breaking the siege, and judging from the Black Ink Disciple’s actions, it was apparent that this was an intentional move.
The battlefield was vast, and there were still a lot of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who were tangled up in battles against the Territory Lords. If this Black Ink Disciple wanted to kill some Eighth-Order Masters at this point, he could easily do so.
Nonetheless, he didn’t target any of the Eighth-Order Masters and instead set his sights on the Seventh-Order Human named Yang Kai.
Certainly, Yang Kai wouldn’t believe that the other party wasn’t doing this intentionally.
Had the Purifying Light caught his attention? The Black Ink Disciple must have realised that Yang Kai was the source of the Purifying Light.
Therefore, even though he was currently running for his life, he was still determined to end Yang Kai’s life.
The moment the Black Ink Disciple heard Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shouting at him from afar, he hesitated for a moment, but soon he became determined and flew at Yang Kai with even greater speed.
The Old Ancestor’s action suggested that his judgement was right; this Seventh-Order brat must be important to the Human Race.
This kind of chance was hard to come by, so he had to contribute by killing Yang Kai.
Seeing this, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was infuriated and hastened her pace. However, the Black Ink Disciple had turned into a sword light so he temporarily had the advantage in speed. The Old Ancestor was unable to catch up in time, so she shouted at Yang Kai, “Run!”
In the closest battle against a Territory Lord to Yang Kai, an Eighth-Order Master had gained the upper hand after a prolonged struggle. The Territory Lord kept coughing up blood and was almost powerless to counterattack.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had the confidence to kill this Territory Lord within an incense stick.
However, at this moment, he directly gave up the Military Merits he would soon acquire and darted towards Yang Kai without feeling concerned that he was facing away from the Territory Lord.
Fortunately, the Territory Lord just wanted to run for his life after escaping from death’s door and didn’t have the intention to launch an attack.
On this chaotic battlefield, a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s murderous intent was raging while an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master tried to come to the rescue.
Yang Kai slowly put away his Azure Dragon Spear. When he was targeted by the Black Ink Disciple’s aura earlier, he was flustered at first, but at this moment, he had regained his composure.
He didn’t intend to run away.
Since he had been locked onto by the Black Ink Disciple’s aura, there was no way he could use Instantaneous Movement as the moment he manipulated Space Principles, the other party could disturb the Void and force him to remain.
It was unrealistic to rely on the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to save him either. Even though he was nearest to Yang Kai and he had immediately come to the rescue, he wasn’t as fast as the Black Ink Disciple. The Black Ink Disciple would most likely kill Yang Kai before the Eighth-Order Division Commander arrived.
In such a critical situation, Yang Kai could only save himself.
The average Seventh-Order Master would be doomed if he was targeted by such an enemy; however, Yang Kai believed that he could survive. After all, he possessed a powerful Dragon Vein, so his body was much sturdier than the average Seventh-Order Human.
The other party might not achieve his goal if he underestimated Yang Kai.
Seeing that Yang Kai didn’t move away, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao widened her eyes. With that said, she knew that Yang Kai probably wasn’t able to escape, so she could only quicken her speed. For that reason, she even started burning her Blood Essence so that she could intercept the Black Ink Disciple before he made a move.
The Black Ink Disciple had clearly detected the Old Ancestor’s aura surge from behind, but he remained unfazed. The bright sword light left a trail in the void as he crossed a million kilometres in the blink of an eye. His speed wasn’t any slower than Yang Kai’s Instantaneous Movement.
Although Yang Kai didn’t seem to move a muscle at all, he activated his Dragon Vein the instant he felt the sword light prickling his skin.
His Dragon Vein undulated in his body like a surging ocean as thick Dragon Scales appeared and covered his entire figure, including his face.
He was ready to use his Ancient Dragon Form to fend off the attack.
By doing so, his defence would be much stronger than in his Human Form. The other party wasn’t at their peak, so he might not be able to kill Yang Kai with one slash.
As long as Yang Kai could survive the initial hit, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao could intercept the Black Ink Disciple and kill him.
Just as Yang Kai was preparing to transform into an Ancient Dragon, his eyes flashed all of a sudden. He gave up on his original plan and slowly pushed out his fist.
The attack was slow and seemingly light. Even a three-year-old kid could dodge such a blow with ease, but the instant he extended his fist, Space Principles undulated violently together with his World Force.
Cow Punch!
If the other party was a Royal Lord, Yang Kai might not have had any way to fight back; however, since this person was a Black Ink Disciple, he didn’t mind giving him an unpleasant surprise.
Since he developed his Cow Punch Secret Technique, it had helped Yang Kai against many opponents in higher realms, allowing him to defeat enemies who were much stronger than he was. When he was still a Sixth-Order Master back then, he was able to deal with Blood Crow in the Shattered Heaven. Outside of Great Evolution Pass a while back, he was even able to defeat an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple. It was all thanks to his Cow Punch Secret Technique.
Although Cow Punch was incredibly effective, it had a serious constraint. It would take Yang Kai a long time to trace the other party’s aura back to its source, and the length of time was uncertain, depending on the integrity of the enemy’s Small Universe. If their Small Universe was sturdy and well-guarded, Yang Kai would probably die before he had a chance to use this Secret Technique.
With that said, he hadn’t come across an opponent with a Small Universe who could make him unable to use Cow Punch so far.
Regardless of how robust an Open Heaven Realm Master’s Small Universe was, they had to draw out World Force in order to attack, defend, or even move. For that reason, Yang Kai would always have a chance to trace the opponent’s power back to its source.
When the Black Ink Disciple made a move just now, Yang Kai instantly realised he was able to trace the opponent’s World Force back to his Small Universe with ease.
This came as a shock to him and was the reason he gave up on his original plan and decided to use Cow Punch instead.
He wasn’t sure if this Secret Technique was effective on a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, but he wasn’t willing to just wait for death or bet everything on not dying to the other party’s attack.
It wouldn’t have mattered if there wasn’t a chance, but since the chance had presented itself, he had to fight back even if he might lose his life. Since time immemorial, countless Humans on the Black Ink Battlefield had sacrificed their lives to prevent the 3,000 Worlds from being destroyed.
That was also the reason Yang Kai didn’t immediately turn into an Ancient Dragon. Although his defence would be stronger being an Ancient Dragon, it would be harder for him to use his Cow Punch.
Only in his familiar Human Form could he fully unleash this Secret Technique’s power.
The next instant, Yang Kai’s entire figure shook as all his Dragon Scales fell apart and half of his body turned numb. Following that, he felt a sharp pain in his Knowledge Sea. At the same time, his Small Universe was cut across by an immense force.
A huge crack instantly appeared above the sky in his Small Universe.
At that instant, Yang Kai’s body, Soul, and Small Universe were struck at the same time.
There was no denying that the Black Ink Disciple’s attack was horrifying.
Yang Kai really felt like he was dying. His mind was a mess, his vision had turned dark, and he couldn’t even support his own weight.
He was no longer able to perceive the outside world or even his Small Universe’s condition.
This was a terrible feeling he had gone through before.
He couldn’t help but recall the moment when his body was destroyed by Great Demon God Mo Sheng back in the Star Boundary.
That was the exact feeling that he was going through at that moment.
Yang Kai was ‘killed’ in the final battle against the Great Demon God Mo Sheng. It was thanks to the Immortal Tree that he was able to rebuild his body and return from the dead.
If he was killed this time though, there wouldn’t be another Immortal Tree for him to refine. He would be gone for good.
Right after he sent out his Cow Punch Secret Technique, the sword light that had slashed across him started shaking violently, as though it had been struck by an immense force. Following that, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple separated from the sword light and collapsed.
At this moment, he sported a horrified expression. His World Force and his Black Ink Strength had become incredibly unstable.
Even the sarcomas on his body started swelling and exploded, causing the black pus to scatter everywhere.
His robust restorative power quickly healed the sarcomas, but they soon exploded again, creating a kind of gruesome cycle.
The Black Ink Disciple seemed to be going through excruciating pain.
A dark illusory phantom of his Small Universe appeared behind the Black Ink Disciple. As someone in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, there was no denying that his Small Universe was vast and magnificent. His ample World Force suggested that he indeed had the heritage of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm; however, his Small Universe seemed to be in chaos right now.
The entire Small Universe seemed to be enduring a violent storm and on the verge of collapse, with the balance of the Seven Elements in a complete mess.
Seeing that, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, who was rushing over to save Yang Kai, became startled.
The Humans and the Black Ink Clansmen around them were perplexed as well.
Soon, the cycle of the Five Elements in the Black Ink Disciple’s Small Universe broke with Yin and Yang descending into chaos.
“No!” The sarcomas on the Black Ink Disciple’s body continued to explode and his expression twisted in disbelief and despair. He couldn’t believe that instead of being killed by the Old Ancestor, or even an Eighth-Order powerhouse, his life was ended by a mere Seventh-Order brat’s punch.
If he knew this would be the outcome, he wouldn’t have sent himself to Hell. If he had run away the moment Mo Zhao passed away, he would have stood a chance to escape.
He blamed himself for being too greedy as he wanted to kill Yang Kai before he left.
While he roared in agony, the illusory phantom behind him could no longer remain stable. The entire Small Universe looked like a weathered shack with holes in the walls and roof out of which his abundant World Force and rich Black Ink Strength leaked.
As his strength dissipated and his aura plunged rapidly. In the blink of an eye, his aura dropped to the Eighth Order. Following that, he plunged to the Seventh Order, and then he was dead.
This person had made use of Black Ink Strength to break through his own innate limits and ascend to the Ninth Order; therefore, his Small Universe couldn’t actually bear Ninth-Order might. Once punctured, his Small Universe could not maintain integrity which caused his aura to drop to the Seventh Order before the extreme stress finally caused a complete collapse.
The Black Ink Disciple’s face withered all of a sudden, and his originally black hair turned grey. As a violent force swept across him, all his hair fell off.
His body dried up, and all his vitality faded. He was originally a powerful Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, but he had turned into a desiccated corpse in a short moment.
His dead body was not even able to bear Seventh-Order World Force and under the eyes of the Humans and the Black Ink Clansmen alike, he exploded into dust.
The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple could not be more dead.
A tremendous force swept across the place as Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao swiftly arrived in front of the dazed Yang Kai. She waved her hand and fended off all the repercussions for him.
The Eighth-Order Division Commander, who was ready to assist, was still dumbstruck, unable to believe his eyes. [What did I just see? Did Yang Kai casually throw out his fist and kill a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple?]
Although the person was a Black Ink Disciple, he was still a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, not a First-Order or Second-Order one.
Even if the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had been the target of such a Master instead, he wouldn’t have been able to counterattack. How did Yang Kai, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, achieve this?
Was it because the Black Ink Disciple was on his last legs? It didn’t seem like that was the case as his imposing attack earlier suggested that he still had the strength to fight.
Although the Black Ink Disciple was clearly badly wounded, no one could underestimate his power, so how did Yang Kai manage to kill him?
Unable to figure out the reason behind it, this Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master fell into a daze.
On the other hand, after giving it some thought, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao soon realised what had happened. In fact, she too was astonished to see Yang Kai killing a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with just a light punch. Nevertheless, she soon understood the whole chain of events.
Previously, the Black Ink Disciple made a move to kill some Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters following Mo Zhao’s order. Unfortunately, the Humans already had some arrangements. Five Eighth-Order Masters appeared from their hiding place and joined forces with an injured Eighth-Order Division Commander to engage in a life-and-death battle with the Black Ink Disciple.
During the intense battle, the Black Ink Disciple managed to kill an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and after Mo Zhao’s death, he killed another one while attempting to flee.
In other words, two Eighth-Order Masters had lost their lives because of him.
Despite just breaking through to the Ninth Order, this Black Ink Disciple was able to fight with six Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters on his own and even killed two of them in a short time, which went to show how powerful he was.
With that said, he had to pay a huge price for these results and was badly wounded during the fight.
The second Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who passed away had even burned his Blood Essence to stop him from fleeing. Even though the Black Ink Disciple killed him on the spot, he was still held down for a moment, which gave Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao a chance to hit him with her palm strike from a distance, causing him to spit blood.
That palm strike wasn’t just an ordinary attack though; it was a Secret Technique that targeted an enemy’s Small Universe.
All the Cave Heavens and Paradises had at least one such Secret Technique that had varying degrees of effect. The fundamental source of an Open Heaven Realm Master’s power was their Small Universe, so these sorts of Secret Techniques were extremely powerful. If one’s Small Universe wasn’t sturdy enough, it would most likely be shaken if hit by such a technique, not to mention it was Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao who had acted this time.
This kind of Secret Technique was useless on Mo Zhao as the Black Ink Clan physiology was different from that of Humans. They didn’t have Small Universes, so the Secret Technique was harmless to them.
However, when dealing with a Black Ink Disciple, this type of Secret Technique was especially lethal.
The Old Ancestor’s attack had caused the Black Ink Disciple’s Small Universe to descend into chaos and brought it to the brink of collapse.
While running away, the Black Ink Disciple made a move to attack Yang Kai with his sword light, but it never crossed his mind that Yang Kai would seize the chance and use his Cow Punch.
It could be said that without the Old Ancestor’s attack which broke holes in the Black Ink Disciple’s Small Universe, Yang Kai couldn’t have immediately found an opening to strike at.
It was thanks to the Old Ancestor’s attack from afar that the Black Ink Disciple’s Small Universe was exposed.
Yang Kai had developed Cow Punch based on his mastery over the Dao of Space and it was the very pinnacle of Secret Techniques that targeted an enemy’s Small Universe, superior to any technique the Cave Heavens and Paradises possessed.
His all-out attack was just enough to be the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Of course, it also had something to do with the fact that the other party was a Black Ink Disciple.
If the other party had been a true Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, with a firm and robust Small Universe, Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to kill him even if he managed to land his Cow Punch.
It could be said that many reasons and coincidences came together to allow a Seventh-Order Master like Yang Kai to kill a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
However, at this moment, Yang Kai didn’t even know what he had done. His mind was still a mess, and the Sword Qi was still eating away at his body and Soul.
It was only a while later that the Sword Qi was dispersed from his Soul, allowing Yang Kai to regain his senses, though his head was in so much pain that he felt like he was dying.
At the most critical moment, the Soul Warming Lotus had once again saved him from certain death.
All of a sudden, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was heard announcing, “Yang Kai has killed the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple! The Black Ink Clan is destined to die!”
It wasn’t that the Old Ancestor wanted to give him credit by proclaiming his contribution at this point, she just wanted to shatter what remained of the Black Ink Clan’s morale.
Mo Zhao and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple were dead, so the Black Ink Clan was leaderless and unable to resist the Humans any longer.
After Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao made the announcement, she tossed Yang Kai at the Eighth-Order Division Commander and ordered, “Send him back to the Pass.”
The next instant, she charged towards the Old Turtles.
The Old Turtle Squad had sealed off a large area of void through their Warship’s unique Arrays, but given the Old Ancestor’s eyesight, she could clearly see the situation within.
At this moment, 10 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters from the Old Turtles were locked in an intense battle with a Territory Lord with support from the rest of their Squad, but all of them were injured. Of course, the Territory Lord wasn’t in good shape either.
It had come to a point where there was no turning back for both parties, unless the Old Turtles were willing to open up the barrier.
Since they had no idea what was going on in the outside world, they wouldn’t dare to open up the barrier. There were bound to be some people who would lose their lives soon.
The moment Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao arrived, she extended her hands and tore the barrier apart. As her World Force surged, she condensed a giant hand from it and grasped the Territory Lord before clenching her fist.
All of the wounded Territory Lord’s bones were crushed in an instant, leaving him more than half-dead.
Having done enough, the Old Ancestor tossed the barely breathing Territory Lord to the Old Turtles before flying towards her next target.
Now that both the Royal Lord and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple were dead, there was no one capable of matching her on the battlefield. It was the best time for her to deal the death blow to the remaining Black Ink Clansmen.
Chai Fang and his Squad members were going all out and were prepared to sacrifice themselves to kill the Territory Lord when their opponent was suddenly crippled by the Old Ancestor. After a moment of astonishment, they broke into a state of ecstasy, “The Old Ancestor is peerless! The Old Ancestor is the most powerful!”
All the Old Turtle Squad members started cheering as their morale soared.
Since the Old Ancestor had arrived to lend them a hand, it was apparent that the Royal Lord was dead. Previously, they had been tangled up in a battle with the Territory Lord within the barrier, so they were unaware of what was going on in the outside world.
While they were shouting, Chai Fang pushed out his fist and smashed the Territory Lord to pieces. The opponent’s vitality soon dissipated. He was really dead now.
Chai Fang guffawed, for he had also killed a Territory Lord now.
He had been envious of Yang Kai who had killed Territory Lords before; however, being less powerful, he was unable to replicate this feat. Therefore, he was ecstatic about having his wish granted now.
Although it was largely thanks to the Old Ancestor’s help, he was the one who dealt the final blow.
All the Old Turtles were elated as well.
On the other hand, Yang Kai was still in a dazed state. First of all, he had become sluggish after he was badly wounded. Secondly, he was astounded by the Old Ancestor’s words earlier.
He silently digested it and turned to look at the Eighth-Order Master, who had been supporting his weight and bringing him to Great Evolution Pass, “Old Liu, what did the Old Ancestor say just now?”
He suspected that he had misheard it. Was he really the one who killed the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple?
There were only several dozen Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in Great Evolution Pass, so Yang Kai could recognise all of them. Therefore, he was grateful that this Eighth-Order Master had immediately tried to come to his rescue earlier, even though the latter didn’t manage to arrive in time.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master surnamed Liu smiled, “Don’t you know what you did?”
Yang Kai thought that he certainly knew that, but he had no idea what happened after he pushed out his fist. He thought he was dead, so it surprised him that he had survived; moreover, he was astounded by the Old Ancestor’s words.
Both nervous and expectant, he asked, “Old Liu, did I really kill the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple?”
Old Liu chuckled, “It’s a lot of Military Merits. Why would the Old Ancestor joke about it? Yes, you killed the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with a punch!”
Yang Kai gulped, [I’ve killed someone in the Ninth Order with a punch!?]
Even though the Ninth-Order Master was a Black Ink Disciple and severely wounded, he was still an extremely powerful being.
Yang Kai still couldn’t believe that he had ended the life of someone in the Ninth Order.
Since his arrival at the Black Ink Battlefield, he had killed quite a number of Territory Lords; however, he didn’t even have the qualifications to stand before Masters like the Royal Lords or a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. But now, he had managed to kill an enemy in the Ninth Order.
Yang Kai grinned as he wanted to guffaw, but his action irritated his wounds, especially the one on his abdomen which was caused by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. Golden Blood spurt from various places all over his body.
Old Liu took a look at the sword wound and said, “Recuperate with peace of mind when you go back to Great Evolution Pass. It might be difficult to treat your wound.”
After all, it was an attack from someone in the Ninth Order. At this moment, there was a big cut that ran from Yang Kai’s shoulder to his abdomen. His flesh had rolled up, which revealed the golden bones in his body.
Horrifying Sword Qi still lingered around the cut and eroded his flesh.
Despite having incredible restorative abilities as a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon, this wound wouldn’t just heal by itself like most others.
Beyond just the visible wound, there were a lot of hidden injuries as well. In fact, Old Liu was surprised that Yang Kai had survived the attack at all.
As they spoke, they arrived at Great Evolution Pass. The barrier opened up, and Old Liu set him down on the wall as the soldiers in the Pass watched them with admiration and respect. Old Liu said with a smile, “Get some rest and watch us kill all those bastards.”
Young people like Yang Kai had done a lot, so the older generation couldn’t fall behind on the battlefield.
After finishing his words, Old Liu returned to the fight.
Yang Kai didn’t protest. In fact, he had lost all combat strength now and would only be a burden if he insisted on returning to the battlefield.
It was a shame that he was unable to fight until the end of the war, but the joy of killing a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple soothed his dejectedness.
Noticing the admiring stares around him, Yang Kai wore a faint smile while warning himself to be low-profile instead of showing off. It was pure luck he was able to kill the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, not a result of his own hard work and effort. Nevertheless, he could hardly contain his excitement.
Soon, Yang Kai managed to figure out how the Black Ink Disciple died. The Black Ink Disciple really could only blame himself for being unlucky. He had made the wrong decision by targeting Yang Kai instead of just fleeing. In fact, he would have dealt significant damage had he just set his eyes on the Eighth-Order Masters instead.
Then, Yang Kai turned to look at the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master beside him and smiled modestly. After a nod, he called out, “Senior Cha.”
The person seated beside him was none other than Cha Pu.
When the Division Commander saw Yang Kai’s expression, the corners of his brow twitched as he muttered, “Just laugh to your heart’s content if you want.”
While Yang Kai was still drowned in the joy of killing a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, this Division Commander was understandably frustrated.
This couldn’t be helped, as he had hardly participated in this final battle.
As a veteran Eighth-Order Master, he should have been charging around the battlefield and slaughtering the enemy instead of nursing his wounds inside Great Evolution Pass.
However, there was nothing he could do. Just like Yang Kai, he had lost the strength to fight.
Previously, when the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters simultaneously used the Evil Purging Divine Spears, he had done the same. However, he didn’t manage to achieve anything because his opponent was the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
At that time, Cha Pu thought that the other party was unusually powerful as the latter was able to dodge the Evil Purging Divine Spear, but he didn’t read too much into it. It wasn’t until the other party revealed his Ninth-Order aura that Cha Pu realised why he felt a sense of incongruity.
Fortunately, the Black Ink Disciple’s target was the Old Ancestor, so the moment he flared up, his attack was aimed at the Old Ancestor. Despite that, Cha Pu was still wounded and almost lost his life.
It was thanks to Yang Kai who arrived just in time and saved him from the calamity before sending him back to Great Evolution Pass that he was still alive.
After that, to launch a sneak attack on Che Kong, Cha Pu forcefully suppressed his injuries and made a move. Unfortunately, this exasperated his wounds and he was forced to withdraw. After the enemy was killed by Yang Kai, Cha Pu could only drag himself back to Great Evolution Pass and recuperate.
In other words, he hadn’t killed a single Territory Lord in the entire battle.
He was one of the most powerful and experienced Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had made tremendous contributions in the previous wars; however, things just didn’t go well for him this time.
It wouldn’t have mattered if there was no comparison, but after Yang Kai made such huge contributions, it was expected that Cha Pu was frustrated. He would rather have been killed on the battlefield than been forced to sit idly here and watch.
“Senior Cha…”
“Don’t!”
Yang Kai was rendered speechless.
It seemed that Cha Pu was in a terrible mood. Yang Kai initially wanted to ask him about his injury, but he could only keep his mouth shut now.
Yang Kai then turned his head and saw that the Black Ink Clansmen were thoroughly routed now. All the Territory Lords and Feudal Lords were running for their lives and wherever the Old Ancestor went, she slaughtered all the enemies around her. Even the Territory Lords were dying at a steady rate.
There was no doubt that the Humans had won the war.
The Old Ancestor was basically peerless as there were no more powerful enemies on the battlefield. None of the Territory Lords could survive once she set her eyes on them and within just a few breaths, she had managed to kill five of them.
The Human Race was victorious!
Now, they just had to mop up the rest. There were still about 300,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers, including a number of Territory Lords and Feudal Lords. Hence, it wouldn’t be easy to wipe them all out and it was likely that some of them would manage to flee.
It was difficult for the Humans to chase after them. After such a prolonged fight, while many Black Ink Clansmen had lost their lives, the Humans had suffered immense losses as well. Those who survived were all soaked in blood and thoroughly exhausted.
Now, the Humans could only seize the chance to kill as many enemies as possible.
Yang Kai saw Dawn, the Profound Wind Squad, several powerful Army Commanders, and a lot of other familiar faces.
However, Huang Si Niang was nowhere to be found. The Territory Lord who had dealt with her was missing as well. It wasn’t certain if he had been killed or had run away.
[Was her Soul Clone destroyed?]
Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel apologetic. In order to shake off the Territory Lord a while ago, he summoned Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone using her feather. However, the Soul Clone’s power was only equivalent to a peak Seventh-Order Master. She had done a great job holding that Territory Lord back, but it was expected that her Soul Clone would not have survived.
Yang Kai wondered if the destruction of the Soul Clone would have any impact on Huang Si Niang’s true body. It seemed he would have to head to the No-Return Pass and apologise to her when the dust settled.
After letting out a breath, he set himself at ease. It had taken the Humans a lot of effort to come to this point.
Countless millennia had passed with the Humans enduring hardship all this time, devising plans and seeking an opportunity to act. Today, they finally managed to completely uproot the Black Ink Clan from an entire Theatre.
After this great war, everything should come to an end on the Black Ink Battlefield. The soldiers from the Great Passes could return to the 3,000 Worlds. None of them had returned to their homes for far too long. Perhaps many of them had even forgotten about what the 3,000 Worlds looked like.
After pulling himself together, Yang Kai started examining himself. There was a big cut that ran from his shoulder to his abdomen. Sword Qi was seen swirling around the horrifying wound.
His Soul had been damaged as well. To kill Che Kong, Yang Kai clashed with the other party using his Divine Sense and injured himself. After that, the Black Ink Disciple’s slash exacerbated the injury in his Soul.
His Small Universe was affected as well. Upon examination, Yang Kai realised there was a terrifying crack above the sky in his Small Universe.
Yang Kai was horrified at the sight.
One had to know that there was a World Tree clone, which was more powerful than the Four Universe Pillars, in his Small Universe. With the World Tree clone’s protection, his Small Universe had always remained impenetrable with even attacks from Territory Lords not being able to shake it.
If not for the fact that he felt assured with the World Tree clone in possession, he wouldn’t have dared to raise so many living creatures in his Small Universe.
Nevertheless, one attack from the Black Ink Disciple left a gash running across the entire length of his Small Universe, manifesting itself as a huge crack in the sky. It went to show how devastating that slash was.
Yang Kai reckoned that if not for the World Tree clone’s presence, his Small Universe would have been cleaved in two.
The enemy’s slash injured Yang Kai’s body, Soul, and Small Universe all at once.
The average cultivator would have died after suffering such an attack. Even an Eighth-Order Master would have been doomed.
However, this kind of injury didn’t really matter to Yang Kai.
There was no denying that his body was horribly wounded, but as long as he could get rid of the Sword Qi gnashing at his flesh, his Dragon Vein would eventually restore the rest of the damage.
As for his Soul, Yang Kai didn’t even bother thinking about it, for the Soul Warming Lotus was already beginning to ease his pain and mend the damage.
As for the huge crack in the Small Universe, it was already closing slowly.
The World Tree clone was extremely powerful. The reason Yang Kai’s Small Universe was broken was that he wasn’t strong enough; there was no problem with the clone.
With the clone’s presence, it was just a matter of time before the crack healed.
It could be said that these injuries, which would be fatal to any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, didn’t matter to Yang Kai.
After he was done with the examination, he realised that he just had to get rid of the Sword Qi and the damage would heal on its own.
Then, he gave it a try and became dejected, for he realised that he was unable to get rid of the powerful Sword Qi on his own.
Now, he couldn’t even restore his body. Left with no choice, he could only wait for the Old Ancestor’s return so he could ask for her help.
At the thought of this, Yang Kai stopped trying and just sat on the wall and watched the unfolding battle.
Noticing his movement, Cha Pu turned around and saw Yang Kai looking all battered. His flesh had rolled up, and his Golden Blood continued to leak out of his wound. However, he still stared fixedly at the battlefield as though he was just bored.
Cha Pu felt speechless as he wondered why this Brat was still in the mood to watch the fight instead of recuperating.
A dilapidated Warship moved across the battlefield and entered Great Evolution Pass. A figure jumped out of the Warship and directly landed on the wall. Then, he brusquely sat down beside Yang Kai and panted.
He looked just as battered as Yang Kai.
However, he flashed a smile at Yang Kai and teased, “You look terrible, Brother Yang. Are you alright?”
Despite his caring tone, Yang Kai could see the smugness behind his gaze.
After giving it some thought, Yang Kai soon realised why the other party behaved in such a way, so he replied with a smile, “I’m fine. The injury doesn’t matter. You look badly wounded as well, so you’d better focus on recuperating now, Brother Chai.”
The person was none other than Chai Fang, Squad Leader of the Old Turtles.
The Warship that had returned from the battlefield belonged to the Old Turtle Squad.
The Old Turtles’ Warship was extremely robust, and all the members had specially cultivated defensive Secret Techniques. Usually, they had enough stamina to last for the entire war.
However, in order to hold down a Territory Lord previously, they activated a powerful barrier on the Warship and entrapped the enemy. In that area of sealed void, they engaged in a life-and-death battle with the Territory Lord.
By the time that battle ended, the Old Turtles had suffered immense damage. Their Warship was almost destroyed, so they had no choice but to leave the battlefield.
In fact, many Human soldiers had retreated from the battlefield as they were no longer able to fight. If they insisted on staying on the battlefield, they wouldn’t be useful at all and instead would be a burden.
Even though Chai Fang was severely wounded, he was energetic. Hearing Yang Kai’s words, he waved his hand, “I’m fine. This kind of injury doesn’t matter.”
Perhaps his movement had irritated his wounds though, so blood started leaking out of his wounds again. As a result, his face turned pale and his aura weakened.
Yang Kai and Cha Pu glanced at him, speechless.
Chai Fang coughed and hurriedly activated his power to seal the wounds. Pretending to be nonchalant, he remarked, “The Territory Lord was indeed powerful. It’s hard to heal these wounds, so I guess it’ll take me a long time to recuperate.”
While Yang Kai remained silent, Cha Pu didn’t bother to respond to him.
Chai Fang went on to say, “There were originally around 80 Territory Lords in Great Evolution Theatre, but after this war, only a small number of them will be able to escape alive. I hope the Old Ancestor and the others can kill them all. If any one of them survives, it will be troublesome for us in the future.”
Yang Kai grunted, “You have a point.”
Chai Fang added, “However, the Eighth-Order Division Commanders have to be careful when chasing after them. Even though the Territory Lords are less powerful than our Eighth-Order Masters, they’re not easy to deal with. This Chai’s Squad suffered tremendous losses this time.” He sighed.
Cha Pu was annoyed at the fact that Chai Fang kept mentioning the Territory Lords, so he glared at him and snapped, “What do you want to say?”
Chai Fang was rendered speechless. The reason he came all the way here despite being injured was that he wanted to hear some compliments; however, Yang Kai and Cha Pu were like two logs and they didn’t even bother with him.
Therefore, he decided to stop beating around the bush. He winked at Yang Kai and asked, “Did you see me killing a Territory Lord earlier, Brother Yang?”
Cha Pu was growing increasingly frustrated at the fact that Chai Fang was so blatantly fishing for compliments.
He knew that there was a reason why this brat came all the way here to have a chat with them instead of recuperating. [So, he’s trying to show off here!]
Of course, it couldn’t really be considered bragging. As a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he had indeed pulled off a magnificent feat by killing a Territory Lord. Although it was the Old Ancestor who had crippled the Territory Lord at the end, Chai Fang was the one who delivered the killing blow.
Usually, Cha Pu would’ve praised him and given him some words of encouragement. Nevertheless, he was in a terrible mood, so he couldn’t bear to see anyone bragging in front of him and directly said, “Yang Kai also killed a Territory Lord. A guy named Che Kong.”
An unfazed Chai Fang batted his eyes, “Isn’t it normal that he managed to kill a Territory Lord? It’s not like it’s the first time he did so.”
All the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass knew that Yang Kai was an anomaly whose power couldn’t be gauged by his Order.
Chai Fang didn’t intend to compare himself with Yang Kai. The fact that Yang Kai had killed a Territory Lord wouldn’t water down his joy of pulling off the same feat.
Cha Pu let out a grumble. He wasn’t willing to shatter the other party’s confidence, but he was upset at how smug Chai Fang looked, so in a muffled voice, he said, “He also killed the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with one punch.”
Hearing that, Chai Fang widened his eyes in disbelief and dazedly stared at Cha Pu as though he was trying to find out if the other party was pulling his leg.
Chai Fang wasn’t aware of this fact. When the Royal Lord and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple were killed, he and the rest of the Old Turtles were still battling against the Territory Lord in a sealed space, so he had no idea about what was going on in the outside world.
It wasn’t until the Old Ancestor made a move and injured the Territory Lord that Chai Fang seized the chance to kill the enemy. Only then did the sealed space fully open up.
Cha Pu ignored him as he didn’t bother to explain anything. Regardless of whether Chai Fang believed him or not, there were a lot of eyewitnesses to prove his claim.
It was then that Chai Fang turned to look at Yang Kai and gulped, “Brother Yang, did you… did you really kill the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple?”
The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s aura could no longer be felt on the battlefield, so Chai Fang thought that the Old Ancestor had killed him. If Cha Pu wasn’t lying though, the truth of the matter was far more shocking.
Yang Kai smiled modestly, “I was just lucky. The Old Ancestor had already brought him up to the gates of death, all I did was push him in.”
Since Yang Kai had acknowledged it, there was no denying it was indeed the truth. He wouldn’t have taken the credit if he hadn’t made such a contribution.
Chai Fang fell into a dazed state. Was it possible that Yang Kai had killed a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with a punch?
Even though Yang Kai was indeed an outlier and the Black Ink Disciple had been wounded by the Old Ancestor, the enemy was still a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Chai Fang placed his hand on his forehead as he felt dizzy all of a sudden.
Beside him, Cha Pu snorted. Chai Fang shouldn’t have bragged about his achievement in front of Yang Kai, it was the epitome of showing off meagre skill before a Master.
With that said, he understood Chai Fang’s feelings. It wasn’t news anymore that Yang Kai had killed quite a number of Territory Lords despite being a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so it was pointless for him to brag about such achievements. It seemed that Chai Fang just wanted to get Yang Kai to acknowledge his win this time.
However, this usually tremendous contribution paled when compared to the fact that Yang Kai had managed to punch a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple to death.
All of a sudden, Chai Fang turned to look at Cha Pu and asked caringly, “You’re badly wounded as well, Senior Cha. How many Territory Lords did you kill?”
He didn’t intend to irritate Cha Pu, it was simply meant to be a random question.
However, the moment these words were spoken, Cha Pu’s eyes went bloodshot as he landed a kick on the braggart and yelled, “Scram!”
An unsuspecting Chai Fang was sent flying away. While in mid-air, he groaned in pain as blood spurted from his wounds.
Yang Kai almost failed to stifle his laughter.
Cha Pu glowered at him before straightening up and turning around.
[Damn it! I can’t stay in this place anymore! These little brats are just too full of themselves! Both of them had killed Territory Lords and Yang Boy even executed a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple! As an Eighth-Order Master, I haven’t made any contributions so far! I can’t let this stand!]
The next moment, he roared and charged towards the battlefield despite being injured while Yang Kai watched him leave in shock.
…
While it was peaceful in Great Evolution Pass, the chaos on the battlefield didn’t last long.
After Mo Zhao and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple were killed, all the Black Ink Clansmen knew that the war was lost. The Humans would soon occupy the entire Great Evolution Theatre.
The surviving Territory Lords and Feudal Lords all attempted to run for their lives.
Nevertheless, the Eighth-Order Masters and the surviving Squads would never let them go. The battlefield, which was already vast to begin with, rapidly expanded.
Within just one hour, the void around the Royal City and Great Evolution Pass was cleared out. Only debris from Warships and the corpses of the Humans and Black Ink Clansmen floated about, an illustration of how brutal the war had been.
It would take the Human Masters some time to hunt down the remaining Black Ink Clansmen, so the matter couldn’t be resolved quickly.
Yang Kai had been recuperating on the wall for the past two days, and while the injuries to his Soul and Small Universe were on the mend, his flesh wounds had exacerbated instead of getting better because of the Black Ink Disciple’s Sword Qi.
This didn’t really bother him as he had a Dragon Vein, so although he wasn’t in peak condition, there were no powerful Black Ink Clansmen left, so he wasn’t required to fight.
Gradually, more and more Squads returned. Despite being soaked in blood, they all appeared energetic. It was apparent that they had made a lot of contributions.
When Yang Kai regained some strength two days later, he flew out towards the original battlefield and wandered around the wreckage and corpses. Soon, he found a dim-looking feather which belonged to Huang Si Niang.
As he examined the feather, he let out a sigh.
Just like what he had expected, Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone had been destroyed as this feather had lost all spirituality. The feather now looked tattered and had almost broken in half.
The power of Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone was equivalent to a peak Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Although she could exert more power than others in the same relative Realm as a Divine Spirit, this was just a Soul Clone after all. Holding back a Territory Lord was already the best she could achieve.
Yang Kai had no idea what happened to the Territory Lord who dealt with her Soul Clone as, at that time, he was focused on fighting with Che Kong, so he couldn’t pay attention to other things.
After Che Kong was killed, Mo Zhao was subsequently felled. Following that, Yang Kai was attacked by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, so he didn’t have time to find out what happened to the Soul Clone.
Now, the Black Ink Clan had lost the war and the Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestors had left to hunt down the surviving enemies. Even if those Territory Lords had survived for now, their fate was essentially sealed.
Yang Kai stored the feather and decided that he would pass it back to Huang Si Niang when he visited the No-Return Pass in the future.
He wondered if she would reprimand him. The Soul Clone hadn’t stayed with him for long before he summoned it to fight an enemy it couldn’t hope to defeat. It indeed wasn’t righteous of him to do so.
As he recalled Huang Si Niang’s temperament, he knew that he would inevitably be given a harsh lecture.
As some returned to Great Evolution Pass, others departed.
The ones leaving had initially remained in Great Evolution Pass to make use of the emplacements on the walls. Now that the Black Ink Clan had fled from the local battlefield, they no longer had to remain here. Therefore, many drove their Warships out to hunt down the enemies, leaving only several hundred people behind to guard the Great Pass.
Great Evolution Pass still needed to be guarded, so it wasn’t like all of them could just leave. After all, many people were still recuperating in the Inner Sanctum.
Many people also silently moved around the battlefield and collected the corpses of their fallen Brothers and Sisters.
Many of the Human soldiers who died in the war didn’t even leave behind a corpse, so it could be said that other than their names on the Monument of Heroes, there was nothing left to remember them by.
It was because of these Humans who were willing to sacrifice their lives that the survivors were finally able to occupy the entire Great Evolution Theatre.
The Humans had won this war, and the victory belonged to all the soldiers who had made contributions on the Black Ink Battlefield.
Yang Kai composed himself before sweeping a glance over this vast battlefield and letting out a sigh.
He hoped that there would be no more war on the Black Ink Battlefield after this, and the 3,000 Worlds would finally be able to enjoy eternal peace.
After wandering around the battlefield for a while, Yang Kai arrived somewhere near the Royal City.
The Royal City had been around for several hundreds of thousands of years. It could be said to be the foundation of the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre. But now, the Universe World where the Royal City was located had shattered, and the city itself was ruined.
The gigantic Black Ink Nests had either fallen to the ground or been destroyed. Only a small number of them were intact.
There wasn’t a hint of vitality in the Universe World where the Royal City was located.
The Black Ink Clan had lost the war, and those who had survived were running for their lives now. The large Royal City was completely empty and desolate.
Yang Kai didn’t even spare a glance at those surviving Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests and instead headed straight to the High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
He initially thought he had smashed this Black Ink Nest with his strike, but the truth was that it wasn’t completely destroyed.
That was because there were still some remaining Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. If the High-Rank Black Ink Nest had been completely destroyed, these Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests would have withered as well.
Once the higher rank Black Ink Nest was destroyed, the lower rank Black Ink Nests would die as a chain reaction.
Although the High-Rank Black Ink Nest had collapsed to the floor, it was still a magnificent sight to behold.
Yang Kai stared silently at the damaged Black Ink Nest for a while. As an idea flashed across his mind, he stepped forward. Soon, he found the entrance and entered.
Following that, he could feel an immense force surging within the flesh walls of the Black Ink Nest. It was imaginable that the Royal Lord must have stored a huge amount of power in this Black Ink Nest so that he could draw energy from it at any moment while dealing with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
If not for the fact that Yang Kai had damaged this Black Ink Nest, it wouldn’t have been so easy for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to kill the Royal Lord.
Now, the power stored in this Black Ink Nest was no longer useful. Since the Royal Lord was dead, who else could make use of it?
It certainly was useless to the Humans.
[How wasteful!] Yang Kai thought. He wondered how many resources had the Black Ink Clan wasted to build up the energy reserves in this place. Those resources could have greatly benefited the Human soldiers.
Since the Black Ink Nest had collapsed, it wasn’t easy to move around the passageways as many places had been blocked. With that said, it took Yang Kai little effort to clear the way forward.
Soon, he arrived at the Black Ink Pool.
The internal structures of all Black Ink Nests were similar, the only real difference being their size. Yang Kai had seen the Black Ink Pools of Low-Rank and Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, but in comparison, the Black Ink Pool within this High-Rank Black Ink Nest was undoubtedly larger.
If a Black Ink Pool inside the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest was like a puddle, then a Black Ink Pool inside a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest was like a pond. On the other hand, the Black Ink Pool inside the High-Rank Black Ink Nest was like a lake.
Black Ink Strength could be felt surging in the Black Ink Pool.
Many sarcomas that nurtured new Black Ink Clansmen were squirming on the flesh walls, like they would hatch at any moment.
Yang Kai wasn’t bothered at all. Even if these Black Ink Clansmen were born, they would be extremely weak and pose no threat to the Humans. Any Open Heaven Realm Master could easily kill them.
He wanted to look for the Black Ink Nest’s centre and make use of it to find out what was going on in other Theatres.
The Humans had routed the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre, but no one knew what was going on in the other Theatres. Although the Humans had made a lot of preparations for this final battle and the Evil Purging Divine Spears were finally revealed, the battlefield was an ever-changing environment. Before there was any verified news, no one could guarantee the Humans had gained the upper hand on every battlefield.
Certainly, there was transmission of information between the Great Passes, but that was the communication between the Humans.
Yang Kai wanted to find out what the Black Ink Clansmen were talking about so that he could have a clearer picture of the situations in the different Theatres.
Perhaps he could gather some useful information by making use of the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest.
At this moment, he was glad that he never decided to completely destroy the Black Ink Nest during the battle; otherwise, he wouldn’t have such an opportunity now.
Soon, he found the Black Ink Nest’s centre. As the Black Ink Strength undulated, Yang Kai selected a spot and sat down with his legs crossed.
Although he had entered the Spaces of Low-Rank and Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests on several occasions, it was the first time he had done such a thing in a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
In fact, there wasn’t any difference. He just had to open his Small Universe and let the Black Ink Nest absorb his World Force. With the World Force as a bridge, he could connect to the Black Ink Nest’s consciousness.
The next instant, Yang Kai found himself inside a huge space.
He didn’t reveal his Soul Avatar. He was a Human after all, so his Soul Avatar would be quite conspicuous. In this place where everyone was a Black Ink Clansman, his identity might be exposed.
At this moment, his consciousness looked like a kind of cloud. This type of form wasn’t peculiar as many Black Ink Clansmen existed in similar shapes in the space that connected the Black Ink Nests.
The instant Yang Kai entered this space, he felt the chaotic fluctuations of Divine Senses all around him. At the same time, he could read a lot of messages.
“The Humans have gone all out this time! They have developed an artifact that emits a very pure light that can restrict Black Ink Strength. The Territory Lords under Mo Bu Royal Lord have suffered immense losses.”
“We need help in the Xuan Yuan Theatre. Many of the soldiers are dead. Can any Royal Lord lend us assistance?”
“The Humans have arrived at the Royal City. We might lose it at this rate…”
“The Humans have gone mad! They’ve even driven their Great Pass to this place. The Azure Nether Theatre is at risk of falling…”
…..
As the Divine Senses communicated in this space, they revealed the fact that the Black Ink Clan was in a state of despair. Most of the Divine Senses were flustered and it was apparent that the Black Ink Clan were in perilous situations in various different Theatres. Numerous Royal Cities even seemed to be on the verge of destruction.
Only a small number of Divine Senses remained calm and collected; however, affected by the atmosphere, they still appeared a little uneasy.
The Humans had launched an all-out crusade this time. There were over 100 Great Passes in an equal number of Theatres. Several million Human soldiers had made a move, so there was no turning back.
The Humans’ stance was clear; they would either win this war or die trying.
With the help of the Great Passes and the Evil Purging Divine Spears, and coupled with the advantage they had accumulated over the past several hundred years, the Humans marched forward in these Theatres and rendered the Black Ink Clan powerless to counterattack.
The Evil Purging Divine Spears had been widely employed, causing a large number of Feudal Lords and Territory Lords to lose their lives. Without the Feudal Lords and the Territory Lords to take charge, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could let loose. As long as they managed to gain the upper hand on the battlefield, they could assist the Old Ancestors and join forces to deal with other Territory Lords. They could also try to destroy the High-Rank Black Ink Nests to cripple the enemy forces.
On the battlefield, one party could gain the upper hand by achieving a breakthrough, and the Humans had found a way to do that.
Therefore, the Black Ink Clan was in danger in every Theatre. In the weaker Theatres, the Royal Cities were on the brink of being occupied, so they had no choice but to ask for help.
However, at this point, none of the Theatres could lend a hand to other places, for they couldn’t even save themselves.
Even if they still had the power to offer help, it was unrealistic to do so as there was a long distance between the Theatres.
These pieces of bad news were like music to Yang Kai’s ears. Even though there was some transmission of information between the Great Passes and the higher-ups in Great Evolution Theatre must be aware of what was going on in the other Theatres, such information was still restricted for now.
Therefore, when Yang Kai found out about such information in this Black Ink Nest Space, he was thrilled.
The Humans were on the winning side!
These flustered Divine Senses continued to share distressing news in this space that connected the Black Ink Nests, filling the atmosphere with a sense of despair.
Yang Kai was secretly pleased. The Black Ink Clan had suppressed the Humans for millennia and repeatedly invaded their Great Passes. Now, they finally had a taste of their own medicine. It seemed that the Humans were bound for victory.
However, there was no news of any Royal City being conquered or any Royal Lord being killed so far.
It seemed that the progress in Great Evolution Theatre was the quickest.
It wasn’t hard to figure out the reasons behind this. When the Great Evolution Army re-took Great Evolution Pass 200 years ago, they had managed to significantly weaken the Black Ink Clan. To achieve that goal, they had lost almost 40% of their forces.
At that time, many Territory Lords had lost their lives, and even the Royal Lord was severely wounded.
200 years had passed, but the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre still hadn’t restored their foundation when the Humans arrived with Great Evolution Pass and launched an all-out assault.
In such a situation, it was only natural that the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre would be the first to fall.
Although the progress was slower in other Theatres, it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to win. Everything depended on their own powers to make contributions that were similar to those in Great Evolution Theatre.
Yang Kai wondered how these Black Ink Clansmen would react if he shouted that Mo Zhao was dead at this point.
While he was pondering on this though, he suddenly noticed something and shifted his attention to another place in the vast space.
When he entered this space earlier, he was drawn to those chaotic Divine Senses, so he never paid attention to the silent side. As he looked intently now, an odd feeling rose within him.
There were more than 20 Soul Avatars that remained completely silent over there. They were not flustered or worried at all. These 20-plus Soul Avatars were so quiet that it was as though they were sleeping, a stark contrast to the Soul Avatars who were actively exchanging information with their Divine Senses.
It was because of their silence that Yang Kai didn’t immediately notice them.
This Black Ink Nest Space seemed to have been divided into two parts.
On one side, there were these anxious Soul Avatars who were spreading information and asking for help. On the other hand, there were those eerily silent Soul Avatars.
The moment Yang Kai noticed them, he felt his chest tightening as a feeling of incongruity rose within him.
The next instant, he realised why he had this feeling all of a sudden; the number wasn’t right.
There were 108 Cave Heavens and Paradises in total. Every Cave Heaven or Paradise corresponded to a Theatre.
However, the actual number was fewer than that because the Dragon Clan’s Dragon Pool and the Phoenix Clan’s Phoenix Nest had occupied two places that belonged within the Cave Heavens.
Meanwhile, the two Clans stayed in the No-Return Pass.
In other words, there should be 106 Theatres on the Black Ink Battlefield.
Although Yang Kai hadn’t counted, he believed that there were over a hundred Soul Avatars, whose Divine Senses were communicating with each other, that had gathered together.
Since these Soul Avatars were able to enter this space, it meant that they had made use of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest in the respective Theatres.
The number of the Soul Avatars and the number of Theatres should have matched; however, what about these extra 20 or so Soul Avatars? Where were they from?
Yang Kai initially thought that those Soul Avatars came from some other Theatres. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had told him that not every Theatre only had one Old Ancestor and one Royal Lord.
In some Theatres, there was more than one Old Ancestor and Royal Lord. If there were two or three Royal Lords in a given Theatre, then it was reasonable that there were more than 20 extra Soul Avatars here.
However, the moment he realised how formidable those Soul Avatars were, he knew something was amiss.
Despite being restrained, those silent Soul Avatars were extremely powerful. Even Yang Kai was no match for them.
Although he was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, his Soul was equivalent to that of an Eighth-Order Master’s. Other than the Old Ancestors, only the Royal Lords were more powerful than he was when it came to their Souls.
These more than 20 Soul Avatars belonged to Royal Lords!
Yang Kai was shocked, [Why are there so many Royal Lords here?]
This was quite unusual. One had to know that the Humans had launched attacks on all the Royal Cities with their Great Passes, so the Royal Lords definitely had to take command of the war. Perhaps they also had to fight with the Old Ancestors, so why would they even have time to let their Soul Avatars sit idly here?
It might be understandable if there were just one to two of them, but there were over 20 Royal Lords here now.
With the intense battle against the Humans raging, even a single Territory Lord was indispensable on the battlefield, let alone a Royal Lord. There was no way they would just sit back and do nothing in their Black Ink Nests.
On the other hand, those over 100 flustered Soul Avatars were not powerful. All of them were just Feudal Lords, which was considered normal.
[What’s going on?] Yang Kai was unable to figure it out.
Regardless, he didn’t have time to ponder on it as he must have alerted those Royal Lords, causing a Divine Sense to probe him.
Faced with immense pressure, Yang Kai’s Soul Avatar trembled and almost dissipated. He still hadn’t recovered from the injury caused by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, so he was unable to bear such a forceful impact. Fortunately, he pulled his Soul together at the most critical moment.
There was a new message in his Divine Sense, “Which Theatre are you from?”
It was apparently a question from the other party.
Without hesitation, Yang Kai replied, “I’m from Great Evolution Theatre, Sir.”
“What is the situation in Great Evolution Theatre?”
Yang Kai lied to him by saying, “The situation is dire. Sir Royal Lord is locked in a life-and-death battle with the Human Old Ancestor, but he’s in a disadvantageous position. We need assistance right away.”
As soon as Yang Kai finished speaking, the other party was startled for a moment before asking doubtfully, “Isn’t Mo Zhao supposed to be dead?”
[Damn it!] Yang Kai felt his chest tightening. Only then did he realise the information in Great Evolution Theatre must have already spread through this space.
After giving it some thought, he realised it wasn’t so surprising. So many Divine Senses from different Theatres had gathered together in this space and were constantly communicating with one another. One of them had to have been from Great Evolution Theatre.
It was pretty violent and showy when Mo Zhao was killed, so the Black Ink Clansmen in the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest at that time must be able to detect it.
“A Territory Lord? No! You’re a Human!” The Divine Sense suddenly realised Yang Kai’s identity. The next instant, a tremendous force surged in this space.
In fact, Yang Kai was ready to leave the moment the other party’s suspicion was aroused because of what he had said. Since the other party realised he was a Human, he definitely couldn’t stay in this space any longer.
Yang Kai successfully left the space the moment the power of the other party’s Divine Sense burst forth, so he was only lightly impacted.
Even so, he still felt an excruciating pain in his head when he regained his senses. It seemed that his Soul had been damaged.
His Soul still hadn’t recovered from the injury caused by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple when he was attacked by another Royal Lord. If not for the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection, he would have lost his life by now.
Ignoring his pain, Yang Kai left and shot into the sky in a hurry.
As Space Principles undulated, he arrived at Great Evolution Pass in the blink of an eye and headed straight to the Space Array.
At this moment, it was actually quite busy around the Space Array. Usually, there would only be a few Open Heaven Realm Masters in charge of this place, but there were more than ten of them now.
The light of the Space Array kept flickering, and every time it happened, a jade slip would appear out of thin air, containing reports from another Great Pass.
When Yang Kai arrived, he realised that these Open Heaven Realm Masters appeared thrilled. This couldn’t be helped, as the information they received indicated that the Humans had gained the upper hand in every Theatre. In some of the Theatres, the Royal Cities would be conquered soon.
When a Seventh-Order Master saw Yang Kai rushing over with a worried expression, he quickly greeted him and asked, “What’s wrong, Junior Brother Yang?”
Enduring the excruciating pain, Yang Kai clenched his teeth and replied, “Quickly inform the other Great Passes that apart from the Royal Lords we already know of, there are still over 20 Royal Lords hiding somewhere in the dark. Please tell the Old Ancestors to be on guard!”
Hearing that, the Seventh-Order Master was flabbergasted, “Where did you get the information? Is it accurate?”
Yang Kai explained, “Just now, I entered the High-Rank Black Ink Nest Space and saw over 20 Soul Avatars that belonged to the Royal Lords there. The reason they haven’t participated in the war must be that they’re waiting for a chance to deal a fatal blow to the Old Ancestors.”
On the battlefield, the threat of hidden Royal Lords was lethal.
The reason Great Evolution Pass was lost 30,000 years ago was that Mo Zhao appeared all of a sudden after hiding in the dark all along. When the Old Ancestor from Great Evolution Pass was engaged in battle with the veteran Royal Lord, Mo Zhao suddenly appeared and joined forces with the Royal Lord to kill the Old Ancestor.
Previously, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had wanted to do the same by concealing himself; however, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao became vigilant after receiving a warning from the Snow Wolves Squad before their demise, which was why the Black Ink Disciple failed to achieve his goal.
It could be said that the message sent from the Snow Wolves Squad in their last moments had been critical to the war. If not for their warning, those from Great Evolution Pass wouldn’t have been on guard for a second Royal Lord, and things wouldn’t have gone so smoothly for them.
Just one hidden Royal Lord had caused the loss of Great Evolution Pass 30,000 years ago. Now, there were over 20 such Royal Lords. If the Black Ink Clan managed to achieve their goal, many Old Ancestors would lose their lives.
Once some of the Old Ancestors were dead, the Human soldiers would be in danger.
Therefore, the expressions of these Open Heaven Realm Masters, who were still elated a moment ago, changed drastically when they heard what Yang Kai had said. The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, who spoke to Yang Kai just now, yelled, “Quickly spread this information around!”
Jade slips were soon engraved with such information and sent to the other Great Passes as the light of the Space Array repeatedly flickered.
It wasn’t until one hour later that all 105 jade slips were sent out.
Everyone in the Grand Hall held their breath. They were no longer as joyful as before and the atmosphere had instead turned solemn. They stared fixedly at the Space Array as they were worried that they would receive some bad news.
However, Yang Kai furrowed his brows at this moment.
His head was in pain as his Soul had been struck twice and even his ability to think critically had been affected. When he saw those 20-plus Royal Lords in the Black Ink Nest Space earlier, the first thing that came to his mind was that the Black Ink Clan had plotted an ambush, so he hurriedly returned to Great Evolution Pass and informed everyone about it.
Nevertheless, after the ache in his head calmed down and he was able to think more clearly, he realised that something was off. The truth might be different from his speculation.
Before he could figure out what was wrong though, a powerful aura approached from a distance and hovered above Great Evolution Pass in the blink of an eye.
The aura’s owner didn’t try to conceal herself, so the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass easily detected her presence.
Yang Kai dashed out of the hall and looked up, only to see Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao hovering in the void with her hair flapping in the non-existent wind. Even though her clothes were stained with blood, she still looked high-spirited.
Noticing his stare, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao looked down and nodded at Yang Kai, declaring gently, “We have won.”
[We won the war!]
Behind her brief words were the fierce resistance over the years, the sacrifices of countless lives, and the hard work of the Humans over countless generations.
The Humans had won the war!
They had no idea what was going on in the other Theatres, but at the very least, the Humans in the Great Evolution Theatre were the winners.
The soldiers were all ecstatic upon learning the news.
The Humans who gradually returned from the battlefield also roared euphorically, as though they were trying to vent the vexation accumulated over all the years.
The entire Great Evolution Pass seemed to shake as the soldiers cheered in ecstasy.
Just then, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao disappeared from her spot. A moment later, Great Evolution Pass, which had been rotating slowly, finally stopped.
Inside the Great Pass’ core, the last five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were exhausted beyond words. Their faces were pale, and their auras were unstable.
Just like what Yang Kai had expected, these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were the bare minimum required to keep the core operating. Unless the Old Ancestor took over the core from them, they were unable to leave.
Now that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had returned and given them a hand, they could finally stop letting the core absorb their energy.
The cheers in the Inner Sanctum never stopped.
The next instant, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao appeared in front of Yang Kai and asked, “What happened?”
She immediately noticed there was something off about Yang Kai’s expression when she returned earlier, and it wasn’t because of his injury, so something must have happened.
Yang Kai told her about his discovery in the Black Ink Nest Space and that he had returned in a hurry to ask the ones manning the Hyper Space Array to spread the news to the other Great Passes.
Hearing this, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned, “Do you think those Royal Lords are trying to ambush the other Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “That was what I thought before, but it now seems to me that if they wanted to ambush the Ninth-Order Masters, they should have hidden themselves on the battlefield instead of staying in their Black Ink Nests.”
That was what he found odd about his discovery.
It was pointless for those Royal Lords to stay in their Black Ink Nests. If they wanted to deal with the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the best choice would have been to hide themselves on the battlefield and then strike when they saw an opening.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded in agreement, “You have a point. 20 Royal Lords is a force to be reckoned with. They would be powerful enough to destroy the Human Army in any Theatre with ease, but if they’re not trying to ambush the Ninth-Order Masters, what are they doing in their Black Ink Nests?”
“That’s something I’m unable to figure out.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao couldn’t make sense of the situation either. Yang Kai’s discovery in the Black Ink Nest Space was indeed strange.
A moment later, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao raised her hand and shot a thread of World Force into the void. Soon, that flash exploded and shone brightly.
Yang Kai took a look and speculated that she was trying to gather all the soldiers together.
It had been two or three days since the Human soldiers started hunting down the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen. They had killed all the Black Ink Clansmen that they could kill, so it was pointless to continue chasing after those they were unable to catch.
After Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was done with this, she said, “Let’s wait. Since we’re not intelligent enough, we’ll just wait for Big Head Xiang and Big Head Mi to come back and see what they think of this matter.”
In the Great Evolution Army, Xiang Shan and Mi Jing Lun had the sharpest strategic minds. In such a situation, the best solution would be to wait for their return.
Soon, the Old Ancestor shouted another order, “Prepare the Space Array to send out Eighth-Order Masters to different Theatres so that they can assist as needed.”
“Yes!” All the Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Grand Hall replied at the same time.
Everything was ruined in Great Evolution Pass.
When they launched an attack on the Royal City previously, the Great Pass was faced with a counterattack of unprecedented intensity. Even though the Old Ancestor was in charge of their defence, a lot of cracks still appeared in the shields after the heavy bombardment.
The attacks from the Black Ink Clan rained down on the entire Great Evolution Pass and shattered all the buildings.
Besides the most important places in Great Evolution Pass like the Grand Hall where the Space Array was located, only the Monument of Heroes and the cemetery remained intact.
Although the Humans had won the war, they had paid a huge price.
Two days after Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao sent a signal to gather all the soldiers together, the Humans, who had left to chase after the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen, gradually returned. After the war, all of them were in high spirits.
The courtyard that belonged to the Dawn was a mess, but Yang Kai didn’t bother to clean up and just sat down on the floor and started recuperating.
The damage to his Soul had a huge impact on his ability to think clearly so he still couldn’t make sense of what he had seen in the Black Ink Nest Space.
He felt that he had neglected something.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had helped him resolve the Sword Qi that lingered in his flesh wound and he felt much better after two days of recuperation. As he had a powerful Dragon Vein, such a flesh wound didn’t bother him.
There came a moment when Yang Kai opened his eyes and looked in a particular direction as a group of familiar people came into his sight.
The Dawn Squad members had returned!
However, some people were missing. There were 50 members of Dawn before they set off. Excluding Yang Kai and Feng Ying, who had just ascended to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, there should have been 49 people now.
Nevertheless, only 31 people returned at this moment.
Among the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, only Shen Ao, Yu Zi You, Bai Yi, Blood Crow, and Miao Fei Ping survived. Ning Qi Zhi and Ren Bing Bai were nowhere to be seen. Those who had returned were soaked in blood with varying degrees of injuries.
Yang Kai’s pupils shrank at this sight. He knew it was impossible that all of the Dawn would come back unscathed because it was the final battle in the Great Evolution Theatre. Dawn had to engage a Territory Lord and pin him down, so it was inevitable that some of them would lose their lives. However, when he saw that so many familiar faces were missing, Yang Kai felt a sharp pain in his heart.
Ning Qi Zhi, who was one of the founding members of Dawn, had escaped from death’s door in the previous war, but he couldn’t come back alive this time.
Since the founding of Dawn, they had experienced countless battles, but other than the war in the Royal City two hundred years ago where Qi Tai Chu had lost his life, there had never been any other deaths.
However, some 30% of Dawn’s members were gone for good now.
The fact that the Dawn could always come back unscathed in the previous wars had something to do with Yang Kai. He was far more powerful than cultivators in the same Order, so with him around, the risk that Dawn faced on the battlefield would be minimised.
Before they were even hit with a crisis, it would be resolved by Yang Kai.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t by their side during this war, for he had a more important role to play. He was the one who damaged the High-Rank Black Ink Nest and destroyed the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. He was also the one who killed Che Kong and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.
Without Yang Kai, a pillar of strength in Dawn Squad, their collective power had weakened, and on such a chaotic battlefield, they couldn’t ensure everyone’s safety.
With Shen Ao leading the way, over 30 people stood in front of Yang Kai and cupped their fists. Shen Ao said solemnly, “We’ve returned, Squad Leader. Fortunately, we did not fail our mission. We managed to kill one Territory Lord, 34 Feudal Lords, and about 5,000 mixed Black Ink Clansmen.”
Just like the Territory Lord who fought with the Old Turtles, the one held up by Dawn ended up getting crippled by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. Shen Ao and the others took advantage of that opening to kill him on the spot.
Then, as the Black Ink Clan routed and ran, Dawn pursued them and killed many. It wasn’t until they saw the Old Ancestor’s signal that they returned.
Yang Kai nodded gently, “Many thanks for your hard work. The Human Race has won this war, and peace has come to the Great Evolution Theatre. All of you should get some rest and recuperate.”
“Yes!” All of them responded and sat down in different places to treat their wounds.
None of them mentioned the deceased. It wasn’t that they had forgotten about them, but it was unnecessary to bring it up. All the soldiers on the Black Ink Battlefield were prepared to sacrifice their lives if need be. As they went through repeated wars, they knew that they might lose their lives at any moment.
Death wasn’t something to be afraid of for the Human soldiers, dying without making a difference was.
It was silent in the courtyard as over 30 people recuperated in silence. However, Yang Kai gently let out a sigh. While he had expected it to be a tragic war, it surprised him that so many had lost their lives.
Even a Special Operations Squad like Dawn suffered such immense losses, so what about the ordinary Squads? How many from the Great Evolution Army had survived this war?
The Great Evolution Army was founded over 300 years ago when two groups of soldiers departed from Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass and headed to Great Evolution Pass.
At that time, all of them were equipped with the finest arms and armaments. There were 60,000 soldiers and 120 Eighth-Order Division Commanders in total.
200 years ago, they managed to re-take Great Evolution Pass, but they had suffered tremendous losses. Only some 70 Eighth-Order Masters and 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers remained.
How many of them were still alive now?
Previously on the battlefield, while the auras of the Territory Lords withered, Yang Kai could also detect the deaths of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
There were bound to be casualties in any war, especially when it was a war that would determine the future of the two Races. It was expected that a lot of people would lose their lives.
With that said, all the sacrifices were worth it. Their deaths could be traded for peace in the future. The reason the Humans had been toiling away over the millennia was to ensure that future generations wouldn’t have to trod down the same path.
The survivors could cheer for their victory while the dead would be remembered forever.
Yang Kai emptied his mind and focused on his recovery. It wasn’t until Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao summoned him that he opened his eyes.
The Main Conference Hall had been impacted during the war, and it was nothing but ruins now, so a temporary one had been put up on the same spot.
When Yang Kai arrived, the four Army Commanders had gathered together in the hall, with the Old Ancestor present as well.
Among the four Army Commanders, Xiang Shan and Mi Jing Lun didn’t seem to be injured at all. On the other hand, Liu Zhi Ping’s face was pale and her aura was unstable. It was apparent that she was wounded.
Ou Yang Lie was the most severely wounded among them. He must have gotten into a fierce battle with the Territory Lords as his head had clearly been smashed in. Yang Kai could even see several cuts on his forehead and some cracks on his skull.
It could be said that he was just a step away from being killed.
As Yang Kai looked at his injury, he was secretly astounded, thinking that this Army Commander was really too reckless.
Noticing his stare, Ou Yang Lie glared at him and snorted, “I killed two Territory Lords, so some degree of injury is inevitable.”
Yang Kai didn’t know what to say as he saluted all of them.
Mi Jing Lun cut to the chase, asking, “Did you enter the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest?”
Yang Kai nodded, “I was curious, so I decided to find out what the Black Ink Clan’s reaction in the other Theatres was. I was surprised to discover something else.”
Xiang Shan ordered, “Tell us what you saw in detail.”
Yang Kai quickly narrated his experience in the Black Ink Nest Space.
Upon hearing his story, all of them exchanged solemn glances.
Liu Zhi Ping frowned, “You said there were over 120 Soul Avatars that had gathered together in that Black Ink Nest Space?”
“Yes.”
Each Royal Lord Black Ink Nest corresponded to a Soul Avatar. In other words, there were at least over 120 High-Rank Black Ink Nests spread across the entire Black Ink Battlefield.
“Do you think they’re trying to ambush the Old Ancestors?”
Yang Kai frowned, “That was the first thought that came to my mind, but after giving it some consideration, I realised that shouldn’t be the case. If they wanted to ambush the Old Ancestors, they should have hidden themselves on the battlefield instead of staying in their Black Ink Nests.”
He had told Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao the same thing before, but he still couldn’t figure out why things had been that way.
“The Humans from all the different Theatres began the crusade at the same time. When we clashed with the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre, wars had also broken out in the other Theatres. Regardless of which Theatres the 20 Royal Lords you saw were hiding in, they shouldn’t have just loitered about in their Black Ink Nests even if they didn’t hide themselves on the battlefield. What are they trying to achieve?” Mi Jing Lun scowled. Even though he was quick-witted, he was unable to see through this strange incident.
He didn’t ask if Yang Kai was mistaken, for the latter couldn’t be so negligent when it came to such an important matter.
Moreover, Yang Kai’s Soul cultivation was basically on par with an Eighth-Order Master’s. If he could have made such a basic error in observation inside the Black Ink Nest Space, his cultivation over the years would have been in vain.
Therefore, they didn’t doubt Yang Kai’s statement. What they were unable to figure out was the intention of those over 20 Royal Lords and their whereabouts.
Furthermore, were there only 20 additional Royal Lords? That was the number of Royal Lords that Yang Kai could detect, but was that really all? Could there be even more Royal Lords hiding in the dark?
Xiang Shan was unable to make sense of the situation as well.
Just then, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao spoke up, “Regardless, we’ve shared this piece of information with the other Great Passes, so the Ninth-Order Masters will keep their guard up. Even if those Royal Lords really want to launch a sneak attack, they might not achieve their goal.”
All of them nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Xiang Shan turned to Yang Kai, “What else did you see in the Black Ink Nest Space?”
Yang Kai shook his head, “There was nothing else that was worth my attention. The Soul Avatars of those Royal Lords were silent, so they were different from the rest of the Soul Avatars that belonged to the Feudal Lords…”
As he spoke, he furrowed his brows all of a sudden. While trying to recall what he had seen, he sported an awkward expression, “Now that you’ve mentioned it, I realise that the Royal Lords’ reaction was also odd.”
“What do you mean by that?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked.
“The Souls of those over 100 or so Feudal Lords corresponded to the various Theatres they were in, and the numbers matched. The Territory Lords would have all needed to fight, so only Feudal Lords could be stationed in the Black Ink Nests. It was apparent that they were flustered while communicating with one another.”
That was understandable, for the crusade came as a surprise to the Black Ink Clan, and the Humans had even sailed their Great Passes to the Royal Cities. Furthermore, they had developed lethal weapons such as the Evil Purging Divine Spears. The Black Ink Clan had suffered immense losses in different Theatres after being caught off guard, so it was expected that they were flustered. At that time, many Feudal Lords were trying to seek help from other Theatres; however, the Humans had gone all out for the crusade, and wars broke out in all the Theatres. It was pointless for the Black Ink Clan to ask for help.
“Compared to those anxious Feudal Lords, those Royal Lords were unusually calm. It almost felt as though they were just watching a show.”
After two days of recuperation, the damage to Yang Kai’s Soul had healed to a certain degree, which allowed him to think more clearly. As he went through the details he didn’t pay attention to at that time, he found some clues.
“It was like they were watching a show?” Mi Jing Lun was astounded.
“Yes.” Yang Kai nodded solemnly, “It was like the war between the two Races had nothing to do with them. If I hadn’t examined them out of curiosity, they wouldn’t have shifted their attention to me.”
At that time, he felt that something was off, so he examined the place where the Royal Lords had come together. It was at that moment when he caught the attention of one of the Royal Lords.
His Eighth-Order Divine Sense exposed his identity. Before he even entered the Black Ink Nest Space, the fact that Mo Zhao was killed had been spread among the Black Ink Clan. If he hadn’t run away as soon as possible, he would’ve been more severely injured if not killed.
Xiang Shan and the others fell silent, for they were unable to figure out the Black Ink Clan’s intention after hearing what Yang Kai had said. Regardless, this piece of information had been shared with the other Great Passes, so the Ninth-Order Masters were on guard. Even if those hidden Royal Lords really intended to ambush the Old Ancestors, it would be hard for them to succeed now.
It was unrealistic to let Yang Kai enter the Black Ink Nest Space again as his identity had been exposed. If he still entered the space, he would be targeted by those Royal Lords and perhaps he would even lose his life.
After a moment of silence, Yang Kai said, “There was something else that bothered me.”
“What was it?” Xiang Shan asked.
“It’s the Black Ink Nest Space itself!” Yang Kai turned solemn, “From what we’ve gathered, there’s a strict hierarchy between Black Ink Nests. The High-Rank Black Ink Nests give birth to Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, which then give birth to the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests. The consciousness of a High-Rank or Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest can form into a space which serves as a platform for the lower-rank Black Ink Nests to communicate with each other. In that case, what about the space that I entered through the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest? Is it formed from a Black Ink Nest’s consciousness as well? Does that mean that there’s a higher-rank Black Ink Nest above the High-Rank Black Ink Nests?”
As he spoke, he observed the expressions of Xiang Shan and the others. Realising something, he asked, “Do you have a speculation, Seniors?”
He saw that the others remained unfazed. It was apparent that they were not surprised by his hypothesis.
Xiang Shan nodded, “We do have a speculation, but we can’t verify it. We have never gathered enough information about the Black Ink Nests to make a judgement. It was you who entered the Black Ink Clan’s territory and found out some useful information. In fact, we had such a speculation a long time ago. The High-Rank Black Ink Nests can give birth to the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, which can then give birth to Low-Rank Black Ink Nests. Where do the High-Rank Black Ink Nests come from, then? It’s not like they had appeared out of thin air. There has to be a source.”
Mi Jing Lun then said, “The way the Black Ink Clan named the Black Ink Nests is also interesting, and there’s a trail to trace. Since the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests were born from the High-Rank Black Ink Nests, they are the latter’s sub-nests. Similarly, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests are the sub-nests of Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. Since there are sub-nests, shouldn’t there be a Mother Nest? However, the term ‘Mother Nest’ has never been mentioned among the Black Ink Clan; therefore, we have a speculation that the High-Rank Black Ink Nests are also the sub-nests of a Black Ink Nest, which is supposedly the Mother Nest of the Black Ink Clan. It is also the source of everything!”
“The Mother Nest!” Yang Kai arched his brow.
Mi Jing Lun nodded, “However, this is just our speculation and we have no way to verify it. From what you experienced though, we can conclude that there’s indeed some kind of Mother Nest. The space you entered has to be the Mother Nest Space. Only the Mother Nest’s power could connect all the High-Rank Black Ink Nests together.”
Yang Kai fell into his thoughts for a moment, then said, “In that case, could those over 20 Royal Lords be the… Mother Nest’s guards?”
Xiang Shan and Mi Jing Lun exchanged glances before nodding, “That’s possible.”
Since the Mother Nest was the source of the Black Ink Clan, it must be extremely important to them. In that case, there had to be a heavy level of protection around it.
20 plus Royal Lords was a force to be reckoned with, and with such protection, the Mother Nest’s safety could be ensured under most circumstances.
It was a similar case for the Small Stone Race in Yang Kai’s Small Universe. The strongest Small Stone Race members would always stay inside the nests, not leaving unless absolutely necessary.
That explained why the 20 or more Royal Lords didn’t seem concerned about the war between the two Races.
Their job was to protect the Mother Nest, so they would never leave that place. Regardless of how perilous the situation was for the Black Ink Clan’s outer forces, it had nothing to do with them.
“We know too little about the Black Ink Clan, so we don’t know if the truth is just like what we’ve speculated. Regardless, as long as the Human Race wins the war in all the Theatres, we’ll get to the truth.”
It was ironic that even though the Humans had been entangled with the Black Ink Clan for countless aeons and millions had lost their lives on the Black Ink Battlefield, they still knew so little about the Black Ink Clan.
On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan was able to corrupt Open Heaven Realm Masters, so they understood the Humans pretty well.
Everything they had said was giving Ou Yang Lie a headache so he snapped, “Stop worrying too much. If there’s really a Mother Nest, we’ll just find it and smash it. It’s not like a mere 20 Royal Lords is enough to stop us. We have more than 100 Old Ancestors on our side, why should we be afraid of them?”
It was a wonder why he had the confidence to say 20 Royal Lords was not a lot when he was just an Eighth-Order Master.
With that said, he had a point. Even if there was indeed a Mother Nest, they just had to find and destroy it. At the end of the day, they had the power to do so.
During the discussion, a voice reverberated across the entire Great Pass all of a sudden.
“Blue Sky Pass has won! The Royal Lord has been killed! Most of the Territory Lords fell in battle! The Royal City has been ruined!”
“Blue Sky Pass has won! The Royal Lord has been killed! Most of the Territory Lords fell in battle! The Royal City has been ruined!”
“Blue Sky Pass has won! The Royal Lord has been killed! Most of the Territory Lords fell in battle! The Royal City has been ruined!”
…
The person repeatedly made the announcement.
Great Evolution Pass had originally fallen silent, but when they heard the announcement, they started cheering so loudly that the entire Great Pass seemed to be shaking.
Blue Sky Pass had won. The Royal Lord was dead. The Royal City was destroyed. There was no denying it was good news for the Humans.
Even though the dust had settled in the Great Evolution Theatre, the average soldiers knew nothing about the situations in the other Theatres.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who had returned were doing their best to restore their strength so that they could head out to other Great Passes through the Space Array to provide reinforcements.
The victory in Great Evolution Theatre wasn’t much of a surprise as the Black Ink Clan here had basically been defeated 200 years ago and were forced to hide inside their Royal City. They even used thousands of Low-Rank Black Ink Nests to build a defence line made of Black Ink Strength around the Royal City.
Faced with a battered and cowering Black Ink Clan, there was no way Great Evolution Army wouldn’t win given all the advantages they had.
Even though they were surprised by the sudden appearance of a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, it wasn’t enough to turn the situation around.
It could be said that before the crusade started, the Great Evolution Army had the confidence that they would definitely win this war. Although they were ecstatic about the victory, they were not surprised.
However, the news they had just received was different. In addition to the Great Evolution Theatre, the Human Race had conquered another Theatre.
Everyone believed that it was just the beginning. As the war continued to unfold, more and more good news would come from the other Theatres.
The voice had come from the Space Array Hall, and as the announcement was made, a messenger was also coming over in a hurry.
A moment later, a Seventh-Order Master dashed into the Main Hall. He was a member who was responsible for protecting the Space Array. With an excited expression, he said, “Blue Sky Pass has won! The news has been spread to all the Great Passes!”
Xiang Shan laughed, “Give it to me!”
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master stepped forward and respectfully held out a jade slip.
After taking the jade slip, Xiang Shan scanned it with his Divine Sense and smiled brightly.
Mi Jing Lun and the others took turns to read the content in the jade slip, and they were all elated.
The good news from Blue Sky Pass had diminished their worries about the Mother Nest. Furthermore, it was pointless to worry about it now. If the Black Ink Clan really had hidden arrangements, they would be revealed soon enough.
Three days later, more good news arrived.
The same Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s voice reverberated across the entire Great Evolution Pass again, “Yin-Yang Pass has won! They killed 87 Territory Lords and the Black Ink Clan survivors are on the run. The Royal City has been shattered!”
A few days later, there was another piece of good news.
“Azure Void Pass has won! The Old Ancestor single-handedly beheaded the Royal Lord with his sword!”
…
“Wind and Cloud Pass has won!”
“Myriad Demons Pass has won!”
…
Over the next half a month, good news arrived almost every single day. Sometimes, there were two to three announcements in a day. All of the news showed that the Humans had managed to destroy the Black Ink Clan in those Theatres.
Many Royal Lords were killed, and countless Territory Lords had lost their lives in battle, not to mention the Feudal Lords.
Some of the announcements didn’t mention Royal Lords, so it was obvious that the Royal Lords in those Theatres were still alive.
It wasn’t easy to kill a Royal Lord. Over the years, the Old Ancestors in all the Theatres had clashed with the Royal Lords frequently, with both parties repeatedly being wounded after exchanging moves. However, rarely would any Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master or Royal Lord lose their life.
The fact that they were able to kill so many Royal Lords this time was largely thanks to the Evil Purging Divine Spears.
The Old Ancestors were not equipped with Evil Purging Divine Spears because these artifacts were not harmful to the Royal Lords. The Ninth-Order Old Ancestors’ had to depend on their own heritages if they wanted to kill the Royal Lords.
Even though the Old Ancestors didn’t have Evil Purging Divine Spears, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were all given these weapons. The unsuspecting Territory Lords were struck by the spears and became easy targets. Once enough Territory Lords were killed, some of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were able to assist the Old Ancestors.
As long as there were five or six Eighth-Order Masters who fearlessly assisted, the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors would have a chance to kill the Royal Lords.
However, these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might lose their lives during the fight, which was the price they had to pay.
Only good news was mentioned in the announcements, with no details about the casualties on the Humans’ side. Nevertheless, everyone knew that behind the good news were the sacrifices and blood of many Human Race Masters.
It was also apparent to everyone that the Theatres where the wars were won in the shortest time all had something to do with Yang Kai.
Blue Sky Pass, which was the first to share the good news, needed no introduction. Yang Kai had first arrived in Blue Sky Pass and stayed there for centuries until he was transferred to the Great Evolution Army.
It was a similar case for Yin-Yang Pass, which was the second to share the good news. Yang Kai had been to Yin-Yang Pass to carry out an important mission and not only provided them with great assistance but also managed to do serious damage to the Black Ink Clan’s territory.
It was the same case for Myriad Demons Pass. Yang Kai had stayed there for a while to study the two Eye Secret Techniques under the Old Ancestor of Myriad Demons Heaven. He had paid quite a bit of Military Merits for that opportunity.
In these three Theatres, Yang Kai had found the entrances to the Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises outside of those Great Passes, which the Humans then used to set up different traps to slaughter large numbers of Black Ink Clansmen, especially Territory Lords.
It could be said that the Black Ink Clan had suffered immense losses in these three Theatres before the crusade even began. Blue Sky Pass’ forward base was built halfway to the Royal City, and was connected to the Great Pass by a pair of Universe Arrays. If the Humans wanted to attack the Royal City, they could transfer people around with far more convenience than any other Theatre.
As such, it was natural for Blue Sky Theatre to be the second to destroy the Black Ink Clan after their counterparts in the Great Evolution Theatre.
It was also understandable that those from Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass could also pull off similar feats immediately after them.
When the Great Evolution Army was founded some 300 years ago, they initially departed from these two Great Passes. The Great Evolution Army had participated in the wars against the Black Ink Clan in those Theatres before they set out towards Great Evolution Pass.
At that time, there were respectively 60,000 soldiers and more than 200 Eighth-Order Masters in those two Great Passes. During those wars, they managed to deal severe damage to the Black Ink Clan forces and kill a large number of Territory Lords.
It could be said that the Black Ink Clan in the Azure Void Theatre and Wind and Cloud Theatre had suffered immense losses at that time which laid the foundation for their victory today.
More and more good news arrived from the other Great Passes, and of course, Great Evolution Pass wasn’t the only receiver of such good news. The Great Passes would spread the news to other places upon receiving the information.
After Great Evolution Pass won their war a while back, they immediately sent the news to other Great Passes in the vicinity so that they could boost the Human soldiers’ morale. That way, the Human soldiers in the different Theatres would be increasingly assertive.
10 days after the dust settled in Great Evolution Theatre, over 10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters from Great Evolution Pass were deployed to other Theatres where the Humans were in deadlocks with the enemies to provide assistance.
It wasn’t smooth sailing for all the Theatres like in the Great Evolution Theatre. In some of the Theatres, the Black Ink Clan had ample heritage, so it wasn’t easy for the Humans to win the war.
With that said, those leading the Armies had naturally made some arrangements for these Theatres.
They didn’t have to fight with the Black Ink Clan head-on; they just had to deal with them with patience and stall for time.
When victory was obtained in the other Theatres, there would be powerful Masters who could be sent as reinforcements. For example, those in Great Evolution Theatre had won their war fairly early on, so they were able to sent aid to those Theatres that were caught in stalemates.
A dozen or so Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters was a force to be reckoned with; moreover, many Seventh-Order Masters were carried along inside their Small Universes.
Although only a dozen or so Eighth-Order Masters were deployed from the Great Evolution Theatre, they were accompanied by some 200 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Furthermore, this was just the support from Great Evolution Pass.
The other Great Passes from different victorious Theatres were able to help out as well. When the wars were settled in those Theatres, even more Human Masters would be free to render assistance in the Theatres where wars were still ongoing. This kind of support would only increase like a rolling snowball. How was the Black Ink Clan supposed to fend off the Humans under such circumstances?
As long as there were two or three Great Passes that could send reinforcements, any Theatre could easily break the stalemate they found themselves in.
This kind of large-scale support operation had never been seen before. At the very least, not before Yang Kai’s arrival at the Black Ink Battlefield.
The Great Passes were far away from each other, so even though they were connected by Space Arrays, it was expensive to transfer Humans around. Given the scarcity of resources, they couldn’t afford to do so.
Furthermore, the more powerful a person was, the more expensive it was to send him or her to another Great Pass through the Space Array.
In the past, even if they just wanted to send over 10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters to the nearest Great Pass, all the reserve resources from a Great Pass would be used up.
Without any resources left, how were the Humans supposed to cultivate? How would they treat their wounds if they were injured? How would they repair the damaged Warships?
Therefore, even though the Humans had a method to send assistance to other Theatres, they were unable to do so due to the lack of resources.
But it was different now, for the Great Passes had all accumulated a massive amount of resources over the past few centuries. Moreover, they had acquired a lot of resources after conquering the Royal Cities. Therefore, they had sufficient resources to transfer people around freely.
The Humans’ plan was that they would support their neighbours whenever they could.
In simple terms, they would only try to support the Great Passes nearest to them. That was because the longer the distance was, the more resources would be required to power the Hyper Space Arrays. Although the Humans were not short on resources, it was not like they could easily squander them all away either.
As such, Great Evolution Pass only needed to send out a small number of people because the neighbouring Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass had mostly destroyed the enemies, so help wasn’t really needed.
The Great Passes nearest to the Theatres where the Humans were in deadlocks with the enemies spared no effort to lend their counterparts a hand. As long as an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was still able to fight, they would be re-deployed as soon as possible.
Even some of the Old Ancestors headed to different Theatres to help out.
It was no different from a nightmare to the Black Ink Clan.
They were initially able to hold back the Humans and even counterattack in some Theatres, but with the sudden influx of Eighth-Order and Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the situation instantly became treacherous. When the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors began appearing in other Theatres, the deadlocks instantly turned into massacres where the Black Ink Clansmen were slaughtered.
On the other hand, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao remained in Great Evolution Pass.
The information Yang Kai had discovered in the Black Ink Nest Space made her feel a little uneasy, so she didn’t dare to leave this place at this point. She was worried that something terrible would happen in the Great Evolution Theatre if she wasn’t around.
Furthermore, she had been forced to overexert herself in order to kill Mo Zhao as quickly as possible, so she had suffered some serious injuries as well.
This went to show that it wasn’t easy to kill a Royal Lord no matter the condition they were in. Mo Zhao had never managed to heal from his wounds over the years while Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was at peak strength, but it still took her a great deal of effort to swiftly kill the enemy. It was expected that it was even harder for the other Old Ancestors in the Theatres where the Royal Lords were perfectly healthy.
Yang Kai didn’t leave the Great Evolution Theatre either. It wasn’t that he wasn’t willing to lend a hand, but rather he couldn’t.
When they came up with a list of people that would be sent to other Theatres, Yang Kai ranked first among the Seventh-Order Masters because he was far more powerful than those in the same Order and was even able to fight with Territory Lords after transforming into an Ancient Dragon. No one would neglect him.
If he was sent to another Theatre, he would prove to be just as useful as an Eighth-Order Master.
However, when Xiang Shan tried to keep him inside his Small Universe, he realised he was unable to do so. When he tried to forcefully do so, he realised that his Small Universe was on the brink of bursting.
It didn’t take long to figure out that because Yang Kai was so much more powerful than others in the same Order, with a Small Universe that was significantly bigger and heavier than an ordinary Seventh-Order Master’s, trying to carry him inside another’s Small Universe just wasn’t feasible.
Moreover, the damage to Yang Kai’s Soul hadn’t healed, and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao also needed him to remain so that he could help with her recuperation.
The wars in the other Theatres were still raging, while it was peaceful in Great Evolution Pass. The injured could finally get some rest and recuperate.
Yang Kai had spread out his Small Universe to help with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s recuperation while he tended to his own injuries.
Good news still kept coming from other Great Passes and more and more soldiers headed out to help out. The deadlocks in the Theatres were resolved and the advantage the Humans had accumulated continued to increase with time.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters responsible for guarding the Space Array meticulously informed everyone about the good news.
Initially, everyone was excited upon hearing each piece of good news, but as time passed, it became almost routine.
They had been preparing for centuries to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy, so it shouldn’t surprise them that they eventually won the war.
Along with a certain piece of good news, another piece of information was delivered. A Seventh-Order Master passed it to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao without disclosing it to everyone.
Yang Kai didn’t ask her about it, nor did she intend to tell him. He believed that the information contained the number of casualties on the Humans’ side.
If they talked about Great Evolution Theatre alone, the casualty rate was quite shocking.
Before the crusade, there were some 40,000 soldiers and over 70 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Great Evolution Army.
But now, Yang Kai could only detect the auras of about 30,000 soldiers and fewer than 40 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
If he included the dozen or so Eighth-Order Masters who had left to help other Great Passes, that was still only about 50. Where were the rest?
After the war, Yang Kai had scanned the battlefield and helped retrieve a number of corpses, so he knew the answer.
It could be said that the losses that the Great Evolution Army had suffered this time were just as great as what they had experienced 200 years ago.
When the Great Evolution Army was founded, there were 60,000 soldiers and 120 Eighth-Order Division Commanders. In just 300 to 400 years, half of them had perished in battle.
Even the Great Evolution Army, which had the finest arms and armaments as well as a huge advantage over the enemy, suffered such tremendous losses. The situations in other Theatres could only be worse.
More and more good news came from the other Theatres. The support system they had for each other proved to be useful.
Two months later, there came a moment when a familiar voice reverberated across the entire Great Evolution Pass again.
“The Humans have won the war in the Great Battle Theatre! The Royal Lord has fallen and all the Black Ink Clan soldiers were killed!”
…
As he ran around the Great Pass, he loudly announced this piece of good news to everyone.
Everyone in Great Evolution Pass started cheering again. All of them danced excitedly as howls of joy spread across the entire place.
In the Small Universe, Yang Kai let out a breath.
Even though he had already expected this day to come, he still couldn’t stop his ecstasy from rising within him when he heard about this particular piece of good news.
The reason these soldiers, who had been silent for quite a while, became excited again was that the Great Battle Theatre was the last place where the Humans were still fighting.
In the past two months, they had received good news from over 105 Theatres, with the latest report coming from the Luo Sheng Theatre three days ago.
Three days later, good news from the Great Battle Theatre arrived.
At this point, the Humans had gained total victory on the Black Ink Battlefield as they had occupied all the Theatres.
Furthermore, according to the good news, all the Black Ink Clansmen had been wiped out. It was a very rare statement as only three out of over 100 reports had used such wording.
It wasn’t easy to wipe out all the Black Ink Clansmen in a given Theatre. Even Great Evolution Pass was unable to achieve this.
The Great Battle Theatre was the last place where the Humans managed to achieve it. It certainly had something to do with the fact that they had a lot of reinforcements from the other Theatres. There was no way the Black Ink Clan could fend off hundreds of Eighth-Order and thousands of Seventh-Order Open Masters who arrived at the battlefield from different Great Passes.
Recalling something, Yang Kai turned to look at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and asked, “Old Ancestor, you told me before that there were two Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and two Royal Lords in the Great Battle Theatre.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded, “It seems that one of them escaped.”
Only one Royal Lord was mentioned in the good news, so it was apparent that the other one had run away.
Doing a quick count, aside from the ones he had seen inside the Black Ink Nest Space, Yang Kai reckoned that about 50 to 60 Royal Lords had fled.
That was indeed a worrying number, for they were not Feudal Lords or Territory Lords. If those Royal Lords gathered together, no Great Pass would be a match for them.
In the past, they were in charge of their Royal Cities where they had many subordinates and their own Black Ink Nests to worry about, so they wouldn’t easily leave. In this way, the Human Old Ancestors were able to pin them down.
But now, their Royal Cities had been shattered, their Armies killed, and their Black Ink Nests destroyed. Even though they appeared to be in a sorry state, they had actually broken free from their restraints.
Now, they were able to move around freely.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel worried. Those surviving Royal Lords would surely prove to be a threat to the Human Race in the future.
Just when he was worrying about this, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao suddenly said, “The news from Theatres everywhere show that there is only one Royal City in each Theatre, and only one High-Rank Black Ink Nest in each Royal City!”
Yang Kai listened with doubts as his eyes narrowed and asked, “No exceptions?”
The Old Ancestor shook her head and replied, “No exceptions! Moreover, there are no extra Royal Lords that we have not accounted for participating in all the Theatres!”
Yang Kai was silent and sighed, “That’s not necessarily good news.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao did not say anything, but lowered her eyes and pondered.
When Yang Kai reported what he found in the Black Ink Nest Space, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked Great Evolution Pass to send another message to the other Great Passes, telling the other Old Ancestors to be on the lookout for a possible surprise attack.”
By now, every Theatre had been pacified. The Black Ink Clan was badly beaten with many killed and wounded. More than half of the Royal Lords were killed, and no additional Royal Lords participated in the battle.
All the Royal Lords who participated in this battle were those who had been fighting with the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in their Theatre already, and there were no unfamiliar faces.
It was fortunate that there were no interferences on the battlefield; otherwise, there was no way that the Human Race Army could be victorious in such a short time.
The 20 or so Royal Lords Yang Kai saw were undoubtedly real as well; yet, they did not hide in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to sneak up on the Old Ancestors.
In the Royal City of each Theatre, there was only one High-Rank Black Ink Nest, even in the Great Battle Theatre.
There were 2 Royal Lords there, and since there are 2 Royal Lords, there should be two High-Rank Black Ink Nest, but there was only one!
It seemed that the 2 Royal Lords shared a High-Rank Black Ink Nest, or one of the Royal Lords did not have his own Black Ink Nest.
This was indeed not good news for the Humans.
There were exactly as many Theatres as there were High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
But how many Divine Senses did Yang Kai see in the Black Ink Nest space at that time?
120 to 130!
There should be as many High-Rank Black Ink Nests as there were Souls in that space!
This meant that the 20 Royal Lords who were watching from the sidelines were not involved in the war at all, and their Black Ink Nests remained undiscovered by the Humans.
Where could they be hiding?
Could the previous speculation about the Mother Nest be true? Were they really the Mother Nest’s guards?
Then, where was the Mother Nest?
Yang Kai suddenly had a bad feeling that the war between the two Races… was far from over.
Other than that, the dozens of Royal Lords that escaped from the major Theatres were an immediate problem. Now that it was confirmed that there were at least 20 more Royal Lords and corresponding High-Rank Black Ink Nests that were not discovered, these issues needed to be resolved.
Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling vexed.
He had thought that after this great battle, the Black Ink Battlefield would be completely pacified, but now this unforeseen situation had popped up.
This Black Ink Clan situation was more complicated than anyone had expected.
Yang Kai suddenly remembered the phrase ‘Black Ink Eternal’ that Mo Zhao shouted before he died. As a Royal Lord, Mo Zhao should have known the secrets of the Black Ink Clan. He naturally knew that even if the Black Ink Clan of all the other Theatres fell, the Black Ink Clan would not be easily defeated.
At that time, Yang Kai had scoffed at him. The cries of a defeated enemy were laughable, especially when they were about never being defeated.
However, now it seemed that everyone had underestimated the Black Ink Clan, including the Old Ancestors!
Although there were still unseen problems, it was a fact that the Black Ink Clan were defeated in the major Theatres.
When the news of the victories in all the other Theatres was received, the entire Great Evolution Pass fell into a celebratory mood.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao left to discuss important matters with the Army Commanders, while Yang Kai kept his Small Universe and recuperated in silence.
A few days later, Yang Kai felt clear Space Principle fluctuations coming from the Grand Hall where the Space Array was located, followed by Xiang Shan’s aura.
The reinforcements deployed by Great Evolution Pass were led by Xiang Shan, who brought about a dozen Eighth-Order a few hundred Seventh-Order Masters to support other Great Passes. They had finally returned.
Xiang Shan departed with more than 10 Eighth-Order Masters, but only returned with seven.
Those Eighth-Order Division Commanders who did not return would probably never return.
This made Yang Kai angry as so many people had died, yet the Black Ink Clan endured. When would this war finally be resolved?
This also made him realize that he was still too small and weak.
He thought that after this battle he could return to the 3,000 Worlds and the Star Boundary. That he could spend his days with his parents, return to his beautiful Wives, frolic in the rivers and gaze up at the stars. Now, it seemed that he had to quickly break through to the Eighth-Order in preparation for another war!
He had a vague sense of urgency in his heart, like the entire Human Race was facing a huge challenge ahead. Unless he became an Eighth-Order Master, he might not be able to protect himself.
However, cultivation in the Open Heaven Realm was basically a matter of accumulation over time, one that could not simply be skipped over.
Yang Kai’s Small Universe reared countless living beings and had a World Tree clone helping maintain and strengthen it. Time even flowed faster in his Small Universe allowing his cultivation speed to be much faster than any others. Still, it was not that easy to break through to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm for him.
In the following days, Yang Kai did not engage in the celebrations; instead, he was madly refining various cultivation materials so that he could enhance the heritage of his Small Universe.
All of Dawn was inspired by him and did not waste any time, all of them entering retreat.
Half a month later, several figures flew out of Great Evolution Pass, followed by a voice in Yang Kai’s ears, “Follow me!”
Yang Kai opened his eyes, looked up, and flew off without saying a word.
With a few movements, he had caught up with the ones ahead of him.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was among them, along with the four Army Commanders.
With such a lineup, it appeared that something big was about to happen.
Yang Kai, braced himself, approached Xiang Shan, and asked, “Sir, what is our plan.”
Xiang Shan did not hide anything from him as he said, “To find out what’s going on with the Black Ink Clan!”
Since Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao wanted him to follow them, there was no need to hide what they were going to do.
Yang Kai instantly understood, “We’re going into the Black Ink Nest Space?”
They were flying towards the Royal City. If they were going to find out what was going on with the Black Ink Clan, they had to use the High-Rank Black Ink Nest to enter its Black Ink Nest Space.
Xiang Shan nodded.
Yang Kai immediately looked at the Old Ancestor and said, “Old Ancestor, this Junior would like to serve as the vanguard!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao glanced at him briefly and shook her head, “No, you are too weak.”
Yang Kai felt as if his heart had been pierced; however, when he thought about it, there were six of them. A Ninth-Order Old Ancestor, four peak Eighth-Orders Master, and him, a Seventh-Order Junior.
Indeed, he was too weak.
“You were lucky to escape last time. If there are really 20 Royal Lords lying in wait inside that Black Ink Nest Space as you said, you won’t be coming back if you enter again this time.”
Yang Kai could not refute her.
Although his Soul was as strong as any Eighth-Order Master’s, there was still an enormous gap between him and a Royal Lord. Even with the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection, he may not be able to resist the combined attack of several Royal Lords.
Moreover, even if he could block such attacks, once the Black Ink Nest Space was completely closed like the last time, he would also be trapped inside, unable to get out.
Last time, Yang Kai was trapped in the High-Rank Black Ink Nest Space for years in order to help Great Evolution Pass fully control their seized Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest. However, he relied on his Soul Rending Thorns to kill or cripple several Territory Lords, forcing them to open the Black Ink Nest Space.
If he was trapped this time, what would he use to fight with the Royal Lords?
“I asked you to come this time so I could borrow your Soul Warming Lotus.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao explained, “No one knows what is going on in that Black Ink Nest Space, so we have to take precautions.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai frowned, “Old Ancestor, last time I was there, I saw some 20 Royal Lords inside. It is not safe for you to enter alone, even with the Soul Warming Lotus.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao smiled and said, “I will not be entering alone.”
Yang Kai was amazed and asked, “Others are going with you?”
Suddenly, Yang Kai thought of something and asked, “With the Old Ancestors from the other Theatres?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded and said, “Since you sent out that warning that day, the Human Race naturally became concerned. The other Theatres all searched for the location of the other High-Rank Black Ink Nest, but so far they’ve yet to discover anything. At the same time, instead of outright destroying them, orders were passed down to preserve as many High-Rank Black Ink Nests as possible in the other Theatres. Although we didn’t manage to capture many, there are still more than 20.”
It was not an easy task to keep a High-Rank Black Ink Nest intact during the crusade. In fact, it was more of a coincidence that the High-Rank Black Ink Nest in Great Evolution Theatre survived than anything else.
Yang Kai had not hesitated or held back when he attacked the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest. At that time, he just wanted to destroy it so that Mo Zhao would have no way to borrow strength from it. He wanted to help Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao gain a decisive advantage.
As a result, the Black Ink Nest collapsed and Mo Zhao could not draw Black Ink Strength from it, causing his combat strength to be greatly reduced. However, the Black Ink Nest itself was not completely destroyed.
If the other Theatres wanted to preserve these Black Ink Nests though, they would have to pay a much higher price.
With over 100 Theatres, it was not easy to leave more than 20 High-Rank Black Ink Nests behind; however, this meant that more than 20 Old Ancestors could join hands to explore the Black Ink Nest Space!
If those Royal Lords really ambushed them, the Old Ancestors need not be afraid of them!
Of course, no one could say if those 20 Royal Lords were still in the Black Ink Nest Space at this moment; so, the Old Ancestors were just taking precautions.
In line with that thinking, borrowing Yang Kai’s Soul Warming Lotus would indeed provide another layer of safety.
Yang Kai naturally did not refuse such a small request.
The Soul Warming Lotus was a Supreme Treasure which ordinary cultivators would conceal at any cost for fear of its existence being exposed, leading to their death.
However, this was the Black Ink Battlefield and Yang Kai would never be wary of Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. It was impossible for her to hold the intention to harm him; thus, he did not hesitate to take it out.
A seven-coloured lotus suddenly emerged from the Knowledge Sea. The lotus looked ethereal and illusory, almost as if it was material and immaterial all at once. As soon as it appeared, a wondrous aura permeated from it, one that allowed everyone present to feel their Soul being nourished.
Even Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao felt the same, and she was in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm where very, very few treasures could benefit her.
Only innate Supreme Treasures like the Soul Warming Lotus were of some use to her.
Without standing on ceremony, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao accepted the Soul Warming Lotus into her body and refined it a little.
At the same time, everyone arrived in front of the Black Ink Nest, where several Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were standing guard in the shadows. When they saw the Old Ancestor arrive, they only verified her identity but did not show themselves.
Following the passage opened by Yang Kai, the group of six soon arrived at the center of the Black Ink Nest.
Xiang Shan checked around and bellowed, “Assume your positions!”
Mi Jing Lun, Ou Yang Lie, Liu Zhi Ping quickly dispersed and blended in with the shadows.
Xiang Shan remained on guard in the open, while Yang Kai simply observed. As a Seventh-Order Master, there was no other role for him to play here.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao searched for a place and sat down cross-legged, not interacting with the Black Ink Nest, but just waiting patiently.
There might be nothing in the Black Ink Nest Space, or they might be ambushed by more than 20 Royal Lords. Since the Human Race wanted to enter it to investigate the situation, they had to take appropriate precautions.
If only one or two Old Ancestors entered it, then it would be difficult for them to defend against the potential dangers.
Yang Kai was not sure how the Old Ancestors worked out the details, but when one’s cultivation had reached their realm, such trivial matters were naturally not difficult for them.
Yang Kai and Xiang Shan waited silently on the side.
It was only after half an hour or so that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao suddenly opened her eyes.
The time had arrived!
In the next moment, her Small Universe opened up and World Force emerged and was swallowed by the Black Ink Nest.
Using her World Force as a bridge, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao mentally connected to the Black Ink Nest and instantly entered the Black Ink Nest Space.
At the same time, at the High-Rank Black Ink Nests in 21 other Theatres, 21 other Old Ancestors did the same.
In an instant, there were 22 more figures in the Black Ink Nest space.
The moment Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s Soul entered the Black Ink Nest Space, both Yang Kai and Xiang Shan’s expressions changed as they gasped.
This could not be helped as at that instant, both of them could not sense Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s Soul, as if it was completely annihilated.
Xiang Shan immediately coldly snorted, “The Black Ink Clan was prepared!”
Yang Kai also realized immediately and remarked, “The Black Ink Nest Space has been sealed!”
The last time his Soul Avatar was sealed in the Black Ink Nest Space, he was in such a state where his physical body was still alive but it contained no Soul. That frightened Ou Yang Lie, who was guarding him, as he thought something had happened to Yang Kai.
While he was trapped in that Black Ink Nest Space, Yang Kai was totally unaware of what happened in the outside world.
Now that he had seen what happened to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, he immediately understood it was similar to his situation at that time.
Xiang Shan nodded solemnly, “Must be!”
Yang Kai’s expression turned ugly.
The Old Ancestor had just entered, and the Black Ink Nest space had been closed off.
With more than 20 surviving High-Rank Black Ink Nest, the Black Ink Clan must have noticed and realized that the Humans might use those High-Rank Black Ink Nest to make some moves.
Since the Black Ink Clan had already anticipated this, it must be dangerous for the Old Ancestors to enter the Black Ink Nest Space.
However, they had to enter as there were too many uncertainties about the Black Ink Clan. If the Human Race wanted to find out more about the Black Ink Clan, they would have to take some risks.
Of course, the Old Ancestors had already deliberated about this before they decided to go in; otherwise, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would not have borrowed the Soul Warming Lotus from Yang Kai in preparation.
Even though it was dangerous, they had to step forward.
Only by entering the Black Ink Nest Space could they tear off the veil of mystery that hid the Black Ink Clan.
Yang Kai’s brows furrowed. There was no way for others to help in this situation. The Old Ancestors had to rely on their own strength.
Meanwhile, inside the Black Ink Nest space.
Powerful Soul Avatars were revealed, 22 of them.
Naturally, these were the Ninth-Order Supreme Masters of the Human Race, and they revealed themselves almost at the same time.
However, before the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could investigate the situation, a fierce wave of Spiritual Energy rushed in from all directions.
Immediately after that, violent Soul attacks blasted towards the Old Ancestors like a tidal wave.
There was no fancy Soul Secret Techniques, it was just a simple brute force attack, similar to what Yang Kai previous did to Che Kong. This was the simplest, most direct, and brutal kind of Soul attack.
In an instant, the Old Ancestors’ Soul Avatars were enveloped by violent storms.
Muffled grunts could be heard and several Old Ancestor’s aura suddenly weakened.
[This is bad!]
Just by stepping into this place, several Old Ancestors Soul Avatars were already injured!
Soon, each of the Old Ancestors quickly summoned their defensive artifacts, to guard their Soul Avatars.
Soul-type artifacts were rare, and defensive Soul-type artifacts were even rarer. Nonetheless, they were all Old Ancestors, and had lived more than long enough to have acquired some rare artifacts.
In a flash, various forms of defensive artifacts blossomed with dazzling lights and enveloped the Old Ancestors’ Soul Avatars. The Soul attacks coming from all directions were instantly blocked, causing the light halos to ripple continuously.
“So many!”
Only now were the Old Ancestors able to check the situation here, but with one look, the Old Ancestors exclaimed, “There are too many!”
There were 50 Royal Lords gathered here! That was more than twice the number of Human Masters.
There was a huge mistake in the intelligence report!
Or maybe it was not a mistake, but what Yang Kai saw at that time was not all the hidden Royal Lords the Black Ink Clan possessed!
This time, the Black Ink Clan sent more Royal Lords to ambush the Humans who entered to investigate the situation.
None of the Old Ancestors were fools, so they immediately understood the situation.
What’s more, the 50 they saw today, was that all there were?
Perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.
Although they were taken by surprise, and some of their Soul Avatars were injured, the Old Ancestors did not panic. It could be said that before entering this place, everyone had already expected the worst.
What they now saw confirmed their previous suspicions.
The battle between the two Races was far from over. The Black Ink Clan still had a very powerful force lurking in the shadows. Although the Humans had won every war in all the various Theatres, that was only a surface victory.
Having realized this, the purpose of entering this space had been achieved.
22 against 50, that was a huge difference in numbers. Additionally, this was the enemy’s home turf! It was impossible to prevail in such a situation; thus, in just a blink of an eye, someone shouted, “Retreat!”
The next moment, someone said, “We can’t get out, the Space here has been sealed!”
Another Old Ancestor roared, “Then we break through it!”
Even if this Black Ink Nest Space was the domain of the Black Ink Clan’s Mother Nest, there had to be a limit.
When Yang Kai was trapped previously, it was only naturally that he couldn’t get out because he was nowhere near strong enough to forcefully break through the sealed space.
Now however, this place had 22 Human Old Ancestors. When unified, there was nothing in this World that could suppress and seal them.
This was also the reason why the Old Ancestors wanted to act together. Yang Kai’s last encounter in the Black Ink Nest Space made them wary. The Black Ink Clan seemed to be able to control the opening and closing of the Black Ink Nest Space, which they had planned for.
Not to mention, the 50 Royal Lords’ Soul attacks would also have a significant impact on this space.
Perhaps there were more Royal Lords in the Black Ink Clan, but even if there were, they likely did not dare to move; otherwise, this space may not be able to withstand the stress.
The Old Ancestors were all veterans of countless battles, so although the situation here was unexpected, and there were twice as many enemies as allies, they quickly stabilized their formation and gathered in one place. With their Soul defensive artifacts covering all sides and resisting attacks from all angles. Some Old Ancestors even used Soul Secret Techniques to counter-attack those Royal Lords.
At the same time, streams of light flashed into existence. Naturally it was the Old Ancestors summoning offensive artifacts and each one of them was very powerful.
More than seventy top Masters were now fighting inside this Black Ink Nest Space, causing it to begin to tremble.
“Presumptuous!” Some of the Old Ancestors coldly snorted.
The Black Ink Nest space was indeed powerful, able to seal the Souls of 72 Supreme Masters at once; however, it was now clearly shaking from the clash, which meant that it indeed had a limit.
If the space was still as stable as a rock under such circumstances, then it would be truly terrifying. If that was the case, then the Old Ancestors would have no hope of escaping.
However, now that the space was shaking, the Old Ancestors saw an opportunity.
Spiritual Energies exploded as the attacks came out one after another. The Soul defensive artifacts summoned by the Old Ancestors were extremely powerful, but they could not last long under such circumstances. The artifacts rapidly dimmed and began to shatter after just ten breaths of time.
Grunts sounded when their Soul Avatars were injured, but the situation was not that grave yet.
With one less defensive artifact, the Human defense became more precarious. When the second defensive artifact was about to be broken, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shouted, “Gather around me!”
As soon as she yelled, a seven-coloured lotus flower suddenly emerged, which quickly expanded to hold all the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters on insides its petals.
Outside the lotus, a brilliant seven-coloured halo of light converged to form a sturdy barrier, stopping all of Royal Lord’s attacks.
“Is this that brat’s Soul Warming Lotus?” An Old Ancestor recognized the origin of the lotus and exclaimed, “A Supreme Treasures of the Universe is indeed extraordinary.”
The defensive artifacts that they summoned could not withstand the barrage of attacks from the Royal Lords for long, but this Soul Warming Lotus’ protection was unwavering, which showed how extraordinary it was.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shouted, “Enough nonsense! Hurry up and kill them!”
What situation were they in for them to be marveling at this lotus? They were all Old Ancestors, yet they were acting like bumpkins that had not seen and explored the World yet.
The Old Ancestor who spoke smiled awkwardly. Suddenly, a mass of Spiritual Energy transformed into a fierce beast, leapt out of the lotus heart towards the opposite Royal Lord, and gave a huge bite. Although it was a quick burst, it managed to viciously tear into the Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar before it dissipated.
“Wastes! I dare you to fight one-on-one!” An Old Ancestor shouted with indignation.
In a one-on-one fight, the Old Ancestors were not afraid of these Royal Lords. Although the might of their Souls was basically the same, the Old Ancestors felt that they were still slightly stronger.
The key point, however, was that these Royal Lords were far too limited in their usage of Soul attacks, only able to wield their Spiritual Energy in a clumsy manner.
With how they were attacking, a fair amount of the strength of their Souls was simply being wasted.
The Old Ancestors were different as they had all practiced and polished their Secret Techniques in thousands of life-and-death clashes. They all had several handy artifacts as well. Given what power they had, each Old Ancestor was able to display far more combat efficiency than any of their enemies.
Thus, if they fought one-on-one, the Old Ancestors could certainly defeat these Royal Lords.
However, under such circumstances, why would the Royal Lord pay attention to that Old Ancestor roaring at them? They had the absolute numerical advantage, so they would naturally use it.
In this battle, the losing side had only one fate, death!
With twice the numbers on their side and the geographical advantage, the Royal Lords were certain of their victory. Since their entry into this space, the Humans were forced into the defensive, and could only counter-attack occasionally with negligible effects.
If Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had not borrowed Yang Kai’s Soul Warming Lotus, the situation would have been even worse.
However, the Soul Warming Lotus was not all-powerful. The seven-coloured light enveloping them was continuously weakened by the relentless impacts it faced, and once the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus was broken, then the Humans would no longer have the power to protect themselves.
Even so, this was a truly unprecedented battle in terms of scope, scale, and importance. The result of this battle would have a direct impact on the future of the entire Human Race.
“Don’t hold back, it’s time to go all out!” An Old Ancestor roared furiously as his Soul Avatar suddenly expanded atop the Soul Warming Lotus, turning into a giant in the blink of an eye.
The giant reached its hand out of the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus and was quickly cut to pieces by the Soul attacks from the Royal Lords; however, it soon re-condensed.
The giant made a low roar like a wounded beast.
His arm was torn apart, which meant his Soul Avatar was wounded. Furthermore, any damage to the arm of his Soul Avatar was also damage to his Soul.
He remained undaunted though and firmly grabbed a Royal Lord on the periphery.
The Royal Lord went pale and was about to flee when suddenly a mysterious force shot out and caused him to freeze in place.
Not only that, he also felt his Soul Avatar receiving a huge shock and he was overwhelmed by an indescribable pain.
Inside the Soul Warming Lotus, an Old Ancestor’s Soul Avatar surged with Demon Qi, an ominous aura pulsing from his as he smiled treacherously.
Such obvious features could only come from Myriad Demons Heaven.
In fact, this was the Old Ancestor of Myriad Demons Cave Heaven that Yang Kai had once met and studied the two core Eye Secret Techniques under for a time.
The left eye of the Myriad Demons Pass Old Ancestor turned into a golden vertical slit that radiated an imposing aura as it reflected the Soul Avatar of a Royal Lord. It was his Secret Technique that made that Royal Lord freeze.
His right eye was pitch-black, and wherever its gaze landed, a large area of space was covered in darkness that swept up several Royal Lords.
If Yang Kai were here, he would have been amazed by this sight.
He had cultivated Myriad Demons Heaven’s two Eye Secret Techniques, and his attainments in them weren’t bad; however, he had never used them like this.
This showed the differences between Yang Kai and the Myriad Demons Pass Old Ancestor in terms of their attainment in these two Eye Secret Techniques.
Since these two Eye Techniques were the core secrets of Myriad Demons Heaven, they naturally had their unique features.
With one person’s power against several Royal Lords, the Myriad Demons Pass Old Ancestor was also a bit overwhelmed and his Soul Avatar was violently shaken. It would not take too long for his Eye Secret Technique to be broken.
Still, it was enough.
The big hand that reached out and caught the Royal Lord directly in his palm clenched fiercely at that moment.
A mournful howl sounded as the clutched Soul Avatar almost directly collapsed. However, at the critical moment, other Royal Lords intervened and broke the enormous hand, saving the Royal Lord within.
Even so, despite this Royal Lord surviving the attack, his Soul Avatar became very dull. He had obviously been seriously injured.
Just two Old Ancestors were able to launch a near deadly attack by joining forces.
There were several other Old Ancestors who used their own methods to attack the Royal Lords who were affected by the Myriad Demons Pass Old Ancestor’s Black Purgatory Eye, damaging several of them.
No one remained idle, neither the Royal Lords, nor the Old Ancestors.
Soul Avatars were struck one after another as all sorts of exquisite Soul Secret Techniques and Soul-type artifacts clashed inside the Black Ink Nest Space.
This type of battle was far more dangerous than ones in the outside world; after all, this involved their Soul. Thus, the slightest mistake would spell death for them.
The seven-coloured light of the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection was wavering and its brilliance was weakening at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Once the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus collapsed, with the space here still sealed, the Old Ancestors who entered here would definitely meet tragic ends.
Everyone was attacking their opponents furiously except for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
Firstly, she needed to use most of her strength to keep the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection up.
Secondly, she was looking for the right opportunity to strike.
In this kind of fight, timing was critical and chances were fleeting.
However, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was able to seize any opening around her. Her Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm insight was enough to capitalize on such opportunities.
Three breaths later, when Myriad Demons Pass’ Old Ancestor once again used the Demon Eye of Annihilation to freeze a figure he was focused on, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao grit her teeth, let out a war cry, and shot out a golden light from her forehead.
When the golden light appeared, the aura of her Soul suddenly weakened, and even her Soul Avatar lost part of its form.
This was a serious injury that not even an Old Ancestor could easily restore.
However, it was still worth it.
When the golden light shot out, it directly struck into a Royal Lord who was locked down by the Myriad Demons Heaven Old Ancestor’s Eye Secret Technique.
In the next instant, the intense golden light penetrated deep inside the Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar, drawing a deafening cry of anguish from his lips as his Soul Avatar rapidly weakened.
In the blink of an eye, the might of his Soul dropped from that of a Royal Lord to a Territory Lord’s.
With the follow up attacks of two other Ninth-Order Masters, this Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar was blasted apart!
The Black Ink Nest Space, which was already trembling, shook even more violently!
All the Royal Lords were shocked by what had just happened.
Although they had injured a few Old Ancestors in the two dozen breaths or so since the battle began, the first to fall was actually one of them.
That was when they outnumbered the Humans two to one!
They were alarmed at just how deadly these Humans were!
What was that golden light? It was undoubtedly that golden light which had the power to condemn a Royal Lord to death!
Of course, the Royal Lord was not killed directly by the golden light, but rather due a series of attacks.
Not only were the Royal Lords surprised by this outcome, many of the Old Ancestors were also astonished.
No one expected Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to have such a terrifying trump card.
Only two of the Old Ancestors, who were good friends with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, looked at her with concern. It was as if they had guessed the nature of the golden light, so they were both happy and a little worried.
If what they suspected was true, then that golden light, which had a great killing power, also has a considerable impact on its user.
It was a Soul Rending Thorn!
If the Old Ancestor could pass on to Yang Kai the method to refine and use Soul Rending Thorns, then she would naturally be able to use them as well. In order to refine this artifact, one needed to imbue a thread of their Soul into it, and in order to activate it, a Secret Technique which sacrificed a large portion of their Soul was required.
For tens of thousands of years, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had kept and nourished three Soul Rending Thorns in her Knowledge Sea.
She had never used them, as once these things were used, she would deal significant damage to herself in order to deal critical damage to an enemy. If she was not careful, she might get herself into a bind instead of killing the enemy.
The last time she thought of using a Soul Rending Thorn was when she last fought against Mo Zhao. She would have used it if Yang Kai could not cut off Mo Zhao’s link to his Black Ink Nest.
At that time, there was a great risk of using a Soul Rending Thorn because there was still the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple on the battlefield.
Fortunately, Yang Kai did not disappoint her and destroyed the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest, thereby cutting off Mo Zhao’s source of power.
She did not use one of these vicious artifacts to kill Mo Zhao, but she had no choice but to use one now.
In fact, before entering this space, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was already prepared to use the Soul Rending Thorns because the Black Ink Nest Space was a battlefield of the Soul.
The effect of the Soul Rending Thorns could be fully displayed here!
Yang Kai did not spend much time nurturing his Soul Rending Thorns yet at that time, he was able to cripple and even kill several Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples despite his Soul only being roughly on par with an Eighth-Order Master’s.
On the other hand, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been nourishing and refining her Soul Rending Thorns for millennia.
At this point, each of her Soul Rending Thorns could be regarded as a peerless treasure.
When unleashed, just one could deal enough damage to weaken a Royal Lord’s Soul to the level of a Territory Lord’s.
In the chaotic Black Ink Nest Space, the first to suffer a fatality was the numerically superior Royal Lords, which caused the remaining Royal Lords to go into a frenzy.
At that moment, a second Soul Rending Thorn was fired.
Again, a golden light shot out, and in an instant, it penetrated the body of another Royal Lord.
That Royal Lord immediately looked terrified. He saw what happened to his companion, so now he knew what was about to happen to him.
The Soul Rending Thorn dug in and began shredding his Soul Avatar, causing his strength to plummet.
Although the remaining Royal Lord’s rushed to shelter him, the Old Ancestors acted faster, raining down Secret Techniques upon the wounded target.
The effects of the attack were devastating and caused the Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar to shatter.
A second Royal Lord had fallen!
The Black Ink Nest Space shook wildly.
The Royal Lords were horrified now.
The Myriad Demons Cave Heaven Old Ancestor shouted, “Xiao Yue Ya, I’ll trap them, you kill them!”
After he said that, the Demon Eye of Annihilation reappeared. This time, instead of using the Black Purgatory Eye, the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor used all his efforts to activate this Eye Secret Technique.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao cursed to herself, [How old is this Great Aunt now? How dare you call me Xiao Yue Ya! Fortunately, we’re all Ninth-Order Masters and there are no Juniors around; otherwise, wouldn’t those damn brats all die laughing?]
Though she was snarling to herself, her actions remained swift.
The third golden light shot out.
All the Royal Lords tried their best to dodge, but the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor, who had fully committed to using his Demon Eye of Annihilation, proved to be too much.
He locked his sights onto one of the fastest retreating Royal Lords and captured his figure in the vertical golden slit of his eye. In the next moment, the vertical slit actually rotated and turned into a horizontal line.
At the same time, the Royal Lord who was targeted felt that his Soul Avatar warp and distort, like it was being crushed and torn apart all at once. His whole body began to tremble and he was barely able to maintain a coherent form.
In that brief moment of delay, the third golden light had already plunged into his body.
“Die!” The Myriad Demons Old Ancestor roared furiously. His Spiritual Energy maddeningly gushed out as a series of golden rings suddenly manifested and contracted down into a single point.
The trapped Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar was crushed towards a central point, and despite his best efforts to resist, it was all useless.
The Soul Rending Thorn exploded inside of him, making it difficult for him to focus his strength, and in the blink of an eye, the Royal Lord’s Soul Avatar was crushed under tremendous pressure before exploding into pieces.
The third Royal Lord had perished!
The two previous Royal Lords who fell had their auras regress to the level of Territory Lords before they were blasted apart. However, this time, the Royal Lord’s aura did not even have the time to fall as he was directly killed by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Myriad Demons Cave Heaven Old Ancestor.
The entire Black Ink Nest Space was now filled with the Spiritual Energy that escaped from the death of these Souls and shaking violently.
When Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor were unleashing their powers, the other Old Ancestors did not remain idle either. Just after the third Royal Lord fell, a fourth perished in quick succession.
Although none of the Humans had died yet, all were wounded and their Soul Avatars’ luster were not as before.
This battle had only raged for 30 breaths, yet in such a short duration, all of the 22 Old Ancestors had been injured in one form or another while 4 Royal Lords had died. It was not an exaggeration to say this was the most dangerous and fiercest battle in history.
Although the Humans had achieved huge successes so far, the situation was deteriorating quickly.
Apart from their individual injuries, it was clear that the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus would not last long. In fact, the protection provided by this Supreme Treasure had already been vastly exceeded everyone’s expectations. No one would be surprised if it were to collapse in the next breath.
In addition, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had used three Soul Rending Thorns in a row and her Soul was now severely damaged, causing her control over the Soul Warming Lotus to falter.
The Myriad Demons Old Ancestor obviously noticed this and did not ask Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to cooperate with him to kill the enemy again.
The Humans were at risk of collective annihilation at any moment.
Temporary gains would hardly resolve their crisis.
All the Old Ancestors realized that if they did not break the Black Ink Nest Space and escape from this entrapment, they would all fall the moment the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection collapsed.
An old man suddenly stepped forward and said, “No wonder my right brow kept twitching today. So, it ends here. My Fellow Daoist Brothers and Sisters, stand guard for me one last time!”
A Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master turned his head to look at him and exclaimed, “Ping Yu…”
“Enough nonsense!” The old man bellowed, “I am from Bright King Cave Heaven and Soul attacks are not this Old Master’s strength. I’m not much use here, but if I can open a way for my Fellow Daoist Brothers and Sisters, then I would not have lived in vain.”
As this Old Ancestor called Ping Yu said, he was from Bright King Cave Heaven, and although his Soul cultivation was indeed in the Ninth-Order, he was less powerful than the others and his methods of attacking were very limited.
Simply put, the role he could play on this kind of battlefield was minimal, and he felt that he was of not of much use to the rest of his Brothers and Sisters.
Everyone immediately understood what his intentions were and many Old Ancestors looked grim, but they were powerless to stop him.
The Old Ancestor who tried to object earlier immediately clenched his fists and bellowed, “Push them back!”
As soon as he said that, all the Ninth-Order Masters activated their Soul Secret Techniques and artifacts and sent out a concentrated burst of attacks.
To the surprise of the Royal Lords, the Human’s attacks were not directed at them, but at a certain point in the Black Ink Nest Space, opening up a passageway free of interference.
A Royal Lord quickly realized what the Humans were trying to do and shouted frantically, “Stop them!”
Following the shout, more than 40 Royal Lords blasted at the passage in order to destroy it.
However, it was too late. The Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor laughed heartily and charged out of the protection of the lotus. He dashed into the passage, and in an instant reached towards the edge of the space. His Spiritual Energy maddeningly surged as he roared, “Break!”
*Hong…*
As his Ninth-Order aura was annihilated, a tsunami of Spiritual Energy burst forth and opened a visible crack in the void.
A loud boom reverberated throughout the Black Ink Nest Space, causing all inside to have their Soul Avatars shake.
Even the outer protective layer of the Soul Warming Lotus rippled continuously, as if it might shatter at any moment.
All the Royal Lords were stunned.
That Human… had actually detonated his Soul without any hesitation!
Although the Humans were clearly in a dire situation, trapped inside this Black Ink Nest Space, they had still killed four Royal Lords and had the strange lotus to protect them. The battle was nowhere near its end yet.
Yet, this Human chose to self-destruct?
Just what kind of courage was required to do that?
The Human Race… was terrifying!
At the same time, all the Old Ancestors were staring at the invisible shell which encompassed the space, and the next moment, their eyes lit up.
The Bright King Old Ancestor’s self detonation was not in vain. A crack had developed on the shell, and although it was not large, it was still a crack.
The power of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s self-destruction was unimaginable.
When the four Royal Lords fell earlier, it only caused this space to shake violently, but Bright King Cave Heaven’s Old Ancestor’s targeted sacrifice immediately tore the space open.
“Go!” Some Old Ancestors roared.
If there was a break in the sealed space, then there was a way out. So, why hesitate to leave?
However, before they could make a move, the Royal Lords frantically counter-attacked. They were no fools and immediately understood what the Humans were trying to do.
If they let these Ninth-Order Masters escape, their entire ambush would become a joke.
They had the Humans trapped and outnumbered two to one, yet four Royal Lords had perished and although one of the Humans also fell, that was due to him sacrificing himself, not their own efforts to kill him.
All of a sudden, Soul Warming Lotus protection started to waver and the Old Ancestors found themselves stalled in place.
During this momentary delay, the crack on the shell was filled with a powerful force and was quickly closing up!
All Old Ancestors seethed with anger when they saw this happen.
No one expected that this space could repair itself so quickly. Now their hopes of escape had evaporated.
The protective glow of the Soul Warming Lotus had already faded to almost nothing, and it would surely be gone in less than five breaths.
Once that happened, while they could probably take some of the Royal Lords down with them, the entire group of Old Ancestors would surely perish as well.
…..
When the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor self-destructed, a gap tore through the Black Ink Nest space. Far away in the depths of the void, in an unknown place where the Human Race had not set foot for countless eons, a surge of energy fluctuations disturbed the countless years of silence.
This fluctuation was extremely faint and came and disappeared almost instantly.
A withered figure with almost no aura at all was disturbed by this fluctuation and suddenly opened his eyes.
This figure could almost be regarded as a corpse. There was hardly any life in his body which was now extremely withered with only skin and bones remaining.
Anyone who saw him would not think that he was still alive.
However, when he opened his eyes, they bloomed with dazzling light like two Great Sun.
The next moment, the living corpse suddenly laughed. It was impossible to know how many years he had not spoken for, so now his voice was dry and hoarse, making it extremely difficult to listen to, “Finally! Do we now have a promising generation of descendants?”
He had sat here for countless years. At the beginning, there were some like-minded friends to chat with, but after so many years and without any resources to supplement themselves, his companions had fallen one by one.
Now, he was the only one left to guard this place and slowly became a living dead.
He did not dare to die so easily, and he could not leave, otherwise all their efforts would be in vain.
He did not know how many years he had been asleep as this place was devoid of all sound and light; however, just with those brief energy fluctuations, he was able to gain a lot of insight into what had happened.
Someone’s descendants had begun to counter-attack, and had touched the root of the Black Ink Clan; otherwise, it was impossible for the calm that had lasted for so many millennia to be broken.
He had waited for untold generations for the Human Race to reach this point. The wait had been so long that even he felt despair.
Today, when this ray of hope appeared before his eyes, he began to cackle happily.
As he laughed, he suddenly raised his hands into the dark and slowly said, “Mo, you are the ancient supreme being of the Black Ink Clan, why cause trouble for the little ones.”
His hand was nothing but skin and bones when it was raised, but in the blink of an eye, his physique was restored and it became like flawless jade.
The calm within void was completely broken in the next instant as the boundless darkness started to stir and surge towards the jade white hand.
As the hand crept forward, it began to crumble, and when it plunged into the heart of the darkness, only bones remained.
It was this small skeletal hand that stirred up the entire surrounding space.
There was a harsh wave of Spiritual Energy coming towards the Ninth-Order Master, which was more powerful than anything a Ninth-Order Master could produce, along with an angry roar, “Cang! How dare you interfere! You court death!”
The living dead man called Cang scoffed, “Until I destroy you, old thing, I dare not die so easily!”
As he spoke, his hand slapped down onto the endless darkness.
…
Inside the Black Ink Nest Space, the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection was so weak that it was barely visible.
All the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters knew that they were on the verge of death. They knew that they already had no hope of escaping from this place; so, they steeled their resolve to kill as many Royal Lords before they fell.
They had already come to terms with dying, but even if they all perished, they wanted to ensure that the Black Ink Clan did not feel any better.
The Human Race was gaining strength with each generation, so even if they all fell here, there would be more Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in time to take their place.
The only thing that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao felt a little regretful over was that when she died here, the Soul Warming Lotus would be left behind. She was worried that Yang Kai would blame her for this.
Still, she set aside those worries as she was about to die anyways.
*Kacha…*
The sound of something shattering suddenly reverberated in everyone’s heart. After Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had summoned the Soul Warming Lotus, they had held on for 30 breaths of time before its protection finally broke.
All the Royal Lords were overjoyed, but soon, their smiles froze. At the moment the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection shattered, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Masters all shot forward with overwhelming murderous intent. Each of them pushed all the might from their Souls without reservation, clearly not caring about their own lives.
This confused the Royal Lords. It was as if the Humans thought that they had the advantage over them.
Just like the Old Ancestor who detonated his Soul previously, the Royal Lords realized that these Old Ancestors were not afraid of death!
“Kill!” Roared the Royal Lords.
The Human Race was not afraid of death and likewise they were not!
Today’s deaths were just the materials to lay the foundation for the future.
Supreme Masters from both Races no longer concerned themselves with surviving, only caring about slaughtering more enemies before they crossed the gates of death.
Just before the two sides could engage in the final clash though, the entire Black Ink Nest Space suddenly shook violently, and the shaking this time was an order of magnitude greater than when the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor self-destructed!
It happened so suddenly that no one knew what was going on. The Supreme Masters of both sides who were about to fight to the death all stopped and took a step back, looking at each other warily.
They were not afraid of death, but the anomaly in the Black Ink Nest Space made them wary; after all, no one knew if the other side had set up some kind of trap.
Kacha…
Another shattering sound was heard, this one much louder than before. All the Old Ancestors and Royal Lords looked up, but as soon as they gazed into the distance, they were all stunned.
The crack opened by the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestors that had just closed, opened up again for some reason.
The Old Ancestors were overjoyed.
The reason why they decided to fight the Royal Lords to the death was because they had no hope of escape; now that the crack had opened up again though, there was hope. Why should they die if they had a chance to live?
They did not know why the crack opened again, but what surprised them most was that the crack seemed to open up much wider than when their fellow Old Ancestor self-destructed.
Through the crack, they caught a glimpse of some vague images.
There was no time to hesitate, so the Myriad Demons Old Ancestor bellowed, “Let’s go!”
As soon as he shouted, blood flowed from his right eye!
He was currently a Soul Avatar, so it shouldn’t be possible for him to bleed. What flowed from his eyes was his own forceful burned Soul Essence.
This moment, he was going all out.
Blackness suddenly filled the space and wrapped up a number of Royal Lords who were in the way.
The other Old Ancestors immediately did whatever they could to interfere with the Royal Lords while leaping towards the crack in the sky. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had already sacrificed a large part of her Soul and had to be carried away by another Old Ancestor.
Many of the Royal Lords saw this and were extremely unwilling to let the Humans escape. They turned their raging Spiritual Energy into a boundless onslaught to cut off the Old Ancestors’ escape route.
Without the protection of the Soul Warming Lotus, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ Soul Avatars were faltering and some of them may not be able to escape at this rate.
Realizing this, one of the Old Ancestors turned towards the Royal Lords instead of heading to the crack and a violent and fierce power burst from his Soul.
He decided to stay behind and follow in the path of the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor. By detonating his Soul in the faces of the Royal Lords, he could buy a moment of time that the others would be able to use to escape.
Just as he did so though, an even more powerful Soul was already rushing towards those Royal Lords. Halfway there, his Soul Avatar ignited, making him look like a raging ball of flames.
“Great Battle Pass has two Old Ancestors, it can afford to lose one! Get out of here! All of you!”
The one that had rushed out was an Old Ancestor from Great Battle Cave Heaven. He was now burning his Soul using some kind of sacrificial Secret Technique. There was no turning back for him now!
As he roared, he was hit with a continuous stream of Spiritual Energy blasts from the Royal Lords, blowing holes in his Soul Avatar; however, this Great Battle Heaven Old Ancestor did not flinch in the slightest.
In the blink of an eye, he had already rushed to the place where the Royal Lords had gathered and his Soul Avatar flashed a fierce smile as he roared, “Burn!”
As soon as he roared, a dazzling light erupted from his Soul Avatar, and his already burning Soul Avatar suddenly turned into a sea of fire that engulfed the Royal Lords.
The first few Royal Lords caught by this Soul Fire howled in agony, while the others tried to dodge in a fluster.
However, they were too late.
Their Spiritual Energy was like fuel for this Soul fire, and the more they tried to extinguish it, the more intensely the flame burned.
The flames did not discriminate and were rapidly catching up to the 20 surviving Old Ancestors who were fleeing towards the crack.
Seeing that the Soul fire was about to reach them, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, whose Soul Avatar was almost transparent, forced whatever power she had left into the Soul Warming Lotus and formed a thin barrier, covering the many Old Ancestors.
The next instant, everyone rushed out of the crack and disappeared.
The Black Ink Nest Space was left in shambles.
A sea of fire covered the entire Black Ink Nest Space, engulfing everything in flames. The Royal Lords did not dare to remain any longer and rushed towards the crack, dragging their injured comrades along with them.
Within a breath, this Black Ink Nest Space went from an intense battlefield, to suddenly being devoid of anyone, leaving only raging flames behind.
These flames were the product of a Ninth-Order Master sacrificing his Soul; there was no telling how long it would take to extinguish.
..…
Darkness shrouded the unknown place, as harsh hissing sounds transmitted through the void, mixed with endless pain.
Old man Cang chuckled as he casually commented, “This generation’s descendants are all so courageous. It’s no wonder they were the ones who managed to break through. Mo, your end is near.”
A voice filled with hatred echoed back from the darkness, “Your people will forever be slaves!”
Cang faintly snorted, “You are not worthy!”
He turned his head, and looked into the depths of the void. After countless years of waiting, the day had finally arrived.
…..
Great Evolution Royal City, in front of the collapsed High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
Yang Kai and Xiang Shan both wore solemn expressions.
Although Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had only entered the Black Ink Nest for several dozen breaths of time, the two of them felt like years had gone by. They could no longer feel the Old Ancestor’s Soul, which meant that the Black Ink Nest Space was sealed. That also meant that the Black Ink Clan was prepared. They did not know what would happen to the Old Ancestor inside.
Although they were worried, the two of them could not do anything to help at this point. They could only wait.
They thought it would take some time, but who would have thought that just several dozen breaths later, the two of them once again sensed Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s Soul. They quickly looked over and the Old Ancestor also rapidly opened her eyes.
Yang Kai and Xiang Shan’s faces changed dramatically!
Old Ancestor was injured, extremely seriously injured! Her face was as white as paper and she winced painfully as the aura of her Soul fluctuated unsteadily.
Yang Kai and Xiang Shan could not even imagine that in just a short duration of several dozen breaths, an epic battle must have been fought in the Black Ink Nest Space. It was a battle between 22 Old Ancestors and 50 Royal Lords. In this short battle, 4 Royal Lords and 2 Old Ancestors had fallen. The Black Ink Nest Space also had a strange crack opened in it.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao obviously did not intend to explain anything but quickly took some Spirit Pills and stuffed them into her mouth before weakly saying, “During the time I enter retreat to recuperate, Commander Xiang Shan, heed by words, the war is not over. The Black Ink Clan still has very strong forces hidden in the shadows.”
Xiang Shan’s face changed slightly before he cupped his fist and bowed, “Understood!”
If the Old Ancestor was so afraid, then the Black Ink Clan’s hidden forces must be extremely dangerous.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao then turned to Yang Kai and said, “You, come with me!”
Upon saying this, she shot towards Great Evolution Pass followed by Yang Kai.
The Old Ancestor was so badly wounded that she had to use the power of his Small Universe to heal her wounds. Naturally, Yang Kai was used to this.
After following her back to Great Evolution Pass, Yang Kai immediately spread out his Small Universe and let the Old Ancestor enter to recover.
He could feel that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s Soul was badly injured. He just did not know what had happened to her in that Black Ink Nest Space.
Fortunately, there was no need to worry about her life. The Soul Warming Lotus was still with the Old Ancestor, and with it, no matter the damage, her Soul would quickly recover. Furthermore, there was the difference in how fast time flowed in Yang Kai’s Small Universe, so it should not take long for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to fully heal.
If Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was in such a state though, then what about the other Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters? After all, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was not the only one who entered the Black Ink Nest Space this time.
It seemed, this time, some of them must have fallen.
Yang Kai’s heart sank when he thought of this.
When the Human Race launched their crusade across the 106 Theatres, dozens of Royal Lords were killed without any losses among the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Of course, it was inevitable that some of them were injured.
However, this time, it was almost certain that some Ninth-Order Old Ancestors had fallen.
The confrontation in the Black Ink Nest Space was just that dangerous.
While Yang Kai was assisting the Old Ancestor heal, the celebratory atmosphere in Great Evolution Pass slowly changed. Xiang Shan, as the head of the Army, intentionally reversed the atmosphere. People tended to let their guard down if they continued to celebrate. If a battle really began, then they would be caught off guard.
Although it was a bit cruel to deprive the soldiers of this moment of joy, it had been like that for countless years. The Human Race had always been like that, constantly under the pressure of the Black Ink Clan, forced to forge ahead while never compromising!
Within a few days, two shocking messages reached Great Evolution Pass from other Great Passes.
Bright King Cave Heaven’s Old Ancestor had died in the Black Ink Nest Space!
Great Battle Heaven’s Old Ancestor had also perished in the Black Ink Nest Space!
It was said that 22 Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had gathered to explore the Black Ink Nest Space; however, the Black Ink Clan had laid an ambush. The moment the Old Ancestors entered it, the Black Ink Nest Space was sealed and 50 Royal Lords attacked together. The Old Ancestors fought valiantly and managed to kill 4 Royal Lords despite terrible odds. Bright King Cave Heaven and Great Battle Heaven’s Old Ancestors sacrificed themselves in order to give the other Old Ancestors a chance to escape.
Two Old Ancestors had died in battle!
The entire Human Race mourned for this loss.
Now not only Great Evolution Pass, but all the Humans knew that the war with the Black Ink Clan was far from over. On the surface, more than 100 Theatres had been pacified and the Black Ink Clan had been decimated; however, lurking in the dark, the Black Ink Clan had an even bigger hidden force.
The story of Black Ink Clan’s Mother Nest began spreading throughout the Great Passes.
The Mother Nest was perhaps the root of the Black Ink Clan where its hidden forces were located. To completely eradicate the Black Ink Clan, the Mother Nest must be destroyed.
So, after more than 100 Theatres were pacified, the Humans celebrated for a brief moment before they entered a state of war again!
Wounds were treated, and while some began cultivating, others were sent out to mine resources in order to prepare for the coming battle.
There would be more battles ahead, ones that would be even more dangerous than all those experienced before.
Within Yang Kai’s Small Universe, the four Army Commanders gathered in a small house.
The house was left by the Hunter and his Wife, and although hundreds of years had passed in his Small Universe, Yang Kai had kept it in pristine shape because Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would come here every time she needed to heal.
This was the first time Xiang Shan and the others had truly entered Yang Kai’s Small Universe, so it did not take long for them to notice that time flowed faster than normal here.
It was no wonder Yang Kai’s cultivation speed was so much greater than average; this kind of time differential was all but impossible for others to emulate.
They could also perceive that the World Force within Yang Kai’s Small Universe was extremely refined, unlike what ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could have.
This was probably the effect of the World Tree clone, which was able to purify World Force.
This was also one of the reasons why Yang Kai’s Small Universe was different from the other Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in terms of weight. It also allowed him to showcase power that should not be seen in his cultivation realm
The purer and denser one’s World Force was, the more power they could exert.
Although there was some envy, no one felt sore about it.
The World Tree clone was very beneficial, but it was only the most effective in Yang Kai’s Small Universe.
Even if an Eighth-Order Master obtained it, it would only enhance their own strength. Unlike Yang Kai, whose Small Universe had time flowing at a different rate compared to the outside world, and could amplify the World Tree clone’s effectiveness to its limits.
Although Eighth-Order and Ninth-Order Masters were the main forces of the Human Race today, Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters such as Yang Kai were the hope for the Human Race’s future.
That was why when Yang Kai obtained the World Tree clone in the Blue Sky Theatre, Ding Yao and others did not take it, but rather, allowed him to keep it.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao still looked pale. Her injuries were so severe that even though she had the Soul Warming Lotus and was using Yang Kai’s Small Universe to recuperate, the wounds did not heal so easily.
However, her condition was much better compared to when she just returned from the Black Ink Nest Space.
At this moment, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was telling Xiang Shan and the others about what happened in Black Ink Nest Space. The four Army Commanders all listened solemnly.
Although a lot of information had arrived from other Great Passes already, it was far less detailed than what Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was telling them.
22 Old Ancestors collaborated to probe the Black Ink Nest Space, but they were ambushed by 50 Royal Lords as soon as they entered.
The ensuing battle was so intense that neither the Old Ancestors nor the Royal Lords could hold anything back. In the end, the Old Ancestors managed to kill 4 Royal Lords while 2 of their own sacrificed themselves to allow the rest to escape!
In just a few dozen breaths of time, 6 top Masters from the two Races perished.
“When the Human Race intentionally did not destroy those 22 High-Rank Black Ink Nests, the Black Ink Clan must have guessed our intentions to enter the Black Ink Nest Space to pry for information. Thus, they gathered a number of Royal Lords in advance for the ambush,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said softly.
Xiang Shan frowned and said, “The battle reports from earlier indicated that the Royal Lord that used to be at the Yin-Yang Theatre was among those who escaped. Did Old Ancestor feel her aura in the Black Ink Nest Space?”
Not all Royal Lords were killed in the previous grand war across the 106 Theatres. Roughly half of them were killed, while the other half escaped.
Now, no one knew where they were hiding.
The Royal Lord of Yin-Yang Theatre was known to be one of the survivors.
Yin-Yang Pass was originally the place where Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was assigned and she had fought with that Royal Lord for tens of thousands of years, so they could not be more familiar with one another.
However, later when the Southern Army Commander of Yin-Yang Pass, Wu Qing, broke through and reached the Ninth-Order, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was given the mission of re-taking Great Evolution Pass. Now, Wu Qing was at Yin-Yang Pass, serving as its Old Ancestor.
Wu Qing had just advanced to the Ninth-Order, so compared to the rest of the Old Ancestors, he was not very strong. Although he was unable to kill the old Royal Lord when they fought at the Yin-Yang Theatre, the Royal Lord found herself outmatched when Wu Qing was joined by several Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters; thus, she eventually fled into the void, her whereabouts now unknown.
The reason why Xiang Shan asked this question was because he suspected that the Royal Lords who ambushed the Humans in the Black Ink Nest Space were not the ones who escaped from the other Theatres.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and replied, “I didn’t feel her aura.”
Xiang Shan frowned and replied, “Then the problem is very serious… In recent days, I had also queried the other Old Ancestors who were involved. I asked them similar questions, but none of them felt any familiar auras among the 50 Royal Lords that participated in the ambush.”
In other words, among those 50 Royal Lords, not one was an old acquaintance of the surviving 20 Old Ancestors.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao declared solemnly, “Those Royal Lords were all fresh faces! Their strength was there, but they were unable to fully display it. It was as if they did not have much experience in fighting.”
Although the battle only lasted several dozen breaths of time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had tens of thousands of years of combat experience so she was easily able to notice such details.
At the time, she was too busy fighting and preserving her life to pay attention to this, but now, looking back, there were many questions that were unanswered.
She knew what Xiang Shan was trying to determine.
If there were 50 Royal Lords who they had never seen before, plus those who had escaped from the Theatres, that meant that there were almost 100 Royal Lords still alive!
It was a terrifying force!
What made it even more unbelievable was that these Royal Lords did not have much experience in fighting! It was as if their strength was attained totally from intense cultivation rather than being built up through millennia of tempering in war.
The fact was, if it was not for those Royal Lords’ clumsiness in battle, the Old Ancestors would not have been able to rally themselves so quickly to defend and then counter attack.
Additionally, if those Royal Lords had concentrated on just one or two Old Ancestors at a time, they would have been able to kill all of them very quickly.
However, they did not do that. Instead, they all just wildly pushed their Spiritual Energy to bombard them indiscriminately.
Such a way of fighting could only be described as foolish.
“And I suspect that… the Black Ink Clan has more forces hidden than what we’ve seen.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned with worry.
Liu Zhi Ping remarked softly, “There are more of them?”
100 Royal Lords was already a problem, if there were more of them, then how could the Black Ink Clan be eradicated?
“The Black Ink Clan still has its limits; for instance, that Black Ink Nest Space was not impregnable. With 50 Royal Lords and 22 Old Ancestors fighting, the clashing of Spiritual Energy shook that space quite violently. It looked like that was the limit of what that space could withstand. If there were even a few more, it is difficult to say whether that space could endure the impact.”
The Black Ink Clan was able to estimate the limit of the Black Ink Nest Space’s tolerance; however, when the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor self-destructed his Soul, he managed to exceed that limit and tear open a crack in the Black Ink Nest Space.
The Black Ink Clan must not have expected that a Human Race Master could be so decisive.
Mi Jing Lun understood and said, “So, Black Ink Clan may not only have 50 hidden Royal Lords, they simply deployed 50 because that was the limit the battlefield could handle.”
Ou Yang Lie smacked his lips and said, “That’s bad.”
“There is good news though…” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s expression suddenly became a little odd and she appeared to be contemplating something before she murmured, “We may not be the only ones fighting this war!”
“What does Old Ancestor mean by that?” Liu Zhi Ping asked curiously.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao replied, “In fact, at the end of the battle, the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection had been shattered, and we were already on the verge of death. We were preparing to go all out in a final battle to the death with those Royal Lords; however, at that critical juncture, the sealed Black Ink Nest Space cracked open once again…”
Mi Jing Lun gasped, “The power released by the two Races was so strong that it went beyond the limit of what the Black Ink Nest Space could withstand?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and explained, “The gap was opened from the outside.”
Everyone was stunned when they heard that.
A gaping hole opened from the outside and saved the lives of 20 Old Ancestors at a critical moment!
Who opened it?
How was it opened?
No one knew.
However, this was also the reason why Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said that their present Army might not be alone in this war.
That crack opened at a very timely moment. If it had opened a little later, more of the Old Ancestors would have been killed and injured.
What surprised Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was that through the crack, she vaguely saw a big hand that looked like it was made of white crystal jade!
It was a pity that she could not see it clearly because the power was too chaotic and the event was so short-lived.
The only thing that was certain, was that the hand was the source that opened the Black Ink Nest Space. Without that hand, there was no way they would have escaped from that space.
“Interesting…” Xiang Shan suddenly smiled inexplicably, “In addition to the other Armies from the other Theatres, there is actually another party that is fighting against the Black Ink Clan!”
Mi Jing Lun’s eyes lowered and pondered aloud, “Is this other party hostile or friendly?”
Ou Yang Lie looked at him as if he was a fool and said with disdain, “If that power helped the Old Ancestors get out of trouble, isn’t that obvious as to whether it was hostile or friendly?”
Mi Jing Lun shook his head with a light smile and said, “Who knows? If it was that obvious, then why didn’t they contact us before? Why did they have to wait till the very last moment before revealing themselves? Was something restricting them from showcasing their power, or was it all intentional?”
Ou Yang Lie raised his eyebrows and said, “Aren’t you over-thinking this?”
He seemed annoyed with Big Head Mi, who always made issues more complicated than they were. Was it not better to keep things simple?
Mi Jing Lun shook his head solemnly and said, “It’s not that I want to over-think things, I just can’t help worrying. According to what the Old Ancestor said, a lone party was able to break open the Black Ink Nest Space from the outside, which means this person or party must be more powerful than all the Old Ancestors combined!”
Ou Yang Lie was dumbfounded.
The Old Ancestors were Ninth-Order Masters, the strongest warriors in existence. Who could be more powerful than them?
If this unknown party was friendly to the Human Race, then it would be a blessing; however, if it was hostile, then it would be far more difficult to deal with compared to the Black Ink Clan. At the very least, the Humans knew the Black Ink Clan quite well today. They did not know anything about this hidden party.
It was easy to dodge a spear in the light, but difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark.
Xiang Shan looked at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and asked respectfully, “Old Ancestor, is the Ninth-Order really the limit of cultivation? Is it possible to go further?”
When he asked this question, even Yang Kai, who had been uninvolved so far, listened eagerly.
No one other than the Old Ancestors, who had reached the Ninth-Order, had any insights into whether there was a higher realm than the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
It was said that there was no peak to the Martial Dao, but was there really no limit?
However, according to the current situation on the Human’s side, the Ninth-Order appeared to be the peak of Martial Dao.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was silent for a moment before replying, “The cultivation of the Open Heaven Realm is mainly related to one’s Small Universe. As the volume of the Small Universe increases, their Order rises. The First-Order is the lowest while the Ninth-Order is the limit! We have been exploring if there is anything higher beyond the Ninth-Order. I don’t know about the others, but personally, with my level of cultivation, the volume of my Small Universe has reached its limit and there is no way to improve any further.”
In other words, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm was Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s limit.
She could not say if that was the same situation for the other Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
In all these years, no one had ever gone beyond the Ninth-Order. No one had ever seen any power beyond the Ninth-Order.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao then added, “Moreover, in regards to that party that helped us escape, we do not know how powerful or what realm they were in. The situation was too chaotic and there was no way to perceive it accurately. Even if the other party is stronger than us, perhaps they have not transcended the Ninth-Order.”
After a lifetime of cultivation, the concept of Ninth-Order being the peak was deeply rooted in their psyches. When someone suggested the possibility of a higher realm than the Ninth-Order in this world, it was difficult for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to believe it.
After all, she had made this judgement based on thousands of years of her own experience.
“No matter what realm the other party has reached, or whether they are friend or foe, at least, in terms of dealing with the Black Ink Clan, their stance is the same as ours,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao continued, “Furthermore, this other party should be under some kind of restriction; otherwise, it makes no sense why they have not contacted the Human Race after all these years. I even suspect… that they are some ancient force or a remnant of a force from a distant era.”
Before this, no one had thought that there was another force in the world that stood against the Black Ink Clan.
Before coming to Great Evolution Pass, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao guarded Yin-Yang Pass for tens of thousands of years, but even she had never heard anything about another force before. Neither had the other Old Ancestors.
If the other party had not taken the initiative to help them out this time, they would still be ignorant of their existence.
There was only one possibility now, that the power was a remnant from a very distant era. So long that even the Old Ancestors had never heard of it.
Mi Jing Lun nodded slightly and said, “Since the other party has a similar stance to ours, we can ally with them. The question is… where are they, and who made that move?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao narrowed her eyes and said, “If I am not mistaken, their location should be where the Black Ink Clan Mother Nest is!”
All the Army Commanders’ pupils contracted, but after a moment of reflection, they understood why the Old Ancestor had made such a judgment.
The Black Ink Nest Space that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the other Old Ancestors entered this time should be the creation of the Black Ink Clan Mother Nest. Since the unknown Master was able to break open the space from the outside, it meant that they could not be too far away from the Mother Nest. They must have directly attacked the Mother Nest; otherwise, it was impossible to accomplish this.
In other words, if they found the Mother Nest, they should be able to find the person behind that mysterious attack.
But where was the Mother Nest? Although they might be able to find some clues in the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, who would dare to enter that place again considering what just happened?
The Black Ink Clan’s ambush must still be there, so going back would be suicidal.
Even so, the Humans had some suspicions as to where the Mother Nest was.
Since ancient times, those in the Great Passes had never conquered a Royal City, not to mention the void beyond the Royal Cities.
“The war is not yet over, and the crusade will continue. For now, let the soldiers in the Inner Sanctum recuperate some more. I have a feeling that… the next battle may be more dangerous!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao finally commanded. Xiang Shan and the others listened gloomily.
As a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, she had an extremely keen perception for danger, even danger that had yet to manifest. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao would not have said such words for no reason.
Soon, Xiang Shan and the others left so that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao could continue to recuperate.
…
The Theatres everywhere were pacified and the Black Ink Clan was defeated; however, the Human soldiers only enjoyed a few days of peace and quiet before they entered a state of intense war preparation again.
Alchemists and Artifact Refiners at every Great Pass became busy.
Information was passed back and forth between the Great Passes.
The term ‘crusade’ was used by the top brass of the Human Race when attacks were launched against the Royal Cities in the Theatres. However, now the Human Race’s Army was preparing for an even grander crusade!
A crusade to the Black Ink Clan Mother Nest!
Yang Kai also could not help but feel a sense of urgency.
In the previous battles, he played an indispensable role on the battlefield. He was able to kill a powerful Territory Lord like Che Kong and even destroyed a lot of Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. He was also the one who killed a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple with a punch.
However, all those achievements had many coincidental elements.
In the end, he was still just a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
When Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said that the future battle was going to be more dangerous than ever, how could he protect himself and the others around him unless he was at least in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm?
[But the Eighth-Order…]
Yang Kai estimated that even with his current rate of cultivation, he would require at least 1,000 years to reach the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. By the time he managed to get to the Eighth-Order the wars would be over.
Time was not on his side.
In fact, he took only a few hundred years to advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, so even if he took another 1,000 years to break through once more, his rate of advancement was already extremely terrifying. Which Eighth-Order Division Commanders had not taken several thousand years to break through from the Seventh-Order to the Eighth-Order?
Just look at Feng Ying. She was one of the most talented cultivators of her generation, but she spent 3,500 years in the Seventh-Order before just recently achieving a breakthrough and advancing to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
And that was already considered faster than usual.
On average, it took Seventh-Order Masters 5,000 years to break through.
As for the advancement from the Eighth-Order to the Ninth-Order, that was a 10,000 year endeavour at best
The growth of a Human was simply too slow.
Yang Kai did not lack resources to cultivate with, so during Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s recuperation, he was constantly refining materials and spared no expense to expand the number of Small Stone Race in his own Small Universe.
Although there was no way for him to break through and enter the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm in a short period of time, he could still increase his strength.
Xiang Shan, would from time to time come over to pass on some messages to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and to seek her opinion on certain matters. He did not keep anything from Yang Kai either; thus, Yang Kai was able to hear some confidential information.
Three months after the Old Ancestor’s return from the Black Ink Nest Space, the Great Evolution Army, which had been resting outside of the Royal City, began to buzz again. It started to move beyond the Royal City towards the depths of the void.
It was the same for all the major Theatres and the Great Passes.
Another crusade had begun!
According to the Old Ancestors, it was vital for them to eliminate the remaining enemy! Previously, the Human Race in the other Theatres had decimated the Black Ink Clan such that they could no longer form a coherent army. Regardless of the situation at the Mother Nest though, they could not give those fleeing Black Ink Clansmen any opportunity to re-group and reorganize.
There were dozens of Royal Lords who had escaped, and several times more Territory Lords and Feudal Lords who, though wounded, still breathed.
There were no concerns about the morale of the Humans. After the news of the Mother Nest was intentionally spread, all the soldiers knew that the war was far from over.
Until the Black Ink Clan was destroyed, the Human Race would never relent!
Scouts were sent out to perform reconnaissance on the route ahead so the Army Commanders could adjust their strategy.
In fact, the Human Race had always been curious about the void beyond the Royal Cities as it was a land that Humans had never set foot in.
However, before the Theatres were pacified, the Human Race had no ability to explore that void as the Royal Cities in front of this void were an impassable biggest obstacle.
Now, the Human Race was finally going to explore this mysterious place.
There was nothing unusual in the first month.
However, after another month, some of the scouts who had gone on ahead found the corpses of Black Ink Clansmen in the void, which was very unusual.
When the Squad tried to investigate, they were attacked by an unexplained force. There would have been casualties if not for their Warship’s protection.
When the encounter was reported to the Great Evolution Army. Xiang Shan took it very seriously and went to check the situation personally. He came back soon after.
In Yang Kai’s Small Universe, in the same small courtyard, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned and remarked, “A residual Divine Ability?”
Xiang Shan nodded and said, “Yes, one that is still very powerful. Though I don’t know how many years have passed since it was formed, those dead Black Ink Clansmen must have been the ones who escaped from the Royal City and ventured into that area. They ended up triggering the residual Divine Ability, and died as a result.”
“How strong is it?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked.
“The one I touched was almost equivalent to the full powered strike of a Seventh-Order Master.”
“That is indeed strong…” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao appeared grave and asked, “Are there many such Divine Abilities left?”
Xiang Shan replied with a grave expression, “There was no way to investigate. I sensed some Divine Abilities as they were obvious and could be detected at a glance, but there were others that were extremely well hidden. Some are completely unnoticeable unless they are triggered. I suspect that there are not only residual Divine Abilities, but many other Arrays as well!
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned as she muttered, “Residual Divine Abilities and Arrays…”
There were two kinds of Spirit Arrays in this world, innate and man-made. If the road ahead had residual Divine Abilities, then it was impossible that these Arrays were naturally formed. They had to be man made.
“Old Ancestor, I suspect that in ancient times, there was a force that fought against the Black Ink Clan in this stretch of void. There must have been countless Great Experts involved who set up and arranged those residual Divine Abilities and Natural Arrays.”
Yang Kai suddenly interjected, “A Divine Ability Sea!”
“Hm?” Xiang Shan looked at him in confusion.
Yang Kai said, “Once, when I was in Shattered Heaven, I was chased by an Eighth-Order Master and had to escape to the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land in the Shattered Ruins. That Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was surrounded by a massive Divine Ability Sea, which concealed innumerable Divine Abilities and Spirit Arrays. It was almost certain death for any trespassers, even Eighth-Order Masters.”
“At that time, I did not know why the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was surrounded by such a dangerous layer of traps and arrays, so I ventured in unaware. I originally thought that those Divine Abilities were left by the Divine Spirit themselves, but later I learned that it must have been arranged by some Great Experts in ancient times who were trying to seal in a Black Ink Giant Spirit God. Of course, those arrangements became unnecessary as the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was eventually eroded by the Ancestral Land’s Ancestral Strength and his vitality was completely worn down before he could get that far.”
“From ancient times to the present, even after countless years, the Divine Ability Sea set up by those Great Experts of the past is still extremely powerful. While it must have weakened after so much time, its effectiveness is still quite shocking. In fact, if the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was able to get out of the trap, it would still be greatly hindered by that Divine Ability Sea.”
“The situation in the void ahead is somewhat similar to the Divine Ability Sea outside of Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, only that it’s not as obvious.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded and said, “Now that you mention it, I do have some memory of that. Rumour has it that there is indeed a vast field of Divine Abilities outside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, though I have not seen it before.”
She had been on the Black Ink Battlefield for so long that if Yang Kai did not mention about this Divine Ability Sea, she would not have thought about it.
“So, it seems that the source of the Divine Abilities and Arrays up ahead and the Divine Ability Sea outside of the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land should be from the same era. Let’s call them the Ancients. They may have had a great battle against the Black Ink Clan here, so there are many residual Divine Abilities, as well as many restrictions and Arrays…” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said and then her eyes lit up, “If the Divine Ability Sea outside of the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was to protect against the sealed Black Ink Giant Spirit God. Then who is this Divine Ability Sea set up to guard against?”
Yang Kai and Xiang Shan looked at each other, and almost without thinking, immediately said, “The Mother Nest!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded, “That’s the only possibility. The Mother Nest must be located at an even deeper location, and many methods were used to guard against it.”
“But from the perspective of the later generations, that meant that the Ancients had failed as the Black Ink Clan managed to break out from the Mother Nest and built one Royal City after another, harvested the nearby resources, hatched their Black Ink Nests, bred more soldiers, and expanded the scale of the Black Ink Battlefield.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s eyes flashed as she speculated on the vital events of the ancient times.
“In order to fight against the Black Ink Clan, the Ancients must have built the Great Passes. These Passes were created to resist the invasion of the Black Ink Clan. Yes… the appearance of the Cave Heavens and Paradises must also be connected to them. They are likely the founders who created the Cave Heavens and Paradises in the 3,000 Worlds, cultivated various talents, selected the right people, and brought them to the Black Ink Battlefield, a cycle which has continued on till this day.”
While talking, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao vaguely recalled an ancient book she saw in Yin-Yang Cave Heaven once. It was very old, and unlike the other Secret Arts or Secret Books. It was more akin to a journal of sorts, which she came across by accident.
The ancient book mentioned a little bit about the founding of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, which was very consistent with their current speculations.
However, she was not very strong at that time, and there were many ancient characters in that journal that were extremely obscure and difficult to understand. She had no interest in such dusty history back then, so she casually browsed through before placing it back.
These were only her own speculations and no one knew how things turned out during the ancient times unless they could find someone who survived from that era.
However, that period was at least a million years ago, and none of the living Old Ancestors was nearly that old.
After gathering her thoughts, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said, “We should only be at the outer edge of this Divine Ability Sea now. If even the outer edge is so dangerous, just imagine what it is like inside! Pass the order down, maintain the highest level of alertness as we progress. We cannot get bogged down here before we even locate the Mother Nest.”
“Yes!”
“What about the other Great Passes?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked next.
Xiang Shan replied, “Almost all the other Theatres are facing the same situation as ours.”
“It’s that big!?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s pupil constricted.
The Black Ink Battlefield was enormous, taking over 100 Great Passes to span it from one side to the other. Now, all the Great Passes were proceeding deeper into the void, searching for the Mother Nest, but the Divine Ability Sea was baring all of their path’s forward.
This meant that the Ancient Great Experts had filled this entire region of the Black Ink Battlefield with Divine Abilities and Spirit Arrays! Such a feat was truly astonishing!
With the heritages of the Cave Heavens and Paradises, they could surely accomplish something similar, but the expenditure of time and resources would surely be beyond astronomical.
“Proceed carefully and report immediately if there are any abnormalities!”
“Yes!” Xiang Shan received her orders and retired respectfully.
After he left, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao murmured, “The Ancients…”
Yang Kai frowned and pondered. He could not help but recall the scene he saw in the Dragon Clan Sacred Treasure. The Crystal Palace seemed to carry with it the memory of ancient times. At that time, he thought it was all quite strange, but now it seemed to be somehow related to the Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent.
After all, the Dao of Time was the Bloodline Talent of the Dragon Clan.
Back then, he saw the scene in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, where two Supreme Masters, the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress of that age, fought against the Black Ink Giant Spirit God. They finally suppressed it and sealed it with the help of the Sacred Treasure of the different Divine Spirit Clans.
Yang Kai naturally did not know how many years ago that battle took place, but from the situation of that battle, the Ancient Great Experts might not have been able to hold back the invading enemy.
When Black Ink Strength invaded the 3,000 Worlds, even a Giant Spirit God had been corrupted by it.
[Right! Black Ink Strength must have invaded the 3,000 Worlds in the past!]
“Was that Royal Lord suppressed and sealed in the Black Prison back then as well?” He exclaimed.
Yang Kai had entered the Black Ink Battlefield through the Black Territory.
It now seemed that the Royal Lord who was suppressed and sealed in the Black Prison had been there much longer than anyone could have imagined.
Such ancient events were no longer traceable, so there was no way to really know what happened so many years ago.
The situation that the Human Race needed to face today was grim.
“But this is also an opportunity,” Yang Kai suddenly chuckled.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao looked at him and asked curiously, “An opportunity?”
Yang Kai said, “If the path ahead is really that hazardous, not many of the Black Ink Clan that escaped will be able to survive. Those that do will clear a path for us.”
During the war to take the Royal Cities, not all the Black Ink Clansmen were killed. In fact, many had escaped, and these Black Ink Clansmen had varying levels of strengths. In the Great Evolution Theatre alone, numerous Territory Lords, Feudal Lords, even weaker Black Ink Clansmen had managed to flee.
With those Black Ink Clansmen fleeing to the rear, it was as good as opening up a path for the Great Evolution Army. Thus, the Great Evolution Army could avoid many unknown dangers.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao thought about it and agreed that was indeed the case. She could not help but snicker slightly and suddenly regretted that she had hunted down too many Territory Lords.
If they had let a few more Territory Lords escape, perhaps the path ahead could be more thoroughly cleared for them.
However, under the circumstances, after the death of Mo Zhao and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, as someone in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, she was unchecked on the battlefield. Thus, naturally she wanted to kill ruthlessly.
As Xiang Shan said, some of the residual Divine Abilities were very obvious and could be seen at a glance, while others were hidden and would only flare up on contact.
The scout Squads experienced a lot of hardships because of this. Thankfully after so many years, the power of many of these residual Divine Ability restrictions had degraded. Under the protection of the Warships, there were no casualties.
Even inside Great Evolution Pass, Yang Kai could detect the occasional energy fluctuations outside. They were naturally the hidden Divine Abilities or restrictions that were triggered.
However, Great Evolution Pass was so large and had such strong barriers around it that these occasional bursts did not pose any threat to it.
Suddenly, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, who was sitting on a wicker chair and resting peacefully, had her eyes shoot open as she looked up suspiciously towards the sky.
Yang Kai, who was cultivating nearby, noticed and also turned to where she was looking.
At first, he did not notice anything unusual, but soon, his face changed slightly and he retracted his Small Universe.
The barrier protecting the Great Pass had a crack in it, and looking beyond this opening, Yang Kai saw the scene outside.
Out in the void, a huge figure was charging forward, carrying a huge bone of unknown origins in his hand. He brandished it around as if there were endless enemies on all sides and he was smashing them apart.
Every time he swung the bone in his hand, the Void itself shuddered.
The huge figure shot past Great Evolution Pass, causing it to tremble noticeably. The mere passing of this enormous figure had caused the protective barriers around the Pass to quake. Even those Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, who were responsible for protecting the Pass, were affected.
Yang Kai had no doubt that if the bone in that figure’s hand had hit Great Evolution Pass, even if all the defensive arrays were fully operational at this moment, it might not have been able to withstand the impact!
“A Giant Spirit God!” Yang Kai shouted out loud.
In the deep depths of the Black Ink Battlefield, he had actually seen a Giant Spirit God. But, why would one be here?
Yang Kai was confused.
This was the third Giant Spirit God he had encountered in his life!
When the Star Boundary was dying, it attracted a Giant Spirit God called Ah Da, who fed on the dead Worlds. However, Ah Da had waited outside the Star Boundary for decades, just snoring loudly as he slumbered. In the end, Yang Kai brought back a World Tree clone which enabled the Star Boundary to recover.
Eventually, Ah Da left. The Giant Spirit God Clan was born with unmatched power, but they were childlike in their innocence and quite gentle, only feeding on completely dead worlds. When the Star Boundary recovered, Ah Da did not linger any longer.
Later, Yang Kai met a second Giant Spirit God, Ah Er, in the vast void. By catching a ride with Ah Er, Yang Kai entered the Chaotic Dead Territory, where he befriended Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan and gained a lot of benefits.
However, after they parted, Yang Kai heard no news of either Ah Da or Ah Er. Although they were huge and transversed the 3,000 Worlds freely, it was like they simply disappeared, never to be seen again. It was truly bizarre.
Yang Kai never expected that there would be a Giant Spirit God in the Black Ink Battlefield, and very much unlike Ah Da and Ah Er’s mildness, this Giant Spirit God radiated an intense fury, as if he was out to kill all living beings!
This was very strange.
Just like Yang Kai and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, the entire Great Evolution Army was dazzled by the sight of the Giant Spirit God dashing through the void.
The Giant Spirit God Clan were very few in number, so although all of them had heard of these strange beings before, almost none of them had ever seen one before.
Not to mention, this was the Black Ink Battlefield!
No one had ever heard of a Giant Spirit God living on the Black Ink Battlefield.
After a moment of silence, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao suddenly shot up and chased after the Giant Spirit God.
Yang Kai hesitated for a moment before following suit.
He had been in Great Evolution Pass this whole time and had not checked out the surrounding void. When he got out of Great Evolution Pass and looked around, Yang Kai was stunned.
The surrounding void was actually dotted with points of light, just like a sky that was full of stars, a beautiful sight to behold.
Even as Yang Kai marveled at this beauty, he could sense the dangers hidden within.
The dots of light were all Divine Abilities left over from the ancient times. The whole void was filled with chaotic and dense energies, and it was these energies that had been nourishing these Divine Abilities and Arrays for countless years, allowing them to persist to this day.
However, these Divine Abilities were extremely unstable and would explode at the slightest touch.
As Great Evolution Pass advanced, it inevitably touched a lot of these things. All the bursts of energy were blocked off by the shields of Great Evolution Pass, so the soldiers inside were not affected at all.
Without dallying any further, Yang Kai followed after the Old Ancestor.
Although he was proficient in the Dao of Space, he still could not keep up with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao who was in the Ninth-Order; thus, was steadily falling behind her.
Soon though, he perceived the Old Ancestor’s aura rapidly coming towards him.
In the blink of an eye, the Old Ancestor appeared in front of him, looking somewhat frantic, as if there was some great danger behind her. Yang Kai still did not understand why the Old Ancestor came back all of a sudden but she did not give him time to ponder on it as she simply grabbed his hand and shouted, “Run!”
After she said that, she dragged Yang Kai away. In the blink of an eye, they were hundreds of thousands of kilometres away.
Along the way, they inadvertently touched a hidden restriction which was blown apart by her fist.
It was only when the Old Ancestor dealt with this restriction that Yang Kai came to his senses and turned around to look back!
The Giant Spirit God’s huge figure was rushing over again, waving the huge bone in his hand, smashing the void on all sides, causing it to crumble and crack.
Yang Kai was stunned for a moment and said with surprise, “Another Giant Spirit God?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and said, “It’s still the same one!”
“Why is he back?” Yang Kai was puzzled.
The Old Ancestor had no answer to his question and quickly said, “Just wait and see.”
Yang Kai frowned, observed, and saw the Giant Spirit God come back towards them. He then flew off into the distance and disappeared in a flash. Though his movements appeared awkward and clumsy, his speed was astonishingly fast. He only appeared unwieldly because of his enormous size.
Yang Kai did not understand what he was doing and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao did not explain.
After waiting for a time, Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed and as he struggled to see the Giant Spirit God dash back towards them during his rampage all through the void, then disappear again.
Yang Kai frowned deeply, wondering what the Giant Spirit God was doing.
On the other hand, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao just sighed.
Although Yang Kai had some suspicions now, he wasn’t certain yet. However, after the Giant Spirit God flew back and forth three times, he was able to confirm his theory.
“Is this Giant Spirit God… already dead?” Yang Kai asked.
Although the Giant Spirit God exuded a strong killing intent, there was no trace of vitality coming from his body. What caused Yang Kai to feel frightened was seeing that the Giant Spirit God’s body was full of wounds, ones that had obviously been inflicted long ago but never healed.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said with great concern, “You could say that.”
“Then why…”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao knew what was on Yang Kai’s mind and said, “Although the Giant Spirit God Clan is incredibly powerful, their thought process is extremely simple. Although I do not know what actually happened to him before he died, from his behaviour, he must have been fighting against countless mighty enemies before he died.”
As he traveled back and forth, the Giant Spirit God kept waving the giant bone in his hands, as if there were an endless number of enemies around him that were attacking him.
The Giant Spirit God’s malevolent aura was also extremely terrifying.
“The Black Ink Clan!” Yang Kai gasped.
Under such circumstances, who else could be Giant Spirit God’s enemy? It had to be Black Ink Clan.
Although he did not know what the ancient battles were like, he could tell by looking at the state of the Giant Spirit God that he was in a desperate situation. He must have defeated untold numbers of enemies before eventually dying of exhaustion.
Although his vitality had dissipated, his last Will remained unbroken. Endless eons had passed by, yet he was still charging around this battlefield, tirelessly trying to kill the invisible enemy, never once ceasing.
Perhaps, only when his physical body eventually collapsed would he stop.
Yang Kai’s heart inexplicably sank. Although he did not have any previous contact with this Giant Spirit God, both Ah Da and Ah Er were incredibly friendly and good to him. They were truly gentle and innocent, never using their great strength to bully others.
However, in ancient times, even a Race as peace-loving as the Giant Spirit God were drawn into the war and eventually fell on the battlefield, which showed how dire the situation was at that time.
The Black Ink Clan was not only the greatest enemy of the Human Race, but also the greatest enemy of all living beings in the vast Universe.
“Let’s go.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao muttered solemnly.
The Giant Spirit God was not alive. He was just repeating the actions of when he was alive, running back and forth on the battlefield, smashing those enemies that no longer existed.
It was truly sad, but also worthy of respect!
As Yang Kai followed Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao towards Great Evolution Pass, the Giant Spirit God once again charged forward from behind.
Yang Kai suddenly looked back and thought that this Giant Spirit God might not simply be killing the enemy. Perhaps he was saving some Humans or holding back the advance of the enemy.
With the strength of a Giant Spirit God, it was obvious he could have escaped if he was defeated, but he persisted and remained rampaging on the battlefield. That meant that someone or something caused him to remain and fight, something more important to him than his own life.
Perhaps, in that ancient battlefield, the ancient Humans were fighting side by side with the Giant Spirit God right here, blocking the Black Ink Clan Army!
They had no means to uncover such ancient events. Those who came after them could only retrace the journey of their forefathers; as for how it ended, that was anyone’s guess.
The deeper they traveled into the Black Ink Battlefield, the more dangerous it became.
It was hard to imagine the far past, and the amazing battle that must have happened between the Ancients and the Black Ink Clan. It was a war destined to end only in the total destruction of one side!
The void was full of chaotic energy, with Black Ink Clouds and seas of Black Ink Strength scattered about. Where the chaotic energy and Black Ink Strength entwined after countless years, they evolved to form endless dangers through the ages.
Six months after Great Evolution Pass departed from the Royal City, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao could no longer heal in peace.
There were so many dangers around that it was sometimes impossible for the Eighth-Order Division Commanders to handle on their own. For instance, when a certain massive Spirit Array was triggered, and the entire Great Evolution Pass’ defensive barrier nearly shattered and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had to personally go out to protect the Pass.
At this point, the hidden dangers in the void had become strong enough to threaten Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
This situation was true for all the Human Race Armies. Many Great Passes had lost contact with each other already due to these chaotic energy outbursts.
Yang Kai began to wonder if the Royal Lords who had escaped from the Humans in each Theatre would even be able to make it back to the Mother Nest safely.
After fighting the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, those Royal Lords would surely be seriously wounded, and in this kind of environment, if they were not careful, they might die.
At this time, Yang Kai was leading Dawn to scout ahead of Great Evolution Pass to check for possible dangers.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao sat inside the Pass as she monitored the four directions in case something happened, ready to respond if she needed to.
Dawn was a Special Operations Squad and was adept at dangerous scouting missions; however, just in case of trouble, Dawn had an extra Eighth-Order with them.
She was none other than Feng Ying!
In the last battle in the Royal City, Feng Ying rushed out at the critical moment and held back a Territory Lord who was pursuing Yang Kai. As a newly promoted Eighth-Order Master, Feng Ying was naturally no match for that Territory Lord and was injured during the battle.
Later, there was a breakthrough in the situation. Che Kong, Mo Zhao and the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, each died one after another. Feng Ying’s Territory Lord opponent realised that the situation was not in the Black Ink Clan’s favour and attempted to escape.
Feng Ying went all out to pin her opponent down, and with the help of other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, she eventually managed to kill that Territory Lord.
Now that Feng Ying was in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, she was supposed to have left Dawn to assume greater responsibilities. In fact, the Army was reorganized just before Great Evolution Pass left the Royal City.
This was the third time the Great Evolution Army went through a mass-reorganization.
The first time was when the Great Evolution Army was first established. The second time was when they re-took Great Evolution Pass. Now was the third and probably the last time.
Feng Ying was now a Division Commander of the Western Army.
Dawn also had some new faces.
Yang Kai stood on the deck at the bow of the Warship, using his Divine Sense to monitor in all directions, checking for possible hidden dangers.
Apart from Dawn, there were dozens of other Squads that were fanning out on the path ahead of the Great Pass.
The reconnaissance teams would quickly map the route ahead and send their findings back to Great Evolution Pass, so that they could avoid any impending dangers.
If there was a strong restriction or Divine Ability detected in front, the scouts would be responsible for triggering it. However, if it was too strong, then the Eighth-Order Division Commanders who had gone along with the scouts would have to take action.
If even the Eighth-Order Masters could not handle the threat, then they could only call the Old Ancestor to come forward to deal with it.
The road ahead was known to be dangerous, so no one bothered to contact the Old Ancestor unless the threat was so great that even Great Evolution Pass’ shields would be unable to withstand the impact.
So far, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had to intervene twice. The restrictions that were neutralized by the Old Ancestor were truly terrifying. If one was accidentally triggered by the scouting Squads, there was a high possibility that they would be wiped out.
On this day, Yang Kai was checking out the possible dangers ahead when a Divine Sense transmission reached his ear, “Brother Yang, come and take a look. There’s something interesting here.”
Yang Kai turned his head to look over there, and without hesitation, he called out to Feng Ying to take command and dashed off.
A short while later, when he reached the area that another Squad was exploring, he took a look at the situation and was stunned by what he saw.
He saw a figure standing in the void in front of him, his body covered in black blood. It was a Black Ink Clansman.
He was not just any Black Ink Clansman though. From his aura, he was clearly a Territory Lord.
Yang Kai even recognized this individual, smiled, and said, “It’s really fate that we meet again after so long. How should I address you?”
This couldn’t be helped. This Territory Lord was the one who chased after Yang Kai in the previous battle. Yang Kai did not know his opponent’s name, but in the end, he had summoned Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone to block him.
This Territory Lord had obviously defeated Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone, which now remained as a lifeless feather. Yang Kai placed the feather in his Space Ring and planned on returning it to Si Niang when he had the chance to see her at the No-Return Pass.
He did not expect to meet this Territory Lord in such a place.
Previously, the Humans had relentlessly pursued the enemy, trying to eliminate as many as possible.
In the battle over the Royal City, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao personally hunted down and killed most of the remaining Territory Lords. Only a few were lucky enough to escape.
Yang Kai did not expect this Territory Lord to be one of those lucky few.
Unfortunately for him, he managed to escape Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s pursuit, but failed to avoid the dangers of this Divine Ability Sea, and was now trapped here by some kind of restriction.
This Territory Lord’s aura was a bit unstable and was obviously severely injured. There were several huge wounds all over his body with black blood still leaking out.
Yang Kai knew what happened as soon as he arrived.
This piece of the void was actually filled with numerous tiny Void Cracks, which must have been left behind by Masters fighting during the ancient times. Furthermore, there were also some very powerful Killing Arrays nearby.
Some of these Void Cracks could be seen with the naked eye, but others were completely invisible. When the Territory Lord fled to this place, he must have run head-long into this fractured region of the void, resulting in many fresh wounds. Now he was trapped and dared not move.
In fact, Great Evolution Pass had encountered many Void Cracks along the way, ranging in size from tiny slivers to huge rifts that filled the sky, seemingly cutting the entire Black Ink Battlefield apart.
That was why Yang Kai was specially assigned to reconnaissance, as he was a Master of the Dao of Space and able to detect all the hidden Void Cracks.
However, it was still rare to see a place as broken and cracked as this. It was almost like a prison for the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen.
This Territory Lord was fortunate to have even survived after barging into this kind of place. However, he was equally unlucky as he could not escape from this trap.
Yang Kai was in a good mood when he saw this Territory Lord, not only because he could avenge Huang Si Niang’s Soul Clone, but also because if he was trapped here, that meant that the Great Evolution Army was going in the right direction.
One of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters near Yang Kai was also overjoyed, “This guy is really unlucky to come here of all places. Now he has truly gotten caught in a trap.”
Yang Kai laughed lightly and reached out at the space in front of him with his hand.
The Territory Lord looked at the scene and scoffed sarcastically. This damned place was full of Void Cracks, each one practically indestructible. Even he could not withstand being cut by those cracks. He knew this well as he had tried several times to break out and each time he ended up being cut up even worse than before.
What made him feel more desperate was that while some of these cracks were visible to the naked eye, others were totally invisible, so there was no way he could detect them.
The location of these cracks was also not fixed as their location changed as time went by.
He was a Territory Lord. How could he be trapped here if not for all these damned Void Cracks?
Now this Seventh-Order Human even dared to grab at these Void Cracks with his bare hand. He would definitely suffer some pain, and if he was unlucky, his hand might even be cut off.
While he was thinking about this, he saw Yang Kai’s hand wave, and the hidden cracks of the Void appeared one after another. Then with some mysterious power, Yang Kai grabbed a huge crack and held it in his hand!
The Territory Lord was dumbfounded when he saw the Void Crack shatter in Yang Kai’s hand. He could not believe what he had just seen!
Territory Lord was stunned and frozen in place.
Then he suddenly remembered that he had encountered this Human in the previous battle. He seemed to have some power related to the Dao of Space. He did not understand such a power, and did not recall this immediately; however, what just happened undoubtedly explained something.
After destroying one of the Void Cracks, Yang Kai asked, “Do you want to die or live?”
Words were not as convincing as showing the other party that he had the means to save his life. Now, all that was left was the other party’s desire to live.
The Territory Lord pursed his lips and did not say a word.
However, Yang Kai did not mind the snub. There was a blood feud between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan, one that could never be resolved. Turning down Yang Kai’s offer was only to be expected.
Yang Kai asked, “What’s your name?”
The Territory Lord was silent for a long time before he replied, “Ge Chen!”
Yang Kai’s brow rose slightly as a response meant that the other party had some desire to live and might cooperate with them.
It was easy to understand how this Ge Chen felt. He was caught between a death trap and his enemy was now willing to give him a chance to survive. Anyone would grasp the opportunity to survive.
“I’ll ask you a question. If you answer me honestly, I’ll save you and guarantee that no one will do anything to you for half a day. After half a day, whether you live or die depends on your own ability.”
Ge Chen said in a gruff voice, “How can I trust you?”
He knew that if the tables were turned and it was he who discovered a trapped Human Master, he would definitely not let him go so easily.
Yang Kai snickered and said, “Let me summarize the situation you are in. Whether you like it or not, you have to trust me. If you choose to trust me, there is a chance you will survive, if you choose not to trust me, you can remain here. I will not kill you, but good luck trying to get out of here on your own.”
Ge Chen’s expression turned grim.
He also knew that what Yang Kai said was the truth. It felt horrible to him that his head was on the chopping block while Yang Kai held the axe. If he could get away from here on his own, would he still be standing here?
He had already attempted many times and each time he only wound up worse than before. If hadn’t acted cautiously, he would have already died long ago.
However, Yang Kai was just a Seventh-Order brat who had no right to represent the Human Race.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master standing beside Yang Kai said impatiently, “Enough nonsense. Yang Kai said that no one will attack you for half a day, which means that you can escape for half a day. Mo Zhao, that son of a bitch, died during the battle over the Royal City. You are one of the few Territory Lords that managed to escape. What else can you do to survive? Yet, you still dare to question us?”
The Humans did not know much about the situation in the Black Ink Clan, especially about the previously speculated Mother Nest. Although it was certain that there was a higher rank Black Ink Nest above the High-Rank Black Ink Nests, they still did not really know what exactly the Mother Nest was. What was there to lose from letting a Territory Lord live if he could tell them something about the Mother Nest?
This Eighth-Order Open Heaven Master was definitely aware of Yang Kai’s intentions, which was why he said this.
Ge Chen shook his head, looked past the two of them and said, “If it’s the Old Ancestor who guarantees to spare my life, I will tell you anything you want.”
“Impudence!” The Eighth-Order Master sternly shouted.
After the Eighth-Order Master roared though, the Old Ancestor suddenly appeared behind them. Apparently, she also found out about the situation somehow and rushed over long ago, but hid from sight.
When the Territory Lord saw Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, he obviously looked a bit nervous.
This was the Supreme Human Master who killed Royal Lord Mo Zhao. Every Black Ink Clansman would be terrified of her.
“Upon my name, I swear I will not kill you as long as you answer a few questions,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao looked at Ge Chen and said flatly, “You can choose not to answer, but if you dare to lie… I have ways to make you beg for death.”
Ge Chen looked conflicted for a while, but soon resigned himself to his fate and nodded, “Good!”
Old Ancestor replied, “Regarding your High-Rank Black Ink Nests, is there a higher Black Ink Nest that is the source of the Black Ink Clan?”
Ge Chen frowned and answered, “I’m not sure. Maybe.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao stared at him with narrowed eyes and asked, “Do you have a death wish?”
Ge Chen quickly said, “I’m really not sure about this. I’m not lying.”
The Old Ancestor narrowed her eyes and asked, “How could you not know such a simple matter as a Territory Lord?”
Ge Chen explained, “There are differences between Territory Lords. These things may be known to Innate Territory Lords, but I am an Acquired Territory Lord and don’t know much about the secrets of the clan.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was puzzled and asked, “Innate? Acquired? What are the differences between an Innate Territory Lord and an Acquired Territory Lord?”
Even Yang Kai, who had lived amongst the Black Ink Clan for years, never knew that there were any differences between the Territory Lords.
“After a High-Rank Black Ink Nest is fully grown, the earliest Territory Lords spawned from it are considered Innate Territory Lords. After that, they are all Acquired Territory Lords.” As he said that, he glanced at Yang Kai, “Sir Che Kong, the one this boy killed, was an Innate Territory Lord.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao glanced at Yang Kai, but he just shrugged and smiled awkwardly.
He was in a life-or-death situation, so who would care about whether a Territory Lord was Innate or Acquired? Furthermore, he had never heard of such a difference.
“What’s the difference?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked. She had a hunch that this time, she might be able to get a lot of extremely confidential information about Black Ink Clan from Ge Chen.
Ge Chen thought for a moment before answering, “There are definitely big differences. Innate Territory Lords existed long before Acquired Territory Lords and are generally much more powerful. However, the biggest difference is that they were directly born from the High-Rank Black Ink Nests. Thus, when they are born, they immediately have the strength and status of a Territory Lord!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s eyes constricted and Yang Kai was even more surprised as he exclaimed, “A Royal Lord Black Ink Nest can directly spawn Territory Lords?”
If that was the case, how come there were so few Territory Lords?
Although there were more Territory Lords compared to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, if what Ge Chen said was true, then there should be many, many more Territory Lords. Why did the Black Ink Clan not simply create more Territory Lords and overwhelm the Human Race?
“Is there some kind of limit?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked curiously.
Ge Chen nodded, “Yes. There is a limit. I have heard other Territory Lords say that the birth of an Innate Territory Lord is inseparable from the Source Domain. In the ancient times, the Royal Lords emerged from the Source Domain with their own High-Rank Black Ink Nests. Those Black Ink Nests carried some of the Source Domain’s power in them, and only by relying on that power could Innate Territory Lords be born.”
[Source Domain…] Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and Yang Kai were both in awe.
It was the first time they had heard the term ‘Source Domain’. The term alone caused their imaginations to run wild.
This was revealed by Ge Chen of his own accord, so they did not know if he did it intentionally. It now was clear that he did not want to die; otherwise, why would he reveal such secrets so easily?
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao wanted to urge him to reveal more and said, “In that case, the power of the Source Domain as you call it is what allowed the High-Rank Black Ink Nest to directly birth to Territory Lords, but by doing so, that power is drained and cannot be replenished.”
“That’s right,” Ge Chen said bitterly, “We Acquired Territory Lords climb up slowly through hard work and cultivation; yet, when compared to the Innate Territory Lords, we are much worse in terms of status and strength.”
“Then you guys must really be miserable…” Yang Kai snickered.
Ge Chen shook his head and said, “There is a saying among your people, the Heavens are fair in all things. Although Innate Territory Lords are born extremely powerful, they will forever be Territory Lords for the rest of their lives. On the contrary, Acquired Territory Lords who achieved our status through cultivation have a chance to one day become Royal Lords.”
“Why is that?” Yang Kai was puzzled. According to reason, the Innate Territory Lords should be more privileged.
Why was it different when it came to the Black Ink Clan?
“I don’t know,” Ge Chen shook his head, “Sir Mo Zhao was once an Acquired Territory Lord too!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao fell silent.
It was a short conversation, but the information gathered was enormous.
Innate Territory Lords, Acquired Territory Lords, Source Domain…
There were also Royal Lords who came out of the Source Domain with their own Black Ink Nests.
Mo Zhao, who had advanced to become a Royal Lord through his own efforts, was not one of them. The High-Rank Black Ink Nest that they found at Great Evolution Pass was left behind by a Royal Lord 30,000 years ago. Mo Zhao simply took over the nest.
Without dwelling too much on it, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked, “Back to my question, is the Mother Nest… in your so-called Source Domain?”
Ge Chen shook his head and replied, “I have never heard of a Mother Nest, so I don’t know if it is in the Source Domain. None of us Acquired Territory Lords have ever been in contact with the Source Domain; however, some of us had some guesses about the existence of a greater Black Ink Nest. If there really is a ‘Mother Nest’, as you call, it in this world, then it can only be in the Source Domain.”
In the Black Ink Clan, hierarchy was extremely strict in all things. The higher-ranking Black Ink Nests birthed the lower-ranking ones, and there was a one-way symbiotic relationship between them. If the Humans had some suspicions about this, then Black Ink Clan themselves naturally had them too.
However, Ge Chen, an Acquired Territory Lord, had never come in contact with the Mother Nest; thus, he really knew nothing about it.
Furthermore, the Mother Nest was a term that was coined by the Human Race. Even if it did exist, who knew what the Black Ink Clan called it.
Those Innate Territory Lords, such as Che Kong, may know more about these matters because they themselves were bred directly from the High-Rank Black Ink Nests; thus, they had a connection to the Source Domain where the Mother Nest was suspected to exist.
It was a pity that Che Kong was already dead; otherwise, there was still a chance to find out something from him.
Now, Yang Kai understood why some of the Territory Lords were so much more powerful.
Under normal circumstances, a Territory Lord’s strength was less than that of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s; however, in every Theatre, there were always some exceptions.
For example, Che Kong’s strength was at least on par with an Eighth-Order Division Commander. In fact, in a one-on-one fight, there were hardly any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters in the Great Evolution Army who were his match. Only Xiang Shan and a few other top elites could take him on.
Che Kong was killed by Yang Kai primarily because he was too careless and allowed himself to be hit by a Soul Rending Thorn.
Innate Territory Lords were directly spawned from High-Rank Black Ink Nests; so naturally, they were more powerful, but this method of birth likely exhausted their potential entirely, so they would never be able to become Royal Lords.
On the contrary, Ge Chen, who was comparatively weaker, had room to grow and a chance of becoming a Royal Lord.
Of course, it was still incredibly difficult for a Black Ink Clan Territory Lord to advance to become a Royal Lord, no less so than for a Human to reach the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm. If this wasn’t the case, there would be a lot more Royal Lords in the Black Ink Clan after so many years, considering their innate advantage in numbers.
There were surely a lot more Innate Territory Lords such as Che Kong long ago, but after countless years of war with the Humans, most of these Innate Territory Lords must have died. Only a few survived.
A rough estimate would say that before the latest war, the top three Territory Lords in all the Theatres were Innate Territory Lords.
“Now, tell me about the Source Domain. How much do you know?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked.
Ge Chen was an Acquired Territory Lord, so perhaps he did not know much about confidential information related to the Black Ink Clan’s origins. From the conversation so far, it appeared that the Innate Territory Lords seemed to ostracize the Acquired Territory Lords.
However, they should know more than the Humans.
Ge Chen thought about it and said, “The Source Domain… is something I only heard about from other Territory Lords. The Source Domain should be the source of the Black Ink Clan.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao waited for a moment, but when he did not say anything else, she frowned and asked, “That’s it?”
Ge Chen said helplessly, “No…”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao almost laughed.
The Source Domain was the source of the Black Ink Clan? That could be inferred from the name alone. Was there a need for him to state the obvious?
“The Black Ink Clansmen who survived are all escaping in this direction. Could it be that you all are heading towards the Source Domain?”
“I think so,” Ge Chen nodded and said, “I don’t know where the Source Domain is, but since I became a Territory Lord, I have become able to faintly sense something that I believe is the Source Domain. Thus, the Source Domain should be in this direction.”
It was because the Source Domain was in this direction that he fled this way. Only by fleeing this way could he hope to survive, but little did he expect that even as a Territory Lord. he would end up being trapped here.
Yang Kai could not help but raise his brow. The Black Ink Clan’s situation was somewhat similar to his Dragon Source.
On Dragon Clan’s side, if an individual’s Dragon Vein and Dragon Bloodline reached a certain degree of purity, they would be able to vaguely sense where Dragon Pool was, because the Dragon Pool was the origin of the Dragon Clan.
Since the Source Domain was the source of the Black Ink Clan, it was not surprising that Ge Chen would be able to sense it.
“If the Source Domain is the origin of Black Ink Clan, there should be a lot of Territory Lords and also, many Royal Lords there. Why don’t they come out? What is preventing them from doing so?”
It was now certain that the 50 Royal Lords encountered in the Black Ink Nest Space previously were all from the Source Domain, or at least somewhere nearby; otherwise, there was no way to explain their origin.
They appeared to be trapped in or around the Source Domain; thus, even though the battles in the Theatres were raging, they were indifferent to them.
It was not that they did not care about the battles, but rather that they simply could not intervene.
Ge Chen shook his head and said, “I don’t know.”
“You said that the Royal Lords came out of the Source Domain and brought their own Black Ink Nests with them. How did they leave the Source Domain?”
“I don’t know.”
“How far is this place from the Source Domain?” The Old Ancestor asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What was your Black Ink Clan fighting against in the olden days? How did this stretch of void behind the Royal Cities form?” This time after the Old Ancestor finished her question, she mercilessly warned, “If you dare to say you don’t know, you will die.”
Ge Chen’s expression became more and more bitter. He did not know the answers to these questions. Although he was a Territory Lord, he was just an Acquired Territory Lord, and a low ranked one in the Great Evolution Theatre at that. So, how could he know anything too confidential?
Whatever Mo Zhao discussed with the Innate Territory Lords was never shared with him.
That was why he was willing to answer Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s questions. For so many years, Acquired Territory Lords like him had felt excluded from the core of the Black Ink Clan. He knew very little about the inner workings of the clan and he did not want to die unnecessarily.
“Although it is not clear, it should be related to you Humans. The feud between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clans goes back to ancient times. This void should be the original battlefield left behind by the Human Race Masters during that war.”
This point was the same as what they had speculated.
It was not surprising to think that the only ones in this world who could compete with the Black Ink Clan was the Human Race.
The Divine Spirit, although strong, were too small in number, so it was difficult for them to wage a war across such a wide battlefield.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded and asked a few more questions, all of which were answered honestly by Ge Chen.
“Is there anything else you feel that you should tell us?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao finally asked.
Ge Chen’s expression suddenly tensed up, shook his head guiltily, and said, “I don’t know much…”
“In that case…” She turned her head to look at Yang Kai and said coldly, “Kill him.”
Ge Chen’s expression changed dramatically as he protested, “We had an agreement! You swore to let me go if I answer your questions truthfully!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao looked at him and asked mercilessly, “You trust the word of a woman?”
She never planned to let Ge Chen go. Although a Territory Lord was not a threat to her, he must have killed many Human soldiers over the years; how could she let an enemy like him live?
Yang Kai grinned and extended his hand, “Old Ancestor indeed swore she would not kill you, but I never did.”
Space Principles surged, stirring the Void, and in a flash, countless Void Cracks appeared. They then surged towards Ge Chen as Yang Kai manipulated them.
Ge Chen grit his teeth and rushed out with determination against the countless cracks. His Black Ink Strength surging as he roared, “You will die a horrible death!”
The Void Cracks sliced through him and black blood splattered everywhere. Just before the cracks hit Ge Chen, he managed to launch an intense blow towards Yang Kai, which hit him and flung him a distance back.
By the time Yang Kai steadied himself, Ge Chen had already been sliced into countless pieces by the Void Cracks.
Yang Kai looked at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the Eighth-Order Division Commander in disbelief and asked, “You just stood there, watching?”
He thought that these two would act at the critical moment, which was why he did not defend himself at all. Due to their inaction, he almost suffered serious injuries.
That Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master grinned and said, “Well, aren’t you still fine?”
“Wouldn’t it be too late to ask if I wasn’t?” Yang Kai was indignant, but he knew in his heart that the Old Ancestor would ensure that he would not be hurt. Most likely, she did not intercede because she knew that the blow from Ge Chen would not hurt him.
“The Source Domain…” The Old Ancestor murmured, “It seems that there is a reason why there is only one High-Rank Black Ink Nest in each Theatre.”
Yang Kai shook off the pain he felt, pondered a little, and understood what Old Ancestor meant.
Ge Chen said earlier that the original Royal Lords who came out of the Source Domain brought their Black Ink Nests with them.
The information they received from the other Theatres showed that there was only one High-Rank Black Ink Nest in each Royal City. Furthermore, there was only one Royal City in each Theatre, regardless of how many Royal Lords were present.
Since the High-Rank Black Ink Nests were brought out from the Source Domain by the first Royal Lords, they must have been spawned by the Mother Nest.
Thus, when a Territory Lord became a Royal Lord, they did not have their own Black Ink Nest and could only share one with the previous Royal Lord.
“The limitations on the Mother Nest must be due to some restrictions placed on the Black Ink Clan!” The Old Ancestor looked off into the void and continued, “Otherwise, when they found themselves losing the battles in the Theatres this time, the Royal Lords at the Mother Nest should have come out to offer support! That restriction… is most likely the other party had helped us get out of the trap the last time we were there.”
However, this restriction was clearly not complete; or perhaps, there was some interference which made it incomplete. Otherwise, the Royal Lords could not have taken Black Ink Nests out of the Source Domain.
Was there a higher realm of Martial Dao above the Ninth-Order? At that time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and others saw the big jade hand coming from the outside of the Black Ink Nest Space, which tore open a crack for them to escape through.
Although there could be some other reason, there was no denying that the power of that hand was immense.
The jade white hand gave them a feeling as if it had surpassed the might of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, and at the same time, it seemed that it had not. It was extremely odd.
What happened during ancient times?
What secrets were hidden at the birthplace of the Black Ink Clan?
No one knew, so no one could give them an answer.
However, the crusade by the Human Race continued. Although the road ahead was still dangerous, as long as the Human Race could destroy the Source Domain, there was a chance to completely solve the issue called the Black Ink Clan.
Nonetheless, it was a long way to go!
“What Ge Chen said should not be taken at face value. Don’t trust this information too much.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao warned.
Although Ge Chen seemed to be very cooperative, who knew what he really thought. They could not verify any of the information he provided, whether it was true or false.
Furthermore, some of the information he gave could easily be figured out by the Humans, so it wasn’t all that useful.
His words had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Some might be true while others, false.
It would be foolish to believe him verbatim.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Continue to scout out the road ahead,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao ordered, turned around, and returned to Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai nodded lightly to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master before flying back to Dawning Light.
He did not say anything more to Feng Ying and the others, but the urgency in his heart became increasingly obvious.
All the Theatres and the Great Passes set off from the Royal Cities without a clear goal, but today, they had a destination.
The Source Domain!
The Source Domain was the source of the Black Ink Clan, where the Mother Nest was, along with a gathering of many Royal Lords!
Not only were there Royal Lords, there must be many Territory Lords and soldiers as well.
Furthermore, there were not just Acquired Territory Lords like Ge Chen, many of the Territory Lords there were probably Innate Territory Lords.
The Great Evolution Army now had less than 30,000 soldiers, 45 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, and one Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Such an army was considerable in size and strength.
The other Great Passes likely had fewer forces than Great Evolution Pass, but there were 106 of them on this crusade. When all the Armies converge into one, by then, the Human Army would exceed 2 million.
This was a full 2 million Masters at or above the Fifth-Order! It was also the heritage accumulated over the ages by the Cave Heavens and Paradises.
Such a force was extremely powerful, but could it defeat the Black Ink Clan in the Source Domain?
Yang Kai was not sure, and neither were the Old Ancestors.
Even though the Human race was strong now, who could guarantee that they would win this battle?
What if they lost?
Also, what was the power that limited the Black Ink Clan in the Source Domain.
Who did that jade white hand that Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and the others saw previously belong to? Would this unknown force aid them in battle?
The road ahead was full of uncertainty, but they had to forge ahead.
The Great Evolution Army continued to march forward. The reconnaissance Squads were always out front to check the situation. Inevitably, they encountered a lot of dangers and unintentionally triggered many restrictions which caused them to suffer some casualties.
Even Dawn, led by Yang Kai, nearly met its demise.
Fortunately, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had arrived in time to save them at the critical moment.
The deeper they went, the more dangerous the void became. Yang Kai wondered if Ge Chen could have returned to the Source Domain safely even if they had let him go.
He might if he was lucky; however, he was likely to encounter a lot of dangerous traps along the way.
Considering that even after countless years, the leftovers from the ancient war were still so dangerous, it was hard to imagine what kind of violent clashes had taken place in ancient days.
As time passed, years had gone by.
It had now been a full three years since the crusade to the Source Domain began. The road was fraught with dangers, but there was still no sign of the Source Domain. This made some wonder if they were going in the wrong direction.
However, with more than 100 Armies continuing to march forward, sweeping across such a vast swath of the void, there was bound to be one of them who was advancing directly at the Source Domain.
All the Great Passes kept in touch with each other regularly; however, many Great Passes would occasionally lose contact because of the chaotic energy in the void. Fortunately, communications were always restored after a while.
There were no enemies along the way, though the hidden Arrays and residual Divine Abilities still made the void treacherous.
One day, Yang Kai was exploring the hidden dangers ahead when he suddenly sensed something unusual.
When he focused his senses on it though, he found nothing.
A short while later, he flashed back to Dawning Light and greeted Feng Ying, “Stand guard for me.”
Feng Ying nodded her head and acknowledged Yang Kai’s words.
Yang Kai then formed a set of hand seals, causing his World Force to undulate as a mysterious Grand Array suddenly appeared under his feet.
The troops aboard Dawn were puzzled, not knowing why Yang Kai had activated the Universe Transference Law.
The Universe Transference Law allowed one to teleport across vast distances to a Universe Array. Ever since Yang Kai installed Universe Arrays in the Purifying Black Ink Battleships, many soldiers had begun using the Universe Transference Law to save their lives during the battle with the Black Ink Clan.
However, Yang Kai rarely used the Universe Transference Law because he was proficient in the Dao of Space, making him faster than any Territory Lord or Eighth-Order Master. The only ones he could not escape from on his own were the Royal Lords.
Although Dawn was scouting ahead of Great Evolution Pass, they were not far from each other. If Yang Kai wanted to return to Great Evolution Pass, he could just travel there on his own using Instantaneous Movement and did not need to activate the Universe Transference Law.
The members of Dawn were puzzled, but Yang Kai appeared truly shocked.
He was following a hunch just now, but did not expect to find anything.
He did not intend to return to Great Evolution Pass, but wanted to use the Universe Transference Law to investigate something else.
The Universe Arrays in all the Purifying Black Ink Battleships were personally arranged by Yang Kai; thus, his Imprint was left on every single Purifying Black Ink Battleship. As long as the distance allowed, he could travel to any Purifying Black Ink Battleship with the Universe Transference Law.
Others could only return to the Purifying Black Ink Battleships they had left their Imprints on.
At this moment, Yang Kai could sense the location of all the closest Purifying Black Ink Battleships with the Universe Transference Law, but apart from the four ships around Great Evolution Pass, he was able to faintly sense four more to his left, and another four to the right.
There were now 12 Purifying Black Ink Battleships within range of the Universe Transference Law.
Of course, there were many more, in extremely distant locations, which all felt so faint that even Yang Kai could not reach them.
However, he could clearly perceive the 12 ships closest to him were within the range he could teleport to.
This was a very abnormal situation.
The distance between each Great Pass was at least a year’s journey for the average Warship. When the Great Evolution East-West Army set off from Wind and Cloud Pass, it indeed took them a year to reach Great Evolution Pass.
A year’s travel by Warship was much too far for even someone skilled in the Dao of Space like Yang Kai to cross using the Universe Transference Law.
However, he could now!
What did this mean?
It meant that the distance between the Great Passes had shortened to the point where he could use the Universe Transference Law.
How could this have happened?
Yang Kai was at a loss, so he hurriedly dispersed the Universe Transference Law and shot towards the Pass, yelling from afar, “Continue to explore the path ahead!”
Soon, Yang Kai arrived at the middle of Great Evolution Pass where Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao sat with her legs crossed. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him curiously and asked, “What happened?”
Over the past three years, Yang Kai had been out leading Dawn to scout the road ahead, never once returning to Great Evolution Pass until today. Yang Kai quickly explained, “We are getting closer to Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass. We’re now just three months away by Warship.”
The two Great Passes closest to Great Evolution Pass were Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass. Yang Kai could sense the other eight Purifying Black Ink Battleships that belonged to these two Great Passes were now a three-month journey away, which was the extreme limit that he could traverse via the Universe Transference Law.
Ordinary Seventh-Order Masters could not travel such a large distance using the Universe Transference Law. Not to mention a 3-month journey, even a single month’s distance would undoubtedly be fatal for them as transferring that far was basically the limit of an Eighth-Order Master via the Universe Transference Law.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was stunned by what he said and asked, “How can you tell?”
Yang Kai explained what he had just experienced.
She pondered deeply for a moment before saying, “Come with me.”
Dashing off, the two of them quickly arrived at the Hyper Space Array.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Master, who was guarding this place, saw Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and rushed to greet her.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao waved her hand and asked, “Is there anything unusual on this side of the Space Array?”
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master did not know what the Old Ancestor was referring to and replied honestly, “There is nothing unusual.”
“Nothing has changed from before?”
The Seventh-Order thought about it and replied, “If we talk about changes… I am not sure if it’s anything noteworthy, but recently, when we sent out some jade slips to the other Great Passes, the energy required seemed to have decreased, but the reduction was not obvious.”
It was because the reduction in consumption was not obvious that he did not report it; after all, the transmission of a jade slip did not consume much energy in the first place, much unlike the transfer of a cultivator, which required an enormous amount of resources.
When Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao heard his response, she immediately determined that what Yang Kai said was likely true. Other Great Passes may not have detected anything yet, but with Yang Kai’s unique circumstances, he was able to notice this anomaly. Great Evolution Pass was indeed getting closer to Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass, much closer in fact.
The distance between the Great Passes was originally about a year’s journey; however, they were now just three months apart. This resulted in the reduced consumption for the transmission of jade slips through the Space Arrays.
“Activate the Array,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao ordered. Whether the distance was truly shortened, they would know once they tried it.
That Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master hastily told his many co-workers and they began to work.
“Head to Wind and Cloud Pass,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said to Yang Kai, who nodded and replied, “Understood.”
Soon after, the Grand Array was ready. Wind and Cloud Pass was set as the target destination, and Yang Kai stepped onto the Space Array. The array buzzed, and when the light dissipated, Yang Kai was gone.
After Yang Kai disappeared, several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters immediately checked the consumption of energy and were all flabbergasted.
“How does it compare to before?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked.
Yang Kai had been to Wind and Cloud Pass before through the Hyper Space Array. Since those assigned to watch and operate the Space Array had been here for years, they should know the usual consumption required.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master replied, “The consumption is much less than before, less than 30% of the last time!”
The ones on duty here were thoroughly shocked.
The consumption required to teleport through the Hyper Space Array increased according to distance; thus, teleportation was only done between neighbouring Great Passes. If the destination was too far, they would have to transit through several Great Passes to arrive there as that was the most economical method.
Now, the consumption of teleportation was less than 30% of the last time. Since Yang Kai’s strength had not changed significantly, and the Hyper Space Array had not been enhanced, the only factor that could be different was the distance between the destinations…
Was the distance between Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass getting shorter? This thought came to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s mind.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao narrowed her eyes slightly. It seemed that what Yang Kai said was true. Although she also did not doubt him, what happened before her eyes served as firm proof of his words.
Great Evolution Pass was only just three months away from Wind and Cloud Pass now!
Why was this?
All the Great Passes were advancing in tandem towards the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield, so logically speaking, the distance separating them should not change much. Now however, they were somehow approaching one another.
This was true for Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass, as well as Azure Void Pass, so what about the other Great Passes?
Were they all getting closer?
If that was true, then in time, more than 100 Great Passes would converge in one place!
What was the mysterious place that they were converging to?
Was it the Source Domain of the Black Ink Clan?
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s expression changed a bit. The distances between the Great Passes were getting shorter, which was actually good news for the Human Race.
The Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had considered that if any Great Passes found the Black Ink Clan Source Domain, the other Great Passes would have to rush over to support them; however, if they all gathered in one place, at the same time, it would save them a lot of trouble. When the Human Race gathered all their might, they were confident they could decimate even the Black Ink Clan’s Source Domain, no matter how powerful it was!
Meanwhile, Yang Kai appeared above Wind and Cloud Pass’ Space Array.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master there was an old acquaintance and was surprised to see Yang Kai, so he asked, “Brother Yang, why are you here? Is there some urgent information from the Great Evolution Army?”
These days, there was basically no direct interaction between the Great Passes; all information was passed in the form of jade slips.
For Yang Kai to suddenly appear in person, something important must have happened.
“There’s nothing urgent. This is just an experiment,” Yang Kai said. He then turned his head towards the Space Array that had not completely closed and disappeared.
The few Open Heaven Realm Masters were bewildered.
“Did someone teleport here?” Wind and Cloud Pass’ Eastern Army Commander, Yuan Xing Ge, stepped into the hall and asked.
He obviously noticed the commotion and came over to check the situation; however, he was a step too late.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master on guard duty rushed forward to report, “Yang Kai from Great Evolution Pass just came by, but went back almost immediately. He said that he was conducting an experiment.”
“An Experiment?” Yuan Xing Ge frowned and barked, “What is he trying to do?”
Each time a teleportation was conducted, it required a large amount of resources. Though the Great Passes were no longer starved for resources now, they should not waste them in such a manner.
When the Grand Array lit up once again, the fluctuations generated were much subtler than before; thus, everyone knew that it was a jade slip rather than a person being sent.
Sure enough, when the glow waned, a jade slip was lying quietly on the Hyper Space Array.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master went forward to pick up the jade slip and injected his Divine Sense, his expression soon changing as he frantically said, “Sir, Great Evolution Pass has discovered something!”
As he said so, he offered the jade slip to the Army Commander.
Yuan Xing Ge took it, and after checking it out, his expression also changed.
“Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass are now only three months apart?”
This was very surprising news. How could there be only a three months’ journey separating them? The jade slip that was transmitted from Great Evolution Pass also speculated that not only had the distance between Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass been reduced, the distances between all other Great Passes had also been shortened. The jade slip instructed them to spread the news and at the same time seek confirmation of this.
Yuan Xing Ge did not dare to delay. He quickly continued to spread the word while arranging men to go to the neighbouring Great Passes through the Space Arrays.
In less than half a day, jade slips from all the Great Passes were collected in Great Evolution Pass’s Space Array Hall.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao checked the jade slips before tossing them to Yang Kai, nodding at him as she said, “It’s confirmed. The distances between all the Great Passes have shrunk.”
Yang Kai took a look at the messages, frowned, and asked, “What is causing this?”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and said, “I don’t know. Whatever the case, it means that all the Human Great Passes will eventually converge in one place.”
This was a good thing for the Human Race. If all the Great Passes gathered in one place, then their power would not be scattered and they would not need to fight separately as before.
With more than 2 million Open Heaven Realm Masters, more than 100 Ninth-Order Old Ancestors and thousands of Eighth-Order Masters, such a force would be enough to take on any enemy.
Even if the Source Domain was really that dangerous, the Human Army could still overcome it.
“You have an advantage in your ability to sense the Purifying Black Ink Battleships. Pay more attention to the position of the other Great Passes’ Purifying Black Ink Battleships and judge the distances between them.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao instructed.
“Yes!”
…..
As they ventured deeper into void, they not only encountered remnants of war between the Ancients and the Black Ink Clan, but also a number of vivid Celestial Phenomenon, naturally formed by the Universe itself.
Each of the Celestial Phenomenon was extremely magnificent, occupying massive regions of the void, hiding unimaginable dangers beneath their beautiful appearances.
Even the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors could feel a sense of danger coming from these Celestial Phenomenon, making them aware that falling into them would be disastrous.
According to Feng Ying, there were many similar Celestial Phenomenon in the 3,000 Worlds during ancient times; however, as the number of Human Race Masters increased and their activities became more frequent, the Celestial Phenomenon in the 3,000 Worlds gradually faded away.
However, in the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield, these Celestial Phenomenon remained unchanged throughout the ages.
Technically speaking, the Chaotic Dead Territory was also a type of Celestial Phenomenon; however, it was not naturally formed but rather the result of the collision of Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan’s powers.
The Chaotic Dead Territory was so dangerous that even the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could not enter for long. Only the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could move about for a short period in such a place.
Yang Kai had experienced the dangers of the Chaotic Dead Territory first-hand. If Giant Spirit God Ah Er had not protected him at that time, he would never have survived.
Many of the Celestial Phenomena in the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield felt even more dangerous than the Chaotic Dead Territory.
The Celestial Phenomena were so dangerous that even Great Evolution Pass needed to go around them.
A year later, Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass were now less than a month’s journey away from Great Evolution Pass, and this distance continued to shrink.
This was the same for all the other Great Passes as well, with the two furthest Great Passes now only two months apart.
If this persisted, the Great Passes would converge in another year’s time.
Even though Yang Kai was scouting ahead of the Army, he could clearly sense the tense atmosphere within Great Evolution Pass. The Great Evolution Army had begun to sharpen its swords.
Although there were no clear orders to do so, almost everyone had felt that when the Great Army of the Human Race gathered, it would be the time to fight to the death with the Black Ink Clan.
Furthermore, the Human Race had always anticipated this battle.
Six months later, Great Evolution Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass were only ten days apart from each other!
If this was an ordinary stretch of void, Yang Kai would already be able see Wind and Cloud Pass; however, the energy in the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield was too violent and chaotic. There were countless restrictions and dangers all over the place; thus, even though he knew where Wind and Cloud Pass was and how far it was from him, he still could not see it clearly.
He could only vaguely see that there was a huge object off in that direction.
The Great Passes were about to converge!
On this day, Yang Kai was looking towards Wind and Cloud Pass when he suddenly felt something and turned his head to look in that direction.
The next moment, Feng Ying, who was beside him, also sensed something and followed his gaze.
There was nothing as far as the eye could see, but there was definitely something different about the energy fluctuations in the void.
“Is someone fighting?” Feng Ying asked gruffly.
Yang Kai silently perceived for a moment, before shaking his head and saying, “Something must have triggered some massive restriction…”
The shockwaves of a battle would not be this violent. Although he also did not know what happened in that direction, it was certain that the place where the disturbance occurred was extremely far from them, at least two months journey by Warship.
At such a distance, even if a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Royal Lord fought, they could not possibly create such a huge disturbance.
The only explanation was the triggering of some massive Array. Previously, Great Evolution Pass also accidentally triggered such a huge restriction, and the impact was so intense that the Pass’ shields were almost torn apart.
As they were talking, a surge of power suddenly came from inside Great Evolution Pass, followed by a pillar of light that shot out into the void.
Yang Kai turned his head to look and frowned.
“The Old Ancestor has set out!” Feng Ying shouted.
What just happened was obviously the Old Ancestor teleporting through the Space Array. An Eighth-Order Division Commander would not create such a disturbance during teleportation. Only the teleportation of an Old Ancestor could consume such a huge amount of energy and create such violent Space Principle fluctuations.
[She has gone out!]
Yang Kai did not know where the Old Ancestor went, but since something had alerted her, it was obviously something extraordinary.
When Yang Kai turned his head to look, he vaguely caught a glimpse of a lofty and huge figure, covering the sky and tearing through the void.
The next moment, there was a familiar aura from Wind and Cloud Pass, enveloping Great Evolution Pass.
It was the aura of Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor!
Additionally, on the other side, there was also the aura of Azure Void Pass’ Old Ancestor!
The aura of the two Old Ancestors intertwined in the sky above Great Evolution Pass, turning into a protective layer.
Yang Kai immediately understood. Since Great Evolution Pass’ Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had left, that meant that there was no Old Ancestor in the Pass to ensure its safety. The Pass would not be able to protect itself if it encountered a huge danger; therefore, the Old Ancestors of the Passes to the left and right immediately joined forces to shelter Great Evolution Pass.
This way, if there was any danger, these two Old Ancestors could respond immediately.
In other words, now the two Old Ancestors have joined hands to protect Azure Void Pass, Wind and Cloud Pass, and Great Evolution Pass.
Yang Kai was now clearly concerned…
A short while later, a more violent aftershock came from the direction where the anomaly was first detected.
Yang Kai’s brow twitched.
If it was just a single disturbance, a huge restriction being triggered would make sense, but with repeated fluctuations occurring, it could only be due to a huge fight.
Two top Masters fighting would not create such intense fallout; it would take at least 10 or 20 such powerhouses to create a disturbance of such magnitude.
When Yang Kai thought about how Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao rushed out just now, he immediately understood that there must be several Old Ancestors fighting with some strong enemies in that direction.
The only ones who could compete with the Old Ancestors were the Royal Lords.
It must be the Royal Lords who had escaped from the Theatres several years ago!
A lot of Royal Lords died when the Royal Cities of each Theatre fell, but there were quite a few who escaped as well. It was not that the Old Ancestors did not want to kill them, but rather that they couldn’t as long as the Royal Lords were determined to escape.
Those Royal Lords that fled that day all went towards the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield!
Yang Kai had been thinking about this since he found out that the Great Passes were converging and would eventually meet up at some point.
If the Great Passes converged, then what about the Royal Lords who escaped from the other Theatres?
Would they converge in one place as well?
There wasn’t just one or two Royal Lords, but dozens!
If all those Royal Lords joined forces to target a single Great Pass, that Great Pass would be able to resist. It would soon be destroyed, along with all the human soldiers inside.
He had mentioned this previously with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao; however, she just told him that preparations had been made. Thus, Yang Kai did not ask any more questions; after all, he was only a Seventh-Order Master and should just focus on what he could do, rather than things he had no ability to interfere with.
Now, it seemed that the Old Ancestors did have an arrangement for such a situation.
From looking at what just happened. When there was movement nearby, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was the first to go provide support, while the Old Ancestors of Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass, quickly took Great Evolution Pass into their protection.
This was the safest arrangement.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was definitely not the only Old Ancestor who had set out.
There were dozens of Royal Lords, so many Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would have to be deployed to face them.
Perhaps some Old Ancestors would fall in this battle, but the Royal Lords would surely suffer even more.
At that moment, a strange fluctuation appeared from another direction.
Yang Kai frowned and quickly looked in that direction.
The Royal Lords… had split up their forces.
They did not all converge in one place, but instead divided into two groups to attack the Human Great Passes in two locations.
However, were their attacks going to be limited to only two locations? After all, with dozens of Royal Lords, they could attack at multiple places at the same time without any difficulty.
If Yang Kai was in the position of the Royal Lords, he would also divide his forces to hit the Humans before the Great Passes fully converged.
What he was concerned about turned out to be reality as the Black Ink Clan did exactly what he feared.
“Brother, I’ll leave this to you,” said the Old Ancestor of Azure Void Pass. The next moment, his aura faded and a pillar of light shot up into the sky from Azure Void Pass.
The Azure Void Pass Old Ancestor also went to support the second Great Pass that was attacked by the Royal Lords.
The void trembled and the sky shook from an ox’s bellow as a Master’s aura approached rapidly.
Yang Kai turned his head and saw the Wind and Cloud Old Ancestor, riding a mighty bull, charging over from the direction of Wind and Cloud Pass.
Great Evolution Pass was in the center, Wind and Cloud Pass on the right, and Azure Void Pass on the left. Now that Old Ancestors of Great Evolution Pass and Azure Void Pass have left, the Old Ancestor of Wind and Cloud Pass had to shelter the three Great Passes all on his own. Thus, it was only natural that he came to Great Evolution Pass so that he could be positioned at the center, and monitor the left and right passes.
“Greetings, Old Ancestor!” Yang Kai and the members of Dawn saluted.
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor did not go to Great Evolution Pass directly and instead landed on Dawning Light.
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor nodded lightly, smiled at Yang Kai, and said, “Well done.”
He was referring to the battle at the Royal City a few years ago. Yang Kai, as a Seventh-Order Master, killed a Territory Lord and a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. This must have been the only achievement of its kind in the entire history of the Black Ink Battlefield.
Normally, the Old Ancestors did not take much note of those in the Seventh-Order; however, Yang Kai had drawn his attention.
“It was a fluke, Old Ancestor,” Yang Kai said modestly.
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor chuckled and said, “With your abilities, if you can reach the Ninth-Order, you should be more useful than us old guys. What a pity…”
Unfortunately, Yang Kai’s advancement to the Open Heaven Realm started at the Fifth-Order, and then he took a Mid-Rank World Fruit, which raised his innate limit, but only to the Eighth-Order.
An Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was strong, but still not comparable to a Ninth-Order Master.
“Of course, if we can find the Universe Furnace, we should be able to help you break through those shackles.”
Yang Kai appeared gloomy as he replied, “This Junior is only a Seventh-Order Master now. It is too early to think about trying to reach the Ninth-Order. Furthermore, if we can completely solve the problem of the Black Ink Clan, then what does it matter if I am an Eighth-Order Master or a Ninth-Order Master in the future?”
The Old Ancestor raised an eyebrow when he heard Yang Kai’s response and remarked, “You’re a sensible one.”
He then raised his eyes, looked to the distance, and said solemnly, “I hope that will be the case!”
If this time, they really could completely eradicate the Black Ink Clan, then whether Yang Kai was a Seventh-Order or Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, it would not matter. Likewise for the others such as the Old Ancestors.
They had been on the Black Ink Battlefield for so many years, but if they really could return to the 3,000 Worlds, they would no longer need to cultivate and could just play with their descendants and enjoy a comfortable life.
The war had lasted far too long, so the Old Ancestors were all eager for such peaceful days.
Following his gaze, Yang Kai asked, “Old Ancestor, is the situation dire?”
Old Ancestor laughed lightly and said, “They’re just courting death.”
On hearing him say that, Yang Kai suddenly felt much better. He then raised his eyebrows and asked, “Had the Old Ancestors anticipated this?”
“Not really, it was just a precaution; after all, so many Royal Lords escaped and such a force could not be taken lightly,” the Old Ancestor casually replied, “We can’t find them if they hide, but since they chose to attack, we must capitalise on the opportunity to kill them. It’s better for us that the enemy is out in the open rather than hiding in the dark.”
“But now that the Royal Lords are splitting their forces between several places, it will be difficult for the Humans to deal with them, no?”
The Old Ancestor slowly shook his head “They divided their troops, but so can we. Didn’t Xiao Yue Ya… your Great Evolution Pass and Azure Void Pass’ Old Ancestors go to support the fight?”
[Xiao Yue Ya?]
Yang Kai raised his brow as he realized that he had heard something unbelievable.
“And… the Black Ink Clan is ultimately different from the Human Race. They are indeed rather strong and have caused problems for us Humans when they defended their respective High-Rank Black Ink Nests; however, they have a very obvious disadvantage. Do you know what it is?”
Yang Kai pondered for a moment and said, “They have to use their Black Ink Nests to heal their wounds?”
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor smiled and said, “Correct. That is their biggest flaw, a fatal one if you will! The Black Ink Clan’s very survival is based on their Black Ink Nests, so they are nothing without them. Although these Royal Lords escaped previously, all of them are seriously wounded in the process, and without Black Ink Nests, they would not have been able to recover from their injuries in just a few years.”
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up as he listened and his worries eased significantly.
He had forgotten about this.
The reason why Mo Zhao had not been able to recover from his injuries over the past few hundred years was because Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been harassing him. Occasionally, she would use Space Beacons to teleport to the outskirts of the Royal City to threaten him. When that happened, how could Mo Zhao have the time to fall asleep inside his Black Ink Nest to heal?
Mo Zhao had no way to recover, so he had to drag his injuries out until the final battle, when his Black Ink Nest was destroyed and he was killed by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.
That was the case for Mo Zhao, and now the other Royal Lords would suffer similar fates.
Although those Royal Lords escaped from the other Theatres with their lives, they did not have Black Ink Nests to enter retreat and heal; therefore, they were like Mo Zhao, unable to recover from their wounds.
“Moreover, they fled all the way to this place, passing by many dangers along the way. If they were lucky extremely, their journey may have been smooth, but you have experienced the hidden dangers in this region of the void. We relied on the protection of the Great Passes to remain safe, but those Royal Lords had to travel alone. Many of them must have suffered additional injuries along the way.” The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor patted the head of the bull he was riding and joked, “These Royal Lords would be lucky to have 70% of their strength remaining.”
70%! It still seemed like a lot, but it was significantly lower than their peak, and unlike the Royal Lords who had no way to heal, the Old Ancestors were different. When the Old Ancestors were wounded, they might take a few decades of recuperation to heal, but they would eventually recover from their injuries as long as they were given enough time and resources.
“So, if they didn’t reveal themselves, we old folks would have to constantly remain on guard against them. Since they are out attacking us though, it can be considered a good thing. We can kill them now, and it should not be difficult to do so. Now it only depends on how many we can eliminate.” The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor slightly narrowed his eyes and continued, “However, the fact that they chose to attack us here meant that we are not far from the Source Domain. They certainly don’t want us to get close too, so even if they know that they can’t win, they still have to fight hard.”
Yang Kai asked, “What about those Royal Lords in that Black Ink Nest Space? If they also intervene…”
“It’s possible, but highly unlikely.” Old Ancestor mused, “From all the information we’ve gathered, those Royal Lords in the Black Ink Nest Space should be under some kind of restriction with no way for them to easily move their true bodies. They were able to ambush our Ninth-Order Masters in that Black Ink Nest Space only because they had the help of the Black Ink Nest’s power. However, nothing is certain; after all, we do not know anything about the situation in the Source Domain. Whether those Royal Lords will intervene or not, we will find out soon enough.”
Of course, they would know when the final battle began.
Things would not bode well for the Humans if those Royal Lords that appeared in the Black Ink Nest Space could intervene in this battle.
Thus, the result of this battle would directly verify the Human’s previous speculations.
It was always torturous to have to wait. The after-effects of the fight in the void seemed to be increasingly violent, and even from a long distance, the fallout was clearly transmitted to them.
Yang Kai could not tell who had the upper hand.
Then, a strange fluctuation radiated towards them. The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor raised his eyebrows, smiled, and said, “There… A Royal Lord has fallen.”
The fluctuation was due to the death of a Royal Lord!
Those aboard Dawn all punched their fists in the air and cheered in celebration. Yang Kai also heaved a long sigh and began to relax.
A Royal Lord had fallen, which meant that the Human Race had the upper hand. It looked like the Royal Lords that appeared in the Black Ink Nest Space really had not moved; otherwise, a Royal Lord could not have been killed so quickly.
After the first Royal Lord fell, the Humans seemed to gain momentum and soon the Royal Lords were killed one after another.
The battle continued, and the energy disturbances became increasingly violent.
The number of fallen Royal Lords was increasing, and the energy fluctuations were getting progressively more intense!
The Royal Lords who had escaped from the Theatres were now fighting to the death!
It was not until several days later that the commotion in the distance suddenly subsided.
Yang Kai and the others all looked at the Wind and Cloud Old Ancestor. Although they already had a guess in their hearts, since the Old Ancestor did not give a conclusive answer, they remained unsure.
The Old Ancestor obviously noticed their gazes and smiled, “This was a huge victory!”
A huge victory!
Cheers erupted aboard Dawning Light.
At the same time, there was also a loud cheer from Great Evolution Pass.
Apparently, the Inner Sanctum had also found out about the results of the battle.
Yang Kai and the others were extremely excited, but there was a hint of doubt in the Wind and Cloud Old Pass Ancestor’s smile.
He had sensed that in the battlefield, all the Royal Lords auras had withered.
In other words, all the Royal Lords he could sense had fallen.
This was not normal.
In the past, when these Royal Lords could not defeat the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, they still had the sense to escape. Why had they not attempted to flee this time? As for whether or not they could escape, they could still at least try.
Although not personally involved in this battle, Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor’s investigation found out that all those Royal Lords fought bravely to the bitter end. Not only did none of them try to escape, they went all out right from the beginning, not seeming to care about their own lives. That was why the energy fluctuations were so intense.
These Royal Lords wanted to destroy a Great Pass, but even after noticing the response of the Human Race, they still did not back down.
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor sensed that in the two battlefields, a total of 11 Royal Lords fell. Five in one and six at the other.
Under normal circumstances, a Great Pass could not withstand a combined attack from five or six Royal Lords; however, the Human Race was prepared. The moment the battle broke out, the nearby Old Ancestors all raced over to provide support…
At the beginning, there were some losses at the two Great Passes targeted by the Royal Lords; however, when the other Old Ancestors rushed over to provide support, the Royal Lords could no longer attack with impunity.
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor could only sense two battlefields, but there could be farther battlefields that even he was unable to detect as there were enough Royal Lords for them to split into more than two groups.
If 11 Royal Lords fell at these two battlefields, then what happened to the Royal Lords at the other battlefields?
Did they succumb as well?
Could they not escape?
Why did they not escape?
The Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor squinted slightly and pondered.
That was when Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao returned.
Now that the distance between the Great Passes had become much shorter than before, even for a Supreme Master like an Old Ancestor, the consumption of resources to use the Space Array had been greatly reduced.
Thus, Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor did not stay. Immediately after Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s return, he left in style, returning to Wind and Cloud Pass.
Inside the Main Conference Hall, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s aura was slightly weakened. Although she did not suffer serious injuries in the last confrontation, there was always a price to pay for killing several Royal Lords.
It was also fortunate that those Royal Lords were heavily injured to begin with and had greatly diminished strength; otherwise, a winner of this battle might not have been determined so quickly.
Xiang Shan reported gloomily, “A total of four Great Passes were attacked by the Royal Lords. Azure Nether Pass, Purple Jade Pass, Exquisite Pass, and Constellation Pass. A total of 21 Royal Lords were killed in the four battles.”
The Royal Lords’ attacks were launched almost simultaneously.
The two battlefields that the Wind and Cloud Pass Old Ancestor felt before were the ones at Azure Nether Pass and Constellation Pass. Exquisite Pass and Purple Jade Pass were a little further away, so the Old Ancestor was unable to monitor them.
These four Great Passes each encountered an attack by five or six Royal Lords. A total of 21 Royal Lords had fallen in a battle with none escaping in the end.
The results of this battle were more than just significant.
These were 21 Royal Lords! Not Territory Lords nor Feudal Lords.
Previously, the total number of Royal Lords in the entire Black Ink Battlefield numbered slightly more than 100 before the pacification of the major Theatres killed about half of them. Of those survivors, 21 were now dead, which meant that there were not many Royal Lords left alive from the Theatres
However, many were apprehensive about this victory and some were even a little frightened.
Most of the soldiers were unclear about the situation, only thinking that the Old Ancestors were indeed powerful, managing to kill 21 Royal Lords outside the four Great Passes. However, those Old Ancestors who participated in that battle felt differently.
[Those Royal Lords… None of them ever even considered retreating… They seemed to be on a suicide mission…]
When Exquisite Pass was attacked, its Old Ancestor was the first to go out to face the enemy. It was one versus five, so in less than 10 breaths of time, he was nearly killed by those five Royal Lords. Under normal circumstances, even though the Exquisite Pass Old Ancestor was facing five Royal Lords, he would not be at risk of falling that quickly. It was because of this that he went confidently to fight against them.
However, the five Royal Lords seemed completely prepared to sacrifice themselves if they could take their enemy down with them. It only took a moment of inattention for the Exquisite Pass Old Ancestor to nearly lose his life. It was only thanks to the timely arrival of the Old Ancestors from the other Passes that he managed to turn the tables around.
A Royal Lord even cast a sacrificial Secret Technique upon his death and almost succeeded in dragging an Old Ancestor down with him.
In that battle, 21 Royal Lords were ruthlessly killed, while many Old Ancestors were injured.
“I’m afraid the Source Domain… is not far away,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao quickly said, coming to the same conclusion as Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor.
It was because the Source Domain was not far away that those Royal Lords fought so hard to stop the Humans Armies from advancing. They also knew that they could not stop every Pass, so they had divided into several groups and attacked at different locations. Their intention was clearly to inflict as much damage as possible.
However, they did not expect that the Humans were prepared or that their response would be so rapid; thus, their plans failed.
Xiang Shan frowned and said, “According to the information we collected before, there were 45 Royal Lords who had managed to escape the initial war. With 21 killed, there are still 24 remaining. There is no way to know where they are hiding or what they are planning to do.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao nodded, “Those Royal Lords are a grave hidden danger. No matter what their plans are, we can only stop them when they choose to appear.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao also carried this strong sense of unease.
According to the number of Royal Lords who originally escaped, they could have allocated five Royal Lords to attack nine Great Passes at once; however, only 21 Royal Lords showed up to attack four Great Passes. The remaining 24 Royal Lords were nowhere to be seen while those who did appear all died.
Where were those missing Royal Lords? It would be good if they had emerged to fight like the other Royal Lords, but now that they were hiding, it became a huge problem for the Humans.
“No matter where those Royal Lords are hiding, Great Evolution Pass need not feel dispirited about it. Send out orders for the reconnaissance Squads to return.”
The reconnaissance Squads of the four Great Passes that were attacked earlier were all nearly wiped out, so Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was also afraid that if something like this happened again, the Squads Great Evolution Pass sent to scout the way would not be able to resist and be annihilated.
Xiang Shan was about to issue the orders when a long, sharp whistle suddenly came from outside Great Evolution Pass.
Xiang Shan was stunned and turned his head towards the source of the sound.
This was obviously a signal from a Squad doing reconnaissance.
When he turned around again, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had already disappeared, rushing out the moment she heard the sound.
Xiang Shan frowned and hastily tried to catch up with her.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao swiftly appeared aboard Dawning Light but found no trace of the enemy, so she couldn’t help frowning and asking, “What’s going on?”
Yang Kai replied, “Old Ancestor, there is something wrong with the road ahead.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao narrowed her eyes slightly and investigated the situation for a moment before her expression changed.
There was indeed something wrong with the road ahead. All this time, the deeper they traveled into the void, the more dangers they encountered. There were Arrays and Divine Abilities left from the ancient era everywhere, along with various Celestial Phenomenon.
However, up ahead, all the dangers seemed to suddenly reduce significantly.
The reduction was very obvious, with there being practically no sense of crisis from anywhere. In fact, even Seventh-Order Open Heaven Masters no longer felt threatened.
Before this, even the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could not take the dangers in the void lightly.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned, looked into the situation, and found that it was indeed as Yang Kai said.
“When did you first notice?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked. Such an obvious change was really a bit unusual as there might be some different hidden dangers ahead if they went down this path.
Yang Kai replied, “Just now.”
Nothing seemed off when the Old Ancestors and Royal Lords were fighting; however, Yang Kai suddenly noticed a change in the void soon after that battle ended.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned as she was not sure why there was such a change.
She had planned to recall the Squads back to Great Evolution Pass to avoid them being attacked by the hidden Royal Lords; however, now she could not recall them anymore. So, instead of going back to Great Evolution Pass, she remained on Dawning Light to personally monitor the frontline situation. If a Royal Lord did attack, she would be able to immediately protect the scouting Squads from this position.
With a flash of her Divine Sense, she sent a message to Xiang Shan back in Great Evolution Pass instructing him to ask the other Great Passes how their situations were.
Soon, it was reported that almost all the Great Passes had encountered such changes and the dangers of the road ahead had been significantly reduced…
…..
At the same moment.
Deep in the void at an unknown place.
There was a violent surge of Black Ink Strength. The energy rampage involved 24 figures, each possessing a strong aura.
These 24 figures were the surviving Royal Lords who had previously escaped from the Theatres.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was worried that these unseen Royal Lords were hiding in the shadows, preparing to ambush the Great Passes; however, the truth was they had long returned to this unknown land.
The other 21 who did not come back here were mainly trying to delay the advance of the Human Race.
The original 21 Royal Lords’ strength was strong as even if they were wounded, they were still Royal Lords. They split into four teams and as long as they were fast enough, they had a good chance of destroying a few Great Passes.
They did not need to inflict widespread damage; even if they destroyed one or two Great Passes, the Humans would have their momentum blunted and be forced to delay their follow-up actions while focusing on defense.
However, the Humans were prepared for this possibility, so the Black Ink Clan’s plan failed.
The 21 Royal Lords were all killed, while the Human Race’s crusade was not affected in any way.
Of course, these 24 Royal Lords had no way to perceive the fall of their companions nor any time to worry about them as they had their own mission.
At this moment, these Royal Lords had gathered together in a certain place and were each using their own means and Black Ink Strength to bombard a certain place in the void.
When 24 Royal Lord made a move together, they could unleash a fearsome power that was enough to shake the Heavens and Earth.
At the place where their raging attacks struck, a skinny figure that was basically just dried up flesh and bones sat. This figure had no Aura and to any outside observer was as good as dead. Only his eyes remained bright and full of life.
He was Cang!
His location was not hidden in any way, so anyone who could reach this place would be able to find him as long as they were determined enough.
The 24 Royal Lords were currently attacking him.
However, the fierce attacks, which was enough to tear apart space itself, failed to even injure Cang in the slightest. All the attacks were stopped by an inexplicable energy field just one step away from Cang.
This energy field seemed to be a kind of restriction that resisted all outside interference and simply distributed all impacts out across an enormous area.
Although the Royal Lords had been attacking for a long time, they showed no signs of giving up, but there was also no hint of progress being made.
Meanwhile, surrounding Cang, there was now rich Black Ink Strength that filled the void.
Though the Royal Lords were attacking, Cang did not consider it to be a crisis. It was as if he was certain that these Royal Lords could not do anything to him. Not only did he not try to stop them, he even tried to chat with them.
“Did you guys come back from out there? Look what a mess you are in! Were you beaten up before you came running here?”
“Hmm… Seems to be the case. All of you are quite injured. Must have been a significant defeat. En, en… the current generation have finally made their mark. Looks like this Old Master has not wasted his effort in sitting here for so many years.”
“Can you tell me about the situation outside? I’ve been here for so many years and I don’t know anything about the outside world. What’s more, there’s no one to talk to here. Hey, don’t be like your Great Aunt. She was like a boring bottle gourd or a woman. Even when beaten, she never made a sound.”
“Hey, seriously? What is the situation in the outside world today? You lowlifes have actually been driven back all the way here? Has my Human Race flourished so much that you are no longer their match?”
“There are not many Innate Royal Lords anymore, hm? Most of you are Acquired and have advanced from below. It looks like a lot of those who went out from here died already.”
“Look, don’t waste your energy. Do you think that this Old Master will be easy for you to defeat? Save your energy and take a break. Isn’t it better for us to have a chat? Hello?”
“Hey you, yes, the one with the horns on your head. Yes, you, tell me how things are out there? In exchange, I can give you a gift.”
…..
The Black Ink Strength surged as they madly attacked; however, even with the combined efforts of 24 Royal Lords they couldn’t even scratch Cang.
The more he nagged, the fiercer the Royal Lords attacked. It was as if they were determined to shut him up.
At one point, a voice from the dark depths exclaimed in surprise, “You can control Shi’s power? The power to devour?”
Although Cang’s movements were extremely subtle, they were still detectable so he usually concealed them extremely well. However, this time, he accidentally revealed something.
Cang laughed and said, “Oh, you’ve found out.”
The voice said coldly, “So that’s why! Old thing, no wonder you survived for so many years! You can control Shi’s power!”
Cang sighed and said, “Not like I can help it. This damned place has been turned into a soulless, spiritless land by your underlings, so if this Old Master wants to live, the only way is to secretly steal from you from time to time.”
For countless years, he had relied on the manipulation of Shi’s power to occasionally devour some energy from the darkness in order to survive; otherwise, he would have died many years ago.
The voice in the darkness sneered and said, “You’re really good at hiding. You managed to hide your flaws for so many years that even I was unaware of it.”
“It was unbecoming of me to keep it from you, the Master of this domain. Now that you’ve found out, should I be ashamed of it?”
“I’m afraid that you’ve forgotten how Shi died.”
“I can’t help it. This is the only way if I want to live.”
How could Cang not know how Shi died? It was because Shi had devoured too much Black Ink Strength and was at risk of being corrupted by it that he had to integrate himself into the restriction at the last moment.
Even an existence as powerful as him could not completely resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength.
The voice in the darkness laughed coldly and said, “Very well, you want it, don’t you? If you want it so badly, then I’ll give it to you!”
As the voice spoke, the calm darkness suddenly rumbled. It was as if there was a violent energy surging in it, boiling from the inner depths and impacting the invisible restriction.
Cang frowned and called out hastily, “Mo, do not be rash. Let’s talk about this!”
The voice in the darkness kept silent and the power rumbled more and more fiercely.
Cang was originally withered to skin and bones, but now, he visibly swelled up. In the blink of an eye, he turned into a plump old man.
This transformation was not done though as his body continued to expand and soon bulged up, like a blown-up ball.
“Stop stop!” Cang shouted, appearing terrified as he yelled, “Mo, stop, if you keep doing this, this Old Master will burst!”
Mo naturally would not stop. He wanted nothing more than to make this noisy old man explode.
The 24 Royal Lords saw this scene from outside the restriction and smiled happily. They felt re-invigorated, and increased the intensity of their attacks.
After a few moments, Cang’s whole body was swollen into a ball. He was so puffed up that no one could see his facial features. He seemed like he could burst at any moment.
He shouted with difficulty, “I can’t, I can’t hold on anymore!”
After he said so, he lifted his chubby palm and thrusted it forward.
The Royal Lords, who were bombarding him indiscriminately, instantly froze as if death itself had enveloped them.
In the darkness, Mo suddenly roared, “Dodge!”
But it was too late.
When Cang thrust his fat palm out, the vast void trembled and the restriction which covered the darkness visibly rippled.
The five closest Royal Lords were swept up by the violent burst of power and instantly exploded into blood mist.
More Royal Lords behind them were hit hard and began to bleed.
The whole world suddenly fell silent with just one blow.
Cang’s swollen body, which was like a round ball, now began to deflate and shrink rapidly. He eventually reverted to an old man, heaved a long sigh of relief, and said, “Ah… much more comfortable.”
The Royal Lords, who were still alive, were all terrified as they stared at Cang with immense fear.
They were Royal Lords, the most powerful in existence in this world. 24 of them joined hands to attack Cang for so long but they couldn’t even hurt him. However, with just one counter-attack, five Royal Lords perished and more than 10 of them were seriously injured. The ones who weren’t further injured were simply lucky to have avoided the blow.
The power of that palm just now had surpassed their understanding.
There should not be such a force in this world.
In the darkness sealed by the restriction, the black ink coloured ocean no longer had ripples on it.
A while later, Mo angrily scolded, “You tricked me!”
Just now, when Cang pleaded for him to stop, he really thought that this old thing was about to burst, so he spared no effort to funnel more power into him. In reality, Cang was borrowing his power to fight! Thus, once Cang unleashed the accumulated power, it violently blasted out, resulting in casualties among the Royal Lords. It could be said that the power of that blow was not his real strength, but his combined with Mo’s.
The Royal Lords were unaware of what happened, but Mo understood. He knew that Cang’s attack was done with the help of his power and also the power of the entire restriction, that was why the damage it inflicted was so terrifying.
It was impossible for Cang to do this with his strength alone.
If he really had such strength, he would not have been trapped here so close to the restriction for so long.
“How dare you lie to me!” Mo roared hysterically, as if he was a jilted woman.
Cang shuddered a little as his body was covered in goosebumps, “Settle down Mo. Don’t make frivolous accusations as if this Old Master has taken advantage of you. Furthermore, isn’t it expected that I would fool you? You’re such an idiot and deserve to be fooled.”
“You lied to me back then too!” Mo hissed, “You led me here, and laid this restriction, imprisoning me for millions of years! You all deserve to die!”
Cang sighed slightly and said, “It really couldn’t be helped, Mo. Your power… is just too overbearing, if you weren’t imprisoned here, the 3,000 Worlds would have been destroyed long ago. Haven’t we old guys been accompanying you? Now, there is only one old man left, while everyone else is dead.”
Mo coldly laughed, “There’s no way for you to live any longer!”
It was a huge restriction that required someone to be here to make sure Mo remained trapped; thus, those Cang mentioned had to remain here at all times.
Unfortunately, Mo’s life and no natural end while those people who guarded this place were not immortals. Regardless of how strong they were, they would eventually pass away.
“So be it, the past is the past, let’s not mention it anymore,” Cang waved his hand with a look of despair and continued, “This Old Master will not last long. When this Old Master dies, you will no longer be trapped. Then whatever you do in this vast universe is none of my concern.”
There was a long silence in the darkness before Mo muttered, “I await that day.”
Cang raised his eyebrows and asked, “Do you want to do it yourself? Just like earlier, perhaps if we do it a few more times, this Old Master will really burst!”
“Hmph!” Mo coldly snorted, fell silent, and ignored him.
Cang looked at the 19 Royal Lords who were still alive, waved to them casually, and asked, “Shall we continue?”
The Royal Lords looked terrified and none of them dared to move.
Since they knew that this man could devour Black Ink Strength and turn it into his own power, why would they still want to fight against him? They just witnessed him vaporise five Royal Lords with a simple thrust of his palm!
If he did it a few more times, they would all die meaninglessly.
The next moment, the Royal Lords seemed to have received some instructions. All of them bowed towards the darkness where Mo was sealed, turned around, and dashed off. Soon, they were nowhere to be seen.
Cang secretly heaved a sigh of relief at this sight.
Although Mo’s intelligence had grown considerably compared to back then, and he was much more mature, making it not as easy to deal with him, he was still rather naive.
If he really pumped up Cang a few more times with his power, Cang was certain that he would not be able to survive.
After all, there were originally 10 guardians of this huge restriction; however, he was now the only one remaining.
He could still make use of the restriction, but he was now all alone.
He sighed in his heart as he looked in the direction of where the Royal Lords departed, “Shi, if you do not return soon, this Old Master really won’t be able to hold up much longer…”
[Will I be able to last until that day?]
He had guarded this place for so many eons, in this barren place with no means of restoring his strength or increasing his lifespan. One by one, his old friends exhausted their powers and died. Before they died, all of them integrated themselves into the restriction to reinforce it.
The last one to leave was Shi.
Before integrating his body into the restriction, Shi told Cang a plan that he would retain a trace of his Soul, which would cross the void, and return to the 3,000 Worlds.
Doing so, he might have a chance to live again.
He wanted to find a complete solution to the problem in his next life.
Needless to say, this was an extremely bold plan, because even Shi, himself, did not know whether it would work.
But there was always hope.
Now, more than 100,000 years had passed yet Shi still had not returned. Cang did not know whether his plan had worked or not.
Perhaps Shi’s Soul never made it back to the 3,000 Worlds.
After all, the road was very dangerous, with plenty of traps. An empty spirituality did not have the slightest self-preservation power and might be destroyed if it encountered any dangers.
Even if Shi managed to return to the 3,000 Worlds, there was very little chance that he could resurrect.
Cang was mentally prepared for this. The reason why he agreed to this plan was also because there was really no other way. A sliver of hope was better than sitting on the sidelines and waiting to die.
However, after waiting for so many years, Shi’s plan must have failed; otherwise, he should have heard something from him in these 100,000 years.
The good thing was, now the descendants of the Human Race had finally struck back. They actually were able to drive back the Royal Lords from the outside, allowing Cang to see a glimmer of hope again.
However, Cang was trapped here and unable to move. There was no way for him to provide any help to the Human Race.
Now, he could only wait!
The 19 Royal Lords who left earlier were obviously moving to intercept the Humans.
In this regard, Cang was not worried. Since the Human Race could drive them back, then they would not have any problems dealing with these remnants.
The real problem now was how to handle Mo!
This was the source of all the problems. Without resolving him, all other efforts were ultimately futile.
When they discovered this problem millions of years ago, they also tried to eliminate Mo. Unfortunately, they failed and could only create a cage here to seal Mo inside.
For millions of years, Mo could not get out of this trap.
It was as much of an imprisonment for them as it was for Mo.
Cang gazed far away, hoping that this generation of Humans could give him a pleasant surprise!
…..
In the void, both Yang Kai and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had an ominous feeling as they stood on Dawning Light’s deck.
It had been a month since the Royal Lords attacked and the void ahead had changed dramatically.
The further they went, the fewer dangers they encountered.
Then, at a certain point, Yang Kai suddenly felt as if Dawning Light had entered a different world, one without a trace of energy at all!
So far, although the void had been vast and seemed both silent and empty, the fact was it was still filled with all kinds of energy. It was just a matter of how much.
The most common energy in the void was the various Starlight Strengths.
The Nine Heavenly Layers Grand Array that was placed in Void Land was able to draw in Starlight Strength to replenish itself. Thus, as time passed, the more powerful the Nine Heavenly Layers of Grand Array would become.
The Black Ink Battlefield also had Starlight Strength, as well as many other strange powers in it.
Although these powers could not be absorbed by Humans directly, they were real, and many Mobile Palace Artifacts and Warships had the ability to draw on such energies to power themselves.
This way, the reliance on cultivators to power Warships was reduced.
It could be said that these kinds of chaotic powers filled all of space in the void.
However, this place was a complete vacuum.
There were no restrictions, no residual Divine Abilities, no colourful and diverse Celestial Phenomenon, not even the power of the Void itself!
This was a place where there was literally nothing, only endless space.
Being in such a place, one could not help but feel surreal. Even being in it, Yang Kai could not help but wonder if there really was such a place in this world.
“A Spiritless Land!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao murmured and frowned slightly.
Yang Kai had previously heard of Spiritless Lands; however, this was the first time he had actually seen one.
“Is it manmade or naturally formed?” Yang Kai asked.
The Old Ancestor shook her head, “I don’t know.”
It was fine if it was naturally formed, but if it was artificially created, then it was a big deal.
[Does this place have anything to do with the Black Ink Clan’s Source Domain? Is the Source Domain hidden here? But, if this is a Spiritless Land, why would the Source Domain be hidden here? Was this done by the Great Experts of ancient times for some reason?]
Nothing was known.
At that moment, an energy fluctuation flickered from the depths of the void. Although it was fleeting, both Yang Kai and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao sensed it.
Yang Kai immediately turned his head to look in that direction while Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned and narrowed her eyes.
Not only did they sense it, all Humans in the Great Passes sensed it. Be it Ninth-Order Old Ancestors or Fifth-Order soldiers, all clearly sensed that energy fluctuation.
In all the Great Passes, all eyes and Divine Senses focused in that direction. Some even rose into the sky hoping to get a better look.
“Strong!” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao exclaimed softly.
Although the place where the fluctuation came from was still incredibly far away, she clearly perceived that whatever caused it was so powerful that she could not hope to replicate it.
In other words, the one who caused this fluctuation was a Master beyond her.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao could not help but feel intimidated.
She was instantly reminded of the jade white hand that she saw in the Black Ink Nest Space previously.
At that time, she sensed that the Master of that hand seemed to be more powerful than a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. With a single strike, he actually managed to tear apart the Black Ink Nest Space, which had sealed 22 Ninth-Orders Open Heaven Realm Masters and 50 Royal Lords inside of it.
This showed that the jade white hand’s Master and the Mother Nest were very close to each other, and that the Master who attacked had unfathomable strength.
[Was the intense energy fluctuation made by the owner of that jade white hand? If not, who is this Master that is fighting in the depths of the void?]
This crusade was increasingly puzzling and incomprehensible.
After a month passed, the distances between the Great Passes had become extremely close to each other. Wind and Cloud Pass and Azure Void Pass were now just an hour or so away from Great Evolution Pass. In fact, Yang Kai could clearly see the two Great Passes on his left and right.
It could also be said that the Human Race had effectively become a single Army. Any one of the Great Passes could support the other Great Passes in a timely manner.
The power of more than 100 Great Passes had gathered. There were more than 100 Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, thousands of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, and around 2 million soldiers. Furthermore, they had the accumulated heritages of the Cave Heavens and Paradises, over hundreds of thousands of years.
With such a powerful force, the Human Race had the confidence to deal with the Black Ink Clan, regardless of how strong its hidden forces were!
In this battle, the Black Ink Clan would be eradicated once and for all!
After the energy fluctuation, there was no more movement from the depths of the void and it remained unknown what caused it.
Three days later, while Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was meditating aboard Dawning Light, she suddenly opened her eyes, gazed ahead momentarily and then dashed out.
A long continuous whistling sound followed.
At the same time, from a number of Great Passes, Ninth-Order Open Heaven Masters flew out like long bolts of lightning towards the depths of the void.
“Enemy attack!” Yang Kai shouted, “Take your stations!”
He clearly perceived that as many as 30 Old Ancestors had rushed out from the Great Passes.
The only enemy who could make so many Old Ancestors move was the Royal Lords.
Last time, 21 Royal Lords divided their four groups to launch an attack which eventually resulted in their annihilation. Not much time had passed since then, but now another wave of Royal Lords was attacking.
These had to be the Royal Lords who did not show themselves previously.
Yang Kai wondered why they did not attack together and instead split into two separate waves. Were they not aware that splitting their forces and attacking at different times would be less effective? That couldn’t be. There had to be some reason why they had to do so; after all, the Royal Lords were not fools.
Shortly after Yang Kai shouted, a battle broke out in the depths of the void ahead, a very fierce battle.
Previously, when Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao went to another Great Pass to support them, the distance was too far for Yang Kai and the others to perceive anything.
However, this time it was different. The location of this battle was not far from Great Evolution Pass, about half a day’s journey by Warship.
Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques began to erupt, and extremely dazzling and gorgeous lights bloomed at that distant location.
Underneath that glorious glow was nothing by violence and death.
The battle was extremely ferocious!
This was the rawest feeling this battle gave to Yang Kai.
There were no probing attacks or measuring of the enemy, just an immediate life-or-death struggle.
“One, two, three…” Yang Kai concentrated on perceiving the battlefield ahead and after a moment, he frowned and mumbled, “The number isn’t right. There are only 19 Royal Lords.”
A total of 45 Royal Lords escaped after the pacification of the Theatres. 21 died in their attack on the Great Passes. Then there should still be 24 Royal Lords remaining. So, why were there only 19 in this battle? Where did the other five go?
Feng Ying also nodded and said, “It’s 19.”
Yang Kai immediately ordered, “Return to Great Evolution Pass!”
There were still five missing Royal Lords, and no one knew where they were hiding. If they attacked Dawn at this moment, they would not be able to resist. The Old Ancestors from Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass next to them might not be able to rescue them in time; thus, it was better for them to return to the Great Pass.
Naturally, there was no way for Yang Kai to know this was unnecessary; after all, those five Royal Lords were killed by Cang before this and there were only 19 Royal Lords left.
What’s more, these 19 were far more seriously injured compared to the previous 21 Royal Lords.
Cang may have only killed five Royal Lords, but he seriously injured more than 10 of them as well. As a result, these 19 Royal Lords were in worse condition than the previous 21 who had attacked, with many of them not even able to display 50% of their peak strength.
30 Old Ancestors went out to fight them, outnumbering them almost two to one.
This battle broke out suddenly, and ended very quickly.
Yang Kai was just leading Dawn back to Great Evolution Pass when the battlefield in the distance was filled with the sounds of Royal Lords falling, one after another.
On the city walls, the Human soldiers who sensed the battlefield were dumbfounded.
No one expected the Royal Lords to die so quickly.
The battle was actually over before a stick of incense passed, with the auras of all 19 Royal Lords that had appeared withering as they perished.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao soon returned, without a trace of injury.
Xiang Shan and the others rushed to welcome her.
Not rejoicing in victory, the Old Ancestor wore a frown on her face; after all, the previous battle had given her an extremely odd feeling, even more so than the one before it.
It was as if these Royal Lords did not take their own lives seriously. They appeared as if they could not wait to die and practically did not defend themselves, showing no sense of self preservation and only attacking wildly.
What concerned her more was that the 19 Royal Lords that appeared this time were very seriously injured.
More than 10 of them could not even exert half of their usual strength; otherwise, the Old Ancestors could not have won so easily even if they were numerically superior.
The Royal Lord’s injuries were odd, and she wondered if that immense burst of energy some time ago had something to do with it.
Perhaps that was the case, otherwise it could not be explained.
If so, that would mean that someone had struck those Royal Lords before them.
As the Old Ancestor pondered, a vague ‘guidance’ suddenly came to her from the darkness.
It was not a word, nor a Divine Sense transmission, but a simple ‘guidance’.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao immediately turned her head in the direction where the Royal Lords came from.
In that instance, the eyes of more than 100 Old Ancestors from the various Great Passes also converged in that direction.
Some of their brows rose slightly, some looked surprised, while others appeared relieved…
When that ‘guidance’ came, all the Old Ancestors knew that they were close to reaching the Black Ink Clan’s Source Domain, and would soon be able to clear some of their doubts and questions.
Be it whether the jade white hand that saved them that day belonged to a friend or a foe would be revealed soon.
If they were not mistaken, the vague ‘guidance’ in the darkness came from the owner of that jade white hand.
More than 10 days after the 19 attacking Royal Lords were killed, the Great Passes finally arrived at the source of darkness.
The void deep ahead was enveloped by a huge and dense cloud of Black Ink Strength that appeared like an endless ocean that had existed since time immemorial.
Although everything was calm, everyone felt the dread of what was to come. Even from a distance, it still gave people an extremely ominous feeling.
The evil energy in this Black Ink Ocean seemed to be able to devour one’s heart and Soul just by staring at it.
In the Great Passes, all eyes gazed towards the Black Ink Ocean, and all of them looked grave, even the Old Ancestors.
Was this the Black Ink Clan’s Source Domain?
Although no one told them what it was, when they saw the Black Ink Ocean, they all realized that this was definitely the Source Domain, and that the Mother Nest must be inside.
At the beginning of the crusade, no one thought that the Source Domain was so far away, and no one expected that the Source Domain would look like this.
If too many Black Ink Clansmen died in a certain battlefield, the Black Ink Strength would form thick Black Ink Clouds, and if enough Black Ink Clouds came together, they were sometimes called Black Ink Oceans, but those were a far cry from the sight before them.
This was a real Black Ink Ocean, dense and boundless.
The so-called ‘Black Ink Oceans’ that they had seen previously were at most small ponds by comparison.
Most of the Humans only focused on this vast Black Ink Ocean ahead of them, while the Old Ancestors of the Great Passes vaguely perceived that there seemed to be something else beyond this Black Ink Ocean.
It was something that was hidden extremely well and no one would know it was there unless effort was made to sense it.
In Myriad Demons Pass, the Old Ancestor used his Demon Eye of Annihilation to see through the illusion.
At Divine Feather Pass, the Divine Feather Old Ancestor activated his True Vision Eye to pierce the veil of the void.
It was the same for the Old Ancestors of other Great Passes. With their Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation, they more or less all practiced some form of Eye Secret Technique, though their attainments varied quite a bit.
At this moment, when the various Eye Secret Techniques were activated, the hidden objects beyond the darkness were instantly perceived by the Old Ancestors, and what they saw left all of them pale with shock.
They saw a restriction at the outer edge of the darkness, which was like a cage that enveloped the entire Black Ink Ocean.
It was because of this seal, which imprisoned the Black Ink Ocean, that it did not spread outward.
It was not hard to imagine that without this seal, the Black Ink Ocean would have been so enormous that perhaps the whole void would have been filled with it, leaving no place for the Human Race to exist.
It was a huge revelation!
Such a seal was definitely not a natural formation and had to be man-made, but even the Old Ancestors had never heard of anything like it.
From the traces left by the passage of time, it was obvious that this seal was ancient. In fact, it was so old that even the Old Ancestors could not figure out when it was even formed.
However, the Old Ancestors did not need to investigate for long as suddenly, something in the void attracted their attention.
There was an old man with a white beard, sitting on the restriction, looking at them with a smile.
All the Old Ancestors gasped.
Initially, they did not even notice this man’s presence. This old man seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere.
With more than 100 Old Ancestors scanning the area, it was naturally impossible that he could be missed; however, the old man could not possibly had just appeared there. He had always been there, but they did not know what technique he used such that even they, the Old Ancestors, could not detect him.
In other words, if he did not want to be found, none of the Humans here could find him.
This old man… was very strong. So strong that even the Old Ancestors were shaken.
He just sat there with a smile on his face, yet the Old Ancestors all felt that he was facing them individually.
This was a strange feeling, but also a sign of his supreme strength and control.
They did not detect any energy fluctuations from the old man, yet, many Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had a clear understanding of the situation.
It was clear to them that he had no ill will towards the Human Race.
Additionally, the old man was obviously Human.
Without coordinating, each of the Old Ancestors stepped out from the Great Passes and converged towards the old man’s location.
Although they were fairly certain this old man helped some of them escape from the Black Ink Nest Space, they remained cautious as they still had not confirmed his origins or intentions.
With more than 100 Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters acting together, the old man would have to consider carefully if he had any malicious intent.
When the old man detected the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ thoughts, his smile only widened.
Then suddenly, the old man appeared disappointed and frowned.
As the Old Ancestors approached from the Great Passes, he clearly saw Duan’s handiwork from the Great Passes.
Back then, one of his comrades, Duan, was supremely talented in Artifact Refining, second to none in it.
In fact, the cage where Mo was imprisoned was created by Duan with the help of the nine others.
Of course, Duan died after he created this cage, along with all the others except him.
It was naturally impossible for Duan to have personally built these Great Passes; however, Cang remembered that Duan had taken a few Disciples during his life and passed down his knowledge to them.
Thus, it seemed that the Great Pass was created by Duan’s Disciples.
But rather than that, what Cang was disappointed about was that he could not find the familiar aura he was searching for among these people.
That could only mean that Shi’s plan had failed!
He must have failed to cross the void and return to the 3,000 Worlds; otherwise, he surely would have come here today.
Aboard all of the Great Passes, all were confused when they saw the Old Ancestors walking towards the darkness.
The Old Ancestors were able to see Cang’s figure only because Cang willingly allowed them to see him, but not the others.
Only Yang Kai stood on the walls of Great Evolution Pass and stared at them with wide eyes. He appeared shocked as if he had seen a ghost in the daytime.
[There’s someone here! There’s actually someone in this accursed place!]
He had heard from Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao that there was a force fighting against the Black Ink Clan and she even speculated that the force was near the Mother Nest; however, he still could not believe it until he really saw this old man.
This was a Spiritless Land, at the deepest part of the Black Ink Battlefield. It was where the Source Domain of Black Ink Clan!
As far as Yang Kai knew, for the past several hundred thousand years, no Human had ever set foot in this place, but there was actually someone here!
Did this mean that this person had been here for at least hundreds of thousands of years?
In the absence of the presence of any energy, how did he survive?
Even if this old man was extremely strong, he must have depleted all his reserves after so many years.
Could it be that this old man’s Small Universe was like his own? One that could raise living beings, allowing him to be self-sufficient?
While Yang Kai was stunned, so was Cang.
After noticing another gaze upon him, Cang turned to look towards the source and found a little Seventh-Order Junior staring at him.
Those in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm could see him because he took the initiative to reveal himself to them, but he did not allow anyone else to see him.
Even the top Eighth-Order Masters at the Great Passes were confused as they did not know where all the Old Ancestors were going, so what was so special about this Seventh-Order boy?
Cang’s eyes flashed.
Yang Kai immediately shuddered as he felt like he was being examined from the inside out. It was a very uncomfortable feeling that sent chills down his spine.
Yang Kai frowned as he cursed to himself. Regardless of who this old man was, he should not pry into other’s secrets. He felt that this old man was up to no good.
On the other hand, Cang now understood why Yang Kai could see him.
When he peered into Yang Kai’s Small Universe, he saw a World Tree clone.
Strictly speaking, Cang had a close relationship with the World Tree, and it was with the power of the World Tree clone that Yang Kai was able to sense the old man’s existence even before the Old Ancestors.
Cang did not bother with Yang Kai and just smiled at the Ninth-Order Masters who came to him and gathered in a semicircle. Unconcerned about their vigilance, he said with a mellow tone, “You’ve finally come. I’ve been waiting for this day for more than a million years!”
..…
On the wall, Yang Kai became curious and restless. Although he resented the old man for prying into his personal details, what was happening was clearly an opportunity to learn the secrets of the ages.
The old man, who had lived here for hundreds of thousands of years, was a character from an era so ancient there were no records of it. He must know more about Black Ink Clan than any of the Humans today.
He could be revealing something about the secrets of the Black Ink Clan right now; thus, Yang Kai also wanted to hear about it.
However, he was not strong enough and he was unqualified to participate in such a discussion.
Seemingly noticing something, Xiang Shan frowned and asked, “Brat, what’s the situation over there? You look like an ant on a hot metal wok. What’s happening?”
Yang Kai said, “Sir, if you don’t know what’s going on, then how could I know what’s happening over there?” He then continued, “Sir, why don’t we utilize our Divine Sense to hear what the Old Ancestors are saying to that Old Sir?”
When he said this, Xiang Shan, Mi Jing Lun, and all the others looked strangely at him.
“What Old Sir?”
There was no such thing as an Old Sir over there!
They only saw the Old Ancestors of all the Great Passes leaving the Passes in unison and converging in one place.
Without orders from the Old Ancestors, they did not dare to do anything rash.
None of them saw any Old Sir!
Yang Kai said, “It’s that Old Senior…”
He pointed his hand to where the Old Ancestors were gathered.
Xiang Shan stared over there, but still could not see anything. He then slapped the back of Yang Kai’s head and snarled, “What nonsense? How can there be anyone there other than the Old Ancestors?”
Yang Kai fumed, [Why did he have to slap my head? Could he not have just used his words?]
However, after seeing Mi Jing Lun and others’ expressions, Yang Kai suddenly understood, “None of you can see him?”
Xiang Shan growled, “If you keep talking nonsense, I will split your head in two.”
Yang Kai turned his head to look at Feng Ying and asked, “Senior Sister, you also cannot see that Old Sir?”
Feng Ying shook her head, “No, there is no Old Sir over there.”
Yang Kai did not know what to say.
Why could he see the old man, when the others could not?
The Old Ancestors all converged in that direction. So obviously the Old Ancestors had seen him as well.
Xiang Shan and the others now realized that Yang Kai did not look like he was joking. They also did not understand why the Old Ancestors had suddenly left.
“There really is an old man over there?” Xiang Shan asked with a deep voice.
“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded confidently.
Mi Jing Lun and the others frowned.
“Could it be the one with the white jade hand?” Xiang Shan remarked as he thought of what Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had said the other day.
“I don’t know if it’s the man with the white jade hand, but he seems Human,” Yang Kai replied casually.
Mi Jing Lun said solemnly, “If there is someone there, yet we can’t detect him, then his strength is simply unfathomable.”
Mi Jing Lun glanced at Xiang Shan before suddenly smiling as they both patted Yang Kai’s shoulder, “You want to know what he is telling the Old Ancestors?”
Earlier on, Mi Jing Lun did not know why Yang Kai looked so frustrated and curious, but now he understood.
How could Yang Kai be the only one who was curious? Although the Old Ancestors would certainly reveal some key information to them later, they might not necessarily tell them everything.
It was certainly better if they could hear it for themselves.
However, none of them dared to do anything rash. Since the Old Ancestors did not call for them, who would dare to go forward on their own? None of them was able to shoulder the responsibility if something went wrong.
Yang Kai had learnt long ago not to get involved in Big Head Mi’s schemes and shook his head decisively, “No!”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao once commented that Mi Jing Lun was quite petty and vindictive; thus, Yang Kai knew he should not try to best him in an argument. In fact, if Yang Kai had the necessary strength, he would have resorted to fists first and asked questions later; after all, the best way to deal with anyone petty was to beat them into submission.
Likewise, this same reasoning applied to Xiang Shan.
Unfortunately for him, the two Big Heads were too similar in their thinking.
Yang Kai was alerted as soon as Mi Jing Lun spoke, but it was too late.
“No, you certainly want to!” Mi Jing Lun said firmly, taking out a tea set and shoving it directly into Yang Kai’s hand before ‘casually’ suggesting, “That Old Senior must have grown lonely after so many years and long forgotten the taste of tea. Go and brew the Old Senior a pot of tea!”
Upon saying so, both Mi Jing Lun and Xiang Shan directly used their hands, which were still on Yang Kai’s shoulders, to throw him out.
Yang Kai was shocked and wanted to resist, but was unable to do so.
In a flash, Yang Kai was hurled out towards where the Old Ancestors had gathered.
“Damn you Big Head Xiang! Big Head Mi!” Yang Kai cursed as he flew across the void. Those two Big Heads were such bullies.
“Is this… appropriate?” Liu Zhi Ping appeared confused when she saw Yang Kai flying towards where the Old Ancestors gathered. In fact, she was slightly worried.
She could not see where the so-called Old Sir was; however, she could clearly see that the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Masters had their guards up as they surrounded ‘something’.
Anyone or anything that could cause over 100 Old Ancestors to act so cautiously must be very powerful.
Now that Yang Kai was thrust into their midst, how would he sort out any misunderstanding?
“It’s fine,” Mi Jing Lun said with a smile, “The Old Ancestors are all gathered there, so if something really happens, they can also protect him. Moreover, he is only in the Seventh Order, so the Old Ancestors and that Old Senior should not care if a Junior like him barges into their gathering.”
If possible, Mi Jing Lun wanted to go personally; however, as a peak Eighth-Order Master, it was less appropriate or believable for him to act like a naïve Junior rather than a real youngster like Yang Kai.
“But… but…”
“Look, we can’t see that Old Sir, but Yang Kai can. Maybe there is something unique about him?” Xiang Shan continued along with Mi Jing Lun’s reasoning, “Since he is unique, he should receive preferential treatment as well.”
After saying that, Mi Jing Lun and Xiang Shan looked at each other and grinned.
Ou Yang Lie’s face twitched repeatedly as he stared at these two with narrowed eyes.
[They managed to think up so much sophistry in so little time? How can they live with themselves if they do this every day, all day long?] Ou Yang Lie cursed in his heart and then walked away, feeling ashamed just standing with them.
Yang Kai also cursed and swore at the two Big Heads; however, they just smiled back at him encouragingly, which irked him even more.
He had already been thrown towards the Old Ancestors, and was halfway there before he managed to steady himself, so it was far too late to turn back as that would only be more embarrassing.
Thus, he emboldened himself to hold the tea set with both hands, keep his head up, and strode forward.
The Old Ancestors obviously saw him and appeared puzzled at his sudden intrusion.
With a bull-headed boldness he had cultivated his whole life, Yang Kai ignored them outright and directly flew to the Old Sir and said with a smile, “Old Sir, you must be thirsty. Please have some tea.”
Upon saying this, regardless of whether he caused the Old Ancestors to be upset, Yang Kai placed the tea set on the old man’s side and got busy.
Yang Kai naturally broke out into a cold sweat as Cang curiously observed him.
He came to serve tea and was only in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, so regardless of whether this Old Sir was a friend or foe, he would not make a move against a Junior thousands of times younger than him, right?
Soon, Cang did not bother about this interesting Junior and turned to look at one of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, “Let’s continue.”
Yang Kai did not know which Old Ancestor spoke, but a voice from behind followed, “According to the ancient records, the Cave Heavens and Paradises seemed to have appeared overnight in the 3,000 Worlds. Then a wide range of disciples began to train the next generation to prepare them for the Black Ink Battlefields for each of the Great Passes…”
Yang Kai listened for a while and understood that the Old Ancestor was talking about the founding of the Cave Heavens and Paradises, which happened so long ago that rather than records, it was more like legends and myths that the current Old Ancestors only somewhat knew of.
After all, there was not much written about it in the ancient books.
Some time later, the same Old Ancestor also briefly spoke about the many years of struggles between the Human Race and Black Ink Clan. It was not until the last few hundred years that the Human Race gradually achieved the upper hand. Eventually, they decided to launch a crusade and advanced to this location.
The Old Ancestor did not say much in detail and just broadly described the events of history. He did not mention anything sensitive such as the Purifying Light or the Evil Purging Divine Spears.
They still had no way to determine whether this old man in front of them was a friend or foe. Though the possibility of him being an ally was very high, it was always good to be cautious.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s had finished his work. He brewed the tea from Mi Jing Lun’s treasured tea leaves collection and respectfully presented it, “Old Sir, have a cup of tea.”
Cang answered with a smile, “You’re quite thoughtful, little one.”
The Old Ancestor who spoke just now glanced at Yang Kai with a frown. He was the one who spoke all the while instead of Cang, who barely spoke a few words. If anyone needed a cup of tea, it was him.
Cang drank the tea and Yang Kai took back the cup and refilled it.
Yang Kai ignored the glare of the many Old Ancestors. There were more than 100 of them here, so surely, they did not expect him to serve every one of them, right? How could he serve so much tea?
It was better for him to serve one person. After drinking three cups in a row, Cang smacked his lips and exclaimed, “I haven’t tasted this for years. I’ve almost forgotten what tea tasted like.”
The Myriad Demons Heaven Old Ancestor softly said, “If Senior wants to drink tea, this brat can stay here to serve Senior as long as you like.”
Yang Kai suddenly shot a glare towards him.
[What is the meaning of this? Why are you so quick to abandon me? Are you all in agreement to isolate me? Don’t think that you can do whatever you want just because you taught me some Eye Secret Techniques!] He thought.
Unfortunately for Yang Kai, he soon realized that none of these Old Ancestors who had lived for so long cared about niceties with a mere Junior. The Myriad Demons Old Ancestor did not even glance at Yang Kai as he continued, “Senior, while drinking tea is a small matter, we have many doubts and hope that Senior can answer them.”
Cang nodded and said, “This Old Master knows, but there is so much to cover. I don’t even know where to start. How about this? Ask me what you want to know and I will answer accordingly.”
The Old Ancestors were surprised that he was so quick to offer up his knowledge.
The Old Ancestors exchanged glances for a moment before one of them asked, “How should we address Senior?”
In fact, since they arrived, they had been telling him about the history of the 3,000 Worlds and had not asked him anything.
The old man said with a smile, “Cang!”
“Cang? As in the Cang from the sky(苍天)?” The Old Ancestor raised his eyebrows slightly.
Cang slowly shook his head, “The Cang(苍) from common people (苍生)”
Although the words were nearly the same, they had very different meanings.
The Old Ancestors were noticeably less wary.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao then asked, “A few years ago, when I and several others were trapped in the Black Ink Nest Space, was it Senior who rescued us?”
Cang nodded and replied, “En, it was me.”
Although they had speculated that it was him, this was not confirmed until now.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao immediately cupped her fists, “Many thanks, Senior.”
If Cang had not broken the Black Ink Nest Space trap from the outside, the Old Ancestors would have died inside. He was their saviour.
“No need to thank me. It could be considered as you having saved yourselves. If not for the leaking of the aura from your battle, I would not have thought to strike at that moment.”
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao pondered for a moment before understanding what Cang meant.
On that day, the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor detonated his Soul at the border of the Black Ink Nest Space, opening a crack in it in an attempt to open a way out for other Old Ancestors.
It was the Bright King Old Ancestor’s efforts that allowed the aura of that great battle to leak out; otherwise, even if the battle was intense in that enclosed space, how could Cang have noticed it? How then could he have saved them in time?
“Regardless, I will never forget this life-saving kindness. If I don’t die in the battle ahead, I will certainly do whatever is within my ability to assist Senior when you require it.”
Cang smiled and replied, “We can discuss the future in the future.”
In truth, regardless of the result of the war, Cang did not expect to live much longer. It was already pushing the limits of his endurance to live till today, and he was missing his old friends and felt he should reunite with them soon.
His old friends must have been waiting impatiently for him.
Another Old Ancestor asked, “So, is the Black Ink Clan’s Mother Nest really here?”
As he spoke, he looked towards the vast darkness before them.
When the Old Ancestors broke out of the Black Ink Nest Space with the help of an outside force, they had determined that the person who had aided them must be very close to the Mother Nest. Otherwise, there should have been no way to break through the Black Ink Nest Space from the outside.
“Mother Nest…” Cang laughed heartily, “Is that what you call it? Well, that’s apt. Yes, the Mother Nest is indeed here, in the darkness, within this restriction.”
“And this is where Black Ink Clan originated from?”
“Yes!”
Blue Sky Pass’ Old Ancestor pondered for a moment before asking, “What does Senior call the Mother Nest?”
Mother Nest was a term that was introduced by the Humans of today, but it seemed like it had another name from Cang’s reaction.
“Mo,” Cang replied, “It calls itself Mo, the Black Ink itself!”
Many Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters frowned when they heard Cang’s answer. Even Yang Kai, who was still brewing tea, looked at Cang in surprise.
There was nothing wrong with calling the Black Ink Clan’s Mother Nest, ‘Mo’, what was disturbing was the way Cang phrased his statement.
“‘It’ calls itself?” The Blue Sky Old Ancestor looked grim as he asked, “Senior, what do you mean by that? Is it possible that the Mother Nest… is sentient?”
So far, the Human Race had destroyed many Low-Rank to High-Rank Black Ink Nests; thus, the Human Race now had some understanding of Black Ink Nests.
Each Black Ink Nest had its own consciousness, and the Black Ink Clan used the Black Ink Nests’ consciousnesses as carriers to establish Black Ink Nest Spaces. These Black Ink Nest Spaces were in turn created by the Black Ink Nests which bred them. It was a space which transcended distance and could be used to quickly transmit information.
However, whether it was the Low-Rank, Mid-Rank or High-Rank Black Ink Nests, their consciousnesses were all blank. Simply put, they had consciousnesses but weren’t sentient.
From what Cang just said, the Mother Nest seemed to be different from the other Black Ink Nests.
Cang nodded and said, “It naturally has sentience. In the early years, this Old Master would chat with it when I was bored, but as time passed… it became angry with this Old Master and disliked how noisy I was, so it stopped responding.”
The Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were horrified that the Mother Nest was actually a Black Ink Nest with its own sentience! This was truly shocking.
Previously, they had speculated that the Black Ink Nest, having its own consciousness, might one day develop its own sentience, thus becoming a true living being.
However, the Black Ink Nests on the Black Ink Battlefield had existed for at least a few hundreds of thousands of years with no precedent of any of them becoming sentient. That led them to believe that the Black Ink Nest could never become fully self-aware.
Now, they knew that the Black Ink Nest was truly capable of independent thought, but only the Mother Nest.
However, on second thought, this was the source of the Black Ink Clan, so it was not strange that it was sentient.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao then asked, “If it has a Will, then why didn’t it attack us when we were trapped in its Black Ink Nest Space?”
As the source of the Black Ink Clan, Mo’s Will was definitely extraordinarily powerful. If it had attacked the trapped Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters at that time, they would surely have suffered heavy losses.
After asking the question, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao herself also said, “Is it wary of Senior?”
Cang smiled faintly and said, “In a sense, yes, it is. If it secretly makes some small moves, this Old Master wouldn’t notice; however, once it makes a big move, I will surely notice and make it suffer.”
Previously, when the Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor self-destructed and ruptured the Black Ink Nest Space, it enabled some aura of the great battle inside to leak out. That was when Cang took action to tear open the Black Ink Nest Space.
If Mo took the initiative to attack, it would only have been exposed sooner.
It wanted to silently finish off the Ninth-Order Masters, which was why it did not take the initiative and only had 50 Royal Lords under its command ambush them in the Black Ink Nest Space.
“What cultivation realm is Senior at now? Have you surpassed the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm? Is there a higher realm above the Ninth Order?” An Old Ancestor finally asked one of the questions that everyone really wanted to know.
From the aura revealed by the jade white hand alone, it was inferred that the strike had exceeded the power that a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could exert. If not, there would have been no way to tear the Black Ink Nest Space open from the outside.
The Bright King Cave Heaven Old Ancestor had to detonate his Soul to simply crack open the space slightly.
The Ninth-Order Masters speculated that the person with the jade white hand might have exceeded the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Hearing this, Cang smiled, shook his head, and said, “The Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm is not so easily transcended. Strictly speaking, this Old Master’s cultivation realm is still in the Ninth Order, just a little further along than you. As for whether there is a higher realm above the Ninth Order… maybe there is, maybe not. Who would know until one reached that point?”
So, Cang was also a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master!
This was beyond everyone’s expectations. Even though he said that he was in the Ninth Order but a little further along than the others, that was not enough to explain the immense power of his last strike.
Cang seemed to notice the crowd’s doubts and explained, “The strike you sensed was not done by me alone. This Old Master did it with the help of the restriction here.”
This was the condensation of the power of his other nine old friends. Each of them was as powerful as he was, and when the restriction, which contained their strength, was guided by him, even if Cang could not exert all their might, it was still enough to tear open the Black Ink Nest Space.
“Restriction…”
Cang had more than once mentioned the restriction here. In fact, the Old Ancestors were all aware of this enormous restriction. It was the cage that kept the ocean of darkness sealed up.
It was hard to imagine what would happen if the Mother Nest was not shackled by this restriction.
Setting all other issues aside, there must be numerous Royal Lords here in the Mother Nest. Going on the incident in the Black Ink Nest Space alone, there should be at least 50 Royal Lords here, and who could guarantee that there were not multiple times more Royal Lords?
Once an army of Royal Lords escaped from this restriction, they could have struck any Theatre at will, and the Human Race would not have been able to resist.
Cang had been here, imprisoning Mo for millions of years. All the people in the 3,000 Worlds owed him their thanks for his sacrifice.
“Did Senior set up this restriction?”
Cang laughed and shook his head, “I just played a hand in it. This restriction to seal Mo was actually set up by this Old Master and my nine old friends.”
“Then what happened to the other nine Seniors…”
“They have long since passed away, leaving this Old Master alone to guard this place,” Cang sighed.
“Senior, please have some tea.” Yang Kai offered another cup of freshly brewed tea.
He did not know how many years this Senior had been guarding this place, but from the various inferences he could draw, Yang Kai speculated Cang had been here for at least 2 or 3 million years, perhaps longer.
Over such a vast length of time, the Human Race had lost all knowledge of what had happened here.
It was impossible to imagine the loneliness that Cang had endured, all so the Human Race could live on.
He imprisoned Mo, but had to become a prisoner himself.
Yang Kai admired him for his righteousness and sacrifice.
This alone was enough to explain Cang’s position on the Human Race.
At this point in the conversation, the Old Ancestors’ vigilance against Cang was reduced significantly.
After finishing his cup of tea, Cang smacked his lips again as if he was savouring it.
When Yang Kai saw this, he suddenly put away the tea set in front of him and instead took out a bottle of wine before handing it over, “Senior, it looks like tea is not enough to quench your thirst. How about drinking some wine?”
Normally, people would sip on tea, but Cang drank it in gulps. From his mannerisms, it looked like he was more used to draining bottles of wine and feasting.
When Cang saw the wine battle, his expression lit up and he laughed heartily, “That’s more like it, kid!”
He snatched up the wine bottle, popped open the cork, and drank wildly.
After draining 10 bottles, Cang wiped his mouth and laughed, “I’m an uncouth fellow, but I figured I had to act a bit sage-like in front of you Juniors. Damn it, you’re all killing me here!”
The Ninth-Order Old Ancestors were amused to see this kind of reaction.
It turned out that the old man’s stately and wise behaviour was all just a pretence.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao smiled, reached out, and with a flick of her hand, hundreds of bottles and jars of wine flew towards Cang as she said, “Since Senior likes wine, these are some of the spirits this Junior has brewed over the years. Please have them if you don’t mind.”
Cang laughed, guided the wine with his hand, and stacked them beside him.
Another Old Ancestor followed up, “I also have some good wine here, please accept it.”
As he said so, he took out a type of gourd bottle and threw it towards Cang. Although the gourd bottle was small, it was obviously a kind of storage artifact with a vast internal space. This one gourd bottle seemed to contain an endless amount of wine.
Many of the Old Ancestors were connoisseurs of wine themselves, and like Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had home-brewed wine or had wine collections that they could not bear to drink. But now, all of them took them out to offer to Cang.
This was not just to please Cang though, it was more-so them empathising with his plight. He had been alone, standing guard here over the Source Domain for uncountable years. This wine was just a token of their appreciation for all he had done.
“How can you drink wine without meat?” One Old Ancestor laughed, reaching out and taking out a large piece of Monster Beast meat, which had been his treasure for many years. It still looked extremely fresh and dripping with blood. The Monster Qi was also quite compelling, so it was obviously not from any ordinary Monster Beast.
Yang Kai even felt a hint of Dragon Aura from it.
This Monster Beast had Dragon Blood in it. Perhaps it was a Flood Dragon or other Dragon Descendant.
Another Old Ancestor said, “Now we have wine and meat, some fruit is a necessity.”
He reached out a hand, and a plate of crystal-clear Spirit Fruits appeared.
One by one, the Old Ancestors took out their collections which they had accumulated over the millennia, and within a few moments, Cang had all kinds of delicious delicacies set out in front of him. Even in the void, the aroma was overflowing and the atmosphere was joyous.
Cang laughed continuously.
All the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters from every Great Pass were shocked to see that the place where the Old Ancestors gathered had somehow turned into a banquet. They remained dumbfounded and completely did not understand what had happened.
Yang Kai was also dumbfounded that his simple swapping of tea for alcohol had triggered this change.
Unfortunately for him, everyone here was in a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor, while he was the only Seventh-Order Junior. Thus, it was only expected that he did the hard work of pouring wine for each Old Ancestor, serving fruit plates, and roasting the beast meat.
At this point, Yang Kai was cursing Big Head Mi and Big Head Xiang non-stop in his heart.
After three rounds of wine and food, Cang shouted loudly, “In the Primordial Era, Chaos reigned. When the First Primordial Light was born into this world, the Heavens and Earth opened up and the Universe was born. It was naturally a glorious and magnificent sight. At that time, the Universe was simple, pure, and without many disturbances. Although the environment was extremely harsh, all living creatures’ focus was simply to survive. Even if there was fighting and killing, it was only in furtherance of that one goal, survival.”