“Stop spouting so much rubbish,” Ding Yao glared at him and rebuked, “This person is a newcomer to the Black Ink Battlefield. While it’s true they are an Eighth-Order Master, they aren’t well-versed in fighting. Since this person is someone who is still not used to the Black Ink Battlefield yet, I’ve tasked you to be this person’s escort.”
“Someone new!” Yang Kai’s heart started to race, “From the 3,000 Worlds?”
Ding Yao nodded, “That’s right.”
He then added meaningfully, “Perhaps there’ll be someone you know. So, would you like to go?”
“Yes, of course,” Yang Kai responded decisively. If it was just picking up someone, it wasn’t a difficult task. Though, it was still somewhat pointless for him to escort such a person all the way here, it would still be interesting to meet this newcomer.
Since Ding Yao said that it might be someone he knew, Yang Kai was eager to meet them. Even if it wasn’t an old acquaintance, more than 100 years had passed since he came to this Black Ink Battlefield, so this was a chance to see if there were any new changes in the Star Boundary and Void Land after he left.
Similarly, Yang Kai understood that the dispatch of an Eighth-Order Division Commander for this kind of small matter was wasteful; after all, there were only a handful of people in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm and each of them had their own important tasks which kept them perpetually busy. Thus, such matters were best left to those in the Seventh Order.
Even among those in the Seventh Order, Yang Kai’s strength was obvious to all. He was also the one who set up the new Universe Arrays; thus, it was certainly much more convenient to have him personally lead the way, which was probably the biggest reason why Ding Yao tasked him to do so.
“In that case, I’ll leave this to you. Take note of the time. The newcomers should arrive in a few days. For now, get back to the Pass,” Ding Yao waved his hand.
Yang Kai cupped his fist and turned to leave.
First, he went back to the place where Dawn was stationed and told Feng Ying about his mission. He also informed her that he should be back in time for the next hunting mission. If not, she should just take the Squad out without him, which Feng Ying agreed to.
Since he had nothing to prepare before the trip to the pass, Yang Kai immediately activated the Universe Transference Law. He focused on the Universe Array of Blue Sky Pass, and it was not long before light engulfed him starting from his feet.
Usually, those in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm would find it impossible to directly teleport from the forward base to Blue Sky Pass as the distance was too great. The stress of transiting that far through the Void would more than likely crush an ordinary Seventh-Order Master, hence the two Universe Arrays arranged between them to serve as waypoints.
Since Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, however, he could mitigate such effects.
Space Principles fluctuated, and Yang Kai reappeared inside Blue Sky Pass. With the mission in mind, he directly headed to the Western Army’s Headquarters to greet Zhong Liang.
“Sir, Sir Ding asked me to come back to welcome a newcomer, are they here yet?”
Zhang Liang shook his head and replied, “Not yet, but news has already arrived a few days ago. Well, as you know, it’s not easy for those from the 3,000 Worlds to come here, so just wait for the time being.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Can you tell me who this is?”
“People coming from the 3,000 Worlds are all arranged by the Cave Heavens and Paradises, we are only responsible for receiving them. We don’t know exactly how many people are coming, or which Sects they are from. Just that they will be sent over from the No-Return Pass.”
Yang Kai gritted his teeth. He couldn’t help but hold some anticipation.
It seemed there was more than one person arriving, so he couldn’t help wondering if there were any newcomers from the Star Boundary or Void Land among them. There were also a lot of Open Heaven Realm Masters on the Star Boundary and Void Land; thus, it would be normal if some were assigned to the Black Ink Battlefield. However, neither the Star Boundary nor Void Land were part of the Cave Heavens and Paradises; thus, according to long-standing practice, they were not eligible to set foot onto the Black Ink Battlefield.
Although he had been in the Black Ink Battlefield for over 100 years, and had also fought in two different Theatres, even infiltrating the Black Ink Clan’s territory twice, Yang Kai still didn’t know much about a variety of things. One such thing was how the 3,000 Worlds assigned reinforcements to the Black Ink Battlefield.
Since there was nothing for him to do, Yang Kai decided to ask Zhong Liang.
Zhong Liang explained, “Basically every 100 years, the Cave Heavens and Paradises will dispatch some people to reinforce the Great Passes. The number of people sent varies, as a lot can happen in 100 years. Even so, as you know, every time we fight against the Black Ink Clan, it will always result in casualties. Though not many, they accumulate over time. Eventually, if there are too many casualties, and few left to defend our lines, wouldn’t the Great Passes fall? So, regular reinforcements from the Cave Heavens and Paradises are a necessity.”
This was also the reason why Yang Kai used to think that Cave Heavens and Paradises were not worthy of their reputations, as the forces they showcased in the 3,000 Worlds did not seem as imposing as they should have been. One would expect the Cave Heavens and Paradises, with their extremely long histories and deep foundations, coupled with the long lifespans of cultivators in the Open Heaven Realm, to slowly amass an enormous number of Open Heaven Realm Masters. However, when Yang Kai visited a few of them in the past, the number of Open Heaven Realm Masters he saw in the Cave Heavens and Paradises was not as numerous as he had anticipated.
Now, everything made sense; after all, these top forces had been sending the vast majority of their strongest Masters to the Black Ink Battlefield over the years.
“The reinforcements will first be gathered at the No-Return Pass, then they will be dispatched from there to the various Great Passes. This is done to ensure the integrity of each Great Pass. The number of people dispatched to each Pass will depend on the loss and demand of the Great Pass itself. Take this time as an example. Our Blue Sky Pass’ losses during the recent crusade were not small; so, there should be more reinforcements who’ll be assigned to us. Furthermore, because of the forward base, there will be a need for many people with a variety of skill sets. This was the requirement of Blue Sky Pass, which we put forward to 3,000 Worlds to meet. Well, I think news of what we have accomplished so far would make them feel gratified.”
Yang Kai nodded in understanding, thought for a while, and then asked, “There should still be many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in each Cave Heaven and Paradise’s headquarters. Since the 3,000 Worlds are essentially stable, why not transfer more of them to the Black Ink Battlefield? That way, we’ll be able to overwhelm the Territory Lords with superior numbers. It should not be that difficult to do, right?”
Zhong Liang answered with a smile, “It’s not difficult, of course. The Cave Heavens and Paradises have strong foundations and heritages, so it certainly won’t be a problem to get a few more Eighth-Order Masters assigned here, but have you thought through what that would mean? Would there be any decisive change if we really did as you said? There is currently no way to completely eradicate the Black Ink Clan, so what is the use of this small advantage? Before you brought us the Purifying Light, the Human Race was basically powerless to resist the corrosion of Black Ink Strength. Many had to sacrifice pieces of their Small Universes to protect themselves. We have fought against the Black Ink Clan for so long, so what we want is not a small advantage to give us a more favourable position, but rather a way to completely eradicate the Black Ink Clan. Before we find a way to do that, maintaining the current balance is the best option.”
Yang Kai pondered over what he said before nodding in agreement.
Zhong Liang exhaled lightly, “Our crusade this time was not only an experiment, but also a campaign to provide hope. If what we are doing works out well, in the next 100 to 1,000 years, we Humans will be able to continue to reduce whatever available territory the Black Ink Clan has. Eventually, we will be able to find a way to completely wipe them out. This is definitely a long-term goal, and it might even take several generations to accomplish. Even so, we will do it.”
Zhong Liang would have never said these things to other Seventh-Order Masters, but with Yang Kai, it was different. His arrival changed the whole landscape of Black Ink Battlefield and his contributions alone made him qualified to understand the plans of the higher-ups.
“When the day comes, all the top Masters from the Cave Heavens and Paradises will be sent to the No-Return Pass. At that time, what do you think will happen to the Black Ink Clan?”
Yang Kai imagined the scene, where the hidden Masters of the Cave Heavens and Paradises all came out in force. The thought drew his imagination as he said, “They’ll be in for an unpleasant surprise.”
…
Inside the Grand Hall, where the Hyper Space Array was located, Yang Kai sat cross-legged as his heart started pounding.
His conversation with Zhong Liang made him understand one thing: Since he was not in that high of a position, he failed to see the grand scheme of things. What he was thinking about was how to win the battles in front of him. Meanwhile, what those at the top were thinking about was how to win the War and completely annihilate the Black Ink Clan. It was a distinct difference of perspective.
It’s not that he was short-sighted; after all, he was in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. He was the leader of a Squad, and had been in the Black Ink Battlefield for more than 100 years so he could not be called inexperienced. Even so, how could he possibly be compared to people like Zhong Liang and the others who had been fighting this war for thousands of years?
Thus, now, it was made clear. It was not that the Cave Heavens and Paradises could not send more Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters to gain an advantage over the Black Ink Clan. They were just accumulating strength, preparing to give Black Ink Clan a fatal blow when the time came.
Blue Sky Pass’ Expeditionary Force had taken a crucial step in that direction. The crusade was a bold attempt to change the course of the war, and if all went well, one day in the near future, all the Great Passes would be able to form large-scale Expeditionary Forces and send them out to crusade. They would finally be able to suppress the Black Ink Clan, until it was uprooted entirely.
“There are signs of activity,” one of the people guarding the Grand Array suddenly shouted.
Yang Kai raised his eyes and looked ahead. He saw that the Grand Array, which had been silent for several days, suddenly lit up. It hummed gently, and there were obvious Space Principle fluctuations coming out of it.
That was a clear sign that the Grand Array had been activated, which was what Yang Kai had been waiting for.
The No-Return Pass was the only gateway to the 3,000 Worlds, and it was also the transit point for those in the 3,000 Worlds to enter the Black Ink Battlefield. As such, a Hyper Space Array was arranged there which could connect to all the Great Passes. These were all set up by ancient Great Experts who were simply incomparable to today’s cultivators.
With the Hyper Space Arrays set up by such experts, ultra-long-distance teleportation could be done without worrying about one’s life. However, the consumption of materials would be extremely large; thus, between the Great Passes, they tried not to unnecessarily send people over. In most cases, they would teleport some jade slips as a means to communicate with the other Great Passes.
Under the gaze of the many cultivators guarding the Grand Array, a dazzling light suddenly filled their eyes. From it, a faint figure appeared.
Yang Kai immediately felt an aura of someone in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, but to his surprise, this aura was faintly familiar to him.
As the light faded, Yang Kai discovered that there were already at least 100 people standing on the Grand Array, many of them appearing dizzy and disoriented as they had obviously not recovered from the ultra-long-distance teleportation. Although the arrangements of the ancient Great Experts were enough to allow them to teleport here safely, there were still some drawbacks to doing so.
Immediately, Blue Sky Pass’ men, who had been prepared ahead of time, stepped forward and all kinds of Secret Techniques were activated to help alleviate the sequelae of these 100 or so people.
It took just a moment for the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to shake his head and focus his eyes. In the end, he was an Eighth-Order Master whose strength was incomparable to the rest who still needed some time to recover from the dizziness.
Yang Kai suppressed his excitement, stepped forward, and saluted, “Grand Master’s noble bearing is still the same as ever, even after so many years.”
Ding Yao’s words had been prophetic, as Yang Kai really knew someone who came here this time.
He was a remnant of Great Evolution Paradise, Grandmaster Ma Fan.
Yang Kai had dealt with him plenty of times. The first time was when he went to ask about refining Array Artifacts for Void Land’s Grand Array. At that time, the Proprietress took him to Grandmaster Ma Fan. Later, Ma Fan helped him improve the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors. He even passed the Great Evolution Paradise’s Good Fortune Divine Furnace to Yang Kai. Afterwards, many of the remnants from Great Evolution Paradise, led by Grandmaster Ma Fan, went to the Star Boundary to open a Dao Temple. They did this in an attempt to revive the former glory.
Thus, they were old acquaintances.
Ma Fan, who had recently broken through to the Eighth Order, was clearly a Great Grandmaster in Artifact Refining now. It should be said that those who were Great Grandmasters were all Eighth-Order Masters, equivalent to Dong Guo An Ping from Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven whom Yang Kai was acquainted with.
“Yang Boy!” Grandmaster Ma Fan looked surprised, clearly never having anticipated he would meet Yang Kai here of all places.
More than 100 years ago, Yang Kai dove into a Void Corridor and never came back. Without any news, whether he was even alive or dead was unknown. Nonetheless, his disappearance and sacrifice were no secret in the 3,000 Worlds; after all, many were present when he went to seal the Void Corridor.
Furthermore, although the Black Ink Battlefield could pass some news back to 3,000 Worlds, matters related to Yang Kai were still only known to a few top officials within the Cave Heavens and Paradises. Thus, Grandmaster Ma Fan was not aware that he was here. When he came to the Black Ink Battlefield, he never expected to see Yang Kai.
It was natural that upon seeing an old friend, they were both overjoyed.
Suddenly, Grandmaster Ma Fan’s face cramped up as he said, “Yang Boy, find me an open space, this old man can’t hold them in any longer.”
Yang Kai wondered, “Hold them in? Hold who in?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan snickered, “You don’t think it’s just us, right? There are more in my Small Universe.”
Yang Kai instantly understood what he meant. For those that were transported here, except for one Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Grandmaster Ma Fan, the rest were all in the Seventh-Order.
Since teleporting from the No-Return Pass to any of the Great Passes required a massive amount of resources, the High-Rank Masters would all store those in the Mid-Rank inside their Small Universes in order to save on consumption.
The No-Return Pass had always done it like this. Since Yang Kai came to the Black Ink Battlefield through an unconventional method, he had no experience in this; thus, in his moment of elation, he forgot how people normally travelled through Hyper Space Arrays.
After realising his mistake, he quickly led the way.
Not long after, they arrived at the square where Yang Kai had first stepped into when he initially arrived at Blue Sky Pass. This was also where the first Purifying Black Ink Battleship had been built.
The square was huge. During the non-war period, the soldiers liked to exchange pointers here; thus, this place was often full of people, but now, it was empty. After all, most of the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass had been moved to the forward base, leaving only a small contingent behind.
In the meantime, everyone dispersed and kept a distance from the newcomers. Then their Small Universes opened, and from the various portals, numerous figures walked out, one after another.
They were all in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm!
Yang Kai initially thought that there would not be too many newcomers arriving at Blue Sky Pass, a few hundred at most. However, when the hundreds of portals were opened, with Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters continuously pouring out, he realised that his initial assumption was wrong.
Grandmaster Ma Fan’s Small Universe alone could accommodate more than 40 people, while others in the Seventh Order, whose Small Universes were not as large as his, could only hold a dozen or so people.
After everyone came out, Yang Kai was surprised to find that there were over 1,000 newcomers this time!
That was a huge number. Furthermore, everyone here was in the Sixth Order and above. In other words, the Cave Heavens and Paradises had sent at least 10 cultivators at or above the Sixth Order each, and that was not even counting the reinforcements sent to the other Great Passes!
Which Sect in the 3,000 Worlds could do this? Which force had such an immeasurable heritage? Even in Void Land and the Star Boundary, how many Sixth-Order or Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were there now? In fact, even if the whole Void Land and the Star Boundary were hollowed out, they would not be able to provide such a force.
This just went to show how powerful and deep the heritages of the Cave Heavens and Paradises were.
A stream of light suddenly shot over from somewhere in Blue Sky Pass before coming to a hover above the square. It was none other than Zhong Liang.
Everyone looked up, and Zhong Liang nodded lightly before saying out loud, “You have come from afar. This is Blue Sky Pass, and this Zhong is the Western Army Commander.”
Everyone saluted in unison, and Zhong Liang returned the salute and continued, “You are from different Cave Heavens and Paradises, and all of you were elites in your respective Sects, but the Black Ink Battlefield is different from 3,000 Worlds! You need to remember that no matter which Cave Heaven or Paradise you came from, after you set foot into Blue Sky Pass, none of that matters anymore. You are all Blue Sky Pass soldiers here, and we have only one enemy, the Black Ink Clan. All those who are here now, and the ancestors who came before us, have sacrificed our blood, sweat, and even lives in this empty place to prevent the Black Ink Clan from invading the 3,000 Worlds. Countless have fallen on this battlefield for countless years, and the next one may be me, or it may be one of you, but as long as the Cave Heavens and Paradises stand, the Black Ink Clan will never step into 3,000 Worlds, “
“You are all from Cave Heavens and Paradises, so before you left, the Elders of your respective Sects must have warned you about all of this. Blue Sky Pass and the Black Ink Battlefield have many things you will gradually need to become familiar with. This Zhong will give you one piece of advice now, and I hope you will remember it in your hearts, ‘Survive. No matter what, do not give up.’ I say this from the bottom of my heart, and truly hope you will keep it in mind at all times.”
“Now, this Zhong still has responsibilities to attend to, so it is not convenient for me to remain here. Yang Kai, take them to register themselves and make preparations.”
“Yes!” Yang Kai bowed.
Zhong Liang turned and left.
It was not troublesome to register in Blue Sky Pass, but it took some time for over 1,000 people to go through this process. As the only Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master among the newcomers, Grandmaster Ma Fan was naturally the first to register.
After receiving his Identity Token, he went to Yang Kai and handed him a jade slip, “This is what your Wives had asked me to pass to you.”
Yang Kai reached out and took it solemnly, “Many thanks.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan snorted, “It’s understandable for someone young to be rather unscrupulous, but brat, you really have gone a little too far.”
Yang Kai smiled awkwardly, without defending himself as he took the jade slip. He scanned it using his Divine Sense and his expression gradually softened.
There was nothing really special in the jade slip, just a few words from his loved ones. The first one was written by Yu Ru Meng, the Charm Demon Saint, then it was Xia Ning Chang, Xue Yue, Ji Yao, Qu Hua Shang, and Tao Ling Wan’s turn. They each only wrote a sentence or two at most.
Yu Ru Meng was as hot-tempered as ever as she snapped, “If you dare to die outside, I will take my Sisters and have them all remarry!”
Little Senior Sister was much gentler, “Junior Brother, you must take care of yourself when you are outside. The most important thing is to make sure you protect yourself.”
The seductress from Yin-Yang Cave Heaven was bold as usual, “If you are lonely outside, you can find a Senior Sister from Yin-Yang Heaven to discuss the Dao of ‘Yin and Yang’. Make sure you don’t look for someone else from some other place, okay?”
All this made Yang Kai smile and warm his heart.
There were no messages from Su Yan, Zhu Qing and Shan Qing Luo in the jade slip. Obviously, they are still in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, and did not know much about what was happening in the outside world.
After reading the jade slip over and over again, Yang Kai held it tightly to his chest and asked, “Great Master, how is the situation over in the 3,000 Worlds?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan casually remarked, “Things are as usual. Those who are unaware remain the same, calm and stagnant, but those in the know are all aware that there is currently a huge undercurrent surging under the seemingly calm surface. I don’t really need to say much about other things, just the influence of your Star Boundary alone is huge. It is truly deserving of its reputation as an Open Heaven Realm Cradle. Countless geniuses have emerged from the Star Boundary over the years, and every Cave Heaven and Paradise has gained a lot. In the eyes of those great forces not in the know, the top great forces are just expanding their influence and getting stronger; however, only those of us aware of the truth understand that everything is done in preparation for the war against the Black Ink Clan. So, we need to cultivate more people with greater strength. Still, the one that gained the most is not the Cave Heavens and Paradises, but your High Heaven Palace.”
Yang Kai suddenly became interested, “How so?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan explained, “High Heaven Palace is the greatest native Sect of the Star Boundary, and with how the Great Emperors there have turned the tide and saved the whole world not once, but twice, all natives of the Star Boundary recognise it. Many remain unaware, or simply cannot comprehend how great the Cave Heavens and Paradises are, so in the end, High Heaven Palace is still the best place in their eyes, and many of them still choose to worship under its banner. With so many genius disciples having been taught by strong Elders since birth, if this trend continues, after a few thousand years, your High Heaven Palace will be able to stand on equal footing with the Cave Heavens and Paradises, “
Yang Kai smiled and said, “That’s still a long way from now. Who can clearly say what will happen over such a great span of time.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan nodded and said, “It is said that fate is full of uncertainties, and no one can say what will be until it is. If it was in the past, High Heaven Palace would definitely not be allowed to exist by the Cave Heavens and Paradises. It’s not that they are intolerant and greedy, but rather that so many excellent disciples could not be taken away by one Sect. Each of them wants to cultivate more elite disciples to fight against the Black Ink Clan. Even so, they will not move against your Sect. After all, your Wives are now Direct Disciples of various different powerful Ancestors. Each of them has someone powerful standing behind them, giving them close relationships with several Cave Heavens and Paradises. What’s more, now that you, High Heaven Palace’s Palace Master, have entered the Black Ink Battlefield, and the higher-ups of High Heaven Palace are themselves aware of the real situation, no one wants to hinder its development, which has paved a smooth road for its growth.”
Yang Kai nodded happily. Before he set off from Black Territory to the Black Ink Battlefield, several of his Wives were indeed taken in as Direct Disciples of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters. Among them, Xue Yue became a Disciple of Golden Antelope Paradise’s Liu Mu. Yu Ru Meng became a Disciple of Myriad Demons Heaven’s Mo Sha. Xia Ning Chang became a Disciple of Divine Medicine Heaven’s Zi Yu. Ji Yao became a Disciple of Great Battle Heaven’s Pi Li. Meanwhile, Qu Hua Shang and Tao Ling Wan, needless to say, were part of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven and held strong positions within their Sect.
The reason why these Eighth-Order Masters took them as Disciples was not just due to their aptitude; after all, there were countless geniuses in their own Cave Heavens or Paradises. Their aptitudes might be the same or even better than his Wives, so the main reason why they took them on was because Yang Kai was going to sacrifice himself for the peace and stability of the 3,000 Worlds. Thus, they wanted to give Yang Kai some form of reassurance. It was to indicate that even if something were to happen once he entered that Void Corridor back then, his Wives would be taken care of, and by extension, High Heaven Palace and Void Land would be protected. In short, ‘we old fogies will ensure your Widows and Sect are taken care of, so that may rest assured and go all out’.
This was also a kind of compensation from the Cave Heavens and Paradises. Of course, his Wives were all talented enough to become Direct Disciples of these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters; after all, each of them had directly ascended to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm and could thus be expected to reach the Eighth-Order in the future.
Fortunately, Yang Kai’s personal strength and accomplishments in the Dao of Space were exceptional; on top of that, he possessed various unique methods which helped him survive. Since he came to the Black Ink Battlefield from Black Territory, he had overcome plenty of difficulties and managed to live till now.
Now that his Wives in the Star Boundary had the backing of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, coupled with Yang Kai’s previous efforts to, seal up the Void Corridor alone, High Heaven Palace had the opportunity to grow and develop without interference. If not, with the Cave Heavens and Paradises needing excellent disciples to send to the Black Ink Battlefield, how could they possibly sit back and watch a small Sect take up so many talents? It had nothing to do with avarice or envy, they simply had no choice as they held the responsibility of protecting the Human Race!
In the face of such a noble goal, anyone or anything that stood in their way would be crushed to dust without the slightest hesitation.
Now, knowing that everything in the Star Boundary was alright, Yang Kai could finally rest easy.
Since the Star Boundary was well and good, and High Heaven Palace was thriving with strong momentum, what else could possibly worry Yang Kai? On the other hand, disciples of the Cave Heavens and Paradises willingly shed their blood in the Black Ink Battlefield as they waged war against the Black Ink Clan for no other reason than a strong sense of responsibility to protect the 3,000 Worlds.
The situation of the Star Boundary and High Heaven Palace was enough to allow Yang Kai to rest easy.
“Actually, I didn’t expect to meet you so soon,” Grandmaster Ma Fan sighed, “I wanted to settle down in the Black Ink Battlefield first, and then find out where you were. I didn’t think that you would be here. Say, Yang Boy, you are something like a half-disciple of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, so why didn’t you go to Yin-Yang Pass?”
Yang Kai shook his head and said, “I didn’t come here through the normal route, so Blue Sky Pass was the first Great Pass that I encountered. As a result, I settled here. Overall, against the Black Ink Clan, it’ll be the same no matter which Great Pass I go to.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan gave him a fixed look, then nodded, “Fair enough.”
Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and curiously asked, “Why did you come to the Black Ink Battlefield, Grandmaster? You are a remnant of Great Evolution Paradise, so even if you’ve made it to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, logically speaking, you didn’t need to come here.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan snorted, “I don’t need to be part of the Cave Heavens and Paradises to fight against the Black Ink Clan, right? As long as I have the heart it is more than enough. Brat, what qualifications do you have to tell an Old Master like me that I need to be part of the Cave Heavens and Paradises to come here?”
Yang Kai scratched his head and could only laugh bitterly, “Grandmaster, please calm yourself!”
Being asked to calm down only sent Grandmaster Ma Fan into a rage, “Just because I was no longer part of the Cave Heavens and Paradises this Old Master needed to ask their permission to come here! Great Evolution Paradise used to be one of them, and ever since I advanced to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm I had repeatedly requested to be assigned to the Black Ink Battlefield, but every single time they rejected me! Bastards! The Black Ink Battlefield is not their backyard, so why not just let me come!?”
Yang Kai didn’t know how to answer; he wouldn’t have known about it if Grandmaster Ma Fan hadn’t mentioned it himself. However, he guessed that it was probably because of this very fact that Grandmaster Ma Fan always seemed unhappy with the Cave Heavens and Paradises.
But from another standpoint, were the Cave Heavens and Paradises not trying to protect Grandmaster Ma Fan? After all, Great Evolution Paradise had fallen, and only this old man was still around, struggling to support it by himself. If he was sent to the Black Ink Battlefield, then the whole legacy of Great Evolution Paradise would probably end with him.
Even Grandmaster Ma Fan must have known how the Cave Heavens and Paradises felt about this situation. However, anger does not listen to rational explanations.
“If you weren’t allowed to come before, why did they let you come this time?” Yang Kai asked.
Grandmaster Ma Fan explained, “Isn’t Blue Sky Pass in dire need of Artifact Refiners? This Old Master may be sloppy, but Artifact Refining is my speciality. So, this time, a few of those old ghosts actually came to me and asked me to come and support this Pass. Of course, I refused. Those bastards refused Father here so many times in the past, yet they had the gall to ask me, their Father, to come out here on a whim now? Who do they think I am, huh? How dare they!”
Yang Kai nodded like he was a chicken pecking rice and flattered, “Yes, yes, that’s how it should be, Grandmaster. It was right for you to refuse. But, Grandmaster… why did you change your mind? “
Grandmaster Ma Fan snorted and said, “This Father has a firm will, but I’m still no match for those old bastards when it comes to cunning. They kept using soft and hard tactics to get me to agree and eventually, after thinking it through, I realised that Great Evolution Paradise now has no lack of worthy successors. So, I decided I should come over to join in on the fun.”
Yang Kai expressed his understanding, but was laughing secretly in his heart, [This old man is certainly prideful. He wanted to come all along but refused out of pure stubbornness.]
However, now, it seemed that it is not a coincidence that Grandmaster Ma Fan was assigned to Blue Sky Pass. Due to Blue Sky Pass’ crusade, they had an urgent need for a large number of Artifact Refiners. Furthermore, Ma Fan was extremely proficient in the Dao of Artifact refining; thus, it was only natural that he was assigned here.
Grandmaster Ma Fan added, “Half of the 1,500 reinforcements who had came to support Blue Sky Pass this time are proficient in Spirit Arrays, Alchemy, or Artifact Refining. Those who are proficient in Artifact Refining actually account for 80% of those numbers. I have to ask, what happened in Blue Sky Pass. Did all its Artifact Refiners die or something? Why do you need so many to come and support you? “
Yang Kai laughed and said, “Spirit Arrays, Alchemy, Artifact Refining are all specialized professions. No matter which Great Pass, talents proficient in them are heavily protected and will not easily enter the battlefield. In fact, unless a Great Pass is destroyed, these Masters won’t die. No Artifact Refiners from Blue Sky Pass have died. The reason why we needed your help, is because Blue Sky Pass launched a crusade recently, and we have now established a forward base deep within the territory of the Black Ink Clan. Of course, it’s still a distance away from a Royal City, with three Territory Lord territories between them. Over there, soldiers have been engaging in skirmishes with the Black Ink Clan on a daily basis, so Warships are constantly being damaged. The original number of Artifact Refiners wasn’t sufficient to keep up.”
“A crusade?” Grandmaster Ma Fan’s eyes lit up. Not only him, but the other Open Heaven Realm Masters, who had already been registered, were interestedly listening in. They were not specifically trying to eavesdrop, but Yang Kai and Grandmaster Ma Fan’s conversation was quite open, so it was natural for those nearby to overhear. After all, everyone here was at least in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Before they arrived, the Elders of their Sects had mentioned the situation of the Black Ink Battlefield to them; thus, they had a general understanding of the status quo.
But, as far as they knew, the armies of the Great Passes on the Black Ink Battlefield were extremely passive and defensive. Every 100 years or so, the Great Passes would fall under siege. On the other hand, it was extremely difficult for them to go on the offensive.
Thus, when they just arrived at Blue Sky Pass, and heard a crusade had been made, it made them excited. After all, one would always get more passionate when on the attack than when passively defending.
“Senior Brother, can you share more about this crusade? I’m new here, so although I know a little bit about it, it’s just from word of mouth. I haven’t seen it, nor participated in it. So, I’m really curious.” A young man asked.
Yang Kai turned his head to look at the source of the voice. It was from a handsome youth who looked like he came from a wealthy background and had a face as smooth as jade. He had a dignified appearance and wore a spotless white robe. Even amongst all those in the Open Heaven Realm, he stuck out. He seemed so perfect that those around him, be it consciously or unconsciously, seemed to distance themselves, as if afraid of being compared to him if they stood too close.
However, this man obviously did not let this bother him. There was even a hint of arrogance in his indifferent expression.
Yang Kai was now in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm and he had cultivated for many years so his vision was quite sharp. Thus, as soon as he saw this young man, he understood that he didn’t just look young, but was young. He was unlike most cultivators in the Open Heaven Realm, who, because of their long lifespans, it was difficult to judge their age based on their appearance alone.
Based on Yang Kai’s estimation, this youth before him was only two or three hundred years old!
Yang Kai’s face remained as usual, but his heart was slightly shaken, [Seventh-Order at two or three hundred years old? It’s not an exaggeration to say this person is a favoured Son of Heaven. For someone at his age to reach the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, the only possible way is to directly ascend to the Seventh-Order! It’s impossible for him to directly enter the Sixth Order and then cultivate to the Seventh Order in such a short time.]
It had to be noted that those who directly entered the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm were basically precious seedlings who had the opportunity to become Old Ancestors in the future.
Yang Kai had only met one such person so far, Luo Ting. He met her in Yin-Yang Cave Heaven’s Samsara Pavilion; however, at that time, Luo Ting He had already been in the Seventh Order for thousands of years and she had broken through to the Eight Order shortly after, so her temperament was naturally very different from this man.
At such a young age, to achieve such a cultivation, he certainly had every right to be arrogant; after all, he had the capital to back up his haughtiness.
“This Junior Brother is…” Yang Kai looked at him with a smile.
The young man cupped his fist and saluted, “Asura Cave Heaven, Zhang Zhou!”
Yang Kai was a little stunned, “Junior Brother is from Asura Cave Heaven?”
He had also come into contact with those from Asura Cave Heaven, and all of them were fierce and vicious, completely different from Zhang Zhou’s gentle and dignified demeanour. In fact, if Zhang Zhou had not said where he was from, Yang Kai would never have guessed that he was actually from Asura Cave Heaven. That was just how different he was from the usual militant cultivators from Asura Cave Heaven.
Looking at the 3,000 Worlds, out of all the Cave Heavens and Paradises, there were two that stood out when it came to militant behaviour. One was Asura Cave Heaven and the other was Great Battle Heaven. The latter obviously developed this personality in order to fight against the Black Ink Clan on the Black Ink Battlefield. Meanwhile, the former cultivated based on the Dao of Battle and Slaughter. Thus, Asura Cave Heaven disciples all fought endlessly to cultivate. If they wanted to get stronger, they just had to risk their lives in life-or-death battles.
Still, in the 3,000 Worlds, Asura Cave Heaven was still one of the 36 Cave Heavens, so it was impossible for their disciples to go around wantonly killing innocents just for the sake of their cultivation. Doing so would damage their prestige too heavily for them to remain stable.
Even so, they still needed some way to continue to cultivate; thus, when their disciples wanted to practice, they just needed to go to the Asura Arenas. In the Arena, they could battle it out and even kill their opponents.
Furthermore, the Asura Arenas were extremely popular and existed in every major Star City. Even the Void Star City and High Heaven Star City had Asura Arenas.
These Arenas also brought in a hefty profit for Asura Cave Heaven; thus, it served two purposes at once. It could be said that the Asura Arenas were the foundation of Asura Cave Heaven.
In the Asura Arena, life and death battles were to be honoured; thus, even if an Asura Heaven disciple died inside, the Sect would not take revenge! This wasn’t just rhetoric, but an established truth as many Asura Cave Heaven disciples had died in the various Asura Arenas over the years, yet the Sect never pursued the matter.
Yang Kai had also fought people in the Asura Arena, so he was familiar with their rules.
Zhang Zhou directly broke through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, so if he had come from any other Cave Heaven or Paradise, he would definitely be guarded carefully. He would be allowed to completely immerse himself in cultivation, and strive to become an Old Ancestor in the future. But since he was from Asura Cave Heaven, such a thing was not allowed.
There were no Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Asura Arena who would engage in life-or-death fights; after all, the better use for such Masters was being sent to the Black Ink Battlefield. Thus, Zhang Zhou came here.
Yang Kai had been on the Black Ink Battlefield for more than 100 years, and although he was usually dealing with the Black Ink Clan or cultivating, he had heard a lot of things unrelated to the war itself as well. This included things about Asura Cave Heaven.
All the Cave Heavens and Paradises would only sparingly send reinforcements to the Black Ink Battlefield every 100 years, deploying only the personnel that were really needed. However, Asura Cave Heaven was the sole exception to that trend. They could not wait to send all their Open Heaven Realm Masters here. In fact, they wished they really could send in all their Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
If someone calculated which Sect had the largest proportion of disciples sent to the Black Ink Battlefield, Asura Cave Heaven would definitely take first place. In fact, Yang Kai could not think of any other Sect that had sent as many or more than Asura Cave Heaven.
However, due to how they cultivated, requiring them to engage in killing, it was not uncommon for them to die in the process of growing up. Thus, the number of disciples who would advance to the Open Heaven Realm was much less than other Cave Heavens and Paradises.
Even so, in terms of combat capability, Asura Cave Heaven would definitely rank among the top three of all Cave Heavens and Paradises. Whenever those from Asura Cave Heaven fought, they would do so as though they held no regard for their own lives, and this gave rise to a nickname, Asura Lunatics. They were so notorious for this that it had become widespread throughout the Black Ink Battlefield.
Dawn also had a disciple from Asura Cave Heaven, he was just in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm though. So, when fighting against the Black Ink Clan Army, he could only remain inside Dawning Light and control the various Arrays to kill the enemy. He had no chance to leave the Warship, which caused him to complain to Yang Kai many times.
It was only when the forward base started ‘hunting’ that he finally got the chance to directly fight against those scattered Black Ink Clansmen. It was the only time when someone like him, who was in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm, could finally come out and fight.
In fact, it was when Dawn was out hunting that he was the happiest. He would not hesitate to put himself in danger just to be able to kill off his enemies. In fact, after each hunt, he would always be covered in blood and leak out an incomparable murderous intent. It was not a stretch to say that he was a madman when it came to combat.
Even so, Yang Kai was relieved that his subordinate was a brave fighter. It was just that, this brave fighter was also somewhat prickly.
Yang Kai still liked those from Asura Cave Heaven though. He did not mind youngsters being arrogant, as long as they had the ability to back it up.
Grandmaster Ma Fan whispered, “This kid is the most outstanding genius in his generation from Asura Cave Heaven. He advanced to the Emperor Realm while he was around 100 years old. He then managed to advance to the Seventh Order after less than 20 years. Right now, he should be somewhere around 200. His future is many times better than yours. He’s also the first person from the Star Boundary to advance directly to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm and is known as one of the Star Boundary’s Two Rising Stars. The other is your Disciple, Zhao Ya. On the day he advanced to the Open Heaven Realm, the top Masters of the various Cave Heavens and Paradises stationed in the Star Boundary all rejoiced and celebrated; after all, his successful breakthrough proved once and for all that the Star Boundary was worthy of its status as the Open Heaven Realm Cradle.”
Yang Kai nodded silently and did some quick calculations. When Zhang Zhou was practising in the Star Boundary, he had already come to Black Ink Battlefield. So, it was not strange for him to have never heard of such an outstanding person before.
“What would Junior Brother like to know?” Yang Kai asked with a smile.
Zhang Zhou said, “As long as it’s about the crusade, anything is fine.”
Looking around, Yang Kai could see many curious eyes. Although some of the Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order Masters standing here were older than him, on the Black Ink Battlefield, age did not matter. He was a well-regarded Senior to them.
Yang Kai then began talking about the battle that nearly wiped out the Black Ink Clan Army, and many things about the crusade. As they listened, the newcomers could feel their blood boiling. They could not wait to enter the battlefield and kill tens of millions of Black Ink Clansmen, to make it feel like all the time they spent cultivating had been worthwhile.
Yang Kai looked at them with interest. He didn’t want to throw cold water on them as it was normal for new recruits to be eager to kill the enemy and accomplish meritorious deeds. It was only after one had actually dealt with Black Ink Clan a few times that they could appreciate the hardships involved in each battle.
There were 1,500 people in this group of reinforcements, so it took almost two hours to register everyone. Once they were all registered, Yang Kai led them to the Universe Array of Blue Sky Pass and asked them to leave their Imprints on it. This was essential; after all, they might have to use the Universe Array here to escape in the future.
Then, someone from the Pill Hall came and took away several of the Alchemists.
For Alchemists, they did not need to be posted at the forward base, considering Spirit Pills could be refined in Blue Sky Pass and then sent to the front lines, which would ensure the safety of the Alchemists.
Currently, the main task of the Pill Hall was to refine more Purifying Black Ink Pills. The consumption of this pill was extraordinarily high; after all, when each Squad went out on a mission, they needed to have at least one such pill on hand to prevent accidents. Previously, the Expeditionary Force could not go deeper into enemy territory because of two reasons. One, the resistance encountered was too strong, and two, the logistics could not keep up with the consumption. Especially the consumption of the Purifying Black Ink Pill, which was particularly serious.
It could be said that 80% of what the Pill Hall was currently doing now was refining Purifying Black Ink Pills.
After this whole experience with the Expeditionary Force, it was believed that the Pill Halls in every Great Pass, would also shift their focus to refining more Purifying Black Ink Pills in the future. It was necessary to build up a reserve for any potential Expeditionary Force and to simply have the capital to push back against the Black Ink Clan.
After a few days in Blue Sky Pass, the newcomers were all set.
In order to successfully send these 1,500 people to the forward base, Zhong Liang specially asked the War Materials Hall to bring out a massive ship.
This ship had 10 floors and was over 100 metres tall while stretching more than 500 metres in length. It was an imposing sight to behold.
The only downside was its combat capabilities. It had not yet reached the level of a Mobile Palace Artifact nor a Warship and was basically useless in a fight against the Black Ink Clan. It was only useful as a large-scale transport.
Before leaving, Zhong Liang and Shen Tu Mo, who stayed behind at Blue Sky Pass, showed up together and explained a few things to the newcomers.
All the new recruits were at least in the Sixth Order; thus, they moved like the wind, and soon, all of them had boarded the large ship.
Zhong Liang turned to look at Yang Kai, “It’s all up to you now.”
“Sir, rest assured, they will all be sent to the forward base without a single one missing.”
In terms of safety, Yang Kai need not worry about that. Although there might still be some scattered Black Ink Clansmen along the way, these newcomers were not weak and all of them were extremely eager to fight, as though they could not wait to encounter the Black Ink Clan. They also wanted to see if the so-called Black Ink Clansmen had three heads and six arms.
Even if they did not meet a Black Ink Clansman along the way though, it would still be fine. In fact, if they did meet one, it just meant that the Black Ink Clansman’s luck had run out.
With how much combat power was concentrated in this one ship, there was no way a Territory Lord would have sat back in their domain and let them pass by; however, all Territory Lords were currently huddled around the Royal City to protect it. Furthermore, with the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters watching them, how could they possibly show up so deep within enemy territory?
Even so, Yang Kai still reminded the newcomers to be cautious and that they must remain vigilant.
The large ship set sail, and Yang Kai arranged for the newcomers to take turns in managing the Grand Array to deliver power to the large ship. They would do so while he personally concentrated on controlling the direction the ship was headed.
The deck was full of people, all of them were looking around curiously, with their Divine Senses scanning the surroundings, presumably looking for any hidden enemies nearby.
However, to their disappointment, they did not see any Black Ink Clansmen even a month after they left Blue Sky Pass.
A little over a month later, they arrived at the first transit Universe Array.
There was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Battalion stationed here, guarding the Universe Array all year round. Naturally, there were also many Spirit Arrays around the Universe Array, some for protection, while others were to conceal its presence. In fact, if one did not know its location in advance, they probably would never have been able to find the Universe Array here, even if they were standing right next to it.
After verifying their identities and the intention for their visit, the large ship was allowed to pass through the various barriers. Soon, the newcomers went to the Universe Array and one by one left their Imprints behind before the ship set off again.
This location was originally occupied by the Black Ink Clan. In the past, it would have been impossible for the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass to dive this deep into enemy territory; however, after the crusade, the Black Ink Clan’s domain was greatly diminished and this region now fell under the control of Blue Sky Pass.
Currently, this far out from Blue Sky Pass, it was entirely possible to encounter scattered Black Ink Clansmen. The Expeditionary Force had moved in a straight line, without clearing out all the enemies to the sides of the bridgehead. Although many Squads were currently out hunting these remnants with the goal of cleaning up all Black Ink Clansmen in the area, there would always be some fish that slipped through the net.
Half a month after they passed by the first transit Universe Array, the newcomers finally encountered some Black Ink Clansmen.
It was just a group of a few dozen enemies without even a Feudal Lord around.
With Yang Kai’s consent, hundreds of newcomers rushed out and slaughtered the dozens of Black Ink Clansmen.
The battle ended as quickly as it broke out. Even the weakest of the newcomers was in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm, and there was no shortage of those in the Seventh-Order; thus, how could such a small and weak team of Black Ink Clansmen possibly be their opponent? After a dozen breaths of time, they were all slaughtered. It was so quick that most newcomers only had the time to take a look at what those Black Ink Clansmen looked like, without the opportunity to make any moves at all.
It was Zhang Zhou who killed the most. He killed three Black Ink Clansmen by himself, but he was left very dissatisfied. These Black Ink Clansmen were too weak. They were at most equivalent to cultivators in the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm. With him being in the Seventh Order, he was basically playing with toddlers.
Yang Kai had no intention of extending time on the road; after all, the newcomers would be quickly assigned to various Squads when they reached the forward base, and they would soon get used to fighting against the Black Ink Clan.
Although he did not intend to dally, the Black Ink Clan did take notice of the huge ship they were on; after all, it was too conspicuous to miss. Thus, after passing the first Universe Array, they would often encounter some scattered Black Ink Clan groups. The largest groups had hundreds of enemies, but without at least one Feudal Lord, these Black Ink Clan groups were just like the passing wind. Now, the newcomers were all standing on the deck, looking forward to seeing more, to have an opportunity to kill more Black Ink Clansmen.
As he approached the second Universe Array, Yang Kai suddenly frowned and looked in a particular direction.
At that location, there seemed to be a lot of Black Ink Clansmen gathering. Yang Kai even detected a Feudal Lord among them.
They were very close to the Universe Array, and although there was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Battalion assigned to protect this location, due to the importance of this place, they were only responsible for protecting the Spirit Array. They were not tasked to clean up the surrounding Black Ink Clansmen.
If the large ship of newcomers were to approach the Universe Array, the Black Ink Clan might discover its location.
With that in mind, Yang Kai changed their heading slightly, sailing straight for where the Black Ink Clansmen were gathering.
Half an hour later, a battle broke out, and the newcomers, as always, rushed out with their blood boiling.
There were a lot of Black Ink Clansmen gathered, but still fewer than the newcomers themselves. In that chaotic battle, many Black Ink Clansmen were wounded, if not killed, and even the Feudal Lord was killed by Zhang Zhou.
Zhang Zhou had advanced to the Seventh Order not long ago and still needed to consolidate his cultivation. Even so, the Feudal Lord was still not his opponent, which went to show how powerful the cultivators from Asura Cave Heaven were.
Yang Kai had found out that this guy’s polite appearance was just a disguise. He was no different from any other Asura Cave Heaven disciple he met in battle, bloodthirsty and vicious.
Zhang Zhou was the last to return, covered in fresh black blood with his murderous aura as strong as ever. The others on board looked at him in awe.
Yang Kai checked on him, and a strange light flashed in his eyes, “Junior Brother, are you injured?”
Zhang Zhou slowly shook his head, “Senior Brother, it’s just a small scratch. It’s no big deal.”
Yang Kai nodded and earnestly explained, “Battles against the Black Ink Clan must not be taken lightly. Perhaps they are not as powerful as you, but they have their unique abilities.”
Zhang Zhou nodded and said, “I understand.”
Yang Kai smiled and said, “In that case, rest.”
Zhang Zhou silently sat cross-legged.
After making sure there were no other Black Ink Clansmen around, Yang Kai sailed the large ship towards the Universe Array.
Having experienced this once before, this time, without Yang Kai needing to give any orders, everyone already knew what to do and moved to leave their Imprints the Universe Array before setting off again.
There were only two transit Universe Arrays between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base, so after passing the second, it would only take a month for the reinforcements to reach their final destination. For Yang Kai, that would mean that he had basically completed the task assigned to him. The rest would be handled by Ding Yao and Liang Yu Long, who would be assigning the newcomers to their respective Squads and roles.
After several small skirmishes, the morale of the newcomers was at an all-time high, and some overly excited ones were even encouraging Yang Kai to look around to see if they could find more Black Ink Clansmen.
Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t agree to their request; thus, many of the excited newcomers soon grew bored.
On the deck, Grandmaster Ma Fan suddenly whispered, “Is there something wrong?”
Yang Kai turned to look at him, “Grandmaster, why would you suddenly ask such a question?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan frowned and shook his head, “I can’t say for certain, but it feels as though you’re concealing something.”
Yang Kai smiled, “What could I possibly be concealing? Everyone here is still new to the Black Ink Battlefield, but they will all one day experience what it’s like to suffer a loss here. Through that pain, they’ll be able to wise up. Of course, if everything remains so smooth, it won’t be good either. They’ll start to get too prideful and arrogant. The Black Ink Clansmen we’ve encountered so far were all not strong and they were few in number, so they were easy to deal with. But, if we come across a large Army, like those during the siege, it will be different.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan looked at him, still suspicious, even though he knew that Yang Kai’s words were right.
At that moment, Yang Kai gently clapped his hands, attracting the attention of all the newcomers, “You’re all new here, but now that you’ve seen Black Ink Clansmen, and even killed some of them, I need to warn you. Don’t think that they will always be as weak as this. If you dare to think in this manner, you probably won’t be far from your graves. The Black Ink Clan is an extremely difficult race to deal with. Their numbers are inexhaustible, and they will stop at nothing till they kill us all. What’s more, they have all kinds of strange and insidious abilities. For countless years, the Human Race has fought against them on this Black Ink Battlefield and guarded the tranquility of the 3,000 Worlds with only one principle, be cautious and careful. I hope that after you arrive at the forward base and join your respective Squads, you can also learn from our predecessors. Only by surviving can you kill more Black Ink Clansmen. Carelessness will only lead to annihilation.”
Many newcomers listened openly and nodded lightly, but some did not move and remained silent; after all, they were all in the Sixth Order and above. None of them could be considered children. They had been cultivating for so many years, so they knew the truth and felt they did not need to be lectured like this.
Yang Kai took a look around of the crowd for a moment, smiling lightly before he turned to look at a particular individual and asked, “Junior Brother Zhang Zhou, do you have anything to add?”
Zhang Zhou was startled and slowly shook his head, “No.”
Yang Kai seemed to be anticipating something as he smiled warmly, “Is there really nothing you’d like to say?”
Zhang Zhou frowned slightly but didn’t say a word.
Just when the newcomers were wondering why Yang Kai suddenly called out Zhang Zhou, the latter suddenly pushed his aura. His World Force rumbled, and he slammed a palm to the side.
When this sudden change happened, no one managed to react, not even Grandmaster Ma Fan who was standing nearby.
Standing beside Zhang Zhou were a few Sixth-Order Masters. They were caught completely unprepared while Zhang Zhou was merciless with his strike. With the power of this palm, these Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would be gravely injured even if they did not die.
However, his palm was abruptly stopped.
Almost immediately after he made his move, Yang Kai had rushed towards Zhang Zhou. When the two palms collided, World Force rampaged. The fallout of an exchange between two Masters in the Seventh Order was extremely violent, and the shockwave was so strong it split the boat in half.
Only then did the newcomers realize that something was wrong and they all spread out.
When they looked back, Yang Kai was already fighting with Zhang Zhou. Both of them were extremely fast, and neither had any intention of defending at all. They simply continued to attack each other recklessly.
Cultivators from Asura Cave Heaven were like this. No matter how gentle and elegant they appeared in normal times, once they fought they would change into complete madmen. Even so, the newcomers didn’t expect that the genial Senior Brother, who came to welcome their batch of newcomers, would be even stronger and more ferocious than Zhang Zhou.
No one could understand what was happening, except for Grandmaster Ma Fan, who frowned thoughtfully.
As the battle continued, many people still could not comprehend what had happened. Nonetheless, they grew more curious about Yang Kai’s identity.
After all, all cultivators from Asura Cave Heaven were crazy when in battle. Even if they were in the same Realm, cultivators from the other Cave Heavens and Paradises were not willing to easily clash with those from Asura Cave Heaven. Mainly because they really went for the kill when they fought.
Even Zhang Zhou, who was just a newcomer and who had just advanced to the Seventh Order, was not weaker than most veterans in the Seventh Order who had advanced more than 100 years ago.
Even in the face of the most senior Seventh-Order Masters, Zhang Zhou could still put up a fight.
Therefore, many newcomers were surprised when they saw that Yang Kai had suppressed Zhang Zhou within just a few breaths of time.
Just next to Grandmaster Ma Fan, a Seventh-Order Master frowned and asked, “Grandmaster, which Cave Heaven or Paradise does this Senior Brother come from?”
Although they had been together for so many days, and Yang Kai was the person responsible for welcoming and guiding them, he had never once introduced himself. Meanwhile, the newcomers had only been thinking about fighting the Black Ink Clan so no one had asked about his origins. As a result, until now, no one knew much about Yang Kai, only that he was in the Seventh-Order Masters from some Cave Heaven or Paradise.
Grandmaster Ma Fan slowly sighed, “He’s not from any of the Cave Heavens or Paradises, he is the Lord of the Star Boundary.”
The person who asked the question was surprised, “The Lord of the Star Boundary?”
Someone suddenly remembered something, raised his brow and said, “The one who left Black Territory to seal up a Void Corridor?”
Black Territory and the Royal Lord there was a major event in the 3,000 Worlds. During that time, there was a lot of noise inside every Cave Heaven and Paradise and many had participated in the battle to kill the Royal Lord. All those who were sent to fight were in the Seventh Order or above. As for those who did not participate, many had still heard about Yang Kai before as his name was just that famous. However, there were only a handful of people who had met him in person, so it was only natural that they could not recognise him.
“En, him!” Grandmaster Ma Fan nodded.
“So that’s why. No wonder Senior Brother Yang can easily suppress Zhang Zhou,” Someone sighed with emotion.
Yang Kai’s deeds were practically legendary in the 3,000 Worlds. When he was still in the Emperor Realm, he stirred up the entire 3,000 Worlds because he wanted to directly ascend to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. As a result, it attracted the joint suppression of several Cave Heavens and Paradises. When he was just a Sixth-Order Master, he fought with and killed a Master in the Seventh-Order from Thousand Cranes Paradise. Even so, the event that really made him famous was the war in Black Territory.
After fighting in that great battle, he alone dove into a Void Corridor, using his mastery over the Dao of Space to seal it. He had not returned, and there was no news of him since then.
Such a legend had actually been standing amongst them, yet none of them knew. However, if they thought about it carefully, he was indeed one of the few people who could possibly set foot in the Black Ink Battlefield without having any Cave Heaven or Paradise behind him.
“Grandmaster, why did Senior Brother Zhang Zhou suddenly try to kill me?” Someone asked.
Grandmaster Ma Fan sighed, “Before you came here, you must have been given some information by your Elders, right? They must have at least warned you about the dangers of the Black Ink Battlefield. Zhang Zhou is someone from Asura Cave Heaven, so there would obviously be no reason for him to suddenly attack his allies if he was still sane. Since he did so, there must be a reason for it, and you all must have your own guesses. So, why bother to ask this Old Master?”
Someone immediately exclaimed, “Senior Brother Zhang Zhou was corrupted by Black Ink Strength!”
Grandmaster Ma Fan nodded, “Besides that, there is no other explanation. Zhang Zhou is now a Black Ink Disciple.”
“But, when did he get corrupted by Black Ink Strength? I’ve been around him this whole time and didn’t notice anything strange.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan thought carefully, “Didn’t Zhang Zhou dive into a Black Ink Cloud to pursue that Feudal Lord some time ago? It is most likely when that happened. He must have been invaded by Black Ink Strength at that time.”
Everyone was busy killing the enemy except for Grandmaster Ma Fan, who did not make a move at the time; thus, he noticed some finer details that others had missed.
It was now obvious that when Zhang Zhou returned, Yang Kai had already noticed and that was the reason he asked Zhang Zhou if something was wrong. Otherwise, there was no way to explain what happened next, let alone explain why Zhang Zhou suddenly attacked and Yang Kai could stop him in time.
Yang Kai had clearly been waiting for this to happen.
At this thought, Grandmaster Ma Fan snickered and shook his head. Yang Kai was aware of this and was confident he could deal with it; thus, there was no need to worry about anything else.
[That brat most likely didn’t immediately resolve the issue because he wanted to take this opportunity to teach these newcomers a lesson. It didn’t have to be Zhang Zhou who got corrupted, it just happened to be him, so Yang Boy just made use of it.]
It was just as Yang Kai had said: People grew from experiences, especially painful ones. On the Black Ink Battlefield, being arrogant and prideful would never end well, even more so for someone like Zhang Zhou who advanced directly into the Seventh Order and was raised by Asura Cave Heaven. He was the best of the best, so it was only natural for him to grow arrogant.
Even when Zhang Zhou noticed himself being invaded by Black Ink Strength, his first instinct was to solve the issue himself, so he was unwilling to ask others for help. Unfortunately, he overestimated his own ability and underestimated the horror of Black Ink Strength. Now, after being fully corrupted, he had degenerated into a Black Ink disciple.
“Grandmaster, do we need to help?” Someone asked.
Since this was the legendary Yang Kai, who was able to kill someone in the Seventh Order when he was only in Sixth Order, now that he was in the Seventh Order, he naturally would not face any issues dealing with Zhang Zhou; however, different situations had their own difficulties. With the strength Yang Kai had shown, it was clear he would easily be able to defeat Zhang Zhou, but it might prove difficult to capture him alive.
However, if the Grandmaster took action, there would certainly not be any problems.
Still, Grandmaster Ma Fan shook his head and said, “No need. The outcome has already been decided.”
Everyone turned their heads back and saw Zhang Zhou’s figure becoming more and more sluggish. It was as if he was slowly sinking into a swamp. Every time he moved, Space Principles would bind him down more intensely.
Soon, pitch-black Black Ink Strength poured out from Zhang Zhou’s body, and even his eyes turned black, making him look extremely ominous.
However, no matter how hard he struggled, he could not extricate himself from his situation.
His movements were getting smaller and smaller, as if he was chained by invisible forces, and after a while, he was completely unable to move despite the surging Black Ink Strength inside and outside of him.
Yang Kai then stretched out his hand and dragged Zhang Zhou back to the crowd of newcomers.
The newcomers swiftly distanced themselves. They did not want to be contaminated by Black Ink Strength, after all. However, at this moment, they were thoroughly shocked. No one expected that two people, who were both in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, would have such a decisive winner, and that one of them would be easily captured alive.
To be able to do this meant that Yang Kai had completely eclipsed Zhang Zhou in terms of strength…
When Yang Kai left Black Territory, he was only in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm. He only recently, a little more than 100 years ago, managed to advance to the Seventh Order on the Black Ink Battlefield. Thus, technically, he was still a newly promoted Seventh-Order Master.
Thus, he should be on par with Zhang Zhou in terms of them both being new to the Seventh Order.
Even so, the difference in their strength was so astonishing it left all the newcomers in shock.
Zhang Zhou was still struggling, but under the shackles of Space Principles, he seemed to have been exiled to another time and space. No matter how hard he struggled, it did not help.
Yang Kai did not immediately disperse the Black Ink Strength in his body; rather, he continued his lesson, “Black Ink Disciples are rare nowadays, but even so, you need to be aware of this truth. Everyone here should already know that if a Black Ink Disciple does not stimulate the Black Ink Strength inside of them, their outer appearance will be no different to that of a normal cultivator, making it difficult to identify them. In the past, if a cultivator was invaded by Black Ink Strength, it was impossible to resolve unless they sacrificed a piece of their Small Universe.”
“That was the only method our ancestors had to deal with the corruption of Black Ink Strength. The moment Black Ink Strength invaded their Small Universe, they would immediately cut off that part of their Small Universe. That was the only way to protect themselves. This is why you will see some in the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm in Blue Sky Pass. When they came to the Black Ink Battlefield, they were the same as you. They were in the lowest Order acceptable here, the Sixth Order, but after continuously sacrificing parts of their Small Universe, their Order regressed. Naturally, sacrificing one’s Small Universe comes with risks and side effects. Their future Martial Dao was cut off, and their situation became more dangerous. With their more unstable foundation, it became harder to resist Black Ink Strength. So, they either ended up dead or could no longer resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength and eventually degenerated into Black Ink Disciples, “
“For our ancestors, being reduced to becoming Black Ink Disciples was a fate far worse than death; after all, once they became Black Ink Disciples, they would become slaves of the Black Ink Clan and would be enemies of the Human Race. So, most would choose to die rather than become Black Ink Disciples. However, life is full of uncertainties, and after each war, there would be an indefinite number of Humans who were corroded by Black Ink Strength and reduced to Black Ink Disciples.”
“Fortunately, we Humans now have means to fight back against the invasion of Black Ink Strength.” While speaking, Yang Kai took out a Spirit Pill, “Blue Sky Pass was fortunate enough to obtain an incomplete ancient pill recipe while exploring a Sealed World. Under the leadership of two Great Grandmaster Alchemists, the Pill Hall was able to deduce the pill recipe for the Purifying Black Ink Pill. This pill in my hand is one such pill. Once taken, you will be able to resist Black Ink Strength for a certain period of time. It can also disperse a certain amount of Black Ink Strength inside one’s Small Universe; however, this pill has its own limitations. If you have already become a Black Ink Disciple, taking it will have no effect, so you cannot be too over-reliant on it when fighting against the Black Ink Clan and always need to remain cautious.”
Someone then asked, “Senior Brother Yang, according to you, it is useless for Senior Brother Zhang Zhou to take a Purifying Black Ink Pill in this situation, so what should we do?”
Yang Kai smiled and explained, “In this situation, we have to use other means to deal with it.”
Saying so, his left and right hands suddenly lit up with yellow and blue light. He clasped his palms together, and a pure white light illuminated the void. The white light enveloped Zhang Zhou, and in an instant, a sound which reassembled sizzling oil could be heard.
Zhang Zhou struggled in pain, but as the sound died down, the Black Ink Strength in his body was dispersed and purified, allowing him to calm down within a few breaths.
“That was Purifying Light. It can be used to dispel and purify Black Ink Strength and is arguably the greatest nemesis of Black Ink Strength!”
The newcomers whispered to each other for a while. Many obviously held great interest in the Purifying Light; after all, if they could learn this Secret Technique, they would no longer need to fear the Black Ink Strength’s corruption when they fought on the Black Ink Battlefield.
Yang Kai didn’t tell them that only he could perform this Secret Technique; after all, they would stay on the Black Ink Battlefield for a long time and would naturally learn more about it when the time was right.
Even he had to learn how it could be used in the Black Territory. At that time, he had little understanding of Purifying Light’s properties, but eventually, he learned and managed to restore most of the Black Ink Disciples to their original states.
He then turned his head to look at Zhang Zhou, “You should have asked for help as soon as possible. Before the appearance of Purifying Light and Purifying Black Ink Pills, the corruption of Black Ink Strength was an unsolvable problem for the Human Race. Even those in the Eighth Order were helpless against it and would need to sacrifice part of their Small Universes just to maintain their sense of self, not to mention someone like you who has just entered the Seventh Order.”
Zhang Zhou was drenched in a cold sweat as he fearfully said, “This Junior Brother was careless. What Senior Brother has taught me will forever be engraved in my mind.”
Yang Kai nodded and said, “Let’s go.”
The group continued on their way, but because the large ship was destroyed in the conflict between Yang Kai and Zhang Zhou, everyone could only fly the rest of the way to the forward base. Fortunately, this place was not far from their destination; thus, they only needed to avoid some large Black Ink Cloud on the way.
Yang Kai had no intention of making Zhang Zhou understand he was being too arrogant, it was just that as the person tasked to be their escort, he had the obligation and responsibility to teach these newcomers about the dangers of Black Ink Strength. Furthermore, letting them witness these dangers with their own eyes was far more convincing than mere verbal warnings.
He believed that after the incident with Zhang Zhou, no one would dare to underestimate the Black Ink Clan ever again.
Grandmaster Ma Fan flew over to Yang Kai and used his Divine Sense to send him a message, “Brat, who developed the Purifying Light Secret Technique? Is it difficult to learn?”
Yang Kai was a little speechless as he didn’t expect that Grandmaster Ma Fan would be so interested in Purifying Light.
“If I could teach you, I would, but this Secret Technique is unable to be used by anyone besides me. So, I have to apologize.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan then wondered, “If that’s the case, why are you able to use it?”
Yang Kai replied, “Because of a gift from the Sun’s Burning Light and Moon’s Serene Glimmer…”
After some explanation, Grandmaster Ma Fan showed a regretful look, “So that’s how it is. This Secret Technique can only be performed by you alone, and others cannot do it.”
“Exactly.”
Although the number of people in this group was large, all of them were above the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm; thus, their pace was pretty quick.
After another month, the forward base came into view. Along the way, the newcomers’ enthusiasm for killing the Black Ink Clan was still high, but their initial careless attitude had been thoroughly ground down and they were now much more wary of the enemy.
The arrival of the newcomers did not cause any waves. After all, there were not that many people idle in the forward base. Most of those who were stationed here were either resting or out on hunting missions.
Yang Kai went straight to Ding Yao, which marked the completion of his task. He then bid farewell to Grandmaster Ma Fan and returned to where Dawn was stationed.
The Squad members were all recuperating, and Yang Kai did not want to bother them, so he just went back to his residence to cultivate.
There was still a little time left before the next mission, so he took advantage of this time to restore his energy.
Two months later, Dawn was ready to go. Yang Kai picked up the repaired Dawning Light from the Refining Hall and set sail once again.
The plan of fortifying the forward base and clearing the area around it had been going smoothly. Now, all conflicts in the Blue Sky Theatre would basically only break out around the forward base. As such, for the Human Race, it was necessary to eliminate the Black Ink Clan wandering around, and further reduce whatever territory the Black Ink Clan controlled.
Meanwhile, for the Black Ink Clan, their priority was to recapture occupied territories; thus, both sides engaged in a continuous campaign around the forward base.
However, major conflicts were rare, as it was even rarer for the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Masters to get involved.
The Territory Lords had suffered huge losses in the previous war, and it would be difficult for them to restore their numbers in a short time. Thus, none wanted to venture out too far from the Royal City. On top of that, unless circumstances were special, if they wanted to withdraw from a fight, the Eighth-Order Humans could do nothing about it. As such, the top Masters from both sides preferred to spend their time recuperating.
After the newcomers joined the forward base, its strength increased greatly. The arrival of hundreds of Artifact Refiners alone was enough to ensure the continuous combat capability of each Squad.
Some years later, the small-scale skirmishes between the two sides only became fiercer. It was especially obvious to the Squads who were out hunting. The biggest change was that when they were out of the forward base, they would encounter larger groups of Black Ink Clansmen. Enemy groups were sometimes so large that they numbered in the tens of thousands. Thus, the initial plan to clear the surrounding region and build up a solid defensive position got more difficult as time passed. Furthermore, they did not know why the Black Ink Clan’s resistance suddenly became so strong once again.
There were more Humans casualties, and even more in the Black Ink Clan. Even the Territory Lords and the Eighth-Order Masters fought more frequently than before.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that this was basically the Black Ink Clan’s final stand; after all, as long as they could survive this period, the overall situation would stabilize. If the Human Race continued to push forward, and more territory was taken from them though, the Royal City would be in peril. Not to mention, the flanks between the forward base and Blue Sky Pass would eventually also fall under the control of the Human Race.
If this came to pass, Blue Sky Pass would completely change the landscape of the battlefield and hold a significant advantage.
…..
Inside the forward base, in a sealed space, deep underground, a pillar was rooted to the ground. The floor was covered with Spirit Arrays, and there was a Black Ink Clansman bound by the Arrays to the pillar. No matter how the Black Ink Clansman struggled, he could not break free from his shackles.
Judging from the power emanating from this Black Ink Clansman, he was obviously a Feudal Lord. In fact, even among the Feudal Lords, this one was quite strong.
It was unfortunate that even he did not know who had captured him and imprisoned him here.
Right in front of that Feudal Lord, two figures stood side by side.
One was Yang Kai, and the other was Grandmaster Ma Fan.
After showcasing the power of Purifying Light in front of Grandmaster Ma Fan, the old man became extremely interested in it. Although Yang Kai repeatedly reiterated that only he could cast it, he still continued to pester Yang Kai with questions, obviously wanting to study it more.
However, his research was built on the foundation of torturing Black Ink Clansmen.
For decades, in his spare time, Ma Fan had been researching and refining an artifact that could exert the power of the Purifying Light.
He was, after all, an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster, someone capable of even refining Mobile Palace Artifacts and Warships. Furthermore, Yang Kai was not staying somewhere far away; thus, he would go up to him and get him to help in his research whenever possible.
Naturally, Ma Fan was swamped with work most of the time; after all, he was an Artifact Refiner and needed to repair the damaged Warships and fortify the forward base, so his research was somewhat intermittent.
Nonetheless, a decade ago, he had a breakthrough in his research.
He had developed a spear artifact, which was no more than three metres long. He named it the Evil Purging Divine Spear, an extremely rustic name. In fact, Yang Kai had expressed his disdain for the name more than once, but the old man ignored him and continued to name it as he pleased.
Yang Kai also did not know who had captured the Feudal Lord, who was bound here. Nonetheless, it was easy to tell that the one who captured this Feudal Lord must have been an Eighth-Order Master.
Moreover, since the old man’s research involved Purifying Light, which would be of great benefit to the Human Race if it was successful, he was definitely being supported by Zhong Liang and the other Army Commanders.
Yang Kai was also looking forward to it; after all, if Grandmaster Ma Fan’s research was successful, the Human Race would gain a powerful weapon against the Black Ink Clan. It might even be able to disrupt the current stalemate!
The war on the Black Ink Battlefield had raged on for countless years, with neither side having a decisive advantage.
The Human Race relied on their Great Passes and Warships to resist the attacks of the Black Ink Clan, making it difficult for them to break through and invade the 3,000 Worlds.
Meanwhile, although the Black Ink Clan always suffered heavy losses after each major war, the Humans could not completely weed them out since as long as they had enough Black Ink Nests and resources, they could quickly restore their numbers and find a chance to make a comeback.
This was how the Black Ink Battlefield had maintained its balance for countless years.
Yang Kai’s arrival broke this pattern to a certain extent. He brought Purifying Light, Universe Arrays, and Purifying Black Ink Pills. These had allowed Blue Sky Pass enough leeway to launch a crusade and achieve something that countless ancestors could only dream of.
Even so, currently, the crusade was at an impasse. They had reached another deadlock. Under the increasingly tough resistance of the Black Ink Clan, they could no longer move forward.
The arrival of Grandmaster Ma Fan might be able to break the pattern again; of course, his research was still only in its early stages.
Technically, there were a lot of Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters in the Human Race; in fact, every Great Pass had at least two to three of them. Furthermore, in terms of Artifact Refining skills, Grandmaster Ma Fan was only on par with them, with no one being better than the other.
The key difference was in their way of thinking and overall perspective. He was given a problem and had a different way of seeing it from the other Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters, especially since he had just arrived at the Black Ink Battlefield.
In the old man’s own words, the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters stuck in the Black Ink Battlefield have lived far too long following the same pattern, so all they thought about was defence. Thus, they were extremely focused on methods to make the Mobile Palace Artifacts and Warships more durable and how to reduce the losses of human soldiers.
He was different though. Although he was definitely old, he could be said to be a rookie here; thus, he had the vigour and determination of a newcomer. From his perspective, the best defence was a good offence! After all, no matter how strong or tough the walls were, there was no point if they could not eradicate the Black Ink Clan.
It was precisely this unique perspective that gave birth to the idea of developing the Evil Purging Divine Spear.
Of course, it also had something to do with Yang Kai showing him Purifying Light while guiding and teaching the newcomers upon their initial arrival. At that time, Yang Kai had said something which he may not have realised had become deeply ingrained in Grandmaster Ma Fan’s heart.
‘Purifying Light is the greatest nemesis of Black Ink Strength!’
If it was the nemesis of Black Ink Strength, why not find ways to further utilise it? Since Purifying Light could only be cast by Yang Kai, Ma Fan wanted to further strengthen it by using an artifact. This would allow it to be used offensively.
With this in mind, the Evil Purging Divine Spear came into being.
This was also strongly supported by Zhong Liang and the others; in fact, the Feudal Lord imprisoned here was captured by Zhong Liang himself. Furthermore, this was not the first Feudal Lord that had been captured. Before this, there were plenty of other Feudal Lords, but they had eventually been killed as the old man continued his research.
“Come, come. The same old thing. This version of the Evil Purging Divine Spear has been improved by this Old Master after much careful consideration. Seal some Purifying Light inside.” Grandmaster Ma Fan said, handing the long artifact in his hand to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took a look at it and nodded, “En. I hope it won’t be like last time. It exploded before I could even use it.”
The Evil Purging Divine Spear was meant to be used against the Black Ink Clan, so it needed him to seal Purifying Light in it just like how he originally sealed Purifying Light in the Purifying Black Ink Battleships.
However, the Purifying Black Ink Battleships were huge, and they had many Spirit Arrays, which were all properly arranged for different purposes. Thus, it was not that difficult to seal Purifying Light inside of them.
The Evil Purging Divine Spear was very different. This artifact was only three meters long, but it not only had to seal Purifying Light inside, it also had to increase its lethality. This required great Artifact Refining skills and was something only an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster like Ma Fan could do. The difficulty of accomplishing this was further proven when he, even after so long, had not succeeded.
Every time during the experiment, there would always be some kind of problem, which would lead to the result being unsatisfactory. Last time was the most ridiculous. Yang Kai had just sealed Purifying Light inside the spear, when it exploded. At that time, all kinds of burnt materials splattered across Yang Kai’s face, making it black like coal, while all his hair had been sticking up after being blown away. Even the old man could not stop himself from laughing at the comical scene.
This time, Yang Kai brought up that incident again, and Grandmaster Ma Fan immediately glared at him, “It’ll be fine! Why would it not? Brat, you’re so long-winded. Look. You already know that if this succeeds, we will be famous. Our names will go down in history and will last forever. At that time, we can basically take half the credit for eradicating the Black Ink Clan.”
They had been getting along with each other for many years and knew each of their backgrounds and personalities. So, they hardly had any scruples when speaking with each other.
Yang Kai naturally knew the importance of the Evil Purging Divine Spear, so he stopped talking about it and began casting Purifying Light while holding the Evil Purging Divine Spear.
Under normal circumstances, once Purifying Light had been cast, unless Yang Kai deliberately suppressed it, it would slowly dissipate; after all, strictly speaking, Purifying Light was just a form of energy that appeared as white light.
Under Yang Kai’s control though, the dazzling white light slowly poured into the Evil Purging Divine Spear. The spear contained a small storage space, which Grandmaster Ma Fan improved upon after carefully studying the various Spirit Arrays in the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
The Feudal Lord, who was bound not too far away, suddenly became restless. His eyes were round as he stared at the deadly white light, madly struggling to escape. It was evident that his eyes were filled with horror.
Purifying Light was the nemesis of Black Ink Strength, so although this Feudal Lord didn’t know what the white light was, he instinctively felt threatened by it.
Both Yang Kai and Grandmaster Ma Fan were not surprised by this situation as every Feudal Lord who had been captured before reacted the same way when they saw Purifying Light.
But, their minds were completely focused on the Evil Purging Divine Spear at the moment.
Under the close attention of two pairs of eyes, the Purifying Light slowly disappeared without a trace, completely pouring into the Evil Purging Divine Spear. When the light disappeared entirely, Grandmaster Ma Fan heaved a sigh of relief.
[Success! It did not explode this time! The improvements I’ve taken so long to make have finally paid off. Now, it’s time to test the efficacy of the Evil Purging Divine Spear!]
It was not easy to refine this spear, and even though it is only three metres long, it consumed a lot of precious materials. It also took Grandmaster Ma Fan a lot of effort to produce. All kinds of problems encountered during its development were solved by him alone, as he had never asked for help from others.
He couldn’t get help either; after all, the other Artifact Refiners had their own tasks and no one had the time or energy to help him.
Grandmaster Ma Fan looked up at Yang Kai, “Will you be the one that does it, or me?”
Yang Kai checked the Evil Purging Divine Spear and said, “I’ll do it.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan gave a nod and his hand seals changed. The Spirit Array in the secret room flickered, and the binding power suddenly disappeared.
The Feudal Lord, who had been bound to the pillar, had been struggling the whole time. Naturally, it was futile with the restraint of the Spirit Arrays, but immediately after Grandmaster Ma Fan released the restraints, the Feudal Lord took action.
There was no way out of this secret room, so the Feudal Lord only had one choice, which was to pounce on Yang Kai and Grandmaster Ma Fan.
The Black Ink Strength madly surged and turned into a mass of black mist that enveloped him. He then moved as swiftly as the wind.
With a faint boom, the Feudal Lord let out a pained scream as a figure rushed at him and struck him with a powerful force.
The Feudal Lord noticed there was a sharp pain in his abdomen, and when he looked down to check, his pupils suddenly shrank
He did not know when, but there was now a spear lodged into his abdomen, the same one the two Humans were mulling over before.
For Feudal Lords, such an injury was not considered light, but it was not considered fatal either; thus, as long as they had enough time, they could restore themselves.
But the terror in the Feudal Lord’s eyes at this moment was thick and overflowing. He sensed that from the spear, a mysterious energy was suddenly spreading out. It poured into his body, and quickly dissolved the foundation of his power.
The Feudal Lord was horrified. He thought back to what he had seen before and knew that it must have been that dazzling white light which had made him feel uneasy.
Reaching out his hand, he ruthlessly pulled the spear out of his body, causing black blood to freely splatter around.
He wanted to urge his Black Ink Strength to stop the flow of blood spilling and seal his wound; however, he could not stimulate it to heal his wound at all! The mysterious energy lingered in the wound, like maggots on rotting bones, dispersing any Black Ink Strength he tried to condense there. Worse, it was also eating away at his strength. Looking down, he could even see a dazzling white light blooming from inside the wound.
“Kill me and you can go free!” Yang Kai shouted and rushed forward to punch the Feudal Lord.
The Feudal Lord gritted his teeth and fought back, exchanging blows with Yang Kai.
He didn’t know if what this Human said was true, but regardless, he could not sit still and wait to die. After all, he was a proud Black Ink Clansman who had become a Feudal Lord. He was resilient and would not give up hope so easily.
However, his own situation was worse than he had thought. Under the erosion of the mysterious energy, his strength had plummeted, and no matter how hard he tried, it was difficult for him to exert much of his strength.
After half an hour, the Feudal Lord fell to the ground panting. His face was strangely pale, and the huge gap in strength between him and his enemy made him no longer want to resist. Even so, he was unwilling to die here in total ignorance; thus, he looked at Yang Kai and indignantly asked, “What kind of power is that?”
Yang Kai looked down at him, his expression unfazed, “Us Humans have been fighting against your Black Ink Clan for countless years, and the situation has not changed much in all that time. Neither side holds a clear advantage, so it is obvious that you are not stronger than us. Instead, all you rely on is your Black Ink Strength. Tell me. Without it, what are you? Simple, you are nothing.”
Black Ink Strength possessed an overwhelming corruptive property, especially to the Small Universes of Open Heaven Realm Masters. Once Black Ink Strength invaded one’s Small Universe, there was basically no solution.
Before Yang Kai arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, the Human Race had fought against the Black Ink Clan under these harsh conditions. This was why the Human Race heavily relied on a large number of Warships to provide favourable platforms for cultivators below the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm to fight.
The Seventh-Order Masters, on the other hand, often had to fight the Black Ink Clan in close combat. Not only did they have to resist the attacks of those from the Black Ink Clan, but they also had to constantly resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength. This made it difficult for them to display their full strength.
Just now, the strength of this Feudal Lord had been suppressed by the Purifying Light that was invading his body.
The Black Ink Clan finally had a taste of the same suffering that the Human Race had experienced over the course of countless millennia. The Black Ink Clan had been relying on the Black Ink Strength, but now, the Human Race could rely on Purifying Light.
Instead of killing the Feudal Lord, Yang Kai simply imprisoned him once more. His injuries weren’t serious, so he would be back on his feet with some rest after the remaining Purifying Light had dissipated, allowing Grandmaster Ma Fan to continue experimenting on him.
“The suppression effect is about 30%,” Yang Kai stated his conclusion outside the secret room.
The so-called 30% was how much the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s Purifying Light could suppress the Feudal Lord’s Black Ink Strength.
It was quite a terrifying number. If an ordinary Master were to suddenly lose 30% of their strength in a battle against an evenly-matched opponent, they would almost certainly be doomed. Not to mention that in the same Realm, a Seventh-Order Human was generally stronger than a Feudal Lord to begin with.
It could be foreseen that if the Evil Purging Divine Spear was introduced into the battlefield, the Seventh-Order Masters would be able to slaughter Feudal Lords as easily as slaughtering chickens and dogs.
Nonetheless, the old man was still dissatisfied with these results and slowly shook his head, “There’s still room for improvement. After this thing hits the enemy, the release of the Purifying Light is a bit slow. If a Feudal Lord reacts quickly and pulls it out before the Purifying Light fully erupts, it may not be very effective. Do you have any good suggestions?”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “That’s your field of expertise, I’m just assisting you, what advice can possibly I give?”
Grandmaster Ma Fan knew he would say this and was just asking for the sake of asking, “Alright, this Old Master will come up with something.”
Saying so, he turned around and left.
Yang Kai called out from behind, “Grandmaster, two hands are better than one. Why don’t you have a chat with Grandmaster Dong Guo and the others?”
The old man didn’t say anything, so it was hard to tell whether he was listening or not.
In any case, after this experiment, Yang Kai knew that the Evil Purging Divine Spear had basically been successfully completed! It was just that it was far from meeting the criteria for general use on the battlefield.
In the great war between the two races, the people responsible for changing the course of the war were always the small number of top Masters, such as those in the Eighth-Order Masters or Territory Lords, the Old Ancestors and Royal Lords!
Grandmaster Ma Fan refined the Evil Purging Divine Spear not just to deal with Feudal Lords, but also to deal with the Territory Lords!
The Royal Lords were just too strong, so even if the Purifying Light did work on them, no one could guarantee its effect.
There were also far too many Feudal Lords, so it would not be practical to use the Evil Purging Divine Spears on them. Firstly, most Artifact Refiners could not refine them, and secondly, Yang Kai did not have the time, energy, or resources to seal Purifying Light into so many Evil Purging Divine Spears.
As such, the optimal targets were the Territory Lords.
The best steel should be used to make the sharpest blade.
Currently, the Evil Purging Divine Spear was able to suppress 30% of a Feudal Lord’s strength, but that didn’t mean it could do the same against a Territory Lord. However, even if it was only 10% effective, it would be enough to drastically tilt the outcome of a battle.
It was difficult to replicate Blue Sky Pass’s 100-year plan. Several decades ago, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a huge loss outside Blue Sky Pass, with over 30 Territory Lords being killed and a huge chunk of their territory being occupied. Be that as it may, this plan could not be implemented twice. Furthermore, most of the Universe Cave Heavens outside Blue Sky Pass were either damaged or completely destroyed in the battle between the Territory Lords and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, meaning they could no longer be used.
The Human Race urgently needed a new tactic or weapon that could provide them with an edge over the Black Ink Clan, one that was useful not just to Blue Sky Pass, but to all Great Passes. That was the future that the Evil Purging Divine Spear was designed to bring.
If the Purifying Light brought by Yang Kai gave the Human Race the possibility of going on the offence, then the birth of the Evil Purging Divine Spear would turn this possibility into reality. Of course, the prerequisite was that Grandmaster Ma Fan could further improve the spear.
After separating from the old man, Yang Kai returned to Dawn’s station. The last time they had returned from a hunting mission was only two months ago, so there was still a lot of time before they deployed again. Naturally, Yang Kai couldn’t afford to waste any time. He had never slacked off in his cultivation, but the time required to rise from the beginning of the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order was measured in millennia, so there was no time to waste.
Time quickly passed by and several months went by in a flash.
Dawn’s hunting rotation had arrived, so its members exited their retreat and quickly convened. Yang Kai then personally went to the Army Headquarters to report in.
This was a necessary process before executing any mission. The forward base could only coordinate everyone’s efforts if they were in control of the movements of every Squad, so one could not simply leave at will.
Entering Zhong Liang’s office in the Army Headquarters, Yang Kai cupped his fist, “Sir, Dawn requests permission to deploy for a hunting mission.”
Zhong Liang, who was neck-deep in paperwork behind the desk, tossed a jade slip straight to Yang Kai without even raising his head.
Catching the jade slip and reading it, Yang Kai was pretty taken aback and asked, “Sir, isn’t this place a bit too far?”
Recorded in the jade slip was the area that Dawn would be responsible for this time. Every time a Squad came to accept a mission, the Army Headquarters would assign a region of the void to the Squad Leader. After all, every action executed outside the base needed to have a certain order; otherwise, if a bunch of Squads were acting in one area, no one would be responsible for the other areas.
The region Zhong Liang had assigned to the Dawn this time was quite deep into enemy territory, a place Dawn had never been before and one that was quite close to the Black Ink Clan’s territory.
Such a position meant more Military Merits, but it also carried corresponding risks.
Zhong Liang looked up at him and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid?”
Yang Kai immediately became stubborn, “Afraid? My Dawn has earned the greatest amount of Military Merits in the past few decades. We didn’t back down even when we were up against tens of thousands of Black Ink Clansmen, and even returned in triumph. When have we ever been afraid?”
Zhong Liang snorted, “Since you’re not afraid, why are you being so long-winded?”
Yang Kai stated, smiling, “This Junior just wants to know if there is any deeper meaning behind the Army Headquarters’ deployment; after all, no one has ever been sent to this place before.”
Zhong Liang snickered, “What kind of deeper meaning could there be? What nonsense have you been thinking all day? Just because no one has been to this place before doesn’t mean no one will ever go there. In fact, several Squads are carrying out missions there right now. If your Dawn is late, I’m afraid you won’t even get a sip of soup.”
“Which Squads are so reckless?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.
Zhong Liang impatiently rebuked, “What does that have to do with you? Are you going or not? If not, I’ll send another Squad.”
“Alright, we’ll go!” Quickly putting away the jade slip, Yang Kai bowed to Zhong Liang and left.
“This brat is as sharp as ever, did he notice something? Other Squad Leaders didn’t even ask any questions.” Someone suddenly walked out from the shadows and muttered; it was none other than the Southern Army Commander, Liang Yu Long.
Zhong Liang didn’t even bat an eye, “What can he notice? It’s nothing more than curiosity.”
Liang Yu Long asked, “Are you really not going to explain the deployment to them?”
Zhong Liang replied, shaking his head, “No need! To deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies. There is no need to tell them the truth, it’ll be fine.”
Liang Yu Long couldn’t help but worry, “That might be the case, the ones deployed there are all elite Squads, but if something does happen to them, wouldn’t your overall force suffer as a result?”
Zhong Liang leaned back in his chair and indifferently stated, “What’s the point of mourning for them? Life and death are perfectly normal in this damned place. If you can’t accept it, this place is not suitable for you. Moreover, it’s precisely because they’re all elites that we deployed them; otherwise, how could they possibly succeed?”
Liang Yu Long lightly sighed.
Zhong Liang stood up and continued, “The bait has been cast, it all depends on whether the Black Ink Clan takes it or not. I’m afraid a big battle will break out very soon, and only by winning it will the forward base become completely stable. This is a matter of great importance, so we should make all the preparations we can!”
In the void, Dawning Light sailed forward towards the hunting region.
After half a year of rest, the Squad members were all in high spirits and quite enthusiastic for their next mission.
Dawning Light was extremely fast, but as the region they were deployed to was quite far, it still took them 10 days to arrive after leaving the forward base.
There was no fixed requirement for the mission this time, so the Squads assigned here would just search around and kill any Black Ink Clansmen they ran into. As a result, most of the time, there was nothing much to do.
After several dozen years of ‘hunting’, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a great loss of manpower and no longer dared to easily show their faces. Although they were recently showing signs of rising from the ashes, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this was going to be the last counterattack the Black Ink Clan made.
The area where Dawn was deployed for the mission was a place they had never been to before, so there were many enemies here. In fact, they had run into several groups of Black Ink Clansmen in the span of a few days, though their numbers weren’t high. These scattered enemies were completely powerless before Dawn.
Today, while Dawn was searching for more prey, Yang Kai, who was standing on the deck, suddenly turned his head, looking in a certain direction. He carefully sensed for a moment before making a gesture towards that direction.
The Squad member responsible for steering immediately adjusted Dawning Light’s course.
The Squad members also gathered around, performing their respective duties.
Feng Ying stood beside Yang Kai and gazed ahead, “Squad Leader, is something wrong?”
Both might be Seventh-Order Masters and Feng Ying may be just on the verge of breaking through to the Eighth-Order, but when it came to the Divine Senses, she was still lacking compared to Yang Kai. So, while Yang Kai might have discovered something, she might not have been able to detect it.
Yang Kai replied with a slight nod, “Some people should be fighting there.”
Feng Ying understood, “Other Squads?”
“It should be.”
Feng Ying’s expression became somewhat unusual, “Squad Leader, it’s not polite to steal other people’s kills.”
Yang Kai broke into laughter as he gave an excuse, “We’re just going there to watch, we won’t be snatching anything. But, if there’s an opponent they can’t handle, as fellow soldiers of Blue Sky Pass, we should help them, shouldn’t we?”
Feng Ying couldn’t help but sigh.
Not long after, they spotted swirling Black Ink Clouds ahead. A large number of Black Ink Clansmen happened to be fleeing towards them from these Black Ink Clouds in panic, like stray dogs. They looked as if they were being chased by a tide of ferocious beasts. More importantly, several among them were Feudal Lords as well.
Standing on the deck, Shen Ao broke into joyous laughter when he focused his gaze ahead, “Great, there are hundreds of them!”
There were several hundred Black Ink Clansmen, including a few Feudal Lords. It was a force to reckon with and an ordinary Squad might not be able to take them down, making fleeing their only option. But at this moment, this fearsome enemy force was being chased and forced to flee.
It was obvious that the group pursuing them was quite strong. Yang Kai did not need to use his brain to tell that it was one of the Special Operations Squads.
There was more than one Special Operations Squad like Dawn in Blue Sky Pass, in fact, there were a few of them. Of course, based on the time they were established, all these Squads were veterans.
There weren’t many such Squads like this, but each one was capable of carrying out important tasks that other Squads couldn’t.
Before the appearance of the Dawn, these Special Operations Squads were always competing with each other, but in just a few short decades, Dawn’s presence became like a mountain pressing down on their heads, making it hard for them to breathe.
It was not surprising either as Dawn had obtained far more Military Merits than any of their Squads in the two wars fought in the past 100 years.
All of them felt suffocated because of this. During the hunting missions assigned at the forward base, every Squad went all out in order to win this round, so that a newcomer, Dawn, would know that the honour of their Seniors could not be shaken.
“Are we going to steal or not?” Although Ning Qi Zhi was asking Yang Kai, the expression on his face obviously said that he was itching to have a go.
Yang Kai was well aware of the secret rivalry between the Special Operations Squads and Dawn, but he never cared about it. Strictly speaking, Dawn and the other Squads’ Military Merits gained from killing enemies on the battlefield were almost the same. Be that as it may, Dawn had acquired enormous Military Merits from other sources, such as the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors Yang Kai had introduced, and Zhu Feng Territory Lord, whom he and Bai Yi killed together. There were also those kills obtained when Yang Kai took Dawn into the various Universe Cave Heavens and Paradises during the 100-year plan not long ago. These Military Merits still belonged to Dawn, so it appeared that their Military Merits far surpassed the other Special Operations Squads’ after each great battle, allowing them to firmly occupy first place in the Merit Hall.
The Military Merits gained during the current hunting mission weren’t much, basically on par with other Squads, so the rankings in the Merit Hall were constantly fluctuating for the recent period.
The higher-ups were also aware of this rivalry, but they had no intention of stopping them. This kind of contest was not a big deal; in fact, it motivated the soldiers to kill even more enemies.
Stealing other’s prey was a common occurrence in hunting missions, but it was basically always Dawn doing the stealing. The Black Ink Clansmen targeted by Dawn were simply unable to escape from Yang Kai’s Space Principles, giving them a distinct edge.
That was why Ning Qi Zhi asked this question.
Yang Kai immediately replied, “What stealing? My Dawn’s reputation has been ruined by you. Do you know what those other Squads called us? They call us Gadflies, insects that specialise in sucking blood, even the blood of our fellow comrades. How disgraceful!”
Shen Ao silently circulated his strength, reminding, “Squad Leader, although Dawning Light has a Concealment Array around it, it has a distance limit. Any closer and this group of Black Ink Clansmen will likely discover us. Furthermore, you should have already noticed that these Black Ink Clansmen are fleeing in a panic. The Squad behind them wouldn’t be able to catch them even if they wanted to. What’s more, it’s highly likely that it’s the Old Turtles. If we ignore them, these Black Ink Clansmen may very well escape.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai agreed with a nod, “You make a good point. Since that’s the case, we can only take action.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he pointed forward and shouted, “Kill them!”
The Squad members were already prepared, so as soon as Yang Kai gave the order, the Warship began to hum as a series of Spirit Arrays were activated one after another, energizing the ship’s artifacts. The next moment, beams of light shot straight towards the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen, one after another.
Many of the Black Ink Clansmen turned pale with fright. They had never imagined that there would be another Human Warship blocking their way and, in a flash, they suffered heavy casualties.
The salvo of attacks instantly destroyed the Black Ink Clan formation. After launching the initial attacks, Dawning Light charged straight into the centre of the enemy forces like a bolt of lightning before the Seventh-Order Masters leapt out of the ship and unleashed their Divine Abilities.
The Black Ink Clansmen numbered in hundreds, but in front of the Dawn, they were still not enough. Forget Dawn, Yang Kai alone could take care of this many enemies without an issue.
In just a few dozen breaths, all of the Black Ink Clansmen had breathed their last breath, with not a single one escaping.
It was only at this moment that a Warship finally flew over from the direction the Black Ink Clan had fled.
This Warship’s style was quite different from Dawning Light’s. Dawning Light had undergone several major modifications, although most of them were at the expense of Yang Kai’s Military Merits as they were still being managed by Feng Ying. As a woman, she had her own sense of aesthetics, so Dawning Light’s overall appearance was quite sleek and refined while having various performance upgrades.
The Warship that had just arrived was quite different. At first glance, it looked rough and crude. Rather than a Warship, it looked more like a mobile fortress. There were over a dozen miscellaneous artifacts on the deck, all of which were offensive artifacts.
On top of that, there was a thick and solid shielding that looked like a turtle shell on the top of the Warship.
Just as Feng Ying had her own sense of style, the other Special Operations Squads modified their Warships according to their unique tastes. Unlike Dawning Light’s performance upgrades, this Warship focused more on overwhelming offence and defence. The dozen or so artifacts installed on the deck were quite terrifying, and the protective barrier over it provided quite a strong defence.
A Warship like this was much stronger than the Dawning Light in both offence and defence, but due to focusing on these aspects, its speed suffered greatly.
Of all the Special Operations Squads, this one’s Warship was by far the slowest, earning them the moniker ‘Old Turtles’.
Just like how Dawn had gained the moniker ‘Gadflies’, there was also the Breeze Squad, whose Warship’s features were the complete opposite of the Old Turtles’. They had greatly enhanced their speed while sacrificing their offence and defence capabilities. The other Squads often ridiculed them for killing their enemies just like a breeze blowing on one’s face. Basically, the Black Ink Clan simply treated them as nothing more than tickles.
Apart from them, there were also the Wild Boar Squad, who would charge straight like wild boars, without any sense of strategy. They would plunge straight in wherever there were more people, often throwing their own allies into disorder while pushing their enemies to their wits ends.
Finally, there was the Water Snake Squad, which was basically a balanced force, but since everyone else had aliases, they could be no exception. Since their Warship had the character ‘Dragon (龙)’ engraved on it, they were called the Water Snakes by the other Squads.
In the entire Blue Sky Pass, there were only five Special Operations Squads, and they constantly fought each other over Military Merits, openly and secretly. Their sight had even gained quite a bit of notoriety.
The Old Turtles arrived late, with Chai Fang, their Squad Leader, standing on the deck. His heart ached when he saw the Black Ink Clan corpses littered across the void and snapped, “It really is you Gadflies! Look at what you’ve done.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “Senior Brother Chai, you sure came quickly! This group of Black Ink Clansmen were running away, and this Junior Brother was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to catch up, so I had to intervene and take care of them on your behalf. No need to thank me!”
Chai Fang gnashed his teeth and glared at him, “Thank you my ass! Why did you come here? Weren’t you still resting?”
Since the Black Ink Clansmen were already dead, there was nothing they could say that could change the situation. What he couldn’t figure out was why the Gadflies had been sent here.
“We’ve finished resting.” Yang Kai stretched out his hand and stroked the side of the ship, his body leaning slightly, “As for why we’re here, it’s naturally at the orders of the Army Commander. Why? Is Senior Brother Chai afraid that my Dawn will wipe out all the Black Ink Clansmen here, and you won’t get any kills? How about we work together then? Dawn will eat the meat, and you can drink the soup.”
Chai Fang immediately spat in disdain, “Forget it, I’m afraid we won’t even be able to get a single sip if I work with you Gadflies.” He cupped his fist and bid goodbye, “Farewell! I hope we never meet again!”
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, he suddenly thought of something and turned to Yang Kai, “Where are you going?”
A mischievous smile bloomed on Yang Kai’s lips, “We have no fixed direction, we are just roaming around here and there.”
Chai Fang’s jaw clenched as he pointed in a certain direction, “We’re going this way, fuck off as far as you can from us!”
A short while later, the Old Turtles’ Warship flew in the direction Chai Fang had pointed and soon disappeared.
“I heard that one of their members just advanced to the Seventh Order a few years back, I guess the rumours are true. They have 8 Seventh-Order Masters now,” Feng Ying suddenly stated.
Dawn’s roster was quite distinguished compared to ordinary Squads, with a total of 37 members, 6 of whom were Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. In fact, there were only 5 of them at first, but later, when Yang Kai brought Bai Yi back, Zhong Liang assigned her to Dawn, increasing the count to 6.
Since even a new Special Operations Squad like Dawn had such a distinguished roster, the other elite Squads would naturally be better; after all, they were established many centuries back. The number of members the other 4 Special Operations Squads had was basically 50. Furthermore, the members of these Squads would often advance, which was why they had so many Seventh-Order Masters.
8 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters wasn’t even the largest number among the Special Operations Squads. The Water Snakes had 10!
At first, there were more than 10, but even for a Special Operations Squad, having 10 Seventh-Order Masters was already a bit too much. So, whenever another member of their advanced to the Seventh Order, he or she would be assigned to another Squad.
In terms of the number of Seventh-Order Masters, Dawn had the least among the five Special Operations Squads; even so, their Military Merits from hunting missions were not inferior to others. With a combat power like Yang Kai’s added to the mix, which couldn’t be calculated according to normal standards, their kills were naturally no less than other Squads’.
Not to mention Yang Kai, Feng Ying and Bai Yi were both among the top elites of the Seventh-Order Masters. In fact, among all the Seventh-Order Masters in Blue-Sky Pass, aside from Yang Kai, Feng Ying could be said to be the strongest. As for Bai Yi, her proficiency in the Dao of Archery made her unmatched in long-range combat.
Yang Kai smiled and stated, “We should focus on ourselves, our Dawn does not need to compete with others in terms of the number of Seventh-Order Masters. On that note, Senior Sister Feng, you should advance when you are ready. You don’t need to worry about anything. In this damned place, an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master is much more valuable than a Seventh-Order one.”
Feng Ying had reached the absolute peak of the Seventh Order a long time ago, so her next step would be to break through to the Eighth Order. However, no one could help her in this matter; she could only rely on herself.
Hearing this, she replied with a nod, “I don’t have any worries. Although there is competition between the various Squads, that’s a good thing. As for me, I still need some time to prepare.”
In the matters of cultivation, one’s own state of mind was the most important. Since Feng Ying was so meticulous, Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t add anything.
Following this small event, Dawn continued with its hunting mission in their designated area. According to the past rules, such missions would be carried out for half a year.
Two months later, Dawning Light was flying across the void.
Yang Kai was standing on the deck, using his Divine Sense to search for the enemy, when Feng Ying suddenly approached him and reported, “Squad Leader, there’s something wrong.”
“You also felt so?” Yang Kai looked at her.
Feng Ying added, “Obviously, this region has never been explored before and the Black Ink Clan is quite active here. If it was our Dawn as the vanguard, it would be reasonable as we have a higher degree of strength and thus a better chance of surviving, but apart from Dawn, the Old Turtles, Breeze, and Wild Boars are all here. Of the five Special Operations Squads, only the Water Snakes aren’t accounted for. Although we haven’t run into them, it’s very likely that they’re also here. Why would the Army Commander deploy all the Special Operations Squads here?”
Over the past two months, Dawn had been hunting here and there, so they naturally had a few run-ins with the other Squads that were carrying out missions in this region. As Feng Ying had stated, of the five Special Operations Squads of Blue Sky Pass, except for the Water Snakes, they had met all the others.
This was obviously strange.
It wasn’t just Dawn who had noticed this, but the other Squads also had similar doubts.
Yang Kai slightly furrowed his brow. He pondered on it for a moment before replying, “Since the Army Commander made such arrangements, there must be a deeper meaning behind it. Perhaps he could not say why, but it’s also possible that we’re overthinking things. It’s entirely possible that because we’ve never explored this place before, we need Special Operations Squads to act as scouts. Ordinary Squads may not be able to protect themselves here.”
“Even so, it’s still quite strange,” Feng Ying slowly shook her head.
Yang Kai dismissed her worries with a smile, “In any case, the most important thing we have to do is keep carrying out our mission. As for the rest, we’ll cross that bridge when we reach it.”
While they were speaking, a faint aura fluctuation suddenly appeared from the depths of the void. These fluctuations were extremely strange in that they were quite noticeable even though they were so faint.
Yang Kai and Feng Ying immediately looked in the direction of their source.
But these fluctuations disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, vanishing without a trace before the two of them could perceive anything.
Yang Kai and Feng Ying looked at each other and could clearly see the surprise in each other’s eyes. But even after waiting for a long time, nothing eventful happened.
Just as the two settled down, the strange aura fluctuations appeared once more, this time even more obvious than before.
Yang Kai’s expression changed, “Someone is breaking through?”
Feng Ying solemnly nodded her agreement, “It seems so.”
Yang Kai immediately started cursing, “Who is so eager to die? They actually dared to break through here? Don’t they know it’s better to return to the forward base and break through there?”
He might have said so, but he was also aware that if a cultivator really reached the point of breaking through, they might not have the time to find a suitable place to do so. For years, there had been many who had broken through directly on the battlefield. This was not intentional, but rather that it was easier to break through one’s shackles and reach an epiphany when wandering the boundaries between life and death in battle with the Black Ink Clan.
Although one could use the Universe Transference Law to instantly return to the forward base, if they did so, it was highly likely that they would disrupt or even interrupt their moment of enlightenment, which would be detrimental to their breakthrough.
However, advancing in this region was simply too reckless. This place was too deep behind enemy lines and the Black Ink Clan was frequently active in this region. If they were disturbed while they were advancing, the consequences would be deadly.
At the very least, if it was Yang Kai, he would definitely not have chosen to advance here and would have returned to the forward base.
Be that as it may, there were always exceptions to everything. Although he was annoyed, Yang Kai had no choice but to turn Dawning Light around and rush towards the source of the aura.
If they could sense the aura, so could the Black Ink Clan, who were quite active in this region. In other words, this aura was as bright as the lighthouse in the dark night. The Black Ink Clan would definitely not miss this great opportunity which dropped onto their doorstep.
Along the way, the aura fluctuations became more frequent and more obvious; obviously, it had reached a point where it could no longer be suppressed.
Dawn Squad members could also sense the situation more clearly.
On the deck, Yang Kai’s face sank.
Shen Ao was bewildered as he voiced his thoughts, “Judging by the intensity, it doesn’t seem like someone is breaking through to the Seventh Order, but rather…”
He didn’t dare to say the rest, mainly because it was too outrageous. Everyone knew that advancing to the Seventh Order would not produce such strong energy fluctuations, which meant this disturbance had to be caused by someone advancing from the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order!
“Who is it?” Yang Kai looked at Feng Ying.
In Dawn, Feng Ying had the highest cultivation and most experience. Furthermore, Yang Kai had only been in Blue Sky Pass for a little over 100 years while the rest of the Seventh-Order Masters were rescued from the Black Ink Clan’s territory by Yang Kai. Only Feng Ying had constantly lived in Blue Sky Pass and thus had a deep understanding of its residents.
Although there were many Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, and there were many who were qualified to advance to the Eighth-Order, there were only a few who were truly hovering at the threshold, so Feng Ying should be acquainted with them; after all, she too was counted among their ranks. She should be interacting with these others often.
“This seems to be Martial Uncle Xiang Shan’s aura!” Feng Ying slightly furrowed her brow.
“Xiang Shan?” Yang Kai seemed to have heard his name, “The one who fell from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order because he sacrificed a large part of his Small Universe?”
Feng Ying nodded, “That’s him.”
“How could it be him!?” Yang Kai was confused.
Yang Kai had heard of him from Feng Ying’s mouth during a casual conversation, but that was it.
Before Yang Kai’s arrival at Blue Sky Pass, the corruption of Black Ink Strength was extremely harmful to the Human Race, and this kind of harm was not limited to Sixth-Order and Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Even Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could be affected, though this happening was quite rare.
Be that as it may, accidents were bound to happen during the lengthy war against the Black Ink Clan on the Black Ink Battlefield. Thus, even Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could be corrupted by Black Ink Strength.
Xiang Shan was one of the few unfortunate ones. He was originally an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but when he was fighting against a Territory Lord, he was ambushed by another nearby Territory Lord and suffered heavy injuries. Although he had relied on his great strength to survive and escape, his Small Universe had been invaded by Black Ink Strength already.
In that intense battle, he had to cut off parts of his Small Universe five times, causing his Order to drop from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order.
In fact, cutting off a part of one’s Small Universe didn’t necessarily mean that one’s Order would fall. Yang Kai had cut off a portion of his Small Universe because of the World Spring, and doing so had caused his strength to fall, but his Order did not regress.
Most people would find themselves in similar situations when only one or two pieces of their Small Universe were cut off, but if they continued to do so, a drop in Order was inevitable.
Regression in Order was very troublesome as even after repairing one’s Small Universe and rebuilding their foundation using a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit, the drop in Order could not be reversed. One would need to cultivate again and find a chance to break through.
Although there was no exact data on this process, according to the soldiers’ performance in the past, it was far more difficult for a cultivator to break through to the next Order after they had been forced to cut off pieces of their Small Universe. Only two or three out of ten people could successfully advance once again. If not for this, there wouldn’t have been so many Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Pass, even with a much more abundant supply of Profound Yin Spirit Fruits now than in the past. If those fruits could restore their Order, all of them would have returned to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Xiang Shan’s fall in the Order was nearly 3,000 years ago. Although he had used a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit to repair his damaged Small Universe afterwards, he was still stuck in the Seventh Order.
Three millennia ago, Feng Ying had just arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield. Although she had some understanding of Xiang Shan’s situation, she wasn’t very clear about it, and those in the Pass refrained from speaking about it. So, no one knew exactly what happened back then.
Nevertheless, Xiang Shan was an extremely special existence in Blue Sky Pass because he did not belong to any Squad. Even when he fought against the Black Ink Clan Army, he fought alone.
Although he was currently only in the Seventh-Order, he had the foundation of an Eighth-Order Master, so he was often able to display strength far beyond the Seventh-Order. To a certain extent, he was almost on par with Yang Kai.
“Are you sure it’s him?” Yang Kai asked.
Feng Ying nodded in confirmation, “Martial Uncle Xiang Shan is also from my Blue Sky Paradise. When I first came to the Black Ink Battlefield, I received some guidance from Martial Uncle. Although I have rarely interacted with him over these past few years, I will never forget his aura.”
It wasn’t that Feng Ying didn’t want to interact with him, but rather that Xiang Shan preferred to keep to himself like a lone wolf. He had a strange temperament and always fought alone before going into a secluded retreat. So, it was difficult to meet him, even for Feng Ying.
“In fact, when I came to Blue Sky Pass, the Western Army Commander was Martial Uncle Xiang Shan. After his cultivation fell, Martial Uncle Zhong Liang took over the position,” Feng Ying added.
At this moment, the matter of the Western Army Commander was not on Yang Kai’s mind. He had thought that some Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was advancing to the Seventh-Order, but by the looks of it, it was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master advancing to the Eighth-Order.
[What should we do now?]
No matter what reason Xiang Shan had for staying in this region to advance, this fierce aura could not be concealed and would definitely attract the attention of countless Black Ink Clansmen.
Just like how the Territory Lords were the main force of the Black Ink Clan, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were the backbone of the Human Race. Now that the balance between the number of Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords in the Blue Sky Theatre had already been destroyed, how could the Black Ink Clan just watch another Eighth-Order Human appear?
Even if Yang Kai thought with his feet, he knew that a large number of Black Ink Clansmen would soon be rushing over to interfere. Perhaps even some Territory Lords would make an appearance.
Pondering for a moment, Yang Kai turned around and ordered, “Senior Brother Qi, I’ll have to trouble you to return to the forward base and report this matter to the Army Commanders. Ask them to quickly send reinforcements.”
Qi Tai Chu also understood the gravity of the situation and immediately nodded in response, “Yes!”
In a flash, he appeared outside Dawning Light as he used the Universe Transference Law to return to the forward base.
Yang Kai then turned to the other members and suggested, “A fierce battle is upon us, so all of you should quickly try to recover your strength. You may not have a chance to rest later.”
Everyone readily agreed.
Dawning Light continued to fly forward, but Yang Kai still felt uneasy.
Although he had asked Qi Tai Chu to return to the forward base to report and ask for reinforcements, only Qi Tai Chu could use Dawning Light’s Universe Array to immediately return. Other soldiers could not do the same; thus, even if an Eighth-Order Master was deployed, it would take at least 10 days for them to arrive.
All kinds of things could happen during these 10 days. Yang Kai couldn’t help but be a little resentful. [This Xiang Shan is such an insensible bastard. If you are about to break through to the Eighth Order, why did you come to a place like this? Aren’t you just looking for trouble?]
In any case, since things had already reached this point, there was no point in complaining. As Dawn happened to be at the right place at the right time, they would naturally fight to the death to protect Xiang Shan. No matter what, they could not allow the Black Ink Clan to interfere with Xiang Shan’s advancement; after all, this matter would decide whether Blue Sky Pass would have another Eighth-Order Master or not!
Dawning Light’s speed was pushed to the limit, but even so, it still took them over a day to reach the place where Xiang Shan was breaking through.
It was a deathly silent asteroid and there were many Black Ink Clan corpses floating around it, evidence of a huge battle having been fought here.
When Dawn arrived, they spotted a Warship flashing through the void in the distance. The entire Warship was surrounded by arcs of lightning and flickering with a dark blue glow. From the deck, Secret Techniques and artifacts were being cast, shooting at the several figures surrounding the Warship.
Although this Warship was quite agile, its efficiency in killing enemies was not very high. At the very least, it was not comparable to Dawn.
Fortunately, not too many Black Ink Clansmen were attacking the Warship, nor were they too strong. By the time Dawn arrived, more than half of these Black Ink Clansmen had already breathed their last. After Dawn joined the battlefield, the remaining survivors were swiftly wiped out.
The two Warships converged in the void as a figure flew over and landed in front of Yang Kai.
“Junior Brother Yang, you’re also here.”
Yang Kai nodded in response, “Senior Brother Wan.”
The newcomer was Wan Zheng Xin, the Squad Leader of the Breeze Squad. Yang Kai had many dealings with him, so they could be considered friends.
“What’s the current situation?” Looking at the asteroid below, Yang Kai could vaguely see a figure sitting cross-legged. He was the source of the fluctuating aura.
Wan Zheng Xin replied, furrowing his brow, “We arrived just half an hour earlier than you, so I’ve no idea either.”
Of the five Special Operations Squads, Breeze’s Warship was the fastest, so it was only natural that they would be the first to arrive. However, when they got here, they happened to run into a detachment of Black Ink Clansmen who were trying to interfere with Xiang Shan’s advancement.
“Junior Brother Yang, do you know who the guy below is? Why is he alone and why can’t I see any of his Squad members?” Wan Zheng Xin asked.
Yang Kai replied with a sigh, “If I’m not mistaken, the one advancing is Senior Xiang Shan. Has Senior Brother Wan heard of him?”
Wan Zheng Xin was extremely taken aback, “It’s actually him!?”
Judging by his expression, he had obviously heard of Xiang Shan, but since the latter was a reclusive person, his face wasn’t well known. Even Feng Ying rarely got to see him, so although Wan Zheng Xin had heard of Xiang Shan, he had never seen him and thus didn’t recognize him.
It wasn’t difficult to understand why he was here alone. Rumour had it that after he fell from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order, his temper had become extremely strange, and very few could cooperate with him. Considering his original Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm status, there had been several Squads that had tried to recruit him, but none of them had succeeded. In the end, the Army Commander could only let him move about solo.
“This is going to be a bit troublesome,” Wan Zheng Xin furrowed his brow.
He originally wanted to persuade the person advancing to return to the forward base and break through there, but since it was Xiang Shan, he couldn’t interfere at all.
Since his Order had already fallen, it would be much more difficult for him to break through than an ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Now that Xiang Shan finally managed to grasp an opportunity to break through, he would naturally go all out and could not be disturbed in the slightest.
It was probably for this reason that Xiang Shan immediately chose to go through with it when he sensed the opportunity to break through. Otherwise, he would have used the Universe Transference Law to return to the forward base camp.
“The Old Turtles and Water Snakes are also in this area, they will be arriving to support us soon. It looks like we need to protect him well.”
Yang Kai glanced at him, “The Wild Boars are also in this area.”
Wan Zheng Xin was surprised, “All five Special Operations Squads are here?”
Yang Kai earnestly nodded.
“Five Special Operations Squads just happened to be hunting in this area while there are no signs of any other Squads active here, and now there is someone breaking through to the Eighth Order. Do you think the Army Commander knows something?” Wan Zheng Xin asked thoughtfully.
Yang Kai lowered his head, looking below, “Whether the Army Commander knows something or not is beside the point, now that things have reached this point, we must stand guard here and wait for reinforcements. I’ve already sent someone to report back to the forward base. Since the Senior is here, we should pay him a visit. At the very least, we should let him know that someone is guarding him so he can safely advance.”
“But of course,” Wan Zheng Xin nodded.
The two of them immediately flew down together, but didn’t get too close. Xiang Shan’s aura was fluctuating more and more rapidly, so if they got too close, they might disturb him. As such, the two stopped after reaching a certain distance from the asteroid.
Yang Kai cupped his fist and introduced in a loud and clear voice, “The members of Dawn and Breeze Squad are here. Senior, please focus on your breakthrough, there is no need to worry about external factors.”
There was no response from below, but Yang Kai didn’t expect one; after all, at this juncture, Xiang Shan wouldn’t be distracted by answering them.
After making the announcement, the two returned to Dawning Light.
“Senior Brother Wan, is there anyone in Breeze who is proficient in Spirit Arrays? We can arrange some around the asteroid just in case!”
Although true Array Masters were not allowed to enter the battlefield, every cultivator had a hobby or two which they practised in their free time. Owing to this, every cultivator had developed various abilities over the course of their long lives.
For instance, Yang Kai had mastered a little bit of both the Alchemic Dao and the Dao of Artifact Refining.
Although none of the members of the two Squads majored in the Array Dao, there were still a few who were a little proficient in arranging Spirit Arrays.
Wan Zheng Xin agreed, nodding, “There is, but his attainments aren’t high. Furthermore, if he is asked to set up an Array in a hurry, its power won’t be very high.”
Yang Kai replied, “It’s still better than nothing.”
“That’s true, but setting up a Spirit Array requires resources, and we don’t have any.”
In a special environment like the Black Ink Battlefield, where the cultivators were not sure whether they would be able to make it back alive or not, everyone would not bring anything other than essential healing and restorative items; after all, if they were to die outside, the resources they brought with them would be wasted.
Therefore, even if they wanted to set up a Spirit Array, they had no resources to do it with. Even the cleverest housewife couldn’t cook a meal without rice.
Yang Kai stated as a smile appeared on his lips, “I have some on me, I can provide whatever he needs.”
The Black Ink Battlefield had an unspoken rule that didn’t allow anyone to carry any extra resources, but Yang Kai never followed it, nor had anyone asked him to do so. As such, all of his possessions were stored in his Small Universe and Space Ring.
Since he had resources, there was nothing else to say.
The two of them immediately gathered all those capable from their respective Squads and began setting up Arrays around the asteroid. None of them had high attainments in the Array Dao, so their work was completely worthless compared to a true Array Grandmaster. None of them could say for sure how effective this arrangement would be, so the main force protecting the asteroid was still them.
While they were bustling about, a figure walked out from Dawning Light’s cabin.
It was none other than Qi Tai Chu, who had been sent back by Yang Kai to report this matter.
Seeing him return, Yang Kai quickly asked, “What did the forward base camp say?”
Qi Tai Chu reported, “The Army Commander told us to stand guard and wait for reinforcements. Division Commanders have been dispatched, but as this place is quite far from the forward base, even an Eighth-Order Master will need at least 10 days to arrive.”
Yang Kai let out a sigh. This was within his expectations. In the end, their position was simply too deep into enemy territory.
Many Black Ink Clansmen in the vicinity had been alerted to this disturbance and were already swarming around, hiding in clusters of Black Ink Clouds and shattered asteroids, watching from afar. Fortunately, due to the deterrence of the two Human Race Warships, none of them dared to approach, but this situation would not last long. Once the Black Ink Clan had gathered a certain amount of force, they would definitely launch an attack.
Their current situation was like sharks swarming over from all around after smelling blood.
During the tortuous wait, many simple and crude Spirit Arrays were set up around the asteroid. They were not proficient enough to lay profound Spirit Arrays down, so they could only make do with these.
After another three days, more Black Ink Clansmen had gathered. Some were even daring enough to test the limits of Yang Kai and the others’ endurance, constantly provoking them from a distance.
Wan Zheng Xin couldn’t help but send a voice transmission to Yang Kai, “Junior Brother Yang, you guard this place while I lead some people to kill these bastards.”
Yang Kai persuaded, “That’s not appropriate. My Dawn only has 37 members. If you leave, we may not be able to protect the entire area by ourselves. If any of them managed to slip through the net and made their way to Senior Xiang and interrupted his breakthrough, everything would be for nought.”
Wan Zheng Xin suggested, “Then why not take your Dawn Squad to kill them, while we guard this place.”
“It’s the same principle, we should just wait and see.”
Wan Zheng Xin speechlessly stated, “Even if we don’t take any action, do you think the Black Ink Clan won’t? The longer we wait, the more Black Ink Clansmen will gather. By then, the situation will be very hard to control. We might as well take advantage of this opportunity to kill some of them and reduce the pressure we will face later.”
Yang Kai stated with a smile, “The Black Ink Clan has reinforcements, but we don’t?”
Wan Zheng Xin was stunned for a moment before asking thoughtfully, “You mean…”
“It’s been a few days since we arrived here, but we haven’t seen any trace of the other Squads. Since they’re all in this area, they should have been here by now, no matter how far away they were. Since they haven’t appeared yet, it means they’re hiding somewhere, waiting for an opportunity to act. We should wait for now, and when the time is right, I’m sure they’ll appear and take the Black Ink Clan by surprise. There’s no need for us to act. Since they have not made their moves yet, it’s only because there’s too little meat to eat.”
Wan Zheng Xin thought about it for a moment before cursing, “Damn it, we came too early and lost the opportunity to get more kills. If I had known that things would take such a turn, I would have come later and then would have been able to kill to my heart’s content.”
Yang Kai burst into laughter, joking, “Among all the Squads, your Breeze Squad is the fastest. Who else could have arrived earlier than you?”
Wan Zheng Xin was slightly depressed, “I guess, you’re right.”
While they were speaking, a powerful energy fluctuation came from a certain place, followed by deafening bangs as a series of Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities suddenly lit up the void, hitting the asteroids and dispersing the Black Ink Clouds. The next moment, a wild laughter reverberated through the void as a raucous shout rang out, “Hahaha, there are so many fish here! Brothers, let’s run wild!”
Hearing this voice, Wan Zheng Xin felt a headache coming on, “That pig is here!”
Yang Kai’s face also twitched. The Wild Boars’ way of doing things was as unrestrained as ever. They could have acted stealthily, but no, they had to make a huge scene, like they were afraid that the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t know of their arrival.
It was the Wild Boars’ signature style to always rush forward without a second thought. Under the leadership of their Squad Leader, Zhu Yu Ming, the entire Squad had taken this as their way of life.
From another side, someone immediately started cursing, “You freaking pigs, can’t you think a bit before you act!? Why would you purposely alert the enemy!? Arghhh… you drive this Old Master crazy!”
Another cold snort came from another side, “If these pigs knew how to think, they wouldn’t be pigs!”
Immediately, chortles of laughter and people cursing in disdain rang out across the void. To the Black Ink Clansmen’s shock, who were lingering in the vicinity, three Human Warships started attacking from three different directions. Fearsome artifacts and Secret Techniques blasted out from each of these three ships, raining down on the Black Ink Clansmen.
The Black Ink Clansmen were dumbstruck for a moment. Without their knowledge, they had been surrounded. Originally, all of their attention had been focused on the Human breaking through on the asteroid, and the two Human Squads guarding him. The sudden appearance of the other three Squads had thrown their thoughts into chaos.
Although they put up a brave fight under the coordination of some of the Feudal Lords, these suddenly appearing Human Squads were clearly different from the ordinary. Not only were they much bigger, but the proportion of Seventh-Order Masters in them was also extremely terrifying. Furthermore, the power each Warship could display was far more fearsome than what average Human Warships could.
These were the Special Operations Squads of the Human Race!
Having fought with the Humans for so many years, the Black Ink Clan naturally had some understanding of the Special Operations Squads. They knew that there weren’t many Special Operations Squads on the Human Race’s side, just 5 in the Blue Sky Theatre, but each one was capable of defeating a Feudal Lord Army.
The Black Ink Clan came to the conclusion that if they wanted to take care of such a Squad, they would need the Territory Lord to personally act, or at least 20 Feudal Lords.
This was for one Squad, and right now, there were 5 such Squads here. Although there were many Black Ink Clansmen, they were mostly weaker Low-Rank and High-Rank Clansmen. They were simply unable to contend with these Special Operations Squads.
Under the leadership of their respective Squad Leaders, the three Squads rampaged through the void, with the Wild Boars acting the fiercest.
In just a short time, all the Black Ink Clansmen present in the vicinity had been slaughtered, leaving mangled corpses floating about everywhere.
The outcome was decided.
Wan Zheng Xin heaved a sigh, “Junior Brother Yang’s foresight was on point, the Old Turtles and Water Snakes were indeed hiding nearby, but unfortunately, all their plans were destroyed by that pig.”
Yang Kai chuckled, “You can’t say that. Those two Squads probably wanted to wait for the Black Ink Clan to gather more troops before starting the bloodbath, but although Senior Brother Zhu acted a bit rashly, this isn’t a bad outcome either.”
Wan Zheng Xin nodded, lamenting a little, “When will the Wild Boars change their style?”
Yang Kai and Wan Zheng Xin had no intention of taking part in such a one-sided battle as right now, the most important thing was to protect Xiang Shan, not fight for Military Merits.
What’s more, this was only the beginning, things would surely become grimmer with time. Whether it was Yang Kai or Wan Zheng Xin, after being Squad Leaders for so many years, they both understood the principle of conserving their strength before the battle.
Just as the three elite Human Squads made their appearance, far away, the Black Ink Clan Territory Lords were gathering in a hall on a giant asteroid in the depths of the void.
The Black Ink Clan had suffered heavy losses in the last large-scale war, especially in regard to Territory Lords, of whom several dozen had been killed. It could be said that they had lost an arm and a leg, infuriating the Royal Lord.
Immediately after, the Human Race Army stormed out of the Great Pass to launch a crusade. With morale at a record low, the Black Ink Clan lost vast swaths of territory to the Human Expeditionary Force, only halting their advance three Territory Lord territories away from the Royal City.
This was something that had never happened before. The Human Race and Black Ink Clan had been fighting on the Black Ink Battlefield for countless years, but the Black Ink Clan had never suffered such a great loss before. It had always been the Black Ink Clan who attacked the Human Race Great Passes, whereas the Human Race were always passive. The Humans might launch a raid every now and then, but this time, it was completely different.
What was even more frustrating to the Black Ink Clan was that the Human Race had actually built a forward base camp at the very front of the territory they had conquered. By the looks of it, they were planning to completely settle in there.
How could the Black Ink Clan tolerate this?
If the Human Race succeeded, the entire Black Ink Clan of the Blue Sky Theater would lose all face. In the future, they wouldn’t be able to hold their heads up high in front of their fellow clansmen in other Theatres.
Over the past few decades, the Black Ink Clan had also mounted counterattacks, but their efforts had been fruitless. With so many of their Territory Lords dead, it was difficult for them to suppress the Eighth-Order Humans. Although the Black Ink Clan held the advantage in terms of overall numbers, that was only among the weaker Realms, while their top Masters were now completely outnumbered. The majority of the Black Ink Clansmen were far too weak. If the troops they sent out were too small in number, any Human Squad would be able to wipe them out, and if they deployed a bigger Army, they would be met by a fierce assault from the Human Race’s forward base.
Thus, the Black Ink Clan was caught in a dilemma.
The lack of action by the higher-ups caused the lower-ranked Black Ink Clansmen to bitterly grieve and spontaneously gather their forces to fight against the Human Race. On the other hand, the Humans had been hunting down these scattered groups over the past few decades. How could the Black Ink Clan not try hunting them down in return? This kind of scattered battle had basically become a kind of tacit agreement between the Masters on both sides. No one knew how long this situation would last, and no one knew what kind of variables would appear in the future.
The Human Race forward base had many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters gathered, forcing the Territory Lords to form a coalition in order to prevent the Human Army from continuing their conquest or simply picking them off one by one.
This asteroid was originally a Feudal Lord’s Fief, and was only a few million kilometres away from the Human Race’s forward base. In the vastness of the void, such distance was quite short, almost within fighting distance. If one stood at the edge of this asteroid, they could even vaguely see the Human outpost.
Because it was quite close to the Human Race’s forward base, this place had become the frontline for the Black Ink Clan’s resistance.
At this moment, many Territory Lords were gathered here, not to discuss some battle plan or anything, but to wait for that variable that would change the situation, hoping to break the stalemate.
The Territory Lords had already been waiting here for several decades, but that was nothing more than a snap of the fingers to them.
Suddenly, a Feudal Lord rushed out from the Fief’s Low-Grade Black Ink Nest and hurried into the main hall. He put his fist before his chest and respectfully reported, “Sir, I bear an urgent report!”
One of the Territory Lords opened his eyes and asked, “Is there any movement at the Human’s forward base?”
The Feudal Lord quickly replied, “It’s not about the forward base, it’s in the depths of the void, near Sir Gu Song’s Territory.”
Gu Song’s Territory was the territory of a Territory Lord, and it wasn’t very close to this place, but it happened to be a space where the two races were fighting.
“What’s going on over there?” The Territory Lord asked.
The Feudal Lord replied, “There’s news that a Human is breaking through to the Eighth Order there!”
As soon as he reported this, the other Territory Lords, who had remained silent all the while, opened their eyes as one of them leaned slightly forward, “Someone is advancing to the Eighth Order over there? Is the news accurate?”
The Feudal Lord replied, “It’s absolutely accurate. A Feudal Lord observed the situation at close range. There are indeed signs of a Human breaking through from the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order.”
The reason why this news had reached this place so quickly was naturally because of the Black Ink Nest’s network ability; otherwise, it would have been impossible for it to arrive so quickly.
“Damn it, is the Human Race going to gain another Eighth-Order Master?” One of the Territory Lords indignantly cursed. After the last war, the balance between the number of Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Masters had been broken. If the Humans gained another Eighth-Order Master, it would put even more pressure on the remaining Territory Lords.
One of the Territory Lords coldly snorted, “The Humans are taking us more and more lightly, actually trying to advance to the Eighth Order at that position. They’ve gone too far!”
“The advancement of the Human Race depends heavily on opportunities. When an opportunity is before them, they won’t be able to suppress it even if they want to. Forcefully suppressing it will only lead to terrible consequences. Since that Human chose to advance in that location, they must have had no other choice.”
“Is there any point in discussing this? Are we just going to sit back and watch the Humans gain another Eighth-Order Master?”
“What else can we do? Don’t tell me you want to go and stop him? Not to mention the distance, even if we can make it in time, who can guarantee that this isn’t some Human plot? Didn’t we suffer enough last time?”
The group of Territory Lords fell silent. Even the Territory Lord who had just spoken didn’t say anything. The insidious and cunning schemes of the Humans were too deeply ingrained into the Black Ink Clan’s hearts. They had suffered heavy casualties because of the Humans’ schemes in the last war.
It was an extremely important matter for a Human to advance to the Eighth Order. If they wanted to break through, they would have made careful arrangements beforehand, so how could they have advanced so far off in the void? Thus, when the Territory Lords heard about this matter, their first reaction was that the Human Race was plotting something, possibly having set up a trap to lure them out and kill them.
But if they didn’t do anything about it, it would be quite frustrating; after all, this was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. If they could kill him before he broke through, they would be able to deal a big blow to the Human forces.
At this moment, the Feudal Lord who had come in to report the situation spoke again, “There is one more thing I must inform Sirs about.”
“What is it?”
“According to the Feudal Lord who relayed the news, the one who is breaking through might be Xiang Shan!”
As soon as he reported this, all the Territory Lords were shocked.
A Territory Lord with a braid behind his head asked darkly, “Are you sure it’s that Xiang Shan?”
Three millennia ago, the name Xiang Shan had a great deterrence on the Black Ink Clan. It was not surprising either, as when he was the Army Commander of the Western Army, he had killed 7 Territory Lords relying on his deep heritage and fearsome strength.
This was an almost insurmountable achievement.
It had to be said that neither the Humans nor the Black Ink Clan would lose Eighth-Order Masters or Territory Lords in a battle very frequently. Even in large-scale wars, having more than 2 or 3 such Masters fall would be considered unusual. It would be considered a great achievement if any Eighth-Order Master was able to kill 1 Territory Lord in 1,000 years, but during his tenure as Western Army Commander, Xiang Shan had killed 7!
That was an astonishing feat.
Moreover, his style of doing things was extremely unyielding and had caused the Black Ink Clan Army to suffer great losses many times. His name was a taboo in the Black Ink Clan in this era and many of the Territory Lords present had once lived under his shadow.
There was also one thing that made the Black Ink Clan unable to eat or sleep in peace, and that was Xiang Shan’s aptitude.
According to various Black Ink Disciples’ reports, Xiang Shan’s aptitude was extremely high, and when he broke through to the Open Heaven Realm, he advanced straight to the Seventh Order! In other words, the Eighth Order was not his limit, he had a chance of reaching the Ninth Order and becoming an Old Ancestor.
An Eighth-Order Xiang Shan was already so difficult to deal with, so if he were to break through to the Ninth Order, what would happen?
Because of these considerations, the Black Ink Clan in the Blue Sky Theatre only had one goal 3,000 years ago, which was to destroy Xiang Shan.
During one battle, the Royal Lord severely wounded Xiang Shan even at the expense of taking a fierce blow from the Human Old Ancestor. After that, the Territory Lords swarmed him, wanting to cut weeds and pull out roots, but the Eighth-Order Humans all came to his aid one after another and a chaotic battle ensued.
Although Xiang Shan had luckily escaped death in that battle, his cultivation had fallen from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order, and he slowly faded from the eyes of the Black Ink Clan. The Royal Lord’s attack might have failed to kill Xiang Shan, but they had achieved their goal, albeit barely.
The Royal Lord was severely wounded by the Old Ancestor in that battle and had to recuperate for 300 years to return to his peak.
Additionally, in that battle, more than 10 Territory Lords had died under the wrath of the Human Old Ancestor!
The battle that had taken place 3,000 years ago was still fresh in their minds as most of the Territory Lords had personally experienced it. How could they forget such a tragic war?
Originally, they thought that the threat of Xiang Shan had been eliminated. They never dreamed that they would once again hear news of him breaking through after 3,000 years.
Had any other Seventh-Order Human been breaking through to the Eighth-Order, they wouldn’t have been too bothered. There had been many new Eighth-Order Humans over the years, and many who had lost their lives in the war. Overall, the number of Eighth-Order Humans had maintained a kind of balance, so one more wouldn’t really affect the overall situation.
But if it was Xiang Shan, they had no choice but to take it seriously!
Counting the time, after 3,000 years of silence, even if Xiang Shan had regressed to a lower Order, it was indeed possible for him to cultivate back up again. Thinking back to the dark times 3,000 years ago, which Territory Lord was willing to experience that again?
Therefore, when the Feudal Lord first reported that a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was breaking through to the Eighth-Order, most Territory Lords didn’t take it seriously, but after hearing the name Xiang Shan, they couldn’t remain calm.
“Are you sure it’s Xiang Shan?”
The Feudal Lord confirmed, “I’m absolutely certain. The Feudal Lord who reported this news had also seen Xiang Shan’s terror from afar in the past and clearly remembered his aura.”
Since the person reporting had said so, there could be no mistake. The Territory Lords looked at each other, and they could clearly see the seriousness in each other’s eyes.
After a long silence, a Territory Lord asked, “Are there any movements at the Human’s forward base?”
“I don’t know, but I can ask,” another Territory Lord replied. Saying so, he sent a message with his Divine Sense.
A moment later, the Territory Lord reported, “Just half a day ago, 2 Eighth-Order Masters emerged from the forward base, making a beeline towards Gu Song’s Territory!”
“It seems that news of Xiang Shan’s breakthrough has been reported back to them. Those Division Commanders must be heading there to guard him.”
“In other words, Xiang Shan’s breakthrough should have been an accident; otherwise, the Humans wouldn’t be scrambling to make arrangements now.”
“It’s still hard to say if this is another of those Humans’ schemes.”
“Whether it’s a scheme or not, we can’t ignore Xiang Shan’s advancement. If he returns to the Eighth Order, he will be the most difficult enemy we have to deal with; none of the Territory Lords can resist him.”
“Yes, we must stop Xiang Shan from breaking through, no matter what!”
“Even if the Humans are plotting something, they won’t be able to do anything with Xiang Shan’s position being so far away. In fact, we might as well beat them at their own game.”
“What do you mean?”
“Wu Jiang, Mao Chi, Zhong Ning, and Hong Hu are not here; send a message to any two of them to intercept those two Eighth-Order Humans and stop them from assisting Xiang Shan. Then send a message to the other two to investigate Xiang Shan’s advancement. If the Humans have not planned any ambushes, they can take action, and everything will be solved. If there is an ambush waiting for them, they should still be able to escape if they work together.”
As soon as he suggested this, the Territory Lords pondered for a moment before one of them nodded in agreement, “Good, we’ll go with that!”
One of the Territory Lords also questioned, “Although that’s the case, we still don’t know where all the Eighth-Order Humans are. If they are all lying in ambush near Xiang Shan, wouldn’t we be walking right into a trap if we send fewer people? The Territory Lords suffered heavy casualties in the last war, so we can’t afford to lose any more.”
The Territory Lord who had made the proposal first suggested once more, “That’s why we should launch an attack on their forward base! We don’t need to achieve anything decisive, just cause a big enough disturbance to figure out the situation at their base. If we can determine the number of Eighth-Order Masters there, we can basically determine the situation on Xiang Shan’s side. At that time, we can inform Wu Jiang and the others, so that they can act appropriately.”
“Attack the forward base?” One of the Territory Lords furrowed his brow, “If a war breaks out, it won’t be so easy to quell, and we will have to pay a certain price. If we win, it’s fine, but if we lose, the Black Ink Clan will completely lose the territory occupied by the Humans. We won’t have enough troops to continue fighting.”
“Compared to Xiang Shan’s breakthrough, it is worth it, no matter what the price is.”
“Since we have different opinions, we might as well vote. Those who agree to attack the forward base, please rise.”
After a moment, more than a dozen Territory Lords stood up. Basically, all of the Territory Lords who were standing had lived during Xiang Shan’s era, and most of the sitting Territory Lords had just recently advanced. From this, it was obvious that the old Territory Lords were all extremely wary of Xiang Shan. They were willing to pay any price in order to kill him. Compared to these Territory Lords, the new Territory Lords of the last 3 millennia didn’t fear Xiang Shan so much. They were satisfied with their current state and didn’t think that a large-scale war with the Human Race was a good idea at this point.
However, most of the Territory Lords had already agreed to fight, so they couldn’t influence the overall situation.
A storm was brewing, and war was about to break out!
Over the past few years, the Black Ink Clan’s various reinforcements had gathered around this Feudal Lord’s Fief, forming a stalemate with the forward base. The Black Ink Clan didn’t dare act rashly, and the Human soldiers in the forward base didn’t have any intention of getting themselves into a large-scale battle; but today, because of a single person’s breakthrough, this stalemate was about to be broken.
The Black Ink Clan began to mobilize their troops and advance towards the forward base.
Although their actions were extremely well-hidden, how could such a large deployment possibly be hidden from the vigilant Humans?
Inside the temporary Army Headquarters of the forward base, a group of Eighth-Order Masters was waiting with Zhong Liang and Liang Yu Long in the lead.
Suddenly, a Seventh-Order Master entered, cupped his fist, and reported, “The Black Ink Clan has started moving.”
Zhong Liang’s eyes flickered with a sharp gleam, “They took the bait!”
The group of Eighth-Order Masters were all excited. They had been worried that the Black Ink Clan would not act, and only once they did, it would mean that their plan could be implemented. This wasn’t surprising though, as the bait they had thrown out was no small matter to the Black Ink Clan.
Be that as it may, no one was certain what the Black Ink Clan’s choice would be without a concrete report, so they had been waiting here on tenterhooks.
A worried look appeared on Liang Yu Long’s face, “I wonder if Senior Brother Xiang’s situation is going well.”
Zhong Liang said, “Since Senior Brother Xiang has agreed to this plan, he must have made some preparations. There’s no need to worry about him, we just need to do our own thing. Send a message to Blue Sky Pass and tell Ding Yao that they can start.”
“Good!” Someone immediately complied.
Two figures shot through the void, both of them in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm. They were flying quite fast, making a beeline towards a certain direction.
While flying, one of them sent a voice transmission, “Brother Zhang, do you think the Black Ink Clan will take the bait this time?”
Hearing this, the Eighth-Order Master surnamed Zhang smiled, “We’ll know if there is any obstruction along the way; however, I’m sure that the Black Ink Clan will not be able to resist. After all, this concerns Senior Brother Xiang. If I were a Territory Lord, I would definitely not allow him to advance peacefully. They finally made him fall to the Seventh Order, so how could they allow him to advance back to the Eighth Order?”
The other Eighth Order asked curiously, “Does Senior Brother Xiang hold such a great deterrence to the Black Ink Clan?”
The Eighth-Order surname Zhang answered, “Brother Sun, you haven’t been on the Black Ink Battlefield for long, so you haven’t seen Senior Brother Xiang’s power with your own eyes. When he was commanding the Western Army, he tossed around the Territory Lords like they were chickens. It could even be said that their faces would be filled with dread at the mere mention of his name.”
The cultivator surnamed Sun sighed, “Alas, I didn’t get to see Senior Brother Xiang’s divine might. I hope his breakthrough this time goes smoothly.”
Zhang Xian added, “Although it will be much more difficult to break through after a drop in one’s Order, it shouldn’t be a problem for Senior Brother Xiang with his aptitude. All we need to do is wait for good news. It just so happens that Blue Sky Pass needs someone to play the opening act, and Senior Brother Xiang was about to break through. After learning of the plan, I volunteered for this duty.”
After chatting for a while, the two of them stopped talking and continued on their way.
Two days later, the two Masters who were speeding forward suddenly came to a stop at the sight of two Black Ink Clouds approaching from the opposite side. The next moment, two huge figures appeared from the Black Ink Clouds, attacking them without saying a word.
The two Eighth-Order Masters naturally wouldn’t just sit back and wait for their deaths. Each cast their own Divine Abilities to fend off the attackers descending from the darkness.
Shortly after, the four figures separated and faced off against one another.
The Eighth-Order surnamed Zhang coldly glanced over and snorted, “Mao Chi, Zhong Yan!”
Having fought with each other for so many years, this man surnamed Zhang naturally recognized who these two Territory Lords were.
After exchanging a glance with the cultivator surnamed Sun, both of them calmed down. As these two fellows had suddenly appeared and blocked their path, it was apparent that the Black Ink Clan had taken the bait; otherwise, there was no reason for these two to come here and stop them.
Everything was going according to the plan!
It was laughable that the two Territory Lords didn’t even notice. Mao Chi was even more valiant and spirited as he coldly shouted with a look of disdain on his face, “This road is blocked!”
The Eighth-Order Master surnamed Zhang sneered, “Shamelessly boasting!”
Without wasting another moment, he summoned his sword with a wave of his hand, sending out a flurry of sword lights towards Mao Chi. On the other side, the cultivator surnamed Sun and Zhong Ning engaged in a one-on-one battle. Neither side held a decisive advantage.
Be that as it may, as far as the two Territory Lords were concerned, so long as they could stop these two Eighth-Order Masters here, that was enough. They really did not care if they could do anything to them or not.
The two of them had also learned the seriousness of the situation from the message sent via the Black Ink Nests. If not for this, they wouldn’t have been lying in ambush here waiting to intercept the Eighth-Order Division Commanders.
The two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were intercepted by Mao Chi and Zhong Yan along the way and were now locked in a fierce battle.
On the other side, the battle near the vicinity of the asteroid where Xiang Shan was breaking through was also raging.
The Wild Boars, Water Snakes, and Old Turtles, these three Special Operations Squads, were rampaging through the void, killing the Black Ink Clan to the point that they were unable to fight back.
It had been several decades since the establishment of the forward base and every Human Squad had been carrying out hunting missions over this period, but none of them had ever been able to kill to their heart’s content like this.
The Black Ink Clan’s harassment and support kept coming unabated, seemingly never-ending. The scattered Black Ink Clansmen emerged from all directions and kept charging towards the asteroid where Xiang Shan was, obviously trying to disrupt his breakthrough at all costs.
Most of the Black Ink Clan forces had been intercepted by the three Special Operations Squads, and even if some of them managed to slip through their net, they were unable to break through Dawn and Breeze’s defences.
At first, not many Black Ink Clansmen were attracted by Xiang Shan’s breakthrough, so the five Special Operations Squads were able to handle everything easily by working together.
But more and more Black Ink Clansmen were drawn in over time. Yang Kai and the others gradually started to feel the pressure, but they still held on.
In order to avoid wasting too much energy, Yang Kai had a brief discussion with the other four Squad Leaders before coming to a decision of guarding Xiang Shan in turns.
No matter what, the five Squads ensured that two would remain at the periphery of the asteroid, preventing the Black Ink Clan from approaching while the other three fought further out at full force.
No one knew how long this situation would last. Perhaps it would be over very soon, or perhaps it would be a drawn-out battle. Everything depended on Xiang Shan’s progress; nonetheless, no one had any thoughts of retreating. Xiang Shan was advancing without any protectors, so if they retreated, he would definitely be doomed.
Although this battle was fierce, compared to the clash between the two Armies at the forward base, it was just a small skirmish.
Over the past few decades, the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army had been confronting each other across several million kilometres. The Humans had no intention of advancing, and the Black Ink Clan didn’t dare provoke them. The two races had only sent out small teams to harass each other from a distance.
This balance lasted for several decades, with both sides bearing some casualties.
But today, the balance was broken due to the sudden, undeclared war by the Black Ink Clan Army.
The empty space between the forward base and the Black Ink Clan’s temporary camp was instantly filled with the soldiers of the two races, and soon both Armies were locked in a fierce battle. At every moment, someone’s aura would vanish from existence as severed limbs and mangled corpses started piling up everywhere in the void.
Human Warships shuttled back and forth, protected by their respective Seventh-Order Squad members, fighting bravely to cut down the enemy.
On the other hand, the Eighth-Order Masters were locked in combat with the Territory Lords on a separate battlefield.
The forward base was not like Blue Sky Pass, which was a massive Mobile Palace Artifact that had been slowly expanded and enhanced over countless years by the Human soldiers. Relying on the power of Blue Sky Pass and its various offensive and defensive Arrays, the Human Race’s defences were at least twice as effective.
This was also one of the foundations that the Human Race’s entire resistance was based on.
The forward base didn’t have such advantages. Although Blue Sky Pass’ soldiers had installed a number of Arrays at the forward base over the past few decades, none of them were comparable to the ones at the headquarters.
It would be difficult to resist the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Army under normal circumstances.
Fortunately, the Black Ink Clan had suffered heavy casualties in the war a few decades back, and the Humans had not stopped hunting down the Black Ink Clan in recent years. The Black Ink Clan’s casualties were so large now that they were difficult to calculate. As a result, it was not that difficult to deal with the Black Ink Clan forces attacking the forward base.
The Black Ink Clan Army of several hundred thousand might have appeared quite big, but the proportion of their elites couldn’t even be compared to before. Not to mention that the number of Territory Lords was less than half, even the proportion of Feudal Lords was much smaller than in the past. Most of the Black Ink Clan present were only Low and High-Rank Clansmen.
As such, when the soldiers of the forward base were facing the Black Ink Clan Army, not only did they not suffer any disadvantages, they even gained the upper hand.
After several decades, the Human Race had accumulated enough Purifying Black Ink Pills to support a large-scale battle; furthermore, they had even more Artifact Refiners than before, so whenever the damaged Warships returned, the prepared Grandmasters would immediately start repairing them at full speed. If they couldn’t repair them, they would simply provide a new Warship.
With the lessons learned from the previous crusade, the forward base’s logistics support had grown exponentially.
Amassing Purifying Black Ink Pills and building additional Warships was of paramount importance.
Blue Sky Pass had decided to refine a large number of Squad Rank Warships, with the goal being to have at least one spare Warship for each Squad so as to enhance the staying power of the Armies and prevent any more incidents like the ones during the last crusade from happening. In the last war, many Warships became too damaged and lost all combat effectiveness, requiring them to be scrapped and for the Squads using them to withdraw from the frontlines.
200 years ago, Blue Sky Pass did not have the capacity to carry out such a plan.
The refining of each Warship required a massive amount of resources, and in the past, Blue Sky Pass didn’t have the necessary foundation to make spares, but now it was different. Resources could no longer impede Blue Sky Pass’ development. Not to mention that Blue Sky Pass had accumulated a massive amount of resources using the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors, if they were to win this most recent war, they would be able to completely occupy a large portion of the Black Ink Clan’s former territory. At that time, it would be an easy task to mine all the resources they needed. There were so many dead universe worlds in the void that the resources could essentially be considered endless.
Any war between two large Armies would take time, and victory and defeat could not be determined in a short period. It would be a long while before a conclusion was reached.
A few days later, two Warships stood side by side in the periphery of the asteroid where Xiang Shan was breaking through, with more than 10 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realms scattered around, vigilantly observing their surroundings.
Everyone, whether it was the scattered Seventh-Order Masters or the Fifth and Sixth-Order Humans aboard the Warships, was taking advantage of this short respite to swallow Spirit Pills and recover some strength.
After several days of fierce fighting, the several hundred members of the five elite Squads had all consumed a great deal of energy. In the face of Black Ink Clan’s continuous assault, they had to use every opportunity they received to recover.
Yang Kai was among these people.
Dawn had already finished their third combat rotation, so this time, they had returned along with the Water Snake Squad for guard duty.
While adjusting his breathing, the Water Snake Squad Leader, Dongfang Wen Bing, suddenly asked via voice Divine Sense, “Brother Yang, did you notice?”
Yang Kai’s expression remained unchanged as he replied, “The Black Ink Clan’s attack seems to be employing some sort of strategy.”
“So Brother Yang has noticed too.”
“Indeed. Initially, the Black Ink Clan was attacking in a disorderly manner, but for the last two days, something changed. Although the difference is subtle, it is still obvious when everything is taken into account.”
“That’s right, there seems to be a Master guiding them from behind,” Dongfang Wen Bing grinned.
“How strong a Master do you suspect?”
“Someone as high as a Territory Lord?”
“Great minds think alike!” Yang Kai lightly nodded his acknowledgement. In fact, he had been searching for this Black Ink Clan Master hiding behind the scenes this whole time. Unfortunately, he failed to pinpoint their location. If there really was a Territory Lord hiding nearby, it would be difficult for him to discover them amid the raging battle in the void as the chaotic energy fluctuations propagating everywhere could completely obscure a concealed aura. On top of that, he was only a Seventh-Order Master, so trying to find a hidden Territory Lord was naturally not easy.
Dongfang Wen Bing’s smile cramped, “I was just speaking randomly. Could it be that there really is a Territory Lord here?”
“En,” Yang Kai solemnly stated, “It’s quite possible.”
Dongfang Wen Bing went slacked-jaw at this revelation, “Brother Yang, don’t try to scare me. You have mastered the Dao of Space, so you can escape from a Territory Lord if one appears, but we can’t. Besides, if there really is a Territory Lord, why would he hide in the shadows and not show up? Why would he just keep sending these trash to their deaths?”
“Perhaps… they think we have laid some kind of ambush here? I think they are sending cannon fodder to probe us. There’s a saying that the older one grows, the more timid they become. These Territory Lords have suffered quite a bit at the hands of the Eighth-Order Masters recently, so they’ve become overcautious and indecisive.”
“What ambush could we have laid here!?” Dongfang Wen Bing’s head hurt as he listened to Yang Kai’s speculation. He then looked around, as if afraid that a Territory Lord would emerge out of thin air all of a sudden.
“We know that, but the Territory Lords don’t, so they are probing us.”
Dongfang Wen Bing grimly asked, “Brother Yang, are you serious?”
Yang Kai didn’t justify it with an answer and simply continued, “Whether it’s true or not, we’ll know after seeing the changes in the situation. It won’t be long.”
Dongfang Wen Bing couldn’t help but cluck his tongue, “Why is Senior Xiang’s advancement not progressing? The sooner he breaks through, the sooner we’ll be able to escape this abyss of suffering.”
As Dongfang Wen Bing mentioned, Xiang Shan’s advancement had not made much progress. Although his aura was circulating methodically and showing no signs of collapsing, there were no signs of progressing either. It was not as troublesome for a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to reach the Eighth-Order as it was for a Sixth-Order Master to reach the Seventh-Order as advancing from the Sixth-Order to the Seventh-Order was a watershed moment. Under normal circumstances, this kind of advancement would take from a few months to a few years or even more than a decade. The time one would take would depend on various conditions.
This was also why Zhong Liang and the others were so shocked when Yang Kai broke through to the Seventh Order in a matter of days.
However, Yang Kai was an exception as his Small Universe had already fully materialised when he was in the Sixth Order, so he did not need to go through this transformation.
Advancing from the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order was only an increase in Order and not a transformation of the Small Universe. Although the increase in strength was enormous, it was not a fundamental change.
If everything went smoothly, Xiang Shan should have succeeded in a short time.
The time Xiang Shan had spent wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either, and judging by the current situation, it seemed that he required even more time.
Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that his Order had once regressed. For an Open Heaven Realm Master, it would be even more difficult to progress once their Order had fallen once. However, at the end of the day, Xiang Shan had already walked this path once, so he had more experience than an ordinary Seventh-Order Master. As long as he could find an opportunity, everything should be simple.
Therefore, it was quite possible for Xiang Shan to advance to the Eighth Order in the next instant, but it was also possible that it could take him ten days, half a month, several months, or even half a year…
No one could say for sure.
While the two were recuperating and chatting, they also killed the scattered Black Ink Clansmen who had slipped through the outer perimeter. Meanwhile, on a Feudal Lord’s territory, not far from this place, two Territory Lords were observing the situation.
These two were Wu Jiang and Hong Hu. Like Mao Chi and Zhong Yan, who were responsible for intercepting the two Eighth-Order Division Commanders, they had immediately rushed over to oversee things here after receiving the news.
Although the distance between them wasn’t far, it was not close either. Even with their eyesight, the two Territory Lords couldn’t clearly see what was happening around the asteroid.
Be that as it may, the casualties and incompetence of the lower Black Ink Clansmen were not hidden from them, making them greatly dissatisfied with the Black Ink Clan’s performance.
“Those wastes! A few Human Squads actually managed to stop them, how useless,” Wu Jiang cursed angrily.
Hong Hu shook his head, “Those Squads seem to be the Humans’ Special Operations Squads. They’re much stronger than ordinary Squads.”
Wu Jiang coldly snorted, “So what if their Special Operations Squads!? There’s only so many of them. Even if they have to pay with their lives, our troops should be able to flatten them!”
Hong Hu sighed in response, “I’m afraid it won’t work. Even if we continue sending more and more people over, it won’t help, they’ll just be defeated one by one. They have a total of five Squads, and at any given time, two seem to be resting while the other three are defending. It’s impossible to break through their blockade without overwhelming strength.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Hong Hu pondered for a moment before suggesting, “Amass our power and crush them in one fell swoop!”
Wu Jiang impatiently asked, “There’s no need to go through so much trouble. If you and I fight, how can they be our opponents?”
“No!” Hong Hu quickly stopped him, “Have you forgotten what happened to Wu Ying and the others a few dozen years ago? Over 200,000 of our troops were ambushed by the Humans and defeated in one fell swoop, causing our Black Ink Clan to suffer a great loss in the next battle due to a lack of manpower. Before we are sure that the Humans have not set some elaborate trap here, it’s best if we don’t act rashly.”
Wu Jiang’s expression changed. He naturally remembered what happened to Wu Ying and the other Territory Lords back then. It might have happened a few decades ago, but to the Territory Lords who lived long lives, it was like it happened just yesterday. Although he was angry, he knew that Hong Hu’s worries weren’t unfounded. Xiang Shan was breaking through in this damned place and five elite Human Squads had just happened to be around to guard him. No matter how he looked at it, something was amiss.
Although they had yet to sense the auras of any Eighth-Order Masters, who could guarantee that those sinister and devious Humans were not lurking nearby?
The Human Race’s Spirit Arrays were extremely exquisite, and even a simple one could easily conceal one’s aura.
The reason why they had been waiting here was because, on one hand, they wanted to use their subordinates to attack and probe the situation, and on the other hand, they were also waiting for news from the front lines.
Once they confirmed that there was no trap here, they would definitely make a move.
Xiang Shan’s prestige was quite dreadful, but that was when he was in the Eighth Order. As for the current Xiang Shan, any random Territory Lord could easily deal with him. If they took down Xiang Shan, they would deal a heavy blow to the Human Race and also restore some of their lost prestige.
There was still no definite news from the front line, so it was likely that their companions were still assessing the situation. Wu Jiang and Hong Hu could not remain idle while waiting for the news, though, as they had their own matters to attend to.
After a brief discussion, the two Territory Lords gave orders to the attacking Black Ink Clansmen to retreat and urged the nearby Black Ink Clansmen to rush over to assist.
At the periphery of the asteroid where Xiang Shan was advancing, the Black Ink Clan suddenly retreated like a tide, leaving a mess in their wake.
Under Zhu Yu Ming’s leadership, the Wild Boar Squad relentlessly pursued them, like they were hell-bent on exterminating the entire Black Ink Clan. Fortunately, Chai Fang quickly stopped him, “Don’t chase after a cornered enemy. Our mission here is our priority.”
Zhu Yu Ming cursed a few times. Although he was still somewhat unwilling, he knew the gravity of the situation and quickly led his Squad back.
After a fierce battle, each Squad had consumed a great deal of energy, so they seized this rare idle time to recover.
“The Black Ink Clan has retreated,” Dongfang Wen Bing’s eyes lit up.
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, focusing his gaze to observe before slowly shaking his head, “It’s just a temporary withdrawal.”
Although they couldn’t see clearly, it was obvious that the retreating Black Ink Clansmen hadn’t really left. Instead, they were gathering in the distance, seemingly waiting for something.
Things were not looking good. Apparently, his and Dongfang Wen Bing’s previous speculations had come true. There was indeed a Master behind these Black Ink Clansmen. If not, it would have been impossible to explain the current situation.
Dongfang Wen Bing also realized this and a solemn expression filled his face.
Yang Kai consoled, “The reinforcements from the forward base should be arriving soon, we just need to hold on for another three to five days.”
Dongfang Wen Bing added in a grim voice, “That may be the case, but judging from the Black Ink Clan’s movements, it’s obvious they’ve made some arrangements. I’m afraid the reinforcements from the forward base will be intercepted halfway.”
No one who cultivated to the Seventh Order could be a fool. Dongfang Wen Bing’s worries were not unfounded, and Yang Kai was also aware of this, but right now, they could only place their hopes on the reinforcements from the forward base or Xiang Shan’s quick promotion.
What the two of them didn’t know was that their worries had long since become reality. The two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters surnamed Zhang and Sun, who had set out from the forward base, had already been intercepted by two Territory Lords midway and were still fighting fiercely with them.
Time slowly went by as every single member of the five elite Human Squads felt like the passage of each day was as lengthy as a year. The calm and silent void was filled with lingering murderous intent, keeping all of them on edge.
Just outside the nearby Feudal Lord’s territory, the number of Black Ink Clansmen continued to increase, rising from 10,000 to 20,000, then reaching 50,000…
Wu Jiang and Hong Hu stared at these tens of thousands of unappealing goods with great dissatisfaction.
Although they had urgently summoned the nearby Black Ink Clan forces to this place, the number of troops they could muster was still extremely small. This couldn’t be helped though as most of the Black Ink Clan forces had been transferred to the front lines to confront the forward base over the past few decades.
Currently, the Black Ink Clan forces remaining behind were extremely few in number. Furthermore, 80 to 90% of the Black Ink Clansmen they had gathered here were nothing more than cannon fodder. Many of them weren’t even Low-Rank Clansmen yet.
It was quite an awkward situation. It wasn’t that the two Territory Lords were incompetent, but rather that even a clever housewife couldn’t cook without rice. There weren’t any powerful forces nearby for them to deploy, so their hands were tied.
If the quality wasn’t good enough, then they could only make up for it with quantity. They didn’t hold out any hope that these Black Ink Clansmen would be able to accomplish anything, but they could still be used for attacking and probing.
Two days later, they barely managed to gather 80,000 troops, which seemed to be the upper limit. They couldn’t mobilize any more. Under the orders of the two Territory Lords, the 80,000-strong Army marched towards the asteroid.
From a distance, the Human Squads promptly discovered the approaching threat. The number of enemies was like a tidal wave, making their scalps tingle.
The Wild Boar Squad Leader, Zhu Yu Ming, let out a long roar, whereupon all the Human soldiers who were still recovering started moving.
Three Warships lined up in a straight line, their Spirit Arrays humming slightly. Immediately, various lights began to flicker and fluctuate on the hulls of the Warships.
Yang Kai and Dongfang Wen Bing remained motionless. Their two Squads were responsible for guarding Xiang Shan in this rotation, so they would not make any move unless the situation reached a critical point.
As the enemy Army drew closer and closer, the sight of 80,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers attacking them made the Humans feel like they were facing a tidal wave, giving them great psychological pressure.
At that moment, Zhu Yu Ming’s roar reverberated through the void, “Kill!”
With a loud bang, the three Warships shook violently as dazzling beams of light shot out from various weapon ports, bombarding the Black Ink Clan Army.
The Black Ink Clan Army was thrown into disarray as countless Black Ink Clansmen were reduced to dust by the beams of light. A few beams even cut right through the approaching Black Ink Clan Army.
Thousands of Black Ink Clansmen had fallen from just the opening salvo of attack.
Everyone was stunned at the sight of this, but they quickly understood. Although there were many Black Ink Clansmen attacking, they were not invincible. Most of them were weak cannon fodder; otherwise, so many of them would not have died just like that.
The soldiers in charge of controlling the Warship’s artifacts didn’t need to be told what to do. They once again channelled their World Force into their artifacts and launched another barrage of attacks, further increasing the casualties suffered by the Black Ink Clan.
After three rounds of bombardment, the Black Ink Clan Army was already upon them. Immediately, the Seventh-Order Masters leapt off their Warships, holding their own artifacts and circulating their World Force as they lined up and started attacking the oncoming enemies. The next instant, black blood and pieces of flesh flew here and there as the Black Ink Clansmen’s auras began to wane.
The vicinity of the three Warships was densely packed with Black Ink Clan forces. It was almost impossible to spot the figures of the three Warships and the Seventh-Order Masters protecting them; only the energy fluctuations constantly spreading into the void gave the assurance that they were still alive.
The entire picture looked like black ants swarming towards three candies fallen on the ground, wrapping them up entirely.
A large number of Black Ink Clansmen suddenly bypassed the three entangled Warships and rushed towards the asteroid.
Dawn and the Water Snakes had already made their preparations. The Warships immediately opened fire, unleashing all of their might as the Seventh-Order Masters circulated their World Force madly to unleash their strongest Divine Abilities towards the places where the most Black Ink Clansmen were gathered.
Yang Kai had pushed his Space Principles to the limit. All the Black Ink Clansmen who tried to approach the asteroid immediately felt as if they had fallen into a swamp. Their movements became sluggish, giving the two Squads a chance to kill them at a distance.
All thanks to his Space Principles, just two Squads were somehow able to stop the enemy’s thrust.
Most of the Black Ink Clansmen were nothing more than Serfs, so their strength wasn’t even worth mentioning. Any of the Humans present here could easily kill a large number of them, but there were simply too many of them. Xiang Shan could not be disturbed while he was breaking through, so if any Black Ink Clansman broke through the defensive line, no matter how weak they were, it could cause a huge disaster.
For the time being, the battle was still under control, but it was hard to say how long the Human Squads could keep things that way.
No one would be able to endure such a high-intensity battle forever.
One hour, two hours…
Half a day later, the five Squads had all consumed a great deal of energy, which was reflected most obviously in their greatly decreased rate of killing. Although Yang Kai was still able to hold on and use his Space Principles to delay the attacks of the Black Ink Clansmen, Dawn and the Water Snakes were unable to keep up.
There were more Black Ink Clansmen on the periphery of the asteroid, so it wouldn’t be long before even Yang Kai was unable to stop them all.
[It’s time!]
Thinking so, Yang Kai shouted, “Senior Brother Chai!”
Somewhere in the void in front of them, Chai Fang’s voice rang out from a Warship surrounded by countless Black Ink Clans, “Hahahaha, it’s really pleasant to hear. What’s wrong, Brother Yang, are you unable to hold on?”
Dongfang Wen Bing smiled and scolded, “Old Chai, hurry up! Don’t waste time!”
“Coming, coming!” Chai Fang replied. As soon as his voice fell, a seemingly solid halo suddenly erupted. This halo didn’t cause much damage, but it had an extremely strong repelling force. In an instant, countless Black Ink Clansmen surrounding the Old Turtle’s Warship were all pushed away.
The next moment, the vicinity of Old Turtle Squad’s Warship was all cleared up.
The Black Ink Clansmen who pushed away had not suffered any casualties and resumed their offence on the Old Turtle Squad once more after a brief pause, but why would the Old Turtle Squad take them seriously?
The giant Warship turned around and rushed towards the asteroid, smashing all of the Black Ink Clansmen who tried to stop it to pieces.
In the blink of an eye, the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship flew past Dawn and the Water Snakes and stopped near the asteroid.
Standing at the bow of the ship, the burly Chai Fang formed various hand seals with a solemn look on his face, his World Force surging madly.
All 50 members of the Old Turtle Squad were acting in concert with him. They took their respective positions and performed their respective tasks; their hand seals constantly changing.
“Eight Profound Gates, open!”
“Boundless Heavens, open!”
“Immovable as Mountains, Yin-Yang Perception, open!”
Along with Chai Fang’s shouts, the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship shone with a dazzling radiance. Every time it glowed, the halo of light assumed a tangible shape, not only enveloping the Warship, but the entire asteroid beneath it as well.
At the top of the Old Turtle’s Warship, the tortoise shell-like object suddenly ballooned, transforming into a massive barrier that surrounded the entire asteroid.
In the blink of an eye, the Old Turtle Squad created an impenetrable barrier around the asteroid.
Every Warship of Blue Sky Pass’ five Special Operations Squads possessed its own specialities. The Old Turtles’ Warship had the strongest defence, and not only could its defences cover itself, but it could even form a large defensive region by sacrificing its mobility.
Over the years, many Human Squads had managed to escape death with the protection of the Old Turtle Squad. Besides Dawn, the Old Turtle Squad was the most popular Squad in Blue Sky Pass because fighting alongside them provided an extra layer of safety and security.
At this moment, the Old Turtle Squad had displayed their full defensive capabilities. For this reason, the entire Warship had completely sacrificed its mobility and offensive abilities. In other words, the Old Turtle Squad was now nothing more than an immobile target!
Nonetheless, it was more than enough. The defensive state of the Old Turtle Squad was Yang Kai’s greatest reliance when it came to protecting Xiang Shan. Furthermore, the protection of the Old Turtle Squad was far stronger than the combined strength of Dawn and the Water Snakes.
From the beginning, Yang Kai and the others had planned for the Old Turtle Squad to only be responsible for defending, but Chai Fang refused. It was a rare opportunity to rack up some kills, so who would be willing to watch from the back? That was why they had been rotating to guard this place.
But now that the situation had developed to this point, Dawn and the Water Snakes could no longer guarantee Xiang Shan’s safety, so they had no choice but to rely on the turtle shell of the Old Turtle Squad.
They would let the Black Ink Clan take a bite at it, but even the best teeth would crack on this turtle shell.
On another side, seeing that the Old Turtle Squad put up their defences, Dawn and the Water Snakes’ Warships no longer had any worries and started a bloodbath. First, they exterminated the Black Ink Clan forces surrounding the asteroid, and then they rushed towards the void, leaving a bloody trail behind them.
In terms of defence, the Old Turtle Squad was second to none; even the other four elite Squads couldn’t come close. But in terms of killing, the Old Turtle Squad was undoubtedly the slowest.
Now that they had switched between defence and offence, Dawn and the Water Snakes did not have to worry about guarding Xiang Shan, so their killing speed increased dramatically.
Most of the 80,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers were cannon fodder, and more than half had already fallen in the battle. Now that Dawn and the Water Snakes had joined the battle, the Black Ink Clan was losing troops even more quickly.
In the distance, a gloomy expression appeared on the faces of Wu Jiang and Hong Hu.
Even though they knew that this ragtag bunch could do nothing to the Special Operations Squads of the Human Race, how quickly the situation developed still took them by surprise. The performance of these five Special Operations Squads was simply too amazing.
The two Territory Lords also secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, there were only five Special Operations Squads in Blue Sky Pass. If every Human Squad was so difficult to deal with, there would be no room for the ordinary Black Ink Clansmen to survive.
Although they hadn’t achieved their goal, the two Territory Lords were able to determine something from the current situation.
There really weren’t any Eighth-Order Masters lying in ambush here, or else they would not have sat still when things got serious. After all, there had been several times when the Humans’ situation had gotten quite dangerous. They might have resolved it in time, but that was mostly due to luck.
Although the two Territory Lords had made their own conclusion, they still patiently waited for news from the front lines. Only when they got confirmation would they act.
[It should be about time.]
As expected, after another half a day, just when the Black Ink Clan Army they had gathered was about to be completely wiped out, a Feudal Lord rushed to them and reported, “The Eighth-Order Humans stationed at the enemy forward base have all appeared, none of them is missing!”
Wu Jiang raised his brow, “Good!”
After decades of confrontation, it wasn’t as if the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Territory Lords hadn’t fought each other before. They might not have fought many times, but they were already well aware of each other’s ins and outs. The Eighth-Order Humans were divided into two groups. One group was stationed at their new forward base, occupying about 80% of their numbers, while the other group was still nowhere to be seen. The Black Ink Clan speculated that these remaining Eighth-Order Masters should be guarding Blue Sky Pass.
After all, the Humans attached great importance to Blue Sky Pass, so it was impossible for there to be no Masters guarding it.
Blue Sky Pass was situated too far from here, so as long as they could determine the location of the Eighth-Order Masters they knew to be stationed at the forward base, they could determine if there was any ambush here or not.
Now that it had been verified that the Eighth-Order Masters of the forward base were all fighting on the front lines, they no longer had any concerns.
Hong Hu was obviously more on the cautious side though and asked, “What about their Old Ancestor?”
The Feudal Lord reported, “I don’t know, but there’s no news from the Royal City. I guess that the Royal Lord and the Old Ancestor are still locked in a confrontation.”
Several decades ago, when the Humans began their crusade, the Old Ancestor left Blue Sky Pass and entered the heart of the Black Ink Clan territory. He didn’t do anything, he just stared down the Royal Lord, preventing him from doing anything rash.
The Black Ink Clan also had no idea where the Old Ancestor was hiding; the Royal Lord surely knew, but he never informed his subordinates. It was likely that he also knew that if the Territory Lords were to rashly participate in the battle of this level, they would only be courting death.
The attitude of the Old Ancestor was very clear. So long as the Royal Lord did not make a move, he would not be making a move. Everything was left to their subordinates. The Old Ancestor’s actions had undoubtedly provided a huge buffer for the forward base to strengthen their hold; otherwise, if the Royal Lord had taken action, the forward base wouldn’t have been able to survive.
“Let’s begin, I can’t wait any longer!” Wu Jiang impatiently urged.
The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already appeared at the forward base, and their Old Ancestor was held back by the Royal Lord. In light of this, there was only Xiang Shan and five Human Squads here, so there was nothing to hesitate about. In this situation, if the two Territory Lords couldn’t take care of Xiang Shan, they should simply commit suicide.
Although Hong Hu felt somewhat uneasy, he knew that there was no reason for them not to make a move now. After a moment of silence, he agreed with a nod, “Then let’s move.”
Wu Jiang’s figure flickered as he rushed towards the asteroid.
Hong Hu followed closely behind, intentionally or unintentionally distancing himself from Wu Jiang. It wasn’t that he was scheming anything, it was just his nature.
He knew that the reason why Wu Jiang was so anxious was because he had suffered a great loss at Xiang Shan’s hands three millennia ago. Wu Jiang nearly died at Xiang Shan’s hands in a battle 3,000 years prior, and although he ultimately managed to survive, it had taken him a long time to recover. Since then, Wu Jiang had been constantly thinking about taking Xiang Shan’s life to wash himself of this shame.
However, Xiang Shan’s Order fell and he disappeared from the Territory Lords’ sight after a few years.
Xiang Shan naturally participated whenever the two races fought, but when a battle of such a large scale was joined, the Territory Lords’ responsibility was to keep an eye on the Eighth-Order Masters. Who would be in the mood to search for a lone Seventh-Order Human on such a large battlefield?
If it weren’t for the news of Xiang Shan’s advancement, no one would have thought that the former Western Army Commander, who had made the Territory Lords all tremble in fear, would still be alive.
The hatred that had been brewing for three millennia, once it started boiling, instantly filled Wu Jiang’s mind. His momentum shot through the sky as he charged straight towards the asteroid from millions of kilometres away.
In the midst of this chaotic battle, Yang Kai suddenly felt a sense of crisis completely enveloping him. He promptly looked up and saw an enormous Black Ink Cloud shooting over from the distance. The aura of the Territory Lord inside the Black Ink Cloud was like a bright light in the night, making it extremely obvious.
“A Territory Lord is attacking!” Dongfang Wen Bing suddenly roared, realizing what was happening.
The main reason Wu Jiang was charging so aggressively and had no intention of hiding was probably because he wanted to sow chaos.
“Formation!” Zhu Yu Ming shouted. This time, he didn’t dare to recklessly charge forward. The gap between a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Territory Lord was too great. Without a Formation’s support, no one here could defend against the might of the Territory Lord.
In an instant, the Open Heaven Realm Masters of the four Squads released their auras and connected with one another, instantly assuming a Formation!
Because there were many Secret Arts and Techniques in the Open Heaven Realm with no common origin, it was difficult to create a Formation without extensive practice and deep knowledge gained over a long period of time. Be that as it may, a hastily created Formation was still better than fighting alone.
Fortunately, there were also simple Formations that could largely ignore the effects of one’s origin and cultivation.
Almost every Open Heaven Realm Master on the Black Ink Battlefield was required to practice this kind of formation.
Ten Facets Formation!
The biggest feature of this Formation was that it was quite easy to set up and had a high degree of tolerance for error. To activate this Formation, one needed at least three members, while at most there could be ten. In other words, as long as there were three people, they could arrange this Formation, and so could four, five, six, up to ten.
Depending on the number of people participating, the Formation formed had different names.
Three people linked together to form the Three Fortunes Formation, four people formed a Four Symbols Formation, five people formed a Five Elements Formation… and finally, ten people formed a Ten Facets Formation.
Although it didn’t have the power of a profound Formation that was specially cultivated from youth using matching Secret Arts and Techniques, it was extremely suitable for a place like the Black Ink Battlefield. Many times, in the great battle, Warships would be destroyed and the Open Heaven Realm Masters who were stranded outside would find themselves without protection. In times like these, all it took was three of these Open Heaven Realm Masters to rally together and they could make a Formation, greatly increasing their chances of survival.
Before now, Yang Kai and the others didn’t have any intention of forming a Formation because none of their opponents were individually very strong, despite being vast in number. Their efficiency in fighting alone was much higher when in forming a Formation which concentrated their strength.
However, now that a Territory Lord was attacking, the difference in strength was too great and only by making a Formation could they protect themselves.
Dawn had six Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so they quickly formed a Six Paths Formation, while the Wild Boar Squad, Breeze Squad, and Water Snake Squad, which had even more Seventh-Order Masters, formed Seven Stars Formation, Eight Desolations Formation, and even the Ten Facets Formation.
Territory Lord Wu Jiang arrived in an imposing manner. The first thing he encountered was the Ten Facets Formation formed by the ten Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the Water Snake Squad. The destructive energy radiating from the billowing Black Ink Clouds was enough to destroy all obstacles in its way.
“Scram!” Wu Jiang was completely focused on killing Xiang Shan and was in no mood to pay attention to others. He wanted to break through the blockade of the Human Squads right away, and as such, in the face of the incoming Water Snake Squad, he promptly channelled his power into his palm and ruthlessly smacked it down.
The moment the Water Snake Squad came in contact with Wu Jiang’s attack, the ten Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the Water Snake Squad jolted and their faces went pale as an overwhelming power swept over them. Two or three of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters with the weakest foundation even spat out mouthfuls of blood and could see stars circling before their eyes.
Fortunately, everyone had taken a Purifying Black Ink Pill in advance; otherwise, they would have been easily invaded by Black Ink Strength as their Small Universes were in turmoil right now. Once they had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, they would have been in big trouble.
But with this exchange, the Water Snake Squad immediately realized the huge gap between them and their opponent.
Not every Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master got to fight Territory Lords multiple times in a short span of 100 years like Yang Kai, who even had the unique experience of killing Territory Lords. In their long lengthy career of fighting on the Black Ink Battlefield, their opponents had basically been the Feudal Lords under the Territory Lords. Very few people had the chance and experience of fighting against the Territory Lords.
Their lack of experience had caused them to suffer quite a bit.
Fortunately, there were more than one Squad.
Right behind them were the Wild Boars, who were best at charging in and running amuck, and the agile Breeze Squad. More than a dozen Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the two Squads assumed two Battle Formations. When the Water Snake Squad was repelled, the others attacked Wu Jiang from the left and right with the leaders of both Squads taking point. All the Seventh-Order Masters gathered their entire strength and unleashed their strongest Divine Abilities. Immediately after, their fearsome energy left dazzling trails as they slashed towards Wu Jiang from either side like a giant pair of scissors.
Wu Jiang was enraged. The Black Ink Clouds started billowing as the might of the Territory Lord was fully displayed. The moment his Divine Ability erupted, the two Squads flanking from both sides momentarily paused before they were pushed away.
The next moment, Wu Jiang’s cold snort came from within the Black Ink Cloud, “Know your place!”
The moment he finished speaking, Dawn Squad flew straight towards the Black Ink Cloud with Yang Kai leading the way under the cover of the other two Squads. In the Six Paths Formation, Yang Kai held the Core position, and his aura was closely linked with Feng Ying’s and the others’. Owing to the Battle Formation, part of the strength of the rest of his Squad members was added to his.
The next moment, Yang Kai felt his strength break through its limits. He already had the Azure Dragon Spear in his hand, which he thrust straight towards the Black Ink Cloud.
Immediately after, a crisp sound of metal clashing rang out, accompanied by a muffled grunt. But before Yang Kai could make another attack, a large hand reached out from the Black Ink Cloud, smashing straight down at him.
Yang Kai’s pupils contracted as he urged Space Principles, teleporting the entire Six Paths Formation back by a great distance, causing the giant hand to hit nothing.
Right then, the Water Snake Squad, which was the first to be repelled, had recovered and made another charge. The Wild Boar Squad and Breeze Squad also attacked from the left and right. Noticing this, Yang Kai led Feng Ying and the others to press the attack. The long spear in his hand left shadows covering the entire sky, enveloping the Black Ink Cloud.
The universe trembled and the Void collapsed.
The Seventh-Order Masters from the four Special Operations Squads joined together in Battle Formation to fend off the Territory Lord, halting Wu Jiang’s aggressive charge.
The Squad Leaders were not surprised by this result.
After all, they were not ordinary Squads, but the elite Special Operations Squads of Blue Sky Pass. Each Squad had at least six Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so with four such Squads cooperating, they had enough to gather more than 30 Seventh-Order Masters!
Such a force could easily stop an ordinary Territory Lord even without assuming any Battle Formation, let alone now when they had formed four.
Under the combined power of these Battle Formations, the strength each Squad could display surpassed that of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Although they still had not crossed the line of the Eighth-Order, they could be considered quasi-Eighth-Order Masters in terms of raw strength.
In other words, the power displayed by these four Special Operations Squad Formations was almost equivalent to four quasi-Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters attacking Wu Jiang.
If such strength couldn’t stop Wu Jiang, then they wouldn’t deserve to be called Special Operations Squads.
Be that as it may, Yang Kai and the others’ actions were accompanied by a great deal of risk, and the slightest mistake could lead to a tragic end. As such, all the members of the four Squads were on edge and didn’t dare to relax.
The four Warships could no longer take part in this battle. All the Seventh-Order Masters had gone out to meet the enemy, leaving only the Fifth and Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters behind. If they rashly interfered in a battle of this level, they would only be adding chaos to the battlefield and might even disrupt the rhythm of their Seventh-Order leaders.
What’s more, the Warships weren’t as agile, so if they really joined the battlefield, and if the Territory Lord was not able to do anything to Yang Kai and the others, he would surely target them in frustration.
As such, the four Warships immediately retreated from the battlefield. Fortunately, they had plenty of other things to do. Many of the Black Ink Clan troops had managed to slip through the net and were now desperately attacking the asteroid in an attempt to break the turtle shell of the Old Turtle Squad.
The Old Turtle’s defences were able to fend off their attacks for a time, but it wouldn’t last forever. The arrival of the four Warships had provided timely assistance. When the power of Secret Techniques and offensive Arrays poured out from the Warships, the Black Ink Clan’s cannon fodders were instantly wiped out.
On the other side, Wu Jiang furiously roared as he unleashed his Territory Lord strength to its utmost limit. Nonetheless, he was unable to break through the four Squads’ defences no matter how furious he was, which made him even angrier as he felt he had lost all face.
He had come to find trouble with Xiang Shan, so how could he be in the mood to waste time with these four Squads? But by the looks of it, if he failed to break through the four Squads’ blockade, he could forget about reaching Xiang Shan.
[Humans… are truly hateful. Their individual strength isn’t anything special, but together, they can still unleash much greater power. Fortunately, I didn’t come alone, there is still Hong Hu! As long as I keep these four Squads preoccupied here, Hong Hu will easily succeed.]
Although he felt somewhat regretful that he couldn’t personally deal with Xiang Shan, as things had come to this, he was left with no other choice.
In this fierce battle, Wu Jiang was facing the four Special Operations Squads’ Battle Formation all alone, but not only was he not at a disadvantage, he even appeared to have the upper hand, a testament to his great strength.
In fact, in Blue Sky Theatre, Wu Jiang’s strength was among the top five among all the Territory Lords. Even ordinary Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might not be able to gain the upper hand in a one-on-one fight against him. His powerful strength had made him arrogant, which was why he had never forgotten the defeat he had tasted at Xiang Shan’s hands three millennia ago, and he had marked Xiang Shan as his lifelong enemy.
But what annoyed him the most was that Hong Hu had shown no signs of attacking even after so long.
[That cowardly trash!] Wu Jiang cursed in his heart. He knew that Hong Hu had always been skittish. Since he hadn’t taken action until now, he was obviously hiding in the shadows and observing.
[If I knew he would act like this, I would have let him fight these Humans instead!] Wu Jiang secretly regretted rushing out in the heat of the moment and not taking these Human Squads seriously, which ultimately put him in this awkward position.
After waiting for a while, Wu Jiang couldn’t bear it any longer and angrily roared, “Hong Hu, what are you waiting for!?”
Yang Kai and the others, who were attacking Wu Jiang, all went pale when they heard this. Their worst fears had come true; there was not just one Territory Lord here, but two!
[Where is he?] In the midst of the fierce battle, Yang Kai spread his Divine Sense to investigate, but it was to no avail. If a Territory Lord wanted to hide himself, it would indeed be difficult for Yang Kai to find him in this chaos.
Fortunately, he did not need to investigate for long. After Wu Jiang’s roar, a faint sigh came from somewhere and a figure soon appeared.
It was none other than Hong Hu Territory Lord, who had been hiding in the shadows.
Hong Hu felt a headache coming on! Among all the Territory Lords, he hated working with Wu Jiang the most because his companion’s recklessness would often lead him into trouble. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice this time, because he and Wu Jiang were the only ones nearby, so he had no choice but to move with him.
Originally, he had wanted to observe for a while longer, preferably until Wu Jiang had defeated the four Squads. He would check for other variables before deciding whether to show himself or not, but after Wu Jiang’s shout, no matter how he tried to hide, it would be meaningless. He had no other choice but to show himself.
He might have been feeling a little frustrated, but it didn’t affect the overall situation.
[Of the five elite Human Squads, one is responsible for guarding Xiang Shan while the other four are keeping Wu Jiang occupied. Even now, there are no Eighth-Order Masters in sight. I guess there really isn’t an ambush here.]
[Not to mention, the Eighth-Orders Humans of the forward base had already appeared there.]
Nonetheless, he was still curious as to why Xiang Shan would choose to advance in such a place. An old veteran who had lived for countless years could not have lost his sense of vigilance.
The place where Hong Hu appeared was not far away from the Breeze Warship. The sudden appearance of a Territory Lord startled the Humans aboard the swift Warship, and the members in charge of controlling it hurriedly activated the various Spirit Arrays to open some distance.
Be that as it may, it was too late already. Hong Hu took out a round hammer and swung it down on the Breeze Squad’s Warship.
The shadow of a giant hammer almost covered the entire Warship, and immediately after, it struck, instantly breaking through its various defences and smashing the hull to pieces. The attack’s massive force sent the Warship flying out tens of thousands of kilometres. It was unclear how many people aboard lost their lives!
Although the defences of the Breeze Squad’s Warship were stronger than those of an ordinary Warship, it was still the worst among the five Special Operations Squads. Their prime focus was speed, so it was naturally difficult for them to block a blow from a Territory Lord.
This sight completely shook up the Breeze Squad Leader, Wan Zhen Xin, and his eyes cracked wide open in dismay.
He did not care about the Warship one bit as it could be repaired with some Military Merits, but if any of the Warship’s crew was killed, that was a permanent loss.
Wan Zheng Xin’s heart bled at the very thought.
Be that as it may, he could do nothing regardless of how much he wanted to rescue them. The combined effort of four Special Operations Squads Battle Formations could barely stop Wu Jiang’s advance, so if even one retreated, the remaining three would be no match for the enemy. Once Wu Jiang broke through their blockade, the resulting casualties would be even worse.
There existed an order of priorities, and people had to make difficult choices when faced with a crisis. Wan Zheng Xin perfectly understood this point and his fury and worries turned into boundless rage. He mobilized his World Force madly, unleashing Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques at Wu Jiang recklessly.
At the same time, Yang Kai roared, “Feng Ying, Formation change!”
Under the Six Paths Formation, the six Seventh-Order members of Dawn had their auras and even thoughts linked, so as soon as Yang Kai yelled, Feng Ying understood what he was planning to do.
Without any hesitation, when Yang Kai teleported out, she promptly assumed the Core position. The other four simultaneously changed their positions as well. As such, the Six Paths Formation rapidly changed into a Five Elements Formation, where Yang Kai’s position was replaced by Feng Ying.
“Be careful!” Feng Ying’s voice rang in Yang Kai’s ears as he appeared next to Hong Hu out of nowhere. A Golden Crow cried out and a Great Sun rose from the spear’s tip as Yang Kai thrust his weapon out at Hong Hu.
Yang Kai could not ignore Hong Hu because, after sending Breeze Squad’s Warship flying, he would smash the hammer in his hand down on the Wild Boar Squad’s Warship next.
Although the defences of the Wild Boar Squad’s Warship were better than the Breeze Squad Warship’s, they were still limited. Against the strength Hong Hu had just displayed, the Wild Boar’s Warship would simply be unable to resist.
It was easy to imagine that if no one was there to intercept Hong Hu, the Wild Boar’s Warship would surely meet the same end as Breeze Squad’s, followed by Dawn, and then the Water Snakes.
Although Yang Kai couldn’t understand why Hong Hu didn’t directly disturb Xiang Shan’s breakthrough and instead attacked the Warships, he couldn’t just sit back and watch.
Due to various reasons, the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm members of the other Squads were unable to help, so Yang Kai had no choice but to step in. Furthermore, he had experience in fighting Territory Lords, and his strength was far greater than an ordinary Seventh-Order Master’s. He was also proficient in the Dao of Space, so even if he was not an opponent of the Territory Lord, he would not fall so quickly.
The other Seventh-Order Masters could not do this and only death awaited them if they tried. If an entire group came over, Wu Jiang would no longer be suppressed and would surely start a bloodbath.
Yang Kai’s sudden appearance took Hong Hu by surprise. In fact, he was just testing the waters when he attacked Breeze Squad’s Warship; after all, there had been no casualties on the Human Race’s side up until now. Things might not be looking good for the Humans at this moment; but in reality, everything was still in their control. If an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Master was lying in wait nearby, he or she may have decided to not provide help.
Attacking a Warship was the best way to test the waters. If an Eighth-Order Master was really hiding in the shadows, he or she would definitely try to stop him once casualties and deaths on the Human side became inevitable.
Much to his satisfaction, no Eighth-Order Masters stepped in, just a lone Seventh-Order Human.
Hong Hu didn’t take the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters seriously, even when the one attacking him displayed an extremely powerful Divine Ability.
Hong Hu casually swung the hammer in his hand, hitting the tip of the spear, and annihilating the Great Sun. The spear in Yang Kai’s hand almost flew out from the recoil and the violent force which was transmitted to him sent him tumbling far away in the blink of an eye.
After swatting away the annoying ant, Hong Hu gazed down at the asteroid. His gaze pierced through the thick protection surrounding the asteroid, whereupon he saw a familiar figure sitting cross-legged on the ground.
[Xiang Shan! It’s been ages since we last met, but unfortunately for you, this place will be your grave!]
Since he was certain that there was no ambush here, Hong Hu didn’t hesitate any longer. He raised his hammer high as the power of his Black Ink Strength surged around him to the point that it seemed solid. The next moment, he brought his hammer down hard under the furious gazes of Chai Fang and the others.
When the hammer fell, it was as if two Universe Worlds had collided. The surrounding million kilometres radius trembled as the violent blast of energy materialized into a shockwave that rapidly propagated. Even the Warships that were far away from the hammer’s point of impact instantly bobbed up and down like they were caught up in a storm.
*Kacha…*
With the hammer as the centre, an enormous crack appeared on the defensive barrier of the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship before it began spreading out like a spider web.
Hong Hu was a little surprised at this sight and commented, “It’s quite sturdy!”
Even with his fearsome Territory Lord strength, his full-powered blow was unable to break through this barrier. The defensive power of this strange Warship was surprisingly good.
Nonetheless, no matter how strong its defences were, it couldn’t withstand such fierce attacks for long. With just one strike, Hong Hu came to the conclusion that he only needed three strikes to completely break this barrier.
*Hong …*
With another blow, the cracks became wider. Even the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship flickered and cracking sounds came from its hull as it was unable to bear the attack.
“Hold fast! Channel all your power into the defences!” Chai Fang furiously roared as he ground his teeth. With him as the leader, the entire 50 members of the Old Turtle Squad pushed their strength madly.
Nonetheless, whether it was Chai Fang or his Squad members, they all knew that when the Territory Lord’s next attack landed, their shields would be broken. The gap in strength between the two sides was not something they could make up for with their efforts.
Hong Hu raised his hammer once more as a giant shadow appeared. Just when it was about to fall though, Hong Hu turned his head and looked back.
In the distant void, a Great Sun was slowly rising, followed by a Full Moon. Under the combined brilliance of this Sun and Moon, a strange power started surging.
This power was hard to describe and difficult to understand, seemingly containing various kinds of mysteries. Hong Hu had never felt this kind of power before, but a sense of unease gripped his heart once he did. This strange power actually posed a certain threat to him.
As the Sun and Moon intertwined with each other, this mysterious power became more and more sublime.
At first, it was still quite some distance away, but in the next instant, it was somehow right in front of him. Behind this swirl of light was the Seventh-Order Human he had sent flying not too long ago, wearing a stoic look on his face.
In the end, Hong Hu’s third strike never happened. He had always been cautious, so when facing this unknown threat, his choice was always to take care of it first!
Black Ink Strength rapidly surged as a large Black Ink Cloud emerged, enveloping Hong Hu and allowing him to disappear from everyone’s sight.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel struck the Black Ink Clouds, and in that instant, Space-Time Strength spread out into the surroundings. For that moment, everyone had the illusion that time was frozen and space had solidified.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye, but it felt like hundreds of thousands of years had passed.
A sigh escaped Yang Kai’s lips as a desolate look appeared on his face.
The Sun Moon Divine Wheel was the strongest move in his arsenal, but even it failed to do anything to the Territory Lord. It simply lacked the strength to kill its target while the latter was on guard.
On the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship, Chai Fang and the others were staring in Hong Hu’s direction with widened eyes, but when the solid Black Ink Cloud dispersed, they didn’t see the scene they were expecting.
Much to their surprise, there was an enormous black shell inside the Black Ink Cloud, like a cocoon that had been enlarged countless times.
The cocoon was congealed from extremely dense Black Ink Strength. Suddenly, cracks began to appear on its surface one after another before it shattered into pieces, revealing Hong Hu’s figure.
He glanced at Yang Kai and exclaimed, “Such an extraordinary move!”
In fact, if he hadn’t promptly circulated his strength to condense the black cocoon, encasing himself and devoting his full attention to his defence, he would have been seriously injured by the last attack.
A mere Seventh-Order Human actually had the ability to injure him. If this was a moment ago, he would never have believed it possible, but having experienced it personally, he could not deny it.
Fortunately for him, he had responded in a timely and appropriate fashion. Although he had consumed a lot of energy, he was not injured.
[This Seventh-Order Human is probably another elite not inferior to Xiang Shan!] Hong Hu’s spirits were immediately lifted. Not only could he kill Xiang Shan today, but he could also destroy another promising seedling of the Human Race.
While he was in a great mood, Yang Kai’s heart sank into the abyss.
Even his strongest attack failed to do anything to Hong Hu; so right now, apart from defending the Old Turtle Squad with his life, he could do nothing else.
The reinforcements from the forward base were nowhere in sight, most likely intercepted by the Black Ink Clan.
Furthermore, in the absence of his powerful combat strength, things were not looking good for Feng Ying and the other Seventh-Order Masters. When Yang Kai was there, the four Squads in Battle Formations were able to put up a good fight against Wu Jiang. Even if they were at a disadvantage, they would not have been defeated in short order.
But as soon as he left, although the Masters from the four Squads were still in Formation, Dawn’s overall strength had decreased sharply, increasing Wu Jiang’s advantage. By the looks of it, the four Formations would be defeated by Wu Jiang in less than an hour, at which point they would suffer heavy casualties.
Yang Kai couldn’t see any hope. Although he still had a trump card he had yet to use, it was hard to say how effective it would be.
Nonetheless, he couldn’t back down even in this situation.
Raising his hand, Yang Kai summoned the Azure Dragon Spear as he threw a Spirit Pill into his mouth. Yang Kai pointed his weapon towards Hong Hu and mobilized his Space Principles, instantly disappearing from sight.
The next time he appeared, he was standing right before Hong Hu, the Azure Dragon Spear rapidly expanding in Hong Hu’s eyes.
“Impudence!” Hong Hu coldly snorted as he brought his hammer down to meet the Azure Dragon Spear.
Yang Kai staggered from the impact, but before he could even regain his footing, a mass of Black Ink Strength flew towards his face, enveloping his head and disturbing his five senses. It became impossible for him to see or hear anything, even his Divine Sense was greatly suppressed.
He instinctively blocked an incoming attack with his spear, but he was sent flying as a result of his hasty defence, his chest caved in and several of his ribs broke.
Hong Hu exclaimed in surprise. He hadn’t held back in his last attack. Under normal circumstances, a Seventh-Order Human would have not been able to block such a blow and would have lost his life on the spot, but much to his surprise, the Human before his eyes survived, albeit with heavy injuries.
[As expected of an elite seedling, such a person cannot be allowed to grow!]
Hong Hu became even more determined to kill Yang Kai. Nonetheless, he didn’t immediately chase after him, he wanted to finish off Xiang Shan first.
In comparison, he was more wary of Xiang Shan.
The hammer in his hand fell once more and the already cracked barrier finally couldn’t bear the brunt and shattered into pieces. Even the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship suffered great damage. Many of the members who had been linked to the Warship to provide it with power spurted a mouthful of blood as their auras weakened.
With the protective barrier broken, there was nothing stopping Hong Hu, who now coldly stared at Xiang Shan before he raised his hammer high and swung it down hard.
Chai Fang and the others helplessly stared at the oncoming attack in horror. At this moment, none of them had the strength to stop this blow. Not only would Xiang Shan die, but even the asteroid below would probably be blown to pieces.
This did not escape the eyes of the Masters near Wu Jiang. All of them wanted to help, but they were unable to interfere! Before, they were the ones who had been pestering Wu Jiang, but now Wu Jiang was the one who was tying them down.
Just as despair filled everyone’s face, a beam of light came shooting out from below.
This attack was extremely sudden and came without any warning. Hong Hu only noticed it when it was practically on top of him, causing him to jump in fright and hastily defend himself.
Even a Territory Lord like him was forced back by this blow.
Looking down, he noticed that Xiang Shan, who had been sitting cross-legged on the asteroid, happened to have opened his eyes at some point and was staring at him with a smile.
Hong Hu was terrified!
[This is a trap, this is definitely a trap!]
Although Hong Hu didn’t notice any traces of any Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, when he met Xiang Shan’s mocking gaze, he knew that his worries had come true!
The Human Race had once again set up a sinister trap here to lure him and Wu Jiang out. It was laughable that even with all his caution, he had failed to see through this.
Although he might not have an idea of what the Human Race’s goal was or where the trap was, Hong Hu was a decisive person. After realizing that things were not good, he immediately tried to escape.
But it was already too late.
Before Hong Hu could make any move, Xiang Shan was already flying towards him like a bolt of lightning. When Xiang Shan moved, it appeared as if he had summoned something, and while he was charging, his aura steadily rose. In just three breaths of time, his cultivation had risen from the Seventh Order to the Eighth.
As the two clashed in the void, their Black Ink Strength and World Force clashed to form a violent storm.
On the Old Turtle Squad’s broken Warship, Squad Leader Chai Fang and his Squad members were all dumbfounded. It never occurred to them that something like this would happen at this desperate moment and came as a pleasant surprise to them.
After giving it another thought though, Chai Fang came to realize that the reason Xiang Shan was able to advance to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm at just the right moment could not be a coincidence; rather, it had to be intentional.
In other words, Senior Xiang Shan had always been able to break through at any moment, but he had been holding his advancement back for some purpose.
Naturally, it was impossible for an ordinary Seventh-Order Master to break through to the Eighth-Order like this, but it was different for Xiang Shan. He was originally an Eighth-Order Master, and the reason his Order had dropped was only because he had cut off too much of his Small Universe in the past. He had the base of an Eighth-Order Master from the start, and after painstakingly cultivating for three millennia, he had already regained and strengthened his incomplete foundation. After three millennia, as far as he was concerned, it was just a matter of course to return to Eight-Order so long as the opportunity appeared.
Chai Fang even suspected that Xiang Shan had advanced to the Eighth Order already, but for some reason, had been acting like he was in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. As for what this reason was, he was temporarily unable to guess.
“Squad Leader, is that… a Purifying Black Ink Battleship?” A pale-faced Squad member suddenly asked.
The Old Turtle Squad’s defensive barrier had been destroyed by Hong Hu’s three hammer strikes, and the entire Squad had suffered varying degrees of injuries while even their Warship had been damaged. Nonetheless, when compared to having been killed by Hong Hu, this result was still acceptable.
After hearing this Squad member’s question, Chai Fang turned his gaze towards the asteroid and indeed, he saw a Warship there. This Warship was far more magnificent than an ordinary Squad Rank Warships or even a Battalion Rank Warship.
In the entire Blue Sky Pass, a Warship of this scale could only be a Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
[Why is a Purifying Black Ink Battleship here?]
He vaguely remembered that when Xiang Shan moved just now, he seemed to have summoned something and tossed it out. Apparently, what he had summoned was this Purifying Black Ink Battleship.
Although the Warship was large, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could still easily store it in his or her Small Universe.
In a flash, Chai Fang understood the various arrangements of the higher-ups and was shocked at the revelation!
At a certain moment before Xiang Shan summoned the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, seven or eight Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, led by Ding Yao, had gathered together in Blue Sky Pass. Their hands were rapidly forming different seals one after another, but strangely, no matter what seals these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters made, nothing happened.
Furthermore, it had already been two days since they had begun doing this.
Even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would find it quite tiring to repeat such a boring task for a long time.
Lu An couldn’t help but grumble, “Has Senior Brother Xiang not made his move yet?”
An Eighth-Order Master asked with a smile, “Brother Lu, are you getting frustrated from all the waiting?”
Lu An corrected, “I’m just worried that those brats won’t be able to hold on. I don’t know how many Territory Lords Senior Brother Xiang managed to lure out, but if the number is too large, it might lead to casualties.”
The Eighth-Order Master stated, “Senior Brother Xiang is a meticulous person. Since he hasn’t made a move yet, it means that the situation is still under control. We should keep waiting until Senior Brother Xiang has made his move, in any case…”
Before the Eighth-Order Master could finish his sentence, the light of the Universe Array appeared beneath his feet after he finished a set of hand seals.
Ding Yao raised his brow and shouted, “It’s time!”
Everyone held their breaths and focused as the speed at which they formed hand seals sharply increased. In an instant, the light Universe Arrays appeared beneath their respective feet.
After a few breaths, the light faded as the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters gathered here vanished.
The next moment, all the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters stepped out of the Purifying Black Ink Battleship on an asteroid billion of kilometers away, with Ding Yao in the lead.
After looking around, Ding Yao immediately understood the situation and shouted, “Act according to the plan!”
As soon as he relayed the order, five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters flew towards Xiang Shan while the remaining three rushed towards Wu Jiang.
At this moment, Hong Hu’s face was filled with indignation. Ever since he had received the message from the Territory Lords on the front lines, asking him and Wu Jiang to come here to kill Xiang Shan, he had suspected that this was a scheme set up by the Humans.
What kind of character was Xiang Shan? If he really wanted to advance to the Eighth Order, how could he not have anyone guarding him? Why would he choose this damned place to advance?
After multiple probes, and a sacrifice of close to 100,000 Black Ink Clansmen, as well as a careful investigation of the surrounding region, when they found nothing suspicious, nor any ambush, Hong Hu’s fear of Xiang Shan breaking through forced him to take action.
But just as he was about to deal with Xiang Shan, something unexpected happened.
Xiang Shan actually returned to the Eighth Order in an extremely short time, making it impossible for Hong Hu to easily kill him.
This sudden turn of events made Hong Hu realize that this was definitely a trap! The only thing he failed to understand was what Xiang Shan could do to him even if he had returned to the Eighth Order.
Had it been three millennia ago, when Xiang Shan was at his peak, Hong Hu would definitely not have been his opponent. If he had been down on his luck, he might have even been killed by Xiang Shan.
However, things were different now. Xiang Shan had just returned to the Eighth Order, and after exchanging a few blows with him, Hong Hu discovered that the former’s current strength was only on par with his, perhaps even slightly inferior.
In his current state, he couldn’t kill Xiang Shan, nor could Xiang Shan kill him, so what was the purpose of this trap?
Just as he was feeling puzzled, powerful auras suddenly emerged from the nearby asteroid out of nowhere.
Naturally, they were the auras of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters! Eight of them!
The moment he noticed these auras, Hong Hu noticed five figures rushing in his direction from the asteroid from the corner of his eye.
Hong Hu was filled with grief and unwillingness. No matter how he racked his brain, he couldn’t figure out where these Eighth-Order Masters popped out from and why he failed to notice them until now.
He couldn’t figure it out, but he knew that if he didn’t escape now, he would never be able to. Xiang Shan alone might not be able to do anything to him, but if five more Eighth-Order Humans were added to the mix, it would be another matter. He was no match for those kinds of odds.
But how could Xiang Shan allow him to escape? Immediately, all kinds of Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques were shot out, but they were not intended to injure the enemy, but rather just to obstruct Hong Hu’s escape. This was why Xiang Shan had specially summoned a net-like artifact. This artifact instantly fell over Hong Hu’s head and transformed into an invisible binding force, preventing him from escaping.
Although Hong Hu had quickly destroyed this artifact, the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already arrived.
“Ding Yao!” Hong Hu was shocked at the sight of the person leading the team.
Naturally, he was well aware of the Army Commander of Blue Sky Pass’ Eastern Army. Not just Ding Yao, all Army Commanders were the strongest of the Eighth-Order Humans. Every Territory Lord knew them well.
[But… shouldn’t Ding Yao be guarding Blue Sky Pass? What’s he doing here? Also, the other Eighth-Order Masters here have never appeared at the forward base before. They should all be guarding Blue Sky Pass!]
While he was reeling from shock, the five Eighth-Order Masters stood in a pentagonal position around him under Ding Yao’s lead. Each of them stood tens of thousands of metres apart, but their auras were closely linked together, forming a Battle Formation.
Five Elements Formation!
Different from the Five Elements Formation formed by the five Seventh-Order Masters of Dawn, this one was powered by five Eighth-Order Masters.
The World Force of the connected Eighth-Order Masters instantly filled the entire void, turning it into a quagmire that could swallow all things.
Trapped in this Battle Formation, Hong Hu’s strength was instantly suppressed by 30%. He felt as if every inch of his body had grown heavier, as if a mountain was pressing down on him.
He wanted to escape, but no matter how he moved, Ding Yao and the others followed him like shadows, maintaining a distance of a few tens of thousands of meters between them and trapping him between them.
Hong Hu’s face was filled with despair!
By the time the Five Elements Formation was complete, Xiang Shan had already withdrawn as there was no need for him here.
He didn’t remain idle though and headed straight towards Wu Jiang.
Just a moment ago, the three Eighth-Order Masters led by Lu An had arrived at Wu Jiang and the four Special Operations Squads’ location.
In fact, when the auras of these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters appeared, not only did Hong Hu and Wu Jiang sense them, but their appearance was also noticed by the Seventh-Order Masters of the four Squads.
Similar to Hong Hu, Wu Jiang immediately realized that things were not looking good for them and he tried to shake off these Squads to escape. He was no match for so many Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. As for whether Hong Hu could escape or not, he couldn’t care less about it at this point.
However, the four Special Operations Squads knew that their reinforcements had arrived, so how could they let the enemy escape so easily?
A single Squad couldn’t stop Wu Jiang, and even if all four of them joined forces, it would still be difficult, but at least they were able to delay him.
“Brats, move aside!” A shout came before three Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters with Lu An in the lead arrived and took over the fight with Wu Jiang.
The four Special Operations Squads all felt relieved and quickly retreated.
With three against one, Wu Jiang instantly fell into a disadvantageous position, but this was not the end of his misery as Xiang Shan also arrived shortly after.
Wu Jiang furiously roared and struggled for his life, causing Black Ink Clouds to billow around him, but against four enemies of equal strength, his defeat was only a matter of time.
When Yang Kai hurriedly returned from the distance, what he saw next left him dumbfounded.
Hong Hu’s hammer strike caused his vitality and World Force to be thrown into turmoil and sent him flying tens of thousands of kilometers away. Even with his powerful Dragon Vein, he was seriously injured.
After stabilizing himself, he immediately rushed back, but he had never expected to see the scene before him.
Led by Ding Yao, five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had formed a strange Formation around Hong Hu, trapping him. No matter how Hong Hu struggled, he was unable to break free. Ding Yao and the others were sticking to him like maggots on rotting bones, constantly maintaining a certain distance from him.
On the other side, Wu Jiang was also being besieged by four Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The battle here was far more intense than Hong Hu’s, causing space to split apart and the void to tremble.
Yang Kai even saw Xiang Shan in the mix, but at this moment, he was already an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Less than 10 breaths had passed since Yang Kai was sent flying and his return, but the situation had changed drastically. Fortunately, this change was extremely beneficial to Yang Kai’s side, allowing him to finally let his racing heart rest.
Turning his head to look, he instantly teleported to the Old Turtle Squad’s Warship and stood next to Chai Fang.
The Old Turtle Squad’s Warship was in a very bad state. The entire Warship was in tatters with practically all of its Spirit Arrays having exploded. Even the great turtle shell artifact on top of the Warship was covered in deep cracks. After returning, the Warship would have to undergo an extensive repair before it could return to the battlefield.
Also, Chai Fang and the others’ auras were somewhat weak; obviously, they had suffered varying degrees of injuries.
“Is this the arrangement of the Seniors?” Yang Kai asked with a frown.
Although he didn’t know why things had suddenly changed so drastically, Yang Kai had some guesses judging by the current situation.
“That should be the case,” Chai Fang nodded and resentfully complained, “But they kept us in the dark.”
“How did they get here?” Yang Kai asked again.
Chai Fang silently pointed down.
Yang Kai gazed down and instantly understood, seeing the Purifying Black Ink Battleship left on the asteroid.
[They thought to use a Purifying Black Ink Battleship like this? The way the Eighth-Order Commanders think is truly unrestrained and creative.]
Although he didn’t know who came up with this idea, it was pretty obvious that this Purifying Black Ink Battleship had been stored in Xiang Shan’s Small Universe. At the critical moment, when they were finally summoned, Ding Yao and the others who had been back in Blue Sky Pass were able to use the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s Universe Array to instantly arrive here to assist.
Although this place was far from Blue Sky Pass, Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were strong enough to withstand the pressures of transferring across such distance through the Void.
It would not have worked if Seventh-Order Masters tried to teleport here from Blue Sky Pass as they would have been crushed during the transit.
Of the two battlefields, one was five on one, while the other was four against one. Regardless of which one it was, the Humans had the absolute advantage. It was quite obvious that Hong Hu and Wu Jiang Territory Lord would not survive this encounter.
But when Yang Kai saw how Ding Yao and the others were moving, it didn’t seem like they were trying to kill Hong Hu. On the other hand, Lu An and the others attacking Wu Jiang were using all kinds of lethal moves, overwhelming Wu Jiang and reducing him to a sorry state.
Judging by the Battle Formation used by Ding Yao and the others and their behaviour, it seemed apparent they wanted to capture Hong Hu alive.
Seeing this, Yang Kai immediately recalled the Feudal Lord imprisoned in the basement of the forward base as Grandmaster Ma Fan’s image involuntarily flashed in his mind.
He immediately understood what was going on.
Capturing a Feudal Lord alive was not difficult as any Eighth-Order Master could do so; however, Yang Kai had never heard of a Territory Lord being captured alive. After all, only an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could fight against a Territory Lord.
Just because there was no precedent didn’t mean the Human Race couldn’t do it, but Blue Sky Pass didn’t meet the conditions in the past to accomplish this. A Territory Lord’s Black Ink Strength was extremely rich and powerful, so even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would be at a risk of being corroded by it. Also, what would the point of capturing a Territory Lord alive be? It would be a waste of time and effort only to produce a prisoner that would have to constantly be guarded by powerful Masters.
Relatively speaking, defeating a Territory Lord in battle was easy, killing them was hard, and capturing them alive was all but impossible.
Nonetheless, the current situation was different. The Human Race already had a way to deal with the corruption of Black Ink Strength. On top of that, the research on the Evil Purging Divine Spear had made great strides with Grandmaster Ma Fan’s efforts. Obviously, experimenting on Feudal Lords was no longer able to satisfy Grandmaster Ma Fan’s needs; he needed a Territory Lord to perform more comprehensive experiments to improve the Evil Purging Divine Spear further.
Having been encircled by Ding Yao and the others, Hong Hu seemed to be the target of this operation. As for Wu Jiang, he could only be killed. Territory Lords were tenacious, so one was more than enough to experiment on; there was no need to bring two back.
The members of the Special Operations Squads returned one after another, even their respective Warships flew over. The Breeze Squad even brought back their heavily damaged Warships.
The Breeze Squad’s Warship had been sent flying by Hong Hu and suffered extensive damage not long ago. It was unclear how many were dead and how many were injured, so Breeze’s Squad Leader Wan Zheng Xin was extremely worried. However, at that time, he was still preoccupied with Wu Jiang and had no time to check up on his Squad members.
Until now.
After a quick count, the Breeze Squad had suffered fatalities while all the others had been injured, with more than ten having suffered serious wounds. Even the Warship was severely damaged and in a much worse state than the Old Turtle’s Warship.
Although three of his Squad members had fallen and a dozen or so were heavily injured, it was still an acceptable result. They were already extremely fortunate that they had only suffered such a small loss after taking the full powered sneak attack of a Territory Lord; any ordinary Squad would have been completely wiped out from such a blow.
No one tried to comfort him, as on the Black Ink Battlefield, who hadn’t experienced a few life and death battles? Those who had died had returned to dust, and those who had survived continued moving forward. Everyone had only two choices, either they sacrifice their life to the Black Ink Battlefield, or win this war that had lasted for countless millennia and return home in glory.
Everyone was silently adjusting their breathing as they observed the battle between the two groups of great experts.
Wu Jiang’s situation became worse and worse; his entire body was covered in wounds as black blood covered his body. He was unable to escape and was powerless to resist the siege of the four Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so only death awaited him.
On the other side, the range where Hong Hu could move was further suppressed. Ding Yao and the others were originally tens of thousands of meters away from him, but now they were only a few thousand meters away. It was obvious that once the distance between them shrank to a certain extent, he would lose all ability to resist.
Hong Hu obviously knew this as well and had been desperately struggling, but it was clear he was on his last leg.
There weren’t many opportunities to witness a battle between Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Territory Lords without any other worries, so all the members of the various elite Squads were watching intently, hoping to gain some insights.
An hour later, a blade of light cut into Wu Jiang’s body as a roar of unwillingness escaped his lips and his eyes bulged in fury. A small crack soon appeared on his forehead as Xiang Shan’s figure brushed past him before his body split in twain.
An invisible wave of aura silently spread out into the depths of the void from the fall of a Territory Lord.
Lu An, Xiang Shan, and the other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters all let out a sigh of relief. Fighting a Territory Lord who knew he was going to die was really exhausting. After Wu Jiang realized that he had no hope of escaping alive today, he had desperately lashed out in an attempt to drag at least one of them down with him, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have a chance to succeed. Any negligence on the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ part during the battle would give him that very chance.
Fortunately, the four Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were all extremely cautious and didn’t give Wu Jiang any chance to take one of them down with him. As such, the price they paid was marginal.
The moment Wu Jiang died, Mao Chi and Zhong Yan, who were fighting with the two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, surnamed Zhang and Sun in the depths of the void far away from this place, felt something and exchanged a look of surprise.
They couldn’t understand how Wu Jiang had perished.
[Hong Hu and Wu Jiang should be together. Wu Jiang had fallen, so where is Hong Hu? Those two went to kill Xiang Shan, so did they fail? Did the Humans ambush them?]
Mao Chi and Zhong Yan had no idea what was happening on the other side, but their task was only to tie down these two Eighth-Order Division Commanders and prevent them from assisting Xiang Shan.
Now that Wu Jiang had fallen and Hong Hu’s situation remained unclear, there was no need for them to continue fighting with these two Eighth-Order Humans.
Without any need for discussion, the two Territory Lords made a feint before breaking away from the Eighth-Order Humans. They then promptly summoned Black Ink Clouds and quickly disappeared.
The two Eighth-Order Masters surnamed Zhang and Sun didn’t have any intention of giving chase. Although they had the upper hand in this battle, it was impossible for them to kill their opponents. Even without a full force deployment, it was easy to determine victory or defeat when both sides’ numbers were equal, but it was difficult to kill their foes.
The Eighth-Order Master surnamed Zhang turned his head in a certain direction and thoughtfully made a guess, “They should have succeeded.”
The Eighth-Order Master surnamed Sun nodded in agreement, “The shockwave from the death of a Territory Lord was very weak, almost undetectable, but it was definitely there.”
“Let’s head back.”
The two of them had originally been bait and had not intended to assist Xiang Shan from the start. They had simply come out from the forward base to draw the attention of the Territory Lords; otherwise, it would really be unreasonable for the forward base to show no response at all when Xiang Shan was breaking through.
Now that Xiang Shan’s side had succeeded and the Territory Lords fighting them had also escaped, there was no need for them to remain any longer. A battle should still be raging at the frontlines, so if they rushed back now, they might be able to end things there.
The two left dazzling streaks of light as they flew towards the forward base.
Elsewhere, in the Royal City, the dormant Royal Lord’s aura suddenly awakened as a majestic Will spread into the void for millions of kilometers in the blink of an eye with the Royal City as its center.
But the next moment, another majestic Will spread out from a certain place in the void. This invisible Will transformed into a tangible force as it ruthlessly clashed with the previous Will.
The violent burst of energy only lasted for a moment before everything returned to calm. Only a certain part of the void suddenly became fragmented and chaotic. It was the spot where the two Wills clashed.
“Sooner or later, I will exterminate your Human Race!” The Will of the Royal Lord in the Royal City flared with thick malicious intent.
The Old Ancestor remained in a lotus position in the void and indifferently responded, “Try it!”
The Royal Lord’s Will no longer responded and slowly fell dormant while the Old Ancestor also closed his eyes and his Will was withdrawn.
Wu Jiang’s death was a huge blow to Hong Hu, which led to him losing focus while still under the combined assault of the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
How could Ding Yao and the others miss this opportunity? Their figures flickered as they instantly closed the distance between Hong Hu and them.
The distance between both sides had shortened to only a few hundred metres. They were now so close that it was almost as if they were face to face.
The connected auras of the five Eighth-Order Masters formed a Battle Formation which acted to suppress the enemy in the centre. The closer the five of them got, the stronger this suppression became.
With the Formation shrunk to this extent, Hong Hu found it difficult to even move. His Black Ink Strength was not flowing smoothly, and his strength had decreased by nearly 50%. When the five Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters closed the Battle Formation even further, Hong Hu was completely rooted to the spot. Although he struggled with all his might, trying to escape, his movements were countless times slower now. At this moment, let alone five Eighth-Order Masters, even a Seventh-Order Human could easily kill him.
Knowing that he could not escape this disaster, Hong Hu laughed in anguish before completely giving up struggling. He stared at Ding Yao, and asked, “What do you want to do?”
Ding Yao simply ignored him altogether and took out a strange box from his Space Ring. The box was a perfect cube and made of some unidentifiable material.
The moment this box appeared, not just Ding Yao, but even the other four Eighth-Order Masters looked cautious and solemn with a slight trace of fear visible on their faces. Obviously, the contents of this box were something extraordinary and could even pose a threat to Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like them.
In fact, that was indeed the case; after all, it was meant to be used to deal with Territory Lords. Something that posed no threat to Eighth-Order Masters would naturally be useless against a Territory Lord.
Their attitude made Hong Hu feel even more uneasy. Under nervous gazes, Ding Yao formed a hand seal and opened the box before gathering World Energy in his mouth and gently blowing into it.
Immediately after, a white mist-like object flew out from the box and enveloped Hong Hu.
The next moment, Hong Hu’s entire body was covered in frost, which quickly spread outward and enveloped him, turning him into a giant block of ice.
The block of ice was crystal clear. Even looking from afar, Yang Kai and the others found the frozen Hong Hu looked alive. He still maintained the state before he was frozen, even the fear in his eyes was clearly visible.
But this wasn’t the end. Ding Yao raised his hand and took out something resembling a coffin; however, it was massive and obviously not something made for humans, but rather was specially made for the Black Ink Clan.
Ding Yao formed hand seals and the frozen Hong Hu was sent into the giant coffin under his guidance before the lid closed. Ding Yao then formed another set of hand seals as dazzling streaks of light shot straight towards the coffin.
Soon, the coffin’s lid was spotted with faintly glowing runes. The runes formed a chain, wrapping around the giant coffin before slowly disappearing.
Success!
Ding Yao and the others glanced at each other before slightly nodding.
It was the first time the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters attempted to capture a Territory Lord alive; fortunately, everything went smoothly and there were no major mistakes.
With a Territory Lord in their hands, the weapon to deal with the Black Ink Clan would be developed even faster.
“Good job.”
Just as Yang Kai and the others were watching everything with rapt attention, a voice suddenly rang in their ears.
Everyone turned their heads and saw Xiang Shan wearing a green robe, calmly floating over. Everyone might have been exhausted after the battle, but the fact that Xiang Shan was able to approach them without anyone noticing was still a great testament to his strength.
“Greetings, Senior Xiang!” Everyone respectfully bowed and cupped their fists.
Xiang Shan waved his hand as Yang Kai and the others involuntarily straightened up.
“Hong Hu isn’t the strongest amongst all the Territory Lords, only somewhere around the middle of the ranks, but in terms of caution, he is second to none. Your efforts lowered his guard and successfully lured him out. Although I could have advanced to the Eighth Order at any time, the timing of my initial attack had to be perfect. If I acted too early, it would only alert the enemy, and if he sensed that something wasn’t right, he would have immediately fled. So, when I made my move, I had to ensure that I could pin him down.”
Breeze Squad Leader Wan Zheng Xin pursed his lips and nodded, “Junior understands!”
He knew that the reason why Xiang Shan had come and explained himself to them, Seventh-Order Masters, was because when the Breeze Squad’s Warship had been attacked by Hong Hu, Xiang Shan had not taken action to save it. If Xiang Shan had taken action at that time, their Warship would definitely have remained safe, and they wouldn’t have more than a dozen seriously injured and three dead.
But that was not the best time for Xiang Shan to act.
There was no need for him to explain himself in the first place. Wan Zheng Xin was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Master and a Squad Leader, he understood that the situation called for Xiang Shan to not make any move. Nonetheless, Xiang Shan still explained it to them.
“When my Junior Brothers stepped onto this Black Ink Battlefield, they all resolved to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the Human Race if need be. It is our greatest honour to lay down our lives on the battlefield.”
Xiang Shan slightly nodded his acknowledgement, “Now that this matter has been settled, you can accompany me here and rest for a while.”
“Yes!” Everyone nodded their agreement.
It was true that they needed to recuperate. The five Special Operations Squads had consumed a great deal of strength in this battle, and every Squad had suffered injuries of varying degrees. The Warships of Old Turtle and Breeze Squads were also severely damaged.
Xiang Shan also needed to rest after just recovering his Eighth-Order cultivation. Although there was no problem with his cultivation, he still needed some time to consolidate it. What’s more, the five Special Operations Squads here needed someone to look after them as they recuperated, and Xiang Shan was the best candidate.
While they were talking, Ding Yao and the others had already finished making arrangements.
After a brief communication, the five Eighth-Order Masters surrounding Hong Hu each activated the Universe Transference Law and returned to Blue Sky Pass. Meanwhile, the other three Eighth-Order Masters led by Lu An were responsible for escorting the giant coffin to the forward base and quickly disappeared from everyone’s sight.
Xiang Shan and the five Special Operations Squads were left behind to rest.
The Special Operations Squads flew towards the asteroid to find a place to recuperate, while the Purifying Black Ink Battleship that had been summoned was retrieved by Xiang Shan.
In fact, when they had planned to use this Purifying Black Ink Battleship, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already been mentally prepared for it to be destroyed by the Territory Lords, but Hong Hu was too skittish, so after discovering that Xiang Shan had returned to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he immediately made a run for it, completely ignoring the giant Warship.
Of course, even if he really did attack the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, Xiang Shan would not let him succeed so easily.
After putting away the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, Xiang Shan headed straight towards the place where Dawn was recuperating.
Seeing him arrive, Yang Kai swiftly got up, but was just as quickly made to sit back down by Xiang Shan.
Xiang Shan sat cross-legged across from him, looking at him with a smile, “I heard that the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was built by you?”
Yang Kai blushed with shame and stated, “Junior simply provided the idea. The one who really refined it was someone else.”
He found it a bit strange. It had been over a century since he had arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, and a lot of time had passed since the Purifying Black Ink Battleships entered service, so why was Xiang Shan acting like he didn’t know about it?
As if he could see through what was going on in Yang Kai’s mind, Xiang Shan explained, “I’ve been in a retreat for the last three centuries. When I came out, everything had changed quite a bit.”
Yang Kai understood. Since Xiang Shan had been in seclusion for three hundred years, it was natural for him to be unaware of the existence of the Purifying Black Ink Battleships. How could ordinary people have the privilege to be in a retreat for so long? Only someone like Xiang Shan, who had once been an Eighth-Order Master, would be permitted to enter seclusion for several hundred years.
“It’s good to have some changes. I’d be more concerned if nothing had changed during that time,” Xiang Shan stared into the depths of the void, his gaze deep and profound, “Too much time has passed, yet we Humans haven’t made any progress on the Black Ink Battlefield. Generation after generation of sacrifices have only brought about a temporary peace, but how long can this status quo last? So, Humans need to change. Some of the new things you’ve brought with you will be of great advantage to us.”
Changing the topic, Xiang Shan asked, “Judging by your previous fight with Hong Hu, it seems you still have some trump cards you haven’t used?”
Yang Kai agreed, nodding, “Indeed, but their strength is limited. Even if I used them, it may not have made much difference.”
Attacking with his Dragon Bead and the Purifying Light were Yang Kai’s last two trump cards, but if he were to really use his Dragon Bead, it might crack again. In the worst-case scenario, it might even be destroyed. Then, it would take him uncountable years to recover.
As for Purifying Light, it was definitely a powerful weapon against the Black Ink Clan, but if Yang Kai used it, at most he would be able to catch Hong Hu off guard and injure him, but it wouldn’t be able to achieve a decisive effect.
At that time, the secret of the Purifying Light would also be exposed. Aside from the fact that he might attract the attention of the Black Ink Clan, even Grandmaster Ma Fan’s research would be threatened.
As such, Yang Kai had been holding himself back from using these two trump cards. Fortunately, Xiang Shan had taken action at the right time, so there was no need to play those cards.
“Among the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, I’ve seen many elites and geniuses, but you are the only one I know of who dares to challenge Territory Lords alone and yet is able to escape unscathed.”
Yang Kai stated, embarrassed, “Junior is seriously injured and my entire body is in excruciating pain.”
Xiang Shan smiled, “At the very least, you’re still alive. Surviving is the most important. If you survive, you can break through to the Eighth Order. And when you’ve become stronger, you’ll be able to suppress those Territory Lords!”
Just like when he was the invincible Western Army Commander, no one was his match!
Xiang Shan had seen too many elites fall on the Black Ink Battlefield in his life. All of them would have become pillars for the Human Race in the future. Even he himself had almost died in the great battle back then, but now, most of these pillars had fallen, with few surviving till today.
Therefore, no matter what, only by surviving could one have hope.
“Senior, was this a plan to capture a Territory Lord alive?” Yang Kai asked.
Xiang Shan replied, shaking his head, “The plan here is just a smokescreen, the real plan is being carried out at the forward base.”
“The forward base?” Yang Kai asked in surprise, “Has a fight broken out?”
The two races had been confronting each other on the front lines for decades now, engaging in small skirmishes over a wide range, but there had been no major battles. When Dawn left the forward base, there were no signs of a war breaking out, but judging from Xiang Shan’s words, something was happening there now.
Xiang Shan coldly snorted, “The Black Ink Clan wanted to stop me from breaking through to the Eighth Order, so they couldn’t allow the forward base to send reinforcements. The best way to do so was to start a war and restrain the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters there. So, a large-scale conflict should have broken out over there.”
Yang Kai was dumbfounded after hearing this.
Just to prevent one man from advancing to the Eighth Order, the Black Ink Clan was willing to break the status quo that had been maintained for decades. It would undoubtedly have been arrogant if anyone else had said this, but since it was Xiang Shan, it was not far-fetched.
Yang Kai turned in the direction of the forward base, wondering how the battle was going, but with the current state of Dawn, it was impossible for them to participate right now.
Xiang Shan reassured with a smile, “Rest for now. If we hurry back in a few days, we might be able to finish the job.”
The void became calm and peaceful.
After a few days, everyone’s condition had significantly improved. Every Squad Leader gathered their men and put away their respective Warships before activating the Universe Transference Law under Xiang Shan’s leadership and returning to the forward base.
By now, the battle at the frontlines had come to an end, and as before, the Black Ink Clan had once again suffered a great loss.
Although the Black Ink Clan had the absolute advantage in numbers, the Human Masters had long been accustomed to facing enemies that outnumbered them.
Be that as it may, the reason why this battle had ended so quickly was because the Black Ink Clan no longer wanted to continue fighting. In fact, when the Territory Lords sensed the death of Wu Jiang, they knew that their plan had failed. Although they didn’t know what had happened to Wu Jiang and Hong Hu, they had clearly fallen into the Human Race’s trap once more, which resulted in the demise of yet another Territory Lord.
The reason they quickly pushed this war was to occupy the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters so that Wu Jiang and Hong Hu could succeed in their task. Now that they had failed, there was no point in continuing to fight.
Without knowing what other tricks the Humans were hiding up their sleeves, the Territory Lords didn’t want to take any more risks; as such, they decisively retreated over 10 million kilometres!
The soldiers of the forward base chased for a while and managed to eliminate quite a lot of Black Ink Clansmen, but under the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ command, the Human Army did not go too far and returned after just a couple of days.
By the time Yang Kai and the others returned, they were facing a situation where they didn’t have a chance to participate.
According to postwar statistics, some 200,000 Black Ink Clansmen were killed in this war, several hundred of whom were Feudal Lords, but no additional Territory Lords had been eliminated.
It wasn’t a particularly good result, but considering that the Humans were fighting the Black Ink Clan at the forward base and not the Great Pass, it was still acceptable.
After this battle, the situation calmed down. The Black Ink Clan had completely given up over half of their territory. In fact, if the Humans were to travel between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base, they would no longer see any traces of the Black Ink Clan, nor would they see the Black Ink Clansmen and Humans ‘hunting’ each other anymore.
Blue Sky Pass had achieved great success in their campaign against the Black Ink Clan. When the news spread to other Passes, it immediately caused morale and envy to soar.
Nonetheless, everyone knew that Blue Sky Pass’ success could not be repeated.
The basis for this victory was the battle outside Blue Sky Pass fought a few decades ago. In that battle, Blue Sky Pass had used a century-long plan to kill over 30 Territory Lords at once, dealing a heavy blow to the Black Ink Clan.
Blue Sky Pass had Yang Kai find and open portals to the Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens, where these traps were set up, but other Passes had no such person with similar skills.
On top of that, the crusade and establishing a functional forward base in the Black Ink Clan’s territory required two Universe Arrays to act as transit points, allowing the Humans to rapidly attack the Black Ink Clan as well as retreat to Blue Sky Pass. If the Expeditionary Force advanced deeper without these transit points, the Black Ink Clan would eventually exhaust their strength, resulting in mass casualties.
Right now, Yang Kai was the only one who could arrange Universe Arrays.
Blue Sky Pass’ victory was closely tied to Yang Kai’s existence, and there was only one of him, so the other passes could not reenact the same feat.
Furthermore, the Black Ink Clan forces in the other Theatres had become much more vigilant after this news spread. Now, the Black Ink Clan was extremely cautious when they were besieging the Great Passes. They were afraid that they would repeat the same mistake they had made at Blue Sky Pass and fall into the traps and schemes of the Humans.
But no matter how the Black Ink Clan at other Great Passes investigated, they failed to find any similar traps outside the Great Passes, which put them at ease.
From the moment the Human cultivators stepped into the Black Ink Battlefield, they would have to undergo a great battle every 100 years or so. Furthermore, they were unable to relax even after the battle as they had to collect resources, recover their strength, and make preparations for the next war.
The special environment of the Black Ink Battlefield also trapped the Human Race at the Great Passes, making them unable to move forward or retreat. Even if they went looking for cultivation resources, they were unable to venture too far or risk being ambushed.
However, this situation at Blue Sky Pass had changed a little.
The loss of the latest battle had caused the Black Ink Clan to completely give up on the idea of reclaiming their lost territory. Now, whenever the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass went out, as long as they didn’t venture beyond the forward base and into Black Ink Clan territory, they basically didn’t encounter any enemy forces. The vast void had become Blue Sky Pass’ backyard where the Humans could roam freely.
In this peaceful situation, the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass could focus on cultivating to increase their strength.
This peaceful cultivation period lasted for two centuries!
No one could quite get accustomed to the quiet atmosphere and everyone was feeling extremely uneasy.
No battle had broken out for the last 200 years, which was simply unbelievable in a special environment like the Black Ink Battlefield, but this was the result of the many great victories in the Blue Sky Theatre.
Furthermore, judging by the Black Ink Clan’s attitude, this peace might last even longer.
The Black Ink Clan could not recover from the massive casualties they had suffered in only two centuries.
Most of the Human Race soldiers rarely had a moment of peace, but now that they had plenty of resources and time, they worked hard to cultivate and their strength increased rapidly. In the last two centuries, the number of Seventh-Order Masters had increased by almost 300.
But not everyone was able to relax.
Compared to the leisure most ordinary soldiers enjoyed, the busiest people of Blue Sky Pass were undoubtedly the Alchemists and Artifact Refiners.
The crusade carried out by Blue Sky Pass was just a test, and after it concluded, the higher-ups discovered many issues.
The first problem they faced was the supply of Purifying Black Pills. These pills were critical to ensuring that their soldiers would not be corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Although there was still the Purifying Light to rely on, only Yang Kai could replenish it, and the total supply was limited.
As such, once a large-scale crusade began, Purifying Black Ink Pills would be the best weapon to deal with Black Ink Strength. These pills were needed in massive quantities, enough so that each soldier had at least a few dozen of them.
Therefore, over the past 200 years, Blue Sky Pass’ Alchemists had been refining Purifying Black Ink Pills day and night. Not only was Blue Sky Pass acting like this, but so were the other Passes.
Besides the Purifying Black Ink Pills, there was also the problem of Warships.
During the crusade, many Warships suffered serious damage and could not be repaired promptly. The Fifth-Order or Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would be exposed to danger without the protection of the Warships; as such, the Artifact Refiners were also working hard to refine more.
The goal was to at least ensure that every Squad had a backup Warship, so that when the first was inevitably disabled or destroyed, they would have a spare.
The entire Blue Sky Pass had nearly 40,000 soldiers, and each Squad had 12 to 15 members or so. The Artifact Refiners thus had to refine some 3,000 extra Warships to meet the requirements.
This was a huge project; compared to the Alchemists, the Artifact Refiners had to work even harder.
Be that as it may, all this effort was worth it as in the near future, all of this hard work would pay dividends.
Yang Kai had been cultivating all the while.
Two centuries of accumulation was enough to raise his strength by another step. Although he was still far from reaching the Eighth Order, he had made great progress compared to 200 years ago; after all, other cultivators could only rely on refining the Open Heaven Pills and various cultivation materials, but his Small Universe was special. Even if he didn’t refine any resources, his foundation would still continue to grow.
The accumulation over time made his rate of growth extremely impressive.
Coupled with the World Tree Clone in his Small Universe, Yang Kai’s refining speed was much faster than an ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and his World Force was both purer and denser than ordinary.
He was not in retreat all the time. In fact, no one could cultivate in retreat for a long time in a place like the Black Ink Battlefield.
Every decade or two, he would take Dawn out on patrol. Although the Black Ink Clan had completely abandoned a large part of their territory and no one would run into any Black Ink Clansmen while patrolling the rear, they still had to maintain vigilance and could not lower their guard just because of that.
Every Squad had to take turns patrolling, so Dawn was no exception.
In addition to patrolling, they still had to mine resources in turns. A large number of resources had been discovered in the territory currently occupied by the Humans in the Blue Sky Theatre. Naturally, these resources needed to be harvested. Fortunately, the soldiers could move these Universe Worlds to the nearby forward base or Blue Sky Pass with the help of the Void Yin Yang Mirrors, which saved them a lot of time.
Occasionally, after cultivating in retreat for too long, Yang Kai would exit to relax on his own, either going to the Pill Hall to help refine Purifying Black Ink Pills or the Refining Hall to help refine the Warships.
He had some level of attainment in both Alchemy and Artifact Refining, but compared to those Great Grandmasters, he was naturally far too lacking. Although he couldn’t preside over a project, he could offer some help.
He even took some time to visit Myriad Demons Pass.
After spending a massive amount of Military Merits, Yang Kai was able to obtain private tutelage from Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor on the mysteries of the Demon Eye of Annihilation and Black Purgatory Eye!
After his last battle with Hong Hu, Yang Kai realized that he still had too few trump cards. Although he was strong and could easily crush a Feudal Lord, facing a Territory Lord was a bit difficult.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel’s power was extraordinary, but Territory Lords had methods to deal with it. He could not summon his Dragon Bead right off the bat either, while Purifying Light was related to too many secret projects so he could not use it whenever he wished. After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai still felt that he should put more effort into the Myriad Demons Cave Heaven’s two Eye Secret Techniques.
The various opportunities he had obtained from these two Eye Secret Techniques had not been a result of his own cultivation. Although he had received some guidance from an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master from Myriad Demons Heaven before coming to the Black Ink Battlefield, he had made minimal progress. He could not tap into the full power of these two Eye Secret Techniques.
Under such circumstances, the guidance of the Old Ancestor of Myriad Demons Heaven was extremely valuable to him. Although it cost a lot of Military Merits, Yang Kai didn’t regret it.
Yang Kai spent an entire month at the Myriad Demons Pass, where he learned all kinds of profound knowledge from the Myriad Demons Heaven Old Ancestor, making it a fruitful trip.
On top of that, the total amount of Military Merits he had didn’t decrease much as before Yang Kai left, Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor asked him to find and open the portals of the hidden Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens around the Pass.
Obviously, the Old Ancestor had heard about how Blue Sky Pass wiped out the Black Ink Clan Army and killed some 30 Territory Lords in the process. He was eager to follow suit.
Be that as it may, the success of this plan would depend on how vigilant the Black Ink Clan was.
Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t refuse such a request. Although it took him over a year, as long it helped the Humans kill more enemies, he considered it time well spent.
In general, Yang Kai’s cultivation was much easier than others’. He could spend less time on it, but still achieve far more than anyone else. This was his greatest advantage.
Yang Kai’s cultivation was most frequently interrupted to assist Grandmaster Ma Fan in further refining the Evil Purging Divine Spear and performing some experiments on the captured Territory Lord.
Hong Hu, who had previously been captured by Ding Yao and the others, was now imprisoned in a secret underground room at the forward base. This secret room was filled with all kinds of Arrays and restrictions, so even a Territory Lord like Hong Hu couldn’t break out.
The Territory Lord was not experimented upon as frequently as the Feudal Lords who came before him, but tests were still run every three to five years.
Yang Kai was not required to do much, just pour Purifying Light into the Evil Purging Divine Spear refined by the Grandmaster Ma Fan. As for the rest, he didn’t need to worry about it.
Naturally, Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters would conduct the actual experiments.
The research of the Evil Purging Divine Spear took Grandmaster Ma Fan a great deal of effort and time, and the progress was slow. Over the past two centuries, the general shape of the Evil Purging Divine Spear remained almost unchanged, but Yang Kai could feel that each time Grandmaster Ma Fan refined the Evil Purging Divine Spear, it would be different from before.
The results of these experiments were sometimes good, sometimes bad.
The reason why they had to run tests once every three to five years was not because of some problem on the Human Race side, but rather because of Hong Hu.
Every time they experimented on him, the Evil Purging Divine Spear would be stabbed into him and the Purifying Light would be instantly released, injuring him. Even though he was a Territory Lord, it would still take him three to five years to recover.
Only after he had fully recovered would they be able to conduct the next experiment.
This was a test of patience. Fortunately, whether it was Grandmaster Ma Fan or the other Eighth-Order Masters, none of them lacked patience.
As for Hong Hu, who had been captured alive, he had spent two centuries of imprisonment in this hellish torture.
Compared to Wu Jiang, who had fallen in the last battle, Hong Hu once felt that his luck was quite good. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters did not want to kill him and instead focused on capturing him alive from the very beginning. Otherwise, the one who had died that day would not have been Wu Jiang, but him.
He believed that the Eighth-Order Humans didn’t have a specific goal, but randomly chose one between Wu Jiang and him.
For any sentient being, survival was a basic instinct; only if one was alive could there be hope. However, after two centuries of imprisonment and torture, Hong Hu finally realized that sometimes, it was better to be dead than alive.
A life worse than death was the best description of his current situation.
As a Territory Lord, his strength and willpower were naturally second to none, but every time an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master stabbed that damnable spear into his body and that dazzling white light erupted, Hong Hu felt like he was being boiled alive.
He didn’t know what kind of Secret Technique this light was, but he knew that it contained a kind of power that perfectly countered Black Ink Strength. His Black Ink Strength rapidly melted under this power.
This was simply the nemesis of Black Ink Strength, the natural enemy of the entire Black Ink Clan.
The fact that the Human Race had actually mastered this kind of Secret Technique caused Hong Hu to greatly panic.
In fact, when he first saw this dazzling white light, Hong Hu remembered a certain event.
Three centuries prior, when the Black Ink Clan Army attacked Blue Sky Pass, there was a moment when a similar dazzling light erupted at a certain spot on the battlefield.
At that time, Hong Hu was quite far away from that location, so he was not able to see it clearly and only caught a glimpse of that pure light before it faded away. It was not long after that the aura of a Territory Lord was extinguished.
At that time, the Territory Lord had been fighting Zhong Liang, so Hong Hu subconsciously thought that Zhong Liang had used some kind of Secret Technique. Although he didn’t see it clearly, the white light gave him a very dangerous feeling.
After that, Hong Hu paid close attention to the battlefield, but he never sensed any signs of that Secret Technique being used again. After discussing it with the other Territory Lords, all of those who had sensed the white light felt the same sense of unease.
The Territory Lords secretly paid attention to this and tried to find out the mysteries of this white light to no avail.
Furthermore, that white light never appeared again after that incident. So, the Black Ink Clan gradually forgot about it.
Only after Hong Hu was captured did he personally witness how this white light came into being and he finally understood that this Secret Technique had always been in the hands of the Humans. It was only that after the first time, it had never been used on the battlefield again.
It was a power that could suppress Black Ink Strength, but the Human Race had not used it. What this meant was already self-evident, and coupled with the hellish experiments the Humans had been conducting on him over the years, how could Hong Hu not understand the intentions of the Humans?
This Secret Technique had great limitations. Probably, only very few Humans could Master it, so it was impossible to disseminate it broadly. That was why the Humans wanted to refine this spear, so they could distribute this Secret Technique in the form of an artifact.
Once the Humans succeeded, the defenceless Black Ink Clan would face a huge disaster, and the first to bear the brunt of this crisis would undoubtedly be the Territory Lords. Because the Humans were experimenting on a Territory Lord like him, they were definitely targeting the Territory Lords.
Once too many Territory Lords died, the foundation of the Black Ink Clan would be shaken and the entire race would be in danger.
Hong Hu wanted to spread this news, but how could he do that? Right now, all he could do was endure the torment and torture.
Since even someone from the Black Ink Clan could realize this, how could Yang Kai fail to notice it?
The Evil Purging Divine Spear affected a lot of things, so before it was distributed everywhere and to everyone, the secret of the Purifying Light must not be exposed; otherwise, it would make the Black Ink Clan vigilant, making it difficult to get achieve the maximum effect.
That was why Yang Kai held himself back from using Purifying Light when he was facing Hong Hu that day.
Three centuries ago, when he, Feng Ying, and the others returned to Blue Sky Pass, Yang Kai had used Purifying Light amidst the Black Ink Clan Army. It could even be said that it was an accident. Although this event had made the Black Ink Clan somewhat vigilant, they did not take it too seriously. Every once in a while, they would encounter some methods of the Human Race that they did not know about, but if it was essentially a one-off, it wouldn’t arouse much suspicion. However, if Purifying Light appeared again and again, the Black Ink Clan would definitely take precautions.
After two centuries and dozens of experiments and improvements, the development of the Evil Purging Divine Spear finally reached its final stage.
Today, Yang Kai was awakened from his cultivation and followed Zhong Liang and Grandmaster Ma Fan into the underground chamber.
Hearing footsteps, Hong Hu, who had been resting in the secret room, opened his eyes. When he saw the three of them arrive, a trace of pain and helplessness flashed across his eyes.
For the past two centuries, every time these three came together, they would torment him to the point where he was unable to resist.
After having gone through these Hellish experiments a couple dozen times already, Hong Hu had become a little numb to the whole ordeal. So, when he saw these three arrive again, he understood what he would be going through once more.
Under his cold gaze, Grandmaster Ma Fan took out the reforged Evil Purging Divine Spear from his Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai reached out and took it. He carefully examined it before raising his brow, “It’s a finger length shorter than last time, and it seems the materials are also different.”
Grandmaster Ma Fans explained with a nod, “I have made some changes. In the past, the refinement of the Evil Purging Divine Spear required quite a lot of skill and rare materials. This time, the skill required to refine it has been lowered and the materials used have also been reduced.”
This was going to be mass-produced, so the requirements for Artifact Refining skills and materials had to be reduced as much as possible. For example, the previous Evil Purging Divine Spear that had been refined by Grandmaster Ma Fan was powerful and sufficient for battle, but only Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters could refine it, which hindered its production on a large scale.
Things that couldn’t be supplied in large quantities couldn’t play much role in a war waged by millions upon millions of people. At most, they could only be used by elite soldiers in individual duels.
On top of that, they also had to consider the consumption of materials. In short, the easier and cheaper to refine, the better.
Currently, the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s research was no longer conducted by Grandmaster Ma Fan alone, but rather led by him and included Dong Guo An Ping and another Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster. The Evil Purging Divine Spear was the result of their brainstorming.
The three Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters were extremely concerned about it and spent basically all of their time, when they were not refining Warships, on it.
Now was the time to verify the results.
Yang Kai cast Purifying Light and enveloped the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his grip. Under the effect of the arrays engraved in the artifact, the Purifying Light flowed into the spear like water and was quickly sealed inside.
Yang Kai took a look at the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his hand before turning to Zhong Liang, “Shall we start?”
Zhong Liang nodded his agreement, “En, let’s begin.”
Saying so, Zhong Liang quickly formed a set of hand seals as the faint buzzing of Spirit Arrays echoed across the room.
The next moment, Hong Hu, who was imprisoned and unable to move, regained his freedom and quickly retreated several dozen meters, glaring at Yang Kai with a look of rage on his face.
He knew that the thing in this Human kid’s hand was about to attack him. If he couldn’t avoid it, another round of torture would follow. Even if he managed to avoid it, it would keep coming at him until he couldn’t avoid it. Nonetheless, he still struggled.
He had never thought about escaping from this place. Facing two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, one of them being Zhong Liang, he was obviously outmatched. Furthermore, there were all kinds of Spirit Arrays surrounding this place. Unless he broke these Spirit Arrays, he would never be able to escape from here.
Just as Hong Hu was preparing himself, Yang Kai poured World Force into the Evil Purging Divine Spear. Which instantly started vibrating lightly before shooting straight towards Hong Hu, leaving a streak of light in its wake.
The reason why Yang Kai was the one doing the experiment was because his cultivation was just right. If Zhong Liang had personally taken action in this sealed environment, Hong Hu wouldn’t have been able to avoid this attack no matter what and there would have been no point in experimenting. On the battlefield, one had to consider the unexpected situation where a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would run into a Territory Lord. The results of this experiment would determine whether or not the Evil Purging Divine Spear could guarantee the lives of the Seventh-Order Masters under such dire circumstances.
When he used the Evil Purging Divine Spear, Yang Kai felt that its speed was slightly faster than before. This was clearly because of a change in Artifact Refining process.
The Evil Purging Divine Spear was fast, but Hong Hu was faster. By the time the streak of light shot towards him, Hong Hu was already prepared to react appropriately. His figure flickered about the room, dodging the oncoming streak of light.
Yang Kai didn’t care about his attack missing its target for this had happened dozens of times in the past two centuries. Having fought several dozen times with each other, they were already familiar with each other’s tricks and techniques.
With a surge of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, the streak of light seemed to have been given life as it nimbly chased after Hong Hu like a shadow.
If they were in the vast void and Hong Hu was already on guard, Yang Kai might not be able to do anything to him; after all, the difference in their strength was still quite large. But they were in a secret underground room at the forward base, and although it was quite spacious, it still had boundaries.
In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Hong Hu, who had been dodging the streak of light all this time, was forced into a corner where he was unable to dodge in any way. Seeing the streak of light rapidly approaching him, a trace of ruthlessness flashed on his face as he unleashed a punch.
Even before his punch reached its target, dense Black Ink Strength emerged from his fist and instantly enveloped the Evil Purging Divine Spear.
Right then, pure white light bloomed from the tip of the spear, mostly dispersing the Black Ink Strength, but the streak of light didn’t slow down, not in the least, and shot straight into Hong Hu’s chest.
Even someone as strong as a Territory Lord had his skin and flesh torn apart by the streaking light as the Evil Purging Divine Spear pierced him. In the next instant, Hong Hu’s body went stiff before it started violently quivering as he let out a deafening cry, like a wounded beast.
The Purifying Light sealed in the Evil Purging Divine Spear had erupted!
Generally speaking, even though the Evil Purging Divine Spear had a certain degree of lethality, its ability to actually kill a Territory Lord was quite minimal. Nonetheless, its main focus was not to kill, but to inject Purifying Light into its target, which was the best weapon against the Black Ink Clan.
With a furious roar, Hong Hu grabbed the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his abdomen and fiercely removed it, drawing a fountain of blood with it. But Zhong Liang, who had been waiting all this time, rushed straight at him without giving Hong Hu any chance to breathe.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them became locked in a fierce battle, causing the surrounding barriers to wildly flash.
Yang Kai and Grandmaster Ma Fan quickly retreated until they were standing at the edge of the barrier.
The layers of shields in the underground room were enough to withstand the fight between Zhong Liang and Hong Hu for a while without being destroyed; of course, they would not be able to withstand the shockwaves from the battle between an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Territory Lord forever, but it was already good enough.
Zhong Liang attacked with all kinds of lethal moves as a fearsome murderous intent radiated from him, forcing Hong Hu to focus on dealing with him. Under normal circumstances, even if a Territory Lord like Hong Hu couldn’t defeat Zhong Liang, he wouldn’t be defeated in a short time.
But this time, Zhong Liang only took an incense stick worth of time to beat Hong Hu to the point that his entire body was riddled with wounds and his aura was extremely weak. He did not have even a little bit of strength to fight back.
After a short while, Zhong Liang returned with a refreshed look on his face. Hong Hu’s enormous body lay limp on the ground like a corpse, his aura extremely feeble.
“20%!” Zhong Liang looked towards Grandmaster Ma Fan with an excited look on his face, “This is the result when Yang Boy used the Evil Purging Divine Spear and the Purifying Light had to be released before the spear hit its target. If an Eighth-Order Master like us were to use it, we should be able to bring out the full power of the Evil Purging Divine Spear. It should be somewhere between 20% and 30% effective in the field.”
Grandmaster Ma Fan let out a long sigh of relief, “Finally!”
Although this experiment could be already considered a success judging by the results, nothing was certain before they had obtained Zhong Liang’s evaluation.
After dozens of experiments and countless days of brainstorming and improvements over the past two centuries, the current Evil Purging Divine Spear was finally ready to be put into use on the battlefield.
A 20% suppressive ability was the criterion set by the higher-ups, because according to the Eighth-Order Master’s estimations, if the Evil Purging Divine Spear could reduce the strength of a Territory Lord by 20%, they could easily kill them.
If it was any less than 20%, it would greatly lower the chances of a kill. In that kind of situation, if the Territory Lord felt that things were not looking good for them, they would be able to escape. And once they had their guards up against the Evil Purging Divine Spear, the next time they used it, they would have lost the element of surprise and it would not be as effective.
20% might not seem much, but it was actually quite substantial. For instance, if Hong Hu’s strength had not been reduced by 20%, with the usual gap between Zhong Liang and Hong Hu’s strength, it would have taken the two at least half a day to determine a victor. But now, Zhong Liang only took an incense stick to beat Hong Hu up so badly that the latter couldn’t even fight back. If he wanted to, he could even have taken Hong Hu’s life.
Comparing the two situations, the Evil Purging Divine Spear played a decisive role.
“Grandmaster, many thanks for your hard work. After two centuries, the dark clouds have finally been dispelled and we can see the face of the Sun!” Zhong Liang gave a deep bow, “If we annihilate the entire Black Ink Clan someday, Grandmaster will have made the greatest contribution!”
Ma Fan waved his hand casually and humbly stated, “Humans and Black Ink Clan cannot coexist. This old man only did what he was supposed to do. This old man doesn’t care if it’s meritorious or not, just don’t forget what you promised me.”
Zhong Liang solemnly assured, “Of course not!”
Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of agreement Zhong Liang had with Grandmaster Ma Fan, but since it related to someone’s privacy, he wouldn’t rashly ask about it. The successful development of the Evil Purging Divine Spear had lifted his spirits. With this artifact, the Human Race’s crusade was just a matter of time, although much preparation would still need to be done.
Furthermore, if Yang Kai’s guess was correct, he would have his hands full in the near future.
As expected, Zhong Liang turned to look at Yang Kai and ordered, “The matter of the Evil Purging Divine Spear will need you to cooperate. The refining method of this artifact will soon be sent to all the Great Passes, so it won’t be long before a stockpile of Evil Purging Divine Spear will be sent to Blue Sky Pass. At that time, you will need to seal Purifying Light into all of them.”
The corners of Yang Kai’s brow twitched as he accepted his fate, “Junior understands.”
Once the refining method of the Evil Purging Divine Spear was made public, the other Passes would start mass-producing them. Any Artifact Refining Grandmaster could refine one, but only Yang Kai could seal Purifying Light in them.
Yang Kai could vaguely see painful days ahead of him.
The trio left the underground room after everything was settled. As for Hong Hu who was lying on the ground, no one paid him any attention.
Humans had spent a great deal of time and effort to capture him, even using Xiang Shan as bait to draw Hong Hu out and capture him alive so that Grandmaster Ma Fan could experiment on him.
The Humans kept him alive because he was the test subject for the Evil Purging Divine Spear, so he was useful. But now that the Evil Purging Divine Spear had been developed, there was naturally no need to keep him alive.
Furthermore, it was quite dangerous to imprison a Territory Lord in this place. Hong Hu was definitely doomed.
Yang Kai once again went into a retreat to cultivate. Since he knew that he wouldn’t have much free time in the future, he naturally treasured this opportunity all the more. Furthermore, both the forward base and Blue Sky Pass had been peaceful for a long time now, so there was nothing else he could do other than enter retreat.
Last time, when he visited Myriad Demons Pass, Yang Kai had received personal guidance from the Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor, which greatly advanced his comprehension of the two Eye Techniques. Be that as it may, the cultivation of his Eye Secret Techniques required time. Before he left, the Myriad Demons Cave Heaven’s Old Ancestor gave him a jade slip which recorded his insights on these two Eye Techniques. This was a good opportunity for Yang Kai to carefully study them; in addition, cultivating the Eye Techniques would not interfere with refining cultivation materials and increasing his Small Universe’s heritage; he could do all of this simultaneously.
In the blink of an eye, five years went by.
Yang Kai was roused from his secluded cultivation. He exited the secret room and found a man waiting outside.
“Senior Brother Wang!” Yang Kai cupped his fist in greeting. Senior Brother Wang was Zhong Liang’s adjutant, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Usually, whenever Zhong Liang had any orders, he would be the one to pass them on.
Since Senior Brother Wang had personally come to find him, it must be at the behest of Zhong Liang.
Sure enough, Senior Brother Wang reported, “Sir Army Commander has summoned you, Junior Brother. Please follow me.”
Yang Kai nodded and followed Senior Brother Wang to the Army Headquarters of the forward base. Zhong Liang was waiting for him, and when he saw Yang Kai arrive, he didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point, “It’s time. Return to Blue Sky Pass.”
Yang Kai immediately understood what was going on after hearing this and accepted the order right away, “Yes!”
Yang Kai did not leave immediately after accepting the order though; instead, he stood in his spot for a moment before suddenly waving his hand. The next moment, two figures appeared in front of him, a man and a woman, both of them at the peak of the Emperor Realm.
Zhong Liang’s eyes lit up at the sight of the two, “Another batch of good seedlings?”
The reason he said this was because Zhong Liang had seen this happen multiple times already. There were no Emperor Realm Masters on the Black Ink Battlefield. Everyone who arrived here was at least a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Only Yang Kai’s Small Universe had Emperor Realm cultivators.
It had already been more than two centuries since Miao Fei Ping was brought to the Black Ink Battlefield by Yang Kai. Before that, Yang Kai had established the Void Dao Temple in his Small Universe to select outstanding geniuses. The flow of time in Yang Kai’s Small Universe was four times faster than the outside world, so while only two centuries had passed outside, 800 years had gone by in his Small Universe.
Over the past 800 years, the mortals of his Small Universe had already given birth to dozens of generations. The World Tree Clone had been very effective in nurturing these people and there were now many cultivators with outstanding aptitudes in Yang Kai’s Small Universe. Currently, there were thousands of disciples in the Void Dao Temple, all of whom could be said to be dragons amongst men, the best of the best.
It had to be known that the Void Dao Temple’s selection criteria were extremely harsh. Ordinary geniuses could not enter the Void Dao Temple, only geniuses among geniuses were qualified.
Those cultivating in the Void Dao Temple didn’t have to worry about food or clothing, nor did they lack cultivation resources, so their rate of growth was extremely fast. When they reached the peak of the Emperor Realm, the Void Dao Temple Master would explain to them the mysteries of the Open Heaven Realm and the outside world. If they wanted to improve further, Yang Kai would bring them out and allow them to advance to the Open Heaven Realm on the Black Ink Battlefield, becoming a part of Blue Sky Pass.
Over the past two centuries, over 100 cultivators had left Yang Kai’s Small Universe. On average, one would appear every two or three years. Each of them would advance straight to Sixth-Order. There had been two who had even broken through directly to the Seventh Order!
Directly to the Seventh Order! In other words, these two had a chance of reaching the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm in the future! Who wouldn’t be jealous of such talent?
In comparison, although those that directly advanced to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm would only be capable of reaching the Eighth-Order, these kinds of geniuses would still be Core Disciples in the various Cave Heavens and Paradises in the 3,000 Worlds. Every single one of them would enjoy the same kind of treatment as Qu Hua Shang and Gu Pan. Basically, geniuses like them would only appear once every century, but they actually appeared in batches from Yang Kai’s Small Universe.
The World Tree Clone’s feedback was extremely potent! And this situation was when it was Yang Kai’s Small Universe, which had a very low population. It was difficult to imagine what kind of grand effect it would have in the Star Boundary which had a far larger one.
Of course, his Small Universe’s population might not be as huge as that of the Star Boundary, but because of the difference in time flow, he also had his own advantages. The Star Boundary could not compare with his Small Universe in this regard. All in all, Yang Kai’s Small Universe and the Star Boundary had their own unique strong points.
At first, Yang Kai would carefully look after the disciples who had come out of the Void Dao Temple, and guide them one by one. Before they had ascended to the Open Heaven Realm, Yang Kai had carefully prepared everything for them and even personally guarded them when they were breaking through.
However, as the number of people increased, Yang Kai found that it was too time-consuming and exhausting to do this by himself. On average, one person would leave his Small Universe every two or three years. It took months or even half a year to prepare everything for them and ensure that their breakthroughs would be smooth and successful.
Once or twice would be nothing, but doing it a few dozen times or even 100 times was not something Yang Kai could take anymore.
So, Yang Kai had left this matter to Blue Sky Pass a long time ago.
The disciples, who came out of the Void Dao Temple, were handed over to the higher-ups of Blue Sky Pass, leaving the rest to them. This was mainly due to his own indolence, but much to Yang Kai’s surprise, it was welcomed by the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
It was not surprising when he thought about it though, because the aptitude of these disciples was quite outstanding. Any one of them would have a chance of advancing to the Eighth Order in the future. Every Cave Heaven and Paradise would be ready to snatch up such geniuses.
Unknowingly, these disciples from the Void Dao Temple had attracted the attention of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The reason they had fought over these disciples wasn’t because they wanted to take them in as Legacy Disciples. They were on the Black Ink Battlefield where they could lose their lives at any moment, so taking them in as Disciples didn’t hold much meaning because no one knew how long they could live or how long their Disciples would live.
The reason why they were fighting over it was mainly because they had gotten bored over these past few years. Most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had already cultivated to the utmost peak of their Martial Dao, and could not advance any further. Yang Kai still needed to cultivate in retreat to improve his own foundation, but they did not have to.
It could be said that in a situation where there was no battle, most of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were idle. At times like these, anything could spark their interest, such as these newcomers who had just come from the Void Dao Temple.
Particularly when all these newcomers had outstanding aptitudes and were only in the Emperor Realm. They had extremely high potential, and as a result, every single one of the cultivators who had come from Yang Kai’s Small Universe was extremely popular in Blue Sky Pass.
Yang Kai was quite happy to see this. There were over 60 Eighth-Order Masters gathered in Blue Sky Pass, so no matter what field these disciples liked or what talents they had, they would be able to find a suitable Master. So now, when any disciple wanted to leave the Small Universe, Yang Kai would leave them to Zhong Liang.
At this moment, the two Emperor Realm Masters, one male and one female, were slightly taken aback by Yang Kai’s appearance. They quickly bowed to Yang Kai, “Greetings, Dao Lord!”
Yang Kai had basically not appeared in his Small Universe for the past few hundred years, so no one had seen his true appearance in that time. The ordinary disciples of the Dao Temple didn’t know about the mysteries of the Void World, but for those who wanted to leave and improve their Martial Dao, the presiding Temple Master would explain everything to them. He would tell them that the first person they meet after leaving this world would be the Dao Lord of the entire Void World, its true Master.
At the same time, he would inform them about the situation they would face after leaving the Dao Temple and advancing to the Open Heaven Realm. If these disciples still decided to go ahead, Yang Kai would bring them out. And if they were afraid of the dangers of the outside world and wanted to protect themselves, Yang Kai would not force them; after all, fighting with the Black Ink Clan was not something they could force upon someone.
Those disciples who chose to stay in the Small Universe naturally wouldn’t have another chance to break through to the Open Heaven Realm. Every choice had its pros and cons, so it was best to stick to their own choice.
For the past 1,000 years, the Void Dao Temple had raised many elite disciples. The disciples, who were eligible to leave and advance to the Open Heaven Realm, had basically all chosen to leave. Only a few of them remained in the Small Universe. Cultivators were basically obsessed with cultivation, so every one of them wanted to seek a higher Martial Dao. This kind of temptation could not be quashed by some small dangers.
Yang Kai nodded to the two disciples in response before explaining, “Since you’ve left the Void Dao Temple, I’m sure you understand what’s going on in the outside world. You’ll slowly understand everything. As for the matter of advancing to the Open Heaven Realm, someone will help you prepare for it.”
The two disciples listened quietly and repeatedly nodded.
Yang Kai turned to Zhong Liang, “Martial Uncle, this Junior will take his leave first.”
Zhong Liang didn’t even look at him and waved him away, intently gazing at the two disciples with a happy smile, “Go, go.”
Yang Kai instantly disappeared from his spot.
After he left, the two disciples glanced at each other before turning to Zhong Liang. The latter’s smile made them a little confused, so they secretly released their Divine Sense to investigate, but the next moment, they discovered that this amiable-looking Senior’s cultivation was as deep as the sea, and they were unable to gauge its depth.
[So this is an Open Heaven Realm Master!] The two of them immediately understood. They were both at the peak of the Emperor Realm, so no one in Void World was stronger than them. One had to be at the legendary Open Heaven Realm for them to be unable to detect their cultivation, and an extremely high Order one at that.
“Greetings, Senior!” The two quickly bowed.
Zhong Liang chuckled, “There’s no need to be so polite. En, what Order of materials did you use to complete your Dao Seal?”
Although he knew that those who had come out from Yang Kai’s Small Universe would at the very least advance straight to the Sixth Order, there was always a chance that one of them could break through straight to the Seventh Order, and naturally, Zhong Liang was hoping that these two were such seedlings.
The male disciple replied, “Senior, both Senior Sister and I have Sixth-Order Powers in our Dao Seals.”
[Sixth-Order, huh…] He wasn’t disappointed; after all, even in a place like Yang Kai’s Small Universe, it wasn’t easy to cultivate a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. There had only been two in the past two centuries.
Zhong Liang was still all smiles, “Great!”
While they were talking, a few figures suddenly barged in like bulls. Before the first person even stopped, a voice came from behind, “Another good seedling? It’s finally this Gou’s turn, right?”
“Hold on, this old Master has been waiting for 150 years already, it should be this Old Master’s turn!”
Someone sneered, scoffing, “Naturally, the one who strikes first has the advantage, who would want to discuss order with you, old fart?”
“What kind of nonsense are you spouting in front of the Juniors? It’s not like we’re fighting or killing enemies, so why does it come down to who strikes first? It should be all about fate!” The one who spoke suddenly turned to look at the female disciple and put on an amiable smile, “Little girl, this King thinks you and I are fated, so why don’t you join this King? This King is an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. With this King’s guidance, killing the Black Ink Clan in the future will be as easy as flipping your hand!”
“Who isn’t an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master here?” Immediately, some people became unhappy and released their Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm aura.
Before the two Void Disciples could figure out what was going on, a group of people suddenly rushed in and started shouting at each other, and the next moment, tremendous pressure fell upon them, making everything go black before their eyes.
“Damn it, these two kids fainted!”
“Senior Brother Yun, quickly withdraw your aura! They are only Emperor Realm Juniors, how can they withstand your Eighth-Order aura?”
“Damn… I actually forgot about that. It’s been a long time since I last saw an Emperor Realm brat…”
The corner of Zhong Liang’s mouth twitched, watching all the chaos that had descended into the hall. He started regretting sending a message to these idle and bored Eighth-Order fools. [These two must have been traumatized by these Eighth-Order bastards. Next time, if any good seedlings appear, I will not let them rush in at once like this.]
After leaving the two disciples for Zhong Liang to deal with, Yang Kai left and used the Universe Transference Law and returned to Blue Sky Pass.
He was not worried about the two Emperor Realm Masters advancing to the Open Heaven Realm. They would be personally guided by an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master during their breakthrough, which would be more useful than his guidance.
Not to mention, he had personally refined a batch of Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pills and left them with Zhong Liang. Every single one of these disciples who had come out of the Void Dao Temple had an outstanding aptitude to begin with, and they had reached their current cultivation with slow and steady steps. So, with the help of a Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill, it would be a snap for them to advance to the Open Heaven Realm.
In fact, none of the Void Dao Temple’s disciples had failed to break through to the Open Heaven Realm. This was partly because of their solid foundations, and partly because the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill could increase the success rate of their breakthroughs. So, how could they fail?
In comparison, the future prospects of these disciples far exceeded that of ordinary Cave Heaven and Paradise disciples because their starting point was extremely high.
Nonetheless, cultivating in a special environment like the Void Dao Temple also had its drawbacks, which was their lack of real battle experience.
There weren’t many disputes in Void World right now, and even if there were some, they were minor and happened only between Sects. The status of the Void Dao Temple was special; besides sparring with fellow disciples, most of these kids had never seen blood, much less death.
Growing up in such a sheltered greenhouse was perhaps their greatest shortcoming, which might cause them to act poorly in a life-and-death situation.
Nonetheless, the Blue Sky Theatre had been peaceful for a long time, so even if they wanted to find some Black Ink Clansmen to practice with after they had broken through to the Open Heaven Realm, it was impossible.
Yang Kai had always wanted to set up a Black Ink Nest in his Small Universe and use the sub-nest to nurture some weak Black Ink Clansmen, allowing the disciples of the Dao Temple to familiarize themselves with how to fight with this enemy. Unfortunately, his attempts had all failed.
If he wanted to place the sub-nest, he would need to ensure a Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest was permanently under Human control, and Yang Kai could not do something about that.
Therefore, one could not judge these disciples based on their smooth and unhindered cultivation, because it remained unclear how much strength they could display during battle. Everything depended on their future performance.
However, there was something else that made Yang Kai quite happy.
This was these disciples’ compatibility with the Dao of Space, Dao of Time, and Spear Dao.
These three Great Daos were Yang Kai’s foundation, especially the Dao of Space. Yang Kai had mastered it the most, followed by the Dao of Time.
In his Small Universe, there were quite a lot of Dao Essences of these three Grand Daos. Dao Essence could not ordinarily be seen or touched, but it could be comprehended.
Perhaps it was because they had grown up in Void World since birth that their compatibility with these three Grand Daos were very high.