The Humans had many sayings for when one returned home, each describing it as something glorious after enduring difficulties or achieving something astonishing that brought honour to the family.
However, Source Fusion in the Black Ink Clan had nothing to do with returning with honour. The only similarity with those sayings was that it was somewhat related to going home.
To the Humans, one’s homeland was their place of birth; in that sense, the Black Ink Nests were the Black Ink Clan’s homeland because they nurtured all Black Ink Clansmen.
To the Black Ink Clan, Source Fusion was both punishment and glory; moreover, only Territory Lords could perform Source Fusion.
Technically speaking, Source Fusion was a type of Secret Technique that only the Black Ink Clan could use, and to use it, they must have a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
A Territory Lord would enter the High-Rank Black Ink Nest and use the Source Fusion Technique to fuse their body and essence with the Black Ink Nest. Though any Territory Lord could easily perform the technique, it had never been used since ancient times.
That was because when the Territory Lord fused their body with the Black Ink Nest, there was a huge possibility that they would be devoured by the Black Ink Nest and cease to exist.
Despite the fact that there were quite a lot of Territory Lords in the Black Ink Clan, they were all pillars of the various battlefields, so it wasn’t easy to sacrifice any of them.
Of course, with such a high risk, the reward naturally wouldn’t be small.
If the Territory Lord who performed the Source Fusion Technique could withstand the Black Ink Nest’s devouring and instead assimilate the Black Ink Nest, they would achieve earth-shattering changes.
Simply put, the relationship between the Territory Lord using the Source Fusion Technique and the Black Ink Nest was that they had to devour each other. Only one between them would survive.
Since the day of their birth, an Innate Territory Lord’s abilities were fixed and had no way of increasing.
This limitation, however, wasn’t completely impossible to overcome as they could have a chance to greatly increase their strength by performing the Source Fusion Technique, even though the chances of success weren’t high.
High-Rank Black Ink Nests were derived directly from Mo; therefore, one could see the Black Ink Clan as Mo’s creations. If the creation devoured the Source Qi from their creator, they would gain unimaginable benefits.
By using the Source Fusion Technique, an Innate Territory Lord would have the chance to become a Royal Lord! Of course, such a Royal Lord would inevitably be weaker than an ordinary Royal Lord and could only be called Pseudo-Royal Lord.
Such a Secret Technique needed the Black Ink Clan to sacrifice many Territory Lords to succeed, and even if they did, they would lose a High-Rank Black Ink Nest. Each High-Rank Black Ink Nest was connected to dozens, if not over 100 Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests, and thousands of Low-Rank Black Ink Nests which birthed and served massive Black Ink Clan Armies.
Back when Yang Kai destroyed a few High-Rank Black Ink Nests in the No-Return Pass, the Black Ink Clan had been distressed about it for many years. Additionally, that incident thwarted several plans the Black Ink Clan had for some Great Territories.
In short, the Black Ink Clan was loath to lose any High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
These were the reasons why no Territory Lord had even performed this Secret Technique and why the Humans had no idea about it despite having waged war against the Black Ink Clan for so many millennia.
If it weren’t for the importance of killing Yang Kai, the Royal Lord would never have been willing to make such a sacrifice. However, that killing star had now become a dangerous obstacle to the Black Ink Clan’s plans, so if they could remove him, the situation between the two Races would change entirely. At the very least, the Black Ink Clan would no longer have to obey the so-called peace deal between the two races.
It would be best if one of these two Territory Lords could succeed, but it didn’t matter if they didn’t because their failure would contribute to the next Territory Lord’s chances of success.
When it came to the Source Fusion Technique, the more Territory Lords that failed to consume the High-Rank Nest, the greater the chances the following Territory Lords who performed the Secret Technique would have of succeeding. Therefore, as long as the Black Ink Clan was willing to make enough sacrifices, they would eventually succeed.
However, the Black Ink Clan weren’t sure what the odds of success were because there had never been a Territory Lord who had used this technique. Even the Royal Lord only had a rough estimation that the initial chances of success were around 10%, and would increase by about that much for successive attempts.
In other words, even if things went smoothly, they still had to sacrifice around a dozen Territory Lords before a Pseudo-Royal Lord could be born.
Of course, those estimations didn’t account for the amount of Territory Lords, Feudal Lords, and ordinary Black Ink Clansmen that the destruction of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest would implicate.
Such a huge sacrifice for such a small reward was obviously not cost-effective for the Black Ink Clan outside of extremely special circumstances.
However, sending Territory Lords was no longer a viable method to deal with Yang Kai, so a Royal Lord was required. Unfortunately, there was only one Royal Lord in the entire Black Ink Clan currently, and he had to oversee the No-Return Pass and couldn’t leave at will.
The Royal Lord clearly remembered the incident where a pure white Dragon Clan member boldly barged into the No-Return Pass roughly 1,000 years ago. According to the intelligence they possessed, the Black Ink Clan naturally knew that this Divine Dragon was stronger than any Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master!
Luckily for them, that White Divine Dragon didn’t attack the No-Return Pass and seemed to just be passing by as he dashed off into the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield. That Dragon Clan member disappeared and hadn’t returned since then, and no one knew what he was up to.
However, the mere existence of this kind of Master made it impossible for the Black Ink Clan to leave the No-Return Pass undefended!
A Pseudo-Royal Lord was also a Royal Lord!
Therefore, no matter what price they had to pay, the Black Ink Clan had to kill Yang Kai in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land.
Qing Fu and Mu Yu felt devastated as they left. Though they were reluctant to die in such a way, it was in the Black Ink Clan’s nature to obey those superior to them. Since the Royal Lord had given the order, they could only abide.
After finding a High-Rank Black Ink Nest, the two Innate Territory Lords looked at each other and saw the despair in each other’s eyes. They smiled bitterly at each other before flying into the Black Ink Nest.
When they arrived at the innermost part of the Black Ink Nest, the two Territory Lords sat cross-legged and began performing the Source Fusion Technique.
At that instant, the fleshy walls of the Black Ink Nest squirmed as the two Territory Lord’s bodies gradually sank downwards as if they were in a swamp.
Their figures disappeared in a few short breaths as the Black Ink Nest completely devoured them. Only their auras remained, trying to resist the Black Ink Nest from within.
As time passed, the two Territory Lords’ auras weakened before finally disappearing.
Back inside the Main Hall, the Royal Lord and many Territory Lords were monitoring the situation. When they were certain that the two Territory Lords’ auras had completely disappeared, many of the Innate Territory Lords sighed. It seemed like the Source Fusion Technique really wasn’t something that could be easily used.
But the sacrifice these two made was destined to not be wasted as they soon heard the Royal Lord asking, “Is there any of you who is willing to perform Source Fusion with this Black Ink Nest?”
It was almost like asking if any of them would be willing to die.
Having witnessed Qing Fu and Mu Yu’s end, none of the Innate Territory Lords below dared to volunteer to perform Source Fusion with the Black Ink Nest. Therefore, it was complete silence after the Royal Lord asked his question.
Finally, after a long time, a Territory Lord came forward and declared, “Sir, I am willing to try!”
Coming forward while everyone was silent made this Territory Lord stand out greatly and many gazes of all sorts landed on him.
The Royal Lord sitting above them revealed a gratified expression. Although many Black Ink Clansmen were afraid of death because of the personality they were born with, there were still some who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of their Race.
Nodding, the Royal Lord said, “If that’s what you wish, Di Wu, I’ll give you a chance.”
“Yes!” The Territory Lord called Di Wu cupped his fist and waited to receive further orders.
“Is there anyone else?” The Royal Lord turned to look around, but didn’t get any response, so he was a little frustrated and began calling out a few Territory Lords’ names with no trace of politeness.
The faces of those few Territory Lords instantly became ashen as they came forward with difficulty.
Meanwhile, the other Territory Lords watched the scene and secretly analysed the situation. Then, they realised that those Territory Lords had either lost to Human Race Masters or made blunders on the battlefield that harmed the Black Ink Clan. It seemed like the names the Royal Lord called out weren’t at random, which made a few Territory Lords feel relieved.
“Di Wu stays behind while the rest of you go ahead. Black Ink Eternal!”
Though the few Territory Lords couldn’t put their feelings into words, their expressions still became stern as they yelled, “Black Ink Eternal!”
After that, they turned around and set off.
Moments later, the auras of the chosen Innate Territory Lords disappeared one after another inside the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, obviously indicating that they had failed. Although it all failed, those auras were hung on for longer and longer, which meant that the Source Fusion Technique was getting closer to success.
At that moment, the desire in those Innate Territory Lords still on the scene were ignited.
An Innate Territory Lord was indeed strong, and ordinary Eighth-Order Masters weren’t their opponents, but it had always been a point of frustration that their abilities were fixed with no way of increasing in the future.
Right now, the Innate Territory Lords could still occupy a pivotal place in the war against the Human Race, but once the final battle between the two Races began, there would surely be quite a lot of Royal Lords and Ninth-Order Masters. By that time, what was the use of being an Innate Territory Lord when they couldn’t even save themselves from danger?
They also wanted to have greater power and become Royal Lords, even if they were only Pseudo-Royal Lords!
In the meantime, six Territory Lords had gone through Source Fusion with the Black Ink Nest, which meant the chances for succeeding was growing increasingly higher. Perhaps one of them might be able to devour the Black Ink Nest, break through their innate shackles and transcend to the next level.
While they feared death, they also craved power. If the Innate Territory Lords in the hall could be said to be avoiding the Source Fusion Technique before, they were now feeling a little excited.
After the eighth Territory Lord had fallen, the Royal Lord asked again, “Who else is willing to give it a try?”
The Territory Lords were now far more enthusiastic than before.
Of course, the Royal Lord knew what they were thinking, but he still nodded lightly while looking at them with a gratified expression. However, he didn’t let the Territory Lords take action together this time. The ones before were to build a foundation, and now that it had been built, it was time to carefully collect his harvest.
Under the Royal Lord’s command, the first Territory Lord in line entered the Black Ink Nest and performed the Source Fusion Technique. Half a day later, his aura disappeared.
Following that was the second Territory Lord, then a third…
Each Territory Lord was able to last much longer than the previous one, which meant they were creeping closer to success.
However, it wasn’t until the 13th Territory Lord failed to return that the other Territory Lords below the throne began looking at the Royal Lord with burning gazes! Anyone could see that success was near. Perhaps it would be the next one or the one after that…
Since the Royal Lord hadn’t said anything, none of them dared to move, and those whose names were called out were looking at the Royal Lord with anticipation filling their eyes.
On top of the throne of bones, the Royal Lord gently tapped his fingers, seemingly hesitant about something. After a long time, he finally opened his eyes and looked down at the Territory Lords, “Di Wu, you go.”
That order was directed at the first Territory Lord that had volunteered.
Di Wu was pleased and grateful for the Royal Lord’s favour, so he cupped his fist and quickly said, “I won’t disappoint you, Sir!”
Turning around determinedly, he strode out of the Main Hall.
The rest of the Territory Lords looked at each other before smiling bitterly because they couldn’t stop Di Wu, nor did they dare to blame the Royal Lord for being biased.
Since Di Wu was the first to stand up and volunteer when the Royal Lord asked who was willing to perform the Source Fusion with the Black Ink Nest, he had shown that he was braver than the other Territory Lords. The Royal Lord naturally appreciated and favoured such a Territory Lord. In addition, it was obvious that the Royal Lord had chosen Di Wu to receive the benefits in the end, all along.
The previous Territory Lords who went to perform the Source Fusion Technique were all sacrifices to pave the way for Di Wu.
Now that the Royal Lord had instructed Di Wu to head over, it undoubtedly meant that the Royal Lord also felt that success was at hand. If Di Wu didn’t move now, he might not get a chance to.
Several Divine Senses were probing at what was happening inside the High-Rank Black Ink Nest as Di Wu entered and quickly performed the Source Fusion Technique, letting the Black Ink Nest Devour his body while leaving behind his aura.
This time, his aura endured for a long time without weakening, constantly resisting the Black Ink Nest’s devouring. His aura stayed longer than any of the previous Territory Lords.
Meanwhile, the other Territory Lords had complicated feelings as they continued to sense what was happening. They both anticipated Di Wu’s success, but also hoped he would fail.
If he succeeded, he would be the first Pseudo-Royal Lord that emerged from using the Source Fusion Technique, a momentous occasion for the Black Ink Clan. But if he failed, the other Territory Lords present would have a chance to obtain that glory for themselves.
Several days later, the long battle between auras suddenly quieted down, and the Royal Lord sitting on the throne relaxed his furrowed brow before grinning, “Success!”
The Territory Lords below hurriedly offered congratulations.
It was indeed a success. Di Wu had undoubtedly devoured the High-Rank Black Ink Nest and even absorbed part of the strength from the 13 Territory Lords before him. In short order, he would break through the Innate Territory Lord’s restrictions and become a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
That time wouldn’t be too long either.
No one in the Black Ink Clan was sure whether their decision to sacrifice a High-Rank Black Ink Nest and 13 Innate Territory Lords in exchange for a single Pseudo-Royal Lord was worth it. Still, if they could use this newly acquired strength to kill Yang Kai, it would be a huge strategic win for them.
Now that everything was prepared, it was time to start planning their attack.
The Royal Lord released a burst with his Divine Sense, and several Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples soon came to the Main Hall before bowing down.
While leaning forward to look at an old man among the Black Ink Disciples, the Royal Lord asked, “How is your research progressing? Is your Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array usable yet?”
That old man replied, “Reporting to Sir Royal Lord, we have already perfected it long ago and have refined many Array Boards and Banners.” Then, the old man’s expression became serious, “My Lord, are you planning on using this Array?”
In recent years, quite a lot of Humans were corrupted by Black Ink Strength and turned into Black Ink Disciples, but very few were proficient in the Dao of Spirit Arrays. The few standing before the Royal Lord were the Array Masters among the Black Ink Disciples that had high attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays.
More than 2,000 years ago, the Royal Lord began gathering these specialists in the No-Return Pass, providing them with protection and any materials or resources they required while giving them a single order, to develop a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array that they could use when needed.
Although the Royal Lord didn’t specify who they would use that Spirit Array on, the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples weren’t fools.
It wasn’t enough to just deduce a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array however, refining Array Boards and Banners had also cost numerous resources, and powerful Masters were also needed to set up and maintain the Grand Array.
Considering the massive investment, the Royal Lord must want to use this Grand Array for a special purpose. That target must be a tricky enemy who was great at escaping.
Among all the Eighth-Order Masters in the Human Race, there was only one who the Black Ink Clan would take so seriously.
However, such a huge Array wasn’t easy to arrange. The person they were trying to trap could easily escape if they alerted him and he found out about the Grand Array before it was fully activated.
That was why they hadn’t used this Grand Array despite it already being ready to deploy.
They didn’t expect the Royal Lord would gather them here today.
After listening to the old man’s answer, the Royal Lord nodded calmly, “Very good. Yang Kai has trapped himself inside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land and seems to be immersed in cultivating. This is a perfect chance to deal with him.”
“The Divine Spirit Ancestral Land!” That old man seemed surprised, “Sir, are you going to use this Grand Array to seal that place?”
“Can it be done?” The Royal Lord looked at that old man with a serious expression.
How could that old man dare to say no? Judging by the Royal Lord’s behaviour, he might perish on the spot if he said no.
So, the old man quickly replied, “Yes. If Yang Kai is indeed immersed in cultivation, there is a high chance for success. But the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land is an incredibly vast place, and this Old Master doesn’t have enough strength to seal it entirely. I must trouble Sir to allocate some Territory Lords to cooperate with me.”
“How many do you need?”
“Eight. No, 10 Territory Lords!”
The Royal Lord replied flatly, “I will give you 20 Innate Territory Lords. This plan can only succeed and not fail!”
When the old man heard this, he was taken aback. It was no small deal using 20 Innate Territory Lords to deal with one Human, but it also showed how cautious the Black Ink Clan was of that Human.
He had also heard of Yang Kai’s reputation, but no matter how strong Yang Kai was, he would not be able to escape after being trapped inside this Grand Array. Therefore, the old man accepted the order, “Yes, Sir!”
Afterwards, the Royal Lord called out 20 Territory Lords and gave them an order, “You will accompany them and offer whatever assistance they require to set up the Grand Array. However, don’t act recklessly before Di Wu arrives. Once Di Wu arrives, he will take charge.”
All the Territory Lords accepted their orders, “Yes, Sir!”
“Go,” With a wave of the Royal Lord’s hand, the 20 Territory Lords and several Seventh-Order Array Masters immediately left the Main Hall and flew away.
Looking outside the Main Hall, the Royal Lord appeared gloomy. Although he couldn’t personally kill Yang Kai to vent his rage, this small displeasure was nothing before the Black Ink Clan’s plans for total conquest.
In fact, if they hadn’t lost more than a dozen Territory Lords to the Source Fusion Technique already, he wouldn’t have only sent 20 Territory Lords but 30!
When dealing with someone like Yang Kai, there were only two options before them, leaving him alone, or attacking him with overwhelming force to ensure he died.
Once this battle was over, the Black Ink Clan would no longer have any worries, and that agreement between the two Races would become meaningless.
The Black Ink Clan Masters immediately left the No-Return Pass, but soon after, a Black Ink Clan Army consisting of a million troops followed behind under the leadership of many Feudal Lords.
They were also heading for the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, but weren’t in a rush to get there, so the Territory Lords departed before them. After all, no one knew how long Yang Kai would remain in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. It would be a total waste of effort if they arrived too late and Yang Kai had already left.
As they were moving quickly, it only took the group of Masters 20 days to pass through the Divine Ability Sea and arrive at the outskirts of the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land.
Even though they had the advantage in numbers, they didn’t dare to expose their whereabouts and auras lest Yang Kai notice them.
Next, they let a Territory Lord who was skilled in concealment go forward to scout the place.
Soon, that Territory Lord returned and told the others what he discovered. Strange things were happening inside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. The wind and clouds constantly churned, causing a huge commotion, but Yang Kai was obviously still immersed in his cultivation and unaware of his surroundings.
That news made the other Territory Lords feel relieved.
In the meantime, that Seventh-Order old man laughed mockingly, “That fool is courting death by creating such a huge commotion while cultivating, but the commotion gives us cover while we prepare.”
“Enough nonsense. Hurry up and tell us what we have to do,” one of the Territory Lords asked impatiently.
Black Ink Disciples never had much of a status among the Black Ink Clan; therefore, the group consisting of only Innate Territory Lords naturally would look down on them. However, the Territory Lords didn’t act outrageously because they still needed these Black Ink Disciples to arrange the Grand Array.
That was because the Black Ink Clan had little to no aptitude in the Dao of Spirit Arrays.
“Yes, Sir.” That Seventh-Order Old man nodded and bowed before instructing them politely, “Please, come with me.”
While saying so, he took the lead and flew away.
He had already told the Territory Lords the basics of the Grand Array and even gave them a jade slip each to let them better understand it. These Territory Lords might be powerful, but it was difficult for them to understand anything about Spirit Arrays. That was why these Territory Lords still didn’t know much about the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, despite having 20 days to study it already.
If possible, that old man would rather work with the other six Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples to set up the Grand Array, not these Innate Territory Lords; however, he needed these powerful Territory Lords to enhance the Spirit Array’s power, so he was stumped.
For now, his only choice was to teach them while hoping these Territory Lords wouldn’t be too ill-tempered.
Under the Seventh-Order old man’s guidance and directions, the Territory Lords stood in pre-arranged positions while holding an Array Banner each. Then, the old man followed down the line and placed several Array Boards before arranging for the other Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples to stand in the critical Nodes.
This arrangement took them more than 10 days. The old man was tuckered out and secretly grateful to the Royal Lord for sending 20 Territory Lords over.
At first, he thought they would only need a few Territory Lords for this Spirit Array, but after arriving here, he discovered that he had greatly underestimated how vast the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was.
In the end, they used 12 Innate Territory Lords and every Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple to seal this place up.
Luckily for them, Yang Kai, who was cultivating in the Ancestral Land, had no idea of the changes being made outside and was still immersed in his cultivation.
Once everything was ready, the old man secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He went over and stood at one of the critical Nodes of the Grand Array and with a serious expression, pulled out an Array Banner and channelled his strength into it.
Instantly, World Force surged.
Around the Void, the Grand Array’s Nodes and Array Boards hummed simultaneously while the anxious Territory Lords also inserted their strength into their Array Banners.
Following the activation and trembling of each Array Banner, the Array Boards also quickly released their aura and intertwined with them. Invisible energy appeared and passed through the place where the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples and 12 Innate Territory Lords stood.
After 10 days of hard effort, they succeeded in activating the Grand Array.
Instantly, the Void where the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was located was entirely enveloped by the Grand Array, isolating it from the outside world.
It was only then that the old man responsible for setting up the Spirit Array finally felt relieved. He was terrified of the possibility that Yang Kai might realise the Grand Array was being assembled before it was done. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to trap him. Now that the Grand Array had been activated though, no matter how proficient Yang Kai was in the Dao of Space and escaping, he would have no way to flee.
The only way out was to destroy the Grand Array, but now that it enveloped the entire Ancestral Land, that would be no easy task.
The old man’s expression became stern as he used the Array Banner in his hand to inform everyone, “The Grand Array’s successful formation has caused a substantial change in the surrounding Void, so Yang Kai must have already noticed it. Sirs, please be on guard.”
If others were trapped inside the Four Gates Eight Places Great Pagoda Array, they might not sense any changes; moreover, they went with a more stable plan and used 12 Innate Territory Lords to activate this Grand Array and seal the entire Ancestral Land to guard against any unexpected events.
However, Yang Kai was different. He was proficient in the Dao of Space, and this was a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array that would isolate the inside from the outside. Such a huge commotion wouldn’t be able to escape Yang Kai’s senses.
The Territory Lords felt anxious after hearing the old man’s warning and raised their guard up while using their Divine Sense to scout their surroundings, afraid that Yang Kai might suddenly appear and attack them.
After waiting for an entire day though, they didn’t notice any suspicious movements.
They waited another day, but it was still very quiet.
The Territory Lords used their Array Banners to converse with each other secretly and were dumbfounded by what Yang Kai might be planning.
One of the Territory Lords couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure that guy is still here?”
It wasn’t their fault for doubting because if Yang Kai was here, how could he remain so idle? According to how domineering he usually treated the Black Ink Clan, he would definitely have caused a huge scene if he noticed he was sealed inside this place.
Even if he didn’t cause a commotion, he would at least show his face and not be as quiet as he was now.
There were several Territory Lords with the same doubts.
Soon, another Territory Lord’s voice came from the Array Banners, “He should be here. When I scouted this place earlier, I felt a strange change in the Ancestral Land, which is clearly his doing.”
“Did you actually see him?”
“I didn’t,” Since the Territory Lord didn’t dare to expose his whereabouts, he was very careful when scouting ahead and didn’t dare to investigate too deeply. What if he accidentally alerted Yang Kai while scouting, causing him to get suspicious and leave? He wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.
“Let’s just wait. Maybe he’s lurking around in the dark.”
The group of Territory Lords calmed down and continued to wait.
But several more days passed and there were still no signs of Yang Kai. By now, all the Territory Lords had grown anxious. All the signs pointed to the possibility that Yang Kai might no longer be inside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. If that was really the case, all their efforts would be for nought.
Another silent conversation was exchanged, and they decided to send someone out to investigate. They had been afraid of Yang Kai sensing their presence before, but now that the Grand Array was active, they had already revealed themselves. Therefore, it didn’t matter if they went over to investigate the situation.
However, they couldn’t reach a conclusion on who would be going.
All of them were aware of Yang Kai’s reputation, and any Territory Lord who encountered him back then had a high chance of dying once he struck out. Now, they even used a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array, which was clearly meant for him, so how could Yang Kai show mercy when they encountered each other?
Therefore, all the Territory Lords passed the responsibility among them as no one was willing to enter the Ancestral Land.
Luckily for them, the Black Ink Clan Army from the No-Return Pass, that had departed after them, had now arrived. So, the Territory Lords picked out a Feudal Lord and ordered him to lead 3,000 soldiers into the Ancestral Land.
That unlucky Feudal Lord felt bitter but couldn’t do anything but follow his orders.
Moving forward carefully, the troops soon arrived in the sky above the Ancestral Land, but before landing, the Feudal Lord sensed a suppressive force coming at him from all directions.
He had never felt this kind of sensation, and under this suppression, he found that he couldn’t circulate his Black Ink Strength as smoothly as before. Even his Feudal Lord aura had slightly decreased.
Such a change surprised him, and he quickly stopped moving before looking around.
He noticed the 3,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers he brought with him also wore uncomfortable expressions.
[Is this the suppression of the Ancestral Strength?] The Feudal Lord’s expression turned gloomy as he wondered.
Of course, he knew that the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land had Ancestral Strength; after all, the Black Ink Clan had occupied this place for thousands of years and had sent back comprehensive reports describing the Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land that had a certain amount of resistance to Black Ink Strength. Therefore, the Black Ink Clansmen with lower strength would feel more uncomfortable being in this place.
However, the Feudal Lord didn’t expect the suppression to be this intense. He was barely at the outskirts now and hadn’t even entered the Ancestral Land. What would happen if he dove deeper inside?
Though he was worried, he didn’t dare to disobey the orders given to him by the Territory Lords, so he could only muster up his courage and lead the Black Ink Clan soldiers to continue forward.
As the Feudal Lord expected, the closer they got to the Ancestral Land, the more obvious the suppression of their strength was. His Feudal Lord aura was constantly weakening as if there was a mysterious force suppressing the strength inside him.
When he finally arrived at the Ancestral Land, his expression had already turned extremely stern. He summoned his strength but realised that his current output was only on par with that of a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman. That omnipresent, extremely dense Ancestral Strength had actually suppressed his strength by an entire Realm.
If this was his condition, the other 3,000 Black Ink Clansmen would naturally be in an even worse state.
The lower the strength, the more obvious the suppression. There were already some Black Ink Clansmen who couldn’t stand the pain and released suppressed roars.
Meanwhile, the Feudal Lord was terrified and immediately knew that there was something off about this piece of land.
He suppressed the discomfort he was feeling and began looking around. Then, he led his army away after not finding anything.
It wasn’t until they left the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land that the feeling of suppression gradually faded. The Feudal Lord reported what happened to the Territory Lords, making all of them frown.
[Is the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land’s suppression really so powerful? How did Qing Fu and Mu Yu stand living in this place back then?]
Unfortunately, those two had undergone Source Fusion with a Black Ink Nest; otherwise, the other Territory Lords would have asked them to come over because they would certainly learn more about this situation.
“They’re dead, but there are a few Feudal Lords that escaped alive at that time. So, we’ll know the answer after asking them,” one of the Territory Lords said.
It was a plan. Among the millions of soldiers that followed them here, there were a few Feudal Lords who had previously guarded the Ancestral Land. Those Feudal Lords were called over and asked about the previous situation here. After finding out that things were completely different now, the Territory Lords were certain that, while there was previously Ancestral Strength here as well, it wasn’t nearly as dense as it was currently. It was clear that the Ancestral Land had gone through a dramatic change they knew nothing about, which was likely caused deliberately.
In other words, Yang Kai was still inside the Ancestral Land, but no one knew where he was hiding or what he was doing.
Should they keep searching for him?
Now that they had a Black Ink Clan Army that consisted of millions of Black Ink Clan soldiers, there was a huge possibility of finding Yang Kai in his hiding spot if they scattered enough people around the Ancestral Land. However, what would they do with him after finding him?
Another round of discussion later, the Territory Lords decided to just lay low and wait.
They were now very sure that Yang Kai was still inside the Ancestral land, and as long as he was here, he couldn’t run away.
Moreover, the Royal Lord had ordered them to wait for Di Wu to arrive and take over, so they would do just that. After Di Wu successfully performed the Source Fusion Technique, he became a Pseudo-Royal Lord. Now, all he needed to do was to absorb the power from the Black Ink Nest and all 13 Innate Territory Lords sacrificed before him, and he would have enough power to defeat Yang Kai.
Once a decision was made, all the Territory Lords felt relieved and waited silently.
In the meantime, Yang Kai had sunk deep into the Ancestral Land, but this wasn’t by his own doing. At first, he was just an adopted son to the Ancestral Land, the so-called Matriarch, and then he advanced into a true son after contributing something. Later, he became the Ancestral Land’s favourite son. Following that, the Ancestral Land might have sensed Yang Kai’s desire for power and decided to help him with all it could.
Yang Kai transformed into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon before beginning to absorb and refine as much Ancestral Strength as he could from the Ancestral Land. While refining his Dragon Vein, he was so immersed in his cultivation that he didn’t notice that his body had involuntarily sunk into the ground and arrived deep below the surface of the Ancestral Land. Yang Kai didn’t even notice signs of his body fusing with the Ancestral Land.
This phenomenon was naturally not the same as the Black Ink Clan’s Source Fusion Technique, which required devouring one another. It was as though the Matriarch had opened her arms to welcome Yang Kai into her embrace because she was trying to inject that huge amount of strength into his body.
With the constant refining of his Dragon Vein, Yang Kai noticed that the effects here were even more outstanding than those he had while cultivating in the Dragon Pool.
As Yang Kai had entirely sunk into the ground, not only did he not notice that the Black Ink Clan had set up a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array called the Four Gates Eighth Palaces Great Pagoda Array, but the Black Ink Clan who came in to look around for him also wouldn’t be able to find him.
Time passed by and Yang Kai’s fusion with the Ancestral Land was becoming stronger, like he was about to become one with it. At a certain point, his perspective seemed to entirely change, becoming both ancient and wide.
As his Dragon Vein continued to be refined, he felt a strange power seeping into his body and gradually resonating with the entire Ancestral Land.
It was the purest form of Time Dao Essence.
The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time. If a Dragon Clansman’s bloodline reached a certain level of purity, they would naturally become proficient in the Dao of Time and gain the ability to use Time Principles.
Yang Kai possessing a Dragon Vein might have been a huge factor as to why he could reach such high attainments in the Dao of Time back then.
Now, the Time Dao Essence of this World seemed to have caused some kind of strange change.
Though Yang Kai still retained his consciousness, it had expanded greatly as he felt himself fuse with the Ancestral Land. The sensations of his body faded away, as he then saw a strange phenomenon.
He witnessed several Black Ink Clansmen investigating something in the Ancestral Land before leaving quickly. This wasn’t strange in and of itself, but what was odd was the scenes seemed to be occurring in reverse. Yang Kai even saw some Black Ink Clansmen walking backwards…
Next, he saw a Grand Array, which enveloped the entire Void around the Ancestral Land, disperse before several Black Ink Disciples began running around with a number of Territory Lords seemingly disassembling it.
Another two Territory Lords suddenly appeared outside of the Ancestral Land, but left after investigating what was inside. Those two Territory Lords seemed like the two he had previously released.
Yang Kai also saw the Territory Lord he killed revive from the dead. He even witnessed himself withdrawing his finger from that Territory Lord’s forehead before their battle played out in reverse.
All these scenes rapidly appeared and disappeared, but Yang Kai’s emotions remained as tranquil as an ancient wall. It was like he was a bystander who was observing what had happened in the Ancestral Land. Even watching himself kill that Territory Lord didn’t draw any kind of reaction from him.
At that moment, Yang Kai suddenly realised that he was going back in time.
The Dao of Time was profound and mysterious. Since ancient times, there were very few cultivators who cultivated this Grand Dao. Cultivators of the Dao of Time were even fewer than cultivators of the Dao of Space.
Only the Dragon Clan, who had their Bloodline Talent, would reliably become extremely gifted in the Dao of Time.
Back when Yang Kai was outside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, he used his Sun and Moon Divine Wheel to shatter Space-Time and glimpse the future. Later, everything that happened proved that what he saw was real.
However, that opportunity was an accidental coincidence. Yang Kai had tried using the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel again, but never saw the future in that way again.
That experience led him to understand that if he could master the Dao of Time to its extreme, he might be able to peer into the future. Moreover, the ability to foresee the future was definitely a great method to avoid danger.
The truth was that, once a cultivator’s cultivation reached a certain level, they would naturally have a bit of prophetic ability, allowing them to sense danger and crisis before they happened. But without the Dao of Time, they couldn’t see the future and would only have vague intuitions.
Since the Dao of Time could allow a cultivator to foresee the future, of course, it could allow them to see the past. Time flowed from the beginning of the Universe, through ancient times to the present, and continued flowing towards the end of all things. Therefore, if one glanced at where the river was flowing, they could see the future, while looking back would allow one to see the past.
Though Yang Kai’s attainments in the Dao of Time weren’t low, possibly even among the best in the vast world, when it came to mysterious matters such as the past, the future, and even the nature of time itself, he was still fairly clueless about them.
Just like this time, he had unknowingly triggered the rewinding of time in the Ancestral Land.
This rewinding of time wasn’t like he was travelling to the past, because the flow of time in the Ancestral Land remained unchanged. After Yang Kai fused with the Ancestral Land, he simply became a bystander who was observing the reverse flow of time in this land.
Such a strange encounter must have some sort of connection with him being a Dragon Clan member and the fact that the Ancestral Land was pampering him. All these factors combined led to this astonishing development.
Yang Kai should have been extremely happy to encounter such an opportunity, but he didn’t feel any changes in his emotions. It was as if he had completely turned into the Ancestral Land and had become restrained and emotionless. Also, this act of rewinding time was just this piece of land silently reminiscing about the past.
But all of that didn’t stop Yang Kai from receiving benefits.
Following each passing breath, Yang Kai found his understanding of the Dao of Time increasing slightly. This kind of comprehension differed slightly from what he received by refining Temporal Rivers back in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. Temporal Rivers were filled with Time Dao Essence and Strength, so Yang Kai naturally could increase his attainments in the Dao of Time by refining and absorbing them into his Small Universe. However, that was only refining external energy.
By fusing with the Ancestral Land, Yang Kai was now experiencing this mysterious land reminiscing about its past like he was thinking back to his own life’s experience. Of course, those were illusions as the one with these memories was the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. Yang Kai’s current situation was more like using his body to replace that of the Ancestral land, but this change didn’t hinder Yang Kai from obtaining benefits.
Yang Kai silently comprehended what was happening, and his emotions completely calmed, disregarding the changes in time and other things happening outside.
Inside the Ancestral Land, that dense Ancestral Strength kept surging and flowed towards one spot.
Meanwhile, the Black Ink Clan Army outside the Ancestral Land stood there with their guards up. The 20 Innate Territory Lords and several Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples treated this situation seriously and kept the Grand Array activated, sealing everything inside.
Time gradually passed, and about two years later, an extremely fierce aura sped over from the far-off void, causing the Innate Territory Lords to look in that direction with shocked expressions.
Di Wu had finally arrived!
He had absorbed the power of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest and 13 Territory Lords who had sacrificed themselves to it. Naturally, he needed quite some time to refine everything and consolidate his new strength.
Fortunately for him, the others had sealed this place with a Grand Array so that Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to escape; therefore, he wasn’t in much of a hurry.
Also, this counted as the first time the Black Ink Clan produced a Pseudo-Royal Lord with the Source Fusion Technique, so the other Territory Lords were naturally curious about Di Wu’s condition.
After they briefly probed Di Wu, the Territory Lords all turned grim.
That was because Di Wu had a blaring aura. By comparing only their auras, Di Wu seemed to have the strength of a real Royal Lord, but all of the Territory Lords knew that this was just an illusion.
The reason Di Wu’s aura was so pronounced was that he could not control it.
Royal Lords didn’t wantonly release their aura because they could perfectly control their strength. Therefore, the rampaging aura was a sign that Di Wu couldn’t actually handle his current power properly.
It was obvious from this situation that no matter how strong an Innate Territory Lord was, and what methods they used to bypass their innate shackles, there was still an absolute limit. Even though Di Wu had received a power that was far above his original strength and had two years to adapt to it, it was still hard for him to fully control himself. Perhaps it would be impossible for him to gain full control over that power in his lifetime, or else he wouldn’t be regarded as a Pseudo-Royal Lord. Rather, he would be a true Royal Lord.
Despite knowing all that, the Innate Territory Lords were still envious of Di Wu because their strength had been fixed since their birth. Who wouldn’t want to become stronger?
Especially when there was an unavoidable final battle between the Black Ink Clan and Humans brewing. More power meant better protection for oneself when facing the catastrophe that was about to sweep through the entire Universe.
It was a pity that the others could only admire Di Wu because the birth of a Pseudo-Royal Lord meant that a High-Rank Black Ink Nest and more than a dozen Innate Territory Lords had to be sacrificed through the Source Fusion Technique. The Black Ink Clan could not create a large amount of Pseudo-Royal Lords unless they were in a desperate situation, and even then, it was doubtful if such sacrifice would be worth the gains.
A while later, a deep, dark cloud arrived before them. Even the Innate Territory Lords couldn’t see Di Wu’s appearance because he was enveloped in extremely dense Black Ink Strength. The shocking momentum and murderous intent coming from the Black Ink Cloud made the Territory Lords even warier.
When Di Wu was still a Territory Lord, he was more of a staid individual, but now, he was like a caged Ominous Beast that had broken free, wanting to devour every person he saw.
“Where is he?” Di Wu’s raspy voice came from within the cloud.
The Territory Lord nearest to him quickly pointed in a specific direction, “He should still be inside the Ancestral Land.”
Once that was said, the Black Ink Cloud immediately shot towards the ground. A short while later, a violent vibration seemed to have come from below, accompanied by Di Wu’s angry roar, “Come out!”
The World shook, and the wild shockwave made the Void itself tremble. Even the Grand Array was slightly affected, forcing the Territory Lords to channel more strength to stabilise it quickly.
Inside the Ancestral Land, the Black Ink Cloud seemed like a rampant child as it continuously released the huge power it suddenly acquired.
Soon, Di Wu, who was inside the Black Ink Cloud, noticed something strange.
He clearly felt a dense ill-will coming from all directions, like the World itself was rejecting his presence.
It wouldn’t have bothered him if that was all, but this strange Will also had the power to suppress his strength!
Ancestral Strength!
Of course, Di Wu wouldn’t be unaware of the most primitive strength of the Divine Spirits. It was just that he had never visited the Ancestral Land before and never anticipated that the Ancestral Strength here would be so dense.
Being a Pseudo-Royal Lord, even if he couldn’t completely control his strength, dealing with an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Master like Yang Kai shouldn’t have been a problem.
However, the dense Ancestral Strength here suppressed almost half of Di Wu’s strength, leaving him only slightly stronger than he originally was as an Innate Territory Lord.
Knowing Yang Kai’s ferocious reputation and ridiculous strength, Di Wu wasn’t confident that he could win against him with such a limitation placed on him.
He came here with full confidence, but now he was suddenly worried, which was quite embarrassing. In this situation, not only might he fail to kill Yang Kai, but he was actually at risk of being the one killed.
Looking around, he had a serious face as he prepared himself for Yang Kai’s sudden appearance.
Luckily for him, there weren’t any movements around him.
Frowning, he began investigating his surroundings.
He found that all the Ancestral Strength on this land was gathering in one direction.
[Is that bastard still cultivating?] Di Wu vaguely muttered to himself after reaching his own conclusion.
Under normal circumstances, he would have interrupted Yang Kai’s cultivation no matter what because, as an enemy, he couldn’t just sit and watch Yang Kai become stronger. That killing star was already too strong, so what benefit would there be to let him grow stronger?
However, Di Wu currently had another plan.
Since Yang Kai was busy devouring the Ancestral Strength to cultivate, perhaps he should just let him be; after all, this land couldn’t have an infinite amount of Ancestral Strength. Therefore, the longer Yang Kai cultivated, the less Ancestral Strength there would be. Once all the Ancestral Strength here had been depleted, there would be nothing suppressing the Black Ink Clan’s strength, and by that time, he could exert his full power.
Although Yang Kai would also become stronger, as long as he didn’t break through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, Di Wu was confident that he could defeat Yang Kai.
Could Yang Kai break through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm?
The answer was no. This man had reached his limit at the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm; the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t mess up such a critical piece of intelligence, or else they wouldn’t have agreed to negotiate with the Humans.
Once he decided, Di Wu didn’t remain any longer and flew up into the sky, heading back towards the Grand Array.
When he returned, many pairs of eyes fell on him, which made him feel a little embarrassed. Luckily, he was hiding inside a thick Black Ink Cloud, so the other Territory Lords couldn’t see his face.
“I haven’t mastered my current strength, so I’ll let him live a while longer and head over to kill him once I’ve become better familiarised with myself!”
It was clearly an excuse, and the Territory Lords all knew what Di Wu was thinking. They secretly snickered, but didn’t dare to show anything on the surface, “Sir Di Wu, you’re the one in charge. We will keep a close watch on Yang Kai’s movements.”
Di Wu nodded lightly, “Inform me immediately if there are any changes!”
After saying that, he shot to the side and silently began familiarising himself with his strength. Despite spending two years devouring the strength from the Black Ink Nest and 13 Territory Lords, this wasn’t strength he had built up through his own efforts, so it was somewhat incompatible with him and rioted regularly. That was also one of the reasons he could not stop releasing his aura.
If he let Yang Kai continue to cultivate, he could also gradually polish the strength that didn’t belong to him and make himself stronger.
At the same time, in the depths of the Ancestral Land, Yang Kai was still looking into the past while fusing with the Ancestral Land’s aura. But a moment ago, there seemed to be a kind of external force that almost interrupted his cultivation.
Fortunately, the interruption ended as swiftly as it arrived.
In the meantime, the Ancestral Land’s time had rewound to almost thousands of years ago, and Yang Kai saw incidents that happened then.
Once again, he saw himself moving around the Ancestral Land.
That scene was when he first arrived at the Ancestral Land. Back then, the Kun Clan had forced him to open the land that had been sealed for ages, and it was also the first time he saw a Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
Everything was going backwards as the time rewound while Yang Kai, the bystander, watched everything that made the Ancestral Land what it was today.
At the same time, the omnipresent Ancestral Strength was still continuously flowing into his Dragon Form, causing his Dragon Vein to constantly grow stronger.
His original Dragon Form was 70,000 metres long, and his Dragon Clan bloodline was extremely pure. At that point, it would have been difficult for him to refine his Dragon Vein further without massive amounts of time. That was why his Dragon Form only grew about 1,000 metres after leaving the Dragon Pool.
In such a state, only by returning to the Dragon Pool to cultivate would he have any possibility of quickly improving his Dragon Vein.
But now, his Dragon Form was obviously changing as he continued to absorb more Ancestral Strength. As his Dragon Vein grew stronger, so did his attainment in the Dao of Time, which then increased the speed at which time was being rewound.
For the first two years, the Ancestral Land only rewound through some 40,000 or so years. In the following two years, 50,000 years passed by. Two more years later, 60,000 years…
Yang Kai had now witnessed historical moments that happened in the Ancestral Land over multiple millennia and soon even reached the incident during the Late Ancient Era where the Third Generation Dragon Emperor and the Phoenix Empress made a blood sacrifice to seal the Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
After watching that incident, Yang Kai became even more silent.
This review of time was now significantly longer than when he was cultivating in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, as he had only spent some 4,000 years there. This journey back through the Ancestral Land’s past had lasted millions of years already, and he might need to spend a similar amount of time to return to the present!
Outside the Ancestral Land, the Black Ink Clan’s Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was still operating. Since no external forces were attacking this Grand Array, the Territory Lords only had to keep it active, which didn’t require much strength at all, so they didn’t feel tired.
However, they didn’t dare to slack off. It had now been several decades since they first set up this Grand Array, but they hadn’t seen any traces of Yang Kai. Only the continuous surging of Ancestral Strength below indicated that Yang Kai was still cultivating.
At the same time, Di Wu had been familiarising himself with his strength. After the time he ignorantly barged into the Ancestral Land and caused a commotion, he didn’t dare to step foot into the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land again.
He couldn’t use his full strength under the suppression of the rich Ancestral Strength and was afraid of encountering Yang Kai under such conditions; therefore, he could only stall for time, hoping that the Ancestral Land would someday be depleted of Ancestral Strength.
During these dozens of years, though he didn’t personally head back inside, he had ordered the Territory Lords to head inside the Ancestral Land to check the situation. However, the reports he received were disturbing. Even though several dozen years had passed, the Ancestral Strength was showing no signs of being depleted. It was as if this mysterious energy was completely inexhaustible.
The Royal Lord had sent people over from the No-Return Pass to check on them a few times. Di Wu didn’t dare lie, so he reported everything that happened honestly. The Royal Lord wasn’t upset with him though and only instructed him to wait for the perfect opportunity. When the time came, he had to kill Yang Kai in the Ancestral Land. In that sense, the Royal Lord wasn’t worried about waiting.
After getting the Royal Lord’s reply, Di Wu felt more assured and was filled with determination as he waited.
100 years passed, but the situation inside the Ancestral Land remained unchanged. By now, Yang Kai had rewound through untold ages. Currently, he was witnessing an abundance of Divine Spirits in the Ancestral Land. There were even some species that Yang Kai had never seen or heard of before. This was during the Early Ancient Era when the Monster Race ruled the Universe and the Divine Spirits’ glory had faded. Despite that fact, the Ancestral Land was still a paradise for the Divine Spirits.
Rewinding further, he witnessed an unimaginably huge battle that happened in the Ancestral Land. That battle was an internal struggle between Divine Spirits. Those large bodies were as tall as the sky and broad as the Earth, and during that period, the Ancestral Land was actually far broader than what it was now.
That war resulted in many Divine Spirit species, and an enormous amount of Divine Spirit Sources, shattering. Even a vast stretch of the Ancestral Land was destroyed.
Further back was the Primordial Era.
This was the time when the Divine Spirits ruled, and it was also when they were at their prime. They were so strong they were practically invincible. If they hadn’t gone through that internal war, the Monster Race wouldn’t have had a chance to rise up.
Yang Kai suddenly had a strange feeling, like he was witnessing something unfathomable. That feeling started vague, but as time passed and the longer he witnessed the Ancestral Land’s reverse evolution, the more that feeling became obvious.
At this moment, the rewinding of time was extremely fast, and many scenes were rushing by as though they were only flashes of memory. If Yang Kai hadn’t become one with the Ancestral Land and was currently relying on it to look back in time, he wouldn’t have been able to see those scenes at all.
It wasn’t until one moment that all the Divine Spirits on the Ancestral Land had completely disappeared, and the entire land was filled with an ancient and barbaric aura that a bright light flashed across the land before everything returned to stillness.
Yang Kai felt his heart skip a beat as he suddenly felt anxious. Then, for the first time, he took the initiative to activate the Time Principles to affect the huge Ancestral Land.
The rate of time rewinding slowly and gradually came to a stop.
It was then that Yang Kai was able to get a closer look at this land.
The Ancestral Land of this Era was different from all other Eras because this was what it looked like before Divine Spirits and Ancestral Strength existed.
In this era, the Ancestral land was only a vast, empty expanse. Such an ordinary World could be found everywhere in the 3,000 Worlds of this time.
Yang Kai didn’t see the bright light from before and knew he had gone too far back in time. After that realization, he couldn’t help but feel anxious as he vaguely felt he had missed something of critical importance.
It was meaningless to continue looking back in time as the Ancestral Land was now just an ordinary continent. Yang Kai wouldn’t be able to get any new information if he just let things proceed.
How this continent became the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was the most important piece of information, and that bright light that flashed past just now…
Yang Kai immediately surged his Time Principles, making the Ancestral Land lock onto that specific time and dig into the memories branded deep inside it.
Slowly, time began to flow again, but this time, it wasn’t flowing backwards but forwards from the point at which Yang Kai had stopped!
The vast and barren land was quiet and without any vitality except the lush green forests.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in the sky and illuminated everything. The light was so bright that it lit up every part of the continent that would be the Ancestral Land.
When Yang Kai was rewinding the time, he caught a glimpse of the Primordial Light, but it flashed by so fast that even he couldn’t be sure he could capture its true appearance. That was why he decided to use Time Principles to take a closer look.
Never had he seen such a bright and powerful light. It was as if all the colours in existence had combined into this ball of light but didn’t fuse. Every colour was radiating its own glow.
This scene made Yang Kai subconsciously think of the Primordial Light he had been searching for!
Yang Kai suddenly had the urge to laugh. He had spent hundreds of years visiting one Great Territory after another, trying to find any trace of the Primordial Light only to come up empty. Then, he came to the Ancestral Land and decided to abandon his search. However, he didn’t expect that he would be able to see the Primordial Light while looking into the Ancestral Land’s past!
How could he have stumbled upon such fortune?
After thinking about it, Yang Kai thought this was a pre-ordained result.
Since the Primordial Light had a close connection to the Burning Light, Serene Glimmer, and all Divine Spirits, of course, Yang Kai would see something related to it in the Ancestral Land’s past.
This was also why Yang Kai came to the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land in the first place. But he didn’t expect that the connection would be so direct and that he would manage to see the Primordial Light’s actual form while rewinding time.
This was certainly the most important moment for this World, so Yang Kai focused all his attention and carefully observed what happened, not daring to miss the slightest detail.
He had a feeling that he might be able to solve many mysteries surrounding the Primordial Light today.
However, an external force suddenly attacked at that moment, surprising Yang Kai and almost severing him from this strange situation.
Yang Kai was shocked and quickly calmed himself down before focusing his attention on controlling Time Principles to make time flow forward faster.
He didn’t know what was happening outside and only knew that he had seen the Black Ink Clan set up some sort of Grand Array outside the Ancestral Land when he just began peering into the past. Therefore, he suspected that the external attacking force might have something to do with the Black Ink Clan.
If he didn’t speed things up, there was a huge possibility that he would be completely interrupted and forced out of this mysterious state, which was naturally something he couldn’t accept.
It had been extremely difficult for him to come this far, so she couldn’t stop at the cusp of success, only to return empty-handed.
He quickly felt rage rising up inside him, but the destabilization of his mood seemed to disrupt his state of mind even further, so he quickly calmed himself and discarded all distracting thoughts.
Soon, he saw the bright light sweeping down from the void. Thousands of colours flickered within the light, making for a beautiful sight. That light was flawless, just as one would expect from the first light in this World.
However, Yang Kai soon noticed that the Primordial Light was extremely unstable. The countless colours within the light were in conflict with each other, and even the light’s true form showed signs of collapsing.
After observing it for a while, Yang Kai realised that this was the Primordial Light after it had separated out the powers of the Yang and Yin. It already had some deficiencies, so it was no longer in its perfect state!
Before coming here, the Primordial Light had lost the power of the Yang and Yin. After countless years of confusion and silence, those two most fundamental energies would transform into the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer. Since those two had conflicting powers, they then unconsciously created the Chaotic Dead Territory.
How could the Primordial Light maintain stability when it had lost its two most fundamental energies?
In a blink of an eye, the Primordial Light ruthlessly crashed down onto the most primitive continent from billions of kilometres away. At that instant, the light enveloped every inch of the Ancestral Lad, and the thousands of different colours splashed out across the World.
The Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array outside the Ancestral Land, the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, was still active.
Meanwhile, inside the Ancestral Land, Di Wu was recklessly releasing his strength to vent his rage.
300 years had passed. He had been waiting here for 300 years, but there were still no signs of Yang Kai. Although the Royal Lord in the No-Return Pass didn’t urge him, he knew that not taking down Yang Kai after such a long time showed his inability.
It wouldn’t be too bad if he were a Territory Lord, but now that he was a Royal Lord, though not a true Royal Lord, he still represented the peak of the Black Ink Clan.
Before, Di Wu dared not head too deep inside the Ancestral Land because he was still unfamiliar with the huge, new power inside him. Also, the extremely dense Ancestral Strength of this place had a massive suppressive effect on him.
Back then, he wasn’t confident in defeating Yang Kai even if he managed to lure him out.
So many years of waiting weren’t in vain though, because 200 years ago, the Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land began gradually decreasing and thinning out day by day.
Until this day, the amount of Ancestral Strength remained stagnant.
Now, although there was still Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land, it wasn’t nearly as dense as it was 300 years ago. It was at a level that Di Wu could tolerate.
Of course, the more important reason was that he had finally gained more control over his strength after so long.
It was impossible to fully control the strength he obtained from the Black Ink Nest and 13 sacrificed Territory Lords because if he could, he wouldn’t be a Pseudo-Royal Lord but a real Royal Lord.
In other words, by using the Source Fusion Technique, the total strength Di Wu possessed wasn’t any less than a real Royal Lord, but his ability to control that strength was inferior to one.
Now that the environment had changed and he had gained better control over his strength, Di Wu finally had the bravery to attack.
Every time Di Wu attacked with his majestic Black Ink Strength, the Ancestral Land would tremble. If this had been an ordinary Universe World, it wouldn’t have withstood the ruthless bombardment of a Pseudo-Royal Lord and might have been shattered already.
However, the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was different. This was a continent that had existed since the Primordial Era and had nurtured numerous Divine Spirits. Whether it was the land’s robustness or the strength of its Grand Dao and Principles, all were far beyond ordinary.
While Yang Kai was looking into the past, he even witnessed the internal war between the Divine Spirits. There were countless powerful Divine Spirits involved in that battle, including many on as strong as the Dragon Emperors and Phoenix Empresses, which made it difficult to estimate how many Divine Spirits had died in that battle. That war was definitely among the most shocking the Universe had ever witnessed, with few if any matching its magnitude and intensity.
Even that great battle that involved the entire Ancestral Land didn’t destroy this World though and only damaged it somewhat, so how could a lone Pseudo-Royal Lord be capable of that?
Therefore, Di Wu couldn’t help but be dumbfounded after releasing a series of attacks. The Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was far more mysterious than he imagined, and most importantly, his actions seemed to have evoked hatred and resistance from this World.
The Humans had an old saying: The World lives. Even a relatively young Universe World like the Star Boundary had its own Will, let alone one as ancient and vast as the Ancestral Land. When the Primordial Light fell onto the Ancestral Land and turned into numerous colourful rays of light, the Ancestral Land’s consciousness appeared. As a result, this World’s Will was far stronger and purer than other Universe Worlds.
If this wasn’t the case, the Ancestral Land wouldn’t have shown such favouritism to Yang Kai. All of this was because the Ancestral Land could feel the Golden Divine Dragon Source inside Yang Kai was one of those colourful rays.
Of course, Di Wu’s efforts weren’t totally in vain, as he had almost shaken Yang Kai from his strange state.
If he had succeeded, Yang Kai would have been frustrated to the point that he spat blood.
After using so much time to witness the Ancestral Land’s history and evolution, he had reached a moment of critical importance, so failing at this point would be too much to bear.
Luckily for him, he quickly calmed down his emotions after noticing the strange sensation.
“Come out!” Di Wu’s roar spread throughout the entire Ancestral Land, especially in the direction the Ancestral Strength was moving in. He could roughly guess where Yang Kai was hiding, but since he couldn’t break the Ancestral Land apart, he didn’t have a way to get Yang Kai to come out.
He had been waiting here for long enough and wasn’t willing to continue idling; so, he decided that no matter what, he must make Yang Kai come out of hiding and kill him.
Suddenly, a resounding dragon roar came from below the surface. It sounded furious, and Di Wu could clearly feel a powerful aura rising from below.
Di Wu wasn’t surprised but happy because, to him, making Yang Kai come out was the most difficult task. As for killing Yang Kai, Di Wu thought that it wouldn’t take too much effort to kill him, so he immediately prepared.
Right after he had readied himself, that strong aura closed in. Following that, a huge Golden Dragon Head suddenly appeared from the ground.
That Dragon Head had two horns with thick Dragon Scales all over its body. Its Dragon Beard was swaying under its widely opened mouth that looked like it could bite away a mountain. The Dragon’s mouth bit down fiercely at Di Wu as though it was about to swallow him whole.
Time Principles surged, and even with his newfound strength, Di Wu couldn’t help but fall into a daze. Luckily for him, he instantly woke up and quickly retreated.
The Dragon chased after him with eyes that were filled with fiery rage, seemingly wanting to burn him to ashes.
In that moment of running and chasing, the Pseudo-Royal Lord and Dragon leapt 1,000 kilometres into the sky, and it was only then that Di Wu caught a glimpse of what this Dragon looked like.
It was a huge Dragon Form that seemed to be 100,000 metres long! Though the Dragon Head was right before him, the Dragon Tail seemed to stretch out forever, and the Dragon Pressure was so strong that it was like a furious wind that shook the world around it.
Di Wu felt his heart sink, [Is this guy… Yang Kai?]
He couldn’t help but doubt whether the intelligence had been mistaken because the being before him wasn’t an ordinary Dragon, or even a powerful Ancient Dragon, but quite possibly a Divine Dragon!
According to the information the Black Ink Clan had obtained, while Yang Kai possessed a potent Dragon Clan bloodline, he was still far from becoming a Divine Dragon. Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was supposed to be just 70,000 metres long.
But the Dragon before him… was unquestionably 100,000 metres in length.
A 100,000-metre-long Dragon was a Divine Dragon, a Master superior to ordinary Royal Lords and Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Not to mention Di Wu, who was a mere Pseudo-Royal Lord, even the Royal Lord back at the No-Return Pass would have to act cautiously if he encountered a Divine Dragon.
However, there was only one White Divine Dragon left among the Dragon Clan, and that Divine Dragon had flown into the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield over 1,000 years ago, disappearing without a trace. How could there be a second Divine Dragon here now?
Along with everything he saw these past 300 years, Di Wu immediately concluded that the Divine Dragon in front of him was indeed Yang Kai, and these years of cultivation allowed him to gain significant growth!
[This is bad! My Pseudo-Royal Lord strength is enough to crush an Eighth-Order Master, but if Yang Kai has become a Divine Dragon… I’m the one in danger of dying today!]
While Di Wu was panicking, Yang Kai was also shocked and half of the rage in his eyes faded.
[A Royal Lord? How could there be a Royal Lord here?]
Previously, an external force almost interrupted his hard work of many years, so Yang Kai was naturally furious. After witnessing the Primordial Light landing on the Ancestral Land and what happened shortly after, he furiously charged out from the depths of the Ancestral Land.
It seemed like he had been too lenient and determined to adhere to the agreement between the two Races. The Black Ink Clan might have forgotten what it felt like to fear him, so Yang Kai had decided to teach them a lesson about the consequences of enraging him.
Under normal circumstances, Yang Kai wouldn’t be so reckless and would instead examine the situation before devising a plan, but his strange experience made his consciousness spend millions of years in the past, so his subconscious took over and did everything instinctively under the influence of his rage.
When he felt the aura of the Black Ink Clansman in front of him though, he finally regained his senses.
The Black Ink Clan wouldn’t challenge him if they weren’t confident that they could kill him. So, the Royal Lord before him was undoubtedly the Black Ink Clan’s trump card.
[Has the one at the No-Return Pass come all the way here? Wait! This Royal Lord isn’t the one from the No-Return Pass.]
Yang Kai had encountered the Royal Lord from the No-Return Pass a few times, so he knew what he looked like. However, the Black Ink Clansman before him was someone he had never seen before.
[The Black Ink Clan actually has a second Royal Lord!] Yang Kai was shocked. If the Black Ink Clan had a second Royal Lord, wouldn’t that mean they could have a third or a fourth?
At that instant, Yang Kai suddenly had no idea how many years he had spent in the Ancestral Land. Could he have been here for a few 1,000 years? If not, how could the Black Ink Clan have a new Royal Lord?
But no matter what it was, he couldn’t remain here and fight a meaningless battle!
The escaping and pursuing pair were both lost in their own thoughts at the same time, but came to their senses just as quickly. Following that, the Dragon released a powerful Dragon Breath from its huge maw, which became a blast of raging golden fire threatening to burn the sky down.
In response, Di Wu threw a few punches that were surging with Black Ink Strength with all his might.
A loud boom sounded in the air, and the Dragon Breath was put out while the Black Ink Strength dispersed.
Yang Kai and Di Wu were both sent flying.
The huge Golden Dragon suddenly shrunk and returned to Human Form. Then, Yang Kai immediately flew away without turning back. He didn’t have any intention of fighting a Royal Lord.
With his current strength, it was still quite difficult for him to kill a Royal Lord, and he was anxious to find out what had happened in the outside world. How long had he been here, and what was the state of the Human’s side?
However, he had only flown a short distance when he heard an angry roar from above, “Get down!”
Immediately after that, the Void trembled and a huge bolt of lightning came crashing down on him.
Although the bolt wasn’t overpowering, it wasn’t weak either.
Not expecting to encounter an ambush, Yang Kai looked up and saw a Territory Lord holding an Array Banner while pointing at him from afar, looking nervous but feigning calm.
Yang Kai coldly snorted before manipulating Space Principles, preparing to flee.
But just as his Instantaneous Movement activated, it sputtered and he was ejected from the Void. That short pause caused the thunderbolt to hit him directly, making him tremble. Even a few strands of his hair were made to stand on end.
[A Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Array!]
At the thought of that, Yang Kai’s face fell as a memory from the depths of his mind emerged. He vaguely recalled that when he was looking back in time, he saw a group of Territory Lords setting up some sort of Grand Array outside the Ancestral Land. Now it seemed like they had sealed the Ancestral Land.
[No wonder the Black Ink Clan dared to attack me. It’s because of this!]
Instantaneous Movement was indeed one of the most mysterious and unpredictable techniques among Space Techniques, and Yang Kai relied on it to escape from many Masters in the past. However, the Black Ink Clan’s arrangement prevented this Secret Technique from activating. With the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking in effect, everywhere inside this Grand Array was cut off from the outside, meaning if one wanted to leave, one had to destroy the Grand Array first.
It wouldn’t be easy to break such a Grand Array though. Not only was a Royal Lord targeting him, but Yang Kai was sure that this Grand Array had other functions besides being Heaven Sealing Earth Locking. The thunderbolt that hit him just now was obviously created by this Grand Array because Black Ink Clansmen didn’t have such an ability.
Having charged out in a fury but being met with such an awkward situation, Yang Kai couldn’t care about being angry anymore. Adding on to the fact that his consciousness had witnessed millions of years of the Ancestral Land’s history, he was still a little muddleheaded and knew this wasn’t the time to get entangled in a battle with the Black Ink Clan. At the very least, he had to figure out his current situation first.
Thinking so, Yang Kai didn’t hesitate, and his figure flickered before instantly disappearing.
He didn’t use Instantaneous Movement to leave; instead, he escaped into the depths of the Ancestral Land and concealed his aura.
The Ancestral Land was incredibly firm, and even Di Wu, a Pseudo-Royal Lord, couldn’t cause any real damage to it despite attacking with full force. However, Yang Kai didn’t feel any resistance from the land when escaping to its depths.
That was because this land had shown its pampering attitude towards Yang Kai. This was just like how he was a Star Boundary’s Great Emperor and could instantly travel to any corner of it with just a thought as long as he was within its borders. Although he wasn’t the Great Emperor chosen by the Ancestral Land’s World’s Will, he was not far from it.
Next, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense flowed out like the tide and quickly examined the Ancestral Land and its surrounding void, which was indeed enveloped by an unknown Grand Array that had sealed this place and separated it from the outside world.
Yang Kai’s face fell. It was bold of the Black Ink Clan to come after him, but judging by the arrangements they had made, they did have the capital to do so. With a Royal Lord overseeing the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array and who knows how many Innate Territory Lords hiding in the dark, the Black Ink Clan could take the risk to fight for victory.
[How many years has it been since I came to the Ancestral Land?]
Calming down, Yang Kai began estimating the days and soon felt relieved.
Thankfully, it had only been 300 years!
When he saw an unfamiliar Royal Lord, Yang Kai worried he had spent thousands or even tens of thousands of years in the Ancestral Land, but it seemed only 300 had passed.
Though 300 years wasn’t a short amount of time, it wasn’t too long either as Yang Kai had just previously spent 1,700 years in retreat.
In such a short period, the situation between the Black Ink Clan and Human Race couldn’t have changed much.
However, since that was the case, where did this unfamiliar Royal Lord come from? Logically speaking, a Territory Lord wouldn’t have grown to become a Royal Lord in such a short time frame. Could it be that this Royal Lord had been hiding in the dark all this while?
But that seemed impossible because if the Black Ink Clan had a second Royal Lord available, they wouldn’t have hidden him away. With the situation on the battlefield, if the Black Ink Clan deployed a Royal Lord, the Humans would at least have to give up a few more Great Territory Battlefields and countless more of Eighth-Order Masters would have died in battle.
Yang Kai couldn’t figure this point, and soon worried about something even more disturbing. If the Black Ink Clan had a second Royal Lord, would there be a third, or perhaps even more?
If that were the case, the Humans would be in trouble.
Temporarily discarding such worries, Yang Kai calmed down and tried to reach the World Tree, thinking of using Old Tree’s power to help him get out of this situation.
If he succeeded, he could instantly head to the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. He had done something similar before in Acacia Territory back then. The Black Ink Clan still couldn’t figure out how Yang Kai left Acacia Territory with more than 10,000 Human refugees when they had blockaded all the Territory Gates and never saw a trace of Yang Kai.
As Yang Kai had refined thousands of Universes Worlds back then, he and the World Tree’s connection couldn’t be broken. Even in a place like the Black Ink Battlefield that wasn’t possible.
In fact, even now, there was still a connection between them, but Yang Kai’s plan of using the World Tree’s strength to escape this situation proved impossible. Unless he could break the seal of the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array, he wouldn’t be able to head to the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.
Though Yang Kai had somewhat expected this, he still felt frustrated.
After figuring out his situation, and having spent time in a type of cultivation trace, Yang Kai was no longer so anxious. Now, it seemed like this wasn’t a well-thought-out conspiracy enacted over thousands of years by the Black Ink Clan, but just a plan which took advantage of fortuitous circumstances. His long stay in the Ancestral Land had simply allowed them to act against him.
If he hadn’t remained in the Ancestral Land for so long, or fallen into a near unconscious state because he was witnessing the Ancestral Land reminiscing about its past, he wouldn’t have been oblivious to the changes in his surroundings.
It wasn’t that Yang Kai wasn’t cautious enough, there were just some unexpected things in this world that could not be avoided.
Moreover, he was only trapped here, which couldn’t be compared to the benefits he received while witnessing the Ancestral Land’s evolution.
[That multi-coloured light entity…] Even when he recalled that moment, Yang Kai couldn’t hide his shock. The World couldn’t have such a magnificent light anymore.
Naturally, the Primordial Light that was born at the beginning of the Universe was the most magnificent of all lights!
Towards the end of the rewound time, Yang Kai saw the Primordial Light crash onto the Ancestral Land and explode. A myriad of colourful lights dispersed and melted into this ancient and barren World, turning it from ordinary to extraordinary. Later, this vast land gradually became a land filled with a mysterious energy that still existed today.
The places where those colourful streams of light landed had experienced the passing of countless years before gradually giving rise to the Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and many other Divine Spirit Clans. In the end, this land became the Divine Spirits’ birthplace and homeland.
More importantly, this was also why the Divine Spirits’ strength could restrain Black Ink Strength to a certain degree.
The Divine Spirits were the same as the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer. They were all born from the Primordial Light, so all of them came from the same Source. The rumour that said the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer were the progenitors of the Divine Spirits was just nonsense. The more accurate description would be that the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer were the Big Brother and Big Sister of all Divine Spirits because they were the ones that were first separated from the Primordial Light.
Those two had lived since the Primordial Era until now, and their strength was pure and unchanged throughout history. On the other hand, the Divine Spirits had gone through generations after generations of inheritance, so the characteristics of their strength had diverged from the Primordial Light over the aeons and had a less obvious effect on Black Ink Strength compared to the Purifying Light.
When Yang Kai saw what finally happened to the Primordial Light, he knew that it was impossible to find it because how could he search for something that didn’t exist anymore? Unless he could really turn back time and return to the Primordial Era to stop the Primordial Light before it disappeared, but that was not something a Human could do.
Luckily, Yang Kai had long given up hope of relying on the Primordial Light. The Humans had to rely on themselves to eliminate Mo.
Since Humans had become the favourite of this era, Yang Kai naturally had to take up the responsibility of protecting it! If he couldn’t even take up such a small responsibility, he would have no right to exist.
As for the Primordial Light, Yang Kai had a general understanding of its history and end, but there was one thing he cared about.
While he was watching the Primordial Light crash onto the Ancestral Land and explode, he could vaguely make out a blurry and distorted Human figure at the place the light landed…
However, the rays of light were too intense, so he couldn’t make out what that was.
[Does the Primordial Light have a connection with Humans as well? What could it be?]
While the Monster Race were the descendants of the Divine Spirits, created to battle one another, Humans had been born from the Universe’s Energy itself. The Primordial Era and Early Ancient Era all had traces of Human activity, but the Humans were far too weak back then. So, no matter whether it was the Divine Spirits or the Monster Race, they all saw Humans as ants, unworthy of their attention.
It wasn’t until the Late Ancient Era when Cang and the other Martial Ancestors were enlightened by the World Tree and created the Open Heaven Realm Cultivation Method that true Masters began emerging from the Humans who could resist the rampant Monster Race and Divine Spirits. Later, it was the Human Race that gradually assumed the position of rulers of the Universe.
Humans were born weak and couldn’t even be compared to the average Beast in their formative years, but perhaps because of their humble beginnings, Humans had infinite possibilities for their futures.
Yang Kai soon stopped thinking about this matter because he had decided not to insist on finding the Primordial Light, and it was meaningless to think about these things at the moment. The most important thing now was to solve the problem he was currently facing.
Since a Grand Array had sealed this place and stopped him from escaping, his only option was to fight his way out.
Even if it meant fighting a Royal Lord, Yang Kai had to try. Among his current means, the Soul Rending Thorns were still the sharpest weapon he had to deal with a Royal Lord. The Soul Rending Thorns were what played the biggest role when he killed a Royal Lord outside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.
Back then, he had used four Soul Rending Thorns consecutively, which caused him to fall into a dazed state, but with how strong his Soul was now, Yang Kai estimated he could use five Soul Rending Thorns at once and still barely maintain lucidity.
No matter how that Royal Lord guarded himself, five Soul Rending Thorns could critically injure his Soul.
Moreover, Yang Kai’s strength had reached the peak of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, so he was far stronger than he was when he had just come out of the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.
He was able to kill that Royal Lord back then mainly because he was lucky, but luck was never something one could rely on.
However, Yang Kai soon brightened up because he discovered that his Dragon Vein had grown significantly stronger after 300 years of cultivation.
Just now, though he had managed to battle the Royal Lord in his Dragon Form for a short while, he didn’t pay any attention to the changes in his Dragon Vein. After examining himself though, Yang Kai could feel that his Dragon Vein seemed to have hit a bottleneck. It was the bottleneck between the Ancient Dragon Realm and the Divine Dragon Realm!
If he could achieve a breakthrough, he would be able to advance from an Ancient Dragon into a Divine Dragon!
This realization greatly enthused Yang Kai.
A Divine Dragon was an existence on the same level as a Royal Lord or Ninth-Order Master. Also, in general, a Divine Dragon would be stronger than other Masters in the equivalent Realm.
When Yang Kai met Fu Guang in the depths of the Dragon Pool, the latter was in the same state as he was currently. But Fu Guang was now a White Divine Dragon.
Even without transforming into his Dragon Form, Yang Kai knew that he had reached an astonishing 99,999 metres in length. Once he could take that last step forward, he could reach the 100,000-metre mark and regain the glory of the Third Generation Dragon Emperor whose Source he had inherited.
If so, he wouldn’t be embarrassing the Third Generation Dragon Emperor who had passed away.
Yang Kai’s Gold Divine Dragon Source came from the Third Generation Dragon Emperor, and the Third Generation Dragon Emperor didn’t only have a 100,000-metre Dragon Form. 100,000 metres was only the minimum required length to reach the Divine Dragon Realm, while only the strongest among Divine Dragons would have the right to be crowned a Dragon Emperor and command the Dragon Clan.
During the Third Generation Dragon Emperor’s Era, there wasn’t just one Divine Dragon in the Dragon Clan, so being able to stand out among all the Divine Dragons meant that the Third Generation Dragon Emperor was indeed unmatched.
But even such a strong Master had paid the ultimate price along with the Phoenix Empress of that era just to suppress and seal the Black Ink Giant Spirit God, which clearly showed how powerful a Black Ink Giant Spirit God was.
In regards to the speed of cultivation among Dragons, Yang Kai was ridiculously fast.
Looking at today’s Dragon Clan, he could be said to be the second strongest Dragon after Fu Guang.
He had expected his Dragon Vein to be refined because Ancestral Strength constantly flowed into his Dragon Form while he had been hiding deep below the Ancestral Land these 300 years. It would be stranger if his Dragon Vein had not been further refined.
At this moment, Yang Kai could clearly feel that the Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land had thinned out a lot because of him.
The refining of his Dragon Vein had caused his Dragon Form to grow from 70,000 metres to 99,999 metres.
As for the increased length of his Dragon Form, though it didn’t bring any benefits to his Open Heaven cultivation, his strength had undoubtedly increased. At the very least, the intrepidness of his physique and ability to withstand punishment had increased appreciably, which would be of great importance when battling the Royal Lord later.
However, the benefits didn’t stop there.
The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time, so the more refined their Dragon Vein was, the higher their attainments in the Dao of Time rose. That was one of the benefits gained from inheriting a Divine Spirit Bloodline. The Dragon Clan didn’t need to have strong comprehensive skills. As long as their bloodline reached a certain purity, they would naturally comprehend things that ordinary people couldn’t.
Yang Kai could clearly feel that his attainments in the Dao of Time had greatly increased.
Since coming out of the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, his Dao of Time could be said to have reached the Seventh Level, Standing Above All Others Within Sight.
All these years of constantly absorbing the things he gained from the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, he had gone much further in this stage,
Now, following the growth of his Dragon Vein, Yang Kai’s attainment in the Dao of Time had entirely surpassed the Seventh Level and reached the Eighth Level, Summiting the Peak!
It was now on the same level as his Dao of Space.
All this while, Yang Kai’s attainments in the Dao of Space had always led his attainments in the Dao of Time. This wasn’t only because he had been cultivating the Dao of Space for longer, but also because he had a natural aptitude in the Dao of Space.
If he hadn’t obtained an extremely pure Dragon Clan Bloodline, there was a huge possibility that he wouldn’t have any attainments in the Dao of Time at all.
Now that his attainments in these two Grand Daos had become even, they had a huge effect on him.
The first was that time in his Small Universe now flowed even faster.
If the previous speed of time in his Small Universe was between six and seven times faster than in the outside world, it was now 10 times faster. The faster flow of time in his Small Universe meant that his heritage would increase faster as well. Of course, this didn’t hold much meaning to Yang Kai anymore because he would soon reach his innate limit in the Open Heaven Martial Dao. Once he reached that peak, his heritage and Realm wouldn’t improve no matter how much strength he accumulated.
However, if he could break through the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm’s restrictions, this change would become very meaningful. The Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm was a new start, and a 10 times flow rate of time in his Small Universe could help him save many years of bitter cultivation.
While the changes in his Small Universe’s time flow were directly affected by his advancement in mastery of the Dao of Time, there was another effect that wasn’t so direct.
That was with his strongest Secret Technique, the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel.
A long while ago, Yang Kai had noticed that because his attainments in the Dao of Time and Dao of Space had some disparity, he would always feel like there was something incomplete with the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel, limiting its power.
The Sun and Moon Divine Wheel was a Secret Technique that combined both Grand Daos to create a brand-new Space-Time Strength. Since his attainments in the two Grand Daos were different, with one slightly higher than the other, this Space-Time Strength was unstable. That was why he couldn’t perfectly combine the full strength of those two Grand Daos.
Yang Kai had previously surmised that when both these Grand Daos had reached the same level of mastery, he might be able to use the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel’s complete power.
But after so many years, even he didn’t have a way to force the two Grand Daos into a balanced state. That was, until today!
Since Yang Kai’s attainments in the Dao of Space and Dao of Time had both reached the Eighth Level, how much power would he be able to exert when he used them to activate the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel? At the thought of that, Yang Kai became excited and secretly decided to test this out as soon as possible.
With the growth of his Dragon Form, improvement of his Dragon Vein, and new attainments in the Dao of Time, Yang Kai’s overall strength had increased dramatically over the past 300 years.
So what if he had to face a Royal Lord? Since he couldn’t escape, he would just have to kill his way out!
However, he first needed to understand the Black Ink Clan’s plan. When he was fighting with that Royal Lord earlier, everything happened too quickly and he was too muddle-headed, so he didn’t have time to carefully assess the situation. The only thing he knew was that there was a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array outside the Ancestral Land, a Royal Lord waiting for a chance to strike, and an unknown number of Innate Territory Lords lurking in the shadows, observing the situation!
At the same time, in the sky above the Ancestral Land, the arrogant expression on Di Wu’s face was gone, replaced with one of uncertainty.
After becoming a Pseudo-Royal Lord and gaining tremendous strength, he was confident that he could succeed in killing Yang Kai, but how could he have anticipated that a single clash with Yang Kai would terrify him so greatly?
Yang Kai was just a half-step away from becoming a Divine Dragon, and in his fluster earlier, Di Wu nearly turned around and ran. Luckily for him, Yang Kai ran even quicker, or else he might have humiliated himself.
Now that Di Wu carefully thought back on the previous exchange, though Yang Kai’s aura was indeed powerful, it had not yet reached the stage of a Divine Dragon. Di Wu had previously felt the aura of the White Divine Dragon back at the No-Return Pass and clearly remembered that it was far more imposing and majestic than the aura Yang Kai exuded.
[Although that guy has grown significantly while cultivating in the Ancestral Land, he has still yet to break through that final barrier, so he should still be an Ancient Dragon.]
Having realised that, Di Wu felt relieved. If Yang Kai really had become a Divine Dragon, Di Wu would have no choice but to flee.
Di Wu was a Pseudo-Royal Lord, while Yang Kai could be regarded as a Pseudo-Divine Dragon, so the two were on par, with neither side being the genuine article. In fact, being a Pseudo-Royal Lord meant that he was the stronger of the two because he possessed the raw strength of a Royal Lord. Even if he couldn’t control that strength properly, he still had it, as opposed to Yang Kai whose total strength was still lacking by comparison.
Now that Yang Kai had gone into hiding though, things had become difficult for him because, if he couldn’t damage the Ancestral Land with his strength, he wouldn’t be able to find Yang Kai. In short, although the Black Ink Clan had cut off Yang Kai’s hope of escape with the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array, as long as Yang Kai didn’t reveal himself, there was no way for them to kill him.
This was what troubled Di Wu the most. Before coming here, he didn’t expect the situation in the Ancestral Land would turn out like this.
Di Wu could sense Yang Kai’s Divine Sense probing around, checking the situation, but he couldn’t pinpoint where the latter was, so he could only sit and wait.
Just as he was thinking about how to lure Yang Kai out, he suddenly felt the latter’s aura appear somewhere inside the Ancestral Land.
[Over there!]
Di Wu turned his head and saw Yang Kai’s figure shooting up into the sky. Then, he immediately moved his body and shot towards Yang Kai while shouting, “Stop him!”
They couldn’t let Yang Kai hide within the depths of the Ancestral Land again!
As Di Wu shouted his order, a thick bolt of lightning shot down from above. The Innate Territory Lords responsible for maintaining the Grand Array had activated one of its functions, a Killing Array.
Numerous lightning bolts appeared in the sky, resembling a Thunder Dragon flying through the sky and instantly stopping before Yang Kai. Yang Kai’s figure flickered across the sky as he easily dodged the attack, but the Thunder Dragon chased him as if it had a mind of its own. At the same time, more bolts of lightning rained down from above.
Yang Kai managed to dodge many of these attacks before finally arriving at the edge of the Grand Array. With the Azure Dragon Spear in hand, he unleashed a powerful thrust.
Space shattered, and even the Grand Array shook, revealing the figure of an Innate Territory Lord in one of the Array Nodes. He was the one who first summoned lightning bolts just now.
When the two pairs of eyes met, the Innate Territory Lord shivered as he was filled with terror.
Among all the Humans, there were a few Masters that the Black Ink Clan was wary of, but there was only one that inspired fear in all.
This couldn’t be helped as too many Innate Territory Lords had died at Yang Kai’s hands. Even if three Innate Territory Lords ran into him, their deaths were almost assured if they couldn’t quickly receive assistance from more Territory Lords.
Even though they had the Grand Array as a barrier between them, the Innate Territory Lord didn’t feel the slightest bit secure. He would have long fled by now if he didn’t need to operate the Grand Array.
However, he was a crucial part of this Grand Array, so he couldn’t escape. The only thing he could do was to fiercely gather his strength while channelling it into the Array Banner, trying to strengthen the barrier in front of him.
Fortunately, Yang Kai only attacked once before he immediately flew away with no intention of striking again.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to strike again, but because he couldn’t. The Royal Lord was about to arrive, and lightning bolts were closing in on him from all sides. Any delay could land him in a critical situation.
However, that one spear attack gave Yang Kai some insight into this Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array and he realized it wasn’t nearly as sturdy as he originally thought. With his strength, he could easily break through this Grand Array given half a cup of tea’s time without any distractions.
Of course, Black Ink Clan wasn’t going to give him a chance to do that.
With the continuous strikes condensed by the Territory Lords operating the Grand Array, Yang Kai soon noticed that the bolts of lightning were increasing in number so rapidly that there was almost no place for him to run anymore.
Therefore, he could only use Space Principles to exile his body to the Void.
The moment his figure turned illusory, the many lightning bolts hit their mark. Since Yang Kai had phased his body though, he managed to avoid most of the attack while the remnants didn’t have enough power to harm him.
This was the biggest advantage of having an extremely pure Dragon Vein. The Dragon Clan was unparalleled when it came to physical resilience and even had a high degree of resistance when it came to most Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities. So, it wouldn’t matter if he was hit by some of the attacks.
But before Yang Kai had the time to recover, four figures suddenly jumped out at him, each charging at him with their auras blazing.
They were four Innate Territory Lords that had been hiding nearby. These four Innate Territory Lords had linked their auras in a Battle Formation which Yang Kai was very familiar with!
Frowning, Yang Kai muttered, “Four Symbols Formation!”
The Three Fortunes, Four Symbols, Five Elements, Six Paths, Seven Stars, Eight Desolations, and Nine Palaces were the most standard Battle Formations of the Human Race which were used by its soldiers on the Black Ink Battlefield in particularly dangerous or dire circumstances; for example, when their Warships were destroyed.
A Warship was the largest reliance a Human Squad had when fighting against the Black Ink Clan. Whether it was back at the Black Ink Battlefield or on the current Great Territory Battlefields, when both Races fought, the Humans were outnumbered.
The only reason the Humans could persevere was that the average strength of their soldiers was greater than that of the Black Ink Clan’s, and they had Warships.
Each Warship was essentially a mobile fortress with numerous artifacts that could greatly enhance the offensive and defensive capabilities of its crew. If the Humans didn’t have Warships, they would have been wiped out long ago. Without mentioning anything else, it was difficult for Humans to resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength when they were either too weak or injured; however, a Warship could offer such Humans safety and protection.
After so many years, the Humans had used countless resources to build and maintain their Warships. It could be said that the number of resources used on Warships was larger than the amount cultivators used to cultivate.
Every time there was a large-scale battle, Warships were damaged and destroyed. Once a Warship was destroyed though, the Human soldiers would have to face the Black Ink Clan’s attack and the corruption of Black Ink Strength without this additional layer of protection. When that happened, the survivors would often use Battle Formations to greatly increase their chances of surviving.
Three Humans could create a Formation called the Three Fortunes Formation. Add one more person, and it would be the Four Symbols Formation. Five people would form the Five Elements Formation, and so on and so forth until one reached the Nine Palaces Formation.
Under normal circumstances, the more Humans in a Battle Formation, the stronger it would be.
When Yang Kai was on the Black Ink Battlefield, he led the many Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of Dawn Squad to form the Eight Desolations Formation several times to kill their enemies, producing outstanding results.
However, such Battle Formations could not be formed on a whim as they needed a long period of joint practice. Additionally, the people forming a Battle Formation had to be familiar with and trust each other because once it was formed, not just their auras, but their very lives would become linked. If one suffered, all suffered, and if one prospered, all prospered. If there wasn’t enough trust between partners, it would be impossible to even form a Battle Formation, much less bring out its full strength.
On the Great Territory Battlefields, there were significantly fewer Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters than Territory Lords, but the reason the Humans could stubbornly resist the Black Ink Clan’s continuous onslaught was that they made good use of Battle Formations.
The Black Ink Clan generally wouldn’t use such Formations because they didn’t trust each other like how the Human cultivators would. Rather than wasting their time and effort in forming Battle Formations, they preferred fighting alone because they could more freely use their strengths.
Yang Kai had never encountered a situation where the Black Ink Clan used a Battle Formation, and never expected to see it happen today.
More importantly, it was four Innate Territory Lords that formed this Formation, which illustrated the Black Ink Clan’s determination to kill him. In the face of the huge pressure of confronting Yang Kai, these four Territory Lords had set aside all their reservations and banded together to defeat this formidable enemy.
These four Territory Lords with linked auras charged forward, and though Yang Kai could see at a glance that their Battle Formation wasn’t tightly bonded, he didn’t want to be entangled with them for too long.
With a sweep of his spear, Yang Kai thrust out more than a dozen times in the direction of those Territory Lords to slow down their approach. Then, he quickly flew downwards before immediately shooting away.
Those four Territory Lords immediately changed directions and chased after him.
The Royal Lord also quickly changed directions, trying to cut Yang Kai off. Despite there not being much difference in their speed, Yang Kai was proficient in Space Techniques, so it wasn’t easy for the Royal Lord to block him.
After flying around the Ancestral Land several times, the Black Ink Clansmen sadly found that although they had taken advantage of the time Yang Kai was cultivating to seal him here, there was nothing they could do about him if he didn’t fight them head-on. On the contrary, Yang Kai had managed to discover the Black Ink Clan’s strength with his constant probing.
This made Di Wu furious.
At that moment, a voice entered Di Wu’s ear. It was from the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple responsible for setting up the Grand Array. Once Di Wu heard what was said, he revealed a happy expression and nodded subtly.
While Yang Kai was moving around the Ancestral Land, the Killing Array linked to the Grand Array surrounding the Ancestral Land didn’t stop and was constantly sending lightning bolts towards him. It was a pity that this Grand Array’s primary function was to act as a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking barrier. Though it had a Killing Array embedded inside, it wasn’t very powerful, so Yang Kai could easily dodge its attacks.
With Yang Kai’s current strength, only a Grand Array set by a Great Grandmaster in the Dao of Spirit Arrays could completely incapacitate him. A Spirit Array set up by a few Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples with mediocre achievements in the Dao of Spirit Arrays naturally wasn’t as profound.
As the chase continued, the Ancestral Land suddenly became covered in mist. This mist wasn’t that dense in the beginning, but as time passed, it became denser and denser until visibility became essentially zero. Even Divine Sense was restricted to only being able to extend 100 metres from an individual.
All of that was because the Grand Array had changed. Since the Killing Array was useless, they had switched it for a Trapping Array.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but slow down and carefully probe his surroundings. There were sounds of wind blowing, birds chirping, and a vague sound of a cry and howl. Knowing that all these were disturbances generated by the Spirit Array, he couldn’t help but snicker.
Everyone, including the Black Ink Clan, knew that Yang Kai was proficient in the Daos Time and Space, but very few knew he had dabbled in the Dao of Spirit Arrays.
Of course, his attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays weren’t particularly high and were all gained from his experiences in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. Back then, there were Grand Dao Rivers of all kinds flowing inside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, and Yang Kai had absorbed and refined many of them. Yang Kai had taken so many Dao Rivers with different Great Daos filled with Dao Essence into his Small Universe that talents in all kinds of different Grand Daos were now born in the Void Continent.
If Yang Kai only relied on these shallow attainments, he wouldn’t be able to see through this Trapping Array, but that wasn’t all he had to rely on.
He closed both eyes, and when he opened them next, a golden cross flashed across his left pupil.
The Demon Eye of Annihilation was an Eye Secret Technique he inherited from Myriad Demons Cave Heaven. It could see through all illusions and was rumoured to be able to see the past and tell the future once cultivated to its extreme.
Yang Kai didn’t have any intentions of seeing the past and looking into the future, but the Demon Eye of Annihilation’s ability to see through illusions was the perfect thing to unravel Spirit Arrays.
With this Secret Technique active, Yang Kai was able to see through the mist and get a clear view of his surroundings. Even though he hadn’t reached the point where he wasn’t affected by the mist at all, it was enough to help him in this situation.
If the Black Ink Clan had placed their hopes on this Trapping Array to restrict his movements, they had made the wrong choice.
Yang Kai wasn’t in a hurry to reveal his secrets though, so he wore a gloomy look on his face and slowed down his actions so that he could test the Black Ink Clan and learn more about their situation.
Soon, he saw the Royal Lord had stopped near the border of the Grand Array, seemingly ordering some kind of attack while looking in his direction with murderous intent filling his face.
But Yang Kai noticed the Royal Lord didn’t intend to charge right at him, which surprised him as he didn’t know what the other party was worried about.
Di Wu was indeed worried.
Despite knowing that Yang Kai wasn’t a true Divine Dragon, when they exchanged moves earlier, he had fully experienced how strong Yang Kai was. Adding on to the invisible suppression from the Ancestral Land, Di Wu wasn’t confident he could kill Yang Kai without being injured.
To a Black Ink Clansman, being injured was a troublesome thing. They could endure minor injuries, but they would have to hibernate inside a Black Ink Nest if they got seriously wounded.
Di Wu couldn’t accept the idea of having to hibernate and recuperate after his first battle as a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
Moreover, Yang Kai had a strange method to attack one’s Soul, and he had yet to use it, so Di Wu thought that he had to wear down Yang Kai’s strength and means before he could deal the finishing blow. Otherwise, if he were attacked with that technique, he couldn’t be sure whether he could make it out of this conflict alive.
In the meantime, Yang Kai saw four figures quickly arrive beside Di Wu. They were the four that formed the Four Symbols Formation.
Soon after that, another four Innate Territory Lords appeared.
This scene shocked Yang Kai. He didn’t notice the other four Territory Lords before and couldn’t help but secretly exclaim at how determined the Black Ink Clan was!
When he was circling the Ancestral Land earlier, trying to investigate the Grand Array, he saw at least 10 Innate Territory Lords maintaining its operation from the outside.
Adding on the eight Territory Lords before him, and perhaps a few that were still hiding, didn’t that mean the Black Ink Clan had sent a Royal Lord and more than 20 Territory Lords to deal with him?
When faced with such a line-up, even a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would find it difficult to handle, let alone an Eighth-Order Master like himself.
Yang Kai soon learned that wasn’t all though, for the Black Ink Clan had also apparently deployed a massive Black Ink Clan Army as well.
Moments later, the Black Ink Clan Army mustered their courage to charge into the mist under the Black Ink Clan Masters’ orders. It was obvious that they were planning to exhaust Yang Kai using these cannon fodder. What’s more, there might still be other arrangements on the Black Ink Clan’s side that Yang Kai was unaware of as of yet.
Inside the mist, Yang Kai pretended to be disoriented as he walked around in circles, acting like a headless fly.
When he tried to escape the mist by flying into the sky, he couldn’t. Also, he failed when he tried to dive down and hide inside the Ancestral Land.
This Spirit Array was actually quite good, which showed that those few Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples did have some talent in the Dao of Spirit Arrays, or else the Royal Lord wouldn’t have looked so highly upon them.
Just as Yang Kai was looking dazed and dizzy, the Black Ink Clan Army that had charged into the mist surrounded him. Immediately afterwards, the Feudal Lords followed the instructions of the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple operating the Spirit Array and swarmed towards Yang Kai.
A battle immediately broke out.
A long spear swept back and forward, sending out spear strikes like a dense rain. Immediately after, black blood spurted everywhere as bodies exploded into pieces.
With Yang Kai’s current strength, how could that army of Black Ink Clan cannon fodder defeat him when the strongest among them were just Feudal Lords? To put it bluntly, with sufficient time, Yang Kai alone could wipe out these 10 million Black Ink Clan troops.
Group after group of Black Ink Clansmen were killed, and the speed at which lives were lost was unimaginably fast. On the ground, the fresh black blood had gathered into a pool, which then became a river, and soon began to look like an ocean, one filled with the broken corpses of Black Ink Clansmen.
Yang Kai killed methodically, without feeling any kind of joy or frustration.
Since the Royal Lord was willing to sacrifice these Black Ink Clansmen, Yang Kai was more than willing to oblige. The more Black Ink Clansmen he killed here, the fewer the Humans had to face on the battlefields.
10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000…
Yang Kai’s spear never stopped. In the beginning, Yang Kai moved around to more efficiently slaughter his enemies, but as time wore on, he could no longer be bothered exerting himself like that and simply stood in place while allowing the Black Ink Clan Army to come to him. The scene resembled water splashing onto a rock that was blocking a river, which was an astonishing sight to see.
So many had died so quickly that the Black Ink Clan Army would have broken and routed if not for the Territory Lords and Royal Lord overseeing them, forcing them to continue.
No one could maintain their calm when facing a hopeless battle. The Humans couldn’t, and neither could the Black Ink Clan.
The Black Ink Clan soldiers attacking from all directions couldn’t even get within 1,000 metres of Yang Kai. No matter whether it was a Feudal Lord, a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman, or Low-Rank Back Ink Clan member, they perished with a single swing of the spear.
Under such desperation, the Black Ink Clan Army’s morale soon crumbled.
However, the Royal Lord and many Territory Lords were watching them from the outside, so they dared not retreat and could only force themselves to continue charging forward.
A day later, Yang Kai’s kill count had grown from 100,000 to 200,000. The breath Yang Kai let out was so intensely hot that it seemed like it was about to burn a hole through the void. The hand he held his spear with was still as firm as ever.
A few days later, 200,000 became 500,000.
Half of the million Black Ink Clansmen that came to the Ancestral Land had died, causing the battlefield to reek of blood. Under Di Wu and the other Territory Lords’ gazes, Yang Kai’s speed finally began slowing down. He was sweating profusely, and his complexion seemed a little pale.
Di Wu was satisfied with what he saw. If he could exchange a million Black Ink Clan soldiers for Yang Kai’s life, he would do it without a frown. Moreover, if he succeeded and returned to the No-Return Pass, rather than punish him, the Royal Lord would certainly reward him.
A million lower Black Ink Clansmen was nothing because as long as they had Black Ink Nests and resources, they could easily produce more such soldiers. On the other hand, how many Innate Territory Lords had died at the hands of Yang Kai over the years?
Innate Territory Lords came from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, so each one killed meant there was one permanently lost.
Therefore, a million Black Ink Clansmen couldn’t compare to even one Innate Territory Lord.
Since Di Wu had great understanding of the Human’s Open Heaven Realm, he knew that a Human’s strength came from his or her Small Universe. The stronger the heritage of the Small Universe, the stronger the Human was. But the strength inside a Human’s Small Universe wasn’t inexhaustible.
Yang Kai had been fighting alone, non-stop for days and had killed over 500,000 Black Ink Clansmen, so he must have consumed a lot of energy.
[It’s time!]
As Di Wu thought so, he didn’t hesitate and flew straight into the mist. Then, he followed a Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple’s directions and silently advanced towards his target.
Meanwhile, the eight Territory Lords noticed the situation and mustered their courage to follow behind Di Wu.
Although Yang Kai was killing the Black Ink Clan soldiers, he still noticed these external movements and couldn’t help but frown. It seemed like things weren’t moving according to his plan.
He was feigning lethargy right now. To him, the best outcome here would be to lure a few Territory Lords over so that he could kill them first and weaken the Black Ink Clan’s overall strength.
But the Royal Lord didn’t act as Yang Kai expected and instead led eight Territory Lords against him all at once. At that moment, Yang Kai felt a huge sense of danger as he quickly revised his plans.
This Trapping Array couldn’t hold him, as he could see through it quite easily, but there was no use in simply overcoming the Trapping Array because the Ancestral Land was still sealed by the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array. Since he couldn’t escape, would he have to play the game of cat and mouse with the Black Ink Clan Masters again?
Of course, he wasn’t willing to waste his time doing so.
What’s more, he understood that it was better to kill a single Territory Lord than a million Black Ink Clan soldiers.
In an instant, Yang Kai calmed down. Since the Territory Lords dared to come over, he had to let them know the consequences of their actions. If he missed this opportunity, he might not get another one.
Having determined his next course of action, Yang Kai pretended to be even weaker.
The eight Territory Lords had split into two teams and hid within the Black Ink Clan Army, concealing their auras while nearing Yang Kai.
Four of them were mixed within the Army while four remained on the outskirts.
Meanwhile, the Royal Lord was hiding even further away, silently watching Yang Kai’s every move as if he were a predator hiding in the dark, waiting to pounce.
As the distance between them decreased, the four Territory Lords nearest to Yang Kai began secretly linking their auras.
Yang Kai knew it was time for him to act, because once those four Territory Lords linked together, they could easily form a Battle Formation. By then, it would be much harder for Yang Kai to kill them.
As the thought came to his mind, Yang Kai’s murderous intent flared up.
Instantly, whether it was Di Wu or the eight Territory Lords, all of them could clearly sense the sudden change in Yang Kai. He was radiating a dangerous aura and the paleness on his face had vanished.
That sudden change caught them off-guard.
Di Wu immediately stared in the direction Yang Kai was standing, and although there was a dense layer of fog between them, he could see a pair of black eyes looking right at him. In the next instant, an endless darkness enveloped him.
Almost instantly, Di Wu felt like he had fallen into an abyss that contained not even the tiniest bit of light. He seemed to be alone in the Universe and even his senses failed to detect anything around him.
It was one of the two core Eye Secret Techniques of the Myriad Demons Heaven, the Black Purgatory Eye.
If Yang Kai had enough proficiency in this Secret Technique, he could engulf Di Wu in such deep darkness that he could never escape and could be easily killed.
Of course, Yang Kai’s proficiency in this Secret Technique wasn’t nearly high enough for him to do that; moreover, there was a huge gap between their raw strengths, so it only took a moment before the darkness around Di Wu to quickly disappear and the latter to regain his senses.
The moment light returned however, Di Wu trembled and let out a pained roar. His voice sounded so agonizing that it frightened all who heard it. Also, his Black Ink Strength was being released uncontrollably and all the Black Ink Clan soldiers struck by it perished, wiping out the Black Ink Clan Army within a 10-kilometre radius around him.
Di Wu felt like a needle had pierced into his head, making him feel immense pain as his body and mind shivered. It was as though that invisible needle was constantly tearing into his Soul.
At that moment, he felt like his thoughts froze and he became unable to think clearly.
He finally understood how the other Black Ink Clansmen felt when Yang Kai attacked them with his mysterious Soul Secret Technique, and also why those Innate Territory Lords would get killed right after encountering Yang Kai.
When he first heard about these stories, he thought those dead Territory Lords were too weak and careless, but now that he had experienced it himself, he realized that those Territory Lords were neither of those things; it was simply because no one could endure such sudden and excruciating pain.
Di Wu shouldn’t have suffered such intense pain because since the Black Ink Clan found out about Yang Kai’s strange Soul Secret Technique, all Territory Lords who encountered Yang Kai would quickly use their strength to protect their Soul.
Only by doing that could they best weaken the effects of this insidious Secret Technique.
Di Wu naturally did so as well, but the Black Purgatory Eye caused him to lose all his senses and disrupted his focus. Although he recovered quickly, he had lowered the defences of his Soul for a brief moment.
Without protection against the Soul Rending Thorn, the consequences were extremely painful. Even a Pseudo-Royal Lord like Di Wu found it hard to endure.
At the same time Di Wu screamed in pain, four other screams rang out as well.
Those screams came from the four Territory Lords nearest to Yang Kai, who were about to form a Battle Formation.
Yang Kai used the element of surprise and sent out five Soul Rending Thorns in quick succession, one at Di Wu and the other four at the closest Territory Lords.
That was his limit! Using any more Soul Rending Thorn would cause him to lose consciousness.
Even at this moment, Yang Kai felt dizzy and was seeing stars.
Fortunately, he had experienced this many times and had long grown used to it. Now, the intense pain in his head even had the effect of keeping him awake.
A Royal Lord couldn’t bear such pain, but Yang Kai was used to it. No one’s success was without reason as only by withstanding constant tempering could a person achieve great things.
Yang Kai’s figure still floated atop the mountain of corpses, but that was only an after-image as his true body had already reached the Territory Lord nearest to him. Then, he smashed apart that Territory Lord’s head with one spear thrust.
Following that, a second Territory Lord fell!
Yang Kai struck out at the third Territory Lord, but he failed to kill him in one stroke.
Territory Lords weren’t so easily killed. When the four Territory Lords approached Yang Kai, they had paid attention to protecting their Souls, so although the Soul Rending Thorns were powerful, the Territory Lords could greatly decrease the damage they took by taking precautions.
They would still feel pain and have a blurry conscience, but they wouldn’t completely freeze up and become easy targets.
Still, this scenario was a testament to Yang Kai’s cunning and ruthlessness.
Before the four Territory Lords could form a Battle Formation, Yang Kai launched a preemptive strike. With most of their focus on linking their auras to successfully form the Battle Formation, they never expected Yang Kai to launch a sneak attack.
They had thought that Yang Kai was completely trapped in the Spirit Array and hadn’t noticed them silently approaching. How could they have known that Yang Kai had been carefully monitoring their every move?
What happened was the outcome when someone schemed against the unexpected.
This was a desperate gambit within a hopeless battle. The entire Ancestral Land had been sealed with no way to escape, and there were many Black Ink Clan Masters here, leaving Yang Kai with no chance of escape or victory on his own; however, the original predicament changed because of the enemy’s Trapping Array. A real Master needed the ability to turn even the enemy’s advantage into their own.
If one only had brawn but no brain, they would forever be a reckless fool. That was why Yang Kai was the Army Commander of Profound Nether Territory while Ou Yang Lie could only be a Division Commander who had to obey Yang Kai’s orders.
It was this quality that was valued by the Supreme Headquarters and why they entrusted Yang Kai with such an important role.
In an instant, two powerful Innate Territory Lords had died and their Four Symbols Formation couldn’t be linked. The third Territory Lord regained his senses when being attacked, which was why he barely managed to block Yang Kai’s strike.
However, he was still run through by the Azure Dragon Spear, and when a burst of World Force followed up, his body was still split in two, killing him.
Like a fierce tiger, Yang Kai lunged at the fourth Territory Lord.
It was only then that the other four Territory Lords outside finally reacted, but after recovering from their initial shock, they seemed hesitant.
The situation before them was different from what they imagined. Having heard of Yang Kai’s fierce reputation, those four Territory Lords didn’t immediately know how to react.
Luckily for them, Di Wu had finally gathered his wits, and when he noticed the obvious signs of Territory Lords dying, he was shocked and furious while roaring, “Kill him!”
After Di Wu gave the order, the four Territory Lords forced themselves to charge towards Yang Kai, but before they reached him, they were forced back by a storm of Secret Techniques. At that moment, those four Territory Lords quickly joined their auras, wanting to form a Battle Formation.
In the meantime, Yang Kai was exchanging a third attack with the fourth Territory Lord whom he hit with a Soul Rending Thorn.
His assault grew fiercer with every swing of the Azure Dragon Spear. It was purely a release of raging power without any form of technique.
The pain coming from Yang Kai’s Soul made his expression fiercer and more horrifying by the moment, and his behaviour also grew more vicious and ruthless.
It had only been three breaths of time since he began his counterattack. He first used the Black Purgatory Eye to disrupt Di Wu’s senses, then sent out five Soul Rending Thorns before killing three Territory Lords.
The change in situation was so fast that it was difficult to comprehend.
Only by acting faster than the enemy could Yang Kai maximise the advantages of his plan.
The fourth Territory Lord barely managed to resist Yang Kai’s third spear attack, but the same could not be said for the fourth. With a great thrust, the Black Ink Cloud before him dispersed, revealing his unprotected body.
This Territory Lord didn’t last long because he was stronger than his three companions, but rather because he was the last to be targeted by Yang Kai. The first Territory Lord to get killed wasn’t expecting the attack and didn’t protect himself, but the fourth Territory Lord was prepared, which was why he could resist three spear attacks before succumbing.
When Yang Kai arrived at the Ancestral Land 300 years ago, he killed a Territory Lord in his prime with three attacks. There were some elements of opportunistic trickery and verbal incitement, but it still showed how strong Yang Kai was.
Now, even though his Order hadn’t changed after these three centuries, the heritage in his Small Universe had become a bit stronger.
What really changed, however, was the increase of power in his Dragon Vein and his attainment in the Dao of Time, allowing Yang Kai to confidently say he was twice as powerful as he was 300 years ago.
Furthermore, those Territory Lords had been hit by Soul Rending Thorns, so they couldn’t exert their full strength while their minds were in a blurred state.
That was why the fourth Territory Lord couldn’t avoid the fourth spear attack. All he felt was a deadly aura enveloping him and a huge sense of fear filling his entire body, replacing most of the pain in his Soul.
Never had he felt so close to death.
“Save…” When he opened his mouth to speak the first word, the Azure Dragon Spear had already pierced the protective layer of Black Ink Strength he created and stabbed through his wide-open mouth. The Territory Lord’s last word was stuck in his throat as Space Principles wrapped around him, destroying his last hope of escape.
The long spear shot out from the back of the Territory Lord’s head, leaving a huge hole in its wake. That Territory Lord’s aura flared up before instantly melting like snow under the burning Sun.
Before Yang Kai could pull back his spear however, four very powerful Secret Techniques were fired at him from the other four Territory Lords.
At such close range, Yang Kai might not have been able to dodge these attacks in his prime, let alone in his current state.
At the same time, he felt like his head was about to explode, and his consciousness began turning blurry as his thoughts slowed down. Meanwhile on his face, except for the fierce expression he had because of the pain, his eyes turned dull, making him look a little dazed.
Those were the symptoms of his Soul being heavily injured. Many cultivators lost all sentience and sense of self after suffering heavy injuries to their Soul.
Luckily, Yang Kai’s instincts were still intact, so when those four Secret Techniques were about to reach him, he channelled his Dragon Vein’s power and a patch of small, dense Dragon Scales appeared on his skin. The Dragon Scales made his exposed skin suddenly turn shiny, as if he were wearing a gold robe.
The next moment, Yang Kai was enveloped by those four Secret Techniques.
As Black Ink Strength burst out, a large boom sounded, and the world around Yang Kai shook as he released a muffled grunt.
Before the effects of the Territory Lords’ Secret Techniques had faded, the angry Di Wu arrived from behind and lunged at Yang Kai.
Di Wu knew that since Yang Kai had used his strange Soul Secret Technique, this would be the best chance to kill him. Before this, he was wary of Yang Kai’s means, but now, Yang Kai was like a toothless tiger to him, so he naturally wouldn’t let go of such an opportunity.
At the same time, the four Territory Lords that had formed the Battle Formation exchanged a glance before quickly moving back while maintaining their Formation. Since Di Wu had made a move, they didn’t have to do anything else besides keeping up the Four Symbols Formation and preventing Yang Kai from escaping.
The truth was that they were happy to see this situation as well because they were still afraid of dealing with Yang Kai. They were scared of getting killed by this Human killing-star, so they had no qualms about letting Di Wu take the lead.
Sounds of explosions kept ringing in everyone’s ears while there seemed to be figures flying about within the dense Black Ink Strength.
Soon, a figure flew out like an arrow leaving its bow. The figure spat out a mouthful of Golden Blood in midair. It was Yang Kai, and he clearly couldn’t control his body.
At this moment, he seemed extremely haggard. Not only was his hair in a mess, but the layer of Dragon Scales covering his body was also like a broken net, shattered and peeling off in many places.
With the help of an artifact like the Soul Rending Thorn, he could easily kill Innate Territory Lords, but that didn’t mean Innate Territory Lords were pushovers. Every one of their attacks was incredibly strong, so Yang Kai didn’t feel good after forcefully taking four such attacks. Then, Di Wu came right after that and attacked Yang Kai, rendering him dizzy and looking dishevelled.
The advantage of having a stronger Dragon Vein was evident at this moment. If Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was still 70,000 metres long, he might not have been able to withstand such a heavy beating, but now, though he was injured, he didn’t lose all combat ability.
This was the specialty of a powerful Dragon Vein. It granted the physical body incredible resilience!
All the attacks were first weakened by the Dragon Scales before reaching the body, so the impact was naturally weakened. It was especially so for the four Secret Techniques used by those four Territory Lords. First, they were obviously weakened by the Dragon Scales before they hit Yang Kai. However, the effect of the Dragon Scale’s protection was greatly weakened when facing physical attacks like the ones Di Wu used.
Following Yang Kai’s haggard figure was Di Wu. He also flew out from the area covered by Black Ink Strength while staring coldly at the pale figure before him, roaring loudly, “Yang Kai, suffer death!”
Yang Kai’s expression became even more angered as veins throbbed on his forehead, his fury obvious to all.
His original plan was to use the Soul Rending Thorn to kill those four Innate Territory Lords and then quickly escape from the Trapping Array before hiding back inside the depths of the Ancestral Land to recuperate.
Once he had another few years to heal his Soul, he would come back out and ambush the others.
He couldn’t kill the Royal Lord, but he could kill the other Four Territory Lords. Also, if he was decisive and found a good opportunity, he could kill every Territory Lord that came, just like how he had on the Profound Nether Territory Battlefield. Back then, he killed so many Territory Lords that they all trembled in fear whenever they heard his name.
When fighting the enemy, it was best to leave nothing to chance, and it was natural to make full use of all of one’s strength and advantages. The Soul Rending Thorn was now Yang Kai’s trump card when facing Territory Lords and Royal Lords.
It could be said that this move worked every time.
All Yang Kai needed was patience, because someday, the Black Ink Clan forces here wouldn’t be able to withstand the losses and would take the initiative to retreat, or deploy even more Territory Lords.
Either way, it wouldn’t be much of a loss for Yang Kai.
That was his original plan…
But even the best-laid plans often fail to withstand the first clash of battle. No one could predict what would happen next in the heat of combat.
In the end, Yang Kai still overestimated how much his Soul could tolerate.
He thought that he could still manage to keep a clear mind after using five Soul Rending Thorns, and he had built the rest of his plan around that idea.
However, after he threw those five Soul Rending Thorns out, his consciousness became blurry while he barely managed to maintain some clarity.
To put it simply, though he could still think at the moment, his instincts were taking over and he was now showing some signs of falling into a daze.
If a cognitively impaired person was attacked, they would either try to escape or retaliate fiercely…
Yang Kai obviously gravitated towards the latter response, which was already illustrated by his behaviour back at the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. Otherwise, he would have escaped when he lost consciousness back then.
That was why despite having taken on four Secret Techniques from the Territory Lords and being beaten up by Di Wu, Yang Kai still glared fiercely at Di Wu in his battered state. Veins were protruding from his forehead as he widened his eyes and said through gritted teeth, “You dare hit me?”
Hearing this, Di Wu was filled with murderous intent and turned gloomy after. [What nonsense is he talking about? This is a life-or-death battle, who else would I hit if not you?]
“You actually dared to hit me!?” Yang Kai growled through gritted teeth. He was like a bullied child questioning why he was being targeted while suppressing the vexation he felt inside.
“Enough nonsense, die!” Di Wu roared before immediately charging at Yang Kai. After the previous attack, he was sure that Yang Kai was no longer his opponent. Although he still needed some effort to kill Yang Kai, today was going to be the day of Yang Kai’s death. From today onwards, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have to be worried about this Human anymore, which was a great contribution on his part.
While the thought flashed across his mind, Di Wu’s expression suddenly fell because at that moment, Yang Kai’s supposedly weakened aura exploded out.
“Since you hit me, I’ll hit you back!” The aggrieved child was finally retaliating.
“Heavens and Earth, lend me your strength!”
The injury to Yang Kai’s Soul made his mind become a little unstable, and the endless rage had influenced his thoughts into forgetting his original plan.
However, he still had his natural abilities, so he instinctually knew he had to go all out when dealing with a Royal Lord.
If his own strength wasn’t enough to deal with a Royal Lord, he would just borrow strength from others!
He was going to borrow strength from the Ancestral Land.
What he did 300 years ago won him the favour of this land; then, he fused with it for 300 years, which allowed him to look back in time and see the evolution of this World. Also, the huge amounts of Ancestral Strength entering his body had helped his Dragon Vein grow stronger and allowed his Dragon Form to grow from 70,000 metres to 99,999 metres. Even cultivating inside the Dragon Pool for 300 years wouldn’t have been so beneficial.
The entire Ancestral Land had opened its arms for Yang Kai, letting him have whatever he wanted.
Under such conditions, it wouldn’t be hard for Yang Kai to borrow some strength from the Ancestral Land.
When Yang Kai was only a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he had used his identity as Void Great Emperor to borrow the Star Boundary’s World Strength. It was only through that method that he could deal with Zuo Quan Hui, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master from Thousand Cranes Paradise.
During that battle where he used the Star Boundary’s World Strength, Yang Kai’s strength advanced from Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm to Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, which helped him solve the crisis he was facing.
This time, though it wouldn’t increase his Order, he might be able to take advantage of the favourable conditions and advantageous position here to overcome his enemy!
Moreover, this was what Yang Kai had secretly planned for long ago. If he were forced to face the Royal Lord, he knew he had to borrow the Ancestral Land’s strength. It was just that his anger got to him, and he exposed this secret method far earlier than he wanted to.
A loud humming sounded all across the Ancestral Land. The Ancestral Strength, which had been gradually thinning out throughout the past 300 years suddenly became dense again. It was as though the Ancestral Strength hiding deep inside the land had surfaced and surged in response to that one sentence from Yang Kai.
Not only that, the Ancestral Strength from the entire Ancestral Land was gathering towards Yang Kai’s body from all directions. Then, the Ancestral Strength formed a layer of brilliant protection around Yang Kai’s figure in the blink of an eye.
While watching the scene, Di Wu felt his face twitch. It didn’t matter if this change only affected Yang Kai, but following the increase in density of Ancestral Strength, Di Wu realised that the suppression this land had on his strength also increased.
The most important sign was that he felt his Black Ink Strength circulation become sluggish when he tried to use it.
He only attacked after waiting 300 years because of the Ancestral Land’s restriction on his strength. Before, that suppression was very obvious, and he wasn’t confident in dealing with Yang Kai if he managed to lure the latter out.
He only acted after the Ancestral Strength had thinned out significantly and the restriction on his strength was almost nonexistent, so he never expected everything would change again with just a few words from Yang Kai.
The original confidence Di Wu possessed was replaced with a sense of danger.
Before he could think more about it though, a bright light suddenly appeared before him. It was Yang Kai, and he was actively attacking Di Wu. The pain in his Soul and rage from being beaten had made Yang Kai lose his rationality. He didn’t even use the Azure Dragon Spear and instead raised his bare fist and threw it out at Di Wu.
At the same time, the dense Ancestral Strength had formed a dense protective light barrier around his skin and even fit to his fist.
This punch was powerful and heavy as Yang Kai had used all his strength. If that fist landed on a Universe World, it would undoubtedly be destroyed.
Even a Master as strong as Di Wu couldn’t react in time as Yang Kai was too fast. Along with the use of Space Principles, Yang Kai literally instantly appeared before Di Wu.
In his rush to protect himself, Di Wu could only cross his arms in front of him.
The punch landed on the spot where Di Wu’s arms crossed, and when it struck, Di Wu sank back and the Black Ink Strength around him was scattered. Even standing mid-air, there were obvious signs that his knees were buckling and almost made him kneel.
Realizing this, Di Wu was enraged and gathered all his might to throw a punch at Yang Kai’s face as Yang Kai was throwing his second punch.
Right after throwing that punch, Di Wu gained an understanding of how much the Ancestral Land had affected his strength.
The Ancestral Strength didn’t restrict his strength too much, only shaving about 10% off his peak, which was still within an acceptable range. It seemed like the surging of Ancestral Strength was just an illusion and wasn’t as bad as he had imagined. This wasn’t surprising as Yang Kai had kept devouring Ancestral Strength these 300 years, so the Ancestral Land had been severely depleted. Even though there were some left behind, it didn’t amount to much. Therefore, Di Wu only had to persevere, and Yang Kai’s state after borrowing the land’s power would soon fade on its own.
If Di Wu’s strength had been suppressed by over 30%, he would have to think about whether he should retreat now.
With two loud booms, both fists hit their respective targets.
Di Wu was sent tumbling backwards quite a distance while Yang Kai was sent flying away. Neither of them had gotten the upper hand in this round.
In regards to absolute strength, Di Wu was definitely stronger than Yang Kai, so when both of them punched each other, the force Yang Kai received was much greater.
However, the Ancestral Land had dampened Di Wu’s strength somewhat while adding a protective layer that had weakened his attack further; as such, Yang Kai wasn’t at much of a disadvantage.
Yang Kai managed to stop his figure in midair and didn’t pause for a moment before charging at Di Wu like a madman.
He arrived before Di Wu in an instant and threw another punch.
Meanwhile, Di Wu was dumbfounded.
He had previously fought with Eighth-Order Humans, but never had he encountered such a situation. More importantly, his opponent seemed like he had lost his rationale and thus became hard to predict.
When faced with an unreasonable Yang Kai’s intense close-quarters attack, Di Wu could only give it his all to resist.
At that moment, the two figures flickered about the Ancestral Land, constantly entangled in a brutal brawl. The scene was extremely lively, with neither side acting like a powerful Master would.
This scene was captured by the eyes of the four Territory Lords at the outskirts of the Trapping Array and even the other Territory Lords who were powering the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, and all of them were shocked.
Despite the scene looking a little childish, the Territory Lords could clearly feel the horrifying power being delivered by those attacks. Every punch and kick unleashed in this battle caused the Territory Lords to shudder.
[Has the killing star grown to such an extent?]
The fear the Black Ink Clan had for Yang Kai basically flowed from the fact that he had a strange Soul Secret Technique. Even strong Innate Territory Lords could be crippled by that technique, resulting in their swift execution. That was why they would all quickly protect their Soul whenever encountering Yang Kai.
On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan wasn’t too concerned with Yang Kai’s raw strength.
Yang Kai was acknowledged to be stronger than any other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but there was still a limit to that strength. If they didn’t count the strange Soul Secret Technique, they estimated that two or three Innate Territory Lords would be enough to resist Yang Kai.
That was the objective and impartial analysis given by all the Territory Lords that had encountered Yang Kai, which also formed the general impression the Black Ink Clan had of him.
That was why Di Wu felt like Yang Kai was a toothless tiger that would be easy to deal with after he used up his Soul Rending Thorns. Not only did Di Wu have such thoughts, but the other Territory Lords did as well. They all believed this was the best opportunity to kill Yang Kai because if the latter managed to recover and regain the use of that strange Soul Technique, they would be in trouble.
But when Di Wu and Yang Kai seriously began fighting each other, the Black Ink Clan Masters finally discovered the horrible truth that reality was far different from how they had imagined.
Though Yang Kai was indeed at a disadvantage in this clash, the fact that he could still fight with a Pseudo-Royal Lord to this extent and not get killed immediately was a shocking revelation.
Of course, the Ancestral Land’s restriction and assistance played a part in this, but that did not diminish the astonishing strength Yang Kai possessed.
It seemed like the past 2,000 years of cultivation had allowed this killing star’s strength to grow to a truly unprecedented height for his Eighth-Order cultivation.
The Territory Lords were shocked and couldn’t help but secretly feel lucky. It was fortunate that this Human couldn’t reach the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm in this lifetime, for if he could, even the Royal Lord would have had endless sleepless nights.
At the same time, the battle raged on, and Di Wu found a chance to escape from Yang Kai’s entanglement before opening up some distance between them. Then, Di Wu repeatedly used Secret Techniques from afar to target his opponent.
Di Wu had also noticed that Yang Kai’s actions seemed a little strange. It was obvious that his mysterious Soul attack had drawbacks, which caused Yang Kai to lose rationality and recklessly charge at him. This, to Di Wu, was quite an opportunity.
Powerful Secret Techniques were released from the Pseudo-Royal Lord hands one by one, and that dense Black Ink Strength continued to pummel Yang Kai, causing him even more discomfort and damage. Even the layer of Ancestral Strength protection was constantly breaking apart and restoring.
Fortunately, the Ancestral Strength was still continuously gathering over, creating a strong protective layer around Yang Kai.
Without entirely destroying that layer of protection, it would be impossible for Di Wu to give Yang Kai a fatal blow.
Occasionally, Yang Kai would also take advantage of an opening and appear before Di Wu and give him a few punches. Whenever that happened, Di Wu would feel extremely distressed.
It wasn’t easy to escape from an opponent proficient in the Dao of Space and Di Wu was just lucky that Yang Kai was basically moving completely on instinct. Otherwise, if Yang Kai had used his Space Principles consciously, Di Wu would have had to engage Yang Kai in close quarters even if didn’t want to.
The firm body of a Pseudo-Divine Dragon wasn’t something a Pseudo-Royal Lord like him could compare to.
A while later, Di Wu saw that the protective layer around Yang Kai’s body had been completely restored again and finally gave up on the idea of fighting Yang Kai alone.
He insisted on fighting Yang Kai alone until now because this was his first battle as a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and his opponent was Yang Kai. Therefore, he wanted the credit all to himself so that he could enjoy all the glory before the Royal Lord back at the No-Return Pass.
But since that no longer seemed possible, there was no need to force the issue.
When he escaped Yang Kai’s range again and threw another Secret Technique at him, Di Wu roared, “What are you waiting for!?”
The four Territory Lords standing outside the battlefield secretly complained but didn’t hesitate to attack Yang Kai with their Secret Techniques.
Yang Kai had just steadied himself when he was enveloped by the Secret Techniques coming from afar. The Ancestral Strength gathered around his body instantly broke, and his figure flew out and tumbled like a sack.
Right after landing on the ground and spitting out a mouthful of Golden Blood, Yang Kai became aware of the cool feeling in his mind, causing his consciousness to wake up a little.
The Soul Warming Lotus had kept working to mend his injured Soul this whole time, but since his Soul was injured quite seriously, it took a while to have any noticeable effect.
Yang Kai was confused by his current situation and the danger around him, but he didn’t have time to think about it as several Secret Techniques were already flying his way again.
Instinctively, Yang Kai wanted to use his strength to protect himself, but before he could, the Ancestral Strength, once again, gathered around him and formed a thick barrier. Unfortunately, even this protection didn’t last a single breath before breaking apart again.
Feeling those Secret Techniques landing on his body, Yang Kai felt his five viscera and six organs churning and an immense pain coming from his bones, a number of which were now broken.
Yang Kai’s heart sank as his blurry consciousness became clear again. Everything that happened quickly flashed across his mind and he realised that he had unconsciously made a huge mistake and inexplicably caused this to happen.
Yang Kai felt frustrated. He didn’t mind getting beaten up a bit because his injuries would slowly restore on their own. The key was that he had exposed his ability to borrow strength from the Ancestral Land, which was one of his hidden trump cards.
That was also what he was counting on to battle the Royal Lord.
On the other hand, he felt lucky that he instinctively borrowed the Ancestral Land’s strength after sensing danger; otherwise, this situation would have ended badly.
However, there was still doubt in his mind.
Even though he had borrowed strength from the Ancestral Land, obtaining both favourable conditions and an advantageous position, his opponent was a Royal Lord, so he should have lost long ago.
After all, a Royal Lord was equivalent to a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor. Also, Yang Kai had previously fought a Royal Lord, so he clearly knew how strong they were.
Despite the fact that he could kill Innate Territory Lords like he was slaughtering chickens and butchering dogs, he knew he was no match for a Royal Lord. Otherwise, he would have gone straight to the No-Return Pass and destroyed their Black Ink Nests without bothering to try to maintain some random insincere peace treaty.
The environment in the Ancestral Land had a certain degree of restriction on the Royal Lord, but Yang Kai knew he had devoured too much Ancestral Strength these past years and greatly decreased the Ancestral Land’s heritage, which meant that the suppression wouldn’t be too significant. In other words, the Ancestral Land’s restriction on the Royal Lord wouldn’t affect him too much.
After carefully recalling his battle with the Royal Lord, Yang Kai suddenly realised something.
Without question, the strength exerted by this Royal Lord was indeed at the level of a Royal Lord, but he seemed quite bad at controlling it.
He had 100% of the strength of a Royal Lord, but could only exert 70% to 80% of it, making every attack feel like he was holding back.
On top of that, there was also the suppression from the Ancestral Land’s environment and the protection the Ancestral Strength granted Yang Kai. It was the combination of all these factors that allowed Yang Kai to stay alive until now.
[This guy must be a newly advanced Royal Lord, which is why he can’t perfectly control his strength and why the Humans had never heard of any news about him.]
Yang Kai thought he had guessed the truth, unaware that the real situation was completely different. If he hadn’t been immersed in his cultivation inside the Ancestral Land, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have sacrificed 13 Innate Territory Lords and a High-Rank Black Ink Next to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord like Di Wu. The Black Ink Clan could create such a Master from the start but hadn’t done so until now.
To the current Black Ink Clan, every Innate Territory Lord and High-Rank Black Ink Nest was indispensable, so considering the overall situation, it just wasn’t cost-effective to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
But if they could use Di Wu’s strength as a Pseudo-Royal Lord to kill Yang Kai, that would definitely be worth it.
Without mentioning the Black Ink Clan’s plan, Yang Kai was now having a headache about his predicament.
The Trapping Array had been completely destroyed, so the Royal Lord and four Territory Lords by themselves might not be able to stop him if he wanted to disengage. Of course, it was still impossible to leave the Ancestral Land because this World would still be sealed before the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was broken.
However, Yang Kai didn’t need to leave the Ancestral Land, he only needed to dive deep into it to heal his injuries. If he did so, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.
Unfortunately, the idea of retreating now made Yang Kai feel quite reluctant. His trump cards had been exposed one after another, so he would lose the element of surprise in the next battle. Since that was the case, he figured it would be better to just go with the flow and end this debacle once and for all.
He made the plan to hide deep inside the Ancestral Land after killing the four Territory Lords because he thought he wasn’t the Royal Lord’s opponent, but now that he knew he was up against a Royal Lord who couldn’t exert his full strength… Yang Kai thought that there might be a chance he could kill his enemy here today.
Yang Kai was secretly even hoping for the Royal Lord to lose his patience and use his Royal Lord Secret Technique…
Back outside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, Yang Kai had killed a Royal Lord shortly after breaking through to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm not because he was strong, but because many coincidences came together.
His biggest opportunity was when the Royal Lord used the Royal Lord Secret Technique on him, wanting to corrupt him with Black Ink Strength!
The Royal Lord Secret Technique was something only a Royal Lord could use. When performed, it was silent but had an incredible impact. Even Eighth-Order Masters couldn’t resist and would immediately become corrupted. On the Barren Territory Battlefield, a single Royal Lord had corrupted three Eighth-Order Masters, converting them into Black Ink Disciples. It was those three Black Ink Disciples who resurrected the Black Ink Giant Spirit Got in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, triggering the collapse of the entire Human battlefront.
It could be said that the Royal Lord had made a huge contribution to today’s situation where the Black Ink Clan could fully suppress the Humans.
Without the Royal Lord who corrupted those three Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, it would have been impossible to resurrect the Black Ink Giant Spirit God, and the Human Race Army would still have been able to bottle up the Black Ink Clan on the Barren Territory Battlefield.
Although it didn’t end well for that Royal Lord, the Black Ink Clan had achieved their goal.
A Royal Lord wouldn’t easily use the Royal Lord Secret Technique though because they would have to pay a high price. Not only would their strength suffer an immediate and substantial drop, they would also have to endure a long period of weakness. On the battlefield, such a situation would give the enemy a great chance to kill them.
Outside the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, that Royal Lord had used the Royal Lord Secret Technique on Yang Kai, causing himself to become weak and lose a huge portion of his strength. Then, he suffered a direct hit from Yang Kai’s Sun and Moon Divine Wheel while having his Soul torn apart by four Soul Rending Thorns. Under such circumstances, his chances of surviving decreased greatly.
Even so, Yang Kai also lost consciousness and started a mad killing spree before winning.
Back then, he was only a newly advanced Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Now, he was almost at the peak of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm and had help from the Ancestral Land, so his strength was several times higher than back then. If this Royal Lord couldn’t hold back and used the Royal Lord Secret Technique, Yang Kai could easily kill him with his spear. By then, the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array would become useless.
However, Yang Kai’s anticipations were in vain because a Royal Lord wouldn’t use the Royal Lord Secret Technique unless they were certain of success or it was their last resort.
According to what the Black Ink Clan had learned over the years, Yang Kai was fully resistant to Black Ink Strength’s corruption, so Di Wu wouldn’t be so stupid as to use the Royal Lord Secret Technique to deal with him.
Moreover, a Pseudo-Royal Lord like Di Wu couldn’t use the Royal Lord Secret Technique.
But Yang Kai didn’t know that.
Realizing that hoping his enemy would make a fatal mistake wasn’t plausible, Yang Kai figured he could only create his own opportunity; after all, the Ancestral Land wasn’t his only trump card!
Yang Kai’s consciousness had recovered quite a bit now, but he still pretended to be muddled. Faced with attacks coming at him from all directions, he roared in an aggrieved manner at Di Wu, “You called for help? I can call for help too! Come out, my servants!”
The way he was acting was like a kid kicking up a fuss after getting beaten up.
However, in the next breath, the Black Ink Clan Masters suddenly became gloomy.
That was because Small Stone Race Soldiers suddenly appeared one by one beside Yang Kai, transforming into a huge army in the blink of an eye. They were densely packed, making it impossible to count how many of them there were.
The Black Ink Clan naturally recognised the Small Stone Race.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago, this strange race was very active on every Great Territory Battlefield. They seemed like they didn’t have much sentience and had no concept of strategy or tactics, but they weren’t afraid of death or being corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Their presence had brought the Black Ink Clan quite a lot of trouble during wars.
Numerous Black Ink Clansmen had died at the Small Stone Races’ hands.
Following the continuous killings of the Small Stone Race over the years though, their numbers decreased until they more or less disappeared. Occasionally, some cultivators would bring out some Small Stone Race Soldiers leftover from the various battles, but there would only be a dozen of them at most.
From what the Black Ink Clan gathered from the Black Ink Disciple, Yang Kai was the source of the Small Stone Race.
In addition, Yang Kai had also used the Small Stone Race when he attacked the No-Return Pass back then.
The Black Ink Clan initially thought that those strange beings had been essentially wiped out, so they never anticipated seeing such a huge bunch of them be summoned in the Ancestral Land!
At that instant, the Black Ink Clansmen stopped attacking while Di Wu’s expression became as gloomy as a rain cloud.
This couldn’t be helped because back when Yang Kai attacked the No-Return Pass, Di Wu had personally witnessed the attack this killing star had executed with a similar Small Stone Race Army’s help.
Back then, Yang Kai seemed to have used some kind of technique and instantly sacrificed 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers to form a terrifying explosion of Purifying Light that even seriously injured the Royal Lord, giving Yang Kai a chance to escape!
Therefore, in Di Wu’s memory, while these Small Stone Race members weren’t that terrifying, the means they gave Yang Kai access to was frightening!
“Kill him quickly!”
Seeing that the Small Stone Race Army was growing larger and larger, Di Wu immediately roared while retreating to put some distance between himself and Yang Kai.
The four Territory Lords didn’t need Di Wu’s order for them to go all out as they fired their Secret Techniques at Yang Kai.
But by now, the space around Yang Kai had become densely packed with Small Stone Race. Although those attacks killed and injured a large patch of Small Stone Race Soldiers, Yang Kai remained untouched.
*Hong long long…*
Thunder came down from the sky, and another fight started. The Territory Lords and Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples operating the Grand Array had reactivated the Killing Array to target the Small Stone Race Army.
Not only that, the Black Ink Clan Army, which had retreated far away while Yang Kai was fighting Di Wu and the Territory Lords, came forward once again and surrounded the Small Stone Race from all directions.
In an instant, the battle between Masters had become a violent war between two Armies, further heating up the atmosphere in the Ancestral Land.
The Small Stone Race roared and pounded their chests as their desire to kill the enemy had been raging since they were summoned by Yang Kai. Since the third time he visited the Chaotic Dead Territory, Yang Kai had discovered that the Small Stone Race nurtured by Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan were extremely sensitive to Black Ink Strength, probably because they were opposites of each other. Therefore, on the battlefield, the Small Stone Race would charge fearlessly whenever they sensed Black Ink Strength and either kill their enemy ruthlessly or die trying.
In the beginning, the Humans didn’t have a method to control them because of these characteristics. Once the Small Stone Race were sent to the battlefield, they became like unleashed wild horses, which caused the Humans to lose many more of them than necessary.
Later, the Humans began using a beast-taming method and an Artifact refining method to control the Small Stone Race. The situation had improved quite a lot. At the very least, the Humans could now issue the Small Stone Race simple instructions.
The Small Stone Race Soldiers Yang Kai summoned just now obviously hadn’t undergone any such taming or refinement. After he gained these Small Stone Race members from Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan, Yang Kai just kept them inside his Small Universe and ignored them.
That was why these fellows began running around after being let out, charging in the direction where they sensed Black Ink Strength.
At that moment, the scene was a chaotic mess, but Yang Kai just laughed like a madman, “Die! All of you must die! Hahaha!”
A fierce battle was happening in the Ancestral Land.
The Small Stone Race’s intrepid nature doomed them to have a bad ending if no one controlled them. Many Small Stone Race Soldiers charged at the four Territory Lords, but could not get near them because they were rendered to pieces of stone scattered on the ground by the latter’s Secret Techniques.
Even the Black Ink Clan Army that came back had begun surrounding these unruly and scattered combatants.
Numerous Small Stone Race Soldiers were being broken to pieces with each breath.
However, large amounts of Small Stone Races were still appearing around Yang Kai. It was like there was an infinite amount of them, impossible to wipe out. On the other hand, Yang Kai’s laughter grew louder and wilder, as though he had gone crazy.
Di Wu had withdrawn his aura and was now hiding among the Black Ink Clan Army, cautiously observing the situation.
The memory of the technique Yang Kai used at the No-Return Pass, in which he sacrificed two million Small Stone Race Soldiers, was still etched in Di Wu’s mind. Therefore, Di Wu immediately retreated when Yang Kai began summoning his Army to avoid being surrounded and experiencing the same tragedy from that time.
Back then, the Royal Lord had been injured, causing his aura to drop by at least 10%. It took the Royal Lord a full 1,000 years to recover from that incident. So, if Di Wu, a mere Pseudo-Royal Lord, was hit by the same technique, he would likely end up in an even worse state.
In addition, if Di Wu remembered correctly, there were some powerful Masters among the Small Stone Race.
The Black Ink Clan had previously encountered a number of massive Small Stone Race Soldiers roughly 1,000 metres tall that had strength similar to that of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Even though they had lower sentience and couldn’t wield this strength efficiently, their attacks were still not to be underestimated.
After observing for a long time, Di Wu noticed that none of the Small Stone Race Soldiers Yang Kai summoned were 1,000 metres tall. The strongest of them all was only 100 or so metres tall, which gave them power equivalent to Seventh-Order Masters and Feudal Lords.
Di Wu didn’t take these Small Stone Race Soldiers seriously, and even the four Territory Lords currently in battle could easily kill vast swaths of them.
As chaos swelled on the battlefield, Yang Kai summoned more Small Stone Race Soldiers. The four Territory Lords were in a better situation as they had formed the Four Symbols Formation, so they only had to hold their ground and kill every Small Stone Race member that came at them.
However, the Black Ink Clan Army seemed to be having difficulties holding on despite having help from the Killing Array.
Originally, a million Black Ink Clan soldiers had been deployed to the Ancestral Land; Yang Kai had already killed half of them, leaving only about 500,000 of them. Now that the Small Stone Race had joined the battle, even fewer Black Ink Clan Soldiers were left standing. Although the Small Stone Race undoubtedly suffered greater losses, the Black Ink Clan Army would be wiped out eventually if this continued.
Despite the disadvantageous situation, the Black Ink Clan Soldiers didn’t dare to retreat because the Territory Lords were still fighting, so how could they withdraw?
On the other hand, Di Wu finally rejoined the fight, but his target wasn’t Yang Kai. Instead, he was still hiding among the Black Ink Clan Army and killing the Small Stone Race Soldiers, his cautious personality making him decide to continue observing the situation for now.
Four days later, the 500,000 strong Black Ink Clan Army had been reduced to only a few tens of thousands, and all the survivors were soaked in blood and had unstable auras. Despite their discomfited looks, the surviving Black Ink Clansmen all seemed excited.
They won! They killed all the Small Stone Race Soldiers that came at them.
During these few days, they estimated they had killed at least 2 million enemy soldiers!
It wasn’t because they were strong of course, but because they had a Pseudo-Royal Lord hiding among them. The Small Stone Race Soldiers only had Masters on par with Seventh-Order Humans as their strongest combatants, so how could they stand against a Pseudo-Royal Lord? Di Wu could kill hundreds or even thousands of Small Stone Race Soldiers in a single move.
Moreover, the Black Ink Clan had help from the Grand Array. The lightning bolts fired from above had culled many Small Stone Race Soldiers as well.
More importantly, this was only the accomplishments of the Black Ink Clan Army and Di Wu.
Even though the four Territory Lords didn’t kill 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, they managed to slaughter at least a million of them.
The originally loud Ancestral Land suddenly fell silent, with pieces of stone scattered everywhere, which were naturally the remains of the fallen Small Stone Race soldiers.
Nearly three million Small Stone Race were lost over the past few days, which was a huge number.
Some time ago, Yang Kai had stopped summoning Small Stone Race Soldiers and engaged the four Territory Lords on his own!
His face was filled with rage, and his eyes were completely bloodshot. Also, his aura fluctuated wildly, as though he was not in a stable state of mind.
Every time he charged at one of the four Territory Lords, he would be repelled by their combined attacks. He would have lost a long time ago if he hadn’t borrowed strength from the Ancestral Land and had Ancestral Strength shielding his body in an impenetrable protective layer.
Of course, the Ancestral Land’s suppression of the Territory Lords’ strength was also very important.
Even a Pseudo-Lord like Di Wu lost 10% of his strength, not to mention the Territory Lords. Those four Territory Lords felt an even heavier suppression of their strength and were now some 20% to 30% weaker than normal.
If they battled Yang Kai one on one in such a state, they wouldn’t be his opponent at all, but since they had formed the Four Symbols Formation and linked their auras, no matter which Territory Lord Yang Kai targeted, it was akin to him trying to attack all of them at once. So, how could Yang Kai win in such a situation?
It could be said that the strength of the four Territory Lords combined, though not as high as a Pseudo-Royal Lord like Di Wu, was greater than that of an Innate Territory Lord at their peak, which was also why they could stand a chance against Yang Kai.
In the beginning, the four of them were still hesitant when facing this killing star, but after battling each other for a while, they felt that Yang Kai wasn’t as strong as they had imagined!
Or, more precisely, it wasn’t that he wasn’t strong. It was more like he had suffered a huge backlash after using his strange Soul Secret Technique and now could not fight effectively.
In the Humans’ words, this man was now an idiot, so he couldn’t exert his full strength anymore.
This realisation greatly bolstered the Territory Lords’ confidence. Since the Small Stone Race had all been ruthlessly killed, and Yang Kai had fallen into this demented state, they had the confidence to slowly whittle away his energy and kill him eventually.
The Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land couldn’t be inexhaustible, so once it was completely drained, Yang Kai wouldn’t be far from death!
Successfully killing Yang Kai was an incredibly glorious achievement, and it could only be obtained once in this world. If the Royal Lord decided to create more Pseudo-Royal Lords in the future, they would be the first in line to gain such power, just like Di Wu!
Of course, Innate Territory Lords wished for greater strength, but they could only become Pseudo-Royal Lords, and they would have to pay a high price for that. Therefore, the Royal Lord wouldn’t create a Pseudo-Royal Lord if it weren’t a dire situation.
Regardless, these Territory Lords wouldn’t be able to get their wish because Di Wu was the one in charge of this mission to kill Yang Kai. He was turned into a Pseudo-Lord just for this mission, and now that things were leaning in their favour, how could Di Wu possibly let the Territory Lords steal the credit from him?
If that were to happen, it would make him seem too useless.
After several days of secretly observing Yang Kai, Di Wu concluded that this Human killing star… was an arrow at the end of its flight. According to the current situation, Yang Kai couldn’t turn things around.
Di Wu felt a little lucky that Yang Kai had over-used his Secret Technique, messing up his mind and revealing his trump cards.
Borrowing strength from the Ancestral Land and the 3 million Small Stone Race Army were definitely the secret trump cards Yang Kai had. If he were in a conscious state of mind and used those two methods to corner Di Wu…
If that happened, Di Wu would definitely have been taken by surprise. Once that happened, with the strength Yang Kai had revealed, they would most likely have failed their mission.
At the thought of that, Di Wu shivered.
Although they had lost four Territory Lords and a million Black Ink Clan Soldiers, that was still nothing compared to being able to kill Yang Kai.
When Yang Kai was blown away by one of the Territory Lords again, the light barrier made of Ancestral Strength around him became extremely dim and did not immediately recover like usual. Seeing that, Di Wu didn’t hesitate and dashed over like lightning.
Yang Kai was immediately thrown to the ground, and before he stabilized his footing, Di Wu arrived. With a fierce explosion of power, Di Wu used his hand like a knife and pierced through the Ancestral Strength’s protection and into Yang Kai’s chest.
Following that, Di Wu roared, “Die!”
[I did it!] Di Wu suddenly felt a little excited as he could even feel Yang Kai’s beating heart in his chest.
[Wait! Why is his heartbeat still so… strong?] While frowning, Di Wu instinctively felt something wasn’t right and looked over at Yang Kai.
He saw Yang Kai standing before him, unmoving, his black hair hanging over his forehead, creating a dense shadow that covered his eyes so that no one could see his expression.
Only his lips were showing, curled up in a meaningful grin.
Di Wu then heard something that terrified him.
“You finally decided to come out!”
Yang Kai suddenly raised his head, and Di Wu immediately saw a pair of bloodshot eyes. Those eyes were filled to the brim with ruthlessness and murderous intent, but there was no trace of madness in them.
[A trick!]
Di Wu immediately thought. What he saw all this time was just what Yang Kai wanted him to see, making him think that the killing star was not in a conscious state of mind and had uncontrollably revealed all his trump cards. He might even be feigning weakness right now, making it seem he had reached his limit after being besieged by the four Territory Lords.
All of this was just to lure Di Wu out.
But why would Yang Kai do this? Did he have another way to turn the tide of battle even from this dire situation?
No matter what Yang Kai was up to, Di Wu wouldn’t let him use any more tricks.
Just as Yang Kai finished speaking, Di Wu exerted strength into his hand and stabbed it further into the former’s chest. If he could pierce just a finger length deeper, he could tear apart Yang Kai’s heart.
To an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Yang Kai, having his heart destroyed might not be a lethal blow, but it would still be a severe injury!
But just as Di Wu exerted his strength, a large hand grabbed his wrist and firmly held him in place.
In terms of cultivation, a Pseudo-Royal Lord was indeed stronger than an Eighth-Order Master like Yang Kai; however, in terms of raw physical power, a Pseudo-Divine Dragon like Yang Kai surpassed Di Wu by a wide margin.
Therefore, how could Di Wu move when he was restrained in such close proximity to Yang Kai?
Although Di Wu had been stopped, he wasn’t flustered. He clenched his other fist and threw a punch at Yang Kai’s face.
Before his fist could reach its target though, it too was seized by Yang Kai.
A Pseudo-Royal Lord and a Pseudo-Divine Dragon were now standing face to face at arm’s length from one another, locked in mortal combat.
Di Wu was entirely at a disadvantage because Yang Kai had the absolute upper hand when it came to physical strength. The excruciating pain coming from Di Wu’s wrist was something he had never experienced before.
“Next time, don’t make others wait so long!” Yang Kai bellowed before headbutting Di Wu. The aggressive force was like the whole world was coming at him, making Di Wu feel dizzy and almost disperse the Black Ink Strength he had gathered inside him.
The sudden change rendered the four Territory Lords dumbfounded. Originally, they thought that this would be an easy kill for Di Wu, but the results shocked them.
In their flustered state, the Territory Lords didn’t have time to think about anything else and quickly attacked Yang Kai with their Secret Techniques, trying to save Di Wu.
A series of explosions sounded across the Ancestral Land. Since the light barrier protecting Yang Kai had been torn open by Di Wu, Yang Kai had to take on consecutive attacks from the Territory Lords with his own body. Although he had his own layer of protection from his World Force, resisting the attacks was difficult. His body was instantly battered, and he kept spitting out Golden Blood.
“Are you done? I’ve been enduring you all for too long!” Yang Kai roared.
Suddenly, a pair of bright but also strange patterns appeared on the back of Yang Kai’s hands.
They were the Great Sun and Moon Marks.
An extremely mysterious force appeared from within the Marks, which then began permeating out across the Ancestral Land. In an instant, tiny wisps of light flew out from the Small Stone Race corpses.
Those lights were either pure yellow or blue. When they first began appearing, there weren’t that many at a glance, but in the blink of an eye, the ground and sky were densely packed with a sea of blue and yellow covering the entire battlefield.
Some three million Small Stone Race Soldiers had died in this vast land over the past few days, and if Di Wu had observed carefully enough, he would have noticed that these Small Stone Race Soldiers had two different characteristics. There were even numbers of Great Sun Small Stone Race and Great Moon Small Stone Race.
Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan had spent years painstakingly nurturing these special beings with their power, and with the Small Stone Race’s nature of devouring and refining resources to grow themselves and breed new clansmen, it could be said that they were now living Yellow and Blue Crystals, although less pure than the real ones. They had the purest form of Yang and Yin Energy contained inside them.
Despite being smashed, this pure energy hadn’t dissipated and if other Small Stone Race members came across this place, they could devour the corpses of their fallen brethren to continue growing stronger.
These three million Small Stone Race Soldiers weren’t sacrificed in vain.
Since deciding to summon the Small Stone Race, Yang Kai had been planning for this very moment.
Never would the Black Ink Clan have thought that the dead Small Stone Race could still have such great power even after death; after all, there were only a dozen or so Divine Spirits who had the Great Sun and Moon Marks, and none of them had shown such mysterious techniques before on the battlefield.
Di Wu thought he had been careful enough, but the reality was that he would never be able to understand just how cunning Humans could be.
When he recovered from his dizzy state, the two-tone lights he saw around him made alarm bells ring in his head, and he was once again reminded of the time when Yang Kai trashed the No-Return Pass.
The Black Ink Strength inside Di Wu surged madly as he desperately wanted to escape from Yang Kai’s grasp. At the same time, he yelled, “Let go!”
“Too late!” Yang Kai snarled while using all his strength to activate the two marks on the backs of his hands.
At that instant, the yellow and blue lights merged, causing the two colours to disappear instantly and transform into the purest white light. The light gradually condensed into a ball that rapidly expanded across the battlefield, like a great rising Sun.
Time seemed to have frozen at that moment, and under cover of the intense Purifying Light, the scattered Black Ink Strength and Black Ink Clouds formed from the massive amount of Black Ink Clansmen killed in this battle were instantly vaporized. It was as if they had never existed before.
On the other hand, the surviving Black Ink Clansmen felt like ants that had been thrown into boiling oil, screaming and struggling, but unable to resist the erosion of the Purifying Light at all. The Black Ink Strength inside their bodies quickly dissolved and their auras grew fainter. Those weaker ones were soon killed on the spot, while the stronger ones were barely clinging to life.
At the same time, the four Territory Lords fired more Secret Techniques at Yang Kai, but these attacks were severely weakened by the Purifying Light and lost at least half of their power by the time they hit their mark.
Not only that, but the Territory Lords were also enduring the pain of having their bodies literally melting as the Purifying Light invaded them, destroying their very foundation.
As for Di Wu, who was right in front of Yang Kai, he was experiencing the worst of these effects.
Since he was the strongest and was literally being held down by Yang Kai, the place he was standing was where the Purifying Light was the most intense. At this moment, the Pseudo-Royal Lord was like a melting candle. The jet-black Black Ink Strength was continuously flowing out of his body, which would then be neutralized by the Purifying Light.
Fortunately for Di Wu, he had mustered all his strength and pushed the knife hand being gripped by Yang Kai further into the latter’s chest just before Yang Kai activated the Purifying Light.
Although Yang Kai wasn’t willing, he was forced to let go at that last moment and quickly put some distance between them to avoid his heart being pierced through.
Now that Di Wu wasn’t being restrained, he immediately flew into the sky, desperately wanting to escape the area being enveloped by Purifying Light.
At that moment, space suddenly became extremely viscous and simultaneously felt like it was being stretched out infinitely. It was only for a moment, but it was still torturous for Di Wu.
It only took three breaths of time for the blast of Purifying Light to dissipate, but during that short moment, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a terrifying loss.
Di Wu finally escaped the space binding and charged out of the area being encased by Purifying Light, but when he looked down, he felt devastated.
The tens of thousands of Black Ink Clan Soldiers that had survived the previous slaughter were now reduced to less than 2,000 by the intense Purifying Light; however, even these survivors were like flickering candles in the wind, at risk of being snuffed out at any moment.
As for the four Territory Lords who had formed the Four Symbols Formation… All four of their auras had disappeared.
Soon, Di Wu saw Yang Kai covered in blood, and in his hand was a huge head. That head belonged to one of the Territory Lords, and the expression on its face was filled with reluctance and disbelief. Obviously, this Territory Lord never expected their originally advantageous situation to suddenly make a huge turn for the worse.
Yang Kai was cornered and at his limit, but he suddenly regained control of the entire situation in the blink of an eye and even had the time, while Di Wu was escaping, to kill the four weakened and stunned Territory Lords who were being tortured by the Purifying Light to the point of wanting to die.
Yang Kai seriously injured a true Royal Lord by sacrificing 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers back at the No-Return Pass. Today, 3 million Small Stone Race had died here, so how could mere Innate Territory Lords withstand the resulting burst of Purifying Light?
Moreover, there was also suppression from the Ancestral Land. If Yang Kai targeted them in such a situation, where they couldn’t even access 50% of their maximum strength, they were still doomed even if they had formed a Battle Formation.
When the four eyes suddenly met, Di Wu once again felt hopeless and terrified.
He came here in full confidence, but suddenly discovered after this huge battle that perhaps killing Yang Kai was an impossible task.
At that moment, he suddenly had the urge to retreat.
“Now there’s only the two of us.” Yang Kai casually tossed the head away as if he were throwing out the trash. When compared, Yang Kai’s injuries were definitely more serious than Di Wu’s. His Soul was constantly throbbing, and his body was completely battered. Even so, Di Wu’s mental state right now was far worse than Yang Kai’s.
Yang Kai looked at Di Wu with his deep, cold eyes while asking, “Are you ready to die, Sir Royal Lord?”
However, Di Wu just turned around and made a mad dash while yelling, “Open the Grand Array!”
Since the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was still active, he couldn’t escape without it first being opened.
Once he gave the command, a crack appeared on the Grand Array, and Di Wu immediately charged at it like lightning.
But when it came to speed, none could match Yang Kai.
Di Wu felt his sight blur for a moment before he saw Yang Kai already blocking the opening while looking down at him.
This scene stunned the Black Ink Disciples and Territory Lords managing the Great Array, and they didn’t know what to do.
With this strong opponent blocking his only path of escape, Di Wu steeled himself and gathered all his strength to form a Black Ink Cloud before charging at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai lifted his hands, and a Great Sun ascended into the sky as a Golden Crow cawed.
At the same time, the Full Moon rose into the air, bathing the world in its icy glow.
The mysterious scene of the Sun and Moon rising together reappeared, and Yang Kai stood below them like a deity.
Both Yang Kai’s trump cards of borrowing strength from the Ancestral Land and the Small Stone Race Army were just external aids, while the one he displayed right now was wholly his own.
Sun and Moon Divine Wheel!
That was a Secret Technique only Yang Kai could perform because it was the extreme fusion of both the Dao of Space and Dao of Time. Even though Zhao Ye Bai and Xu Yi could also stimulate the mysterious Space-Time Strength, they were still two individuals and could never truly comprehend the essence of this esoteric power.
Since Yang Kai had first comprehended this Secret Technique, he had used it many times in battle against enemies he couldn’t defeat through conventional means, and it had not disappointed him before.
However, he had never been able to call upon it so smoothly and with such ease as he did today.
Before now, his attainments in the Dao of Space had always been higher than his attainments in the Dao of Time. Even though he could still use the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel, since one of the two Grand Daos that it was formed from was stronger than the other, the technique had always been unbalanced. It was only after he came to the Ancestral Land this time and his attainments in both Grand Daos reached a balance that something had changed.
The Sun and Moon began orbiting around Yang Kai as Time and Space Principles permeated the air. These two Principle Strengths then began fusing together, creating a new Space-Time Strength. Everything happened incredibly smoothly.
It was only at this moment that Yang Kai gained an epiphany. Time and space were originally two interdependent Principles, so when they fused and integrated, they were just returning to their natural state. Space without Time was like a tree without roots, or a river without a source, and Time without Space was only a vast emptiness that had no substance to it.
Time was the imprint of space, and space was the carrier and root of time.
After millennia of studying and comprehending both the Dao of Time and the Dao of Space, Yang Kai was finally showing signs of gaining true understanding and mastery of them.
This newfound enlightenment had immediate tangible benefits in how the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel manifested.
Originally, the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel took the form of a Great Sun and the Full Moon rapidly spiralling towards each other as they shot forth, blasting out waves of Space-Time Strength as they flew forward.
But now that Yang Kai had gained a deeper understanding of Space-Time, the Sun and Moon were able to fuse entirely and turned into a mysterious Seal that was one half Great Sun and one half Full Moon.
This Seal was not nearly as dazzling and awe-inspiring as the original Sun and Moon Divine Wheel but it was actually far more profound as it had condensed all the power which had been blasting out into a single point. With unstoppable momentum, the Seal fiercely slammed into the Black Ink Cloud that Di Wu was hiding within.
The Black Ink Cloud was destroyed, revealing Di Wu’s figure, before the Sun and Moon Divine Seal slammed into Di Wu’s face and silently entered his body.
Di Wu instantly felt like he had been struck by lightning, and his body visibly shook.
When the profound Space-Time Strength exploded, it was like a million tiny millstones began grinding inside him, causing his Pseudo-Royal Lord aura to weaken at breakneck speed.
At the same time, Di Wu could feel his vitality rapidly draining away. The strange strength inside him felt like innumerable sharp daggers slicing into his five viscera and six organs.
[What is this Divine Ability!?]
Di Wu was absolutely terrified.
The newly formed Sun and Moon Divine Seal wasn’t as imposing or overbearing as the Sun and Moon Divine Wheel, but it was far more deadly. After all, the Seal was the result of Yang Kai’s comprehension after balancing the Dao of Time and Dao of Space, so it was impossible for it not to have improved.
The power of this new Divine Ability didn’t disappoint Yang Kai. Di Wu’s aura constantly weakening was the best evidence of its efficacy.
At first, the Ancestral Land already had a trace of suppression on Di Wu’s strength, and after being bathed in rich Purifying Light, Di Wu lost a huge amount of his strength, affecting his foundation. He was not a real Royal Lord, but a Pseudo-Royal Lord that was created through the Source Fusion Technique.
Previously, at the No-Return Pass, the Royal Lord had been struck by a similar blast of Purifying Light, and although he was injured seriously and had 10% of his heritage wiped away, his foundation remained stable. It was a different case for Di Wu because once his Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation, which was already unstable, was affected, there was a huge possibility that he would fall back into the Innate Territory Lord Realm.
He couldn’t accept that, and the Royal Lord wouldn’t forgive him if that happened.
The Black Ink Clan had paid an enormous price to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord, which was why Di Wu chose to escape in the end. Unfortunately, Yang Kai had blocked his escape. Now that he was struck with the Sun and Moon Divine Seal, Di Wu’s already weakened Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation finally reached the point of rupturing.
At that moment, dense and viscous Black Ink Strength began pouring out of his body, but it wasn’t by his own doing; instead, it was a sign of his inability to control his own strength.
Di Wu’s expression became extremely pained. He was using all his strength to suppress the rioting strength inside his body, but the Sun and Moon Divine Seal was still wantonly destroying him from the inside, so how could Di Wu succeed?
When Yang Kai noticed Di Wu’s state, he was puzzled but didn’t think too much of it.
He summoned the Azure Dragon Spear again and stared coldly at Di Wu, “Sir Royal Lord, your end has come, suffer death!”
Those words Di Wu had spoken before were returned to him. Who would have thought that their situations would make a complete turnaround after just a few days?
Once those words were spoken, Yang Kai thrust his spear at Di Wu. When the light from the spear bloomed, a myriad of Dao Strengths wove together, giving the spear an unstoppable momentum.
Di Wu roared madly as he counter-attacked, and the two figures instantly became entangled with each other.
Even with the suppression from the Ancestral Land, and after being weakened by Purifying Light and the Sun and Moon Divine Seal, Di Wu still had the strength to fight. However, his strength was constantly slipping away, and as time passed, he would only become feebler. Once his Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation fully cracked, he would return to his original Territory Lord state.
Although Yang Kai didn’t know much about the Royal Lord before him, he noticed the madly decreasing Black Ink Strength and thought that this newly advanced Royal Lord did not seem to have a stable foundation; otherwise, such a situation wouldn’t have happened.
When Yang Kai first met this Royal Lord, he didn’t have any intention of fighting him because he knew he wasn’t a Royal Lord’s opponent. Fighting such a strong enemy would only make things difficult for him with minimal chances of success.
However, a series of accidents changed the battle and caused it to escalate to this point. On the other hand, Di Wu was not an unbeatable Royal Lord anymore. He was now an enemy that could be killed!
While the two of them were fighting, several powerful auras approached from all directions.
They were the Innate Territory Lords managing the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array. They noticed the situation had grown dire and came to help.
If Di Wu died here, they wouldn’t be able to explain themselves to the Royal Lord after returning; therefore, they couldn’t stand by and watch as Di Wu was killed.
Moreover, there were 12 of them, so if they worked together with Di Wu, they wouldn’t need to be afraid of Yang Kai.
There was only one problem with their plan.
Without them powering the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking effect would disappear, so no one would be able to stop Yang Kai if he decided to escape.
In other words, the moment they decided to stop operating this Grand Array, their mission to surround and kill Yang Kai had basically failed.
But at this moment, they couldn’t care too much about it because if Di Wu died, it would be meaningless to keep the Grand Array running. After all, Yang Kai could easily break through it. This Grand Array was sealing an extremely vast region, so it wasn’t very sturdy.
The aura from the many Territory Lords approaching was very obvious, so Di Wu and Yang Kai could sense them coming. Di Wu’s flustered expression calmed down slightly, probably because he thought he had a chance to survive, but at the same time, he felt a little humiliated.
He was a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and he led so many Innate Territory Lords here to kill Yang Kai, but still failed. Not only did he lose a million soldiers and eight Innate Territory Lords, but he was also heavily injured to the point of his foundation almost rupturing.
In the end, he still had to rely on the other Territory Lords to come to his rescue. Now, he didn’t even know how he would explain himself to the Royal Lord after returning to the No-Return Pass.
It seemed like he didn’t need to explain anything…
Just as his expression calmed down, it changed again because a Small Universe portal suddenly appeared behind Yang Kai and a large number of 1,000-metre-tall figures leapt out one after another.
Small Stone Race Masters!
In an instant, nearly 300 of these 1,000-metre-tall Small Stone Race Masters appeared, each of them radiating extremely imposing auras that made it obvious they had the strength of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
Of course, since they didn’t have much sentience and acted entirely out of instinct, their combat capabilities were far lower than Eighth-Order Masters.
Moreover, ordinary Eighth-Order Masters were weaker than Innate Territory Lords.
However, none of that mattered with this kind of advantage in numbers.
300 Small Stone Race Masters was an enormous lineup.
All the remaining Black Ink Clansmen were thoroughly shocked because. From what they knew, the Small Stone Soldiers were a very special Race that was difficult to nurture. After some 3,000 years of war, the Small Stone Race had basically been wiped out. Even if there were still some, there wouldn’t be many.
Yang Kai summoning the 3 million Small Stone Race Soldiers was already very shocking for the Black Ink Clan.
Back then, Di Wu even specially observed the Small Stone Race, trying to see whether there were any of these more powerful Masters among their ranks, but he never spotted any.
Since Yang Kai could summon so many Small Stone Race, how could it be possible that he didn’t hide any Small Stone Race Masters? It was just that Yang Kai didn’t want to bring them out.
When they witnessed so many Small Stone Race Masters appearing before them, the Black Ink Clan realized their mission to surround and kill Yang Kai had failed before it even began. However, Yang Kai kept this advantage hidden and continuously used his discomfited state to give the Black Ink Clan false hope. He even exposed a number of his tricks and trump cards just to grind away at the Black Ink Clan’s strength.
At this moment, he finally showed his final hidden hand, as if to spell out for them how hopeless and pitiful all their plotting truly was.
Eight Territory Lords were dead, and a Black Ink Clan Army of 1 million soldiers was wiped out. Also, the Pseudo-Royal Lord, Di Wu, was seriously injured and the existence of the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was exposed.
These were the losses the Black Ink Clan had suffered in this battle, but what about Yang Kai? Some serious injuries? 3 million dead Small Stone Race Soldiers? Did any of that even matter?
Di Wu felt both aggrieved and angry at the same time, [What a scheming bastard!]
The instability of his state of mind caused his Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation to falter even more. Adding on to Yang Kai’s constant attacks, he knew he couldn’t hold on much longer.
After getting summoned, those 300 Small Stone Race Masters dispersed in all directions, roaring as they charged at the approaching 12 Innate Territory Lords.
The Territory Lords were stunned at the same time and didn’t know whether to continue forward or retreat.
If they continued trying to save Di Wu, they would inevitably be besieged by these Small Stone Race Masters, with each of them having to face at least 20 on their own. Even if these Small Stone Race Masters didn’t have much sentience, their incredible strength wasn’t easily dealt with. Once the Territory Lords were surrounded by these Small Stone Race Masters, death was basically guaranteed.
But it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to retreat either.
At that instant, the Territory Lords were caught in a dilemma.
“Run!” Di Wu roared through gritted teeth, “Head back and report to Sir Royal Lord that Di Wu has failed his trust and deserved his death!”
Hearing what Di Wu said, the Territory Lords all turned around and ran. If they had decided to run themselves, they wouldn’t have been able to explain it to the Royal Lord, but now that Di Wu had ordered them to do so, they no longer had a reason to hesitate.
Meanwhile, the Small Stone Race Masters were chasing after them.
Back on the battlefield, Di Wu seemed to have come to a decision after shouting his order.
At first, he thought that though he was in a critical situation, he still stood a chance to escape, but after the appearance of those Small Stone Race Masters, that last hope was thoroughly destroyed.
When even the possibility of survival disappeared, he actually felt a sense of relief.
The surging Black Ink Strength inside his body that he was trying hard to suppress was now free of restraints as he roared, “Yang Kai, so what if you win against me today? This Universe belongs to the Black Ink Clan!”
At that instant, black filled the sky as the dense and fierce Black Ink Strength turned into a huge tornado that was madly spinning with Di Wu in the centre.
Yang Kai suddenly felt pressured.
He had fought against many Black Ink Clansmen, killed Territory Lords, and even won against a Royal Lord, but never had he seen such a fierce and dense Black Ink Strength coming from a single Black Ink Clansman before.
[This isn’t normal,] at a glance, Yang Kai could see that Di Wu was about to suffer a fatal backlash from his own strength.
The best choice now would be for him to escape the battlefield because it was impossible for Di Wu to maintain this state for long; however, Di Wu seemed to have noticed Yang Kai’s plan. Since Di Wu had decided to use his death to show his loyalty and resolve, how could he let Yang Kai escape that easily?
Since he had to die here, he would at least bring Yang Kai with him!
“Enough nonsense! Today, either you die, or I perish!” Yang Kai roared while madly gathering the strength in his Small Universe before channelling it to his spear. Space-Time Strength hovered around him while the Ancestral Land thrummed. What was left of the Ancestral Strength flowed in from all directions and turned into a bright barrier around his body.
As the Matriarch, this was the last protection the Ancestral Land could give her favoured son.
The next moment, Yang Kai boldly charged at Di Wu.
When the bright and dark lights smashed together, the entire World shook as Space ruptured. Both lights exploded, enveloping 100,000 kilometres in a blinding brilliance.
At that moment, it seemed like time itself had ceased to flow.
In an instant, that seemed to last millions of years, the two lights suddenly disappeared, and the violent energy calmed down, signalling the end of the epic battle.
Yang Kai coughed up a large mouthful of blood as his consciousness blurred. Thanks to the Azure Dragon Spear, he barely remained standing. Despite doing his best to seal the gaping hole in his chest by tightening his muscles, the wound was reopened and blood was now pouring out.
Not far before him, Di Wu was standing with his head held high, but his body was completely battered and full of wounds. Black Ink Strength would occasionally spurt from his wounds, but even that had lost the powerful momentum it used to have and seemed quite weak.
His Royal Lord aura had already weakened long ago, and his vitality was almost gone.
Completely unshackling his rupturing Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation had caused a lethal backlash, so how could he possibly survive?
However, he wasn’t dead yet. Creakingly turning his head, he stared at Yang Kai with blurry eyes filled with mixed emotions before gathering the last of his strength to chant, “Black Ink Eternal!”
Then, his body fell with a thud, kicking up the dust around him. Just like that, his aura completely disappeared.
Of course, Yang Kai wasn’t sure Di Wu was dead, so he forced himself to remain conscious as he stumbled over to Di Wu. After giving the corpse a few hard stabs with the Azure Dragon Spear and confirming that Di Wu was gone, Yang Kai spat out another mouthful of blood and cursed.
[Black Ink Eternal, my ass.] He had heard that saying for thousands of years, but never saw the Black Ink Clan dominating the Universe.
The Human Race was not dead yet, so the Black Ink Clan could forget about being eternal as long as Yang Kai remained alive.
While supporting himself with the Azure Dragon Spear, Yang Kai slowly sat down on the ground, regulating his obviously disordered power and activating the power of his Dragon Vein to heal his injuries.
His gaze was still slightly unfocused. Having been locked in a very intense battle for several days and having been constantly thinking of ways to deceive and lure out the Black Ink Clan, he had exhausted both his mental and physical strength.
The injury to his Soul was still there, and it would require a long recovery time before it could be fully restored.
He also suffered a lot of injuries to his body during this battle.
At that instant, he seemed to have forgotten why he came to the Ancestral Land in the first place.
After thinking about it for a while, he remembered he had come here to seek out clues about the Primordial Light.
Fortunately, his journey had been fruitful.
Even though there were still some mysteries surrounding the Primordial Light, Yang Kai had learned its history.
Then, he continued to cultivate in the Ancestral Land for 300 years, during which time his Dragon Vein was greatly refined. Then, he proceeded to kill eight Innate Territory Lords and a Royal Lord.
No matter which angle he looked at it from, this trip to the Ancestral Land was a very rewarding one.
The only thing that would have made it even better was if he wasn’t in such a terrible state.
Yang Kai didn’t rest for long though because the 300 Small Stone Race Masters were still chasing after those escaping Innate Territory Lords. Although it was probably impossible for the Small Stone Race to catch up to those Territory Lords, Yang Kai still needed to oversee their situation.
300 Small Stone Race Masters were a huge war asset, and if Yang Kai didn’t go retrieve them, given the Small Stone Race’s nature, they would most likely get lost or even destroy each other.
So, no matter what, he had to get those Small Stone Race Masters back.
Yang Kai only slightly adjusted his breathing before getting up and dragging his extremely tired body to manipulate Space Principles and shoot away.
Just as he expected, the Small Stone Race Masters didn’t manage to catch up with the Innate Territory Lords. Innate Territory Lords were already very powerful, and if they were determined to escape, the Small Stone Race wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
While Yang Kai moved throughout the void, picking up batch after batch of scattered Small Stone Race Masters, he chanced upon a surprise.
Since the 12 Innate Territory Lords powering the Grand Array had already escaped, the Small Stone Race weren’t able to catch them. Yang Kai didn’t intend to chase them either because those Territory Lords couldn’t hide forever. There was bound to come a day when Yang Kai would settle accounts with them.
On the other hand, the few Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples that came with the Black Ink Clan weren’t able to escape as quickly because their strength was far lower; therefore, they were still being chased by the Small Stone Race Masters.
When Yang Kai arrived at the scene, those Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples were badly beaten up. If Yang Kai had come any later, the Small Stone Race would have killed them.
The moment those Black Ink Disciples saw Yang Kai, they began calling for help as if they saw their saviour.
To the Black Ink Clan, Black Ink Disciples would forever be slaves, but there were also times when the Black Ink Clan needed these Black Ink Disciples to do something for them that they weren’t capable of. Therefore, they wouldn’t kill Black Ink Disciples at will.
To the Humans, if they encountered Black Ink Disciples, those capable of taking them on would do their best to capture them alive rather than kill them. That was because the Humans now had a method to save these Black Ink Disciples.
In other words, Black Ink Disciples could survive among both Races.
The Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples could not escape from the Small Stone Race Masters’ pursuit, but there was little they could do other than go all out as their loyalty was currently to the Black Ink Clan.
Yang Kai naturally didn’t make things difficult for them and summoned the Great Sun and Moon Marks to retrieve the Small Stone Race Masters. After that, he used Purifying Light to dispel the Black Ink Strength from within those Black Ink Disciples.
Without Black Ink Strength affecting their minds, the Black Ink Disciples regained their true nature and hung their heads in shame.
The leader among the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples, the old man, cupped his fist at Yang Kai while sweating, “This old man and his companions have committed a great crime. Please punish us, Sir!”
Every Black Ink Disciple who was freed from the influence of Black Ink Strength would have such thoughts. When they recalled their actions while being Black Ink Disciples, it all seemed like a nightmare that they couldn’t understand or accept.
With a wave of his hand, Yang Kai assured them, “You didn’t act willingly, so you don’t have to blame yourselves. If you still feel ashamed, return to the battlefield and kill more enemies.”
The several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Masters nodded and agreed.
“Wait for me at the border of the Ancestral Land. I have some questions I want to ask you,” Yang Kai ordered.
The old man replied, “Yes, Sir.”
After saying that, the Seventh-Order Masters shot towards the Ancestral Land while Yang Kai continued searching for the Small Stone Race Masters.
Yang Kai spent more than 10 days scouring the entire Shattered Heaven but still couldn’t find all the Small Stone Race Masters he summoned, but in the end, he did a count and found that about 10 were missing.
He had no idea whether the Innate Territory Lords killed them or if they had simply gotten lost.
That was a regretful discovery because each Small Stone Race Master was equivalent to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. It was a pity to lose 10 of them.
But Yang Kai could do nothing about it because that was how the Small Stone Race was. They had simple sentience and acted according to their instincts. Yang Kai didn’t have any other choice but to summon those Small Stone Race Masters before he could tame or refine them because he needed them to block the incoming Innate Territory Lords.
In conclusion, if he hadn’t gone to visit Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan and gotten so many Small Stone Race Soldiers before coming here, he would have been in a dangerous situation.
When Yang Kai returned to the Ancestral Land, his face still looked pale and the throbbing pain in his Soul was still evident.
The several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were waiting for him and came over as soon as they sensed his return.
Raising his hand, Yang Kai skipped the formalities with them and got straight to the point, “Have you all been staying at the No-Return Pass?”
The eldest Seventh-Order Master, the old man, nodded, “Yes. We all had some talent in the Dao of Spirit Arrays, so we were specially sent to the No-Return Pass after being corrupted. The Black Ink Clan there seemed to be particularly interested in Humans like us.”
After a short pause, the old man elaborated shamefully, “The Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was also created by us. After Sir made a name for yourself on the Profound Nether Territory Battlefield back then, the Royal Lord ordered us to come up with a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array that could be used to deal with you. Previously, there were some Black Ink Clansmen who reported to the Royal Lord that you were in the Ancestral Land and seemed to be immersed in cultivation. Therefore, the Royal Lord thought it was a good opportunity and ordered several Innate Territory Lords to bring us here to set up the Grand Array.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
Even though he didn’t get a chance to carefully investigate the so-called Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, he could sense that it had many rough patches. If it wasn’t for Di Wu pestering him, Yang Kai was confident he could have broken the Grand Array and eliminated its Heaven Sealing Earth Locking effects in short order.
More importantly, 12 Innate Territory Lords were needed to power this Grand Array, which was another sign that this wasn’t a high-end Grand Array.
If that was the case, these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had limited attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays and might even have lower attainments than Yang Kai himself.
Although Yang Kai never formally studied the Dao of Spirit Arrays, he had refined several Array Dao Rivers in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, so his Small Universe had quite a lot of Array Dao Essence in it, which meant he wasn’t without any foundation in this Grand Dao.
“How many Royal Lords are there in the Black Ink Clan?” Yang Kai asked.
He wanted these Seventh-Order Masters to stay behind because he wanted to ask about this matter.
An unfamiliar Royal Lord had suddenly appeared in the Black Ink Clan. Though Yang Kai had killed that Royal Lord using all sorts of means, it was still a very difficult battle. After this fight, Yang Kai would have to recuperate for at least 100 or 200 years to fully restore himself.
[Who knows whether the Black Ink Clan still has more Royal Lords or not.]
The previously Black Ink Disciples looked at each other before the old man replied with a frown, “I know what Sir is worried about, but according to our knowledge, the Black Ink Clan has only ever had one Royal Lord.”
“Only one?” Yang Kai was confused, but the Seventh-Order old man nodded and said firmly, “Only one.”
Yang Kai frowned as he thought these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Masters had spent many years at the No-Return Pass, so they should know some of the Black Ink Clan’s details. But now, it seemed like they weren’t able to get their hands on the core secrets. However, even if the Black Ink Clan had hidden a Royal Lord, the Black Ink Disciples should have heard about it.
On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan also knew that once the Black Ink Disciples got caught by the Humans, the Black Ink Strength inside them would be expelled. Then, those Humans would regain their consciousness, so if they knew any confidential information about the Black Ink Clan, that information would probably get exposed, so perhaps they were keeping better control over vital information than Yang Kai first thought.
“Actually, we’re confused as well.” While the old man spoke, he looked at Di Wu’s corpse on the far end, “This Di Wu, he used to be an Innate Territory Lord, but he somehow became a Royal Lord…”
“Wait,” Yang Kai interrupted him, “You said this guy was an Innate Territory Lord?”
Nodding, the old man explained, “Yes. He was an Innate Territory Lord, and one of the Royal Lord’s confidants.”
The other Seventh-Order Masters nodded in agreement and confirmed Di Wu’s identity as an Innate Territory Lord.
“How is that possible?” Yang Kai’s eyes widened as he couldn’t believe his ears.
All Innate Territory Lords were born from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and were directly created by Mo. It was also common knowledge that Innate Territory Lords could never advance to become Royal Lords.
Although Yang Kai didn’t know much about the mysteries of the Creation Force, he did know that each Innate Territory Lord was born with more powerful strength than an ordinary Territory Lord. Mo must have used some kind of strange means to stimulate their full potential, completely exhausting it, causing them to be unable to gain more strength afterwards.
No one knew where the news came from, but the Humans believed it. In fact, it had been more than 3,000 years since the battle outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, yet even with so many Innate Territory Lords, there was never any news about one of them becoming a Royal Lord.
But the matter they thought was impossible had happened now.
Yang Kai felt his heart sink. It wouldn’t be too concerning if this was a special case, but if the Black Ink Clan did have some sort of way to make Innate Territory Lords into Royal Lords, the situation between the two Races would change drastically, with the Humans being at a huge disadvantage.
Also, he didn’t believe the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters standing in front of him were lying because, as fellow Humans, there was no need to joke about such things.
Just as he was thinking about this matter, the Seventh-Order old man added, “Sir, you don’t have to worry too much about this. According to this old man’s observations, while the Black Ink Clan has a way of making Innate Territory Lords into Royal Lords, it must not be easy to accomplish. There must be a huge price to pay.”
“Why would you say that?” Yang Kai was taken aback.
The old man thought back on his memories before explaining, “About 300 years ago, I recall something strange happening at the No-Return Pass, but we weren’t allowed to roam freely, so I couldn’t go and investigate. Over about a month or so, a large number of Innate Territory Lords entered one specific High-Rank Black Ink Nest, but never came back out. It was like they vanished from existence. Di Wu was the last one to enter that Black Ink Nest. After that, we were ordered to come here together with 20 Territory Lords and arrange the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Array. However, two years later, Di Wu appeared here as a Royal Lord.”
Although these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters didn’t know about the Black Ink Clan’s Source Fusion Technique, there was quite a commotion when the Innate Territory Lords were performing this technique, so they naturally sensed something was happening. However, as Black Ink Disciples, they had no right to pry; otherwise, they would have known a lot more.
When Yang Kai heard what the old man said, he frowned. It seemed like there was a sudden change in the Black Ink Clan that the Humans didn’t know about; or in other words, the Black Ink Clan possessed some kind of technique unknown to the Humans that they had never used before.
In addition, this technique allowed an Innate Territory Lord to become a Royal Lord! That was enough to make alarm bells ring in Yang Kai’s head. There was only Di Wu this time, but if there had been another Royal Lord, Yang Kai might not have been able to win despite all his powerful trump cards.
“How many Innate Territory Lords entered that High-Rank Black Ink Nest back then?” Yang Kai asked.
The old man replied, “At least a dozen.”
Another Seventh-Order Master interrupted them, “If I’m not mistaken, before Di Wu, there should have been 13. If we include Di Wu, it would make 14.”
Frowning, Yang Kai exclaimed, “14!”
Calming down, Yang Kai began thinking about the situation more carefully. After a long time, he spoke up, “If what you said is true, could the Black Ink Clan have some sort of technique that is similar to a sacrificial ceremony, using the High-Rank Black Ink Nest to gather the strength from many Innate Territory Lords to create a Royal Lord?”
Even though Yang Kai’s estimations weren’t entirely correct, he wasn’t far from the truth. Technically speaking, the Source Fusion Technique and sacrificial ceremonies were still different. It was just that the more Innate Territory Lords performing the Source Fusion Technique inside a High-Rank Black Ink Nest, the greater the chances of success.
The Seventh-Order old man nodded, “That is what this old man thinks too.”
Then, Yang Kai suddenly realised something, “No wonder.”
Before, he kept having the feeling that Di Wu’s performance as a Royal Lord was underwhelming. Di Wu clearly had the raw power of a Royal Lord, but he wasn’t able to utilize it smoothly, resulting in him only being able to display about 70% to 80% of his full strength.
In the last moments of the battle, Di Wu even suffered backlash from his own strength, which should have been impossible unless he used some kind of forbidden technique.
Yang Kai originally thought that Di Wu’s condition was because he was a new Royal Lord and wasn’t familiar with controlling his new strength, but what if the truth was like what he had just guessed?
Di Wu didn’t become a Royal Lord through his own cultivation, but through some strange technique.
He had suddenly gained a massive increase in strength, but that strength didn’t belong to him, which was why he had difficulty using it.
If that were true, the situation might not be as bad as Yang Kai feared.
Though it wasn’t clear whether sacrificing 14 Territory Lords to create a Royal Lord like Di Wu was a loss or gain for the Black Ink Clan, it did give hope to the Black Ink Clan in killing him while he was cultivating in the Ancestral Land. That was why the Royal Lord decided to use this hidden technique.
If the Black Ink Clan could kill Yang Kai, that sacrifice would be worth it.
Sending out one Royal Lord, 20 Territory Lords, a few Black Ink Disciples, and a million soldier Black Ink Clan Army clearly showed how determined the Black Ink Clan was, but how could they have expected that Yang Kai alone could force the Black Ink Clan to abandon everything and flee. Also, even the new Royal Lord, Di Wu, had also lost his life in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land.
The Black Ink Clan had a lot of Innate Territory Lords at the start of the war, but there wouldn’t be many of them left now. Innate Territory Lords were very powerful, and ordinary Eighth-Order Masters couldn’t easily deal with them; therefore, the utility of a dozen or so Innate Territory Lords on the battlefield was definitely higher than one defective Royal Lord.
While thinking so, Yang Kai felt more relieved. Even if the Black Ink Clan used that technique to make another Royal Lord, it wouldn’t affect the overall situation too much.
At the very least, it wouldn’t reach the point of suppressing the Humans.
Then, Yang Kai suddenly thought of something and said, “This matter is quite important, so I need you all to head over to the Supreme Headquarters and provide them with a full report.”
Even though this matter didn’t change the overall situation much, the Humans still had to take precautions. What if a few Royal Lords suddenly appeared on one of the battlefields? If that happened, the Humans would definitely suffer a huge loss; therefore, it was necessary to report this matter to the Supreme Headquarters as soon as possible.
“We would be glad to do so!” The Seventh-Order old man cupped his fist and moved to leave.
“Wait, there’s no hurry to leave.” Yang Kai stopped them, “It’s a long journey there, and there will be dangers along the way. Although the two Races are still abiding by the peace agreement, there’s no telling whether the Black Ink Clan will make a move after this incident. If they do decide to break the treaty, there would be nothing restricting them. I’ll give you all a Small Stone Race Master each so that you can refine them and use them for protection.”
While saying so, he waved his hand and summoned a few Small Stone Race Masters. Since the Great Sun and Moon Marks were inhibiting them, the few Small Stone Race Masters remained docile for the moment.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were ecstatic and thanked Yang Kai. Then, they each found one Small Stone Race Master and began taming them. With these Small Stone Race Masters protecting them, they wouldn’t be vulnerable even if they encountered a couple of Territory Lords.
Actually, Yang Kai could personally make the trip to the Supreme Headquarters and bring the Seventh-Order Masters with him, but his injuries hadn’t recovered yet; therefore, he had to treat them immediately. Moreover, he suffered a huge loss after being ambushed by the Black Ink Clan, so how could he be willing to let this matter slide?
Even though the Black Ink Clan suffered a huge loss in the end, that was because Yang Kai had many trump cards. If Yang Kai was unlucky this time, he might already be dead.
Since the Black Ink Clan dared to offend him, they should be ready for his retaliation!
While the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters tamed the Small Stone Race Masters, Yang Kai adjusted his breathing and began healing his injuries. After the battle, the Ancestral Land had returned to its former peaceful state.
However, Yang Kai could sense that the heritage accumulated by the Ancestral Land over many millennia was almost depleted because of him.
First, it was because he had been cultivating here for 300 years, constantly absorbing massive amounts of Ancestral Strength, which helped his Dragon Form grow to 99,999 metres long. After that, he engaged in a massive battle with the Black Ink Clan and borrowed strength from the Ancestral Land, further exhausting the Ancestral Strength.
To the Ancestral Land, who resembled a kind and gentle Matriarch, Yang Kai was like a black sheep son who spent almost all her wealth in a short time.
But Yang Kai also knew that this was inevitable because, during that life-or-death situation, the Ancestral Land’s full support allowed him to use the Ancestral Strength as constant protection to block off the bulk of the powerful attacks he faced. Without the protection from the Ancestral Strength, he wouldn’t have been able to withstand such a protracted battle against such powerful enemies.
Fortunately, this situation didn’t greatly affect the Ancestral Land.
The birth of the Ancestral Land was because the Primordial Light had landed here. When that happened, the originally ordinary continent became the source of all Divine Spirits.
Therefore, this land would be forever indestructible.
With enough time, the Ancestral Land could restore its heritage. It might need thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of years for that to happen, but it would eventually happen.
There would be a time when the Ancestral Land would be restored to its former glory, but all of that hinged on the Human Race defeating the Black Ink Clan.
If the Humans failed, the Ancestral Land would no longer exist.
Two months later, the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters finished refining their Small Stone Race companions. Their cultivation was much lower than those of Small Stone Race Masters’, so it took them quite a while to tame them.
However, despite having tamed them, it was difficult for the Seventh-Order Masters to fully control those Small Stone Race Masters and could only order them with basic commands. Once these Small Stone Race Masters moved too far away from them, the Seventh-Order Masters would lose control of them.
They all gathered before Yang Kai, who opened his eyes and retrieved several dozen World Beads.
These World Beads were made by Yang Kai sacrificing small parts of his Small Universe to refine. Although it affected him somewhat, the damage wasn’t too substantial. Moreover, with the World Tree clone assisting him, the damage would gradually be repaired.
After giving those World Beads to the Seventh-Order Masters, he exhorted, “Every bead contains a Sealed World with four 1,000-metre-tall Small Stone Race Masters and 500,000 Small Stone Race Soldiers.”
The Seventh-Order Masters drew in a sharp breath after hearing this.
It didn’t matter if it was one or two beads containing such an Army as they had already witnessed Yang Kai summoning some 300 Small Stone Race Masters earlier while operating the Grand Array, the point was that every bead also included 500,000 Small Stone Race Soldiers!
That number was terrifying because Yang Kai had given them about 50 World Beads.
Wouldn’t that mean there were 25 million Small Stone Race Soldiers?
That was a huge force, and if they introduced all of them to the various Great Territory Battlefields, it could shift the balance between the Humans and Black Ink Clan.
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters solemnly received and carefully put away the several dozen World Beads.
Then, Yang Kai told them, “If you encounter a Black Ink Clan Army, just use the Small Stone Race Soldiers to kill them. There’s no need to worry about preserving them if it’s going to cost you your lives.”
Even though the Small Stone Race Soldiers in the World Beads weren’t tamed, they still retained their basic instincts, so they would try to kill any Black Ink Clansmen they encountered. With the protection from so many Small Stone Race Soldiers and Masters, these Seventh-Order Masters could safely return to Human territory.
After thanking Yang Kai again, the Seventh-Order Masters left.
Yang Kai watched until the Seventh-Order Masters disappeared from his sight before withdrawing his attention and diving deep into the Ancestral Land to focus on healing his injuries.
At the same time, in the No-Return Pass’ Main Hall, the Royal Lord was sitting on his throne of bones with a gloomy expression. Below him were 12 guilty-looking Innate Territory Lords with their heads bowed.
The atmosphere inside the Grand Hall was silent and depressing, and the many Innate Territory Lords on both sides of the hall wore differing expressions. The only similarity was the look of disbelief on all their faces.
When they heard that the mission to kill Yang Kai had failed, the Black Ink Clan Masters were all shocked.
A Pseudo-Royal Lord had led 20 Innate Territory Lords and had help from a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array, all just to kill a single Eighth-Order Master. How could they have failed?
This mission was supposed to be an easy success, and the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have even attempted it if they weren’t fully confident.
But they had failed!
Not only did they fail, but the Black Ink Clan suffered enormous losses. The deaths of eight Innate Territory Lords weren’t too heartbreaking considering the Human killing star had killed far more than eight Innate Territory Lords already.
But Di Wu was dead as well?
That was the first Pseudo-Royal Lord the Black Ink Clan had ever created through the Source Fusion Technique!
When the many Innate Territory Lords heard this news, they were all terrified. Had Yang Kai grown that much stronger?
At that moment, the Territory Lords were worried as they wondered if even a Pseudo-Royal Lord wasn’t enough to deal with Yang Kai anymore. If that was true, did it mean that the Royal Lord would have to take action personally for there to even be a chance at success?
The depressing atmosphere was like an approaching storm, causing the Territory Lords to feel suffocated. Meanwhile, the silent glare from the Royal Lord on his throne made the few Territory Lords below feel like they were sitting on pins and needles.
“Wastes! All of you!” The Royal Lord roared, “Di Wu, that stupid piece of shit! I trusted him so much, yet he went and got himself killed by an Eighth-Order Human?! How could he be so useless!”
In the meantime, the Territory Lords maintained their silence because they didn’t dare to interrupt while the Royal Lord was raging.
Above them, the Royal Lord had risen to his feet and continuously cursed and reprimanded the 12 Territory Lords that had just returned and the dead Di Wu. His aggressive aura was like a huge mountain pressing down on the Territory Lords to the point that they couldn’t breathe.
Only after a long tirade did the Royal Lord calm down and through gritted teeth snarl, “Report every detail of what had happened to me!”
Even though it pained him to suffer such a huge loss, and he hated Di Wu for being useless, this incident had already happened. At the very least, he should know what went wrong during this plan and how Yang Kai, a mere Eighth-Order Master, was able to kill a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
Immediately, the 12 Territory Lords began talking one after another as they told the Royal Lord what happened after Di Wu arrived at the Ancestral Land. Of course, they skipped over the 300 years they were waiting for Yang Kai to come out because nothing worth mentioning happened during that time.
When the Territory Lords on both sides of the Grand Hall heard that Yang Kai could now use his mysterious Soul Secret Technique to hit five targets, and even kill four Territory Lords in rapid succession while being trapped inside the Grand Array, their expressions immediately changed.
[It seems like the killing star’s strength has indeed grown. He wasn’t capable of this 2,000 years ago.]
Meanwhile, the Royal Lord could roughly guess the rest of the story after hearing that Yang Kai summoned a massive batch of Small Stone Race Soldiers.
Back when Yang Kai came to the No-Return Pass, he had also summoned a large Small Stone Race Army to deal with him. Di Wu should also have known about this, but this was the first time the Black Ink Clan learned that even after those Small Stone Race Soldiers died, they could still be used by Yang Kai.
As a result, all the surviving Black Ink Clansmen, including Di Wu, were enveloped in an intense burst of Purifying Light that dramatically diminished their strength.
The Black Ink Clan fell into an irreversible disadvantage in the battle after that.
After listening to the full story, the Royal Lord’s expression was dark as a storm cloud, while the uninvolved Territory Lords felt slightly relieved.
The Territory Lords thought that Yang Kai was now strong enough to kill a Pseudo-Royal Lord, but now it seemed like the main reason Di Wu failed was that Yang Kai had many coincidental advantages on his side, especially when it came to the battlefield.
The Divine Spirit Ancestral Land could suppress the Black Ink Clan’s strength and even offered its strength and protection to Yang Kai. Such a situation greatly reduced the difference in strength between the two sides.
In addition, Yang Kai was a scheming fellow who used Purifying Light to weaken the Black Ink Clan Masters and deal a crippling blow to Di Wu.
Now it seemed like, though Yang Kai was strong, he still had obvious limits.
For some unknown reason, this realisation made the Territory Lords feel relieved.
After the 12 Territory Lords finished reporting, they stood silently in their spot, not daring to speak.
The Royal Lord sat back on his throne and swept his gaze across them before looking to the side, “Mo Na Ye, what do you think?”
One Territory Lord stepped forward, and it just so happened to be someone Yang Kai knew. It was the Innate Territory Lord who led the operation against Yang Kai back in the Acacia Territory. Later, Yang Kai faced off against this same Territory Lord in Profound Nether Territory.
Mo Na Ye was undoubtedly the most strategic and insightful of all the Territory Lords, which was why the Royal Lord decided to still use him after the humiliating incident in Acacia Territory.
After Di Wu became a Pseudo-Royal Lord 300 years ago, the Royal Lord recalled Mo Na Ye from the frontlines to serve as his right hand.
First, Mo Na Ye bowed to the Royal Lord before speaking, “Sir Royal Lord, I think that what we must do now is prepare for Yang Kai’s retaliation.”
The Royal Lord frowned, “You think that fellow would come to the No-Return Pass and try to raise chaos?”
Mo Na Ye nodded heavily, “He definitely will! Although I haven’t encountered him many times, everything I have observed and learned of him indicates that he is not one to simply suffer a loss. The Black Ink Clan planned to deal with him in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land while the agreement between our two Races was still in effect, so he definitely won’t let this matter slide. The Human Race needs to maintain this current situation, so he wouldn’t openly break the agreement. On top of that, he knows that we will not just let him go around killing Territory Lords. In such a situation, his only real option to gain revenge is to attack the No-Return Pass.”
Slightly angered, the Royal Lord bellowed, “He dares!?”
He was personally overseeing the No-Return Pass. Even though it happened before, if Yang Kai caused a scene here again, it would mean that Yang Kai had disregarded him, a Royal Lord, completely.
Mo Na Ye added, “He has always been a reckless risk-taker.”
The Royal Lord was silent because he had to agree that what Mo Na Ye said was justifiable. No matter what the Black Ink Clan had done in the Ancestral Land, both Races still needed to maintain the so-called agreement to ensure the overall situation. Since they needed to maintain the agreement, it was unlikely that Yang Kai would go off and kill Territory Lords on the various Battlefields lest he force the Black Ink Clan to launch an all-out retaliatory war. That was the last thing the Humans wanted right now.
On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan also didn’t want to break the agreement because if they did, many more Innate Territory Lords would die in the coming days.
Therefore, coming to the No-Return Pass to make a scene was Yang Kai’s only option.
“When do you think he will come?” the Royal Lord asked.
Mo Na Ye replied, “Within 200 years!”
“On what basis?”
“Back in Profound Nether Territory, Yang Kai would make a move every two years to kill Territory Lords. I’m guessing that the reason he took that long in between attacks was he needed time to deal with the huge backlash of using his Soul injuring technique. Every time he used it, he would need a long period to recuperate. However, this time, in the Ancestral Land, Yang Kai not only overused his Soul technique, he also suffered numerous severe physical wounds. Although Humans have an advantage when it comes to healing rate compared to our Black Ink Clan, he must need at least 100 to 200 years to recuperate.”
After listening to the explanation, the Royal Lord nodded as his gloomy eyes showed appreciation. If all the Innate Territory Lords had the same intelligence as Mo Na Ye, he wouldn’t be so troubled.
Unfortunately, most of the Territory Lords didn’t have sharp minds, while the Humans seemed to have plenty of cunning people.
“Sir Royal Lord, please take the necessary precautions early. The Humans… might already have a new Ninth-Order Master,” Mo Na Ye added.
Hearing that, the Royal Lord turned solemn, “Is this news reliable?”
Mo Na Ye shook his head, “The Humans have established extremely strict control over any such news, and only a few higher-ups would know whether a new Ninth-Order Master has been born. The low-level Black Ink Disciples we have converted have no way of knowing about these things. However, according to the reports I have received from the front lines, a few prominent Eighth-Order Masters have completely disappeared from the Battlefields. Without mentioning anyone else, Xiang Shan has been missing for nearly 1,000 years now. No one knows where he is, but if he has not shown up in so long, it must be because he’s trying to break through to the Ninth Order. In the worst case, he may have already succeeded and is simply remaining hidden because it is still not the time for Ninth-Order Masters to appear.”
The Royal Lord’s expression became far gloomier when he heard this.
Even though the Black Ink Clan had always prided themselves as the mightiest army with the finest arms, never having suffered a true defeat on any of the Great Territory Battlefields, they were constantly wary of some Eighth-Order Masters breaking through to become Ninth-Order as even one such Master could alter the course of the war.
Among those Humans, the one they were most wary of was Xiang Shan. Even their worries about Yang Kai were dwarfed in comparison.
After all, Yang Kai’s limit was the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Yang Kai was destined to come to the No-Return Pass and cause a ruckus, and Mo Na Ye just happened to mention a possible new Ninth-Order Master. All of that made the Royal Lord think about a lot of things.
Many years ago, Yang Kai had come to the No-Return Pass alone, and though the Black Ink Clan injured and repelled him, he still managed to kill a number of Territory Lords and destroy several High-Rank Black Ink Nests, which made the Royal Lord fly into a rage. In fact, the Royal Lord was still secretly frustrated about this incident even after so many years.
2,000 years later, Yang Kai had definitely become much stronger than before, and even managed to kill a Pseudo-Royal Lord while borrowing some external aids.
Yang Kai alone would be tricky to deal with, but if a new Ninth-Order Master came along with him, how could the No-Return Pass stop them?
If the Black Ink Clan lost a few more Black Ink Nests, they would quickly find themselves at a huge disadvantage.
The Royal Lord soon realized that he alone was not enough. He needed a helping hand.
Di Wu was a good adjutant, one who was loyal and listened to orders, but unfortunately… a dead helper was worthless.
The Royal Lord slowly turned to look at Mo Na Ye before gazing at the 12 Territory Lords that returned from the Ancestral Lord before making up his mind.
“All of you, go and perform the Source Fusion!”
The 12 Territory Lords all showed shocked expressions. They didn’t escape all the way back to be Source Fusioned into a Black Ink Nest.
Meanwhile, Mo Na Ye lowered his head as his lips undetectably curled into a slight smile.
[All according to plan!]
Once bitten, twice shy. Yang Kai had already caused a huge scene in the No-Return Pass once; thus, the Royal Lord would definitely be worried about Yang Kai coming back.
He would not be able to protect the numerous Black Ink Nests in the No-Return Pass on his own.
This was not a solo life-and-death battle. Considering the strength of a Royal Lord, he was naturally not afraid of an Eighth-Order Master, even if that Eighth-Order Master had killed a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
However, if Yang Kai really appeared at the No-Return Pass, then his purpose would not be to fight with the Royal Lord nor the Territory Lords, but to destroy High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
High-Rank Nests were the root of the Black Ink Clan right now. The Black Ink Clan Army was created through the various Black Ink Nests, and all Mid and Low-Rank Nests shared an intrinsic link to the High-Rank Black Ink Nest which spawned them. The Source Fusion Technique also required a High-Rank Black Ink Nest to be sacrificed. Once the High-Rank Black Ink Nests were all gone, the Black Ink Clan would not be able to replenish their numbers and would not be able to grow stronger. Eventually, they would die out.
Thus, even if the Royal Lord was strong, if Yang Kai avoided fighting him and instead targeted the Black Ink Nests, it would be impossible to stop him on his own.
It wasn’t just that though; there was also a possible new Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master the Royal Lord needed to be wary of!
Therefore, he needed assistance.
He could not count on the Innate Territory Lords and could only hope for help from a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
However, in all these years, the Black Ink Clan had only ever created a single Pseudo-Royal Lord, Di Wu.
Which Innate Territory Lord did not aspire to become a Pseudo-Royal Lord? In the anticipated final confrontation, the role Innate Territory Lords could play would diminish significantly. Perhaps, they would one day encounter a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and be killed by them.
Mo Na Ye also wanted to become a Pseudo-Royal Lord, but he was not one of the Royal Lord’s favourites. How could he receive such benefits for no rhyme or reason? If he had such an opportunity, then it would have been him and not Di Wu who was selected in the first place.
Now, he had an opportunity. The other Territory Lords were still shocked by Yang Kai’s terrifying powers, which highlighted Di Wu’s incompetence. They were all intimidated by the Royal Lord’s anger; however, through this crisis, Mo Na Ye was able to spot a light.
The 12 Territory Lords who had escaped were how he could potentially make a breakthrough!
These 12 Territory Lords were now considered to be guilty of serious crimes. If nothing was done, they would probably be sent to the six Great Territory Battlefields by the Royal Lord to fight against the Eighth-Order Humans for an extended time as punishment for their crimes.
However, this was not what Mo Na Ye wanted to see. With just a few words, he was able to influence the Royal Lord’s decision on the fate of these 12 Territory Lords. Throughout everything he had said, at no point did he mention any of his own ambitions. This spoke volumes of his intelligence.
In contrast to Mo Na Ye’s exuberance, the 12 Territory Lords were extremely frightened.
They did not flee from the Ancestral Land just to be sent to perform the Source Fusion Technique. While they could become a Pseudo-Royal Lord if they succeeded, their hopes of success depended on the number of sacrifices before them.
No one could guarantee that they would be successful. Just as Di Wu never guaranteed his success.
Di Wu simply had better luck, and the accumulation from the Source Fusion Technique was sufficient by the time it was his turn.
However, the Royal Lord had already given the order, so they could not refuse.
“Don’t say this King isn’t giving you a chance. All of you enter the Black Ink Nest together. Who succeeds or fails will depend on your own abilities,” the Royal Lord said indifferently.
The 12 Territory Lords all replied bitterly, “Yes!”
The last time the Source Fusion Technique was performed, there 13 Territory Lords were sacrificed in a row before Di Wu succeeded. This time when all 12 of them entered the Black Ink Nest together, if one Territory Lord had enough luck, he might be able to succeed. At least, this was better than having no hope at all.
The 12 Territory Lords left the Grand Hall together and found a High-Rank Black Ink Nest and entered it. Soon, many auras merged and a lot of commotion came from within the Black Ink Nest.
Half a day later, the auras began to disappear one by one until finally, 22 days later, the last one faded away. Many Territory Lords in the Grand Hall now appeared excited.
If the 12 Territory Lords were all sacrificed, then the chances of success for the next one who entered would increase significantly; however, the Territory Lords knew that this opportunity would not be given to them.
Many pairs of eyes looked towards Mo Na Ye, who had gained the Royal Lord’s favour. It was most likely that the Royal Lord would choose him.
As expected, the Royal Lord turned his head towards him and said, “Mo Na Ye.”
Mo Na Ye stepped forward as he suppressed the excitement within him and replied calmly, “Sir.”
“If you were to perform the Source Fusion Technique next, what do you think are your chances of success?”
Mo Na Ye pretended to ponder for a moment and then replied, “70%!”
The Royal Lord frowned slightly. Although 70% was fairly good, there were still some risks. Such a wise and resourceful Territory Lord like Mo Na Ye was incredibly rare, it would be a pity if he died trying to execute the Source Fusion Technique. As such, the Royal Lord called out, “Who is willing to perform the Source Fusion Technique?”
As soon as he said that, a group of Territory Lords became excited and all of their eyes lit up and were about to answer, but Mo Na Ye did not give them a chance as he quickly cupped his fist and said, “Sir Royal Lord, please allow me to try.”
The Royal Lord frowned and said, “But there is still some risk. If you die from the Source Fusion Technique…”
Mo Na Ye interrupted the Royal Lord and quickly said, “If I am too afraid to try when I have a 70% chance, then what use could I possibly be to Sir Royal Lord in the future? Even if I were to fail, I can still lay the foundation for my other comrades to succeed, so I will die with no regrets! Sir, please give me a chance!”
This was a tactful statement. Originally, the other Territory Lord’s were upset with Mo Na Ye for not letting them speak out; however, after hearing this and seeing Mo Na Ye’s sincerity, their resentment quickly dissipated. They now felt that Mo Na Ye’s dedication to the Black Ink Clan’s great cause was both respectable and admirable.
“Please allow me, Sir!” Mo Na Ye pleaded again.
He would not give up this opportunity to the other Territory Lords no matter what happened; after all, he had meticulously planned for this moment. Although there was a risk of failure, the chance of success was decent. If the other Territory Lords managed to grab this opportunity, then it would be a case of desperate to cry but unable to shed any tears.
The Royal Lord seemed to hesitate in deciding, but Mo Na Ye had already expressed his willingness to risk his life. If the Royal Lord still refused now, then he would seem very biased against Mo Na Ye.
He had no choice but to nod and agree, “In that case, go ahead!”
Mo Na Ye’s eyes lit up with joy, “Many thanks, Sir!”
He turned around immediately, walked out of the Grand Hall and entered the High-Rank Black Ink Nest. His aura began to fluctuate.
…..
The Divine Spirit Ancestral Land remained undisturbed for nearly 100 years before a figure finally emerged from its depths. It was Yang Kai.
After 100 years of recuperating, his wounds had now completely healed.
With the Soul Warming Lotus, even the most serious injuries to his Soul could be restored, though this time it had taken quite a bit longer as the damage resulting from using five Soul Rending Thorns at once had been quite serious.
Yang Kai was not only healing during the past 100 years though. He had also been reviewing his new comprehension of the Grand Daos of Time and Space, which he benefited a lot from.
If he performed the Sun and Moon Divine Seal again right now, it would be much more powerful than his previous attempt.
Although he was here for more than 100 years, Yang Kai quickly realized that the Ancestral Land’s situation had not changed much and its Ancestral Strength was still very weak. In such an environment, even if a Divine Spirit was cultivating in the Ancestral Land, they would not benefit much.
It would take a long time for this World to fully recover.
Yang Kai bowed and gave a respectful salute to this World. If the Ancestral Land really had a Will, then it must be able to feel his heartfelt gratitude.
He then straightened up and took off into the sky.
Yan Kai left the Ancestral Land, travelled across the Divine Ability Sea, passed through the Shattered Heaven, entered a Territory Gate, and arrived at the Barren Territory.
He did not come here to enter the No-Return Pass from the Barren Territory though. Although this route was the fastest, it was also the most dangerous.
The No-Return Pass was now in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, and not only was there a Royal Lord stationed there, there was also a large number of Territory Lords. Yang Kai did not know the situation at the Territory Gate either, so if he just barged in, and there was some kind of ambush, he would have sacrificed himself for nothing.
After all, he had done this before, so the Black Ink Clan must have taken appropriate precautions by now.
The reason why Yang Kai came to the Barren Territory was because he wanted to check out the situation of the Black Ink Giant Spirit God here.
Thousands of years had passed since the battle in the Barren Territory. During these thousands of years, the two Ninth-Orders Old Ancestors were unable to move at all. Likewise, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was also unable to extricate itself. Although they were separated by the boundary wall of the Great Territories, they were literally chained to each other.
At least, that was the case initially, because at that time, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was seriously injured!
It was pursued from the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land into the Barren Territory. Then, as it passed through the battlefield, it was bombarded by the Human Race Army and numerous Masters. Thereafter, it was attacked by numerous Ninth-Order Old Ancestors and was severely wounded. Old Ancestors Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing found the opportunity to secure its arm through the Territory Wall between the Barren Territory and Wind Mist Territory, but they were forced to remain in Wind Mist Territory as a result.
However, Yang Kai now wondered if the Black Ink Giant Spirit God had restored itself after all these years. If it was restored, the two Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters couldn’t restrict its movement by themselves.
If this Black Ink Giant Spirit God broke free, it would undoubtedly deal a devastating blow to the Human Race.
The Human Race was currently incapable of resisting a Black Ink Giant Spirit God!
Yang Kai was amazed by how quiet the Barren Territory was when he entered.
The last time Yang Kai came over, Giant Spirit God Ah Er and the other, unshackled Black Ink Giant Spirit God, were locked in a brutal battle that shook the entire Great Territory, so it was odd that everything was so calm right now.
Yang Kai used his Divine Sense and very soon, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He saw that in a vast void, these two Giant Spirit Gods, who had been fighting for thousands of years, were now entangled in a physical stalemate, one of them body-locking the other, while the other head-locked the first.
There was no telling when they ended up in this grappling hold, but it was clear that both had fought viciously as there were wounds all over their bodies. There were even big chunks of their flesh drifting about, looking like asteroids in the void.
This battle had been going on for thousands of years, its two combatants evenly matched.
The only one who could stand up to a Black Ink Giant Spirit God was a true Giant Spirit God. From what Yang Kai saw, these two Giant Spirit Gods, who had been fighting for many years, would simply fight on for the rest of eternity if no external factors were introduced.
Yang Kai watched them silently for a while, but did not bother them. Then, he turned his attention to the other Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
This Black Ink Giant Spirit God was seated and slightly hunched over. Its lofty figure obscured the large void with one of its arms poking through the boundary wall. This arm was being locked down on the Wind Mist Territory side by the two Ninth-Orders Masters, rendering it immobile.
Originally, it had many wounds caused by the Human Masters and the Dragon and Phoenix Clan Leaders during the Barren Territory Battle. Black Ink Strength oozed like thick mucus from those wounds; however, after all these years, the wounds on its body had been healed significantly and were no longer such a gory sight.
[Its injuries were slowly recovering!]
Yang Kai was astonished. All Black Ink Clansmen, even Royal Lords, had to enter a Black Ink Nest to recover from serious injuries, but it seemed the Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods were exceptions to this rule.
Although the speed of healing looked slow, it was indeed healing.
Supreme Masters clearly could not be judged using common knowledge. When this Black Ink Giant Spirit God was being suppressed and sealed in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, its aura had been completely wiped away by the omnipresent Ancestral Strength. A few years after it resurrected, when Yang Kai saw it next after he sent off Wu Kuang, this Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s aura had clearly decreased again after suffering the final attacks of the top Human and Divine Spirit Masters. Now, however, there were no longer any severe injuries on its body and its aura was stronger. It was clear that this strange creation could heal itself.
Seemingly sensing Yang Kai’s prying eyes, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God, who had its eyes shut to recuperate, suddenly opened them and turned its head to look at him.
Invisible oppression instantly weighed down heavily on Yang Kai’s shoulders causing him to feel dwarfed by the giant.
The cultivation of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was a far cry from that of a Giant Spirit God!
This was not the first time Yang Kai found himself in such a situation. When this Black Ink Giant Spirit God was revived in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, Yang Kai had tried to outmanoeuvre it. He even tried to sink it into the Void, but ultimately, he was powerless to do anything to it.
Yang Kai steeled himself before he started organizing something in his Small Universe.
In the distant void, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God seemed to snicker lightly before it stopped paying attention to him.
To it, this insect was no more dangerous than a common fly, there was no need to pay any attention to it. What was an Eight-Order Master? It did not even bat an eyelid about Ninth-Order Old Ancestors and could only be restrained by 20 such Masters.
Yang Kai slowly closed his eyes. Moments later, they opened again and he shouted loudly, “Greetings Old Ancestors!”
His voice reached Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing, who were sitting in Wind Mist Territory, the arm of the Black Ink Giant Spirit God trapped between them like a wall.
Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao quickly called out, “Yang Kai, you’re in the Barren Territory?”
“Yes!” Yang Kai replied as he opened his Small Universe portal and began to summon a Small Stone Race Army.
When he was in the Ancestral Land, he had given several former Black Ink Disciples some 25 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, but he still had a few million left within him.
However, those Small Stone Race Soldiers that he had retained did not include any of the 1,000-metre Masters. They were all ordinary Small Stone Race soldiers who could not play too big a role in a battle against top Masters. However, for him, they were still the best assistants available.
“What are you doing over there?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao asked curiously, “What is the situation of the Human Race right now?”
Yang Kai continued to summon more Small Stone Race Soldiers and was soon surrounded by a vast Army, all while communicating, “The situation is quite stable, Old Ancestors do not need to worry about anything. I’m here… to collect some interest from the Black Ink Clan.”
“Collect interest?” Wu Qing asked curiously.
Yang Kai bellowed, “Two Old Ancestors, please be careful!”
“What are you going to do?” In Wind Mist Territory, Wu Qing suddenly had a bad premonition. He glanced at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, and both of them became alert and raised their guard.
In the Barren Territory, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God also frowned and watched Yang Kai’s movements closely.
Yang Kai raised his arm, before swinging it down. Afterwards, a 2 million strong Small Stone Race Army swarmed towards the Black Ink Giant Spirit God like locusts. They did not fear death even in the face of such an overwhelming enemy like the Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
Their sentience was low, and their nature was to grow by devouring materials; thus, they did not fear death. Death was just another part of life to them.
The advantage was that they were unmoving in the face of fear, but the disadvantage was they were not flexible. Once a Small Stone Race member died in battle however, their remains would be left behind where they fell.
This kind of swarm attack was most suitable against the Black Ink Giant Spirit God who was immobile.
The 2 million Small Stone Race Army reached the Black Ink Giant Spirit God in a matter of breaths. Even two million such soldiers, however, were insignificant compared to the giant.
It was like a swarm of mosquitoes buzzing around an elephant, annoying, but not of any real threat.
The Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s vast Black Ink Strength emerged from its body at that moment. Even Royal Lords and Pseudo-Royal Lords were incomparable to it.
The Black Ink Giant Spirit God did not know what Yang Kai was up to, but it would not let him just sit there and let him do whatever he pleased.
The rich Black Ink Strength enveloped the Small Stone Race Army like a tidal wave, and in the blink of an eye, receded again to reveal all 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers had perished without a single injury.
Even Yang Kai did not know how the Black Ink Giant Spirit God killed them.
“That’s it?” Black Ink Giant Spirit God finally asked smugly.
The two marks on the back of Yang Kai’s hand began to heat up and he said fiercely, “No, this is!”
The Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s smile instantly froze.
The marks glowed yellow and blue, filled the void and then mingled with each other.
The Black Ink tide, which had just receded, surged outwards again, this time in a much more aggressive manner.
In the blink of an eye, a pure white light began to bloom into a huge white Sun.
This mass of pure white light was 10 times more intense than the one Yang Kai tossed out in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. The light not only enveloped the Void, but it also enveloped the huge body of the Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
The sacrifice of a mere 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers naturally could not achieve such results. When Yang Kai was in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, he sacrificed 3 million, but the result was less than 10% of the current power.
The reason for this huge difference was that Yang Kai had made preparations this time. He distributed a massive amount of Yellow and Blue Crystals to the Small Stone Race members before summoning them.
This time, the sacrifice was not only the residual power of the fallen 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, but also a literal mountain of Yellow and Blue Crystals.
In one move, Yang Kai had consumed 40% of the supplies Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan had prepared for him this time.
With such a huge amount of materials invested, the results were remarkable.
The Black Ink Giant Spirit God was soon engulfed and the Purifying Light began seeping into its body. Black Ink Strength was quickly dispersed and vaporized both inside and outside of it.
The Black Ink Giant Spirit God roared in a rage and struggled violently.
In Wind Mist Territory, Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing finally understood why Yang Kai warned them to be careful.
The two of them had been stuck here for around 3,000 years and had been working together to pin down one of the Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s arms with a joint Secret Technique. Normally, the two of them would not be strong enough to do this; however, when the arm of the Black Ink Giant Spirit God had broken through the boundary wall, that meant that they were fighting with Black Ink Giant Spirit God across Great Territories. The Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s power was greatly weakened by its circumstances, so the two Old Ancestors were able to remain safe and stable.
However, at this moment, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God began to struggle madly as it was suffering in agony due to the Purifying Light. The first thing it wanted to do was to pull its arm back to wipe away the light and crush Yang Kai, who was the orchestrator of its misery.
The chains clattered on the huge mountain-like arm, and boundless Black Ink Strength began to surge wildly, as it tried to break free from the chains.
Wu Qing and Xiao Xiao’s expressions changed dramatically as they spared no effort to enhance their Secret Techniques to keep it restrained.
Over these years, the two Old Ancestors had constantly been reinforcing their Secret Technique; otherwise, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God could have broken out of it long ago.
Even so, the two were under a lot of pressure to ensure that the Black Ink Giant Spirit God did not escape, so they were now surprised and relieved by what Yang Kai was doing.
They were surprised at how Yang Kai was able to cause the Black Ink Giant Spirit God so much agony, while they were relieved that the new generation of Humans was so talented that an Eighth-Order Junior had the means to hurt a Black Ink Giant Spirit God to such an extent.
The pure white star exploded after a dozen breaths of time before it slowly dissipated.
To Old Ancestors Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing, it seemed like they had spent thousands of years engaged in a brutal battle…
When everything calmed down, the two looked at each other and each saw the sweat and fear on the other’s forehead when they realized part of the chains had broken into countless pieces. They panicked and quickly rushed to repair them.
Of course, they knew that if Black Ink Giant Spirit God really wanted to get out of this trap, it could do so at any moment by sacrificing its arm. Fortunately, it did not seem things had come to that point yet.
Losing an arm would not affect a Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s life in the long run, but its strength would diminish significantly. The Black Ink Giant Spirit God would not accept such humiliation unless absolutely necessary.
In the Barren Territory, Yang Kai’s face was calm as he quietly looked at the huge figure that was still shrouded in a white afterglow.
The tremors and thunderous commotions within the Barren Territory calmed down as soon as the Black Ink Giant Spirit God stopped struggling. It sat in the void, with the arm that penetrated the boundary wall secured from the other side as it stared at Yang Kai with intense rage.
Technically speaking, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was both Mo’s Creation and Mo’s Soul Clone. It meant that there was no big difference between Mo and it. Apart from the vast difference in strength, it inherited all the thought processes and experiences of Mo.
It was not easy to anger such an ancient Supreme Being, which has survived for millions of years, to such an extent.
During the battle in the Barren Territory, it was attacked repeatedly by Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Even the Dragon and Phoenix Clan Leaders had joined in on the assault. The wounds they caused were far more severe than what it was suffering just now. Later on, it was shackled in place by the two surviving Ninth-Order Old Ancestors, but even then, it was not as angry with them as it was now.
To it, all the resistance of the Human Race was just an appetizer before Mo’s unification of everything was complete. Not only would it not be angry, it felt that it could have some fun along the way.
However, what Yang Kai did today really upset it.
Not only did the pure and flawless white light reopen its wounds that took thousands of years to heal, but it also wiped away a large portion of its power!
In a mere dozen breaths, Yang Kai ruined thousands of years of cultivation.
The pure white light had caused its heart to be filled with rage.
“You worm! You have truly enraged this Supreme One!” Bellowed the Black Ink Giant Spirit God, causing the entire Barren Territory to reverberate.
Yang Kai taunted in response, “Come and kill me then!”
In Wind Mist Territory, Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing were immediately put on edge. There was nothing they could do if the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was willing to sacrifice its arm in order to get out of their restriction.
Of course, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s powers would be severely impacted if it lost an arm; however, even if the Black Ink Giant Spirit only had one arm, two Ninth-Order Masters were still no match for it.
They were secretly praying that this damn brat would not provoke this monster again, because if it really got upset, the situation would only get worse.
Though the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was furious, it had no intention of sacrificing its arm to get out of this trap. The two Ninth-Order Masters were relieved when it did not move its locked arm.
Yang Kai, however, did not stop provoking it. When he saw that Black Ink Giant Spirit God was not moving, he increased his taunts, “It looks like you are all talk! If you don’t kill me today, I will kill you in the future! Not only will I kill you, but I will also go to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to destroy your lair and slaughter your true body!”
The two Old Ancestors who had just heaved a sigh of relief were now anxious again. They wanted to yell at Yang Kai to shut the hell up!
Worse, Yang Kai’s threats were the most shameless of boasting! Instead of getting more upset though, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God calmed down considerably and, after sizing up Yang Kai, said, “I’ll look forward to the day when you can say that in front of my true body!”
It was as if he had heard something very interesting and wanted to witness it with his own eyes.
Yang Kai nodded his head very seriously and replied, “Hope you meant what you’ve said!”
After saying that, he bowed at the boundary wall that the arm pierced and said, “Many thanks for your efforts, Old Ancestors, this Junior will take his leave now!”
Turning around, he shot away towards the Territory Gate.
He had achieved the purpose of this trip.
He said that he was here to collect some interest, but that was only part of the reason. Yang Kai was aware of the possible consequences of attacking the Black Ink Giant Spirit God with Purifying Light. If he was just here to collect some interest, then how was it possible for him to do something so risky?
His real purpose here was to weaken the Black Ink Giant Spirit God.
He already had this idea when he last came to the Barren Territory; however, he had not done so because at that time, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was still badly injured, so there was no need to aggravate it.
Now, after thousands of years of recuperation, if Yang Kai did not weaken it, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God might become strong enough to free itself.
For this reason, Yang Kai was willing to utilize 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, and a mountain of Yellow and Blue Crystals!
However, this tactic could only be used once. The Black Ink Giant Spirit God would never give him another chance to weaken it like this again.
Although it could not move from where it was, it was still able to destroy a Small Stone Race Army far away from where it sat.
While the Barren Territory was in turmoil, a figure rushed through the Territory Gate between the Barren Territory and the No-Return Pass and arrived at the other side.
A short while later, the Royal Lord gathered the Territory Lords in the Grand Hall.
On the bone throne, the Royal Lord looked over at the figure sitting on his left side and nodded approvingly, “Your analysis is impeccable, Mo Na Ye. Yang Kai is really coming to take revenge!”
Mo Na Ye stood up and bowed, “Many thanks for your compliment, Sir. I’ve studied Yang Kai closely; after all, he is currently the biggest threat to the Black Ink Clan.”
Mo Na Ye was able to become a Pseudo-Royal Lord after the sacrifice of 12 Territory Lords. He had been cultivating in retreat for the past 100 years or so and had now adapted to his new strength.
However, his situation was essentially the same as that of Di Wu who was killed by Yang Kai. Although he had the power and might of a Royal Lord, he could not control or restrain it very well.
This was a drawback that was difficult to solve for Pseudo-Royal Lords as the power they obtained was gained through the Source Fusion Technique and not from their own cultivation. Thus, it was naturally difficult to attain true Mastery over it.
Of course, even if Mo Na Ye was never able to overcome this problem, he was already extremely satisfied.
He was an Innate Territory Lord before, and would never have arrived at his current position without careful planning. When the tide of the new Black Ink Clansmen rose, the number of new Ninth-Order Humans and Black Ink Clan Royal Lords would definitely be significant. While Innate Territory Lords could be considered the backbone of the Black Ink Clan Army, a lone Territory Lord could not decide the future situation of the two Races.
Even if a Pseudo-Royal Lord was slightly inferior to a real Royal Lord, Mo Na Ye had already slogged for so many years for this position. It did not matter if he was slightly inferior as he was happy with making any progress at all. Furthermore, he had always been wiser and more resourceful than the rest of the Black Ink Clan, so he was confident that he would not be worse off than any other Royal Lords in the future.
The most important factor was with this new strength, if ever he encountered a Ninth-Order Master, even if he couldn’t defeat them in battle, he could always escape. If he was still an Innate Territory Lord, any Ninth-Order Human would be able to squash him.
After becoming a Pseudo-Royal Lord, Mo Na Ye even had his own seat during these gatherings. He no longer had to stand with the rest of the Territory Lords, which was a clear display of status.
His seat was to the left of the Royal Lord, which was an indication of his importance.
It could be said that today’s Mo Na Ye was third only to Mo and the Royal Lord. It was a huge honour to stand above billions of Black Ink Clansmen. This honour originally belonged to Di Wu, but unfortunately for him, he had messed up and gotten himself killed.
“From what Sir said, that Yang Kai has already arrived?” Mo Na Ye asked.
The Royal Lord nodded, “According to the news from the Barren Territory, Yang Kai is over there now.”
Mo Na Ye exclaimed in surprise, “So fast? He arrived much earlier than expected.”
He had thought that Yang Kai would have to cultivate for about 200 years this time to fully recover given the severity of his wounds. After his defeat in Acacia Territory, Mo Na Ye gathered all the information he could find about Yang Kai and now had a fairly good understanding of his character and behaviour.
From that point on, he paid close attention to Yang Kai’s movements.
In fact, his speculations weren’t entirely wrong as Yang Kai had yet to fully heal, it was just that the latter had decided to take action now rather than wait.
The Royal Lord continued, “The Arrays that have been set up around the Territory Gate and are ready to be activated. If Yang Kai dares to show up, he will walk right into our trap. Mo Na Ye, this time, I will leave the task of capturing this nuisance to you. I hope that you will not let me down, “
Mo Na Ye rose again and bowed, “Rest assured, Sir. If Yang Kai dares to show up this time, he will not be able to go back.”
The Royal Lord nodded with satisfaction, “I will remain here and only enter the battlefield if Yang Kai enters our net.”
Mo Na Ye was relieved to hear what the Royal Lord said. He was not eager to repeat Di Wu’s mistakes, where he fell in the Ancestral Land along with eight Territory Lords.
Although the results were unexpected, it was obvious that the Black Ink Clan had severely underestimated Yang Kai’s means.
This time was different. The No-Return Pass was the base of the Black Ink Clan with a true Royal Lord, a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and 100 Territory Lords that could be mobilized.
If Yang Kai rushed in through the Territory Gate and fell into their pre-arranged Array, he would have no hope of escape unless he was a Ninth-Order Master.
Mo Na Ye rolled up his sleeves and suddenly understood Di Wu’s urgency back then. This was his first battle after becoming a Pseudo-Royal Lord, and he was dealing with a pillar of the Human Race at the heart of Black Ink Clan. If he managed to capture Yang Kai, then his achievements would be unquestionable and his position in the Royal Lord’s heart would be firmly established.
At his command, 50 Territory Lords were deployed and lay in wait around the Black Ink Nests near the Territory Gate. They waited for Yang Kai to show up and then they would activate the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Array.
Mo Na Ye would not be hiding nearby, but further away, inside a High-Rank Black Ink Nest so he could use the undulating aura of the Black Ink Nest to conceal his presence.
A Pseudo-Royal Lord could not fully utilize their power or control their aura; thus, Mo Na Ye could only do this to avoid Yang Kai noticing him.
The trap was set and now, they lay in wait for him to show up.
They waited and waited, but there were no signs of Yang Kai. All was quiet at the Territory Gate. Even the Black Ink Clan squads that were supposed to deliver supplies from the No-Return Pass to the 3,000 Worlds were temporarily halted.
Mo Na Ye waited patiently, but as time wore on, he grew more and more anxious.
[What is Yang Kai doing? With his speed, he should be able to arrive at the No-Return Pass within hours after entering the Barren Territory.]
After waiting for another month, Mo Na Ye could not stand it anymore. Thus, he sent a Territory Lord to the Barren Territory to find out what was happening.
He was surprised to hear that Yang Kai was no longer in the Barren Territory! He struck and wounded a Black Ink Giant Spirit God, and then left.
Mo Na Ye was stunned for a long while when it was reported that Yang Kai was nowhere to be found. If Yang Kai had not entered the No-Return Pass and was not in the Barren Territory, then where could he be? Could he have been wrong and Yang Kai had no intentions to come to the No-Return Pass to retaliate?
Inside the Grand Hall, Mo Na Ye could feel a scrutinizing gaze coming from the bone throne, one which carried a slight hint of dissatisfaction.
The dissatisfaction was not because Mo Na Ye’s speculation was wrong, but because his speculation had caused the Royal Lord to be determined to create another Pseudo-Royal Lord.
13 Territory Lords were sacrificed to create the first Pseudo-Royal Lord, only to have Di Wu die shortly after. 12 Territory Lords were sacrificed for the second Pseudo-Royal Lord, Mo Na Ye. On top of these, the creation of each Pseudo-Royal Lord resulted in the loss of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
This kind of consumption had a significant impact on the very foundation of the Black Ink Clan.
The Black Ink Clan had new Acquired Territory Lords being born frequently on the various battlefields, so even if all the Innate Territory Lords died, the Royal Lord would not feel too distressed. In fact, Acquired Territory Lords were even more valuable now because they had a chance to become Royal Lords in the future.
However, the High-Rank Black Ink Nests couldn’t regenerate. The number of High-Rank Nests they brought out from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was the maximum number they would ever have. The loss of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest was permanent.
Mo Na Ye knew that he had to remedy the situation to soothe the Royal Lord Sir’s dissatisfaction with him. He quickly searched through his mind for clues and information about Yang Kai and soon said, “Sir, if Yang Kai has already left the Barren Territory, then perhaps his objective is not the No-Return Pass. He could be going after the other Territory Lords on the Great Territory Battlefields, especially the six where our two Races’ Masters are fighting!”
Royal Lord looked sternly at Mo Na Ye and his dissatisfaction grew. This was the exact opposite of what Mo Na Ye said 100 years ago. At that time, he said with conviction that Yang Kai would not risk breaking the peace treaty between the two Races by showing up on the primary battlefields. Thus, he would come to the No-Return Pass to retaliate.
Now, 100 years later, he sang a different tune.
“Sir, please send an order to warn all parties and instruct the Territory Lords to be careful in the coming days,” Mo Na Ye said urgently. If Yang Kai really recklessly attacked the Territory Lords outside, there would be huge losses to the Black Ink Clan.
Mo Na Ye’s head ached as he thought of the consequences.
Yang Kai was too frightening and unpredictable. It reminded him once again of the incident at the Acacia Territory. Until now, they still could not figure out how Yang Kai escaped with over 10,000 Human refugees without even creating a sound!
As Mo Na Ye considered that particular incident, however, he suddenly froze as if he just thought of something. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a layer of fog blocking his thoughts.
Immediately, he sank into contemplation as his thoughts spun rapidly. At the same time, the Royal Lord had begun to pass down orders to instruct all Territory Lords of the Great Territories to be on alert for Yang Kai.
Of course, the Royal Lord still felt some dissatisfaction towards Mo Na Ye, but this Pseudo-Royal Lord had already been created and was destined to become his right-hand man in the future; thus, the Royal Lord could not be too harsh on him.
In fact, Mo Na Ye had objectively done a very good job. If not, he would not have called Mo Na Ye back to the No-Return Pass to hear his opinion before he sent out his orders.
The orders were sent down and soon were disseminated through the High-Rank Black Ink Nests to all parties.
Down below, Mo Na Ye’s eyes suddenly lit up as he looked up and said, “Sir, when Yang Kai was harassing the No-Return Pass years ago, I heard that he attacked from the direction of the Black Ink Battlefield.”
Although Mo Na Ye did not experience it personally as he was in charge of some affairs in another Great Territory during Yang Kai’s assault, he had heard some information about the incident from the other Territory Lords. However, most Territory Lords were secretive about that incident and were unwilling to mention too much about it.
After all, it was a disgrace to the Royal Lord; thus, who dared to keep talking about it?
Over the years, the Royal Lord also never mentioned this matter and seemed to actively want to forget those unpleasant experiences.
The Territory Lords in the Grand Hall instantly felt the ominous atmosphere and they all quickly lowered their heads even more.
From above, the Royal Lord’s gaze was much colder than before as he said indifferently, “That’s right.”
As if unaware of the sensitivity of the situation, Mo Na Ye continued to ask, “Before that attack, did he ever pass through the Territory Gate to enter the Barren Territory from the No-Return Pass?”
“Are you questioning me?” As the Royal Lord leaned forward slightly, it felt as if a huge mountain had leaned down on those in the hall with boundless pressure.
Mo Na Ye was startled and bowed, “How could I dare question you? Sir, please don’t be angry, I just want to clarify certain details which are… are very important!”
The Royal Lord stared sternly at Mo Na Ye’s eyes. He did not sense any trickery; instead, he saw the enthusiasm and sincerity which appeased the Royal Lord’s heart. If Mo Na Ye thought that he could disrespect him after he became a Pseudo-Royal Lord, then the Royal Lord did not mind putting him in his place. However, it really seemed that Mo Na Ye was trying to figure something out.
Thus, even though he was ashamed of that incident and was unwilling to revisit it, he swallowed his pride and answered, “No.”
Mo Na Ye’s expression changed slightly and then said, “If he did not pass through the Territory Gate, and attacked from the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield, but before that he had appeared in various other Great Territories…”
“Furthermore, during the war in the Barren Territory, he led a group of remnants of the Human Race Army to storm the No-Return Pass and managed to break through. However, he returned alone to rescue that Dragon Clansman before escaping into the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield. Some years later, he reappeared in the 3,000 Worlds…”
In one sentence, Mo Na Ye seemed to be explaining and also muttering to himself.
The layer of fog in Mo Na Ye’s mind quickly dissipated as he looked up and said eagerly, “Sir! Yang Kai must have discovered a passage from somewhere within the 3,000 Worlds to the Black Ink Battlefield other than the one here at the No-Return Pass!”
The Royal Lord raised his eyebrows and asked curiously, “How are you so certain?”
Most of the Territory Lords were also confused, with only a few of them actively trying to figure it out for themselves.
Mo Na Ye was flabbergasted. He had already made it so clear, so why was everyone here unable to figure it out? He suddenly began to worry about their intelligence.
However, this was the sad reality of creations like the Black Ink Clan, which were not regular living beings and had instead been spawned by Black Ink Strength.
Black Ink Strength was unparalleled when it came to the ability to corrupt things and the Black Ink Clan could reproduce at speeds unmatched by other Races. However, nothing was perfect. Perhaps creation through means not deemed natural by the Heavenly Way caused their intelligence to suffer.
Mo Na Ye seemed to be a unique case in the whole Black Ink Clan.
At this moment, Mo Na Ye could only explain patiently, “Sir, Yang Kai did not pass through the Territory Gate connected to the Barren Territory back when he attacked the No-Return Pass, yet he launched that attack from the direction of Black Ink Battlefield when he should be completely isolated from the 3,000 Worlds. Doesn’t that explain everything?”
The Royal Lord pondered for a moment, and then responded, “You’re right!”
[You didn’t notice this until now!?] Mo Na Ye sighed in his heart. If he had known this information earlier, he would have deduced what Yang Kai was planning by now.
“Where is this passage then?” The Royal Lord asked, then remembered something, “Could it be in the Acacia Territory?”
The last time Yang Kai disappeared was in Acacia Territory. It would make sense if the second passage was in the Acacia Territory.
For a moment, the Royal Lord praised himself for his wisdom before frowning and rejecting this idea.
If the passage was in Acacia Territory, he could have entered the Black Ink Battlefield from Acacia Territory, but how could he return without being spotted? According to the information reported by the Black Ink Disciple, after he disappeared from the Acacia Territory, he went straight back to High Heaven Territory.
At this time, a Territory Lord boldly interjected, “This Human is proficient in the Dao of Space, and not only do we have no understanding of the Dao of Space, but the vast majority of Human Masters are also ignorant of it. Perhaps his mastery over the Dao of Space has reached a height where he discovered some means that allow him to travel freely through the boundary walls?”
Mo Na Ye gave an approving look to that Territory Lord and replied, “It is possible.”
Both the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan were able to speculate and imagine, like how Yang Kai managed to deduce the process of creating Pseudo-Royal Lords. Although he did not know all the details, by analyzing the available facts, he could arrive at a hypothesis that was quite close to the truth.
Likewise, the Black Ink Clan might not be the most intelligent, but they weren’t fools and could come up with reasonable theories once pushed hard enough.
In truth, Yang Kai’s mastery over the Dao of Space, no matter how profound, was still far from allowing him to freely traverse through all of space under the Heavens. He could only do what he did because he had the help of the World Tree which was connected to all Universe Worlds with intact Grand Daos.
Each such Universe World was represented by a World Fruit on the World Tree.
Yang Kai was able to establish a very close relationship with the World Tree, and he was able to use it and his mastery of the Dao of Space to arrive at the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary from anywhere in the 3,000 Worlds, then from their head to any living Universe World.
If it was a dead Universe World, then Yang Kai was helpless as when a Universe World died, its World Fruit would wither and die. Hence, he could not use dead Universe Worlds to move around.
“If that’s the case, then it’s not just the Territory Lords of the Great Territory Battlefields who need to guard against Yang Kai, but also the No-Return Pass…” Mo Na Ye slowly murmured. Before he finished his sentence, he turned his head and looked in a direction where a powerful aura was approaching at an extremely terrifying speed.
“Yang Kai!” The Royal Lord stood up from his bone throne. With a flicker of his figure, he rushed out of the Grand Hall and headed straight towards the approaching aura.
Mo Na Ye hurriedly did his best to control his aura while heading to the nearest High-Rank Black Ink Nest, so as not to reveal his existence. Yang Kai, should not know that there was another Pseudo-Royal Lord here at the No-Return Pass, so he could use this to his advantage and may have an opportunity to trap Yang Kai completely.
A few moments ago, Yang Kai lurked in the void at a place 1 million kilometres outside of the No-Return Pass, staring at it as a sense of unease in his heart grew stronger.
The No-Return Pass was now in the hands of the Black Ink Clan, so how could he just barge through the Territory Gate?
It was different now compared to previous years. During the battle between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan in the Barren Territory, the corpse of the Old Ancestor of Azure Void Pass was distracting the Royal Lord’s attention. The Black Ink Clan never expected that Yang Kai would return from the Barren Territory to rescue the captured Ji Lao San.
The situation between the two races appeared stable, and the Black Ink Clan’s control over the No-Return Pass was far stronger than before. If there was an ambush against a Human Race Master at the Territory Gate, then he would be walking right into it.
Therefore, after he left the Barren Territory, he hid his tracks and passed through one Great Territory after another to reach the Black Territory. Thereafter, he entered Black Ink Battlefield silently from the Black Territory.
This was the only known other passageway connecting the 3,000 Worlds and the Black Ink Battlefield, and only Yang Kai could pass through it. Every time he passed through it, he would block the way back and seal it up. Thus, the Black Ink Clan should never be able to find out about the existence of this passageway. Even if the Black Ink Clan investigated, after how much his mastery over the Dao of Space had improved, they would never be able to discover the existence of this secret passageway.
This passageway had helped Yang Kai several times.
He was currently somewhere within the Blue Sky theatre. Naturally, Yang Kai could no longer see Blue Sky Pass, a structure that had stood for countless years.
On the way, he encountered some Black Ink Clan mining teams, but Yang Kai did not pay any attention to them, and it only took him two to three months to reach the periphery of the No-Return Pass.
Such speed was only possible because he was well-versed in the Dao of Space.
However, when he entered the Black Ink Battlefield and started to head toward the No-Return Pass, Yang Kai suddenly had an ominous feeling as if something bad was about to happen.
The closer he got to No-Return Pass, the stronger the feeling became. When he arrived outside the No-Return Pass, the uneasiness had reached its peak. Now, looking at the huge great pass, it was like a beast that was ready to devour anyone foolish enough to approach.
It was a warning!
Perhaps because his Dao of Time had improved again, which enabled his perception of the potential future crisis to become sharper.
Since there were great dangers ahead, the wisest thing to do was listen to his gut and retreat immediately. Even if he wanted to seek revenge on the Black Ink Clan, the No-Return Pass was not the best choice.
There were many Territory Lords in the Great Territory battlefields. The Ancestral Land battle was the first one in which Black Ink Clan broke the agreement without warning. If Yang Kai really wanted to kill some Territory Lords to ease his anger, the Black Ink Clan would just endure the losses and not engage in a battle with him.
However, he had to come.
The Black Ink Clan’s ability to turn an Innate Territory Lord into a Royal Lord had to be investigated no matter what. He would not worry about it if it was an exception. However, if it became a possibility, then the Human Race had to be careful in the future.
So, without further delay, Yang Kai rushed boldly toward the No-Return Pass.
He considered hiding his aura, but since a Royal Lord was present here, there was no way he could effectively do that. Thus, instead of sneaking around and hiding his power, it was better to come openly and blatantly.
Yang Kai’s speed is extremely fast. The moment his aura was exposed, he used Instantaneous Movement and dashed to the top of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest. He then fiercely smacked down on it.
The huge Black Ink Nest rumbled and disintegrated from top to bottom like a mountain of jade pillars.
Although the Black Ink Nest was the foundation of the Black Ink Clan and could spawn countless Black Ink Clan members, it was not strong enough to withstand an attack by a top Eighth-Order Master like Yang Kai. Even a random Third or Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could destroy a Black Ink Nest with a single blow.
Yang Kai had done this previously. At that time, he destroyed six High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
It seemed that the Black Ink Clan had learned from their mistakes. After he destroyed one, there were no more signs of High-Rank Black Ink Nests nearby. The High-Rank Black Ink Nests were now positioned far away from each other. Thus, even if Yang Kai could destroy one of them, he would need time to destroy the second one.
The moment the High-Rank Black Ink Nest was destroyed, a figure emerged from the ruins, but it was a Territory Lord.
After feeling Yang Kai’s murderous intent, he turned his head and exclaimed, “Yang Kai!”
Yang Kai’s reputation was evident when he was immediately recognized by a random Territory Lord.
The Territory Lord was terrified and had no intention of fighting with Yang Kai. He turned around to run away but the Void suddenly froze and his vision dimmed.
When he looked up, he saw a huge palm descending from the sky to slap his head down.
The Territory Lord was using Black Ink Strength like mad, but it was difficult for him to resist the terrifying power of this palm, and was directly slapped.
Yang Kai withdrew his hand, he was slightly stunned that this Territory Lord was far too weak.
It soon dawned upon him that this was not an Innate Territory Lord, but an Acquired Territory Lord. He had been hiding in the Black Ink Nest to cultivate but had suffered an untimely death.
Killing the Innate Territory Lord or the Acquired Territory Lord did not make much difference to Yang Kai. But if he had to choose, he would rather kill the Acquired Territory Lord.
This was not because the Acquired Territory Lords were weaker and easier to kill, but because Acquired Territory Lords had the potential to become Royal Lords. By killing more Acquired Territory Lords, he could prevent them from ever becoming Royal Lords.
Exterminating the Black Ink Nests and killing the Territory Lords seemed to be tedious, but in fact, it was extremely fast.
However, at that moment, he sensed a powerful aura.
[The Royal Lord is here!]
Yang Kai was not surprised. The Royal Lord was always here at No-Return Pass. Since he came to cause trouble, it was natural that he came out.
The moment he manipulated Space Principles, his Qi fluctuated violently, and in a flash, the Void was like a lake that had a boulder thrown into it.
The Void rippled and Yang Kai’s body swayed.
Although the Instantaneous Movement was successful, his position was vastly different from where he was supposed to be.
It was too late to reposition himself. The Royal Lord came from the depths of the No-Return Pass with a terrifying power and appeared close to him in the blink of an eye. His voice thundered. “Die!”
He raised his hand and brought his palm down at Yang Kai. The power of this palm turned Heaven and Earth upside down. Although Di Wu had the strength of a Royal Lord when he was at the Ancestral Land, the difference was immense.
Yang Kai hastily took up the Azure Dragon Spear. With the subtle Space-Time Strength lingering on the long spear, it managed to stab the Royal Lord a dozen times.
Each time Yang Kai and the Royal Lord moved, they would leave a vivid residual image in place, as if they were portraits painted by the most skilled artists.
The figures of the Royal Lord and Yang Kai could be seen everywhere throughout the Void, filling up the huge Void in the blink of an eye.
A group of Territory Lords that had rushed out from the depths of the No-Return Pass were dumbfounded. They could not tell which of those figures was real and which were just residual images.
However, they did not worry about those. Dozens of Territory Lords ran toward the battlefield. More than ten Territory Lords tried to set up a formation to block Heaven and Earth. Those Seventh-Order Black ink Disciples who were good at Dao of Spirit Arrays had developed the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array. Though they were saved by Yang Kai, and had now returned to the Human Race’s side with a large number of Small Stone Race soldiers, they had still left behind Arrays and Formations that they made or shared with the Black Ink Clan. Thus, although they were no longer present, the Black Ink Clan could still set up the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array.
The remaining Territory Lords formed the Four Gates or Five Elements Formation and were ready to go to the battlefield for support.
When they arrived at the battlefield a figure fell out of the sky. Its face was pale and a long spear lay next to its body. His chest was sunken making him look quite miserable.
It was Yang Kai!
Yang Kai was satisfied with his face-to-face encounter with a Royal Lord, even though he was knocked away in just three breaths.
Back then, when he was messing around at No-Return Pass, he did not dare to fight with this Royal Lord because he would most likely fall and not be able to perform a Space Secret Technique with his strength at that time.
That would be playing with his life. Thus, when he faced the Royal Lord, he immediately ran.
After three thousand years, he met the Royal Lord again. Although he was still far from being a match for his enemy, they at least fought, which was much better than the last time.
This was considered a positive development. It was difficult for a Royal Lord’s strength to improve, but it was different for Yang Kai. He had been an Eighth-Order Master for around three thousand years. Now, he was at the peak of the Eight-Order Open Heaven Realm and might have a chance to break through and become a Ninth-Order Master.
When he reached the Ninth Order, he was confident that he would be able to kill such a Royal Lord with ease!
Even so, there was still a long way to go.
Behind Yang Kai, Black Ink Strength was like a tidal wave. The Royal Lord’s murderous intent was revealed and he was in hot pursuit.
Yang Kai manipulated Space Principles and was about to leave with the Instantaneous Movement.
However, since the last encounter with Yang Kai, the Royal Lord seemed to have found a way to deal with Yang Kai. Just like the Royal Lord who chased him out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. The way to deal with Yang Kai was to use his own aura to destabilize the Void around Yang Kai while he was performing the Instantaneous Movement technique.
In this way, although it could not interrupt him, it could cause the location of the teleportation to deviate.
This was proven in the Royal Lord’s previous attempt.
As expected, when Yang Kai used Instantaneous Movement again, the Royal Lord used his aura to destabilize the Void and the Instantaneous Movement did not meet Yang Kai’s expectations. Not only was the distance much shorter, but the position was not even close to a thousand kilometres.
However, Yang Kai was still more than satisfied with this.
He still remembered the time when he escaped from Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. When the sheep-headed Royal Lord chased him, every aura blast would hurt him. Now, it was just his Instantaneous Movement that was affected. It was much better than getting hurt.
One chased while one fled, quickly moving away from the No-Return Pass.
It was a similar scene to the past, and this alarmed Yang Kai.
Previously, he managed to lure the Royal Lord out of the No-Return Pass and then used his Space Beacons to quickly wheel around and destroy several High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
After suffering such a loss, could the Royal Lord really still be so gullible? He was either overwhelmed by rage or the Black Ink Clan had a backup plan.
As the supposed only Royal Lord of the Black Ink Clan, guarding the No-Return Pass was his biggest responsibility at the moment. How was it possible that he could let his rage control him to the point he forgot the bigger picture?
The only logical conclusion was that the Black Ink Clan had some way to guarantee the No-Return Pass’s safety! The Royal Lord was confident that even if he was not here, the Black Ink Clan would be able to deal with Yang Kai’s attack.
That meant that there was at least one more Royal Lord hiding there, possibly more than one…
Even though he had already guessed this, Yang Kai had to follow his original plan. He had planned to draw out the hidden Royal Lord no matter the price he needed to pay.
Yang Kai kept using Instantaneous Movement. However, each time he was interfered with by the Royal Lord’s aura, causing small wounds to gradually build up.
Although his strength was far superior to last time, Yang Kai could not keep this up forever.
The two gradually moved further away from the No-Return Pass.
The Territory Lords behind wanted to chase after them, but Mo Na Ye sent an order in time to stop them.
Mo Na Ye sighed slightly as he looked in the direction the Royal Lord disappeared. He chastised himself for not understanding the situation sooner, so that he could discuss with the Royal Lord about countering Yang Kai before he appeared.
This situation was not what he had expected.
If he had any say, Mo Na Ye would not have let the Royal Lord chase after Yang Kai. If he could not kill Yang Kai, then what good would it be to chase him away?
As long as the No-Return Pass was properly set up, the Black Ink Clan’s numerous Territory Lords and two Royal Lords had a good chance of trapping Yang Kai as soon as he showed up.
As long as the Territory Lords were able to get into position in time and seal Yang Kai off, then the two Royal Lords could join forces and slaughter him.
Unfortunately, the Royal Lord did not give Mo Na Ye a chance to make proper arrangements and just rushed out as soon as he noticed Yang Kai’s aura.
Now, it was difficult to ambush Yang Kai since he was alerted to the situation.
Now, Mo Na Ye could only do his best to respond accordingly. He gave his orders for the Territory Lords to set up the area. As for himself, he did all he could to restrain his aura.
In the void, the Royal Lord chased Yang Kai a billion kilometres from the No-Return Pass. Soon, Yang Kai felt he had led the Royal Lord far enough and activated the Great Sun and Great Moon Marks on the backs of his hands. A pure white light enveloped his figure.
The Royal Lord, who was behind him, was stunned. In that instant, the aura he had locked onto Yang Kai was cut off…
The Purifying Light has such a mysterious effect.
As soon as the Royal Lord’s aura was severed, Yang Kai’s mind connected to a Space Beacon he had placed near the No-Return Pass, and he vanished as soon as his Space Principles surged.
The Royal Lord chased Yang Kai to the place where he disappeared. He then coldly snorted and turned his head to look back at the No-Return Pass, secretly praying that Mo Na Ye would not let him down.
[Yang Kai must have thought that there is no strong Master at the No-Return Pass now. With his skills and past battle records, he would definitely not take the Territory Lords seriously. If he is complacent enough, he might be trapped by the Array. When that time comes, Mo Na Ye can engage him and when I return, we can easily kill this menace off.]
With such thoughts in mind, the Royal Lord hurriedly dashed back towards the No-Return Pass.
At the same time, Yang Kai appeared inside a Black Ink Cloud some 10 million kilometres away from the No-Return Pass.
Without stopping and without hesitation, even though he knew that the No-Return Pass was a lion’s den, he rushed out to attack.
With his own aura surging openly, the Territory Lords guarding the No-Return Pass went on high alert as they awaited their greatest enemy.
As his figure flickered forward, Yang Kai pushed his Time Principles madly, trying to intuit where the future crisis might come from.
He did not think that there would be much risk even if there was one or two Royal Lords hidden at the No-Return Pass. He could still run away if he was no match for them. The greatest danger was undoubtedly the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array.
If he was trapped in such an Array, the Royal Lord would pose a fatal threat to him.
Thus, Yang Kai had to look out for the locations where this Array might appear. The Array needed a certain number of Territory Lords in order to be activated so in fact, he only needed to take note of the location of those Territory Lords.
It was a pity that there were too many Black Ink Nests around. Not only were there around 100 High-Rank Black Ink Nests, there also were thousands of Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. The aura of each of the Black Ink Nest was so strong that Yang Kai could not detect any Territory Lord hiding inside.
The only thing he could use was the faint sense of crisis he felt, but unfortunately, he could not do anything about it. Thus, he could only use Time Principles to try to peer into his future.
Soon, Yang Kai closed in on the No-Return Pass, but instead of attacking, he began circling the perimeter.
He could clearly sense the Divine Senses of numerous Black Ink Clansmen probing him from the Black Ink Nests below, which allowed him to determine which ones were occupied.
Mo Na Ye did not intend to engage Yang Kai as he hid in one of the High-Rank Black Ink Nests. He just sat like a rock while reigning in his aura. With the information transmitted through the Black Ink Nests, he was able to monitor Yang Kai’s movements without actively searching for him.
Naturally, he became alarmed by Yang Kai’s movements.
Since Yang Kai had already lured the Royal Lord away, this should have been his best opportunity to go on a rampage and create a huge mess. If Yang Kai wanted to, with his current strength, destroying several High-Rank Black Ink Nests was entirely possible.
If he did that though, the Black Ink Clan would have a chance to trap him during the chaos.
However, Yang Kai did not do that. Instead, he kept circling the No-Return Pass.
[What keen instincts!]
Mo Na Ye definitely did not reveal his presence; however, Yang Kai’s experience in the Ancestral Land must have made this killing star wary of the Black Ink Clan. Perhaps, he could guess that there was still another Royal Lord lurking at the No-Return Pass.
Mo Na Ye was both excited and worried.
He was excited because it was more to his liking to fight such an enemy; he felt such clashes were far more interesting than simple head-to-head battles. However, he was worried about this enemy being so difficult to handle. Even with all his arrangements, they might not be sufficient.
Outside the No-Return Pass, Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly narrowed before retreating immediately.
Before he arrived at the No-Return Pass, he already had a very strong ominous feeling. Now that he was here, that feeling spiked tremendously.
This undoubtedly meant that he was in extreme danger. If he attacked the No-Return Pass from this direction, he might fall into the Black Ink Clan’s ambush.
[Is it a Royal Lord? Or is it the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array?]
Yang Kai could not be certain.
After silently calculating the time, Yang Kai continued to circle the No-Return Pass without slowing down before coming to certain conclusions.
Three locations caused him to feel especially uneasy, indicating they were particularly dangerous. There were some aura fluctuations in those locations, but the differences were not that great.
It now appeared that his mastery over the Dao of Time was quite useful in detecting future threats. He had just thought of trying this out and planned to practice it more frequently from now on.
Time was running out as the Royal Lord whom he lured away should be back soon if he came back at full speed.
After a brief hesitation, Yang Kai decided on a direction and swooped down, summoning the Azure Dragon Spear as a Golden Crow cawed. A Great Sun manifested at the tip of his spear before flying straight down towards a certain Black Ink Nest.
Inside this particular Black Ink Nest, an Innate Territory Lord was scared to death when he saw this. He had never met Yang Kai head-on so this was the first time he was feeling such a terrifying presence. Although he had heard of the horrifying reputation of this killing star, it was only today that he realised just how powerful he was.
He swore and cursed at Yang Kai, thinking there were more than 100 High-Rank Black Ink Nests at the No-Return Pass distributed over a vast area, yet this killing star just had to target the one he was hiding in. It was a better than 100 to 1 chance, yet he was that unlucky 1.
In the face of Yang Kai’s attack though, he could not even escape. He had to do whatever he could to protect the High-Rank Black Ink Nest. If he dared to run now, then he would definitely be the first one to perform the Source Fusion Technique the next time.
With a roar, the Territory Lord rushed out of the Black Ink Nest and headed straight for the Great Sun with a defiant look on his face.
In the face of death, this Territory Lord managed to summon his courage.
At the moment the aura of one of the hidden Territory Lords was revealed, many nearby Territory Lords linked their auras to form a Battle Formation and shot towards Yang Kai.
In the Black Ink Nest where Mo Na Ye was hiding, he could not help but sigh and had no choice but to lunge out.
Yang Kai knew that danger was waiting for him at the No-Return Pass and yet he still came. Even though Mo Na Ye knew he would not be able to trap Yang Kai if he showed himself right now, the moment the enemy attacked, he could not hide any longer. It would be difficult for the Territory Lords to stop Yang Kai from destroying the Black Ink Nests, so if Mo Na Ye did not move, the damage would surely be catastrophic.
Sometimes, even a powerful Master like a Royal Lord was helpless.
Mo Na Ye surged his Royal Lord might towards Yang Kai, hoping to frighten him off.
Unfortunately, rather than looking frightened, Yang Kai actually appeared relieved when he perceived the aura of a Royal Lord. One of his primary objectives for this trip had now been achieved.