Martial Peak
chapter-4866

“I only have a few of them. These things are precious, so even Master can’t give me many. It requires quite a bit of his remaining strength to condense a Black Ink Insect,” Luan Bai Feng replied.

This was similar to what Yuan Du had said. Black Ink Insects were very precious to the Black Ink Clan; however, it wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai found that the Black Ink Clan had to use its own strength to condense Black Ink Insects. The Black Ink Clansman in Black Territory had become frail from a long imprisonment, so they had to preserve their own power. It was impossible for them to condense many of Black Ink Insects.

Upon realising his intention, Luan Bai Feng asked, “What are you trying to do?”

“I’ve brought some companions with me,” Yang Kai replied, “Maybe we can turn them into our comrades.”

Luan Bai Feng rejected the idea, “We’d better not make any rash moves. We could have given it a try if the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were the only ones here; however, you’ve brought an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with you this time. It is unlikely for a Black Ink Insect to turn an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master into one of us. Master will have to personally make a move to have any chance of success. If others are alerted, Master will be in danger. Both of us can’t bear the responsibility for that.”

After giving it a thought, Yang Kai nodded, “I shouldn’t have tried to act impulsively.”

Luan Bai Feng said with a smile, “It’s fine. You’re just trying to help Master achieve his goal.”

She had turned Yang Kai into a companion and told him everything, so she decided to end the conversation, “We should leave now. The people you’ve brought with you will be doubtful if we stay here for too long.”

Yang Kai nodded in response.

A moment later, they left the room together and acted normally. There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with them.

The ship had already left Ore Star 16 and was now heading to the periphery.

Standing on the deck, Yang Kai looked at the centre of Black Territory with doubt in his heart.

Was the Black Ink Clansman trapped in the Black Prison the owner of the consciousness he had previously detected? If they were not the same individual, it meant that there were more Black Ink Clansmen hiding in this expansive universe.

Nevertheless, Yang Kai had a feeling that it was the same Black Ink Clan member.

He tried to recall what he had felt during the sacrificial offering to the Black Ink Clan in the Universe Paradise that was left behind by Yuan Du after his death. When the consciousness descended, he could feel the other party’s prowess, and he could somewhat sense that the owner of the consciousness was trapped somewhere.

After the incident, he informed the leaders of Lang Ya Paradise about it.

Now, it seemed that the owner of the consciousness was trapped in the Black Prison. Nevertheless, it was just a speculation. As for whether the two were the same Black Ink Clansman, Yang Kai had to feel the other party’s consciousness to be certain.

Half a day later, they arrived at Luan Bai Feng’s palace which was in the periphery of Black Territory. Without any delay, he respectively passed Qu Hua Shang and Luo Ting He a jade slip, “One of you will go to High Heaven Palace while the other will head to Void Land. Pass the jade slips to the High Heaven Palace’s Head Manager Hua Qing Si and Void Land’s Second Manager Bian Yu Qing. Tell them to send over some people to Black Territory to help with the mining operations here.”

Qu Hua Shang was shocked, “Now?”

Yang Kai had never discussed this matter with her before, but he suddenly passed her a jade slip and told her to get more people to come over, which made her feel doubtful. After going through nine reincarnations with him, she had a feeling that something was off about how he was acting. Despite her doubts though, she didn’t insist on probing him.

“Go, now.” Yang Kai nodded and took a glance at Tao Ling Wan, “Wan’er will go with you so that you two can take care of each other.”

Qu Hua Shang replied, “Good.”

Tao Ling Wan had always been an obedient person, so she didn’t object to this arrangement. She just felt reluctant to part ways with him.

On the other hand, Luo Ting He was displeased, “I’m not done having fun here. Why did you tell me to pass a jade slip to someone? I’m not your subordinate.”

Yang Kai replied with a smile, “Aren’t you going to take a look at the World Tree in the Star Boundary? High Heaven Palace is in the Star Boundary, so you can just pass the slip along on your way there.”

Luo Ting He pressed her lips together and stopped refusing, “Fine, fine, I’ll do you the favour.”

Qu Hua Shang gazed at Yang Kai, “We’ll set off now. Take care of yourself.”

“Don’t worry.” Yang Kai nodded to her.

Qu Hua Shang then summoned a ship. After the trio boarded, it turned into a ray of light and shot towards the Territory Gate.

Yang Kai and Luan Bai Feng saw them off. After the ship was out of sight, she said, “Let’s go. I’ll show you the things we’ve obtained so far. When you were not around, we’d extracted quite a lot of materials in Black Territory.”

The ship soon shot past the Territory Gate. The moment they arrived at the next Great Territory, Luo Ting He’s expression sank as she turned to Qu Hua Shang, “Something is wrong with Yang Kai.”

Qu Hua Shang was surprised, “You sensed it as well, Martial Aunt?”

Luo Ting He nodded, “Don’t forget that throughout your nine reincarnations, I’d started following you two since your sixth life. We’ve spent dozens of years together, so I’m somewhat familiar with his behaviour. Something must have happened, which was why he hurriedly chased us away.”

Tao Ling Wan was shocked, “S-Something has happened to Husband? What’s going on?”

“We don’t know yet.” Luo Ting He shook her head, then fished out the jade slip Yang Kai had passed her, “We’ll find out about it after looking into the jade slips.”

Qu Hua Shang nodded in agreement.

They infused their Divine Senses into the jade slips at the same time, and the next moment, their expressions changed drastically.

That was because there was only one sentence in both jade slips.

‘The Black Ink Clansman is hiding in the Black Prison!’

As a Core Disciple of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, Qu Hua Shang knew a thing or two about the Black Ink Clan. She was aware of the Black Ink Clan’s existence and the danger they posed, but she had never seen them before.

On the other hand, Luo Ting He was now an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Before she was trapped in the Samsara Pavilion, she was already a peak Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so she definitely knew more about the Black Ink Clan than Qu Hua Shang.

Moreover, after got out of the Samsara Pavilion, she heard a lot of things about Yang Kai from Yu Xiang Die. She knew that Yang Kai had previously made a scene in Lang Ya Paradise and went to great lengths to find the Black Ink Disciples hidden in that place.

The Cave Heavens and Paradises then spent 200 years examining themselves, while looking for the Black Ink Clan inside the 3,000 Worlds. They had even performed a thorough search of the Shattered Heaven, but they still couldn’t find a single Black Ink Clansman.

No one could have expected that the Black Ink Clansman was hiding in the Black Prison.

The two ladies instantly realised the severity of the matter. Anything that was related to the Black Ink Clan was no small issue.

The fact that Luan Bai Feng and Xin Peng were still alive even though their names had disappeared from the Loyalty List might have something to do with this incident.

“Martial Aunt,” Qu Hua Shang lifted her head and looked inquisitively at Luo Ting He.

After giving it a thought, Luo Ting He made a decision and said, “Head to the Star Boundary. The Cave Heavens and Paradises have all set up Dao Temples there, so you only need to inform them about this and they will handle the rest. You must not accidentally leak this news to anyone.”

Qu Hua Shang nodded, “Understood. What about you, Martial Aunt?”

Luo Ting He replied, “I will head to the nearest Cave Heavens and Paradises and tell those old farts to come over.”

After Qu Hua Shang arrived at the Star Boundary and spread the news, it would then take the envoys of the Cave Heavens and Paradises quite some time to get into contact with their respective Sects, then even more time for those Sects to mobilize.

Yang Kai was in danger since he was in the Black Prison alone. Certainly, Luo Ting He had to bring reinforcements to Black Territory as soon as possible.

That was already the best arrangement, so Qu Hua Shang quickly replied, “Good.”

Luo Ting He said, “Both of you must be careful. I’ll be going now.”

Upon finishing her words, she shot off the ship and flew towards the nearest Paradise.

Fully aware of the severity of the matter, Qu Hua Shang wouldn’t dare to waste any time. She and Tao Ling Wan fully activated their powers to drive the ship forward so that they could arrive at the Star Boundary as soon as possible and tell the envoys there about what was going on in Black Territory.

…..

The amount of materials that had been accumulated over the past few hundreds of years in Black Territory was staggering.

Before Yang Kai left previously, he had moved more than 30 Ore Stars from the Inner Region to the periphery. After these Ore Stars were fully mined out, the Super Array that had engulfed the entire Black Territory had weakened, which caused the area that was covered with the strange strength to shrink.

After that, more Ore Stars were exposed to be within the safe area, and as more of them were destroyed, the Super Array’s power continued to decrease.

It was a vicious cycle.

Over the past few months, countless cultivators had been attracted to this place to extract materials, which resulted in even more Ore Stars being destroyed.

The result was the Super Array’s became increasingly weaker while more materials extracted in Black Territory had been accumulated.

In the vault inside the palace, the materials of different colours dazzled Yang Kai’s eyes. Materials below the Third-Order were not good enough to be put in this vault, so everything here was Fourth-Order or higher.

There were even some Eighth-Order materials. Although there were not a lot of them, it showed the stunning heritage of Black Territory.

There were countless Ore Stars in Black Territory. So far, only a small number of them had been exploited, but the rewards were already staggering. If they managed to mine out all the Ore Stars in Black Territory, the materials they would get would be incalculable.

The Yin and Yang Element materials Yang Kai had were already inexhaustible, coupled with Black Territory’s materials, they wouldn’t have to worry about cultivation resources for the disciples of Void Land and High Heaven Palace anymore. Regardless of how many disciples they had, the materials would be enough to last them several tens of thousands of years.

With an excited expression, Luan Bai Feng showed Yang Kai the harvest she had reaped from Black Territory so far.

Although she was a Black Ink Disciple, her temperament and her way of doing things didn’t change, it was just that the core faith in her heart was now different.

As long as she never revealed her identity as a Black Ink Disciple, she was the same as before.

Moreover, Black Ink Disciples still required resources to cultivate, which was why she was elated when looking at these treasures.

“You’ve just submitted to Master, so you might not be aware of it yet. Master’s power is profound. With this kind of power, Black Ink Disciples will no longer be chained by the limits of the Open Heaven Realm.” Luan Bai Feng spread her arms as though she was trying to embrace the world.

Yang Kai pretended to not know anything, “What do you mean?”

Luan Bai Feng shot him a glance, “What I mean is that as long as you work hard enough, you can even make it to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.”

Yang Kai appeared astonished, “Are you serious?”

Luan Bai Feng chuckled, “Why would I lie to you? If my memory serves me right, you directly ascended to the Fifth Order in the past. If nothing unexpected happens, the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm will be the end of your Martial Dao. There’s no way you can make it to the Eighth Order. With the limit out of the way though, you can ascend to the Eighth Order and even the Ninth Order.”

Admiration was written all over Yang Kai’s face, “Master’s power is truly mesmerising!”