Martial Peak
chapter-4963

Ding Yao curled his lips into a sneer, “Don’t try to push such nonsense onto me. There are Great Battle Heaven disciples serving under your armies. How can I possibly disregard their lives? It’s just that there is only one ship right now, so the Eastern Army will use it first. If you are truly selfless, then you shouldn’t stop me.”

Liang Yu Long’s expression was dark, but he said nothing in response. Instead, he shot a look at Zhong Liang and Shen Tu Mo. They could not allow Ding Yao to take the ship away today. If the news were to spread that only the Eastern Army had a ship while the Southern Army, the Western Army, and the Northern Army did not, wouldn’t their subordinates criticize them for being useless?

Shen Tu Mo frowned and said, “Ding Yao, this warship will not be the only one. Now that we have a prototype, we are bound to have a second, third, and so on. Why are you being so anxious? There will come a day when every one of us has a ship.”

Nevertheless, Ding Yao remained stubborn in the face of their persuasion. He retorted, “Since you’re not anxious, then stop wasting my time. The army is still fighting outside, and the disciples are struggling desperately. This Old Master is not in the mood to waste my energy on you. Make way.”

The three of them naturally refused to move aside.

On the other side, Dong Guo An Ping sighed as he muttered, “Highly improper!”

At this moment, the Army Commanders were squabbling over the ownership of a ship. Their actions were extremely detrimental to their dignity. It was fortunate that no disciples had seen their squabbling; otherwise, they would quickly become laughingstocks.

“This ship was created by Yang Boy. Why don’t we ask him for his opinion? The army he chooses will have the rights to use the large ship. What do you think?” Zhong Liang suggested. While speaking, he secretly gave Yang Kai a wink. Among the four Army Commanders present, he was the closest to Yang Kai. He was certain that he held a great advantage if he asked Yang Kai to step forward.

The other three could not object to this suggestion. Yang Kai’s ability had been proven in the recent period and many of the disciples serving under their respective armies had received help from him. More importantly, they would still need to rely on his ability to solve the problem of the Black Ink Strength in the future. Rejecting this suggestion would simply cause problems for themselves; therefore, Yang Kai had a great say in this matter even though he was only in the Sixth Order.

Seeing the gazes of the four men turning towards him, Yang Kai felt speechless. He had seen the wink Zhong Liang gave him, but how could he be partial at a time like this? Besides, he could not be biased in this matter. After pondering in silence for some time, he cupped his fist and said, “Seniors, although this ship can be used, I’m afraid it will not last for long if you bring it out to the battlefield.”

Ding Yao frowned, “What do you mean by that?”

Yang Kai explained, “The Purifying Light is the foundation that dispels and purifies Black Ink Strength. Although a large amount of Purifying Light has been sealed in the cabin, according to this Junior’s estimate, it is only enough for 100 people at most. In other words, the Purifying Light will be exhausted after 100 people come and go. After that, this large ship will be nothing more than a decoration.”

The Army Commanders exchanged a glance with each other.

Meanwhile, Ding Yao blinked his eyes. He suddenly realised that he had been overly eager after seeing the effects of the Purifying Light ship with his own eyes. Although he had heard rumours about the Purifying Light recently, he did not actually know much about the specifics of the situation. He originally thought that he could kick back and relax once he obtained the large ship. It was not until he heard Yang Kai’s explanation that he learned that the Purifying Light would be consumed with each use. If it could only be used for 100 people, then what was the point?

“Can’t more Purifying Light be sealed inside?” Ding Yao asked.

“Of course, that is possible,” Yang Kai nodded, “But, this Junior has yet to run thorough experiments on how much Purifying Light can be sealed in this ship. That is why I have to ask you to leave the ship here, Seniors. This ship has only just been completed, after all, so nobody knows if there are any hidden faults with it. If you leave the ship here for further observation, this Junior will be able to check on and resolve its flaws more easily.”

Since a single bowl of water could not be split evenly, there was no need to split it at all. The large ship would remain here, and nobody could take it away. His words were not meant as a polite refusal either; rather, checking the ship was really something that needed to be done. Yang Kai could not guarantee that the ship could withstand the test of time or the rigors of battle. That was something he would need to observe carefully to be certain of. By determining these flaws earlier, he would have an easier time working on them in the future.

Ding Yao and the others looked at each other. Yang Kai had already spoken, so how could they not know that nobody was allowed to set their sights on the ship today? Ding Yao came down from the ship following a period of silence.

Meanwhile, Zhong Liang turned to look at Yang Kai and asked, “Approximately how long will it take for you to perform the necessary inspections and verifications?”

“It will definitely take a few months; after all, many issues will not come to light if the time is too short.”

Zhong Laing nodded lightly and said, “Once you verify that nothing is wrong with the ship, we will proceed with mass-producing them. At the very least, we will need four so that each Army will receive one.” He turned to look at Dong Guo An Ping, “Many thanks, Brother Dong Guo.”

Dong Guo An Ping nodded, “Please rest assured, Brother Zhong. Artifact Refining is the duty of Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven. I will live up to your trust.”

“Then, it’s settled.” While speaking, Zhong Laing glanced at the other three Army Commanders. Naturally, nobody had any objections.

Now that the discussion was over, there was nothing that required their attention anymore. In any case, they needed to preside over the battle faced by their respective Armies at the moment and could not stay for much longer. After reminding the others not to reveal the matter regarding the crusade, they hurriedly left the scene.

Likewise, Dong Guo An Ping, Fan Xun, and the others also departed soon afterwards to work on a new warship.

The ship in the Central Square had been dragged out of the storehouse, so it was severely damaged and only just managed to meet the requirements after some patching by Dong Guo An Ping. If they planned to refine a similar artifact for each of the Armies, then they would need to refine brand-new warships designed specifically for this role. More than anything, they would need to focus on defence. This new class of warship could probably do without any offensive abilities, but its defensive abilities would need to be top-notch; otherwise, the losses would be massive if such a warship was damaged or destroyed in battle.

It didn’t take long before only Yang Kai and Feng Ying remained in the Central Square.

“If anybody comes here for help in dispelling Black Ink Strength, just let them in directly,” Yang Kai instructed before he stepped onto the Space Array and teleported into the cabin.

It was just as he had explained to the Army Commanders earlier. The large ship was newly completed, so there were many things that needed to be tested and verified. At the very least, Yang Kai needed to know the limits of how much Purifying Light could be sealed within the cabin. It was easy enough to verify this fact though as he simply needed to cast Purifying Light without stopping until the Grand Array was saturated.

Inside the cabin, yellow and blue lights bloomed continuously from Yang Kai’s hands and immediately transformed into a pure white light. At the same time, he silently calculated the consumption rate of the Yellow and Blue Crystals while paying close attention to the changes in the Spirit Array. He was testing the limits of the Grand Array’s sealing effect, a little bit at a time.

A huge amount of the Yellow and Blue Crystals had been consumed, and it was not until half a day later that he finally stopped his actions. Yang Kai could vaguely sense that the Grand Array in the cabin was about to reach its limits. In other words, it could not accommodate any more Purifying Light.

Looking around, the interior of the cabin was filled with a blanket of white at the moment. The Purifying Light was so dense that it almost felt solid to the touch. In fact, that was not that far from the truth.

Yang Kai calculated the number of Yellow and Blue Crystals consumed and immediately had a grasp on the situation. The Purifying Light sealed inside the cabin was enough for nearly 2,000 Sixth-Order cultivators. The outcome of his experiment satisfied him greatly. 2,000 was quite a big number after all. Based on the information he received from Feng Ying, during the previous wars between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan, the total number of people who got corrupted by Black Ink Strength throughout the war did not exceed this number.

The reason why so many people had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength recently was that they were relying on Yang Kai’s support. They knew that it did not matter even if they were corroded by Black Ink Strength, so they fought freely without any scruples. As a result, the number of cultivators corrupted increased dramatically.

Thanks to Yang Kai’s existence, the cultivators corrupted by Black Ink Strength would not suffer from a decrease in combat power as long as they returned in time for treatment. It was unlike before when they would have to sacrifice a part of their Small Universe in order to escape danger.

If a single ship could be used for 2,000 people, and each army would have its own ship, that meant there was enough Purifying Light for 8,000 people at full capacity. That would be enough even for extended use, such as on a long crusade.

While he was busy working, Yang Kai would occasionally sense others entering the cabin through the Space Array. These people had undoubtedly come to him for help, but now that they had the ship, there was no need for him to personally cast Purifying Light on each person. They only needed to teleport into the cabin, wait for a while, and teleport out of the cabin again for all their worries to be removed. That had saved Yang Kai a lot of time and energy.

After confirming the limits of how much Purifying Light could be sealed in the Grand Array, Yang Kai returned to the deck. Feng Ying had been paying close attention to the Space Array, so she quickly came to greet him as soon as he appeared.

“Were there any problems?” Yang Kai asked.

Although he had verified that the Purifying Light would not escape from the Grand Array, the concentration of the Purifying Light had not been very high at the time. The current situation was no longer the same as before. The Purifying Light sealed inside the cabin was extremely dense, so nobody could guarantee that no losses would occur during entry and exit.

“There were no problems,” Feng Ying shook her head.

Yang Kai immediately felt relieved. It would seem that the ship which integrated both the Artifact Refining and the Spirit Array Daos could perfectly meet the requirements of his original plan. In that case, he could continue with the next step.

After pondering for some time, Yang Kai asked, “Martial Aunt, does the Inner Sanctum contain a Universe Temple?”

Feng Ying was slightly taken aback by his words before replying, “I’ve heard that they exist.”

“You’ve heard?” Yang Kai raised his brow in surprise.

She nodded, “That’s right. It’s because I’ve never seen them myself. It is said that each pass possessed a Universe Temple when they were first constructed. As you know, a Universe Temple makes travelling around very convenient. Even when our people were scattered across great distances, they only needed to activate the Universe Transference Law to return to the Universe Temple. That was why each great pass had its own Universe Temples in the beginning. Unfortunately, the Black Ink Battlefield is different from the 3,000 Worlds. The situation here is rather special, and the existence of the Universe Temples may give the Black Ink Clan a strategic advantage over us; hence, the Universe Temples of each great pass were sealed after several incidents.”

Yang Kai immediately understood after listening to her explanation, “If Black Ink Disciples were to suddenly appear inside the Universe Temple, they would surely cause devastating damage to the Inner Sanctum.”

“That’s right. Aside from the Old Ancestor, who can guarantee that they will not be corrupted by Black Ink Strength? What if they became corrupted by Black Ink Strength and were converted into Black Ink Disciples? They would not be able to disobey the orders of the Black Ink Clan. If they teleported back here, forget how much destruction they could cause to us, even if they merely self-destructed, they could spread Black Ink Strength around and incite panic. That is why, even if there was a Universe Temple in the Inner Sanctum, it would have been sealed a long time ago. No one would be allowed to use it.”

He nodded, “That’s true.”

“Why did you suddenly ask about the Universe Temple?” She looked at him curiously.

Yang Kai smiled and pointed at the cabin, “Martial Aunt, what effect do you think will occur if we arrange a Universe Array inside this ship’s cabin?”

Feng Ying was initially stunned by his words, but her expression immediately changed in the next moment. Whilst she was deep in thought, various ideas flashed through her mind as she murmured to herself, “The reason the Universe Temples were sealed was to prevent Black Ink Disciples from infiltrating and causing havoc, but if we added a Universe Array to the ship’s cabin, then we wouldn’t need to worry about such occurrences. Even if a Black Ink Disciple teleports into this place, the Black Ink Strength in their bodies will instantly be dispelled and purified to restore their true nature.”