Martial Peak
chapter-4983

Countless years had passed, so it was impossible that only 1,000 High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters had fallen outside of Blue Sky Pass.

There were even more High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters who died with their Small Universes ruptured, leaving nothing behind.

Also, there were even more Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises that were completely stained with Black Ink Strength left behind but were resealed.

Yang Kai estimated that only about one in ten Small Universes that were preserved after a High-Rank Master’s death could be used; in other words, at least 10,000 High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters had died outside Blue Sky Pass over the ages.

That was an enormous amount of casualties. One had to know that in the 3,000 Worlds, each of these High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters was at least an Inner Elder of a Cave Heaven or Paradise, a Master who was famous across the world.

Outside Blue Sky Pass, the 1,000 opened Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises had countless Spirit Array Grandmasters busy working on them. They were arranging Arrays in all of those Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises in hopes that they could give the Black Ink Clan Army a decisive blow in future battles.

However, this no longer had anything to do with Yang Kai. His sole task was to find and open these Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises, everything else would be taken care of by others.

But just as he was about to return to the Inner Sanctum with Feng Ying, Yang Kai suddenly saw two figures coming towards him.

Once they were in close proximity, Yang Kai hurriedly saluted, “Greetings, Elder Lu.”

One of the two men was Lu An of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, while the other was also an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but his face looked unfamiliar, so Yang Kai didn’t greet him immediately.

Lu An smiled and stroked his beard, “Oh, Yang Kai. Are you done with your work here?”

Yang Kai cupped his fist and said, “Everything has been taken care of. I’m heading over to report to the Army Commander.”

“Many thanks for your hard work,” Lu An nodded lightly.

Yang Kai said, “It’s my job.”

“Is he Yang Kai?” The eyes of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master beside Lu An lit up as he swept them over Yang Kai, looking quite interested.

Nodding as a confirmation, Lu An said, “Exactly.” Then, he introduced this newcomer to Yang Kai, “This is Tang Qiu, my Senior Brother. By generation, you should address him as Grand Martial Uncle. He’s from Yin-Yang Pass.”

Yin-Yang Pass? Yang Kai’s heart stirred at those words. Judging by Lu An’s words, Tang Qiu was most likely also from Yin-Yang Cave Heaven.

As he thought of that, Yang Kai saluted again, “Greetings, Elder Tang!”

Tang Qiu smiled and nodded, “I’ve heard much about you. After meeting you today, I can indeed confirm you’re a talented young man. Not only are you faring well in the 3,000 Worlds, but also on the Black Ink Battlefield. Why can’t our Yin-Yang Cave Heaven produce a rising star like you? It seems like the old farts back at the Sect should give up their positions.”

Those words made Yang Kai break out in a sweat, “Elder Tang, you’re flattering me.”

Tang Qiu changed his tone, “Are you interested in coming back with me and joining Yin-Yang Pass?”

Yang Kai was stunned.

Feng Ying, who was standing beside him, put on a wary look and cupped her fist, “Senior, Yang Kai is now a member of Blue Sky Pass, so what you just said is inappropriate.”

Tang Qiu looked at her lightly, “What’s wrong with my words? He’s part of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven. What’s wrong with him following me back to Yin-Yang Pass?”

With pursed lips, Feng Ying remained silent for a moment before saying, “I will report what you’ve said to the Army Commanders.”

Tang Qiu snorted, “They can’t do anything to me.” Then, he looked at Yang Kai, “All you need to do is say the word and I’ll go and negotiate with Zhong Liang and the others.”

Meanwhile, Lu An let out a bitter laugh, “Brother Zhong will definitely not let him go. Senior Brother, don’t make things difficult for the younger generation.”

Still feeling a little reluctant, Tang Qiu added, “Fine, fine. Go back and think about it. I’ll be staying in Blue Sky Pass for a while, so it won’t be too late to tell me your decision after you think about it.”

Lu An eyed Yang Kai, who cupped his fist and said, “Elders, I must take my leave.”

“Go on.” Tang Qiu waved his hand, but then suddenly seemed to remember something and said, “By the way, Xu Ling Gong came with me on this trip. He’s waiting for you back in the Inner Sanctum. Go and meet him.”

“Martial Uncle Xu is also here?” Yang Kai was surprised, and when he turned around to look, Tang Qiu and Lu An had already gone far away.

When we parted with Xu Ling Gong back at the Star Boundary, the latter said that he was going on a mission and had to leave. Later, when Yang Kai went to Yin-Yang Cave Heaven to look for Qu Hua Shang, he did not see Xu Ling Gong there and thought that his so-called mission had not been completed yet. It wasn’t until he gradually got to know about the matters of the Black Ink Clan and Black Ink Battlefield that Yang Kai found out that Xu Ling Gong had long since entered the Black Ink Battlefield.

At that time, Qu Hua Shang was still serving her 100 year confinement.

When Yang Kai came to the Black Ink Battlefield, the thing he wanted to do the most was to find Xu Ling Gong, because Xu Ling Gong was the only person he knew there.

By coincidence, Yang Kai ended up in Blue Sky Pass.

When Tang Qiu said he had heard of him and that he was faring well in the 3,000 Worlds, Yang Kai wondered how Tang Qiu even knew about such things when he was here, the Black Ink Battlefield.

Now, it seemed like Xu Ling Gong must have told him.

Knowing that Xu Ling Gong was waiting for him in the Inner Sanctum, Yang Kai quickly rushed back.

Halfway there, he suddenly remembered something and asked Feng Ying, “Martial Aunt, how do the Great Passes communicate with each other?”

Feng Ying replied, “If there aren’t many people to transport, we can use the Hyper Space Array. If there are a lot of people to transport, we can only fly slowly.”

Then, it suddenly dawned on Yang Kai, “So, there are indeed Space Arrays connecting the Great Passes.”

He had suspected as much before, but had not had the chance to confirm it. Now that he heard Feng Ying’s explanation, he confirmed he was right.

There were more than 100 Great Passes on the Black Ink Battlefield, so it was impossible to leave each one isolated from all the others; otherwise, every Great Pass would be like a lonely island, unable to remain secure for long. Thus, there had to be some method of communication between them.

As Feng Ying knew that he was still uninformed about the Black Ink Battlefield, she patiently explained, “You should know that though the distance between the Great Passes is not too great, they aren’t close either. Even with the help of a flight-type artifact, it would still take a few months to get from Blue Sky Pass to the nearest Great Pass, and it’s more or less the same situation for other Great Passes. Also, there might be dangers on the way, so we generally use the Hyper Space Array to transit between Great Passes.”

Yang Kai nodded his head.

Feng Ying continued, “The Human Race has more than 100 Great Passes, and each one is connected to several Great Passes nearby. Take Blue Sky Pass as an example. With Blue Sky Pass as the centre, we can be directly transported to a total of four Great Passes to our left and right. If you want to go to a further Great Pass, you would have to transit again. But as you know, it’s not easy to get supplies here in the Black Ink Battlefield, so under normal circumstances, the Hyper Space Array is only used to transmit information and supplies. We won’t easily transport people if the situation isn’t dire.”

“Why is that?” Asked Yang Kai.

After laughing bitterly, Feng Ying explained, “It only takes one jade slip to transmit information, or one Space Ring to transmit supplies, so it’s not resource-consuming to use the Hyper Space Array. The Black Ink Battlefield does not have anyone under the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm present, so every time we transport a person, it consumes a lot of energy and supplies. Who would have so many spare resources?”

It was then that Yang Kai remembered that when they were exchanging materials at the War Materials Hall, Feng Ying had said those from the Great Passes adhered to a strict principle of only exchanging for what they needed immediately. The reason for that was that cultivation materials were hard to come by, so no one dared to waste any.

Under such circumstances, who would be willing to use the Hyper Space Arrays to casually teleport people? Moreover, the higher the strength of the cultivator being transported, the more resources it would consume.

Yang Kai frowned slightly and said, “In that case, it is difficult for one Great Pass to reinforce another in large numbers.”

“En,” Feng Ying nodded, “Teleporting an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master consumes a lot of supplies, so we opt not to do so under normal circumstances. In dire situations, we can still support the other Great Passes in small batches of course; after all, a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master’s Small Universe has materialized, so it can accommodate living beings. Sending a few Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters is akin to sending a whole Division.”

Yang Kai understood what she meant. They could let soldiers enter those Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ Small Universe and then use the Hyper Space Array to send them to the other passes. In such situations, the supplies consumed would only be for transporting the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters. Although they still had to consume a significant amount of resources to do this, it was acceptable in comparison with the potential loss of a Great Pass.

Nonetheless, even if they sent Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the total volume of their Small Universes had a limit. Thus, it was impossible to accommodate unlimited reinforcements, which was why Feng Ying said that they could only send small batches of troops.

If the situation did require large-scale reinforcements, their only option would be to fly by Warship, which was time-consuming.

The cost of sending an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master over to another Great Pass was not small; moreover, according to the Universe Chart, the distance between Yin-Yang Pass and Blue Sky Pass was of multiple Great Passes. In other words, people from Yin-Yang Pass had to transit four or five times just to get here!

This would cost a significant amount of resources.

Tang Qiu from Yin-Yang Pass had spent so much to come here, so it was impossible that he was just sightseeing.

Yang Kai vaguely understood why he was here though.

Also, he finally realised what Zhong Liang meant when he said there would be another matter to get to after finding and opening the Universe Cave Heavens and Paradises half a year ago.

The following task was not complicated or difficult, but it definitely was a matter that consumed time and energy. What’s more, he was the only one who could do it, so Yang Kai felt obliged to cooperate.

But before that, it was time to meet with Xu Ling Gong. Yang Kai was certain Xu Ling Gong would be interested to know the latest status of the 3,000 Worlds.

There was a reception hall in Blue Sky Pass; after all, there were occasional visitors to this place, so there had to be a place for guests to stay.

Feng Ying went to report to Zhong Liang and the others about the Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises while personnel from Blue Sky Pass guided Yang Kai to the reception hall.

Many cultivators had gathered there, and all of them were in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. The lobby was full of long tables with groups of cultivators sitting together and talking.

After sweeping his gaze around the room, Yang Kai did not see Xu Ling Gong, but after listening to the conversations from the others, he realised that all these people were not from Blue Sky Pass. All of them had rushed here from various other Great Passes, which confirmed his suspicions.