Martial Peak
chapter-4984

After asking someone, Yang Kai learned that Xu Ling Gong had gone to his own residence to wait for him, so he didn’t stay at the lounge much longer and went straight to Feng Ying’s residence.

Not long after, Yang Kai reached Feng Ying’s courtyard and saw a man standing outside it with his hands behind his back, waiting quietly.

The man was stout, and he was wearing a large cloak while anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the door. Who else could it be beside Xu Ling Gong?

Noticing movement, Xu Ling Gong stopped and turned his head to look in Yang Kai’s direction. When he saw Yang Kai’s face, he had a complicated look in his eyes.

Yang Kai stepped forward, and when he got close, he bowed respectfully, “Junior greets Martial Uncle Xu!”

Xu Ling Gong reached out to hold Yang Kai’s arm and heaved a sigh, “It’s really you.”

When he heard that there was a boy named Yang Kai in Blue Sky Pass, he thought it was just someone who had the same name, but the information he got stated that the Yang Kai in Blue Sky Pass was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and a Son-in-Law of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven. At that time, he thought it was too much of a coincidence.

So, when Tang Qiu asked Xu Ling Gong if he wanted to come to Blue Sky Pass, he agreed to come and see for himself if the Yang Kai here was the one he knew.

They had been at Blue Sky Pass for only a few days. Since Tang Qiu had Lu An accompanying him, Xu Ling Gong went to search for Yang Kai’s residence and soon arrived here. He waited for a few days, but didn’t see Yang Kai. After asking around, he found out that Yang Kai was busy with something outside of Blue Sky Pass.

He could not go to look for him, so he could only continue to wait here.

Now that the person he was waiting for was finally back, Xu Ling Gong was sure that Yang Kai was the brat he knew.

“Why did you come here?” Xu Ling Gong looked at him with some distress. This was the Black Ink Battlefield. How could he return to the 3,000 Worlds after coming here?

Over the past few days, he had been hoping that the Yang Kai from Blue Sky Pass was not the one he knew, but the more information he found out, the less hope he had. Now that he saw him, his hopes were immediately dashed.

Xu Ling Gong couldn’t understand why Yang Kai would come to the Black Ink Battlefield.

“It’s a long story,” Yang Kai let out a bitter laugh.

“Squad Leader, why don’t you invite the guest inside?” Feng Ying suddenly spoke up from the side.

Xu Ling Gong turned his head to look at her, “You are…”

Yang Kai introduced her, “This is Martial Aunt Feng Ying. She has been taking care of me since I came to Blue Sky Pass. Martial Aunt Feng, this is my Wife’s Honoured Master, Xu Ling Gong.”

Feng Ying smiled and greeted, “Greetings, Brother Xu!”

Xu Ling Gong greeted back, “Sister Feng is too polite. This brat is not very obedient, so I’m sure he has caused you a lot of trouble these days.”

After a short laugh, Feng Ying answered, “Brother Xu, you must be exaggerating. Squad Leader saved my life, and he made a number of great contributions during the previous battle. Also, he is deeply respected by the Army Commanders. Even the Old Ancestor has called him for a chat.”

Xu Ling Gong nodded lightly, “I heard about these things, but I don’t know the details. We came to Blue Sky Pass because of this as well.”

“Martial Uncle Xu, please come in.” Yang Kai gestured with his hand.

Feng Ying opened the door, and the three entered. When Yang Kai and Xu Ling Gong were seated, Feng Ying said, “I’ll make some tea. You can talk in the meantime.”

Xu Ling Gong thanked her politely, “Many thanks, Sister Feng.”

After Feng Ying’s figure disappeared, Xu Ling Gong suddenly leaned forward and lowered his voice to say, “Brat, why does she keep calling you Squad Leader?”

Yang Kai explained, “I earned a lot of Military Merits during the battle outside Blue Sky Pass, so the Army Commanders promoted me to Squad Leader and placed Martial Aunt Feng as my Deputy.”

Xu Ling Gong was dumbfounded, “You? A Squad Leader? But your cultivation is… No wait, you reached the Seventh Order?”

At that point, he suspiciously checked Yang Kai.

Yang Kai revealed some of his aura while calmly explaining, “I had a flash of enlightenment during the previous battle. Then, I went into retreat after the fighting ended and successfully broke through.”

Xu Ling Gong’s face suddenly twitched, “If I remember correctly, it hasn’t been long since you advanced to the Open Heaven Realm, right?

He knew a lot about Yang Kai’s background; after all, Yang Kai was the Husband of his treasured Disciple, so he naturally had to know more about this young man. The news of Yang Kai being forced to advance to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm in the Shattered Heaven had spread far and wide, so Xu Ling Gong had naturally heard about it.

How long ago was that though? After a rough calculation, it should have only been three to four hundred years.

These three or four hundred years might be a few lifetimes for a mortal who never cultivated, but for Open Heaven Realm Masters with a long lifespan, that was like a snap of the fingers.

It was unheard of for someone to advance from the Fifth Order to the Seventh Order in just a few hundred years, even taking a Mid-Rank World Fruit into account.

Xu Ling Gong had never heard of anyone spending only a few hundred years to achieve such a feat. To go from the sixth order to the Seventh alone required a long process of accumulating heritage in one’s Small Universe. Even with abundant cultivation resources, it would still take at least one to two thousand years at the minimum.

And that was under the premise that everything went smoothly for the cultivator. If anything happened, it wouldn’t be surprising if the cultivator had to spend a few thousand years to advance.

However, there was a living, breathing example right in front of his eyes, so even if Xu Ling Gong didn’t want to believe it, he had to.

After a long time, he calmed down, nodded lightly, and said, “A Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master is enough to serve as a Squad Leader!”

Yet, there was still an uncomfortable feeling rising in his heart.

He had also spent a couple hundred years on the Black Ink Battlefield and participated in battles with the Black Ink Clan, gaining some merits along the way. Also, because of his strength and performance, he was promoted to Vice Squad Leader a few years ago.

However, his Disciple’s Husband was already a Squad Leader… Wouldn’t that mean that Yang Kai was a rank higher than him?

It did feel bitter when comparing oneself to others.

However, on the Black Ink Battlefield, a higher position meant greater responsibilities, which was not necessarily a good thing.

Xu Ling Gong then raised his brow slightly and muttered, “Sister Feng is an interesting person.”

Yang Kai felt doubtful and asked, “What do you mean?”

With a wave of his hand, Xu Ling Gong said, “It’s nothing.”

He came here to find Yang Kai with a mission to persuade the latter to return to Yin-Yang Pass with him. His Legacy Disciple was Yang Kai’s Wife, so they already had a connection; therefore, Xu Ling Gong was the perfect candidate to persuade Yang Kai, which was also why Tang Qiu brought him in the first place.

However, as soon as they met, Feng Ying addressed Yang Kai as Squad Leader. It was an obvious sign for Xu Ling Gong to back down.

Blue Sky Pass thought so highly of Yang Kai that they directly promoted him to Squad Leader after just one battle, so of course they wouldn’t let him leave so easily.

“Tell me, why did you come here?” Xu Ling Gong looked at Yang Kai in confusion. This was what he was really curious about.

As Yang Kai had previously said, he had a flash of enlightenment during the previous battle and broke through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. In other words, he was only at the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm when he came to the Black Ink Battlefield.

He wasn’t directly from any of the Cave Heavens or Paradises, so logically his cultivation wasn’t high enough for him to be sent to the Black Ink Battlefield.

Yang Kai kept silent for a good moment before saying, “Martial Uncle Xu, it’s a long story, and… inconvenient for me to tell you.”

Xu Ling Gong frowned slightly, “You can’t tell me?”

Cupping his fist, Yang Kai declared, “Martial Uncle Xu, please forgive me, but I have a compelling reason.” If he wanted to explain why he came to the Black Ink Battlefield, he would have to mention the Void Corridor. It wasn’t that Yang Kai didn’t trust Xu Ling Gong, but the words Meng Qi said before he died were true. Everyone besides the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Real Old Ancestors were at risk of being corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Once the Black Ink Clan learned about the existence of the Void Corridor, it was bound to bring disaster to the 3,000 Worlds.

Although the Void Corridor had only been opened once and was now hidden and sealed, with the Small Sealed World containing it having been ruptured, it was still there. As long as it wasn’t destroyed, someone could still find it and reopen it.

Xu Ling Gong was silent for a moment before nodding, “You must have your reasons for not talking about it, so I won’t insist.”

Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief, “Many thanks, Martial Uncle Xu.”

“How are things at home?” Xu Ling Gong changed the subject.

“Before I came here, everything was well. Martial Uncle Xu, you can rest assured that I have properly married Senior Sister Qu.”

After sighing, Xu Ling Gong asked, “As her Honoured Master, I did not attend her wedding. Xiao Hua Shang must have felt sad. I thought after I entrusted her to you, I would have nothing to worry about, but I didn’t expect that you would come here too. How would she cope with being alone there?”

Yang Kai said, “I have made all the necessary arrangements before I left home, Senior Sister Qu will not suffer any grievances.”

Xu Ling Gong suddenly glared at him, “Smelly brat, why do you have so many women for no good reason? The fights between women are the most troublesome.”

Faced with Xu Ling Gong’s reprimand, Yang Kai could only remain silent. Feng Ying came with tea just in time to ease the embarrassment.

After thanking her, Xu Ling Gong sipped on the tea and was very impressed.

Feng Ying smiled in response.

After drinking two cups of tea, Xu Ling Gong said, “Let’s get down to business. I came all the way from Yin-Yang Pass with Martial Uncle Tang because I heard that Blue Sky Pass has come up with a powerful weapon to deal with the Black Ink Clan. I believe that people from other Great Passes will gradually gather here.”

Though Yang Kai had already guessed the truth when he saw the many cultivators from other Great Passes in the reception hall, he was still surprised to hear the scope of things and asked, “All the Great Passes know about this already?”

Xu Ling Gong nodded, “Since ancient times, the Human Race was helpless against Black Ink Strength. The Purifying Black Ink Battleship that the Blue Sky Pass created is new, and is the sole method to deal with Black Ink Strength. All the Great Passes are allies, and if one suffers, all suffer, and if one prospers, all prosper. All the Great Passes would share good things with each other. Blue Sky Pass sent messages to all the Great Passes the day the first Purifying Black Ink Battleship was launched. We at Yin-Yang Pass were sceptical when we received the news. After confirming with Blue Sky Pass a few times to make sure the news was correct though, we immediately started constructing our own Purifying Black Ink Battleship according to the blueprint provided by Blue Sky Pass. We’ve managed to complete four Purifying Black Ink Battleships just a few days ago, and Master Uncle Tang has brought them here.”

Yang Kai nodded his head in understanding and suddenly felt a great sense of responsibility.

The composition of the Great Passes was basically the same, with each Great Pass being divided into four Armies. Just like Blue Sky Pass, each army needed a Purifying Black Ink Battleship to function optimally. In other words, each Great Pass needed four battleships.

With more than 100 Great Passes, they had to refine more than 400 Purifying Black Ink Battleships!