Martial Peak
chapter-5018

Upon hearing this, Xu Bo Liang nudged him, “Brat, you’ve got quite the appetite. Already coveting your Junior Sister Bai? Do you have any idea how ordinary Squads are assigned and how your Dawn Squad is allocated? Yet, it’s still not enough for you, I see.”

Yang Kai nodded, “This Junior naturally knows. It would be extremely fortunate for a Squad to even have two Seventh-Order Master assuming command. Many Squads only have a single Seventh-Order Squad Leader while my Dawn has five Seventh-Order Masters. This is indeed a lot more than an ordinary Squad would have.”

Xu Bo Liang was brusque, “It’s good that you know.”

Yang Kai cupped his fist, “The Military Merits that Dawn has accumulated until now more than justifies this kind of distribution. If we include the merit of killing Zhu Feng, which happened with the combined efforts of this Junior and Junior Sister Bai, then we have far surpassed what should be required.”

Xu Bo Liang nodded, “That is true.”

Seeing that he did not object to what he said, Yang Kai struck while the iron was hot, “Since its inception, Dawn has been a Special Operations Squad. If those in Blue Sky Pass were to be described as a spear, then Dawn would be the tip of its blade, and the sharper the tip, the easier it would be for us to take down our foes. So, the stronger Dawn is, then the more it would benefit Blue Sky Pass. What does Division Commander think?”

“That’s a crooked argument,” Xu Bo Liang snickered again with laughter.

However, after pondering for a moment, he nodded, “En, so be it. Army Commander Zhong Liang also said in the past that you could recruit anyone under the Eighth Order into Dawn. Now that Bai Yi has caught your eye, then let her be included in your Squad.”

Yang Kai hurriedly cupped his fist, “Many thanks, Division Commander Xu.”

Xu Bo Liang turned to Bai Yi, “Bai Yi, I should still ask you for your opinion on this matter. If you are willing to join Dawn, then I will register you under their name; otherwise, you can also go to a different Squad. With your abilities, you are definitely qualified to become a Squad Leader yourself. There is no need to put yourself under this little brat.”

Bai Yi bowed elegantly to him, “This Junior is willing to be at Senior Brother Yang’s disposal.”

“Very well!” Xu Bo Liang nodded lightly and immediately registered Bai Yi, also noting Yang Kai and her military merits.

A short while later, the two of them left Xu Bo Liang’s office and returned to Dawn’s camp.

When they found out that Bai Yi had joined Dawn, everyone was overjoyed. They had not experienced Bai Yi’s strength for themselves, but anyone who could escape repeatedly while being chased by Yang Kai could not be weak. What was more, Bai Yi was also a disciple of Divine Feather Paradise. Her joining Dawn would bring their long-range fighting capabilities to a new level.

They believed that with her archery skills, they would surely have an even easier time when they encountered the Black Ink Clan in the future.

After arranging a place for Bai Yi to stay, she was told to meditate and recover since her injuries had yet to heal; after all, Zhu Feng’s nest was not exactly suited to proper healing.

As Yang Kai was about to return to his own place of rest, Feng Ying came over.

After allowing her inside, the two of them took their seats and Yang Kai asked, “What is it, Martial Aunt?”

Feng Ying hesitated for a moment before speaking, “You are already in the Seventh Order now. You and I are in the same Order, so there’s no need to call me Martial Aunt anymore.”

Yang Kai laughed, “Then what should I call you? Senior Sister?”

Feng Ying nodded, “That will do! You see, you call Bai Yi, Junior Sister Bai, and I also call her Junior Sister Bai, yet you call me Martial Aunt. It’s a bit confusing.”

Yang Kai was silent. He had also noticed this, and it was indeed a mess.

“For us cultivators, age has never been a criterion for how we address one another, our strength is. If you were from a Cave Heaven or Paradise, then that would be fine, but you are not, so there is no need to stick to the rules of seniority.”

“Then we will do as Senior Sister says,” Yang Kai nodded.

Feng Ying smiled, “That’s more like it.”

“Is that why Senior Sister is here?”

Feng Ying shook her head, “No. I have some other business.”

Yang Kai looked serious, “Please speak, Senior Sister.”

Feng Ying explained, “It’s like this, a new area with rich resources has been discovered near the forward base that used to be occupied by the Black Ink Clan; however, our people have the upper hand now and are pushing the battle line there little by little. The Black Ink Clan seems unwilling to give up that area, so they have gathered a lot of forces to hold the line. Most of the people from this forward base have gathered there already, and some days ago, I heard from Division Commander Xu that both the Black Ink Clan and the Humans intend to settle things there. In that case, it would become the final battle here, and if the Humans were to win, then we would fully occupy the resources in that area.”

Yang Kai finally understood, “No wonder we didn’t see any of our people or any Black Ink Clansmen on the way back. So they have all gathered there, have they?”

Feng Ying nodded, “On top of its strategic importance, it’s also a good place to gain merits. It is only natural that the Division Commanders don’t want to miss it. Even if we do get to seize that area, Blue Sky Pass would only be able to mine it for several dozen years at most before we will have to retreat. However, being able to mine for several dozen years is still enough to provide the Inner Sanctum with a great surplus of cultivation resources.”

“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded, “Has the fight there started already?”

Feng Ying said, “The skirmishes have never stopped, but the real battle has not begun yet. Still, it will not be long till it happens. What the Division Commanders were afraid of were the several Territory Lords standing guard in this area. The number of Territory Lords and their power is similar to that of our Division Commanders, so neither side can gain an advantage over the other. Now that you and Bai Yi have killed Zhu Feng though, the Black Ink Clan has one less Territory Lord. The Division Commanders will definitely seize this opportunity to deal a serious blow to the Black Ink Clan.”

Yang Kai raised a brow, “What is Dawning Light’s current status?”

Feng Ying told him, “I just went to check. Repairs will require seven or eight more days to fully complete.”

“Seven or eight days…” Yang Kai muttered, “Then we shall wait. During our last battle, Bai Yi and I also used up a lot of our strength. We are in need of time to recover.”

Feng Ying nodded, “Good.”

After sending Feng Ying away, Yang Kai immediately went into retreat to restore his energy. He took a large number of Open Heaven Pills and a set of Sixth-Order materials and began refining them, seeking to quickly restore the heritage of his Small Universe.

He was now in the Seventh-Order, so naturally, the fastest way to recover was to refine Seventh-Order materials; however, Seventh-Order materials were ten times more precious compared to Sixth-Order materials, and with the aid of Open Heaven Pills, Sixth-Order materials were sufficient.

Moreover, the many living beings he was rearing in his Small Universe were constantly providing him with more World Force.

Yang Kai had a lot of resources on hand, but any amount of resources was not easy to come by in this Black Ink Battlefield, so he had to use them sparingly.

After a few days, Yang Kai pushed open the door to his room, feeling refreshed.

Inside Dawn’s camp, Dawning Light hovered quietly in mid-air as Feng Ying led the Squad up and down the deck, examining its condition. When she saw Yang Kai’s reappearance, Feng Ying peered out of the deck and waved at him.

Yang Kai flew over and looked around, “How is it?”

Feng Ying nodded, “All the damaged arrays have been repaired and the Squad has just about recovered. We are ready to sortie.”

Yang Kai nodded and looked down towards Bai Yi’s room. Seeing the door closed, he said, “Call Bai Yi. She can continue restoring herself on the way. I will go and inform Division Commander Xu of our departure.”

Saying so, he sped off towards where Xu Bo Liang was.

A few moments later, he saw Xu Bo Liang and informed him of his plans.

Xu Bo Liang naturally had no intention of stopping him. It could even be said that he wanted Dawn to participate in the final fight there to begin with, it was just that he knew that Dawning Light was in repairs all this while, so he decided to wait for the repairs to complete before calling Yang Kai over and sending him off with the task. Now that Yang Kai had come to him himself with such intentions, naturally, he could ask for nothing better.

“Reports coming in from that side say that there are a lot of Black Ink Clansmen gathered there, at least 20,000 of them. For the Black Ink Clan, it’s enough to make up an entire Army. Even though there are definitely going to be a lot of High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen, one still cannot take the situation too lightly.”

Yang Kai nodded earnestly and asked, “How many people are there on our side?”

“Less than 2,000!” Xu Bo Liang gave a concise answer.

2,000 versus 20,000, that was ten times the difference. These numbers could not be compared at all; however, Yang Kai knew that it was impossible for the Humans to deploy any more troops than this.

In the entirety of Men Xie Royal Lord’s territory, the Humans occupied four resource harvesting areas. If they had to assign 2,000 men in each of these areas, then four areas would require 8,000 soldiers combined. That was an entire Army from Blue Sky Pass.

Naturally, Blue Sky Pass could not send out so many clansmen to capture the resource-harvesting areas as they still needed to retain most of their strength around the Great Pass itself in case something went wrong.

However, all 2,000 of the Humans here were in the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm and above, and they could depend on the might of their Warships to further boost their strength. On the other hand, nobody could say how many of the weak Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen there were mixed into the Black Ink Clan’s 20,000-strong army.

So, despite the disparity in numbers, it was difficult to say which side would win in this battle. The only way to know was to fight.

“Dawn is strong, so if you perform well, you can play a decisive role on a battlefield like this; however, I have one order for you.”

Yang Kai said with a serious face, “Please speak, Division Commander Xu!”

“You are not allowed to use Purifying Light on the battlefield!”

Yang Kai nodded, “I understand.”

On a battlefield of such scale, it was impossible to slaughter every last Black Ink Clansman. If he were to use Purifying Light, then it would surely alert the Black Ink Clan. When that time came, there was a high chance that his existence would be exposed.

After a short hesitation, Yang Kai added, “What if there are people that need to be treated?”

Xu Bo Liang said, “We have the Purifying Black Ink Battleship at the forward base, and everyone has already left behind their Imprint. If they cannot hold on, then they can return here by using the Universe Transference Law.”

After bidding farewell to Xu Bo Liang, Yang Kai returned to Dawn’s camp where the Squad had already finished assembling. Bai Yi had also joined them.

On the deck stood the Squad’s 36 soldiers lined up in three lines and ready to go.

Yang Kai looked over at them for a while before waving his hand, “Depart.”

The members in charge of the Arrays immediately spread out and took their posts. A short while later, Dawning Light turned into a stream of light that took to the skies and left in a flash.

The final battlefield was a zone with rich resources, and also the last line of defence for the Black Ink Clan before their established territory. If this final line of defence was broken, then the Humans would be able to occupy this resource-harvesting area for the next several dozen years and mine in peace. Perhaps there would be some occasional harassment from the Black Ink Clan, but the regular patrol Squads could keep such interference at bay.

The two clans had been fighting each other for countless years, so they were already used to such situations.