Martial Peak
chapter-5019

The location of the final decisive battle was taking place a two or three days’ journey away from the forward base. During this time, other than the ones taking turns controlling Dawning Light’s speed and direction, everyone else was resting and preparing.

Yang Kai stood alone on the deck, keeping a lookout.

Two days later, before Dawning Light had even reached their destination, Yang Kai could already see the lights shining brightly ahead of them in the void. Even from such a great distance, occasional energy fluctuations could be felt coming from there.

[Have they already begun fighting?] Yang Kai’s face turned cold and he hurriedly sounded the alarm.

The cabin door opened and one by one, figures emerged onto the deck like a school of fish, gazing out at the war that was going on in full swing up ahead.

The decisive battle had indeed begun, but as they grew closer to it, Yang Kai realised that it must not have been long since the fight began, because the Black Ink Clan’s Army was still in formation and there were not many casualties.

It seemed like hostilities had broken out about an hour ago.

It could be said that Dawning Light had arrived just in time.

Looking over, they could see Human Warships shuttling through the large battlefield, unleashing powerful bursts of bright light towards the Black Ink Clan’s lines. These were clearly the abilities of the offensive arrays installed on the Warships.

Rarely would a cultivator leave the shelter of a Warship. Only the Seventh-Order Masters who were confident in their abilities would choose to fight exposed; after all, this was not Blue Sky Pass. In the last great battle that happened between the two clans, even if the Humans were to be corrupted by Black Ink Strength, they could quickly retreat to the Inner Sanctum or use the Purifying Light sealed within the Purifying Black Ink Battleships in order to dispel the encroaching Black Ink Strength.

Right now, there were no Purifying Black Ink Battleships here. If they really were invaded by Black Ink Strength, they would have no choice but to return to the forward base using the Universe Transference Law and then travel at least two or three days to return. The battle might even be over after such a period of time.

What was more, the fight had only just begun, so the Humans were trying to preserve their strength as much as possible, capitalizing on the advantage their Warships gave them to kill their enemies.

Opposite the Human battlefront, the tide of Black Ink Clansmen was blasting away at the Warships, causing the defensive arrays to flicker as they were hit.

The Warships of some of the less fortunate Squads had even lost the ability to continue fighting and had no choice but to retreat towards the forward base.

Dawning Light sped over, and as soon as they entered the battlefield, Yang Kai could feel several powerful Divine Senses enveloping them, facing off against each other from a distance. These Divine Senses clearly belonged to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Humans and the Territory Lords.

It was exactly because of the presence of the Eighth-Order Masters that the Territory Lords were deterred from intervening in the battle, and this was also true for the Humans. The ones at the top were all suppressing each other, so the victor of this fight could only be decided by those below the Eighth Order on both sides.

Yang Kai, who was standing on the deck, swept his eyes around and saw a weak point in the Human lines. The Black Ink Clan were attacking that point with such ferocity that even with a dozen Warships supporting each other, they were still in a shaky situation. The defensive array on one of those ships was even starting to fade. It was clear that it could not hold out much longer.

Yang Kai pointed in that direction, “Adjust our course!”

Dawning Light immediately turned and headed in that direction, and within a dozen breaths, it entered the fray.

As soon as they saw reinforcements appear, the Humans were overjoyed. Even though it was just a single Squad-level Warship like theirs, any help would be greatly appreciated at this moment. Perhaps the addition of another Squad would help them resist the Black Ink Clan’s offensive.

On the bow of one of the ships stood a bearded man with two large swords in each hand, looking mighty and imposing. He beckoned his Vice Squad Leader, “Go and greet them and have them coordinate with our movements.”

His Vice Squad Leader was a beautiful woman, and just as she was about to send a message, she saw Dawning Light sweeping past the defensive line formed by the dozen ships and charge straight into the Black Ink Clan Army.

The beautiful woman was dumbfounded, and the bearded man was jumping in rage as he scolded, “Where did this Squad come from? Are they courting death!?”

The combined power of a dozen Squads could barely stop the advance of the Black Ink Clan Army, but this Squad suddenly rushed straight into enemy lines, so how could they possibly survive? They were likely going to be turned into dust by the Black Ink Clan, then even their Squad members would be left without a corpse.

Though he was cursing, he was inwardly feeling pained by this situation. Those were the lives of a dozen Open Heaven Realm Masters. He had no idea which bastard of a Squad Leader was leading them, but if that bastard wanted to court death, he shouldn’t have dragged his entire Squad down with him.

As soon as those words left his mouth though, the bearded man looked shocked as a ripple suddenly formed around the new Squad’s ship and its image distorted greatly. In an instant, a Warship which was over twice as large as an ordinary Squad-level Warship took its place.

The Warship was almost as large as a Battalion-level Warship!

“Dawn!” The bearded man snapped to his senses. Dawn was the only Squad which possessed a Warship wish such features in Blue Sky Pass, and he had also seen Dawning Light in repairs back at the forward base with his own eyes. He deeply coveted the capabilities of this unique Warship.

The beautiful Vice Squad Leader asked curiously, “Are they Dawn?”

The bearded man nodded heavily, “No doubt about it!” With a sudden jolt, he called out, “Quickly, follow them! This is our chance to break the Black Ink Clan’s lines!”

The Vice Squad Leader was a little hesitant, but she still quickly passed the order down, and the Squad’s ship immediately followed after Dawning Light.

At the same time, the dozen or so other Squads who were struggling to maintain their positions made the same choice. All of them turned towards the Black Ink Clan and prepared to meet them in battle.

When Dawning Light swept in, the Black Ink Clan did not think much of it. It was just the arrival of another Human Squad after all. The Humans were completely overwhelmed in terms of numbers and were powerless to resist. However, when the Illusion Array on Dawning Light was lifted and revealed its true face, a commotion built up at the Black Ink Clan’s side.

Dawning Light had recently become famous among the Humans, and it was just as well-known among the Black Ink Clan. Many of the Black Ink Clansmen knew of the existence of this special Human Squad whose Warship and configuration of members were vastly superior to others on the battlefield.

It was unknown just how many Black Ink Clansmen had suffered losses at the hands of this special Squad, and many of their groups had even been completely wiped out by them.

In a battlefield where one’s life was on the line, one’s prestige could often be a powerful deterrent.

An overwhelming barrage of attacks rained down on Dawning Light, trying to halt its advance. A dazzling protective glow sparked up around Dawning Light like a beacon of light, dispelling the darkness and tearing a gaping hole straight through the Black Ink Clan Army.

In the next instant, Dawning Light rumbled and shook again and again as its offensive arrays were activated by the many Fifth and Sixth-Order Squad members on board. Sword waves like white silk, huge spear shadows, and light beams that were strong enough to swallow everything in their path, all of these were blasted towards the densest gatherings of Black Ink Clansmen.

Violent energies swept forth, killing or maiming the Black Ink Clansmen wherever they passed.

Each attack unleashed from the offensive arrays was comparable to the full-powered strike of a Seventh-Order Master, and the area of attack was also extremely wide. Any Low-Rank Black Ink Clanman touched by these attacks would be killed, while the High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen would find it hard to resist.

That was the power of the Humans’ Warships. With the help of powerful arrays and the combined strength of several Fifth and Sixth-Order Masters, they were able to unleash power equivalent to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. And, as long as the Warship they were on was not damaged, they did not have to worry about being corrupted by Black Ink Strength.

With just one salvo, Dawning Light demonstrated power that greatly surpassed ordinary Squad-level Warships. Before the Black Ink Clansmen that survived could even catch their breaths, another dozen Squads sailed over on their ships, following closely behind Dawning Light while different coloured lights blossomed from each of them.

Naturally, the offensive arrays on these large ships were not as rich and varied as those on Dawning Light; after all, their numbers were incomparable to Dawn, so even if they had more arrays installed, there would be no one to power them, which would just be a waste; however, they had the advantage in numbers. Even if each ship carried just two offensive arrays, with a dozen or so ships it would mean almost 30 attacks.

These were the attacks comparable to 30 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters striking at full power.

More of the Black Ink Clan who had yet to catch their breaths were felled, and many of their Feudal Lords were also severely injured by this wave of attacks.

A hole immediately appeared in the Black Ink Clan’s Army that kept on growing in size. Everywhere that Dawning Light went, a clear path was cut into the Black Ink Clan’s defence line like a hot knife through butter.

“Squad Leader, the defensive array team won’t be able to hold up any longer,” Feng Ying suddenly warned.

It was thrilling for Dawning Light to charge into the fight like this, but the defensive needs of such a manoeuvre were too high. Though the defensive array was not damaged, the Squad members in charge of powering it were expending too much energy. They had to maintain the protective shield at all times; otherwise, Dawning Light would be damaged if it were hit directly.

In less than a few dozen breaths, the Squad members in rotation were all pale-faced.

Even without Feng Ying’s warning, Yang Kai had also noticed this as the protective barrier around Dawning Light had dimmed a lot. It was indeed true that they could not hold on for long.

“Swap with me!” Yang Kai appeared at one of the defensive arrays as he spoke and sat cross-legged, taking a deep breath before pouring the energy from his Small Universe into it.

In the next instant, the shield, which had been on the verge of collapse, glowed brightly again, instantly exploding dazzlingly like a rising sun.

Shen Ao and the others were astonished.

The strength of a defensive array was proportional to the depth of heritage of the one presiding over it.

At each defensive array was a defensive artifact acting as the Array Core, and all the one presiding over the array had to do was pour their energy into it and the array would activate, creating a defensive shield.

Normally, each defensive array would require the combined efforts of at least three members to operate; after all, the cultivation of these members were either at the Fifth-Order or the Sixth-Order.

This was the only way they could ensure that their defences remained sturdy.

Now, Yang Kai’s power alone fueled the arrays to greater heights than before. The attacks that came from all directions barely made a ripple on the light barrier before dispersing without a trace.

One could see just how rich Yang Kai’s heritage was from this.