Martial Peak
chapter-5057

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai frowned, “Is there really no useful information at all?”

An embarrassed Tang Qiu shook his head, “The only thing we can give you is a list of a dozen names. As for whether one of them is really the Black Ink Disciple who is able to refine Warships, you’ll have to find out on your own.”

Yang Kai nodded and gently tapped the table.

The information provided by those in Yin-Yang Pass was limited, which was what he had expected. If it was so easy to ascertain the Black Ink Disciple’s identity, they wouldn’t have sought his help.

This was only natural though as the Black Ink Clan would definitely do their best to protect such a valuable talent. Even the ordinary Black Ink Clansman wouldn’t be aware of such inside information, so how could the Humans gather any useful clues?

“Although we can’t give you any concrete information, we speculate that the Black Ink Disciple probably resides in their Royal City.”

“Royal City?” Yang Kai arched his brow.

Tang Qiu nodded, “Yes, the Royal City, where their Royal Lord is located.”

“In that case, this will be a difficult task.” Yang Kai felt his heart sinking. If the Black Ink Disciple really lived in the Royal City, even the Old Ancestor might not be able to capture him alive.

Yang Kai initially thought that as long as he could find out the Black Ink Disciple’s whereabouts, he could try to send a message back to Yin-Yang Pass, and they would handle the rest of the matter, with the Old Ancestor likely making a move at that point; however, if the Black Ink Disciple really resided in the Royal City, it would be useless for the Old Ancestor to make a move, for it wasn’t easy to deal with any Black Ink Clan Royal Lord.

After pondering on it for a moment, Yang Kai said, “Regardless of the risk, I have to find my way into the Black Ink Clan’s territory first. Has there been any skirmishes between Yin-Yang Pass and the Black Ink Clan recently?”

Tang Qiu replied, “Yes. 10 years ago, Wu Qing and Ding Yao joined forces to dive into the Black Ink Clan’s territory and make a scene. The Black Ink Clan retaliated in response. Even though they haven’t marshalled their Army to invade Yin-Yang Pass, there have been small-scale conflicts. They have also never stopped harassing the resource harvesting areas we occupied.”

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai appeared puzzled, “Are there no Void Yin-Yang Mirrors in Yin-Yang Pass? Why are there still conflicts with the Black Ink Clan in resource harvesting areas?”

The method of refining the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors had been spread across the Great Passes. The Universe Worlds in Blue Sky Pass’ occupied resource harvesting areas had been moved back to Blue Sky Pass, so they could just extract resources at their doorstep. They no longer had to go to faraway places. That way, their safety and efficiency had been improved significantly.

Even if the Black Ink Clan discovered this, there was nothing they could do as they wouldn’t dare to launch an invasion; after all, the Black Ink Clan in the Blue Sky Theatre suffered a big defeat more than 10 years ago, and they were still recuperating.

Tang Qiu explained, “We’ve made some Void Yin-Yang Mirrors, and they’re indeed useful. We’re still in the midst of moving those Universe Worlds back; however, the Black Ink Clan has never stopped harassing us, so some of the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors have been damaged. That’s why our progress lags behind that of Blue Sky Pass.”

Upon hearing his explanation, Yang Kai finally understood.

The Void Yin-Yang Mirrors were artifacts he made for him, so he could easily control them. Nevertheless, it was harder for others to use these artifacts, so they were unable to move the Universe Worlds as quickly and easily as he did.

Moreover, the Black Ink Clan in the Yin-Yang Theatre were almost at full strength, which was why their harassment was more intense than in the Blue Sky Theatre.

As such, the conflicts were still ongoing in the resource harvesting areas in the Yin-Yang Theatre.

“That was the reason I was held up when I was on my way back,” Tang Qiu said.

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, “Did you come across a Territory Lord?”

Only a Territory Lord would be able to injure Tang Qiu.

Tang Qiu replied, “Yes, there was a Territory Lord.”

Yang Kai let out a breath, “This will be easy, then.”

Upon hearing that, the Army Commanders turned to look at him and a perplexed Fei Yu Shan asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Yang Kai explained, “As you are aware, in the past, I was forced to pretend to be a Black Ink Disciple in the Black Ink Clan’s territory so that I could survive. At that time, I was only in the Sixth Order, and the one who tried to corrupt me with Black Ink Strength was only a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman. Now, I’m in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, so if I want to pretend to be a Black Ink Disciple, a Feudal Lord or Territory Lord will have to make a move. In order to gather more information, I think that I’ll have a greater chance to achieve my goal by following a Territory Lord; hence, I need a Territory Lord to corrupt me with their Black Ink Strength so that I will become his Black Ink Disciple.”

Fei Yu Shan finally realised the younger man’s intention, “You want to join the battle in one of the resource harvesting areas and get captured?”

“Yes.”

“That will be risky.” Tang Qiu frowned, “Since the deployment of Purifying Black Ink Battleships, there hasn’t been a single Human who has been corrupted in the past 20 years. If you’re suddenly corrupted by Black Ink Strength, the Black Ink Clan might grow suspicious. Moreover, if the Territory Lord is determined to kill you, how are you going to resist?”

Yang Kai said, “I have a way to make sure that they won’t grow suspicious. Even though it’s risky, I’ll most likely succeed. On the other hand, as long as I can show them that I’m valuable, the Territory Lord wouldn’t want to kill me.”

A Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple was precious to a Territory Lord, especially if the Seventh-Order Human was more powerful than the others in the same Order.

That was the reason Zhu Feng Territory Lord treasured Bai Yi back then.

The Army Commanders exchanged glances and nodded.

Seeing that, Yang Kai went on to say, “Since we’re all on the same page, we now have to select a Territory Lord that I’ll submit to so that it will be easier for me to carry out this task. I’ll leave that decision to all of you. Additionally, we have to look for a suitable chance.”

Wu Qing replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll come up with a comprehensive plan so that the risk will be minimised.”

“I shall trouble you all, then.”

Tang Qiu said, “You can go back now. I’ll inform you when the right time comes.”

“Yes, I’ll take my leave now.” Yang Kai cupped his fist.

“By the way, take a stroll around the Marketplace if you have some free time,” Tang Qiu suddenly said.

Yang Kai didn’t directly agree to this request. To be honest, if not for the fact that he was forced by the little girl to head to the Marketplace, he would never want to go to that damned place. He had no idea why Tang Qiu suddenly wanted him to visit the Marketplace.

He soon left the Army Headquarters, but the moment he arrived at his courtyard, he saw a petite figure sitting on the steps in front of the door. Perhaps she had been waiting for too long, so she was now sound asleep with her head resting against the door frame.

Yang Kai walked up to her, but it didn’t seem that she would be waking up anytime soon.

Gazing at the little girl, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh and pat her head.

The little girl awakened slowly and rubbed her eyes. It was obvious that she was still sleepy, “Where were you? I’ve been waiting for you.”

“I went to the Army Headquarters to attend to some matters.”

The little girl didn’t seem to hear what he had just said; instead, she just looked up at him and said, “Yang Kai, I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go. We’ll get some steamed stuffed buns,” Yang Kai replied.

The little girl leaped to her feet and chanted joyfully, “Steamed stuffed buns! Steamed stuffed buns!”

They then headed straight to the Marketplace.

The moment Yang Kai stepped into the restaurant, he saw Liu Zhi Ping, who was clad in simple homespun clothes, working hard to prepare dough. Her face and hair were covered with flour.

Yang Kai’s face twitched at the sight. This highly respected Western Army Commander was in the Army Headquarters of the Eastern Army just moments ago, but here she was acting as the owner of a steamed bun shop now.

Yang Kai felt awkward as he was already aware of her identity.

As usual, the shop hand hospitably welcomed them into the restaurant and 10 baskets of steamed stuffed buns were soon wolfed down.

Usually, Yang Kai could return to his room at this point as even though the little girl was a big eater, she could easily be appeased with this amount of steamed stuffed buns.

However, she wouldn’t let Yang Kai go on this day.

“What else do you want to do?” Yang Kai asked in puzzlement.

The little girl pointed in a particular direction, “There’s a teahouse at the other end of the street. The stories told by Mister Storyteller are interesting.”

Yang Kai asked curiously, “Mister Storyteller? Why haven’t I seen him before?”

He visited this Marketplace almost every day for the past few days, so he was familiar with all the shops here already. He was also aware of the teahouse’s existence, but he had never seen this ‘Mister Storyteller’ there when he passed by the shop.

The little girl giggled, “That’s because Mister Storyteller left town to travel around some time ago. He just returned yesterday.”

[He just returned yesterday?] Yang Kai suddenly had an ominous feeling.

With the little girl leading the way, they soon arrived at the teahouse. The place was filled with people, and there were a lot of tables on the floor. In front of them was a curvy woman, who was clad in a fancy costume, standing on the platform. She was singing a song in a melodious voice. The performance was so excellent that she earned a round of applause from the audience.

Yang Kai took a deep breath at the sight of such hustle and bustle. Despite having visited this Marketplace many times, he still couldn’t get used to it.

It had to be noted that the spectators and the singer were all Open Heaven Realm Masters, with many of them in the Seventh Order and even Eighth Order.

Did those in Yin-Yang Pass have nothing better to do?

“This way,” the little girl seemed to be familiar with the place as she pulled Yang Kai towards an empty table.

A shop hand promptly approached them, “What would you like to order?”

The voice sounded familiar to Yang Kai, and the instant he turned his head, he was dumbfounded, for the shop hand was none other than Qing Kui, though his subservient manner didn’t look anything like his usual self.

“Qing…” Yang Kai called out.

“Qing Luo tea, is it?” Qing Kui cut him off, “Excellent, it’s the best tea we have in this teahouse.”

Yang Kai gazed at him as if the latter was a fool.

Seemingly oblivious to his expression, Qing Kui asked, “What else do you need?”

The little girl said, “Snacks!”

“Good, please give me a moment,” Qing Kui replied hospitably and turned around to leave.

A moment later, a plate of fruits and some nuts were served. There was no doubt that the service here was top-notch.

After the singer was done, she elegantly stepped down from the platform.

The next instant, the elderly Mister Storyteller walked up on stage.

The moment Yang Kai saw this person, he couldn’t help but press his face into his palm.

As expected, Mister Storyteller, who was said to have just returned from travelling around, was none other than Tang Qiu who Yang Kai had seen in the Army Headquarters just a while ago.

Instead of staying in his room to recuperate from his injuries, Tang Qiu had come to the Marketplace to tell some stories. It was all highly improper.

However, Tang Qiu ignored Yang Kai as he swept a glance over them and placed a wooden block on the table before he began telling a story.