Martial Peak
chapter-5064

Those from Yin-Yang Pass had selected Hei Yuan because he was highly valued by Mu Guang Royal Lord, and he was also one of the most powerful Territory Lords. More importantly, he would frequently visit the Royal City, so it would be easier for Yang Kai to gather information; however, Yang Kai had no idea what Hei Yuan looked like, nor was he aware of what those from Yin-Yang Pass would do to make sure that it would be Hei Yuan who would turn him.

To find out about it, he had no choice but to ask around.

At the thought of this, he turned to look at the Feudal Lord beside him and cupped his fist, “How should I address you, Sir?”

The Feudal Lord was injured when he was in the resource harvesting area previously, but upon hearing that, he replied with a smile, “My name is Zha Gu. Just call me Zha Gu.”

Yang Kai nodded gently, “So, it is Sir Zha Gu.”

Zha Gu was evidently pleased with the honorary title as he put on a brighter smile. He patted Yang Kai’s shoulder with his big hand in a passionate manner, “Don’t be overly polite with me. Since both of us are working for Sir, you can just tell me if you need help in the future.”

“Many thanks.” Yang Kai expressed his gratitude, then brought up the main topic, “What is our Sir’s name?”

With a solemn expression, Zha Gu replied, “Sir is named Hei Yuan in the clan. He’s one of the top 5 Territory Lords working for the Royal Lord. So, consider yourself lucky that you’ve submitted to Sir.”

[It’s really Hei Yuan!] Yang Kai set his mind at ease. It seemed that everything was going to plan.

Zha Gu let out a sigh and turned to look at the cabin, “Other than Sir Hei Yuan, the other Sirs who are in charge of this region have been knocked out by the Humans. When we return, Sir Hei Yuan will most likely be reprimanded by the Royal Lord.” Then, he placated Yang Kai by saying, “Having said that, our Sir has always been valued by the Royal Lord, so the punishment wouldn’t be severe. He will be stripped of some of his territories at most. Forget it. Let’s not talk about it. It seems that you can’t hold on any longer. Find yourself a place and get some rest.”

Yang Kai thanked him again and sat down with his legs crossed on the deck. Then, he stuffed some Spirit Pills into his mouth and adjusted his breathing.

He managed to figure out many things through his brief conversation with Zha Gu. At the very least, he finally realised how those from Yin-Yang Pass made sure that it would be Hei Yuan who would corrupt him.

Other than Hei Yuan, the other Territory Lords were all ‘knocked out’ by the Human cultivators; hence, only Hei Yuan was able to make a move.

However, the Humans must have paid a hefty price in order to achieve this result. To severely injure so many Territory Lords, the Eighth-Order Division Commanders must have suffered serious injuries themselves. To the Black Ink Clan, the best way to recuperate was to fall into a state of deep sleep, and they would recover quicker if they were able to rest inside a Black Ink Nest.

Presently, there were several Territory Lords on this large ship, and apart from the wounded Hei Yuan, the other Territory Lords were sound asleep. Yang Kai couldn’t help but have the urge to secretly kill those Territory Lords.

If he could destroy these Territory Lords here, the pressure they faced in the Yin-Yang Theatre would lessen.

Having said that, he had a more important task at hand, so he suppressed this urge.

With Hei Yuan’s large ship leading the way, the battered Black Ink Clansmen headed to the Black Ink Clan’s territory.

About one day later, a figure suddenly appeared in the previous battlefield as he scanned the surroundings. This place was left with the traces of the epic war, and there were countless Black Ink Clan corpses hovering in the void.

The outcome showed that the war was truly bloody.

After wandering around the battlefield for a while, this person stopped in his tracks and looked towards the depths of the void.

A moment later, a ray of light approached him from a distance and landed beside him.

Wu Qing, who had arrived at this place first to investigate, asked, “How is it? Is there any news from the Inner Sanctum?”

Tang Qiu, who came later, replied, “En, I’ve just received some news. Yang Kai didn’t return to the Inner Sanctum. Have you found anything here?”

“The situation is just like what Xu Ling Gong and his Squad reported, but there’s a notable discrepancy.”

“What do you mean?” Tang Qiu asked with a frown.

“Look over there,” Wu Qing suddenly pointed in a particular direction.

Tang Qiu looked intently in the same direction, then his expression changed, “Those look like universe fragments… That brat gave up parts of his Small Universe?”

Wu Qing nodded, “Xu Ling Gong and his Squad told us that Yang Kai fell into a perilous situation, but they had no idea what happened next. Apparently, Yang Kai sacrificed some parts of his Small Universe after they were gone, which was why they didn’t see it.”

With a solemn expression, Tang Qiu said, “His foundation must have been damaged after he gave up some parts of his Small Universe; however, those from Blue Sky Pass told us that he has obtained a World Tree clone which replaced the World Spring he owned. With the clone’s presence, not only is he immune to the corruption of Black Ink Strength, but it can also apparently repair the missing parts of his Small Universe. Obviously, he did that in order to fool the Black Ink Clan, so it could be considered a clever move. Now, it seems that everything was well under his control. If he were in danger, he wouldn’t have sacrificed parts of his Small Universe to weaken himself.”

Wu Qing nodded, “We can only hope that he has been subdued by Hei Yuan and become his Black Ink Disciple. I was initially worried about this part of the plan as it had the most uncertainty, but his actions seem to have made up for it.”

Even though Wu Qing didn’t point out what the cause of the uncertainty was, Tang Qiu was fully aware of it. In fact, the cause was glaring when they were devising the plan. However, there was nothing they could do about it, so they could only hope that Yang Kai would be lucky enough.

“Yes, I was worried about it as well. Even if he has successfully pretended to be corrupted, his secret will be exposed if Hei Yuan decides to examine his Small Universe.”

Yang Kai was only in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm when he pretended to be a Black Ink Disciple previously, and the person who corrupted him was just a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman, so it never crossed the latter’s mind that Yang Kai had retained his sanity, so he never thought to examine his Small Universe.

Moreover, the Black Ink Clansmen had always believed that the Small Universe of a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master hadn’t materialised, so there was no need to inspect it.

Nevertheless, things were different now as Yang Kai was in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.

If Hei Yuan suddenly had the urge to ask Yang Kai to open up his Small Universe to him, would the latter agree to it or would he be forced to flee? As soon as the Small Universe was opened, his secret would be exposed.

With that said, there was only a slim chance that this might happen; after all, a Territory Lord had personally made a move on a Seventh-Order Human, so he probably wouldn’t doubt whether he had succeeded. However, accidents happened when one least expected them to.

Now though, during the intense battle, Yang Kai had even given up some parts of his Small Universe, which could effectively fool the Black Ink Clan; after all, no Human would want to go through the pain of cutting off parts of their Small Universe if there was any other choice.

It could be said that Yang Kai’s action landed him in a safer situation.

Moreover, as far as the Black Ink Clan was concerned, the Four Universe Pillars had always been in the possession of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Seventh-Order Humans didn’t have the right to own these treasures that could ward off Black Ink Strength.

If nothing unexpected happened, Hei Yuan most likely wouldn’t try to examine Yang Kai’s Small Universe.

“Given his capabilities, even if something had gone wrong, he could have fled from Hei Yuan. Since he never returned to the Inner Sanctum, it means that he must have followed Hei Yuan to the Black Ink Clan’s territory.” Tang Qiu let out a sigh, “The only thing we can do now is go back and recuperate. As soon as he finds some useful information, there will be an epic battle to fight.”

Wu Qing nodded, “Let’s go.”

The next moment, they activated the Universe Transference Law and two Grand Arrays appeared beneath their feet.

As a light flickered, they disappeared from the spots and returned to Yin-Yang Pass.

The Black Ink Clan had successfully retreated. Along the way, some teams left the larger group and returned to their own places, but the large ship led by Hei Yuan was still heading towards the depths of the void. It wasn’t certain where the ship was going.

On the deck, Yang Kai silently adjusted his breathing and recuperated. He had exerted himself and even given up parts of his Small Universe in the previous battle. These losses couldn’t be made up for in short order.

It could be said that the heritage he had accumulated over the years was almost wiped out due to his actions. If he hadn’t consumed a High-Rank World Fruit picked from the World Tree clone, his heritage would have plunged to when he just ascended to the Seventh Order.

Even so, he had lost a few hundred years’ worth of cultivation by giving up a part of his Small Universe twice.

Black Ink Clansmen were seen recuperating on the deck. The ones who had the right to stay here were all Feudal Lords, so it was expected that they were not friendly to Yang Kai; however, considering the fact that Hei Yuan truly treasured Yang Kai, they wouldn’t dare to make things difficult for him despite feeling displeased.

Moreover, Zha Gu was also seated beside Yang Kai as he was treating his wounds.

A few days later, all of Yang Kai’s flesh wounds had almost completely healed. However, the losses to his Small Universe couldn’t be made up in a short time, especially the missing pieces. Even though he had the World Tree clone to help repair it, it would take him several years to fully recover.

When Yang Kai was meditating one day, he suddenly heard Hei Yuan calling out to him. He quickly got to his feet and headed to the third floor of the large ship.

As he followed the voice, he soon found Hei Yuan in a luxurious room.

Although Hei Yuan still appeared pale, he had clearly restored some of his power. At that moment, he was seated on a large chair with his chin resting on his palm. He seemed to be lost in thought.

“Master!” Yang Kai called out in a subservient manner.

Hei Yuan didn’t respond to him as he was still thinking about something. A while later, he took a deep breath and straightened up, “What’s your name?”

Yang Kai reported his name.

Hei Yuan nodded gently, “Human names are so strange. In any case, I’ve asked you to come here because I have some questions for you.”

“Please go ahead, Master.” Yang Kai remained respectful, which was expected of a Black Ink Disciple.

“You must be an important figure on the Humans’ side, right?”

“I was just the Squad Leader of a Squad.”

“You’re just a Squad Leader?” Hei Yuan was surprised, “Given your strength, you could’ve held a more important position. According to the classification of the Humans, you should be good enough to be the Battalion Commander.”

With a proud expression, Yang Kai replied, “There are no other Seventh-Order Masters who are a match for me; however, I’m not well-versed in commanding soldiers. In previous battles, my conduct was somewhat reckless, so they only let me become a Squad Leader.”

Upon hearing his explanation, Hei Yuan said, “I see. It’s no wonder that you had the guts to ambush so many Black Ink Clansmen when you only had one Squad with you. You were eager to earn merits, weren’t you?”

Yang Kai immediately played along by saying, “Please forgive me, Master.”