Martial Peak
chapter-5070

After an exchange of moves, Yang Kai had a better judgement of Liu Zi An’s true power. He was indeed a Seventh-Order Master, as manifested by his ample World Force; however, he was unable to fully utilise that power. His cultivation was nothing more than a castle built from sand.

On the other hand, even though Yang Kai had sacrificed a part of his Small Universe twice, which caused his foundation to be damaged, he still had the World Tree clone to continuously purify his World Force; therefore, while he was no match for the other party when it came to strength output, the quality of his power allowed him to overpower his opponent. That was the reason he gained the upper hand following the exchange of moves.

An increasingly ferocious aura billowed from the ruins. A burly figure stepped out of the demolished building. For every step Liu Zi An took, the entire ground seemed to be shaking. Black Ink Strength was seen swirling around him, and even his eyes had turned completely black. He glared at Yang Kai and said through clenched teeth, “Boy, you court death!”

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged towards Yang Kai at the speed of lightning.

While in mid-air, he turned his fists into innumerable phantoms and engulfed Yang Kai with them.

Yang Kai had already intended to make a fuss, so he naturally wouldn’t back down at this point. He charged right at Liu Zi An and engaged him in a brutal melee.

The noise of the battle soon alerted everyone in the castle.

The Feudal Lords, who resided in different places, subsequently appeared and watched them from a distance. When they realised it was a battle between Gui Liao’s Black Ink Disciple and the Territory Lord’s Black Ink Disciple, they were astounded. They had no idea what had happened that caused these two Humans to get into a life-and-death fight.

Nevertheless, these Feudal Lords didn’t have the intention of interfering or stopping them. To them, even though these Humans had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, they were not the same as Black Ink Clansmen like them, who had a noble bloodline. Naturally, they wouldn’t care whether one of them was injured or even killed. In fact, they had fun watching the battle and chatted among themselves.

The battle in the courtyard between Yang Kai and Liu Zi An was intense. As time passed, Yang Kai realised that this guy indeed had a problem mobilizing his strength.

Sometimes, his attacks would be so forceful that even Yang Kai found it hard to fend off, but sometimes, his strikes would be so powerless that Yang Kai could easily find openings and land direct hits on his figure, which caused him to groan in pain.

It meant that Liu Zi An was unable to use his power flexibly; instead, his utilisation of his World Force was unstable. Sometimes, he could showcase his real power, but sometimes, he would be strong in will while weak in strength.

Any Open Heaven Realm Master with a solid foundation wouldn’t face such a problem. One must be fully at ease with using their power in order to ascend to the Open Heaven Realm, so they wouldn’t have to deal with such a situation. The reason Liu Zi An was unable to effortlessly use his strength was that he didn’t deserve to be in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm in the first place.

Given his condition, he would be killed soon after he stepped onto the battlefield. Once his weaknesses were detected by the opponent, he would lose his life.

In fact, it wasn’t hard for Yang Kai to kill him now, but he didn’t have the intention of doing so. It was no longer possible to save Liu Zi An. Even if the Black Ink Strength inside his body was dispelled using Purifying Light, his Small Universe would shatter as it was unable to bear Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm power. Nevertheless, he was Gui Liao’s Black Ink Disciple, so if he was killed here, Gui Liao would definitely avenge his death.

Liu Zi An was right to say that it would take Hei Yuan several years to recuperate, and Gui Liao was tasked with handling the affairs in the territory until then. Yang Kai would have a hard time here if he offended him too seriously.

It wasn’t long before Liu Zi An fell into a complete disadvantage.

This made him increasingly infuriated. He initially thought that Yang Kai wouldn’t be a match for him as the latter’s foundation had been damaged, but after the battle started, he realised that things were different from what he had imagined. Yang Kai was still powerful even though his Small Universe was incomplete. It was no wonder that when he was at the peak of his power, he was able to kill so many Feudal Lords and Black Ink Clansmen.

At this moment, Liu Zi An found himself in a dilemma. He could only madly push his power in an attempt to suppress Yang Kai while at the same time, he prayed that the latter wouldn’t be able to persevere due to his weakened foundation.

The more he exerted his strength, the thicker the Black Ink Strength around him became while the aura wafting from his body became increasingly unstable.

However, Liu Zi An seemed oblivious to all of that while Yang Kai had faintly detected it.

By activating the power he was unable to control, Liu Zi An would soon suffer a backlash. When that happened, he would be crippled even if he didn’t lose his life.

Just then, Yang Kai detected something as he slowed down his attack.

Liu Zi An was elated upon seeing that, but just as he was preparing to push his advantage, a voice was heard snapping, “Both of you, stop right there!”

In the next instant, a figure descended from the sky and landed between Yang Kai and Liu Zi An.

An agile Yang Kai promptly leapt backwards. On the other hand, Liu Zi An, who was blinded by wrath, forcefully pushed out his fist and attacked the person in front of him; however, the instant he made out the person’s face, he was flabbergasted as he quickly retracted his fist.

Forcefully withdrawing his strike caused Liu Zi An’s Small Universe to shake and his World Force to descend into chaos.

The next moment, he was heard spraying out a mouthful of blood. His aura had withered as he was unable to bear the consequences of this impact.

While trying to support his own weight, he cupped his fists, “Master!”

Gui Liao shot him an impassive glance, which caused his back to be covered with cold sweat and his legs to tremble. A Black Ink Disciple could never go against his Master, and this time, he seemed to have screwed things up. That was why he was apprehensive.

“Sir Gui Liao!” Yang Kai cupped his fist while secretly scoffing at the fact that Gui Liao was finally alerted.

Judging from the direction he came from, he was indeed not in the castle moments ago; however, the repercussions of the battle between two Seventh-Order Masters could spread across half this universe fragment. As long as he wasn’t too far away, Gui Liao could definitely sense it.

Upon hearing that, Gui Liao turned around and glared at Yang Kai.

While the Territory Lord was still recuperating, two Black Ink Disciples got into a fight and caused a large part of the castle to be damaged. Regardless of the cause of the fight, Gui Liao would be held responsible for not managing the situation properly.

When the Territory Lord returned from the Black Ink Nest and asked about it, Gui Liao would probably be reprimanded. Although it wasn’t a big issue, he was still displeased.

“Can anyone tell me what’s going on?” Gui Liao asked in a grim voice.

Liu Zi An wouldn’t dare to say anything. It wasn’t like he could say Yang Kai had turned him down and wanted to get back the Open Heaven Pills given to him, which was why they got into a fight.

While Liu Zi An was timid, Yang Kai was confident as he cupped his fist, “Sir Gui Liao, I’d like to file a complaint against Liu Zi An for oppressing a newcomer like me who doesn’t know the customs in the Black Ink Clan’s base. He has demanded a lot of benefits from me using your name.”

Right after Yang Kai finished speaking, Gui Liao felt his heart sinking as he regretted asking such a foolish question.

He didn’t give it any serious consideration as he was furious earlier, but now that he thought about it, he should’ve brought these two Humans to a quiet place so that there wouldn’t be so many Feudal Lords watching them.

“Is that true?” Gui Liao narrowed his eyes and glanced at Liu Zi An.

Liu Zi An’s face was covered with cold sweat, “No.”

Yang Kai glowered at him, “Do you have the gall to say that you didn’t take my Open Heaven Pills on the first day of my arrival?”

Liu Zi An snapped, “I didn’t make such a demand. You gave them to me!”

Yang Kai snorted, “If you hadn’t asked for them, why would I give anything to you? Indeed, you didn’t make it clear, but you implied that I should give you some benefits if I wanted to live a better life here. I’m not a fool, so it’s expected that I would be able to read between the lines. I’m a newcomer, so I wouldn’t dare to say no. I could only make a sacrifice.” He then turned to Gui Liao and cupped his fist, “Please stand up for me, Sir Gui Liao. I only had a small number of Open Heaven Pills, but I still gave him half of everything I had, thinking that I could befriend him. To my surprise, this guy was greedy as he thought that my gift was not valuable enough. He even used your name and tried to demand more from me today.”

“Stop spouting nonsense!” Liu Zi An roared as he was worried that Yang Kai would break the secret to everyone.

The Black Ink Clansmen in the castle were aware of Gui Liao’s hobby; in fact, many of them enjoyed doing it as well. However, knowing was one thing, but making it public was another.

It would be fine to do some things in private, but it would be ugly when they were talked about publicly. It was especially true as Yang Kai’s identity was special; he was the Black Ink Disciple personally corrupted by Hei Yuan Territory Lord.

It would’ve been fine if Yang Kai wasn’t Hei Yuan’s Black Ink Disciple; however, this relationship was truly significant. Since Gui Liao had his eyes on his Black Ink Disciple, it would suggest that he had no regard for Hei Yuan at all. This issue could be small or big. It might not be worth mentioning as Yang Kai’s life was not at stake; nevertheless, if Hei Yuan felt insulted, it would mean that Gui Liao had crossed the line by offending his superior.

Gui Liao wouldn’t be able to bear the wrath if the Territory Lord blamed him.

It would’ve been alright if Gui Liao could secretly settle the matter. From his standpoint, he believed that a newcomer like Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to resist as it wouldn’t matter to lose a bit of World Force; however, he hadn’t expected the other party to be so obstinate and defiant.

While remaining silent, Gui Liao felt his brow twitching.

Yang Kai asked, “Sir, don’t you want to know how he tarnishes your reputation?”

It had come to a point where Gui Liao had to get to the bottom of it in front of everyone; otherwise, he would only appear guilty, so he replied with a nod, “Speak.”

Despite his casual look, Gui Liao’s eyes were filled with murderous intent.

Seemingly oblivious to this, Yang Kai proclaimed loudly, “Before Sir Territory Lord entered the Black Ink Nest, he had told you to get a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit for me. I’ve been waiting for days, but there hasn’t been any news about it. I initially wanted to ask you about this; however, since you were not around, I could only look for Liu Zi An. By leveraging his position as your Black Ink Disciple, this guy demanded a lot of resources from me. He said that as long as I could satisfy his demands, he would put in a good word for me in front of you so that I could get the Profound Yin Spirit Fruit sooner. He even said that…”

At this point, he seemed hesitant to continue.

“What else did he say?” Gui Liao gritted his teeth.

Yang Kai went on to say, “He even said that those demands were not for himself but for you, Sir Gui Liao. It was Sir Territory Lord who told you to get me a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit, so I’m sure that you wouldn’t be negligent about it. Why would I need his help to begin with? Moreover, it’s not like a Black Ink Disciple like him can affect what you do. After I exposed his lies, he became furious out of shame and started a fight with me. Please stand up for me, Sir!”

A dumbfounded Liu Zi An gazed at Yang Kai with widened eyes.