Martial Peak
chapter-5100

With that consideration in mind, and as the chance was rare, it was expected that Yang Kai wouldn’t let Gui Liao off.

Faced with the aggressive onslaught, Gui Liao was forced back repeatedly. On the other hand, Yang Kai thrust out his spear in rapid succession. Gui Liao realised that he could only ward off the opponent’s attacks, but not counterattack.

This made him feel shocked and infuriated.

He had never expected that such a Seventh-Order Human existed in this world. Over the years, he had frequently followed Hei Yuan to the battlefield and fought with many Seventh-Order Masters; however, none had ever made him feel that he couldn’t defeat them.

At this moment, a sense of despair overwhelmed him as he was dealing with Yang Kai.

Gui Liao used all the Secret Techniques he knew, but every strike Yang Kai made was overwhelming. In every exchange of blows, his Black Ink Strength would be blasted apart on impact. Furthermore, Yang Kai’s mobility was simply astonishing. Although the surrounding Black Ink Clansmen managed to hit him from time to time, they were unable to seriously injure him. They only managed to cause some flesh wounds, which wouldn’t change anything.

[I’ll die!] That was the thought that flashed through Gui Liao’s mind as a sense of anxiety gripped him. He had never expected that such a feeling would rise within him when he was facing a Human in the same relative Realm. This made him feel both ashamed and unresigned.

He still had a bright future ahead of him, and he was about to attempt to ascend to become a Territory Lord. That was why he wasn’t willing to lose his life here.

Before Hei Yuan sent Yang Kai to the Royal City, he told Gui Liao that he would let him enter the main Black Ink Nest and make a breakthrough to the Territory Lord Realm upon his return. Gui Liao had been looking forward to it.

However, several Territory Lords had recuperated in the Black Ink Nest recently, so it was running low on energy; therefore, Hei Yuan didn’t immediately let Gui Liao enter the Black Ink Nest upon his return. Instead, he spent a massive amount of resources trying to replenish the Black Ink Nest’s spent energy.

Over the past few years, the Black Ink Nest had almost restored all its energy and it would only take another six months before Gui Liao could attempt a breakthrough. When he succeeded, he would be a new Territory Lord, which would put him on par with Hei Yuan.

Nevertheless, before his dream could become a reality, it was crushed by Yang Kai’s spear.

Presently, Gui Liao was soaked in blood, and facing the Azure Dragon Spear, he felt his aura weakening by the breath.

Regardless of how hard he tried, he was unable to resist Yang Kai’s bombardment. The attacks were both sharp and unpredictable, with the spear always coming at him from the most unexpected angle, making it impossible to counterattack. Every strike also brought with it a strange power that sealed off the space around him. Just a short while later, Gui Liao was left with more than ten serious wounds on his figure. The most severe injury was on his abdomen, which now had a hole the size of a fist in it.

Just when Gui Liao felt he was about to lose his life, a formidable aura suddenly appeared in the distance.

Yang Kai and Gui Liao, who were locked in battle, detected this familiar aura at the same time. The former turned solemn while the latter was elated.

This couldn’t be helped, as the newcomer was none other than Hei Yuan.

This place was Hei Yuan’s territory, and his Feudal Lords had scattered around to intercept Yang Kai. The moment Gui Liao and the Black Ink Clansmen got into a fight with Yang Kai, Hei Yuan naturally detected it and hurriedly came over.

Hei Yuan could move swiftly, so not long after Yang Kai detected his aura, he caught a glimpse of Hei Yuan approaching.

Gui Liao promptly exclaimed, “Sir Territory Lord, save me!”

Yang Kai fell into a dilemma as he hesitated between fleeing immediately and killing Gui Liao. The next moment though, he summoned all of his strength and thrust out his spear.

At the same time, Gui Liao’s figure was reflected in Yang Kai’s right eye. The reflection slightly contorted, and at that instant, Gui Liao, who was attentively resisting Yang Kai’s attack, seemed to be struck by an immense pressure. There seemed to be a mysterious force that was contorting his body. His figure stiffened while he was overwhelmed by an excruciating pain.

This moment of sluggishness cost him dearly. The Azure Dragon Spear directly pierced through his chest, and as the violent force exploded, his figure split in half. Black blood and Black Ink Strength scattered across the void.

A hint of disbelief flashed through Gui Liao’s eyes. Although he hadn’t lost his life yet, his death was inevitable given his injuries.

Yang Kai couldn’t help but close his right eye as blood dripped down from it.

Myriad Demons Heaven’s Eye Secret Techniques were indeed incredible; however, Yang Kai had yet to fully master them, and he had already consumed a lot of energy prior to this battle. Forcefully activating this Eye Secret Technique caused a huge burden on him.

Fortunately, he managed to kill Gui Liao with the help of this Eye Secret Technique, cutting off a potential crisis for the Human race. It could be said that his efforts were worth it.

Since Hei Yuan was about to reach him, Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t want to stay here and he quickly pushed his Space Principles in an attempt to flee.

Nevertheless, the Black Ink Clan’s bombardment of attacks caused the surrounding Void to become unstable, so he was unable to leave immediately. On the other hand, Gui Liao, who was cut in two, turned ferocious as his half-figure came right at Yang Kai. He spread his arms in an attempt to detain Yang Kai as he yelled, “Don’t even think about escaping!”

Yang Kai hadn’t expected this guy to be so savage. Just when he was almost captured by Gui Liao, Yang Kai hurriedly pushed out his spear and turned Gui Liao’s top half into mist.

Unfortunately, thanks to this moment of delay, Hei Yuan finally reached him.

Black Ink Strength surged around Hei Yuan as he sported a furious expression and he directly extended his hand towards Yang Kai.

At this critical moment, Yang Kai wouldn’t dare to be negligent. All of a sudden, a gigantic ancient tree appeared behind him. The tree crown seemed able to cover the entire sky. Its low-hanging branches turned into the strongest defence for Yang Kai.

Hei Yuan struck the tree crown with all his might.

The branches rustled upon impact as points of green light flew out everywhere. Towering Evergreen was instantly broken through, and as if struck by a huge hammer, Yang Kai was sent flying away while he sprayed out a mouthful of blood.

It was expected that Yang Kai couldn’t resist a Territory Lord’s all-out attack. If not for his Towering Evergreen’s fantastic defensive power, he would have lost his life then and there.

It could be said that Hei Yuan was completely enraged; after all, he was the one who turned Yang Kai into a Black Ink Disciple and recommended him to the Royal Lord to take part in the plan. In the end, the Black Ink Clan’s grand plan was destroyed because of Yang Kai, and even the critical person in charge of the project, Nie An, was dead.

This was a huge failure that even a Territory Lord like him couldn’t bear.

It was imaginable that the Royal Lord was mad with rage, and her fury would surely be vented out on him. All of this was Yang Kai’s fault, so it was expected that Hei Yuan would be furious.

Honestly speaking, when he received the news from the Royal City, Hei Yuan couldn’t believe what he was hearing and suspected that the other side was mistaken.

After all, before he captured Yang Kai back then, he saw the latter going all out to resist and even give up a part of his Small Universe twice, which almost caused his Order to regress. Since he was unable to turn things around, he even decided to commit suicide. It was only then that Hei Yuan made a move and corrupted him.

Was everything he saw that day nothing more than an act? Were those the lengths this Human was willing to go to in order to sneak into the Black Ink Clan’s territory? If that was true, he was truly a cunning and devious person.

Despite knowing that the Humans were sly, Hei Yuan hadn’t expected them to be so deceitful. He regretted not examining Yang Kai’s Small Universe after capturing him back then. If he had done so, none of this would have happened.

At that time, he firmly believed that he had successfully corrupted Yang Kai. In his defence, the Humans never granted one of the Four Universe Pillars to Seventh-Order Masters, so it never crossed Hei Yuan’s mind that Yang Kai would be capable of resisting his Black Ink Strength. The Human was even audacious enough to pretend to be a Black Ink Disciple and follow him to his territory.

After several inquiries, Hei Yuan finally confirmed that the news from the Royal City was true.

It was only then that he realised he had been played by the Humans all along. While he was recuperating, Yang Kai tactfully revealed his talent in Artifact Refining, which must have been part of the Humans’ plans from the beginning.

Everything that had happened made Hei Yuan feel humiliated. As a result, he was burning with endless fury, which ensured that he did not hold back when sending out his last strike.

However, he regretted it the instant he made a move, because the Royal Lord had ordered that Yang Kai be captured alive!

It seemed that the Royal Lord had the intention of replacing Nie An with Yang Kai, who would be tasked to continue building Warships.

Fortunately, Yang Kai was unusually strong and had used some kind of Secret Technique to save himself. Seeing that Yang Kai was still alive, Hei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.

If he had accidentally killed Yang Kai, he wouldn’t be able to explain himself to the Royal Lord. Now, he could still make up for his mistake.

Presently, Yang Kai was overwhelmed by a great sense of discomfort.

He had already suffered a setback in front of Mu Guang, and then he consumed a lot of energy and became injured while escaping. Now that he was struck by Hei Yuan’s attack, it was expected that he would be in a terrible state.

It had to be noted that Hei Yuan was one of the top five Territory Lords who served Mu Guang, meaning he was significantly stronger than the average Territory Lord.

If not for the great defensive power of his Towering Evergreen Divine Manifestation, and that Yang Kai had thick skin and strong flesh due to his Dragon Vein, he would’ve lost his life after being struck.

Even so, he was still feeling dizzy and seeing stars at this moment. Many of his bones were also fractured.

Steadying himself with difficulty and lifting his gaze, Yang Kai saw Hei Yuan standing not far away from him, while he was surrounded by a lot of Black Ink Clansmen.

As their eyes met, Hei Yuan suppressed his fury and said grimly, “You’re really something.”

Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of blood and grinned, “Many thanks for your compliment, Sir. I never expected that I’d come across you again. It seems that we share some common destiny, don’t we?”

Hei Yuan replied impassively, “Since it all started because of me, I’m sure the Royal Lord will be pleased if this matter is ended by me. Surrender without a fight. You’re important to the Royal Lord, so I don’t want to keep damaging you.”

Upon realising what the other party meant, Yang Kai arched his brow, “Does the Royal Lord want you to capture me alive?”

“An Artifact Refiner is only valuable if he’s alive.”

Yang Kai replied, “It seems that Mu Guang intends to keep building Warships.”

Hei Yuan looked sympathetically at him, “It’s pointless to stall for time. Your Old Ancestor is still in a fight with the Royal Lord while the Human Army is far away from here. You don’t stand a chance to flee. The Humans have a saying, do not refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Resisting will only make you suffer.”

“Who says I’m going to flee?” Yang Kai lifted his Azure Dragon Spear and pointed it at Hei Yuan. With his chin raised, he appeared condescending, “It’s not like I’ve never killed a Territory Lord before. I don’t mind killing one more.”

Hei Yuan was slightly surprised, “You’ve killed a Territory Lord before?” However, he soon cast the doubt away as he strode towards Yang Kai, “Whatever. I can explain myself to the Royal Lord as long as you’re not killed.”

As he stepped closer, his Territory Lord’s pressure swept over Yang Kai.