Martial Peak
chapter-5147

Blue Sky Pass had clearly planned this crusade for a long time. It was impossible to come up with such a plan in just two days.

The Expeditionary Force was led by two Army Commanders, Ding Yao and Liang Yu Long. Two Purifying Black Ink Battleships were deployed along with about 1,500 Warships of various Ranks.

The huge force set off from Blue Sky Pass as soon as preparations were completed.

Dawn was also part of the Expeditionary Force, its Squad members taking turns to operate Dawning Light while the ones off duty spent their time in their cabins to restore themselves.

The damage to Dawning Light had been repaired by the Array Masters and Artifact Refiners before they departed Blue Sky Pass, so it was as good as new.

However, for this crusade, they were not taking many Array Masters and Artifact Refiners with them; thus, if a Warship got damaged, it might not be able to be repaired in short order.

This crusade was very different from guarding the Great Pass. When backed by Blue Sky Pass, the Humans could fight with confidence and without fear. Even if their Warship was damaged, logistical support was close by. However, a crusade was not the same, as the supply lines and logistics to support the soldiers would be stretched out over a much larger area.

If this matter was not addressed, it would become a major constraint for this crusade.

However, this shortfall could not be satisfactorily resolved. If all the available Array Masters and Artifact Refiners were mobilized for the crusade, they would require a large contingent of soldiers to protect them, reducing the crusade’s overall fighting capability.

Meanwhile, this crusade was more of an attempt to make a statement rather than a concerted effort to eliminate the Black Ink Clan once and for all.

Half a month after the Expeditionary Force left Blue Sky Pass, it fought its first major battle with a Black Ink Clan Army of nearly 300,000!

The 700,000 Black Ink Clansmen that had previously attacked Blue Sky Pass were all basically dead or severely wounded, so these 300,000 were assembled from the Black Ink Clan’s reserves.

This was the Black Ink Clan’s modus operandi, sending in wave after wave of soldiers to fight a protracted battle. Each time a siege happened at a Great Pass, the Humans would have to endure many waves of attacks by the subsequent enemy reinforcements, and this time was no exception.

However, the collapse of the Black Ink Clan’s Main Army on the front line was too sudden. Blue Sky Pass’ 100-year plan was a huge trap that sucked the Black Ink Clan Army into numerous Universe Paradises and Cave Heavens, where they were mercilessly slaughtered.

The reinforcement army that came from the Black Ink Clan did not get the news in time and was led by a sole Territory Lord as they flew towards Blue Sky Pass.

When they encountered each other, the leading Territory Lord obviously was not aware of what had happened and was caught completely off guard.

Of the 300,000 reinforcements, nearly 200,000 were cannon fodder while only 100,000 were High-Rank or above. Besides the lone Territory Lord, the strongest Masters among the troops were the Feudal Lords.

Such a lineup was no match for the elite soldiers of the Expeditionary Force.

The Territory Lord quickly realized that something was amiss and immediately ordered all the Low-Rank cannon fodder to charge towards the Expeditionary Force while he fled at the first opportunity. He did not even bother about the rest of his 100,000 troops.

It was another great victory for the Humans. The 300,000 Black Ink Clan Army was overwhelmed. With no Territory Lords to lead and shelter them, there was no one to fight off the 30 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Thus, the Warships just sailed forward in a straight line and mowed down the scattered Black Ink Clansmen.

They took just one day to defeat this reinforcement army. The Expeditionary Force then continued to advance undeterred, with its sights set on the Royal City.

Along the way, any Black Ink Clansmen that they encountered were slaughtered.

After another month, they arrived at the first territory controlled by a Territory Lord.

This was one of the outermost Territory Lord territories, so the one assigned here was naturally not very powerful as he would be the first to bear the brunt of any Human attacks.

In fact, this Territory Lord’s domain had been attacked by Humans before. The last time the Old Ancestor led a large army to attack this territory, Yang Kai was living here with Nu Yan.

According to the limited information available to Blue Sky Pass, the owner of this territory was named Gou Wu.

Gou Wu was dead though, killed by an Eighth-Order Division Commander of the Southern Army in one of the Universe Cave Heavens outside of Blue Sky Pass.

Thus, Gou Wu’s territory was leaderless.

As the Expeditionary Force marched on, it was inevitable that news of their advance spread; however, they did not meet any real form of resistance. Even Gou Wu’s territory was essentially unprotected by the Black Ink Clan. There were some Black Ink Clansmen who were brave enough to attack the Expeditionary Force, but many realized that it was suicidal and simply fled deeper into Black Ink Clan territory.

It only took a few hours for the Expeditionary Force to capture Gou Wu’s home territory. Although they killed many, those were mostly Serfs and Low-Rank Clansmen.

This was only to be expected. Most of Gou Wu’s forces were deployed to participate in the siege of Blue Sky Pass and were thus already dead. When those who were left behind saw the advancing Expeditionary Force, they naturally knew that whoever was sent to Blue Sky Pass had been annihilated. Thus, those that could immediately turned around and ran for their lives.

The Expeditionary Force did not stop after they captured this area. Both Ding Yao and Zhong Liang knew that speed was of the essence, so only a small number of men were assigned to clean up the battlefield while the rest of the army continued on.

The so-called battlefield cleanup was nothing more than plundering resources.

It was just like what Yang Kai had done in Mu Guang’s Royal Domain. A Territory Lord’s home territory was the most prosperous place in every region. It usually had a lot of stores and cultivation resources that the Expeditionary Force would not want to miss out on.

Yang Kai also stayed behind.

However, he was not interested in plundering resources as they were not attractive to him anymore. The resources in his Small Universe were already inexhaustible to him.

The reason he stayed was to acquire a sub-nest.

Some time ago, he brought Miao Fei Ping to a Feudal Lord’s territory and moved the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest into his Small Universe, but it withered away soon after. It was obvious that a mature Black Ink Nest could not be moved easily. It was like a big tree, so cutting its roots to move it would kill it.

If he could get an unhatched sub-nest and nurture it in his Small Universe, it might be different.

Feng Ying also stayed and acted as his protector since Yang Kai was vulnerable when his consciousness was connected to the Black Ink Nest. There would be trouble if a hidden Black Ink Clansman jumped out and attacked him.

Feng Ying frowned as she watched Yang Kai enter the Territory Lord’s Black Ink Nest.

The aura inside the Black Ink Nest made her feel extremely uncomfortable and even a bit nauseous. If she did not have to stand guard for Yang Kai, she would never have gotten close to such a place.

As Yang Kai walked along, he soon came to the central chamber.

Yang Kai pondered and appeared hesitant to act.

To be honest, although he had been inside Black Ink Nests before, and had even taken advantage of their strange network to defeat many Feudal Lords by destroying their consciousnesses, he still did not understand how to hatch a sub-nest. After all, Zha Gu never told him about it.

Obviously, hatching a sub-nest was a function of a Territory Lord Black Ink Nest and required a certain amount of resources, but as to the exact process, Yang Kai was clueless.

In front of Yang Kai was the Black Ink Pool, where Black Ink Strength tumbled and surged as if it were an Ominous Beast.

Yang Kai opened his Small Universe and used his own World Force as a bridge to connect his consciousness with that of the Black Ink Nest’s consciousness to investigate a little.

To his surprise, he did not enter the strange space this time. It was as if his whole body was one with Black Ink Nest, and he could see the state of Black Ink Nest as if it were his own.

Yang Kai instantly understood that different locations of the Black Ink Nest had different purposes. This place, where the Black Ink Pool was located, was where the Black Ink Clansmen would be bred and sub-nests created.

[To think it’s this simple!]

With an idea in mind, Yang Kai immediately began to work, taking a large amount of resources from his Small Universe and injecting them into the Black Ink Pool.

The Black Ink Strength inside the Black Ink Pool tumbled more and more fiercely, and as the vast amount of resources disappeared, the abundant energy was greedily absorbed by the Black Ink Nest.

After a few moments, the walls of the chamber, which were fleshy, seemed to form a tumour. The tumour rapidly grew and the wall suddenly broke open, and a wet, beast-like Black Ink Clansman came out, trembling.

Pa pa…

More tearing sounds rang out as the chamber’s flesh walls soon hatched more than a dozen Black Ink Clansmen of different forms.

Feng Ying felt a stinging chill as she watched all this. Although she knew that the Black Ink Nest gave birth to Black Ink Clansmen, no Human had actually witnessed the process before.

These Black Ink Clansmen were not entirely hatched by Yang Kai. They had not been fully formed before he entered this place, and thus, had not hatched. After Yang Kai injected resources into the Black Ink Pool, their development was accelerated and they managed to hatch.

The newly hatched Black Ink Clansmen were not much of a threat, not even qualified to be cannon fodder, so Feng Ying flicked her longsword and the wave of Sword Qi killed them all on the spot. She then shouted, “Squad Leader!”

Yang Kai opened his eyes and saw the situation around him, and immediately responded, “I’ll change my approach.”

It was his first time trying to create a Black Ink Nest, and he was not sure how to do it, so he accidentally hatched a dozen Black Ink Clansmen.

However, after he made some adjustments, the fleshy tumour wall no longer broke open, and no more Black Ink Clansmen were born. Instead, the entire Black Ink Pool was filled with rich power and stirred more and more.

Feng Ying felt that it was a pity for such a large amount of resources to be sacrificed to the Black Ink Pool.

Blue Sky Pass had only become affluent in the recent several dozen years, after Yang Kai introduced the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors. In the past, cultivation resources were very tight in every Great Pass so they had to save as much as they could, whenever they could.

She was used to living in poverty, so she cringed when she saw Yang Kai throwing away resources in such a manner.

However, she also knew that Yang Kai had his own reasons. If he could get a Black Ink Nest, it would definitely be of great use. The interoperability between the Black Ink Nest and the Black Ink Clan might even allow them to spy on the Black Ink Clan without having to leave their own territory.

It was not certain how many resources were put into the Black Ink Pool, but after a few days, it suddenly trembled as the water swirled. Something was about to emerge from it.

Feng Ying looked over and a few moments later, a small and exquisite Black Ink Nest emerged from the churning water.

At the same time, Yang Kai also eased what he was doing and looked at the little Black Ink Nest that spawned from the Black Ink Pool. He exhaled gently when he realized that his efforts were not in vain.