Martial Peak
chapter-5158

Black Ink Strength possessed an overwhelming corruptive property, especially to the Small Universes of Open Heaven Realm Masters. Once Black Ink Strength invaded one’s Small Universe, there was basically no solution.

Before Yang Kai arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, the Human Race had fought against the Black Ink Clan under these harsh conditions. This was why the Human Race heavily relied on a large number of Warships to provide favourable platforms for cultivators below the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm to fight.

The Seventh-Order Masters, on the other hand, often had to fight the Black Ink Clan in close combat. Not only did they have to resist the attacks of those from the Black Ink Clan, but they also had to constantly resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength. This made it difficult for them to display their full strength.

Just now, the strength of this Feudal Lord had been suppressed by the Purifying Light that was invading his body.

The Black Ink Clan finally had a taste of the same suffering that the Human Race had experienced over the course of countless millennia. The Black Ink Clan had been relying on the Black Ink Strength, but now, the Human Race could rely on Purifying Light.

Instead of killing the Feudal Lord, Yang Kai simply imprisoned him once more. His injuries weren’t serious, so he would be back on his feet with some rest after the remaining Purifying Light had dissipated, allowing Grandmaster Ma Fan to continue experimenting on him.

“The suppression effect is about 30%,” Yang Kai stated his conclusion outside the secret room.

The so-called 30% was how much the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s Purifying Light could suppress the Feudal Lord’s Black Ink Strength.

It was quite a terrifying number. If an ordinary Master were to suddenly lose 30% of their strength in a battle against an evenly-matched opponent, they would almost certainly be doomed. Not to mention that in the same Realm, a Seventh-Order Human was generally stronger than a Feudal Lord to begin with.

It could be foreseen that if the Evil Purging Divine Spear was introduced into the battlefield, the Seventh-Order Masters would be able to slaughter Feudal Lords as easily as slaughtering chickens and dogs.

Nonetheless, the old man was still dissatisfied with these results and slowly shook his head, “There’s still room for improvement. After this thing hits the enemy, the release of the Purifying Light is a bit slow. If a Feudal Lord reacts quickly and pulls it out before the Purifying Light fully erupts, it may not be very effective. Do you have any good suggestions?”

Yang Kai couldn’t help but burst into laughter, “That’s your field of expertise, I’m just assisting you, what advice can possibly I give?”

Grandmaster Ma Fan knew he would say this and was just asking for the sake of asking, “Alright, this Old Master will come up with something.”

Saying so, he turned around and left.

Yang Kai called out from behind, “Grandmaster, two hands are better than one. Why don’t you have a chat with Grandmaster Dong Guo and the others?”

The old man didn’t say anything, so it was hard to tell whether he was listening or not.

In any case, after this experiment, Yang Kai knew that the Evil Purging Divine Spear had basically been successfully completed! It was just that it was far from meeting the criteria for general use on the battlefield.

In the great war between the two races, the people responsible for changing the course of the war were always the small number of top Masters, such as those in the Eighth-Order Masters or Territory Lords, the Old Ancestors and Royal Lords!

Grandmaster Ma Fan refined the Evil Purging Divine Spear not just to deal with Feudal Lords, but also to deal with the Territory Lords!

The Royal Lords were just too strong, so even if the Purifying Light did work on them, no one could guarantee its effect.

There were also far too many Feudal Lords, so it would not be practical to use the Evil Purging Divine Spears on them. Firstly, most Artifact Refiners could not refine them, and secondly, Yang Kai did not have the time, energy, or resources to seal Purifying Light into so many Evil Purging Divine Spears.

As such, the optimal targets were the Territory Lords.

The best steel should be used to make the sharpest blade.

Currently, the Evil Purging Divine Spear was able to suppress 30% of a Feudal Lord’s strength, but that didn’t mean it could do the same against a Territory Lord. However, even if it was only 10% effective, it would be enough to drastically tilt the outcome of a battle.

It was difficult to replicate Blue Sky Pass’s 100-year plan. Several decades ago, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a huge loss outside Blue Sky Pass, with over 30 Territory Lords being killed and a huge chunk of their territory being occupied. Be that as it may, this plan could not be implemented twice. Furthermore, most of the Universe Cave Heavens outside Blue Sky Pass were either damaged or completely destroyed in the battle between the Territory Lords and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, meaning they could no longer be used.

The Human Race urgently needed a new tactic or weapon that could provide them with an edge over the Black Ink Clan, one that was useful not just to Blue Sky Pass, but to all Great Passes. That was the future that the Evil Purging Divine Spear was designed to bring.

If the Purifying Light brought by Yang Kai gave the Human Race the possibility of going on the offence, then the birth of the Evil Purging Divine Spear would turn this possibility into reality. Of course, the prerequisite was that Grandmaster Ma Fan could further improve the spear.

After separating from the old man, Yang Kai returned to Dawn’s station. The last time they had returned from a hunting mission was only two months ago, so there was still a lot of time before they deployed again. Naturally, Yang Kai couldn’t afford to waste any time. He had never slacked off in his cultivation, but the time required to rise from the beginning of the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order was measured in millennia, so there was no time to waste.

Time quickly passed by and several months went by in a flash.

Dawn’s hunting rotation had arrived, so its members exited their retreat and quickly convened. Yang Kai then personally went to the Army Headquarters to report in.

This was a necessary process before executing any mission. The forward base could only coordinate everyone’s efforts if they were in control of the movements of every Squad, so one could not simply leave at will.

Entering Zhong Liang’s office in the Army Headquarters, Yang Kai cupped his fist, “Sir, Dawn requests permission to deploy for a hunting mission.”

Zhong Liang, who was neck-deep in paperwork behind the desk, tossed a jade slip straight to Yang Kai without even raising his head.

Catching the jade slip and reading it, Yang Kai was pretty taken aback and asked, “Sir, isn’t this place a bit too far?”

Recorded in the jade slip was the area that Dawn would be responsible for this time. Every time a Squad came to accept a mission, the Army Headquarters would assign a region of the void to the Squad Leader. After all, every action executed outside the base needed to have a certain order; otherwise, if a bunch of Squads were acting in one area, no one would be responsible for the other areas.

The region Zhong Liang had assigned to the Dawn this time was quite deep into enemy territory, a place Dawn had never been before and one that was quite close to the Black Ink Clan’s territory.

Such a position meant more Military Merits, but it also carried corresponding risks.

Zhong Liang looked up at him and asked, “What’s wrong? Are you afraid?”

Yang Kai immediately became stubborn, “Afraid? My Dawn has earned the greatest amount of Military Merits in the past few decades. We didn’t back down even when we were up against tens of thousands of Black Ink Clansmen, and even returned in triumph. When have we ever been afraid?”

Zhong Liang snorted, “Since you’re not afraid, why are you being so long-winded?”

Yang Kai stated, smiling, “This Junior just wants to know if there is any deeper meaning behind the Army Headquarters’ deployment; after all, no one has ever been sent to this place before.”

Zhong Liang snickered, “What kind of deeper meaning could there be? What nonsense have you been thinking all day? Just because no one has been to this place before doesn’t mean no one will ever go there. In fact, several Squads are carrying out missions there right now. If your Dawn is late, I’m afraid you won’t even get a sip of soup.”

“Which Squads are so reckless?” Yang Kai asked in surprise.

Zhong Liang impatiently rebuked, “What does that have to do with you? Are you going or not? If not, I’ll send another Squad.”

“Alright, we’ll go!” Quickly putting away the jade slip, Yang Kai bowed to Zhong Liang and left.

“This brat is as sharp as ever, did he notice something? Other Squad Leaders didn’t even ask any questions.” Someone suddenly walked out from the shadows and muttered; it was none other than the Southern Army Commander, Liang Yu Long.

Zhong Liang didn’t even bat an eye, “What can he notice? It’s nothing more than curiosity.”

Liang Yu Long asked, “Are you really not going to explain the deployment to them?”

Zhong Liang replied, shaking his head, “No need! To deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies. There is no need to tell them the truth, it’ll be fine.”

Liang Yu Long couldn’t help but worry, “That might be the case, the ones deployed there are all elite Squads, but if something does happen to them, wouldn’t your overall force suffer as a result?”

Zhong Liang leaned back in his chair and indifferently stated, “What’s the point of mourning for them? Life and death are perfectly normal in this damned place. If you can’t accept it, this place is not suitable for you. Moreover, it’s precisely because they’re all elites that we deployed them; otherwise, how could they possibly succeed?”

Liang Yu Long lightly sighed.

Zhong Liang stood up and continued, “The bait has been cast, it all depends on whether the Black Ink Clan takes it or not. I’m afraid a big battle will break out very soon, and only by winning it will the forward base become completely stable. This is a matter of great importance, so we should make all the preparations we can!”

In the void, Dawning Light sailed forward towards the hunting region.

After half a year of rest, the Squad members were all in high spirits and quite enthusiastic for their next mission.

Dawning Light was extremely fast, but as the region they were deployed to was quite far, it still took them 10 days to arrive after leaving the forward base.

There was no fixed requirement for the mission this time, so the Squads assigned here would just search around and kill any Black Ink Clansmen they ran into. As a result, most of the time, there was nothing much to do.

After several dozen years of ‘hunting’, the Black Ink Clan had suffered a great loss of manpower and no longer dared to easily show their faces. Although they were recently showing signs of rising from the ashes, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this was going to be the last counterattack the Black Ink Clan made.

The area where Dawn was deployed for the mission was a place they had never been to before, so there were many enemies here. In fact, they had run into several groups of Black Ink Clansmen in the span of a few days, though their numbers weren’t high. These scattered enemies were completely powerless before Dawn.

Today, while Dawn was searching for more prey, Yang Kai, who was standing on the deck, suddenly turned his head, looking in a certain direction. He carefully sensed for a moment before making a gesture towards that direction.

The Squad member responsible for steering immediately adjusted Dawning Light’s course.

The Squad members also gathered around, performing their respective duties.

Feng Ying stood beside Yang Kai and gazed ahead, “Squad Leader, is something wrong?”

Both might be Seventh-Order Masters and Feng Ying may be just on the verge of breaking through to the Eighth-Order, but when it came to the Divine Senses, she was still lacking compared to Yang Kai. So, while Yang Kai might have discovered something, she might not have been able to detect it.

Yang Kai replied with a slight nod, “Some people should be fighting there.”

Feng Ying understood, “Other Squads?”

“It should be.”

Feng Ying’s expression became somewhat unusual, “Squad Leader, it’s not polite to steal other people’s kills.”

Yang Kai broke into laughter as he gave an excuse, “We’re just going there to watch, we won’t be snatching anything. But, if there’s an opponent they can’t handle, as fellow soldiers of Blue Sky Pass, we should help them, shouldn’t we?”

Feng Ying couldn’t help but sigh.