Martial Peak
chapter-5164

The two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were intercepted by Mao Chi and Zhong Yan along the way and were now locked in a fierce battle.

On the other side, the battle near the vicinity of the asteroid where Xiang Shan was breaking through was also raging.

The Wild Boars, Water Snakes, and Old Turtles, these three Special Operations Squads, were rampaging through the void, killing the Black Ink Clan to the point that they were unable to fight back.

It had been several decades since the establishment of the forward base and every Human Squad had been carrying out hunting missions over this period, but none of them had ever been able to kill to their heart’s content like this.

The Black Ink Clan’s harassment and support kept coming unabated, seemingly never-ending. The scattered Black Ink Clansmen emerged from all directions and kept charging towards the asteroid where Xiang Shan was, obviously trying to disrupt his breakthrough at all costs.

Most of the Black Ink Clan forces had been intercepted by the three Special Operations Squads, and even if some of them managed to slip through their net, they were unable to break through Dawn and Breeze’s defences.

At first, not many Black Ink Clansmen were attracted by Xiang Shan’s breakthrough, so the five Special Operations Squads were able to handle everything easily by working together.

But more and more Black Ink Clansmen were drawn in over time. Yang Kai and the others gradually started to feel the pressure, but they still held on.

In order to avoid wasting too much energy, Yang Kai had a brief discussion with the other four Squad Leaders before coming to a decision of guarding Xiang Shan in turns.

No matter what, the five Squads ensured that two would remain at the periphery of the asteroid, preventing the Black Ink Clan from approaching while the other three fought further out at full force.

No one knew how long this situation would last. Perhaps it would be over very soon, or perhaps it would be a drawn-out battle. Everything depended on Xiang Shan’s progress; nonetheless, no one had any thoughts of retreating. Xiang Shan was advancing without any protectors, so if they retreated, he would definitely be doomed.

Although this battle was fierce, compared to the clash between the two Armies at the forward base, it was just a small skirmish.

Over the past few decades, the Human Race Army and the Black Ink Clan Army had been confronting each other across several million kilometres. The Humans had no intention of advancing, and the Black Ink Clan didn’t dare provoke them. The two races had only sent out small teams to harass each other from a distance.

This balance lasted for several decades, with both sides bearing some casualties.

But today, the balance was broken due to the sudden, undeclared war by the Black Ink Clan Army.

The empty space between the forward base and the Black Ink Clan’s temporary camp was instantly filled with the soldiers of the two races, and soon both Armies were locked in a fierce battle. At every moment, someone’s aura would vanish from existence as severed limbs and mangled corpses started piling up everywhere in the void.

Human Warships shuttled back and forth, protected by their respective Seventh-Order Squad members, fighting bravely to cut down the enemy.

On the other hand, the Eighth-Order Masters were locked in combat with the Territory Lords on a separate battlefield.

The forward base was not like Blue Sky Pass, which was a massive Mobile Palace Artifact that had been slowly expanded and enhanced over countless years by the Human soldiers. Relying on the power of Blue Sky Pass and its various offensive and defensive Arrays, the Human Race’s defences were at least twice as effective.

This was also one of the foundations that the Human Race’s entire resistance was based on.

The forward base didn’t have such advantages. Although Blue Sky Pass’ soldiers had installed a number of Arrays at the forward base over the past few decades, none of them were comparable to the ones at the headquarters.

It would be difficult to resist the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Army under normal circumstances.

Fortunately, the Black Ink Clan had suffered heavy casualties in the war a few decades back, and the Humans had not stopped hunting down the Black Ink Clan in recent years. The Black Ink Clan’s casualties were so large now that they were difficult to calculate. As a result, it was not that difficult to deal with the Black Ink Clan forces attacking the forward base.

The Black Ink Clan Army of several hundred thousand might have appeared quite big, but the proportion of their elites couldn’t even be compared to before. Not to mention that the number of Territory Lords was less than half, even the proportion of Feudal Lords was much smaller than in the past. Most of the Black Ink Clan present were only Low and High-Rank Clansmen.

As such, when the soldiers of the forward base were facing the Black Ink Clan Army, not only did they not suffer any disadvantages, they even gained the upper hand.

After several decades, the Human Race had accumulated enough Purifying Black Ink Pills to support a large-scale battle; furthermore, they had even more Artifact Refiners than before, so whenever the damaged Warships returned, the prepared Grandmasters would immediately start repairing them at full speed. If they couldn’t repair them, they would simply provide a new Warship.

With the lessons learned from the previous crusade, the forward base’s logistics support had grown exponentially.

Amassing Purifying Black Ink Pills and building additional Warships was of paramount importance.

Blue Sky Pass had decided to refine a large number of Squad Rank Warships, with the goal being to have at least one spare Warship for each Squad so as to enhance the staying power of the Armies and prevent any more incidents like the ones during the last crusade from happening. In the last war, many Warships became too damaged and lost all combat effectiveness, requiring them to be scrapped and for the Squads using them to withdraw from the frontlines.

200 years ago, Blue Sky Pass did not have the capacity to carry out such a plan.

The refining of each Warship required a massive amount of resources, and in the past, Blue Sky Pass didn’t have the necessary foundation to make spares, but now it was different. Resources could no longer impede Blue Sky Pass’ development. Not to mention that Blue Sky Pass had accumulated a massive amount of resources using the Void Yin-Yang Mirrors, if they were to win this most recent war, they would be able to completely occupy a large portion of the Black Ink Clan’s former territory. At that time, it would be an easy task to mine all the resources they needed. There were so many dead universe worlds in the void that the resources could essentially be considered endless.

Any war between two large Armies would take time, and victory and defeat could not be determined in a short period. It would be a long while before a conclusion was reached.

A few days later, two Warships stood side by side in the periphery of the asteroid where Xiang Shan was breaking through, with more than 10 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realms scattered around, vigilantly observing their surroundings.

Everyone, whether it was the scattered Seventh-Order Masters or the Fifth and Sixth-Order Humans aboard the Warships, was taking advantage of this short respite to swallow Spirit Pills and recover some strength.

After several days of fierce fighting, the several hundred members of the five elite Squads had all consumed a great deal of energy. In the face of Black Ink Clan’s continuous assault, they had to use every opportunity they received to recover.

Yang Kai was among these people.

Dawn had already finished their third combat rotation, so this time, they had returned along with the Water Snake Squad for guard duty.

While adjusting his breathing, the Water Snake Squad Leader, Dongfang Wen Bing, suddenly asked via voice Divine Sense, “Brother Yang, did you notice?”

Yang Kai’s expression remained unchanged as he replied, “The Black Ink Clan’s attack seems to be employing some sort of strategy.”

“So Brother Yang has noticed too.”

“Indeed. Initially, the Black Ink Clan was attacking in a disorderly manner, but for the last two days, something changed. Although the difference is subtle, it is still obvious when everything is taken into account.”

“That’s right, there seems to be a Master guiding them from behind,” Dongfang Wen Bing grinned.

“How strong a Master do you suspect?”

“Someone as high as a Territory Lord?”

“Great minds think alike!” Yang Kai lightly nodded his acknowledgement. In fact, he had been searching for this Black Ink Clan Master hiding behind the scenes this whole time. Unfortunately, he failed to pinpoint their location. If there really was a Territory Lord hiding nearby, it would be difficult for him to discover them amid the raging battle in the void as the chaotic energy fluctuations propagating everywhere could completely obscure a concealed aura. On top of that, he was only a Seventh-Order Master, so trying to find a hidden Territory Lord was naturally not easy.

Dongfang Wen Bing’s smile cramped, “I was just speaking randomly. Could it be that there really is a Territory Lord here?”

“En,” Yang Kai solemnly stated, “It’s quite possible.”

Dongfang Wen Bing went slacked-jaw at this revelation, “Brother Yang, don’t try to scare me. You have mastered the Dao of Space, so you can escape from a Territory Lord if one appears, but we can’t. Besides, if there really is a Territory Lord, why would he hide in the shadows and not show up? Why would he just keep sending these trash to their deaths?”

“Perhaps… they think we have laid some kind of ambush here? I think they are sending cannon fodder to probe us. There’s a saying that the older one grows, the more timid they become. These Territory Lords have suffered quite a bit at the hands of the Eighth-Order Masters recently, so they’ve become overcautious and indecisive.”

“What ambush could we have laid here!?” Dongfang Wen Bing’s head hurt as he listened to Yang Kai’s speculation. He then looked around, as if afraid that a Territory Lord would emerge out of thin air all of a sudden.

“We know that, but the Territory Lords don’t, so they are probing us.”

Dongfang Wen Bing grimly asked, “Brother Yang, are you serious?”

Yang Kai didn’t justify it with an answer and simply continued, “Whether it’s true or not, we’ll know after seeing the changes in the situation. It won’t be long.”

Dongfang Wen Bing couldn’t help but cluck his tongue, “Why is Senior Xiang’s advancement not progressing? The sooner he breaks through, the sooner we’ll be able to escape this abyss of suffering.”

As Dongfang Wen Bing mentioned, Xiang Shan’s advancement had not made much progress. Although his aura was circulating methodically and showing no signs of collapsing, there were no signs of progressing either. It was not as troublesome for a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to reach the Eighth-Order as it was for a Sixth-Order Master to reach the Seventh-Order as advancing from the Sixth-Order to the Seventh-Order was a watershed moment. Under normal circumstances, this kind of advancement would take from a few months to a few years or even more than a decade. The time one would take would depend on various conditions.

This was also why Zhong Liang and the others were so shocked when Yang Kai broke through to the Seventh Order in a matter of days.

However, Yang Kai was an exception as his Small Universe had already fully materialised when he was in the Sixth Order, so he did not need to go through this transformation.

Advancing from the Seventh Order to the Eighth Order was only an increase in Order and not a transformation of the Small Universe. Although the increase in strength was enormous, it was not a fundamental change.

If everything went smoothly, Xiang Shan should have succeeded in a short time.

The time Xiang Shan had spent wasn’t long, but it wasn’t short either, and judging by the current situation, it seemed that he required even more time.

Perhaps this had something to do with the fact that his Order had once regressed. For an Open Heaven Realm Master, it would be even more difficult to progress once their Order had fallen once. However, at the end of the day, Xiang Shan had already walked this path once, so he had more experience than an ordinary Seventh-Order Master. As long as he could find an opportunity, everything should be simple.

Therefore, it was quite possible for Xiang Shan to advance to the Eighth Order in the next instant, but it was also possible that it could take him ten days, half a month, several months, or even half a year…

No one could say for sure.

While the two were recuperating and chatting, they also killed the scattered Black Ink Clansmen who had slipped through the outer perimeter. Meanwhile, on a Feudal Lord’s territory, not far from this place, two Territory Lords were observing the situation.

These two were Wu Jiang and Hong Hu. Like Mao Chi and Zhong Yan, who were responsible for intercepting the two Eighth-Order Division Commanders, they had immediately rushed over to oversee things here after receiving the news.

Although the distance between them wasn’t far, it was not close either. Even with their eyesight, the two Territory Lords couldn’t clearly see what was happening around the asteroid.

Be that as it may, the casualties and incompetence of the lower Black Ink Clansmen were not hidden from them, making them greatly dissatisfied with the Black Ink Clan’s performance.