Martial Peak
chapter-5181

“All Great Passes will contribute to this mission to recover the Great Evolution Pass. Blue Sky Pass will probably deploy about 500 people, with Senior Brother Xiang leading the team. So, when you get there, you cannot act without Senior Brother Xiang’s order!” Ding Yao looked at Yang Kai with a serious face.

Yang Kai accepted the order, “Understood!” Then, he asked, “When will we be leaving?”

Ding Yao answered, “It won’t be a long wait, within a few months at most.”

Shen Tu Mo added, “I am telling you this today because I want you to be prepared; otherwise, you will be confused when you get there. On the other hand, Dawn doesn’t have enough members, so the Inner Sanctum has chosen a ten-person Squad to join Dawn. They will be heading over for the transition within these few days.”

“Yes, sir!”

“You can head back and make the necessary preparations,” Shen Tu Mo waved his hand.

Yang Kai cupped his fist and left.

After leaving the Army Headquarters, Yang Kai breathed in a light breath to calm his excitement. The Humans were going to recover Great Evolution Pass. After countless years of defending against the Black Ink Clan, Blue Sky Pass’ initial crusade could be said to be a small step forward for the Humans, while taking back Great Evolution Pass was like a big step forward.

Once Great Evolution Pass was retaken, the real crusade would not be too far away. By then, there would be a world-shaking battle to the death between the two races in this huge and vast Black Ink Battlefield, and no one could predict what the final result would be. On this vast battlefield, a single Human’s strength was too weak to matter, and Yang Kai was a mere Seventh-Order Master. Even an Old Ancestor could only affect the situation of their own designated Theatre, not the entire situation of the war.

The only thing Yang Kai could do now was prepare himself for the upcoming campaign.

After returning to his home, he entered retreat and began cultivating to improve his Small Universe’s heritage as much as possible.

A few days later, two Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, Ren Bing Bai and Yu Zi You, came for a visit. They were the Squad Leader and Vice Squad Leader of a ten-man Squad and were both veterans who had been on the Black Ink Battlefield for at least 2,000 years, killing countless enemies and earning a lot of Merits.

Because they were about to embark on a campaign to recover Great Evolution Pass, Dawn naturally needed to be as strong as possible; however, since the establishment of Dawn, the Squad had never filled its ranks, so after some consideration, Ding Yao took the initiative to choose a ten-member Squad to fill in the vacancies and increase Dawn’s strength.

The team led by Ren Bing Bai and Yu Zi You were the lucky Squad.

The two were not repulsed by this order and were even a bit happy. This couldn’t be helped, as every ordinary Squad’s desire was to develop their Squad to become an elite Squad with grand accomplishments. Unfortunately, there were only five Special Operations Squads here in Blue Sky Pass, so if the others wanted to be promoted, they had to perform exceptionally well and play a decisive role in battle; otherwise, promotion was impossible.

The creation of Dawn was also because Yang Kai was too important for Blue Sky Pass, which was why the Army Commanders granted a special exception. Of course, the Military Merits Dawn earned after its establishment did live up to its title as a Special Operations Squad. They even outshined the other four elite Squads.

Although Ren Bing Bai and Yu Zi You’s Squad was quite strong and had earned a lot of Military Merits in its time, their capabilities were still far from being able to be promoted.

So, when they were suddenly ordered to join Dawn, they were a bit confused, but were still happy to report to Yang Kai.

In every war it participated in, Dawn would rank first in the War Materials Hall in terms of Military Merits. More importantly, Dawn still had vacancies.

Many cultivators wanted to join Dawn and fight as part of the Squad, but unfortunately, Yang Kai, the Squad Leader, never intended to recruit new members over the years.

Ren Bing Bai and Yu Zi You did not expect that a sudden transfer order from the higher-ups would allow them to fulfil this wish.

In the courtyard, Yang Kai gave the two Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters a warm welcome. Although they had never met each other before, they were comrades who fought together on the Black Ink Battlefield, so there was no estrangement between them when talking about killing the Black Ink Clan and restoring peace. After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became very lively.

During that time, the two Seventh-Order Masters had asked about the reason behind the transfer order given by the higher-ups, but Yang Kai dodged the question.

The matters Ding Yao and Shen Tu Mo told him about had to be kept confidential for the time being. Although these secrets would soon be revealed during the battle to recover Great Evolution Pass, Yang Kai still couldn’t say anything in this situation. At least, the announcement shouldn’t be coming from him.

After a while of chatting, both the host and guests were having a good time.

With the addition of Ren Bing Bai and Yu Zi You’s ten-person Squad, the number of Dawn team members instantly increased to forty-seven. Though it wasn’t completely full, it was not far off and there were as many as 8 Seventh-Order Masters in the Squad.

As time passed, some rumours gradually spread within Blue Sky Pass. No one knew where those rumours came from, but all the soldiers who were transferred back to the Inner Sanctum were soon vaguely aware of the news that the Humans were going to take back Great Evolution Pass.

Everyone was so excited that they could barely wait for that battle to start!

Several months later, it was finally time.

A message was sent to all the members of Dawn. Once they had all assembled, they were led by Yang Kai to Blue Sky Pass Main Square, where Squads of varying numbers had gathered from all directions of the Inner Sanctum.

By the time Yang Kai arrived with Dawn, hundreds of people had already assembled and more were on their way.

In less than a half cup of tea’s time, about 500 people had gathered at the square, which was the number Ding Yao had revealed to Yang Kai earlier.

Despite the large number of people, the square was silent. Under the calm exterior though was suppressed excitement.

Chai Fang, the Old Turtle’s Squad Leader, was standing not far from Yang Kai while squinting at him to attract his attention. Chai Feng said, “Brother Yang, judging from this situation, it seems like the rumours about recovering Great Evolution Pass might be true.”

When the news of recovering the Great Pass began spreading around the Inner Sanctum, Chai Fang also came to Yang Kai to discuss this matter with him, but Yang Kai didn’t dare to reveal anything and pretended not to know about it when talking to Chai Feng.

However, everyone knew that without the tacit approval from the higher-ups, the news wouldn’t have spread throughout the Inner Sanctum; therefore, Chai Feng had expected it to be more than 80% true back then, and now it seemed like he was right.

After realising that, Chai Fang felt very excited. Since the battle 200 years ago, the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass had been bored and idle. It was unbearable for them not to kill any enemies for 200 years, but now they could finally kill as many enemies as they could during this campaign to recover Great Evolution Pass.

“I think you’re right,” Yang Kai replied.

Then, Chai Fang added, “For more than 30,000 years, Great Evolution Pass has been occupied by the Black Ink Clan, resulting in a lot of pressure on the Great Passes to the left and right of the Great Evolution Theatre. If we can take back Great Evolution Pass, the pressure on those two Great Passes will be greatly reduced.”

Every Great Pass had a corresponding Theatre, so when Great Evolution Pass fell, all the Black Ink Clan in that Theatre would naturally be free of constraints and would have extra manpower to reinforce their fellow clansmen in the two neighbouring Theatres. Although the efficiency of their reinforcements wasn’t high due to the distance, they were still able to make the two Great Passes suffer a lot of hardships throughout the years.

In comparison to the other Great Passes, the two Great Passes adjacent to Great Evolution Pass also had more troops.

For example, there were about 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers in Blue Sky Pass, which was the same for most of the Human Great Passes. Even if there were Passes with over 40,000 soldiers, it still wouldn’t exceed that number by much.

But for those two Great Passes, they had more than 50,000 soldiers each. Otherwise, they would not be able to resist the Black Ink Clan’s attack because each of them needed to deal with an enemy with numbers equivalent to one and a half Theatres.

Chai Fang added, “Blue Sky Pass alone is sending out 500 troops. If every Great Pass dispatches a similar amount, wouldn’t we have gathered an army of 50,000 soldiers? Adding on the reinforcements sent from the two Great Passes themselves, *tsk* seems like the higher-ups are really determined to get back Great Evolution Pass.”

With a smile, Yang Kai elaborated, “Since we’ve decided to take it back, the higher-ups must have gone through a lot of consideration. Blue Sky Pass is a special case though, and deploying 500 people is not much of a burden for us, but the other Great Passes might not be able to send so many people.”

Because the war at Blue Sky Pass had entered a lull, it wouldn’t affect them too much if they sent out more soldiers; however, the other Great Passes didn’t have the same advantages as Blue Sky Pass, and although 500 people didn’t sound like much, it was equivalent to the strength of several Battalions.

While the two of them were communicating secretly, a sudden stream of light came from Eastern Army Headquarters and appeared before them in the blink of an eye.

The light dispersed and revealed the figures of 10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters led by Xiang Shan and Ding Yao.

Yang Kai saw that among these Eighth-Order Masters was Grandmaster Ma Fan. It seemed like Ding Yao and Shen Tu Mo had finally given in to the old man’s stubbornness.

Then, in front of everyone’s eyes, Xiang Shan took a step forward with his hands behind his back, looked around, and opened his mouth to speak, “Recently, there have been some rumours circulating in the Inner Sanctum, and I think you all have heard them, so today, I am here to tell you all that the matter of taking back Great Evolution Pass is true.”

Even though everyone standing here had guessed this already and was almost certain about it, there was still an uproar when Xiang Shan formally announced it.

Ignoring the excitement of the soldiers, Xiang Shan continued, “Since the fall of Great Evolution Pass more than 30,000 years ago, it has been under the control of the Black Ink Clan, and the strong defence line built by the Ancient Masters has become vulnerable. The Black Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass even dared to venture forward and challenge the No-Return Pass. That is a humiliation to the entire Human Race!”

“For 30,000 years, we have been trying to recover Great Evolution Pass, but the situation here on the Black Ink Battlefield was horrendous and each Great Pass couldn’t afford to divide our forces, even if we wanted to. Now that 30,000 years have passed, after generations of hard work and effort, the chance has finally come. I can’t comment on the rights and wrongs of my ancestors, but as one of their descendants, I have only one goal.”

“To reclaim Great Evolution Pass!”

“Today, all 500 of you will join me on this endeavour, and whether we face life or death in the days to come, we will not embarrass the Human Race’s prestige. We will not forget the efforts of our forefathers and their original intentions. The enemy stands before us, so let us prepare for battle!”

“For victory!”

“Victory!” The crowd roared in excitement, and their shouts echoed across the sky.

With a slight nod, Xiang Shan suddenly waved his hand, and dozens of streams of light scattered to all parts of the crowd. The streams of light hovered in front of each Squad Leader level Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and in the streams of light was a Space Ring.

“Squad Leaders, please take care of your own supplies. There are Purifying Black Ink Pills and a spare warship inside each Space Ring. You will distribute those pills accordingly when the time comes.”

“Yes, sir!” The Squad Leaders all responded.

Xiang Shan nodded his head again and ordered, “Move out!”