Martial Peak
chapter-5198

Ou Yang Lie had been carrying Gong Lian all this while, so he immediately noticed the sudden change in his Disciple. Just as he was about to inquire about the situation, he heard Gong Lian sending a Divine Sense transmission to him, “Honoured Master, I suddenly feel a little scared.”

He frowned, “Are you certain?”

Gong Lian nodded solemnly.

Ou Yang Lie’s expression immediately turned serious.

There was no denying that his Disciple had extremely outstanding aptitude as Gong Lian had advanced directly to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Even among the Cave Heavens and Paradises, he was a rare talent with the hope of reaching the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm one day. Why else would Ou Yang Lie value him so much?

What’s more, Gong Lian’s cultivation speed was astoundingly fast. It had been less than 1,000 years since he advanced to the Open Heaven Realm, but he had already reached the peak of the Seventh-Order and was only one step away from the Eighth-Order.

Although his cultivation was one step lower than Ou Yang Lie’s, he had a unique ability, and that was that his perception of danger was much more acute than ordinary people. His perception was not so much a skill as an innate talent; therefore, it was impossible for others to imitate. Gong Lian might not know what triggered it, but he could always predict approaching danger in advance. The greater the crisis he faced, the stronger the perception he experienced.

Similar incidents had occurred in the past and Gong Lian had relied on his innate talent to avoid many dangers along his cultivation path; however, there had never been an incident where his perception of danger had caused him to panic.

Being aware of his Disciple’s innate talent, Ou Yang Lie immediately knew that something was very wrong when Gong Lian trembled in fear and claimed that he was scared. Between the both of them, one of them was in the peak of the Seventh-Order and the other was in the Eighth-Order. Even if they encountered the Black Ink Clan Army, they would be able to escape alive as long as they were not completely surrounded by the enemy.

For that reason, the source of danger that Gong Lian sensed was most likely the Royal Lord! Only the Royal Lord, who was comparable to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Old Ancestor in terms of strength, could frighten him so badly.

Ou Yang Lie did not sense the aura of the Royal Lord, but he did not hold any doubts towards his Disciple’s ability; hence, he immediately sought a hiding spot. It just so happened that there were some asteroids of varying sizes nearby, so he quickly sped towards one and hastily set up a Spirit Array to conceal their auras.

Similarly, Gong Lian stopped being lazy and lent a hand in the preparations.

Thanks to the joint efforts of both Master and Disciple, they completed a Spirit Array in less than half cup of tea’s time. Ou Yang Lie swiftly activated the Spirit Array after they slipped inside without delay.

Almost at the same time, a majestic Will swept past their hiding place and spread out into the distance at a rapid rate. It was immediately followed by a gigantic cloud of darkness that came from the depths of the void and rushed past them, no more than 10,000 kilometres away from their hiding spot.

Ou Yang Lie lowered his eyes and did not look in that direction; then, he stealthily sent a transmission, “What do you see?”

In stark contrast to Ou Yang Lie’s cautious actions, Gong Lian’s current behaviour could only be said to be extremely bold and reckless. Gong Lian squinted his eyes slightly, his gaze slowly becoming slack again as he watched the gigantic figure rushing into Great Evolution Pass.

From beginning to end, the gigantic figure did not show any reaction whatsoever despite being watched so fixedly. This could be said to be another of Gong Lian’s unique abilities. If anybody else were watching that figure, it would have been difficult for them to escape notice even if they were in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm; however, Gong Lian was different as he could practically reduce his presence to the point where he seemingly didn’t exist.

“It’s the Royal Lord!” Gong Lian replied via transmission.

Both Master and Disciple would not have avoided the Royal Lord’s perception if Gong Lian had not warned Ou Yang Lie in time; in fact, they would likely have been exposed immediately. There was no doubt that they would be killed on the spot if they were seen.

“Tsk…” Even though he had already formed a guess in his heart, Ou Yang Lie couldn’t help clicking his tongue in frustration when he heard Gong Lian’s reply and he scolded irritably, “Xiang Shan’s blunder has caused us to miss a great opportunity to win this battle!”

The Royal Lord had come from deep within the Black Ink Clan’s territory; in other words, there was no Royal Lord guarding Great Evolution Pass previously. If the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies under Xiang Shane’s command had arrived just a little sooner and joined forces with the Northern and Southern Armies, they would have been able to retake Great Evolution Pass easily with the additional support of a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Old Ancestor.

Now that the Royal Lord had arrived to guard Great Evolution Pass personally, it would not be easy to retake Great Evolution Pass anymore. Moreover, the Black Ink Clan Army would not be far behind since the Royal Lord had already arrived at Great Evolution Pass.

Sure enough, Black Ink Clan troops were not far from Great Evolution Pass.

Just half a day after the Royal Lord’s arrived at Great Evolution Pass, a Black Ink Clan Army of 20,000 to 30,000 rushed over under the leadership of a Territory Lord. It didn’t take long for many other Territory Lords to arrive in quick succession with their respective troops.

Over the course of three days, Ou Yang Lie watched as dozens of Black Ink Clan Territory Lords arrived with their private armies. At this point, there were as many as 300,000 to 400,000 enemies gathered.

Ou Yang Lie’s expression became solemn as the more prepared the Black Ink Clan was, the harder it would be for the Human Race Army to retake Great Evolution Pass. However, there was still no news about the whereabouts of the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies led by Xiang Shan.

Several days passed, and during that time, more and more Black Ink Clansmen had gathered in Great Evolution Pass. The busy figures of random Black Ink Clansmen could be seen flitting around Great Evolution Pass at all times. They were setting up various deployments inside the walls in preparation to confront the Human Race Army.

Ten days later, Ou Yang Lie and Gong Lian counted almost 800,000 to 900,000 Black Ink Clansmen at Great Evolution Pass. In addition, there were dozens of Territory Lords and even a Royal Lord assuming command. It could be said that the Black Ink Clan’s deployment at Great Evolution Pass practically left it impenetrable to attack.

“Honoured Master, the situation is not looking good for us!” Even Gong Lian, who often spent his time cultivating the Divine Wandering, could see that the current situation was not good for the Human Race.

Ou Yang Lie remained silent with a sullen expression. The communication device he carried with him to contact the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies could be used as long as both parties were within a certain distance of each other; however, there had been no contact even up until now.

[Just what is going on with the Eastern and Western Armies!? Why haven’t they contacted me? Could it be that something has happened to them? But, they have the protection of an Old Ancestor, what can possibly happen to them?] Ou Yang Lie simply could not understand the situation.

At Great Evolution Pass, many Territory Lords had gathered together inside the spacious Grand Hall. There was a throne at the highest position, a hideously shaped one made entirely from bones. Even after countless years, the bones continued to exude monstrous ferocity.

After conquering Great Evolution Pass, the Black Ink Clan had collected the corpses of countless Human Masters and used their bones to create this throne. Only the corpses of those in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm and above were qualified to be used in its construction.

The throne was immeasurably huge, so it was conceivable just how many bones from the Human Masters had been used to build it at the time. At the same time, it was also a glimpse into how many Human Masters had perished in that battle at Great Evolution Pass.

This was the Black Ink Clan’s spoils of war! Despite being placed here all this time, even Hong Di, who was in charge of overseeing Great Evolution Pass, did not have the qualifications to sit on this throne. It was an exclusive throne specifically for the use of the Royal Lord.

At this moment, the Royal Lord was sitting on this throne. Judging from his appearance alone, he was not very different from the Humans. It was just that his body was several times larger, and he had a pair of jet-black wings on his back.

He propped his face up on one hand and narrowed his eyes slightly, listening to the reports from the Territory Lords.

It was mainly Hong Di’s report. Great Evolution Pass was his home territory after all, so he had previously dispatched many Black Ink Clansmen to investigate the surroundings, so he was now reporting the information he obtained in quick succession.

“Several of our squads have gone missing in the direction of Azure Void Pass. Although I’ve sent more people to investigate their disappearance, the investigation did not reveal any clues. We are fairly certain that those Clansmen encountered Humans and were eliminated. The Human Race Army is most likely hiding somewhere there, but I don’t know their exact location. On the other hand, nothing strange has been detected from the direction of Wind and Cloud Pass. All the scouts we dispatched have returned alive. There have been no losses and they did not discover any traces of an Army there. At the moment, over 30 Territory Lords have arrived at Great Evolution Pass with a force of more than 900,000 troops. The defences of Great Evolution Pass deployed over so many years would surely be enough to stop the invasion of the Human Race Army. It’s no big deal if they don’t come, but if they do, they will not leave this place alive.”

The rest of the Territory Lords cheered loudly in response. Most of them had participated in the battle to conquer Great Evolution Pass more than 30,000 years ago.

Back when the Humans still had control over Great Evolution Pass, the Black Ink Clan had suffered greatly every time they attacked the Great Pass as it acted as a huge defensive fortress. As a result, the Humans often won many battles despite their fewer numbers.

The time had finally come for the Humans to have a taste of the helpless feeling that the Black Ink Clan experienced whenever they attacked the Great Passes; thus, the Territory Lords could not wait to see that scene before their very eyes.

Needless to say, 30 Territory Lords and an Army of more than 900,000 troops were not everything that the Black Ink Clan in the Great Evolution Theatre could muster; in fact, that number was merely half of the troops that the Black Ink Clan could immediately mobilise.

It was not that the Black Ink Clan could not muster more troops, it was just that Great Evolution Pass could not accommodate more people despite its enormous size. An Army of 900,000 troops was more or less the limit. If they added any more troops to the mix, those troops would only become a burden instead of a boon.

That was why the Royal Lord had only ordered 30 Territory Lords and the respective Armies to assemble. As for the other Territory Lords, they were on standby and ready to support Great Evolution Pass at any time.

In reality, there should have been close to 100 Territory Lords in the Great Evolution Theatre; however, they had been tasked with providing reinforcements to Wind and Cloud Pass and the Azure Void Pass in recent years. Almost 10 Territory Lords had died in battle on each side, leading to the loss of nearly 20 Territory Lords.

Consequently, there were only some 70 Territory Lord’s left in the Great Evolution Theatre.

This was not a large number; after all, there were reportedly 60 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Division Commanders in the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies alone, with more than 100 Eighth-Order Masters in the entire the Great Evolution Army.

Comparing the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Territory Lords, the Human Race had an absolute advantage. This decision had taken into account the dangers and risks of assaulting the Great Pass. It was impossible to reclaim Great Evolution Pass without an absolute advantage over their enemies.

After Hong Di finished his report, the Royal Lord did not respond for a long time and the Territory Lords did not dare to pester him for a response.

A long while passed before the Royal Lord commanded, “Continue investigating. Try to find a way to learn the exact location of the Human Race Army.”

What he could ascertain at this moment was that the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master came from the direction of Wind and Cloud Pass; in other words, the Human Race Army coming from Azure Void Pass did not have the protection of a Ninth-Order Master.

If he could learn the location of the Human Race Army from Azure Void Pass, then he could take the initiative to attack them. In that way, it would be much easier for him to deal with the Human Race Army from Wind and Cloud Pass.

The Human Race’s decision to split the Army during their march towards Great Evolution Pass would result in their complete defeat. The Black Ink Clan Royal Lord was full of confidence towards this upcoming battle; after all, the situation today was not the same as 30,000 years ago.

“Yes!” Hong Di responded and relayed the orders to his subordinates. It didn’t take long before even more Black Ink Clan squads came out from Great Evolution Pass and split into two directions to investigate and obtain information on the movements of the Human Race Army.