Martial Peak
chapter-5216

There were still Humans who stumbled out of the battlefield every now and then. Some came out alone, while others came in groups of two or three. All of them had one thing in common though, they were covered in blood and their auras were weak.

Attracted by the auras of Yang Kai and the others, these scattered, weakened soldiers soon gathered together and found a place to rest and recover.

As soon as Yang Kai had stabilized his condition, he rushed back into the Black Ink Clouds.

There were countless living beings within his Small Universe, including a World Tree clone, which was why his World Force recovered far quicker than others. The heritage of his Small Universe also continued to increase even without the need for him to actively cultivate.

The Black Ink Clouds were still looming over the battlefield, and while both of the Armies were gone, there could still be Human survivors.

Perhaps some of these Human soldiers still had a bit of vitality left to them but could not move due to the grave injuries they suffered. They would die if no one helped them.

Thus, Yang Kai decided to go and take a look.

The battlefield spanned over 10 million kilometres, so it took Yang Kai some time to scan the area for life auras.

He did end up finding some; however, these mostly came from heavily injured Black Ink Clansmen who were on the brink of death.

Yang Kai did not show any mercy, dispatching these survivors with swiftness and precision.

He carried on searching for two hours.

When Yang Kai emerged from the battlefield, he had a female Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with him.

He did not know her name, but by the time he found her, she was already unconscious. She had climbed on top of the wreckage of a Warship and was covered in wounds, so much so that her clothes were soaked in fresh blood.

Apart from this female Seventh-Order Master, Yang Kai had only spotted numerous dead bodies belonging to other Humans, along with the scattered remnants of Black Ink Clan.

The vast battlefield looked like the depths of hell.

This woman was the only survivor he found.

Yang Kai had joined the Black Ink Battlefield for hundreds of years now. He had started out as Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and was now in the Seventh-Order. Throughout all those years, he had been to numerous Theatres and taken part in countless battles, both small and large. However, none of his past battles had ever been as tough and fearsome as this one.

This could be chalked down to the fact that the Great Evolution Army had to travel so far away without anything they could rely on for help.

The situation was different from all the other battles near the various Great Passes. In the Great Evolution Theatre, the Human Race Army did not have any backup or safe harbour. Even if they were injured, they did not have a secure place to recover and tend to their wounds. The only thing they could do was win their battles so that they could continue working towards the ultimate goal of reclaiming Great Evolution Pass.

It was clear that the battle today would be repeated again and again in the future. How many more Humans were going to sacrifice their lives here in the Great Evolution Theatre in order to achieve victory?

When Yang Kai brought the woman back to where the other Humans were gathered, they glanced at him and nodded lightly without saying anything.

There were less than 30 of them gathered here to recuperate. It did not mean that less than 30 Humans had lost their ability to fight after the battle earlier. These were merely the ones who were too wounded to keep up with the rest of the Human Army which was pursuing the Black Ink Clan.

Most of the other soldiers had joined the rest of the Army despite their injuries.

After setting the woman down beside him, Yang Kai once again sat down cross-legged and adjusted his breathing.

However, at the very next moment, he opened his eyes and stared at the battlefield. He detected an unusual movement over there.

He had searched the battlefield for two hours and did not find anything noteworthy, apart from the female Seventh-Order Master who was still alive. Where were these unusual fluctuations coming from?

Just as Yang Kai pondered in confusion, the movements became even clearer. It was the result of a trace of vitality that was in rapid recovery. The vitality was strong and its recovery accelerated.

A strong aura suddenly emanated from the battlefield.

Yang Kai’s expression turned grim at once. He leaped to his feet as his Divine Sense blasted forth a message, “Use the Universe Transference Law and return to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, now!”

There were over 30 Open Heaven Realm Masters who also sensed the recovering vitality before Yang Kai said anything. They had been staring puzzledly at the battlefield, but upon hearing Yang Kai’s words, their expressions hardened as they realised the severity of the situation.

No one hesitated. Everyone jumped into action and used the Universe Transference Law.

Two hours of restoration was not enough for these heavily injured cultivators to heal completely, but it was enough time to let them regain the strength to cast this Secret Technique, which did not require too much of it.

The light of an Array glowed beneath all of their feet as they cast the Universe Transference Law and they connected with the Universe Array on the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.

In just a few breaths of time, everyone would be able to rely on the Universe Transference Law to teleport back to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.

Just then, as everyone focused on the commotion caused by the Universe Transference Law, a strong Divine Sense swept out from the recovering vitality on the battlefield.

Yang Kai turned pale.

That which he had been most concerned about became reality.

Earlier on, even though he sensed that the vitality was a powerful one, he could not confirm what cultivation this individual had. Just to be safe, he immediately ordered everyone to evacuate; however, now that this person’s Divine Sense burst forth, Yang Kai could instantly tell what cultivation they had.

The recovering vitality from the battlefield belonged to someone in the Eighth Order!

Yang Kai was fairly certain that the cultivator was not an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master from the North-South Army, so there was a high chance that it was an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

Although he did not know whether any of the North-South Army’s Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters died in battle, he knew that even if they did, if their bodies were still intact, the other Eighth-Order Masters would not leave them just lying around. They would surely take the body back with them.

Only Territory Lords ignored the bodies of the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples who died.

[There’s still an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple on the battlefield!] No one had seen this coming.

Yang Kai had not noticed anything when he searched the battlefield earlier. From the looks of it now, this Eighth-Order Master most likely cultivated some sort of Secret Technique that allowed him to fake his death; otherwise, he would not have escaped the notice of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders when they searched the battlefield.

The Human Army had left, and the remaining 30-odd Humans were weak and injured. Now that they were confronted with an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple, things did not look good for them

Yang Kai’s heart caught in his throat.

One breath; two breaths; three breaths of time passed…

The light from the 30-plus Arrays grew brighter.

After the third breath of time, some of the lights flared up like an explosion, and the silhouette inside that light was enveloped around instantly disappeared.

Three of them were gone.

By the fourth breath of time, even more of them had left.

However, there were still over a dozen of them remaining.

The Universe Transference Law was incredibly useful, but it had its pros and cons.

By using the Universe Transference Law, Humans could swiftly return to nearby Universe Array, in this case, the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, but the distance and the user’s cultivation both affected the time it took for the teleportation to be initiated.

In summary, the higher the person’s cultivation and the closer the Universe Array, the shorter time it took for the Universe Transference Law to take effect.

The three Humans who left after the third breath were all in the Seventh Order.

As for the dozen or so ones who left at the fourth breath, they were all in the Sixth Order. Their cultivation was slightly lower than the previous ones, so they left a little later.

The remaining ones were mostly those in the Fifth-Order, with a couple of Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters among them. They had the lowest cultivation and thus took the longest to be transported.

Under the usual circumstances, when Humans used the Universe Transference Law, they would do their best to ensure that the process would not be disrupted as any disturbance would result in the failure to be transported.

However, this crisis came upon them too suddenly. By the time they sensed that things were not looking good for them, they could only try to leave as quickly as possible without being able to care about anything else.

Two more breaths of time passed, and just as the remaining Humans were about to leave, a figure emerged from the battlefield and charged towards them.

Although the figure was still some distance away, a burst of World Force in the shape of a wispy hand grabbed at them.

Affected by the powerful force, the Arrays beneath the dozen or so remaining Humans began to shift and contort.

If the enormous hand managed to catch them, even if the Humans did not die, they would still fail to teleport away. If that happened, then a group of Fifth and Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters would be left to face off against an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple. They had no hope of surviving the encounter.

Yang Kai had been on high alert all along, so as soon as he noticed what was happening, he roared and leapt forward with his spear.

The spear soared towards the hand, and at the same time, Space Principles flared madly.

As the spear shadows dissipated, the enormous hand enclosed Yang Kai within its grasp; however, at that very next moment, Yang Kai’s silhouette burst back out of the hand. Enveloped by the radiance of his spear, his body swiftly returned to where he had been earlier.

At last, flashes of light engulfed the remaining Humans. Thanks to the time that Yang Kai had bought for them, the dozen or so Fifth and Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters managed to leave safely.

As they left, every single one of them stared at Yang Kai with shocked and worried expressions.

They knew that had it not been for Yang Kai’s interference, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple would have managed to keep them here. Yet, now that they were all gone, Yang Kai was left all by himself. How could he fight against an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple?

If they had known that this would happen, they would have chosen to remain behind and join forces to battle against the Black Ink Disciple. Even though all 30 or so of them were weakened and injured, they would still be able to put up a fight if they fought together.

Still, there was no point in dwelling on this now. When they noticed that the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s vitality was recovering, they all decided to leave. No one would have expected the Black Ink Disciple to recover so quickly.

In the silence of the void, Yang Kai raised his Azure Dragon Spear and watched as the figure emerged from the battlefield.

It was indeed an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

He was shrouded in Black Ink Strength and had a large mass growing out of his shoulder that made him appear as if he had two heads. The inky black strength within the mass was surging with great ferocity.

The fact that Yang Kai had managed to interrupt his attack and render it useless made him visibly furious. He glared darkly at Yang Kai and murderous intent swirled in his eyes, “You saved everyone else, but can you save yourself?”

“I won’t know until I try,” Yang Kai responded coolly.

While speaking, he secretly consumed a World Fruit.

Although some of his strength had been restored, he had to ensure that he was in his best condition in order to face off against an Eighth-Order Master.

Though, this Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple… did not seem to be all that powerful…