Martial Peak
chapter-5220

Yang Kai’s nearly dried-up Small Universe slowly began to restore its strength, but the progress was akin to water trickling into a bottomless well; thus, he mustered the energy to stuff a pill into his mouth to speed up the process.

The very next moment, he leaped to his feet and warily observed the surroundings.

He sensed the aura of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master somewhere out there, and it was swiftly approaching.

However, after realising which direction the aura was coming from, Yang Kai sighed in relief. The aura was coming from the direction of Great Evolution Pass, and if his guess was correct, the source was one of the North-South Army’s Eighth-Order Division Commanders.

From the looks of it, the 30 or so Humans who returned to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship via the Universe Array must have reported the news to the higher-ups. As a result, the North-South Army swiftly dispatched one of the Eighth-Order Masters to check on the situation.

Sure enough, just moments later, a short and slender Eighth-Order Open Heaven Master appeared in front of Yang Kai with a grim expression. He studied Yang Kai for a moment and was secretly shocked by the severity of his wounds. Although he did not know what happened earlier, from the state that Yang Kai was in now, he knew enough to tell that Yang Kai had just fought a desperate life-or-death battle.

After looking around and noticing that Yang Kai was alone, he asked, “This Old Master is Cha Pu, Northern Army, 4th Division Commander. I am here on a rescue mission under the orders of the Army Commander. Are you Yang Kai?”

“I am,” Yang Kai nodded.

“Where’s the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple?”

“Dead.”

“You killed him?” Cha Pu was visibly taken aback.

“That Black Ink Disciple was heavily injured and lost most of his combat ability. This Junior was fortunate enough to eke out a victory,” Yang Kai answered.

Cha Pu nodded lightly without asking further, “In that case, come with me. We’ll reconvene with the rest of the Army,” He did not ask Yang Kai how the latter managed to kill an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple. Even if the Black Ink Disciple was gravely injured, he was still an Eighth-Order Master.

However, since Yang Kai was still standing here and that Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple was missing, it meant that Yang Kai did emerge victorious, so there was no reason to continue probing.

“Please wait, Sir. There’s still one more person,” Yang Kai said as his figure flickered and disappeared all of a sudden.

Cha Pu raised his brow, “Space Principles!”

Naturally, Yang Kai left to find the female Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master he had pushed out into the depths of the void earlier. He was in no position to take care of anyone else while engaged in a battle against an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple, so he had no choice but to send her far away before the fight began.

When he sent her away though, Yang Kai left a Space Beacon with her, so it was easy enough for him to locate her.

With a ripple of the Space Principles, he emerged beside the unconscious woman.

Yang Kai was slightly heartened to find that she was not harmed by the fight between him and the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple. She was still unconscious and drifting through the void due to the force he exerted earlier.

He caught her and swiftly returned.

Soon, he was back with Cha Pu.

“You did well,” Cha Pu praised, “Do you have the strength left to trigger the Universe Transference Law?”

“Yes, I do,” Yang Kai replied with a smile.

“Excellent. Do it and return to the Army’s Purifying Black Ink Battleship,” Cha Pu took the woman from Yang Kai and placed her inside his Small Universe.

He then waited until Yang Kai had successfully left with the Universe Transference Law before using it himself.

Once the two of them walked out of the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s Universe Array and stepped foot on the deck, Yang Kai immediately sensed the constant fluctuation of unrelenting forces some distance away. It seemed as if life auras were being extinguished with every breath.

It seemed the North-South Army was still pursuing the Black Ink Clan Army which was fleeing back to Great Evolution Pass. From the way the situation looked now, the two Armies had been clashing for quite some time.

Mi Jing Lun was standing on the deck of the ship and staring off into the distance with a pair of gleaming eyes.

Upon noticing someone’s approach, Mi Jing Lun turned around and heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Yang Kai was alive and well, albeit looking extremely miserable and exhausted.

The lower-order cultivators might not know of Yang Kai’s importance, but as an Army Commander, Mi Jing Lun was fully aware of the situation.

Although Yang Kai was merely in the Seventh Order, his presence had a direct correlation with the speed at which the Old Ancestor’s strength could be restored. In this campaign to reclaim Great Evolution Pass, the Old Ancestor had specifically requested for Yang Kai to come along with them in order to take advantage of his Small Universe to rapidly recover from her injuries.

If a sudden misfortune fell upon Yang Kai, the Old Ancestor would lose an important source of support. Would that not multiply the difficulty of reclaiming Great Evolution Pass?

Earlier on, Mi Jing Lun instructed Yang Kai to stay back and recover because he did not want Yang Kai to join the subsequent fight and endanger himself. How could he have known that there was an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple who had survived by faking his death back at the initial battlefield?

Mi Jing Lun had nearly jumped up in fright when he heard the news and had immediately sent Cha Pu over to rescue Yang Kai.

Thankfully, Yang Kai was safe.

Cha Pu came over to Mi Jing Lun and used his Divine Sense to give a summarised report of what he knew.

Mi Jing Lun’s expression became a little peculiar as he nodded lightly.

Cha Pu brought out the female Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master that he had placed inside his Small Universe and passed her to one of the nearby soldiers before he jumped back into the battlefield.

“You don’t need to join the rest of the fight. Just rest and tend to your injuries.” Mi Jing Lun eyed Yang Kai and added, “The sword wounds are going to be a little trickier to tackle. Remember to clear out the Sword Qi and Sword Intent when you tend to them.”

“Junior understands,” Yang Kai nodded and looked out into the distance. Although the battle was fierce, he could not tell what the situation was like for the two Armies, so he had to ask, “How are things going, Sir?”

Mi Jing Lun smiled faintly, “Reasonably well.”

“Can we take them all down?” Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.

Mi Jing Lun shook his head, “That’s going to be a little tough. They still have quite a number of Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples among them. It’ll be hard for us to wipe them out.”

No one expected to find so many High-Order Black Ink Disciples here at the Great Evolution Theatre. That being said, Great Evolution Pass had been lost for 30,000 years, so it was obvious that the large number of Black Ink Disciples who had been corrupted all those years ago had enough time to grow in strength. No one knew what the situation would be like here, and now that they finally noticed this after going up against the Black Ink Clan, it was too late.

“If the Black Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass don’t come over to rescue them, then it’s still possible for us to take them all down, but if they do send reinforcements, then we’ll just have to avoid the clash for now.”

The Black Ink Clan Army had acted quite strategically. When their commander realised that things were looking bad for them, he immediately ordered a retreat to Great Evolution Pass. Clearly, he wanted to rely on the strength of the Black Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass to hold the North-South Army back. If fresh enemy troops came over to help, the North-South Army would be forced to back away.

After observing the battle from the deck for a little longer, Yang Kai bowed and took his leave, “This Junior will go and tend to the injuries now.”

“Go ahead,” Mi Jing Lun waved him off.

Someone led the way and helped him settle down in one of the rooms aboard the Purifying Black Ink Battleship.

The room had been reinforced with numerous Spirit Arrays that blocked out everything, so Yang Kai could tend to his injuries in peace.

His impressive restorative powers were now serving their ultimate function. In just a few days, Yang Kai had pretty much recovered from his injuries and cleared out all the Sword Intent and Sword Qi that had wreaked havoc within his wounds. All that was left now was for him to slowly continue restoring his depleted strength.

As such, Yang Kai did not continue tending to his injuries and opened the door and left.

All was quiet, with no discernable energy fluctuations nearby, nor any sound of battle. From the looks of it, the battle had come to an end at last, though he had no idea what the outcome was.

After figuring out the right direction, Yang Kai left his room and headed for the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s conference hall.

Along the way, he heard someone calling out to him. He turned to look and spotted a familiar face.

It was the Seventh-Order Squad Leader of the Profound Wind Squad.

“How are your injuries, Brother Yang?” The Squad Leader queried in concern.

“I’ve almost fully recovered now,” Yang Kai said.

The Profound Wind Squad Leader nodded and said, “That’s good. I heard that you stood guard at the battlefield when the rest of the Army left and encountered an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple who survived by faking his death. We were so worried about you. Later on, we heard that Martial Uncle Cha personally went over to bring you back.”

During the earlier fight on the battlefield, the Profound Wind Squad and Snow Wolves Squad, two Special Operations Squads, had worked closely with Yang Kai. Yang Kai took the lead, and the two Squads stuck close by him as they snaked through the battlefield slaughtering their enemies.

They had fought side-by-side and forged a connection through that. Furthermore, the strength of the heritage that Yang Kai exhibited on the battlefield left both Special Operations Squads deeply in awe of him.

Thus, despite this being only their second meeting, neither of the two men felt like they were strangers.

Such was often the case on the battlefield. Prior acquaintanceships or connections did not matter, just being comrades-in-arms was enough to bridge all distances between people.

During the main battle, the Profound Wind Squad and Snow Wolves Squad had drained themselves of all their strength and had no choice but to return to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship. However, Yang Kai continued to weave his way through the battlefield alone and did so multiple times. The two Special Operations Squads stood aboard the Purifying Black Ink Battleship and witnessed everything clearly. They sorely wished they could rush out to fight alongside Yang Kai, but they did not have any strength left in them. Not being able to stand with him till the end was an immense regret.

“Pardon me for asking, but may I know how I should address you, Senior Brother?” Yang Kai asked a little apologetically.

They had fought a life-or-death battle together, but Yang Kai still had no idea what the other man’s name was.

The Profound Wind Squad Leader chuckled heartily, “I forgot to tell you my name, Brother Yang. I am Ma Gao.”

“So it is Senior Brother Ma!” Yang Kai cupped his fist in greeting before asking a little solemnly, “Senior Brother Ma, what was the outcome of the battle? As you know, I’ve been tending to my injuries after my return so I don’t know what happened in the end.”

Yang Kai had intended to find out from Mi Jing Lun, but since he ran into Ma Gao, it was easy enough to ask him instead.

Ma Gao sighed when he heard the question.

Yang Kai’s heart lurched at Ma Gao’s response, “What’s the matter? Did things go badly for us Humans?”

Yang Kai felt this was unlikely having spoken to Mi Jing Lun before he went to recover from his injuries as the latter had said that things were going well for the Humans.

[Did something happen after that to turn the tides?]

“No, it didn’t go badly for us Humans. During the battle, our Great Evolution North-South Army managed to slaughter over 300,000 of the Black Ink Clan Army, along with 6 Territory Lords and over 20 Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples. You could say it was a great victory for us.” Ma Gao paused for a moment before continuing, “But, we suffered quite a number of casualties too.”

“How many?”

“4 Eighth-Order Division Commanders, and 3,000 of those beneath the Eighth-Order,” Ma Gao reported sorrowfully.

Yang Kai froze for a moment before sighing heavily.

Just by numbers alone, the Humans did not lose even a tenth of what the Black Ink Clan did, but this was not the way to quantify the battle casualties.

Ever since the Humans began standing guard on the Black Ink Battlefield of all the various Great Passes, there had never been a battle with this many casualties aside from the one where Great Evolution Pass had been lost. The loss of four Eighth-Order Division Commanders was particularly damaging to the Great Evolution Northern and Southern Armies.