Martial Peak
chapter-5512

Now that Yang Kai had made his mind up, he scanned through the No-Return Pass to find his target.

Soon, he zeroed in on a High-Rank Black Ink Nest on the right side of the No-Return Pass.

Despite not seeing any sign of the Royal Lord or detecting the latter’s aura, Yang Kai knew that the Royal Lord had to be hiding somewhere, waiting for him to show up.

Therefore, as soon as he made his move, he would be on the receiving end of the Royal Lord’s counterattack!

However, there was an obstacle in his path this time around. The Black Ink Clan had not been on their toes when he attacked the last time. That was how he could easily destroy two High-Rank Black Ink Nests with just one strike.

This time, the Territory Lords had spread out to guard the various Black Ink Nests. No matter where Yang Kai showed up, he would immediately encounter a Territory Lord standing in his way.

He chose the High-Rank Black Ink Nest on the right side of the No-Return Pass because the Territory Lord who was guarding that area looked quite worn out. Even his aura was unstable.

[He’s heavily injured, which means he’s an easy target!]

Most of the Territory Lords at the No-Return Pass were injured in some way or another. Yang Kai deduced that they had retreated from the battlefields in the 3,000 Worlds. He did not study them closely the last time he was here, but after observing them this time, he confirmed his inference.

The Black Ink Clan had managed to reopen the Territory Gate to the Barren Territory, which he had sealed up back then.

At the time, Yang Kai thought that he could cut off the Black Ink Clan’s supply lines entirely by simply blocking the portal. Later on, he realised that he had been wrong about that. The Black Ink Clan had a way of reopening the sealed Territory Gates, but it would take some time and they would have to pay a heavy price to do so.

To Yang Kai, this was not entirely bad news. Since the portal was open, it provided another escape route for him to take. If he made his way through the Territory Gate, the Royal Lord would not dare to chase after him quite so readily.

Yang Kai did not need to test the waters with anything else. Launching a swift and direct attack was the best choice under the circumstances.

With that thought in mind, Yang Kai manipulated Space Principles and in an instant, he was above the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, and with a forceful thrust of the Azure Dragon Spear, he stabbed right at the Territory Lord who was standing guard here.

Yang Kai also immediately used a Soul Rending Thorn for good measure.

Soul Rending Thorns were incredibly effective against the heavily-injured Territory Lords around the No-Return Pass as Yang Kai had found when he had a taste of the sweet victory the last time he was here, so he was not stingy this time.

All he had to do was sacrifice a small piece of his Soul, which was something he could bear.

This Territory Lord was unlucky. An Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had severely injured him when he was on the frontlines of the war; thus, he had no choice but to retreat to the No-Return Pass to recuperate. However, after only getting to rest for a few days, Yang Kai had rushed in and raised Hell.

The Royal Lord had given the order and this Territory Lord no longer had the chance to recuperate. He had to keep watch over the area assigned to him in case that Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master launched another attack.

Half a year had passed and after seeing no signs of the Human, this Territory Lord had become less vigilant. Furthermore, he was quite severely injured.

At this moment, he was refining the Black Ink Strength that drifted out from the Black Ink Nest to slowly tend to his injuries. It was not particularly effective, but it was better than nothing.

When space rippled around him and Yang Kai’s spear came crashing down, the Territory Lord could not react immediately as his injury-laden body numbed his ability to sense danger.

The next instant, it felt as if a needle had pierced into his head and an agonising pain coursed through his whole body, causing him to shudder violently and almost knocked him unconscious. The sharp spear grew increasingly larger in his vision as the Territory Lord wanted to defend himself, but try as he might, he could not draw upon his Black Ink Strength. He had to watch as the spear pierced right through his skull.

Yang Kai hit his mark with just one strike, and the formidable power behind his blow did not dissipate as it flew out and annihilated the High-Rank Black Ink Nest below!

Another kill!

At the same time, the Territory Lords who were standing guard nearby jumped into action. They charged towards Yang Kai from all directions, and the Royal Lord’s enormous figure burst forth from within the No-Return Pass as well, a cold and menacing expression filling his face.

He had underestimated this Human’s boldness and recklessness. Initially, he thought that the Human would have to stay in hiding for several years, if not longer, but who would have known that he would show up again just six months?

Thankfully, he did not let his guard down and thus detected Yang Kai as soon as he showed up.

Unfortunately, even though the Royal Lord reacted quickly, he was not in time to save that Territory Lord.

Yang Kai had killed another Territory Lord in the blink of an eye.

However, the Royal Lord was not too affected by this. He considered the loss of a single Territory Lord and a High-Rank Black Ink Nest the price they had to pay in order to kill this pesky Human right here, right now.

No Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could escape with his life in a situation like this when a group of Territory Lords and a Royal Lord had him surrounded.

The Royal Lord had also learned from his previous mistake and channelled much of his energy into disrupting the local space to prevent Yang Kai from escaping by using Space Principles.

However, Yang Kai did not intend to escape this time.

After destroying the Black Ink Nest, he turned around and rushed deeper into the No-Return Pass, as if he wanted to have a showdown against the Royal Lord. The Territory Lords who were moving to encircle him were dumbfounded, wondering if this Human had a death wish?

Just as the Territory Lords were about to celebrate, they saw their closest fellow Territory Lord to Yang Kai howl in agony as he stumbled unsteadily. Yang Kai quickened his pace, and in a flash, he broke through their encirclement.

Yet another Soul Rending Thorn had been used, but Yang Kai did not have the time to kill the second Territory Lord. Between killing these heavily injured Territory Lords and destroying High-Rank Black Ink Nests, Yang Kai preferred doing the latter.

Once he broke out of their siege, Yang Kai raised his spear, and in a burst of light, yet another High-Rank Black Ink Nest turned to dust.

“Bold Human!” The Royal Lord who was charging over roared in fury.

If he included what happened six months ago, there were now a total of seven High-Rank Black Ink Nests that had been destroyed and three Territory Lords who were killed by this single Human, and all of this happened right under his nose, which made him feel deeply humiliated. The Royal Lord no longer wanted to simply rip Yang Kai’s corpse apart anymore. He had made his mind up. If he managed to capture Yang Kai alive, he was going to extract Yang Kai’s Soul and refine it before torturing him until he begged for death.

Even more Territory Lords stormed towards Yang Kai now and their auras were all as sharp as knives as the sent a flurry of attacks towards him.

The entirety of the No-Return Pass was in a frenzy, as if someone had dropped cold water into a boiling pot of oil.

Even though a Royal Lord was charging over, Yang Kai’s expression was still perfectly calm and tranquil.

All of a sudden, he put away his Azure Dragon Spear, and with a wave his hands, two Small Stone Race Armies of over a million each appeared, one bearing the symbol of the Great Sun, and the other the symbol of the Great Moon!

The sudden appearance of so many Small Stone Race soldiers startled the Black Ink Clansmen, but soon, some of the Territory Lords recognised these strange beings.

On the current battlefields, these beings fought against the Black Ink Clan under the command of the Humans. They did not fear being corrupted by Black Ink Strength, nor were they afraid of death. As a result, the Black Ink Clan suffered significant losses at their hands.

That being said, what could these dregs do when faced with so many Territory Lords and even a Royal Lord? No matter how large their numbers were, these strange stone men were no better than ants.

Under Yang Kai’s command, the two Small Stone Race Armies charged towards the Royal Lord; however, as soon as they came into contact with his aura, they were ground to dust. Countless of them turned into rock fragments as the Royal Lord was simply too powerful for the Small Stone Race soldiers to even get close.

Still, numbering 2 million in total, there were enough to swiftly bury the Royal Lord in bodies.

At the same time, Yang Kai found himself completely surrounded by the Territory Lords who came at him from all sides. One of the Territory Lords tried to land a deadly blow immediately and the concentrated Black Ink Strength turned into Divine Abilities that charged straight at Yang Kai.

Even a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would not fare well if struck by such a ferocious attack, let alone an Eighth-Order Master.

However, it was as if Yang Kai did not see the attack coming at all as he simply stretched out his hands. The Great Sun and Great Moon Marks on the backs of his hands started to burn before they lit up in conjunction with the two Small Stone Race Armies.

The next instant, incredibly pure and concentrated Great Sun and Great Moon Energy were drawn out and swiftly combined to form the purest light imaginable.

The Royal Lord, who was surrounded by the Small Stone Race, immediately had a bad premonition. The Territory Lords who surrounded Yang Kai also felt greatly disconcerted for no apparent reason.

A tiny Sun that looked just like the real Sun suddenly exploded outwards with pure, dazzling white light illuminating the entire No-Return Pass. For a moment, several tens of millions of kilometres of the void seemed to glow with unimaginable white radiance.

Countless lower ranked Black Ink Clansmen simply vanished under the intense light.

Even most of the Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques, which were formed from Black Ink Strength that came charging towards Yang Kai disappeared without a trace, leaving just a few dregs to hit Yang Kai, causing him to stagger slightly.

The Territory Lords all howled in pain as they felt their bodies being bathed in the most toxic poison in existence. Black Ink Strength sizzled as it flooded out of their bodies.

The blinding light lasted for 10 breaths before it slowly faded away.

However, by the time the dust settled, the casualties suffered by Black Ink Clan both within and outside the No-Return Pass had climbed to an uncountable height. Many new Black Ink Clansmen had been born in the Great Passes nearest to where the light had shone, but now, not even a tenth of them remained. Although things were a little better on the Universe Fragments and Great Passes that were further out, there were still significant losses there. Only the Black Ink Clan Masters who were on the outskirts of the Great Passes were less affected.

The aura of over a dozen of the Territory Lords who were nearest to Yang Kai plummeted, dropping down to the level of Feudal Lords in one fell swoop, damaging their foundations permanently and sending their minds and Souls into disarray.

The Royal Lord, whom the two Small Stone Race Armies had completely surrounded, was equally stunned and shocked by what just transpired.

The two one-million-strong Small Stone Race Armies had all turned into shattered rocks. Obscuring the Royal Lord’s dishevelled figure. He had been at the centre of that explosion of Purifying Light, so he had naturally suffered the most.

Even though he was a Royal Lord, his aura had been thrown into utter chaos.

He knew about the existence of Purifying Light, but never thought that someone could unleash such a massive amount of it all at once.

Even he would not be able to withstand a few more attacks of such intensity!

The aura of those Territory Lords had dropped to that of a Feudal Lord because their heritage had been ground away, so naturally, the Royal Lord did not escape unscathed either.

Right now, about 10% of his foundation had been destroyed. While this was not enough for his cultivation to regress, even if the Royal Lord fully healed from his injuries now, he would no longer be as powerful as he once was and would need to cultivate for hundreds, if not thousands of years to return to his peak.

If he was struck by another blast of Purifying Light of such might, he was not certain he could even remain a Royal Lord.

Thus, once the light faded away, the Royal Lord instantly looked around to see where Yang Kai was, deeply afraid that the latter would repeat this stunt.

Soon however, the Royal Lord turned towards the Territory Gate and saw a pale-faced Yang Kai standing at its edge, staring back at him with a look of provocation and condescension.