Martial Peak
chapter-5657

What happened at the Ancestral Land was considered resolved and there was no point in thinking about it further, so Yang Kai changed the topic and asked, “How are Senior Brother Xiang and the others?”

Xiang Shan had stopped appearing in public and focused on cultivating to break through to the Ninth Order. The Black Ink Clan suspected that Xiang Shan and the other Eighth-Order Masters who were expected to break through and reach the Ninth-Order had already done so secretly; however, that was not the case in reality.

The Ninth Order was the peak of the Human Race’s Martial Dao and was extremely difficult to reach. Now, there were not many Humans who were qualified to make this breakthrough.

There was indeed one person who had succeeded, but it was not Xiang Shan.

When Yang Kai asked, Mi Jing Lun sighed and replied, “It has been 1,000 years since they entered retreat, and still there is no news from them. In fact, with Brother Xiang’s talent, he should have already reached the Ninth Order if nothing went wrong.”

The issue was that Xiang Shan’s cultivation had once regressed. Long ago, in Blue Sky Pass, in the era when Yang Kai had not yet set foot onto the Black Ink Battlefield, Xiang Shan was a famous existence and many Territory Lords died at his hand. However, he was so feared that he became a priority target for the Black Ink Clan. They specifically targeted him and trapped him in a bitter battle where he became corrupted heavily by Black Ink Strength, forcing him to sacrifice a large portion of his Small Universe to preserve himself.

Afterwards, he took a Profound Yin Spirit Fruit to repair his damaged Small Universe; however, the drop in one’s cultivation was not something that was automatically made up for.

For the many years that Yang Kai was stationed at Blue Sky Pass, he had never seen Xiang Shan because the latter was in secluded retreat.

It was not until the leaders of the Human Race decided to form the Great Evolution Army to recover Great Evolution Pass that Xiang Shan returned to the limelight.

What Mi Jing Lun meant was that if that incident had not occurred all those years ago, Xiang Shan would already be a Ninth-Order Master. The Cave Heavens and Paradises were filled with talented people, but throughout history, few could match the reputation of Xiang Shan.

It was a pity that his future accomplishments were greatly delayed, and now it seemed that dark injuries from that incident were preventing Xiang Shan from reaching the Ninth Order.

The current situation between the two Races was rather stable. Although the fighting never ceased, it was all in a managed situation rather than an all-out war. Thus, Xiang Shan took this opportunity to enter retreat and cultivate.

“Brother Xiang did mention that if necessary, he would come out to face the enemy, regardless of whether he had achieved a breakthrough.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly and asked, “What about the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress? What’s the progress?”

The Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was a massive Mobile Palace Artifact that Yang Kai had convinced the Supreme Headquarters to refine in order to deal with the Black Ink Clan. It was quite similar to the Great Passes of old, but far smaller.

The current generation of Artifact Refiners, even compared to those from Late Ancient Era, were not inferior; however, the Human Race sorely lacked resources at the moment.

Great Passes were enormous Mobile Palace Artifacts built up and refined over hundreds of thousands of years, consuming an unfathomable amount of resources. The Human Race could not afford to spend so lavishly in their current situation. If they tried to build such an artifact now, it would likely cripple the cultivation progress of the entire Race, which was a situation that absolutely could not be allowed.

Thus, they could only build the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, for which Yang Kai campaigned hard some 1,000 years ago, just before he left for the Myriad Monsters World.

This Mobile Palace Artifact was not destined for the Great Territory Battlefields, however.

When Yang Kai asked about the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, Mi Jing Lun replied, “300 years ago, the superstructure of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was completed, and over the subsequent years, various Grand Arrays and artifacts have been installed. It should be almost finished now.”

After a pause, he asked, “Do you want to see it?”

“Indeed!” Yang Kai nodded.

The two of them left the Supreme Headquarters together and shot off into the depths of the Void.

The construction of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was kept highly confidential, with only those participating in the project and the heads of the Supreme Headquarters being in the know. This giant weapon of war was located at an extremely remote place in the Great Territory and covered with multiple Arrays to conceal it. Patrolling Human Race Masters also ensured that no one without authorization approached this region.

Yang Kai and Mi Jing Lun travelled for about an hour before reaching a Universe World that seemed to be covered in shadows.

Although this Universe World was ancient, its Grand Dao and Will were imperfect; thus, there was no vitality here. This was a rather common sight throughout the 3,000 Worlds. Although such a Universe World generally had a lot of precious cultivation resources, it was not suitable for the survival of living beings, thus it was essentially dead.

A Divine Sense swept over from afar, but after confirming Mi Jing Lun’s identity, it allowed them through.

Yang Kai, led by Mi Jing Lun, flew for a while around the Universe World before arriving at a certain spot and heading down. They passed through a layer of thick, dark clouds before being hit in the face with an imposing aura.

A huge and lofty object immediately filled their view, one that looked like a massive steel beast.

This was the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress.

The Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was undoubtedly much smaller compared to a Great Pass from the Black Ink Battlefield, being just 10% of the size; however, it was still a massive object.

The entire Suppressing Black Ink Fortress looked like a small city with many structures, high walls and towers.

Yang Kai could see people scurrying about inside the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, carrying materials and working on construction projects. There were huge artifacts mounted atop of the city walls, and at a glance one could tell how extraordinary they were.

There were also traces of numerous Grand Arrays, but none of them were currently active so it was impossible to assess their might.

The Human Race seemed to be in decline as it only held a dozen or so Great Territories because of the Black Ink Clan; however, no matter how bad things were, they still had a profound heritage.

When the Grand Army was defeated in the war outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the Humans were forced to retreat to the No-Return Pass, and then to the Barren Territory.

The death of countless soldiers was certainly heartbreaking, but the loss of a Great Pass inherited since the end of the Late Ancient Era, was also a massive strategic setback for the Human race.

While many Great Passes were destroyed, others remained mostly intact at the No-Return Pass.

Many wanted to take the Great Passes away with them, but they were too massive even for a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor to fit into their Small Universe; thus, they had no choice but to abandon them.

Presently, those Great Passes outside the No-Return Pass had become platforms for Black Ink Nests.

If the Human Race could defeat the Black Ink Clan and retake the No-Return Pass, there was still hope to regain those Great Passes.

The two landed on the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress and were immediately greeted by someone.

Yang Kai was dumbfounded and exclaimed, “Grandmaster Dong Guo!”

It was Dong Guo An Ping, who Yang Kai had met at Blue Sky Pass. He was an Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster from Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven and also the one who built the first Purifying Black Ink Battleship together with Yang Kai and a number of Array Masters.

However, since Yang Kai left Blue Sky Pass, they had not seen each other again, mainly because Dong Guo An Ping was in charge of Artifact Refining while Yang Kai’s job was to kill the enemy. They fought on different battlefields, so it was natural for them not to meet each other.

“Yang Kai!” Dong Guo An Ping also recognized Yang Kai immediately and reached out his hand to slap his shoulder as he happily declared, “I should call you Junior Brother Yang now.”

Yang Kai returned the greeting, “Senior Brother Dong Guo!”

He was happy to see him. Although Yang Kai had met many people on the Black Ink Battlefield, few survived until today.

Dong Guo An Ping was also a bit emotional. When he first met Yang Kai, the latter was just an unknown Sixth-Order brat. He was only valued by Blue Sky Pass’ leaders at the time because he brought Purifying Light to the Human Race. Now, when Dong Guo An Ping saw him again, Yang Kai was already the powerful Profound Nether Army Commander and a perpetual thorn in the Black Ink Clan’s side.

Such growth was truly immense as only 3,000 years had passed since then!

Mi Jing Lun said with a smile, “Senior Brother Dong Guo is one of the Chief Artifact Refiners on the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress project. Junior Brother Yang, if you want to know more about the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, please feel free to ask Senior Brother Dong Guo.”

“Many thanks, Senior Brother.”

Dong Guo An Ping simply waved his hand, “Artifact Refining is the job of this Old Master, it’s not a big deal. However, can Junior Brother Yang tell me what this Suppressing Black Ink Fortress is going to be used for? This artifact is massive and took no less than 1,000 Artifact Refiners almost 1,000 years to construct. Although it is powerful, it is not suitable for the current war. Even if it is for a counter-offensive, one Suppressing Black Ink Fortress won’t make much of a difference. If it weren’t for Supreme Headquarters’ special orders, this Old Master would not have agreed to squander so many resources and so much manpower on this. The amount of resources poured into the thing could have benefited the Great Army in many other ways.”

It was clear that Dong Guo An Ping had strong opinions about the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. As he said, this thing was not very useful for the situation the Human Race was currently in. Unless more Suppressing Black Ink Fortresses were built, they could not be used to attack the enemy.

This was certainly a very sharp weapon of war; however, its disadvantages were also very obvious. It took far too many resources and too much time to build just one, so if it did not achieve its intended purpose, then it was all just a huge waste of time and money.

“Didn’t Senior Brother Mi explain the situation?” Yang Kai was stunned.

Mi Jing Lun said in return, “It’s better that fewer people know about this matter.”

Dong Guo An Ping glared at Mi Jing Lun and snorted, “What nonsense is this guy sprouting? He just said that it was a secret. What can this Old Master do to him if he refuses to say anything?”

Yang Kai smiled before quietly whispering something to Dong Guo An Ping.

Dong Guo An Ping immediately turned solemn and remarked, “I see.”

He had his suspicions considering the situation; however, Yang Kai just confirmed his guesses. He was a veteran from Blue Sky Pass who had experienced thousands of years of war on the Black Ink Battlefield.

If the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was used in ‘that’ place, it was indeed the perfect tool for the job.

“What are the chances of that happening?” Dong Guo An Ping asked.

Yang Kai replied, “It’s bound to happen, it’s just a matter of time.”

Dong Guo An Ping replied, “Fortunately, this Old Master did not cut corners when I built the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress; otherwise, it would have been a big mistake.”

Yang Kai laughed and said, “Senior Brother, please take us to look around.”

Dong Guo An Ping was immediately reinvigorated. Although he had some reservations about building the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, it was also the greatest masterpiece of his life. Now that he had succeeded in building it, he naturally wanted to show it off to others. It was pointless for him to brag about it to the builders; thus, when Mi Jing Lun and Yang Kai came, he finally had an audience to lead around and introduce all the wondrous features of his creation.