Martial Peak
chapter-5701

It almost seemed as though nothing had happened, but when the effects of the Sun and Moon Divine Seal gradually subsided, the several thousand-metre-tall High-Rank Black Ink Nest crumbled into dust and disappeared.

At the same time, the dozen or so Innate Territory Lords shuddered violently. Black Ink Blood spurted out of their mouths as their auras withered away. Countless fine scars appeared both inside and on the surface of their bodies, causing the Black Ink Strength inside to spew out uncontrollably. The condition of the Territory Lords, who were wounded in the first place, immediately worsened considerably.

A Dragon Roar burst forth moments later as Yang Kai arrived with his spear in hand. A lifelike Dragon Phantom emerged from the Azure Dragon Spear, one that shot forward with unstoppable momentum. The terrified screams and furious howls of Territory Lords echoed across the void.

With Space Principles sealing the local region, the Supreme Limitless Spear Art reigned unchallenged as each thrust, and every sweep of the Azure Dragon Spear reaped the life of a Territory Lord. Yang Kai was like a tiger who descended upon a herd of defenceless sheep, none of the Territory Lords was able to resist more than a handful of attacks before succumbing.

In this situation, an uninformed Human Master would have mistakenly assumed that Yang Kai’s opponents were mere miscellaneous soldiers of the Black Ink Clan Army. Otherwise, it should have been impossible for him to slaughter them so easily. However, the fact was that these were genuine Innate Territory Lords.

If these Territory Lords were at full strength, they would each not be inferior to a veteran Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master in terms of combat power. It was a pity that they encountered a killing star like Yang Kai when they were so heavily wounded. The only fate waiting for them under these circumstances was death.

There were some occasional counterattacks, which Yang Kai did his best to either block or avoid. Those that he could not dodge simply bore with his body. His Dragon Form, which was only one step away from becoming a Divine Dragon, was indescribably tough, so the attacks of the Territory Lords who could not exert anywhere near their full strength were well within his ability to withstand.

A mere 30 breaths after the encounter began, the chaotic energy fluctuations subsided and the dust settled. There was a large amount of Black Ink Strength scattered throughout the void, dotted with hashed meat and severed limbs. However, there was no trace of vitality in the void. Even Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen as he had immediately flown off after slaying the last Territory Lord.

While Yang Kai appeared and attacked the Territory Lords, Mo Na Ye was moving towards the depths of the void. He had been on his way to meet the various Territory Lords who were heading to the No-Return Pass when he received a message through the miniature Black Ink Nest in his hand. He then abruptly turned to look in a certain direction.

[Yang Kai is there!]

Just moments ago, he lost contact with a group of Territory Lords in the direction he was currently staring. One of the figures gathered inside the Black Ink Nest Space had also gone missing. It was obvious that something unfortunate had happened to them.

Mo Na Ye did not rush in that direction to provide support, as he knew he would be too late even if he went all out. The fates of those severely wounded Territory Lords were practically sealed when Yang Kai discovered their whereabouts.

What was the point of rushing there now? Was he supposed to collect the corpses of the dead Territory Lords? Instead of wasting time on such pointless things, he might as well spend it considering how he could better help the Territory Lords who were still alive.

The previous arrangements he made had backfired on him. To guard against the possibility that Yang Kai would accidentally discover the whereabouts of the escaped Territory Lords, Mo Na Ye had arranged for them to remain far away from the No-Return Pass. Consequently, they required a considerable amount of time to reach the No-Return Pass now. A long journey was bound to be affected by many unpredictable factors.

Be that as it may, his previous arrangements had been necessary. If Mo Na Ye wanted to conceal such a powerful force, he could not allow Yang Kai to discover their presence.

He never imagined that the perfect plans back then would only herald the current catastrophe.

It would take at least half a year for these Territory Lords to travel back to the No-Return Pass, most likely longer. On the other hand, there were many things that Yang Kai could accomplish in half a year. Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, allowing him to travel multiple times faster than the injured Territory Lords.

If Mo Na Ye wanted to protect more Territory Lords, then he only had two choices. He could either locate and tie down Yang Kai so that he had no time to hunt down the Territory Lords, or join up with the Territory Lords as soon as possible to protect them in person. The first choice was almost impossible to achieve. Even if he was lucky enough to encounter Yang Kai, he could not restrain him. Therefore, Mo Na Ye could only rely upon the second option.

Almost all the Territory Lords in the No-Return Pass had been mobilised, and even a Pseudo-Royal Lord like him had not remained idle. Unfortunately, they were still lacking in manpower. Besides, any strategy would seem worthless and ineffective before an opponent like Yang Kai, who could travel through the Void without any traces.

Mo Na Ye was filled with great hatred. Nevertheless, he could only proceed with all haste. Everything else would depend entirely on fate!

While the Black Ink Clan was painstakingly trying to figure out a solution so that they could safely meet up with the newly escaped Territory Lords, Yang Kai was faced with the difficulty of locating his targets. The Territory Lords were no longer in hiding, and each group was carrying a half-hatched High-Rank Black Ink Nest with them. However, it was not easy for him to find an enemy in the vast void.

If he knew where Mo Na Ye had placed those Territory Lords, then he could intercept all of them on their way to the No-Return Pass. The problem was that he did not know where these Territory Lords were originally hiding. At the moment, the only thing Yang Kai could do was expand his search area as much as possible. He also considered the progress of these Territory Lords and estimated the possible places where they would appear.

His methods were not completely ineffective. If he was lucky, it would only take a few days for him to encounter a group of Territory Lords heading towards the No-Return Pass. If he was not so lucky, then it could take him 10 days to half a month just to see results.

In this way, Yang Kai managed to annihilate another four groups of Territory Lords over the next two months. The number of Territory Lords who snuck out from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and died at his hands was close to 120 at this point!

Every group of Territory Lords that went missing felt like a knife stabbing into Mo Na Ye’s heart. Those Territory Lords were the hard-to-obtain reinforcements of the Black Ink Clan, but they were now being intercepted and slaughtered before they could play any role in the war. It could be said that their deaths were completely in vain.

By using the position of the Territory Lords who went missing last, Mo Na Ye could roughly calculate Yang Kai’s current position. The results were absolutely horrifying. Leaving aside Yang Kai’s random and untraceable movements, his ability to traverse the void with the help of the Dao of Space made his whereabouts completely unpredictable. He would be in a certain position one time, but then he would appear in a position that was in the completely opposite direction just days later.

Faced with such an enemy, even Mo Na Ye could do nothing. The endless and vast void was simply the best possible stage for Yang Kai to display his skills.

At this moment, Mo Na Ye had managed to meet up with a group of Territory Lords, so while leading them towards the No-Return Pass, he sent a message to all the nearby Territory Lords so that they could gather towards him. Since he had come forward in person, it was only natural that Mo Na Ye tried his best to protect as many Territory Lords as possible until they arrived at the No-Return Pass safely.

Nevertheless, he was secretly filled with bitterness and unwillingness.

The secret at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had been exposed far too soon. If their secret was only exposed after another 100 years, or even 1,000 years, then the Black Ink Clan would have amassed an enormous amount of Innate Territory Lords to form an overwhelming force that could destroy the Human Race.

In addition, the first Innate Territory Lords who escaped the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would also have had some time to recover from their injuries. If that were the case, then it would have been possible for them to perform the Source Fusion Technique to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord on the spot!

It did not matter how strong Yang Kai was; even he would be powerless against a Pseudo-Royal Lord.

Unfortunately, it was an impossible feat even if Mo Na Ye were to command these Territory Lords to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord right now. They were all too heavily injured, which meant that their strength was greatly reduced as a result. Even if they used the Source Fusion Technique, the only fate waiting for them was death. There was no possibility of success whatsoever. Otherwise, the Black Ink Clan would not be caught in such a troublesome situation. They could instantly produce several dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords with a single command.

At this moment, a group of Innate Territory Lords were fleeing desperately through the void. There was a several thousand-metre-tall Black Ink Nest enveloped in thick Black Ink Strength travelling with them, and one of the Innate Territory Lords was constantly stationed inside of it. The Territory Lord in the Black Ink Nest had the responsibility of communicating and passing information to Mo Na Ye at any time.

They were gradually getting closer to the No-Return Pass; nevertheless, the Territory Lords did not dare to relax their guard. That was because one of the groups near them had been attacked by the Human Race Master just 10 days ago. Since then, all contact with those Territory Lords had been lost. There was no telling whether the entire group had perished in the attack.

All of a sudden, they were struck by a wave of murderous intent coming from the distance. It was immediately followed by the rise of the Great Sun looming over the Territory Lords in glorious majesty.

The Territory Lords turned pale with fright. They had been on guard against danger coming from behind them, so they never expected Yang Kai to intercept them from the front. This Human… was truly elusive!

Coming to his senses, one of the Territory Lords shouted a moment later, “Enemy attack!”

Meanwhile, the Territory Lord inside the Black Ink Nest hastily conveyed the message of Yang Kai’s appearance.

On the other hand, Yang Kai frowned slightly. Encountering and intercepting a group of Territory Lords in this place had been a pleasant surprise; after all, he had been searching the way ahead for a while with no success.

Just as he was about to leave though, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura approaching him from behind. It only took a brief search for him to discover the traces of these Territory Lords. How could he hold back against them? He immediately launched an offence.

However, this group of Territory Lords reacted differently from the other groups that he encountered previously.

Over the past few months, Yang Kai had slaughtered many powerful enemies. Aside from the first group of Territory Lords who had failed to react in time, the others would immediately choose to flee in separate directions as soon as they noticed him. They didn’t even bother about the Black Ink Nest that they had been carrying with them. Unfortunately for the Territory Lords, none of them had managed to escape from Yang Kai.

Although the group of Territory Lords before him had enough time to react and escape in separate directions, they showed no intention of doing so and instead huddled together tightly. What’s more… there was something wrong with their numbers.

Most of the Territory Lords Yang Kai encountered recently had been travelling in groups of 14 or 15. Most likely, that was because Mo Na Ye had considered the most suitable number of Territory Lords needed to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord; however, nearly 20 Territory Lords were standing in front of him at this moment.

Just as Yang Kai was pondering over the situation, four of the Territory Lords suddenly leapt forward and instantly formed the Four Symbols Formation. Their auras became closely interwoven with each other as a result, and their surging Black Ink Strength transformed into a sturdy barrier.

The Great Sun slammed into the barrier and tore it apart. Unfortunately, the power of the Great Sun had been exhausted in the clash, leaving the four Territory Lords unharmed.

[So that’s how it is!] When Yang Kai saw the Four Symbols Formation, he immediately understood. This group of Territory Lords had managed to join up with the Territory Lords who came from the No-Return Pass.

The Territory Lords who snuck out from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would not be able to form Battle Formations because they did not have the time to practice and train in them. The only Territory Lords who knew how to form Formations were those who had been dealing with the Human Race for many years.