Martial Peak

Yang Kai knew about this in a general sense. He had helped the cultivators besieged in Swallowing Seas Territory and several other Great Territories over the years. Many would not have been able to deal with the Black Ink Clan if it had not been for his assistance and the Small Stone Race soldiers he gave them to aid in their evacuation.

This was something Yang Kai often did as he went around refining over 2,000 Universe Worlds in several hundred Great Territories. One could tell just how many evacuating Great Forces he must have run into solely based on the fact that he had given away some 40 million of the Small Stone Race.

Most of the cultivators in the Great Territories had already evacuated, saving those forces in their entirety. However, many had also been set upon by the Black Ink Clan Army on the way, wiping them out as a result. 

There was nothing that could be done about this. The Black Ink Clan had invaded the entire 3,000 Worlds and few Great Territories could defend themselves from such an attack. The weaker cultivators from the scattered Second Class Great Forces could not put up a fight against a massive and organized Black Ink Clan Army.

All hope for the Human Race’s future depended on the Star Boundary as it was a true Open Heaven Realm Cradle. This was the reasoning behind the evacuation plan set by the Human Race’s leaders. Otherwise, there was no reason why out of all the Great Territories in the 3,000 Worlds, the Human Race had to head for High Heaven Territory where the Star Boundary was.

However, not all of the Great Forces could be housed within High Heaven Territory. Firstly, High Heaven Territory did not have a great number of Universe Worlds that could sustain life. That being said, the New Great Territory could ease some of this burden as it neighboured High Heaven Territory and the conditions there were much better, including the cultivation environment. It also had a lot more habitable Universe Worlds than High Heaven Territory did.

The New Great Territory could only be accessed from High Heaven Territory, so Yang Kai had set up a restriction back then to only allow those from Void Land and High Heaven Palace inside. Of course, this restriction was taken down now given the current circumstances.

As long as the Human Race did not lose its hold on High Heaven Territory, the Black Ink Clan couldn’t invade the New Great Territory.

Secondly, the Humans could not resign themselves to surrendering without a fight. If they did stop trying to fight back, then all the Black Ink Clan had to do was target High Heaven Territory. This would put the Human Race in a far too vulnerable position.

Thus, the many leaders of the Human Race came to a decision. They gathered as many Open Heaven Realm Masters as they could and formed over a dozen Armies based on the framework of the remnants of the Armies from the Black Ink Battlefield. These Armies were then posted to defend the surrounding Great Territories with High Heaven Territory at the centre.

Profound Nether Territory was one of these battlefields, along with Heavenly Wolf Territory, Twin Poles Territory, and several others.

Profound Nether Territory was said to have an army of a million soldiers, but after many years of fighting, that was no longer the case, unless the surviving Small Stone Race were counted as well.

Throughout the past few decades, Profound Nether Territory and the other frontline Great Territories were in a constant state of battle.

While the Humans did pay a heavy price in the process, they managed to gather most, if not all of their strength in these dozen or so Great Territories and just barely managed to maintain their current perimeter.

However, from the way things were progressing, the situation was gradually deteriorating.

Over a dozen Territory Lords had appeared out of the blue and joined the main battle in Profound Nether Territory. The Human Race Army had been caught off-guard and suffered significant casualties as a result. Chances were they would have failed to hold onto Profound Nether Territory if the tides had not turned following Yang Kai’s arrival.

If the Humans lost Profound Nether Territory, it would be a crushing blow not only to their Army, but to their morale as well.

The Human Race Army in Profound Nether Territory was formed from over a dozen remnants of previous armies, including the Great Evolution Army, Great Battle Army, Nine Stars Army, and Purple Jade Army.

These Armies had previously gone through the three major wars at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the No-Return Pass, and the Barren Territory; thus, they were truly veterans with a wealth of experience. They formed the core of the Profound Nether Army with cultivators from other various Great Forces making up the rest of the numbers.

This was the reason why Yang Kai ran into Yu Ru Meng and the others here.

Back then, the cultivators from Void Land and High Heaven Palace had joined the fight in the Barren Territory and Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao personally recruited them into the Great Evolution Army.

Thus, they could be considered soldiers who belonged to the Great Evolution Army.

After hearing everything, Yang Kai was secretly relieved. He could have chosen any of the numerous routes that would have taken him back to the Star Boundary, but as he wanted to get there as quickly as possible, he chose the shortest one, which meant that he had to pass through Profound Nether Territory.

He was filled with lingering dread at the thought of how terrible things would have been in Profound Nether Territory if he had not made it here in time.

“Thanks to your pre-empting back then, those from Void Territory were able to prepare in advance; therefore, when the order to evacuate was given, all of the Great Forces of Void Territory were able to leave safely. But, it’s a shame… when we think about the other living beings in those Universe Worlds.” Bi Xi sighed mournfully. The Human Race could not bring all the living beings in those Universe Worlds along with them when the Black Ink Clan invaded, so they must have been turned into Black Ink Disciples by now.

“I’ve already refined those Universe Worlds, Senior. You don’t need to feel bad about them,” Yang Kai said.

Void Territory was considered Yang Kai’s territory, so he would not stand by and do nothing when it faced this existential crisis. When Yang Kai went to Void Territory back then, he purposely checked on Void Land. When he realised that Void Land had completely disappeared, he figured that Bi Xi must have evacuated everyone. At the time, the Black Ink Clan had not invaded Void Territory yet, so Yang Kai refined all the Universe Worlds and took them with him.

Bi Xi froze for a moment, not quite understanding what Yang Kai meant when he said he refined the Universe Worlds, but just as he was about to ask, he saw Yang Kai turning ashen-faced before coughing up a mouthful of Golden Blood. His aura swiftly deflated as he slumped backwards.

Bi Xi was alarmed while cries rang out from all directions.

However, Yang Kai did not end up falling to the ground as a soft and nimble figure caught him.

Yang Kai’s eyelids parted slightly and he saw Yu Ru Meng’s anxious expression.

The others swiftly gathered around him with similarly concerned looks in their eyes.

“Husband, what happened?” Yu Ru Meng asked with a trembling voice. The Demon Saint’s previous coldness was now replaced with great fear and worry.

Yang Kai opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything, he spat out another mouthful of blood that dyed Yu Ru Meng’s clothes gold. Then, he rasped, “I-I’m fine. It’s just some minor injuries.”

He tapped his finger ever so gently against the deck of the Warship.

Bi Xi was startled for a moment before he quickly exclaimed, “How can you call that a minor injury? Your aura’s unstable and your World Force circulation is a mess right now. Did you get hit by one of those Territory Lords’ final counterattacks?”

“It’s alright, it’s nothing serious,” Yang Kai insisted weakly.

The more he insisted though, the more fraught the women around him became.

Earlier on, they witnessed from afar the way Yang Kai had slaughtered three Territory Lords in quick succession. It went without saying that an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Yang Kai would have had to pay a heavy price in order to kill three Territory Lords like this.

It was just that he had been hiding his injuries and putting up a strong front earlier.

“Healing pills!” Yu Ru Meng cried out, and Su Yang quickly stuffed a few high-quality Spirit Pills into Yang Kai’s mouth.

Shan Qing Luo quickly kneeled beside Yang Kai and grabbed his hand to check on his injuries, but a moment later, Luo’er frowned. She did not detect any trace of physical wounds, so she stared at Yang Kai in puzzlement and began to ask, “Husband, your injuries…”

Yang Kai forced out a weak smile, “My body’s fine. It’s my Soul that’s injured.”ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɴo(v)elꜰɪre.ɴet

“Soul Rending Thorns?” Zhu Qing asked grimly.

Yang Kai was taken aback as he asked, “How did you know?”

“Senior Ou Yang told us about them. He told us a lot about you actually,” Xue Yue explained softly.

“Senior Ou Yang… Ou Yang Lie?”

Xue Yue nodded.

Yang Kai came to a sudden realization. Since there were remnants of the Great Evolution Army here in the Profound Nether Army, it was not unusual that Ou Yang Lie was here as well. Ou Yang Lie did know about the Soul Rending Thorns as back then, outside Great Evolution Pass all those years ago, Ou Yang Lie was the one watching over Yang Kai. With just his Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation, Yang Kai managed to kill and critically wound numerous Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples inside the Black Ink Nest Space with the help of the Soul Rending Thorns.

From the looks of it, it had most likely been Ou Yang Lie’s doing that led to Yu Ru Meng and the rest forming this special Squad.

Yu Ru Meng noticed that Yang Kai wanted to ask more questions, so she quickly blocked his mouth with her hand, “Stop talking. You should be focusing on tending to your injuries now.”

Yang Kai paused before nodding lightly and settled into a more comfortable position in Yu Ru Meng’s arms before closing his eyes.

The women around him were all beside themselves with worry.

Meanwhile, on the Universe Fragment at the frontlines, the Human Army returned in victory and settled down to rest as well.

However, the news that Yang Kai was seriously injured spread in next to no time; therefore, quite a number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters wanted to visit him, with Ou Yang Lie and Wei Jun Yang at the helm. However, Yu Ru Meng and the others stopped them by saying that their Husband was too injured and could not see anyone as he had to focus on his recovery first.

Naturally, Ou Yang Lie and the others were understanding enough. They asked about the cause of Yang Kai’s injuries, and when they found out it was the price he had to pay to be able to slaughter three Territory Lords, they were deeply troubled.

One of the Eighth-Order Masters brought out some special Spirit Pills he had been safekeeping and passed them to Yu Ru Meng before assuring her that she could focus on tending to Yang Kai. Yu Ru Meng accepted the pills and thanked him.

“That boy killed three Innate Territory Lords in less than an incense stick of time. He… has grown too quickly,” Wei Jun Yang turned back to glance at the Warship that was formed out of Bi Xi’s Soul Clone with an indiscernible expression.

When Wei Jun Yang first heard about Yang Kai back then on the Black Ink Battlefield, the latter had only been a Sixth-Order Junior, yet Yang Kai had the same cultivation as him now.

However, Yang Kai was even stronger and more formidable in battle as he could slaughter Innate Territory Lords who were a lot stronger than ordinary Territory Lords.

In a one-on-one fight, there was no guarantee that even peak Eighth-Order Masters like Wei Jun Yang and Ou Yang Lie could kill an Innate Territory Lord.

Nevertheless, Yang Kai did just that, though it seemed that he had paid heavily in the process.

“Have we grown too old?” Kong Cheng De chuckled. He was originally the Army Commander of the Nine Stars Army’s Southern Army. He and the other Eighth-Order Masters were some of the finest talents back in their day. They had cultivated for many years to achieve the strength they had now, but when they compared themselves to Yang Kai who was generations younger than them, they could not help but feel somewhat ashamed of themselves.

“During the last battle in the Barren Territory, this Old Master didn’t agree with the Old Ancestors’ decision,” one of the old men spoke up abruptly. It was Fei Yong Ze who was originally the Army Commander of the Purple Jade Western Army, “The Ninth-Order Old Ancestors are the backbone of our Human Race, our strongest and most experienced fighters. It’s incredibly difficult for someone to become a Ninth-Order Master. Even after all these years, only a handful of Ninth-Order Masters existed. As long as we Humans still had them, we would still have hope. And yet, during that fateful battle, the Old Ancestors boldly and without hesitation chose to sacrifice themselves in a battle to the death!”

“This Old Master believed that the Old Ancestors made the wrong decision back then. They had been too reckless in entrusting the future of the Human Race to the hands of the younger generation.”

“How about now?” Kong Cheng De turned to look at him.

Fei Yong Ze remained silent for a moment before saying, “Perhaps this Old Master was too conservative and narrow-minded. Let’s see how things go… in the future.”

His opinion had been shaken by the way Yang Kai slaughtered three Innate Territory Lords in one go, but only time could tell whether the Old Ancestors’ had made the right decision back then. It was not something that he could determine just like that.