Martial Peak

Yang Kai nodded and asked, “Brother Yu, I heard you saying there were undue delays along the way. What happened?”

Before Yu Zhen could answer, Tao Wu quickly cried out, “That’s just a misunderstanding, Sir!”

Yang Kai glanced at him, “I didn’t ask you.”

Tao Wu tried to explain himself anyway, but Yang Kai cut him off with a cold stare, “Say one more word and I’ll relieve you of your head!”

Tao Wu turned red with fury, but he dared not speak up again.

The Divine Spirits behind him became restless too.

Yu Zhen was shocked, [Sir Yang possesses such authority! Tao Wu is the strongest of all the Divine Spirits who came out of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary! He is as strong as our Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, which is why the other Divine Spirits follow his lead.]

Even those at the Supreme Headquarters dared not impose on these Divine Spirits too much. Yu Zhen could not believe that Tao Wu did not fly into a rage even though Yang Kai showed such disdain for him.

Furthermore, the Divine Spirits had addressed Yang Kai respectfully as ‘Sir’ when he first came over.

[What’s going on?]

Everyone knew that Yang Kai was the one who brought over the Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, but none knew what their true relationship was.

Tao Wu and the others did not go around talking about it either. They were Divine Spirits, and it would be a huge loss of face for them if others knew that they pledged their loyalty to a Human.

No one looked into the matter either as Divine Spirits were proud and arrogant beings, so it was already a blessing that they were somewhat willing to help the Humans in battle. Talking about these unnecessary things would only serve to offend the Divine Spirits.

Thus, everyone was taken aback by what they now saw happening.

“Brother Yu, please speak freely,” Yang Kai turned back to Yu Zhen.

Yu Zhen pursed his lips before cupping his fist and recounting, “Supreme Headquarters issued orders for us to immediately make for the Profound Nether Territory battlefield to aid the soldiers here. If we stuck to the original schedule, we could’ve reached here a day earlier and joined the battle, but on the way over, they spent half a day resting after claiming that both their physical bodies and their spirits were drained. After that, we encountered a few scattered Black Ink Clansmen and they insisted on hunting them down, which caused even more delays. That’s why we only arrived here today.”

“Physically and spiritually drained…” Yang Kai scoffed. The Divine Spirits were the epitome of strength and health. Even though they had not fully restored their peak strength yet, how could it be possible for them to be physically and spiritually drained just from travelling? He eyed Tao Wu and the other Divine Spirits coldly. Many of them had sheepish expressions as they probably felt that the excuse was too flippant as well.

“Were there any Territory Lords among those scattered Black Ink Clansmen?”

Yu Zhen shook his head, “There were only a few Black Ink Clansmen reserves who were led by some Feudal Lords.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly.

By now, Wei Jun Yang, Ou Yang Lie, and the others gathered around were livid.

If what Yu Zhen said was true, then the team of Divine Spirit reinforcements could have arrived a day earlier, and if they had, the Profound Nether Territory Army would not have suffered nearly as many casualties. The two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might not have had to sacrifice their lives either.

Earlier on, when Wei Jun Yang and Ou Yang Lie spoke while tending to their injuries, Ou Yang Lie asked about the reinforcements and Wei Jun Yang said that they should be arriving soon; however, neither one of them would have thought that the reinforcements should have already arrived by then, but had purposely delayed themselves.

Why would they need a group of Divine Spirits to hunt down scattered Black Ink Clan reserves that were only led by Feudal Lords? The Divine Spirits’ task was to aid the Humans on the frontlines of Profound Nether Territory. The main battlefield would have been the highest priority even if they did run into a Territory Lord along the way, let alone a few enemy scouts.

Their most important mission was to aid the Humans on the Profound Nether Territory battlefield, they did not have to bother with anything else.

The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were beside themselves with rage and couldn’t help cursing the Supreme Headquarters for assigning the wrong team to this task, though they knew full well that the Supreme Headquarters would not utilise these Divine Spirits unless they had no other choice. Chances were that no other reinforcements could be sent over, so that was why they had to deploy these Divine Spirits.

Yang Kai’s expression remained neutral. After hearing what Yu Zhen said, he turned to Tao Wu, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Tao Wu remained silent, not even trying to claim it was a misunderstanding anymore as he still had his own sense of pride. It was one thing if no one exposed what had happened, but since his deeds had been brought to light, he did not stoop so low as to deny them.

After a while, he declared, “The Humans at the Supreme Headquarters only told us to come and aid the Humans in Profound Nether Territory, and it hasn’t been lost!”

He did not say anything else, but it was easy enough to decipher what he was implying. Since Profound Nether Territory had not been lost, then even if they did cause unnecessary delays when coming over, it was not a big deal as it did not change the overall outcome.

Yang Kai nodded, “That means you admit to delaying your arrival on purpose.”

Tao Wu frowned, [Why are you harping on this? Even if I admit it, so what? Are the Humans going to kill us Divine Spirits? You wouldn’t dare!]

The Humans were already having a hard time holding their frontlines and were stretched thin as they tried to fend off the Black Ink Clan. They were not in a position to make new enemies. Regardless of everything else, the Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary provided indispensable combat strength!

“Very good!” Yang Kai’s icy gaze fixed on Tao Wu before all of a sudden, he growled, “Senior Ou Yang, what are the rules of the Human Race Army?”

Ou Yang Lie stepped forward and rattled off, “When the Army is in battle, the punishment for desertion is death! For those who disrupt morale, the sentence is death. For those who hinder military operations… the sentence is death!”

He spat out the last few words venomously.

Yang Kai raised his hand and summoned his Azure Dragon Spear. With the tip of the spear nearly pressing against Tao Wu’s head, Yang Kai asked through gritted teeth, “Do you understand now?”

The air was filled with murderous intent.

Yu Ru Meng and the other women began circulating their World Force in preparation for what was to come.

They would take their Husband’s side no matter what he did, even if he chose to join the Black Ink Clan, so there was no need to hesitate at this juncture.

On the other hand, Wei Jun Yang and the others froze in shock. Although they found these Divine Spirits reprehensible and deserving of death, it would not be easy to settle the situation if it got too far out of hand.

After all, the Human Race still needed these Divine Spirits’ help. The Eighth-Order Masters had long since outgrown the age of holding onto grudges. They held important positions and had to act in the Human Race’s best interests.

What’s more, it was not just one or two Divine Spirits here, it was 50 of them!

There were also another 50 on a different battlefield.

The Divine Spirits were alarmed by Yang Kai’s aggressive approach and could not help but unleash their Divine Spirit pressure as well.

In a blink of an eye, the atmosphere grew tense. Many of the Human Race Masters who had been observing in secret noticed the change and quickly flew over from all directions. They too began exerting their presence to challenge the Divine Spirits.

Yu Zhen was dumbstruck as he never thought things would come to this.

He resented these Divine Spirits and was going to report their misconduct to the Supreme Headquarters, but he knew full well that the Supreme Headquarters could not do anything about it. At most, the Supreme Commanders would reprimand the Divine Spirits, but in the end, they would have to smooth things over without making a huge fuss.

[Division Commander Yang is so brave and decisive. His spear is almost stabbing into the Divine Spirit’s face.]

It could not be denied that the sight the Humans saw now was… incredibly satisfying. The anger that welled up inside them previously was now appeased.

However, after a momentary bout of gratification, they started worrying.

How were they going to settle the situation if it went any further? [We can’t let it come to blows, right? The Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary are firm about sticking together, so if a fight breaks out, it’s our side that will suffer losses.]

How ironic it would be if they survived the onslaught from the Black Ink Clan Army only to die at the hands of these Divine Spirits.

Many others shared Yu Zhen’s worries and a few veteran Eighth-Order Masters were frowning hard as well. [Yang Kai’s still too young. Doing this may feel satisfying for now, but it won’t resolve the issue.]

If things went too far, it would fall on them, the older ones to clean up the mess, so…, why even bother?

With such thoughts in mind, they started communicating with Yang Kai as they reminded him to focus on the bigger picture.

However, Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent, as if he did not hear them.

Tao Wu seemed to have noticed their transmissions. Just moments ago, his expression was grim, but now, he abruptly laughed and said to Yang Kai, “Do you want to execute me, Sir?”

“Why wouldn’t I execute you?” Yang Kai replied, “You’re their leader, the one who decides what they do, so you should take responsibility for everything.”

Tao Wu shook his head, “If you insist, Sir, then I have nothing to say. However…” He paused and chuckled, “If you’re going to attack me, Sir, then I will respond in kind. This does not go against the oath.”

They were not in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary anymore. While there, the Divine Spirits’ strength had been suppressed and they could not stand against Yang Kai, resulting in Zhu Jian and the others being soundly defeated. As Yang Kai was able to take them out of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, they willingly made a Bloodline Oath to pledge their loyalty to Yang Kai for 3,000 years.

No one could break a Bloodline Oath, so they had to abide by its conditions, but if Yang Kai tried to kill them, they had the right to defend themselves; after all, they had pledged their loyalty to him, not their lives.

It would be far too unreasonable for them to have to die at Yang Kai’s whim.

[So what if this brat is an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master? Is my strength not equal to his?] Tao Wu thought.

Furthermore, Tao Wu was certain that Yang Kai was merely trying to scare him, for if Yang Kai did want to go through with it, he wouldn’t need to make such a grand spectacle of things. He would’ve just thrust his spear out and been done with it rather than wasting his breath on all this nonsense.

Tao Wu actually readily welcomed the possibility of Yang Kai attacking him. That way, he would no longer have to abide by his oath and would have the chance to rid himself of the need to serve for 3,000 years.

Many of the Divine Spirits shared the same thought as Tao Wu. 3,000 years was a long time, so if this was their chance to break the chains that shackled them, then it was a good thing as they would be able to regain their freedom.

“Go ahead and fight back. See if I manage to kill you or not!” Yang Kai retorted coolly.

Quite a number of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were still secretly trying to dissuade Yang Kai when all of a sudden, a powerful force was unleashed from Yang Kai’s spear as it thrust towards Tao Wu’s head.

“If any of you want to attack, then go ahead!” Yang Kai bellowed, “Let’s see whether it’s you or me who dies!”

The Human Race Masters were thunderstruck.

The Divine Spirits were stunned as well.

Even Tao Wu gawked in disbelief.

Yang Kai did make the first move, and it was a deadly blow! [It’s not an act. He wants to take my life!]t

Tao Wu was enraged.

He was a Mature Divine Spirit on par with an Eighth-Order Human Master, without a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor Around, he was one of the strongest beings in all the 3,000 Worlds, yet this Brat wanted to kill him just because he was a bit tardy today?

Tao Wu hated being constrained by the Bloodline Oath to begin with, so now that Yang Kai was attacking him, while he did feel angry, he was also thrilled to have the chance to obtain his freedom.

Although Yang Kai’s attack was sharp and powerful, Tao Wu knew it was not enough to take his life; after all, he had been keeping his guard up as Yang Kai’s spear had been pointed at his head the whole time.

Thus, as soon as Yang Kai launched his attack, Tao Wu reacted by unleashing his strength as a Divine Spirit and moved to dodge the spear.

At that exact moment though, a piercing pain coursed through his head, like his Soul was being torn apart. He felt dizzy and his vision grew hazy and even his movements became sluggish.