Martial Peak

Chapter 5636: Miscalculation

After Di Wu gave the order, the four Territory Lords forced themselves to charge towards Yang Kai, but before they reached him, they were forced back by a storm of Secret Techniques. At that moment, those four Territory Lords quickly joined their auras, wanting to form a Battle Formation. 

In the meantime, Yang Kai was exchanging a third attack with the fourth Territory Lord whom he hit with a Soul Rending Thorn.

His assault grew fiercer with every swing of the Azure Dragon Spear. It was purely a release of raging power without any form of technique. 

The pain coming from Yang Kai’s Soul made his expression fiercer and more horrifying by the moment, and his behaviour also grew more vicious and ruthless. 

It had only been three breaths of time since he began his counterattack. He first used the Black Purgatory Eye to disrupt Di Wu’s senses, then sent out five Soul Rending Thorns before killing three Territory Lords. 

The change in situation was so fast that it was difficult to comprehend. 

Only by acting faster than the enemy could Yang Kai maximise the advantages of his plan.

The fourth Territory Lord barely managed to resist Yang Kai’s third spear attack, but the same could not be said for the fourth. With a great thrust, the Black Ink Cloud before him dispersed, revealing his unprotected body. 

This Territory Lord didn’t last long because he was stronger than his three companions, but rather because he was the last to be targeted by Yang Kai. The first Territory Lord to get killed wasn’t expecting the attack and didn’t protect himself, but the fourth Territory Lord was prepared, which was why he could resist three spear attacks before succumbing. 

When Yang Kai arrived at the Ancestral Land 300 years ago, he killed a Territory Lord in his prime with three attacks. There were some elements of opportunistic trickery and verbal incitement, but it still showed how strong Yang Kai was. 

Now, even though his Order hadn’t changed after these three centuries, the heritage in his Small Universe had become a bit stronger. 

What really changed, however, was the increase of power in his Dragon Vein and his attainment in the Dao of Time, allowing Yang Kai to confidently say he was twice as powerful as he was 300 years ago. 

Furthermore, those Territory Lords had been hit by Soul Rending Thorns, so they couldn’t exert their full strength while their minds were in a blurred state. 

That was why the fourth Territory Lord couldn’t avoid the fourth spear attack. All he felt was a deadly aura enveloping him and a huge sense of fear filling his entire body, replacing most of the pain in his Soul. 

Never had he felt so close to death. 

“Save…” When he opened his mouth to speak the first word, the Azure Dragon Spear had already pierced the protective layer of Black Ink Strength he created and stabbed through his wide-open mouth. The Territory Lord’s last word was stuck in his throat as Space Principles wrapped around him, destroying his last hope of escape.

The long spear shot out from the back of the Territory Lord’s head, leaving a huge hole in its wake. That Territory Lord’s aura flared up before instantly melting like snow under the burning Sun. 

Before Yang Kai could pull back his spear however, four very powerful Secret Techniques were fired at him from the other four Territory Lords. 

At such close range, Yang Kai might not have been able to dodge these attacks in his prime, let alone in his current state. 

At the same time, he felt like his head was about to explode, and his consciousness began turning blurry as his thoughts slowed down. Meanwhile on his face, except for the fierce expression he had because of the pain, his eyes turned dull, making him look a little dazed. 

Those were the symptoms of his Soul being heavily injured. Many cultivators lost all sentience and sense of self after suffering heavy injuries to their Soul. 

Luckily, Yang Kai’s instincts were still intact, so when those four Secret Techniques were about to reach him, he channelled his Dragon Vein’s power and a patch of small, dense Dragon Scales appeared on his skin. The Dragon Scales made his exposed skin suddenly turn shiny, as if he were wearing a gold robe. 

The next moment, Yang Kai was enveloped by those four Secret Techniques. 

As Black Ink Strength burst out, a large boom sounded, and the world around Yang Kai shook as he released a muffled grunt. 

Before the effects of the Territory Lords’ Secret Techniques had faded, the angry Di Wu arrived from behind and lunged at Yang Kai.

Di Wu knew that since Yang Kai had used his strange Soul Secret Technique, this would be the best chance to kill him. Before this, he was wary of Yang Kai’s means, but now, Yang Kai was like a toothless tiger to him, so he naturally wouldn’t let go of such an opportunity.

At the same time, the four Territory Lords that had formed the Battle Formation exchanged a glance before quickly moving back while maintaining their Formation. Since Di Wu had made a move, they didn’t have to do anything else besides keeping up the Four Symbols Formation and preventing Yang Kai from escaping.

The truth was that they were happy to see this situation as well because they were still afraid of dealing with Yang Kai. They were scared of getting killed by this Human killing-star, so they had no qualms about letting Di Wu take the lead.

Sounds of explosions kept ringing in everyone’s ears while there seemed to be figures flying about within the dense Black Ink Strength.

Soon, a figure flew out like an arrow leaving its bow. The figure spat out a mouthful of Golden Blood in midair. It was Yang Kai, and he clearly couldn’t control his body.

At this moment, he seemed extremely haggard. Not only was his hair in a mess, but the layer of Dragon Scales covering his body was also like a broken net, shattered and peeling off in many places. 

With the help of an artifact like the Soul Rending Thorn, he could easily kill Innate Territory Lords, but that didn’t mean Innate Territory Lords were pushovers. Every one of their attacks was incredibly strong, so Yang Kai didn’t feel good after forcefully taking four such attacks. Then, Di Wu came right after that and attacked Yang Kai, rendering him dizzy and looking dishevelled. 

The advantage of having a stronger Dragon Vein was evident at this moment. If Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was still 70,000 metres long, he might not have been able to withstand such a heavy beating, but now, though he was injured, he didn’t lose all combat ability. 

This was the specialty of a powerful Dragon Vein. It granted the physical body incredible resilience!

All the attacks were first weakened by the Dragon Scales before reaching the body, so the impact was naturally weakened. It was especially so for the four Secret Techniques used by those four Territory Lords. First, they were obviously weakened by the Dragon Scales before they hit Yang Kai. However, the effect of the Dragon Scale’s protection was greatly weakened when facing physical attacks like the ones Di Wu used. 

Following Yang Kai’s haggard figure was Di Wu. He also flew out from the area covered by Black Ink Strength while staring coldly at the pale figure before him, roaring loudly, “Yang Kai, suffer death!”

Yang Kai’s expression became even more angered as veins throbbed on his forehead, his fury obvious to all. 

His original plan was to use the Soul Rending Thorn to kill those four Innate Territory Lords and then quickly escape from the Trapping Array before hiding back inside the depths of the Ancestral Land to recuperate. 

Once he had another few years to heal his Soul, he would come back out and ambush the others. 

He couldn’t kill the Royal Lord, but he could kill the other Four Territory Lords. Also, if he was decisive and found a good opportunity, he could kill every Territory Lord that came, just like how he had on the Profound Nether Territory Battlefield. Back then, he killed so many Territory Lords that they all trembled in fear whenever they heard his name. 

When fighting the enemy, it was best to leave nothing to chance, and it was natural to make full use of all of one’s strength and advantages. The Soul Rending Thorn was now Yang Kai’s trump card when facing Territory Lords and Royal Lords. 

It could be said that this move worked every time.

All Yang Kai needed was patience, because someday, the Black Ink Clan forces here wouldn’t be able to withstand the losses and would take the initiative to retreat, or deploy even more Territory Lords. 

Either way, it wouldn’t be much of a loss for Yang Kai. 

That was his original plan…

But even the best-laid plans often fail to withstand the first clash of battle. No one could predict what would happen next in the heat of combat. 

In the end, Yang Kai still overestimated how much his Soul could tolerate. 

He thought that he could still manage to keep a clear mind after using five Soul Rending Thorns, and he had built the rest of his plan around that idea. 

However, after he threw those five Soul Rending Thorns out, his consciousness became blurry while he barely managed to maintain some clarity. 

To put it simply, though he could still think at the moment, his instincts were taking over and he was now showing some signs of falling into a daze.

If a cognitively impaired person was attacked, they would either try to escape or retaliate fiercely…

Yang Kai obviously gravitated towards the latter response, which was already illustrated by his behaviour back at the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon. Otherwise, he would have escaped when he lost consciousness back then.  

That was why despite having taken on four Secret Techniques from the Territory Lords and being beaten up by Di Wu, Yang Kai still glared fiercely at Di Wu in his battered state. Veins were protruding from his forehead as he widened his eyes and said through gritted teeth, “You dare hit me?”

Hearing this, Di Wu was filled with murderous intent and turned gloomy after. [What nonsense is he talking about? This is a life-or-death battle, who else would I hit if not you?]

“You actually dared to hit me!?” Yang Kai growled through gritted teeth. He was like a bullied child questioning why he was being targeted while suppressing the vexation he felt inside. 

“Enough nonsense, die!” Di Wu roared before immediately charging at Yang Kai. After the previous attack, he was sure that Yang Kai was no longer his opponent. Although he still needed some effort to kill Yang Kai, today was going to be the day of Yang Kai’s death. From today onwards, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have to be worried about this Human anymore, which was a great contribution on his part. 

While the thought flashed across his mind, Di Wu’s expression suddenly fell because at that moment, Yang Kai’s supposedly weakened aura exploded out. 

“Since you hit me, I’ll hit you back!” The aggrieved child was finally retaliating. 

“Heavens and Earth, lend me your strength!”

The injury to Yang Kai’s Soul made his mind become a little unstable, and the endless rage had influenced his thoughts into forgetting his original plan. 

However, he still had his natural abilities, so he instinctually knew he had to go all out when dealing with a Royal Lord. 

If his own strength wasn’t enough to deal with a Royal Lord, he would just borrow strength from others!

He was going to borrow strength from the Ancestral Land.

What he did 300 years ago won him the favour of this land; then, he fused with it for 300 years, which allowed him to look back in time and see the evolution of this World. Also, the huge amounts of Ancestral Strength entering his body had helped his Dragon Vein grow stronger and allowed his Dragon Form to grow from 70,000 metres to 99,999 metres. Even cultivating inside the Dragon Pool for 300 years wouldn’t have been so beneficial.

The entire Ancestral Land had opened its arms for Yang Kai, letting him have whatever he wanted. 

Under such conditions, it wouldn’t be hard for Yang Kai to borrow some strength from the Ancestral Land.