Martial Peak

Chapter 5642: Asking Questions

In an instant, that seemed to last millions of years, the two lights suddenly disappeared, and the violent energy calmed down, signalling the end of the epic battle. 

Yang Kai coughed up a large mouthful of blood as his consciousness blurred. Thanks to the Azure Dragon Spear, he barely remained standing. Despite doing his best to seal the gaping hole in his chest by tightening his muscles, the wound was reopened and blood was now pouring out.

Not far before him, Di Wu was standing with his head held high, but his body was completely battered and full of wounds. Black Ink Strength would occasionally spurt from his wounds, but even that had lost the powerful momentum it used to have and seemed quite weak.

His Royal Lord aura had already weakened long ago, and his vitality was almost gone.

Completely unshackling his rupturing Pseudo-Royal Lord foundation had caused a lethal backlash, so how could he possibly survive?

However, he wasn’t dead yet. Creakingly turning his head, he stared at Yang Kai with blurry eyes filled with mixed emotions before gathering the last of his strength to chant, “Black Ink Eternal!”

Then, his body fell with a thud, kicking up the dust around him. Just like that, his aura completely disappeared.

Of course, Yang Kai wasn’t sure Di Wu was dead, so he forced himself to remain conscious as he stumbled over to Di Wu. After giving the corpse a few hard stabs with the Azure Dragon Spear and confirming that Di Wu was gone, Yang Kai spat out another mouthful of blood and cursed. 

[Black Ink Eternal, my ass.] He had heard that saying for thousands of years, but never saw the Black Ink Clan dominating the Universe.

The Human Race was not dead yet, so the Black Ink Clan could forget about being eternal as long as Yang Kai remained alive.

While supporting himself with the Azure Dragon Spear, Yang Kai slowly sat down on the ground, regulating his obviously disordered power and activating the power of his Dragon Vein to heal his injuries. 

His gaze was still slightly unfocused. Having been locked in a very intense battle for several days and having been constantly thinking of ways to deceive and lure out the Black Ink Clan, he had exhausted both his mental and physical strength.

The injury to his Soul was still there, and it would require a long recovery time before it could be fully restored. 

He also suffered a lot of injuries to his body during this battle. 

At that instant, he seemed to have forgotten why he came to the Ancestral Land in the first place. 

After thinking about it for a while, he remembered he had come here to seek out clues about the Primordial Light. 

Fortunately, his journey had been fruitful. 

Even though there were still some mysteries surrounding the Primordial Light, Yang Kai had learned its history. 

Then, he continued to cultivate in the Ancestral Land for 300 years, during which time his Dragon Vein was greatly refined. Then, he proceeded to kill eight Innate Territory Lords and a Royal Lord. 

No matter which angle he looked at it from, this trip to the Ancestral Land was a very rewarding one. 

The only thing that would have made it even better was if he wasn’t in such a terrible state.

Yang Kai didn’t rest for long though because the 300 Small Stone Race Masters were still chasing after those escaping Innate Territory Lords. Although it was probably impossible for the Small Stone Race to catch up to those Territory Lords, Yang Kai still needed to oversee their situation. 

300 Small Stone Race Masters were a huge war asset, and if Yang Kai didn’t go retrieve them, given the Small Stone Race’s nature, they would most likely get lost or even destroy each other. 

So, no matter what, he had to get those Small Stone Race Masters back.

Yang Kai only slightly adjusted his breathing before getting up and dragging his extremely tired body to manipulate Space Principles and shoot away.

Just as he expected, the Small Stone Race Masters didn’t manage to catch up with the Innate Territory Lords. Innate Territory Lords were already very powerful, and if they were determined to escape, the Small Stone Race wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

While Yang Kai moved throughout the void, picking up batch after batch of scattered Small Stone Race Masters, he chanced upon a surprise.

Since the 12 Innate Territory Lords powering the Grand Array had already escaped, the Small Stone Race weren’t able to catch them. Yang Kai didn’t intend to chase them either because those Territory Lords couldn’t hide forever. There was bound to come a day when Yang Kai would settle accounts with them.

On the other hand, the few Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples that came with the Black Ink Clan weren’t able to escape as quickly because their strength was far lower; therefore, they were still being chased by the Small Stone Race Masters. 

When Yang Kai arrived at the scene, those Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples were badly beaten up. If Yang Kai had come any later, the Small Stone Race would have killed them.

The moment those Black Ink Disciples saw Yang Kai, they began calling for help as if they saw their saviour. 

To the Black Ink Clan, Black Ink Disciples would forever be slaves, but there were also times when the Black Ink Clan needed these Black Ink Disciples to do something for them that they weren’t capable of. Therefore, they wouldn’t kill Black Ink Disciples at will. 

To the Humans, if they encountered Black Ink Disciples, those capable of taking them on would do their best to capture them alive rather than kill them. That was because the Humans now had a method to save these Black Ink Disciples.

In other words, Black Ink Disciples could survive among both Races. 

The Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples could not escape from the Small Stone Race Masters’ pursuit, but there was little they could do other than go all out as their loyalty was currently to the Black Ink Clan.

Yang Kai naturally didn’t make things difficult for them and summoned the Great Sun and Moon Marks to retrieve the Small Stone Race Masters. After that, he used Purifying Light to dispel the Black Ink Strength from within those Black Ink Disciples.

Without Black Ink Strength affecting their minds, the Black Ink Disciples regained their true nature and hung their heads in shame.

The leader among the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples, the old man, cupped his fist at Yang Kai while sweating, “This old man and his companions have committed a great crime. Please punish us, Sir!”

Every Black Ink Disciple who was freed from the influence of Black Ink Strength would have such thoughts. When they recalled their actions while being Black Ink Disciples, it all seemed like a nightmare that they couldn’t understand or accept.

With a wave of his hand, Yang Kai assured them, “You didn’t act willingly, so you don’t have to blame yourselves. If you still feel ashamed, return to the battlefield and kill more enemies.”

The several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Masters nodded and agreed.

“Wait for me at the border of the Ancestral Land. I have some questions I want to ask you,” Yang Kai ordered. 

The old man replied, “Yes, Sir.”

After saying that, the Seventh-Order Masters shot towards the Ancestral Land while Yang Kai continued searching for the Small Stone Race Masters.

Yang Kai spent more than 10 days scouring the entire Shattered Heaven but still couldn’t find all the Small Stone Race Masters he summoned, but in the end, he did a count and found that about 10 were missing. 

He had no idea whether the Innate Territory Lords killed them or if they had simply gotten lost. 

That was a regretful discovery because each Small Stone Race Master was equivalent to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. It was a pity to lose 10 of them.

But Yang Kai could do nothing about it because that was how the Small Stone Race was. They had simple sentience and acted according to their instincts. Yang Kai didn’t have any other choice but to summon those Small Stone Race Masters before he could tame or refine them because he needed them to block the incoming Innate Territory Lords. 

In conclusion, if he hadn’t gone to visit Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan and gotten so many Small Stone Race Soldiers before coming here, he would have been in a dangerous situation. 

When Yang Kai returned to the Ancestral Land, his face still looked pale and the throbbing pain in his Soul was still evident. 

The several Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were waiting for him and came over as soon as they sensed his return. 

Raising his hand, Yang Kai skipped the formalities with them and got straight to the point, “Have you all been staying at the No-Return Pass?”

The eldest Seventh-Order Master, the old man, nodded, “Yes. We all had some talent in the Dao of Spirit Arrays, so we were specially sent to the No-Return Pass after being corrupted. The Black Ink Clan there seemed to be particularly interested in Humans like us.”

After a short pause, the old man elaborated shamefully, “The Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array was also created by us. After Sir made a name for yourself on the Profound Nether Territory Battlefield back then, the Royal Lord ordered us to come up with a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array that could be used to deal with you. Previously, there were some Black Ink Clansmen who reported to the Royal Lord that you were in the Ancestral Land and seemed to be immersed in cultivation. Therefore, the Royal Lord thought it was a good opportunity and ordered several Innate Territory Lords to bring us here to set up the Grand Array.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly.

Even though he didn’t get a chance to carefully investigate the so-called Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array, he could sense that it had many rough patches. If it wasn’t for Di Wu pestering him, Yang Kai was confident he could have broken the Grand Array and eliminated its Heaven Sealing Earth Locking effects in short order. 

More importantly, 12 Innate Territory Lords were needed to power this Grand Array, which was another sign that this wasn’t a high-end Grand Array. 

If that was the case, these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had limited attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays and might even have lower attainments than Yang Kai himself. 

Although Yang Kai never formally studied the Dao of Spirit Arrays, he had refined several Array Dao Rivers in the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, so his Small Universe had quite a lot of Array Dao Essence in it, which meant he wasn’t without any foundation in this Grand Dao. 

“How many Royal Lords are there in the Black Ink Clan?” Yang Kai asked. 

He wanted these Seventh-Order Masters to stay behind because he wanted to ask about this matter. 

An unfamiliar Royal Lord had suddenly appeared in the Black Ink Clan. Though Yang Kai had killed that Royal Lord using all sorts of means, it was still a very difficult battle. After this fight, Yang Kai would have to recuperate for at least 100 or 200 years to fully restore himself. 

[Who knows whether the Black Ink Clan still has more Royal Lords or not.]

The previously Black Ink Disciples looked at each other before the old man replied with a frown, “I know what Sir is worried about, but according to our knowledge, the Black Ink Clan has only ever had one Royal Lord.”

“Only one?” Yang Kai was confused, but the Seventh-Order old man nodded and said firmly, “Only one.”

Yang Kai frowned as he thought these Seventh-Order Open Heaven Masters had spent many years at the No-Return Pass, so they should know some of the Black Ink Clan’s details. But now, it seemed like they weren’t able to get their hands on the core secrets. However, even if the Black Ink Clan had hidden a Royal Lord, the Black Ink Disciples should have heard about it. 

On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan also knew that once the Black Ink Disciples got caught by the Humans, the Black Ink Strength inside them would be expelled. Then, those Humans would regain their consciousness, so if they knew any confidential information about the Black Ink Clan, that information would probably get exposed, so perhaps they were keeping better control over vital information than Yang Kai first thought.

“Actually, we’re confused as well.” While the old man spoke, he looked at Di Wu’s corpse on the far end, “This Di Wu, he used to be an Innate Territory Lord, but he somehow became a Royal Lord…”

“Wait,” Yang Kai interrupted him, “You said this guy was an Innate Territory Lord?”

Nodding, the old man explained, “Yes. He was an Innate Territory Lord, and one of the Royal Lord’s confidants.”

The other Seventh-Order Masters nodded in agreement and confirmed Di Wu’s identity as an Innate Territory Lord. 

“How is that possible?” Yang Kai’s eyes widened as he couldn’t believe his ears.