Martial Peak

Chapter 5439: Two?!

After asking, Huang Xiong realized his question was somewhat rude and intrusive, so he added, “If you find it inconvenient to tell me, you can take it as if I never asked.”

Since this matter was related to a cultivator’s personal secrets, it was inappropriate to pry into it.

Shaking his head, Yang Kai replied, “There’s nothing inconvenient about it. I indeed managed to break through to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm because I met with an opportunity.” He then stopped for a moment before continuing, “Division Commander Huang, how long has it been since the battle at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction?”

Huang Xiong looked at him strangely. Though he didn’t know why Yang Kai would ask such a question, he still answered honestly, “It’s been 512 years.”

“512 years…” Yang Kai raised an eyebrow. The actual time was somewhat different from his estimations, but the difference wasn’t too big.

Back at the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, the hardest thing to estimate was how long had passed in the outside world for he had spent some 4,000 years in and out of numerous Temporal Rivers which all had different ratios for the flow of time.

However, he could clearly account for part of that time.

He had spent about 100 years searching for Temporal Rivers to cultivate in, and after deciding to leave, he used up almost 200 years to escape from the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.

With that in mind, and with the information from Huang Xiong, it seemed the time he spent cultivating inside the Temporal Rivers was just about 200 years as well.

Though only 200 years had passed in the outside world, Yang Kai actually spent 4,000 years cultivating, which meant that the average rate of time flow inside the Temporal Rivers was 20 times that of the outside world, which was actually much higher than he expected.

After composing himself, Yang Kai used a Pill Condensing Technique to collect the furnace of Spirit Pills before handing them to Huang Xiong. This time, Huang Xiong ate one before passing the rest to the soldiers behind him.

With a slightly complicated expression, Yang Kai explained, “Division Commander Huang, while 512 years passed in the outside world, I’ve actually been cultivating in a certain place for over 4,000 years.

Huang Xiong was taken aback, “4,000 years? How is that…”

Following that, he suddenly thought of something and asked, “A Temporal River?”

It was obvious that he had heard rumours about Temporal Rivers in the past; therefore, if there was any place in this Universe that could allow Yang Kai to have such a strange encounter, that was the only possibility.

Rumour had it that time flowed faster inside Temporal Rivers compared to the outside world, allowing one to cultivate inside for 10 or even 100 years while only a single year passed by in the rest of the Universe.

Many Open Heaven Realm Masters had heard these rumours, yet the overwhelming majority had never seen a Temporal River for themselves, much less used one.

If that were true, it wasn’t a surprise that Yang Kai was able to break through to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm so quickly.

Yang Kai’s aptitude was clearly exceptional as well, seeing how high his strength had risen in just 4,000 years.

Nodding, Yang Kai answered, “It was a Temporal River. Outside the Primordial Heavens Source Restriction, I was targeted by a Royal Lord. All of the Old Ancestors and Eighth-Order Division Commanders had their own enemies to face, so with no other option, I could only try to escape. Originally, my plan was to pass through the Late Ancient Era Battlefield and head for the No-Return Pass to seek help from the Dragon and Phoenix Clans to deal with that Royal Lord, but my plans went astray and I became lost along the way…”

Even though Huang Xiong was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with a calm nature, he couldn’t help but want to chuckle after hearing Yang Kai say he actually got lost.

When one’s strength had reached the Seventh-Order and Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, with a Universe Chart in hand, they could freely roam throughout the vast void without ever getting lost.

However, the Black Ink Battlefield was too vast, and the region beyond the Royal Cities was completely uncharted territory, so becoming lost wasn’t actually that surprising.

It was especially so with Yang Kai’s situation, where a Royal Lord was chasing him, so it made sense that he got flustered and lost his way.

Then, Yang Kai began talking about the dense fog Celestial Phenomenon and how he repeatedly escaped from the grasp of the sheep-headed Royal Lord before encountering the mysterious Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon.

When Huang Xiong took all of this in, his eyes brightened as an excited expression appeared on his face.

Yang Kai could see that the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon was a very valuable place, so naturally, Huang Xiong could as well.

Within the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, many undercurrents hid several kinds of Martial Domains that evolved from the purest form of Grand Dao Essences. Absorbing and refining even one compatible undercurrent could save a cultivator tens, if not hundreds of years of hard cultivation, not to mention the existence of so many Temporal Rivers. To an Open Heaven Realm Master, Temporal Rivers were a shortcut to a higher Martial Dao on a path that wasn’t supposed to have any shortcuts.

“Where is this Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon? Can you still find it?” Huang Xiong asked.

With a nod, Yang Kai answered, “I’ve left markers along my way here and arranged a hidden Universe Array at its outskirts, so finding it again shouldn’t be difficult.”

Huang Xiong was excited, “Great! Such a treasure will surely be helpful to us Humans in the future.”

But after expressing his excitement, his mood immediately turned gloomy. For now, they couldn’t head to the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon, because the Human Race wasn’t in a good situation.

“What was the result of the battle at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction? How was Azure Void Pass destroyed to such an extent?” Now that Yang Kai had answered Huang Xiong’s questions, he asked some of his own.

Back then, Yang Kai was targeted by the sheep-headed Royal Lord not long after the battle had begun and was forced to escape from the battlefield, so he had no idea what actually happened afterwards.

Huang Xiong sighed heavily, “That battle… was our Human Race’s loss!”

Hearing that, Yang Kai felt his heart sink.

Actually, he had already guessed this outcome because if the Humans had won, Azure Void Pass wouldn’t be in such a state.

“The Black Ink Giant Spirit God?” Yang Kai asked in a deep voice.

If there was one variable on the battlefield outside the Primordial Heavens Source Restriction, it would be the Black Ink Giant Spirit God. Before the battle, Mo, the ancient Supreme Master, kept trying its best to maintain balance on the battlefield, which was why there were never more Royal Lords leaving the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction than there were Old Ancestors.

It was like Mo wasn’t interested in defeating the Humans, but rather fully intended to maintain the balance between the two sides.

In the beginning, no matter whether it was the Humans or Cang, no one could understand Mo’s intentions.

But when the Black Ink Giant Spirit God appeared, everything became clear.

The corpses of the Black Ink Clansmen that died in battle had left behind a massive amount of Black Ink Strength, and all of that became a huge help to the Black Ink Giant Spirit God. Moreover, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God had pried open the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction from the inside in order to free itself. In fact, if Cang hadn’t fused his body with the restriction to trigger the hidden hand that Mu had left behind, sealing the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and forcing Mo into a deep slumber, the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction might have been torn open then and there and Mo would have been set free.

If such a scenario had come to pass, the Human Race wouldn’t have just lost the battle, they would have been wiped out.

Fortunately, Mo was rendered unconscious and the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was sealed up in the end. 

The number of Royal Lords on the field was actually lower than the number of Ninth-Order Masters, for the Territory Lords, the Eighth-Order Masters could deal with them, and for the Feudal Lords and below, the Humans actually held the advantage. However, the Humans still lost that battle, so there was only one possible reason, which was that the Black Ink Giant Spirit God was just too powerful!

When Yang Kai was escaping, he noticed a scene where several Old Ancestors worked together to suppress the Black Ink Giant Spirit God; otherwise, the sheep-headed Royal Lord wouldn’t have had the time to deal with him.

He had only caught a quick glance, but what he saw was that those Old Ancestors were already stretched to their limit just dealing with the Black Ink Spirit God whose lower half had been cut off by the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction when it abruptly closed. How strong would a complete Black Ink Giant Spirit God be?

Huang Xiong nodded gravely, “It was the Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods! If there had been only one, though the Humans would still have had a hard battle, we would still have had a chance to emerge victorious. However, another one of those monsters appeared!”

Yang Kai’s pupils contracted, “There were two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods?”

[Where did it come from? Before the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was sealed, there was only one Black Ink Giant Spirit God; in fact, it was only half of one since the Grand Restriction sheared him in two, so where did the second one come from? Could it be that the Grand Restriction re-opened?]

Contrary to Yang Kai’s worries, Huang Xiong slowly explained, “I don’t know where the second Black Ink Giant Spirit God came from either, it just suddenly appeared from behind the Army and instantly destroyed a Great Pass, signalling our defeat!”

“From behind the Army?” Yang Kai was instantly dumbfounded.

[Why would there be a Black Ink Giant Spirit God that came out from behind the Army?]

Although Mo clearly created the Black Ink Giant Spirit God in the image of the true Giant Spirit God Clan, the Black Ink Giant Spirit God wasn’t much different in terms of strength and ability.

If such a behemoth were to launch an ambush from behind the Army, it would be impossible for the Humans to react in time.

Suddenly, Yang Kai thought of something and asked, “Did the second Black Ink Giant Spirit God appear from the direction of the Late Ancient Era battlefield?”

Huang Xiong nodded, “Indeed! “

Yang Kai took a breath, “I probably know the origin of the second Black Ink Giant Spirit God.”

Huang Xiong was stunned, “You do?”

He still couldn’t figure out how a second Black Ink Giant Spirit God appeared. Even the Azure Void Pass Old Ancestor couldn’t deduce anything after hundreds of years of pondering the issue, so how could Yang Kai uncover the truth after just hearing about it.

Yang Kai said solemnly, “If I’m not mistaken, it came out of the Late Ancient Era battlefield. During the second crusade, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and I encountered a true Giant Spirit God…”

Along the path Great Evolution Pass travelled to reach the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Yang Kai saw a Giant Spirit God who was rampaging across the Late Ancient Era battlefield, holding a huge bone club, seemingly fighting a swarm of invisible enemies.

At that time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao went to investigate with him, and they were almost accidentally smashed by that Giant Spirit God.

From their observations at the time, the two of them speculated that the Giant Spirit God had already died in battle; however, it seemed the Giant Spirit God Clan, despite being childlike and innocent, possessed truly indomitable Wills that even in death were able to maintain the instinct to fight on. That Giant Spirit God had probably been rushing across that battlefield for millions of years even after perishing so long ago.

Yang Kai was deeply moved at the time, believing that the Giant Spirit God’s obsession was with trying to save its friends and allies rather than killing the enemy, because with the strength of a Giant Spirit God, while there might be some enemies it could not defeat, there was no enemy it could not escape from. The fact that it died in battle meant it had chosen to remain behind and keep fighting.

However, now it seemed his speculations back then were incorrect and that Giant Spirit God was not at all what he suspected.

That Giant Spirit God was probably also a Black Ink Giant Spirit God which was created by Mo a long time ago, possibly even before it was trapped by Cang and the other Martial Ancestors in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.

When the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was opened this time, Mo must have used some unknown method to revive that Black Ink Giant Spirit God in the Late Ancient Era battlefield and directed it to attack the Human Army from behind!

Although he had not personally witnessed that battle, Yang Kai could still imagine how desperate and helpless the Humans must have felt when that second Black Ink Giant Spirit God set foot on the battlefield!

Originally, the Old Ancestors had a slight advantage over the Royal Lords, but the first Black Ink Giant Spirit God occupied at least a dozen Ninth-Order Masters, flipping that advantage on its head. When the second Black Ink Giant Spirit God appeared, it was like the Black Ink Clan suddenly received a dozen more Royal Lords as reinforcements, with no one capable of stopping it!

Once that second Black Ink Giant Spirit God started rampaging, what could be done to stop it?

In such a vast yet almost even battle, even the smallest breakthrough could result in a chain reaction that completely tipped the scales of war, much less the intrusion of a being as powerful as a Black Ink Giant Spirit God.

Huang Xiong was stunned when he heard this and couldn’t help asking, “Are you saying that the second Black Ink Giant Spirit God was the one you saw before?”

Yang Kai nodded, “Other than that, there is no other possibility.”

Huang Xiong was speechless as sorrow filled his heart.