Martial Peak

Chapter 5442: The Hunter and the Prey

Even with Yang Kai’s current ability, he had paid quite a high price to kill those three Innate Territory Lords back at Azure Void Pass, which clearly showed how strong Innate Territory Lords were.

Now, the Human Squads were facing three Innate Territory Lords without a single Eighth-Order Master backing them up. In such a situation, annihilation was all but certain!

The Seventh-Order Master that gave out the order to retreat earlier clearly knew this, so after understanding that there was no chance of survival, he immediately yelled, “Kill!”

There were only three breaths of the time difference between two totally opposite orders, but they were orders that perfectly suited the situation.

None of the Humans hesitated, and the dozen or so Warships that were about to flee all stopped momentarily before charging straight at the Black Ink Clan Army.

When facing certain death, killing one enemy would allow them to break even, while killing two would gain them a profit!

There were even two Squads that charged straight at the Territory Lord who was trapped by the arranged Array. They were going to give it their all to kill this Territory Lord because only that way would their deaths be truly valuable.

“Naïve!” The third Territory Lord who had appeared sneered disdainfully before putting power into his legs, but just as he was about to shoot forward, a sense of crisis suddenly overwhelmed him, making him feel like he had fallen into an ice pit.

The last time he had such a feeling was back at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. At that time, he had just emerged from the darkness and was fighting a bloody battle with a Human Division Commander.

While locked in battle, a nearby Old Ancestor randomly slashed at him…

That slash almost cost him his life, but fortunately for him, that Old Ancestor was dealing with a Royal Lord and had no time to finish him off; otherwise, he would certainly have died before he could blink.

More than 500 years had passed since then, but he was feeling the same feeling again.

Although this Territory Lord didn’t have much experience in battle, he was very sensitive to danger. Noticing something was wrong, he immediately gathered his Black Ink Strength to protect himself.

However, the next moment, he felt the space around him solidify, and his thoughts seemed to be affected by a strange kind of energy, which caused his reaction to be delayed.

Before he could come to his senses, a long spear brushed past his head, blowing nearly half of it off in one violent thrust.

If he hadn’t forcefully jerked his head to the side at the critical moment, that spear would have pierced right through his brain and blown his head apart!

Despite suffering such a serious injury, the Territory Lord wasn’t dead, and if he was lucky enough to escape, he would only have to return to a Black Ink Nest to recuperate for a few hundred years before being able to make a complete recovery.

Behind the Territory Lord, Yang Kai couldn’t help but click his tongue when he saw that his spear had missed, seemingly dissatisfied with his performance.

He had been hiding in the dark, yet his sudden sneak attack still wasn’t able to kill this Innate Territory Lord in one blow, which proved that the opponent was no weakling.

But that was all.

Under the intertwining of many Dao Strengths, and having surrendered the initiative to Yang Kai, this Territory Lord had lost all ability to fight back.

The Territory Lord that had just escaped death hadn’t even seen what his opponent looked like before a multitude of strands of interwoven Dao Strengths sliced through his body.

At that instant, Yang Kai flicked his spear and shot past him before charging straight at the second Territory Lord.

Behind him, the third Territory Lord exploded into numerous pieces of flesh!

The sudden change of events completely shocked everyone on the scene.

The Black Ink Clan were shocked, while the Humans were ecstatic!

They thought they were going to die for sure, but who knew that reinforcements would appear right when they had resolved themselves to fight to the death? Moreover, their reinforcements were far stronger than they could imagine and had even killed an Innate Territory Lord in just two moves!

Following that, the cries of the Golden Crow sounded, and a Great Sun rose as Yang Kai guided it with his spear towards the sturdy-looking Territory Lord.

The might of the attack was glorious and unstoppable!

The Territory Lord roared madly as Black Ink Strength surged from his figure. Then, he raised his hand and cast a powerful Secret Technique.

But the next moment, he felt an immense pain in his mind, as though something had pierced directly into his Soul and was shredding it to pieces. Under the intense pain, he howled in agony and even the Black Ink Strength he had gathered began to disperse.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai’s expression twisted into a ferocious one. He knew his strength best, and though it wouldn’t be a problem for him to kill this Territory Lord with conventional means, it would take him some time. However, the situation on the battlefield was ever-changing, and he wasn’t sure if any other Black Ink Clan Masters were hiding nearby, so he had to end things here quickly.

In this situation, the Soul Rending Thorns were his best option.

Having used this combination Soul-type artifact Technique many times, Yang Kai had grown somewhat accustomed to its activation. Moreover, he only needed to sacrifice a piece of his Soul to power the Soul Rending Thorn, and with the Soul Warming Lotus, that damage would heal on its own in time.

It was a different situation for the enemy. After being seriously injured by the Soul Rending Thorn, the Territory Lord instantly lost half his combat strength.

Right when the Territory Lord’s Black Ink Strength began to scatter, the spear with the Great Sun at its tip arrived and viciously blasted at his chest.

The might of Yang Kai’s Golden Crow Casts the Sun exploded and enveloped the Territory Lord before turning into an even brighter Great Sun, illuminating the void in all directions.

A moment later, the light faded and Yang Kai had disappeared, while the sturdy-looking Territory Lord had a giant see-through hole in his chest. His vitality dispersed quickly while his eyes were filled with pain and disbelief.

He seemed to be unable to believe that there was actually an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who could kill him so easily!

After his previous encounters with a few Human Masters, his impression was that they were not much. Besides the top Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, the others’ strength was basically on par with his, while some were even weaker.

In addition, he had the confidence to face those top few Eighth-Order Masters. Even if he couldn’t beat them, he wouldn’t die at their hands.

But today, he met an Eighth-Order Human who almost instantly killed his companion before slaughtering him in the next breath. As for his last comrade, he would probably meet with a disastrous end soon…

Before his vitality dispersed, he struggled to turn around and look at his final companion, and just as he had expected, he saw the strange Human Master had already reached him and was thrusting his spear at his fellow Territory Lord’s head.

The light in his eyes faded before he could see the ending of his last companion.

The Azure Dragon Spear thrust out with unparalleled momentum as Yang Kai condensed his many Dao Strengths to their extreme. If given a few breaths of time, the Territory Lord trapped inside the Array net would be able to escape, but now he had no chance of doing that.

Looking at the approaching spear, he wanted to resist, but couldn’t.

After barely managing to put up a defence by condensing all his Black Ink Strength in front of his face, the Territory Lord’s head was pierced through and blown apart by the spear, leaving behind nothing but a headless corpse that spurted out black blood

The situation had completely turned around!

It had been less than 10 breaths since Yang Kai’s appearance, but all three Innate Territory Lords had fallen while the only damage Yang Kai suffered was the self-inflicted wound from using a single Soul Rending Thorn.

With the Soul Warming Lotus, such damage was completely ignorable.

This victory boosted the Humans’ morale to untold heights!

They originally thought they were going to die here today, but this sudden change gave them a huge pleasant surprise.

Though they didn’t know who the Eighth-Order Division Commander that came to their rescue was, they all swore they had never seen such a powerful Eighth-Order Master before.

However, the battle wasn’t over yet. The three Innate Territory Lords were dead, but many Black Ink Clansmen were still alive. After these remnants saw how their Territory Lords died such tragic deaths though, they didn’t dare to remain and began escaping in all directions.

Aboard the Warships, the dozen or so Squad Leaders were eager to kill, but their surroundings suddenly began to tremble, and in the next instant, an inexplicable power seemed to have flashed through the void.

Following that, a scene that shocked everyone appeared.

The entire region around them seemed to have transformed into a mirror!

To be more precise, it was a broken mirror with cracks running everywhere through it, extending out far enough to encompass every surviving Black Ink Clansman’s body, silently slicing them to pieces.

Those cracks seemed to have spirituality because they moved around the Warships. Even if there were Warships that were moving too fast to dodge around where these cracks appeared, the crack itself would suddenly disappear and cause no harm to them.

Within a few silent breaths of time, all the remaining Black Ink Clansmen were dead.

The Warships stopped moving, and the Humans aboard them had their jaws dropped in shock. But more than shock, they felt joy as they turned their gazes towards Yang Kai, their eyes filled with admiration.

“Space Principles!” One of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters muttered.

To be able to create cracks in the void was obviously the work of manipulating Space Principles, and judging from how Yang Kai had killed the enemy so easily, it was clear that he had reached an extremely high level of mastery in the Dao of Space. Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to be able to avoid his allies in such proximity while killing the enemy.

The Seventh-Order Masters had vaguely guessed Yang Kai’s identity by this point.

In the entire Black Ink Battlefield, only one person had cultivated the Dao of Space to this extent.

Everyone gathered over, and the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master that gave the commands cupped his fist and bowed, “Primordial Army’s Lin Qi, greets Senior Brother. Are you perhaps Senior Brother Yang Kai?”

When Lin Qi announced that he was from the Primordial Army, he wasn’t saying that he was from Primordial Cave Heaven, but rather a soldier from Primordial Pass, similar to how Yang Kai introduced himself as Great Evolution Army’s Yang Kai. He wasn’t from Great Evolution Paradise because Great Evolution Paradise was long gone.

They were able to guess Yang Kai’s identity because Yang Kai had made quite a name for himself on the Black Ink Battlefield. Besides the Old Ancestors overseeing every Great Pass, even the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters weren’t as well known as him.

The mere appearance of Purifying Light was enough for the ordinary soldiers to know Yang Kai’s name.

Sweeping his gaze across everyone, Yang Kai nodded lightly, “It is this Yang. This place is not safe. Come with me!”

After gathering everyone, Yang Kai led them to the place where the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was hiding.

No one spoke on the way, and they soon arrived at a large Universe Fragment before finding the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s hiding spot and meeting up with Huang Xiong.

Noticing the group of Humans following Yang Kai, Huang Xiong was so happy that his eyes lit up as he asked, “Division Commander Yang, I sensed movement from a battle just now. Did you encounter enemies?”

When Yang Kai left in a hurry, Huang Xiong was cultivating inside the Purifying Black Ink Battleship’s cabin.

He had previously sacrificed part of his Small Universe, so he needed time to cultivate if he wanted to restore his original strength. Of course, this was easier than the first time since he was just re-tracing a path he had already walked before.

He could sense the movement from the battlefield from here and wanted to head over to help, but he didn’t dare to leave this ship easily because he was the only other Eighth-Order Master present. If he left as well, Sun Mao and the others would have no way to defend themselves if a truly powerful opponent appeared.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai endured the sharp pain in his Soul and explained to Huang Xiong what had just happened.

After understanding the current situation, Huang Xiong turned to Lin Qi and the others before asking bitterly, “How is Primordial Pass…?”

Lin Qi’s eyes turned red as he quickly reported, “Primordial Pass has been defeated. The Old Ancestor died in battle, and countless of our Fellow Brothers and Sisters fell or were injured in the battle.”