Martial Peak

Chapter 5456: The Way Back

During the Late Ancient Era, the reason why the boundary walls between the Great Territories eroded so easily was mainly because of Mo.

Mo was the origin of Black Ink Strength and its power was incredibly pure and powerful. Most of the boundary walls between the Great Territories occupied by the Black Ink Clan were personally eroded by its hands.

The boundary walls were a real existence; only, it was difficult for ordinary people to even perceive them.

The places where the Territory Gates were located were essentially gaps in the boundary walls, as well as the portals that connected two Great Territories.

In fact, boundary walls were incredibly sturdy existences; otherwise, it would be impossible for the Humans to confine the Black Ink Clan inside the Black Ink Battlefield. Trying to erode the boundary wall with Black Ink Strength alone was a difficult feat to achieve.

Now, Yang Kai had sealed the Territory Gate between the No-Return Pass and the Barren Territory, cutting off the Black Ink Clan’s supply line, but he was powerless to do anything more.

He asked more about the No-Return Pass, and learned from Ji Lao San that the Pass’ fall was attributed to the two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods just as he expected.

The Human Race Army retreated all the way from outside of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to the No-Return Pass, suffering countless casualties along the way. Somewhere between 20 and 30 of the Great Passes were destroyed in the process, while even more Ninth-Order Old Ancestors died in battle.

The casualties they sustained could be described as unprecedented since the Late Ancient Era!

Even though the Black Ink Clan also sustained their fair share of casualties, they were much less significant when compared to the Humans; after all, the two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods were far too powerful.

After retreating to the No-Return Pass and receiving the support from the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan, the two sides fought a brutal war around the No-Return Pass.

In the end, the Human Army and its allies were unable to hold. The No-Return Pass was broken through and for the first time in history, it became engulfed in the flames of war. Half of this result was because they were truly helpless to fend off the enemy, but the other half was intentional. The united Army of the Humans and the Divine Spirits executed a coordinated retreat to the Barren Territory to use the Second Battlefield to continue their war against the Black Ink Clan.

Ji Lao San had gone too deep into enemy lines while fighting and was surrounded by the Black Ink Clan, resulting in him being unable to return to the No-Return Pass in time to join the evacuation. In the end, he was captured by a Royal Lord in the final battle.

The Black Ink Clan did not kill him though. They placed Divine Spirits in high regard, so the Royal Lord imprisoned him in the No-Return Pass and surrounded him in a cloud of Black Ink Strength, seemingly in an attempt to study the innate resistance of Divine Spirits towards their Black Ink Strength. It was to find a way to corrupt them quickly through research.

If the Royal Lord had not had such intentions, then Ji Lao San would not have survived after being captured.

His 55,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon body was comparable to an Eighth-Order Master in strength; however, an Ancient Dragon could hardly make any waves in front of a Royal Lord.

Over the years, it had become increasingly difficult for Ji Lao San to persevere. Fortunately, his Dragon Vein was quite pure, giving him fairly high resistance to the corruption of Black Ink Strength. However, if another decade or so had passed, even he could not be sure whether or not he would be corrupted by Black Ink Strength.

If he really were corrupted, then he would surely become a stain on the Dragon Clan’s pride.

That was why Ji Lao San was so grateful to Yang Kai for saving him. He had saved not only his life, but protected the honour of the entire Clan.

Ji Lao San still had some Black Ink Strength lingering in his body, so Yang Kai gave him some Purifying Black Ink Pills to finally eliminate this hidden danger.

Freed from the Black Ink Strength’s shadow, Ji Lao San’s body felt light and he heaved a long sigh in his hiding place before asking, “Brother Yang, what do you plan on doing next?”

“I’m going back!” Yang Kai had already made up his mind.

Ji Lao San did not understand, “The portal has already been blocked though, how will you return? You’re not thinking of reopening it, are you?”

That would be a bad idea. Yang Kai was able to catch the enemy by surprise when he sealed the Territory Gate the first time, but if he were to try it again, the Black Ink Clan would surely respond more quickly and forcefully, making it questionable whether he could succeed or not.

If things progressed as expected, the Black Ink Clan would have already tightened their guard around where the Territory Gate used to be while they looked for a way to reopen the portal.

“That won’t be necessary,” Yang Kai shook his head, “I know a passage that leads to the 3,000 Worlds. We can use that path.”

His words shocked Ji Lao San. To think that the Black Ink Battlefield actually had another passage that led to the 3,000 Worlds! This was big news, and if the Black Ink Clan were to ever learn about it, they would surely rejoice.

The passage that Yang Kai spoke of was the one he used to get to the Black Ink Battlefield from Black Territory back then.

Since he could come from Black Territory to the Black Ink Battlefield at that time, he would naturally be able to do the opposite. He just had to reopen the passage, which would not be difficult for the current him at all.

Now, of course, the existence of the passage was quite peculiar in itself. Based on Yang Kai’s speculation, it may be a special type of Territory Gate, or it may be a weak point in the boundary walls. In ancient times, a Royal Lord somehow found her way into the Black Territory through this passage and was suppressed and sealed by Human Race Masters of the time before a Super Array was set up to suppress her and the Void Corridor.

Countless years later, Yang Kai shook the foundation of the Grand Array while mining the resources in Black Territory and almost allowed the Royal Lord to escape. Fortunately, she had been imprisoned for an incredibly long time, so her strength had declined greatly. Otherwise, with the lineup that the Humans had at the time, they would have suffered far heavier losses in order to deal with that Royal Lord.

The Void Corridor was located in the Blue Sky Theatre, which was quite far from here.

Yang Kai took out his Universe Chart and ascertained the direction before flying side by side with Ji Lao San, occasionally using Space Principles to speed up their journey.

If he was alone, Yang Kai could have just repeatedly used Instantaneous Movement to dramatically reduce the amount of time the journey required, but it was hard to do so with Ji Lao San tagging along, as the latter was an Ancient Dragon, meaning he could not be ‘carried’ by Yang Kai so easily.

Along their journey, the scenery in the vast void all looked the same.

They passed through several Theatres, which used to be defended by the Great Passes, and took nearly 10 years to finally reach the Blue Sky Theatre.

Blue Sky Pass, which had guarded this stretch of void for aeons, was long gone. Yang Kai did not even know whether it had been completely destroyed or not. There were 70 to 80 remnant Great Passes floating outside of the No-Return Pass, all of them shrouded by Black Ink Clouds, making it hard to identify them.

From Yang Kai’s perspective, it had been several thousand years since he came here, but he still remembered how he had sealed up the Void Corridor along his way after departing from Black Territory until he suddenly stepped into a Sealed World.

The Void Corridor in Black Territory was connected to that Sealed World.

The Sealed Worlds of the Black Ink Battlefield were basically the Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens left behind after the fall of High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters from ancient times.

The Universe Cave Heaven encompassing the passage connecting Black Territory and the Black Ink Battlefield should not have appeared there as an accident, but rather been placed there by artificial intervention.

The owner of the Universe Cave Heaven clearly knew about the existence of this Void Corridor, and so they took the initiative to leave their Small Universe behind, enveloping the passage and hiding it from the eyes and ears of all others.

Doing so meant sacrificing one’s lifetime of cultivation, as well as their life itself.

Their ancestors sacrificed their lives for the sake of peace for the Human Race. Countless years later, their descendants still upheld this philosophy.

That was why Meng Qi, whom Yang Kai encountered in the Sealed World, willingly sacrificed himself without a single word of complaint in order to keep the Void Corridor a secret.

The sacrifice of this unnamed ancestor was worth it. Countless years went by yet the Black Ink Clan never learned of the existence of a Void Corridor that connected straight to the 3,000 Worlds. If Yang Kai had not come over from Black Territory, then he would not have triggered the abnormality in the Universe Cave Heaven, and then it would naturally not have been noticed by the Black Ink Clan.

It was because of his actions that the Universe Cave Heaven’s location was exposed, and only then did several Feudal Lords come over to investigate.

Fortunately, the passage had been sealed shortly after it opened, so the Feudal Lords couldn’t have detected anything.

There were several Feudal Lords and their subordinates, as well as other High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen who came to investigate the Sealed World. Regardless of whether or not they could find anything good in the Sealed World, the World Force that existed there in itself was the favourite food of the Black Ink Clan.

World Force was the foundation that maintained the existence of a Sealed World. Even though the Sealed World’s owner died long ago, as long as the Small Universe remained intact the World Force would not dissipate.

However, after being devoured by the Black Ink Clan, the World Force was gone, and without that foundation, the Sealed World would naturally collapse into nothingness, never to be found again.

It took a decade for Yang Kai and Ji Lao San to arrive at the Blue Sky Theatre, and another 2 years to locate the original location of the Sealed World, not because Yang Kai was incompetent, but because it was difficult to find a single spot in the vastness of the void.

Fortunately, he had specifically noted down the location in his mind back then; otherwise, he might have come up empty on this trip.

Standing at a certain point in the void, Yang Kai silently sensed his surroundings for some time before he was certain that this was where the Sealed World collapsed, and the Void Corridor was hidden.

If anyone else were to come here, they would naturally be helpless in the face of this situation, but Yang Kai had great attainments in the Dao of Space. Even in such a case, he could find the Void Corridor’s entrance, he just needed to spend some time and effort on it.

So, for the next few months, Yang Kai used Space Principles to probe for the Void Corridor over and over again while Ji Lao San sat silently.

Until one day, he suddenly raised his brow and called out to Ji Lao San who was a short distance away, “Brother Ji, come quickly!”

Ji Lao San’s spirits were lifted and he came over in a flash, “Did you find it?”

Yang Kai nodded, “We must connect our auras together. Remember to follow me closely lest you get lost in the Void Crack. If that happens, even I may not be able to find you.”

Ji Lao San laughed, “No need to go through such trouble.”

While saying so, his body flickered and he took on his Dragon Form; only this time, rather than a 55,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon Form, he transformed into a tiny Dragon, no longer than an ordinary snake…

This was also one of the Dragon Clan’s Secret Techniques, allowing even a Dragon that could cover the sky to become as small as a mustard seed. 

Yang Kai knew this Secret Technique too; however, he could not shrink himself as small as Ji Lao San could. Currently, his Dragon Form could range between 70,000 metres and 70 metres long.

Seeing this display, Yang Kai decided in his heart that he had to properly cultivate this Dragon Clan Secret Technique once he returned; after all, sometimes, it was quite inconvenient for him to fight when his body was too large.

The snake that Ji Lao San transformed himself into, wrapped itself around Yang Kai’s arm…

Yang Kai could not help but chuckle. Then, while madly surging his Space Principles, a ripple appeared in the Void in front of them. A short while later, the sealed portal slowly revealed hints of itself.

Yang Kai was the one who sealed off this Void Corridor nearly 1,000 years ago, so it was naturally no problem for him to open it again.

However, not only did he have to open the Void Corridor today, but he also had to seal it behind him as he passed through, so he still faced some difficulty.