Martial Peak

Chapter 5703: Divide and Conquer

“Let’s go!” The burly Territory Lord shouted.

Nevertheless, he did not dare to dispel the Battle Formation even though it was more or less confirmed that Yang Kai was gone. Who knew whether Yang Kai would wheel around suddenly? Hence, he could only work with the other three Territory Lords to maintain the Four Symbols Formation and protect the dozen or so clansmen with all their might. Then, they flew in the direction of the No-Return Pass.

Meanwhile, the Innate Territory Lord inside the High-Rank Black Ink Nest reported the entire situation to Mo Na Ye who was currently a couple dozen million kilometres away.

Upon learning the situation, Mo Na Ye naturally showered the four Territory Lords with great praise. He also spread the news of their achievement in forcing Yang Kai to retreat so that all the clansmen in charge of protecting the Territory Lords would follow their example with peace of mind.

For a time, the morale among the Territory Lords was boosted significantly! Countless Masters from the No-Return Pass had fought against Yang Kai over the years; however, it was the first time they held the upper hand in the battle. Although two Innate Territory Lords had lost their lives in the fight, their deaths were nothing compared to the results that were obtained.

At the same time, Yang Kai sped off into the distance with the help of his Space Principles. He couldn’t help feeling slightly helpless and frustrated because of the situation.

While he was confident that he could destroy the Battle Formation of the four Territory Lords and slaughter the Territory Lords gathered there if he used his Soul Rending Thorns, he would also have to pay a high price for his actions. Doing that would have forced him to spend the next couple of years concentrating on his recovery, which was simply not worth the possible gains. Therefore, he immediately chose to withdraw without attempting to pressure the four Territory Lords when he saw that they were not intimidated by his threats.

In any case, many Territory Lords were retreating in the direction of the No-Return Pass at the moment. He didn’t need to annihilate any group of Territory Lords in particular. There would always be other opportunities in the future. Rather than desperately using the Soul Rending Thorns and inflicting injuries upon himself, it was better for Yang Kai to find other opportunities to hunt down more Territory Lords.

Yang Kai travelled swiftly through the void, crossing hundreds of thousands of kilometres with every step he took.

After travelling for one month, Yang Kai abruptly stopped at a certain spot in the void and watched a group of Territory Lords rushing towards the No-Return Pass from a distance. This was the third group of Territory Lords that he encountered this month. Unfortunately, every group of Territory Lords was protected by a Battle Formation from the No-Return Pass. The situation left him feeling as though he was unable to take action.

Taking the time into consideration, the Territory Lords who were placed outside by Mo Na Ye so that they could concentrate on their treatment should have all met up with the Territory Lords who came from the No-Return Pass by now. It became unrealistic for him to intercept and slaughter these Territory Lords under these circumstances unless he resolved to unleash the Soul Rending Thorns against their defences. Choosing that option would be a one-shot deal; hence, he was reluctant to choose that option unless it was necessary.

[Are there no other chances?] Yang Kai frowned in deep thought. It did not take long before he turned around and gazed into the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield. [No, I still have other opportunities. Many in fact!]

According to his experiment at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, two or three Innate Territory Lords would successfully sneak out every month. 14 to 15 of these Territory Lords would gather together to form a group before they set off in the direction of the No-Return Pass.

Based on these numbers, there would be a group of Territory Lords travelling from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction every six months. In other words, there would be two groups travelling from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction each year!

The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was extremely far from the place where Mo Na Ye had arranged for them. With the travelling speed of these heavily wounded Territory Lords, they would need to spend around 10 years to reach their predetermined location safely.

In other words, many of the Territory Lords who snuck out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction were still en route from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to the region around the former Royal Cities at this moment. They had always been on the road as there was not enough time for them to arrive at the predetermined location Mo Na Ye had assigned for them to hatch the Black Ink Nest.

Previously, Yang Kai would have needed some extra luck to locate the traces of these Territory Lords in the vast Black Ink Battlefield; after all, he did not know where these Territory Lords were hiding. In comparison, he no longer needed to rely on pure luck to intercept these travelling Territory Lords as there was a high chance that he would encounter them if he simply travelled in a straight line towards the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.

Naturally, it was impossible for things to progress as smoothly as he had hoped. Each group of travelling Territory Lords would have a Black Ink Nest in their possession, so they could communicate with Mo Na Ye at all times. There was a possibility that Mo Na Ye had already considered their situation and made the necessary arrangements.

[But… it’s worth the risk!] In any case, Yang Kai did not believe he could intercept all of these Territory Lords. However, each group he intercepted represented 14 or 15 Territory Lords!

Having made his decision, Yang Kai determined his direction and took a step forward, his figure vanishing from sight.

Two months later, Yang Kai appeared at a certain spot in the void that was located at the border of the Late Ancient Era battlefield. The battlefield that had been silent for so many years was flooded with murderous intent once more. Having found traces of Innate Territory Lords travelling from the direction of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Yang Kai immediately attacked them without the slightest trace of politeness. In this battle, he single-handedly defeated the combined efforts of more than a dozen Territory Lords and annihilated the entire group with only minimal injuries to himself.

After some rest, he set off again.

Things were much easier for Yang Kai now that he had found the first group of Territory Lords. He only needed to use his current position to calculate the distance equivalent to half a year’s journey to find traces of the second group of Territory Lords. That was because the Territory Lords who came from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction travelled in half-year cycles.

However, it only took Yang Kai slightly more than 10 days to cover the same distance that had taken these heavily wounded Territory Lords half a year to cross.

Approximately 10 days later, Yang Kai arrived at another spot in the Late Ancient Era battlefield and his Divine Sense surged. He searched his surroundings carefully as his figure travelled around the local area, and it did not take long before he made a discovery.

These Territory Lords had most likely received instructions from Mo Na Ye in advance. They showed no intention to rush on their journey, instead choosing to conceal themselves on a Universe Fragment nearby instead. As they were heavily wounded, their auras were greatly weakened so it was very difficult to find their whereabouts, especially when they were deliberately trying to conceal their presence. If not because Yang Kai had been carefully searching for their traces and his search radius was wide enough, these Territory Lords would have escaped his attention.

When the Territory Lords realised that their whereabouts had been exposed, they knew that there was no hope of escape; hence, they immediately fought back desperately. Still, the result was just another one-sided massacre!

Back at the No-Return Pass, Mo Na Ye had just finished escorting several groups of Territory Lords over. The rest of the groups that were escorted by the Territory Lords from the No-Return Pass were also gradually making their way back, so it would not take long before all of them arrived safely.

Unfortunately, not all of the Territory Lords who snuck out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had received escorts in time. Not counting those who were slain by Yang Kai previously, there were many other groups of Territory Lords still travelling from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction towards the No-Return Pass.

Mo Na Ye had been worrying about these Territory Lords. Knowing Yang Kai was an intelligent and meticulous person, it was always a possibility that he would target these en-route Territory Lords; after all, these Territory Lords had not even had the chance to hatch their Black Ink Nests. Combined with their seriously wounded bodies, they would be completely powerless against an enemy like Yang Kai.

Mo Na Ye’s worries quickly became a reality.

Before he even returned to the No-Return Pass, he abruptly lost contact with a group of Territory Lords who were on their way over. No more than 10 days later, a second group of Territory Lords sent an urgent message stating that a Human Race Master suspected to be Yang Kai had discovered them. By the time Mo Na Ye tried to contact them again, there was no longer any response from the other side!

In the span of a dozen days, Yang Kai not only crossed the distance that would have taken the heavily wounded Territory Lords half a year to travel but also unleashed a swift and explosive assault on them. The speed and brutality of his attack had completely caught the Territory Lords and Mo Na Ye off-guard!

[Bastard!] Mo Na Ye felt a ball of rage burning in his chest and his teeth were practically on the verge of shattering from how hard he gnashed them together.

Yang Kai had already begun his journey to massacre the rest of the travelling Territory Lords. Unfortunately, the distance was too great for the No-Return Pass to provide any kind of support. At this point, the life and death of those Territory Lords depended entirely on their own luck now.

After pondering for a long time, Mo Na Ye immersed his consciousness into the Black Ink Nest and began issuing orders! Many orders were transmitted from the No-Return Pass to the various Great Territories Battlefields immediately after that.

For a time, the battle situation across the various Great Territory Battlefields changed without warning. All the Human Race Masters could sense that the Black Ink Clan’s offensive had grown much more aggressive. Not to mention, the number of Black Ink Clansmen, including Territory Lords, seemed to have increased greatly.

Mo Na Ye even had the urge to send Meng Que to the battlefield. If Yang Kai was openly slaughtering their Territory Lords, then there was no need for him to honour the previous peace agreement at all. If a Pseudo-Royal Lord like Meng Que were to join the battle without warning, his unexpected presence would surely throw the higher-ups in the Human Race into utter chaos!

After pondering long and hard though, Mo Na Ye decided to suppress his urge…

He had always suspected that the Human Race was hiding some Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The only reason why they had remained in hiding for so many years was that the time to reveal themselves had not yet come. If Meng Que was sent to the battlefield though, Mo Na Ye was certain the hidden Ninth-Order Masters would appear to confront the former.

Worse, a Pseudo-Royal Lord was clearly no match for a true Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. If Mo Na Ye started a war of that scale, the situation would likely spiral out of his control in short order. That was not the outcome he wished to see. At the moment, the Territory Lords needed more time before they could attempt to become Royal Lords, so he could only endure for now…

In the Late Ancient Era battlefield, Yang Kai discovered that it was suddenly much easier for him to search for his targets after he killed the first two groups of Territory Lords.

This couldn’t be helped though as the Territory Lords who were travelling from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had suddenly decided to split up. 

Previously, the Territory Lords acted in groups of 14 to 15. Although their numbers were not small, it was very difficult to find them when they were collectively hiding. On the contrary, he currently only needed to rush to the calculated location and investigate his surroundings with his Divine Sense; then, he would easily find traces of several Territory Lords.

Now, Territory Lords were scattered about, some moving quickly in a straight line, some hiding in dark corners, others taking wide detours to avoid encountering Yang Kai as much as possible.

It had to be said that this countermeasure was quite brilliant. If Yang Kai’s guess was correct, this was the solution Mo Na Ye had come up with. Having said that, all the Territory Lords whose whereabouts were discovered by Yang Kai were absolutely powerless to resist being slaughtered. Nonetheless, it was still a better outcome than if the entire group was annihilated completely. A few lucky Territory Lords were bound to escape the slaughter.

Yang Kai was in no mood to search for the Territory Lords who escaped his initial attack as he did not have the time for that either. There were more Territory Lords to slaughter ahead. He had to be willing to sacrifice short-term gains to focus on the bigger situation! In this way, he constantly calculated the distance and possible locations of these Territory Lords; then, he would search the area vigorously, coming up with a significant harvest each time he did so.

This massacre lasted for a whole year, with as many as 200 Innate Territory Lords dying at Yang Kai’s hands during this period! Combined with his previous achievements, he had slaughtered nearly 300 Innate Territory Lords in his recent hunting efforts!

It was a shocking number! Not to mention, those were only the ones whom he managed to slay. Just how many Territory Lords had entered the No-Return Pass? Just how much had the strength of the Black Ink Clan been boosted?

Yang Kai fought his way to the edge of the Late Ancient Era battlefield before he stopped; however, he was not done yet. There were many Territory Lords who escaped his initial attack. Nevertheless, they were all heading in the same direction, so as long as he was fast enough, he could annihilate another round of Territory Lords who escaped his initial attack outside the No-Return Pass!