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Translator: Silavin & Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Since Fu Zhou had given the order, Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang wouldn’t dare to have any objection.
Yang Kai then fished out a bit of Black Ink Strength from his Small Universe and gazed at Tang Qun, “Tell me when you’re ready.”
Tang Qun took a deep breath, as though he was ready to sacrifice his life, “You can start now, Senior Brother.”
Yang Kai raised his hand and pushed the Black Ink Strength on him.
Tang Qun instantly opened up his Small Universe and accepted it.
The next instant, he shuddered and appeared to be struggling. Through the Small Universe’s portal, they could clearly see that as the Black Ink Strength seeped through the Small Universe that hadn’t materialised, the darkness spread around quickly. Just moments later, Black Ink Strength started billowing from Tang Qun’s skin, and even his eyes had been dyed black.
As a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he had some resistance against Black Ink Strength, so he wouldn’t be corrupted as soon as he came into contact with it. However, this was just a pill test, so he didn’t intend to resist. Instead, he tried to lead the Black Ink Strength to invade his entire body, which was why he was rapidly corrupted.
With little sanity left, he growled with difficulty, “Sirs… I’m about to lose control!”
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes became completely black. The next moment, he roared with a ferocious expression and attempted to land a fist on Zhu Ge Ming, who was nearest to him.
Tang Qun was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so his attack was undoubtedly intimidating; however, he didn’t manage to hurt Zhu Ge Ming one bit, for Zhong Liang abruptly appeared beside him and placed a palm on his shoulder, instantly rendering him completely immovable.
Despite that, Tang Qun kept a hideous expression on his face as he continued to struggle.
This situation was within their expectations. Open Heaven Realm Masters who were corrupted by Black Ink Strength were destined to go against the Human Race; however, Yang Kai hadn’t expected that they would go all out in this pill test.
Even if the Purifying Black Ink Pill was not effective, he still had Purifying Light to save Tang Qun. Nevertheless, this certainly wouldn’t be an enjoyable experience for the latter.
It was no wonder that Fu Zhou refused to allow Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang to give it a try; after all, both of them were in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm. If they were really corrupted by Black Ink Strength, Zhong Liang would probably have to wound them seriously before he could subdue them.
Tang Qun was just a Sixth-Order Master, so they could take control of the situation by letting him become contaminated by Black Ink Strength.
Seeing that Tang Qun was subdued, Fu Zhou quickly took a step forward with a nail-sized Spirit Pill between his fingers and pried the younger man’s mouth open. After stuffing the pill into his mouth, he gently landed his own palm on the younger man’s chest.
Tang Qun was forced to gulp down the pill. Fu Zhou activated his power to help him refine the medicinal efficacies. All of them stared fixedly at Tang Qun as they wanted to find out whether the Purifying Black Ink Pill was effective.
A moment later, Zhu Ge Ming suddenly exclaimed, “It’s useful!”
Zhou Fang was evidently relieved as well.
The Purifying Black Ink Pill was indeed useful. As the medicinal efficacies were refined, they could see that the Black Ink Strength inside Tang Qun’s Small Universe became thinner.
Tang Qun also became less hostile towards them.
They observed him with hopeful gazes; however, the Black Ink Strength then stopped decreasing. When the medicinal efficacies of the Purifying Black Ink Pill were all gone, Tang Qun started growling and struggling again.
Zhu Ge Ming almost went mad as he pulled at his grey hair, muttering under his breath, “How can this be? How is it possible that it doesn’t work?”
Zhou Fang also appeared dejected as he was beside himself.
The two of them had spent several years exerting themselves to complete the Purifying Black Ink Pill recipe. During that period of time, they had experienced countless failures and consumed innumerable herbs. They initially thought that the pill would work, but the outcome turned out to be disappointing.
This had dealt a heavy blow to them.
Zhong Liang frowned and sent a signal to Yang Kai with his eyes.
Upon getting his hint, Yang Kai activated Purifying Light and engulfed Tang Qun with it.
Under the pure light, the Black Ink Strength in Tang Qun’s body rapidly dissipated as he regained his sanity; however, it was apparent that he was exhausted after the incident as his forehead was beaded with sweat.
Zhu Ge Ming and Zhou Fang came to their senses as they quickly asked Tang Qun about his experience just now.
Although Tang Qun had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, he still remembered everything that happened, so he told them what he had gone through just now.
Upon hearing this, the two Alchemy Grandmasters fell into their thoughts.
A moment later, Zhu Ge Ming said, “Give it one more try. This time, don’t let him get completely corrupted by Black Ink Strength. There’s no problem with the pill recipe of Purifying Black Ink Pill, but the effects might not be the same as what we had imagined.”
Zhou Fang nodded, “That’s right.”
Fu Zhou gazed at Tang Qun, “Can you persevere?”
Tang Qun nodded, “I can make one more attempt.”
Fu Zhou then turned to Yang Kai, “Sorry for troubling you again, Little Friend Yang.”
“Don’t mention it, Hall Master.” As Yang Kai spoke, he stared at Tang Qun and took out a bit of Black Ink Strength again.
Just as he did earlier, Tang Qun opened up his Small Universe and accepted it. This time though, Zhu Ge Ming quickly passed him a Purifying Black Ink Pill. Tang Qun consumed it and refined the medicinal efficacies on his own.
They could see that as the medicinal efficacies of the Purifying Black Ink Pill spread, the Black Ink Strength in Yang Qun’s Small Universe started melting away like the snow under the scorching Sun.
All of them were thrilled upon seeing that.
After Tang Qun got to his feet, they thoroughly examined his Small Universe and confirmed that there was no Black Ink Strength left.
Zhu Ge Ming chuckled, “I told you that there’s no way it wouldn’t work! This must be how the pill should be used.”
Zhou Fang nodded, “You have a point. However, we can only come to a conclusion after carrying out more experiments.”
Zhu Ge Ming replied, “That’s right.”
They spoke in an oblique manner, and although Yang Kai had some speculations, he couldn’t be certain about them. Regardless, he reckoned that Tang Qun would have to suffer in the coming days.
In the days that followed, Yang Kai stayed in the Pill Hall to help with the pill tests. For this purpose, Zhong Liang arranged more than 10 Open Heaven Realm Masters of different Orders to come over and take part in the experiments.
It would be miserable for Tang Qun if he was the only one who had to experience all the hardship.
The experiments over the next few days showed that the Purifying Black Ink Pills were useful, but their effects were limited. After a person was invaded by Black Ink Strength, it would be best for them to consume a Purifying Black Ink Pill as soon as possible; that way, they would stand a greater chance of retaining their sanity.
Once they were completely corrupted by Black Ink Strength, it would be too late for them to consume a Purifying Black Ink Pill.
The reason it turned out to be a failure on the first try was that Tang Qun had been totally corrupted by the Black Ink Strength, so the Purifying Black Ink Pill was unable to help him restore his rationality.
Despite that, it could be considered that they had successfully made Purifying Black Ink Pills. That was wonderful news for the Human Race.
Before Yang Kai’s arrival in the Black Ink Battlefield, the Humans from the Great Passes had no way to deal with Black Ink Strength. Once a person was corrupted, he or she would either be turned into a Black Ink Disciple or have to give up a part of their Small Universe. This resulted in the Humans from different Great Passes seeing their powers plunging or even regressing to a lower Order. There were a lot of people who dropped from the Sixth Order to the Fifth Order as a result, and it wasn’t rare to see people who fell to the Sixth Order from the Seventh Order either.
Then came the day when Yang Kai Purifying Light brought with him, which could even save the people who had been Black Ink Disciples for a long time. The Humans from the Great Passes were heartened as each Great Pass created their own Purifying Black Ink Battleships. The ships were then brought to Blue Sky Pass by the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters so that Yang Kai could infuse Purifying Light into them.
However, only Yang Kai was able to use Purifying Light, it required specific materials to cast the Secret Technique, which they would use up sooner or later.
How were the Humans going to resist Black Ink Strength when that time came?
The rebirth of Purifying Black Ink Pills came at the perfect time. Even though it was not as powerful as Purifying Light, they could be universally used and were easily produced.
Those from Blue Sky Pass could just spread the pill recipe around, and the Alchemists from different Great Passes could begin refining the pills.
With Purifying Black Ink Pills as the most commonly used treatment, Purifying Light could serve as a backup move. When the Humans were corrupted by Black Ink Strength in the future, they wouldn’t be powerless to resist.
Since time immemorial, Black Ink Strength had always been the Black Ink Clan’s biggest advantage. Once this advantage was gone, the Black Ink Clan would be like a tiger without teeth, no longer so intimidating.
The Alchemy Grandmasters in the Pill Hall were ecstatic. While they planned to mass-produce the Purifying Black Ink Pills, they also vowed to improve the pill recipe so that even the Black Ink Disciples could be saved. Only then would the Purifying Black Ink Pills be considered truly complete.
This was an ambitious plan that couldn’t be achieved in a short time; however, the pill recipe was soon spread around and the Alchemy Grandmasters from all the different Great Passes would definitely study it. Perhaps Purifying Black Ink Pills that would be effective on Black Ink Disciples would be successfully developed one day.
The pill tests this time could be considered a success.
Zhong Liang took the pill recipe as he was ready to send it to the Great Passes through the Hyper Space Array. Certainly, those from the Pill Hall had no objection.
On the other hand, a lot of Alchemists in the Pill Hall had gathered together as they were ready to mass-produce Purifying Black Ink Pills. Fortunately, after Yang Kai passed the tattered pill recipe to the Pill Hall back then, he told Tang Qun to start growing more Obsidian Grass and Green Feather Rattan. Now, they were not lacking ingredients for refining the pills. Nevertheless, the demand for those herbs would only grow in the coming years.
As Yang Kai and Zhong Liang left the Pill Hall, they remained silent.
All of a sudden, Zhong Liang let out a laugh. A puzzled Yang Kai asked humbly, “What’s so amusing, Sir?”
With his hands behind his back, Zhong Liang replied, “I just find it exhilarating that we’ll be able to go all out to deal with the Black Ink Clan with Purifying Black Ink Pills in possession one day.”
After giving it a thought, Yang Kai nodded, “That is indeed an exciting prospect.”
Zhong Liang let out a sigh, “Humans have been fighting against the Black Ink Clan for countless years. We are restricted in many ways because it is difficult to deal with Black Ink Strength. Even though you’ve brought Purifying Light to us, and it’s more effective than Purifying Black Ink Pills, these pills are more useful than Purifying Light on the battlefield.”
Yang Kai nodded, “I understand.”
It was just like what happened in the resource harvesting area where forward base 4 was located. In the final battle, the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, which contained Purifying Light, was stationed back at the forward base, a two-day journey away. The cultivators who had been invaded by Black Ink Strength had to look for a chance to use the Universe Transference Law to return to the Purifying Black Ink Battleship in the forward base in order to be treated, taking them off the battlefield for quite some time.
Hello!
Many thanks for the chapter, as always.
Too bad it’s useless for those who have turned completely