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Translator: Silavin & VictorN
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Yang Kai stood at the bow of the ship and looked up, only to see a ragged Warship in front of him fleeing in their direction. A huge Black Ink Cloud was chasing after the failing Warship and it was rapidly closing in. The whole Universe Paradise was filled with a strong sense of foreboding.
Inside the Black Ink Cloud was a particularly fierce aura. It was obviously a Territory Lord and hundreds of Black Ink Clansmen, including many Feudal Lords.
A Black Ink Clan Secret Technique blasted out from the cloud, hitting the fleeing Warship in front of Dawn, causing great damage.
Dawning Light arrived just in time to witness the Territory Lord attack. A huge palm emerged from the Black Ink Cloud and tried to grab the fleeing Warship.
On the Warship, the Human cultivators struggled to counterattack, but with little effect. The difference in strength was so great that they were helpless to repel the Territory Lord’s attack.
Seeing that the big dark hand was about to grab the Warship, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven standing at the stern of the Warship suddenly roared, “Rise!”
As he roared, a Grand Array was activated, and in an instant, it wrapped around the pursuing Black Ink Clansmen.
The Warship did not stop, but ran straight towards the portal. The Grand Array could not trap a Territory Lord for long, but it might be enough to delay him long enough for the Squad to escape this Universe Paradise.
Then, they saw Dawning Light rapidly approaching.
Feng Ying shouted, “Junior Brother Zhou!”
The Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, who had just activated the Spirit Array, looked at them and exclaimed in surprise, “Senior Sister Feng, what are you doing here?”
Feng Ying said, “Junior Brother Yang noticed something unusual here, so he brought us here to have a look. Why is there a Territory Lord here?”
The Junior Brother Zhou looked annoyed as he replied, “He was hiding in the Black Ink Clan Army, concealing his aura. Clearly, he had some ill intentions. He was caught unaware, and pulled into this place before realizing what was happening.”
“Which Territory Lord is he?” Yang Kai asked.
The Junior Brother Zhou replied, “If I’m not mistaken, he should be Zhou Xing.”
Regardless of which Great Pass Theatre they were in, Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords were rare, with there generally being several dozen on each side. The number of Territory Lords was always higher, but not by a wide margin. The two Races had been fighting each other for so many years, so the identities and characteristics of the top Masters had been exposed a long time ago. Thus, the Humans had some knowledge of all the Territory Lords they faced.
Yang Kai silently recalled all the information the Inner Sanctum had published on the Blue Sky Theatre Territory Lords.
Among all of them, Zhou Xing’s strength was not the strongest. He was at most ranked in the middle somewhere, much worse than Hei Yuan for example.
Zhou Xing’s greatest skill was his ability to suppress his own aura. He could perfectly disguise himself as a Feudal Lord and hide within the regular Black Ink Amy. This skill allowed him to easily avoid the Eighth-Order Masters’ eyes, and by doing so, he could seek opportunities to conduct sneak attacks on high-value targets. In all the years of war, several Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had been seriously injured by Zhou Xing’s sneak attacks.
This time, he hid in the Black Ink Clan Army, disguised as a Feudal Lord, obviously with malicious intentions, but ended up being trapped here by this Squad. It was yet to be determined if it was his bad luck or the Squad’s misfortunes.
“Junior Brother Zhao was killed by him. Subsequently, we relied on the various Grand Arrays to survive until now.” Junior Brother Zhou’s face was full of grief. It was inevitable that they suffered losses when they encountered a Territory Lord. Junior Brother Zhao was one of the two Seventh-Order Masters of this Squad.
“How much time do we have?” Yang Kai asked.
“Brother Yang, you know that the Spirit Arrays arranged in this Universe Paradise were not designed to deal with Territory Lords, not to mention that Zhou Xing has many helpers with him. The Grand Array will be broken in a dozen breaths at most,” reported Junior Brother Zhou.
“Are there any other Grand Arrays available?”
“No.” Junior Brother Zhou shook his head, “We’ve used up all three Spirit Arrays. If not for those three, I’m afraid none of us would have survived till now. Brother Yang, we need to go. Once Zhou Xing breaks free, it will be too late for us to escape.”
Yang Kai looked ahead and said firmly, “When we came in, there were no Eighth-Order Masters available outside, so they must all still be fighting with the other Territory Lords. If we leave now, Zhou Xing will surely follow us, and there will be no one to tie him down once we get outside.
Junior Brother Zhou asked, “What does Brother Yang intend to do?”
Yang Kai said as he summoned the Azure Dragon Spear, “Hold him back! Soon, there will be an Eighth-Order Master available. Even if he ultimately manages to break free from here, there will be someone outside to take care of him.”
Junior Brother Zhou did not hesitate and immediately agreed, “Good, we’ll do as Brother Yang suggests.”
He also knew that Yang Kai was powerful and Dawn Squad was very strong. His Squad alone had no chance to win against a Territory Lord, but together with Dawn, though they might not be able to kill such a Master, holding him down should not be too much of an issue.
As they discussed, the Grand Array began to crack. Yang Kai shouted, “Leave Zhou Xing to me and take care of yourselves. There’s no need to kill all of them, just delay them as long as you can!”
Immediately after, he lunged straight towards the enemy.
The Grand Array shattered, and Zhou Xing roared angrily from within the Black Ink Cloud. He was furious that a trivial Human Squad tried to toy with him with these few Spirit Arrays. The impudence! He resolved to kill these Humans ruthlessly in order to soothe the rage within him.
Since the Humans now had Purifying Black Ink Pills, Zhou Xing knew that he could not corrupt them with Black Ink Strength; thus, he could only kill them.
However, just as he was about to act, a dazzling light rushed towards him. Zhou Xing looked up and was momentarily bewildered.
He began to wonder how this Universe Paradise suddenly had a small round Sun. Above the Sun, was a three-legged bird squawking away. The small Sun was even travelling towards him at a high speed.
Behind the small Sun, there seemed to be a figure that glowed with a dazzling light.
Suddenly, he realized that it was not the Sun, but some ‘Secret Technique’ cast by a Human!
Even a Territory Lord as strong as Zhou Xing could feel the threat posed by this Secret Technique and knew he would suffer if he took it head-on without defending himself.
Therefore, Zhou Xing raised his hands and the dense Black Ink Clouds gathered to form a barrier to block the direction where the small Sun was coming from.
Violent sounds erupted as rampaging energy waves swept over Zhou Xing’s body. The Black Ink Cloud thinned noticeably under the blazing energy that was hot enough to incinerate everything in its path.
However, he was a Territory Lord, so although Yang Kai’s Golden Crow Casts the Sun was powerful, it could not harm the former in any way. On the other hand, the Black Ink Clansmen around Zhou Xing died immediately.
Before Zhou Xing could compose himself, a curtain of spear shadows enveloped him, causing black blood to splash out and drawing a roar from Zhou Xing’s lips.
At the same time, the two Warships launched a volley of attacks from their offensive arrays.
The Black Ink Clansmen were instantly thrown into confusion.
Under the leadership of Zhou Xing, they had continued to chase down the Human Warship until they had nowhere else to run, so how could they now turn around to attack them?
However, moments later, the Territory Lord saw what was happening. Originally there was only one Warship, but now, there were two. Apparently, reinforcements had arrived.
Moreover, the Warship that arrived was significantly larger and more powerful!
The Black Ink Clansmen, in spite of suffering many casualties in the initial attack, remained undaunted. Led by several Feudal Lords, they used their Secret Techniques to counterattack, forcing the two Warships to weave and dodge.
Both the Warship of Junior Brother Zhou and Dawning Light were damaged in the previous battle, particularly their shields which had been seriously drained; thus, they were focused on not being hit again.
This gave the Black Ink Clansman a respite as hundreds of them, led by the Feudal Lords, began to bombard the Warships relentlessly.
The two Warships were forced to constantly manoeuvre around, reducing the intensity of their attacks greatly.
On the other hand, Zhou Xing took hundreds of wounds to his body in a very short time. He tried to dodge the attacks but was unable to do so effectively. He was being attacked by Yang Kai’s Supreme Limitless Spear Art enhanced by his Space Principles, so dodging at such close range was all but futile.
The pain caused Zhou Xing to become increasingly furious and he responded ruthlessly. Since he could not dodge, he gave up trying and attacked instead. In his fury, he threw a punch forward with all his strength.
He wanted to trade wound for wound!
He could sense that the Human attacking him was only a Seventh-Order Master, and since he was a Territory Lord, if he traded wounds with his opponent, he would eventually come out on top.
His punch was very effective, as the Seventh-Order Human was blown far away, coughing up blood in mid-air. Zhou Xing continued with another punch to deliver another painful blow to his attacker.
The other party’s body suddenly flickered, then disappeared.
Zhou Xing’s punch hit nothing but air, causing him to be thrown off balance. Just as he was wondering where his target went, he felt a murderous intent coming from his side.
Turning his head to look, the Seventh-Order Master who had disappeared moments ago appeared right next to him somehow. The Human’s spear was thrust out sharply with a small round Sun at its tip.
Zhou Xing was taken aback but swiftly responded by throwing out his fist.
The small Sun was annihilated, but Zhou Xing was also forced backwards, his fists scorched as he grimaced painfully.
Although he was injured, his enemy was in a far worse state, spewing more fresh blood as he flew backwards for a second time.
The difference in their raw strength could not be compensated for by bravery and persistence alone.
Yang Kai had killed a Territory Lord previously; however, he managed to kill Zhu Feng only because Bai Yi joined forces with him. Both he and Bai Yi were seriously injured in that battle though, despite Zhu Feng having been seriously wounded from the start. Even back in Mu Guang’s Royal Domain, Yang Kai was only able to chase after Hei Yuan and fight with him because the latter’s Soul was badly injured.
Although Zhou Xing was not as strong as Hei Yuan, or even Zhu Feng, he was currently at full strength; thus, Yang Kai’s current might was insufficient to kill him.
The good thing was that he only needed to stall for time and not really fight Zhou Xing to the death. A few injuries were not a big deal as long as they did not damage his foundation.
Focusing, Yang Kai kept up his attacks and fought back and forth with Zhou Xing.
Of course, he was frequently on the receiving end, but with his Space Principles, it was impossible for Zhou Xing to kill him with a single blow.
Time passed slowly.
Half an hour later, only one of the two Warships was left.
Junior Brother Zhou’s Warship was badly damaged from the start, and now that it was being attacked by hundreds of Black Ink Clansmen, after taking several hits, it finally could not hold on and burst apart.
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