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Translator: Silavin & VictorN
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
A universe fragment inside a certain Territory Lord’s domain, which was captured, became the forward base of Blue Sky Pass.
Although the crusade was over for now, the great war with the Black Ink Clan would not stop anytime soon. The Expeditionary Force had advanced in a straight line, capturing any Black Ink Clan territories along the way; however, those on either side of their advance could not be ignored.
That meant that they had disregarded a lot of potential enemies, who were now technically behind their lines.
If the Expeditionary Force were to withdraw, they would not need to pay attention to these enemies; however, now that they wanted to hold their position here and establish a forward base, they had to go back and clear out those territories.
At the very least, the forward base had to be protected from a Black Ink Clan siege on all sides. The Black Ink Clan had lost a lot of resources and manpower in this battle, and with less than 40 Territory Lords left, which was basically half of their previous total, they had pulled back most of their forces to protect the Royal City and no longer dared to move around freely.
Thus, while the forward base was surrounded by Black Ink Clansmen, they were mostly stragglers and weaklings. The Humans only needed to spend a little time and effort to clear up all those Black Ink Clansmen behind them.
It was foreseeable that clearing the Black Ink Clansmen between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base would be the next big task required of Blue Sky Pass.
The forward base was soon bustling with activity.
Several Warships began to deploy to certain locations in the void and formed a defence perimeter.
Then, a remote area was selected and several Warships descended to ensure that it was safe.
After a few moments of searching around, a depression in a mountain valley was identified.
There were countless such places like this in the void and this valley was very well hidden, making it suitable for setting up a Universe Array. Obviously, even if the Black Ink Clan were to pass by this place, they would not be able to find anything without intentionally searching for it.
Furthermore, if the Universe Array was really set up here, it would be covered by Spirit Arrays and guarded by soldiers. Thus, if there was an attack, reinforcements would soon be able to come and provide support.
The Warships were led by Dawning Light, and two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Division Commanders went along just in case they were needed.
Yang Kai began arranging the Universe Array while the Array Masters who came along with him began to set up various Spirit Arrays around the mountain valley. Some for cover, some for protection, and various other kinds of support and auxiliary purposes.
In the past, Blue Sky Pass did not have the number of resources necessary to engage in such an endeavour; after all, Spirit Arrays of this size and quality required a huge amount of resources. The more powerful the Spirit Array, the more resources were needed. In the past, Blue Sky Pass was so poor that it could not do these things; but now, it was different. Apart from the resources collected from their previous conquests, they could now easily mine more from the vast territory they had occupied.
After the work was completed, everyone left their Imprints on the Universe Array and an Eighth-Order Master and a Battalion worth of soldiers stayed behind to guard it while the rest continued to the next location.
Taking into account the capacity of those Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, only two Universe Arrays were required.
A few months later, the second Universe Array was completely set up, connecting Blue Sky Pass to the forward base. Cultivators only needed to leave their Imprints in each Universe Array and they could quickly move between the two places.
Of course, this meant that all the soldiers had to first leave their Imprints in the two Universe Arrays in transit to facilitate future use. The easiest way to do this was to have the Eighth-Order Division Commanders leave their Imprints first, then for them to shuttle the weaker cultivators back and forth between the Universe Arrays.
An Eighth-Order Master’s Small Universe was large enough to carry a large amount of Open Heaven Realms Masters; thus, all the soldiers of Blue Sky Pass could quickly leave their marks on the new Universe Arrays.
Still, this was not something that Yang Kai needed to think about as it would be left to the Eighth-Order Masters to handle.
After completing the second Universe Array, Yang Kai returned to Blue Sky Pass.
This could not be helped. When Zhong Liang, who stayed behind at Blue Sky Pass, sent a message for Yang Kai to return, Yang Kai had already departed to set up the Universe Arrays. Thus, the message had not reached him until now.
Yang Kai hastily returned to Blue Sky Pass and reported to Zhong Liang, where he was then told about what had happened.
“Martial Uncle Lu has disappeared?” Yang Kai was extremely surprised.
The Martial Uncle Lu he was referring to was Lu An of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven, an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. He was a Western Army Division Commander, and due to their shared background, he had taken care of Yang Kai since he came to Blue Sky Pass.
Although Lu An was old, his cultivation was high; thus, Yang Kai could not understand how he had just ‘disappeared’.
“Come with me,” Zhong Liang did not explain. He just waved for Yang Kai to follow him outside.
Soon the two of them left the gates.
The battlefield from the previous war had been cleaned up, and now the area outside Blue Sky Pass was empty. No one could have imagined from this scene that just two years ago the Black Ink Clan Army had come in full force and engaged Blue Sky Pass in a huge battle.
When he arrived, Yang Kai was immediately drawn to a small crack in the Void in front of him, and after a moment of observation, he could not help but frown.
Zhong Liang explained, “There was a Universe Cave Heaven here, I don’t know if you remember.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, “I remember.”
All the Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises outside of Blue Sky Pass were personally found and opened by him, and then filled with traps; thus, Yang Kai naturally had some memory of them.
Zhong Liang continued, “Your Martial Uncle Lu was responsible for this Universe Cave Heaven. We do not know who his opponent was, but he was likely quite strong. Their battle was still ongoing when the Expeditionary Force departed, but six months after the Expeditionary Force departed, this Universe Cave Heaven suddenly collapsed and a Void Crack formed. Thereafter, your Martial Uncle Lu and his opponent were nowhere to be seen.”
Yang Kai said with a frown, “Martial Uncle Lu and that Territory Lord must have been caught up in it and dragged into the Void.”
Zhong Liang nodded, “Exactly, that old fart is a stubborn one. Most likely, he was unwilling to let that Territory Lord escape, which is why they ended up in this situation. This Void Crack was quite spacious when it was first formed, so I went inside to investigate, but as you know, the Void is incredibly chaotic and I became disoriented the instant I entered. I could not find any trace of your Martial Uncle Lu, so I have no choice but to withdraw while I still could. After so long, and with the Void Crack here close to healing, I’m afraid that your Martial Uncle Lu might never come back.”
“I’ll go in to find him!” Yang Kai stepped forward.
“Are you sure?” Zhong Liang looked concerned.
Yang Kai grinned and said, “This Junior will be right back!”
Thereafter, he manipulated Space Principles and plunged into the small Void Crack.
In the Void, chaos and void turbulence raged.
Yang Kai silently pushed his Space Principles to swim against the currents, leaving a trail of his aura behind along the way.
At first, everything was calm, but as he swam deeper, disruptions in the turbulence began to appear. Yang Kai examined these traces carefully and realized that they should be remnants of a battle between Masters.
It was obviously the result of the fight between Martial Uncle Lu and a certain Territory Lord.
Zhong Liang had come in before and was confused at the sight, but to Yang Kai, these traces were the best clues to find his targets.
Following the traces, he began to search for them.
This section of Void was extremely dangerous because it had been greatly disturbed, making it even more chaotic than normal, with no semblance of direction or time. In this damned place, one would never know where he was or how much time he had spent there. Perhaps one could spend thousands of years inside the Void, only to emerge and find that but a brief moment had passed in the outside world. Changes within the Void were highly unpredictable.
Only someone like Yang Kai, who was well versed in the Dao of Space, could find some kind of order in this damned place.
Using Space Principles, he made use of his Divine Sense, and was able to monitor his surroundings as he searched.
After an unknown span of time, Yang Kai suddenly felt a disturbance and zoomed off in a certain direction.
In no time, he came to a Void turbulence and sensed a corpse floating and sinking into it.
The corpse was covered with wounds and there was a fatal wound in its head. The expression on its face looked like it was glaring in disbelief before its death.
It was the corpse of a Black Ink Clansman!
Yang Kai was relieved to see that this corpse was the Territory Lord’s who had fought against Lu An. The fact that his corpse was here meant that Lu An had won.
After carefully identifying the Territory Lord’s corpse, Yang Kai recognized that this guy should be one of the top five strongest Territory Lords in the Blue Sky Theatre, on par with Hei Yuan from the Yin-Yang Theatre.
Now, it made sense why Lu An, a senior Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, could not take him down quickly even with the geographical advantages.
In fact, Lu An did not have to be so determined to kill this Territory Lord. As early as when the plan was being implemented, Zhong Liang and others had explained that if they could not win the fight quickly, then should escape before the Universe Cave Heaven collapsed; otherwise, they would most likely be sucked into the Void.
Many Eighth-Order Division Commanders did this; otherwise, there would not have been so many Territory Lords escaping that day.
Lu An apparently did not heed those orders though. He was willing to die to make sure that the Territory Lord did not escape. As a result, the two were sucked into the Void.
If this corpse was here, then obviously Lu An should not be too far away; however, this whole place was directionless. Thus, if he got caught in one of the turbulent currents, there was no telling where he would drift to.
Yang Kai continued his search, his Divine Sense extended to its limit.
Yang Kai soon sensed a fluctuating life aura in the distance, this fluctuation was very unusual and obviously intentional to point out its location.
Quickly reacting, Yang Kai smiled and flew through the Void like a fish swimming upstream towards the unusual fluctuations.
A short while later, Yang Kai came to an old man who was sitting cross-legged. With a grin, he called out, “Martial Uncle, sorry for the long wait.”
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