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Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Before Yang Kai came to the Black Ink Battlefield, the Battalion-Class Warships were basically the largest among the Human Race. There was no such thing as a Division Class Warship.
High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters mainly relied upon their own respective means to slaughter their enemies on the battlefield in cooperation with the Warships under their command; therefore, they would never have to hide themselves away inside a Warship during battle. That was especially true for the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. During the war, their main responsibility was to target and hold down the Territory Lords. Even if they had the cooperation of the Warships, the Warships would only be a burden to them.
A Battalion-Class Warship basically served as the headquarters of a Division. For example, every Division had its own Battalion-Class Warship during the march of the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies. The Eighth-Order Division Commanders would generally issue various orders from where they were stationed on the Battalion-Class Warships.
There were 60 Divisions in the Eastern and Western Armies, which meant that there were 60 Battalion-Class Warships. Each Battalion-Class Warship not only had an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Division Commander overseeing its operations, but also other auxiliary personnel. Nevertheless, these personnel roughly numbered no more than half the numbers of a Battalion or 50 people.
Battalion-Class Warships were much larger and had greater destructive power compared to Squad Class Warships. The role that a Battalion-Class Warship could play on the battlefield was no less than Dawning Light under Dawn’s command.
It was not until Yang Kai came to the Black Ink Battlefield that the Human Race finally created the larger Purifying Black Ink Battleships for the sake of carrying Purifying Light.
From a defensive and offensive aspect, a Purifying Black Ink Battleship was not much stronger than a Battalion-Class Warship; however, the Purifying Light sealed within the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was the Human Race’s biggest reliance against Black Ink Strength. Not to mention, the Universe Array set up on the Purifying Black Ink Battleships also played a significant role. That was why the Purifying Black Ink Battleships generally had a more significant meaning compared to a Battalion-Class Warship.
Yang Kai came to the Warship where the Division Commander of the First Division was located. The Division Commander of the First Division was also one of those who sent out a Divine Sense transmission earlier.
Each Division consisted of roughly 500 troops, with five Battalions under its command. Each Battalion subsequently consisted of eight or nine Squads, so there were approximately 45 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Squad Leaders gathered here.
The Division Commander of the First Division was Xu Yong Da, who was personally appointed by Xiang Shan back at the Central Square of Wind and Cloud Pass. Yang Kai remembered him from back then.
Xu Yong Da stood on the deck with his hands behind his back. The Squad Leaders rushed over in droves and obediently stood in line before him.
When he saw Yang Kai in attendance, he simply glanced at him briefly and said nothing. It was evident that he knew Yang Kai came here to obtain information as the Squad Leader of a Special Operations Squad.
Not long afterwards, the adjutant next to him leaned over and reported in a low voice, “Sir, everyone is here.”
He nodded and finally opened his mouth to speak, “I called you over because I have orders from above.”
While Xu Yong Da was speaking, the adjutant reached up and swept his hand out before him. Materials of various Elements suddenly appeared in front of him. There were almost a dozen of these materials in varying shapes and sizes; moreover, these materials were of varying Orders. Everybody was confused by the sight before them.
Xu Yong Da stepped forward and pointed at the materials, “When you return to your respective Squads, you must collect the materials that are shown here. There are no requirements in terms of Order, so just collect as many as possible.”
There were times when the same materials might not have the same Order. Those with better formation conditions and enough time would have a higher Order. On the other hand, the reverse would result in materials with a lower Order instead.
One of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Squad Leaders asked curiously, “Sir, what is the purpose of collecting these materials?”
Xu Yong Da replied, “The higher-ups have their own considerations. Don’t ask so many questions and simply collect what you have been told to collect. The time limit is half a day. Each Squad Leader will be responsible for their respective Squad. Please gather all the materials presented in front of you and deliver them here promptly.”
“Yes!” The Squad Leaders received the orders and dispersed back to their Squads.
There was an unwritten rule on the Black Ink Battlefield that every cultivator would leave all their resources behind in their residence whenever they were dispatched from the Great Pass where they resided, especially during wartime. They normally did not carry many materials with them on the battlefield.
This practice was to prevent the loss of resources should they fall in battle or suffer from any unexpected accidents on the battlefield. By leaving all their materials in their residence, the property they left behind could be used by others if they lost their lives in battle.
The Humans on the Black Ink Battlefield used to live a difficult life where materials were desperately lacking. Although their situation had improved considerably, their deep-rooted habits formed over the years had not changed.
However, the situation among the troops of the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies was different. They planned to retake Great Evolution Pass, so regardless of whether they survived the campaign, they would not be returning to their original Great Passes. They were part of the Great Evolution Army now.
For that reason, they had packed and brought all their belongings with them before the campaign began. That was not all though as the various Great Passes had also distributed large amounts of cultivation resources to the deployed troops, lest they lacked the necessary resources when they arrived at the Great Evolution Theatre. Therefore, all the troops in the Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies could be said to be extremely wealthy.
It would not be difficult to complete the order from the higher-ups to collect the specified materials as there were 30,000 troops in the Armies, and the number would not be too small either. If nothing else, there were piles of materials stacked up like mountains in Yang Kai’s Small Universe, so there would no doubt be many of the requested materials there.
Nevertheless, Yang Kai could not understand why the higher-ups wanted to gather these items. Looking at the situation, it would seem as though it was a sudden idea; otherwise, they would have prepared these materials back in the Inner Sanctum and not while the Army was on the march. Since it was a sudden idea, then the higher-ups must have come up with some kind of special plan while on the march. It might even have something to do with the battle earlier.
Deep in thought, Yang Kai quickly returned to the Dawning Light. A Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master immediately came forward, “Junior Brother Yang!”
Yang Kai looked up and recognised that person as Li Xing, who also came from Blue Sky Pass. A total of 500 people had been dispatched from Blue Sky Pass, so even if he was not acquainted with all of them, Yang Kai would at least be familiar with their faces.
Yang Kai was not close to Li Xing, but they had met each other at Blue Sky Pass on several occasions. Furthermore, Li Xing currently served as Xiang Shan’s adjutant in the Great Evolution Army.
“Senior Brother Li!” Yang Kai cupped his fist in greeting and asked, “Do you need something, Senior Brother?”
Li Xing solemnly replied, “The Army Commander has summoned you. If you have nothing urgent going on, please come with me.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Please wait a moment, Senior Brother. I received orders from Division Commander Xu to gather some materials, so I would like to convey the orders to the others first.”
Li Xing had no objections.
Yang Kai immediately informed Feng Ying about the several dozen materials that Xu Yong Da had displayed earlier; then, he asked her to gather these materials from the Squad members and deliver them to the Division Commander.
Feng Ying diligently memorised the information and got to work.
After settling this matter, Yang Kai finally stretched out his hand in a polite gesture, “Please lead the way, Senior Brother.”
Li Xing nodded and took off.
The two of them navigated through the void and passed by numerous Warships before quickly arriving at the Purifying Black Ink Battleship stationed in the middle of the Army.
The Great Evolution Eastern and Western Armies had two Purifying Black Ink Battleships. Xiang Shan and Liu Zhi Ping had each brought one from their respective Pass. It was just that Liu Zhi Ping had retrieved the Western Army’s Purifying Black Ink Battleship after everybody had left their Imprint on its Universe Array, so there was currently only one Purifying Black Ink Battleship with the Army at the moment. In this way, it was more convenient for the two Army Commanders to discuss various matters and receive intelligence since they were gathered in one spot.
When Yang Kai arrived at this place, he was startled to discover a bunch of people sitting down cross-legged on the ship’s deck. Moreover, it was not just the deck. There were also people floating nearby in the void.
Meanwhile, the person seated in the middle of this gathering was none other than Ma Fan. Xiang Shan, Liu Zhi Ping, and even the Old Ancestor were also present, but they stood not far away and watched quietly with no intention of intervening.
Yang Kai did not know what was happening, but Grandmaster Ma Fan seemed to be explaining the method of refining something at the moment. If Yang Kai was not mistaken, all the people gathered here were Artifact Refiners.
On this trip to recover Great Evolution Pass, there were more than 1,000 Artifact Refiners marching along with the Army. That was the only way to ensure that the Warships would be repaired in a timely manner when damaged. Besides, if the Great Evolution Army could successfully retake Great Evolution Pass, they would ultimately require the strength of these Artifact Refiners to restore the Great Pass to its former glory.
The Army not only had 1,000 Artifact Refiners, but also quite a few Alchemists and Array Masters as well.
Among the 1,000 Artifact Refiners, there was another Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster aside from Grandmaster Ma Fan, as well as some 50 Grandmasters. The rest were mostly Artifact Refining Great Masters.
The Artifact Refining elites of several Great Passes had been gathered together in this place. In order to successfully retake Great Evolution Pass, each Great Pass had not been stingy to contribute their own talents.
With 1,000 such people gathered in one place, it was impossible for the deck to accommodate them all even if the Purifying Black Ink Battleship was quite large. That was why Yang Kai was greeted with the sight of Grandmaster Ma Fan being surrounded by a huge crowd.
Following Li Xing to stand in front of Xiang Shan and the others, Yang Kai respectfully bowed in greeting.
Xiang Shan nodded and waved his hand, “Go over there and listen with the others.”
“Yes!” Yang Kai obeyed and headed towards Grandmaster Ma Fan. After squeezing his way through the crowd, he finally managed to occupy a spot and carefully listened to the lecture.
A short while later, Yang Kai grasped the contents of this talk to an extent. Grandmaster Ma Fan was explaining the refining method of a mechanical puppet.
A mechanical puppet could be considered a kind of puppet, but the mechanical puppet developed by Grandmaster Ma Fan was clearly more agile and realistic than ordinary puppets. Not to mention, he was explaining the refining method of a humanoid puppet.
The refining method was not complicated. Under normal circumstances, an Artifact Refining Grandmaster would be more than qualified to refine these puppets. It was just that the quality of the refined puppets would depend on the refiner’s personal attainments and the materials used. The refining method of these humanoid puppets was probably created by Grandmaster Ma Fan himself, and that was why he was the one to teach them the method.
Whatever the case, his explanation was extremely thorough. All the Artifact Refiners gathered here were talented beyond their peers, so it was easy for them to quickly master the refining method. Some people also asked some questions and received detailed answers from Ma Fan, which gave them a deeper understanding of the refining method for these puppets.
Less than half a day later, the lecture ended and Grandmaster Ma Fan looked around the surroundings, “Does anybody else have any questions? If you have a question, please feel free to ask and this Old Master will explain to the best of his ability.”
Nobody said anything. Clearly, they had no questions regarding the contents of the lecture.
Ma Fan nodded in satisfaction, “In that case, this Old Master has prepared a jade slip for each of you. The jade slip contains a detailed refining method for the mechanical puppet. After receiving the necessary materials, you will have to figure out the refining by yourselves. If there is anything you don’t understand, you may come and ask this Old Master at any time.”
After saying that, he raised his large hand and numerous streams of lights appeared and drifted towards each person in attendance. Every single stream of light contained a single jade slip.
Although a thorough explanation had been given, there were bound to be many problems once these people started refining the puppets even though they understood the contents of the lecture. That was why he went the extra length to prepare these jade slips. These jade slips not only contained the detailed refining method but also some of his insights. In this way, they could reduce most of the difficulties by comparing their results with the jade slip during the process of refining.
Yo
Thanks for the chapter