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Translator: Silavin & Sara
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
The Eighth-Order Masters were sensible enough to know what to choose. Though they longed to return to the battlefield and kill their share of the enemy, someone needed to stand guard where they were right now; thus, after hearing what the hemp-robed old man said, they swiftly nodded in agreement.
“I’m old now after spending all my life fighting the Black Ink Clan, I should enjoy some peace and quiet. Staying here isn’t a bad idea.”
“That’s right. We’ll leave all that violence and bloodshed to the young ones.”
“The next generation will be inheriting the mantle from us someday. We had to go through this ourselves back then, so we should give them a chance to train themselves too.”
“…”
Everyone voiced their support.
The hemp-robed old man smiled as he swept his eyes across them before turning back to Yang Kai, “Us old folks wish to stay here and enjoy the peace, so just leave us here. Although we can’t gather all that many resources, what we do collect will still be useful in some way.”
Yang Kai nodded, “Many thanks, everyone, but do prepare yourselves too. The situation won’t stay the same forever. There’ll come a day when the Humans will launch an all-out offensive, and when the time comes, perhaps we’ll need all of your help too.”
One of them guffawed right away, “We may be old, but we’re strong and mighty! It won’t be a problem for us to slaughter those Black Ink Clan punks when the time comes.”
After a brief chat, everyone started pulling out the resources they had gathered and passing everything over to Yang Kai. They managed to gather quite a lot, and as there was the danger of being detected by the Black Ink Clan, they did not store everything together. Instead, the resources were kept separately in over a dozen Space Rings. Thus, even if something bad happened, they would not lose everything that they gathered at once.
Fortunately, even after all these years, the Black Ink Clan had yet to discover their presence and had no idea that a team of Humans was secretly mining resources deep inside the Black Ink Battlefield. This was mainly due to the Humans being hidden so deep that they were nearly at the Late Ancient Era battlefield, and the Black Ink Clan never ventured this far from the No-Return Pass.
After collecting the Space Rings, Yang Kai bade them farewell and the Eighth-Order Masters watched as he left. Their many centuries of waiting had finally come to an end, and they found out that the Human Race’s situation was not as dire as they thought; therefore, they were all in a good mood.
Yang Kai took his leave of them and began his journey back.
It took him quite some time to find them, but it was far easier for him to head back now. With the help of some Space Beacons, he went back down the route he had used to come over, and in less than half a day, he arrived on the outskirts of the No-Return Pass.
He looked over and saw that the Territory Gate he sealed up earlier had already been opened, but he wasn’t surprised by that.
There were quite a number of powerful Black Ink Clansmen now, with two Royal Lords and several dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords at the No-Return Pass alone. Even if Yang Kai did seal up the Territory Gate, it would be easy for that many Masters to force it open again. It was just a matter of time.
[But, considering how shrewd Mo Na Ye is, he should have realised the severity of the situation, right?] It was a simple matter for Yang Kai to seal up the Territory Gate, but to the Black Ink Clan, it was a grave predicament.
This was especially true for the Black Ink Clan Army which was still out there fighting!
Yang Kai carefully sensed his surroundings and picked up on the many strong auras that were scattered across the No-Return Pass. The auras were not hidden in any way. It was almost as if they were bright lights shining in the middle of darkness. Now and then, Black Ink Clan teams would move around as they did their patrols. Everyone at the No-Return Pass was clearly on edge.
It could not be helped. Two months ago, Yang Kai had suddenly shown up at the No-Return Pass and transformed into a Divine Dragon to engage the Black Ink Clan Masters in a battle. Though they managed to give Yang Kai a fierce beating before forcing him to leave, they also suffered losses of their own.
Even if they ignored the injuries the Pseudo-Royal Lords received during the fight, there was also the loss of a High-Rank Black Ink Nest, which had been destroyed by Yang Kai, and the death of a Territory Lord who had the potential to become a Royal Lord.
Yang Kai did head towards the Black Ink Battlefield, but Mo Na Ye understood him well enough to know that he would surely be back.
As the Black Ink Clan had no way of ascertaining when Yang Kai would return, they could only be as vigilant as possible and keep the entire No-Return Pass on constant alert.
Although Yang Kai was just a single Human, his existence was enough to make all the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass feel discomfited, vexed, and overwrought.
After a moment of observation, Yang Kai used Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to conceal himself, hiding his physical form and aura; then, he headed straight towards the No-Return Pass.
At a certain moment, a Pseudo-Royal Lord positioned somewhere inside the No-Return Pass felt a flicker of danger. If this had been at any other time, he would not have paid much attention to such an insignificant sensation; however, Mo Na Ye had given clear orders beforehand, so the Pseudo-Royal Lord’s eyes flew open as he immediately made his presence even more imposing.
Mo Na Ye came over in a flash and glanced at the Pseudo-Royal Lord who grimly nodded.
Thus, Mo Na Ye began scanning all around with his Divine Sense, but his search came up empty.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai could not help but frown. He was still some distance away from them and had thought that he could use Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to sneak over there and kill that Pseudo-Royal Lord, but he did not expect the latter to be on such high alert.
At the very least, he knew for certain that the Pseudo-Royal Lord did not discover his whereabouts. That being said, a being as strong as Pseudo-Royal Lord would still be able to instinctively sense danger. If Yang Kai wanted to attack the Pseudo-Royal Lord and prepared himself to do so, the latter would surely detect something.
However, Yang Kai was taken aback to find that the Pseudo-Royal Lord reacted this strongly to the barest hint of danger.
[He’s being far too cautious!] Yang Kai was speechless.
Alas, Yang Kai did not consider how the Black Ink Clan’s estimation of his strength had soared after what he did the last time he was here, as well as based on the information they had gathered.
Reactions as extreme as this had happened several times before this, but they had all been false alarms; still, the Black Ink Clan remained vigilant.
Mo Na Ye had no way of confirming whether or not Yang Kai was here, so he called out in a random direction, “I know you’re here, Yang Kai. Why are you hiding like a coward? Why don’t you show yourself?”
Yang Kai eyed Mo Na Ye who was not even facing his direction and could not resist rolling his eyes when he heard how confident the Royal Lord sounded.
[As if you know anything!]
There was no response, and Mo Na Ye did not make another attempt. He moved back to his previous spot and began scanning the area around him once more while the Pseudo-Royal Lord exhaled in relief.
Yang Kai could not resist scoffing from his hiding spot. It would be difficult for him to get anything done with the Black Ink Clan fiercely guarding against him like this!
Still, though the situation made it tough for Yang Kai to strike at the Black Ink Clan, the situation was even harder on them as they had to be on guard at all times in case he launched a surprise attack. The Pseudo-Royal Lords were under a lot of pressure, and even Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu were feeling extremely tense.
Right now, Yang Kai was the one who had the upper hand as all the possibility of danger stemmed from him. The Black Ink Clan could only react based on what he did.
Yang Kai stroked his chin before retreating and circling over to a different part of the No-Return Pass; then, he began sneaking over to one of the Pseudo-Royal Lords.
However, that Pseudo-Royal Lord soon sensed something and intensified his aura as well, and at the very next moment, Mo Yu who had been hidden somewhere popped up and scanned the area.
Yang Kai was incensed! [Why are all of them frightened by the slightest sound now?! Why are they making such a big fuss over just the tiniest hint of danger?! How am I supposed to make my move if they’re this wary?]
Alas, a Pseudo-Royal Lord was indeed powerful enough to have a keen sense for danger. Yang Kai wanted to attack them, but even if he used Thunder Shadow’s Divine Ability to hide his presence, he could not remove his opponent’s innate ability to sense crisis. It was a natural instinct that all Masters had.
Yang Kai frowned and moved his gaze towards a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
[I can’t do anything to the Pseudo-Royal Lords when they’re this vigilant, but it shouldn’t be a problem if I target these Black Ink Nests, right?]
Black Ink Nests were inanimate objects and every single High-Rank Black Ink Nest was crucial to the foundation of the Black Ink Clan. The destruction of several would also be a huge loss for the Black Ink Clan. Furthermore, these ones at the No-Return Pass either housed Pseudo-Royal Lords in recovery or Territory Lords who were cultivating. There was a high chance that Yang Kai would get an unexpected bonus when he destroyed one of these High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
With that thought in mind, Yang Kai moved over to a High-Rank Black Ink Nest and slammed his fist into it.
All the Pseudo-Royal Lords jumped in shock when the ferocious force exploded out of nowhere. Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu also appeared at once and came charging over from different directions.
The next instant, the Pseudo-Royal Lords flew into action as well and they immediately began rushing over.
However, Yang Kai did not intend to engage them in a fight. A single punch from him was enough to make the humongous Black Ink Nest shatter into pieces, and a figure stumbled out looking rather dishevelled.
Yang Kai glanced at the figure and was pleased by what he saw. It was a Pseudo-Royal Lord who had been slumbering inside the Black Ink Nest to recuperate.
[An excellent find!]
Instead of killing the Territory Lords who had the potential to become Royal Lords, Yang Kai would much rather kill off some Pseudo-Royal Lords.
The Pseudo-Royal Lords were undeniably powerful and killing any one of them was a great boon. As for the Territory Lords, they merely had the possibility of becoming Royal Lords and it was uncertain whether or not they would succeed.
This Pseudo-Royal Lord had been abruptly awakened from his deep sleep and it was clear that he had not figured out what was happening yet. Thus, he was caught off guard and was swept into a large river that crashed down on him.
“Yang Kai!” Mo Na Ye’s teeth nearly cracked from how hard he clenched his jaw. A flurry of Secret Techniques burst out from him before he even arrived.
Mo Yu had done the same.
Yang Kai grabbed onto the Space-Time River and dashed off at once. Nevertheless, though he made a quick escape, he did stumble a little from the torrent of attacks from such a large group of Black Ink Clansmen.
Yang Kai was moving further and further away and the Black Ink Clan had no hope of catching up to him. Mo Na Ye swiftly came to a stop and the Pseudo-Royal Lords followed suit.
It was not as if they were reluctant to give chase, but they feared what could happen if they did. Had they given chase, Yang Kai would surely put up a fight. Space Secret Techniques were too unnerving to them as they allowed Yang Kai to move around elusively. Furthermore, Yang Kai also had a Secret Technique that allowed him to perfectly conceal himself, which made them feel even more distraught.
The Black Ink Clan Masters were seething with rage as they glared in the direction where Yang Kai had fled.
“Why didn’t you use the Grand Array?” Mo Na Ye was infuriated as he glared at a few of the Pseudo-Royal Lords beside him.
To defend themselves from Yang Kai’s sneak attack, Mo Na Ye had arranged for Grand Arrays to be set up all across the No-Return Pass. The moment Yang Kai showed up, they were to activate the Grand Arrays to seal off the Void.
One of the Pseudo-Royal Lords cowered under Mo Na Ye’s furious gaze and explained, “We did, but he didn’t use any Space Secret Techniques.”
Mo Na Ye’s expression froze.
The Grand Array which sealed off the Void could indeed remove Yang Kai’s ability to use Instantaneous Movement, but moments ago, he had simply dashed off into the distance and the Grand Array had no effect on that. Mo Na Ye had been so blinded by his fury that he forgot about this possibility.
Royal lords really forgot yk can run
AND hide… All round pain in the ink o_O
Hello!
Many thanks for the chapter, as always.