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Translator: Silavin & VictorN
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
When the Supreme Headquarters gave the order 1,000 years ago, Dong Guo An Ping led several Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters and brought over 1,000 Artifact Refiners to this place to work.
Those Artifact Refiners had put their all into the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress and it represented their proudest achievement.
Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven contributed a huge amount of resources to create this artifact. Although each Cave Heaven and Paradise contributed a lot to this project, Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven were the experts at Artifact Refining and thus contributed the most.
Presently, the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress had various Grand Arrays, artifacts, and even some architectural uniqueness, making it essentially a mobile city. All of this was influenced by Dong Guo An Ping, so he was intimately familiar with all aspects of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, making his introductions detailed and descriptive. Yang Kai soon began to appreciate the might of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress.
He was very satisfied with what he was hearing. Although the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was only 10% the size of a Great Pass, its armaments and capabilities were basically on par with one.
They paused for explanations and then resumed along the route. When the three of them arrived near a section of the city wall, Dong Guo An Ping pointed to a huge artifact mounted up ahead. The shape of the artifact looked like a crouching tiger with an elongated neck gazing forward. There were several Artifact Refiners nearby who were busy working on it.
Dong Guo An Ping pointed at the artifact and said proudly, “This is a Tiger Roar Cannon, the main offensive artifact of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. Over all four walls, there are a total of 1,200 of these. They were specially designed for the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress.”
Mi Jing Lun looked at it for a while and asked, “How powerful is it?”
Dong Guo An Ping stroked his beard and smiled, “When tested, three Sixth-Order Masters working together were able to unleash a strike equivalent to a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s full strength. If three Seventh-Order Masters work together, the power unleashed would be similar to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s attack.”
Mi Jing Lun raised an eyebrow and remarked, “Impressive, but creating such an artifact must have been expensive, right?”
Dong Guo An Ping replied with a solemn nod, “Didn’t Supreme Headquarters say not to skimp on the cost? Creating a single Tiger Roar Cannon consumes resources equivalent to building a standard Warship.”
Mi Jing Lun winced at the thought of the cost. With 1,200 Tiger Roar Cannons, it was like having 1,200 standard Warships, and that was just for the main armaments of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. There were other various supplementary artifacts, as well as the Grand Arrays within the fortress, which also required a lot of resources.
The entire Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was practically a weapon of war built from several generations of stockpiled wealth.
It was fortunate that Yang Kai went to the No-Return Pass to pick a fight with the Black Ink Clan and managed to get them to compensate him with so many materials. At least, that could help to replenish a good portion of the stock used in the production of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. Otherwise, the Human Race would have to tighten their belts for a few years just to get by.
However, this was something Yang Kai had specially requested. Although the cost was immense, it was worth the expenditure as long as it could produce the desired effect.
As the two spoke, Yang Kai had already walked toward the Tiger Roar Cannon which had several Artifact Refiners busy working on it. One of them became upset when he noticed someone approaching without permission and stood up abruptly with the intention to reprimand him, but was immediately stunned.
Yang Kai smiled at him and said, “Senior Brother Xu!”
The other person smiled and exclaimed, “Junior Brother Yang?”
“Haven’t seen you in years, Senior Brother Xu. You still have the same noble bearing as before.” Yang Kai glanced at the chubby figure in front of him while comparing it to the one in his memories. In fact, there were no significant changes to Fatty Xu Zhen except for the traces of aging after all these years.
Furthermore, Xu Zhen was already an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.
Dong Guo An Ping walked forward and asked curiously, “Junior Brother Yang, you know my Martial Nephew?”
Although they were both in the Eighth Order, since they were born and raised in Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven, Dong Guo An Ping was still Xu Zhen’s Senior and thus of a higher rank compared to a rising star like Xu Zhen. Furthermore, while they were cultivators in the same realm and from the same Sect, there was still some difference in their strength and achievements.
In contrast, although Yang Kai was much younger than the rest, as long as his cultivation was on par with theirs, he was considered equal in terms of seniority to Mi Jing Lun and Dong Guo An Ping.
“Of course, I know him. I was drawn into the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary with Senior Brother Xu. We went through a lot of hardships together,” Yang Kai explained.
Dong Guo An Ping suddenly understood. Over the past 10,000 years, the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary only appeared once. Xu Zhen coincidentally got dragged into it, and apparently so did Yang Kai. Therefore, it was normal that they knew each other from the incident.
Sometime later, Yang Kai and Xu Zhen also met in the Blood Monster Cave Heaven; however, after Yang Kai went to the Black Ink Battlefield, there was no longer any news of him.
Xu Zhen naturally heard about Yang Kai’s exploits when the Black Ink Clan invaded the 3,000 Worlds. It was a pity that they could not meet until today.
To construct the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven had deployed 30% of their Sect’s Artifact Refiners, which was why Fatty Xu Zhen was here.
After some pleasantries, Xu Zhen cupped his fist and said, “Martial Uncle is here just in time. This Tiger Roar Cannon has some problems linking together with the Grand Array. No matter how we tried, we just can’t get it to work smoothly. Perhaps Martial Uncle can figure out the problem.”
Dong Guo An Ping, who never backed down from a challenge, stepped forward and said, “Let me take a look.”
He approached the Tiger Roar Cannon, carefully investigated and quickly found the crux of the problem. He did not personally resolve it though and instead carefully instructed Xu Zhen and the others and let them do it.
This was also a kind of on-the-spot education.
The few Artifact Refiners soon became busy working on the cannon and forgot all about Yang Kai and Mi Jing Lun who were standing beside them. Yang Kai also knew something about the Dao of Artifact Refining, and although it was not as good as his mastery over the Daos of Time, Space, and Spear, he was still an Artifact Refining Grandmaster, so he could more or less understand what they were discussing and was also interested in it.
On the contrary, Mi Jing Lun, who knew nothing about the subject, stood by the side, bored to tears.
Upon realizing this, Yang Kai said, “Senior Brother Mi, we have basically finished with the tour of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, but I would like to remain here and see the rest of the artifacts and Spirit Arrays. You should go on ahead first.”
Mi Jing Lun nodded and said, “Good. I will make the rest of the arrangements at the Supreme Headquarters.”
Yang Kai made his requests without holding back, “I estimate it will take a minimum of 5,000 and up to 8,000 soldiers to fully mobilize the power of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress. I will have to trouble Senior Brother Mi to prepare them as soon as possible. Additionally, please send the Divine Spirits that I brought back from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary over here. Although they have been obedient over the years, the agreement I made with them was only for 3,000 years and will soon be up. It will be difficult for me to extend the pact, but there just so happens to be someone over on that side who can handle them.”
Mi Jing Lun immediately understood and replied with a smile, “That’s right, under that person’s watchful eye, these Divine Spirits have no choice but to behave obediently.”
“Naturally, the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress needs a Divine Spirit with Great Sun and Moon Marks to be able to create Purifying Light to protect against the encroachment of Black Ink Strength, “
“I’ll make sure everything is prepared appropriately.”
Mi Jing Lun quickly left and went back to the Supreme Headquarters to organize the troops while Yang Kai stayed.
Once the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was ready for action, Yang Kai would be responsible for sending it to that place.
Dong Guo An Ping was still instructing Xu Zhen and the others to solve the problem of the Tiger Roar Cannon, when Yang Kai heard a soft voice in his ear.
He was surprised and decided to follow the voice, leaving the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress and heading towards a mountain valley some 3,000 kilometres to the west. He approached it, and was stunned by what he saw within it.
The entire surrounding land was barren and silent, but this mountain valley was full of vitality, with an abundance of fragrant flowers and vegetation.
However, under careful observation and inspection, he realized that all the greenery was nothing but an illusion.
This was obviously an extremely profound manifestation of power.
He then noticed a delicate figure sitting quietly in the middle of the sea of flowers.
As Yang Kai waded through the sea of flowers, the flowers were disturbed, detached from their stems, and flew away from the branches. The flowers turned into yellow, red, and green butterflies dancing among other flowers…
At that moment, the world was colourful and beautiful.
Yang Kai was captivated by this beauty, even stretching out his hand and allowing a butterfly to land gently on his fingertips while flapping its wings.
A few moments later, he approached the figure, bowed, and greeted, “Old Ancestor!”
This was the only Human who had advanced to become a Ninth-Order Old Ancestor since the invasion of the 3,000 Worlds. Only a select few of the upper ranks knew about this.
Yang Kai was curious about where she was after she had reached the Ninth Order, and it was only when he heard her voice that he realized that she had been here the whole time, guarding the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress.
The Supreme Headquarters must have arranged for this newly promoted Ninth-Order Master to secretly guard the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress to ensure that absolutely nothing happened to it.
Luo Ting He smiled slightly, reached out her hand, and spoke gently, “No need for formalities. In fact, I owe everything that I have to you.”
This Ninth-Order Master of Yin-Yang Cave Heaven was trapped in the Samsara Pavilion for 2,000 years. Many years later, Qu Hua Shang had entered the Samsara Pavilion vowing to live and die together with Yang Kai for nine lifetimes or perish inside. Yang Kai managed to overcome this challenge and leave with Qu Hua Shang.
It was through that opportunity that Luo Ting He was also able to leave the Samsara Pavilion.
If Yang Kai had not gone through the ninth reincarnation and succeeded in awakening Qu Hua Shang, Luo Ting He would still be trapped in the Samsara Pavilion. She would not be where she is today.
“Old Ancestor is too kind. What happened that day was pure coincidence,” Yang Kai said respectfully.
Back then, he had no idea Luo Ting He was trapped in the Samsara Pavilion; all he did was break Qu Hua Shang’s Heart Seal and awaken her memories. It was pure coincidence that he managed to get Luo Ting He out as well.
“Coincidence or not, I still owe you a favour,” Luo Ting He insisted.
Yang Kai could not say anything else.
Luo Ting He tilted her head and smiled as she said, “I’ve been thinking about how to repay you for that. I originally thought of giving you some benefits after I reached the Ninth Order; however, your cultivation speed is so fast that the benefits I can give you now related to that are far too limited.”
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Many thanks for the chapter, as always.