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Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Given the network formed between Black Ink Nests, Yang Kai had the vague suspicion that these Territory Lords could use the Black Ink Nest in their possession to communicate with the No-Return Pass directly.
Holding the miniature Black Ink Nest in the palm of his hand, Yang Kai debated for a long time, but in the end, he abandoned the idea of using it to spy on the Black Ink Clan’s communications.
Turning around, he headed towards the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction instead. He did not head towards the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress but the hole in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, and then he concealed himself in the void.
After communicating with Wu Kuang via Divine Sense, he learned that there had been no abnormalities in this area during this period. Thus, Yang Kai settled in and quietly laid in ambush. The same scene as the one he witnessed before finally occurred again 10 days later.
A small dark mass wriggled cautiously in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, employing unknown means to forcibly squeeze its way out. As the darkness burst and dissipated, the figure of an Innate Territory Lord was revealed. The Innate Territory Lord did not linger for long and quickly travelled in the same direction as the Territory Lord from before.
Yang Kai silently followed. Under normal circumstances, he would not have been able to avoid the perception of an Innate Territory Lord from such a close range, especially when the Innate Territory Lord was being extremely vigilant of his surroundings. It was just that this Territory Lord was suffering from such severe wounds that even his senses had become blurry.
Yang Kai followed the Innate Territory Lord in secret until they were far enough from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction for it to be impossible for someone to notice them. Only then did he make his move and slaughtered the Innate Territory Lord on the spot.
The Innate Territory Lord was most likely trying to meet up with the previous seven Innate Territory Lords; unfortunately for him, those seven Innate Territory Lords had already been annihilated by Yang Kai, so how could he find them?
In this way, Yang Kai consecutively slaughtered five Territory Lords before he finally stopped two months later.
The situation was dire indeed. There was a reason why Yang Kai did not ask Wu Kuang to repair the gap in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction immediately and instead chose to monitor the situation in secret. He had wanted to learn how frequently the Territory Lords were escaping from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
The results he obtained were both shocking and horrifying! On average, there were two to three Innate Territory Lords escaping per month. If five Innate Territory Lords escaped every two months, then that would mean as many as 30 of them escaped in a year!
According to Yang Kai’s previous estimate, the problem at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction probably started several dozen years ago. A conservative estimate would be 30 years ago. If 30 Innate Territory Lords escaped in a year, that would mean that nearly 1,000 Innate Territory Lords had escaped the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction over the past 30 years. 1,000 Territory Lords was an astounding number, what more if they were all Innate Territory Lords.
Yang Kai felt his heart grow heavy at the realization that his previous speculations were correct. The reason he found the second hidden High-Rank Black Ink Nest so easily was not because he was lucky, but because the Black Ink Clan had many other secret Black Ink Nests scattered across the Black Ink Battlefield.
“It’s a minor issue, so repairing it won’t be difficult. I will also be more careful in the future.” Wu Kuang responded via Divine Sense, but his tone sounded slightly gloomy; after all, nobody would be happy to learn that the Black Ink Clan had been playing tricks right under their nose.
When Wu Kuang claimed that it was a minor issue, he was not referring to the Innate Territory Lords who escaped the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, only the weak spot that the Black Ink Clan had been exploiting. It was his failure to monitor that particular location that allowed the Black Ink Clan to take advantage of his negligence. Now that he discovered the issue, he only needed to make some slight adjustments to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to repair the weakness.
“Please do, if something like this happens again, the Human Race will be doomed,” Yang Kai warned. Although the current situation was not optimistic, the Black Ink Clan did not hold an absolute advantage in the war yet. Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling relieved that Ou Yang Lie had accidentally stumbled upon that High-Rank Black Ink Nest; otherwise, the Human Race would be at risk of extinction if the Black Ink Clan had successfully continued their plans for a few hundred years.
Wu Kuang seemed embarrassed, but did not say anything. He was clearly devoting himself to repairing the flaw in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, and it really did not take much effort for him to patch the weak spot.
A moment later, the Human Race Masters in charge of monitoring the movement of the Black Ink Clan on the battlefield from the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress exclaimed in astonishment as though discovering something strange.
The sounds of battle that had rung out incessantly for the past 1,000 years were showing gradual signs of subsiding. Even the Innate Territory Lords, who were fighting the Suppressing Black Ink Army Masters on the battlefield after escaping from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, were starting to retreat and return to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction via the gap.
Half a day later, the Suppressing Black Ink Army Masters stood on the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress and stared blankly at the empty void in front of them.
The battlefield that had been plagued with bloodshed for the past 1,000 years was finally ushering in a rare moment of peace. No other Black Ink Clansmen were charging out from the gap, only countless severed limbs and bits of hashed meat leftover from dead Black Ink Clansmen, along with dense Black Ink Clouds that seemed like they would never dissipate.
Cheers started from a certain location and soon spread throughout the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress like a tidal wave. The soldiers rejoiced, their shouts of ‘Victory!’ ringing out across the void. The volume of their cheers nearly threatened to turn the entire universe upside-down.
The soldiers at the lower ranks seemed to believe that they finally won the battle after 1,000 years. They were certain that the Black Ink Clan in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had realised the strength of the Human Race Army and no longer dared to rear their heads again so easily.
On the other hand, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters frowned deeply. They initially took the initiative to open a gap in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction so that they could lure the Black Ink Clan into attacking. Their actions were a measure to reduce the pressure on the next generation; therefore, the sudden withdrawal of the Black Ink Clan could not be considered a good thing.
Nevertheless, the Suppressing Black Ink Army was indeed in need of some rest after enduring 1,000 years of constant battle. The current situation was an acceptable outcome for them.
Only Yang Kai, who was hiding in the shadows, secretly heaved a sigh of relief. The weak spot in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction that the Black Ink Clan found had been repaired by Wu Kuang. The Black Ink Clan no longer had a reason to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield to draw Wu Kuang’s attention, so they naturally stopped dispatching their soldiers to the battlefield.
Taking into consideration that Wu Kuang had repaired the weak spot in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and Yang Kai had slaughtered so many Innate Territory Lords recently, there was a high possibility that their actions had already alerted the enemy. Mo Na Ye was not such an easy opponent after all.
[I have to move faster!]
After communicating with Fu Guang and Wu Kuang via Divine Sense transmission, Yang Kai connected his mind to the World Tree once more and returned to the Star Boundary via the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.
From there, Yang Kai did not pause for a single moment. Exiting High Heaven Territory, he detoured through the Great Territory where the Supreme Headquarters was located and snuck past a battlefield in a certain Great Territory. Then, he travelled directly in the direction of Black Territory. When he arrived at Black Territory, he passed through a secret Void Corridor and finally arrived at the Blue Sky Theatre.
No matter how fast Yang Kai was though, this journey took a whole month despite him pushing his Space Principles to the extreme. As soon as he arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, he made some arrangements before beginning a search for traces of the hidden High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
It was a fact that many Innate Territory Lords had escaped from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. That was not a reality that could be changed. Furthermore, the Black Ink Clan had tried to hide these Territory Lords so that they could heal peacefully.
At this point, Yang Kai could only attempt to locate and annihilate these Territory Lords before the Black Ink Clan could take preventive measures! While he would not be able to annihilate many with his strength alone, he could only do his utmost best to kill as many of them as possible.
Thanks to his past two experiences, Yang Kai had gotten better at searching for the High-Rank Black Ink Nests that were hidden in the depths of the void. His search was no longer as aimless as before.
Another month later, Mo Na Ye stood inside the Main Hall at the No-Return Pass and studied the miniature Black Ink Nest in front of him with a deep scowl. The Black Ink Nest came from Mo Yu and was something the Royal Lord had personally given to him so that he could communicate with the clansmen in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
For some reason, he had been having trouble establishing contact with the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction since about two months ago. He had not paid much attention to the issue at the beginning as it was not the first time such difficulties occurred.
There were many occasions when he had trouble transmitting or receiving information effectively. Most of the time, he couldn’t even connect to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. That was why he had not thought much about the issue and had just assumed that it was nothing more than a normal phenomenon.
However, two whole months had passed since he last received any message from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, which was beginning to arouse his suspicions.
Had something gone wrong on the other side?
That was not impossible.
Those in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had been very careful up until now to ensure that the Human Masters guarding the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction did not notice anything unusual. However, there was always a risk of exposure with their clansmen sneaking out at regular intervals. The hole in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was bound to be repaired once discovered, in which case, the Territory Lords would never succeed in sneaking out again.
Unable to be certain, Mo Na Ye did not try to contact the clansmen in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction again. On the contrary, he tried to contact the last batch of Territory Lords who escaped from the Grand Restriction.
According to his instructions, the Territory Lords who snuck out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would form groups of 14 or 15, with one among them being in charge of carrying a High-Rank Black Ink Nest. Once they had gathered enough people, they would set off together and head towards the location Mo Na Ye designated to receive the cultivation resources from the No-Return Pass. After that, they would search for a suitable hiding spot to hatch their Black Ink Nest so that they could enter it and begin healing.
Over the past several dozen years, everything had been going smoothly. As many as 60 batches of hidden Territory Lords had now scattered across the Black Ink Battlefield. An estimation of the time indicated that the last batch of Territory Lords who escaped from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction should have completed their numbers and set off.
Mo Na Ye focused his mind on the Black Ink Nest before him, but the strange space inside of its consciousness was empty, with not a single figure in sight. Mo Na Ye was the only person here, and as his Divine Sense surged, the space vibrated slightly.
Although the connection between Black Ink Nests was extremely strong, they could not connect with a specific Black Ink Nest directly. If Mo Na Ye wanted to contact a specific group of Territory Lords, then he could only send out a general message and wait for them to respond.
At the same time, Yang Kai stood in the void as murderous intent surged around him. The spear in his hand contained many Dao Strengths interweaving with each other. Numerous Innate Territory Lords had died at his hands, and the High-Rank Black Ink Nest where the Territory Lords were hiding had been destroyed earlier.
There were 15 Territory Lords as usual, the number not any different from the two batches he annihilated previously. This only made him increasingly certain that Mo Na Ye intended to use these Territory Lords to create Pseudo-Royal Lords. Unfortunately for Mo Na Ye, Yang Kai had eliminated three of these Nests before the plan could be implemented.
It was not an intense battle. Under the premise that Yang Kai had launched a sneak attack, these wounded Innate Territory Lords had almost no power to resist, and when the dust settled, Black Ink Strength scattered wildly across the void. There was not a single living creature around him as he calmed the surging World Force in his body, then he reached into his pocket and took out the small Black Ink Nest that he obtained previously. The Black Ink Nest was trembling slightly as if conveying some sort of message!
Hello!
Many thanks for the chapter, as always.