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Translator: Silavin & June
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
After the Universe Furnace closed, Ou Yang Lie and Xiang Shan returned as Ninth-Order Masters and took over the Profound Nether Army and Blood Flame Armies respectively. No one said anything about it since they had entered the Universe Furnace from Profound Nether Territory and Blood Flame Territory previously. It could only be said that Profound Nether and Blood Flame had been lucky.
The Red Flame Army also had many Eighth-Order Masters entering the Universe Furnace at that time, but they were unable to ascend to the Ninth-Order.
When Xiao Xiao and Wu Qing were freed, all the Armies watched them expectantly, hoping that these two Ninth-Order Masters would lead them to strengthen their forces.
However, there were only two Ninth-Order Masters and eight Armies hoping to get them. In the end, it was decided by the Supreme Headquarters that Xiao Xiao would lead the Soaring Cloud Army and Wu Qing would lead the Purple Feather Army.
Some had considered consolidating the twelve Armies into six, in which case six Ninth-Order Masters would be enough, but currently, each Army had a massive number of troops. If two were to be combined, the number of troops would increase drastically, making it difficult to manage and coordinate.
Furthermore, there would be more Ninth-Order Masters in the future, did they have to split the Armies once again when that happened?
With these considerations, the Supreme Headquarters decided to maintain the status quo of having 12 Armies; however, half of them would not have a Ninth-Order Master in command, so the Supreme Headquarters could only send Divine Spirits to provide assistance and maintain the balance.
Upon hearing Zhao Li’s complaints, Wang Qian could not help but scold, “The Supreme Headquarters also has its own difficulties! What are you complaining about!?”
“I know,” though Zhao Li was hot-tempered, he was not ignorant of the situation. He wouldn’t usually bring up such issues, but the situation was dire and they were likely to perish soon. When a person was about to die, they couldn’t care less about anything else.
“If you have the ability, then you ascend to the Ninth Order yourself and take charge of the Red Flame Army!” Wang Qian cursed.
Upon hearing that, Zhao Li became furious, “Ascend my ass! I will reach my limit at the Eighth Order in this life… What’s more, those bastards in the logistics department… I wanted to use my military merits to exchange for materials to upgrade the Warship, but they refused. My military merits are hard-earned, why can’t I upgrade my Warship? If I had done so earlier, would we have fallen into this situation? I won’t let those bastards off the hook even after I die!”
Wang Qian remained silent and focused on killing the enemy.
Their Warship was produced by the artifact refiners from the logistics department, and was the standard model that 99% of Squads used. Even if it was a generic Warship, each one cost a lot of resources to refine.
In earlier years, soldiers were not prohibited from using their military merits to exchange for materials to modify their Warships. Since military merits were earned at the cost of their lives, there were no restrictions on how they could use them. As a result, many preferred to upgrade their Warships, believing that a well-equipped Warship would not only help them survive on the battlefield but also increase their chances of killing enemies.
Millennia ago, when Yang Kai led Dawn on the Black Ink Battlefield, their Warship Dawning Light was heavily modified at the cost of a vast amount of military merits. Yang Kai invested most of his military merits in Dawning Light, greatly enhancing its various capabilities and allowing the Dawn Squad to thrive in numerous bloody battles.
However, in recent years, soldiers were no longer allowed to modify their Warships in that manner. The higher-ups were not ignorant of the benefits of modifying Warships, but now that the Human Race faced a scarcity of resources, each resource had to be carefully accounted for and allocated. How could there be any extra resources to give to troops for modifying their Warships?
Only some elite Squads, through a lengthy application process, could exchange military merits for resources to modify their Warships. Even then, the number of military merits required was far more than before.
At this moment, it was unreasonable for Zhao Li to curse the logistics department as they were only executing orders from the higher-ups; however, with everyone facing harsh circumstances and potential death, venting his anger by cursing was understandable.
“Squad Leader, the Defensive Array is about to collapse!” A Squad member shouted.
Wang Qian looked up and saw the shield surrounding their Warship had already dimmed and was on the verge of cracking.
Taking a deep breath, he shouted, “Prepare for a final fight! Xiao Wu, activate the self-destruct array of the Warship! Set it for 10 breaths!”
“Yes!” Responded the Fifth-Order Master who had been called out.
Even if they had to die, they would kill as many enemies as possible!
On the other hand, Zhong Wu Yu, who had been repairing the Tiger Roar Cannon, stopped. There was no point in wasting any more time. He took out his sword and leapt to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Wang Qian, staring resolutely at the densely packed Black Ink Clansmen surrounding them.
One by one, the Squad members summoned their artifacts and gathered around Wang Qian. Their momentum was soaring, and their aura was surging as they formed their Battle Formations.
Even facing thousands of enemies, they advanced fearlessly.
They would fight to the bitter end!
Suddenly, a commotion erupted from the enemy Army. In the next moment, Wang Qian and others’ faces changed slightly as they sensed a vast number of auras disappearing in the surrounding area as if an endless number of Black Ink Clansmen had died in an instant.
But, due to the overwhelming numbers of Black Ink Clansmen surrounding the Warship, they were unable to see what was happening beyond them, leaving them bewildered.
Just as they were in a state of confusion, they suddenly noticed ripples in the void ahead of them. As the ripples passed through, space shook and then shattered, causing countless Void Cracks to spread out like a school of fish swimming over them.
The countless Void Cracks almost enveloped all of the Black Ink Clansmen, yet somehow avoided where their Warship was located, which fortunately remained unscathed.
In the next instant, the Black Ink Clan Army that had cornered them, regardless of their strength or location, all spewed out black blood as they were sliced into pieces by the Void Cracks. Many of them died with bewildered expressions on their faces, not understanding what just happened.
“Wha…” Wang Qian was stunned by the scene.
Although he still didn’t know exactly what had happened, the only thing he could understand was that a powerful allied Master had intervened and instantly killed those Black Ink Clansmen.
[What incredible power…] He didn’t even notice any energy fluctuations, just a layer of ripples, followed by the formation of Void Cracks that enveloped all of the Black Ink Clansmen surrounding their Warship, including the Feudal Lords who had been hiding nearby.
The next moment, a figure suddenly appeared in the sea of corpses and blood. That figure locked eyes with Wang Qian and said nothing before nodding lightly as he confirmed that they were safe. Then, he took a step forward and disappeared.
“Xiao Wu!” Wang Qian suddenly snapped out of his trance, turned his head, and shouted, “Stop!”
He had just given this Squad member the command to activate the self-destruct array after 10 breaths, and he didn’t know if he could stop it now.
At a glance, Wang Qian breathed a sigh of relief as Xiao Wu seemed to have been stunned by what just happened and was standing there motionless.
“Squad Leader, who was that? The Division Commander?” After a moment of silence, one of the team members spoke up and asked.
“Division Commander?” Zhong Wu Yu turned his head and glanced at the person, snorting softly, “Division Commanders don’t have that kind of power.”
What they just witnessed was not something an Eighth-Order Division Commander could accomplish. How could they possibly annihilate such a large number of Black Ink Clansmen in an instant, including several powerful Feudal Lords. Although an Eighth-Order Master could indeed destroy such an enemy force, it would not have been this swift and effortless.
“Not an Eighth-Order Master?” The person who spoke was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed in shock, “Could it be…”
“It’s Senior Yang!” Zhao Li’s eyes shone brightly. Although Yang Kai had only appeared for a moment, Zhao Li recognized him.
Zhao Li had always regarded Senior Yang as his goal to strive for. Previously, he ascended straight to the Sixth Order, so the Eighth-Order Realm was the limit of his life, and the Ninth Order was out of his reach.
However, Senior Yang directly ascended to the Fifth Order in the past and was now in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, giving many people like Zhao Li hope that he might just still be able to grow to that height one day.
Therefore, Zhao Li had done a lot of research on Yang Kai and even personally went to High Heaven Palace to pay homage to his statue.
Not only Zhao Li, but Wang Qian also recognised Yang Kai and was full of excitement.
He muttered to himself, “Wasn’t Senior Yang trapped in the Universe Furnace?”
It wasn’t a secret that Yang Kai was trapped in the Universe Furnace. Anyone who paid attention to him knew about it. How could he disappear for hundreds of years if he wasn’t trapped there? So, Wang Qian couldn’t figure out how Yang Kai appeared there.
Zhao Li chuckled and said, “For that Senior, being trapped in the Universe Furnace is nothing. He must have found a way out on his own.”
Zhong Wu Yu nodded and continued, “Heroes arise in troubled times. With Senior’s return, the Black Ink Clan is in deep trouble. In any case, we owe him a lot this time. We would have been doomed without his intervention.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
“Haven’t you guys thought of something else?” Zhao Li smiled.
“What else?”
“Senior’s appearance here means that the Red Flame Army now also has a Ninth-Order Master leading us!”
Only then did everyone realize this!
The Red Flame Army had always hoped to have their own Ninth-Order Master leading them, like the other six Armies. Unfortunately, there were only so many Ninth-Order Masters around, so how could their wish come true?
Now that Yang Kai had appeared in E-5 Territory, did it not mean that the Red Flame Army would have a Ninth-Order Master assuming command as well? Their long-cherished wish was finally about to come true!
For a moment, everyone became ecstatic…
After being uplifted, Wang Qian quickly gave orders, and the Warship swept in an arc towards the direction of their Division.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and moved rapidly towards the vast battlefield in the void.
Setting out from Supreme Headquarters, he had been hurrying all the way and arrived at E-5 Territory in less than half a month. After ascending to the Ninth Order, his control over Space Principles had become more proficient, making his travel time shorter than before. If it was before, it would have taken at least a month or two to travel such a distance.
When he encountered Wang Qian’s Squad being besieged on the way, he casually rescued them. For him, it was not a big deal, but he didn’t expect that Wang Qian’s Squad would have some misunderstandings after he showed up.
The intense main battlefield was in sight, and Yang Kai used Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to conceal his figure and aura.
For over 600 years, there had been no news of him. Not only did the Human Race think he was trapped in the Universe Furnace, but so did the Black Ink Clan. Not even Mo Na Ye could imagine that he would suddenly appear at this moment.
Since that was the case, then he would announce his return with a giant slaughter!
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Many thanks for the chapter, as always.