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Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
At this moment, Yang Kai and the two Void Guards who were preparing the Space Arrays in the direction of the No-Return Pass were already halfway through their journey. They also left behind three Universe Temples that they deployed along the way. Judging by their speed, the first part of the Human Race Army would reach the periphery of the No-Return Pass in another half a month.
It was not until this moment that the No-Return Pass realised that something was wrong, but the delay could not be blamed on the Black Ink Clan’s ignorance. The truth was that Mo Na Ye was already very cautious. After his previous exchange with Yang Kai to probe each other for information several years ago, he confirmed the existence of a secret passage leading between the 3,000 Worlds and the Black Ink Battlefield. Thanks to that piece of information, he immediately realised that the Human Race would eventually attack the No-Return Pass through that secret passage.
After all, that was the only method for the Humans to fully maximise their strengths in the assault. It was far too disadvantageous for them to attack from the Territory Gate because the Black Ink Clan could cause significant casualties to them just by establishing a tight line of defence around the location. Nobody would ever choose to use such a foolish method if there was a better option.
Unfortunately, Mo Na Ye had been unable to confirm the exact location of the secret passage’s exit. That was why he quickly dispatched a large number of Black Ink Clan scouts into the Black Ink Battlefield following Yang Kai’s departure from the No-Return Pass.
His plan had been to search for the secret passage while simultaneously guarding against any possible movements from the Human Race. Naturally, his main purpose was the latter. As for finding the exit of the secret passage, he did not expect much and simply did his best to achieve results. For this purpose, the Black Ink Clan even deliberately produced nearly 10,000 Low-Rank Black Ink Nests for the Black Ink Clan search parties to bring along when they ventured deep into the Black Ink Battlefield.
Yang Kai had eliminated several dozen Black Ink Clan squads around the vicinity of the secret passage; moreover, his movements were so swift that the Black Ink Clansmen had no time to react whatsoever.
Although Yang Kai managed to prevent the enemy from learning about their presence in the immediate term, the Black Ink Clansmen overseeing the nearby Low-Rank Black Ink Nests soon noticed that something was wrong when they failed to make contact with their search teams for the past half a month; therefore, they followed the instructions they received from Mo Na Ye before they were dispatched here and sent word to the No-Return Pass via the Black Ink Nest Space.
Upon receiving the message, Mo Na Ye immediately realised the problem. It was impossible for the Black Ink Clan scouts searching the Black Ink Battlefield to disappear for no apparent reason; after all, there were currently no dangers on the Black Ink Battlefield. It was understandable if something had happened to one or two teams, as accidents or unexpected delays did still occur, but the fact that dozens of scout teams had gone missing at the same time was self-explanatory.
Under the premise that the Human Race Army would launch an assault from the Black Ink Battlefield, Mo Na Ye would not hold any unrealistic illusions towards the information he received and immediately concluded that the Humans were coming! Furthermore, their general direction and distance could now be determined from the location of the lost Black Ink Clan scouts!
With the No-Return Pass as the starting point and the location of the lost scouts as the endpoint, Mo Na Ye plotted a route and hastily ordered the Black Ink Clan scouts along the route to investigate their surroundings carefully and report any sign of abnormalities immediately.
The arrival of the Human Race Army came far earlier than he expected, which was extremely bad for him. Mo Na Ye’s only consolation was that their starting point was extremely distant. Even if the Human Race Army moved at full speed, he estimated they would not be able to reach the No-Return Pass for at least a year or two, which would give the Black Ink Clan some time and space to prepare countermeasures.
After he pondered for some time, he hurried to Mo Yu and reported the situation; then, he discussed some countermeasures. At the same time, he ordered the Pseudo-Royal Lords under his command to continue tempting the two Giant Spirit Gods in the Barren Territory.
When the two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods escaped into the No-Return Pass back then, Yang Kai had decisively sealed the Territory Gate shut. Be that as it may, the Black Ink Clan had long since reopened the Territory Gate. Moreover, the Black Ink Clan had never stopped trying to target Ah Da and Ah Er over the past few years.
Mo Na Ye knew that these two Giant Spirit Gods were the strongest forces of the Human Race Army. If they could eliminate the two Giant Spirit Gods before the Humans arrived, then the enemy would be no match for the Black Ink Clan, regardless of how many Ninth-Order Masters were born during this period.
Among the Black Ink Clan nowadays, the number of Royal Lords could no longer compare to the Ninth-Order Masters, and the number of Territory Lords could no longer compare to the number of Eighth-Order Masters. Nevertheless, there were many Pseudo-Royal Lords, so if the Humans lost their two Giant Spirit Gods, who were the pillars of their Army, how could they prevent the onslaught of the numerous Pseudo-Royal Lords and the two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods?
According to the information that Mo Na Ye received from the Black Ink Disciples, the Giant Spirit Gods were of a Race that did not boast high sentience despite their overwhelming strength. If they could utilize this aspect properly, they might just be able to eliminate those two behemoths without too much trouble.
Nonetheless, they had to lure the two Giant Spirit Gods into the No-Return Pass if they wanted a chance to eradicate them. The No-Return Pass was the headquarters of the Black Ink Clan, with countless Masters gathered here in addition to the two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods. As long as the two Giant Spirit Gods dared to step foot into the No-Return Pass, they would never leave this place alive again.
Provocation was one method; however, no matter how the Black Ink Clan tried to taunt them, Ah Da and Ah Er never forgot Yang Kai’s instructions to protect the Territory Gate before he departed. Their orders were to smash any Black Ink Clansman who tried to pass through the Territory Gate, nothing more, nothing less.
Several Pseudo-Royal Lords were injured as a result. After that, no Pseudo-Royal Lord dared to enter the Barren Territory at will again. A single slap from the Giant Spirit Gods contained a Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering might. Not even a Pseudo-Royal Lord could survive a direct hit.
The Black Ink Clan did not stop at provocation though, they also employed another method, temptation.
The Black Ink Disciples who originated from the Human Race had given Mo Na Ye another valuable piece of information; the Giant Spirit Gods fed on dead Universe Worlds.
The 3,000 Worlds was now barren and infertile, so the two Giant Spirit Gods had probably been starving for many years now. For that reason, Mo Na Ye ordered his men to drag over several dead Universes Worlds from the far depths of the Black Ink Battlefield to tempt Ah Da and Ah Er through the Territory Gate. This plan nearly succeeded.
As soon as the bald Giant Spirit God saw the dead Universes Worlds through the Territory Gate, his drool flowed down his chest like a waterfall. In fact, he nearly charged right into the No-Return Pass at first sight. If not for the Giant Spirit God with a tuft of hair on his head who desperately held his clansman back and ruined the plan, the Black Ink Clan could have obliterated one of them on the spot!
Back when Mo Na Ye first witnessed the scene, he was so furious that he nearly choked on his rage.
Now that the Pseudo-Royal Lords received another order from Mo Na Ye recently, they immediately looked very distressed. Their confrontation with the Giant Spirit Gods over the past 10 years or so had shown them that the two beings were not easy opponents despite their slow-witted appearances. When the overwhelming power of each Giant Spirit God surpassed essentially all other living creatures in the Universe, their low sentience no longer mattered. Their strength alone was not something that could be ignored.
Fortunately, one of the Pseudo-Royal Lords quickly came up with a good idea. He smashed one of the dead Universes Worlds nearby to pieces and threw a small Universe Fragment into the Barren Territory.
The two Giant Spirit Gods happily shared the Universe Fragment between themselves, then they turned to look at the Pseudo-Royal Lord eagerly through the Territory Gate. He quickly threw a larger Universe Fragment to them, and they immediately shared the food again. Then, he threw another larger piece…
After repeating the cycle several times, he picked up an enormous Universe Fragment and pretended to throw it into the Barren Territory; however, the Territory Gate was too small for the enormous Universe Fragment to pass through.
He then set down the Universe Fragment and beckoned towards the two Giant Spirit Gods through the Territory Gate, as though inviting them over to eat.
Ah Da was tempted, then… Ah Er smacked his bald head hard several times. The blows made him clutch at his head in pain with an extremely aggrieved expression. His appearance was very pitiful, as though he did not know what he had done wrong.
“Stay here and smash them! Don’t go there!” Ah Er reminded in a rumbling voice. Even though he was standing in the vast void, his voice still echoed like explosions of thunder.
Ah Da nodded repeatedly, finally recalling the warnings of the little one. Raising his head once more, he glared at the Pseudo-Royal Lord fiercely and shouted, “Give it, or I will smash you to death!”
The Pseudo-Royal Lord was stunned for a moment. In the next moment, he raised his hand and shattered the enormous Universe Fragment into dust while shouting at Ah Da through the Territory Gate, “Come and smash me if you dare!”
Ah Da immediately lost his temper. Starving as he was, how could he tolerate the sight of a perfectly good piece of food being ruined right in front of him? No matter how good-natured he was, he had reached his breaking point. He stood up and took a step forward.
Just as Ah Da was about to charge through the Territory Gate, Ah Er threw himself at Ah Da and pinned the latter down.
On that day, the entire Black Ink Clan in the No-Return Pass heard the roars that came from the other side of the Territory Gate. They could hear the bald Giant Spirit God screaming the words “Smash you to death!” over and over again… It was a terrifying sound!
Inside the High-Rank Black Ink Nest that belonged to Mo Yu, Mo Na Ye was reporting the situation to him, but another Black Ink Clansman was sitting next to them. Given his right to sit together with Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu on equal footing, the identity of this Black Ink Clansman went without saying. He was a Royal Lord!
The Human Race had produced a new generation of Ninth-Order Masters; likewise, the Black Ink Clan had also seen the rise of the next generation of Royal Lords. It had to be said that all Acquired Territory Lords had the qualifications to become Royal Lords; thus, the only question that remained was whether they had the necessary aptitude.
There was the issue where it was significantly more difficult for a Territory Lord to become a Royal Lord than an Eighth-Order Master to advance into the Ninth-Order. The root cause was the method that the Black Ink Clan employed to increase their strength was very different from the Humans.
Unlike the Human Race, which relied on personal effort and accumulation to enhance their strength, the Black Ink Clan relied upon their Black Ink Nests to cultivate. As the power of a Black Ink Clansman grew, the process for them to enhance their strength became harder in turn. It was precisely because of this factor that despite having so many powerful Territory Lords, most were unable to become Royal Lords.
Nevertheless, the difficulty of the process did not matter in the end. The accumulation over thousands of years was enough for some of those Territory Lords to overcome the bottleneck in their cultivation. Yang Kai had already noticed that particular issue when he came to the No-Return Pass more than 20 years ago. At that moment, he was certain that new Royal Lords were going to be born into the Black Ink Clan in the near future.
A few years after that, the Black Ink Clan had indeed produced a third Royal Lord. It was none other than the individual sitting here with Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu. Although sitting here meant that he could join the discussion between Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu, the newly advanced Royal Lord simply sat there and listened quietly.
In terms of qualifications and strength, he was much inferior compared to Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu. The Black Ink Clan was different from the Human Race. There was no place for him to express his opinions here. He was only summoned so that he could listen to their discussion.
“Is there a need to intercept the Human Race Army?” Mo Yu scowled deeply, “There are many Ninth-Order Masters with them now, won’t it be disadvantageous for us if we send out our troops to confront them?”
Upon learning that the Human Race Army was coming to attack them, Mo Na Ye immediately came up with a plan that Mo Yu frowned upon. His plan was to prepare an ambush along the route and intercept the Human Race Army during their advance. On the other hand, Mo Yu preferred to fortify the defences of the No-Return Pass and fight the Human Race Army from within the No-Return Pass.
The fate of the entire Black Ink Clan rested upon this matter, so it was only natural for the higher-ups to have various conflicting opinions. Mo Na Ye was not surprised by Mo Yu’s stance in this matter; in fact, he had already anticipated Mo Yu’s opinion before he even came here.
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