Martial Peak

Chapter 5407, Endless Strength

Translator: Silavin & Jon

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Even though the Black Ink Clan soldiers gushing out of the gap were weak, they came in an enormous quantity. They would be a threat to the Humans if they were allowed to roam freely; therefore, the Humans had no choice but to kill them.

What surprised Yang Kai was that most of the Black Ink Clansmen rushing out of the gap looked like Monster Beasts, which was something new to the Humans.

For as long as the Human Race could remember, even though the Black Ink Clansmen in every Theatre came in all different shapes and sizes, they mostly had a Human frame. The Human Race had never seen Black Ink Clansmen that looked purely like Monster Beasts before.

Now, however, there were a large number of such creatures. They were apparently created by Mo using Black Ink Strength after it was confined in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.

Even though these Monster Beast-like creatures were weak, they came in a larger number than even ordinary Black Ink Clansmen, and after they were killed, the Black Ink Strength in their bodies gushed out and filled a vast swatch of space.

The war unfolded just like the Humans had expected as Cang was able to control the size of the opening in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Therefore, there wouldn’t be too many Black Ink Clansmen who could dash out through the gap. As over 100 Great Passes joined forces, they could ensure they killed all the enemies who emerged. As long as they never stopped attacking, they wouldn’t have to worry about the Black Ink Clansmen breaking through their defence.

100,000, 200,000, 300,000, 500,000…

Although they were unable to get an accurate count, it was roughly estimated that over 1 million Black Ink Clansmen had rushed through the gap in just half a day. All the Black Ink Clansmen and Black Ink Beasts were killed the moment they left the gap, so they were unable to move any further.

Regardless, a torrent of these creatures still continuously gushed out from the darkness. Seeing that, Yang Kai felt a crawling sensation on his scalp.

A million Black Ink Clansmen and Black Ink Beasts was about how many casualties there would be in a major war, but only half a day had passed so far.

How many Black Ink Clansmen and Black Ink Beasts were still hiding in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction? How many servants had Mo created over the past several million years? No one knew the answer. Perhaps only Mo was aware of the exact number.

Half a day later, another million of Black Ink Clan soldiers were killed, and after another half a day, the same thing happened.

A few days later, over 10 million Black Ink Clansmen and Black Ink Beasts had been slaughtered, but other than the fact that some of their artifacts and arrays were damaged from overuse, the Humans hadn’t suffered any kind of damage.

Despite being in an advantageous position, none of them were happy.

Mo didn’t seem concerned about losing over 10 million soldiers. The subordinates it had been summoning were still the weakest Black Ink Serfs and Black Ink Beasts.

These cannon fodder were simply meant to wear down the Human Race Army’s strength, and there seemed to be an infinite number of them hiding in the depths of the darkness.

By this point, everyone realised that something was off.

Regardless of whether there was really an infinite number of Black Ink Clan soldiers, the Humans’ defence would collapse in a month given the fact that they had been using the artifacts and arrays with such intensity. The Artifact Refiners and Array Masters were unable to make repairs as quickly as damage was accrued. Without the help of these artifacts and arrays, the Human Race would have no choice but to personally stop these Black Ink Clan soldiers from advancing further. By then, there were bound to be casualties.

What the Humans found amiss was that since over 10 million Black Ink Clan soldiers had passed away, the entire region should have been filled with the Black Ink Strength from the dead Black Ink Clansmen, and there should have been innumerable Black Ink Clouds around them.

In past wars, the Black Ink Clan always left behind a lot of Black Ink Clouds after suffering a large number of casualties. Those clouds would then merge together into Black Ink Oceans.

However, at this moment, almost all the thick Black Ink Strength hovered around the opening in the Grand Restriction, concealing it from sight. Not much of it had even spilled through the gap.

Realising the crux of the problem, Cang shouted loudly, “It’s been retrieving the Black Ink Strength to recycle it! Stop it! Otherwise, its strength will be endless!”

Only then did Yang Kai realise what was wrong.

It was no wonder that Mo had been sending these weak Black Ink Clansmen out so recklessly, and why it didn’t seem to care despite so many of them being killed. The Black Ink Strength left behind from these corpses could be reused by it.

That way, it would have an infinite supply of Black Ink Strength. Perhaps it could fight until the end of time itself using this method.

The reason the Humans hadn’t discovered it earlier was that it was chaotic at the opening. Black Ink Clansmen continuously passed through the gap and got killed as the Black Ink Strength concealed it, and hid the traces of Mo retrieving its power.

Although Cang had been guarding the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction for a long time, it still took him several days to figure out what was happening.

Upon hearing Cang’s warning, the Humans promptly came up with a solution as Squads were dispatched from the Great Passes to the battlefield.

Soon, the Squads summoned artifacts that looked like fishing nets and began to dredge the battlefield with them. Every net could capture a lot of Black Ink Strength which the Squads would then haul away and discard.

These artifacts that looked like fishing nets were specifically developed by the Humans to clean up Black Ink Strength. They could also be used to trap enemies, but they were much less effective at this. Therefore, the Humans usually wouldn’t use these artifacts when dealing with the Black Ink Clan and only bring them out after the fighting was over.

After Yang Kai experienced his first major war back in Blue Sky Pass, he received Zhong Liang’s order to clean up the battlefield. At that time, he also experimented with this kind of artifact.

Over 1,000 Squads moved around the battlefield to capture the Black Ink Strength left behind by the dead Black Ink Clansmen; however, it was still an inefficient process because after seizing the Black Ink Strength, they had to bring it somewhere far away and discard it, which was quite time-consuming.

After observing for a bit, Yang Kai turned to the rest of Dawn’s members and said, “Give me some spare Space Rings.”

Realising his intention, they fished out the Space Rings they did not need and passed them to Yang Kai.

Seeing that from a nearby place, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao knew what he was trying to do, but she didn’t stop him, only giving him a reminder, “Be careful. Even though all those Black Ink Clansmen are weak now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be Masters hiding among them.”

“Understood,” Yang Kai nodded lightly before charging towards the battlefield.

Behind him, the Great Passes continuously fired at the Black Ink Clansmen gushing out of the gap, but they cleverly ensured Yang Kai and the other Human Squads wouldn’t be struck.

Soon, Yang Kai arrived at the place where the Black Ink Strength came together. Flying around, his Divine Sense surged and large quantities of Black Ink Strength disappeared.

The idea of putting Black Ink Strength inside Space Rings wasn’t something revolutionary and had already been proven possible, but the prerequisite was that one had to wrap the Black Ink Strength with their Divine Sense before they could do so.

The average cultivator, even if he or she was an Eighth-Order Master, wouldn’t dare to recklessly do such a thing. The Black Ink Strength’s corruption had no limitations, so it was able to affect both a Human’s body, Small Universe, and Soul.

A powerful Eighth-Order Master could resist the Black Ink Strength’s influence for a while, but they still would be corrupted in short order if they actively tried to handle it.

It was a different matter for Yang Kai as he had a World Tree clone to protect his Small Universe from any external invasion. There was also the Soul Warming Lotus to safeguard his Soul.

He just had to put the Black Ink Strength inside the Space Rings without the need to go somewhere else to discard it; therefore, he was more effective than several hundred Squads combined.

The Space Rings were soon filled with Black Ink Strength, so he was unable to capture more. In just half a day, he had used up all the Space Rings that he had collected.

If possible, he wouldn’t mind storing the Black Ink Strength inside his Small Universe; however, there was simply too much of it. Even though his Small Universe was safe from any corruption, it couldn’t take in so much Black Ink Strength.

Left with no choice, Yang Kai could only return to Great Evolution Pass. Fortunately, Xiang Shan was well prepared as he had collected a lot of Space Rings for Yang Kai.

A moment later, Yang Kai returned to the battlefield and continued collecting Black Ink Strength.

The efforts of over 1,000 Squads and Yang Kai proved to be useful as a large amount of Black Ink Strength was soon swept away. Enraged, Mo’s roar sounded from the depths of the darkness, “You all court death! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all!”

As its screams reverberated across the void, the Black Ink Clansmen became increasingly savage and other than the weak Serfs and beasts, there were now also Low-Rank and High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen leaving the opening. Even a few Feudal Lords were hiding amongst the crowd.

Some of the unsuspecting Squads that were cleaning up the Black Ink Strength were caught off guard by the stronger Black Ink Clansmen. Fortunately, none of them lost their lives as they had their Warships’ protection.

Nevertheless, as the Black Ink Clan soldiers’ power increased, the attacks from the Humans also appeared insufficient.

Initially, the arrays and artifacts on the Great Passes were good enough to deal with the weak cannon fodder and no Black Ink Clansmen that dashed out of the gap was able to leave very far.

However, the Black Ink Clansmen appeared now were powerful enough that the Human’s long-range bombardment was unable to immediately destroy them all.

The Black Ink Clansmen were marching forward while the Squads that were cleaning up the Black Ink Strength had to move backwards. It was the same case for Yang Kai.

Several hours later, the Humans were no longer able to stop the Black Ink Clansmen from taking ground and the enemies gushed out of the opening and flew towards the Great Passes.

Even though they were still unable to get anywhere near the Great Passes as they were intercepted far from the walls, a new phase in the war had begun.

Everyone knew that this was just the beginning, for Mo hadn’t fully exhibited its power. It was still sending out mostly weak servants with a few Low-Rank, High-Rank Clansmen, and a tiny number of Feudal Lords.

No Territory Lords or Royal Lords had appeared yet. No one knew how many of such top Masters were hiding in the darkness. Mo had been accumulating its power for millions of years, so it probably had a staggering number of Black Ink Clansmen with it.

The one-sided slaughter lasted for half a month as innumerable Black Ink Clansmen had been killed in the void. The Squads and Yang Kai seized every chance to clean up more Black Ink Strength. Nevertheless, the Black Ink Clan Army was steadily getting closer to the Humans.

Then came the moment when a truly powerful aura bolted out of the gap.

The first Territory Lord had appeared.

The Territory Lord was gigantic, and his entire figure was covered in an armour that seemed to be made from bones. Even his head was protected by a bone helmet as an eerie light radiated from his eyes.

All of the Human Masters were stunned as they had never seen a Territory Lord in such a form before. The Territory Lord’s appearance suggested that he had thick skin and strong flesh. He was the kind of soldier who would clash with the opponents head-on.

Apparently, Mo had specially crafted this Territory Lord. It must have expected this day to come; otherwise, it wouldn’t have created such a creature.

After the first, more and more Territory Lords that seemed to be cast in the same mould appeared among the Black Ink Clan soldiers.