Martial Peak

Chapter 5465: Who Are You, Your Excellency

When the woman heard those words, she looked conflicted.

As her Senior Brother, the man surnamed Wu knew what she was thinking and laughed, “Since there are six fruits, why don’t you eat some right now and save the rest for later?”

She smiled brightly at those words and nodded, “I’ll do as you say, Senior Brother.”

Her smile was absolutely brilliant; in fact, even the slightly dim hall seemed to brighten because of her smile.

Reaching out her slender jade fingers to pick up one of the fruits, she brought it to her mouth and lightly bit through the peel. A stream of sweet fruit juice immediately turned into a warm current that flowed down her throat. As for the Spirit Fruit in her hands, only a layer of peel remained.

Before she could savour the wonderful taste of the Spirit Fruit though, her beautiful face abruptly turned pale. Her World Force also surged and fluctuated wildly all of a sudden.

The man surnamed Wu was shocked and cried out, “Junior Sister, what’s wrong!?”

However, she instead quickly looked over at Tan Chuan and coldly declared, “What did you do!?”

When she swallowed the fruit juice, she clearly felt a strange energy entering her body at the same time. Although she had never eaten the Jade Spirit Fruit before, she knew that this strange energy did not belong to it. In that case, it could only mean that the fruit itself had been tampered with.

Following her question, she immediately noticed that something was wrong. The strange energy was extremely corrosive, and she could not contain it even with her powerful Sixth-Order cultivation.

When she observed her own condition, she saw traces of black energy that felt extremely vile and malevolent swirling around inside her originally pure and flawless Small Universe; thus, she hastily activated her World Force to defend against the corrosion. Her expression seemed pained, as though she was suffering from poison.

The man surnamed Wu was shocked for a moment, then he immediately became livid. Summoning a sword with a flick of his hand, he thrust it out, “Tan Chuan, you court death!”

A sword wave flashed from the tip of his longsword, flicking like the tongue of a spirit snake. The sword wave conveyed a sense of unparalleled sharpness that sliced off several strands of Tan Chuan’s hair.

Unexpectedly, Tan Chuan remained completely calm, leisurely picking up his tea cup and taking a sip. Only then did he calmly turn to look at the man surnamed Wu with a slight smile, “Brother Wu, why are you so angry?”

At this moment, he no longer portrayed the same ingratiating attitude as before. On the contrary, he seemed confident that victory belonged to him.

Tan Chuan’s behaviour enraged the man surnamed Wu even more, but just as he was about to attack, he heard Tan Chuan’s relaxed voice entering his ears, “You should be careful, Brother Wu. Swords have no eyes, so you can easily hurt someone if you are not careful. It doesn’t matter if you take this Tan’s life, but if you do, you will never be able to save Junior Sister Ling.”

“Are you working for the other two Divine Monarchs!?” The man surnamed Wu suddenly thought of something. He had no previous enmity or grievances against Tan Chuan, so there was no reason for Tan Chuan to plot against him or his Junior Sister; however, everything would make sense if Tan Chuan was working for the other two Divine Monarchs. He gritted his teeth and snarled, “My Junior Sister is Honoured Master’s most beloved Disciple. If anything happens to her, even the other two Divine Monarchs will not be able to protect you! Tan Chuan, hand over the antidote immediately if you don’t wish to die!”

While the man surnamed Wu seemed enraged on the outside, inwardly he was feeling very puzzled. Both he and his Junior Sister had Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivations, so at their level of strength, just what kind of poison could make his Junior Sister experience such difficulty? He even noticed a trace of black energy gradually emerging from her body out of the corner of his eye.

[What is this poison!?]

Listening to the man named Wu’s self-righteous misunderstanding, Tan Chuan laughed loudly, “The other two Divine Monarchs? How could they be worthy of my service?”

The man surnamed Wu was stunned… [Isn’t Tan Chuan working for the other two Divine Monarchs? How could he spout such presumptuous nonsense, as though he doesn’t put the Divine Monarchs in his eyes!?]

While the other party was stunned, Tan Chuan stretched out two fingers and slowly grasped the longsword pointed directly at him. Moving the longsword away from his face, he warmly comforted the man surnamed Wu, “Rest assured, Brother Wu. Junior Sister Ling is not in danger. This Tan has no intention of harming her. As long as you cooperate with me, Brother Wu, this Tan will not only make amends to the both of you. I will also show you the Heavenly Grand Dao that will bring you directly to the peak of the Martial Dao!”

The man surnamed Wu’s first reaction was disbelief. What nonsense was this guy spouting? His Junior Sister looked like she was about to be overwhelmed by the poison, so how could Tan Chuan say that he has no intention of harming her?

Tan Chuan earnestly continued, “If this Tan remembers correctly, you initially advanced directly to the Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm; isn’t that right, Brother Wu? As a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, you have reached your limit. Don’t you wish to advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm and have a taste of the glory that belongs to the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters? Junior Sister Ling advanced directly to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, so she has hopes of reaching the Seventh-Order in the future, but in contrast, you can only waste away in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm. How will you be a match for Junior Sister Ling when that time comes?”

Those words seemed to hit a sore spot for the man surnamed Wu, and his expression involuntarily darkened.

He did not know how or where Tan Chuan received this information; however, it was just as Tan Chuan had said. His Junior Sister was expected to advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm in the future, but he could only remain in the Sixth-Order forever. Would his Junior Sister even bother with him when she was in the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm?

His mind wavered for a moment, feeling as though Tan Chuan’s words were filled with an inexplicable appeal. His voice changed slightly, no longer as cold and sharp as before, “If you’re capable of guiding us to the peak of the Martial Dao, then why are you still just a Sixth-Order Master yourself?”

Tan Chuan’s situation was similar to his. When they advanced into the Open Heaven Realm back then, they had advanced directly to the Fourth Order; therefore, the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm was their limit. If there truly was such a wonderful method to break through their innate shackles, then why didn’t Tan Chuan break through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm himself?

Upon hearing the other party’s question, Tan Chuan chuckled softly and circulated his strength. His entire body suddenly turned black, and his aura increased steadily. Under the stunned gaze of the man surnamed Wu, Tan Chuan’s aura quickly broke through the limits of what a Sixth-Order Master should have and gradually increased to the Seventh-Order.

Following the surge of aura, his figure that resembled a wealthy merchant also began to swell. Then, he soon withdrew his aura and returned to normal, looking no different from before. He then said mildly, “If this Tan wishes to break through to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, I can do so at any time.”

“How did you…” The man surnamed Wu blanked out completely in astonishment. He instinctively refused to believe what he was witnessing, but all his senses indicated that Tan Chuan’s words were not false.

“Senior Brother!” The woman who was currently fighting against the corrosion in her body shouted, “It’s Black Ink Strength!”

“What!?” The man surnamed Wu turned pale with fright, “Is this Black Ink Strength!?”

Several months ago, they had been completely oblivious to the existence of something like Black Ink Strength, but then, one particular day, two honoured guests in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm came to Heavenly River Palace. They had not known the identity of those honoured guests, but they left quickly after an extensive discussion with Heavenly River Divine Monarch.

Afterwards, Tian Luo had summoned them and given them an important task. They were ordered to head to the Spirit Provinces under the jurisdiction of Heavenly River Palace, recruit Open Heaven Realm Masters in the Fifth Order and above, and rendezvous at the designated location within a short time limit.

Heavenly River Divine Monarch also told them about certain matters that day.

It was at that moment that they learned the identity of the honoured guests who arrived at Heavenly River Palace that day. The two honoured guests were Eighth-Order Ancestors from the Cave Heavens and Paradises, who came to ask for Tian Luo’s cooperation in a war concerning the survival of the 3,000 Worlds. This war apparently involved many secrets and concerned the survival of the Human Race as a whole, so even the Shattered Heaven could not turn a blind eye to the situation.

It was also from Heavenly River Divine Monarch that they learned about the existence of the Black Ink Clan and Black Ink Strength.

Be that as it may, they had never seen the Black Ink Clan or Black Ink Strength before. They had assumed that the Cave Heavens and Paradises were exaggerating the dangers of the situation, believing that the war related to the 3,000 Worlds and the survival of the Human Race was nothing but bullshit; after all, they had never even heard of such things in this World.

They truly believed that their Honoured Master had only agreed to cooperate with the Cave Heavens and Paradises under duress, which was quite embarrassing.

The Shattered Heaven had remained outside the influence of the 3,000 Worlds for aeons. They were not governed by the Cave Heavens and Paradises, but this incident had forced them to be at the beck and call of those same forces. That was the reason why the man surnamed Wu had not explained anything when Tan Chuan asked about Heavenly River Divine Monarch’s command. He had felt that the reason was too shameful to reveal.

The neutrality and detachment that the Shattered Heaven had always enjoyed turned out to be nothing more than the indulgence of the Cave Heavens and Paradises. With the enormous heritage of the Cave Heavens and Paradises, were they really helpless to control the Shattered Heaven?

The people in the Cave Heavens and Paradises simply understood that some things could not be forbidden completely no matter how hard they tried. That was why they tacitly agreed to the existence of the Shattered Heaven and allowed this place to become the gathering spot for those who refused to follow the order of the 3,000 Worlds. Nevertheless, they could easily force the Shattered Heaven to compromise when they needed their cooperation in their schemes. Just like this incident…

The Senior Brother and Junior Sister did not know what kind of conditions the people from the Cave Heavens and Paradises had offered to their Honoured Master; however, Tian Luo seemed very enthusiastic about this endeavour. He even entrusted this task to them and asked them to carry it out with all diligence so as not to make him lose face.

Despite having heard of the Black Ink Clan and Black Ink Strength, they had never seen the Black Ink Clan or Black Ink Strength in person; therefore, the man surnamed Wu never associated this incident with Black Ink Strength even though he had witnessed the black aura enveloping his Junior Sister. He simply thought that she had been poisoned.

On the other hand, the woman being corroded by the Black Ink Strength suddenly realised what was going on. [These symptoms… Aren’t they identical to the corruption of Black Ink Strength that Honoured Master mentioned previously?]

Tan Chuan chuckled, “So, you know about Black Ink Strength? Since you already know, then that saves this Tan the effort of explaining the situation to you. That’s right. This is Black Ink Strength!”

The man surnamed Wu felt a chill in his heart, “Are you a Black Ink Disciple?”

[No wonder Tan Chuan showed no particular signs of abnormality earlier.] He had heard that Black Ink Disciples looked no different from ordinary people, but their true nature had long been lost.

Tan Chuan laughed lightly, “So what if I am? Besides, this Tan is not the only Black Ink Disciple in this place.”

After his declaration, four figures suddenly walked out of the shadows of the Grand Hall. One was in the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, and two were in the Sixth-Order. The last person was completely wrapped in darkness, so his face could not be seen. His exact cultivation could not be determined either, but anybody could tell that he was very powerful.

The expression of the man surnamed Wu changed drastically as he grabbed his Junior Sister and rushed into the sky to try to escape this place immediately.

A person would completely lose their true self once they were corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Even if he could advance to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, would he even be himself at that point? Nobody faced with such a choice would willingly compromise on something like that unless they were absolutely desperate.

Unfortunately, he failed to escape. He barely managed to flee more than a dozen metres before being stopped by a transparent light barrier. It turned out that a Grand Array had been set up in the Grand Hall at some point in time, isolating the inside from the outside.

At this moment, the man surnamed Wu finally understood why Tan Chuan seemed so confident about his victory. Tan Chuan had probably planned out everything from the moment he invited the Senior Brother and Junior Sister duo to his palace.

The man surnamed Wu could only laugh bitterly at how they had stupidly walked into the trap without knowing anything.

The enemy had at least three Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, and they were stuck inside the Grand Array with them. Under these circumstances, he had no choice but to admit that he and his Junior Sister were not their opponents even if they combined their strength. Things were looking very dismal for them at the moment.

Even so, he refused to give up and wait for death. He spun around and protected his Junior Sister behind him. At the same time, he drew his longsword and prepared his battle cry to bolster his courage; however, he couldn’t help feeling surprised by the scene unfolding before him as Tan Chuan and the others were no longer paying any attention to him.

At this moment, the three Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, including Tan Chuan and the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master were all staring at the mysterious person who was completely enveloped in darkness.

“Who are you, Your Excellency?” Tan Chuan’s next sentence left the man surnamed Wu scratching his head in confusion.