Martial Peak

Chapter 5495: Only By Surviving can Victory be Achieved

Considering all this, Yang Kai quickly came up with a plan. Afterwards, he looked left and right before suddenly shouting, “Everyone, prepare to depart!”

Wang Xuan Yi had no idea what Yang Kai had in mind, but since everything was set, and they could set out at any moment, he immediately ordered everyone to leave.

The Open Heaven Realm Masters of all the Sects in the entire Swallowing Seas Territory were gathered here. There were not that many of them, just over 1,000 or so, and their Orders ranged widely.

Swallowing Seas Sect had 3,000 members, but naturally not all of them were in the Open Heaven realm.

Flight-type artifacts were summoned, and in an instant, more than a hundred ships and palaces of different shapes and sizes appeared in the void.

Standing on the deck of the largest ship was Wang Xuan Yi, who was gazing down at Yang Kai. Yang Qing was also standing next to him, following suit. Both of them wanted to see what Yang Kai was planning on doing.

The next thing they saw left the two completely astounded. Swallowing Seas Sect which should have been very close to them was looking like a mirage now, distorted and indistinct. Clearly, it was very close, yet it seemed so far away that it was impossible to grasp.

Yang Qing suddenly came to the realization, “Division Commander Yang wants to refine my Swallowing Seas Sect’s Spirit Province into a World Bead!”

Although he had never seen Yang Kai refine a World Bead, he had heard Zhu Ge Xing Wei describe the process, so how could he not understand Yang Kai’s intentions?

His heart was filled with joy. From the start, he had been reluctant to abandon Swallowing Seas Sect’s heritage that had been passed down for generations, but he was helpless regarding this matter. Now, when Yang Kai wanted to refine it into the World Bead, all his worries were easily resolved.

Hearing this, Wang Xuan Yi only nodded in agreement, also thinking that Yang Kai was refining Swallowing Seas Sect’s Spirit Province into a World Bead. Nonetheless, he failed to understand why Yang Kai was doing this.

The Swallowing Seas Sect disciples were already set to evacuate, leaving just an empty Spirit Province behind. The Black Ink Clan would probably not be interested in it, so there was no need to bring it along.

“Ah!” Yang Qing suddenly cried out as piercing pain filled his heart.

And why would it not? The glorious Spirit Province in front of him suddenly collapsed into at least 100 fragments.

Each and every one of them was almost the same size. Obviously, Yang Kai had done this on purpose, demonstrating extreme power and control.

Yang Qing wanted to cry, but had no tears to shed.

If they could not bring this Spirit Province with them, then so be it, Swallowing Sea Sect still had a chance to return and rebuild their Sect after defeating the Black Ink Clan. But all his hopes had been shattered to pieces, just like this Spirit Province.

His initial joy quickly disappeared as he couldn’t understand why Yang Kai was doing this.

Nevertheless, he didn’t dare to ask any questions. He just consoled himself that Yang Kai’s actions must have a deeper meaning.

Soon, Yang Kai reached out and grabbed towards the distorted Void. Every time he did so, an asteroid would disappear, and soon all of them were collected. 

After silently working at something for a while, Yang Kai appeared on the deck where Wang Xuan Yi was using Instantaneous Movement. He then handed him over 100 newly refined World Beads before instructing, “Each of these World Beads contains 10,000 Small Stone Race soldiers. If you run into a Black Ink Clan Army, use them to defend yourselves.”

Wang Xuan Yi’s eyes lit up when he heard this, “Are these Small Stone Race soldiers the ones who were attacking the Black Ink Clan before?”

Previously, he had also witnessed the two Small Stone Race Armies brutally attacking the Black Ink Clan outside Swallowing Seas Sect. Although these strange creatures seemed simple, even somewhat stupid, they were perfect for dealing with the Black Ink Clan as they seemed to be able to ignore the corrosion of the Black Ink Strength.

So, when Yang Kai mentioned this, Wang Xuan Yi immediately understood.

Yang Kai nodded his agreement.

He himself couldn’t escort these people all the way to Mo Sha Territory, but it was no problem for him to pack up a Small Stone Race Army and send them with these people. Even if Wang Xuan Yi and the others couldn’t control the Small Stone Race, all they needed to do was toss them out when they encountered the Black Ink Clan, and the Small Stone Race members would immediately attack.

The reason why Yang Kai had divided the million-strong army into 100 smaller groups was because he had also considered how difficult it would be to retrieve the Small Stone Race after a battle. As Wang Xuan Yi and the others didn’t have the Great Sun and Great Moon Marks, the Small Stone Race would not obey their orders, and if they really released them, there was a high chance they would simply… run off.

A million Small Stone Race soldiers was enough to protect them from any kind of threat. Also, they would be of great help even to the other cultivators in Mo Sha Territory.

With a million Small Stone Race soldiers escorting them, their journey to the Star Boundary would be much safer.

“Many thanks, Division Commander Yang!” Wang Xuan Yi bowed in gratitude, amazed by Yang Kai’s generosity.

He had never seen or heard of the Small Stone Race before, but now Yang Kai had gifted him a million of them in one go. That was truly generous.

Their Warship had already been destroyed, which had greatly affected their Squad’s combat and defensive strength, but a million-strong Small Stone Race Army was more than enough to make up for that.

Yang Kai added, “I only recently obtained these Small Stone Race soldiers, so I haven’t been able to figure out how to control them effectively. Their characteristics are that their intelligence is extremely low, and they rely mostly on their instincts to act. If any of you is proficient in Beast Taming Techniques, I suggest you experiment and try to find a way to control them.”

It was not probably impossible to control the Small Stone Race using Beast Taming Techniques, but as Yang Kai wasn’t versed in any good Beast Taming Techniques, he couldn’t run these tests himself.

Wang Xuan Yi’s eyes lit up after hearing this and repeatedly nodded, “Understood.”

Many cultivators more or less knew a Beast Taming Technique, though the quality and profundity varied wildly. If they could find a feasible method, it would give them far better control over the Small Stone Race in battle.

“Go,” Yang Kai waved off.

Wang Xuan Yi cupped his fist and bid his goodbye, “Take care, Division Commander Yang!”

Having said his farewell, he gave a shout as the fleet of 100 or so flight-type artifacts filled with cultivators led by Swallowing Seas Sect’s largest ship flew towards the Territory Gate, rushing towards Mo Sha Territory.

On the lead ship, Wang Xuan Yi looked back, but Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen.

Calming himself down, he gathered a group of Sect Masters and Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters from the various Sects and gave each of them a World Bead with an army of 10,000 Small Stone Race members. Then, following Yang Kai’s instruction, he asked them to look for cultivators who were proficient in Beast Taming to begin searching for an effective method to control the Small Stone Race soldiers.

All of them were overjoyed after obtaining the army of 10,000 Small Stone Race members.

Wang Xuan Yi then deployed them to various ships to guard the fleet. Like this, all the cultivators in Swallowing Seas Territory began to evacuate.

At the same time, fleets from every Great Territory were rushing towards the Great Territories where the various Cave Heavens and Paradises were located.

Some of the evacuation went completely smoothly; after all, the Black Ink Clan would need some time to invade all the Great Territories of the 3,000 Worlds, so if the cultivators could gather before the Black Ink Clan reached their lands and immediately rush to the designated Universe Temple, they would encounter no dangers.

Other Great Territories were less fortunate though and were invaded by the Black Ink Clan Army before they could evacuate. Many Sects were occupied by the Black Ink Clan and their cultivators all transformed into Black Ink Disciples.

There were other instances where Black Ink Clan Armies pursued fleeing evacuation fleets, leading to battles of different scales breaking out across the 3,000 World, throwing everything into chaos!

After parting from Wang Xuan Yi’s group, Yang Kai immediately rushed to the adjacent Great Territory. This Great Territory was still under the jurisdiction of Mo Sha Cave Heaven, and the situation here was similar to Swallowing Seas Territory. The Black Ink Clan had already invaded, but the cultivators of the various Sects were still desperately resisting.

Just like Wang Xuan Yi’s Squad, there was also a Human Race Squad in this Great Territory, responsible for coordinating the evacuation. When Yang Kai arrived, he easily eliminated all of the Black Ink Clan invaders and then sent away the fleet. He also gave them 100 or so World Beads containing Small Stone Race troops.

After that, he began refining the Universe Worlds where the Human Race lived.

He knew that he couldn’t save everyone as the Black Ink Can’s invasion was happening everywhere. He could save the Humans of a few Great Territories, but there were more than 1,000 Great Territories in the 3,000 Worlds, so how could he possibly save them all by himself?

All he could do was try his best.

At first, the situation in the Great Territories Yang Kai arrived at were still manageable. For example, in the Swallowing Seas Territory, he had refined a total of 14 Universe Worlds into World Beads, saving almost all the Humans living there.

But as time passed, the situation of the Great Territories deteriorated rapidly.

After the order was issued, all the cultivators of various Great Territories were forced to evacuate, leaving behind only weaker cultivators and mortals who were unable to break free from their Universe World’s shackles. These people were completely powerless to resist the Black Ink Clan’s invasion.

The further Yang Kai walked, the more heartbroken he became.

Some of the Universe Worlds already had Black Ink Nests planted on them, absorbing the World Force of the entire World. Rich Black Ink Strength enveloped such Universe Worlds, corrupting all the living beings inside.

Yang Kai could do nothing in the face of such situations.

With his Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivation, he could completely destroy these Universe Worlds if he wanted to, but if he did so, the billions of innocent lives living on them would also be lost along with the Black Ink Clan soldiers.

These people might have been reduced to Black Ink Disciples, but there was still hope for them to be rescued in the future. How could Yang Kai bring himself to ruthlessly slaughter them?

The only option he was left with was to destroy the Black Ink Nest, and all of the Black Ink Clansmen around!

There was nothing else he could do.

At this point, he also got to experience the helplessness Wang Xuan Yi felt when he answered his question.

The Universe Worlds which had been completely devoured by Black Ink Strength now were filled with billions of Black Ink Disciples. Even if he didn’t lack Yellow and Blue Crystals, he couldn’t purify them all. It would drain a lot of Yellow and Blue Crystals, and was too time-consuming, while time was what he was most short of.

The faster he moved, the more people he would be able to save!

Along the way, Yang Kai not only witnessed scenes of disaster and despair though, he also had encountered many heroic deeds.

Many Sects and cultivators weren’t strong, but they had the courage and determination to fight to the death with the Black Ink Clan, refusing to withdraw with the other cultivators of their Great Territory and instead choosing to remain with the Universe Worlds that had raised them, using their lives and blood to protect them for as long as they could!

Cultivators of many such Sects faced total annihilation in the battle, leaving not one survivor behind. Such resistance deeply angered the Black Ink Clan, so what awaited them was death.

Yang Kai’s mood became even gloomier when he saw such scenes!

The order to retreat was not given because they were timid or cowardly, but because it was the best course of action in this situation; after all, only by surviving could they turn the situation around. Their decision to stay and fight to the death may have been praiseworthy, but from a strategic standpoint, it was utterly meaningless.

Who was right and who was wrong, nobody could say for sure. It was just a matter of one’s choice, and everyone had to face the consequences of their actions. Just like Yang Kai, who had chosen to roam various Great Territories and refine Universe Worlds into World Beads to save more lives, causing him to bear witness to far too many tragedies.