Martial Peak

Chapter 5571: Two Years

After much persuasion, Yang Kai finally managed to get rid of Wei Jun Yang.

He knew that what Wei Jun Yang said was true, but the military affairs of an Army were too cumbersome, and he did not want to interfere in it either. The Profound Nether Army had been functioning fine without him, so there was no reason for him to be the one in charge of it now.

Strictly speaking, asking him to be the Army Commander was like asking a donkey to dance. Deep down, he would rather be like Ou Yang Lie, a fierce general who charges into battle.

Shouldering the hopes and lives of millions of soldiers was a heavy responsibility.

As he walked outside the palace, Yang Kai saw a large group of people waiting in the distance, all of them covered in blood and radiating intense murderous intent. By the looks of it, they had just withdrawn from the battlefield. After seeing who these people were, Yang Kai immediately understood why they were waiting here.

Seeing him arrive, the leader, Zhu Jian, quickly approached him and cupped his fists, “Sir.”

The other Divine Spirits also bowed, wearing complicated expressions.

They had been waiting in Profound Nether Territory these past few days, but when the war broke out, they had no choice but to join the battle as well and had contributed a lot to the effort. In any case, there were several dozen Divine Spirits here, so they were a force to be reckoned with in any place.

The deaths of five Territory Lords in succession on the auxiliary front had also been noticed by all of them. Originally, none of them had a clear idea about the situation, but after learning that it was connected to Yang Kai, all of them were relieved.

The scene of the unruly Tao Wu being killed in one blow a few months ago was still vivid in their minds.

“What’s the matter?” Yang Kai looked at them, not having expected these Divine Spirits to be waiting here.

Zhu Jian explained, “Sir, you told us to kill two Territory Lords within three months to make up for our mistakes. We fought numerous bloody battles, and fortunately, we did not fail in our mission. We are here to report our success.”

Saying so, Zhu Jian took out two corpses from his Space Ring.

These were the corpses of two Territory Lords, mangled beyond recognition. Clearly, they had experienced a brutal battle before their deaths.

In fact, these Divine Spirits had arrived in Profound Nether Territory long ago, but Yang Kai had already left by the time they came, so they had no choice but to wait here for his return.

Yang Kai did a quick check before slightly nodding, “Good work. Don’t make the same mistake again.”

Yang Kai brought these Divine Spirits out from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, but they had not been very obedient because he was not around. After making a show of force by killing Tao Wu, and with their Bloodline Oath as a constraint, Yang Kai was sure that these Divine Spirits would not dare act rashly in the future.

In any case, these Divine Spirits were indispensable to the Human Race. Yang Kai could kill one to set up his prestige, but he didn’t want their relationship to become too strained so he refrained from further killing.

Hearing this, Zhu Jian and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

“Does Sir have any other instructions?” Zhu Jian cautiously asked.

“Go back to the Supreme Headquarters and listen to their deployment orders,” Yang Kai simply waved them away.

Since he was overseeing Profound Nether Territory, the Black Ink Clan probably wouldn’t dare act up here. On the other hand, the situation was quite tense in other Great Territories, so these Divine Spirits would be of great use there.

The Divine Spirits felt like they had been granted amnesty as they quickly bid farewell and left.

Divine Spirits had been arrogant since ancient times, not taking any other being seriously. This was especially so with the Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary as they rarely had the opportunity to interact with the outside world. This was why they had been disregarding the Supreme Headquarters’ orders before Yang Kai’s return.

They could ignore the other Human Masters, but they couldn’t ignore Yang Kai as he had proven he was willing to kill in a heartbeat. Tao Wu was a good example for this.

Moreover, Yang Kai was not a Human anymore, but a member of the Dragon Clan. All Divine Spirits revered the Dragons and Phoenixes as their leaders. Their pitiful pride was nothing in front of a Pureblood Dragon.

Yu Ru Meng’s Squad also returned soon after. Although the 10 of them were dishevelled, none of them were seriously injured.

Few Human Squads had survived so many battles without losing a single member. Even when Yang Kai was leading Dawn, he had lost Ning Qi Zhi and Qi Tai Chu in battle.

One of the reasons why Yu Ru Meng’s Squad was able to achieve this feat was because their individual strength was extraordinary. Not only were all of them in the Seventh Order, there were also Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan members among them. Even if they were to encounter a Territory Lord, they would still be able to put up a fight.

Everyone in the Squad was a Seventh-Order Master or equivalent. In all the battlefields, this was the only Squad to have such a luxurious lineup. Generally, there would only be one or two Seventh-Order Masters in a Squad, but the higher-ups of the Profound Nether Army knew that they were Yang Kai’s Wives or close associates, so they made an exception and allowed them to do as they pleased. Otherwise, how could a single Squad have such a grand lineup?

Secondly, their Warship was transformed from Bi Xi’s Soul Clone, so its defence was much stronger than ordinary. It could even be said that if one wanted to kill them, they would have to first destroy Bi Xi’s Clone.

But how could Bi Xi’s Soul Clone be so easy to kill?

The Black Ink Clan would have to send two Territory Lords to deal with such a Squad, which would clearly be a waste of manpower, so up until now, Yu Ru Meng’s Squad had been able to rampage about freely.

Everyone had suffered varying degrees of injuries and all of them required rest and recovery, especially Yang Kai. The pain of his Soul being torn apart was simply unbearable.

After speaking to Yu Ru Meng briefly, Yang Kai immediately went into retreat.

Both the Humans and Black Ink Clan had suffered great losses in Profound Nether Territory recently, but the Black Ink Clan’s casualties were far more substantial than the Human’s. Not only did they lose five Territory Lords, but they even lost the battle for one of the auxiliary fronts they had been contesting for several decades. This sent Six Arms, who had been overseeing this place, flying into a rage as a cold and grim look permanently covered his face.

From the information he had received, the loss of the Territory Lords and the auxiliary base was likely related to the Army Commander of the Profound Nether Army’s unexpected return.

Only, Six Arms was unable to determine the authenticity of this news. There were indeed many Feudal Lords who claimed that they had seen Yang Kai, but how was that possible?

The Black Ink Clansmen in Acacia Territory had sent word that Yang Kai was now just a turtle hiding in its shell.

Deep down, Six Arms was actually willing to believe that Yang Kai had returned. A single Human Master like Yang Kai was enough to give the Black Ink Clan a serious headache, but if there was another who had abilities on par with his, able to slay multiple Territory Lords at once, how was the Black Ink Clan supposed to survive?

But if that was the case, what was Mo Na Ye doing? Acacia Territory had been thoroughly sealed off, so how could Yang Kai have escaped?

Unable to understand, Six Arms sent out scouts to the Human Race’s side to investigate, while at the same time, he waited for news from Acacia Territory.

Half a month later, Acacia Territory sent a message.

Six Arms checked it at once.

The five Territory Gates in Acacia Territory had been completely cordoned off and not a single Human had breached their defences. All the Hunters who tried to enter Acacia Territory to gather information had been either captured or killed by the Black Ink Clan Army.

Be that as it may, according to the Black Ink Clan’s investigation, the Universe Cave Heaven in Acacia Territory where the Human Race cultivators were originally hiding was now empty…

Reading this report, Six Arms’ face sank as he cursed, [That idiot Mo Na Ye has caused us a lot of harm.]

He was almost certain that Yang Kai had already left Acacia Territory, and the previous loss in Profound Nether Territory was definitely because of him.

The Feudal Lords who managed to escape that slaughter were indeed not mistaken!

Cursing inwardly, Six Arms continued reading the report.

In the message, Mo Na Ye also swore that Yang Kai was still trapped in Acacia Territory, but he had no idea where he was hiding. He planned on having the Black Ink Clan Army sweep the entire Great Territory and swore that he would find Yang Kai sooner or later.

[Find him my ass!]

Six Arms couldn’t be bothered to read any further. Yang Kai was already back in Profound Nether Territory, so who the Hell was Mo Na Ye going to look for?

If it weren’t for the unforeseen incident in Profound Nether Territory, Six Arms would have firmly believed Mo Na Ye’s report; after all, how could such a large group of Humans escape when all the Territory Gates were sealed?

But all hopes and speculations were false in the face of facts.

Yang Kai had long since disappeared without a trace. It was laughable that that idiot Mo Na Ye was still wasting his time in Acacia Territory.

However, what shocked Six Arms even more was that the Black Ink Clan in Acacia Territory had also suffered incredible losses. To his shock and dismay, Yang Kai had managed to kill seven Territory Lords with the help of a mere three Squads!

Six Arms was horrified.

Three at the No-Return Pass, a total of eight in Profound Nether Territory, and seven in Acacia Territory…

In total, the number of Territory Lords who had died due to Yang Kai directly or indirectly had reached 18!

This was all the information he could gather, but there were still some things he had yet to grasp.

[What is this Human?] Holding the jade slip from Acacia Territory in his hand, Six Arms felt that Yang Kai was definitely the Black Ink Clan’s greatest, and most dangerous enemy!

What was laughable was that although Yang Kai had killed so many Territory Lords, the Black Ink Clan did not actually have much information on him. All the Black Ink Clan knew that he used some kind of strange method to attack Souls, and finished off his opponent in one blow after his initial sneak attack. He could not use this Soul attack method too frequently in a short period, but apart from this, the Black Ink Clan knew nothing else.

[I guess… I’ve to collect some information about this person.]

Six Arms began making plans.

After the most recent battle, Profound Nether Territory once again welcomed a rare period of peace. The Human Race and Black Ink Clan Armies stood on opposite sides of the void, glaring at each other. Although there were some small skirmishes, both the Human Race and Black Ink Clan were restraining themselves, as if they were afraid that another war would embroil the entire territory.

For the Humans, this period of peace was extremely precious. Many of the soldiers had suffered injuries in the last battle and needed to recuperate, but how could the Black Ink Clan fare any better?

Not only did the Black Ink Clan need to recuperate, they also needed to call in more troops. Below the Territory Lord level, their individual strength was inferior to the Human Race’s so they could only rely on numbers to win.

Two years passed by in a flash.

From a certain palace, Yang Kai finally emerged from his retreat.

This time, it took him quite a long time to heal, mainly because he had used the Soul Rending Thorns too frequently. While he had still not recovered from the injuries his Soul had sustained in Acacia Territory, he had used more Soul Rending Thorns as soon as he returned to Profound Nether Territory. The damage had simply become too much at that point.

Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Soul had stabilized after recuperating for such a long period thanks to the Soul Warming Lotus. Furthermore, he could feel that his Soul cultivation had progressed a little further.

In the past, he discovered that every time his Soul recovered after using a Soul Rending Thorn, his Spiritual Energy would become slightly more refined. This was also in line with the principle of ‘there is no construction without destruction.’

Perhaps one day, he would be able use Soul Rending Thorns four, or even five times in a row without much stress. At that time, it would be even easier for him to kill his opponents.

Walking out of the palace, Yang Kai immediately sent a message to Wei Jun Yang and the others.

A short while later, all the Eighth-Order Masters were gathered in the Main Conference Hall.

Ou Yang Lie looked at Yang Kai in excitement and asked, “Are we going to fight?”

He was quite a belligerent fellow. Even though he had not yet recovered from his injuries, he had been crying for war all the time. Unfortunately for him, Yang Kai was in a retreat, so the Profound Nether Army could not make a rash move. Now that Yang Kai had finally come out of his seclusion, how could Ou Yang Lie restrain himself?