Martial Peak

Chapter 5625: A Chance

Two lumps had appeared on his forehead as well, and Yang Kai felt as if something was about to pop out of them. Even his bottom felt a little itchy. 

Yang Kai hadn’t activated the Dragon Transformation Secret Art, his body was simply showing signs of Dragon Transformation on its own. This was something that didn’t happen even when he was cultivating inside the Dragon Pool. 

The Dragon Pool was the Dragon Clan’s Origin and sanctuary, and was useless to other Divine Spirits besides the Dragon Clan; however, Ancestral Strength was an energy that could benefit any Divine Spirit.

If Yang Kai had to compare, the Ancestral Strength was undoubtedly more primitive and wild.

With a loud dragon roar and a bright golden flash, a 70,000 metre-long giant Golden Dragon suddenly appeared where Yang Kai had stood. Since he couldn’t suppress it, he would just allow nature to take its course. 

Instantly, Ancestral Strength began flooding in more rampantly. The Golden Dragon shook its head and flicked its tail while its Dragon Scales trembled as it felt its whole body itching. It could also clearly feel its size increasing rapidly, and following that increase, it felt elated. 

Since Yang Kai entered the Dragon Pool to cultivate and reached his 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon Form, his Dragon Clan bloodline had been developing very slowly. It had been nearly 3,000 years since then, but his Dragon Form hadn’t even grown another 1,000 metres. The main reason was that he had no time to purify his Dragon Vein. Also, besides cultivating inside the Dragon Pool, it was extremely hard for a Dragon to continue growing after its Dragon Vein reached Yang Kai’s level.

Previously, Fu Guang was healing his injuries inside the Dragon Pool, and after he came out, Yang Kai was still in his retreat; therefore, he didn’t have the time to head over to the Dragon Pool.

Now that Ancestral Strength was pouring into his body, Yang Kai’s Dragon Form was clearly growing, and at breakneck speed just like when he was cultivating in the Dragon Pool back then.

Though this didn’t help him in increasing the Order of his Open Heaven Realm cultivation, the increase of his Dragon Vein was also an increase in his strength. 

Yang Kai instantly felt like this trip was worth it, and he finally stopped obsessing over finding the Primordial Light.

While the wind was blowing and the Ancestral Strength was surging inside the Ancestral Land, two Innate Territory Lords led the large group of Black Ink Clansmen that had escaped back to the No-Return Pass.

Sitting on a tall throne was the only Royal Lord of the Black Ink Clan. His face was pale and colourless, which gave others a demonic but also feminine feeling. He had his chin propped on his hand while listening to the two Territory Lords’ fearful and trepidatious report.

Huge bones formed the throne he was sitting on, and every one of them was glowing with colourful lights and flowing with various Dao Strengths.

These weren’t any ordinary bones, but rather the bones of Divine Spirits. 

After so many years of battles, the Divine Spirits also suffered casualties. Some of those dead Divine Spirits would have their corpses collected and buried by their allies, but some would be taken away by the Black Ink Clan and have their bones extracted to add to the Royal Lord’s throne. 

Building such a huge throne must have taken over 10,000 large bones, so one could guess how many Divine Spirits had died in battle during these years. Even many Dragon and Phoenix Clan members died in battle, especially during the battle when the No-Return Pass was breached. 

During the final battle in the Barren Territory, even the Dragon and Phoenix Clan Leaders had perished. 

Although the Royal Lord didn’t release his aura and was simply listening quietly, the two Territory Lords below felt like they were standing on pins and needles. Retreating without a fight was considered a dereliction of duty. They were responsible for guarding the Ancestral Land, but after one of their fellow Innate Territory Lords was killed, they chose not to fight with Yang Kai, and ran away, instead. They even discarded their Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests. Such crimes were enough for them to lose their heads. 

Of course, an Innate Territory Lord was a precious asset to the current Black Ink Clan, and many of them had died in battle over the years, so there was a huge decrease in their numbers. The Royal Lord wouldn’t easily execute these two and would most likely just send them to the six battlefields that had Masters from both races so that they could atone for their sins.

On the two sides of the Main Hall were two rows of Innate Territory Lords. Though the Black Ink Clan had quite a lot of Acquired Territory Lords now, they were either battling the Human Race Masters on the battlefields to fine-tune themselves, or devouring Black Ink Strength inside Black Ink Nests as they cultivated their strength. 

The only ones free were the Innate Territory Lords because their abilities were fixed right after birth.

At this moment, most of those Territory Lords had sympathetic expressions on their faces. They had also heard of Yang Kai’s reputation during these years, so they knew that it was already lucky to be able to survive after an encounter with that killing star. Of course, it was also because that fellow was worried about the agreement between the two races and didn’t dare to break it easily; otherwise, these two Territory Lords might have already been killed. 

Once the two Territory Lords finished their report, they looked up at the throne, waiting nervously for their fate to be decided.

After a long time, the Royal Lord asked, “What you mean to say is, Yang Kai has entered the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, yes?”

“Indeed,” a Territory Lord with two large wings on his back, which made him look like a huge bat, answered respectfully.

“Why did he go there?” The Royal Lord asked as he was reminded of the appearance of the Human who escaped from him around 2,000 years ago.

That Territory Lord answered, shaking, “I don’t know.” 

The Royal Lord frowned. To think of it, he had encountered Yang Kai twice.

The first time was when Yang Kai led the Remnant Army to attack the No-Return Pass. During that time, he used the Azure Void Pass’ Old Ancestor’s corpse and the strength of the Ox Monster to forcefully kill many Black Ink Clansmen to open a bloody road and send the remnant Humans to the Barren Territory. 

The other time was when Yang Kai came back from the Black Ink Battlefield alone. That time, he destroyed seven High-Rank Black Ink Nests, killed numerous Innate Territory Lords, and finally escaped all on his own. 

Back then, the Royal Lord flew into a rage because of that, but couldn’t do anything about it. 

He soon heard the news about Yang Kai from the frontline battlefields and knew that Yang Kai had killed numerous Territory Lords. That fellow was now the biggest hidden trouble for the Black Ink Clan. 

If the Royal Lord hadn’t learned that Yang Kai could never break through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he would have ordered his death no matter the cost. That was because Yang Kai was already such a menace when he was an Eighth-Order Master, so how terrifying would he be if he managed to reach Ninth-Order? Perhaps by then, even the Royal Lords might not be his opponent. 

It was because the Black Ink Clan knew that Yang Kai was destined to be unable to reach the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm that they slightly suppressed their intentions to kill him and maintained their peace agreement with the Human Race, though the bigger reason was that both sides needed time to accumulate strength. 

Once the Black Ink Clan had nurtured enough Royal Lords, Yang Kai would no longer be able to affect the overall situation despite being a menace. 

Of course, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t give up a chance to kill Yang Kai, either.

Therefore, when the Royal Lord heard that Yang Kai had entered the Ancestral Land, which the Black Ink Clan previously controlled, he thought that this might be an opportunity. 

During these recent years, Yang Kai seemed to be searching for something which had brought him from one Great Territory to another. However, neither the Black Ink Clan nor the Humans knew what he was searching for. 

But no matter what it was, it would surely be bad news for the Black Ink Clan.

If they could besiege and kill Yang Kai in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, his plans would all be in vain, and he would no longer restrict the Black Ink Clan. At that moment, they could boldly break the treaty between the two Races and restart the wars in every Great Territory! They had to reduce the Human Race’s territory so that they wouldn’t have the ability to accumulate more strength. That way, the Black Ink Clan could wipe them out someday. 

No matter how strong that Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was, he couldn’t defeat a Royal Lord. Unfortunately, Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space and was unmatched when it came to escaping. He would run away when he knew he couldn’t win, which made others unable to do anything to him. 

That was how he escaped from the Royal Lord. 

When dealing with such a person, the Royal Lord understood the need for a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking technique to block all escape routes before going for the kill.

Suddenly, the Royal Lord thought of something and looked down at the two Territory Lords before ordering, “Return there and see what he’s up to.”

The two Innate Territory Lords felt bitter hearing this order, but although they were frightened, they didn’t dare to disobey the Royal Lord’s command, so they could only master up their courage and head back the way they came. 

One month later, the two Territory Lords appeared outside the Ancestral Land. They had bitter expressions as they hesitated, secretly hoping that Yang Kai had left; otherwise, they didn’t know how to explain their appearance if they bumped into him. They couldn’t say that they were here to visit him, right?

Even though they were nervous, they weren’t too afraid because if Yang Kai wanted to maintain the agreement between the two Races, he wouldn’t openly attack them. Therefore, this trip might be dangerous, but it wasn’t life-threatening. 

Carefully approaching the Ancestral Land, the two Territory Lords soon sensed something strange. The Divine Spirit Ancestral Land seemed to have changed drastically from how it was when they were last here. An inexplicable energy was surging and permeating the entire World, and even the wind and clouds were churning. 

At first, they were carefully hiding their bodies and aura lest they be exposed, but after looking at the current state of the Ancestral Land, they became bolder. Then, they released their Divine Senses to look around and gradually discovered what was happening. 

All that energy seemed to be moving in one direction. There was a vague golden light shining in that direction and a huge being hibernating amidst the clouds.

When they looked through the clouds, they could vaguely make out a figure of a curled-up Dragon Clan member. 

It was Yang Kai!

With all the intel the Black Ink Clan had gathered, the fact that Yang Kai could transform into a True Dragon was no longer a secret; after all, there were many Black Ink Disciples who were loyal to the Black Ink Clan hiding in the dark now. 

Those two Territory Lords looked at each other and revealed ecstatic expressions. They suddenly realised why the Royal Lord wanted them to return here. 

Silently retreating, they hurried back to the No-Return Pass. 

This time, it didn’t take them a whole month to reach the No-Return Pass. When they got back, they once again bowed down before the Royal Lord’s throne of bones and reported everything they saw and heard to him.  

The Royal Lord sneered, “As I had expected!”

When he first heard that Yang Kai went to the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, he made several guesses. Now, it seemed like he had gone there to cultivate. According to what he heard, it was said that the power inside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was very beneficial to Divine Spirits. 

“Did you two expose yourselves?” The Royal Lord asked. 

The bat-winged Territory Lord shook his head, “No. Yang Kai was entirely immersed in his cultivation and didn’t sense anything.”

“Very good.” The Royal Lord nodded in satisfaction while tapping his fingers on the back of his throne while looking down at the two, “Qing Fu, Mu Yu, don’t complain that this King didn’t give you a chance to make up for your crimes. The two of you are to immediately enter the Black Ink Nest together for Source Fusion!”

Once those words were said, all the Territory Lords became pale. 

The two Territory Lords, Qing Fu and Mu Yu, shivered as they looked up at the Royal Lord with terrified eyes. Mu Yu even screamed frightenedly, “Sir, please have mercy!”

It was as though the so-called ‘Source Fusion’ was a death sentence.

Even though Qing Fu didn’t say anything, he had a depressed and desperate look on his face. 

However, the Royal Lord didn’t show any change in expression; instead, he looked at them calmly before declaring, “If you live, that is your good fortune. If you die, that is your fate. Go!”