Martial Peak

Chapter 5691: Every Five Years

“Wait!” Yang Kai called out suddenly.

The Feudal Lord froze upon hearing that and turned to look at Yang Kai with a smile, “Is there s-something else, Sir?”

Yang Kai took out a bottle of wine and tossed it over, “Take this to Mo Na Ye.”

Having received benefits from the Black Ink Clan, it was only natural for him to return something in exchange. This was the principle of reciprocity, and besides, Yang Kai had plenty of fine wine in his Small Universe.

The Feudal Lord accepted the bottle and carefully stored it away, but when he looked up again, Yang Kai had already disappeared. The Feudal Lord couldn’t help but shiver as he quickly flew back to the No-Return Pass.

When he arrived, he reported the exchange of goods and presented the bottle of wine; however, Mo Na Ye’s brow just twitched upon seeing it, feeling absolutely disgusted.

Last time, Yang Kai gave him a bottle of wine which he refused to drink and just smashed directly. That time could be considered a private gift from Yang Kai to him which nobody saw, so it didn’t matter; however, it was different this time. The resources were handed over by the Feudal Lord, and it was the first time that they had exchanged goods with Yang Kai. Many in the No-Return Pass were watching this matter closely.

If this matter were to spread, what would the Royal Lord think? What would the other Territory Lords think? It would seem as if Mo Na Ye had a close relationship with Yang Kai, possibly even engaging in some shady deals. If he didn’t explain this matter clearly, how could the Royal Lord trust him in the future?

Mo Na Ye wished he could immediately go out and fight Yang Kai to prove his innocence.

After dismissing the Feudal Lord, he dared not delay. He took the bottle of wine and went to the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest to report word for word what the Feudal Lord said. Fortunately, the Royal Lord didn’t have much of a reaction, he simply acknowledged the matter calmly and dismissed Mo Na Ye.

Mo Na Ye re-affirmed that he could not let his guard down when dealing with such a despicable and shameless person like Yang Kai; otherwise, he would likely be taken advantage of by him.

However, the enmity between the Human Race and Black Ink Clans was deep and unresolvable, so Yang Kai’s little tricks had minimal effect. Though, this simple method of sowing discord could have unforeseen consequences if it was used on someone else not within the two camps, it had negligible consequences between blood enemies.

The soldiers of the Human Race and Black Ink Clans on the frontline battlefield continued to clash, while the No-Return Pass remained as calm as usual. In fact, since the Black Ink Clan captured the No-Return Pass, Yang Kai had either come alone or led a small group of Humans to cause trouble less than a handful of times. Without Yang Kai, the No-Return Pass would have been completely quiet and comfortable, with many Territory Lords who had been severely injured in battle willing to return here and rest in the High-Rank Black Ink Nests.

Every five years, the Black Ink Clan sent out the counted goods from the No-Return Pass and handed them over to Yang Kai; however, since the first time they were deceived, no Black Ink Clansman dared to easily accept the fine wine that Yang Kai offered, leaving him helpless.

Each time Yang Kai exchanged goods with the Black Ink Clan, he would simply designate a random location. The void was vast anyway, so if he simply chose a spot at random, he would not have to fear that Black Ink Clan would set him up. 

Overall, everything went smoothly, and over the past century, Yang Kai accumulated many valuable resources.

Considering the time, the day was soon approaching that he had agreed to meet Ou Yang Lie and the others. 

After receiving a bit less than 30% of the Black Ink Clan’s gathered resources again, Yang Kai hurriedly rushed to the Humans’ resource-gathering site.

Before this, he had left Space Beacons along the way, so it was not difficult to cross this route and search for Ou Yang Lie and the others.

As expected, Ou Yang Lie vented his pent-up anger on Yang Kai as soon as he arrived. He roared about how Yang Kai and Big Head Mi were wasting his talents by sending him here. He also wanted Yang Kai to go back to the Supreme Headquarters and request Big Head Mi to transfer him back to the frontlines of the battlefield. 

Only when Yang Kai agreed to make the request did Ou Yang Lie stop complaining.

Over the past 100 years, tens of thousands of Human Race cultivators had been mining and gathering resources in this region. This place was deep within the Black Ink Battlefield, far beyond the region where the Royal City used to be. So, even though a century had passed, this area remained peaceful and undisturbed.

This was good news, and it was also what Yang Kai hoped to see. If the Black Ink Clan found traces of the tens of thousands of Human Race Masters collecting resources here, they would have to relocate far away. It was not wise to fight the Black Ink Clan here because these Human Masters’ strength was generally not high, which was why they were sent here to gather resources in the first place. Fighting was not their concern.

After gathering the past 100 years’ harvest, Yang Kai bid farewell to Ou Yang Lie and the others. Then, he connected to the World Tree and used it to guide him into the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, then returned to the Star Boundary.

Without delay, he went directly to the Supreme Headquarters and handed over all the harvests of the past 100 years to Mi Jing Lun.

After examining the items, Mi Jing Lun was greatly surprised and couldn’t help asking, “When did the resources from the Black Ink Battlefield become so rich?”

He had roughly estimated how much the tens of thousands of soldiers could mine in 100 years as he knew the situation in the Black Ink Battlefield very well, having spent over 10,000 years there. However, the amount that Yang Kai brought back was easily triple what he had estimated.

Originally, according to his estimation, the tens of thousands of soldiers could only delay the exhaustion of their supplies, even if they worked day and night to gather and mine in suitable areas. But with Yang Kai bringing back so much, the Human Race’s consumption of resources over the past century was immediately replenished, and there was even some surplus!

This was truly an unexpected delight.

However, he soon thought of something and looked at Yang Kai solemnly, “Did you plunder these from the Black Ink Clan?”

Only the Black Ink Clan could have so many resources; otherwise, there was no way to explain the sight in front of him.

Yang Kai smiled and said, “You could put it that way. I made some agreements with the Black Ink Clan, and from now on, I will receive 30% of what they mine from the Black Ink Battlefield. What I’ve passed to you includes those that were gathered by the Humans and those obtained from the No-Return Pass.”

Mi Jing Lun’s expression became complex. Although Yang Kai did not say how he achieved this, Mi Jing Lun could imagine the difficulties and dangers he faced.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Black Ink Clan had no choice but to agree due to certain circumstances, how was it possible for them to agree to Yang Kai’s outrageous demands?

Moreover, Yang Kai acted alone, so how did he manage to make the Black Ink Clan agree to his terms? Over the past 100 years, Yang Kai must have faced a lot of life-or-death crises…

Mi Jing Lun felt a complex mix of emotions as he thought about how the heavy burden of hope for the entire Race was placed on one person’s shoulders.

After taking a breath, he dropped to one knee to show his respect!

Yang Kai was taken aback and quickly helped Mi Jing Lun up, “Senior Brother, what are you doing?”

Mi Jing Lun, however, refused to stand up as he quickly replied, “This Senior Brother, on behalf of the trillions of Humans, thank you, Junior Brother!”

That made Yang Kai feel embarrassed, “Senior Brother, you’re taking this too seriously. I was born Human too, and many of my friends and family are fighting against the Black Ink Clan on the battlefield. This is just what I should do.”

After helping Mi Jing Lun up forcefully, he changed the subject, “Senior Brother, how is the situation between the two sides?”

“It’s still the same as before. No major changes.”

On the various Great Territory Battlefields, newcomers from both sides constantly emerged, while many elites also died on the battlefield. In this tense and hostile environment, having high qualifications didn’t necessarily guarantee one would reap the most benefits. High qualifications only represented great potential. To gain more strength, one must first survive on the battlefield, only then would they be capable of seizing their own future.

The Human Race was not lacking in talent, but time. The first batch of good seedlings who directly ascended to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm had now reached the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, but to ascend to the Ninth-Order, they still needed time to accumulate heritage and hone their skills.

As for the old Eighth-Order Masters like Mi Jing Lun and Ou Yang Lie, they had already reached their limits due to their initial potential and would never ascend to the Ninth Order.

On the other hand, Xiang Shan and Wei Jun Yang, who were a few of the eligible veterans to advance to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm, were still in retreat, and no one knew how they were doing or if everything was going smoothly.

Breakthroughs were matters that outsiders could not help with; they could only rely on themselves.

Yang Kai silently prayed that someday when he returned, he would be able to receive good news.

Without staying long at the Supreme Headquarters, after his brief exchange with Mi Jing Lun, confirming that the situation between the two sides would not worsen in the short term, Yang Kai set out again, heading to Black Territory to use the secret passageway and rush back to the Black Ink Battlefield.

Every five years, the No-Return Pass sent out a batch of resources, while Ou Yang Lie and others worked for 100 years before delivering their harvest. Over the long years, Yang Kai shuttled back and forth through the void alone, bringing one batch of resources after another from the Black Ink Battlefield to the Human Race to use for their cultivation.

With Yang Kai’s efforts, the Supreme Headquarters no longer had to worry about resources as the amount he brought back every 100 years was enough to fulfil their needs.

During this period, Yang Kai also took the time to go to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to investigate the situation. The battle there was extremely intense, but thanks to Wu Kuang’s cooperation with the Suppressing Black Ink Army, the gap in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had never expanded. Those from Black Ink Clan that could rush through the gap were greatly suppressed in both quantity and quality. 

As a result, the 6,000 soldiers of the Suppressing Black Ink Army, coupled with the various arrangements of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress and Divine Dragon Fu Guang who was assuming command, were able to maintain the status quo.

However, even after so many years of slaughter, there was no sign of decline among the Black Ink Clan within the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. It was truly frightening as no one knew how many of them were lurking in the area and how many Black Ink Clansmen would emerge in the end. It seemed as if they could never be eradicated.

Now, the entire outside of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was covered by the Black Ink Clouds formed by the Black Ink Clansmen after their deaths. If it weren’t for the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress having its own protection against the invasion of Black Ink Strength, even just dealing with that dense Black Ink Strength would be enough to give the Suppressing Black Ink Army a headache.

Yang Kai also learned from Fu Guang that a few Royal Lords inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had attempted to break out, but most had failed. The few Royal Lords who had successfully emerged all suffered serious injuries in the process, making them no match for a Divine Dragon that was lying in ambush for them.

Over the years, an impressive eight Royal Lords had died by Fu Guang’s claws.