Chapter 5350, Ambush and Pursuit
Translator: Silavin & Ashish

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The Twin Lotuses were Innate Supreme Treasures.

The Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus allowed Wu Kuang to absorb all kinds of energy without any worries. He could absorb anything, and never worry about any form of sequelae.

And as Yang Kai was now discovering, the Soul Warming Lotus could also remove the impurities from any form of Spiritual Energy, allowing the wielder to easily absorb it and strengthen their Soul.

One benefited the physical body, the other the Soul.

Yang Kai could not help but break into laughter after this unintentional discovery. Had he not destroyed the Souls of so many Black Ink Clansmen here today, he would have been forever oblivious to this ability of the Soul Warming Lotus.

But on second thought, even if he had known this earlier, he might not have used this method to kill his enemies.

His Soul getting stronger was a wonderful experience, but circumstances still mattered.

His cultivation was at the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm, while his Soul was comparable to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master’s. Although his Soul was a realm higher than his cultivation, it did not have much impact on him.

But if his Soul was comparable to a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master while his cultivation remained at the Seventh-Order, there would be an imbalance between his physical body and Soul which would bring about unforeseeable consequences.

More raw power doesn’t always equate to being stronger. Only strength that one could freely control was true strength.

It wasn’t too late to discover the effects of the Soul Warming Lotus though, so Yang Kai didn’t feel that he should be frustrated about this.

Thanks to this pure Spiritual Energy nourishing his Soul, not only did Yang Kai’s Soul quickly recover, but it even grew slightly.

Having finished everything here, Yang Kai withdrew his consciousness and left the Black Ink Nest before shooting off into the void. Immediately afterwards, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest exploded behind him.

500 Seventh-Order Masters commanding over 200 Squads had already dispersed to attack their targets. It was a perfect opportunity to eliminate as many Black Ink Clan forces as possible before Great Evolution Pass was completely discovered and the enemy reacted.

Yang Kai didn’t return to Dawning Light. Even in his and Feng Ying’s absence, Dawn still had seven Seventh-Order Masters overseeing it. Coupled with a highly customized Warship like Dawning Light, Dawn would not have any problem taking care of a few Low-Rank Black Ink Nests. In fact, even without Dawning Light, Dawn could split up and attack two different Black Ink Nests at once and still have no issues.

Yang Kai used Space Principles to swiftly cover a vast distance in the void.

A moment later, he had already entered the detection range of another Black Ink Nest.

A few breaths after that, the Black Ink Nest was already before him. The Black Ink Nest had just dispatched a team to check who had invaded their territory, and both sides ran into each other just 100,000 kilometres away from the Black Ink Nest. Yang Kai’s aura surged as he thrust the Azure Dragon Spear out, his figure shooting forward as he passed through the Black Ink Clansmen.

The next moment, the Black Ink Clansmen exploded one after another behind him. Even the Feudal Lord leading them was no exception.

The next instant, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest that was 100,000 kilometres away also suffered a terrible blow. The Black Ink Clan suffered massive casualties and shortly after, a stalwart and grotesque figure flew out of the damaged Black Ink Nest, his eyes filled with anger and confusion.

He was using the Black Ink Strength of his Black Ink Nest to strengthen the defence line, so he was completely focused on his task and was caught completely off guard when the fearsome attack struck his Black Ink Nest. Not only was he injured, but even his Black Ink Nest was almost destroyed.

The Feudal Lord immediately looked towards the source of this attack, only to spot a man holding a spear rapidly approaching him.

The Feudal Lord was beside himself in shock.

[Human!]

[A Human has actually come to attack this place!?]

[I’m not his match!]

Although he didn’t know why a Human was attacking, and alone at that, he could feel just how powerful this person was and instantly knew he was not the other’s opponent.

The Feudal Lord was a little perplexed at the same time. The other party was clearly radiating the aura of a Seventh-Order Master, but he found the momentum of this Human even more threatening than some Eighth-Order Masters he had seen from afar.

After having realized this, the Feudal Lord simply did not dare to remain any longer. But just as he was about to turn around and flee, the space around him froze for a moment.

This one moment was the difference between life and death.

The Azure Dragon Spear lightly brushed past the Feudal Lord’s head, like a light breeze of wind, but that was enough for the Feudal Lord’s head to explode, sending a fountain of black blood spurting from his neck as his headless corpse twitching in place.

Yang Kai’s figure skimmed past the Feudal Lord as he timely picked up his Space Ring while he was at it. The next moment, he was already millions of kilometres away using Instantaneous Movement.

One Black Ink Nest, two Black Ink Nests, three Black Ink Nests…

Wherever Yang Kai passed, all the Low-Rank Black Ink Nests would explode into pieces, and all the Black Ink Clansmen guarding them, whether they were Feudal Lords or High-Rank Clansmen, would die on the spot. All of them were powerless to resist.

The Black Ink Clan’s defence line was massive, so there was quite a huge distance between each Black Ink Nest, but this distance was nothing for Yang Kai thanks to his Mastery of the Dao of Space.

He was able to destroy three or four Black Ink Nests an hour.

No one could match this speed, even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could not do this. An Eighth-Order Master might be able to eliminate all these Black Ink Clansmen with one move, but in terms of speed, Yang Kai had the distinct edge.

Moreover, Yang Kai’s tremendous combat strength which made him invincible in the same Realm allowed him to exert power nearly on par with an Eight-Order Masters. Ergo, killing these Black Ink Clansmen was as easy as flipping his hand.

This was his greatest advantage.

The Black Ink Nests in the outermost ring of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line were destroyed one after another and not a single Black Ink Clansman at these nests was spared. Nearly 500 Black Ink Nests disappeared in just a short span of half a day.

Almost 10% of these Black Ink Nests had been destroyed by Yang Kai alone, whereas the remaining 90% were taken out by the 200 Squads.

In other words, Yang Kai had eliminated nearly 50 Black Ink Nests in just half a day, while the 200 Squads only managed to destroy two or three Black Ink Nests each on average.

It wasn’t that these Squads were weak. With two Squads working together, each team basically had four or five Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. The Low-Rank Black Ink Nests and their guards were basically powerless against such a force, but the Human Squads wasted most of their time travelling between targets.

After another half a day, the tally had further increased.

The sudden disappearance of so many Black Ink Nests in just one day had not gone unnoticed by the Black Ink Clan.

Great Evolution Pass had yet to be exposed. Even if some passing Black Ink Clansmen noticed Great Evolution Pass, they were quickly silenced by the Eighth-Order Division Commanders guarding it before they could sound the alarm.

However, the mass culling of Low-Rank Black Ink Nests and the deaths of so many Feudal Lords was more than enough to alert the Black Ink Clan.

The Black Ink Clan wasn’t stupid. There must be some reason for so many Black Ink Nests to suddenly lose contact with the Royal City, with an enemy attack being the most likely case.

The Royal City thus issued a series of orders, dispatching teams led by Feudal Lords to investigate the situation.

In the blink of an eye, the Royal City began preparing for battle as a murderous atmosphere filled the air.

Yang Kai had already lost count of how many Black Ink Nests he had destroyed, but he was having the time of his life; he could slaughter members of the Black Ink Clan to his heart’s content without any worries. Thanks to Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s constant harassment, the Territory Lords were too afraid to leave the Royal City unless absolutely necessary. As such, all the Black Ink Nests only had Feudal Lords overseeing them, which was no different from fish on the chopping block for Yang Kai. No one could resist his Azure Dragon Spear.

Not only was Yang Kai on a killing spree, but even the other Squad was swiftly eliminating all the enemies they could find, especially the three Special Operations Squads who left a trail of corpses and blood everywhere they passed by. No Black Ink Nest’s forces could withstand the rampage of these three elite Squads.

At some point, when Yang Kai was heading to another Black Ink Nest, he suddenly caught sight of something strange; a massive Black Ink Nest rapidly flying towards the Royal City. The Black Ink Nest was tightly guarded by dozens of Black Ink Clansmen, who were vigilantly escorting it.

Yang Kai immediately understood that the existence of Great Evolution Pass must have finally been exposed, and so had the destruction of the Black Ink Nests at the hands of Human attackers.

Otherwise, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have acted in such a manner.

The Royal City’s side should have ordered the Black Ink Clansmen in the outermost ring of the defence line to return and defend.

The Feudal Lords could not bear to part with their Black Ink Nests, so even if they were retreating, they tried to bring their Black Ink Nests along, but this inevitably slowed them down.

In the end, this group of Black Ink Clansmen was unable to escape. Yang Kai chased after them and started another slaughter, which lasted no more than a dozen breaths. When he left, everything was destroyed, even the Black Ink Nest.

After coming across this situation, Yang Kai stopped moving around the periphery and instead started advancing towards the inner circle.

From this moment on, the mission of the 200 Human Squads switched from ambush to pursuit!

Three days later, Yang Kai had no idea where his pursuit led him, nor how many Black Ink Clansmen he had killed. Since the start of his assault, his pace had never halted.

But because the Black Ink Clan had started returning to defend the Royal City and were no longer staying in place, his efficiency had greatly decreased.

Yang Kai needed to find traces of the Black Ink Clan in the vast void.

Fortunately, most of the Feudal Lords couldn’t bear to part with their Black Ink Nests, so even if they were returning to the Royal City, they were bringing their Black Ink Nests with them. And this made them an easy target. He could clearly spot them using his Demon Eye of Annihilation, no matter the great distance between him and them as Black Ink Nests were simply too massive to hide.

Another Black Ink Nest was destroyed by Yang Kai, along with dozens of Black Ink Clansmen. The two Feudal Lords were unable to believe that they couldn’t even withstand a single attack from a Seventh-Order Human Master.

The shattered pieces of the Black Ink Nest flew everywhere.

Just as Yang Kai was about to leave, he caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eyes and focused his gaze towards it.

The next moment, his expression changed as he instantly moved towards it and stopped before a door-sized object which did not seem to be crafted from some kind of sturdy metal.

After staring at it for a moment, Yang Kai reached out and picked it up.

After studying it for a moment, his face turned dark and gloomy.

Although he had expected this, when he saw this object, Yang Kai was certain that the Snow Wolves Squad… was no more!

The object in his hand was a material used by the Humans to refine Warships. Specifically, this was an alloy of ores that was sturdy and a good conductor of World Force, which made it extremely suitable for refining the hull of a Warship.

Since he found it here, it meant that a Human Warship was destroyed in this place. This was a part of its wreckage.

Other than the Snow Wolves Squad’s Warship, no other Human Warship could have arrived at this location before now.

Since he had found the wreckage here, what had happened to the Snow Wolves Squad was quite clear.

Combined with the message Yao Kang Cheng had sent him that day, Yang Kai could not help but be shaken up.

Did they really encounter the Royal Lord?

But Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was certain that the Royal Lord had not recovered yet.

This place was still some 10 days’ journey from the Royal City and could be considered the middle part of the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, so how could the Snow Wolves encounter the Royal Lord here?

If the Royal Lord was heavily injured as Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said, then he would never appear here.

But if the Snow Wolves hadn’t run into the Royal Lord, how could they have been so powerless that even their Warship was instantly destroyed?

It had to be known that as a Special Operations Squad, the Snow Wolves also had a custom Warship which was vastly superior to ordinary Squad-Grade Warships. The Snow Wolves had spent countless Military Merits on their own Warship, requesting the Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters at the Pass to modify and enhance it. With such a Warship and their own strength, even if the Snow Wolves Squad ran into a lone Territory Lord, they would still have been able to retreat without too much trouble.

However, Yao Kang Cheng only had enough time to hurriedly send a brief message before falling silent.