Chapter 5360, Black Ink Disciple
Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Ever since they began fighting, there was only one word to describe the feeling that the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple gave this Eighth-Order Division Commander: Monster! He did not mean the type of Monster with Monster Qi. On the contrary, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple’s various behaviours and responses to the crises gave off a feeling of incongruency.

In fact, the scene seemed rather familiar. He couldn’t help recalling a certain battle he had fought when he was much younger. In that battle, it was obvious that his strength was much greater than his opponent’s. Be that as it may, he did not slay his enemy immediately. He took his time and toyed with his enemy instead. By pretending to be weak, he eventually lured his enemy into a fatal opening and killed him in one fell swoop.

At this moment, the other party gave him the same, but opposite feeling. It felt exactly like how he had hidden his strength and put on an act in the past.

[Is this guy hiding his true strength?] The Division Commander could barely believe it.

In a comparison of real strength, a true Eighth-Order Master was generally stronger than a Territory Lord. On the other hand, Black Ink Disciples who borrowed the power of Black Ink Strength to surpass their innate limitations were even weaker than Territory Lords. In other words, an actual Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master should be significantly stronger than an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

During a one-on-one battle, Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples would usually bring out everything they could as trying to hide their true strength would put them at risk of dying at any moment.

[I can’t believe this guy can afford to hide his true strength. Just how powerful is he? What are his intentions?]

The Eighth-Order Division Commander could not understand. Regardless of what intentions the other party might have though, his goal remained to slaughter the other party. Fighting an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple for so long and failing to harm the other party even after utilising the Evil Purging Divine Spear was extremely humiliating.

Nevertheless, this veteran Division Commander did not let his guard down. Focusing his attention, his offence suddenly became significantly more violent. To slay his enemy as soon as possible, he even chose to burn a part of his Blood Essence.

The intensity of the assault suddenly increased by a significant margin. The Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple was caught off guard. Thus, his condition gradually worsened.

“Ha…” A sudden sigh sounded in the ears of the Eighth-Order Division Commander. Following that fleeting sound, a sword light flashed towards him.

He immediately felt all the hairs on his body standing on end. A terrible sense of crisis enveloped him, making him feel as if he was about to die; therefore, he hastily retreated without the slightest hesitation as his field of vision was filled with the glare coming from the sword light before him.

Ninth-Order!

His opponent was actually in the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm!

At that moment, the Division Commander finally understood the root of the strange feeling he had been having. His speculation was correct, his opponent had indeed hidden his true strength. However, he never imagined that the other party would be a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

The Human Race had been fighting the Black Ink Clan for countless years, and over the millennia, many Human cultivators had fallen into the hands of the Black Ink Clan and been transformed into Black Ink Disciples. Therefore, there would always be Black Ink Disciples in every Theatre.

However, most Black Ink Disciples did not survive for very long. The Black Ink Clansmen would always order the Black Ink Disciples under their command to fight desperately so that they could escape safely whenever their lives were in danger on the battlefield. As a result, 90% of these Black Ink Disciples would not have enough time to grow before they lost their lives on the battlefield.

Before the appearance of Purifying Light, the Human Race had also been merciless in their treatment towards Black Ink Disciples. They believed that death was the best extrication for the Black Ink Disciples.

Under normal circumstances, even a single Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple would rarely be found.

However, Great Evolution Theatre was special. During the war 30,000 years ago, many soldiers from Great Evolution Pass had been transformed into Black Ink Disciples. Furthermore, this Theatre did not experience war for a long time. That was why many Black Ink Disciples had enough time to grow and develop into Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.

Be that as it may, a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had never emerged from any of the Theatres before!

It had to be said that a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple was an existence equivalent to an Old Ancestor, which was the highest combat force among the Human Race.

Unexpectedly, a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had appeared here.

The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had used a Secret Technique to conceal his cultivation; moreover, he had pulled off this trick without anybody being aware of his actions.

Despite exchanging blows for so long, the Eighth-Order Division Commander had only felt that his opponent was somewhat strange. He subconsciously felt that his opponent might have concealed their strength, but he never imagined that his opponent would turn out to be a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

[It turns out that… a Black Ink Disciple can actually reach the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.] This particular thought suddenly crossed his mind at this moment.

It was well known that Black Ink Disciples could borrow the power of Black Ink Strength to break free of the innate shackles of their Order and achieve heights that would never be reachable for them under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, that would only happen under ideal circumstances.

The Human Race had discovered that the process of advancement among the Black Ink Disciples that disregarded their actual limitations came with very high risks. Almost every Black Ink Disciple who surpassed their limitations had various physical deformities. More importantly, every advancement they experienced was many times more dangerous than a normal advancement experienced by the Human Race. The probability of death was extremely high.

That was why the ideal circumstances would remain as nothing more than ideal circumstances. It should have been near impossible for a Black Ink Disciple to advance to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm with the help of Black Ink Strength. For a Black Ink Disciple, that process was almost guaranteed death! Be that as it may, there were always exceptions. That was why there were so many miracles in this world.

A Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had suddenly appeared on the battlefield. That was simply shocking. Not to mention, he had hidden his true strength while fighting with an Eighth-Order Division Commander. The fact that he had not killed his opponent after so long clearly indicated that he was harbouring evil intentions.

[He is aiming for the Old Ancestor!] The Eighth-Order Division Commander instantly figured out the other party’s aim. Just as he was about to open his mouth to shout out a warning, he abruptly discovered that his strength was draining rapidly and he could not make a single sound.

At the same time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s voice reverberated throughout the universe from a certain corner of the battlefield, “I thought it was a second Royal Lord. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a Black Ink Disciple. I wouldn’t have found you if you remained hidden, but now that you’ve taken the liberty to show yourself, you shouldn’t think of leaving again!”

After her words rang out, an enormous Yin-Yang Fish suddenly appeared and seemed to cover the entire void. The Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, who had merged with a sword light that was slashing towards her, was caught off guard and crashed straight into the Yin-Yang Fish, his figure freezing in place for a moment.

Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao did not give him any time to recover. Her slender jade palm thrust down on him. Her might as a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was fully revealed as she extinguished the sword light and dragged him into her battle.

Meanwhile, the Royal Lord fervently drew upon his strength to attack. It was clear he intended to work together with the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple to kill Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao.

At this moment, the vast battlefield came to an abrupt halt.

All the Human soldiers were shocked, as were most of the Black Ink Clansmen. Only the Territory Lords were unmoved by this sudden revelation. They took advantage of the situation to escape from the onslaught of the Eighth-Order Division Commanders and hurriedly directed their Black Ink Strength to eliminate the Purifying Light in their bodies.

There was a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple under the command of the Royal Lord. It was evident that they were aware of the fact, but such an important secret was known only to the Territory Lords. Those below the Territory Lords were completely oblivious to this fact. These measures were taken to prevent the secret from being revealed; otherwise, they would not have been able to catch the Humans by surprise.

Aboard Dawning Light, Yang Kai finally had the answers to his previous doubts amidst his shock.

The Snow Wolves Squad had gone missing within the inner ring of Black Ink Clan’s defence line. It was pretty much confirmed that they had been completely wiped out in one blow; however, the Squad Leader Yao Kang Cheng of the Snow Wolves Squad had sent him a message at the very last moment. The message only contained the words ‘Royal Lord’.

Yang Kai had always assumed that the Royal Lord had taken action, but when he reported the news back to Great Evolution Pass, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao insisted that the Royal Lord had yet to recover from his wounds. The Royal Lord couldn’t leave the Royal City, much less attack the Snow Wolves Squad from that position.

Likewise, Yao Kang Cheng’s last message couldn’t be fake. They must have encountered an opponent far beyond their capabilities or their message would not have been sent in such a hurry.

The Old Ancestor’s judgement had conflicted with the message from the Snow Wolves Squad; therefore, Yang Kai had always been unable to figure out if there were any faults in the information they provided.

The answer was now in front of them. The Snow Wolves Squad had not encountered a Royal Lord, but a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple!

A Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple and a Royal Lord were fairly similar in strength, so under such rushed circumstances, Yao Kang Cheng had probably mistakenly thought that their opponent was a Royal Lord and frantically sent a warning containing the words ‘Royal Lord’. After that, the entire Squad had either been eliminated or committed suicide to prevent the secret of Great Evolution Pass’ imminent attack from being exposed.

Their sacrifice had not been for nought though. Thanks to their brief message, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had been forewarned.

From her statement earlier, it could be inferred that she had been guarding against any possible enemies during her battle with the Royal Lord. It was just that she had expected an additional Royal Lord, not a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple.

If she had been unprepared, the sword light from earlier would most likely have injured her. Fortunately, she had been warned in advance and could safely resolve any issues that popped up even if the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had ambushed her out of nowhere.

The three top Masters immediately engaged in battle, and the fallout from their clash became even more ferocious.

Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had held the absolute advantage during the previous one-on-one battle with the Royal Lord only able to defend himself but not fight back. Now that there was an additional Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple in the fray, the situation became disadvantageous for her instead. Her advantage no longer existed now that she was fighting against two opponents!

There was one fortuitous thing. After a brief exchange of blows, she quickly determined that it had not been long since the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple succeeded in his advancement. Only 100 or 200 years at most. He could be considered a newly-advanced Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple, so his heritage was quite weak. Combined with the fact that Black Ink Disciples were already weaker than true Human Masters in the same Order, she managed to protect herself even though she had to face two opponents in the equivalent realm as herself. If her opponents had been Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters like herself, she would not have lasted for long.

Judging from the timing, the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had succeeded in his advancement after the Great Evolution Army withdrew from the Royal City; otherwise, it was impossible for him to stay out of the battle 200 years ago. He had most likely been in retreat to advance to the Ninth Order at the time.

After the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple stepped forward, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao calmed down considerably. It was far more difficult to defend against an arrow in the dark than a spear in the light. Therefore, it was always better to have her enemy in the open than hidden in the shadows.

On the contrary, the Royal Lord was so furious that he nearly went mad with rage.

The fact that the Black Ink Disciple under his command had advanced to the Ninth Order was extremely confidential. It was also the reason he dared to confront the Humans directly in this battle. He had wanted to catch the Old Ancestor by surprise with the help of his Black Ink Disciple. As long as they could severely injure her, the Black Ink Clan would be victorious in this battle.

Who could have known that the Old Ancestor would somehow know in advance? His plans had come to nothing as a result. With the situation being what it was now, it would not be easy for him to eliminate the Old Ancestor.

The battle between these three caused space to shatter with every impact.

On the other hand, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and crossed more than half of the battlefield in an instant. Before he even arrived, he balanced a Great Sun on the tip of his Azure Dragon Spear and smashed his way through the densely-packed Black Ink Clan Army.

The Black Ink Clan retreated hastily wherever the Great Sun appeared, and countless corpses were left behind in Yang Kai’s wake.

Yang Kai grabbed hold of a dishevelled figure and shouted, “Let’s go!”

He did not return to the Dawning Light; instead, he headed straight in the direction where Great Evolution Pass was located.

“Watch out!” The Eighth-Order Division Commander yelled breathlessly in warning. A Black Ink Clansman had come from the front to intercept them, evidently targeting the heavily injured Eighth-Order Division Commander.

This person was none other than the Eighth-Order Division Commander who was heavily injured by the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple. Division Commander Cha Pu!

Although the Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple had only just broken through, the power of his attacks was not something Cha Pu could defend against with his strength alone. There was a huge difference in strength between an Eighth-Order Master and a Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple after all.

That final sword slash had nearly chopped Cha Pu in half at the waist. At this moment, there was an enormous gash at his abdomen where one could clearly see wriggling organs. More importantly, there was dense Black Ink Strength and ghastly Sword Qi lingering around the wound.

Silavin: Spoiler title – Ninth-Order Black Ink Disciple