Chapter 5150, The Hunt

Silavin & Pia

Lu An apparently also knew that Blue Sky Pass would send someone to find him. Naturally, this person had to be Yang Kai; after all, he was the only person who could freely transverse through the turbulent Void.

Lu An had tried to get out of the Void; however, even if he was an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he could not find his way back through the chaotic space. Worse, he was injured after the battle with the Territory Lord and was far from his peak state.

Thus, instead of blindly looking for a way out, he opted to sit and wait; after all, Yang Kai was sure to come and find him. Similarly, his sitting still also helped Yang Kai locate him.

Finding Lu An and returning was not hard for Yang Kai.

When he saw the two of them appear, Zhong Liang, who had been waiting outside, couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Every Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was a pillar in the Human Race’s fight against the Black Ink Clan. Furthermore, since the number of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in each Great Pass was not large, each of their deaths greatly impacted the Human Race. Thus, he was gratified to see Lu An was alright.

Still, since Lu An’s injuries were not light, he quickly headed back to rest and recover.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai embarked on a journey to the forward base with the rest of Dawn.

The forward base had been nailed deep within the territory of the Black Ink Clan. In this recent war, Blue Sky Pass had achieved extremely brilliant results. The huge losses of the Black Ink Clan were enough for them to be unable to recover for at least 1,000 years. Furthermore, that timeframe was dependent on their ability to destroy Blue Sky Pass’ new forward base.

If Blue Sky Pass could gain a solid foothold and suppress nearly half of the Black Ink Clan’s territory here, then the Black Ink Clan might not ever be able to recover to its previous strength. However, if the Humans lost the forward base, their victorious outcome would be greatly diminished.

Therefore, the existence of the forward base was critical to both sides. However, they could not just defend their current position. They had to take the initiative or they would eventually be pushed back.

Blue Sky Pass deployed 20,000 soldiers from the previous crusade, but now more than 10,000 more have been deployed to provide support with the help of two transit Universe Arrays Yang Kai had set up.

Currently, in Blue Sky Pass, only the most basic personnel were left behind. The rest had been moved outside. They had been passively defending for so many years, so when they finally had a chance to take the initiative, the decisions those at the top made were all bold and aggressive.

Nonetheless, the movements of troops made sense; after all, there was no need to worry about Blue Sky Pass being attacked. Since they were now deep within the Black Ink Clan’s territory, the enemy would be too preoccupied with those forces close to their Royal City to target Blue Sky Pass itself.

The Black Ink Clan could also not expect reinforcements from other Theatres as each war zone had its own issues to deal with. It was no different for the Humans, who could not send large-scale reinforcements to each other; thus, for both sides, they were basically fighting an independent war.

While Yang Kai was arranging the Universe Arrays, the soldiers at the forward base had been recuperating. After Blue Sky Pass’s 10,000 reinforcements had arrived at the forward base, a slew of construction projects were implemented.

One by one, Squads patrolled around the forward base, clearing out any Black Ink Clansmen in the area. Even the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were moving, trying to use this opportunity to suppress the Black Ink Clan as much as possible.

Naturally, the Black Ink Clan would not sit still and get attacked. Though they did not launch any large-scale battles, they continued with small-scale ambushes. In fact, almost every day, Squads that ventured even a little far from the forward base would be ambushed by the Black Ink Clan. The Humans and the Black Ink Clan had been fighting for hundreds of thousands of years in the space between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base. It was just that this time, the Humans had the absolute advantage; thus, such ambushes were all but meaningless.

After all, most of the Territory Lords here would not dare to move easily; furthermore, Human Squads had their Warships, which held an absolute advantage when faced against a small number of Black Ink Clansmen. In fact, if a Squad found itself dangerously outnumbered, or facing a powerful, unbeatable foe, the Warships possessed defensive Spirit Arrays which would protect them. In the worst-case scenario, there was still the Universe Array aboard the Purifying Black Ink Battleships anchored at the forward base, which enabled them to escape the battle if necessary.

Thus, as long as they still had some luck, and the situation was not that dire, there was no need for them to fear for their lives.

In the void, a Warship flew back and forth as rays of bright light shot out from its hull. Unable to resist the powerful attack, the Black Ink Clansmen burst into a mist of blood.

Around the Warship, several figures were moving around, eliminating whatever scattered Black Ink Clansmen were present using their own Secret Techniques.

Within a short time, hundreds of Black Ink Clansmen were killed.

Miao Fei Ping flashed and flew back to Dawning Light, looking indifferent, with no joy or surprise in his eyes. With the baptism of blood and war, he quickly matured and was no longer as helpless and nervous as he had been the first time he fought the Black Ink Clan.

Under normal circumstances, a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like him would not leave their Warship to kill the enemy directly. He should stay inside the protective Spirit Arrays on the Warship and use its offensive arrays to deal damage.

However, today’s battle was different from the usual. They encountered some scattered Black Ink Clansmen, so there was leeway for the Sixth-Order Masters to gain some direct combat experience.

The Black Ink Clan usually sent out massive armies, with powerful Masters leading them. Thus, even a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, who could not be considered weak, would find it difficult to survive in that chaotic battlefield. As a result, those below the Seventh Order were generally tasked with controlling their Warship’s Arrays.

Of the hundreds of Black Ink Clansmen Dawn encountered today though, only one was a Feudal Lord, and he was swiftly killed by Feng Ying. Meanwhile, the rest scattered like sand. A few Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters couldn’t help but rush out of the Warship to fight, and Yang Kai didn’t stop them.

Such skirmishes could be found everywhere in the void. The soldiers of the forward base also began to refer to this kind of mission as ‘hunting’. Furthermore, these hunts did not only occur with small groups of Black Ink Clansmen. Sometimes, bigger hunts were organized where several Squads would cooperate to deal large amounts of damage to the scattered Black Ink Clansmen. As a result, the Black Ink Clan began to worry that if this kept up, the Human Army would begin advancing towards the Royal City again.

With their situation being what it was, the Black Ink Clan was forced to concentrate the vast majority of its Masters into defending the Royal City. Naturally, that meant that the space between Blue Sky Pass and the forward base had no powerful Black Ink Masters at all.

“Squad Leader, it’s time,” Feng Ying reminded Yang Kai.

Yang Kai nodded, “Let’s head back, we’ve been at it long enough.”

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of all soldiers, the forward base also established some rules, including time limits on each Squad’s ‘hunt’, and the range of activities that they could operate in.

This was done out of fear that the soldiers would get carried away in killing the enemy, which might reveal openings and cause unnecessary tragedies.

It had been half a year since Dawn last set out from the forward base, and the area they were active in had always been at the outermost reaches allowed by the rules. Naturally, it was because the further out they went, the larger the number of Black Ink Clansmen there were.

Half a year was the time limit stipulated by the forward base before they had to return. Beyond that, Military Merits would not be calculated, and there might even be penalties, such as sending them back to Blue Sky Pass. Naturally, such penalties were meant for the safety of the soldiers.

After all, establishing a fortified position was a long-term plan. It was impossible to achieve this overnight, so it is necessary to ensure the integrity and combat effectiveness of the soldiers at the forward base.

After half a year of battle, they would then rest for the next half a year, maintaining a balance. At Yang Kai’s command, Dawn’s members began using the Universal Transference Law to return. In the end, Yang Kai was the only one remaining as he stored Dawning Light in his Small Universe. After that, he flickered and disappeared.

Back at the forward base, where the Universe Array was, those from the Dawn appeared, one after another. As soon as they appeared, they skillfully moved out of the way so as not to interfere with the transference of others who were also returning.

“Get some rest and cultivate. After half a year, we will gather again,” Yang Kai gave the order and the crowd immediately dispersed.

He then strolled towards the Merit Hall. Military Merits obtained by hunting for half a year had to be registered, and Dawning Light had also taken some damage, so it needed to be sent to the Refining Hall for repairs.

Yang Kai was traversing this familiar path at this point. It had been ten years since the Expeditionary Force established the forward base, and every time he came back from a hunt, as the leader of Dawn Squad, he needed to fulfil these duties.

Arriving first at the Merit Hall, registration of military contributions was recorded by Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Such positions didn’t involve directly fighting against the Black Ink Clan, so they were usually filled by the cultivators with the lowest Orders.

Registration of Military Merits was naturally very smooth. All Yang Kai needed to do was provide evidence for the kills.

Next, Yang Kai went to the Refining Hall and handed over Dawning Light. After that was done, he didn’t need to worry about his ship anymore. He would just need to get it after half a year, when Dawn went out on its next hunt.

The Refining Hall was now the busiest location in the entire forward base; however, this couldn’t be helped. One by one, Squads would go out, hunt down enemies, and then return with a damaged Warship that needed repairs. Since there was a limited number of Artifact Refiners, the Refining Hall was always kept busy.

In the past, when the Great Pass was under siege by the Black Ink Clan, the Artifact Refiners would be so busy they did not even have the time to breathe, but after the siege ended, they would have time to rest. However, that was in the past. Since the forward base was established, Artifact Refiners were now busy round the clock, with no time for rest at all.

When the forward base created the rules, limiting ‘hunting’ to only half a year and a minimum of half a year of cultivating afterwards, they did not really take into account the Artifact Refiner’s workload.

After all, half a year was barely enough for an Artifact Refiner to fix up a Warship.

Although Yang Kai was now an Artifact Refining Grandmaster, and he could patch up simple problems with Dawning Light, some of the damage was to its Spirit Arrays, and since he knew little about the Dao of Spirit Array, he had no choice but to ask for an Array Master to fix it, which was why he sent it to the Refining Hall.

Just as he was about to walk back to where he stayed, he heard a Divine Sense transmission.

He turned and then moved towards a particular direction.

He quickly entered a Grand Hall, where the Eastern Army Commander, Ding Yao, was talking to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. After briefly exchanging a few words, the Eighth-Order Masters turned and left, while Ding Yao turned to look at Yang Kai.

Yang Kai cupped his fist, “Greetings, Sir!”

Ding Yao gave a light nod and said, “I have a task for you.”

Yang Kai looked solemn as he replied, “Please tell me.”

“I need you to return back to Blue Sky Pass and pick someone up.”

“Pick someone up?” Yang Kai frowned, puzzled and asked “Pick who up?” “

“You don’t have to know. You’ll understand when the time comes.”

Yang Kai was a little displeased with this strange order and couldn’t help but object, “Sir, wouldn’t it be better for an Eighth-Order Division Commander to act as a guard? I’m only in the seventh order, so even if I want to store someone inside my Small Universe, I at most can only bring those in the Sixth Order or below. How would I be of any help in this case?”

Ding Yao glanced at him, “I don’t need you to use your Small Universe to store this person, I just need you to show the way here. What’s more, this person is in the Eighth-Order, so other Eighth-Order Masters would not be able to store them either and would have to travel side by side.”

“Eighth-Order?” Yang Kai was surprised, “Since it’s someone in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, I believe that person has enough strength to ensure his own safety. Why do I need to fetch them here?”