Martial Peak

Chapter 5212 – Hidden Murderous Intent

Translator: Silavin &Sara

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

A single Human charged forward with a mighty aura.

The battlefield was havoc as far as the eyes could see, but Yang Kai drifted through the chaos taking down enemies with great ease and single-handedly carving out a path behind him.

The Profound Wind Squad followed closely behind him. All 8 of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had looks of solemn respect on their faces, especially the young Squad Leader.

Only the best among the Seventh-Order could become the Squad Leader of a Special Operations Squad.

Under the young Squad Leader’s leadership, the Profound Wind Squad had also achieved great success in their own Theatre. Initially, he did not understand why the Army Commander ordered the two elite Squads to work together with Yang Kai, but now that he saw just how unparalleled of a fighter Yang Kai was on the battlefield, he began to understand why the order came down.

Only an unstoppable force,  such as Yang Kai, could lead the two Special Operations Squads to break the enemy on the battlefield in the shortest amount of time.

Yang Kai and the Squad charged straight forward, and soon, they arrived at a different part of the battlefield.

The area was filled with Black Ink Clansmen, including many Feudal Lords. They swarmed the area which made it impossible for anyone to get in or out, and at the very centre was a Warship that belonged to another Special Operations Squad that was currently being besieged on all sides.

This was the Snow Wolves Squad, which had about the same number of people as the Profound Wind Squad. Both Squads had roughly 50 members with 8 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters assuming command.

Special Operations Squads had a lot more members than regular Squads, and when combined with the numerous improvements made to the Squad’s Warship over the years, the Snow Wolves were undoubtedly a formidable force in combat.

Although there were only 50 of them, they had the power of the Warship and should easily be able to take on at least 1,000 to 2,000 Black Ink Clansmen at once as long as they did not have to face a Territory Lord as well.

Yet, at this very moment, the Snow Wolves Squad was surrounded by the Black Ink Clan and had no way of escaping. They were not in a dire situation due to the power of their custom Warship, but things were still looking pretty bad for them.

Among the 8 Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, one was heavily injured and had to return to the Warship deck to recover. Under the command of the Snow Wolves Squad Leader, the remaining Seventh-Order Masters kept trying to find a way to break out of the encirclement, but every attempt was hindered by the Black Ink Clan’s frenzied attacks which forced them back.

The Snow Wolves were slowly losing ground and things were taking a turn for the worse.

Even so, the Squad Leader remained calm as he unleashed a series of Divine Abilities and Secret Techniques, all the while trying to find a way out for them.

A Special Operations Squad was sure to have its own trump cards, such as powerful arrays installed in their Warship. The Snow Wolves had such an array that was capable of unleashing an attack on par with an Eighth-Order Master’s all out strike. It would not be hard for the Squad to escape after using this, but the array expended too much power, so once used, the entire Warship would lose over half of its combat power temporarily.

The battle began not too long ago, and the Snow Wolves were unwilling to pay such a heavy price in a situation such as this, especially since they were not pushed to the brink just yet.

Just as the Snow Wolves Squad Leader was trying to think of a good strategy, a commotion arose among the Black Ink Clan. All of a sudden, a spear breached through the ranks of the Black Ink Clansmen, and in an instant, a sliver of space was carved out as the siege was split into two like a ripped piece of cloth.

A solitary figure ploughed through the opening.

The Snow Wolves Squad Leader’s expression brightened at once and he quickly ordered his Squad to head towards the opening, and at the same time, he frantically called out, “Watch out, Junior Brother! Behind you!”

As soon as he said that, Yang Kai felt his heart clench and soon, he felt a wave of pain coming from his lower back.

Someone had indeed snuck up on him!

The one who launched the sneak attack had done it so quickly and surreptitiously that he had not noticed anything until he had been hit.

Yang Kai instinctively swept his spear out but hit nothing.

He spotted a silhouette brushing past him out of the corner of his eye, but when he tried to catch a proper glimpse, he could not find it anymore.

Still, he did not remain still. He kept charging forward and the Profound Wind Squad’s Warship pushed in through the breach in the Black Ink Clan’s lines behind him.

The two Squad Leaders of the Special Operations Squads knew each other, so they exchanged a light nod of greeting but skipped over the usual pleasantries. The Profound Wind Squad Leader informed the Snow Wolves Squad Leader of the Army Commander’s orders, and the latter chuckled bitterly before turning to Yang Kai, “Are you hurt, Junior Brother?”

[The Army Commander ordered both of our Special Operations Squads to work together with Junior Brother Yang, but he suffered a sneak attack just as soon as he showed up.]

One of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters under his command had suffered from a sneak attack as well. He was the one who was tending to his injuries on the Warship’s deck; thus, he knew just how insidious the ambusher who snuck up on Yang Kai was.

The Snow Wolves Squad would not have been blindsided by the Black Ink Clan and ended up getting sieged if it had not been for the fact that the attacker had hidden so well that none of them could locate him.

Although the Squad Leader asked Yang Kai if he was hurt, truth be told, he did not think they could rely on Yang Kai for much now.

Contrary to his assumptions, Yang Kai just shook his head, “I’m fine.”

The Squad Leader was taken aback for a moment before he kindly advised, “Junior Brother, don’t try to put up a strong front when you’re on the battlefield. If you need to tend to your injuries, then it’s best not to delay doing so.”

Yang Kai chuckled, “I’m fine, really. Perhaps you don’t know, Senior Brother, though this Junior Brother here may not have much else to boast about, my skin’s thicker and my flesh’s stronger than average!”

It was true that the one behind the sneak attacks was powerful and not to be underestimated. Such an attack on a regular Seventh-Order Master would at least result in serious injuries, if not worse; however, Yang Kai carried a potent Dragon Vein, which made his physique a lot stronger than that of a regular Human. Thus, something that would have heavily injured someone else was not so serious when it came to him.

Furthermore, his body’s restorative abilities were quite astonishing, so Yang Kai did not need to bother tending to such injuries. He would fully recover soon enough.

What got his attention now was the strength that was contained inside the attack from the one who snuck up on him.

Yang Kai could clearly sense the dense Black Ink Strength that lingered in his wound which was clearly trying to eat into his body and spread to his Small Universe.

This was the most troublesome aspect of this sneak attack.

Even if a Human could survive the initial blow, they would have to deal with the Black Ink Strength’s attempt to invade after.

However, Yang Kai was unbothered by Black Ink Strength, so he simply ignored it. So what if it managed to spread into his Small Universe? It was not as if he did not already have lots of Black Ink Strength sealed up within.

“Was it a Black Ink Disciple?” Yang Kai asked grimly.

“En, it was!” The Snow Wolves Squad Leader replied.

It was just as Yang Kai suspected. At the time, he had a feeling that the one who attacked him was not from the Black Ink Clan. From the looks of it now, it was indeed a Black Ink Disciple, and probably a Seventh-Order one.

The attacker was a master of concealment, so even though Yang Kai’s Divine Sense was stronger than average, he could not find any traces of the attacker. That Black Ink Disciple seemed to have vanished right after striking him.

It went without saying that Yang Kai knew the attacker would not have vanished and was simply hiding somewhere, eyeing them like a venomous snake.

[I need to get rid of that attacker or else the other Seventh-Order Masters might suffer a death blow if they were not careful.]

After teaming together, the two Squads did not come to a halt. Yang Kai and the Squad Leaders had a quick discussion and soon, the two Warships began their attack under Yang Kai’s leadership.

Initially, the Black Ink Clan here had managed to rely on the support of that Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciple to keep the Snow Wolves Squad cornered without any hope of escape, but now that the Profound Wind Squad had shown up as well, the Black Ink Clan was having a hard time dealing with the Humans.

In just a few moments, the enemy’s siege was breached yet again.

Two Feudal Lords had been overseeing the situation at the breakthrough spot, but Yang Kai easily cut them down with his spear as if they were nothing more than fish on a chopping block. The rest of the High-Rank and Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen did not amount to much. Wherever the Azure Dragon Spear swept, large swaths of them exploded into black blood mists.

This was the first time that the Snow Wolves Squad Leader ever saw a Seventh-Order Master killing a Feudal Lord with such ease, causing his eyes to nearly fall out of their sockets.

When comparing in terms of realm, a Feudal Lord was supposedly on par with a Seventh-Order Master; however, as the two Races cultivated in different ways, generally speaking, Feudal Lords tended to be weaker than Seventh-Order Humans.

However, despite being somewhat weaker, they were still Feudal Lords and not just random Black Ink Clansmen.

The Squad Leader had killed many Feudal Lords himself, but he never thought there would be a Seventh-Order Master who could cut down Feudal Lords as if they were helpless chickens.

[How the heck did he do that? Is he still Human?]

The Snow Wolves Squad Leader could not resist checking to see what Yang Kai’s Order was right now as he was beginning to suspect Yang Kai was secretly an Eighth-Order Master who was hiding his true cultivation.

His actions did not escape the Profound Wind Squad Leader’s attention, and the latter chuckled as, just a short while ago, he had the exact same reaction. Before seeing the way Yang Kai slaughtered their enemy with great ease, never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would possess such terrifying strength in combat.

Regardless, the two Squad Leaders were relieved to find that Yang Kai did not seem to be affected by the sneak attack from earlier. Both of them spotted the trail of golden-coloured blood on Yang Kai’s lower back, but it did not seem to be much of a hindrance to him.

That being said, they were startled to see the golden-coloured blood as well. The blood of regular Humans would not be of that colour.

Nevertheless, they had no time to waste on such thoughts. The two Squads followed closely behind Yang Kai and boldly rushed towards the breach in the enemy lines.

However, before they passed through the opening, they saw a flicker of something right behind Yang Kai, and in the very next moment, a shadowy silhouette appeared with an artifact in hand that was similar to a dagger. The silhouette was aiming straight for the back of Yang Kai’s neck.

The shadowy silhouette had appeared so abruptly that no one noticed anything until it was right there.

Evidently, it was the Black Ink Disciple who had snuck up on Yang Kai earlier. He had indeed been hiding nearby, waiting for his chance to attack once more. When he saw that Yang Kai was leading the two Special Operations Squads out of the encirclement, he evidently grew impatient and tried to attack again.

“Junior Brother, watch out!” The two Squad Leaders exclaimed in shock.

However, Yang Kai who was in the lead, did not seem to hear them at all. It was as if he had not noticed anything amiss.

The dagger-like artifact stabbed right into the back of Yang Kai’s neck, and everyone in both Squads, including the Squad Leaders, stared in grievous horror.

However, they did not see the spurt of golden blood and the sudden loss of a life that they expected, for the moment the dagger was about to cut into the back of Yang Kai’s head, Yang Kai’s figure became transparent and illusory.

Wave of Space Principles could be seen propagating out.

The attacker could not withdraw in time and he ended up stumbling through Yang Kai’s body.

It was Yang Kai’s Nihility Secret Technique!

A long time ago, Yang Kai had already comprehended a Space Principles Secret Technique that allowed him to exile his body to the Void to avoid certain attacks.

While in this state, Yang Kai’s body was no longer part of this world. Naturally, someone powerful enough would still be able to attack him by shattering the local space and thus affecting him even in the Void, but the Black Ink Disciple who snuck up on him did not seem to have expected Yang Kai to employ such a bizarre tactic and was thus unprepared.