Martial Peak

Chapter 5594: My Head Is Harder

Since his return from the Black Ink Battlefield, Yang Kai had dealt with a lot of Innate Territory Lords and even killed many of them. His impression of these Innate Territory Lords was that, even though they were powerful and overbearing, they were also extremely afraid of death.

Bravery was something that had nothing to do with them; however, he finally met an exception today.

It seemed that not all Innate Territory Lords were the same and that some of them were indeed not scared of dying.

Perhaps it had something to do with their situation as well. The purple-haired Territory Lord knew that he was unable to leave this place alive; as such, his fighting spirit had been ignited.

Xiang Shan moved forward to intercept the enemy, wielding his sabre as he sent out a stream of sabre lights to engulf the purple-haired Territory Lord.

Nevertheless, the other party did not even attempt to dodge this flurry of attacks. Although the sabre lights opened even more wounds on his body, the Territory Lord still steadfastly charged towards Yang Kai.

The next instant, he was faced with a spear.

The purple-haired Territory Lord jerked his head to the side, causing the spear to graze his neck. The fresh wound on his neck exploded as his dark blood spurted out, but despite that, he relentlessly approached Yang Kai.

Yang Kai tried to retract his spear, but his attempt failed.

That was because the other party had already clenched the Azure Dragon Spear and exerted an immense amount of force with his hand, ensuring that Yang Kai couldn’t retrieve his weapon.

“Get over here!” Determination was written all over the purple-haired Territory Lord’s hideous face as he thrust his free hand towards Yang Kai.

He had channelled all his power into this attack, causing the space around them to shatter in an instant.

Initially, Yang Kai wanted to use Space Principles to dodge using Instantaneous Movement, but to his surprise, the other party had anticipated this move and preempted him. Furthermore, he had used four Soul Rending Thorns already, so his head was throbbing and his thoughts had become sluggish. With the nearby Void shattered, Yang Kai’s figure was rooted to the spot.

While he was in a dazed state, the purple-haired Territory Lord seized his shoulder.

Black Ink Strength madly surged as Yang Kai’s shoulder was torn into. The Territory Lord’s sharp nails penetrated Yang Kai’s flesh, and even the Dragon Scales hidden under his skin were unable to block the intrusion.

Seeing his gambit succeed, the purple-haired Territory Lord quickly pulled Yang Kai towards himself and trapped him with both arms.

His face was covered with dark blood, so his original facial features were barely visible. When Yang Kai looked up, all he saw was the Territory Lord looking hideous and smug.

“Let’s see how you run away now!” The purple-haired Territory Lord grinned while ignoring Xiang Shan, who was coming at him from behind. Then, he tilted his head back and brought it forward at a remarkable speed. 

He was trying to headbutt Yang Kai.

Following a loud crash, with the two tangled up figures at the centre, a violent shockwave propagated out.

Even Xiang Shan found himself staggering back as he had no choice but to retract his weapon for fear of hitting Yang Kai by accident.

*Hong! Hong! Hong!* 

The purple-haired Territory Lord repeatedly struck Yang Kai with his head. At this moment, he looked nothing like a powerful Innate Territory Lord with astonishing cultivation. Instead, he was more like a common thug engaging in a backstreet brawl. There were no sophisticated moves to speak of as he seemed determined to destroy the other party by smashing his head open with his own.

The sight stunned all the other Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Masters.

No one had ever seen a Territory Lord acting so brutal.

Yang Kai started seeing stars from the first clash. He had already used a massive amount of Spiritual Energy on top of sacrificing a significant portion of his Soul, which was why he was no longer able to keep fighting at full strength. Now that he was repeatedly struck by the opponent’s head, he found himself in a passive position. 

Any other Eighth-Order Master would’ve lost his life by now.

Since his ascension to the Eighth Order, Yang Kai had never suffered such a setback because of a lone Territory Lord before.

Even though he was struck dizzy, he only turned more furious and aggressive.

Yang Kai let go of his spear and grasped the purple-haired Territory Lord’s arms. His face, which was covered with Golden Blood, became hideous as fire burned in his eyes. As the other party tilted his head back, he mirrored the action.

A hint of surprise flashed across the Territory Lord’s eyes, for he thought that Yang Kai had lost all his strength before now.

The next moment, an even louder crash was heard. Xiang Shan, who was hovering nearby, waiting for a chance to strike, was dumbfounded as he felt a violent shockwave rush towards him and push him back even further.

When he looked up, Xiang Shan felt his face twitching as a single thought flashed across his mind, [This brat is crazy!]

The headbutt of a powerful Master was no laughing matter, and now both parties were doing the same thing to each other, so the power of the clash was naturally astonishing.

Xiang Shan even thought he heard the sounds of bones cracking.

*Hong hong hong…*

Several booms were then heard, and with the purple-haired Territory Lord and Yang Kai as the centre, the countless limbs, Black Ink Clouds, and Black Ink Strength drifting in the void were all swept away.

Every time their heads smashed, it was as though two Universe Worlds were colliding, sending shockwave after shockwave across the battlefield.

A moment later, both Yang Kai and the purple-haired Territory Lord saw stars and were close to blacking out, their blood-soaked faces looking more menacing than ever.

Nonetheless, Yang Kai could sense that the other party’s grip had weakened. As such, he exerted more force with his hands while grasping the other party’s arms.

The purple-haired Territory Lord’s eyes shook as his maddened determination turned to shock and disbelief.

He had taken such an aggressive stance because he had been pushed over the edge, but for some reason, his final desperate struggle had only caused this Eighth-Order Master to become even more ferocious than him.

Following another headbutt, the sounds of bones breaking became audible and the Territory Lord’s arms lost all strength.

Yang Kai roared, “All you bastards will never understand what it means to fight for the ones you love!”

They were in the 3,000 Worlds, and this Great Territory was one of the last lines of defence for the Human Race. If they allowed the Black Ink Clan to advance further, their very existence would be threatened.

In this place, all the Human soldiers who had been battling the Black Ink Clan were fighting to protect those who huddled behind them.

Unlike these evil invaders, the Humans did not have a choice to retreat. Since the enemies were brutal and ruthless, they had to be even more savage.

After another headbutt, a clear indent was formed on the purple-haired Territory Lord’s head. His eyes had completely rolled back and his aura was weakening by the breath like a ball leaking air. 

All of a sudden, Yang Kai appeared bored as he said dispassionately, “It seems my head is harder than yours.”

Then, he sent out one last headbutt, knocking the purple-haired Territory Lord’s head off while sending a headless corpse flying away.

Yang Kai hovered in the void alone. The pain in his body and Soul almost made him lose his mind; however, his ferocity and murderous intent did not wane in the slightest after he killed his opponent. Instead, he became even more bloodthirsty.

As a high-pitched Dragon Roar sounded as a golden light exploded into existence. Following a series of crackling sounds, a 70,000-metre-long behemoth manifested in the void.

“Kill!”

The Ancient Dragon roared as his Dragon Form whirled around and charged towards a place where many Black Ink Clansmen gathered together. Wherever he went, a trail of bodies formed in the void.

“Kill!” 

More roars were heard coming from all directions in Twin Poles Territory. Following the purple-haired Territory Lord’s death and the advent of the Golden Ancient Dragon, the Human soldiers, who had been suppressed for almost 400 years in Twin Poles Territory, charged towards the enemies like maddened beasts.

In the blink of an eye, the Black Ink Clan found themselves on the wrong side of a raging slaughter.

Five Territory Lords had lost their lives in less than an incense stick’s worth of time, which horrified the ones still alive. They finally realised the terror the Territory Lords in Profound Nether Territory must have felt 300 years ago.

The deaths of the first four Territory Lords had already caused a storm to rumble in their hearts, but it was the sheer brutality of the fifth Territory Lord’s demise that finally collapsed their will to fight.

It was said that Yang Kai was only able to use his special Soul attack three times before becoming powerless to fight on, but that was no longer the case.

The purple-haired Territory Lord, who was their Commander, was dead. On the other hand, Yang Kai had transformed into a 70,000-metre-long Ancient Dragon and charged straight into the centre of their lines, his majestic presence causing the entire Twin Poles Territory to shake.

At this moment, none of the Territory Lords was willing to deal with Yang Kai, worried that once they were targeted, they would not be able to survive. Hence, they decided to run as far away as possible.

Back then in Profound Nether Territory, Yang Kai had to fight over a dozen battles for 30 years before he fully intimidated the Black Ink Clan there.

In Twin Poles Territory, he still carried his imposing reputation from 300 years ago, and after this one war, the spines of the Black Ink Clansmen in Twin Poles Territory would be shattered and never heal again.

Half a day later, the Human soldiers ceased their attacks. All of them were elated, feeling that they had finally vented out the fury that had been accumulating in their hearts over several hundreds of years. As they returned to their bases and camps, all of them smiled brightly as though they were celebrating some kind of festivity.

Killing five Territory Lords couldn’t be considered a war-ending achievement; however, in their follow-up pursuit of the enemy, the Human Army managed to slaughter over a million Black Ink Clansmen, which was a huge strategic victory.

All this had been brought about by Yang Kai alone.

While the soldiers were counting their kills, they realised that the biggest contributor, Yang Kai, was nowhere to be found. They speculated that he must be recuperating; after all, he seemed to be badly injured.

In fact, Yang Kai wasn’t just badly injured, he had almost lost his life.

Other than the drawbacks of using four Soul Rending Thorns in quick succession, his clash with the purple-haired Territory Lord later had left him half-dead.

Although his body was robust as he had a Dragon Vein, the series of headbutts still cracked his skull. It would probably take him several years to heal these injuries.

With that said, it was not like he hadn’t gained something after this battle.

After attacking so many Territory Lords using his Soul Rending Thorns, Yang Kai had become confident he could easily kill them, which caused him to underestimate those Innate Territory Lords as he thought that they were too cowardly to use their strength.

Now, he realised he had overestimated himself and underestimated the enemy.

The simple truth was no Innate Territory Lord was easy to deal with, it was only because of his unique methods and great infamy that most Territory Lords simply lost the will to fight when they were confronted by him. As such, he could easily kill many Territory Lords.

However, if every Territory Lord was like the purple-haired Territory Lord he met today, who was willing to sacrifice his life to drag him down with him, things would become far thornier.

The purple-haired Territory Lord was struck by a Soul Rending Thorn, then hit by attacks from both Xiang Shan and Yang Kai at the same time, but he remained undaunted. If this Territory Lord had been at his peak, Yang Kai wouldn’t have the confidence to defeat him without using a Soul Rending Thorn.

He was still an Innate Territory Lord, and as such, significantly more powerful than those Acquired Territory Lords.

Yang Kai was secretly glad that these Innate Territory Lords were unable to become Royal Lords; otherwise, the Humans might not be able to deal with them.

After giving it some thought, he realised that while he shouldn’t underestimate his enemies, he also shouldn’t dismiss his own capabilities. At the very least, he had managed to kill a lot of Territory Lords. Furthermore, it had only been a short time since he ascended to the Eighth Order, so he was still far from reaching his peak.

When he reached the very peak of the Eighth Order one day, Yang Kai was confident he could defeat these Innate Territory Lords with ease with just his own strength.