Martial Peak

Chapter 5600: Conditions

Yang Kai was suddenly interested. He didn’t pay much attention to Mo Na Ye in the past. Although he had exchanged moves with him in Acacia Territory before and he had come across him in Profound Nether Territory on several occasions, he couldn’t possibly pay attention to all the Innate Territory Lords as there were simply too many of them.

However, on this day, he suddenly had the urge to kill this fellow, for he seemed different from the other Innate Territory Lords.

If they allowed Mo Na Ye to remain alive, he might prove to be a hidden concern in the future.

As though noticing Yang Kai’s murderous intent, Mo Na Ye turned to look at him and nodded, “What do you say, Sir Yang Kai?”

Since the beginning, Yang Kai had never expressed his opinion regarding the peace talks, as though he was only there to watch the show. Nevertheless, Mo Na Ye knew that Yang Kai was the mastermind behind this entire affair. Although Xiang Shan was in charge of the negotiations, both the Humans and the Black Ink Clan had to give serious weight to Yang Kai’s thoughts.

Yang Kai smiled and reigned in his murderous intent. Although Mo Na Ye was a powerful Innate Territory Lord, he was unable to make any further advancements in the future, just like Yang Kai. While Yang Kai had the chance to kill him today, he reckoned that he should prioritise the peace talk for now.

“The conditions we’ve mentioned aren’t sufficient, then.”

Since Yang Kai had been asked to speak, he couldn’t remain silent.

Mo Na Ye said, “There’s room for discussion about anything. If you have any conditions, please state them. We won’t turn you down if they are acceptable.”

Yang Kai replied, “Apart from the six Great Territories we have agreed upon where things will remain unchanged from the current situation, all other Great Territories will be part of the peace deal. If you agree to this, I’ll remove myself from all further battles.”

This was actually to Yang Kai’s advantage as he just so happened to need a lot of time to cultivate so that he could reach the peak of the Eighth Order sooner.

The rising Stars from the Star Boundary, the Myriad Monsters World, and his Small Universe needed battles to temper themselves with to reach new heights, but Yang Kai was different. He had gone through numerous life-and-death battles already and had been baptised in the blood of his enemies many times over. What he was lacking now was only the accumulation of his own heritage.

The reason Yang Kai even took action was to build a solid foundation for the Humans’ future. If he could get greater benefits for the Humans by staying out of the war, he would be glad to do it.

Hearing this, the Territory Lords and the Eighth-Order Masters were startled; however, Xiang Shan’s eyes soon brightened as he realised the crux of the matter.

The Humans had already set the agenda for the peace talk, but it didn’t include restricting Yang Kai from taking part in future battles. If the Black Ink Clan could agree to Yang Kai’s condition, the Humans could consider accepting the other party’s demand.

Mo Na Ye soon realised what Yang Kai meant as well and said with a frown, “Sir Yang Kai, do you mean that the peace deal will include not only the Great Territories where battles are still ongoing, but also the Great Territories that the Black Ink Clansmen have occupied?”

“Yes.” Yang Kai nodded.

Only then did the Territory Lords and the Eighth-Order Masters come to their senses as they fell into their thoughts.

Mo Na Ye smiled helplessly, “You’re a little greedy, Sir Yang Kai.”

In the past, the main battlefields between the Humans and the Black Ink Clan were the 13 Great Territories, which included the Profound Nether Territory. However, many Hunters were active in the other Great Territories that ambushed the Black Ink Clan’s supply teams and reinforcement groups. They also destroyed many Black Ink Nests. More often than not, they caused huge trouble to the Black Ink Clan’s logistics.

For this reason, many Territory Lords would patrol the various Great Territories to deal with those Hunters.

If these ordinary Hunters came across Territory Lords, they were naturally powerless to resist. However, the 3,000 Worlds was expansive, and the Black Ink Clan didn’t have so many Territory Lords. Furthermore, the Hunters were both agile and prudent, so as long as they were not too unlucky, they would be safe most of the time.

However, since the Eighth-Order Masters and the Territory Lords had arrived at a peace deal in Profound Nether Territory, the number of Hunters had shrunk significantly.

As Hunters, they were at risk of losing their lives if they bumped into Territory Lords; however, once they entered Profound Nether Territory, they didn’t have to worry about being targeted by such Masters.

Now that Yang Kai had come up with such a demand though, it was expected that many Humans would aspire to be Hunters again, which would prove to be a thorny issue for the Black Ink Clan.

Currently, the vast majority of the Human forces were concentrated in the 13 Great Territory Battlefields, while some 99% of the 3,000 Worlds had fallen into the Black Ink Clan’s hands. However, since the Universe was so expansive, it was impossible for the Black Ink Clan to perfectly protect such a vast territory. Once a large number of Hunters appeared, the Black Ink Clan would no longer have any peaceful days.

Originally, the peace deal only considered the 13 Great Territory Battlefields, but Yang Kai’s demand had dragged the entire 3,000 Worlds into this.

“What’s wrong? Are you afraid of Human soldiers entering the other Great Territories? Over the years, many Humans have fallen into your hands and have been turned into Black Ink Disciples. If you want me to stay out of the war, there’s a price to pay,” Yang Kai looked impassively at Mo Na Ye.

After a moment of silence, Mo Na Ye nodded, “You have a point, Sir Yang Kai. In that case, we’ll agree to your condition.”

For both parties, there were pros and cons regarding this matter. Once the Hunters entered the Great Territories that the Black Ink Clan had occupied, they would have to bear a huge risk. If they were besieged by the Black Ink Clan soldiers, they would either fight to their death or be corrupted.

Nevertheless, this was also the Humans’ purpose for training the soldiers.

When the Territory Lords saw Mo Na Ye agreeing to it, they breathed a sigh of relief. Everything would be fine to them as long as they could restrict Yang Kai’s movements.

As for whether agreeing to this condition would bring about any terrible consequences, it was none of their business, for Mo Na Ye was responsible for the peace talks today. If anything went wrong, the Royal Lord would punish him first.

At this point, they’d finally built a foundation for an agreement.

The Black Ink Clan’s condition was that Yang Kai must not make a move in any Great Territory from now on.

On the other hand, the Humans had gained quite a few benefits. Apart from the six Great Territories where things would remain unchanged, all other Great Territories would be included in the new peace deal. The Eighth-Order Masters and Territory Lords were not allowed to have a hand in the war, and as a price to pay for restricting Yang Kai, the number of Territory Lords would be limited in the Great Territories where things would go on as usual.

Moreover, the Black Ink Clansmen were the ones who initiated the peace talk, so they would give the Humans a certain amount of cultivation resources as compensation.

The conditions were discussed one by one, and from the looks of it, the Humans were at an advantage. After all, they had only agreed to one condition, but the Black Ink Clan had to provide some resources and limit the number of Territory Lords who could take part in the battles in six of the Great Territory Battlefields.

However, in truth, the Territory Lords’ ultimate goal was to restrict Yang Kai as only this condition would allow them to be at ease when roaming around the battlefields.

Since the general direction had been confirmed, it was time for some bargaining.

Both parties were red-faced as they discussed the amount of resources that the Black Ink Clan had to give the Humans. Black Ink Strength and World Force kept clashing, as though a fight would break out at any moment.

Nonetheless, they knew that since the peace talks had come this far, there was no way they would fight. The initially cautious Territory Lords could now argue with the Humans as fiercely as they pleased.

If there was one thing the Black Ink Clan didn’t lack, it was resources; after all, they had occupied so many Great Territories and had the entire Black Ink Battlefield to exploit. As such, they could easily extract as many resources as they wanted. However, no one was willing to give their enemies resources for free. They promised that they would give the Humans some benefits, but they immediately became stingy when the discussion started.

The argument lasted for several days, but in the end, the details were confirmed with Mo Na Ye and Xiang Shan who were the lead negotiators for the two sides.

Then, another round of arguments started about the number of Territory Lords that would be allowed in the six unchanged Great Territories.

There were many more Territory Lords than Eighth-Order Masters, which was the fundamental reason that the Black Ink Clan had gained the upper hand in most of the Great Territory Battlefields. The numbers of the most powerful Masters on both sides would influence the state of the war.

Although they had agreed to limit the number of Territory Lords, the Black Ink Clan would never accept being at a disadvantage.

The Humans came up with an outrageous demand as they wanted the number of Territory Lords that were allowed in the battles to be equivalent to the number of Eighth-Order Masters, and naturally, the Territory Lords stubbornly refused.

If they agreed to such a demand, their lives would be truly miserable. It wasn’t easy to deal with the Evil Purging Divine Spears. The reason they were at an advantage was that they had more people on their side.

The discussion this time was even more intense than when they talked about the resources.

They were fine with giving resources away, for the Humans needed time to refine those resources to increase their strength; however, once the number of Territory Lords decreased, they would lose control over the situations in many Great Territories.

Nevertheless, an agreement was reached in the end.

In the six Great Territories where things would remain unchanged, the number of Territory Lords couldn’t exceed the number of Eighth-Order Masters by 50%. In other words, if there were 10 Eighth-Order Masters, there could only be 15 Territory Lords.

The Humans were naturally not pleased with the outcome, for this meant there would still be significantly more Territory Lords than the Eighth-Order Masters. That way, the Black Ink Clansmen were still at an advantage.

However, this did ensure that the enemy no longer had an overwhelming edge which would constantly put the Humans on the brink of defeat, like what happened in Twin Poles Territory. Furthermore, because the Humans had to train their soldiers, this amount of pressure was quite suitable. As such, Xiang Shan agreed to it.

If there was no life-and-death pressure, it wouldn’t be training at all. Cultivating in seclusion would be faster in that case.

Since everything had been discussed, they just had to choose the six Great Territories where things would remain unchanged. At this point, the Eighth-Order Masters remained calm while the Territory Lords were apprehensive.

They were not willing to keep fighting the Humans. If the war continued, they would be at risk of losing their lives.

Nonetheless, they didn’t have any say over this matter.

Xiang Shan and Mo Na Ye took turns to select the six Great Territories where things would remain unchanged. When it was time for Xiang Shan to choose the last Great Territory, he hesitated for a bit before finally choosing Azure Sun Territory.

He didn’t agree to Luo Ting He’s request back then because things were not looking good in Azure Sun Territory; as such, it would be beneficial to the Humans if it could be included in the peace deal.

However, the number of Territory Lords would now be restricted, so even if things remained unchanged in Azure Sun Territory, the situation would improve significantly for the Humans.

Since Luo Ting He wanted to achieve a breakthrough in battle, Xiang Shan could only let her be. Apart from her, Xiang Shan also needed battles to train himself. Without these life-and-death struggles to serve as stimuli, it would be hard for them to grasp the opportunity to break through to the Ninth Order.

In the past, around 80% of Ninth-Order Old Ancestors achieved a breakthrough on the Black Ink Battlefield, while just 20% of them made it to the peak while cultivating in seclusion.