Martial Peak

Chapter 5628: Going Back In Time

Following the activation and trembling of each Array Banner, the Array Boards also quickly released their aura and intertwined with them. Invisible energy appeared and passed through the place where the Seventh-Order Black Ink Disciples and 12 Innate Territory Lords stood.

After 10 days of hard effort, they succeeded in activating the Grand Array.

Instantly, the Void where the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land was located was entirely enveloped by the Grand Array, isolating it from the outside world.

It was only then that the old man responsible for setting up the Spirit Array finally felt relieved. He was terrified of the possibility that Yang Kai might realise the Grand Array was being assembled before it was done. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to trap him. Now that the Grand Array had been activated though, no matter how proficient Yang Kai was in the Dao of Space and escaping, he would have no way to flee.

The only way out was to destroy the Grand Array, but now that it enveloped the entire Ancestral Land, that would be no easy task.

The old man’s expression became stern as he used the Array Banner in his hand to inform everyone, “The Grand Array’s successful formation has caused a substantial change in the surrounding Void, so Yang Kai must have already noticed it. Sirs, please be on guard.”

If others were trapped inside the Four Gates Eight Places Great Pagoda Array, they might not sense any changes; moreover, they went with a more stable plan and used 12 Innate Territory Lords to activate this Grand Array and seal the entire Ancestral Land to guard against any unexpected events.

However, Yang Kai was different. He was proficient in the Dao of Space, and this was a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array that would isolate the inside from the outside. Such a huge commotion wouldn’t be able to escape Yang Kai’s senses.

The Territory Lords felt anxious after hearing the old man’s warning and raised their guard up while using their Divine Sense to scout their surroundings, afraid that Yang Kai might suddenly appear and attack them. 

After waiting for an entire day though, they didn’t notice any suspicious movements.

They waited another day, but it was still very quiet. 

The Territory Lords used their Array Banners to converse with each other secretly and were dumbfounded by what Yang Kai might be planning. 

One of the Territory Lords couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure that guy is still here?”

It wasn’t their fault for doubting because if Yang Kai was here, how could he remain so idle? According to how domineering he usually treated the Black Ink Clan, he would definitely have caused a huge scene if he noticed he was sealed inside this place. 

Even if he didn’t cause a commotion, he would at least show his face and not be as quiet as he was now.

There were several Territory Lords with the same doubts.

Soon, another Territory Lord’s voice came from the Array Banners, “He should be here. When I scouted this place earlier, I felt a strange change in the Ancestral Land, which is clearly his doing.”

“Did you actually see him?”

“I didn’t,” Since the Territory Lord didn’t dare to expose his whereabouts, he was very careful when scouting ahead and didn’t dare to investigate too deeply. What if he accidentally alerted Yang Kai while scouting, causing him to get suspicious and leave? He wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences. 

“Let’s just wait. Maybe he’s lurking around in the dark.”

The group of Territory Lords calmed down and continued to wait. 

But several more days passed and there were still no signs of Yang Kai. By now, all the Territory Lords had grown anxious. All the signs pointed to the possibility that Yang Kai might no longer be inside the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land. If that was really the case, all their efforts would be for nought. 

Another silent conversation was exchanged, and they decided to send someone out to investigate. They had been afraid of Yang Kai sensing their presence before, but now that the Grand Array was active, they had already revealed themselves. Therefore, it didn’t matter if they went over to investigate the situation. 

However, they couldn’t reach a conclusion on who would be going. 

All of them were aware of Yang Kai’s reputation, and any Territory Lord who encountered him back then had a high chance of dying once he struck out. Now, they even used a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array, which was clearly meant for him, so how could Yang Kai show mercy when they encountered each other?

Therefore, all the Territory Lords passed the responsibility among them as no one was willing to enter the Ancestral Land.

Luckily for them, the Black Ink Clan Army from the No-Return Pass, that had departed after them, had now arrived. So, the Territory Lords picked out a Feudal Lord and ordered him to lead 3,000 soldiers into the Ancestral Land.

That unlucky Feudal Lord felt bitter but couldn’t do anything but follow his orders. 

Moving forward carefully, the troops soon arrived in the sky above the Ancestral Land, but before landing, the Feudal Lord sensed a suppressive force coming at him from all directions. 

He had never felt this kind of sensation, and under this suppression, he found that he couldn’t circulate his Black Ink Strength as smoothly as before. Even his Feudal Lord aura had slightly decreased.

Such a change surprised him, and he quickly stopped moving before looking around. 

He noticed the 3,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers he brought with him also wore uncomfortable expressions.

[Is this the suppression of the Ancestral Strength?] The Feudal Lord’s expression turned gloomy as he wondered. 

Of course, he knew that the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land had Ancestral Strength; after all, the Black Ink Clan had occupied this place for thousands of years and had sent back comprehensive reports describing the Ancestral Strength in the Ancestral Land that had a certain amount of resistance to Black Ink Strength. Therefore, the Black Ink Clansmen with lower strength would feel more uncomfortable being in this place.

However, the Feudal Lord didn’t expect the suppression to be this intense. He was barely at the outskirts now and hadn’t even entered the Ancestral Land. What would happen if he dove deeper inside?

Though he was worried, he didn’t dare to disobey the orders given to him by the Territory Lords, so he could only muster up his courage and lead the Black Ink Clan soldiers to continue forward. 

As the Feudal Lord expected, the closer they got to the Ancestral Land, the more obvious the suppression of their strength was. His Feudal Lord aura was constantly weakening as if there was a mysterious force suppressing the strength inside him.

When he finally arrived at the Ancestral Land, his expression had already turned extremely stern. He summoned his strength but realised that his current output was only on par with that of a High-Rank Black Ink Clansman. That omnipresent, extremely dense Ancestral Strength had actually suppressed his strength by an entire Realm.

If this was his condition, the other 3,000 Black Ink Clansmen would naturally be in an even worse state. 

The lower the strength, the more obvious the suppression. There were already some Black Ink Clansmen who couldn’t stand the pain and released suppressed roars.

Meanwhile, the Feudal Lord was terrified and immediately knew that there was something off about this piece of land. 

He suppressed the discomfort he was feeling and began looking around. Then, he led his army away after not finding anything.

It wasn’t until they left the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land that the feeling of suppression gradually faded. The Feudal Lord reported what happened to the Territory Lords, making all of them frown.

[Is the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land’s suppression really so powerful? How did Qing Fu and Mu Yu stand living in this place back then?]

Unfortunately, those two had undergone Source Fusion with a Black Ink Nest; otherwise, the other Territory Lords would have asked them to come over because they would certainly learn more about this situation.

“They’re dead, but there are a few Feudal Lords that escaped alive at that time. So, we’ll know the answer after asking them,” one of the Territory Lords said.

It was a plan. Among the millions of soldiers that followed them here, there were a few Feudal Lords who had previously guarded the Ancestral Land. Those Feudal Lords were called over and asked about the previous situation here. After finding out that things were completely different now, the Territory Lords were certain that, while there was previously Ancestral Strength here as well, it wasn’t nearly as dense as it was currently. It was clear that the Ancestral Land had gone through a dramatic change they knew nothing about, which was likely caused deliberately.

In other words, Yang Kai was still inside the Ancestral Land, but no one knew where he was hiding or what he was doing.

Should they keep searching for him?

Now that they had a Black Ink Clan Army that consisted of millions of Black Ink Clan soldiers, there was a huge possibility of finding Yang Kai in his hiding spot if they scattered enough people around the Ancestral Land. However, what would they do with him after finding him?

Another round of discussion later, the Territory Lords decided to just lay low and wait. 

They were now very sure that Yang Kai was still inside the Ancestral land, and as long as he was here, he couldn’t run away. 

Moreover, the Royal Lord had ordered them to wait for Di Wu to arrive and take over, so they would do just that. After Di Wu successfully performed the Source Fusion Technique, he became a Pseudo-Royal Lord. Now, all he needed to do was to absorb the power from the Black Ink Nest and all 13 Innate Territory Lords sacrificed before him, and he would have enough power to defeat Yang Kai.

Once a decision was made, all the Territory Lords felt relieved and waited silently. 

In the meantime, Yang Kai had sunk deep into the Ancestral Land, but this wasn’t by his own doing. At first, he was just an adopted son to the Ancestral Land, the so-called Matriarch, and then he advanced into a true son after contributing something. Later, he became the Ancestral Land’s favourite son. Following that, the Ancestral Land might have sensed Yang Kai’s desire for power and decided to help him with all it could.

Yang Kai transformed into a 70,000-metre Ancient Dragon before beginning to absorb and refine as much Ancestral Strength as he could from the Ancestral Land. While refining his Dragon Vein, he was so immersed in his cultivation that he didn’t notice that his body had involuntarily sunk into the ground and arrived deep below the surface of the Ancestral Land. Yang Kai didn’t even notice signs of his body fusing with the Ancestral Land. 

This phenomenon was naturally not the same as the Black Ink Clan’s Source Fusion Technique, which required devouring one another. It was as though the Matriarch had opened her arms to welcome Yang Kai into her embrace because she was trying to inject that huge amount of strength into his body.

With the constant refining of his Dragon Vein, Yang Kai noticed that the effects here were even more outstanding than those he had while cultivating in the Dragon Pool.

As Yang Kai had entirely sunk into the ground, not only did he not notice that the Black Ink Clan had set up a Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Grand Array called the Four Gates Eighth Palaces Great Pagoda Array, but the Black Ink Clan who came in to look around for him also wouldn’t be able to find him. 

Time passed by and Yang Kai’s fusion with the Ancestral Land was becoming stronger, like he was about to become one with it. At a certain point, his perspective seemed to entirely change, becoming both ancient and wide.

As his Dragon Vein continued to be refined, he felt a strange power seeping into his body and gradually resonating with the entire Ancestral Land. 

It was the purest form of Time Dao Essence.

The Dragon Clan’s Bloodline Talent was the Dao of Time. If a Dragon Clansman’s bloodline reached a certain level of purity, they would naturally become proficient in the Dao of Time and gain the ability to use Time Principles.

Yang Kai possessing a Dragon Vein might have been a huge factor as to why he could reach such high attainments in the Dao of Time back then.

Now, the Time Dao Essence of this World seemed to have caused some kind of strange change.

Though Yang Kai still retained his consciousness, it had expanded greatly as he felt himself fuse with the Ancestral Land. The sensations of his body faded away, as he then saw a strange phenomenon.

He witnessed several Black Ink Clansmen investigating something in the Ancestral Land before leaving quickly. This wasn’t strange in and of itself, but what was odd was the scenes seemed to be occurring in reverse. Yang Kai even saw some Black Ink Clansmen walking backwards…

Next, he saw a Grand Array, which enveloped the entire Void around the Ancestral Land, disperse before several Black Ink Disciples began running around with a number of Territory Lords seemingly disassembling it. 

Another two Territory Lords suddenly appeared outside of the Ancestral Land, but left after investigating what was inside. Those two Territory Lords seemed like the two he had previously released. 

Yang Kai also saw the Territory Lord he killed revive from the dead. He even witnessed himself withdrawing his finger from that Territory Lord’s forehead before their battle played out in reverse. 

All these scenes rapidly appeared and disappeared, but Yang Kai’s emotions remained as tranquil as an ancient wall. It was like he was a bystander who was observing what had happened in the Ancestral Land. Even watching himself kill that Territory Lord didn’t draw any kind of reaction from him. 

At that moment, Yang Kai suddenly realised that he was going back in time.