Martial Peak

Chapter 5687: Sincere Cooperation

The Four Symbols Formation was powerless to stop Yang Kai’s killing spree, but it would force him to use his bizarre Soul Secret Technique that harmed both himself and others.

Mo Na Ye was not ignorant of this fact, but the Battle Formation that the Territory Lords of the Black Ink Clan could form was limited to this degree, and he couldn’t demand more from them.

However, judging from the current situation, Yang Kai did not want to use his Soul Secret Technique recklessly, probably because he did not want his Soul to be injured. 

So, after coercing the Territory Lords to surrender their resources, he simply withdrew.

Mo Na Ye was correct in his assumption. In Profound Nether Territory, Yang Kai would strike every 2 years, and only with the assistance of many other Eighth-Order Masters and the bulk of the Profound Nether Army could he kill several Innate Territory Lords. At that time, he did it to build up his fearsome reputation and pave the way for subsequent negotiation plans. Therefore, Yang Kai was not reluctant to damage his Soul at that time, and each time he attacked, he showed no mercy!

But the current situation was different as Yang Kai was only plundering some resources. Furthermore, he had to rendezvous with Ou Yang Lie and others every 100 years, so if he used Soul Rending Thorns recklessly and severely injured his own Soul by accident, it would greatly affect his subsequent plans. 

Otherwise, why would he easily spare the lives of those four Innate Territory Lords? Yang Kai also understood that the more Territory Lords he killed, the less pressure the Human Race would face in the future.

The simple reason for all of this was that resources were a more important matter right now.

Killing some Black Ink Clan soldiers didn’t matter much, as the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t care; however, if Yang Kai really killed a lot of Innate Territory Lords, the situation would quickly spiral out of control, forcing the Black Ink Clan’s hand. The issue of resources would also be impossible to resolve once that happened.

At present, everything was done for the sake of resources!

The Black Ink Clan’s response was within Yang Kai’s expectations. The blood feud between the two sides was absolutely irreconcilable, so even if he and Mo Na Ye appeared cordial on the surface, the Black Ink Clan would not simply agree to share half of their resources just because Yang Kai asked.

Therefore, he needed a way to make the Black Ink Clan realise that if they could not meet his demands, the consequences would be unbearable for them. Only then would the Black Ink Clan acquiesce.

Robbing the resource teams returning from the Black Ink Battlefield was the method Yang Kai chose!

If they refused to give him 50%, he would just take everything. Unless the Black Ink Clan did not send teams out to collect resources, they would inevitably face the risk of being robbed. However, if they stopped their mining activities, the Black Ink Clan’s supplies would be greatly affected, which would have a huge impact on their subsequent accumulation of strength as well.

The only thing that slightly surprised Yang Kai was that Mo Na Ye had personally taken action. Was Mo Na Ye not afraid that he would go to the No-Return Pass to destroy those Black Ink Nests now that the defences there were weakened?

In the void, Mo Na Ye sent the four Territory Lords away to continue escorting other supply teams, holding the communication bead in his hand and transmitting his thoughts to it. 

However, every attempt was like a stone sinking into the sea, without any response. This made Mo Na Ye grit his teeth in frustration, thinking Yang Kai, that bastard, probably put the communication bead into his Small Universe, a sign he did not want Mo Na Ye to contact him again!

As time passed, messages from various directions deep within the void arrived one after another. Mo Na Ye rushed to each location, but he was always one step too late. 

Even with the Territory Lords acting as guards, they couldn’t stop Yang Kai’s raids on their resource teams. One after another, the delivery squads were pilfered clean, with only a few lucky ones managing to escape unscathed.

With each secret battle they waged, Mo Na Ye experienced how difficult Yang Kai was to deal with. Yang Kai was proficient in the Dao of Space, and his movements were elusive, often raiding the Black Ink Clan in one area of the void before soon appearing millions of kilometres away…

For 10 whole years, Mo Na did not even catch a glimpse of Yang Kai in person, except for one instance when he felt the fluctuations of Space Principles nearby and rushed to the scene, only to find that Yang Kai had already left.

During these 10 years, less than 100 resource teams managed to return from the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield to the No-Return Pass. 

To exploit resources, the Black Ink Clan dispatched a massive number of teams to the depths of the Black Ink Battlefield on mining missions. The demand for resources was not just a problem for the Human Race, but also for the Black Ink Clan. In some respects, the Black Ink Clan’s demand for resources was even greater than the Human Race’s.

At least 100 teams were expected to return each year, but now, after 10 years, less than 100 had done so, the rest had been looted by Yang Kai. This was not just a loss of 50%, but a staggering 90%. 

While the casualties in each individual raid were not significant, that did not mean they weren’t adding up over time. Additionally, although no Territory Lords died, a number of Feudal Lords were slaughtered and the loss of critical resources was becoming serious.

For 10 years, Mo Na Ye had been searching for Yang Kai’s whereabouts in the void, constantly trying to intercept or contact him, but he had never succeeded. What made him even more frustrated was that Yang Kai showed no intention of going to the No-Return Pass. Originally, in the Royal Lord’s plan, when Mo Na Ye joined the hunt, Yang Kai should be tempted to head to the No-Return Pass and threaten the safety of the Black Ink Nest, thus forcing the Black Ink Clan to agree to his unreasonable demands.

If Yang Kai had done so, the Royal Lord and Meng Que could have had a chance to ambush him. As long as they could entangle him, the Territory Lords could set up the Four Gates Eight Palaces Great Pagoda Array to prevent this killing star from escaping. 

But over the past 10 years, Yang Kai only wandered the void, never coming within 10 million kilometres of the No-Return Pass. This left Mo Na Ye feeling defeated, like he was punching with all his strength only to hit a wad of cotton.

If Yang Kai never went to the No-Return Pass, what was the point of sacrificing a dozen Territory Lords and a High-Rank Black Ink Nest to create Meng Que, the new Pseudo-Royal Lord?

Faced with such a cunning and cautious opponent, who also possessed extraordinary strength and means like Yang Kai, Mo Na Ye felt incredibly frustrated.

Deep within the void, Yang Kai concealed his aura and manipulated Space Principles, almost merging his body with the Void. The Demon Eye of Annihilation penetrated through space as he silently observed the scene a million kilometres away, where a squad transporting goods had just been plundered by him and four Territory Lords forming a Battle Formation were stationed.

Shortly after, Mo Na Ye arrived in a hurry and asked about the situation, his face dark and gloomy.

The same routine, the same result. Yang Kai intimidated the Territory Lord who had the Space Ring with his Soul Secret Technique, forcing him to hand over the goods or he would kill them all. This happened countless times over the past 10 years, and it always succeeded.

It was not that the Territory Lords were cowardly, but they had no choice when facing certain death.

Of course, Mo Na Ye had an idea about how to overcome this dastardly move; he simply had to order the Territory Lords to not comply. If Yang Kai really used his Soul Secret Technique and killed the Territory Lords, he would not be better off. He would have to find a place to heal for the next two or three years.

But this approach was only a temporary solution. Sacrificing Territory Lords would not solve the problem, and when Yang Kai recovered, he would surely come back again.

There were not many Innate Territory Lords in the Black Ink Clan to sacrifice, so it was better to let them use the Source Fusion Technique, at least they could contribute to creating a Pseudo-Royal Lord.

In other words, this ‘solution’ simply wasn’t feasible…

Mo Na Ye felt completely defeated. He was stronger than Yang Kai, and in terms of intelligence and cunning, he was not inferior by much; however, he was still forced to dance to the opponent’s tune as Yang Kai’s Space Secret Techniques were an insurmountable obstacle.

At this moment, Mo Na Ye suddenly brightened up and quickly took out a communication bead. As he felt a slight vibration from this little bead, he almost cried out.

For 10 years, he had been trying to contact Yang Kai but had never received a response. Unexpectedly, today, exactly 10 years later, Yang Kai contacted him.

Mo Na Ye’s Divine Sense surged as he checked the message transmitted through the communication bead. It was a simple message, “Fifty percent!”

Mo Na Ye’s anger rose rapidly, but he forcibly suppressed it and tried to reply calmly, “Sir, Yang, you are too greedy.”

Yang Kai’s response came quickly too, and it made Mo Na Ye feel uncomfortable, “Over the past 10 years, what percent of your mined resources made it back to the No-Return Pass?”

Mo Na Ye roared inside, [Aren’t you the one who knows that best!?]

Less than 100 out of roughly 1,000 teams have returned, so at best a paltry 10%. This had made it so that those currently sourcing for resources outside dared not easily send resources back and could only stay at the mining sites and wait for the No-Return Pass to resolve Yang Kai’s matter before making further arrangements.

“This King does not want to cut off all diplomatic ties. Over the years, I have never laid a hand on any of the Territory Lords, only taking a few meagre resources. I hope that the Black Ink Clan can also understand the greater good and the overall situation. Only through sincere cooperation between the two sides on this matter can there be mutual benefit and mutual gain!”

Looking at the words transmitted through the communication bead, Mo Na Ye’s face twitched uncontrollably. He had interacted with many Humans before, but he had never seen anyone so shameless before.

The resources were gathered by the Black Ink Clan, with the Humans contributing nothing at all. Yang Kai was just going around robbing them, and now he had the audacity to talk about righteousness and sincere cooperation for mutual benefit…

How could Mo Na Ye not understand his intentions? All these grandiose words were just a thinly veiled threat. 

The implicit meaning in his words was that if the Black Ink Clan did not ‘understand the greater good and the overall situation’, he would continue to loot until they capitulated. By then, the losses for the Black Ink Clan would only be more devastating.

Mo Na Ye thought he had understood Humans well enough, but today he realised that his so-called understanding was only scratching the surface.

A Human Race Master with such a formidable reputation could be shameless to this degree, it was truly eye-opening!

Mo Na Ye was so angry that he actually threw his head back and laughed out loud. He wanted to say something cutting, but was afraid of provoking Yang Kai, so he did not know how to respond.

While he was hesitating, Yang Kai sent another message, “Sir Mo Na Ye, this King has already been benevolent towards the Black Ink Clan. Please don’t force my hand. These years, I have never gone to the No-Return Pass. Compared to the High-Rank Black Ink Nests in the No-Return Pass, a few resources are nothing in comparison. You should be able to discern the difference in weight, right?”