Martial Peak

Chapter 5557: Vanished Into Thin Air

Yang Kai urged his power slightly. Although his World Force which used to flow smoothly felt slightly congested, he had yet to reach his limits. He could probably accommodate a few more people in his Small Universe; thus, he turned to look at the Dawn Squad, “You too. Enter my Small Universe.”

“Yes!” Shen Ao of Dawn quickly received the order; then, the entire Squad plunged into the portal of Yang Kai’s Small Universe.

When all the members of Dawn had entered Yang Kai’s Small Universe, he had the sense that he had almost reached his limits. The strongest indicator was a bloated feeling as though he had eaten too much.

An ordinary person would have trouble moving around if they were bloated. On the other hand, an Open Heaven Realm Master would not only have trouble moving around when bloated, but their ability to exert their full strength would be greatly affected. 

Therefore, most High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters generally would not accept others into their Small Universes unless their safety could be guaranteed. No matter how few they accepted, they were bound to face some degree of impact on their strength, and the more they accommodated, the greater the impact.

If a Territory Lord were to appear right now, Yang Kai would not be able to compete against them. He could barely even exert 20% of his full strength at the moment, but his condition was not too bad. When he turned to look at Feng Ying, he saw that her aura was unstable and her expression twisted constantly. She looked like she could explode at any moment.

Yu Ru Meng’s Squad remained, but Feng Ying or Yang Kai couldn’t accommodate any more people.

At this moment, Yang Kai could only pray that everything would go smoothly; otherwise, he did not know how he could bring so many people out of Acacia Territory.

“Stay close to me!” Yang Kai beckoned to the others. Feng Ying and the last Bi Xi Battleship responded immediately and crowded around him.

Exhaling slowly, Yang Kai activated his strength and connected his mind to the World Tree.

The Void trembled and the entire Great Territory rumbled. A kind of ethereal connection in the distance seemed to appear, it could not seem to condense no matter what. 

Yang Kai’s expression turned ugly as he knew the reason was that he had too many people with him.

The last time he brought Wu Kuang alone to the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, he had not faced any pressure. The difference this time was that he had many Human Race Masters in his Small Universe. Not to mention, he also had an Eighth-Order Master like Feng Ying and 10 others in Yu Ru Meng’s Squad with him. It was not the same situation as before.

“Old Tree, help!” Yang Kai hurriedly shouted. He couldn’t enter the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary with his strength alone, so he could only ask the Old Tree for help.

When the words left his mouth, something that resembled a tree branch came from somewhere unknown and extended towards him across the vague expanse of space. As the tree branch stretched towards his location, Yang Kai was overjoyed, [Old Tree is reliable after all!]

Then, he quickly shouted, “Go!”

Wrapping his power around Feng Ying and Yu Ru Meng’s Squad, he stepped onto the illusory path that had opened before him and vanished into the Void.

By the time he came back to his senses, Yang Kai had already arrived in front of the majestic and enormous World Tree. Unfortunately, the Void trembled violently even though he had the support of the Old Tree. Feng Ying and Yu Ru Meng’s Squad were knocked off balance as a result.

He stood up shakily and turned back to look in the direction he came. The path leading here was becoming insubstantial, and even the tree branch that the World Tree extended earlier was beginning to shatter.

A chill ran through his heart when he realised that the Old Tree probably had to pay a price to support his trip here. The reason he failed to notice in the past was that he had always been travelling alone. Now that he brought so many people along with him, the price was much more noticeable as a result. In other words, the Old Tree probably had to pay some kind of price every time he came here, it had just never mentioned anything to him before.

“Many thanks, Old Tree.” Yang Kai expressed his gratitude.

The Old Tree did not reveal himself and simply waved his branches lightly in response.

“Is this the World Tree!?” Bi Xi’s Soul Clone suddenly exclaimed.

He was the oldest out of everybody else present by a large margin, so he was also the most knowledgeable. It only took him a glance to see through the Old Tree’s true nature. Nevertheless, even he had only heard of the World Tree but had never seen it before. He never imagined that he would see the World Tree today.

Thinking back to Yang Kai’s actions earlier, he quickly grasped the situation. This place was probably the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary that was mentioned in legends.

“This is the World Tree? Why does it look so withered and wilted?” Yu Ru Meng was extremely taken aback.

At present, the World Tree certainly looked rather wilted. The originally lush leaves had withered away, and a feeble aura permeated its surroundings.

Yang Kai sighed and casually explained, “Old Tree’s existence is related to the Universe Worlds in the 3,000 Worlds. If one suffers, all suffer; if one prospers, all prosper. Now that many of the Great Territories have been occupied by the Black Ink Clan, most Universe Worlds have had their Grand Daos collapse and their World Force drained away. It’s only natural that the Old Tree suffered some backlash.”

“Are those World Fruits?” Su Yan suddenly asked, pointing at the few fruits hanging on the tree.

Yang Kai nodded, “En, they are World Fruits. But, we can’t pick any of them. Most of the surviving World Fruits contain Universe Worlds that have been integrated into them. The rest represent the Universe Worlds that we have managed to preserve so far.”

The 3,000 Worlds used to be extremely prosperous, with countless Universe Worlds in the past, but only around 2,000 or so remained now. Each of these Universe Worlds corresponded to one of the World Fruits hanging on the World Tree. When the Grand Dao of a Universe World collapsed, the most obvious sign reflected by the World Tree was the decomposition of its World Fruit.

If Yang Kai had not travelled across so many Great Territories and refined the Universe Worlds there, the World Tree would probably be bare by now. Yang Kai did not know whether the World Tree could survive in such a condition. The highest probability was that the World Tree would survive, but not much vitality would remain.

Yu Ru Meng and the others were amazed. Although they could not understand how they suddenly travelled to this place from Acacia Territory, they did not inquire further into the matter since it was obviously related to Yang Kai.

“All of you should take some time to recuperate. I will lead you out later,” Yang Kai instructed, and then he sat down cross-legged.

Everybody obeyed his command. Taking out some Spirit Pills, they sat beside the World Tree and began to adjust their breathing. Many of them had sustained injuries during the battle earlier, and Yang Kai suffered the most wounds among them.

While these Humans were quietly focusing on their recovery, the Black Ink Clan Army stood guard around the five Territory Gates in Acacia Territory.

The three Territory Lords who escaped from the battle were gathered at one of the Territory Gates. Their leader, Mo Na Ye, was monitoring the depths of the void with a gloomy look in his eyes. That direction was where the Universe Cave Heaven in Acacia Territory was located.

They did not know the outcome of the battle outside the Universe Cave Heaven. Although Mo Na Ye had ordered the Black Ink Clan Army to lock down the Universe Cave Heaven before they departed, they were not there to oversee the situation themselves. No matter how great the numbers of the Black Ink Clan Army were, it would be difficult for them to succeed in the endeavour without the Territory Lords. On the contrary, the situation would improve significantly if they managed to suppress the enemy.

As Mo Na Ye mulled over the issue, a wave of murderous intent surged in his heart and he glared at You Gong who was standing nearby!

This bastard was the first to flee the battle after rushing out of the Universe Cave Heaven. As a result, Mo Na Ye did not dare to stay for long. If You Gong had not fled back then, Mo Na Ye would not have left so quickly either. The three Territory Lords would have stood a chance against the Humans if they cooperated with the Black Ink Clan Army, but this coward chose to flee without any hesitation! Mo Na Ye did not have the confidence to restrain Yang Kai without You Gong, so he could only choose to leave with him.

Seeming to sense Mo Na Ye’s glare, You Gong turned his head away and silently cursed in his heart, [Bastard Mo Na Ye! He refuses to take action for fear of danger, but has no problems sending others to die in his place!]

The other Territory Lords had not experienced the horror of Yang Kai from up close, but he had. It was fortunate that he had wisely chosen to make that female Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master his opponent and avoided fighting Yang Kai; otherwise, he would not be alive right now! After all, wasn’t that other fool dead?

As for Mo Na Ye’s dissatisfaction with him, he couldn’t care less. They were all Territory Lords, so even if Mo Na Ye was unhappy with him, what could the other party do to him?

All of a sudden, he sensed something. He raised his head and stared into the distance with a sigh, “The battle has probably ended.”

Similarly, Mo Na Ye and the other Territory Lords had noticed the situation. Many Black Ink Clansmen were fleeing towards them in a panic, as though an ominous beast was chasing them from behind.

[We lost!] Mo Na Ye sighed and closed his eyes. The Black Ink Clan Army of one million had failed to stop the Humans from escaping. Who knows how many losses they sustained in this battle?

Not long afterwards, Mo Na Ye learned the specifics of the situation from the fleeing Black Ink Clansmen.

The Black Ink Clan had indeed lost the battle. Without the support of the Territory Lords, the Black Ink Clan Army had fallen apart like loose sand. It only took several attempts for the Human Race Masters to break their formation. Moreover, nobody knew which direction the Humans had fled.

Mo Na Ye then quickly relayed a command to each Territory Gate, ordering the troops to keep a strict watch for any movement by the Human Race Masters. Although the Humans had broken out of the Universe Cave Heaven, the Black Ink Clan was not without a chance of success.

There were over 700,000 troops standing guard at each Territory Gate, so no matter where the Humans tried to attack, there was bound to be a large battle. The Black Ink Clan Army guarding the targeted gate would only need to buy some time for the rest of the Black Ink Clan Army in Acacia Territory to arrive and overwhelm the enemy. With several million soldiers and three Territory Lords, there was still a chance to prevent the Humans from escaping.

However, what puzzled Mo Na Ye was that the situation at each Territory Gate remained peaceful and quiet even though more than 10 days passed. There was no movement from the Human Race Masters at all.

After some time, more Territory Lords arrived from various Great Territories to provide support, allowing Mo Na Ye to finally feel at ease. It was not until a total of nine Territory Lords had gathered here that he finally relayed a new command. The Territory Lords would split into groups of three, and each group would lead a portion of the Black Ink Clan Army to search for the whereabouts of the Human Race Masters in Acacia Territory.

The Humans could not have left Acacia Territory through the Territory Gates, so they must have been hiding somewhere and recovering from their wounds. In that case, it was only a matter of time before they were found. 

Contrary to Mo Na Ye’s expectations though, the search lasted for half a year, but revealed nothing. The Humans… seemed to have vanished into thin air!

Inside the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, Yang Kai stood up after several days of rest and said goodbye to the Old Tree. The Old Tree simply waved his branches lightly in response, not even bothering to reveal his face. The effort to help Yang Kai previously must have placed a huge burden on him.

Yang Kai secretly vowed that he would not allow the Old Tree to help him like this again. Although the Old Tree was the manifestation of the 3,000 Worlds, his existence was integrated with all the Universe Worlds in every Great Territory. If the Old Tree exhausted too much energy, it would be harmful to the heritage of each Great Territory in the future.

When Yang Kai arrived, he needed the Old Tree to help him; fortunately, there was no need for that during his return.

Back then, Yang Kai managed to transfer 100 Divine Spirits to the vicinity of the Star Boundary with ease, so naturally, he did not require much effort this time either.

Activating his strength, he wrapped his power around everybody and connected his mind to the Star Boundary. It did not take long for him to locate the World Fruit on the World Tree that corresponded to the Star Boundary as that one was larger and more robust than the others.

In the next moment, Yang Kai charged towards the World Fruit. The World Tree rapidly enlarged in his vision, as though an entire universe was rushing straight at him. The Void turned upside down and space became hazy. Then, they suddenly appeared in the periphery of the Star Boundary.

Even though Yang Kai was in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, he couldn’t help feeling slightly overwhelmed when he felt this familiar aura. He was home! After several thousand years, he was finally home!