Chapter 5250 – Intertwining Branches
Translator: Silavin &Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
This Royal Lord was a decisive person.
He wasn’t lying when he suggested that both of them should not interfere in the battle today. If Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had agreed to it, both of them would have kept their word.
For powerful beings like them, even a simple promise could affect their fates; hence, it wouldn’t do them any good if they broke their word.
However, the moment the Royal Lord was rejected by Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, he directly cast his Secret Technique. It was apparent that he was well prepared from the start.
Just like what he had said, since his suggestion was rejected, there was no choice but to fight.
As the two of clashed, Che Kong and the other Territory Lords felt extremely frustrated, for the same scenario that happened 20 years ago repeated itself.
Back then, the two top Masters clashed with one another among the Black Ink Clan soldiers, causing many deaths and throwing their formation into disarray. As a result, they were at a huge disadvantage when they were forced to deal with the Human Army immediately after.
20 years later, things were playing out exactly the same way.
Fortunately, after the previous experience, the Territory Lords had come up with a plan to deal with this situation.
After ordering their subordinates to back off, the more powerful Black Ink Masters gathered together and charged the Old Ancestor in order to a.s.sist the Royal Lord.
Again, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao cast the Secret Technique that brought forth Yin and Yang from Chaos. The next instant, the void was covered with a giant Yin-Yang Fish.
Even with the help of this Secret Technique though, her momentum still appeared weaker than 20 years ago.
Only a moment had pa.s.sed since the beginning of the battle, but she had already been struck several times and her World Force trembled as a result.
Fortunately, those strikes were from the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, which was still bearable for the Old Ancestor. If she had been struck by the Royal Lord, she would have fallen into a terrible state.
This sight confirmed the Royal Lord’s suspicions. This woman indeed hadn’t recovered; in fact, her injuries had worsened after she repeatedly provoked him.
As a result, she appeared weaker than she was previously.
On the other hand, even though the Royal Lord was also still wounded, he could make use of his Black Ink Nest to strengthen himself as long as he was still close to the Royal City. Moreover, most of the burden had been lifted off his shoulders as he had the help of many Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples.
After exchanging moves for a while, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao concluded that this couldn’t drag on, or her situation would grow increasingly perilous; therefore, she launched a feint before das.h.i.+ng out of the battlefield and heading towards the depths of the void.
The Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples stopped in their tracks, but after hesitating for a moment, the Royal Lord decided to pursue her.
He hesitated to give chase at first because his only real goal was to drive the Old Ancestor away. Since he had achieved this, he could just stay near the Royal City.
However, he knew that if he didn’t keep an eye on that woman, she might launch a sneak attack on his Army.
To be safe, he decided to tie her down. That was because he was certain that if he didn’t do that, this shameless woman would definitely target his subordinates who were guarding the right side of the Royal City.
When that happened, he would still have to confront her, so he figured it was better to just keep an eye on her from the start.
Despite knowing that the Old Ancestor was intentionally trying to lure him away from the Royal City so that he couldn’t derive energy from his Black Ink Nest, the Royal Lord had no other choice but to play along.
In such a situation, he had the confidence to suppress the other party even without his Black Ink Nest’s help; after all, he had the advantage when it came to recuperation.
Nevertheless, he was annoyed by the woman who repeatedly provoked him. He decided that he would teach her a lesson this time even if he had to pay a steep price.
Che Kong let out a breath, for the two menaces had finally left.
With that said, the matter wasn’t over. The Human Army was still closing in on the Royal City. Although there wasn’t any anomaly on the right side of the Royal City, the Black Ink Clan knew that Universe Worlds had to be coming at them based on past experiences.
Therefore, the Black Ink Clansmen on both sides of the Royal City could only reorganise themselves and stay alert.
When the Humans were close enough to the Royal City half a day later, the battle broke out.
The Humans still used the same tactic. With the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters’ protection, the fleet of Wars.h.i.+ps turned into a long Dragon as the Wars.h.i.+ps flew in tight formation. Under Xiang Shan’s leaders.h.i.+p, the Dragon freely flew around the battlefield.
The Black Ink Clan soldiers performed better than the previous time.
Che Kong had a talent for leading an Army, especially when it came to defence. Although the Black Ink Clan had suffered a setback previously, Che Kong racked his brain and finally came up with a way to resolve this tactic.
In fact, he had already thought of this solution before the previous battle ended; however, before he could organize his troops, the Humans had retreated. Despite having a solution, he was unable to destroy the Human Army.
This was a good chance for him. If Che Kong could use this method to destroy the Dragon formed from Wars.h.i.+ps, the Humans would be the ones who suffered a loss this time.
The solution he had come up with exploited the biggest shortcoming of this tactic that the Humans used.
Because the fleet of Wars.h.i.+ps was in such a close formation, all Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had to scatter around the periphery, thus serving as the Scales to provide the best protection.
Since they were scattered around though, they were unable to gather their strength together.
The Black Ink Clan just had to come together and target a particular spot of this Dragon in order to break up this formation. As long as a part of the Dragon was cut off, the fleet of Wars.h.i.+ps would no longer be able to sail smoothly across the battlefield.
Just as the Human Wars.h.i.+ps cut across the battlefield as the Dragon entrapped over 100,000 Black Ink Clansmen and slaughtered them, several Territory Lords and more than 10 Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples secretly moved to one side of the fleet, using thick Black Ink Clouds to cover their tracks.
Soon, the violent attacks from about 20 powerful Masters burst forth in an instant and struck the Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p closest to them.
A clean-cut woman was standing on the deck of the Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p, a razor-sharp sword in her hand. As she wielded her weapon, the Black Ink Clansmen around her were instantly killed.
She was the Great Evolution Western Army’s Second Division Commander Army, Shu Yin.
Despite being a woman, she was just as powerful as any man of the same Order.
The Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples had stealthily approached her s.h.i.+p, and on such a chaotic battlefield, even an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master like Shu Yin was unable to detect them until they attacked.
As she turned her head, she saw the Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering attacks coming right at her.
Generally speaking, an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was more powerful than a Territory Lord, but there wouldn’t be a huge gap between them. At this moment, Shu Yin was faced with the attacks from nearly 20 Masters in the same Realm as her. Although she had the Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p’s protection, she was unable to ward off such an a.s.sault.
The Wars.h.i.+p being destroyed and all the people aboard being killed would be the only outcome possible, unless she immediately escaped. If she disregarded the lives of the Human soldiers aboard the Wars.h.i.+p, she would stand a chance to survive.
A Territory Lord might run away if they found themselves in such a situation, but an Eighth-Order Master would never do that.
With that said, Shu Yin remained unperturbed. Faced with the fatal attacks, she stabbed her sword down and shouted, “Bind!”
However, the sword didn’t penetrate the deck; instead, it had mysteriously disappeared into the Void. As the sword dissipated, a Grand Array suddenly appeared beneath her feet. The Grand Array almost covered the entire deck as its patterns lit up.
At the same time, all Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters aboard the Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+ps around the long Dragon seemed to have detected something and they promptly formed different hand seals as World Forces surged around them.
Grand Arrays with the same patterns as those aboard Shu Yin’s Wars.h.i.+p illuminated these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
All these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters shouted, “Set!”
At that instant, dozens of these Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+ps around the Dragon became linked to one another through a mysterious force.
With a dispa.s.sionate expression, Shu Yin stood at the bow of the Wars.h.i.+p like a flag. Faced with the horrifying attacks from the enemies, she remained calm and collected.
As the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples watched in shock, the attacks, which should have reduced the Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p to dust and torn apart the Human formation, did not yield any meaningful results.
A brilliant light barrier condensed around Shu Yin’s Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p, one that appeared delicate, as though it would be shattered with a single touch; however, the moment the attacks struck the barrier, only a series of ripples were formed while the s.h.i.+eld held strong.
Three breaths of time later, the impact of the attacks dissipated. Shu Yin’s Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+p left along with the Dragon, leaving behind the puzzled Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples as they exchanged glances.
“A Grand Array!” An Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple suddenly said, “They used some kind of Grand Array to synchronize and link all the Wars.h.i.+ps of those Eighth-Order Masters together so they could share the burden of our attacks together.”
Another Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple lamented, “It seems that the Humans have invented some new things over the past 30,000 years.”
Before they were corrupted by Black Ink Strength, they had never heard that the Humans could use such a Grand Array; this was clearly invented after they became Black Ink Disciples.
The defensive strength of this Grand Array was all but impenetrable. Although some 20 Masters had joined forces, they still couldn’t break this s.h.i.+eld. It seemed that only the Royal Lord would be able to achieve that.
The Battalion Cla.s.s Wars.h.i.+ps of those Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters already served as the Dragon Scales of the fleet, capable of fending off most of the Black Ink Clan’s attacks independently. With such a Grand Array connecting them now, their defence had become even st.u.r.dier.
Faced with such a fleet of Wars.h.i.+ps, the Black Ink Clansmen had no idea what they could do.
“Stop dawdling and come up with a solution!” A Territory Lord harshly snapped at them. Although Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples were fairly powerful, they were no different than slaves in front of these Territory Lords.
The Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple who was the first to speak earlier bent his back, “Don’t worry about it, Sir. The more powerful the Array is, the more restrictions it has. If I’m not mistaken, those Eighth-Order Masters are no longer able to easily make a move after activating such a Spirit Array. In other words, they can only defend, but not attack.”
“Are you serious?” The Territory Lord’s eyes brightened when he heard that. In that case, it would be very good news to the Black Ink Clan as a lot of casualties on their side could be avoided. One had to know that those Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could easily kill a ma.s.sive number of Black Ink Clansmen.
As the Territory Lord looked up, he saw that the Eighth-Order Masters were indeed standing on the decks without showing signs of making another move.
He reckoned that the Black Ink Disciple didn’t lie to him. It seemed that the Humans couldn’t have the cake and eat it too, as there was a serious drawback to this new Grand Array.