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MARTIAL PEAK 5160

In the matters of cultivation, one's self was the most important. Since Feng Ying was so calculative, Yang Kai naturally wouldn't say anything more.

In the following days, the Dawn Squad obediently carried out hunting missions in this designated area. According to the rules of the past, such missions would take at least half a year.

Two months later, Breaking Dawn flew through the void.

Yang Kai stood on the deck and used his Divine Sense to search for the enemy, but Feng Ying suddenly walked over and said, "Team Leader, something is wrong."

"You also felt it," Yang Kai turned to look at her.

Feng Ying said, "It's obvious that this region has never been explored before. The Black Ink Clan is active here frequently, if our Dawn is the vanguard, it's understandable for us to have a better understanding of the Black Ink Clan's strength, but right now, besides Dawn, Old Turtle, Breeze, and Wild Boar are all here. Of the five elite squads, only the Water Snake team is not visible, but although we haven't encountered them, it's very likely that they're also here. Why would the Regiment Commander place so many elite squads here?"

Over the past two months, Dawn had been hunting everywhere, so naturally they had some dealings with the other teams that were carrying out missions in this region. As Feng Ying had said, of the five elite teams of Blue Sky Pass, besides the Water Snake team, the other three had all appeared.

This was obviously not normal.

It wasn't just the Dawn squad who had noticed this, but the other small teams also had similar thoughts.

Yang Kai frowned slightly and thought for a moment before replying, "Since the Regiment Commander has made such an arrangement, there must be a deeper meaning behind it. Perhaps he didn't say anything, but it's also possible that we're overthinking things. It's because we've never been to this place before that we need elite squads to investigate the situation. If we let ordinary squads come, they may not be able to protect themselves."

"Even so, it's still quite abnormal," Feng Ying slowly shook her head.

Yang Kai smiled and said, "No matter what, carrying out the mission is more important. As for the rest, we'll act according to the situation."

As they were speaking, a faint aura suddenly appeared from the depths of the void. This aura was extremely strange and although it was weak, it was clearly visible.

Yang Kai and Feng Ying immediately turned to look in that direction.

However, this aura came and disappeared extremely quickly, disappearing without a trace before the two of them could perceive anything.

Yang Kai and Feng Ying looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes, but after waiting for a long time, nothing happened.

Just as the two of them calmed down, the strange aura once again appeared, this time even more obvious than before.

Yang Kai's expression changed, "Someone is being promoted?"

Feng Ying nodded solemnly, "It seems so."

Yang Kai immediately cursed, "Who dares to try and break through here? Don't they know to return to the Outpost's main camp?"

Although he said so, he also knew that if a cultivator really reached the threshold of breaking through, they might not have the time to find a suitable place to do so. For many years, there had been many who had broken through on the battlefield. This was not intentional, but in a life or death battle with the Black Ink Clan, it was easy to break through one's shackles and realize the internal Qi that was normally difficult to perceive.

Although he could use the Universe Escape Law to instantly return to the outpost, if he did so, it was highly likely that he would disrupt or even interrupt the internal Qi he had comprehended, which would be detrimental to his next breakthrough.

However, promoting in this region was simply too reckless. This place was too deep, and the Black Ink Clan often moved about. If someone were to disturb them while they were advancing, the consequences would be unimaginable.

At the very least, if Yang Kai were to choose, he would definitely not be promoted here and would have to return to the Outpost.

However, there were always exceptions. Although he was annoyed, Yang Kai could only use Breaking Dawn to rush towards the source of the aura.

If they could sense the aura of this breakthrough, the Black Ink Clan, which was active in this region, would certainly be able to sense it as well. In other words, this aura was as conspicuous as a lighthouse in the dark night, so the Black Ink Clan would definitely not miss this great opportunity.

Along the way, the aura fluctuations became more frequent, becoming more obvious. Obviously, it had reached a point where it could no longer be suppressed.

However, the members of the Dawn Squad felt something different.

On the deck, Yang Kai's face sank.

Shen Ao was bewildered, "The intensity of this aura doesn't seem like it's breaking through to the Seventh Order, but rather…"

He didn't dare to say the rest of his words, mainly because it was too outrageous, but everyone knew that there was no such strong aura when one broke through to the Seventh Order. This is a Seventh Order Open Heaven promotion to Eighth Order!

"Who is it?" Yang Kai turned to look at Feng Ying.

In the Dawn Squad, in terms of qualifications, Feng Ying was the top. Needless to say, Yang Kai had only been in Blue Sky Pass for a little more than a hundred years, and the other Seventh Order masters he had brought back from the Black Black Ink Clan's hinterlands. Only Feng Ying had always lived in Blue Sky Pass and had a deep understanding of the people inside.

Although there were many Seventh Order Open Heaven and there were many who were qualified to advance to the Eighth Order, there were only a few who were truly stuck at the threshold. Feng Ying should know all of them, after all, she was one of them, so she often interacted with others.

"This seems to be Martial Uncle Xiang Shan's aura!" Feng Ying frowned slightly.

"Xiang Shan?" Yang Kai remembered this name, "The one who fell from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order because he cut off his Small Universe foundation?"

Feng Ying nodded, "Yes."

"How could it be him!?" Yang Kai was confused.

The name Xiang Shan was something Yang Kai had heard Feng Ying mention during a casual conversation.

Before Yang Kai came to Blue Sky Pass, the erosion of Ink Force was extremely harmful to the Human Race's soldiers, but this kind of harm was limited to Sixth Order and Seventh Order. If an Eighth Order Open Heaven Stage cultivator's strength was great and their Small Universe was stable, as long as one was careful enough, there was no risk of being corroded by the Ink Force.

However, in the Ink Battlefield, the Human Race had resisted the Black Ink Clan for so many years, so there were always accidents like this. An Eighth Order being eroded by the Ink Force would also occur, but it was only a few times.

Xiang Shan was one of them. He was originally an Eighth Order Open Heaven Stage cultivator, but when he was fighting with the Black Ink Clan's Territory Lord, he was ambushed by another nearby Territory Lord and suffered heavy injuries. Although he had relied on his powerful strength to escape, his Small Universe had been corroded by the Ink Force.

In that battle, he had cut off his Small Universe five times, causing his rank to drop from the Eighth Order to the Seventh Order.

In fact, cutting off the Small Universe's territory didn't necessarily mean that it would fall in rank. Yang Kai had once cut off his Small Universe's territory because of the World Spring, he had lost a portion of the Small Universe's territory and his strength had fallen, but he hadn't fallen in rank.

Most people wouldn't have such a situation, but if it were to be cut off too frequently in a short period of time, a drop in rank was inevitable.

Falling in rank was very troublesome. Even with the Profound Female Spirit Fruit repairing the Small Universe and reconstructing his foundation, the fall in rank could not be made back. He would need to cultivate again and find a chance to break through.

Although there was no data on the surface, according to the performance of the soldiers in the pass over the past few years, it was far more difficult for a cultivator to break through to the next level because they had been forced to part with their Small Universe. Only two or three out of ten people had successfully broken through. If not for this, with the supply of Blue Sky Pass's Profound Female Spirit Fruit, there wouldn't have been so many Fifth Order in the pass, and all of them would have returned to the Sixth Order Open Heaven Stage.

Xiang Shan's fall in rank was nearly three thousand years ago. After that, although he had used the Profound Female Spirit Fruit to repair his damaged Small Universe, his strength had remained at the Seventh Order.

Three thousand years ago, Feng Ying had just arrived at the Ink Battlefield. Although he had some understanding of Xiang Shan's situation, she wasn't very clear about it, and the soldiers in the pass wouldn't recklessly discuss such matters, so no one knew exactly what had happened back then.

However, Xiang Shan was an extremely special existence in Blue Sky Pass because he did not belong to any small team. Even when he fought with the Black Ink Clan's army, he fought alone.

Although his current cultivation was only at the Seventh Order, he had the foundation of an Eighth Order Open Heaven Stage, so he was often able to display abilities far beyond the Seventh Order. To a certain extent, he was almost on par with Yang Kai.

"Are you sure it's him?" Yang Kai asked.

Feng Ying nodded, "Martial Uncle Xiang Shan also came from the Blue Sky Paradise. When I first came to the Ink Battlefield, I received some guidance from Martial Uncle. Although I rarely interacted with him these past few years, I can't forget his aura."

It wasn't that Feng Ying didn't want to interact with him, it was just that Xiang Shan's personality was aloof and he had a strange temperament. He always fight alone, and he would often go into seclusion to cultivate in his free time, a rare sight even for Feng Ying.

"In fact, when I came to Blue Sky Pass, the Western Army Regiment Commander was Martial Uncle Xiang Shan. After his cultivation fell greatly, Martial Uncle Zhong Liang took over the position of Regiment Commander," Feng Ying added.

At the moment, Yang Kai didn't really care about the matter of the Western Army's Regiment Commander. He had thought that some Sixth Order is promoting to the Seventh Order, but now it seemed that it was the Seventh Order promoting to Eighth Order. What should he do?

No matter what reason Xiang Shan had for staying in this region to break through, this violent aura could not be concealed and would definitely attract the attention of countless Black Ink Clan members.

Just like how the Territory Lord was the mainstay of the Black Ink Clan, the Eighth Order Open Heaven was also the mainstay of the Human Race. Now that the number of Eighth Order and Territory Lord in Blue Sky War Zone had already lost its balance, how could the Black Ink Clan just watch as another Eighth Order human appeared?

Even if he think with his toes, Yang Kai also knew that it wouldn't be long before a large number of Black Ink Clans would be attracted here, perhaps even some Territory Lord.

Pondering for a moment, Yang Kai turned around and said, "Senior Brother Qi, I'll have to trouble you to return to the Outpost and report this matter to the two Regiment Commanders so they can quickly send reinforcements."

Qi Taichu also understood the severity of the situation and immediately nodded, "Yes!"

In a flash, he appeared outside Breaking Dawn and used the Universe Escape Law to return to the outpost's main camp.

Yang Kai then turned to the other members and said, "There may be a fierce battle coming up, so all of you should quickly rest. Perhaps you won't have the time to rest later."

Everyone agreed.

Breaking Dawn continued forward, but Yang Kai still felt uneasy.

Although he had asked Qi Taichu to return to the Outpost to report and ask for reinforcements, Qi Taichu could use Breaking Dawn's Universe Formation to directly return, but the reinforcements couldn't. Even if there were Eighth Order reinforcements, it would take at least ten days to arrive.

TO BE CONTINUED..