Chapter 5167, In Dire Straits Translator: Silavin & Ashish Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys Territory Lord Wu Jiang arrived in an imposing manner. The first thing he encountered was the Ten Facets Formation formed by the ten Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the Water Snake Squad. The destructive energy radiating from the billowing Black Ink Clouds was enough to destroy all obstacles in its way. “Scram!” Wu Jiang was completely focused on killing Xiang Shan and was in no mood to pay attention to others. He wanted to break through the blockade of the Human Squads right away, and as such, in the face of the incoming Water Snake Squad, he promptly channelled his power into his palm and ruthlessly smacked it down. The moment the Water Snake Squad came in contact with Wu Jiang’s attack, the ten Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the Water Snake Squad jolted and their faces went pale as an overwhelming power swept over them. Two or three of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters with the weakest foundation even spat out mouthfuls of blood and could see stars circling before their eyes. Fortunately, everyone had taken a Purifying Black Ink Pill in advance; otherwise, they would have been easily invaded by Black Ink Strength as their Small Universes were in turmoil right now. Once they had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, they would have been in big trouble. But with this exchange, the Water Snake Squad immediately realized the huge gap between them and their opponent. Not every Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master got to fight Territory Lords multiple times in a short span of 100 years like Yang Kai, who even had the unique experience of killing Territory Lords. In their long lengthy career of fighting on the Black Ink Battlefield, their opponents had basically been the Feudal Lords under the Territory Lords. Very few people had the chance and experience of fighting against the Territory Lords. Their lack of experience had caused them to suffer quite a bit. Fortunately, there were more than one Squad. Right behind them were the Wild Boars, who were best at charging in and running amuck, and the agile Breeze Squad. More than a dozen Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters of the two Squads assumed two Battle Formations. When the Water Snake Squad was repelled, the others attacked Wu Jiang from the left and right with the leaders of both Squads taking point. All the Seventh-Order Masters gathered their entire strength and unleashed their strongest Divine Abilities. Immediately after, their fearsome energy left dazzling trails as they slashed towards Wu Jiang from either side like a giant pair of scissors. Wu Jiang was enraged. The Black Ink Clouds started billowing as the might of the Territory Lord was fully displayed. The moment his Divine Ability erupted, the two Squads flanking from both sides momentarily paused before they were pushed away. The next moment, Wu Jiang’s cold snort came from within the Black Ink Cloud, “Know your place!” The moment he finished speaking, Dawn Squad flew straight towards the Black Ink Cloud with Yang Kai leading the way under the cover of the other two Squads. In the Six Paths Formation, Yang Kai held the Core position, and his aura was closely linked with Feng Ying’s and the others’. Owing to the Battle Formation, part of the strength of the rest of his Squad members was added to his. The next moment, Yang Kai felt his strength break through its limits. He already had the Azure Dragon Spear in his hand, which he thrust straight towards the Black Ink Cloud. Immediately after, a crisp sound of metal clashing rang out, accompanied by a muffled grunt. But before Yang Kai could make another attack, a large hand reached out from the Black Ink Cloud, smashing straight down at him. Yang Kai’s pupils contracted as he urged Space Principles, teleporting the entire Six Paths Formation back by a great distance, causing the giant hand to hit nothing. Right then, the Water Snake Squad, which was the first to be repelled, had recovered and made another charge. The Wild Boar Squad and Breeze Squad also attacked from the left and right. Noticing this, Yang Kai led Feng Ying and the others to press the attack. The long spear in his hand left shadows covering the entire sky, enveloping the Black Ink Cloud. The universe trembled and the Void collapsed. The Seventh-Order Masters from the four Special Operations Squads joined together in Battle Formation to fend off the Territory Lord, halting Wu Jiang’s aggressive charge. The Squad Leaders were not surprised by this result. After all, they were not ordinary Squads, but the elite Special Operations Squads of Blue Sky Pass. Each Squad had at least six Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, so with four such Squads cooperating, they had enough to gather more than 30 Seventh-Order Masters! Such a force could easily stop an ordinary Territory Lord even without assuming any Battle Formation, let alone now when they had formed four. Under the combined power of these Battle Formations, the strength each Squad could display surpassed that of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm. Although they still had not crossed the line of the Eighth-Order, they could be considered quasi-Eighth-Order Masters in terms of raw strength. In other words, the power displayed by these four Special Operations Squad Formations was almost equivalent to four quasi-Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters attacking Wu Jiang. If such strength couldn’t stop Wu Jiang, then they wouldn’t deserve to be called Special Operations Squads. Be that as it may, Yang Kai and the others’ actions were accompanied by a great deal of risk, and the slightest mistake could lead to a tragic end. As such, all the members of the four Squads were on edge and didn’t dare to relax. The four Warships could no longer take part in this battle. All the Seventh-Order Masters had gone out to meet the enemy, leaving only the Fifth and Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters behind. If they rashly interfered in a battle of this level, they would only be adding chaos to the battlefield and might even disrupt the rhythm of their Seventh-Order leaders. What’s more, the Warships weren’t as agile, so if they really joined the battlefield, and if the Territory Lord was not able to do anything to Yang Kai and the others, he would surely target them in frustration. As such, the four Warships immediately retreated from the battlefield. Fortunately, they had plenty of other things to do. Many of the Black Ink Clan troops had managed to slip through the net and were now desperately attacking the asteroid in an attempt to break the turtle shell of the Old Turtle Squad. The Old Turtle’s defences were able to fend off their attacks for a time, but it wouldn’t last forever. The arrival of the four Warships had provided timely assistance. When the power of Secret Techniques and offensive Arrays poured out from the Warships, the Black Ink Clan’s cannon fodders were instantly wiped out. On the other side, Wu Jiang furiously roared as he unleashed his Territory Lord strength to its utmost limit. Nonetheless, he was unable to break through the four Squads’ defences no matter how furious he was, which made him even angrier as he felt he had lost all face. He had come to find trouble with Xiang Shan, so how could he be in the mood to waste time with these four Squads? But by the looks of it, if he failed to break through the four Squads’ blockade, he could forget about reaching Xiang Shan. [Humans… are truly hateful. Their individual strength isn’t anything special, but together, they can still unleash much greater power. Fortunately, I didn’t come alone, there is still Hong Hu! As long as I keep these four Squads preoccupied here, Hong Hu will easily succeed.] Although he felt somewhat regretful that he couldn’t personally deal with Xiang Shan, as things had come to this, he was left with no other choice. In this fierce battle, Wu Jiang was facing the four Special Operations Squads’ Battle Formation all alone, but not only was he not at a disadvantage, he even appeared to have the upper hand, a testament to his great strength. In fact, in Blue Sky Theatre, Wu Jiang’s strength was among the top five among all the Territory Lords. Even ordinary Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters might not be able to gain the upper hand in a one-on-one fight against him. His powerful strength had made him arrogant, which was why he had never forgotten the defeat he had tasted at Xiang Shan’s hands three millennia ago, and he had marked Xiang Shan as his lifelong enemy. But what annoyed him the most was that Hong Hu had shown no signs of attacking even after so long. [That cowardly trash!] Wu Jiang cursed in his heart. He knew that Hong Hu had always been skittish. Since he hadn’t taken action until now, he was obviously hiding in the shadows and observing. [If I knew he would act like this, I would have let him fight these Humans instead!] Wu Jiang secretly regretted rushing out in the heat of the moment and not taking these Human Squads seriously, which ultimately put him in this awkward position. After waiting for a while, Wu Jiang couldn’t bear it any longer and angrily roared, “Hong Hu, what are you waiting for!?” Yang Kai and the others, who were attacking Wu Jiang, all went pale when they heard this. Their worst fears had come true; there was not just one Territory Lord here, but two! [Where is he?] In the midst of the fierce battle, Yang Kai spread his Divine Sense to investigate, but it was to no avail. If a Territory Lord wanted to hide himself, it would indeed be difficult for Yang Kai to find him in this chaos. Fortunately, he did not need to investigate for long. After Wu Jiang’s roar, a faint sigh came from somewhere and a figure soon appeared. It was none other than Hong Hu Territory Lord, who had been hiding in the shadows. Hong Hu felt a headache coming on! Among all the Territory Lords, he hated working with Wu Jiang the most because his companion’s recklessness would often lead him into trouble. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice this time, because he and Wu Jiang were the only ones nearby, so he had no choice but to move with him. Originally, he had wanted to observe for a while longer, preferably until Wu Jiang had defeated the four Squads. He would check for other variables before deciding whether to show himself or not, but after Wu Jiang’s shout, no matter how he tried to hide, it would be meaningless. He had no other choice but to show himself. He might have been feeling a little frustrated, but it didn’t affect the overall situation. [Of the five elite Human Squads, one is responsible for guarding Xiang Shan while the other four are keeping Wu Jiang occupied. Even now, there are no Eighth-Order Masters in sight. I guess there really isn’t an ambush here.] [Not to mention, the Eighth-Orders Humans of the forward base had already appeared there.] Nonetheless, he was still curious as to why Xiang Shan would choose to advance in such a place. An old veteran who had lived for countless years could not have lost his sense of vigilance. The place where Hong Hu appeared was not far away from the Breeze Warship. The sudden appearance of a Territory Lord startled the Humans aboard the swift Warship, and the members in charge of controlling it hurriedly activated the various Spirit Arrays to open some distance. Be that as it may, it was too late already. Hong Hu took out a round hammer and swung it down on the Breeze Squad’s Warship. The shadow of a giant hammer almost covered the entire Warship, and immediately after, it struck, instantly breaking through its various defences and smashing the hull to pieces. The attack’s massive force sent the Warship flying out tens of thousands of kilometres. It was unclear how many people aboard lost their lives! Although the defences of the Breeze Squad’s Warship were stronger than those of an ordinary Warship, it was still the worst among the five Special Operations Squads. Their prime focus was speed, so it was naturally difficult for them to block a blow from a Territory Lord. This sight completely shook up the Breeze Squad Leader, Wan Zhen Xin, and his eyes cracked wide open in dismay. He did not care about the Warship one bit as it could be repaired with some Military Merits, but if any of the Warship’s crew was killed, that was a permanent loss. Wan Zheng Xin’s heart bled at the very thought. Be that as it may, he could do nothing regardless of how much he wanted to rescue them. The combined effort of four Special Operations Squads Battle Formations could barely stop Wu Jiang’s advance, so if even one retreated, the remaining three would be no match for the enemy. Once Wu Jiang broke through their blockade, the resulting casualties would be even worse.