Chapter 5173, Hong Hu’s Misery Translator: Silavin & Ashish Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys On top of that, the total amount of Military Merits he had didn’t decrease much as before Yang Kai left, Myriad Demons Heaven’s Old Ancestor asked him to find and open the portals of the hidden Universe Paradises and Universe Cave Heavens around the Pass. Obviously, the Old Ancestor had heard about how Blue Sky Pass wiped out the Black Ink Clan Army and killed some 30 Territory Lords in the process. He was eager to follow suit. Be that as it may, the success of this plan would depend on how vigilant the Black Ink Clan was. Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t refuse such a request. Although it took him over a year, as long it helped the Humans kill more enemies, he considered it time well spent. In general, Yang Kai’s cultivation was much easier than others’. He could spend less time on it, but still achieve far more than anyone else. This was his greatest advantage. Yang Kai’s cultivation was most frequently interrupted to assist Grandmaster Ma Fan in further refining the Evil Purging Divine Spear and performing some experiments on the captured Territory Lord. Hong Hu, who had previously been captured by Ding Yao and the others, was now imprisoned in a secret underground room at the forward base. This secret room was filled with all kinds of Arrays and restrictions, so even a Territory Lord like Hong Hu couldn’t break out. The Territory Lord was not experimented upon as frequently as the Feudal Lords who came before him, but tests were still run every three to five years. Yang Kai was not required to do much, just pour Purifying Light into the Evil Purging Divine Spear refined by the Grandmaster Ma Fan. As for the rest, he didn’t need to worry about it. Naturally, Grandmaster Ma Fan and the other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Masters would conduct the actual experiments. The research of the Evil Purging Divine Spear took Grandmaster Ma Fan a great deal of effort and time, and the progress was slow. Over the past two centuries, the general shape of the Evil Purging Divine Spear remained almost unchanged, but Yang Kai could feel that each time Grandmaster Ma Fan refined the Evil Purging Divine Spear, it would be different from before. The results of these experiments were sometimes good, sometimes bad. The reason why they had to run tests once every three to five years was not because of some problem on the Human Race side, but rather because of Hong Hu. Every time they experimented on him, the Evil Purging Divine Spear would be stabbed into him and the Purifying Light would be instantly released, injuring him. Even though he was a Territory Lord, it would still take him three to five years to recover. Only after he had fully recovered would they be able to conduct the next experiment. This was a test of patience. Fortunately, whether it was Grandmaster Ma Fan or the other Eighth-Order Masters, none of them lacked patience. As for Hong Hu, who had been captured alive, he had spent two centuries of imprisonment in this hellish torture. Compared to Wu Jiang, who had fallen in the last battle, Hong Hu once felt that his luck was quite good. The Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters did not want to kill him and instead focused on capturing him alive from the very beginning. Otherwise, the one who had died that day would not have been Wu Jiang, but him. He believed that the Eighth-Order Humans didn’t have a specific goal, but randomly chose one between Wu Jiang and him. For any sentient being, survival was a basic instinct; only if one was alive could there be hope. However, after two centuries of imprisonment and torture, Hong Hu finally realized that sometimes, it was better to be dead than alive. A life worse than death was the best description of his current situation. As a Territory Lord, his strength and willpower were naturally second to none, but every time an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master stabbed that damnable spear into his body and that dazzling white light erupted, Hong Hu felt like he was being boiled alive. He didn’t know what kind of Secret Technique this light was, but he knew that it contained a kind of power that perfectly countered Black Ink Strength. His Black Ink Strength rapidly melted under this power. This was simply the nemesis of Black Ink Strength, the natural enemy of the entire Black Ink Clan. The fact that the Human Race had actually mastered this kind of Secret Technique caused Hong Hu to greatly panic. In fact, when he first saw this dazzling white light, Hong Hu remembered a certain event. Three centuries prior, when the Black Ink Clan Army attacked Blue Sky Pass, there was a moment when a similar dazzling light erupted at a certain spot on the battlefield. At that time, Hong Hu was quite far away from that location, so he was not able to see it clearly and only caught a glimpse of that pure light before it faded away. It was not long after that the aura of a Territory Lord was extinguished. At that time, the Territory Lord had been fighting Zhong Liang, so Hong Hu subconsciously thought that Zhong Liang had used some kind of Secret Technique. Although he didn’t see it clearly, the white light gave him a very dangerous feeling. After that, Hong Hu paid close attention to the battlefield, but he never sensed any signs of that Secret Technique being used again. After discussing it with the other Territory Lords, all of those who had sensed the white light felt the same sense of unease. The Territory Lords secretly paid attention to this and tried to find out the mysteries of this white light to no avail. Furthermore, that white light never appeared again after that incident. So, the Black Ink Clan gradually forgot about it. Only after Hong Hu was captured did he personally witness how this white light came into being and he finally understood that this Secret Technique had always been in the hands of the Humans. It was only that after the first time, it had never been used on the battlefield again. It was a power that could suppress Black Ink Strength, but the Human Race had not used it. What this meant was already self-evident, and coupled with the hellish experiments the Humans had been conducting on him over the years, how could Hong Hu not understand the intentions of the Humans? This Secret Technique had great limitations. Probably, only very few Humans could Master it, so it was impossible to disseminate it broadly. That was why the Humans wanted to refine this spear, so they could distribute this Secret Technique in the form of an artifact. Once the Humans succeeded, the defenceless Black Ink Clan would face a huge disaster, and the first to bear the brunt of this crisis would undoubtedly be the Territory Lords. Because the Humans were experimenting on a Territory Lord like him, they were definitely targeting the Territory Lords. Once too many Territory Lords died, the foundation of the Black Ink Clan would be shaken and the entire race would be in danger. Hong Hu wanted to spread this news, but how could he do that? Right now, all he could do was endure the torment and torture. Since even someone from the Black Ink Clan could realize this, how could Yang Kai fail to notice it? The Evil Purging Divine Spear affected a lot of things, so before it was distributed everywhere and to everyone, the secret of the Purifying Light must not be exposed; otherwise, it would make the Black Ink Clan vigilant, making it difficult to get achieve the maximum effect. That was why Yang Kai held himself back from using Purifying Light when he was facing Hong Hu that day. Three centuries ago, when he, Feng Ying, and the others returned to Blue Sky Pass, Yang Kai had used Purifying Light amidst the Black Ink Clan Army. It could even be said that it was an accident. Although this event had made the Black Ink Clan somewhat vigilant, they did not take it too seriously. Every once in a while, they would encounter some methods of the Human Race that they did not know about, but if it was essentially a one-off, it wouldn’t arouse much suspicion. However, if Purifying Light appeared again and again, the Black Ink Clan would definitely take precautions. After two centuries and dozens of experiments and improvements, the development of the Evil Purging Divine Spear finally reached its final stage. Today, Yang Kai was awakened from his cultivation and followed Zhong Liang and Grandmaster Ma Fan into the underground chamber. Hearing footsteps, Hong Hu, who had been resting in the secret room, opened his eyes. When he saw the three of them arrive, a trace of pain and helplessness flashed across his eyes. For the past two centuries, every time these three came together, they would torment him to the point where he was unable to resist. After having gone through these Hellish experiments a couple dozen times already, Hong Hu had become a little numb to the whole ordeal. So, when he saw these three arrive again, he understood what he would be going through once more. Under his cold gaze, Grandmaster Ma Fan took out the reforged Evil Purging Divine Spear from his Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai. Yang Kai reached out and took it. He carefully examined it before raising his brow, “It’s a finger length shorter than last time, and it seems the materials are also different.” Grandmaster Ma Fans explained with a nod, “I have made some changes. In the past, the refinement of the Evil Purging Divine Spear required quite a lot of skill and rare materials. This time, the skill required to refine it has been lowered and the materials used have also been reduced.” This was going to be mass-produced, so the requirements for Artifact Refining skills and materials had to be reduced as much as possible. For example, the previous Evil Purging Divine Spear that had been refined by Grandmaster Ma Fan was powerful and sufficient for battle, but only Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters could refine it, which hindered its production on a large scale. Things that couldn’t be supplied in large quantities couldn’t play much role in a war waged by millions upon millions of people. At most, they could only be used by elite soldiers in individual duels. On top of that, they also had to consider the consumption of materials. In short, the easier and cheaper to refine, the better. Currently, the Evil Purging Divine Spear’s research was no longer conducted by Grandmaster Ma Fan alone, but rather led by him and included Dong Guo An Ping and another Artifact Refining Great Grandmaster. The Evil Purging Divine Spear was the result of their brainstorming. The three Artifact Refining Great Grandmasters were extremely concerned about it and spent basically all of their time, when they were not refining Warships, on it. Now was the time to verify the results. Yang Kai cast Purifying Light and enveloped the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his grip. Under the effect of the arrays engraved in the artifact, the Purifying Light flowed into the spear like water and was quickly sealed inside. Yang Kai took a look at the Evil Purging Divine Spear in his hand before turning to Zhong Liang, “Shall we start?” Zhong Liang nodded his agreement, “En, let’s begin.” Saying so, Zhong Liang quickly formed a set of hand seals as the faint buzzing of Spirit Arrays echoed across the room. The next moment, Hong Hu, who was imprisoned and unable to move, regained his freedom and quickly retreated several dozen meters, glaring at Yang Kai with a look of rage on his face. He knew that the thing in this Human kid’s hand was about to attack him. If he couldn’t avoid it, another round of torture would follow. Even if he managed to avoid it, it would keep coming at him until he couldn’t avoid it. Nonetheless, he still struggled. He had never thought about escaping from this place. Facing two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, one of them being Zhong Liang, he was obviously outmatched. Furthermore, there were all kinds of Spirit Arrays surrounding this place. Unless he broke these Spirit Arrays, he would never be able to escape from here. Just as Hong Hu was preparing himself, Yang Kai poured World Force into the Evil Purging Divine Spear. Which instantly started vibrating lightly before shooting straight towards Hong Hu, leaving a streak of light in its wake. The reason why Yang Kai was the one doing the experiment was because his cultivation was just right. If Zhong Liang had personally taken action in this sealed environment, Hong Hu wouldn’t have been able to avoid this attack no matter what and there would have been no point in experimenting. On the battlefield, one had to consider the unexpected situation where a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would run into a Territory Lord. The results of this experiment would determine whether or not the Evil Purging Divine Spear could guarantee the lives of the Seventh-Order Masters under such dire circumstances.