Chapter 5254 - 5254 – Only a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys The shock only lasted for a brief moment though as Zhe Chong soon grit his teeth and focused. Since they departed from Great Evolution Pass one month ago, they had gone through a lot of hardships because of the Humans. They would always fall into a trap, after which the Humans would appear out of nowhere and attack them. By the time they managed to reorganise themselves, the Humans would have retreated. The Black Ink Clan had suffered a lot of setbacks, but they had nowhere to vent their anger. There were no traps this time, but the Humans had taken the initiative to come at them. Rather than falling into the Humans’ ambush, the Black Ink Clan Army had actually barged into their hiding place. After all, it wasn’t like 20,000 Humans could encircle and besiege them. Zhe Chong was determined to make the Humans pay the price for what they had done on this day. He thus roared, “Kill!” The moment he gave the order, he felt a ferocious aura locking onto him. He was astounded by the aura that was filled with murderous intent. Both Armies had been fighting against each other for the past 100 years, and the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Division Commanders had gotten into several fights, so they knew a thing or two about each other. Zhe Chong instantly felt a sense of familiarity when the aura locked onto him. If he wasn’t mistaken, it belonged to an extremely powerful Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. It seemed that the other party had realised Zhe Chong was the leader of this Army, so he directly targeted him. Zhe Chong had exchanged moves with this man before, and had no choice but to admit that he was no match for him if they were in a one-on-one fight, so the moment he detected this aura, Zhe Chong promptly retreated. At the same time, the Black Ink Clan soldiers charged forward to protect him. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦 Zhe Chong wasn’t a fool, so he wouldn’t directly clash with the other party at this point. The biggest advantage the Black Ink Clan had was the large number of people they had on their side, so he certainly would make use of it to deal with this opponent. With the help of the soldiers around him, Zhe Chong would be safe for a while. Even if they couldn’t stop this enemy, they would be able to weaken him. By then, Zhe Chong would have a way to deal with this powerful opponent. When he looked up, he indeed saw that there was a man with red hair charging towards him. The person’s World Force had been pushed to the limit, and his entire figure was aflame. Even the space around him warped as he flew forward. Besides this man, there were also other Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters that dashed out from the Humans’ side in a menacing manner, all of them exuding a thick murderous intent with determination written all over their faces. Zhe Chong felt his heart clenching as he wondered what was going on with the Humans today. One of them was covered in a layer of golden blood mist, which was a sign that he was drawing on his vitality to boost his strength beyond its normal limits. One figure was engulfed in brilliant sword light as he shot forward. Another figure appeared to be sauntering casually across the void, but he had already appeared among the Black Ink Clansmen after taking only one step. There was another figure that dashed out with a thin smile on her face as she formed a complex set of hand seals, flower petals swirling around her. ….. There wasn’t any delay at all. The moment the Humans launched an attack, the figures that exuded Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm auras instantly appeared among the Black Ink Clan soldiers. Wherever these figures went, the Black Ink Clan soldiers collapsed. Although there was a massive number of people on their side, they were unable to stop these figures’ rampage. The thousands of Black Ink Clansmen in front of Zhe Chong formed a fairly powerful screen as they included about 20 Feudal Lords. Such a group should supposedly be able to ward off an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master for at least a short time. However, the moment the man with red hair whose figure was burning arrived, these thousands of Black Ink Clansmen were simply unable to stop. The red-haired man didn’t even make a move as just the flames around his figure were enough to destroy any Black Ink Clansmen that got too close. It wasn’t certain what the secret behind these flames were, but the moment any Black Ink Clansmen came into contact with them, they started burning and howling in pain. The next instant, the red-haired man reached Zhe Chong and realization struck him. “Are you insane!?” Zhe Chong exclaimed. This couldn’t be helped, as he finally figured out what was wrong. The red-haired man was burning his own Blood Essence. This was a technique that was unique to Human cultivators and Zhe Chong had heard about it from the Black Ink Disciples before. The Blood Essence of a Human cultivator was precious as it was the foundation of their vitality that had been accumulated over a very long time. No Human would burn their Blood Essence if they had a choice. They would only do so during a life-or-death moment. Even though the cultivator could significantly increase his or her strength for a short time by burning their Blood Essence, the drawbacks of doing so were immense. It was certain that this man would be seriously weakened, and in the worst-case scenario, his foundation would be damaged, causing his cultivation to drop. The battle had just begun, but the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master before his eyes had already started burning his Blood Essence. What else could it be if he wasn’t out of his mind? It was just the beginning of the fight, and this Human wasn’t in any kind of perilous situation, nor was there a benefit he had to obtain at all costs. Zhe Chong couldn’t figure out the reason that compelled this Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to act this way. Despite that, he knew that he had run out of luck. Zhe Chong was already no match for the other party in a one-on-one fight to begin with, and now the latter had increased his strength by burning his Blood Essence, so how was he supposed to ward him off? If this wasn’t the case, the thousands of Black Ink Clansmen Zhe Chong was using as a shield wouldn’t have proven completely useless. The instant Zhe Chong finished speaking, Ou Yang Lie lifted his hand and summoned a delicate-looking sword into his grip. It was hard to imagine that a masculine man like him would be using such a delicate-looking sword, but that was indeed the case. This sword was his Natal Artifact, so he wouldn’t show it to others unless it was necessary to do so. That was because he too felt that this artifact didn’t match his image. It was somewhat of a mismatch for a burly man with flaming red hair like him to hold such a delicate-looking sword. In fact, he hadn’t used this sword for a very long time. The reason he even summoned this sword now was that he had to kill his enemy no matter the cost. Ou Yang Lie was a completely different person when he had a sword in his hand. As he was holding his sword, the aura around him became extremely sharp. His entire figure seemed to have transformed into a sword that was about to be unsheathed. The intimidating Sword Intent caused Zhe Chong to feel a chill running down his spine. The flame around Ou Yang Lie soon engulfed his sword. The next instant, Sword Qi burst forth and engulfed Zhe Chong. The red-haired man didn’t hold back anything as he unleashed a series of fatal attacks in quick succession. Zhe Chong felt his soul leaving his body. He could feel that this Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was set on killing him. This red-haired man had already started burning his Blood Essence the moment he appeared, and he didn’t seem to have the intention of defending himself. It was apparent that he was determined to kill his opponent regardless of the costs. What was the point of him doing this? Zhe Chong had no idea how horrifying an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master who was determined to kill could be in the past, but he knew now. Although Zhe Chong fully pushed his own power, he was still no match for the other party. In just several breaths of time, he fell into a complete disadvantage. Faced with the opponent’s attacks, he could only defend himself in a fluster. Battered, he continuously lured the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master to the surrounding weaker Black Ink Clansmen in the hopes that these soldiers would help him turn things around. Ou Yang Lie followed closely behind him. The flickering sword lights caused Zhe Chong’s black blood to scatter across the void; however, Ou Yang Lie was also impacted by the attacks that were coming at him from all directions. His clothes were dyed red with blood. Just then, a menacing Sword Intent pervaded a particular area of the battlefield. The Sword Intent was unimaginably powerful. As the Sword Intent spread out, a dazzling sword light emerged. The next instant, a person’s voice reverberated across the place, “Butterfly Transformation!” Instantly, the aura of a Territory Lord rose up wildly before fading away forever. Aboard the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, Mi Jing Lun stood on the deck as he watched the sword light that had exploded. It was the strongest sword technique he had ever seen in his life. The sword technique had surpassed the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm and almost reached the threshold of the Ninth-Order. It was a sword technique that an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master had practised for 5,000 years, and the moment it was cast, only a Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could ward it off. It was the most splendid light in the world. Mi Jing Lun bent his back to salute the person. The moment the terrifying sword light exploded, the aura of a Territory Lord disappeared. The next moment, a large number of Black Ink Clansmen lost their lives. Following that, the death of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master was felt. Zhe Chong, who was bombarded with Ou Yang Lie’s attacks, felt his face turning pale in an instant. The Territory Lord who had just lost his life was as powerful as he was. In fact, due to his rather unique constitution, he was even slightly stronger. However, just 10 breaths after the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters had launched their attacks, that Territory Lord had already lost his life. He was probably the first Territory Lord who had lost his life so quickly after the beginning of a battle between the two Races. Zhe Chong wouldn’t even dare to imagine what would have happened to him if he were the one who had to deal with that sword attack. All of a sudden, he realised that the red-haired man before his eyes wasn’t so savage after all. The sword light seemed to be even more oppressive. Following that, it was as if a chain reaction was set off on the battlefield. All sorts of profound and powerful Secret Techniques burst forth. Forget the Black Ink Clan, even the Humans had never seen such a wide display of powerful and abstruse Secret Techniques before. These were the Secret Techniques that one would only use in life-or-death moments, so they wouldn’t easily show them to others. One could take in everything from the Purifying Black Ink Battleship, so Mi Jing Lun could clearly see all the Secret Techniques that exploded on the battlefield. Somewhere on the battlefield, a gigantic blood-coloured flower suddenly blossomed and covered the void. A familiar aura exuded from the blood-coloured flower. It was transformed from the Blood Essence of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. The moment the blood-coloured flower petals closed up, not only did it entrap thousands of Black Ink Clansmen, but also a Territory Lord. When the blood-coloured flower reopened half a cup of tea’s time later, there was no one that was alive inside, only warm corpses lying on the flower’s stamen. In another place on the battlefield, the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master from Bright King Cave Heaven summoned his Divine Manifestation and transformed into a giant. His vitality surged as he rampaged around the battlefield, slaughtering the enemy. On the other hand, Senior Brother Cheng actually spread out his Small Universe and trapped 10,000 Black Ink Clansmen inside of it. As his World Force undulated, he battled a Territory Lord and an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple all on his own. In a different place, Ou Yang Lie was besieged by the Black Ink Clan soldiers, but he was still able to gain the upper hand over the Territory Lord with his flaming sword in hand. With the help of their Warships, the 20,000 soldiers of North-South Army threw all caution to the wind as they attacked the Black Ink Clan soldiers. The auras of powerful Masters swiftly withered in different parts of the battlefield, shining like the most splendid lights in the last moments of their lives. The lights were so dazzling that one present today would never forget this sight for the rest of their life.