Chapter 5258, Miserable Royal Lord Translator: Silavin & Jon Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys The Human language was an art. Both Races had been in a confrontation with each other for countless years, and although the Black Ink Clan looked down on Humans, thinking that they should become their subordinates and slaves, they were constantly being influenced by the Human Race. For example, the Humans’ habits and sayings had subtly influenced the Black Ink Clan over the years. The Royal Lord had heard an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple say that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, and ‘there’s always a way out’. At that time, he dismissed it, thinking that it was something only a loser would say, and it was complete nonsense. However, he finally realised that there was some truth in the saying after all. At the most critical moment, some Territory Lords and several tens of thousands of Black Ink Clan soldiers were coming to his rescue. It seemed there was a silver lining for him. Behind him, the Old Ancestor’s attacks became even more aggressive. It was apparent that she had spotted those Black Ink Clansmen as well. She wanted to kill the Royal Lord before they could join together, but she was unlikely to be able to achieve that goal in the time allotted. Still, given the current state of affairs, it was unrealistic to think that these few Black Ink Clansmen could stop the Old Ancestor. Although there were some Territory Lords, 8 Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, and several tens of thousands of Black Ink Clan soldiers, that was not nearly enough to block the Old Ancestor if she was determined to break through their lines. Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, the Royal Lord released his Divine Sense and secretly sent an order to the Territory Lords who were coming towards him. The Territory Lords were startled for a moment before resolve filled their faces. Thick Black Ink Strength started billowing from the Territory Lords’ bodies while the Black Ink Clan soldiers had already done so before the Territory Lords acted. Endless Black Ink Strength formed into a gigantic Black Ink Cloud. As Black Ink Strength rapidly left their bodies, the Territory Lords and their subordinates felt their vitality weakening by the breath. To Black Ink Clan, Black Ink Strength was their foundation, just like what World Force was to Open Heaven Realm Masters. Such a crazy act was no different from an Open Heaven Realm Master shattering their own Small Universe. In the best-case scenario, their cultivation would regress, and in the worst-case scenario, they would directly lose their lives. Usually, no Black Ink Clansmen would be willing to do such a thing; however, since it was the Royal Lord’s order, the Territory Lords could only oblige, not to mention the Black Ink Clansmen below the Territory Lords. The moment the Royal Lord’s order was passed down, the lower-ranking soldiers started wantonly releasing their Black Ink Strength. They were clearly more obedient than the Territory Lords, so they had taken action sooner. On the other hand, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples dashed out of the huge Black Ink Cloud and rushed over to the Royal Lord’s side. Although they were Black Ink Disciples, whose Small Universes had been corrupted by Black Ink Strength, the Black Ink Strength in their bodies was impure; hence, it couldn’t support the Secret Technique that the Royal Lord was about to cast. That was the reason they didn’t have to imitate the Territory Lords. The Royal Lord hoped that these 8 would be able to stall the Old Ancestor at least for a while. At that instant, with the Territory Lords taking the initiative, Black Ink Strength billowed from several tens of thousands of Black Ink Clansmen and formed into a Black Ink Cloud, inside of which more and more of them perished. Meanwhile, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples skirted past the Royal Lord and clashed with the Old Ancestor. If these 8 were ordinary Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, they would have been able to handle an Old Ancestor for a brief moment by joining forces. However, they were just Black Ink Disciples, and even though they were in the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm, they were even weaker than Territory Lords as they had forcibly exceeded their innate limits. It could be said that they were the weakest Eighth-Order Masters possible. Such beings wouldn’t be able to intercept an Old Ancestor even if they joined together. The Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple at the front only managed to wield his sword once before he was beheaded by the Old Ancestor. Blood spurted from his neck, and the headless corpse was blown away by the impact. The attack he had cast only caused a flesh wound on the Old Ancestor’s figure. In order to break through the blockade of these Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples in the shortest time possible, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao focused all her efforts on attacking and didn’t bother defending herself at all. That was because she knew that if the battle dragged on, the Royal Lord might be able to turn things around, and all her previous efforts would all go to waste. She then landed a palm on an Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple, which caused his figure to tremble and his World Force to become a mess. It was obvious that his Small Universe had been struck. The Old Ancestor didn’t even spare him a second glance. As she brushed past him, this Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciple exploded into blood mist. Seeing that, the other Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples turned pale. When they fought with the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters from the East-West Army back then, they already realised that there was a wide gap between their strengths. Although it was a big difference, it wasn’t enough to make them feel despondent. It wasn’t until this moment that they realised they were completely powerless to deal with the Old Ancestor. Nevertheless, as Black Ink Disciples, they could only obey the Royal Lord. Even the Territory Lords were willing to sacrifice themselves to assist the Royal Lord, let alone them. Therefore, after the two Black Ink Disciples were killed, the rest of the Black Ink Disciples didn’t hesitate to activate their powers and spread out their Small Universes to cover the void. Every Small Universe was like a cage, and in order to leave, the Old Ancestor could only shatter these Small Universes. This was the only way they could think of to slow the Old Ancestor down. The moment these Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples spread out their Small Universes, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao, whose expression had always been calm and indifferent, couldn’t help but appear sorrowful and dejected. If there was a chance, she would rather bring these Black Ink Disciples back and dispel the Black Ink Strength from their bodies instead of killing them; however, she knew these Black Ink Disciples could no longer be saved even if they were brought back to the Humans’ side. Without the Black Ink Strength’s support, their Small Universes couldn’t accommodate their cultivation and they would inevitably explode. Perhaps death was the best release for them. A glow radiated around the Old Ancestor’s figure, and her World Force surged madly. She directly broke the first Small Universe that served as the cage, then the second, then the third… When she broke through their blockade, the Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples behind her, who were seated with their legs crossed, had become extremely frail. The illusory phantoms of their Small Universes were broken, and their World Forces were madly escaping from their bodies. Their Small Universes had been shattered by the Old Ancestor. When their World Forces were gone for good, they would lose their lives, unless they had a way to repair their Small Universes before that. Nevertheless, even if they immediately consumed Profound Yin Spirit Fruits, their Small Universes still wouldn’t be fixed. After the Old Ancestor broke through their blockade, the Small Universes of these Black Ink Disciples had become shattered like broken mirrors. The Black Ink Disciples’ efforts were not in vain though. Although they had only managed to stall the Old Ancestor for a few breaths of time, the Royal Lord had used a Secret Technique to swallow the Black Ink Cloud that was formed from the Black Ink Strength of the Territory Lords and Black Ink Clan soldiers. The Royal Lord, who was originally listless and weak, became energetic all of a sudden. However, he had no intention of fighting with Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao. Instead, he put all his renewed strength into escaping towards the Royal City. Although he was now in a better state after consuming so much Black Ink Strength, that was not his own power and was thus somewhat incompatible with him. He wouldn’t have used this Secret Technique if there was any other way around the current crisis. As long as he could return to the Royal City though, he could make use of the Black Ink Nest to repel the Old Ancestor. That was the power he could control as he pleased. The moment Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao broke through the blockade of the several Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, she saw the Royal Lord trying to run away. Certainly, she wouldn’t allow that to happen. On her left palm, Yin and Yang were born, and on her right palm, chaos manifested. As she clasped her hands together, her eyes turned blood red. The next instant, she thrust a single finger at the Royal Lord, who was running away. Although she didn’t seem to have exerted much force with her finger, the Royal Lord was shaken to his core. Without hesitation, he turned around and released all the Black Ink Strength he had just consumed. That Black Ink Strength turned into a violent torrent that struck towards the Old Ancestor. As the brutal forces clashed, the Royal Lord felt a profound power breaking through the Black Ink Strength and piercing his chest, causing black blood to burst from a fresh wound. What terrified him was that there was a strange power festering in his wound that he could not expel. His aura plunged again, and he became even weaker than before. Just as he thought he would lose his life, he lifted his gaze and saw that the Old Ancestor had become far less intimidating. He was elated, thinking that even though the Secret Technique he was struck with was incredibly powerful, it wasn’t easy for the Old Ancestor to use it. Seizing the chance, he promptly escaped. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao froze in the same spot for a moment, then gritted her teeth and continued chasing after him. Behind them, the corpses of the Territory Lords and Black Ink Clan soldiers hovered in the void. Usually, these Territory Lords and several tens of thousands of Black Ink Clan soldiers wouldn’t all pass away. Although they had released their Black Ink Strength for the Royal Lord to consume, some of them would have survived. However, be it the Feudal Lords or even Territory Lords, the Royal Lord did not hesitate to absorb all their Black Ink Strength. As he fully activated his power, he drew out every bit of Black Ink Strength in their bodies. It could be said that these Territory Lords and Black Ink Clan soldiers were killed by the Royal Lord. They had paid a huge price just to give him a chance to flee. Outside the Royal City, the East-West Army and the Black Ink Clan Army were still locked in an intense battle. The Humans had gained the upper hand, so there was no doubt that the Black Ink Clan soldiers were on the losing side. There were two reasons why it turned out this way. Firstly, the Black Ink Clan Army had scattered around. On the left side of the Royal City, they had to intercept the Human soldiers, while some of them had to stay on the right side of the Royal City to deal with the incoming Universe Worlds. Moreover, some Territory Lords had brought a number of Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples and 100,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers to rescue the Royal Lord. For that reason, only 400,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers were fighting the Humans right now. Secondly, the Black Ink Clan’s collective strength had significantly weakened over the years. These 400,000 Black Ink Clan soldiers were not comparable to the ones from Great Evolution Pass that the North-South Army had clashed with. The Black Ink Clansmen in Great Evolution Pass were all elites. However, the ones outside the Royal City were made up of many replacements for those killed in previous battles, so their average power had plunged. Furthermore, there were dozens of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters who took part in this fight, so the Black Ink Clansmen were unable to resist the Humans even though they had the advantage in numbers. In such a situation, something that was terrifying to the Black Ink Clan happened. Their pillar of strength, the Royal Lord, was returning from the void, looking completely bloody and battered. Presently, the Royal Lord was in a miserable condition. Black blood continuously spurted out of the wound on his chest, and while there were originally two wings on his back, only one of them was left now. Forget the Humans, even the Territory Lords had never seen the Royal Lord so feeble before, which went to show that he had suffered a huge loss in his fight against the Old Ancestor. The Royal Lord hadn’t returned to the Royal City, but as soon as he entered the range of his Black Ink Nest, he connected with it and madly drew energy from it. The next instant, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s figure appeared and the two top Masters clashed above the Royal City.