Chapter 5295, Tempering Translator: Silavin & Raikov Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys Many years ago, some of the Dao Temple’s Elders realized this problem, but there was no suitable way for them to solve it. They could not just pick an excuse for the Dao Temple’s disciples to kill each other, right? Even if there was some tension between the large Sects, they would simply exchange weapons of war for gifts of jade and silk upon the intervention of the Dao Temple’s disciples’ mediation. After all, every Sect now more or less had a few disciples who were cultivating in the Dao Temple. The appearance of the Black Ink Clan might solve that problem. The old Temple Master said thoughtfully, “Do you mean to say that this situation is the Dao Lord’s intention?” The Deacon quickly waved his hands, “A trivial person like me dares not speculate on the Dao Lord’s thoughts. I was just putting it forth as I see it.” The Temple Master pondered for a moment and said nothing more. As the Deacon said, the appearance of the Black Ink Clan in the Void Continent may not be a bad thing. The disciples of the Dao Temple could make use of it to hone themselves in the future. The Deacon who spoke earlier looked left and right before saying, “This is a suitable place to set up a base. If we can build a defence line here, then with the Dao Temple’s disciples as the main force and the major Sects providing auxiliary support, we can stop the spread of the Black Ink Clan and protect the peace of Void Continent’s mortals.” The Temple Master nodded lightly, “Very good!” With the decision made, one of the three men stayed behind to monitor the movements of the Black Ink Clan while the others hurried back to the Dao Temple. Immediately afterwards, the entire Void Dao Temple was mobilized. The Dao Temple’s disciples came from all corners of the Void Continent, so as soon as they were mobilized, the forces of the Sects behind them would also begin to move. In less than a month’s time, a towering fortress was built in the open lands, facing the Black Ink Clan. As if by some divine providence, a large batch of oddly shaped monsters covered in the colour of Black Ink came to attack as soon as construction was complete. The Void Continent’s cultivators had known of the existence of the Black Ink for many years, but this was the first time they had seen them, even though these Black Ink Clansmen were just serfs who were hardly worth mentioning in the outside world. During the battle, the Dao Temple’s disciples charged forward and felled many enemies; however, it was unavoidable for there to be some who were accidentally tainted by Black Ink Strength out of carelessness. Those who were corrupted by Black Ink Strength all lost their wills and began siding with the enemy. At this time, the Dao Lord passed down another decree, granting them the refining techniques for the Purifying Black Ink Pill. It was only by countering the Black Ink Strength with this method that they were able to avert danger. After several victories, the Dao Temple’s disciples wanted to make a counter-attack to cut off the problem at its source, but the Black Ink Strength was so dangerous that it was difficult to progress, thus they were forced to abort their plans to launch a counter-offensive halfway through and retreat to the fortress to gather their strength. Years went by with this pattern continuing. Yang Kai opened his eyes. The situation in his Small Universe had already stabilized, and with the energy supplied by his own Small Universe, the Low-Rank Black Ink Nest was able to produce a steady stream of new Black Ink Clansmen. Once they reached a certain level of strength, they would attack the Human defence line and further hone the Dao Temple’s disciples. These Black Ink Clansmen were not very strong at the moment; after all, their growth period had been too short, so the Dao Temple disciples were enough to deal with them with ease. However, as time passed, stronger and stronger Black Ink Clansmen would begin to appear, so Yang Kai believed that it would become more difficult for them to be dealt with. However, Yang Kai was mainly intending to train his future troops, allowing the Dao Temple’s disciples to familiarize themselves with the special characteristics of the Black Ink Clan early on, so he naturally would not let things get out of hand. So, no matter how the Black Ink Clan grew, there was still a limit. They couldn’t surpass the Dao Temple in strength. Doing so was a great burden to Yang Kai. After all, the power being absorbed by the Black Ink Nest was the World Force of his own Small Universe. Yang Kai had already prepared a large amount of resources for the Black Ink Nest to refine, but soon, he realized that he had been worried for nothing. The Black Ink Nest gave birth to Black Ink Clansmen, and the Dao Temple’s disciples killed them. That in itself was a part of the cycle of life and death, which resulted in a large amount of World Force being produced in his Small Universe. Even though it was not equivalent to the amount being devoured by the Black Ink Nest, it was better than his energy being consumed one-sidedly. Currently, though Yang Kai’s Small Universe had expended a lot, he also received sizable returns. It was not an equal exchange, but it was still much better than what Yang Kai had initially anticipated. By occasionally supplying some resources for the Black Ink Nest to refine and absorb, the loss of World Force in his Small Universe could be disregarded. Yang Kai’s Small Universe right now was more or less like a miniature Black Ink Battlefield. It seemed that since ancient times, Humans had always had an indescribable tacit understanding on how to deal with foreign enemies. He had not given the Dao Temple any detailed instructions on what to do, but the Dao Temple had done exactly what the Humans did on the Black Ink Battlefield. They built a fortress similar to the Great Passes and used it as a shield against enemy invasion. With this large-scale tempering exercise now set up, Yang Kai believed that the next time disciples walked out of his Small Universe, they would carry a different spirit compared to those who came out before. Fighting and killing should become natural to them! It was impossible to avoid death if they joined the Black Ink Battlefield. He was looking forward to it. Over the years, Yang Kai had researched all there was to know about the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest in the possession of the Humans, and also created some Low-Rank sub-nests with its power. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶 Ou Yang Lie sent these sub-nests to Great Evolution Pass while Mi Jing Lun arranged for men to incubate them in different places so that they could test out the intelligence network. The results were a success. The Low-Rank sub-nests were able to communicate with each other easily through the space of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest no matter how far away they were. Whether or not there was a limit to that distance was yet to be determined; however, the closure of the Black Ink Nest Space and the severance between the connection of higher and lower rank Black Ink Nests had already been tested. It was Yang Kai who carried out this research. Since he had been standing inside of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest these past years, testing matters such as these should naturally be left to him. When the Humans connected to the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest’s consciousness via the sub-nests and communicated with each other, Yang Kai discovered that he could sense everything without deliberately looking into it. That was because the space that they were communicating inside of was created by the consciousness of the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest that he was overseeing, so he was aware of everything that happened within it. Yang Kai could even urge the Black Ink Nest’s consciousness to seal off the Black Ink Nest’s space completely. Just like what he encountered back then inside of the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest Space, he could block or sever the connection to any specific Low-Rank sub-nest. The connection could be easily restored if it was merely blocked, but if it was severed completely, then it appeared irreversible. It was equivalent to giving up on the connection between them forever. In Ou Yang Lie’s words, it was like a mother driving out her rebellious son, forbidding him from entering the house ever again. The results of these experiments were very valuable for the Human Race. If Yang Kai had known this information beforehand, he would not have been trapped inside the Black Ink Nest Space for 3 years. However, Yang Kai could not figure out whether the Royal Lord Black Ink Nest had merely blocked off the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest that he was occupying, or if the connection had been severed completely. Naturally, it would be for the best if it were the latter, then the two of them would not have to deal with each other in the future; however, if it were the former, then they would have to be careful. If the Black Ink Clan suddenly restored that connection, then there was a high chance that they would launch an attack and make the Humans overseeing the Black Ink Nests suffer a serious loss. So, if Yang Kai was to oversee the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nest, then he had to be careful and prepared at all times. Great Evolution Pass, Dawn’s courtyard. During Yang Kai’s many years of absence, the courtyard that Dawn had been assigned to had been beautifully tended by the several female members of the Squad and was filled with fragrant flowers. Inside of the courtyard was a small bridge with flowing water underneath it, giving the place an idyllic appearance. At this moment, in the garden, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was lounging lazily on a taishi armchair, sunbathing with narrowed eyes, appearing very comfortable. Meanwhile, Yang Kai stood to the side with a bitter look on his face. He had been ordered to return recently to help out with repairing the Great Pass. The matters regarding the Black Ink Nest had already come to an end and all immediate issues had been worked out. The Black Ink Nest’s capabilities had all been passed on to the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master taking his place in overseeing the Black Ink Nest, and there was nothing that anyone could not be rest assured about with an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master taking on that task. However, Yang Kai reckoned that the ones in charge of overseeing the Black Ink Nest in the future were likely going to do so in rotation. After all, not everyone was like him, able to ignore the encroachment of Black Ink Strength. Even though Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters were stronger than him cultivation-wise, Yang Kai had a unique advantage in being able to resist the corruption of Black Ink Strength. So, the person in charge of overseeing the Black Ink Nest would have to be replaced at regular intervals, and with great frequency at that. With the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters taking over, Yang Kai was also happy to regain his freedom and returned to the Inner Sanctum decisively. These years, he had not been taking part in the rebuilding of Great Evolution Pass since he had been tangled up with matters concerning the Black Ink Nest. When he returned to Great Evolution Pass after more than a decade, he discovered that it had changed completely, The entirety of Great Evolution Pass was filled with a sombre atmosphere, something that was always absent when the Black Ink Clan occupied this place. Great Evolution Pass now finally regained some semblance of how it once was when the Humans controlled it. The Great Passes of the Humans could only bring out their true potential in the hands of Humans. The restoration of Great Evolution Pass was still in progress, and it was impossible for construction to be completed without at least 100 years of effort. After all, there were far too many Spirit Arrays throughout the Great Pass, and many artifacts also needed to be repaired or replaced. In fact, Yang Kai was a little bit confused as to why they were doing this. Currently, the foundation of the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Theatre had been severely damaged. There was simply no way for them to be able to attack the Great Pass again, so what was the difference whether they heavily fortified and armed Great Evolution Pass or not? As things stood, as long as the Humans did not let their guard down, then the Black Ink Clan should never even think about having the chance to retake Great Evolution Pass. Moreover, if he was right, then the Human Race’s crusade should not be too far off. Once the Human Army took the initiative to strike, then what would the various fortifications be used for? However, despite his doubts, the higher-ups surely had their own reasons to do so, and he was not arrogant enough to question them. When he returned to Dawn’s courtyard, all of Dawn’s members happened to be resting. Everyone in Dawn had been busy rebuilding Great Evolution Pass, only receiving some free time during the past two months. However, they would have to start work again after resting for another month. As they chatted, Yang Kai suddenly remembered something and immediately took it out. It was the beef given to him by Wind and Cloud Pass’ Old Ancestor when he went there to test the Space Array and pass on a report. He had originally intended for it to be made into soup to share with the members of Dawn, but he had been busy all this while with the Black Ink Nest without any time to spare, so now was the right opportunity to bring it out.