Chapter 5386, Bad News, Good News Translator: Silavin & VictorN Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys They could also perceive that the World Force within Yang Kai’s Small Universe was extremely refined, unlike what ordinary Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters could have. This was probably the effect of the World Tree clone, which was able to purify World Force. This was also one of the reasons why Yang Kai’s Small Universe was different from the other Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in terms of weight. It also allowed him to showcase power that should not be seen in his cultivation realm The purer and denser one’s World Force was, the more power they could exert. Although there was some envy, no one felt sore about it. The World Tree clone was very beneficial, but it was only the most effective in Yang Kai’s Small Universe. Even if an Eighth-Order Master obtained it, it would only enhance their own strength. Unlike Yang Kai, whose Small Universe had time flowing at a different rate compared to the outside world, and could amplify the World Tree clone’s effectiveness to its limits. Although Eighth-Order and Ninth-Order Masters were the main forces of the Human Race today, Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters such as Yang Kai were the hope for the Human Race’s future. That was why when Yang Kai obtained the World Tree clone in the Blue Sky Theatre, Ding Yao and others did not take it, but rather, allowed him to keep it. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao still looked pale. Her injuries were so severe that even though she had the Soul Warming Lotus and was using Yang Kai’s Small Universe to recuperate, the wounds did not heal so easily. However, her condition was much better compared to when she just returned from the Black Ink Nest Space. At this moment, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was telling Xiang Shan and the others about what happened in Black Ink Nest Space. The four Army Commanders all listened solemnly. Although a lot of information had arrived from other Great Passes already, it was far less detailed than what Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was telling them. 22 Old Ancestors collaborated to probe the Black Ink Nest Space, but they were ambushed by 50 Royal Lords as soon as they entered. The ensuing battle was so intense that neither the Old Ancestors nor the Royal Lords could hold anything back. In the end, the Old Ancestors managed to kill 4 Royal Lords while 2 of their own sacrificed themselves to allow the rest to escape! In just a few dozen breaths of time, 6 top Masters from the two Races perished. “When the Human Race intentionally did not destroy those 22 High-Rank Black Ink Nests, the Black Ink Clan must have guessed our intentions to enter the Black Ink Nest Space to pry for information. Thus, they gathered a number of Royal Lords in advance for the ambush,” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said softly. Xiang Shan frowned and said, “The battle reports from earlier indicated that the Royal Lord that used to be at the Yin-Yang Theatre was among those who escaped. Did Old Ancestor feel her aura in the Black Ink Nest Space?” Now, no one knew where they were hiding. Yin-Yang Pass was originally the place where Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was assigned and she had fought with that Royal Lord for tens of thousands of years, so they could not be more familiar with one another. However, later when the Southern Army Commander of Yin-Yang Pass, Wu Qing, broke through and reached the Ninth-Order, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was given the mission of re-taking Great Evolution Pass. Now, Wu Qing was at Yin-Yang Pass, serving as its Old Ancestor. Wu Qing had just advanced to the Ninth-Order, so compared to the rest of the Old Ancestors, he was not very strong. Although he was unable to kill the old Royal Lord when they fought at the Yin-Yang Theatre, the Royal Lord found herself outmatched when Wu Qing was joined by several Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters; thus, she eventually fled into the void, her whereabouts now unknown. The reason why Xiang Shan asked this question was because he suspected that the Royal Lords who ambushed the Humans in the Black Ink Nest Space were not the ones who escaped from the other Theatres. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and replied, “I didn’t feel her aura.” Xiang Shan frowned and replied, “Then the problem is very serious… In recent days, I had also queried the other Old Ancestors who were involved. I asked them similar questions, but none of them felt any familiar auras among the 50 Royal Lords that participated in the ambush.” In other words, among those 50 Royal Lords, not one was an old acquaintance of the surviving 20 Old Ancestors. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao declared solemnly, “Those Royal Lords were all fresh faces! Their strength was there, but they were unable to fully display it. It was as if they did not have much experience in fighting.” Although the battle only lasted several dozen breaths of time, Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao had tens of thousands of years of combat experience so she was easily able to notice such details. At the time, she was too busy fighting and preserving her life to pay attention to this, but now, looking back, there were many questions that were unanswered. She knew what Xiang Shan was trying to determine. If there were 50 Royal Lords who they had never seen before, plus those who had escaped from the Theatres, that meant that there were almost 100 Royal Lords still alive! It was a terrifying force! What made it even more unbelievable was that these Royal Lords did not have much experience in fighting! It was as if their strength was attained totally from intense cultivation rather than being built up through millennia of tempering in war. The fact was, if it was not for those Royal Lords’ clumsiness in battle, the Old Ancestors would not have been able to rally themselves so quickly to defend and then counter attack. Additionally, if those Royal Lords had concentrated on just one or two Old Ancestors at a time, they would have been able to kill all of them very quickly. However, they did not do that. Instead, they all just wildly pushed their Spiritual Energy to bombard them indiscriminately. Such a way of fighting could only be described as foolish. “And I suspect that… the Black Ink Clan has more forces hidden than what we’ve seen.” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao frowned with worry. Liu Zhi Ping remarked softly, “There are more of them?” 100 Royal Lords was already a problem, if there were more of them, then how could the Black Ink Clan be eradicated? “The Black Ink Clan still has its limits; for instance, that Black Ink Nest Space was not impregnable. With 50 Royal Lords and 22 Old Ancestors fighting, the clashing of Spiritual Energy shook that space quite violently. It looked like that was the limit of what that space could withstand. If there were even a few more, it is difficult to say whether that space could endure the impact.” The Black Ink Clan must not have expected that a Human Race Master could be so decisive. Mi Jing Lun understood and said, “So, Black Ink Clan may not only have 50 hidden Royal Lords, they simply deployed 50 because that was the limit the battlefield could handle.” Ou Yang Lie smacked his lips and said, “That’s bad.” “There is good news though…” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s expression suddenly became a little odd and she appeared to be contemplating something before she murmured, “We may not be the only ones fighting this war!” “What does Old Ancestor mean by that?” Liu Zhi Ping asked curiously. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao replied, “In fact, at the end of the battle, the Soul Warming Lotus’ protection had been shattered, and we were already on the verge of death. We were preparing to go all out in a final battle to the death with those Royal Lords; however, at that critical juncture, the sealed Black Ink Nest Space cracked open once again…” Mi Jing Lun gasped, “The power released by the two Races was so strong that it went beyond the limit of what the Black Ink Nest Space could withstand?” Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao shook her head and explained, “The gap was opened from the outside.” Everyone was stunned when they heard that. A gaping hole opened from the outside and saved the lives of 20 Old Ancestors at a critical moment! Who opened it? How was it opened? No one knew. However, this was also the reason why Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao said that their present Army might not be alone in this war. That crack opened at a very timely moment. If it had opened a little later, more of the Old Ancestors would have been killed and injured. What surprised Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was that through the crack, she vaguely saw a big hand that looked like it was made of white crystal jade! It was a pity that she could not see it clearly because the power was too chaotic and the event was so short-lived. The only thing that was certain, was that the hand was the source that opened the Black Ink Nest Space. Without that hand, there was no way they would have escaped from that space. “Interesting…” Xiang Shan suddenly smiled inexplicably, “In addition to the other Armies from the other Theatres, there is actually another party that is fighting against the Black Ink Clan!” Mi Jing Lun’s eyes lowered and pondered aloud, “Is this other party hostile or friendly?” Ou Yang Lie looked at him as if he was a fool and said with disdain, “If that power helped the Old Ancestors get out of trouble, isn’t that obvious as to whether it was hostile or friendly?” Mi Jing Lun shook his head with a light smile and said, “Who knows? If it was that obvious, then why didn’t they contact us before? Why did they have to wait till the very last moment before revealing themselves? Was something restricting them from showcasing their power, or was it all intentional?” Ou Yang Lie raised his eyebrows and said, “Aren’t you over-thinking this?” He seemed annoyed with Big Head Mi, who always made issues more complicated than they were. Was it not better to keep things simple? Mi Jing Lun shook his head solemnly and said, “It’s not that I want to over-think things, I just can’t help worrying. According to what the Old Ancestor said, a lone party was able to break open the Black Ink Nest Space from the outside, which means this person or party must be more powerful than all the Old Ancestors combined!” Ou Yang Lie was dumbfounded. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖 The Old Ancestors were Ninth-Order Masters, the strongest warriors in existence. Who could be more powerful than them? If this unknown party was friendly to the Human Race, then it would be a blessing; however, if it was hostile, then it would be far more difficult to deal with compared to the Black Ink Clan. At the very least, the Humans knew the Black Ink Clan quite well today. They did not know anything about this hidden party. It was easy to dodge a spear in the light, but difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark. Xiang Shan looked at Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and asked respectfully, “Old Ancestor, is the Ninth-Order really the limit of cultivation? Is it possible to go further?” When he asked this question, even Yang Kai, who had been uninvolved so far, listened eagerly. No one other than the Old Ancestors, who had reached the Ninth-Order, had any insights into whether there was a higher realm than the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm. It was said that there was no peak to the Martial Dao, but was there really no limit? However, according to the current situation on the Human’s side, the Ninth-Order appeared to be the peak of Martial Dao. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao was silent for a moment before replying, “The cultivation of the Open Heaven Realm is mainly related to one’s Small Universe. As the volume of the Small Universe increases, their Order rises. The First-Order is the lowest while the Ninth-Order is the limit! We have been exploring if there is anything higher beyond the Ninth-Order. I don’t know about the others, but personally, with my level of cultivation, the volume of my Small Universe has reached its limit and there is no way to improve any further.” In other words, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm was Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao’s limit. She could not say if that was the same situation for the other Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. In all these years, no one had ever gone beyond the Ninth-Order. No one had ever seen any power beyond the Ninth-Order. Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao then added, “Moreover, in regards to that party that helped us escape, we do not know how powerful or what realm they were in. The situation was too chaotic and there was no way to perceive it accurately. Even if the other party is stronger than us, perhaps they have not transcended the Ninth-Order.” After a lifetime of cultivation, the concept of Ninth-Order being the peak was deeply rooted in their psyches. When someone suggested the possibility of a higher realm than the Ninth-Order in this world, it was difficult for Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao to believe it. After all, she had made this judgement based on thousands of years of her own experience.