Chapter 5525: Punishment The Divine Spirits did not tell Hua Qing Si that they were supposed to be under her command. By only saying they were sent to help, they were able to decide what they wished to do. Their original orders were to be under her command, which meant they had to do whatever they were told to. It was clear that these were two vastly different situations. They had clearly twisted the truth on purpose. It was probably the result of their pride. Due to this, Hua Qing Si misunderstood the situation. As the Human Race were now dealing with a powerful team of reinforcements who were supposedly helping the Human Race of their own volition, the Humans would compromise and put up with a lot of things. This allowed the Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary to behave even more wantonly. That was why they could establish a so-called ‘collaborative relationship’ with the Human Race’s leaders, rather than one of subordinates and superiors. “You’re all quite shrewd, aren’t you!” Yang Kai sneered. Yang Kai knew he was partly to blame for this too. He had been in a rush to take Wu Kuang to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, so he opened a passage with the help of the Old Tree and sent the Divine Spirits to the Star Boundary without going along with them to ensure things went smoothly. None of this would have happened if he had just taken a moment to return to the Star Boundary and explain the situation to Hua Qing Si. Still, it was impossible for him to have predicted these Divine Spirits would act so shamelessly. “What did Manager Hua instruct you to do?” Yang Kai asked. Zhu Jian was sweating, “Manager Hua told us to join the battlefields and work together with the Human Race Army.” Yang Kai coldly snorted, “Is this how you work together with them? The battle in Profound Nether Territory rapidly intensified when the Black Ink Clan snuck in a large number of Territory Lords, causing the Human Race Army to fall into a critical disadvantage, but you lot purposely delayed your arrival. Profound Nether Territory might have been lost to the enemy if I hadn’t returned by coincidence!” Now it was Wei Jun Yang and the others who looked ashamed. Yang Kai was right. If it had not been for his sudden appearance, they would have most likely decided to abandon Profound Nether Territory and retreat in order to preserve as much manpower as possible, though the efficacy of such a strategy was questionable at best. Yang Kai’s cold gaze swept across the group of Divine Spirits, but none of them dared to speak. Yang Kai was boiling with rage and wanted nothing more than for one of them to jump out and refute him, which would give him the chance to set another example, but none of them dared to come forward. “Tao Wu said that the Supreme Headquarters had no control over your actions, but since Manager Hua told you to work together with the Humans, it very much meant they have the right to command you! As your leader, Tao Wu hindered military operations and caused the Human Race Army to suffer heavy casualties, so I executed him for his crimes. Do any of you have a problem with that?” This was a redundant question, as who among them would have the gall to protest now? After hearing what Yang Kai said, not only did the Divine Spirits not voice any dissatisfaction, but many of them even relaxed. Although Yang Kai had not stated things clearly, his words implied that he was only going to punish their leader, Tao Wu for this. Now that Tao Wu was dead, Yang Kai was unlikely to execute the other Divine Spirits. “Sir has made a wise decision!” Zhu Jian cupped his fist. Yang Kai slowly continued, “As the leader of the Grand Ancestral Ruins Boundary Divine Spirits, Tao Wu’s death is justified. Although the rest of you do not deserve to be executed for your misdeeds, that does not mean you can be absolved of responsibility so easily either.” Instantly, the Divine Spirits started fretting once more as they did not know what Yang Kai would do to them. “Senior Wei!” Yang Kai abruptly turned to Wei Jun Yang, “We lost two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in this battle, correct?” Yang Kai had not known about this earlier, but he found out after overhearing the conversation between Wei Jun Yang and Yu Zhen earlier when he was tending to his injuries. Wei Jun Yang’s expression was grim as he nodded, “Indeed.” The Human Race had lost two Eighth-Order Division Commanders, while the Black Ink Clan lost three Territory Lords. It seemed as if they were not the ones who lost the most, but in reality, all three Territory Lords had died at Yang Kai’s hands. If it had not been for Yang Kai’s serendipitous arrival, the Profound Nether Army would have suffered a devastating defeat. Yang Kai turned back to Zhu Jian and the other Divine Spirits, “You heard that?” he snarled coldly, “Two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters died because you were late!” Zhu Jian and the other Divine Spirits felt aggrieved, but they dared not refute him. “Within three months, I want to see the heads of two Territory Lords. I don’t care how you do it, where you do it, or when you do it. The method is up to you, but if you fail to do so…” Yang Kai eyed them once more, “It will be your heads that start rolling!” The Divine Spirits paled. “Don’t think I’m joking about this,” Yang Kai continued icily, “There are a total of 49 of you, and three of you have reached the level of Eighth-Order Human Masters. It should be easy enough for you to kill two Territory Lords. Of course, feel free to try and run. If you flee, then perhaps I won’t be able to find you in the vastness of the 3,000 Worlds.” “We wouldn’t dare!” Zhu Jian replied bitterly. Who would dare to run when their Bloodline Oath was still in effect? Would it even be possible for them to run? [But, to kill two Innate Territory Lords…] Even though the Divine Spirits were fairly strong, it was not easy to kill a Territory Lord. All the Territory Lords were accompanied by Black Ink Clan Armies which were at least 100,000 strong. If they wanted to kill a Territory Lord, they would first have to deal with the Army under their command. Zhu Jian was livid as he thought to himself, [Tao Wu didn’t just smash open his own head, he dragged us down with him too! Why did he have to cause those delays anyway? He’s dead now, but we’re being punished in his place!] However, despite grumbling on the inside, Zhu Jian knew that the Divine Spirits had been caged up inside the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary the whole time, and now that they finally had a chance at freedom, none of them wanted to risk their lives in any way. They valued their lives more than anything. This was why the Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary were even more cowardly than the Divine Spirits from other places. “Maybe you can surrender yourselves to the Black Ink Clan and support them instead,” Yang Kai suggested with a smile as he surveyed the Divine Spirits. Not a peep was heard from the Divine Spirits… After all, there was no way they were going to do that. If they chose to side with the Black Ink Clan, that would mean offering themselves up to be corrupted by Black Ink Strength. Even though they had a lot more resistance to Black Ink Strength than Humans did, they wouldn’t be able to withstand being corrupted forever. “I’m tired. I will take my leave now, Sirs,” Yang Kai waved at Wei Jun Yang and the others before heading back to Bi Xi’s Soul Clone. He kept coughing up blood as he walked, looking like he was on the verge of death, and this brought even more heartache to Su Yan and the others. [He was already injured. Even though it looked as if he easily killed off Tao Wu, who knows what kind of price he had to pay to do so?] Soon, Yang Kai was back inside the Warship that was made out of Bi Xi’s Soul Clone. He looked deathly pale as he sat down to rest while Su Yan sat behind him so that he could lean against her. The other women crowded around, expressing their concern and fussing over Yang Kai as he wheezed and gasped… Yu Ru Meng on the other hand stood back and watched the scene unfold with a clear gaze, scoffing on the inside. Yang Kai managed to fool her earlier, and as a result, she had been on edge for quite some time; however, she realised that he did not seem like an injured person at all when he killed Tao Wu. [No physical injuries, but an injured Soul instead, was it?] She knew very well that he had the Soul Warming Lotus! She had been too concerned earlier, and it had been around 1,000 years since they last met, so it did not occur to her then, but it did now. [No matter how injured his Soul is, nothing will happen because he has the Soul Warming Lotus to protect and heal it! He will recover sooner or later, but there he is, acting as if he’s about to die!] Yu Ru Meng snorted when she saw the looks of concern on Su Yan and the other women’s faces. [Na?ve women, fawning all over him like that! It’s really true, the longer the hair, the shorter the wits! Have you all forgotten how he abandoned us for 1,000 years!?] “Get a move on. Do none of you have any injuries to tend to?” Meanwhile, Wei Jun Yang ordered the Human Masters to disperse. They were still in a daze over the shocking turn of events, but after hearing Wei Jun Yang’s order, they finally snapped out of it and moved away as they gleefully celebrated on the inside. They had long since heard about the abhorrent behaviour of these Divine Spirits from the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. The latter’s delayed arrival had also led to the sacrifice of two of the Profound Nether Army’s Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters as well as many lower-order soldiers, resulting in a great deal of frustration and anger. Thus, they felt particularly gratified when Yang Kai executed Tao Wu. It was as if he had vented all their rage on their behalf. Ou Yang Lie smacked his lips as he secretly lamented the loss of an Eighth-Order Divine Spirit. [Why kill him off just like that? It would’ve been better to throw him at the Black Ink Clan Army and have him kill them instead. With luck, he might’ve even taken down a Territory Lord.] [We could’ve extracted that Divine Spirit’s Blood Essence and Source and let the Humans refine them too. It would’ve been a great help.] Ou Yang Lie thought Yang Kai was being too wasteful. [He’s never been an Army Commander, so he doesn’t know how to make the best use of such resources.] Once the crowd cleared out, Wei Jung Yang looked at Yu Zhen and said, “Now that the battle in Profound Nether Territory has calmed for the moment, we have a lot of things to attend to here. You should report back to the Supreme Headquarters first. I don’t think we’ll be seeing any battles here in the near future.” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖 “Yes, Sir!” Yu Zhen cupped his fist and carried out his orders, turning to leave without paying any attention to the Divine Spirits. However, he had not gone very far away when the Divine Spirits caught up to him. Zhu Jian even went over to Yu Zhen with a sheepish smile, “Brother Yu, Sir Yang has asked us to kill two Territory Lords in three months, but it’s not easy to kill them. Do you have any advice for us?” Yu Zhen eyed him coldly and said, “How could I possibly dare to give you advice?” [Aren’t you Divine Spirits supposed to be so high and mighty? On the way over, when you weren’t ignoring me, you were insulting me. Even when I urged you to focus on our mission, Tao Wu just berated me for it. Yet, here you are being so courteous with me…] Everyone knew that it was hard to kill a Territory Lord as all the surviving Territory Lords were Innate Territory Lords. Every single one of them was powerful; not any weaker than a peak Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. [Why would we need you if those Territory Lords were easily killed?] Yu Zhen was appeased by the fact that Yang Kai had given the Divine Spirits a challenging task, so the anger and contempt he felt had mostly dissipated. Zhu Jian sighed and said, “We were wrong, Brother Yu. This Old Ox apologises on behalf of all my fellow Divine Spirits. Sir Yang is angry now, so if we don’t kill two Territory Lords in three months, I’m afraid we might not be able to keep our heads. Sir Yang… cannot be underestimated.” He had noticed this during his initial encounter with Yang Kai back at the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary. This incident just reminded him how vicious and merciless Yang Kai could be. Yang Kai executed Tao Wu without even the slightest hesitation. As Zhu Jian thought about it now, he began to think that Yang Kai was not just trying to scare him when he said he would slaughter him and eat his meat. Zhu Jian was certain that if he had refused Yang Kai back then, he would have ended up in Yang Kai’s stomach. Zhu Jian felt chills, as if he had survived a narrow brush with death. “What does that have to do with me?” Yu Zhen retorted coolly. He was only there to keep an eye on them. When it came to actual strength in combat, he was a lot weaker than these Divine Spirits. Zhu Jian sighed, “Brother Yu, although what we did was wrong, having us around benefits the Human Race too; otherwise, Sir Yang wouldn’t have brought us out of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary in the first place. Wouldn’t it have been fine to let us live there in peace? If Sir Yang does kill us because we failed to accomplish the task he gave us, it will only benefit the opponent instead. Don’t you think so?” Yu Zhen glanced at Zhu Jian in surprise, [This Old Ox looks like he’s nothing but a muscle-head, but it seems he does have some wits about him.] Even though Yu Zhen did not want to bother with these Divine Spirits anymore, he knew that Zhu Jian was right. The Divine Spirits could be a great help to the Human Race, and it would be a waste if Yang Kai just killed them all. Furthermore, the fact that Yang Kai had given them three months to kill two Territory Lords was something to be taken seriously. If the Divine Spirits manage to do this, it would be wonderful news for the Human Race and all past grievances between them could be considered settled, but if they failed to complete this task, then Yang Kai would be put in a difficult situation.