Martial Peak

Mo Na Ye and the Royal Lord communicated with each other for a while at the No-Return Pass. Yang Kai only saw the Royal Lord looking troubled and occasionally looking at him and nodding slightly. No one knew what they were discussing.

With the Royal Lord’s permission, Mo Na Ye turned around and headed outside the No-Return Pass.

It seemed he wanted to have a good talk with Yang Kai…

Although the Black Ink Clan had two Royal Lords here, they had still suffered a loss. Though their losses were significant, their overall combat strength had not weakened considerably.

In such an environment, it was unfortunate for them that the No-Return Pass was targeted by a Human Master like Yang Kai.

Yang Kai did not leave the No-Return Pass immediately; instead, he gave the Black Ink Clan a chance to talk to him.

Yang Kai stood in the void calmly. Even though he had been injured from the battle, he had no intention of running away.

He had the confidence to stand there.

He would have fled long ago if he was facing a Royal Lord 3,000 years ago.

Mo Na Ye did not go too far, coming to a stop at the periphery of the No-Return Pass. He meant to show his goodwill that he was not going to attack Yang Kai. Nonetheless, he was on guard against any surprise attack the other party might launch on the No-Return Pass, however unlikely the possibility.

Looking at each other, Mo Na Ye cupped his fist and said politely, “Sir Yang Kai, we meet again.”

“Mo Na Ye,” Yang Kai greeted him and narrowed his eyes slightly. Yang Kai felt that familiar aura and then recognized who he was.

Yang Kai had dealt with this Black Ink Clansman several times previously.

Among all the information that the Human Race had on the Black Ink Clan, Mo Na Ye was one of the individuals that they most focused on. Not only because he was among the strongest of the Innate Territory Lords, but also because he seemed far more intelligent than the others.

Every time he was sent to a Great Territory Battlefield to act as Commander, he showed incredible aptitude in positioning troops and launching attacks. He was responsible for severe Human losses.

He was also the Black Ink Clan’s primary negotiator during the peace talks between the two Races.

Yang Kai did not expect to see him at the No-Return Pass, and certainly not as a Pseudo-Royal Lord.

Based on the encounter they just had, Yang Kai knew that Mo Na Ye was difficult to handle. Not only due to his strength, but also due to his tactical and strategic acumen. It was clearly Mo Na Ye who organized the Territory Lords in advance at the No-Return Pass, a major factor in disrupting his efforts to destroy Black Ink Nests.

Yang Kai judged that he was dealing with an intelligent and dangerous opponent.

Mo Na Ye smiled and respectfully, “It’s an honour that Sir Yang remembers my name!”

It was as if the previous battle had never happened and they were old friends catching up.

[He’s even adept at politics and diplomacy!] Yang Kai thought and frowned.

In response, Yang Kai scoffed and said, “I hope you will feel honoured when I kill you one day!”

Mo Na Ye laughed and said, “Sir Yang really has a great sense of humour. It is well known that you have no hope of becoming a Ninth Order while I, Mo Na Ye… have already become a Royal Lord. Sir Yang Kai, how do you intend to kill me?”

This was true. Although he could not do anything to Yang Kai, the opposite was also true. He used to be afraid of Yang Kai when he was an Innate Territory Lord, but now he no longer was, and that feeling was only reinforced after he witnessed Yang Kai scurry around and avoid him during their battle instead of engaging him directly.

This was also the reason why Mo Na Ye went to great lengths to become a Pseudo-Royal Lord. If he was still just an Innate Territory Lord, he would not have the courage or capital to stand and talk to Yang Kai as there would always be a risk of being killed when he spoke directly to this killing star.

“Wasn’t Di Wu a Royal Lord?” Yang Kai said with a sneer.

Mo Na Ye was instantly dumbfounded when he realized that he had forgotten all about this point and cursed Di Wu in his heart for being such a fool and bringing shame to the Black Ink Clan.

Mo Na Ye became impatient with their exchange and fumed that he had to continue talking with Yang Kai. This was not something that the Black Ink Clan was good at. The Human Race had always been better at verbal sparring and outwitting the Black Ink Clan. Finally, Mo Na Ye lost his patience and shouted, “Sir Yang, you came to the No-Return Pass to kill our Territory Lords and destroy our Black Ink Nests even when we still have an agreement between our Races. You have violated the terms of the agreement and yet Your Excellency is so blatant about it. Don’t you think that you have gone too far?”

Yang Kai almost laughed.

He did not expect Mo Na Ye to lose his cool from just a little prodding.Follow current novelenglish.net . s on ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet

“So what?” Yang Kai raised his chin and said arrogantly, “You cannot stop this King from sweeping through the Great Territory Battlefields and killing all of your Territory Lords!”

“You dare?!” The real Royal Lord of the Black Ink Clan roared furiously from the No-Return Pass.

“Just wait and see!” As Yang Kai said that, he turned around and the void started to ripple around him as he surged his Space Principles.

“Don’t leave, Sir Yang! Listen to what I have to say first!” Mo Na Ye shouted at the top of his lungs.

Yang Kai turned his head to look at him and said coldly, “What?”

Mo Na Ye cupped his fist respectfully, signalling him to wait a moment. He then turned to bow towards the No-Return Pass and communicated with the Royal Lord to calm him down.

This caused Yang Kai’s eyes to narrow slightly, and he found the situation rather interesting.

The Black Ink Clan did not care about seniority or etiquette. While the Royal Lord of the No-Return Pass had done a great service to the Black Ink Clan for many years, Mo Na Ye was now also a Royal Lord who was almost on par with him; thus, there was no need for Mo Na Ye to be that respectful of him.

Looking at Mo Na Ye’s actions though, he still seemed to be a subordinate to the Royal Lord.

Thus, it must be related to their strength. Although Mo Na Ye was now a Royal Lord, he didn’t seem to be a true Royal Lord. Just like Di Wu, he could only use some 70% to 80% of the strength a Royal Lord should be able to produce.

Yang Kai had now decided to address a being like Mo Na Ye as Pseudo-Royal Lord to differentiate them from the real Royal Lords.

Moments later, Mo Na Ye ended his conversation with the Royal Lord, who was clearly extremely disgruntled. He wanted so much to join forces with Mo Na Ye to capture Yang Kai right now, but Mo Na Ye was right. Without the Heaven Sealing Earth Locking Array set up, the chances of them capturing Yang Kai were basically zero, even if they combined forces.

Worse, as soon as they completely fell out with Yang Kai here, he would no longer have to restrain his actions, which was not what the Black Ink Clan wanted. The reason they had to negotiate peace with the Human Race on a large scale was because the Territory Lords were all at serious risk of being killed by Yang Kai, otherwise, Black Ink Clan would not have restricted themselves when they had the advantage.

It was difficult to describe just how frustrating it was that one person managed to influence the Black Ink Clan’s plan to unify everything under the Heavens.

Moreover, he was even more powerful than before and could now kill Territory Lords essentially effortlessly.

So, no matter how unwilling he was, he could not let Yang Kai leave, even though Mo Na Ye knew that Yang Kai was just pretending to leave.

If he left, all the Territory Lords across the Great Territory Battlefields could only retreat to their camps and not reveal themselves.

The peace agreement still benefited both sides, the evidence was how many Masters both Races had accumulated over the past 3,000 years.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Sir Yang,” Mo Na Ye turned and said apologetically to Yang Kai.

“Say whatever you want, but if you upset this King again, I’ll go kill 100 Territory Lords to relieve my anger!”

Mo Na Ye frowned as he knew that the Black Ink Clan’s previous actions had truly annoyed Yang Kai and he could not do anything about it.

Instead of blowing up though, he just smiled and said, “Sir Yang, although the Human Race and Black Ink Clan have fought for many years, there is currently an understanding between us. My generation has admired Sir Yang for a long time and do not wish to fall out with you here.”

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes slightly when he noticed that Mo Na Ye seemed humble, even apprehensive towards him.

This sly and smooth-talking Pseudo-Royal Lord would become a difficult character to deal with in the future if he was not killed soon.

While bravery and strength were essential to winning a battle, knowing when to advance and retreat was essential to winning a war.

“So, the Black Ink Clan intends to get rid of this King as soon as they can?” Yang Kai questioned in a deep voice.

Mo Na Ye immediately appeared solemn and sighed, “So, Sir Yang Kai is really here because of this.”

He looked as if he had expected this and also appeared sad, “I, Mo Na Ye, wish to provide an explanation to Your Excellency regarding the recent unpleasantness.”

“Go ahead. I’m all ears,” Yang Kai grinned, interested to see where the conversation would lead and how Mo Na Ye intended to resolve this situation.

Mo Na Ye continued, “Earlier at the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, a faction of my Black Ink Clan saw an opportunity and acted impulsively, completely without authorization. Please believe me when I say that they were acting on their own and not on orders of Sir Royal Lord. During that time, Sir Royal Lord was in retreat and entrusted all outside affairs to Di Wu… who was killed by you in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land.”

It was always convenient to blame the dead.

Yang Kai was naturally not a fool to be manipulated by Mo Na Ye with such words. Unfortunately, since Di Wu was dead, the truth of the matter died with him.

Mo Na Ye continued, “Di Wu had always been aggressive and prone to using force to solve problems, but in this case, he has caused trouble and undermined the peace agreement between our two Races, sullying the Black Ink Clan’s honour in the process. Thus, his death is not worth pitying. Sir Yang has done us all a great favour by killing him. If he hadn’t died in the Divine Spirit Ancestral Land, Sir Royal Lord would have taken his life as punishment for provoking the Humans and Your Excellency!

Yang Kai barely contained his urge to laugh out loud.

If someone uninformed heard this speech, they might have thought that the Black Ink Clan was some kind of benevolent Race who treated others with honesty and respect.

Mo Na Ye swallowed both his dignity and pride to speak with Yang Kai like this. It would be impossible to find another Pseudo-Royal Lord who was willing to act so humbly to an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master.