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Having fought with Yang Kai several times, Hei Yuan was now aware that the other man was proficient in the Dao of Space, which could be utilised to swiftly escape from his enemies. That was the reason Yang Kai could always shake off his pursuit.
Presently though, Yang Kaiās consciousness was sealed off in this space. Since he was unable to use his biggest strength, he was basically trapped.
āKeep him alive. Donāt kill him!ā Hei Yuan ordered. He still remembered Mu Guangās order that Yang Kai had to be captured alive so that he could replace Nie An to preside over the construction of Warships. If he killed Yang Kai here, he wouldnāt be able to explain himself to the Royal Lord.
Following his command, the surrounding consciousnesses exuded powerful forces which then blasted at Yang Kai.
Every Territory Lord had a few dozen Feudal Lords who had their own Fiefs, and Kong Chan was no exception. He had about 30 Feudal Lords who had their own Fiefs; therefore, roughly the same amount of consciousnesses belonging to Feudal Lords were here.
If these Feudal Lords came across Yang Kai in their physical bodies, they wouldnāt dare to provoke him; after all, a large number of Feudal Lords were killed by Yang Kai recently. Despite being a Seventh-Order Human, he was more powerful than any Seventh-Order Master they had dealt with before.
However, this space was transformed from the Black Ink Nestsā consciousnesses, so the Feudal Lords didnāt have to directly face Yang Kai. They could achieve their goal simply by confronting Yang Kaiās consciousness.
That was the solution that they came up with after Yang Kai went missing previously. It was a trap targeted specifically at Yang Kai.
This wasnāt the only trap though as similar traps had been set up in every Territory Lordās territory. In other words, whichever Territory Lordās territory that Yang Kai headed to, he would fall into the same trap if he dared to make use of the Black Ink Nests.
The only difference was that only Kong Chanās territory had Hei Yuan assuming command. The other Territory Lordās territories only had Feudal Lords who were patiently waiting for Yang Kai to show up.
With that said, regardless of whether there was a Territory Lord around or not, as long as Yang Kai stepped into such a trap, he would never be able to run away. He could only escape by defeating all the consciousnesses here, but that was practically impossible.
These consciousnesses exuded powerful forces as a tide of violent energy soon formed in this special space and shot towards Yang Kai like a tsunami.
This became a battle between Souls.
Yang Kai couldnāt help but turn solemn. He had never expected that the Black Ink Clan would deal with him using such a trick, nor was he aware that the space transformed from the Black Ink Nestsā consciousnesses could trap a personās consciousness inside. Nevertheless, since he had fallen into the trap, he had no choice but to act accordingly.
Fortunately, he was no ordinary Open Heaven Realm Master.
Faced with the tide of powerful attacks, Yang Kaiās consciousness appeared small in comparison. It seemed that he would directly perish the moment the waves struck him.
Hei Yuan, who was watching on the side, couldnāt help but be worried. What if Yang Kai couldnāt withstand this bombardment and was killed directly? It had to be noted that if a consciousness passed away in this space, its body back in the Black Ink Nest would become a Soulless husk. It was just a matter of time before such a person would die.
While Hei Yuan was watching with concern, Yang Kaiās consciousness was drowned in the tide. All of a sudden, an explosive power burst out from Yang Kaiās consciousness and warded off the strike. He was as unshakable as a rock.
An astounded Hei Yuan exclaimed, āImpossible!ā
If he were in Yang Kaiās place, he wouldnāt have been able to fend off the joint assault of 30 Feudal Lords. According to his estimation, the best outcome would be that Yang Kaiās consciousness was instantly injured. Once that happened, he would lose the ability to fight. Presently, following Hei Yuanās order, a large number of Black Ink Clansmen were rushing towards Yang Kaiās real body. As Yang Kai would be unable to flee, they could easily capture him.
However, the sight before Hei Yuanās eyes was simply unbelievable, for Yang Kai had flawlessly defended himself against all the attacks from the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses.
How was that even possible? Why was a Seventh-Order Humanās Soul so powerful? Although the Feudal Lords didnāt use their full powers following Hei Yuanās order, the sight before the latterās eyes was still inconceivable.
Besides Hei Yuan, these Feudal Lords couldnāt believe their eyes either and they promptly exerted more force with their attacks.
The tide rose again and became even more violent.
Yang Kaiās consciousness was finally affected. Faced with the bombardment of the Black Ink Clansmen, he felt his Spiritual Energy being drained rapidly. He couldnāt endure attacks of such intensity for long.
Fortunately, Yang Kai had obtained the Soul Warming Lotus when he was just a budding cultivator. Over the years, his Soul became much stronger than other cultivators in the same Realm because he had continuous nourishment coming from the Soul Warming Lotus. Furthermore, his Spiritual Energy had increased significantly after he obtained Yu Ru Mengās Primordial Yin. It had to be noted that Charm Demons were the best when it came to utilising Spiritual Energy, not to mention that Yu Ru Meng was a Demon Saint at the time.
Although he was just a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master now, Yang Kaiās Soul was on par with an Eighth-Order Human Masterās. That was the reason he could ward off the tide of the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses on his own.
In this space, a consciousness was the manifestation of oneās Soul, so the stronger a personās Soul was, the stronger they were in this place.
On top of that, most of the Black Ink Clansmen were not experts in using their Souls. However, Yang Kai reckoned that the Royal Lord Secret Technique that was exclusive to the Royal Lords must be a form of Soul Technique.
These Feudal Lords were basically trying to show off meagre skills before an expert by trying to fight Yang Kai with their consciousnesses alone.
With that said, even though he could temporarily defend himself from the bombardment, he couldnāt persevere for long; after all, he couldnāt endure the barrage of attacks forever, regardless of how impenetrable his defence was.
Furthermore, his consciousness was trapped in this special space, so he had no idea what was going on in the outside world. If the Black Ink Clan seized the chance to harm his physical body, he wouldnāt even be able to defend himself.
Therefore, after tentatively defending himself for a moment, he decided to act ruthlessly.
The Black Ink Clansmen, who were ready to channel more of their powers to suppress Yang Kai, suddenly felt chills running down their spines. Before they could figure out what was going on, Yang Kaiās aura flared up.
His powerful consciousness slowly solidified in this special space and turned into a Soul Avatar. What astonished these Feudal Lords was that this Soul Avatar was holding a sabre!
The Feudal Lords were befuddled while Hei Yuan was flabbergasted.
Over the years, they had never seen a consciousness that could take on his true form in this place. The communication between consciousnesses had always been accomplished in a kind of intangible form. How powerful must a personās Soul be in order to actually take on a visible, almost solid form?
What made them feel despondent was that they had no idea why there was a sabre here. How did Yang Kai bring an artifact to this space where only consciousnesses were supposed to exist? Was this a special skill unique to the Humans?
They had never interacted with the Humansā consciousnesses before; however, the Black Ink Nests belonged to the Black Ink Clan, so why was a Human in a favourable position in this place?
The Feudal Lords thought that the sabre was an artifact Yang Kai brought to this place, and in fact, they werenāt wrong; however, this weapon was no ordinary artifact.
It was a Soul-type artifact.
It was the Emperor Artifact, Soul Splitting Saber!
This was an artifact that Yang Kai had obtained all the way back when he was still in the Heng Luo Star Field. He was still weak at that time, so this Emperor Artifact was of great help to him when it came to killing his enemies. However, as his strength increased, this Emperor Artifact was no longer useful to him. He simply kept Soul Splitting Saber in his Soul and had not used it for years.
It never crossed his mind that he would use this Emperor Artifact again one day.
Although this Emperor Artifact was too weak compared to his current Realm, it was better than fighting against the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses with only his raw Spiritual Energy; after all, he was on his own while the Black Ink Clansmen came at him in large numbers.
With the Soul Splitting Saber in hand, Yang Kai felt his murderous intent surging and grinned, āDonāt worry. Iāll make this quick!ā
The moment he finished speaking, he brandished his sabre as a cold light slashed across this special space. Yang Kaiās powerful Spiritual Energy allowed the light of the Soul Splitting Saber to fill the entire space.
Following the attack, the consciousnesses of 4 Feudal Lords died in silence.
At the same time, the Feudal Lords, who were respectively in charge of 4 Black Ink Nests in Kong Chanās territory, collapsed to the ground. Although they were still technically alive, they were now completely immobile.
The destruction of their consciousnesses meant that they wouldnāt survive for long.
The power of the sabre astonished the Feudal Lords. The barrage of attacks, which was the agglomeration of the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses, instantly weakened. With most of the pressure lifted off, Yang Kai slashed with his sabre again.
This time, the Feudal Lords promptly dodged the attack so only 2 were killed; still, they were shaken to the core after witnessing the power of the sabre twice.
They initially thought that they could easily capture Yang Kai with this trap, but they had never expected that this Human was actually so ferocious. Even though he was in a trap set up by the Black Ink Clan, he was still the one slaughtering them.
Faced with the threat of death, the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses tried to flee from this place in a hurry; after all, none of them wanted to be killed, especially when Yang Kai was chasing after them with his strange sabre.
To their dismay though, they soon realised that they were unable to leave this place.
The moment Yang Kaiās consciousness barged into this special space, it was completely sealed off. Only Hei Yuan, who was in charge of this place, could open it again.
Apparently, Hei Yuan didnāt have the intention of opening this space. The turn of events not only startled the Feudal Lords, but also Hei Yuan. He had never expected that instead of harming Yang Kai, the trap they had set up in advance became a battlefield where they were the ones being slaughtered.
Nevertheless, he soon came to his senses. Seeing that the Feudal Lordsā consciousnesses were trying to run away from Yang Kai, he roared, āStand and fight! We must not let him flee this time!ā
This chance was hard to come by, and if they let Yang Kai escape, Hei Yuan didnāt have the confidence to trap him again. Regardless of the price he had to pay, he had to defeat and capture Yang Kai today.
The next instant, Hei Yuan took the initiative to charge towards Yang Kai. His consciousness, which was even more powerful than the rest, clashed with Yang Kai.
Yang Kaiās consciousness, which had basically replicated his true form, was caught off guard and staggered backwards upon impact while the light around him also dimmed.