Chapter 5343, Collecting Resources
Translator: Silavin & Ashish
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
On the deck, Blood Crow casually tossed two Space Rings to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught them and examined them. One Space Ring was quite ordinary. It didn’t have anything particularly eye-catching, containing the normal amount of wealth a Feudal Lord would possess.
The other Space Ring, on the other hand, was quite eye-catching.
[This guy… was loaded!]
The second Space Ring was filled with all kinds of resources, enough to dazzle even Yang Kai. Although Yang Kai had already seen marvelous things and mountains of treasure before, he couldn’t help but be shocked by the wealth of this Feudal Lord.
The Feudal Lords he had met before weren’t nearly this rich.
Blood Crow clarified, “Those don’t belong to him. The first Space Ring was his, and the second one was taken from the Black Ink Nests.”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai raised his head and asked. He had some guesses, but nothing conclusive.
Blood Crow belched before continuing, “This guy came from the Royal City and was tasked to collect the resources from the Black Ink Nests. Let’s put it this way, the Black Ink Nests in the periphery belong to individual Feudal Lords. These Feudal Lords will send out their subordinates to mine for resources. A part of these resources will be used by themselves to produce Black Ink Strength and expand the defence line, while the rest will be kept aside. The Royal City periodically sends people to collect these remaining resources.”
Yang Kai finally understood the gist of the matter.
Right now, resources were extremely important to the Black Ink Clan. Whether it was for expanding the defensive line, or re-supplying the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests or even the High-Rank Black Ink Nest, they all required massive amounts of resources.
Even though the Black Ink Clan had amassed a tremendous amount of resources over the millennia, since they were trapped in the Royal City, they had to find a way to replenish their reserves.
And that source was the mining done by the Black Ink Clansmen in the outer ring!
[No wonder the Feudal Lord suddenly came here alone. It turns out that he was here to collect resources. Judging by the items in the second Space Ring, he must have gone to many other Black Ink Nests.]
“What else?” Yang Kai asked.
Blood Crow answered, “There are about 20 or 30 people in charge of collecting resources like him, all of them scattered in different directions. As you know, the Black Ink Clan’s defence line is quite wide, and quite a distance out from the Royal City, so they need so many people to carry out this task. The Territory Lords won’t bother to do something as tedious as this, so that leaves the Feudal Lords.”
Yang Kai lightly nodded. It was understandable.
Moreover, this should not be the only reason. The Territory Lords were also afraid of Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao and had no idea when she would suddenly appear to attack. They would feel much safer in the Royal City than outside on their own.
If a Territory Lord ran into Old Ancestor Xiao Xiao while away from the Royal City, they would just die in vain.
“Interesting!” A grin appeared on Yang Kai’s face as he suddenly thought that he could make good use of this opportunity.
Originally, he had planned to use the same method as last time to take down the two adjacent Black Ink Nests. But doing so entailed too many uncontrollable variables. Luck played quite a big role in them seizing this Black Ink Nest unnoticed.
If they played the same trick again and again, and for some reason, the Black Ink Clan became vigilant, the risk of being exposed increased dramatically.
But this new information had given Yang Kai a chance to employ another method.
He could just pretend to be a Feudal Lord sent by the Royal City to collect resources.
Yang Kai turned to Shen Ao and ordered, “Send a message to Chai Fang and Ma Gao. Tell them to stop sneaking around outside and come here. Also, try to contact Yao Kang Cheng and have them withdraw as well.”
“Yes!” Shen Ao quickly took out some Space Beacons and sent the messages.
Holding the Space Ring in his hand, Yang Kai started stroking his chin, pondering. When Bai Yi and the others saw his eyes darting around, they immediately understood that he was scheming something, so they didn’t disturb him.
Soon after, Shen Ao raised his head and reported, “Chai Fang and Ma Gao have sent their replies. They will arrive in half a day, but I still can’t get in touch with Yao Kang Cheng.”
Yang Kai furrowed his brow. Yao Kang Cheng’s actions were bordering on recklessness, but since he could not get in touch with him, Yang Kai could only hope that everything was going smoothly for him and his Squad.
“You guys stand guard outside in turns. Meanwhile, I’ll keep on the lookout in the central area,” Yang Kai ordered before entering the Black Ink Nest.
On the deck, Blood Crow patted his stomach before turning around and returning to the cabin as he still needed to properly refine the Blood Essence he consumed. A chill ran down everyone’s spine at the sight of this.
Half a day later, Yang Kai, who was keeping an eye out from inside the Black Ink Nest, vaguely sensed a foreign body intruding the Black Ink Nest’s detection range and immediately sent a message, having the rest of Dawn go on high alert.
But shortly after the first disturbance, Yang Kai felt another body intruding on the defence line.
Yang Kai knew that it was the Old Turtle and Profound Wind Squads.
As he had expected, a team of people stealthily made their way over shortly after.
Their leader was none other than Chai Fang.
Chai Fang was quite smart. He knew that the Warship would be too conspicuous, so just like Dawn, he put away the Warship and took everyone below the Seventh-Order into his Small Universe when they entered the perimeter. He only arrived with a few Seventh-Order Masters.
Bai Yi, who was guarding the entrance, had already noticed them and guided them inside.
When he saw Yang Kai sitting by the Black Ink Pool, Chai Fang couldn’t help but be in awe. He immediately cupped his fist and congratulated, “Brother Yang, this Chai admits defeat!”
Their Squad had also been wandering around the periphery for many days. They too were thinking of taking down a Black Ink Nest and hiding inside the Black Ink Clan’s defence line.
But it was easier said than done. Although the Old Turtle Squad was quite strong, it was still difficult for them to silently capture a Black Ink Nest.
On the other hand, Dawn had accomplished just that. Needless to say, Yang Kai deserved the most credit for succeeding in this difficult task. No one was his opponent in the same Realm, so he could quickly crush a Feudal Lord, which was critical to moving about undetected.
“That’s very kind of you.” Yang Kai continued, “Please wait a moment, the Profound Wind Squad will be arriving soon.”
Chai Fang lightly nodded and led his Squad to Dawning Light. After thinking about it for a moment, he also let out his Squad members from his Small Universe.
Unlike Yang Kai, whose Small Universe had a robust foundation, his Small Universe felt slightly bloated after keeping so many Open Heaven Masters inside. If he were to run into an enemy and be forced to fight, Chai Fang would have some trouble circulating his World Force, which would lead to a sharp drop in his strength. Under such circumstances, he just might lose a fight he should have easily been able to win.
The Profound Wind Squad also arrived in a short while. Everyone had gathered except for the Snow Wolves. After asking around, Chai Fang, and Ma Gao finally learned that Yao Kang Cheng had led his Squad deeper into the Black Ink Clan’s defence line.