Martial Peak

The people around Yang Kai were pleasantly surprised.

When Yang Kai said that he had met the Great Emperors, they didn't doubt him. Since he was able to return safely after meeting the Great Emperors, it meant that he had cleared his name, and he was no longer regarded as a traitor.

However, no one could have expected that the Great Emperors would issue an order to clear things up for Yang Kai and High Heaven Palace.

Certainly, those from High Heaven Palace wouldn't doubt what Yang Kai had said, but outsiders might not believe him. After all, Yang Kai couldn't provide any evidence. Nevertheless, since the Great Emperors had issued a proclamation, his name has finally been cleared.

Instead of being a traitor of the Star Boundary, Yang Kai had actually made a huge contribution by venturing into the Demon Realm to gather information on the enemy!

Since the Great Emperors had said so, no one would dare to doubt anything. The Palace Master had turned from a traitor to an undercover agent who had made significant contributions to the Star Boundary, and the Sect could finally get rid of the accusation that it was an evil Sect. The change took place so quickly that all the disciples of High Heaven Place felt the emotions in their hearts undulating. All of them were cheering as they were proud to have a Palace Master like him, and their years of forbearance finally paid off.

However, there was more to come.

Yao Si went on to say, "The Palace Master of High Heaven Palace, Yang Kai, will be appointed to be the Army Commander of the Sixty-First Army. He is charged with recruiting soldiers for the Sixty-First Army and preparing all necessary resources on his own. If there are any objections, he can head to Seven Mists Sea and report them to Supreme Commander Li!"

Yang Kai stared at Yao Si and blinked, thinking that he had heard wrong. Besides him, the others were also dumbfounded as they gasped and held their breaths.

There were presently fifty four armies in the Star Boundary that were named in accordance with the Heavenly Stem and Earth Branch philosophy. The new Sixty-First Army was supposed to be the Fifty-Fifth army. When Yang Kai was escorting Fan Xin and the others some time ago, he had asked her about it, so he knew what had been going on with these armies.

As far as he knew, there were fifty four armies in the Star Boundary, with the last one being the Fifty-Fourth Army, so the next one was supposed to be the Fifty-Fifth Army, followed by Fifty-Sixth Army, Fifty-Seventh Army, Fifty-Eighth Army, Fifty-Ninth Army, Sixtieth Army, and then Sixty-First Army.

Certainly, it was alright that the Great Emperors wanted Yang Kai to build a new army, but they had skipped six groups and appointed him to be the commander of the Sixty-First Army, which was no ordinary number.

Of all the fifty four armies, those that bore the title 'First' were all led by Pseudo-Great Emperors. That was because the 'First' was the beginning of the Earthly Branch. All the Army Commanders of such groups worked directly under Li Wu Yi, and they had to supervise the other groups that fell under the Heavenly Stem.

In other words, the Army Commanders whose groups bore the number 'First' were the supervisors of those Army Commanders whose groups fell under the Heavenly Stem. Therefore, if there were Sixty-Second Army, Sixty-Third Army, Sixty-Fourth Army and so on, Yang Kai could supervise those Army Commanders. As long as the interests of the Star Boundary were not harmed, the Army Commanders of those groups had to unconditionally obey Yang Kai.

Hence, all the groups with the 'First' title were led by powerful Pseudo-Great Emperors, because Third-Order Emperors did not have the necessary prestige to make others of equal strength obey them.

Of all the fifty four armies in the Star Boundary presently, there were only five groups with the 'First' title. These five Army Commanders were the strongest Pseudo-Great Emperors, including Li Wu Yi and Yang Yan.

That was the reason Yang Kai and the others were shocked.

The Great Emperors had given compensation to Yang Kai by issuing an order to clear the name for his Sect and him, but this appointment went to show how much they valued him.

While Yang Kai was stunned, he also wondered why the Great Emperors wanted him to build an army. When he was in Seven Mists Sea, he had told them that he was going to attend to some matters, so he basically had no time to build an army. Furthermore, Yu Ru Meng, Bei Li Mo, and Chang Tian were already in the Star Boundary, and they had countless top cultivators who worked for them. The Two Worlds' Passage had been sealed off by Yang Kai, which cut off support for the Demons, while the armies in the Star Boundary were ready to strike. Considering all that, it was just a matter of time before the Demons were subdued, so what was the point of creating another army?

Nevertheless, the Great Emperors must have a reason for making this decision. Although Yang Kai didn't understand it, he could only suppress his doubt for the time being. When he was free, he would visit Li Wu Yi and ask him about it. He could also have a talk with Zhan Wu Hen as they had matching Space Beacons, so they could communicate with each other easily.

"Yang Kai, why are you not accepting the order yet?" Yao Si bellowed with a disdainful expression. He was pleased that Yang Kai was showing respect to him, but he hated the fact that the latter had obtained such benefits.

"High Heaven Palace's Yang Kai, accepts the Great Emperor's order!" Left with no choice, Yang Kai could only shout and respectfully walk over to take the jade plate. Following that, the jade plate shone and contorted before it turned into an imposing-looking Command Token, on which 'Sixty-First' was engraved.

This was supposed to be the token of an Army Commander. Not only was it a symbol of status, but it also contained a sealed Divine Ability of a Great Emperor. It wasn't certain how powerful this ability was, but there was no doubt that no Half-Saints or Pseudo-Great Emperors would be able to counter it. It could be said that this was a safety charm that could save the owner's life at a critical moment.

All the Army Commanders were important figures. If one of them lost their life on the battlefield, their army would fall apart. Hence, the Great Emperors had personally forged these tokens and infused different Divine Abilities into them.

The Great Emperors and the Demon Saints had come to an agreement that they wouldn't appear on the battlefield, but this kind of thing wasn't part of the agreement.

"Palace Master, congratulations on becoming the Army Commander of the Sixty-First Army. From now on, all Demons will tremble wherever the Sixty-First Army goes," Hua Qing Si said with a smile.

After that, everyone around them started congratulating him as well. At that moment, Zhou Cheng's face turned pale as there was no punishment or inquisition against Yang Kai as he had anticipated.

Not only had the Great Emperors ordered the reopening of High Heaven Palace and cleared Yang Kai and his Sect's name, they had also appointed him to be the Army Commander of the Sixty-First Army. He had basically earned the highest honour.

The Ancestral Founder of Ice Heart Valley in the Northern Territory, Bing Yun, was a Pseudo-Great Emperor, but she was only the Army Commander of the Fifty-Third Army. Although both of them were Army Commanders, the Fifty-Third Army's status was undoubtedly lower than that of the Sixty-First Army.

At this moment, Zhou Cheng was so anxious and embarrassed that he couldn't wait to dig a hole in the ground and bury himself in it. The corpses of Li Kai Shan and the Dao Source Realm Masters were still lying nearby, and Zhou Cheng couldn't help worrying that he would be joining them soon.

Taking a glance over at Yang Kai, however, he secretly heaved a sigh of relief. That was because Yang Kai wasn't paying him any attention at all. He was speaking to someone beside him with a smile. Zhou Cheng realised that his ears were buzzing and his head was heavy. Despite the close distance, he couldn't clearly hear what Yang Kai was saying.

"Palace Master, why don't we just enlist the people from those Sects into the Sixty-First Army? If they become your subordinates, you can educate and discipline them however you want." Hua Qing Si suggested with a smile.

Just now, Yang Kai had told her to bring some people to storm into the Sects of those who had provoked High Heaven Palace before and send all those at or above the Origin King Realm to the Western Territory. However, she hadn't expected to hear such an announcement. If they wanted to build the Sixty-First Army, they needed a lot of manpower. Regardless of the temperament of those people, there were still Dao Source Realm Masters and even had Emperor Realm Masters among them; thus, it would be beneficial to take them into the Sixty-First Army.

Yang Kai lifted his hand and replied, "I'm just giving them a second chance by sending them to the Western Territory, what is this talk of education and discipling? The population of the Star Boundary is much smaller than that of the Demon Realm. Since the two Great Worlds are at war, anyone who can go to the battlefield is valuable." He paused for a moment, "However, if they work under me, I can try to protect them so that they won't lose their lives so soon on the battlefield. En, just tell them to join the Sixty-First Army."

Hua Qing Si nodded gently, "Yes!"

She curved her lips into a smile and tried to suppress her laughter.

Then, Yang Kai turned to look at Yao Si and said with a smile, "Brother Yao, many thanks for coming all this way. Since you're here, why don't you come in and have a chat with me?"

A dispassionate Yao Si looked up at the sky and replied calmly, "There's no need for that. Besides announcing the Great Emperors' order, I have a request for you."

In a good mood, Yang Kai nodded with a laugh, "Brother Yao, please speak freely. I won't reject you if I'm able to do it."

He didn't really mean what he said of course. Although Yao Si was a Great Emperor's Son, they couldn't even be regarded as friends, so certainly Yang Kai wouldn't really fulfil his request. Moreover, Yao Si was a haughty man, so his request would undoubtedly be an awkward one.

Without beating around the bush, Yao Si lowered his gaze and said, "Fight with me!"

"Huh?" Yang Kai was startled for a moment. Although he had speculated that Yao Si's request would be difficult, he hadn't expected that this was what the latter wanted. He couldn't help but size him up and thought that the latter must be out of his mind, as there were no grudges between them.

Yao Si went on to say, "I only have one sister, and I treasure her."

Despite his brief explanation, Yang Kai understood what he meant.

It seemed that Yao Si was determined to take revenge for his little sister. When Yang Kai and Yao Lin came across each other for the first time outside the Ancient Wild Lands, she had suffered a big setback. At that time, Yang Kai almost killed her, and if it wasn't because Serene Soul Great Emperor had used Soul Descend, she would have lost her life.

Although he didn't manage to kill her, Yang Kai had indeed directed murderous intent at her.

Looking at it from a different perspective, if someone had directed murderous intent against Yang Xue, whether or not that person had taken action, Yang Kai would never let him off. After all, Yang Kai had only one little sister, one who was still quite young.

Hence, he could understand what was on Yao Si's mind. After a nod, he said, "You don't have to thank me. I just happened to save your sister, it was the least I could do."

Yao Si stared coldly at him as the muscles on his face twitched,

A smiling Yang Kai asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Stop feigning ignorance!" Yao Si was born aloof, and he wasn't good at expressing himself. Furthermore, what Yang Kai had said was an irrefutable truth. In that case, he decided to directly make a move. After he finished speaking, he leaped into the air and did a somersault. As he fell, he attempted to land a fist on Yang Kai.

The power of his fist seemed able to make the world turn pale; after all, he was a Great Emperor's son, so although his cultivation wasn't that high, his strength was far above average for his realm. Most of the people at the scene grunted as though the fist was directed at themselves instead of Yang Kai. They secretly asked themselves whether they would be able to parry the attack if it was aimed at them.

Most of them wouldn't be able to counter it, and all they could do was wait for death.