The Small Stone Race were all born with sharp and distinct edges. They appeared simple and stupid, as if they could not harm even a fly. Nonetheless, the moment they appeared, all the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass who saw this felt their scalps go numb.
After fighting the Human Race for so many years, how could the Black Ink Clan not recognize these strange creatures? The Human Race had used these creatures to fight against the Black Ink Clan on many battlefields, and had often achieved good results.
When these strange creatures appeared, one of the Pseudo-Royal Lords immediately shouted, “Small Stone Race!”
His voice was trembling because he had never seen so many Small Stone Race Soldiers in one place.
The size of the Space-Time River was extremely large, and using its cover, Yang Kai had summoned 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers.
Although Yang Kai had actually summoned an even larger number of Small Stone Race in the past, the strength of this Small Stone Race group was far beyond any he had ever brought out before.
During his journey to the Chaotic Dead Territory, Yang Kai had carefully selected each Small Stone Race Soldier, with even the weakest of them being equivalent to a Third-Order Master.
When 2 million such Small Stone Race Soldiers suddenly appeared, the momentum they released was so great that even a Royal Lord like Di Ya Luo was horrified.
Worse yet, with the two glows on the back of Yang Kai’s hands, Di Ya Luo immediately understood what was about to happen. His pupils instantly shrank as he screamed, “Retreat!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he was the first to break through the encirclement and flee.
However, how could he get away?
The two million Small Stone Race Soldiers were deployed evenly by the Space-Time River, tightly blockading this part of the void. Furthermore, Yang Kai went a step further and froze the local space using his Space Principles.
In a flash, every Black Ink Clan powerhouse felt a great resistance around them, hindering their movements. Of course, this kind of resistance was not enough to immobilize them for long. If they had just three breaths of time, they would be able to escape from the Small Stone Race Army’s encirclement.
However, while three breaths was normally just a blink of the eye to such Masters, in this instance, three breaths was an eternity which separated life and death, making it impossible to cross.
“Light will eventually expel darkness!” Yang Kai declared in a low voice, clenching his fists. As he did so, intense yellow and blue glows suddenly emerged from the bodies of the 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, filling the void in the blink of an eye.
The yellow and blue lights converged and fused together, blooming into a dazzling white light. The pure white glow was not eye-catching at first, but in an instant, it started rapidly expanding like a Great Sun which had exploded.
Time seemed to freeze inside the No-Return Pass, but a moment later, shrill cries broke the despairing silence.
Shrouded in the white light, every Black Ink Clansman, whether it was Di Ya Luo, the Pseudo-Royal Lords, or even the lowly Black Ink Serfs, were howling in pain. Even the distant Black Ink Clansmen who were bathed in this white light were shrieking in horror.
Purifying Light had always been the greatest nemesis of Black Ink Strength, and the Black Ink Clan’s power was basically entirely derived from Black Ink Strength. When the Black Ink Clansmen were exposed to the Purifying Light, the pain they felt was no different from an ordinary Humans thrown into a boiling pot of oil. This kind of torture was simply unbearable.
While the pure white light was blooming, Yang Kai didn’t remain idle. His figure shuttled through the battlefield like he was walking in his backyard, appearing and disappearing like a ghost, and each time he flickered, a powerful aura would disappear.
After 10 breaths, the pure white light finally faded away.
At this moment, the originally chaotic battlefield had been cleared away. In the void, Yang Kai stood alone, holding a hideous head in his hand. The cut on the head was uneven. It didn’t appear to have been made by a sharp weapon, but rather looked like it had been torn apart with his bare hands. Jet-black blood was still gushing out from the neck.
More importantly, the head was very much alive. It was grimacing in pain and a trace of confusion could be seen in its eyes, as if it was still a little dazed about its current state. Regardless, this trace of life was destined to disappear soon.
On the battlefield, several other mutilated corpses were lifelessly floating about, all of them belonging to powerful Pseudo-Royal Lords.
The surviving Pseudo-Royal Lords looked completely terrified, their eyes filled with horror. The reason they were able to survive was not because they were stronger than their dead comrades, but because they were luckier. Yang Kai simply didn’t have time to kill them.
Originally, the entire No-Return Pass was filled with a massive amount of Black Ink Strength, giving the impression as if it was shrouded in one enormous Black Ink Cloud.
But at this moment, in this environment in which every nook and corner was filled with Black Ink Strength, there was now a spherical zone where the Black Ink Strength was completely purified.
On this battlefield, although Yang Kai was alone, he was like an Army of thousands, putting enormous pressure on the entire Black Ink Clan.
Standing right across him was Di Ya Luo, his face filled with fear. Mo Na Ye, who was supposed to be commanding the Black Ink Clan Army, was also standing beside him, staring at Yang Kai with a solemn expression.
“Are you alright?” While Mo Na Ye was asking this, his eyes remained completely fixed on Yang Kai.
As soon as Yang Kai activated the Great Sun and Moon Marks on the backs of his hands, Mo Na Ye realized what was about to happen and immediately rushed over to help. Fortunately, he had reacted fast enough; otherwise, it would not have ended well for Di Ya Luo.
After the Purifying Light burst, Yang Kai casually took the lives of several Pseudo-Royal Lords before directly attacking Di Ya Luo.
Originally, he had planned to use this opportunity to eliminate a Royal Lord. Under the cover of the Purifying Light, Yang Kai was confident that he could accomplish it without anyone’s notice; however, Mo Na Ye had come to interfere at the critical moment.
This forced Yang Kai to fall back for the time being.
It was still understandable to kill Di Ya Luo by borrowing the intense Purifying Light, but if he were to eliminate even Mo Na Ye, who had come to rescue the former, it would surely raise flags, which would cause the Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods to become vigilant.
As such, he could only kill two more Pseudo-Royal Lords to vent his anger.
Nonetheless, the current situation was still acceptable. Di Ya Luo had been enveloped by the Purifying Light, which had affected his strength. Furthermore, he was a newly promoted Royal Lord, so his foundation was probably unstable now. Unless the Black Ink Clan used some kind of sacrificial Secret Technique to restore his strength, he wouldn’t be much more useful than a Pseudo-Royal Lord on the battlefield in the future.
Half of the dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords who had besieged Yang Kai had died, while the remaining half had their foundations severely damaged, causing their strength to plummet.
Trading 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers for the life of half a dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords was an acceptable price.
After staring at Mo Na Ye for a moment, Yang Kai coldly snorted before tossing the severed head away and taking a step forward, heading towards the No-Return Pass.
Yang Kai’s speed wasn’t fast, but Mo Na Ye didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping him. He did not even issue an order to stop him.
He couldn’t determine how many Small Stone Race Soldiers Yang Kai had left, and until he had did, it would be unwise to continue provoking him.
But the main reason was that the Black Ink Clan no longer had the ability to restrain Yang Kai. Originally, they could still rely on Di Ya Luo, but now that the latter was injured, confronting Yang Kai would be tantamount to suicide.
From the start, Mo Na Ye didn’t want to have any kind of confrontation with Yang Kai; so, since he wanted to leave, all he could do was let him go.
Thus, while the two Armies were engaged in a fierce battle, Yang Kai leisurely made his way from the back of the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line to the battlefield without any hindrance.
Immediately after, a scene appeared that sent all the Black Ink Clan Soldiers into despair.
A portal to Yang Kai’s Small Universe suddenly opened up as an endless Small Stone Race Army rushed out.
This time, Yang Kai didn’t use the Great Sun and Moon Marks to control their movements at all.
Under the stimulation of Black Ink Strength, the Small Stone Race Soldiers immediately charged towards the Black Ink Clan Army the moment they came out of Yang Kai’s Small Universe, without any fear of death.
Attacked by the Small Stone Race Army, the Black Ink Clan’s defence line, which was originally quite sturdy, immediately saw countless casualties.
Not long after, Yang Kai strolled along the defensive line, which resulted in Small Stone Race Armies appearing on every front.
They didn’t cooperate with the Human Race, each and every Small Stone Race Soldier simply acting like a killing tool without any sentience, attacking anyone or anything with Black Ink Strength.
Inside the No-Return Pass, Mo Na Ye watched the entire debacle from a distance, gloom and despair gripping his heart.
Under the current circumstances, it was just a matter of time until the Human Race conquered the No-Return Pass. Only death and destruction was waiting for the Black Ink Clansmen here.
Be that as it may, Mo Na Ye had never been one to sit back and just wait for death. Even if he couldn’t defend the No-Return Pass, he had to try his best to weaken the Human Race Army so that they wouldn’t have the strength to continue their crusade to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
Mo Na Ye originally had some confidence that he could achieve this goal, but after witnessing such a huge Small Stone Race Army appear on the battlefield, this confidence was completely shattered.
These Small Stone Race Soldiers basically blanketed the entire battlefield, and they could not be stopped. Their population size was several times greater than the Humans, so using them as cover, the Humans would definitely suffer fewer casualties.
Under these circumstances, it would be extremely hard for the Black Ink Clan to destroy or even critically damage the Human Race Army.
Mo Na Ye couldn’t figure out where Yang Kai had obtained so many Small Stone Race Soldiers!
In fact, Mo Na Ye had done some research on these strange beings known as the Small Stone Race; so, he knew about their characteristics. The only thing he didn’t understand was their origins. From some Black Ink Disciples, he came to learn that the Small Stone Race was a special race brought out by Yang Kai.
But where did Yang Kai get them from? Everything in the Universe had a source.
After suffering countless casualties over the thousands of years of war, the Small Stone Race had gradually faded from the Black Ink Clan’s sight; so, Mo Na Ye had never expected Yang Kai to bring so many Small Stone Race Soldiers to the battlefield before today, catching them off guard.
[It’s Yang Kai again! Every single turning point in the war between the Human Race and the Black Ink Clan is connected to him!]
Mo Na Ye couldn’t help but feel a little regretful. Had he known that Yang Kai had such a card up his sleeve, he would have insisted on keeping him here even if he had to sacrifice more Pseudo-Royal Lords.
But when he gave it another thought, Mo Na Ye realized that nothing was going to change even if he somehow pinned Yang Kai down here. Sacrificing 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, Yang Kai had managed to kill a few Pseudo-Royal Lords and injure Di Ya Luo. Even if they managed to pin him down, the Black Ink Clan would have to mentally prepare themselves for even heavier losses.
What Mo Na Ye couldn’t figure out was why Yang Kai didn’t use this method in the battle two years ago and instead chose to use it today. It was simply unreasonable. It would be even more unreasonable to say that Yang Kai had used some kind of method unknown to the Black Ink Clan in the past two years to produce so many Small Stone Race members.
Although he really wanted to find out the reason, Mo Na Ye didn’t have the time to do so.
As over 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers joined the battlefield, the Black Ink Clan’s originally stable line of defence began to collapse. A large number of the Black Ink Clan Soldiers fighting at the forefront fell, affecting the lives of even the Masters behind them.
Mo Na Ye could only focus on the battle in front of him, issuing a stream of orders one after another, trying to kill as many enemies as possible while resisting the attacks of the Human Race and Small Stone Race.
At the same time, he also didn’t forget to pay attention to Yang Kai’s movements. After Yang Kai had made his way to the battlefield, his presence had restrained all the Pseudo-Royal Lords who had been fighting outside.
The Human Race’s tactic to deal with these Pseudo-Royal Lords was basically to confront them using Battle Formations formed by Eighth-Order Masters. Although the Human Race had many Eighth-Order Masters, the Black Ink Clan had many Pseudo-Royal Lords. Moreover, when three Pseudo-Royal Lords assumed a simple Three Fortunes Formation, they were easily able to restrain the several Battle Formations formed by five Eighth-Order Masters.
Although the Human Race could still use more Eighth-Order Masters, using any more of them would just make it even harder for them to effectively coordinate with each other. It would defeat the purpose and put them in jeopardy.
As such, most of the battles between the top combatants of the two Races were evenly matched. Only a small number of Pseudo-Royal Lords could disrupt the balance, while it took far more Eighth-Order Masters to compensate.
However, when Yang Kai disappeared after rushing out of the No-Return Pass and releasing a massive number of Small Stone Race Soldiers, the situation abruptly changed.
All the Pseudo-Royal Lords who had stepped on the battlefield immediately fell into a disadvantageous position as they were now highly distracted, stretching their Divine Senses to the limit to monitor their surroundings, guarding against any sneak attacks.
It wasn’t until a Pseudo-Royal Lord saw Yang Kai’s figure appear at Pure Yang Pass that they all collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Yang Kai hadn’t launched a sneak attack and had instead gone to Pure Yang Pass, which was undoubtedly good news for the Black Ink Clan on the battlefield.
Be that as it may, they couldn’t figure out why Yang Kai had gone to Pure Yang Pass at this time.
Just like the last battle, Pure Yang Pass, the only Great Pass occupied by the Human Race, was located away from the battlefield, acting as a coordination centre to control the overall situation.
Mi Jing Lun was standing on the city wall with a feather fan in his hand, like a weak scholar, quietly observing the battlefield and issuing precise orders.
In a flash, Yang Kai appeared beside him.
Mi Jing Lun shot a glance at him and asked, “Did you go to the Chaotic Dead Territory?”
The Small Stone Race in the hands of the Humans had almost been completely exhausted after all these years of war. Since Yang Kai could suddenly summon an army of 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers to participate in the siege of the No-Return Pass, it was obvious that he had been to Chaotic Dead Territory.
“En,” Yang Kai nodded.
“Isn’t this too wasteful?” Mi Jing Lun asked, feeling a bit distressed.
Since Yang Kai bestowed a large number of Small Stone Race members to the various Armies of the Human Race, these strange creatures had made great contributions in many battles. In many small-scale battles, the Human Race had been able to win with their smaller numbers because of the Small Stone Race’s fearlessness.
Years of war had depleted the Small Stone Race, and deprived the Human Race of this huge support. Mi Jing Lun’s heart ached when he witnessed Yang Kai throw so many of the Small Stone Race members into the battlefield in one go.
It had to be known that all these Small Stone Race Soldiers that were deployed on the battlefield could never be recovered, because they would fight until their bodies were crushed to pieces.
Only when a Humans used a beast-taming technique or an artifact refining technique to refine them would they be able to command these creatures with low intelligence.
If the Human Race was like a huge family, then Yang Kai would definitely be the prodigal black sheep. His extravagance made Mi Jing Lun, who was in charge of the daily budget, feel a great deal of pain.
Yang Kai grinned at him, “Don’t worry, I’ve collected a lot this time.”
“A lot?” Mi Jing Lun raised his brow.
“A lot!” Yang Kai repeatedly nodded. Even if he had released 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers, he still had about three times as many left in his Small Universe.
Mi Jing Lun was relieved after hearing this.
“Senior Brother, please open a portal to your Small Universe,” Yang Kai requested.
Mi Jing Lun naturally knew what he wanted to do and immediately opened the portal. The next moment, Yang Kai also opened a portal to his Small Universe. The two portals quickly overlapped, as if they were about to merge into one.
Soon after, an enormous number of Small Stone Race Soldiers were transferred into Mi Jing Lun’s Small Universe.
Slowly, Mi Jing Lun’s expression changed.
Although he had some inkling from Yang Kai’s answer that he had indeed brought back a lot of Small Stone Race members, he had never expected this number to be so exaggerated.
A moment later, Mi Jing Lun raised his hand and stated, “Enough. I can’t take it anymore.”
After all, his Small Universe’s foundation was not as strong as Yang Kai’s. He had almost reached its limit after accepting 100 million or so Small Stone Race Soldiers. At this moment, the circulation of his World Force was strained so much that if he were to fight the Black Ink Clan in this state, even a Territory Lord could take his life.
“How many more?” Mi Jing Lun asked.
“About twice as many as I gave you.”
Mi Jing Lun was rendered speechless, wondering if Yang Kai had completely raided the Burning Light and Serene Glimmer’s treasury this time. Otherwise, how could he have obtained so many Small Stone Race members?
Helpless, he could only send out a command, “Call Ou Yang Lie and Wei Jun Yang back.”
A messenger immediately sent out the message.
Somewhere on the battlefield, Ou Yang Lie happened to be facing three Pseudo-Royal Lords in a Three Fortunes Formation. He was fighting to his heart’s content, but after receiving the message, he was shocked and quickly withdrew from the battle, rushing towards Pure Yang Pass. Although the Pseudo-Royal Lords wanted to stop him, how could they? They might gain an upper hand while fighting Ou Yang Lie together, but if the latter wanted to escape, they were completely powerless to stop him.
Somewhere else on the battlefield, Wei Jun Yang did the same.
The two had no idea what had happened, but since Mi Jing Lun had called them back during such a battle, it was obviously no small matter.
The two arrived at Pure Yang Pass one after the other. When Mi Jing Lun briefly explained everything, they finally understood why they were recalled.
The Small Stone Race Soldiers couldn’t just be let out in the open. The only option they had was to temporarily suppress them inside a Ninth-Order Master’s Small Universe. After this battle was over, they would then be refined and used by the Human Race’s soldiers.
Ou Yang Lie and Wei Jun Yang didn’t delay things any further. Just like Mi Jing Lun, each opened a portal to their Small Universes before Yang Kai transferred the Small Stone Race to them.
After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, Yang Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief, looking refreshed. His Small Universe had been under pressure ever since he left the Chaotic Dead Territory, which finally disappeared until now.
Of course, he had also kept a few Small Stone Race Masters for his own use, but he could easily afford to keep them without affecting himself.
On the other hand, Mi Jing Lun and the other two looked strained, as if they had eaten too much. Even their auras were unstably fluctuating.
Ou Yang Lie couldn’t help but complain, “Please inform me in advance next time something like this happens.”
He was halfway through his fight with the Pseudo-Royal Lords and was unhappy to be recalled just for something like this. Worse, after this, he could not participate in the following battle.
Yang Kai grinned, “Just bear with it.”
While they were speaking, a figure flew out from the depths of Pure Yang Pass and landed in front of everyone, handing a large number of Space Rings to Mi Jing Lun, “Supreme Commander Mi, all the supplies are in here.”
Mi Jing Lun gestured casually to Yang Kai, “Give them to him.”
The man then handed the Space Rings to Yang Kai, who took them and swept them with his Divine Sense before nodding his acknowledgement, “Quite efficient.”
The Human Race’s supplies had almost been depleted after the last battle, so obviously, these resources had been mined over the past two years.
The Humans had scattered nearly 3 million soldiers throughout the Black Ink Battlefield to mine resources, and with the Universe Temples as transfer points, their efficiency was naturally quite high.
Of course, using the Universe World assault tactic in this battle had also consumed a lot of resources; otherwise, there would have been more.
There were two reasons Yang Kai came to Mi Jing Lun from the No-Return Pass. Firstly, he wanted to hand over the Small Stone Race Army, and secondly, he wanted to ask Mi Jing Lun for some supplies, as well as hand over the Yellow and Blue Crystals he had looted from the Chaotic Dead Territory.
After silently calculating for a moment, Yang Kai stated, “The next battle should still be fought after two years, yes?”
The supplies in his hands were enough for him to last two years. If the Human Race launched a war after his supplies had depleted, he would be able to ask for them once again. This way, his cultivation would not be delayed and he could quickly reach the peak of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
In the next war, the Human Race would have the assistance of a large number of Small Stone Race Soldiers, so the situation would definitely be different.
“Indeed!” Mi Jing Lun nodded his agreement. The Human Race would also need some time to recuperate after such a large battle. On top of that, mining supplies would also require time. An interval of two years was the absolute minimum.
“How are the Void Guard doing?” Yang Kai asked again.
According to the previous arrangements, the Void Guard led by Li Wu Yi would be setting up Space Arrays leading to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction in advance in preparation for the future crusade. They were ordered to send a report every time they set up a new Space Array, so that the Supreme Headquarters had a good grasp of their situation.
The void was a dangerous place, especially the vast Late Ancient Era Battlefield, which was fraught with many unknown dangers. So, it was necessary to send reports back in a timely manner.
“Everything is going smoothly,” Mi Jing Lun replied, “They have already laid out eight Space Arrays.”
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement. It had only been two years since Li Wu Yi and the others had set out while the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was extremely far from here. Even if they went all out, it would take Li Wu Yi and the others several years to reach the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. On top of that, they also had to stop and arrange Space Arrays while circumventing unknown dangers along the way. It would take them a while to complete this task.
Yang Kai reckoned that they had only covered about 30% of the total distance at most.
“I’ll go and fight, everyone take care!” Yang Kai didn’t say anything else. He simply cupped his fists towards Mi Jing Lun and the others before taking a step forward and disappearing from their sight.
On the battlefield, the Black Ink Clan’s situation became even more dire as the Small Stone Race Army continued their assault, tearing apart many of their defensive lines. Meanwhile, the Human Race Army took advantage of this opportunity to hit the Black Ink Clan, forcing them to retreat.
On the top combatants’ battlefield, the Pseudo-Royal Lords were still holding their ground; however, when Yang Kai used Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability to suddenly appear behind one of the Pseudo-Royal Lords, and pulled him and two other Pseudo-Royal Lords who were in Battle Formation with him into the Space-Time River, the rest of the Pseudo-Royal Lords lost their will to fight.
Mo Na Ye timely adjusted his strategy, issuing one order after another. The Pseudo-Royal Lords and the Black Ink Clan Army began to shrink their lines once again, concentrating their forces to resist the combined assault of the Small Stone Race and the Human Race Armies.
Putting aside how effective this strategy was, at the very least it shrank the battlefield, which would definitely restrict the movements of the Human Race Army further.
Fortunately, the Human Race had no way of effectively coordinating with the Small Stone Race Army. Before this, the Human Race just had to follow behind, filling the gaps that were created; however, once the Black Ink Clan’s perimeter shrank, if the Human Race Army were to advance recklessly, it was highly likely they would be disrupted by the Small Stone Race Army.
This instantly exposed the disadvantages of the Small Stone Race who acted completely on instinct, but this was within the Human Race’s calculations. Compared to the benefits brought by the Small Stone Race Army, the disadvantages could be endured.
While the Small Stone Race Army had achieved brilliant results, their casualties were also quite horrifying.
They had no intelligence and acted purely on instinct; furthermore, as they were born by absorbing Yin and Yang Energies, they had a very keen perception of the Black Ink Strength. Yang Kai had already discovered this characteristic when he acquired the first batch of the Small Stone Race Soldiers from Big Brother Huang and Big Sister Lan.
On the battlefield, as long as the Small Stone Race sensed the existence of Black Ink Strength, they would immediately swarm towards it like cats smelling the scent of a fish and fight to death.
Advancing like this would inevitably result in a large number of casualties among the Small Stone Race.
By the time Yang Kai made his way to Pure Yang Pass from the No-Return Pass, the Small Stone Race Army had lost about 10% of their forces. By the time Yang Kai returned to the battlefield, that number had grown to 30%.
If this continued, the 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers wouldn’t last for more than half a day.
Had these Small Stone Race members been refined and controlled by the Humans, this kind of situation would have never occurred. Unfortunately, Yang Kai had brought too many of them from the Chaotic Dead Territory this time, so many that even if each person was given 10, they wouldn’t be able to use all of them up. Rather than leaving many Small Stone Race Soldiers idle, it was better to deploy a massive batch to the battlefield to catch the Black Ink Clan off guard.
Although the Small Stone Race Army suffered heavy casualties, the results they produced were excellent. The Black Ink Clan would have never imagined that such a variable would appear in the second attack of the Human Race on the No-Return Pass. Caught unprepared, all of their previous arrangements and contingencies had failed to achieve the desired effect.
Without any strategy, the Small Stone Race Army that only knew how to charge forward and kill the enemy couldn’t last long. Mi Jing Lun had naturally noticed this long ago, so when he felt that the time was right, he ordered his troops to retreat.
The Human Race Army withdrew in an orderly manner, and during this entire process, the Black Ink Clan could only helplessly watch. They were unable to give chase like last time because there were still many Small Stone Race Soldiers that had yet to be killed. If they didn’t kill all of them, there was no way they could leave the No-Return Pass.
As such, when the Human Race Army withdrew this time, they didn’t even need to cover their retreat.
While the Human Race Army was retreating from the battlefield, Yang Kai headed into the No-Return Pass. Under the watchful eyes of a group of Pseudo-Royal Lords, he casually strode into the Territory Gate and returned to the Barren Territory.
When Mo Na Ye witnessed this, his already unpleasant mood became much worse.
Previously, Yang Kai had summoned 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers and used them to condense a massive burst of Purifying Light, allowing him to kill several Pseudo-Royal Lords and even injure Di Ya Luo. Immediately after, Yang Kai released 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers directly onto the battlefield. Now, no one could guarantee that he did not have more Small Stone Race Soldiers on him; or rather, he definitely had many more. Combined with his fearsome personal strength, who would dare stand in his way?
Even Mo Na Ye didn’t dare to face him head-on anymore. The fact that Yang Kai did not do much on his way back to the Barren Territory already made Mo Na Ye give thanks to the Supreme One.
It wasn’t until the Human Race Army had disappeared from their sight and Yang Kai had returned to the Barren Territory that the Black Ink Clan’s forces finally retaliated in anger, completely surrounding the Small Stone Race Army that only knew how to charge forward, then wiping them out. Of course, they still paid a price in order to achieve this.
At this point, the Human Race’s second attack on the No-Return Pass had come to an end. For the Black Ink Clan, the result of this battle was even worse than the previous one.
Last time, the Human Race had used the Universe World bombardment tactic to catch the Black Ink Clan off guard, causing them to suffer heavy losses.
Although the effects of the Universe World bombardment had been reduced during this second attack, the Small Stone Race Army brought by Yang Kai had become the hidden dagger that caused the Black Ink Clan to suffer even greater losses than before.
At the end of the last battle, the Black Ink Clan still managed to chase after the retreating Human Race Army, barely managing to save some face, but this time they were not even able to do that.
Shrouded in a rich Black Ink Strength, the No-Return Pass was filled with gloom as fear and despair ran rampant.
What made the Black Ink Clan feel even more desperate and worried was that the Human Race would surely commence a third and fourth attack soon. Judging by the results of the last two wars, sooner or later, the Black Ink Clan would definitely lose the No-Return Pass. At that time, the fate of the entire Black Ink Clan in the No-Return Pass would be doubtful.
Thousands of years ago, when the Black Ink Clan Army broke out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, conquered the No-Return Pass, assaulted the Barren Territory, and invaded the 3,000 Worlds with an unstoppable momentum. Every Black Ink Clansman was in high spirits back then. All of them felt that the 3,000 Worlds was as good as defeated and they were not far away from achieving the grand plan of unifying all beneath the Heavens.
Unfortunately, thousands of years later, the Black Ink Clan was now trapped in the No-Return Pass while all momentum was not on the Human Race’s side.
After the battle, many Pseudo-Royal Lords sought out Mo Na Ye, asking him what they should do in the future. Some of the Pseudo-Royal Lords also tried to persuade Mo Na Ye and Mo Yu to lead the surviving Black Ink Clansmen into the depths of the void; after all, it was not a good idea to just passively take a beating. If they were to retreat from the No-Return Pass and escape into the void, they might have a chance to survive.
Without exception, all the Pseudo-Royal Lords who had proposed this idea were harshly reprimanded by Mo Na Ye. After several examples were made, the Pseudo-Royal Lords who had doubts didn’t dare raise any objections.
In truth, they also knew that if they left the No-Return Pass, the Black Ink Clan would be in an even worse situation, they were just desperate to do something, anything to survive.
…..
In the Barren Territory, the Space-Time River had evolved into a pure Temporal River with a 30-fold difference in the flow rate. Inside the river, Yang Kai was refining the various materials he had obtained from Mi Jing Lun at a terrifying speed, steadily strengthening his Small Universe’s foundation.
The final battle was approaching, so he didn’t have much time to cultivate. Naturally, he was eager to improve his strength.
On the other side, after the battle, the Human Soldiers were all recuperating and refining the Small Stone Race Soldiers that had been distributed to them at the temporary camp of the Human Race. The few Divine Spirits who controlled the Great Sun and Moon Marks had also been given tens of thousands of Small Stone Race Soldiers each because they were able to control them to a certain extent using the Great Sun and Moon Marks and didn’t need to spend any time or effort on refining them in advance.
It could even be said that each of these Divine Spirits would be able to form an Army on their own with these Small Stone Race Soldiers. In the next battle, they would definitely play an extraordinary role on the battlefield.
…..
At the same time, outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the huge Suppressing Black Ink Fortress sat in the void, facing the opening in the Grand Restriction.
During the Human Race’s first crusade, this opening had been made by Cang, who had been guarding this place for millions of years. He had opened this gap mainly to alleviate the increasing pressure inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction; however, Mo was also waiting for this opportunity to escape, and its subsequent plans caused the entire situation to nearly spiral out of control. In the end, Cang was forced to rely on the hidden card left behind by Mu which put Mo into a deep sleep, finally sealing the gap in the Grand Restriction with his remaining strength.
However, in that battle, the Human Race suffered a great loss due to their lack of intelligence on the inside of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. The Human Race were dealt heavy casualties under the pincer attack of two Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods, and had no choice but to retreat.
It was also after that battle that Cang, who had been guarding the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction all alone for hundreds of thousands of years, had fallen.
It was difficult to imagine how this Martial Ancestor had spent hundreds of thousands of years in solitude. Perhaps, to him, death was a form of release.
But as a result, the descendants had to take on the burdens and expectations of their ancestors. Later, Yang Kai brought Wu Kuang to this place and had him assume control of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Yang Kai then arranged for the Suppressing Black Ink Army and Suppressing Black Ink Fortress to be stationed here. After making all the necessary preparations, Wu Kuang once again opened a gap in the Grand Restriction. As before, this was to relieve the pressure inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, because the Black Ink Clan and Black Ink Strength was constantly increasing. Wu Kuang was ultimately weaker than Cang, so he was unable to forcefully suppress it and could only use this method to relieve some of the burden.
Unfortunately, there was no way to completely close the opening this time. The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was set up in an era long ago, and had been opened a few times now, which had ultimately caused some irreparable damage to it. It was further worsened by Wu Kuang’s lack of ability to control it.
Fortunately, the Suppressing Black Ink Army was stationed outside the opening. Ever since the Suppressing Black Ink Army arrived here, they had fought countless battles against the Black Ink Clansmen that rushed out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Although the situation had nearly spiralled out of control several times, Wu Kuang and the Suppressing Black Ink Army had worked together to resolve these crises.
As Wu Kuang’s cultivation increased day by day, so did his control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
In terms of cultivation speed, perhaps no one in this world could compare to Wu Kuang.
When Yang Kai sent him to this place, he had only been a Seventh-Order Master, but now, his cultivation may be higher than Yang Kai’s.
Thanks to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law complemented by the Flawless Purifying Golden Lotus, and the inexhaustible Black Ink Strength, Wu Kuang’s cultivation had improved by leaps and bounds ever since he had arrived here. His cultivation had quickly risen from the Seventh Order to the Ninth Order, and was still continuously rising.
Of course, the biggest benefit of the increase of his control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was that the Suppressing Black Ink Army had to face fewer battles.
The opening in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction could no longer be closed, but Wu Kuang was still able to shrink it somewhat. This way, the Black Ink Clan would face even greater restrictions if they tried to rush through the opening. Previously, there might have been some Royal Lords who could force their way out, but now that Wu Kuang’s strength had increased, and his control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had also become better, the Royal Lords could not force their way through anymore.
Without the support of Royal Lords, the rest of the Black Ink Clansmen rushing out of the opening were just easy targets before the mighty Suppressing Black Ink Army, no matter how many there were.
The Suppressing Black Ink Army did not have that many soldiers, only a few thousand, but their overall strength was pretty amazing. It could be said that they were the elite of the elites of the Human Race.
Back when Yang Kai and Mi Jing Lun had chosen the soldiers for the Suppressing Black Ink Army, the minimum requirement was the Sixth Order. In other words, if one had not reached the Sixth Order, they would be unqualified to join the Suppressing Black Ink Army.
Furthermore, the Sixth Order wasn’t the limit of the Suppressing Black Ink Army soldiers, they still had room to grow. After so many years, most of the original Sixth-Order Masters of the Suppressing Black Ink Army had advanced to the Seventh-Order.
In the entire Suppressing Black Ink Army, there were only a few whose cultivation remained at the Sixth Order. Besides, some of these Sixth-Order soldiers had reached the peak of the Sixth-Order and could break through at any moment.
In other words, the current Suppressing Black Ink Army, with the exception of a few Sixth-Order Masters, were basically all High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters.
When the Suppressing Black Ink Army was first founded, there were only 400 Eighth-Order Masters, but now, there were nearly 1,000 of them! The extra ones were all those who had broken through their limits over the years. The Suppressing Black Ink Army had no shortage of battles, so it was not that difficult for these proud sons and daughters of Heaven to break through their shackles and advance to the next Order amidst the bloody battles.
In addition, the Suppressing Black Ink Army also had over 100 powerful Divine Spirits.
To top it all off, Divine Dragon Fu Guang and Yang Xue, who had also broken through to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm in the Universe Furnace World, were assuming command.
Zhao Ye Bai, Zhao Ya, and Xu Yi were also expected to break through their limits and advance to the Ninth Order soon!
The three of them were Yang Kai’s Legacy Disciples. Each of them had respectively inherited one of Yang Kai’s primary Grand Daos, so everyone had high hopes for them.
In terms of age and seniority, they weren’t much different from Shi Da Zhuang, who had already broken through to the Ninth Order. Perhaps the Third Disciple, Xu Yi’s period of cultivation was shorter as he had started cultivating a little late. Be that as it may, a little bit of delay in the long years of cultivation was not a big deal.
Shi Da Zhuang had already advanced to the Ninth Order, and Tang Tao amongst the rising stars had also achieved the same, so naturally, Zhao Ye Bai and the two others would soon be reaching the Ninth Order as well.
After thousands of years of accumulation, the Human Race would definitely be able to give birth to more Ninth-Order Masters in the near future.
With such a lineup, the Suppressing Black Ink Army could be said to be the most elite group among the Human Race’s forces. They might not have that many members, but they had ample capital to guard the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
However, since the battle 700 years ago, when the Universe Furnace appeared, there had been no movements from the other side of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
For the past 700 years, the Suppressing Black Ink Army soldiers had been doing nothing but cultivating in turns. Fortunately, when the Suppressing Black Ink Army first arrived here, they had brought a lot of supplies with them. Although most of their supplies had depleted over the years, they still had a bit left to use.
On the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, the silver-haired Fu Guang looked towards the opening in the darkness and sent a message via his Divine Sense, “Wu Kuang, how is the situation?”
It wasn’t that he had discovered anything unusual, it was just a routine inquiry done once a month. Judging by this, it was obvious that Fu Guang was an extremely cautious person.
As usual, Wu Kuang’s lazy voice echoed in Fu Guang’s mind, “Some small fish are spying on the opening, but they probably don’t dare to rush out.”
He had already closed the opening to its utmost limit, so if a Royal Lord tried to force his way through, there was a high chance he would die along the way. Even if he didn’t die, he would definitely be severely injured.
In light of this, no Royal Lord was stupid enough to attempt to force their way out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
And without a Royal Lord to keep Fu Guang in check, how could the Black Ink Clansmen inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction dare to challenge the Suppressing Black Ink Army? Although they had been sealed inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, they were not completely ignorant of the outside world. After having fought with the Suppressing Black Ink Army for so many years, they were well aware of their enemy’s strength.
“Stay alert!” Fu Guang exhorted as usual.
Wu Kuang replied, “I know, you all just… Huh?”
Halfway through his words, he suddenly let out a startled cry.
Fu Guang’s expression became serious as he shouted, “What’s wrong?”
However, he didn’t receive any response from Wu Kuang even after waiting for a while. This had never happened before. Fu Guang’s heart immediately jumped to his throat as a great sense of crisis suddenly enveloped him, prompting him to quickly check upon the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
The entire Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was like an enormous beast lying in the void, covering a truly vast area. It was basically impossible to see its end at one glance.
This dark area was completely imbued with Black Ink Strength. If it wasn’t for the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, it was very difficult to imagine just how far this endless darkness would have spread.
Fu Guang could not see any change to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, but his sense of unease grew stronger and stronger.
He knew that something must have happened; otherwise, it was impossible for Wu Kuang to not give any response.
Without hesitation, he shouted, “Prepare for battle!”
The next moment, the entire Suppressing Black Ink Army, whether they were cultivating or on guard duty, began to move. Spirit Arrays lit up one after another and the soldiers took position before the artifacts. In just 10 breaths, the thousands of Suppressing Black Ink Army Soldiers were ready for battle.
A storm was brewing!
Yang Xue flashed over to Fu Guang’s side and asked with a solemn look on her face, “Senior, what happened?”
Fu Guang slowly shook his head in response, “I don’t know!”
Yang Xue’s expression only became even more solemn upon hearing that. Since even Fu Guang had no idea what was going on, it was clear that the situation was already beyond their control.
“Where is Senior Wu Kuang?” She asked again.
“He is not responding.”
Yang Xue knew that things weren’t looking good. Wu Kuang was in charge of overseeing the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, but he was not responding. Could it be that the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had stopped functioning? If so, it would be a disaster for the Human Race.
Just as she was thinking of heading to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to investigate, Wu Kuang’s voice came from the other side, sounding anxious and horrified.
“It’s awake! Be careful!”
These sentences instantly made Fu Guang and Yang Xue’s scalps go numb. They both knew what Wu Kuang was referring to.
Mo, a Supreme Master from the Primordial Era, was the Source of the Black Ink Clan. It was the darkness born alongside the Primordial Light. It was basically immortal and indestructible.
The Suppressing Black Ink Army had always been on guard against it.
In the past, Cang had forced Mo into a deep slumber at the last moment using the trump card left behind by Mu, but no one knew how long this method would last. The only thing they could foresee was that this method would become ineffective sooner or later. Once that day came, Mo would completely awaken.
A Supreme Master of the Primordial Era like Mo, who was likely to be in the Creation Realm, was not someone the mere Suppressing Black Ink Army could stop. Even if the Human Race gathered all its strength, they might not be able to stop it.
Once Mo woke up, no one could guarantee that the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would continue to suppress it.
By the looks of it, Mo’s awakening had a great impact on the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction; otherwise, they would not have lost contact with Wu Kuang for a short time. He must have been struggling with Mo for control of the Grand Restriction.
In addition, the moment Wu Kuang issued the warning, the boundless darkness that had remained dormant in the void for 700 years suddenly started expanding, as if it had a life of its own.
It looked as if a black balloon was being fiercely inflated.
“Retreat!” Fu Guang shouted as horror filled his eyes.
At the same time, he and Yang Xue joined forces to power the Core of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, intending to drive this enormous artifact backwards.
Unfortunately, the darkness was expanding at a horrible rate, and was already at the border of the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress before it could even start moving.
A mighty Dragon Pressure broke out from Fu Guang as he promptly activated a Dragon Clan Innate Divine Ability. Time Principles started wildly surging around him, turning into Dragon patterns that swam through the void as if they wanted to freeze time.
Yang Xue took action at the same time. She too cultivated the Dao of Time, so when she cooperated with Fu Guang, they complemented each other perfectly.
Be that as it may, it was to no avail. They could only manage to block the darkness from advancing for a moment before the entire Suppressing Black Ink Fortress was swallowed by it. Everyone in the Suppressing Black Ink Fortress, including Fu Guang and Yang Xue, felt their vision go dark, and soon after lost their sense of direction.
Looking from a distance, the darkness was still expanding, very fast, but then, complex patterns appeared on the edges of the darkness, glimmering and expanding before quickly forming a seal.
Naturally, this was the power of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, a mechanism jointly set up by 10 Martial Ancestors of the Early Ancient Era. It was through this mechanism that they had been able to suppress Mo for countless years.
The pattern started to shrink back, but it was unable to completely suppress the surging darkness. Gradually, a stalemate was formed between them.
After an unknown period, the stalemate gradually stabilized, and so did the darkness that was seething like the ocean after a tsunami; it became completely calm.
In comparison, the area enveloped in the boundless darkness was undoubtedly bigger than before, but under the seal of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the boundless darkness was unable to expand further.
When everything was settled, Wu Kuang’s angry and distraught voice suddenly reverberated across the void, “You dare try to trick me! I’ll kill you sooner or later!”
From Wu Kuang’s perspective, he had indeed been tricked. He had been controlling the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction for so many years that, with his rise in cultivation, his control of the Grand Restriction also increased. Although he still wasn’t as strong as Cang’s, it was already pretty good.
He was also constantly monitoring Mo’s condition.
Up until today, he was certain that Mo was still asleep.
By the looks of it though, he had been tricked by Mo. Apparently, Mo’s condition had changed at some point, but it had been accumulating its strength. Today, it suddenly attacked, catching Wu Kuang off guard.
And at that point, he discovered Mo’s condition.
When he realized that he had been tricked, he thought that Mo had woken up, so he warned Fu Guang.
But all the current signs clearly indicated that Mo had not woken up, at least not completely.
If Mo was in a deep slumber in the past, then at this moment, it was in a half-awake state. Just now, when it tried to seize control of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction from Wu Kuang, it was only an instinctive reaction.
It was only an instinctive reaction while it was just half-awake, but it had nearly caused Wu Kuang to lose control of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. From this, it could be seen that if Mo really woke up, the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would no longer be able to contain it.
Once the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was broken, the boundless darkness would start spreading without restraint. At that time, the vast Black Ink Battlefield would be flooded by the boundless darkness, perhaps even the 3,000 Worlds would be engulfed as well.
Although the boundless darkness was no longer showing any signs of abnormality after being sealed by the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, after today’s incident, no one knew when something similar would happen again.
This incident undoubtedly indicated that Mo was not far from completely awakening.
Inside the Grand Restriction, Wu Kuang’s heart was gripped with fear and worry. He had to inform Yang Kai as soon as possible about this so that the Human Race could take precautions; otherwise, it would be too late by the time Mo was awake.
However, he was powerless to do so.
The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was extremely far away from the 3,000 Worlds, so there were no effective means to communicate with each other. In the past, Yang Kai used to come here using some kind of mysterious method, but after the previous incident where a flaw had appeared in the Grand Restriction, there had been no news from him. It had already been nearly 1,000 years since then…
From what Yang Xue had told him, Wu Kuang knew that Yang Kai had broken through his shackles in the Universe Furnace and successfully reached the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm.
Be that as it may, that was of no help to the current situation.
Before Wu Kuang could come up with a solution, figures were already charging out the opening in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
The auras radiating from these figures were extremely powerful. Surprisingly, all of them were Innate Territory Lords!
Seeing this, Wu Kuang’s heart sank.
In the past, Wu Kuang had worked in concert with the Suppressing Black Ink Army to block the Black Ink Clan from escaping the Grand Restriction. Even Royal Lords found it hard to force their way out of the opening. For the past 700 years, the Black Ink Clan had not dared to not make any rash movements with only a few small fries constantly monitoring the opening.
But now that the Suppressing Black Ink Army had been swallowed by the boundless darkness, the threat on the outside of the opening had disappeared. Even if Wu Kuang could still maintain his control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, he couldn’t stop the Black Ink Clan from rushing out.
Not to mention, because of the Suppressing Black Ink Army, he was unable to put his entire focus on controlling the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. He had to divert some of his attention to look after the Suppressing Black Ink Army.
Having been swallowed into the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction by the darkness, it was tantamount to falling into the Black Ink Clan’s lair. Even if the Suppressing Black Ink Army had countless elites, without Wu Kuang’s protection, only death was waiting for them. With his protection, they could at least survive for a little while.
The only silver lining was that Wu Kuang’s strength had greatly increased over the past few millennia and he was close to the peak of the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm. Thanks to this, his control over the opening was stronger than ever. He was still able to prevent Royal Lords from making it through the opening, so the strongest Black Ink Clansmen who could make it out were just the Innate Territory Lords.
As time passed, more and more Black Ink Clansmen of varying strength rushed out of the opening, their faces filled with excitement and joy, like they were prisoners who had finally gained freedom after countless years of imprisonment.
A portion of the Black Ink Clansmen remained near the opening, while the rest quickly flew deeper into the void under the leadership of the Innate Territory Lords.
When Wu Kuang witnessed this, his gloomy mood suddenly lifted.
He had been having a headache over how to send a warning to the Human Race, but he had been unable to come up with a viable plan. But apparently, he didn’t need to deliver any news.
The Black Ink Clansmen who had left this place must have gone to support their allies who were fighting the Humans. Such a huge amount of reinforcements joining the battlefield would definitely draw the Human Race’s attention, especially the appearance of so many Innate Territory Lords. And as long as the Human Race’s reaction wasn’t too slow, they should be able to quickly identify the root of the problem. At that time, the Human Race would definitely know that something had happened to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
This was the case when the Innate Territory Lords snuck out from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction last time. At that time, Wu Kuang’s control over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was not nearly as firm and he did not even have an inkling about it before Yang Kai came to inform him about it.
Thus, when he saw a group of Black Ink Clansmen heading deeper into the void, Wu Kuang knew that in at most 20 or 30 years, the Human Race would know that something had happened to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. At that time, not to mention others, Yang Kai would definitely come here to investigate.
Nonetheless, Wu Kuang couldn’t help but feel worried. Whether the Human Race came to know about the mishappening of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction sooner or later, it was not going to help him in his current situation in the slightest. Right now, there were two important tasks ahead of him. Firstly, he had to do his best to ensure the safety of the Suppressing Black Ink Army, allowing them to hold on for as long as possible.
Secondly… protecting himself!
The Black Ink Clansmen who stayed behind did not remain idle. These Black Ink Clansmen took out unhatched Black Ink Nests one after another, before Innate Territory Lord took position in front of every Black Ink Nest. Afterwards, these Innate Territory Lords put their hands over the unhatched Black Ink Nests and started infusing their strength into them, allowing them to rapidly grow bigger.
Not counting the years he had spent guarding the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Wu Kuang hadn’t had many dealings with the Black Ink Clan. The first time he had fought with the Black Ink Clan was after the Human Race retreated to the Barren Territory. As a Human, he had participated in the war against the Black Ink Clan. It was during that battle that he had made a name for himself relying on the treacherous and powerful Heaven Devouring Battle Law, drawing the attention of many Ninth-Order Old Ancestors.
Later, when the Black Ink Clan invaded the 3,000 Worlds, the Human Race had completely shrunk their defensive line, defending just a dozen or so Great Territory Battlefields. Wu Kuang for the most part had acted alone as a Hunter, roaming the 3,000 Worlds to kill Black Ink Clansmen, getting into numerous fierce battles along the way.
He might not have much contact with situations like the one before him, but he knew that if the Black Ink Clan wanted to hatch Black Ink Nests this way, they would need to consume a lot of resources.
Except, what resources could the Black Ink Clan find outside of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction? This vast void didn’t even have ambient Starlight Energy, it was truly a Spiritless Land.
If the Black Ink Clan wanted to extract resources, they would have to venture in the direction of the Black Ink Battlefield, which would take a year or two at best…
But apparently, the Black Ink Clan’s incubation of Black Ink Nests did not require them to consume resources at all; it could also be done using the energy of the Innate Territory Lords themselves. Innate Territory Lords were directly born from Mo and contained a trace of Mo’s Source Strength. On the other hand, the Black Ink Nests similarly manifested from Mo’s Source Strength. It could even be said that both Innate Territory lords and Black Ink Nests shared the same Source. So, devouring the Innate Territory Lords’ energy could also hatch the Black Ink Nests.
After a short time, the aura of every Innate Territory Lord standing in front of the Black Ink Nests became weak to the point that they were trembling. All of their energy had been absorbed by the Black Ink Nests.
Every single one of these powerful Innate Territory Lords died on the spot after all of their energy had been absorbed. Immediately after, a second round of Innate Territory Lords stepped in…
[This is not good…] Wu Kuang thought to himself. How could he not understand the intentions of these Black Ink Clansmen who had remained behind?
Over the years, he had learned a lot about the Black Ink Clan from the soldiers of the Suppressing Black Ink Army, including how the Black Ink Clan created Pseudo-Royal Lords…
Wu Kuang wasn’t afraid of mere Innate Territory Lords, regardless of how many of them there were. Although the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was a Sealing Array, it also had some defensive and counter attacking capabilities. If not, when Cang was stationed here all those years ago, the Black Ink Clan from the Black Ink Battlefield would have already retreated to attack the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction first.
In that era, the Human Race and Black Ink Clan were fighting each other in over 100 Theatres. Each side had over 100 Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters and Royal Lords respectively.
The Black Ink Clan’s overall strength during that time was extremely fearsome, but the reason they chose to fight with the Human Race, instead of withdrawing and attacking the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was because doing so was futile. They would only be wasting their time and energy if they tried.
During the era when Cang was overseeing the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the Black Ink Clan would have had to gather several hundred Royal Lords if they wanted to breach the Grand Restriction from the outside.
During that time, the Black Ink Clan clearly didn’t have such capital as they were always entangled with the Human Race. The two races had been irreconcilable enemies since ancient times and could not coexist, but it was not just about mutual blood hatred. Each race was a deadly threat to the other. Only by completely destroying the Human Race would the Black Ink Clan have a stable space to develop and produce more Royal Lords, which in turn would provide them the capital to threaten the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. As for the Humans, the Black Ink Clan literally fed upon them and the worlds they were born from, so there could be no compromise.
When Wu Kuang took over the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction after Cang’s demise, the overall strength of the Black Ink Clan had drastically fallen. They simply did not have any capital to attack the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
Until now!
No matter how many Innate Territory Lords attacked the Grand Restrictions, Wu Kuang would not care. Although the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction had been in disrepair for many years, this was the essence of the 10 Martial Ancestors’ wisdom and strength, it was not so easy to breach.
But if these Innate Territory Lords became Pseudo-Royal Lords…
That would be another matter. The Black Ink Clan did not need too many Pseudo-Royal Lords either, just 500 Pseudo-Royal Lords working together would be able to pose a threat to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Once the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction was breached from the outside, the situation would become extremely dire.
So, when he witnessed the actions of these Black Ink Clansmen, Wu Kuang knew that things had taken a turn for the worst.
Nonetheless, he was in an absolutely passive position at the moment. Even if he could see through the intentions of the Black Ink Clan, it was difficult for him to do anything about it. All he could do was wait and watch.
As time passed, and one Innate Territory Lord after another sacrificed themselves, the Black Ink Nests grew bigger and bigger at an astonishing speed. Just as Wu Kuang had expected, these Black Ink Nests were all High-Rank Black Ink Nests!
In just a few days, almost 300 fully matured High-Rank Black Ink Nest stood tall outside of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
During this time, Black Ink Clansmen kept pouring out from the opening in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction in a steady stream. Although the number of Black Ink Clansmen coming out each time wasn’t great, adding them all up made for a terrifying number.
These newly emerged Black Ink Clansmen also split into groups like before. Most of them flew towards the depths of the void, heading towards the 3,000 Worlds, while the rest stayed behind to prepare to attack the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
Inside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, Wu Kuang let out a sigh of relief after confirming the number of High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
This number was still within the limits of what he could bear, but he did not underestimate the situation; after all, he still had to divert a portion of his attention to watch over the Suppressing Black Ink Army, which would make it difficult for him to respond to the attacks from outside of the Grand Restriction.
In the face of adversity, having good news like this was not too bad.
As a large number of Black Ink Clansmen had rushed out from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, things had become less dangerous for the Suppressing Black Ink Army. Now, as long as he was paying close attention to the movements of the Royal Lords, Wu Kuang could basically ensure the safety of the Suppressing Black Ink Army.
Meanwhile, outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, after the High-Rank Black Ink Nests had been erected, the Innate Territory Lords who had rushed out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction began entering them one after another, willingly walking to their deaths with a smile.
After having been fighting with each other for so many years, both the Human Race and Black Ink Clan knew very well about each other, apart from a few confidential pieces of information that only a few authoritative figures knew about.
For instance, the Black Ink Clan was able to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord borrowing the strength of Innate Territory Lords and a High-Rank Black Ink Nest. This was no secret to the Human Race and Yang Kai had even personally investigated this matter.
Be that as it may, even Yang Kai was unable to figure out how the Black Ink Clan used Innate Territory Lords and High-Rank Black Ink Nests to create Pseudo-Royal Lords specifically. All he knew was that the birth of a Pseudo-Royal Lord was accompanied by the demise of many Innate Territory Lords and a High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
It was only today that this secret was being played out right under Wu Kuang’s nose.
While he was watching on, the Innate Territory Lords entered the High-Rank Black Ink Nests one after another, their auras continuously undulating before disappearing. The High-Rank Black Ink Nests standing tall in the void were like starving beasts that kept devouring all the Innate Territory Lords who walked inside.
As Innate Territory Lords kept pouring in, a tremendous amount of energy accumulated inside each High-Rank Black Ink Nest.
At some point, when a certain number of Innate Territory Lords had walked into one of the Black Ink Nests, the aura of the last Innate Territory Lord suddenly soared, while the accumulated power in the Black Ink Nest rapidly disappeared.
After a while, the Black Ink Nest collapsed and disappeared without a trace. Whereas, the final Innate Territory Lord had now become a Pseudo-Royal Lord, their aura soaring to a whole new level.
One Pseudo-Royal Lord after another was born…
Wu Kuang silently calculated for a moment. In order to create a Pseudo-Royal Lord, at least 12 Innate Territory Lords had to be sacrificed, with at most 16 being required. This number wasn’t fixed, but it was always within this range. Furthermore, every time a Pseudo-Royal Lord was born, a High-Rank Black Ink Nest would be consumed.
Within days, almost 300 Pseudo-Royal Lords had been created. These Pseudo-Royal Lords didn’t stop for a moment and immediately flew straight towards the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, as if they had made a prior agreement.
Wu Kuang sighed in his heart. He knew that his good days had come to an end…
A few days ago, after the Human Race’s second attack on the No-Return Pass, the upper echelons of the Black Ink Clan were gathered in the Main Conference Hall of the No-Return Pass.
The three Royal Lords were standing in the forefront, while the Pseudo-Royal Lords were lined up below. The atmosphere in the hall was heavy and gloomy.
Over the past few years, the Human Race had attacked the Black Ink Clan twice, and each time, the Black Ink Clan had suffered great losses. The first time was one thing as the Human Race had caught the Black Ink Clan off guard by attacking with Universe Worlds. It was a completely new tactic the Black Ink Clan had never seen before, so they could not respond immediately to it.
However, the Black Ink Clan had already made preparations to deal with this Universe World attack before the second battle. They had even shrunk their defensive line, yet they were still unable to reverse the situation.
A Small Stone Race Army of over 100 million had brought great benefits to the Human Race, becoming one of the keystones for their victory.
Since Yang Kai was able to release over 100 million Small Stone Race Soldiers at once, it was evident that he still had more with him.
From the start, the Human Race Army was aggressively attacking, determined to retake the No-Return Pass. Now, with the help of the Small Stone Race, they were like tigers with wings.
After the last battle, even the stupidest Black Ink Clansmen knew that the war was already lost. The No-Return Pass would eventually fall, and the Black Ink Clan here was doomed to extermination…
Over the past few thousand years, the Black Ink Clan had held the initiative and absolute advantage in the war against the Human Race; however, things had taken a sharp turn in the last few decades. The Black Ink Clan found it really hard to accept this change in the status quo.
Among the three Royal Lords, only Mo Na Ye appeared to be in a decent condition, while Mo Yu and Di Ya Luo’s auras were slightly unstable, occasionally coughing to show their injuries.
In these two battles, Mo Yu and Xiang Shan had fought with each other one-on-one twice. The latter was a newly promoted Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master and his strength and foundation might be worse than a veteran Royal Lord like the former, but he fought with his life on the line every time. Even if Mo Yu was slightly stronger, he still took serious damage from the near-suicidal Human Master.
The Human Race understood that the Black Ink Clan’s biggest weakness was healing. So, when Human Race Masters fought against those Masters from the Black Ink Clan, they frequently did so by trading injuries.
The goal of this strategy was completely cut and dry. If a Human was injured, they could use pills or Secret Techniques to recover, but if a Black Ink Clansmen was injured, they had to slumber inside a Black Ink Nest to properly heal…
However, in the face of such a shameless strategy, there was nothing the Black Ink Clan could do. They could only try to be more cautious in battle and not allow the Human Race to succeed.
As the popular adage goes, one can be a thief for a thousand days, but one cannot guard against a thief for a thousand days. In a battle, there would always come a moment in a battle when one had no choice but to take risks, no matter how careful they were. This was pretty much the case with Xiang Shan in the last two battles, which had inflicted serious injuries on Mo Yu. Of course, Xiang Shan did not have it easy either. Had he not run quickly enough at the last moment, Mo Yu had the confidence that he could kill him on the spot!
The veteran Royal Lord, Mo Yu, could barely be considered to have beaten the newly promoted Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so his injuries were worth the price. In contrast, Di Ya Luo was rather miserable. His injuries were caused by the burst of intense Purifying Light Yang Kai had created when he summoned 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers under the cover of his Space-Time River. At the time, six Pseudo-Royal Lords perished, and if not for Mo Na Ye’s timely rescue, the total number of Royal Lords would now be two.
Two of the three Royal Lords were seriously injured. Their condition could be described in just one word, miserable.
The Pseudo-Royal Lords were in an even more miserable state. At a glance, Mo Na Ye found many familiar faces missing. Compared to the grand assembly over 20 years ago, there were 50 fewer Pseudo-Royal Lords!
In just two battles, 50 Pseudo-Royal Lords had perished. This was an unprecedented loss! No matter how many Pseudo-Royal Lords the Black Ink Clan had, they would not be able to withstand such a rate of attrition.
The Human Race did not need to engage the Black Ink Clan many more times in such high-intensity battles. Perhaps the Black Ink Clan would no longer be able to hold on after three more such fights. When the disparity in top Masters reached a certain extent, it would be impossible for the Black Ink Clan to hold their ground on the battlefield.
The air inside the hall was extremely heavy. The shame and pressure of the battle was weighing down on all the Black Ink Clansmen like a mountain.
“Sir!” Mo Na Ye turned to Mo Yu and asked for his permission to speak.
Mo Yu was sitting upright on his thrones of bones, his face a little pale. Hearing Mo Na Ye’s request, he simply raised his hand a little and weakly gave his permission, “Go on.”
“Yes!” Mo Na Ye respectfully accepted. Although he was already a Royal Lord and had the qualifications to sit on the same level as Mo Yu, he had always maintained a certain degree of deference and respect towards Mo Yu. And why not? After all, Mo Yu had given him enough trust for so many years. When Mo Na Ye was still just a Pseudo-Royal Lord, Mo Yu had allowed him to take complete charge of the Black Ink Clan’s affairs. Although this was partly because Mo Yu was not good at managing things, Mo Na Ye was still quite grateful.
A true King didn’t need to do things personally, but rather knew how to use others to accomplish his goals.
After responding to Mo Yu, Mo Na Ye stood up and swept his gaze over the many Pseudo-Royal Lords.
The faces of the Pseudo-Royal Lords instantly went cold as they realized that Mo Na Ye had made an important decision and was about to announce it. The Royal Lords had probably reached a consensus on this decision, and all they needed to do was obey.
As expected, Mo Na Ye calmly and softly relayed his decision a moment later, that sent all the Pseudo-Royal Lords flying into an uproar.
“The next battle will be the decisive one!”
Having relayed this, Mo Na Ye just shut up and let the Pseudo-Royal Lords argue, his heart filled with grief.
He had not expected the situation to develop to this point.
Originally, he had planned that even if the current Black Ink Clan was not an opponent of the Human Race, they would still try their best to damage the enemy as much as possible. So long as they could achieve this, even if the Human Race managed to take back the No-Return Pass, they wouldn’t be able to threaten the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
Even if the entire Black Ink Clan Army at the No-Return Pass was sacrificed, if that guaranteed the Supreme One’s dominion, so what?
Gathering all of their forces and defending the No-Return Pass was the best way to deal with the current situation; in addition, the Black Ink Clan had a certain geographical advantage at the No-Return Pass. As long as they acted appropriately, it shouldn’t have been difficult to accomplish this.
Unfortunately, the intensity and development of the battle had gone beyond imagination.
First, there was the Human Race’s strategy to bombard them using Universe Worlds, which turned the Black Ink Clan Army guarding the pass into a punching bag, and then, there was Yang Kai using the massive Small Stone Race Army to offset the disadvantage of the Human Race’s forces being far outnumbered by the Black Ink Clan’s.
With all these unexpected external factors affecting the battle, the only result awaiting the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass was continuously being worn down by the Humans while the Humans wouldn’t suffer much loss.
After at least three and at most five more battles like the one before, it would be impossible for the Black Ink Clan to defend the No-Return Pass.
Rather than being slowly bled to death by the Human Race like this, it would be better to go all out and perhaps even have a chance to severely damage the Human Race Army. Mo Na Ye was not hoping for too much, but as long as they could increase the number of Human casualties by 50% compared to their previous fights, then the price paid by the Black Ink Clan would be worth it.
“Are you done arguing?” After a long silence, Mo Na Ye suddenly shouted, glaring at the Pseudo-Royal Lords, “If you have any doubts, just ask. What are you all arguing about?”
The noisy hall immediately fell silent.
After a long time, one of the Pseudo-Royal Lords asked, “Sir, may I ask if the Supreme One’s Soul Clones will participate in the next battle?”
Mo Na Ye glanced at the Pseudo-Royal Lord and indifferently replied, “Of course they will.”
The Pseudo-Royal Lord’s expression became serious as he saw the determination of the higher-ups.
In both battles, the Supreme One’s Soul Clones had been guarding the No-Return Pass. Although they did provide long-range support, they never left their positions because they had to deter the two Giant Spirit Gods in the Barren Territory. So, their support was extremely limited.
But if these two were to participate in this fight, it would become a true decisive battle.
It was foreseeable that when the two Giant Spirit Gods in the Barren Territory saw the Supreme One’s Soul Clones’ movements, they would respond in kind. Once they rushed over from the Barren Territory, the entire No-Return Pass would become a battlefield. At that time, the High-Rank Black Ink Nests placed here would be completely destroyed.
Without the High-Rank Black Ink Nests, the Black Ink Clan would be like a river without a source; a tree without roots. This was what it meant to go all out; it was the final battle!
This battle was both a crisis and an opportunity to the Black Ink Clan.
No matter the outcome, there was only one ultimate fate waiting for the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass, and that was to be exterminated by the Human Race!
There was only one thing they could aim for: to weaken the Humans as much as possible. If they succeeded, the Human Race would lose the ability to launch a crusade to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Even if they failed, they would still weaken the Human Race, so whether they wanted to or not, the Black Ink Clan had no choice but to go all out.
In light of the current situation, the Black Ink Clan still had a good chance of severely wounding the Human Race Army.
In the last two battles, the Supreme One’s two Soul Clones had remained motionless. If the Human Race launched another attack, they might not have considered the possibility of these two also participating in the battle. At that time, as long as the two Soul Clones made a move at the right time, the Human Race Army would suffer a huge blow.
Of course, the two Giant Spirit Gods in the Barren Territory would arrive shortly after, but that was now an inevitability, so it did not matter. Furthermore, it wasn’t that Mo Na Ye had no plans to deal with these two Giant Spirit Gods.
He was confident that with enough Pseudo-Royal Lords, they could hold off those two Giant Spirit Gods for a brief moment, which would give Supreme One’s Soul Clones enough time to bring unimaginable losses to the Human Race Army.
In the Main Hall, only one Pseudo-Royal Lord asked a question, and after obtaining the answer, the Pseudo-Royal Lords no longer spoke.
Since the Supreme One’s Soul Clones were preparing for war, the next battle would definitely be the last for the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass!
Mo Na Ye continued, “Judging by the timetable of the last two battles initiated by the Human Race, the next one will probably happen two years from now. The decisive battle is imminent, but both Sir Mo Yu and Di Ya Luo are injured, putting them at a disadvantage. In order to ensure that the final battle will proceed smoothly, the two of them must quickly recover.”
Saying so, he swept his eyes over the Pseudo-Royal Lords below, “So, I need your help. Who is willing to sacrifice everything for the Supreme One?”
Whether it was Mo Yu or Di Ya Luo, both had suffered heavy injuries. If they wanted to fully recover, they would have to slumber inside Black Ink Nests for several decades to a century. Of course, the Human Race would not give them so much time, so they had to resort to other methods to quickly restore these two Royal Lords.
Back in the Universe Furnace, when Mo Na Ye fought with Yang Kai, he was cornered in a hopeless situation, but just as Yang Kai was about to kill him, Meng Que sacrificed himself using the Source Fusion Technique, integrating his strength into Mo Na Ye, which ultimately helped the latter recover and escape.
This was a Secret Technique that only the Pseudo-Royal Lords and Innate Territory Lords could use. As Pseudo-Royal Lords were born with the help of the Source Fusion Technique, they could use the Source Fusion Technique to infuse their strength into other Black Ink Clansmen to help them recover.
Under normal circumstances, the Black Ink Clan would never choose to sacrifice Pseudo-Royal Lords, but desperate times called for desperate measures. They had no choice but to do so.
A Royal Lord in perfect condition would naturally be able to play a greater role in the upcoming battle than a Pseudo-Royal Lord.
After Mo Na Ye presented this question, all the Pseudo-Royal Lords remained muted…
This was also within his expectations; after all, not every Pseudo-Royal Lord had the same courage and resolve as Meng Que. Furthermore, the reason Meng Que helped Mo Na Ye at that time was because he knew he was already doomed to die, so he wanted to make his death meaningful.
This time, when Mo Na Ye asked if they were willing to die for the two Royal Lords, even the Black Ink Clansmen, who were known for their extreme loyalty to the Supreme One, had to think twice about it.
Although he had already expected this, Mo Na Ye was still displeased when it actually transpired before him. Thus, he coldly snorted before rebuking, “It seems that you still have to weigh things in your loyalty to the Supreme One. Since that’s the case, I will be the one to decide!”
Apparently, he was prepared for this and casually picked out two severely wounded Pseudo-Royal Lords.
The two Pseudo-Royal Lords who had been pointed out were naturally depressed. Nonetheless, they didn’t offer any resistance and immediately accepted their orders. They knew that they were picked because even if they participated in the next battle, they wouldn’t be able to play much of a role due to their severe injuries.
After picking two Pseudo-Royal Lords, Mo Na Ye seemed to be a little dispirited as he stated, waving everyone away, “Go and prepare yourselves. Everything will be decided in the next battle.”
All the Pseudo-Royal Lords bowed and were about to withdraw when suddenly, a profound wave of energy suddenly spread from somewhere in the No-Return Pass, quickly enveloping the entire hall. The next moment, a scene involuntarily emerged in the Royal Lords and even the Pseudo-Royal Lords’ minds.
They saw a massive shadow slumbering in the void, along with a massive number of Black Ink Clansmen swarming out of the gap in the giant shadow…
The Black Ink Clansmen who had rushed out of the gap split into two teams. One team flew off into the depths of the void while the other stayed behind to hatch High-Rank Black Ink Nests. Furthermore, the majority of the figures shuttling back and forth were Innate Territory Lords…
The Pseudo-Royal Lords who were about to withdraw were all dumbfounded, and the same went for the three Royal Lords. The expressions of each of the Black Ink Clansmen began to fluctuate.
Soon, they realized what they were seeing.
This was the scene of the situation outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction!
The huge shadow lying in the void was Mo sealed by the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, and that gap was the breach in the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction.
The reason they were able to see this scene in their minds was all because of the Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods.
The Black Ink Giant Spirit Gods were the Supreme One’s Soul Clones, so even though they were far away from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, it was impossible to sever the connection between them and their true body. As such, whatever transpired at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the Supreme One’s Soul Clones were able to quickly sense it and then relay the scene to the minds of all the Black Ink Clansmen.
Witnessing their fellow clansmen bustling about outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, the faces of the three Royal Lords and all the Pseudo-Royal Lords in the Main Hall gradually looked excited and joyful.
A moment later, the Supreme One’s Soul Clones’ voice rang in their ears, “Our true body is about to awaken!”
As this voice rang out, the image in their minds gradually faded away and disappeared.
Inside the Main Hall, the Pseudo-Royal Lords were still in bowing position. Mo Yu, who was originally sitting on the bone throne with a dispirited look on his face, sat up straight. Di Ya Luo, on the other hand, was filled with unrestrained joy.
Mo Na Ye remained in a daze for a long time before bursting into laughter. His laughter was filled with joy at being able to escape from a hopeless situation.
Originally, he had planned to launch a decisive battle against the Human Race the next time they attacked. He had planned to sacrifice everyone and everything at the No-Return Pass to cripple the Human Race Army, but now it seemed that there was no need to be so anxious.
Moreover, judging by the current situation, the Black Ink Clansmen at the No-Return Pass still had a slim chance of survival in the face of the Human Race’s aggression.
So long as the No-Return Pass could hold out for a decade or two, their allies from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction would arrive to support them. When that time came, they might be able to pincer the Human Race Army and turn the tide, ultimately emerging as the winners of the battle!
Of course, even if they were defeated, it didn’t matter. The Supreme One’s Soul Clones had already said that the main body was about to awaken. Once the Supreme One was truly awake, no matter how strong and well-equipped the Human Race Army was, it would be useless. This Universe would eventually be ruled by the Black Ink Clan, and Black Ink would rule eternal!
“Sir!” Mo Na Ye turned around and looked towards Mo Yu.
Mo Yu’s face lit up as he nodded lightly, “I guess we need to change our strategy!”
After obtaining the news from the Supreme One’s Soul Clones, the original plan had to be altered drastically. It could be said that it was the best news they had heard in many years since the Black Ink Clan had withdrawn their forces from the 3,000 Worlds.
Among all the Black Ink Clansmen present, only the two Pseudo-Royal Lords who had been picked out by Mo Na Ye did not show any joy, because no matter how the situation had changed, it did not alter anything for them. Since they had been selected, they had to sacrifice themselves to heal the two Royal Lords so that they could still fight in the next battle. It had to be said that this was truly a tragedy for them.
Time ticked away, and soon two years had elapsed. As expected, the Human Race Army launched their third attack. Similar to the last two attacks, they started the battle with a bombardment of Universe Worlds which cleared the way and asserted pressure on the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line. The Humans then used this opportunity to press forward.
However, compared to the last two times, the effect of the Universe Worlds’ bombardment was negligible this time.
The first time, they had caught the Black Ink Clan off guard, and the second time, Mi Jing Lun’s tactics had proven superior, but how could the Black Ink Clan not be prepared against this strategy after having suffered two serious losses? As such, no matter what kind of tricks the Human Race used this time, the Black Ink Clan had an appropriate response to counter it.
As the Universe World bombardment tactic was not very effective this time, it all came down to a battle between the two Armies to decide the situation.
Fortunately, every Human Race Soldier had refined some Small Stone Race Soldiers over the past two years. Some had refined only two or three, while some had refined as many as several dozen. As for the Divine Spirits with the Great Sun and Moon Marks, each had several tens of thousands of Small Stone Race Soldiers under their command.
Under these circumstances, not only would the Black Ink Clan have to face the Human Race Army, but also the Small Stone Race Army which was several times bigger than the Human Race Army. The current Small Stone Race Soldiers also did not haplessly charge straight towards the enemy’s ranks like they did last time. All of them had been refined by the Human Race Soldiers and controlled properly like artifacts that the Humans could move like their own limbs.
As such, the pressure on the Black Ink Clan Army was enormous.
Yang Kai was also awakened by Ah Er from his cultivation and rushed into the Territory Gate to participate in the battle.
This time, the Black Ink Clan didn’t deliberately try to stop him, only Di Ya Luo was stationed at the vicinity of the Territory Gate with a group of Pseudo-Royal Lords. They were responsible for restraining his movements and preventing him from destroying the nearby High-Rank Black Ink Nests.
At a glance, Yang Kai could tell that the Black Ink Clan’s defensive line had shrunk further. Compared to the first battle, the current defensive line of the Black Ink Clan could be said to have contracted by 50%. Since the defensive line had shrunk so much, the sturdiness of each position had greatly increased.
Although the Human Race was assisted by the Small Stone Race Army, it was not going to be that easy to reproduce the same glorious results as the last two battles.
On the battlefield of the top Masters, Mo Yu’s opponent had changed to Wei Jun Yang.
The injuries Xiang Shan had suffered in the last two battles weren’t light either, so he was unable to completely recover after just two years and had no choice but to let Wei Jun Yang take his place.
What surprised Yang Kai was that Mo Yu had almost recovered completely. It was quite strange as Mo Yu was grievously injured last time, and it was impossible for him to heal so quickly with Black Ink Clan’s recovery speed.
Di Ya Luo’s situation was the same.
Yang Kai couldn’t help but recall his battle with Mo Na Ye in the Universe Furnace and form some speculations in his mind.
Throughout the entire battlefield, the Black Ink Clan had assumed a full defensive stance. Regardless of how aggressive the Humans were, they just focused on defending themselves, unlike the previous two times where they would attack whenever they found an opportunity.
Yang Kai found it a little strange.
It was true that the Black Ink Clan was able to reduce their own losses by completely abandoning offence and focusing on defence, but the Black Ink Clan wasn’t stupid. This would only prolong their death throes, and would also greatly reduce the risk the Human Race Army had to bear. In a huge battle like this, being completely on the defensive would definitely significantly reduce Black Ink Clan’s losses, but the Human Race would suffer even fewer casualties as a result.
This strategy was far worse than the last two battles, where they would still counterattack while defending, which would force the Humans to be cautious in their actions; after all, the Human Race didn’t want to suffer too much damage, which would be detrimental to their future crusade plans.
[How could someone as astute as Mo Na Ye use such a stupid tactic?] Yang Kai was puzzled.
Be that as it may, he did not have time to mull too much over it as Di Ya Luo was already charging towards him leading a dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords. Even though Yang Kai had made the Black Ink Clansmen besieging him suffer great loss by sacrificing 2 million Small Stone Race Soldiers in the last battle and had killed several Pseudo-Royal Lords on the spot, it was not a tactic that could not be defended against. The Black Ink Clan was just caught unprepared last time as none of them had expected Yang Kai to summon so many Small Stone Race members at once. After having been caught off guard last time, they naturally wouldn’t let Yang Kai succeed once again that easily.
Yang Kai was entangled with these Black Ink Clansmen for a while, only displaying his strength as an ordinary Ninth-Order Master. Nonetheless, he still failed to find a good opportunity to break through. Helpless, he could only kill his way to the No-Return Pass and then rush towards Pure Yang Pass.
Just like before, the Black Ink Clan had received some prior instructions, which was why when Yang Kai attempted to kill his way to the No-Return Pass, it was smooth and easy. He basically did not face any obstruction from the Black Ink Clan. In fact, when he approached, they even took the initiative to open up a path so as to avoid provoking him into attacking.
This left Yang Kai completely speechless.
When he successfully arrived at Pure Yang Pass, Mi Jing Lun, who was waiting for him, handed Yang Kai the Space Ring he had prepared in advance and couldn’t help but ask, “Did you really finish all the supplies you took last time? That was quite a lot.”
Although the amount he had given to Yang Kai last time wasn’t excessive, it wasn’t small either; after all, it should have been enough for even a Ninth-Order Master to refine for 100 years.
That amount of resources was enough for a Human Division to fight a local battle.
“My consumption is relatively fast compared to the norm!” Yang Kai casually replied. As he checked the contents of the Space Ring, he found the amount of resources was twice what he received last time. Feeling satisfied, he carefully put it away.
Mi Jing Lun was also baffled by his reply.
It was enough for an ordinary Ninth-Order Master to cultivate for 100 years, yet Yang Kai had used them all up in two years. Under the current circumstances, it was naturally impossible for Yang Kai to waste even a little.
In other words, there was a high chance that Yang Kai had really refined everything he was given.
Mi Jing Lung was very curious about how Yang Kai cultivated, but he still didn’t ask; after all, matters about cultivation were always considered private. Yang Kai’s crazy consumption of resources was also not a bad thing for the Human Race as it meant he was rapidly increasing his strength.
“The Black Ink Clan seems to have changed their strategy,” Mi Jing Lun changed the subject, “What do you think?”
“Maybe they are just struggling to survive?” Yang Kai casually replied.
Mi Jing Lun shook his head, disagreeing, “With as smart as Mo Na Ye is, he can’t miss that doing so will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. The Black Ink Clan’s current response will only increase the time it takes for the Human Race to capture the No-Return Pass. Originally, we could have seized it within five battles, but now, it may take 10 or more. However, in the end, the price we will have to pay will be much smaller.”
In a battle where the Human Race wanted to capture the No-Return Pass, the amount of time and price to be paid was inversely related. The longer the time the Human Race took, the smaller the price they would have to pay. This was especially true now that the Black Ink Clan had chosen to focus on defence, greatly reducing the threat they posed to the Human Soldiers.
If the Black Ink Clan focused on the bigger picture, they absolutely shouldn’t have used such a strategy; instead, they should have attacked the Human Race with everything they had! That way, the war here might have come to a conclusion in possibly two to three battles.
Of course, even if they didn’t use such a decisive strategy, it would have been wise to respond defensively and aggressively as before.
Since Yang Kai could see this, Mi Jing Lun naturally could as well.
“Then, there’s only one possibility,” Yang Kai firmly stated.
“What possibility?” Mi Jing Lun asked.
Yang Kai chuckled, “Senior Brother, since you already have a guess, why are you asking me?”
Mi Jing Lun waved him off, “Just tell me, I want to know if we’re thinking the same thing.”
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement and replied, “They’re buying time!”
Mi Jing Lun’s expression became solemn as he nodded, “It seems we’re indeed thinking the same thing.”
He also felt that the Black Ink Clan was simply stalling for time. If they were simply trying to prolong their last hour, it would be rather meaningless; however, if the Black Ink Clan had other plans, it would be quite alarming.
“How’s the progress of the Void Guard?” Yang Kai asked in a solemn voice.
“They are about halfway there, with nothing unexpected.”
“Ask them to remain vigilant!”
Mi Jing Lun’s expression slightly changed, “Junior Brother, you mean that the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction…”
Yang Kai added, “I hope not, but the Black Ink Clan’s current strategy is quite worrying.”
He turned his head towards the depths of the void as a hint of concern flickered across his face.
Just as he had said, the Black Ink Clan’s change in strategy made everyone think that something else was going on. If the Black Ink Clan at the No-Return Pass was simply stalling out of fear of death, it would be meaningless, but the situation would be different if they had reinforcements coming.
Where could such reinforcements come from though?
The Black Ink Clan currently had only one source of reinforcements: The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction!
But if that was the case, something must have happened to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction! What about the Suppressing Black Ink Army then?
Su Yan and his other Wives, his Little Sister Yang Xue, and his three Legacy Disciples were all in the Suppressing Black Ink Army. Even though Yang Kai knew it would be a dangerous mission when he arranged for them to travel there, he still couldn’t help but worry now.
Had Old Tree not fallen into a coma, Yang Kai could have travelled through the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary to arrive at the Universe World he had placed outside the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction with his help. Unfortunately, Old Tree had consumed too much energy assisting Yang Kai previously and he could no longer borrow the former’s strength.
In addition, Yang Kai still needed to remain in the Barren Territory, so that he could cooperate with Ah Da and Ah Er at the critical juncture to take down the No-Return Pass. He could not leave the No-Return Pass until the battle here had ended.
Now, all they could do was wait for news from the Void Guard. Since they were already halfway to the Grand Restriction, if something had gone wrong up ahead, they would presumably find traces of it soon.
After bidding Mi Jing Lun farewell, Yang Kai returned to the battlefield.
Seeing Yang Kai coming back, Di Ya Luo promptly led the dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords out of the No-Return Pass to meet him.
The Black Ink Clan’s stance against Yang Kai was pretty clear, ‘you can come and go anywhere you want as we can’t stop you, but if you want to intervene in this battle, Di Ya Luo will lead our Masters and respond accordingly!’
Yang Kai found it very annoying. If he really went all out, it wouldn’t be a problem for him to take care of Di Ya Luo and these Pseudo-Royal Lords with his current strength, but if he did so, it would definitely draw the Black Ink Giant Spirit God’s vigilance. The losses outweighed the gains.
Helpless, Yang Kai had no choice but to give up on getting entangled with Di Ya Luo. Fortunately, he still had Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability.
Before Di Ya Luo could arrive leading the Pseudo-Royal Lords, Yang Kai was already nowhere to be seen. Right that instant, all the Pseudo-Royal Lords on the battlefield felt insecure.
Di Ya Luo’s Divine Sense surged as he searched for Yang Kai’s whereabouts, but to no avail.
A moment later, a violent battle suddenly erupted in a certain corner of the No-Return Pass, followed by the aura of a Pseudo-Royal Lord vanishing.
Di Ya Luo suddenly looked in that direction and happened to see Yang Kai’s figure flashing past. What he saw next instantly made his eyes pop out.
No one had any idea when Yang Kai had snuck back into the No-Return Pass, but when all the Pseudo-Royal Lords were fighting, distracted by the opponents around them, he suddenly attacked and killed one who was stationed at the No-Return Pass, guarding the High-Rank Black Ink Nests while also destroying the surrounding Nests in the process!
In an instant, four High-Rank Black Ink Nests were reduced to dust, and the Mid-Rank Black Ink Nests and Low-Rank Black Ink Nests that originated from them soon began to wither.
Di Ya Luo cursed in his heart. He had already led his team over to intercept Yang Kai, so it was too late for him to return to provide aid. While it would only take a few breaths to return, Yang Kai could do unimaginable damage to the No-Return Pass in such a span of time.
However, a tide of Black Ink Strength surged towards Yang Kai’s location at that moment, whereupon Yang Kai’s disappearing figure strangely reappeared. Immediately after, a powerful aura locked on to him before reaching him and engaging him in battle.
Mo Na Ye!
Di Ya Luo and his team were specifically keeping a close watch on Yang Kai’s movements, Mo Yu and Wei Jun Yang were locked in a fierce battle, while Mo Na Ye had been overseeing the No-Return Pass, giving the latter a clear picture of the overall situation.
When Yang Kai flew over from Pure Yang Pass and disappeared, Mo Na Ye went on high alert. Although he couldn’t stop Yang Kai’s initial attack, he had managed to interrupt his Instantaneous Movement Technique at the right time moment and drag him out of the Void.
Annoyed and frustrated, Yang Kai could not help but click his tongue as he watched Di Ya Luo and the dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords rush back towards him. He had no choice but to fight while retreating towards the Territory Gate.
Mo Na Ye also withdrew his hand at the appropriate moment, facing off against Yang Kai from a distance.
Soon, Di Ya Luo arrived and stood next to Mo Na Ye, his face filled with anger. Yang Kai had so easily cheated him, causing the No-Return Pass to lose a Pseudo-Royal Lord and several High-Rank Black Ink Nests. This made him look incompetent.
Two Royal Lords and a dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords, such a magnificent lineup was there just to keep an eye on one person. In the entire Human Race, only Yang Kai could receive such an honour.
From the moment the Human Race Army first launched an attack on the No-Return Pass, they basically had maintained the frequency of battles at every two years.
In the first two battles, the Human Race managed to score huge wins and kill a large number of Black Ink Clansmen thanks to the Universe World bombardment strategy and the Small Stone Race Army. In each battle, they had managed to kill between 20 to 30 Pseudo-Royal Lords.
Although the Human Race had also lost many Eighth-Order Masters in the process, it was well worth it.
If the Human Race could replicate this kind of situation, they were confident in taking down the No-Return Pass within a decade.
However, how could everything go smoothly in such a large-scale war which involves millions of lives?
In the third battle, the Black Ink Clan completely changed their strategy, shrinking their defence line to its utmost limit and assuming a completely defensive posture. They were like a tortoise with its head and limbs tucked into its shell. In this kind of situation, it was difficult for the Human Race to achieve anything even with a wide range of tactics.
The situation remained the same for the fourth and fifth battles in the ensuing years.
The Human Race Army even deliberately showed openings at certain places on the battlefield, trying to lure the Black Ink Clan Army into attacking. Nonetheless, the Black Ink Clan remained as steady as a rock in the face of such temptation, completely unmoved by this seemingly easy victory.
Although the Human Race could forcefully storm the defence line, that would undoubtedly result in massive casualties.
The Human Race was left with no other choice. Since the Black Ink Clan had opted for a defensive strategy, they could only slowly wear down the enemy forces.
The only silver lining in this was that the Human Race had complete control of the situation in this kind of battle, allowing them to reduce their losses to an extremely low level.
Of course, aside from the faint uneasiness in his heart, Yang Kai was more than happy to see this kind of situation.
He would have more time to cultivate and grow stronger the longer the battle dragged on. He had his own Temporal River inside which the flow of time was 30 times faster than the outside world. He would cultivate inside the Temporal River after every battle, giving him a full 60 years to cultivate after each fight, allowing him to refine massive amounts of resources which helped constantly grow his strength.
In the tenth year of the Human Race Army’s campaign against the No-Return Pass, after the sixth battle ended, Yang Kai was refining and cultivating in his Temporal River which stretched across the void just like before. But suddenly, a tremor came from outside, waking Yang Kai up.
This was the signal he had agreed upon with Giant Spirit God Ah Er. As he was completely absorbed in cultivation inside the Temporal River, Yang Kai knew nothing about the outside world and had to be informed by Ah Er. Every time the Human Race launched an attack on the No-Return Pass, Ah Er had used this method to awaken him.
Feeling this familiar signal, Yang Kai quickly ended his cultivation and rushed out from the river.
Seeing him emerge, the nearby Ah Er pointed towards the Territory Gate. As Yang Kai turned his head and gazed through the Territory Gate, he noticed faint traces of a battle on the other side.
He had seen this scene many times already. Every time the Human Race launched an attack, he would enter the No-Return Pass from the Barren Territory and single-handedly restrain many Masters from the Black Ink Clan.
Except, a frown had appeared on his brow this time, because it was not yet time to attack!
Although he was absorbed in cultivation inside the Temporal River, he could still feel the passage of time. In the past, he had been able to cultivate for roughly 60 years before the Human Race launched another assault. However, only 10 years had passed inside the River of Time this time.
In other words, it had only been four months since the last battle. This had never happened before.
Yang Kai’s expression couldn’t help but become grave as he realized that something unforeseen had occurred; otherwise, the Human Race wouldn’t have rashly changed their strategy.
In a flash, he rushed towards the Territory Gate, but he didn’t forget to turn around and warn Ah Er before disappearing, “Keep an eye on those two. If they dare to leave, you must promptly come over!”
Ah Er repeatedly nodded, agreeing in a resonant voice, “En!”
Ah Da also chimed in, but Yang Kai believed that he didn’t really understand it…
Just like the past few times, the moment Yang Kai stepped out of the Territory Gate, a dozen or so powerful auras locked on to him. With Di Ya Luo in the lead, a dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords gathered around him, standing in combat readiness.
Yang Kai had to fight with these guys in every battle, but because he had always been hiding his strength, he had never been able to do anything to them. Nonetheless, he had still managed to kill a few Pseudo-Royal Lords after so many battles of wits and courage, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
Their main goal was to restrain Yang Kai to deprive him of the opportunity to launch a sneak attack on the other Pseudo-Royal Lords; furthermore, they were also afraid of Yang Kai’s method of sacrificing Small Stone Race Soldiers, so they rarely had any direct confrontation with him. Most of the time, they would only use their auras to interfere, attacking him from a distance.
However, things were different this time around. The moment Yang Kai appeared, Di Ya Luo shouted, “Attack!”
Unexpectedly, they were the first to charge at Yang Kai. Although the dozen Pseudo-Royal Lords were clearly afraid of Yang Kai, they still braced themselves and followed after Di Ya Luo.
The reason for this change was because of the Human Race Army’s strange movements.
For the past 10 years, the Humans had launched a battle every two years, with no exceptions. But this time, the Human Race Army had actually launched an attack on the No-Return Pass just four months after the last battle.
Obviously, something had gone wrong.
There must be a reason for this deviation! Mo Na Ye, who commanded and deployed the Black Ink Clan Army, might not be able to figure out what the Human Race was up to, but it didn’t stop him from changing his strategy.
While keeping their original defensive strategy unchanged, he ordered Di Ya Luo and his Squad to try their best to stop Yang Kai from meeting up with the Human Race’s higher-ups.
This was quite a difficult task, and if possible, Di Ya Luo would’ve declined this mission. In the past, all they had to do was restrain Yang Kai. So long as they were careful enough, they wouldn’t be in too much danger. But this time, they would have to face him head-on if they wanted to prevent Yang Kai from meeting with the Human Race’s upper echelons.
This was not only a difficult task, but also a very dangerous one. Di Ya Luo still vividly remembered his first encounter with Yang Kai, and how he was severely injured by the latter.
Nonetheless, this mission had to be carried out by him. Mo Yu was entangled by Wei Jun Yang and was unable to escape. Mo Na Ye was responsible for coordinating the Army and couldn’t easily take action. Only he, the most inexperienced Royal Lord, could and had to face the killing star.
Fortunately, Mo Na Ye had also assured that if the situation became critical, he would come to assist him at a moment’s notice!
A battle instantly broke out, the aftershocks spreading in all directions. Fortunately, there were still Pseudo-Royal Lords guarding the No-Return Pass; otherwise, a large number of Black Ink Nests would have been destroyed.
Having fought with Yang Kai many times already, Di Ya Luo was well aware of his opponent’s strength. This killing star was far stronger than any other Ninth-Order Master, and even with so many Pseudo-Royal Lords working together, this battle was still extremely difficult.
When Yang Kai summoned the Small Stone Race Army and activated Purifying Light, Di Ya Luo and the Pseudo-Royal Lords who had been on guard promptly scattered and fled.
A glaring light flashed and enveloped the entire sky, but by the time it faded away, Yang Kai’s figure had already disappeared.
Seeing this, Di Ya Luo, who was still very much on guard, let out a sigh of relief.
He and the other Pseudo-Royal Lords had already tried their best, but they still couldn’t stop Yang Kai, and it was definitely not because they were slacking on their duties.
According to their past experiences, Yang Kai should have appeared at Pure Yang Pass by now.
On the walls of Pure Yang Pass, Mi Jing Lun, who was quietly waiting, suddenly noticed something nearby and immediately sent out a Divine Sense transmission, “Don’t show yourself, just listen to me.”
Yang Kai, who had snuck in here with the help of the Thunder Shadow’s Innate Divine Ability, immediately stopped in place and sent a Divine Sense message back, “I’m here.”
Confirming that Yang Kai had arrived nearby, Mi Jing Lun finally let out a sigh of relief. After a moment of deliberation, he continued, “Our previous worries have been confirmed.”
Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became grave and solemn, “The Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction?”
Mi Jing Lun stared at the battlefield and imperceptibly nodded, “En, the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction!”
When the Black Ink Clan suddenly changed their strategy and completely focused on defense during the third battle, their actions had left Yang Kai and Mi Jing Lun a little baffled, but it also caused them to become vigilant.
In the following conversation, the two of them both agreed that someone as smart as Mo Na Ye was well aware that the Black Ink Clan would not be able to defend the No-Return Pass, and would definitely not employ such a stupid strategy. Doing so would only delay the inevitable and would not affect the final outcome of the war. In fact, it would even allow the Human Race to win at a smaller price.
Only if the Black Ink Clan was waiting for reinforcements would such actions make sense.
In this vast Universe, if the Black Ink Clan really had reinforcements, they would definitely come from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Unfortunately, no one had any inkling on the situation at the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. The only thing the Human Race could do was wait for the Void Guard, who were laying Space Arrays along the way, to reach the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction and investigate the situation.
According to the schedule though, the Void Guard should have yet not reached the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. At best, they should be about 75% of the way there, so it should have been impossible for them to obtain any news.
“A message came from the Void Guard. They discovered a large number of Black Ink Clansmen rushing towards the No-Return Pass from the direction of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction,” Mi Jing Lun said, “They should have all escaped from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Furthermore, their overall strength is very high.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became serious.
There really was something wrong with the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction! Otherwise, it would have been impossible for Black Ink Clansmen to escape in such large numbers.
[Did Mo wake up? What about Wu Kuang? What about the Suppressing Black Ink Army?]
Yang Kai’s emotions were suddenly in turmoil.
Yang Kai had been considering when Mo would wake up for a long time, but he couldn’t be certain of such a thing, nor had he gained anything from probing Mo Na Ye. Perhaps Mo Na Ye himself didn’t know anymore than he did.
Right now, Yang Kai could not rely on the World Tree, so even if he wanted to go to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction to assess the situation, he couldn’t.
His previous worries had come true, and the favourable situation of the Human Race had suddenly become uncertain.
Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, Yang Kai stated, “The problem with the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction should have occurred five or six years ago.”
“It should be,” Mi Jing Lun nodded lightly.
During the third battle, the Black Ink Clan suddenly changed their strategy and went into full defensive mode, which Yang Kai and Mi Jing Lun found quite strange; however, if the Black Ink Clan at the No-Return Pass got word from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction that help was on the way, everything would make sense.
Since they knew about the reinforcements coming from the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, they had opted for an all-out defensive strategy. As long as they could hold on until reinforcements arrived, they might be able to execute a pincer attack on the Human Race and catch them off guard, thereby turning the tables on them.
It wasn’t hard for the Black Ink Clan to get the news about the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Black Ink Nests not only had the ability to spawn Black Ink Clansmen, but this strange thing also held another advantage in transmitting information that could not be matched by any other known means.
Judging by the situation, the Black Ink Clan’s response was undoubtedly correct. As long as they continued to defend at the No-Return Pass, they would be able to hold out for more than a decade until reinforcements arrived. The only way this wouldn’t happen is if the Human Race decided to launch an all-out attack to take down the No-Return Pass at all costs before their reinforcements arrived.
“Does that mean that the Void Guard encountered the Black Ink Clan’s reinforcements? Was there a clash?” Yang Kai asked.
Mi Jing Lun quickly replied, “Not for the time being. The Void Guard don’t have many people, but each of them is a Master who would be prudent in their actions. On the other hand, the Black Ink Clan Army is marching straight ahead, heading right towards their goal without trying to hide themselves. After the Void Guard discovered the situation, they immediately sent back a warning and then began monitoring the progress of the Black Ink Clan reinforcements. However, the deployment of the Space Arrays will be delayed because of this.”
This was something that couldn’t be helped. According to the original plan, the Void Guard under Li Wu Yi’s lead would set up Space Arrays all along the way to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. This way would make it much more convenient for the Human Race to attack the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction after conquering the No-Return Pass, saving them all the time which would have been wasted in transit.
But now that they had encountered the Black Ink Clan reinforcements halfway, setting up the Space Arrays had to be delayed. In fact, they even had to remove their own traces to prevent the Black Ink Clan reinforcements from discovering anything.
The moment Mi Jing Lun received the Void Guard’s message, he realized the gravity of the situation and immediately launched the seventh attack. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to contact Yang Kai.
It could be said that the reason this battle was happening was because Mi Jing Lun wanted to contact Yang Kai. As for dealing damage to the No-Return Pass, that was inconsequential today.
Yang Kai sank into contemplation.
[Something must have happened to the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, but no one knows exactly what. The only thing that’s apparent from the current situation is that the Suppressing Black Ink Army is in trouble; otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed Black Ink Clansmen to escape.]
[In the worst-case scenario, Mo is completely awake and has broken out of the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, while the Suppressing Black Ink Army… has been completely wiped out!]
Suppressing the worry and pain in his heart, Yang Kai tried his best to find a glimmer of clarity in this chaotic situation.
After a long time, he finally spoke, “It should still take the Black Ink Clan reinforcements over a decade more to arrive at the No-Return Pass, so the situation isn’t that bad.”
“But what will come, will come,” Mi Jing Lun softly replied, “We must seize the No-Return Pass before the Black Ink Clan reinforcements arrive; otherwise, once they get here and the Black Ink Clan at the No-Return Pass make a move, we will be facing attacks on two fronts.”
If that really happened, not to mention attacking the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction, it would be difficult to say whether the Human Race Army would be able to make it out alive.
Be that as it may, it was extremely difficult to take down the No-Return Pass in the current situation. The entirety of the No-Return Pass had been set up like a tortoise shell by Mo Na Ye, with no gap for the Human Race to exploit. Even after so many battles, the Black Ink Clan had only suffered some superficial wounds.
Mi Jing Lun continued, “On the bright side, the enemy is in the open while we are in the dark.”
Yang Kai nodded, “This is indeed an advantage. It might not even have occurred to the Black Ink Clan reinforcements that their movements have been exposed.”
One had to admit that establishing a special organization like the Void Guard before the war and making them lay Space Arrays along the way in advance was truly a stroke of luck. If it weren’t for the fact that the Void Guard had set out in advance, and accidentally encountered the Black Ink Clan reinforcements along the way, perhaps the enemy would have arrived without the Human Race’s knowledge. That would have been a total disaster.
“Senior Brother,” Yang Kai called out, “I want to check on these reinforcements.”
“You’re going personally?” Mi Jing Lun was slightly taken aback, “I’ve already sent someone to investigate.”
Yang Kai asserted, “I can only rest assured after checking them personally. I need to verify some things. I hope… the situation hasn’t reached a critical point yet.”
Mi Jing Lun thought about it for a moment before acceding, “Okay, but if you don’t show your face for a long time, there is no guarantee that Mo Na Ye won’t notice your absence.”
“That’s fine, but Senior Brother still needs to devise a new strategy and prolong the battle until my return. Once I’m back we can end things here for the moment.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Mi Jing Lun readily agreed, “Right now, the Black Ink Clan is only focusing on defence. The initiative is in our hands, so we can decide when to end the fighting.”
“I’ll have to trouble you with this then, Senior Brother.” As Yang Kai finished speaking, he surged his strength and flew away. A moment later, he arrived at the temporary Human Race camp located three days away, where there was a Universe Temple with a Space Array.
Noticing Yang Kai’s arrival, the two Void Guards who were stationed here were both stunned, as there shouldn’t have been a reason for him to appear here at this time.
Be that as it may, they didn’t ask any questions. They just readied the Space Array under Yang Kai’s instructions, and let him teleport away.
With each teleportation, Yang Kai went deeper and deeper into the Black Ink Battlefield.
The Void Guard had left behind dozens of Universe Temples in the void over the years, and each was within the range of the previous Space Array. Each Universe Temple was further hidden by a Grand Array. So, in this vast void, if one did not specifically search for it, it would be difficult to find any traces of the Space Arrays.
Furthermore, even if one of the Universe Temples was destroyed for some unknown reason, it was not that big of a problem. The Void Guard still had spare Universe Temples with them and they could easily rush to the damaged location and re-establish the link.
Having said that, this kind of long-distance teleportation using the Universe Temples was a little taxing on ordinary cultivators. If one’s cultivation wasn’t sufficient, they would need to rest for a while after a few subsequent teleportations. In addition, the Space Arrays themselves would also need frequent maintenance for such intense usage.
Fortunately, it was not that troublesome for Yang Kai as he was proficient in the Dao of Space, so this kind of teleportation posed no pressure to him.
After dozens of teleportations, Yang Kai arrived at the leading temple less than three days later.
There were quite a few Void Guards stationed there, numbering in dozens. Originally, they were tasked with arranging more Space Arrays further up ahead, but due to some unforeseen circumstances along the way, they had all been stuck here.
Seeing Yang Kai, everyone, who had been a little anxious all this time, seemed to have found their pillar of support. All of them calmed down and bowed in unison.
“Dao Lord,” Miao Fei Ping stepped forward to take charge.
“Where’s Li Wu Yi?” Yang Kai looked around but didn’t see Li Wu Yi anywhere.
Miao Fei Ping quickly explained, “Senior Brother Li is monitoring the movements of the Black Ink Clan reinforcements with a few Junior Brothers.”
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement, “Is the other party aware of you?”
Miao Fei Ping shook his head in response, “I don’t think so. Senior Brother Li has given them a wide berth all this time. The moment he noticed the Black Ink Clan reinforcements, he immediately ordered us to conceal ourselves while retreating to this position. The Black Ink Clan probably never thought they would be discovered in such a place so their vigilance is lacking.”
Although he had obtained some information from Mi Jing Lun, after hearing it straight from Miao Fei Ping, Yang Kai was finally a little relieved. As long as the Void Guard’s whereabouts were not discovered, there was still room to manoeuvre.
“How do I find Li Wu Yi?” Yang Kai asked again.
Miao Fei Ping immediately took out a Space Beacon and stated, handing it to Yang Kai, “Senior Brother Li has the corresponding Space Beacon on him.”
Yang Kai stretched out his hand and took it; however, he didn’t immediately use it to teleport. After all, he was completely unaware of the situation on Li Wu Yi’s side. If he were to rashly teleport to his position, their whereabouts might be exposed.
Yang Kai activated the Space Beacon for a brief moment before withdrawing his energy, giving Li Wu Yi a sign that someone was about to teleport over. If it was safe, Li Wu Yi would definitely respond.
After patiently waiting for a moment, the Space Beacon in Yang Kai’s hand flickered.
Yang Kai nodded his acknowledgement and activated the Space Beacon. The next moment, Space Principles undulated before Yang Kai vanished.
In the void, several figures were using their own Space Secret Techniques to conceal their figures and auras. Under this kind of concealment, it was basically impossible for the Black Ink Clan reinforcements to detect their presence.
The leader of these figures was none other than Li Wu Yi. At this moment, he was holding a Space Beacon in his hand, a little puzzled as to why someone from the nearest Universe Temple would send such a signal.
But the next moment, he understood.
As Space Principles fluctuated, a figure suddenly appeared beside him. When Li Wu Yi saw who it was, he breathed a long sigh of relief.
He knew that after he sent the news back, Supreme Commander Mi would send someone to investigate, but he had never thought that it would be Yang Kai himself.
The Void Guard were about to bow to Yang Kai when he waved them off and instead asked Li Wu Yi, “Where are they?”
Li Wu Yi pointed in a certain direction.
Yang Kai looked in that direction and indeed noticed a billowing mass of Black Ink Clouds. He also saw an Army of Black Ink Clansmen rushing forward. From a distance, it looked like a huge sea of darkness was racing through the void.
Yang Kai was secretly shocked as there was a huge number of Black Ink Clansmen, at least 10 million of them!
This number might not be much compared to the number of Black Ink Clansmen participating in the main war; however, if all of these reinforcements were Masters rather than cannon fodder, it would be a terrifying force indeed.