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Translator: Silavin & Qing
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Though no one knew which Great Pass the man called Junior Brother Hong came from, he obviously was not a local. After he met up with Xiang Shan, they interacted via Divine Sense.
Yang Kai took the opportunity to look around and realised that many cultivators had gathered in different groups in the square.
The number of people in each group varied from about 200 to 300, but none of them had 500 like Blue Sky Pass.
Those groups of cultivators gathered together should have been the soldiers deployed by various Passes, and it seemed like Yang Kai’s guess was right. Because the situation in Blue Sky Pass was different, they could deploy 500 soldiers, while the other Great Passes couldn’t deploy as many.
In contrast to the 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers in each Great Pass, a few hundred people wouldn’t affect their strength too much.
But once all of them had gathered in this place, it would be a considerable amount of manpower.
Yang Kai estimated that there were almost 6,000 to 7,000 people gathered in this square, and this was before everyone had arrived. Once everyone had assembled, there would likely be several tens of thousands in total.
In every group of cultivators, there would also be Eighth-Order Masters, but their numbers varied as well; each group basically had more than five though.
It seemed like the other Great Passes had made the same choice as Blue Sky Pass, using the Small Universes from Eighth-Order Masters to send their soldiers here.
Yang Kai was secretly speechless. Besides the 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers gathered in this square, there were already about 100 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters present.
The Black Ink Clan besieging this Great Pass at this moment were not only unlucky, they were about to feel miserable.
Just as Yang Kai was about to ask Grandmaster Ma Fan which Great Pass they were at, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear, “Brat, over here!”
Following the direction of the voice, Yang Kai looked around and saw someone waving his hand from one of the groups.
It was Xu Ling Gong!
Yang Kai was stunned as he didn’t expect to see Xu Ling Gong there. Because Xu Ling Gong was a Seventh-Order Master, he must have come here to take part in the mission to recover Great Evolution Pass.
When Yang Kai saw Xu Ling Gong, he was happy because he was still his Elder after all, despite both of them having the same cultivation.
Following that, Yang Kai went up to Ding Yao and said, “Martial Uncle, there’s someone I know over there. I’ll head over and say hello.”
Ding Yao turned his head towards the areas where cultivators from Yin-Yang Pass were gathered and nodded lightly, “You’re free to roam around but do not leave the square.”
“Yes!” Yang Kai replied and turned back to relay a message to the members of Dawn before heading towards Xu Ling Gong.
When he arrived before Xu Ling Gong, Yang Kai bowed, “Martial Uncle Xu!”
He also bowed to Tang Qiu and the others, “Greetings, Seniors.”
On Yin-Yang Pass’ side, not only did Xu Ling Gong join this mission, but so did Tang Qiu and several other familiar faces. Among these Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, there were some whom Yang Kai knew and some he didn’t.
Standing behind Xu Ling Gong were Qing Kui and Su Ying Xue, who also nodded at Yang Kai as a greeting.
Xu Ling Gong slapped his hand on Yang Kai’s shoulder and laughed heartily, “I never thought we would have the chance to fight side by side again. It’s good to have you with us because you tend to cause a lot of commotion, which I enjoy the most.”
Hearing that made Yang Kai laugh. Unsure if it was a compliment, he replied casually, “Martial Uncle Xu, you’re flattering me. I feel assured seeing you and the others have been doing fine.”
Xu Ling Gong nodded happily, “I’ll take it as you being filial.”
Yang Kai added, “It looks like quite a number of Yin-Yang Pass soldiers came this time. How is the situation back there?”
Just now, he had noticed that the number of soldiers from Yin-Yang Pass was similar to that of Blue Sky Pass, around 500 with 10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters. Not only did the Eastern Army Commander, Tang Qiu, join this mission, but so did the Western Army Commander, Liu Zhi Ping.
Yang Kai had a deep impression of the Western Army Commander, which couldn’t be helped because the steamed stuffed buns she made were quite delicious. Back when he and the Old Ancestor of Yin-Yang Pass were hanging around at the Marketplace, he frequented Lin’s Steamed Bun Restaurant quite frequently.
Since two Army Commanders had come here in person, it obviously meant that everything was going well at Yin-Yang Pass; otherwise, these two wouldn’t have had the spare time.
One had to know that though Blue Sky Pass also had 10 Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters present, only Ding Yao, the Eastern Army Commander, joined this mission.
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Tang Qiu said smilingly, “Thanks to you, we won a big victory against the Black Ink Clan more than 100 years ago and severely damaged their foundation. So, Yin-Yang Pass will have several hundred years of peace.”
Yang Kai understood what Tang Qin meant as soon as he heard it. The Universe Cave Heavens and Universe Paradises he opened outside Yin-Yang Pass must have made a great contribution to winning the most recent war.
Like at Blue Sky Pass, Yin-Yang Pass took the Black Ink Clan Army by surprise with the help of those Universe Cave Heavens and Paradises. After activating countless traps, the Black Ink Clan suffered heavy casualties. Almost the entire Black Ink Clan Army was killed in that war, while more than 20 Territory Lords had either died or were severely wounded.
Despite having experienced those traps once in the Blue Sky Theatre and being very cautious when attacking Yin-Yang Pass, unless the Black Ink Clan stopped besieging the Great Passes entirely, it would just be a matter of time before they fell into those traps. For the Black Ink Clan, there was no good solution to those death traps set by the Humans, and they would pay a high price when they encountered them whether they were prepared in advance or not.
“Originally, Yin-Yang Pass wanted to follow Blue Sky Pass’ example and organise a crusade, but unfortunately, we don’t have a solution to our logistics problem, nor do we have someone to arrange Universe Arrays as transit points, so we had to give up on that idea,” Tang Qiu said with some regret.
Yin-Yang Pass had considered asking Yang Kai to help them set up some Universe Arrays as transit points for their crusade; however, due to various reasons, the plan was eventually shelved.
Although they couldn’t organise a crusade, the situation in the Yin-Yang Theatre was quite stable right now, so they could deploy more people to support the mission to recover the Great Evolution Pass.
That was the reason why Yin-Yang Pass deployed 500 people and even two Army Commanders.
Among the two Army Commanders, Liu Zhi Ping would be joining the campaign to recover Great Evolution Pass while Tang Qiu would return to Yin-Yang Pass soon to oversee matters there. However, Yang Kai and the others weren’t informed about the decisions made by the higher-ups.
The only thing Yang Kai desperately wanted to know now was which Great Pass they were at.
When he asked this question, Tang Qiu said, “Didn’t Ding Yao tell you?”
Yang Kai replied, “I haven’t had time to ask yet.”
Tang Qiu explained, “This is Wind and Cloud Pass.”
Then it dawned on Yang Kai. Wind and Cloud Pass naturally corresponded to Wind and Cloud Paradise. Because of the Star Boundary’s World Tree and the Good Fortune Divine Furnace, Yang Kai had dealt with people from almost all of the Cave Heavens and Paradises and knew at least one or two people from each of them. In a way, he now had quite a wide network.
When mentioning Wind and Cloud Paradise, Yang Kai’s deepest impression of it was its auction houses. Thinking back, it was from Wind and Cloud Auction House that he got the pill recipe for the Heavenly Yuan Seal Stabilizing Pill.
If this place was Wind and Cloud Pass, the other Great Pass adjacent to Great Evolution Pass should be Azure Void Pass.
Azure Void Pass corresponded to Azure Void Cave Heaven, and these two Great Passes sandwiched Great Evolution Pass between them. Originally, they could have helped each other in battle, but after the fall of Great Evolution Pass, both Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass fell under even more pressure.
Since the Black Ink Clan of the Great Evolution Theatre had no opponent to fight, they could gather their forces and develop without worry. They could frequently gather hundreds of thousands of soldiers to pass through the vast void and aid their fellow Black Ink Clansmen in the Azure Void and Wind and Cloud Theatres.
On average, Azure Void Pass and Wind and Cloud Pass faced more frequent assaults from the Black Ink Clan than other Great Passes. Usually, the Black Ink Clan would rest for 100 years between attacks on a Great Pass, but these two would see assaults every 70 to 80 years, and with far greater force than at other Great Passes.
Due to the immense pressure they faced, these two Great Passes had more than 50,000 troops each, or else they wouldn’t be able to resist the attacks.
Knowing that this place was Wind and Cloud Pass, Yang Kai nodded lightly and asked, “Senior, what’s our situation? I noticed that there are only 20 to 30 groups of reinforcements here. When will the troops from other Great Passes arrive?”
Tang Qiu explained, “Not all of the troops that the 108 Great Passes are deploying for this mission will be gathered at Wind and Cloud Pass. Only half of them will assemble here, while the other half will gather at Azure Void Pass, which is also facing an attack from the Black Ink Clan at this very moment. With the strength from the other Great Passes and the strength from the local garrison, we will crush the besieging Black Ink Clan Armies first. Then, Great Evolution’s Eastern and Western Armies will be formed on the Wind and Cloud Pass side, while the Northern and Southern Armies will be formed on the Azure Void Pass side.”
“I’m not sure about the situation at Azure Void Pass, but here, the Eastern Army Commander will be Xiang Shan from Blue Sky Pass, and the Western Army Commander will be Liu Zhi Ping from Yin-Yang Pass. At that time, the four Armies will set out from both Great Passes and advance together with the Old Ancestor from Yin-Yang Pass leading the Army to recover Great Evolution Pass.”
Now that Yang Kai had the gist of the situation, he glanced at the troops in the square and silently estimated in his mind, “According to your words, each Army will have about 10,000 soldiers, and all four armies will have a total of some 40,000 people, right?”
Tang Qiu shook his head, “It will be more than that. According to the original plan, the estimated manpower needed to recover the Great Evolution Pass should be around 60,000. In other words, each army will have at least 15,000 soldiers. The only way to take back Great Evolution Pass is to ensure we have 60,000 soldiers.”
A war to re-take territory was different from simply defending it. 30,000 to 40,000 troops in a Human Great Pass were sufficient to ensure that they wouldn’t be defeated, but the risks of attacking an entrenched position also played a part in that.
By the same token, the Black Ink Clan had been occupying Great Evolution Pass for more than 30,000 years. Even if they didn’t have the same means as Humans, 30,000 years of managing that place would be enough for them to set up traps and other defensive arrangements.
This time it was the Black Ink Clan’s turn to rely on the risk of attacking a Great Pass. If the Humans wanted to conquer the Great Evolution Pass, they had to ensure that they had a much superior force, so 60,000 was thought to be the minimum requirement.
In the case of Wind and Cloud Pass, if they gathered all the troops deployed by the other Great Passes, they might be able to assemble 15,000 soldiers, equivalent to an Army’s strength.
But considering that once Great Evolution Pass was successfully retaken, Wind and Cloud Pass wouldn’t be under as much pressure anymore, so they wouldn’t need 50,000 soldiers to hold the line anymore. Therefore, Wind and Cloud Pass would be deploying 15,000 troops to help fill in the vacancies for Great Evolution’s Eastern and Western Armies.
It was the same for Azure Void Pass. They would assemble an Army gathered from all the troops sent by the other Great Passes and deploy an Army of their own, forming two Armies as well.
The Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Armies would meet at Great Evolution Pass, where Yin-Yang Pass’ Old Ancestor would take command and decide how to recover the Great Pass, which had been lost for more than 30,000 years.
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