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Translator: Silavin & Jon
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
After giving it a thought, Yang Kai realised that it wasn’t surprising. The North-South Army only had to attack the Black Ink Clan coming out of Great Evolution Pass. On the other hand, the East-West Army had to charge through the enemy’s territory, so there was no way that the journey would be smooth sailing.
Those High-Rank Black Ink Disciples could be said to be the tumours left behind in Great Evolution Pass 30,000 years ago. Those tumours were the losses that the Humans had suffered and also the obstacles that the Humans would face in the future.
“Sir Mi Jing Lun gave me a message to pass along,” Yang Kai said.
Xiang Shan replied, “Go on.”
“He said for the East-West Army to act freely, and that he will ensure that the Black Ink Clansmen in Great Evolution Pass won’t pose a threat.”
Xiang Shan nodded, “Got it.” He then examined Yang Kai, “Are you injured?”
Yang Kai replied, “I’m fine.”
Xiang Shan went on to say, “Since you’re injured, you should go back to recuperate now. Good work.”
“It’s my duty,” Yang Kai cupped his fist and withdrew.
After he was gone, Liu Zhi Ping let out a sigh, “It seems that the North-South Army will have to suffer quite a bit to deal with the Black Ink Clan in Great Evolution Pass.”
Xiang Shan remarked, “It’s the same everywhere. The situation we’re facing is not optimistic either. There’s still a long road ahead if we want to destroy the Black Ink Clan and retake Great Evolution Pass.”
The other Eighth-Order Division Commanders nodded as they understood what he meant.
The Black Ink Clan was able to react remarkably quickly to any changes in the war as Black Ink Nests were unparalleled when it came to the transmission of information.
The plans that Xiang Shan had devised could be said to be immaculate. First of all, they let go of a Territory Lord in the Wind and Cloud Theater to alert their enemies. Then, they sent a Puppet Army to Great Evolution Pass to keep the Black Ink Clan focused on that front. Even the Royal Lord had personally headed to that place.
That way, the Black Ink Clan’s territory would be void of any powerful Masters. Without the Royal Lord in charge, the East-West Army could directly storm into their territory. If they could shatter the Royal City and destroy the Royal Lord’s Black Ink Nest, it would be much easier to retake Great Evolution Pass.
The Great Evolution Army was divided into two groups. One of them headed straight to the Black Ink Clan territory while the other ambushed the Black Ink Clansmen that left Great Evolution Pass. It was a well-thought-out plan.
If the transmission of information between the Black Ink Clan wasn’t so swift, the East-West Army could gradually weaken the Black Ink Clan’s power along the way while they headed to the Royal City. At the very least, they could weep clean a dozen Territory Lords’ territories, killing off those Territory Lords and their subordinates one by one.
Once that was done, the pressure that the East-West Army would face in the future would be greatly reduced.
However, not long after the East-West Army arrived at the Black Ink Clan’s domain and occupied a Territory Lord’s home territory, the news that the Humans had arrived spread across the entire Great Evolution Theater in an instant.
All the Territory Lords who stayed back led their Armies to the Royal City to protect that place. On the other hand, the Royal Lord promptly returned. He was an intelligent person, so he didn’t head straight to the Royal City. Instead, he intercepted the Old Ancestor and got into a fight with her, and their battle was still ongoing till this point.
The North-South Army had intercepted the first batch of Black Ink Clansmen from Great Evolution Pass, so the East-West Army fortunately didn’t have to worry about being attacked from the rear. Unfortunately, the Royal City must be heavily guarded now, so the East-West Army was sure to face a tough battle.
While it was difficult for the North-South Army, it would be even more strenuous for the East-West Army.
…..
The moment Yang Kai returned to Dawning Light, his Squad members approached him. Seeing that his face was pale, Feng Ying asked with concern, “Are you injured?”
Yang Kai nodded, “I had a fight with someone, but I’m fine. How are things here?”
Feng Ying replied, “We’re still heading towards our destination. Supposedly, we’re not far away from the Royal City now.”
They were not able to accelerate their pace with so many soldiers moving together; therefore, even though the North-South Army had already gone through a great battle, the East-West Army still hadn’t arrived at the Royal City.
When Yang Kai was coming back to Dawning Light, he already realised that the Army was still moving forward.
“Were there any fights here?” Yang Kai asked.
Feng Ying replied, “There were no proper battles to speak of. When we just arrived at the Black Ink Clan’s domain, we managed to take over a whole Territory Lord’s territory. It was a place with a Territory Lord, who had several Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples, and several tens of thousands of soldiers. However, we effortlessly killed them all due to the huge gap between our forces.”
The Territory Lord’s territory that was destroyed belonged to Zhe Chong.
Upon receiving the Royal Lord’s order, he headed to Great Evolution Pass with his own army, and after he departed, another Territory Lord brought his own army to be stationed in Zhe Chong’s territory. That was because his territory was on the periphery, so the Royal Lord had ordered that all the Territory Lords had to head to the borders to get ready to lend assistance to Great Evolution Pass.
After all, there were about a million Black Ink Clansmen in Great Evolution Pass right now, so the place couldn’t accommodate any more people.
To their surprise, the East-West Army never attacked Great Evolution Pass. Instead, they headed straight to the Black Ink Clan’s domain. The unlucky Territory Lord, who had only stayed in Zhe Chong’s territory for a few days, was killed by the East-West Army.
There was no doubt that luck wasn’t on his side.
“It was peaceful at first; however, in the past three days, the Black Ink Clan started harassing us from time to time. It seems that they’re trying to slow down our pace as we approach their Royal City.”
As soon as Feng Ying finished speaking, Yang Kai felt some fluctuations coming from a particular direction. It was apparent that some people were in a fight, but it wasn’t a large-scale battle.
The exchange of moves didn’t last for long. Barely a cup of tea’s time later, the noises died down. The fight didn’t even slow the Human Army down at all.
The Black Ink Clansmen were not fools.
There were 30,000 Human soldiers, 2,000 to 3,000 Warships, and 60 or so Eight-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in this Army. In order to deal with such a horrifying force, they had to mobilise an equal number of Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples as well as several hundred thousand Black Ink Clan soldiers.
If there hadn’t been so many Black Ink Clansmen in Great Evolution Pass, they could have come together and intercepted the East-West Army in order to stop them from approaching the Royal City.
Nevertheless, there were about a million Black Ink Clansmen in Great Evolution Pass, with roughly an equal number of Black Ink Clansmen left in the Black Ink Clan’s domain.
If they sent several hundred thousand people to attack the Humans, the defence around the Royal City would be significantly weakened. No one would dare to expose the Royal City to such a huge risk.
It would be wonderful if they could defeat the Humans and stop them from advancing further; however, if they lost the battle, they would no longer be able to protect the Royal City.
It would also be unwise to divide themselves into smaller groups. Only by gathering all their forces together in the Royal City would they stand a chance to deal with the Humans; therefore, the Territory Lords responsible for protecting the Royal City told the Territory Lords who were on their way to hasten their pace and only send some small groups to harass the Humans in an attempt to slow them down.
Their strategy was indeed effective as, although there were a lot of Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters in the East-West Army, they couldn’t be constantly on the lookout for harassment from all directions.
These small groups from the Black Ink Clan ranged from 2,000 to 10,000 in number and were like vipers that were hiding in the darkness as they waited for a chance and jumped out from all directions to bite the East-West Army.
The Humans were initially unsuspecting, so they suffered some losses. Nevertheless, the leaders soon adapted. Following Xiang Shan’s order, the Eighth-Order Division Commanders scattered around the Army to maintain a perimeter. Since then, the harassment from the Black Ink Clan became significantly less effective.
Every time the Black Ink Clan launched a sneak attack, they would suffer immense losses.
Presently, the East-West Army hadn’t been greatly affected, but they were not sure what would happen when they arrived at the Royal City. The leaders would have to make a decision then.
Feng Ying and the others were curious about what was going on with the North-South Army, so they asked Yang Kai about it.
Yang Kai didn’t inform the members of Dawn when he left a while back; nevertheless, as he remained missing for such a long time, Feng Ying and the others naturally grew curious.
After asking around, they found out that Yang Kai had left their Army and headed to Great Evolution Pass in order to contact the North-South Army.
Since he had returned, it suggested that he had completed his task.
Yang Kai told them that the North-South Army had clashed with the Black Ink Clan’s Army. Although they had killed a lot of their opponents, 4 Eighth-Order Divisions Commanders and 3,000 cultivators below the Eighth Order had lost their lives.
When they heard this solemn news, all of them fell silent.
The moment they joined the Great Evolution Army, they knew that it would be a dangerous journey. Despite that, none of them had experienced any real danger so far.
As Yang Kai brought up the number of losses, they realised that it was more dangerous than they had imagined.
4 Eighth-Order Division Commanders lost their lives, so how were weaker cultivators like them supposed to protect themselves? Perhaps they would lose their lives in the next battle.
With that said, all of them had been cultivating for countless years, and it wasn’t the first day they arrived at the Black Ink Battlefield. They were all prepared for their eventual demise.
As long as they didn’t lose their lives meaninglessly, they would have no regrets.
The demise of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters made them feel dejected, so they were no longer in the mood to keep chatting. They returned to their own places and cultivated in an attempt to strengthen themselves.
For the following days, Yang Kai detected harassment from the Black Ink Clan on several occasions, but just like what happened previously, the noises soon died down.
What was strange was that at a certain point, all the harassment stopped.
Yang Kai had a feeling that they were not far away from the Royal City now; otherwise, the Black Ink Clan wouldn’t have frequently harassed them and then stopped all of a sudden.
They were anxious because the Humans were getting close to the Royal City and frequently harassed them as a result. However, after discovering that harassment was no longer useful, they decided to stop wasting troops.
Just like Yang Kai had expected, one day later, the Army was given orders to stop.
Yang Kai was recuperating on the deck when he received the order. The messenger was passing on the order to everyone using Divine Sense and soon left to inform the soldiers at the back.
If the East-West Army was compared to a Dragon, Dawning Light was located in the Dragon Claw area.
Hence, they were able to clearly see what was ahead of them.
The moment Yang Kai received the order, he opened his eyes and gazed at the front.
From afar, he could see that darkness had covered a large area of the void, and there seemed to be something magnificent in the middle of the darkness.
The last time Yang Kai saw something similar, he was outside of the Royal City in the Yin-Yang Theatre; therefore, he immediately realised that the darkness was where the Royal City was located.
At this moment, the East-West Army was in a spot that would only take a person half a day to reach the Royal City.
The Army Commanders seemed to be acting rather boldly, as though they had no regard for the Black Ink Clan whatsoever. While the North-South Army was stationed two days away from Great Evolution Pass, the East-West Army was stationed just outside of the Royal City.
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