<<Previous Chapter Index Next Chapter>>
Translator: Silavin & Tia
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Upon hearing what Che Kong said, Hong Di frowned slightly and chided, “Don’t be careless. The Humans are very cunning. Since they dared to come here in such a manner, they will surely have other tricks hiding up their sleeves.”
One of the Territory Lords snorted derisively, “Hong Di, have you grown fearful of the Humans after suffering defeat at their hands? Why are you lauding the strength of the Humans and undermining your own prestige before the battle even begins?”
Hong Di shook his head lightly, “I am not lauding the strength of the Human Race. It’s just that… Based on past battles, the Black Ink Clan has always suffered greatly every time we underestimated them.”
The Territory Lords scowled at those words, but after giving it another thought, they could not deny the truth behind that statement. They had never thought highly of the Human Race in the past, but where had that gotten them? Not only had the Humans retaken Great Evolution Pass, but the Royal City had also been thrashed by the Humans 200 years ago. At this point, they were so embarrassed that they couldn’t even hold their heads up high. If the Human Race Army had not taken the initiative to withdraw back then, the Black Ink Clan would have had a hard time surviving at all.
For a time, they couldn’t help reconsidering their contempt towards the Human Race.
If it was something that the Black Ink Clan could notice, then it stood to reason that the Humans would notice too. They might even have a clearer understanding of the situation compared to the Black Ink Clan; after all, they were the ones controlling Great Evolution Pass. The Humans were bound to have a better understanding of the situation.
After breaking through the third line of defence, Great Evolution Pass charged towards the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence. Nevertheless, Great Evolution Pass had inevitably lost its initial indomitable momentum after being intercepted by millions of Black Ink Clansmen.
[It’s like trying to wade through a quagmire!] That was what all the soldiers in Great Evolution Pass felt at that moment.
Shen Ao leaned towards Yang Kai and whispered, “Squad Leader, it will be bad if things continue at this rate. The speed of Great Evolution Pass is dropping, and the Territory Lords have yet to take action. If they make a move now, we will be stopped before we can even reach the Royal City.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly at those words, but looking around, he replied, “I’m sure the higher-ups have a plan. Let’s just wait and see first.”
The Army was deployed to all four walls of Great Evolution Pass. Whether it was the Spirit Arrays or the artifacts, the arrangements were similar no matter where one stood. Moreover, Human cultivators were standing at attention beside the Spirit Arrays and artifacts.
Seeing as Great Evolution Pass had charged forward in a straight line, the ones exchanging blows with the Black Ink Clan’s four lines of defences were mainly the soldiers facing the Royal City. In other words, the deployment on the other three walls had not played much of a role in this battle so far. The most they had done was to counter some of the Black Ink Clansmen attacking from the sides or the rear.
At present, Great Evolution Pass had only exerted around 25% of its full strength!
Great Evolution Pass had spent countless resources preparing for this moment for the past 200 years; hence, the deployment of soldiers to the other three walls could not be mere decorations. They were bound to play a role in this battle.
Just as Yang Kai was pondering in silence, the interception from the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence became much fiercer. Great Evolution Pass trembled constantly, and the shield enveloping Great Evolution Pass shuddered visibly.
Either because they noticed the decline of Great Evolution Pass’ momentum or because they received orders from the Territory Lords at the rear, the attacks of the Black Ink Clan Army intercepting Great Evolution Pass became significantly more ferocious.
“Switch!” A sharp shout suddenly came from the depths of Great Evolution Pass. It was none other than Xiang Shan.
In the next moment, a rumble came from within Great Evolution Pass. Dense energy spread out in all directions, and the entire Great Pass trembled as though experiencing an earthquake. There seemed to be some sort of Grand Array being activated! Immediately following that, Great Evolution Pass that had been charging straight towards the Royal City slowly began to rotate under the impetus of an inexplicable force.
In the beginning, the speed of rotation was not very fast. Great Evolution Pass was extremely enormous after all. Even with the help of a Grand Array, it was not an easy task to move the entire Great Pass. Nevertheless, the speed increased significantly with the passage of time.
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up. He immediately understood what the higher-ups were planning.
Needless to say, they could not rely solely on one wall of Great Evolution Pass during their assault on the Royal City. Only by rotating Great Evolution Pass in this manner could the deployments on the other three walls be used to their full potential.
A short while later, the wall that was originally facing the Royal City had turned to face the left. Meanwhile, the soldiers who had been standing at the ready on the adjacent wall came face-to-face with the Black Ink Clan blocking them.
After holding back for so long, the long-prepared soldiers quickly pushed their strength. The lines of Spirit Arrays lit up on top of the walls, resonating with each other over the distance. Artifacts came to life and numerous beams of light blasted out towards the Black Ink Clan Army with unstoppable power! Half the void was illuminated in an instant!
The Black Ink Clan in front suffered heavy casualties as a result.
Outside the Royal City, the expressions of the Territory Lords changed slightly at the sight. Meanwhile, Hong Di sighed softly. Although he had guessed that the Human Race would have another trick up their sleeves, he never expected it to be something like this.
Just as how the Territory Lords had not expected Great Evolution Pass to travel over such a great distance, they also never expected Great Evolution Pass to slaughter enemies by rotating itself in flight. If it was a small Human Warship, they might not have been so surprised by this turn of events; however, it was extremely unexpected for something as large as Great Evolution Pass to be so nimble.
In this way, the Human cultivators in Great Evolution Pass would be able to maintain their peak strength at all times even though the number of attacks during each wave against the Black Ink Clan would not change by much. Nevertheless, their combat strength more than doubled in an instant thanks to this strategy.
Great Evolution Pass continued to rotate. After the soldiers on the wall facing the Royal City fired off three rounds of attacks, the wall they were stationed upon was rotated out of the firing arc. Then, the soldiers on the wall that was now facing the Royal City began attacking. In this way, they formed a continuous and endless barrage.
The fourth line of defence that was supposed to whittle away at the strength of Great Evolution Pass immediately fell into jeopardy and it was only a matter of time before Great Evolution Pass broke through their defences.
Be that as it may, the Territory Lords remained motionless. They were stationed at the final line of defence, so the Royal City was located directly behind them. As long as the situation became dire, they did not dare to act rashly lest the soldiers under their command become disordered. If that were to happen, the Humans would easily be able to break through the defences.
Inside the void, following the rotation of Great Evolution Pass, the Spirit Arrays and artifacts on the walls continued to blaze brightly. Every wave of attacks was sent out with great enthusiasm and ferocity.
The Black Ink Clan defenders were losing their lives at a steady pace.
Out of the four lines of defence, the first line of defence was formed from a million Serfs that had been completely annihilated. The second line of defence mainly consisted of Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen and supplemented by some of the stronger Serfs. They too been soundly defeated.
On the other hand, the third and fourth lines of defences mainly consisted of High-Rank Black Ink Clansmen. The Feudal Lords were also stationed at these lines of defences, along with their respective private troops. These were the main strength of the Black Ink Clan Army. Unfortunately, they had suffered heavy casualties. At least half of the Black Ink Clan Army had been eradicated already, yet they could not stop the advance of Great Evolution Pass.
Despite such an overwhelming victory, the price the Humans paid was no more than the malfunction of several Spirit Arrays and artifacts that could not withstand the burden of such intense usage and the depletion of strength among the Human cultivators.
Naturally, there were Array Masters and Artifact Refiners beside the Spirit Arrays and artifacts ready to repair and replace them as soon as possible. Likewise, there were other cultivators on standby to replace the cultivators who had expended too much World Force. Therefore, Great Evolution Pass maintained the power of their ongoing assault at all times.
An hour later, the Black Ink Clan’s fourth line of defence collapsed.
Only the final line of defence remained, but that was also the most difficult one to breach because the Territory Lords and Eighth-Order Black Ink Disciples were stationed there, along with a million more Black Ink Clan soldiers!
Could Great Evolution Pass break through the final line of defence and destroy the Royal City? Nobody knew. All they knew was that they had to do their very best!
A million kilometres away, a powerful aura erupted just outside the Royal City. Immediately after that, a series of pitch-black attacks shot out from that direction. The Territory Lords had taken action! Knowing that they could not allow the Great Pass to approach any closer, they made the first move to intercept the enemy.
The Human Race seemed to have expected this attack, so when the Territory Lords took action, the rotating Great Evolution Pass abruptly vibrated. The shield protecting Great Evolution Pass had initially grown dimmer after having to withstand countless attacks over such a long time and was now so faint that it seemed about to shatter at any moment; but at that moment, the dim light barrier abruptly emitted a dazzling radiance and became unimaginably solid.
Yang Kai clearly felt the aura of the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters coming from deep within Great Evolution Pass. Even the aura of the Old Ancestor was mixed in. The Eighth-Order Masters and the Old Ancestor had taken action!
At present, there were at least 30 Eighth-Order Division Commanders stationed at Great Evolution Core, controlling Great Evolution Pass. Together with the strength of the Old Ancestor, how powerful would the shields be?
The Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering attacks were somewhat weakened after crossing the 1 million kilometres gap, but the force behind them remained extremely terrifying as they accurately slammed into the light barrier around Great Evolution Pass.
The thick light barrier bent inward and fluctuated under the barrage but remained intact. There were no signs of damage, and the light didn’t even dim.
Seeing this scene from afar, the Territory Lords grew solemn. Nevertheless, the movements of their hands did not stop. Endless varieties of Secret Techniques blasted towards Great Evolution Pass in quick succession.
For a time, the space between the rotating Great Evolution Pass and the Black Ink Clan’s last line of defence churned violently as wild explosions occurred everywhere.
However, the Human soldiers did not cheer with joy. Seeing as the Old Ancestor was working together with the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, it would be odd if the protective barrier they created with the help of the Great Pass’ Spirit Arrays could not defend against such attacks.
It could even be said that the attacks of these Territory Lords would not break through the defences of Great Evolution Pass even if they exhausted all their strength in the attempt.
The true obstacle lay ahead.
As soon as Great Evolution Pass advanced to within 200,000 kilometres of the final defence line, the million-strong Black Ink Clan Army would be able to attack freely. Each of these soldiers’ individual strength was incomparable to the Territory Lords, but they held an overwhelming advantage in numbers. After all, how many Territory Lords were there compared to the troops in the Black Ink Clan Army? With enough grains of sand, one could even build a mountain.
Looking from a distance, the Black Ink Clan Army stationed at the final line of defence outside the Royal City were eager for battle. Not to mention, the Black Ink Strength being channelled by so many Black Ink Clansmen made the void distort in that direction.
Several hundred thousand kilometres passed by in the blink of an eye and soon Great Evolution Pass was only 200,000 kilometres away from the Black Ink Clan’s final line of defence!
As expected, the Black Ink Clan Army attacked all at once. Countless energy fluctuations converged into a tidal wave that spread out in all directions. At the same time, the Black Ink Strength attacks covered the entire void and rained down upon Great Evolution Pass.
Many of the Human soldiers subconsciously clenched their jaws nervously. If the defences of Great Evolution Pass could not defend against this round of attacks, then more than half of the Human soldiers stationed on the walls would be killed or injured in an instant. As for Great Evolution Pass, it was an extremely powerful Mobile Palace Artifact in the first place, so it would probably be fine.
In the split moment between life and death, nobody made any strange movements. Everyone had absolute trust in the abilities of the Old Ancestor and the Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters.
At the same time that the Black Ink Clan attacked from just 200,000 kilometres away, the defensive shield covering Great Evolution Pass seemed to undergo some kind of profound change. A gorgeous brilliance suddenly flowed across the surface of the light barrier and the interior of Great Evolution Pass was shrouded in a kaleidoscope of colours for a moment.
The first wave of attacks arrived, fiercely bombarding the light barrier like countless raindrops falling from the sky. The attacks caused numerous ripples to spread out across the surface of the shield, and as more attacks arrived, the ripples became more and more prominent.
All of a sudden, the rotation speed of Great Evolution Pass increased sharply. It was clear that this method was meant to relieve some of the pressure on that section of the shield.
Hello!
Many thanks for the chapter, as always.