Before the Sword Dragon could even reach them, the two Lords had already sensed its approach. One of the massive-bodied Lords stepped forward to intercept, moving to cut it off.
But the moment he moved, his vision blurred. A figure had ghosted into his path, blocking his way as if materializing from thin air.
The Ink Clan Lord was slightly stunned, and in that instant, Yang Kai raised his hand and slapped downward. The next moment, the Laws of Space surged, and the void solidified.
For a single heartbeat, that enormous body froze — and in that sliver of time, the Sword Dragon arrived. Its cold, gaping maw opened wide and swallowed the Lord whole in a single bite.
Simultaneously, across the southeastern and northern front lines, the human defenses contracted. Under the ferocious onslaught of the Ink Clan army, they were forced to retreat step by step, backing up against Biluo Pass to hold the line at all costs.
There was no helping it. The three armies' formations had been reasonably stable before — they could fight the Ink Clan to a standstill and even hold a slight advantage, inflicting enough casualties to make the enemy howl in misery.
But Yang Kai had snuck out of Biluo Pass, and Zhong Liang, desperate to rescue him as quickly as possible, had swallowed his pride and borrowed troops from the southeastern and northern armies. Ding Yao, Liang Yulong, and Shen Tu Mo — the three army commanders — all understood Yang Kai's importance and didn't hesitate for a moment, dispatching their forces immediately.
The moment those troops were split off, the front lines had no choice but to contract. Otherwise, they would simply be sitting ducks.
At the forefront of all three armies, the human powerhouses seethed with frustration. Most of them had no idea what had happened — they only knew that a huge number of their kin had suddenly vanished, and now they could only defend against the Ink Clan's fierce assault without daring to strike back freely.
But this situation couldn't hold for long. Perhaps a day, perhaps a few days, but the defensive line would inevitably break. When that happened, the Ink Clan army would be at the gates. Although Biluo Pass's formidable defenses meant the enemy couldn't storm it in the short term, casualties would be unavoidable. And if that came to pass, Biluo Pass's human forces would suffer devastating losses after this battle.
The three army commanders' faces were ashen. In their hearts, they cursed Yang Kai to high heaven, thinking that the brat had absolutely no sense of the bigger picture — how could a battlefield be a place for doing as one pleased? If they ever managed to drag him back inside the Pass, they would keep him under strict guard and never let him run off to the front again.
The reinforcements from the three armies had withdrawn to Biluo Pass immediately upon receiving orders. After a brief rest and regrouping on the central plaza, the assembled forces rumbled westward toward the western army's front line.
Moments later, seven or eight thousand Open Heaven realm humans surged out from the western front, wielding all manner of Artifacts, and charged straight into the Ink Clan ranks.
The Ink Clan collapsed like a landslide.
On the western front, the Ink Clan had been trading blows evenly with the western army, but the sudden arrival of such a massive reinforcement — nearly equivalent to an entire additional western army corps — was more than they could bear. Ink Clan Lord after Lord was slain, and even Domain Lords fell in numbers. Large swathes of the Ink Clan army found themselves leaderless and thrown into chaos. The humans, seeing this, naturally seized the opportunity to beat a drowning enemy without mercy.
Atop the city wall, Zhong Liang stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing out over the battlefield, the expression in his eyes flickering between hope and doubt.
He had already received Feng Ying's transmission from the front. Though the battlefield was chaotic and dangerous, Feng Ying had managed to find a moment to send word.
Yang Kai had been found, but he refused to return, and Feng Ying had no way to forcibly bring him back. Moreover, the two of them were at the very forefront of the battlefield, where clashes with powerful Ink Clan experts could erupt at any moment. A single slip could mean utter destruction.
Feng Ying had also reported that Yang Kai had abandoned his intention of attempting a breakthrough mid-battle. Instead, he was fighting alongside her, and their combined efforts had yielded significant results.
Feng Ying had transmitted a question: what should she do — continue fighting, or try to persuade Yang Kai to return?
Zhong Liang's brow furrowed deeply. In theory, since Yang Kai had given up on the breakthrough, and with Feng Ying guarding him, not to mention his possession of the Heaven Earth Spring that made him immune to the Ink Force's corruption, there shouldn't be much danger on the battlefield.
After all, the Ink Clan's Domain Lords were being held in check by the humans' Eighth-Order masters. As long as no Domain Lord intervened against Yang Kai and Feng Ying, they should be able to keep themselves safe.
But one could never be too careful. The fear was that the two of them might get carried away in the heat of battle and walk right into a trap. Four fists couldn't defeat a hundred hands.
Yang Kai's existence was simply too important to gamble with. After a brief moment of deliberation, Zhong Liang sent a reply, ordering Feng Ying to use whatever means necessary to persuade Yang Kai to return to Biluo Pass. If he refused, she was to drag him back by force — even if it meant breaking his arms and legs.
Less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense later, Feng Ying transmitted again: the persuasion had failed. Yang Kai insisted on staying at the front to contribute his share, and he had made it clear that if Feng Ying tried to force him, he would immediately slip out of her sight. To prove his point, he had demonstrated right in front of her what the Laws of Space meant when it came to appearing and disappearing without a trace.
Feng Ying added that while her strength far exceeded Yang Kai's, if he truly wanted to flee, she couldn't stop him.
"You stubborn bastard!" Zhong Liang couldn't help but curse aloud. That infuriatingly obstinate brat — didn't he realize how important he was?
Since he couldn't be persuaded or physically brought back, the only option was to drive the Ink Clan army into a full retreat as quickly as possible. Zhong Liang immediately sent orders to every garrison commander, demanding they kill the enemy with everything they had and crush the Ink Clan army to the greatest extent possible.
Only then would the battle reach a conclusion. And once that happened, Yang Kai would have no choice but to come back whether he wanted to or not.
On the western front, the human forces now amounted to nearly double their original strength. The Ink Clan simply couldn't endure it — at every moment, enormous numbers of Ink Clan soldiers were being slain, and the aura of extinguishing life rose and fell across the battlefield in waves.
After half a day, the Ink Clan army had retreated again and again, having fled a full thirty thousand li. The human powerhouses pressed hard on their heels, giving every impression that they intended to hunt the enemy down to the last.
That young woman — the aide with the girlish appearance — suddenly appeared in a flash of movement and clasped her fists. "Sir."