But after the two of them circled through the entire area, they failed to find anything of value.
Seeming to notice Yang Kai's confusion, Feng Ying explained, "Every time a battle erupts between the two races, the clansmen who sortie from Biluo Pass leave behind everything they own inside the Pass — aside from the essential Artifacts and recovery supplies they bring with them. That way, even if they fall in battle, their belongings can still be put to use by the rest of the clan."
On a chaotic battlefield, no one could guarantee they would return alive. So before heading out, almost everyone went prepared to die. As Feng Ying had said, they brought only the bare necessities and left everything else behind.
This was precisely why this Minor World contained nothing of value. The original owner's possessions had already been collected by Biluo Pass after his death — and by now, they had long since become the capital that powered other clansmen's strength.
Yang Kai felt a deep sense of respect.
Since that was the case, there was no further need to investigate.
A short while later, Yang Kai and Feng Ying left the Blessed Land and stepped back outside. The moment they did, the four Army Commanders appeared in a flash.
Feng Ying had sent word to Zhong Liang earlier, and Zhong Liang had in turn contacted Ding Yao and the other two. The four of them arrived almost simultaneously.
Four pairs of eyes were immediately drawn to the portal of the Blessed Land. Zhong Liang looked Yang Kai up and down. "You did this?"
Yang Kai nodded. There was no point denying it.
"Do you know who left it behind?" Zhong Liang asked again — though this question wasn't directed at Yang Kai, but at Feng Ying.
Feng Ying shook her head. "Not really. Unless someone who was close to them entered to investigate, there's no way to confirm the identity."
Zhong Liang fell silent. After a martial artist's death, the Minor World they left behind rarely contained distinctive enough features to identify the deceased — unless something stood out conspicuously. And beyond that, untold numbers of High-Rank Open Heaven cultivators had fallen outside Biluo Pass throughout the ages. The span of time was simply too vast to trace.
Ding Yao glanced at Yang Kai and spoke up. "Was this discovered by sheer coincidence, or do you actually have the ability to open the portals to these Blessed Lands and Minor Worlds?"
Yang Kai replied, "As long as they aren't hidden too deep, I can find their locations and open them."
All four Army Commanders' eyebrows rose upon hearing this. Ding Yao nodded. "Good. If that's truly the case, then you've accomplished something of tremendous merit."
Yang Kai was completely bewildered. What merit was there in this? If what Feng Ying said was accurate, then the Blessed Lands and Minor Worlds concealed outside Biluo Pass held nothing of value whatsoever. Even if he found them, they couldn't possibly bring any benefit to the Pass.
But Ding Yao wouldn't say something like that without reason.
Moreover, the fact that all four commanders had come together made Yang Kai realize this matter was far from ordinary. Feng Ying had mentioned reporting it, but he hadn't expected all four of them to arrive at once.
Judging by the expressions on Zhong Liang and the others' faces, they were all treating this with the utmost seriousness.
Unable to make sense of it, he could only ask directly, "Are these Blessed Lands and Minor Worlds really that important? There doesn't seem to be anything of value inside them."
Ding Yao replied calmly, "Clansmen heading to the battlefield naturally won't carry anything precious on them. While alive, they fought the Ink Clan to the death without retreating. After death, the Minor Worlds they leave behind can still be turned into weapons that slaughter the Ink Clan. We've long had this idea — we simply lacked the ability to open those concealed portals. Who would have thought you'd actually possess that skill?"
Zhong Liang continued, "Let me put it to you this way: this particular Blessed Land before you doesn't hold much intrinsic value on its own. It contains the Great Dao's power and Dao Marks, but for us humans, that power is unusable. However — what if we turned it into a trap?"
"A trap…" Yang Kai's eyebrows lifted.
Zhong Liang narrowed his eyes. "The Ink Clan army has launched repeated sieges against our Biluo Pass. If we set up this Blessed Land as a trap and activate its restrictions when the Ink Clan forces draw near, we can forcibly absorb the nearby Ink Clan into it."
Liang Yulong picked up the thread. "We could pre-deploy Killing Formations inside the Blessed Land. Once the Ink Clan are drawn in, the formations activate — and without ever having to engage them in direct combat, we can systematically erode the Ink Clan's forces."
Shentu Mo added, "A single Blessed Land may not amount to much on its own, but consider how many Blessed Lands and Minor Worlds exist outside Biluo Pass — ten, a hundred, a thousand trap formations detonating all at once could decide the outcome of a battle in a single stroke!"
Yang Kai's expression shifted as a grand vision surfaced in his mind. The Ink Clan army surrounding Biluo Pass on all sides, their momentum unstoppable — and then, one after another, traps built upon Blessed Lands and Minor Worlds erupting to life. In an instant, vast swathes of the Ink Clan forces are drawn inside and torn apart by the formations within.
If that were truly possible, Biluo Pass could secure a decisive victory without expending any significant effort. In the previous great battles, had humanity possessed such arrangements, the victories wouldn't have been nearly so hard-won.
And Biluo Pass had long harbored this very idea. The concept was sound, but it had remained impractical — without the ability to open those portals, how could anyone set up traps?
That was why, upon hearing that Yang Kai had forcibly opened one such portal, Zhong Liang had immediately grasped the significance and contacted Ding Yao and the other two to come inspect the situation together.
The Ink Clan army had suffered devastating losses this time and taken a severe blow to their vitality. Biluo Pass would enjoy a period of peace, but inevitably, the Ink Clan would return — and when they did, another brutal battle would follow.
The lull while the Ink Clan recuperated would provide Biluo Pass the perfect window to set up traps and formations. If everything went smoothly, the next time the Ink Clan army arrived, a massive surprise would be waiting for them.
The crux of it all hinged on whether Yang Kai had the ability to open those portals.