Dawn cut a devastating swath across the battlefield, with Yang Kai, Feng Ying, and several other Seventh-Order cultivators gathered around it, each unleashing their unique abilities to slaughter the enemy. Moreover, Bai Yi stood tall on Dawn's deck, and whenever her arrows trailed streaks of light, a Lord would inevitably fall. She also periodically harassed the Domain Lords locked in combat with the Human Race's Eighth-Order cultivators, driving them to the brink of frustration.
A Seventh-Order Open Heaven master proficient in archery commanded tremendous deterrence on the battlefield, especially for those Domain Lords already caught in grinding engagements. They had to split their attention to guard against sneak attacks from Bai Yi.
Their strength was already inferior to the Human Race's Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators, and now with this added distraction, they were even less of a match.
Yang Kai, for once, was being notably restrained. He didn't go after the Domain Lords, focusing only on the Lords instead. This only made his war record all the more spectacular. At the Lord level among the Mo Tribe, who could possibly withstand a single thrust of his spear? And that wasn't even accounting for the fact that Dawn's complement was far from what an ordinary squad could boast — not only did it have more Seventh-Order cultivators, but the Dawn itself outperformed standard squad-level warships in every respect.
Wherever Dawn passed, the Mo Tribe forces were instantly cleared out in a massive swath.
The battle had entered a fever pitch from the very start. The Western Army needed to fight quickly and decisively to avoid wasting time, so they held nothing back.
Although they lacked the defensive advantage of Biluo Pass's terrain, the element of surprise they'd sprung on the Mo Tribe army had the Western Army's soldiers in high spirits, their momentum soaring. The Mo Tribe simply couldn't withstand it.
The Mo Tribe finally broke.
Even though the Domain Lords knew that fleeing now would drastically increase their casualties, if they didn't run, total annihilation was a very real possibility. If they could trade their two-hundred-thousand-strong army for some Human Race lives, it wouldn't be a complete loss. The problem was that all the Human Race cultivators below the Seventh-Order were hiding inside warships, and until those warships were destroyed, there was no hope of harming them. While the Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivators roamed the battlefield, they never strayed beyond their warships' protective range — the moment things looked bad, they retreated straight back into the ships, retreating like turtles into their shells.
After half a day of fierce fighting, the Mo Tribe suffered countless casualties, while the Human Race's losses could be counted on one hand.
Given this situation, there was no need for further deliberation on how to choose.
The Mo Tribe army was in full rout, and the Human Race naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity slip. Under the leadership of numerous Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators, they pressed forward in a bloody pursuit.
It wasn't until two days later that the chase was called off.
The victory was enormous, and exact figures were impossible to tally, but the fleeing Mo Tribe forces numbered fewer than fifty thousand. In other words, this battle had claimed at least one hundred and fifty thousand Mo Tribe lives. Though they hadn't achieved a complete annihilation, the result was more than acceptable.
Of those one hundred and fifty thousand, at most only half had been slain on the front lines — the other half had been killed during the rout.
One hundred and fifty thousand wasn't much to the Mo Tribe. Every time they besieged Biluo Pass, they fielded armies of hundreds of thousands or even millions. The loss of a mere one hundred and fifty thousand troops didn't significantly affect the larger picture — at most, it merely eased some of the Human Race's pressure.
What the Mo Tribe found truly unacceptable was that this battle had claimed the lives of four of their Domain Lords.
Three of those had been killed by Human Race Eighth-Order cultivators at the very outset, and despite the extended fighting afterward, only one more Domain Lord was lost.
It was this that represented the Mo Tribe's most painful losses.
One hundred and fifty thousand troops could be replenished given enough time, Mo Nests, and resources — but the fall of four Domain Lords was not so easily replaced.
Domain Lords required extraordinarily lengthy periods to grow. In previous great battles between the two races, the number of Domain Lords slain was typically even lower than this — nearly all casualties were Mo Tribe members below the Domain Lord rank.
It could be said that the Mo Tribe had suffered devastating losses this time.
In the void, warships of all sizes drifted at anchor. The Western Army's soldiers, following orders, halted their pursuit at this point and pressed no further.
For one thing, continuing the chase would yield no significant additional gains. For another, they needed to guard against ambushes and reinforcements from other Mo Tribe armies. If they blundered into a trap set by one of those other forces, the gains would be wiped out by losses.
So the Western Army wisely called it quits.
This particular two-hundred-thousand-strong Mo Tribe army had been effectively crippled. The scattered survivors could only be folded into their allied forces.
The Western Army's losses were light — few had actually fallen on the battlefield. The protective advantage of their warships meant they could find shelter at critical moments each time. Wounded, of course, there were plenty, but that was unavoidable. They couldn't very well slaughter so many Mo Tribe soldiers without taking any injuries themselves.
"Each squad, recall your warships and personnel — return to the Pass!" Zhong Liang's command rang out across the void.
Every Open Heaven cultivator acknowledged the order. Squad leaders and guard commanders alike stored their warships within their Small Worlds. The next moment, massive formation after formation appeared beneath the Western Army's feet, their lights flickering in succession. Each flash of light represented an Open Heaven cultivator passing through the World Passage Grand Formation back to Biluo Pass.
Though the numbers were vast, everything proceeded in perfect order.
More than a dozen Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators guarded the perimeter as Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivators were transported back first, followed by Sixth-Order, and then Seventh-Order.
Batch after batch of Open Heaven cultivators activated the World Passage Art, the spectacle magnificent beyond compare.
And this — this was the very reason the Western Army had dared to leave the Pass and lay an ambush against the Mo Tribe for all these countless years. It was also the very condition Zhong Liang and Feng Ying had mentioned.
Before Yang Kai had come to the Mo Battlefield, even with the World Passage Grand Formation at Biluo Pass, they would never have dared let their soldiers use it so freely.