The expedition from Biluo Pass had been planned for a long time; otherwise, it would have been impossible to produce a plan in just two days.
The expeditionary force was personally led by two Army Commanders, Ding Yao and Liang Yulong. Two Mo-Expelling Ships were deployed, along with roughly fifteen hundred warships of various sizes. The great army departed from Biluo Pass, vast and imposing.
Dawn's Light naturally joined the expeditionary force. Its members took turns piloting the Dawn while spending the rest of their time resting and conserving energy in the ship's cabins.
The damaged formations on the Dawn had been repaired by formation masters and were mostly functional now. However, the formation masters and artificers accompanying this expedition were few in number. If more warships sustained damage, timely repairs might not be possible. This wasn't just a problem for Dawn's Light—every small squad would face the same situation.
An expedition was fundamentally different from defending the Pass. Backed by Biluo Pass, the human warriors could fight recklessly without worry. Even if warships were damaged, they could quickly receive logistical support. An expedition was different—the support the rear lines could provide would be drastically reduced.
It was easy to imagine that if this issue couldn't be perfectly resolved, it would become a major constraint on the expedition.
But there was nothing to be done about it. The formation masters and artificers that could be deployed had already been stretched to their limit. No more could be allocated. These people themselves lacked combat strength and needed to be guarded by dedicated forces. The more they brought along, the more troops had to be split off to protect them.
This expedition was less a counterattack by the human race after countless years and more of a trial run.
Half a month after the expeditionary force departed Biluo Pass, the first major battle erupted. The opposing force was an army of nearly three hundred thousand Mo Tribe warriors!
The several hundred thousand Mo Tribe troops that had previously besieged Biluo Pass had been essentially wiped out. This three hundred thousand strong force was a reinforcement dispatched from the Mo Tribe's rear.
The Mo Tribe operated this way—relying on an endless stream of reinforcements, they could sustain each siege of a human fortress for a decade or more. This time was no exception.
However, the frontline Mo Tribe army had collapsed far too suddenly. Biluo Pass's century-long plan had been a massive trap, luring the Mo Tribe army in, grinding them to pulp, and leaving nothing behind.
This batch of reinforcements from the Mo Tribe rear hadn't received timely intelligence. They were still marching toward Biluo Pass under a Domain Lord's command.
When the two forces collided, the leading Domain Lord clearly hadn't realized what had happened.
Of the three hundred thousand reinforcements, nearly two hundred thousand were Mo Tribe cannon fodder. Only one hundred thousand possessed any real combat capability. Apart from the one Domain Lord overseeing the formation, the strongest among them were merely Lords.
This lineup, aside from sheer numbers, was utterly worthless. How could they possibly withstand the charge of the human race's elite forces?
That Domain Lord proved decisive enough. Realizing the situation was dire, he immediately abandoned all the cannon fodder Mo Tribe, ordering them to charge the human army while he himself fled at the first opportunity. As for the one hundred thousand troops with actual combat power, he couldn't care less about them.
It was another exhilarating battle. The three hundred thousand strong Mo Tribe army was almost completely annihilated. Without a Domain Lord to contend with them, the thirty Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators were utterly unstoppable. One warship after another surged across the battlefield, reaping Mo Tribe lives at will.
Defeating this reinforcement force hadn't taken much time—just a day or two at most. The expeditionary force continued its advance, heading straight for the Mo Tribe Royal City in this war zone.
Along the way, every Mo Tribe territory they encountered was put to the sword.
Another month passed before they arrived at the first Domain Lord's domain.
This was among the outermost Mo Tribe Domain Lord territories. The Domain Lord assigned here was clearly someone without much standing, since in the event of a human attack, this territory would bear the brunt first.
In fact, this Domain Lord's territory hadn't escaped human attacks before. The last time a Biluo Pass Grand Elder had led an assault, it was this very territory they had struck. Yang Kai had been there at the time, earning his keep alongside Nu Yan.
According to the limited intelligence Biluo Pass had gathered, the master of this territory was a Domain Lord named Gou Wu.
Gou Wu was already dead—killed in some World within the void beyond Biluo Pass by an Eighth-Order Commander of the Southern Army.
Gou Wu's territory was now effectively leaderless, a scattered mess.
The expeditionary force's movements had surely been exposed by now, but they encountered virtually no organized resistance. Even on Gou Wu's own direct territory, no Mo Tribe forces mounted an effective defense. While many Mo Tribe warriors attacked the expeditionary force with reckless courage, even more fled into the depths of the void when they sensed which way the wind was blowing.
It took only a few hours for the expeditionary force to conquer Gou Wu's direct territory. They killed quite a few enemies, but they were all small fry—nothing noteworthy.
This was only to be expected. The bulk of Gou Wu's forces had been dispatched to participate in the siege of Biluo Pass, and of those who remained, some had already fled. How many would have the courage to stand against the expeditionary force?
After capturing the first Domain Lord's territory, the expeditionary force didn't linger. Both Ding Yao and Zhong Liang understood the principle that speed was paramount in warfare. Only a small contingent was left to sweep the battlefield while the main army pressed onward.
"Sweeping the battlefield" meant nothing more than plundering resources.
Just as Yang Kai had done before, going from one Domain Lord territory to another in the Yin-Yang War Zone, a Domain Lord's direct territory was the most prosperous place in each domain, home to numerous shops and cultivation resources. The expeditionary force wasn't about to let them go.
Yang Kai stayed behind as well.
Not because he wanted to plunder resources—resources no longer held any appeal for him. The stockpile within his Petite World was inexhaustible, more than he could ever use.