The floating continent where the last Domain Lord's territory had fallen became the outpost great camp for Biluo Pass.
Although this expedition had temporarily drawn to a close, the conflict with the Mo Clan would not end anytime soon. Because the expeditionary army had charged straight ahead, all the Mo Clan territories along the path had been conquered, but those on either side of the route were left untouched.
This meant a vast number of Mo Clan had slipped through the net. If the expeditionary force simply withdrew, there would be no need to worry about these remnants. But if they intended to drive the nail of an outpost great camp deep into the Mo Clan's heartland, they would have to clear the surroundings and fortify their position.
At the very least, they had to ensure the outpost great camp would not be besieged from all directions. Fortunately, the Mo Clan had suffered devastating losses in this battle — fewer than forty Domain Lord-level powerhouses remained, nearly a quarter of their total eliminated, and all of them had clustered near the direction of the Royal City, never daring to venture out lightly again.
So while there were still Mo Clan scattered around the outpost great camp, none of them were particularly powerful. The humans simply needed to spend some time and could clean them all up eventually.
It could be foreseen that clearing the Mo Clan from the route between Biluo Pass and the outpost great camp — as well as from both flanks — would become the next major project for the garrison forces. Only once this was accomplished could they truly be said to have compressed the Mo Clan's living space.
The outpost great camp was bustling with activity. At the same time, deep in the void far from the outpost great camp, several warships were searching for a suitable location.
Before long, a lifeless Universe World was selected, and the warships descended one after another.
After circling this Universe World for a while, they finally identified a sunken valley region.
Such lifeless Universe Worlds in the void were innumerable, and this sunken depression was extremely concealed — ideal for deploying a Universe Formation. Even if scattered Mo Clan passed through the area, they would be unlikely to discover anything.
Moreover, once the Universe Formation was truly set up, there would certainly be a concealment array masking it, along with personnel standing guard. Should they come under attack, human warriors would be able to reinforce them swiftly.
Those warships were led by the Dawn, and among them were two Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm experts standing watch, precisely to guard against unforeseen circumstances.
Yang Kai set about deploying the Universe Formation, while the accompanying formation masters arranged all manner of arrays throughout the valley — concealment arrays, defensive arrays, offensive arrays, every type imaginable.
Before, Biluo Pass might not have had such resources to draw upon. Every formation meant vast quantities of materials, and the more powerful the formation, the more resources it required. In the past, Biluo Pass had been dirt poor, with no surplus to spend on such things. But now, things were entirely different. Setting aside the resources they had previously collected and stored, even acquiring new resources was now a trivial matter. So no matter how much was consumed, nobody begrudged it.
Compressing the Mo Clan's living space meant expanding humanity's range of operations. They would never again suffer the kind of predicament they had endured before.
After a flurry of work, the task was completed. Everyone left their imprint on this Universe Formation. One of the Eighth-Order experts and a small squad stayed behind to keep watch, while the rest headed to the next location.
Only two Universe Formations were needed as relay points, and this was already calculated with the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm's tolerance in mind.
Several months later, the second Universe Formation was fully deployed. With this, stretching from Biluo Pass as the origin to the outpost great camp as the terminus, the route was completely punched through. Human warriors only needed to leave their imprint at each Universe Formation, and they could travel back and forth in an extremely short time.
There were many considerations involved. First and foremost, all warriors had to leave imprints at both relay Universe Formations for future convenience. The Eighth-Order experts had already devised how to accomplish this — the simplest method was to have the Eighth-Order cultivators first leave their imprints at every Universe Formation, then use themselves to transport the soldiers back and forth.
The Small Universe of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm cultivator was enormous, capable of taking other Open Heaven Realm cultivators inside. By leveraging this capacity, they could quickly have the entire garrison of Biluo Pass leave their imprints at every formation.
This was not something Yang Kai needed to worry about. The Eighth-Order experts would handle it themselves.
After completing the second Universe Formation, he returned to Biluo Pass.
It was nothing unusual — Zhong Liang, who had been left in charge at Biluo Pass, had matters to discuss with him. The message had come from Biluo Pass's side, but by the time it reached the outpost great camp, Yang Kai had already been out deploying the Universe Formation and couldn't be reached, which was why it had been delayed until now.
When Yang Kai hurried back to Biluo Pass and met with Zhong Liang, he finally learned what had actually happened.
Uncle-Master Lu is missing?" Yang Kai was extremely surprised.
The Uncle-Master Lu he spoke of was Lu An of the Yin Yang Heaven, an eighth-stage cultivator and the Western Army's Chief Garrison Commander. Due to his Yin Yang Heaven origins, he had looked after Yang Kai since his arrival at Biluo Pass, and they also had a private friendship.
Although Lu An was of advanced years, his cultivation was anything but ordinary. Yang Kai couldn't fathom how he could simply go missing.
"Come with me." Zhong Liang offered no explanation, merely beckoning Yang Kai to follow as he headed straight out.
Soon, the two of them arrived outside the pass.
The battlefield from the previous great war had already been cleared. Now, the area outside Biluo Pass was completely empty. No one would have guessed that just two years ago, the imposing Mo Race army had met with near-total annihilation right here.
Upon arriving, Yang Kai's attention was immediately drawn to a thin, small rift in the void ahead. After observing it for a moment, he couldn't help but frown.
Zhong Liang explained, "There was originally a Heavenly Cave Abode here. I'm not sure if you remember it."
Yang Kai nodded slightly. "Vaguely."