Originally, Zhechong had intended to use the Ink Nest here to report his encounter to the King Master, while also submitting his baseless conjecture.
Admittedly, this matter cut both ways. If his conjecture proved true, it would allow the Ink Race to prepare in advance. But if it turned out false, he would likely face punishment. Combined with his earlier incident of fleeing before the Human Race army without putting up a fight, the two offenses together would surely earn him a severe reprimand.
Now, seeing that Hou Di shared the same suspicion, he was saved the trouble.
Hou Di spoke in a deep voice: "If we count the days, your encounter with the Human Race ambush should have been after the battle at Wind and Cloud Pass. And right after that battle at Wind and Cloud Pass, the King Master sent word, instructing me not to go into seclusion recently. I couldn't understand why the King Master would issue such an order, but now it seems the King Master had already anticipated this!"
The King Master had indeed anticipated it.
Hou Di was stationed at Dayan Pass, and the information he could access was limited to what circulated within the Dayan theater—news he could obtain from the King Master.
But the King Master possessed a King-grade Ink Nest. Through the interconnection of King-grade Ink Nests, he could gather intelligence from other theaters.
Hou Di knew only that the Human Race had vastly increased their forces at Wind and Cloud Pass and that another Ancestor had appeared. He did not know that the Human Race at Azure Void Pass had similarly reinforced their troops—though they had no Ancestor, they had deployed several hundred Eighth-Grade experts, battering the Ink Race at Azure Void Pass until they cried for mercy.
The Human Race forces at both passes adjacent to Dayan Pass had made moves at nearly the same time. This was telling enough.
The Ink Race King Master in this area would naturally have his suspicions, which was why he had immediately sent word to Hou Di, ordering him to refrain from seclusion for the coming years.
This was also the reason Zhechong had been able to meet with Hou Di this time.
"This matter is of great importance. I must report to the King Master immediately." After speaking, Hou Di hurried off, clearly intending to use the Ink Nest's power to relay the information he had just received.
Zhechong naturally did not try to stop him. He rose and said, "I'll come with you."
Perhaps the King Master would have questions, and it would be more convenient to answer them in person.
Shortly after, inside the Ink Nest, Hou Di connected his consciousness with the Ink Nest's will and transmitted the various pieces of intelligence. He had expected to wait some time for a response, but to his surprise, the King Master replied almost immediately.
After a while, Hou Di withdrew his consciousness, his expression grave.
Zhechong asked, "What did the King Master say?"
He had been hoping to personally report his own experiences to the King Master, but it seemed the King Master had no intention of asking about him, so he had no idea what the King Master had told Hou Di.
Hou Di spoke solemnly: "The battle at Azure Void Pass ended in defeat. The Human Race deployed massive reinforcements there. In a single battle, nearly half of the Domain Lords were killed or wounded. The King Master there is unharmed, but he won't be able to make any moves for the time being."
Zhechong was astonished: "Azure Void Pass too?"
Hou Di nodded heavily: "That is why the King Master theorizes that the Human Race may truly be coming to reclaim Dayan Pass! Zhechong, the King Master commands you to return to your domain immediately, rally your forces, and come to Dayan to help fortify its defenses!"
"So it's truly coming?" Zhechong was momentarily dazed. For over thirty thousand years, the Human Race had shown no interest in reclaiming the lost Dayan Pass. But the Ink Race knew they would never abandon it—they would come to retake it sooner or later. He never expected the wait would stretch to more than thirty thousand years. "I understand. I'll return to my domain at once."
Shortly after, Zhechong's figure dissolved into a mass of ink cloud and streaked off through the void. He quietly congratulated himself on having returned quickly enough. By his estimation, even if the Human Race army truly intended to attack Dayan, they should still be en route. He still had ample time to prepare.
Every Domain Lord in the Dayan theater had enough time to prepare for the coming storm.
Meanwhile, within Dayan Pass, as Hou Di issued command after command, squads of Ink Race warriors spread out in two directions across the void—one toward Wind and Cloud Pass, the other toward Azure Void Pass—to scout for any signs of Human Race movement.
But this would take time, and a measure of luck. If the Human Race truly intended to reclaim Dayan, they would certainly move in secret. Discovering their tracks would be no easy feat.
It wasn't only Dayan Pass that sprang into action. Across the entire theater, every Domain Lord received the King Master's order: rally their forces at the fastest possible speed to prepare for any contingency.
In an instant, the entire Ink Race in the Dayan theater mobilized. An atmosphere of gathering storm settled over the theater.
Hou Di had assumed that gathering intelligence on the Human Race would prove difficult. To his surprise, barely five or six days after he dispatched those scouting squads, reports began to arrive.
One of the squads sent toward Azure Void Pass had mysteriously lost contact.
The loss was not significant—at most a Clan Lord along with some upper-rank and lower-rank Ink Race members—but this anomaly quickly drew Hou Di's urgent attention.
His dispatched squads would not simply vanish without cause. For tens of thousands of years, the Ink Race had faced no enemies near Dayan Pass.
The only possibility was that the squad had stumbled upon the Human Race army's hiding place and been annihilated.
He continued dispatching more forces to verify the location where the squad had disappeared, while urgently relaying this information upward.