Ouyang Lie had been carrying Gong Lian the entire time, so his disciple's unusual behavior naturally did not escape his notice.
Just as he was about to ask, he heard Gong Lian transmit via voice: "Master, I'm suddenly feeling quite frightened."
Ouyang Lie frowned. "You're sure?"
Gong Lian nodded with a grave expression.
Ouyang Lie's face instantly turned solemn. Truth be told, this disciple of his possessed truly outstanding talent. Back when he had advanced to Open Heaven, he had risen directly to the Seventh Order — a feat that even among the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands made him a rare prospect with hope of reaching the pinnacle of the Ninth Order.
If not for that, why would Ouyang Lie have placed such importance on him?
Moreover, Gong Lian's cultivation speed was astonishingly fast. It had been barely over a thousand years since his advancement to Open Heaven, yet he had already reached the peak of the Seventh Order — just a single step away from the Eighth.
Though his cultivation was a full order below Ouyang Lie's, Gong Lian possessed an extraordinary ability that set him apart from others.
That ability was his sensitivity to danger — far sharper than that of ordinary people.
This perception could more accurately be called an innate talent rather than a cultivated skill, something others could not possibly replicate. He himself might not know what specifically he would sense, but he could premonish approaching danger in advance. The greater the crisis, the more intense the sensation.
This had happened many times before. Throughout his cultivation journey, Gong Lian had relied on this talent to evade numerous dangers.
But never before had this danger sense made him feel so utterly terrified.
Ouyang Lie was well aware of his disciple's ability, so when Gong Lian said he was feeling dread and his body was trembling, Ouyang Lie immediately realized the situation was serious.
The two of them — one at the peak of the Seventh Order, the other at the Eighth — would stand a chance of escape even if they encountered an Ink Clan army here, so long as they were not surrounded.
That meant the danger Gong Lian sensed most likely came from an Ink Clan Royal Lord!
Only a Royal Lord comparable to a Ninth-Order ancestor could make Gong Lian tremble with fear at this stage.
Ouyang Lie himself had detected no trace of an Ink Clan Royal Lord's aura, but he harbored no doubt whatsoever about his disciple's ability. He immediately set about finding a place to hide.
Fortunately, there were floating landmasses of various sizes nearby. He selected one and shot toward it, then hastily set up a concealment formation to mask their presence and aura.
Gong Lian shed his earlier laziness entirely and helped from the side.
Master and disciple worked together, and in less than half the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the formation was complete. They slipped inside, and Ouyang Lie activated it.
Almost simultaneously, a vast will swept over the very spot where they were hiding, then rapidly extended into the distance.
And from the depths of the void, a massive ink-colored shadow streaked past — no more than ten million li from their hiding place.
Ouyang Lie kept his eyelids lowered, refusing to look, and quietly transmitted: "What did you see?"
Compared to Ouyang Lie's caution, Gong Lian's actions at this moment could only be described as audaciously bold. He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze going unfocused once more as he watched the ink-colored shadow charge into Dayan Pass.
From beginning to end, even under such focused observation, the ink-colored shadow showed not the slightest reaction.
This could be considered yet another of Gong Lian's special abilities. If anyone else had stared so openly, even an Eighth-Order cultivator would have difficulty going undetected. But Gong Lian was different — he seemed capable of reducing his own existence to an absolute minimum.
"Ink Clan Royal Lord!" Gong Lian transmitted back.
One could well imagine that without Gong Lian's timely warning, the master and disciple might not have managed to evade the Royal Lord's detection. They could have been exposed on the spot.
And in a place like this, exposure would mean certain death.
"Tsk..." Despite having already guessed as much, when he heard Gong Lian's answer, Ouyang Lie still couldn't help clicking his tongue. "Xiang Shan has bungled things and delayed the campaign!"
The Ink Clan Royal Lord had come from the Ink Clan heartland. In other words, there had been no Royal Lord stationed at Dayan Pass before this. If Xiang Shan's East and West armies had arrived sooner, combining forces with the North and South armies and bolstered by a Ninth-Order ancestor, they might have taken Dayan Pass with relative ease.
But now that a Royal Lord had arrived, Dayan Pass — garrisoned by a Royal Lord in person — would no longer be so easy to capture.
And with the Royal Lord now at Dayan, could the Ink Clan's main army be far behind?
It was indeed not far at all.
Half a day after the Royal Lord arrived at Dayan Pass, a force of twenty to thirty thousand Ink Clan troops, led by a Domain Lord, marched in from the Ink Clan heartland and entered the fortress.
Following that, Domain Lord after Domain Lord arrived with their respective forces, one after another without pause.
In just three days, Ouyang Lie had counted over a dozen Domain Lords and their armies — a total of three to four hundred thousand Ink Clan soldiers.
Ouyang Lie's expression was as dark as still water. The more thoroughly the Ink Clan prepared, the harder Dayan Pass would be to take. And yet, to this day, there was no telling where Xiang Shan's East and West armies had gotten to.
A few more days passed, and the Ink Clan forces converging at Dayan Pass grew ever more numerous. Throughout the fortress, Ink Clan figures could be seen bustling about ceaselessly, carrying out all manner of deployments along the inner walls, preparing to meet the human armies head-on.