Long, long ago, this Ink Clan King Lord had discovered something interesting.
That was the impact that the human race's various passes had on them.
There was no denying that, countless years ago, those passes had provided the humans with tremendous assistance, allowing the numerically inferior human race to leverage the strategic advantage of those passes and hold onto their meager territories, bringing the Ink Clan's advance to a grinding halt.
Without those passes, no matter how powerful individual humans might be, they would have struggled to amount to much.
Yet while those passes provided the humans with tremendous assistance, they were also a constraint — a shackle.
Those passes locked the humans firmly in place. The human race would never dare abandon their passes lightly to go on the move. It could be said that the humans were deeply dependent on those various passes.
So over the countless years, whenever war broke out, it was almost always the Ink Clan's armies that launched the assault while the humans defended from behind their passes — a pattern that rarely changed.
Until today. Now that the humans had marched from the distant void to reclaim Dayan Pass, lost thirty thousand years ago, this Ink Clan King Lord had truly come to understand what kind of threat the human race could pose once their armies completely threw off that constraint.
The human armies had traveled a great distance, adopting a posture that made it look as though they were charging straight for Dayan Pass. No one had expected that it was merely an army of puppets, while the real human forces had already invaded Ink Clan territory.
The humans had successfully deceived him and the numerous Domain Lords, drawing all their attention to Dayan Pass while relaxing their vigilance elsewhere. As for the humans' decisiveness — even standing on opposite sides, he could not help but admire it.
Facing such an army, a hard fight was unavoidable.
The King Lord could only hope that his intelligence had been relayed in time and that the Ink Clan forces scattered across the various Domain Lords' territories would not suffer devastating losses.
On that floating continent, after Yang Kai had finished reporting the situation to Ouyang Lie, he continued, "Lord Mi instructed me to relay the military intelligence from our side immediately. If Lord Ouyang has no further orders, I'll head back now."
Ouyang Lie gave a slight nod.
But before he could speak, Gong Lian — who had been silent ever since Yang Kai's appearance — suddenly changed expression and called out in a low voice, "Quiet! Suppress your aura!"
Ouyang Lie instantly retracted his own aura, becoming as still as a dead tree.
Though Yang Kai did not know what had happened, his reaction was swift as well, and he immediately held his breath and suppressed his aura.
Barely ten breaths after Gong Lian's warning, an astonishing wave of imposing pressure shot out from the direction of Dayan Pass, hurtling deep into the void.
The figure that streaked past from Dayan moved at a preposterous speed, sweeping by no more than ten million li from where the three were hidden before vanishing swiftly into the distance.
Yang Kai kept his eyes on his nose and his mind still, his body motionless.
If he had not sensed wrongly, the aura that had just raced past — that was the Ink Clan King Lord?
Though the area was concealed by formations and restrictions, and even without Gong Lian's warning the King Lord might not have discovered them without careful probing, suppressing their auras still added an extra layer of security.
If the King Lord happened to glance this way, he might spot something amiss.
Yang Kai looked at Gong Lian with some surprise. He naturally did not know this young man. On their first meeting, his initial impression had been one of casual laziness, though his strength was clearly considerable — at the Seventh-Order Realm, by the look of it.
But that he could detect the King Lord's movements in advance was truly astonishing. Yang Kai had not sensed the slightest trace of divine sense being deployed or any secret technique being used.
How had he sensed the King Lord's movements and issued the warning in time?
Though the King Lord had already departed, none of the three dared make any rash movements. Who knew whether the King Lord might suddenly double back? So they maintained their wooden postures, not daring to let even a ripple disturb their divine sense, communicating only through their eyes.
Ouyang Lie gave Yang Kai a look that said "stay calm," evidently telling him there was no rush to report back to Mi Jinglun.
Yang Kai nodded in understanding.
A full incense stick's time passed before there was any sign of the King Lord returning. Only then did Ouyang Lie let out a long, low breath and murmur, "It seems the Eastern and Western Armies have already made their move."
Yang Kai gave a slight nod.
Only if news of the Eastern and Western Armies' attack had reached this side would the King Lord have departed in such a hurry.
As he spoke, Ouyang Lie looked up toward Dayan Pass. The Eastern and Western Armies had struck, the King Lord had left — could the Ink Clan inside Dayan Pass remain idle?
At that thought, Ouyang Lie quickly said, "Let's pull back some distance."
So saying, he swiftly dismantled the various concealment arrangements at the site and led Yang Kai and Gong Lian in a retreat to the rear.
They withdrew tens of millions of li before stopping — a position that was essentially the limit for observing Dayan's movements while remaining safe from detection by the Ink Clan within.
Only then did Ouyang Lie turn to Yang Kai and say, "I'll trouble you to make the trip back and relay everything you saw and heard to Mi Jinglun verbatim. I'll stay behind to continue gathering intelligence."
Yang Kai cupped his fists in acknowledgment. "Lord Mi also said he wanted Lord Ouyang to continue scouting and monitor when the Ink Clan would dispatch forces from Dayan."
Ouyang Lie nodded. "I understand. Go on."