Come to think of it, it made sense. The Northern and Southern Armies were only there to intercept the Ink Clan army pouring out of Great Pass. The Eastern and Western Armies, on the other hand, were driving deep into enemy territory — that was never going to go smoothly.
The numerous high-rank Ink Disciples could be considered tumors left behind by Great Pass thirty thousand years ago. These tumors were both a tragedy for the Human Race and a massive obstacle to the Human Army in the future.
"Lord, Lord Mi Jinglun has a message he asked this Disciple to relay," Yang Kai added.
Xiang Shan was characteristically terse: "Speak."
"Lord Mi says to let the Eastern and Western Armies proceed without restraint. The Ink Clan at Great Pass will pose no threat to the Eastern and Western Armies."
Xiang Shan nodded. "Understood." He glanced at Yang Kai again. "Your injuries haven't healed?"
"It's nothing to worry about," Yang Kai replied.
Xiang Shan said, "Since you're still hurt, go back and recover. You've worked hard on this trip."
"It is my duty!" Yang Kai cupped his fists. "This Disciple takes his leave!"
He turned and departed.
After Yang Kai was gone, Liu Zhiping let out a soft sigh. "Over at Great Pass, the Northern and Southern Armies are going to have a rough time."
Xiang Shan said, "It's tough everywhere. The situation facing the Eastern and Western Arms isn't optimistic either. To pacify the Ink Clan and reclaim Great Pass — the road ahead is long and heavy!"
The several Eighth-Order Town Masters all nodded in agreement, their expressions showing deep conviction.
The crux of the matter was that the Ink Clan's reaction had been far too fast. The Ink Nests were simply flawless when it came to speed of information relay.
Xiang Shan's plans could be called near-perfect. First, he had let a Domain Lord escape from outside Wind and Cloud Pass to alert the enemy. Then he had sent an army of puppets straight toward Great Pass, drawing the Ink Clan into garrisoning their forces there — even the Ink King had been lured over.
With that, the Ink Clan's rear was left hollow. The Eastern and Western Armies, unburdened by an Ink King, could strike directly at the heart. If they could topple the Ink Clan's Royal City in one fell swoop and destroy that Royal Ink Nest, the battle to reclaim Great Pass would become far easier.
Great Pass Army had been split into two forces — one to ravage the Ink Clan's heartlands, the other to intercept the Ink Clan army at Great Pass. The arrangement was meticulous to say the least.
If the Ink Clan's information network hadn't been so rapid, the Eastern and Western Armies could have advanced on the Royal City while gradually devouring Ink Clan forces along the way. Forget everything else — at a minimum, they could have seized over a dozen Domain Lords' territories and slain that many Domain Lords along with their subordinate armies.
If that were truly possible, the pressure on the Eastern and Western Armies in the future would be considerably lighter.
Yet the moment the Eastern and Western Armies had set foot in the Ink Clan's heartlands — having only just conquered a single Domain Lord's territory — news of the Human Army's appearance had already spread across the entire Great Pass theater.
All the remaining Ink Clan Domain Lords had rallied their subordinate armies and rushed toward the Royal City to set up defenses. The Ink King had hurried back as well. He was clever about it too — instead of heading straight for the Royal City, he had intercepted the Progenitor halfway. The battle between them had raged on to this day, with no clear victor.
Now the Northern and Southern Armies had already intercepted the first wave of reinforcements heading out from Great Pass, so the Eastern and Western Armies had no immediate concerns on that front. But the Royal City was undoubtedly heavily fortified at this point. What the Eastern and Western Armies faced was going to be a brutal fight.
The Northern and Southern Armies would have it rough, but the Eastern and Western Armies would have it rougher still.
……
When Yang Kai returned to the Dawn, his teammates had gathered upon hearing the news. Seeing his slightly pale complexion, Feng Ying asked with concern, "You're injured?"
Yang Kai nodded. "Had a fight with someone. Nothing serious. What's the situation here?"
Feng Ying replied, "Still on the march. We should be close to the Royal City by now."
With an army on the move, speed couldn't be pushed too high, so even though the Northern and Southern Armies had already fought a battle, the Eastern and Western Armies hadn't yet reached the Royal City.
Yang Kai had noticed this on his way back to the Dawn — the army was indeed still marching.
"Have there been any engagements?" he asked.
Feng Ying answered, "Nothing major. When the army first pushed deep into the Ink Clan heartlands, we wiped out a Domain Lord's territory. There was one Domain Lord there, a few Eighth-Order Ink Disciples, and some tens of thousands of subordinate troops. But the gap in strength was too great — we took them out without much effort."
The Domain Lord territory that had been destroyed was none other than Zhechun's territory.
Zhechun had received the King's orders to lead his forces to Great Pass for garrison duty. After he left, another Domain Lord had moved in with his troops to occupy his territory. Because Zhechun's territory was situated toward the outer perimeter, the Ink King had ordered all the Domain Lords on the inner side to rush outward, ready to reinforce Great Pass at any moment.
After all, Great Pass had been garrisoned with nearly a million troops at the time — there simply wasn't room for any more Ink Clan forces.
Who could have guessed that the Human Race's Eastern and Western Armies wouldn't attack Great Pass at all, but instead head straight for the Ink Clan's homeland? That unlucky Domain Lord hadn't spent more than a few days in Zhechun's territory before the Eastern and Western Armies wiped him out.
Just another unlucky fellow.
"The first few days were uneventful, but over the past three days, the Ink Clan has been launching intermittent harassment — probably trying to slow our advance toward the Royal City."
As Feng Ying was saying this, Yang Kai suddenly sensed a burst of chaotic energy fluctuations from one flank of the army. Clearly, someone was clashing, though the numbers didn't seem large.
The skirmish didn't last long, though — in less than the time it takes to finish half a cup of tea, everything fell silent again. The army continued its march without missing a beat.