The Ink Clan's King Lord was a decisive one.
His earlier proposal to simply observe without intervening in the day's battle had not been mere empty words. Had the Xiaoxiao Ancestor accepted, both he and the Ancestor would have honored the agreement.
At their level of strength, even a casual promise could influence one's own Dao fortune. Reneging on an oath without good reason offered no benefit.
However, the instant the Xiaoxiao Ancestor refused, he had already struck with a secret technique — proof that he had been prepared all along.
And just as he had said: since she rejected his proposal, then a fight was the only option.
The two of them clashed once more, and the likes of Chekong and the other Domain Lords felt a bitterness in their mouths worse than swallowing bile, because the scene before them was a replay of what had happened twenty years ago.
Two decades ago, these two had also fought amidst the assembled armies, resulting in heavy Ink Clan casualties and a disordered formation that had cost them dearly in the subsequent clash with the human forces.
Twenty years later, here it was again.
Fortunately, they had already been through this once, so the Domain Lords had experience dealing with it.
They simultaneously ordered their subordinate troops to withdraw to a safe distance while rallying the higher-ranking fighters to charge toward the human Ancestor, lending the King Lord a hand.
The Xiaoxiao Ancestor's secret technique of Yin-Yang Awakening, the one that prevented chaos from being born, was unleashed once more. The vast expanse of void was shrouded in the Yin-Yang Fish.
Yet even with this secret technique, her performance was noticeably weaker than it had been twenty years ago.
After only a short exchange, she had already taken numerous hits, her heaven-and-earth power surging wildly from the impacts.
Fortunately, these attacks came from Domain Lords and Eighth-rank Ink Slaves — she could still endure them. If a blow from the King Lord connected, however, the outcome was anyone's guess.
This situation only further confirmed what the Ink Clan King Lord had suspected: this human woman's injuries were far from healed, and the accumulated damage from two separate encounters weighed upon her.
That was why her performance this time was even worse than last.
As for himself, he was wounded as well, but within the Royal City's territory, he could draw upon the power of the Ink Nest to strengthen himself. With numerous Domain Lords and Eighth-rank Ink Slaves assisting him, the fight was considerably easier on his end.
After only a brief exchange, the Xiaoxiao Ancestor seemingly realized that continuing like this would only make her situation more and more dire. She feinted, broke free from the encirclement, and fled deep into the void.
The Domain Lords and Eighth-rank Ink Slives halted. The Ink Clan King Lord hesitated for a fraction of a second, then gave chase.
His hesitation was over whether to pursue. After all, for him, simply driving off the human Ancestor was enough — that objective had already been achieved, and he could have remained within the Royal City.
His fear was that if he didn't keep that woman under watch, she would turn and attack the army deployed on the Royal City's right flank.
To be safe, he decided to pursue, because he was certain that if he didn't, that woman's shameless disposition would absolutely lead her to launch a sneak attack on the right-side army.
That would only lead to another round of entanglement, so he might as well shadow her now.
He knew, of course, that the human Ancestor intended to lure him away from the Royal City's perimeter, denying him access to the Ink Nest's power. But he had no choice.
Even without the Ink Nest's enhancement, the King Lord was confident he could suppress her — when it came to recovery from injuries, he held a massive advantage.
But this woman's repeated tricks had enraged the Ink Clan King Lord. He silently resolved that this time, even at some cost, he would teach her a lesson.
Chekong let out a long breath. Those two had finally left.
But the matter was far from over. The human army was rapidly approaching the Royal City. The right-side void showed no anomalies, but based on past experience, a World was almost certainly hurtling toward them.
Both armies outside the Royal City had to quickly reorganize and form their defensive lines.
Half a day later, when the human forces closed in on the Royal City, the great battle erupted.
The humans once again employed their previous tactic. The entire massive fleet, protected by Eighth-rank Opening Heavens cultivators, transformed into a colossal dragon. Ships linked tightly to one another, and under Xiang Shan's command, they sliced back and forth across the battlefield, darting left and right.
The Ink Clan army performed far better than last time. Chekong did have a certain talent for commanding troops, especially on the defensive.
Having suffered losses last time, he had spent considerable time reflecting on the defeat and had already devised a counter to the humans' tactic.
In truth, he had figured it out before the previous battle had even concluded — but before he could finish redeploying his forces, the humans had already withdrawn, leaving him with all his preparations and nowhere to apply them.
This time was the perfect opportunity. If he could use this method to break the humans' fleet dragon, it would certainly send them stumbling.
And the weakness he had identified was precisely the greatest flaw in the humans' tactic.