The humans were willing to monitor their withdrawal back to Great Evolution in this manner, and the Ink Clan had no choice but to acquiesce.
What else could they do? Were they going to fight another battle over it?
And so, the surviving armies of both races, under this strange state of affairs, continued to advance steadily toward Great Evolution Pass.
On the way here, the Ink Clan had spent a full month rushing to this location under Zhechong's leadership. The return trip, however, would be far simpler — they could travel in a straight line, so it would take less than ten days.
But the retreat was not smooth sailing.
Over the past century, the Northern and Southern Armies had laid an enormous number of trap formations outside Great Evolution Pass, scattered across every direction. Previously, when Zhechong had led the army, their marching path had been erratic and unpredictable, so they had only triggered two or three tenths of the preparations.
In other words, at least seventy percent of the traps remained, distributed throughout the void.
The Ink Clan army traveling in a straight line back to Great Evolution was destined to stumble into those trap formations.
Each time one of these traps was activated, the Ink Clan army suffered losses. Though the Domain Lords were as cautious as they could possibly be, it was still impossible to avoid all of them.
The only consolation was that when the traps struck, the human army trailing behind showed no intention of seizing the opportunity to attack — they simply watched in silence.
The road back to Great Evolution could be described as nothing less than a blood-and-tears chronicle for the Ink Clan.
As the remnants of the Ink Clan retreated, not all of the humans had departed.
Mi Jinglun had deliberately left a portion of forces behind to sweep the battlefield and search for any possible survivors.
Gong Lian was among those who stayed, because Mi Jinglun had not sensed any sign of Ouyang Lie's death during the previous battle.
After killing Domain Lord Zhechong, Ouyang Lie's aura had indeed vanished abruptly, but that was not the same as perishing.
Mi Jinglun suspected that Ouyang Lie was very much still alive — merely too heavily wounded at the time to even make it back to the Ink-Expelling Ship. He could only fake his death to escape, and was now hiding somewhere.
This sort of task was naturally best left to Gong Lian, since he was Ouyang Lie's Personal Disciple, and no one in the world knew Ouyang Lie better than he did.
The shattered continental debris was now awash with the wreckage of countless warships, along with innumerable severed limbs and fragments of flesh. The entire void was saturated with dense ink force.
Gong Lian's agile figure darted nimbly among fragments of every size, occasionally finding a few human soldiers who still drew breath and pulling them from the wrecks of broken warships, carrying them to safety.
Until finally, he arrived before a headless corpse.
It was the body of a Domain Lord. The residual aura lingering on the wound was one Gong Lian knew all too well — the mark of Ouyang Lie's sword qi.
And this Domain Lord was precisely the one Ouyang Lie had slain. His identity was likely that of the Ink Clan army's commander.
Gong Lian stared at the corpse for a long while before finally letting out a long breath. The heart he had been clutching in his chest relaxed at last, and he spoke: "Master, come on out. You're a grown man — no need to keep hiding."
The corpse before him showed no response.
Gong Lian's brow furrowed. Sensing something was wrong, he rushed forward and channeled his power, forming a palm blade that slashed into the corpse.
Even a Domain Lord's body was formidable in life, but once dead, it could not withstand Gong Lian's strike.
The abdomen split open, and a haggard figure tumbled out.
Gong Lian hurried forward to support him. Ouyang Lie's face was pale as paper, and ink-black energy churned ceaselessly within his eyes. Nearly every part of his body was battered beyond recognition, and his aura was feeble to the extreme — like a candle flame flickering in a storm, liable to gutter out at any moment.
In that previous battle, though he had burned his vital blood to cut down Domain Lord Zhechong with his sword, Zhechong had been no weakling. His desperate counterattack had left Ouyang Lie gravely wounded. Coupled with the aftereffects of burning his vital blood, and stranded deep within the Ink Clan army's ranks, he hadn't even had the chance to return to the Ink-Expelling Ship.
Ouyang Lie had made a split-second decision, activating a secret technique to conceal his form and slipping into Zhechong's corpse — that was how he had survived.
It was fortunate that Zhechong's body had been enormous. Otherwise, there would have been no room to hide inside at all.
"Master, you're in such a sorry state!" Gong Lian cried out in alarm.
Ouyang Lie glared at this disappointing disciple of his and cursed: "If you little brat had come any later, I would have had to self-destruct!"
Gong Lian chuckled: "You've still got the energy to curse at people. You'll be fine."
The ink-black energy in Ouyang Lie's eyes was growing denser by the moment. He said urgently: "Get me back to the Ink-Expelling Ship!"
The moment those words left his mouth, he activated his secret technique, his head lolling to the side as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Gong Lian's expression turned serious. His spiritual sense surged outward, sending a transmission to nearby companions who were searching for survivors, and he dragged the unconscious Ouyang Lie along as he raced to catch up with the fleet.
He could sense that his master's condition was dire. Setting aside the violent aftereffects of burning vital blood, Ouyang Lie was now saturated with ink force, at constant risk of being fully corrupted.
When Ouyang Lie had said he would self-destruct, he had not been joking.
Before being completely overtaken by corruption, he would certainly do it. Though humanity now possessed methods to dispel ink force, he knew his disciple would come looking for him — and if a corrupted Ouyang Lie were to accidentally kill his own disciple?
Fortunately, Gong Lian had arrived just in time.
They raced back at breakneck speed. Gong Lian was, after all, a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator. Though he carried wounds from the previous battle, they did not touch his foundation.
After less than a day of pursuit, he caught up with the human army and hastily brought his master into the inner sanctum of the Ink-Expelling Ship.
Mi Jinglun finally breathed a sigh of relief.