This was hardly an unusual choice. Back in the day, Blood Crow had been captured alive by the Bright King Heaven's Old Fisherman in Broken Heaven and imprisoned in Bright King Heaven. However, considering his immense cultivation had been painstakingly accumulated over a lifetime and it would be a pity to simply execute him, they had instead chosen to send him to the Ink Battlefield to fight.
After all, the Ink Battlefield was not like other places. Once you arrived, humanity had only one enemy: the Ink Clan. All past grudges and feuds could no longer be pursued, and Bright King Heaven had no fear that Blood Crow would escape.
His only option was to fight the Ink Clan to the death and struggle to stay alive.
"Kid Yang, do you have any idea that your little stunt back then ruined years of painstaking preparation I had laid down?" Blood Crow suddenly turned his head and glanced at Yang Kai, seemingly still holding a grudge over what happened all those years ago.
Yang Kai grinned: "If I hadn't ruined your plans back then, would I be who I am today?"
Blood Crow slowly shook his head: "It was simply destiny. In my previous life, my cultivation stopped at the Eighth-Order, and as my lifespan neared its end, I couldn't accept it. I poured a lifetime of effort into my arrangements, and if everything had gone smoothly, perhaps by the time I was reborn, I might have had a shot at reaching the Ninth-Order. But life rarely goes as planned — nine times out of ten it doesn't. Who could have predicted that a freak like you would come along and ruin everything?"
Yang Kai clucked his tongue: "Sabotaging someone's path to cultivation — that's an unforgivable enmity!"
Blood Crow nodded: "Every time I see you, I want to kill you! When those disciples from the Blessed Realms come looking for trouble with me, I show them no mercy either. Their blood essence only helps push my cultivation further!"
The Great Evolution Indestructible Blood Illumination Scripture was an extraordinary technique. It had no actual connection to the Great Evolution Blessed Land — the name merely bore the "Great Evolution" prefix. In truth, it shared a surprising amount of common ground with Wu Kuang's Sky-Devouring Battle Art.
These two techniques could be said to be the most wondrous Yang Kai had ever encountered since he began cultivating.
However, in his estimation, the Great Evolution Indestructible Blood Illumination Scripture still fell slightly short of the Sky-Devouring Battle Art. Having dabbled in both, no one was better positioned to judge.
"My origins, my past feuds with the disciples of those Blessed Realms — they all know about it," Blood Crow continued.
"They" referred, presumably, to the members of his original squad.
"Some gave me cold stares, some secretly despised my character, and others openly or covertly sabotaged me, stealing my battle merits." Blood Crow's tone was detached, as though he were discussing matters that had nothing to do with him despite it being his own story. "But what could I do about it? I cultivate my own Dao — what business is it of anyone else's? If not for the unique circumstances of the Ink Battlefield, I would never have fought side by side with such wretched trash."
A Sixth-Order and a Fifth-Order cultivator standing nearby heard his words and glared at him with eyes blazing with fury.
Blood Crow remained unmoved, his eyelids lowering lazily: "The laughable thing is, it was precisely those people — the ones who couldn't stand me in daily life and who secretly made things difficult for me — who threw their lives away to save me in the last battle. I survived. They were nearly all killed."
He turned to look at Yang Kai: "Were they stupid or not?"
Before Yang Kai could answer, he answered himself in a low voice: "Stupid beyond belief! They cultivated their entire lives to reach where they were. Once a life is lost, everything is over."
Yang Kai said evenly: "They certainly were stupid enough."
"You think so too?" Blood Crow looked at him with some surprise.
Yang Kai nodded: "Sacrificing yourself for others — isn't that stupid?"
Blood Crow nodded with deep agreement. After a long pause, he said: "This is what you told me years ago — once you're on the battlefield, past grudges no longer matter. Everyone becomes a comrade-in-arms?"
Yang Kai chuckled: "In age, cultivation, and experience, you surpass me in every way. Why ask me?"
Blood Crow fell silent.
Yang Kai stood there a while longer before speaking: "The army sets out for Great Evolution in eight days. Get some rest. Once we arrive, who knows whether we'll still need to fight the Ink Clan."
With that, he vanished in a flash.
At that same moment, aboard the Central Army's Ink-Dispelling Warship, Xiang Shan, Liu Zhiping, and the others had gathered in council. The Ancestor was also present.
She had clashed with the Royal Lord this time and sustained some injuries, though nothing severe. Given that the army was about to march on Great Evolution, she had not asked Yang Kai to set aside his Small Universe for recovery.
One of the Eighth-Order cultivators spoke: "Eight days until we advance on Great Evolution. The army should be reorganized by then. Excluding the three thousand Artifact Refiners, Formation Masters, and Alchemists, we're left with roughly sixteen to seventeen thousand combat-ready personnel. The situation with the Northern and Southern Armies isn't much better. Last time, to block the Great Evolution Ink Clan from reinforcing the Royal City, they clashed head-on with five hundred thousand troops and suffered devastating casualties. The Great Evolution Ink Clan isn't as formidable as they once were, but they still hold the Great Evolution Pass, and thirty thousand years of preparations are not to be underestimated. Taking Great Evolution back is going to be a hard fight."
The other Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators all nodded gravely.
Though everyone had known from the very founding of the Great Evolution Army that recapturing Great Evolution would come at an enormous cost, no one had expected the casualties to exceed projections.
Right now, the Eastern and Western Armies had only crippled the Ink Clan's forces around the Royal City. The Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass still needed to be dealt with.
Liu Zhiping smiled upon hearing this: "Perhaps Great Evolution can be taken without bloodshed?"
"Hmm?" Every Eighth-Order cultivator raised an eyebrow.
The one who had spoken earlier pressed eagerly: "Senior Sister Liu, what do you mean? Would the Ink Clan at Great Evolution Pass simply hand it over to us?"