Thirty thousand years ago, when Dayan Pass fell, a human soldier had destroyed the spatial array to prevent the Ink Clan from exploiting it.
After the Ink Clan seized Dayan, they hadn't destroyed the spatial array. Instead, they had been working to repair it.
So the basic framework of Dayan Pass's spatial array was still intact. When Yang Kai personally took action and spent more than half a year on repairs, the work was essentially complete.
When he activated the array and set the destination to Fengyun Pass, one could say the spatial array was fully operational, opening a void corridor directly from Dayan Pass to Fengyun Pass.
However, this corridor was somewhat different from the normal situation. Yang Kai's teleportation journey had been fraught with obstacles at every turn—if he hadn't possessed the Laws of Space, he likely wouldn't have made it here.
It hadn't been easy!
The moment he appeared, he found himself face to face with numerous Eighth-Order cultivators staring at him. After a moment's thought, he understood exactly what had happened.
Dayan Pass's spatial array had been set to transmit in this direction, so there would naturally have been signs detected on this end, alerting the higher-ups at Fengyun Pass.
That was why so many Eighth-Order cultivators had gathered at this location.
A few of them looked familiar to Yang Kai. When he had last stayed at Fengyun Pass, he had likely caught sight of these figures from a distance.
Yuan Xingge gave a slight nod and said, "Which Pass are you from? What went wrong with the transmission this time? Why did it take so long?"
Yang Kai cupped his fists and replied in a deep voice, "Dayan. Yang Kai!"
With those words, the entire hall erupted. Every Eighth-Order cultivator's expression changed.
Tian Lu cried out in astonishment, "Dayan? You came from Dayan?"
"How are things at Dayan?"
"If you transmitted here from Dayan, does that mean Dayan Pass has been recovered?"
...
One Eighth-Order cultivator after another fired off questions, their urgency palpable.
For the past hundred and fifty years, the Dayan Eastern and Western Armies had been established at Fengyun Pass, while the Northern and Southern Armies had been raised at Qingxu Pass. The two forces had marched toward the Dayan theater from two directions, pressing in from both sides, their blades aimed at the Ink Clan in the Dayan sector, intent on recapturing Dayan Pass.
For over a hundred years, no one had known the situation in the Dayan theater, or how the effort to retake Dayan was progressing.
Every Pass had been waiting for news from Dayan. Every human soldier had been eagerly watching and hoping.
Though they knew the Dayan forces were formidable—with nearly double the manpower of any single Pass—fighting deep in Ink Clan territory without the protection of a fortress wall, no one could say for certain whether they would ultimately succeed or fail.
They had waited for a hundred and fifty years.
And now, suddenly, a Seventh-Order cultivator had appeared in the spatial array, claiming to come from Dayan. How could the Eighth-Order cultivators at Fengyun Pass not be excited?
"You truly come from Dayan?" Yuan Xingge asked gravely. This was a matter of tremendous importance—there could be no room for even the slightest error.
Yang Kai replied, "Absolutely true, sir. You may verify at any time."
Suddenly, another Eighth-Order cultivator spoke up: "Yang Kai... that name... Could you be the Yang Kai who can wield the Purifying Light?"
"That is correct!" Yang Kai nodded.
Realization dawned across every face.
Throughout the entire Ink Battlefield, Seventh-Order cultivators were countless. But if anyone could claim that nearly every Pass's Eighth-Order cultivators remembered his name, that person was probably Yang Kai alone.
The appearance of the Purifying Light had given humanity its first method of countering the power of Ink. And as the person who wielded the Purifying Light, Yang Kai's name had naturally spread far and wide.
However, very few people had actually seen him in person. Coupled with the fact that he had just mentioned Dayan, everyone's attention had been fixated on that, and they hadn't initially registered his name.
Since he was the Yang Kai who could wield the Purifying Light, then he must indeed be from Dayan.
Because Yuan Xingge knew that when the expedition to Dayan had been launched, the Ancestor had personally named this Yang Kai to accompany the army, seemingly because his presence was beneficial to the Ancestor's healing.
Though Yuan Xingge couldn't fathom how a Seventh-Order cultivator could assist a Ninth-Order Supreme in recovering from injuries, if the Ancestor had named him, she certainly had her reasons.
"Has Dayan been recovered?" Yuan Xingge asked.
Yang Kai replied, "Half a year ago, the Dayan Eastern and Western Armies met up with the Northern and Southern Armies at Dayan Pass. The recovery of Dayan was a success!"
"Excellent!" an Eighth-Order cultivator exclaimed with excitement. After waiting a hundred and fifty years, they had finally received this momentous news. The rest were equally overcome with joy.
"How are the Dayan forces' casualties?" Tian Lu asked.
Yang Kai said with a pained voice, "Currently, the total number of soldiers garrisoning Dayan Pass is approximately thirty-three thousand, with slightly over seventy Eighth-Order cultivators."
Hearing these numbers, everyone fell silent.
They understood the situation of the Dayan forces. A hundred and fifty years of warfare had reduced their numbers by nearly half—a testament to the horrific toll of casualties. That figure represented nearly the entire fighting strength of a normal Pass.
But everyone knew this was a price that had to be paid. The great army had marched on Dayan with no fortress to rely on, the Ink Clan held every natural advantage, and recapturing Dayan within a hundred and fifty years—how could it have been accomplished without paying a price?