Yang Kai frowned upon hearing this. "If the core is that important, the Mo Clan must have realized it long ago. Why would they simply return it?"
"Indeed." Ancestor Xiaoxiao let out a long sigh. Something so vital to the human race — the Mo Clan would certainly never give it back. Putting herself in their shoes, if she were the Mo Clan King, she would rather destroy the core than let humanity benefit from it.
That was precisely why she had repeatedly gone to challenge the Mo Clan King in recent months, only to return empty-handed each time.
"Can't they just forge a new one?" Yang Kai asked.
Going to demand its return was ultimately hopeless. The Ancestor surely knew that as well; she was merely doing her part and leaving the rest to fate.
Ancestor Xiaoxiao shook her head. "The core is an ancient relic. The method of forging it was lost long ago. The handful of grandmaster artificers inside the pass have been studying the matter, but they haven't made any headway."
The loss of Dayan's core had only been discovered during the effort to reclaim Dayan Pass. Too little time had passed, and even with the artificing prowess of Master Trouble and the others, no viable leads had emerged.
Forging a new core, setting aside the staggering cost alone, would take — at a minimum — a thousand years.
A thousand years… far too many variables.
The human race currently held the advantage across every battlefield. This was the moment to press forward and seize the Mo Clan's royal cities one after another. If the war dragged on too long, the Mo Clan might well stage a comeback.
And if Dayan's core was never recovered, the only outcome was that when the expedition began, the Dayan Army would be unable to leverage the pass's power, reduced once again to fighting the enemy from the decks of warships, just as before.
If that happened, the Dayan Army's casualties would vastly exceed those of every other human force.
There was little Yang Kai could do about this. The only thing he could offer was to help Ancestor Xiaoxiao heal her injuries, hoping the Mo Clan King would eventually crack under the pressure and voluntarily return the core.
Though hope was slim.
Still, after hearing the Ancestor's explanation, he finally understood why command had poured so much manpower and resources into fortifying Dayan Pass after its recapture.
He had originally thought the preparations were pointless — the Mo Clan forces in the Dayan theater had already been shattered. Without an enemy assault on the pass, all those defensive measures were nothing but dead weight.
If the Mo Clan never came to attack, were those arrangements just there to look impressive?
But now he saw that he had been far too naive.
The fortifications on Dayan Pass were not useless. They had been built for the expedition. The moment the core was recovered, the entire pass would become their greatest asset for the campaign ahead.
…
Ancestor Xiaoxiao maintained a pace of venturing out roughly once every two to three months, and each time she returned injured.
If even she suffered so, the Mo Clan King was certainly not faring well. His wounds had never fully healed. Had it not been for the Mo Nest's power at the royal city, the Ancestor would have slain him long ago.
The current Mo Clan King was merely clinging to life.
Regardless of whether Dayan Pass recovered its core, when the expedition finally came, the Dayan Army would march in full force. That would be the moment his head fell.
Yet as time passed, Yang Kai noticed that Ancestor Xiaoxiao was growing increasingly short-tempered. She would often return from the Mo Clan royal city cursing and swearing at the King, berating him for being ungrateful and stubbornly obtuse.
Each time this happened, Yang Kai kept his mouth shut.
You go over there demanding Dayan's core back — if he actually gave it to you, then something would really be wrong with him.
These were merely his private thoughts. He dared not say them aloud, for fear of catching the scolding himself.
One day, Ancestor Xiaoxiao returned once more, her face so dark it could wring water. She dropped into Yang Kai's Minor World, tending to her wounds while simultaneously berating the Mo Clan King's every failing.
Yang Kai listened with one ear and let it out the other, nodding his head like a pecking chick.
This scene had played out so many times he was thoroughly accustomed to it. He casually produced a stick of candied hawthorn and offered it over. The Ancestor gave him a sidelong glance, took it, and continued cursing while eating.
Yang Kai remained perfectly composed, quietly contemplating the Dao of Space and Time within himself.
Then, abruptly, he raised his head and looked at Ancestor Xiaoxiao.
The Ancestor was in the middle of a satisfying tirade. Noticing his gaze, she frowned. "What is it?"
Yang Kai said, "Ancestor, you mentioned that the Mo Clan King has consistently denied taking Dayan Pass's core?"
The Ancestor had brought this up more than once before, but Yang Kai had never truly thought it through. After all, there was nothing he could do to help — assisting the Ancestor with her recovery was his only contribution.
While the Ancestor healed, most of his mental focus had been devoted to contemplating the Dao of Space and Time, hoping to make some progress. Over these past days, the gains had been considerable.
The improvement of his Dragon Vein had advanced his understanding of the Dao of Time, and the Dao Marks of Space he had devoured and refined in the Phoenix Nest had likewise deepened his command of the Dao of Space.
Now, as the Ancestor raised the matter yet again, Yang Kai suddenly realized he had been overlooking something crucial all along.
The Ancestor scoffed. "Why would he ever admit to something like that?"
Yang Kai pondered for a moment, then spoke. "If the Mo Clan had captured Dayan Pass and the core was still there at the time, would the Mo Clan have been able to operate it?"
The Ancestor replied, "Dayan is a human creation, but operating it simply requires sufficient power. The Mo Clan King is comparable to a human Ninth-Grade master — his strength alone wouldn't be enough to pilot Dayan. However, if the Domain Lords under his command worked together, controlling Dayan wouldn't be a problem. After all, the Mo Clan has a great many Domain Lords."
"That's what's strange." Yang Kai looked at Ancestor Xiaoxiao. "If piloting Dayan wasn't an issue, why did the Mo Clan leave it behind? If I were the Mo Clan King, I would absolutely have moved Dayan Pass to the vicinity of the royal city to serve as a shield, or even made it my royal city outright."
In this world, was there any Mo Clan royal city as fortified as a human pass? Having such a stronghold as one's own royal city would render human attacks futile — and it would be an immense honor.
He doubted any Mo Clan King could resist that kind of temptation.