Battles against the Ink Clan had always been fraught with peril. In wars that involved entire races, there was no such thing as coming out without casualties.
At the very front, Ancestor Xiaoxiao's clear voice rang out: "Over three hundred and sixty years ago, the Dayan Eastern and Western Armies were established at Fengyun Pass, and the Northern and Southern Armies at Qingxu Pass. The two forces advanced together toward the Dayan theater of war, spending a combined one hundred and fifty years before finally reclaiming Dayan. In the battles of reclamation, both armies suffered devastating losses—but every sacrifice was worth it."
"The reclamation of Dayan means that humanity's defensive line no longer has any gaps! And reclaiming Dayan is not our ultimate goal—it is merely a starting point! Many of you have heard of the Expedition over the years, and many have been looking forward to it. Today, Dayan is ready. The other hundred-plus passes across humanity are ready as well."
"The Ink Clan has wreaked havoc across the Ink Battlefield for untold ages. For countless years, humanity's passes and theaters of war have remained in a perpetual state of passive defense. We have paid enormous prices, sacrificed countless lives, yet we have only ever been able to hold our passes—we have never had the strength to take the initiative. It is not that we lacked the will! It is that we truly could not!"
"Defense alone can never solve the problem. Generation after generation of predecessors left that problem to their successors. And now, in our generation, are we to leave it for the next generation, and the one after that? No one can bear to watch their children and grandchildren fighting the Ink Clan on the Ink Battlefield with no hope of victory in sight."
"Our predecessors did not wish for that—they have already done everything in their power. Without their perseverance and sacrifice, none of us would be standing here today, speaking these words!"
"Therefore, the Expedition must happen! And now, we have the means to carry it out!"
"You were all born in a fortunate era, because this is the era in which the Ink Clan can be utterly and completely defeated. You will bear witness to the end of a war that has stretched on since time immemorial, and every single one of you will play a vital role in it."
"This time, we march forth—to crush the Royal City, to annihilate every last enemy, to leave not a single one alive!"
Ancestor Xiaoxiao's voice rose steadily higher, her slender frame radiating a fierce and untamed presence.
"Kill!" bellowed Xiang Shan from behind her, his voice deep and resolute.
"Kill!" the Eighth-Order commanders roared in unison.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
Tens of thousands of warriors shook the heavens with their cries. The entirety of Dayan Pass was shrouded in an atmosphere of lethal solemnity. Every warrior felt their blood boiling, longing to find a few Ink Clan members right then and there and tear them apart.
Ancestor Xiaoxiao raised her hand, and the battle cries ceased instantly. Her gaze swept across the entire army, and she spoke softly: "The dead cannot witness victory. So—stay alive. Only the living can see the Ink Clan's downfall!"
With that, she bowed deeply to the tens of thousands of warriors.
Behind her, the dozens of Eighth-Order commanders followed suit with a bow of their own.
This bow was for the countless years of sacrifice the warriors had made. It was for the hopes and responsibilities entrusted to them in the expedition to come.
Tens of thousands returned the bow.
Ancestor Xiaoxiao straightened, and her crisp shout echoed throughout the entire pass: "Everyone, make your preparations. The Expedition… begins now!"
Her figure flickered, and she vanished.
The Eighth-Order commanders dispersed swiftly as well.
Although Ancestor Xiaoxiao had declared the Expedition begun today, Dayan Pass was an immense distance from the Ink Clan's Royal City, and the journey itself would take considerable time. When the Dayan Eastern and Western Armies had previously withdrawn from the Royal City and returned to Dayan Pass, it had taken an entire year.
Yang Kai was about to move when a voice suddenly reached his ears. He turned his head and gave a slight nod toward the source.
He instructed the members of Dawn to go ahead on their own, then strode toward the Eastern Army's Command Bureau.
The one who had sent him the telepathic transmission was Xiang Shan.
He was not the only one summoned—several others had been called as well.
Chai Fang, captain of the Old Turtle Squad. Ma Gao, captain of the Mystic Wind Squad. Yao Kangcheng, captain of the Snow Wolf Squad.
Including Yang Kai's Dawn, the Dayan theater now possessed four elite small squads, each with combat capability far exceeding that of any ordinary unit.
The Old Turtle Squad, like Dawn, had been transferred in from Biluo Pass. The Mystic Wind Squad and the Snow Wolf Squad hailed from two other passes.
But regardless of where they had come from, once they had been incorporated into the Dayan Army, they were Dayan Army soldiers through and through.
Yang Kai had worked with both squads before. On the day the Dayan Eastern and Western Armies had charged straight into the Ink Clan's rear, he had been dispatched by Xiang Shan to search for the Northern and Southern Armies' whereabouts in the direction of Dayan Pass. After completing that mission, he had not departed immediately but instead joined a major battle in which the Northern and Southern Armies ambushed the Dayan Ink Clan forces.
In that battle, he had led these two elite squads in charges back and forth across the battlefield, carving through enemy lines.
He had repeatedly invoked Golden Crow Forges the Sun, using that divine ability and its manifestation to blaze a path forward, slaying untold numbers of Ink Clan warriors.
Ma Gao and Yao Kangcheng held him in the highest admiration. They were both veteran Seventh-Order cultivators, which was the only reason they could serve as captains of elite squads.
But in honest reflection, after all their years of fighting on the Ink Battlefield, neither had ever encountered a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator as ferocious as Yang Kai.
Over the years, Yang Kai had rarely made his presence known, but he had exchanged words with the two often enough that they were hardly strangers.
Now that tens of thousands of warriors had dispersed—if the Expedition had truly begun, then it was time to prepare for the battles against the Ink Clan that lay ahead.