This was much easier now. The Ink Clan members emerging from the dimensional barrier passage were often cut apart by the spatial rifts before Yang Kai even needed to lift a finger.
Occasional stragglers that slipped through failed to escape his killing strikes either.
The Void Mirror was a technique Yang Kai had only recently comprehended during his battles against the Ink Clan, and it was perfectly suited for this kind of scenario.
The technique's raw power might not be overwhelming, but its strength lay in its vast coverage.
With the Void Mirror stretching across the perimeter of the dimensional barrier passage, every Ink Clan member that burst through was essentially throwing themselves into a death trap.
Ink Clan members below the Lord rank would be annihilated the moment they touched those spatial rifts. The Lords, though more formidable, were still sliced to ribbons by the countless tiny spatial rifts, leaving them covered in wounds. Only the Domain Lords could withstand the Void Mirror's killing force.
The current generation of Ink Clan Domain Lords were all innate beings born from Ink Nests, possessing formidable strength that rivalled the Human Race's top Eighth-Order masters.
In barely half an hour, the area outside the dimensional barrier passage was piled high with Ink Clan corpses. The number slain by the Void Mirror was impossible to count, and even among the Domain Lords, two had been killed the moment they showed themselves, struck down by Yang Kai's surprise attacks.
But this was already Yang Kai's limit. More and more Ink Clan were pouring through the dimensional barrier passage, and the Void Mirror was on the verge of collapse at any moment.
Yang Kai could certainly deploy another one, but he was stretched impossibly thin. Five Domain Lords had him surrounded and were trying to kill him.
Thanks to the unpredictable nature of the Space Laws, he couldn't truly overcome five innate Domain Lords working together, yet he still managed to extricate himself from danger time and again. It was his exquisite spear technique that left those Domain Lords shivering with fear, cold sweat drenching their bodies.
Having comprehended numerous Dao Realms within the Ocean Heavens Phenomenon and complemented by the Great Freedom Spear Art, every thrust from Yang Kai's spear was unpredictable and impossible to guard against. After suffering several injuries—including two Domain Lords wounded by his strikes—the five finally learned their lesson. No matter how Yang Kai feigned weakness, they refused to separate, maintaining their five-man formation against him.
Yang Kai cursed these five Domain Lords to high heaven in his heart, but could do nothing about it.
If they had split up, he might have been able to pick them off one by one. But five acting as one? He simply couldn't win. He had even repeatedly put himself in danger to try to break their formation, only to suffer considerable harm in the process.
As time passed, even more Ink Clan emerged from the Void Domain's side. These Ink Clan members paid no heed to Yang Kai's battle with the five Domain Lords—they scattered in every direction and vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
A profound sorrow settled in Yang Kai's heart. He knew the Void Domain was finished.
With so many Ink Clan members spreading outward, where in this once-prosperous domain could the Human Race possibly find a foothold?
The Power of Ink was like a flame—a single spark could set the prairie ablaze. Once the Ink Clan seized the Void Domain and used it as a staging ground to spread into the surrounding domains, no territory would be able to resist them.
The main force of the Human Race's army was still inside the Void Domain!
Countless generations of humans had charged forward without hesitation. Countless soldiers had fallen on the battlefield. Tens of thousands of years of persistent effort—all of it reduced to nothing today.
After today, the Three Thousand Worlds would never know peace again!
Humiliation and defeat gnawed at Yang Kai's heart, a grief and rage too vast for words, driving his attacks to become ever more savage as he wished he could slaughter every last Ink Clan member that emerged.
Meanwhile, on the Void Domain battlefield, the human armies watched in despair as the dimensional barrier passage was punched open and countless Ink Clan surged through and dispersed.
In that moment, the human forces fell into a daze.
No matter how dire the situation had been before, the various human armies had never lacked the resolve to fight the Ink Clan to the bitter end—for behind them lay the Three Thousand Worlds, those vibrant and prosperous domains worthy of giving one's life to protect.
But now, with the dimensional barrier passage completely breached and the Ink Clan army pouring through unopposed, the conviction and ideals that had sustained them in battle crumbled like the shattered barrier itself.
In that instant, across the battlefield, countless humans were overcome with a sense of bewilderment.
Even the Old Ancestors paused their movements.
Defeated.
The Human Race had been utterly defeated.
Looking back six hundred years ago—when over a hundred passes had rallied together, drawing upon reserves accumulated over countless millennia—the Human Race had launched a grand expedition toward the Primordial Heaven Great Seal, intent on annihilating the Ink Clan in one stroke and ending a million years of suffering. What lofty ambition that had been.
Yet outside the Primordial Heaven Great Seal, two Ink Colossi attacked from both sides. The Human Race suffered its first defeat, forced to retreat to No Return Pass. On the road of retreat, who knew how many soldiers shed their blood to shield their kinsmen and comrades.
Within No Return Pass, with Dragons and Phoenixes and numerous Sacred Spirits lending their aid, the remnant human forces still could not match the Ink Clan. A second defeat—they abandoned No Return Pass and withdrew into the Void Domain.
After only two hundred years of struggling against the Ink Clan here, the dimensional barrier passage had been torn open, directly connecting the Void Domain to the Windstorm Domain.
At this point, the Human Race had suffered a complete and catastrophic defeat. Against the Ink Clan's invasion, there was no turning the tide.
How had it come to this?
No one could understand. The Human Race had never lacked fighting strength, and had never underestimated the Ink Clan. Yet here they were—the Ink Clan surging forward unopposed, and the human armies could only watch helplessly, unable to stop them.
Despair settled over the human forces. Countless soldiers wept in silence.
The Void Domain battlefield, which had been filled with chaos and death, became eerily calm in that moment.
Only A-er and his opponent continued their battle, tearing the sky and splitting the earth, dimming heaven and earth with their clashes. These two had never stopped fighting from the moment they first encountered each other. After two hundred years, they still had not determined a victor—and by the looks of it, they would keep fighting for who knew how long.