A crowd of Ninth-Order Open Heaven masters clamored all at once, their voices overlapping in a way that completely shed their usual composure and gravitas. They looked for all the world like a bunch of fledgling cultivators who had just stepped out of their caves, with no idea how vast the world truly was.
Laughing Ancestor smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "A bunch of old geezers pretending to be young—what a spectacle for the ages. In terms of actual age, only Wu Qing and I qualify as youngsters here. The rest of you half-buried corpses don't exactly fit the part."
Wu Qing, formerly the Southern Army Commander of Yin Yang Pass, had broken through to the Ninth Order less than a thousand years ago. He had taken over Yin Yang Pass in Laughing Ancestor's stead, freeing her to lead the Great Expansion Army and reclaim Great Expansion Pass. Without a suitable Ninth-Order to take her place, Laughing Ancestor would never have been able to leave Yin Yang Pass so easily.
Hearing her words, Wu Qing, covered head to toe in blood and grime, nodded in firm agreement. Among all the Ninth-Order masters present, he truly was the youngest. As for Laughing Ancestor—that was debatable. But who would dare correct a woman on matters of age?
One of the Ninth-Order masters laughed. "Little Crescent Moon is right—we really are all getting old. The young generation is our hope, our future. The two of you should step down."
The smile vanished from Laughing Ancestor's face in an instant. "On what grounds?" she demanded indignantly.
The eldest Ninth-Order from Pure Yang Cave Heaven smiled gently. "Someone has to escort the young, to buy them time to grow. Someone must stay behind. If the two of you don't stay, are you expecting a bunch of decrepit old men like us to do it?"
Laughing Ancestor grumbled unhappily. "Fine, Wu Qing can stay. But I'm not."
The ancestor from Great War Heaven shook his head at her. "Humanity's future lies in the Star Boundary—in Yang Kai. Among all the Ninth-Order, you share the closest bond with him. Stay. Watch over him and the Star Boundary."
With those words, before Laughing Ancestor could respond, he gave the long sword in his hand a slight tremor. It transformed into a streak of brilliant light as he charged straight toward the colossal Ink Giant Gods.
Laughing Ancestor was about to speak when another Ninth-Order swept past her, reaching out to pat her shoulder. "My useless disciples from Xuanyuan Cave Heaven—I'm entrusting them to you."
His form became a resplendent arc of light and vanished in a flash.
Another ancestor grinned as he passed. "Give us old fogeys a chance to show what we're worth, won't you?"
Laughing heartily, he followed the first two Ninth-Order masters into battle.
One after another, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven masters streaked past Laughing Ancestor and Wu Qing, rushing toward the colossal Ink Giant Gods like moths to a flame. Not one hesitated. Not one looked back.
Laughing Ancestor's eyes blurred with tears in an instant. Her body shifted—she wanted to follow them—but her feet felt as though they weighed ten thousand tons, rooted to the spot.
The Pure Yang Cave Heaven ancestor had been right. Someone had to stay. Someone had to escort those young ones and give them time to grow. The Ninth-Order had chosen Wu Qing because he had advanced to the Ninth Order most recently, and they had chosen her because of Yang Kai.
No discussion. No negotiation. Yet it was the unspoken consensus of every surviving Ninth-Order master.
There was no way to refuse—no way at all.
The old masters had thrust this burden onto her and Wu Qing without giving them even the chance to object.
After the Ninth-Order masters came the roar of a dragon and the cry of a phoenix echoing across the heavens. Dragon and phoenix intertwined in auspicious splendor, their combined might blanketing the battlefield in sacred, primordial power. The current Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Queen worked in concert, their innate divine abilities surging to life—so potent that space and time themselves began to warp and distort.
Laughing Ancestor's eyes reddened until they were thoroughly wet with tears.
Wu Qing clasped his fists, his voice ringing like steel. "We will not fail this charge!"
He turned, not once looking back, and barked his command. "Retreat!"
Remnant troops. Shattered commanders. That was the human army in its most honest form.
Outside the Primordial Grand Barrier—humanity's first defeat, retreating to Unreturn Pass.
Within Unreturn Pass—humanity's second defeat, falling back to the Void Domain.
Now came the third.
Neither Wu Qing nor Laughing Ancestor wanted to avoid a fight to the death. The human army did not wish to retreat.
But retreat farther, and they would be in the Three Thousand Worlds. Where else was there left to go?
Falling in battle brought honor, yes—but what about the future? Would the future be buried here as well? Remnant troops and broken formations were a disgrace, but at least they represented hope.
In times like these, being alive was not necessarily cause for celebration. Perhaps death on the battlefield would have been a release. Those who died left it all behind; those who survived carried a heavier, greater burden.
For that one fragile hope of a future—what did a little humiliation matter?
And so Wu Qing had given the order to retreat without hesitation. The Ink Clan army had already surged through the inter-realm passage into Wind Mist Domain. The devastation of the Three Thousand Worlds could no longer be prevented. Rather than wasting humanity's limited remaining strength on this battlefield, it was better to carry this shame and this ocean of blood-soaked vengeance forward. Someday—someday they would make the Ink Clan repay tenfold, a hundredfold!
No one knew what torment Wu Qing's heart suffered as he gave that order, but his fists were clenched so tight that blood dripped between his fingers.
Though the army had been roused to fighting spirit and high morale by Yang Kai, once Wu Qing's command to retreat was given, each corps still marched in disciplined formation toward the gateway to the Broken Sky. The Ink Clan did not pursue—and had no need to. Their priority now was to pour through the inter-realm passage into Wind Mist Domain and use it as a foothold to sow chaos across the world.
Behind them came violent tremors and wild surges of chaotic energy. No one dared look back, for fear of witnessing something that would shatter their hearts beyond repair.