Rangers. Yang Kai had heard the term more than once before. They were human warriors who, for various reasons, had not joined any of the major armies. Instead, they operated in small groups of three to five, or even alone, venturing deep into the great domains occupied by the Ink Clan to bide their time and strike when the opportunity arose.
Most of them were confident in their own strength and perhaps a bit unruly in temperament, preferring not to take orders from anyone.
Rangers typically operated in very small numbers, which made their endeavors extremely dangerous. If they ran into a large Ink Clan army, they could easily be wiped out entirely.
But by the same token, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.
What rangers liked to do most was destroy Ink Nests. If they could record the destruction of an Ink Nest using a secret technique and bring the recording back safely, they could exchange it for a massive amount of battle merits at any human army camp across any great domain battlefield. Battle merits could then be traded for cultivation resources.
On the human side, there were quite a few rangers scattered across the field, and as time went on, more and more martial artists were joining their ranks.
Everyone had their own way of living. These rangers ventured into Ink Clan-occupied domains and contributed in their own way to the resistance. The General Affairs Bureau not only did not try to stop them but actually increased the rewards offered for their efforts.
Strictly speaking, Yang Kai's own previous actions had been the standard ranger style—only the things he had accomplished were beyond the reach of any other ranger.
Operating alone at Buhui Pass, stirring up chaos, and then managing to slip away unscathed—who else had the ability to pull that off?
Rangers' work was certainly dangerous. After all, they operated in domains held by the Ink Clan, and once their whereabouts were exposed and too many Ink Clan members locked onto them, shaking off pursuit was no easy task.
But saying it was a nine-out-of-ten chance of death would be an overstatement. If things were truly that dire, the human rangers wouldn't be fools—why would they throw their lives away for nothing? Wei Junyang had explained that most of the Ink Clan's strong fighters were currently engaged on various battlefronts opposing the human masters. The number of Ink Clan powerhouses stationed in the rear was quite limited.
The Ink Clan now occupied so many great domains, but how many Innate Domain Lords did they actually have? There simply weren't enough to cover everything. As a result, incidents where an Ink Clan patrol was wiped out or a Lord-level Ink Nest was destroyed happened from time to time.
These were all the work of rangers. They operated in small numbers, struck once, then found somewhere to hide. Even the Ink Clan had difficulty tracking them down.
This infuriated the Ink Clan, who harbored a deep hatred for those human rangers.
The situation in Xiangsi Domain, where human martial artists were trapped, presented a golden opportunity. It might lure in quite a few rangers. The Ink Clan intended to use this chance to purge the human irritants festering in their rear, so they could focus in peace on the war at the front lines.
After hearing Wei Junyang out, Yang Kai let out an amused laugh. "Senior Brother Wei already knew all of this?"
Wei Junyang smiled. "Forgive me, Junior Brother. This was Senior Brother Xiang's idea, and also the General Affairs Bureau's final test for you."
Yang Kai was speechless. "And if I hadn't figured it out on my own?"
Wei Junyang smiled a bit sheepishly. "Senior Brother Xiang hadn't gone far, and the announcement of your appointment as commander of the Xuanming Army hadn't been disseminated to all forces yet."
The implication was clear: if Yang Kai truly acted like some dense blockhead who couldn't see through these kinds of schemes, Xiang Shan might very well have come back and reclaimed the commander's seal.
Yang Kai rolled his eyes inwardly. The appointment hadn't been announced to the whole army yet. He might be young, but didn't he still have his dignity?
Those old geezers—truly shameless in their old age!
He couldn't be bothered to dwell on it. It was perfectly natural for the Eighth-Order masters to have reservations. The position of Xuanming Army commander carried immense authority and responsibility—it determined the course of an entire theater of war and the lives of hundreds of thousands of human soldiers. Being cautious was hardly wrong, and the General Affairs Bureau's final test was more than reasonable.
Moreover, if one was being honest, this had been an extremely simple test. Anyone with half a brain should have been able to figure it out. Probably only a brute like Ouyang Lie would have drawn a complete blank.
Yang Kai discreetly glanced at Ouyang Lie and, sure enough, saw the man wearing a look of deep contemplation. A subtle sense of intellectual superiority welled up within him.
Wei Junyang then spoke with a serious expression. "The fact that Junior Brother Yang could see through the Ink Clan's scheme proves that us old fogies have entrusted the right person. The situation in Xiangsi Domain needs to be resolved quickly. I'd like you to come up with a plan."
Yang Kai nodded. "Every major battlefield is under intense pressure right now. The only theater with reserves to deploy is our Xuanming Domain. Since the General Affairs Bureau has entrusted this mission to us, it must be resolved perfectly."
This was his first task since taking command of the Xuanming Army, and Yang Kai naturally treated it with the utmost importance. But regardless of the mission itself, there were still many humans stranded out there. Even if he had to go alone, he would find a way to rescue them.
"Do any of you senior brothers have suggestions?" Yang Kai looked down at the assembled officers.
Kong Chengde spoke gravely. "If the Ink Clan intends to eliminate those rangers, then there must be Domain Lords stationed in Xiangsi Domain, and not just a few. There's no precise intelligence from the rangers' side yet, but my estimate is that three to five Domain Lords at minimum."
There were powerful fighters among the rangers as well. While none reached the Eighth-Order, there were quite a few Seventh-Order masters among them.
To deal with human Seventh-Order cultivators, those Lord-level Ink Clan members wouldn't suffice. Only Domain Lords could handle them personally.
Having three to five Domain Lords stationed in Xiangsi Domain was an extremely thorough deployment. Of course, there could be more than that, but the number wouldn't be too great.
The movement of Domain Lords wasn't something that could be done on a whim. The Ink Clan had to maintain pressure on the human armies across all the various battlefronts, and every theater required a large number of Domain Lords to hold it down.
There were also those Domain Lords who had been gravely wounded in their clashes with the Eighth-Order masters and had already returned to Buhui Pass, entering their Ink Nests to slumber and recuperate.