"A human army of this caliber must be the elite of the elites, their strength far from ordinary. Otherwise, there's no way they could have intercepted our clansmen charging out from within the Primordial Grand Seal — to say nothing of the fact that there's a Sacred Dragon of the Dragon Clan over there as well. To contend with such a human army, the number of powerhouses we deploy from our side cannot be small, or it would simply be throwing lives away. But if we divert too many powerful fighters to the Primordial Grand Seal, how will we stabilize the situation on the various battlefronts? The human armies will inevitably seize the opportunity and break through in one stroke!"
As he spoke, Monaye turned to the Sovereign. "Does my Lord know how many humans make up that army?"
The Sovereign replied, "In total, there should be no more than ten thousand — not a large number, but every single one of them is formidable. The four hundred at the eighth-rank alone are not to be taken lightly. Moreover, they seem to possess some kind of large-scale artifact that functions similarly to a human fortress."
"A human fortress!" Monaye's brows furrowed tightly, and a chill of lingering dread ran through the gathered Domain Lords.
Don't be fooled by the fact that all surviving human fortresses had been abandoned at No Return Pass and were now occupied by the Ink Clan. In truth, to capture those fortresses one by one back in the day, the Ink Clan had paid an unimaginable price. Had it not been for two Ink-colored Divine Titans lending their strength, the Ink Clan could never have taken No Return Pass by their own power alone.
Now, at the Primordial Grand Seal, the humans had elite forces stationed there, aided by a weapon comparable to a fortress. No wonder they had the confidence to tear open a breach in the Primordial Grand Seal to relieve the pressure.
Monaye couldn't help but let out a long, wistful sigh. "The depth of the humans' reserves… is still formidable!"
Just from the fact that the humans had dispatched so many elite powerhouses to the Primordial Grand Seal without the situation on any of the other battlefronts being affected in the slightest, one could see that the humans of today were no longer the humans of three thousand years ago.
After the Battle of the Void Domain, the humans had reached the nadir of their decline. On every major domain battlefield, they had been trapped in passive defense, and the Xuanming Domain had very nearly fallen to the Ink Clan. Had Yang Kai not descended like a divine warrior at the final hour, the Xuanming Domain would have been in the Ink Clan's hands long ago.
That's right — it was still that Yang Kai.
Ever since Yang Kai had appeared in the Xuanming Domain, the humans' predicament had been reversed, bit by bit. How had this fellow managed it?
Thinking back carefully, Monaye realized that Yang Kai hadn't actually done that much. The number of Congenital Domain Lords who had perished at his hands was certainly considerable, but it wasn't enough to shift the balance of power between the two races. However powerful he might be, he was still just one person — he couldn't kill every last member of the Ink Clan, could he?
The true root of it all was the truce between the two races!
The terms of the armistice had given the humans' younger generations a relatively safe environment in which to train. In itself, that wouldn't have mattered so much — but the key was that the humans had the Star Realm and the Myriad Demon Realm, two great cradles for Heaven Opening Realm cultivators.
A relatively stable cultivation environment, combined with an endless stream of emerging young prodigies — the union of the two, evolving over thousands of years, had forged the formidable depth of power that the humans now possessed!
It was a pity that on that day, Yang Kai's prestige had blazed like the midday sun. The Congenital Domain Lords had been so thoroughly terrorized by him that they turned pale at the mere mention of his name. When he proposed a truce, who dared refuse? Who could refuse?
Judging purely by the current situation, this had been Yang Kai's open gambit. Not a single member of the Ink Clan at the time had been able to see through it — and even if they had, they could only have accepted it.
Monaye had only realized it in hindsight. Precisely because of this, his wariness of Yang Kai had sunk ever deeper, reaching into the very depths of his soul. This man was not only powerful in personal strength, but his vision reached far into the distance as well. He was the true mortal enemy of the Ink Clan.
In truth, the Ink Clan had not failed to consider addressing this problem. The most straightforward solution would naturally be to destroy the Star Realm and the Myriad Demon Realm — for those were the very source from which the humans' reserves of strength continued to grow. They were merely two small worlds; given the chance, any Domain Lord or even a seventh- or eighth-rank Ink Disciple could accomplish it.
Yet the Ink Clan simply could not find the opportunity. All human soldiers withdrawn from the front lines were required to pass through a great array shrouded in the Light of Purification. Any Ink Disciple harboring vain hopes of slipping through would have the Ink Force within their body cleansed and dispersed.
Furthermore, the Star Realm and the Myriad Demon Realm were permanently guarded by Great Emperor-level powerhouses from their respective worlds…
The Sovereign's voice drifted over, pulling Monaye back from his thoughts.
"I had also asked whether reinforcements were needed on that end, but the clansmen within the Grand Seal said it was best not to alert the enemy prematurely. They are currently attempting to carve out a hidden passage from inside the Grand Seal. If they succeed, the clansmen within will be able to charge out on their own."
Monaye's spirits lifted. "Can they manage it?"
He knew from personal experience just how impregnable the Primordial Grand Seal was. Back when he had been inside it himself, many of the Ink Clan's strongest fighters had attempted to break through from within. Yet no matter how many years they tried, not the slightest progress had been made.
The Sovereign said, "If they say so, they must have something in hand. We don't yet know the identity of the human powerhouse who has taken over control of the Primordial Grand Seal, but his strength is far inferior to Cang's, and his command over the Grand Seal does not compare to what it was in those days. What's more, he deliberately opened a breach, which has already compromised the Grand Seal's integrity to some degree — perhaps that has given the clansmen inside an opportunity!"
Monaye nodded slightly. When he thought about it, the Primordial Grand Seal was something impossibly ancient, one that had been operating for countless millennia. The human powerhouse now in control of it was no old monster like Cang, and so it was impossible for him to handle every detail without flaw. And as long as even the tiniest crack appeared, the clansmen inside would never let such an opportunity slip by.
The reason the Sovereign had summoned his subordinates today was primarily to share this welcome news. He wasn't worried about any of the Domain Lords leaking secrets, either. The Ink Clan stood in opposition to the humans by their very nature — a human who had been Ink-converted might betray secrets to the Ink Clan, but the Ink Clan would never leak anything to the humans.
Shortly after, the Sovereign departed, and the Ink Clan's powerhouses dispersed as well. Monaye walked toward the exit, his brows knitted in deep thought.
He wasn't thinking about anything else — only Yang Kai.
Over a century ago, Yang Kai had led a group of human eighth-rank cultivators through No Return Pass and into the depths of the Ink Battlefield. All these years, there had been no word from them — no one knew where they had gone or what they had been doing.
If it were any ordinary human eighth-rank, Monaye wouldn't have given it so much thought. But Yang Kai was different. This fellow had slain a pseudo-Sovereign — and that alone was reason enough for Monaye to take him seriously.