In the Wu-Fifth Domain, a great battle raged at full intensity.
More than a decade ago, the Crimson Fire Army had swept forward in triumphant advance. After reclaiming numerous major domains in succession, they had pushed into the Wu-Fifth Domain. By that time, the Ink Race had already made extensive preparations here, and the two massive armies had clashed across the boundless void.
Over the course of ten years, large-scale collisions erupted every few days without fail. Each engagement inflicted losses on both sides. Though the Crimson Fire Army carried the soaring momentum of an unbroken winning streak, they found themselves unable to reclaim this domain with the same ease as before.
The Ink Race's great army completely reversed the sluggish posture it had maintained for centuries, displaying an astonishing level of combat power and resilience that pinned the Crimson Fire Army in place.
And the continual participation of numerous Pseudo Domain Kings only amplified the pressure felt by the Crimson Fire Army's powerhouses.
Pseudo Domain Kings already belonged to the same tier as Domain Kings and Ninth-Order masters. Human Eighth-Order cultivators were no match for them at minimum, they needed to form Five Elements or even Six Harmonies formations just to contend head-on with a single Pseudo Domain King.
And in the Wu-Fifth Domain, the Ink Race's army fielded nearly twenty Pseudo Domain Kings!
That was a terrifying number. On every other battlefield, unless a human Ninth-Order master held the line, the Ink Race would never commit so many Pseudo Domain Kings to combat.
The Ink Race's intentions were now unmistakable: they intended to rely on these Pseudo Domain Kings to deliver a crushing blow to the Crimson Fire Army. The Crimson Fire Army had been singled out by the Ink Race as the example they would make!
Facing such a formidable lineup, the Crimson Fire Army responded with extraordinary resolve. In battle after battle, countless Eighth-Order cultivators held nothing back, pouring out their blood and even their very lives, fighting with everything they had in each assault against the Pseudo Domain Kings. Those who burned themselves dry until nothing remained were too many to count.
Their actions served a single purpose.
Even if they could not kill those Pseudo Domain Kings, they would wound them and diminish their strength!
The Ink Race had used the vast number of innate Domain Lords who had escaped from the Primordial Great Seal years ago to forge a massive contingent of Pseudo Domain Kings. That was indeed an advantage, one the human side could not yet offset. But the Ink Race had always harbored a critical weakness that proved impossible to resolve.
Once injured, recovery was exceedingly difficult.
Minor wounds were manageable. The Pseudo Domain Kings were powerful enough that light injuries did not impair them significantly. But once wounds became severe, their combat strength plummeted drastically, and recovery required entering an Ink Nest to enter deep slumber.
The repeated, wave upon wave of sacrifices by the human Eighth-Order cultivators had caused injuries to accumulate steadily among many Pseudo Domain Kings, forcing them to withdraw from the battlefield and return to the Gate of No Return for restorative slumber.
Were it not for the Gate of No Return continuously dispatching fully healed Pseudo Domain Kings to reinforce the lines, the fighting in the Wu-Fifth Domain would have been far less deadlocked. The Crimson Fire Army might very well have triumphed over the enemy.
And all of this was the result bought with the sacrifice of countless Eighth-Order cultivators.
Furthermore, in order to balance the strength disparity between the various armies, the General Headquarters had deliberately allocated Sacred Spirits to those legions that lacked a Ninth-Order master.
The Crimson Fire Army was no exception. Although their number of Sacred Spirits was not large, there were still more than thirty. Even the Ancient Dragon Elder of the Dragon Clan had taken up station here, alongside the Phoenix Clan and other Sacred Spirits.
These Sacred Spirits, who had lived for untold ages, were undeniably more powerful than human Eighth-Order cultivators when it came to raw strength. Though they still fell short of the Pseudo Domain Kings, the unique innate divine abilities of the Sacred Spirits went a long way toward bridging that gap. Often, two or three Sacred Spirits working in concert could barely hold their own against a single Pseudo Domain King.
It was precisely by relying on this decision that the Crimson Fire Army had managed to hold on.
The situation remained deeply unfavorable. The Crimson Fire Army was the target the Ink Race had chosen to make an example of, and naturally they would not allow it to rest easy. In recent years, the Ink Race had continually poured reinforcements into the sector, placing enormous pressure on every unit of the Crimson Fire.
Anyone with eyes could see that the war in the Wu-Fifth Domain would ultimately end in defeat for the Crimson Fire Army.
The human side sought to inflict losses on the Ink Race's elite forces. But was the Ink Race any different? The Gate of No Return still held vast numbers of Pseudo Domain Kings in reserve, ready to be thrown into battle at any moment. If Mo Na Ye went all-in and committed every last Pseudo Domain King, the Crimson Fire Army would have no way to withstand them.
The reason they had not done so was precisely to carve away at flesh with a dull blade, gradually whittling down human strength. Over these ten years, while Pseudo Domain Kings had suffered severe injuries, not a single one had died. Meanwhile, the human Eighth-Order cultivators had fallen beyond counting.
But what could be done even knowing this? The Crimson Fire Army could not retreat. They could only grit their teeth and hold on. Calling for outside aid was equally hopeless. Every army on every front was engaged with its own enemy, and none had surplus forces to spare for anyone else.
Had this been several centuries ago, when humanity held firm at those dozen-odd major domain battlefields, summoning reinforcements might have been feasible. Back then, the various domain battlefields were not far apart, allowing for quick campaigns with rapid redeployment.
But now humanity's battle lines had been stretched thin. Though the various armies coordinated their operations, it was nearly impossible to achieve a situation where they could provide mutual support.
Mo Na Ye's calculations were finally bearing fruit. The Ink Race's constant retreats had proven to be anything but meaningless.