When that roar of shocked fury echoed in all directions, the Ink Race powerhouses immediately panicked.
A person's name casts a shadow like a tree — of all the Ninth-Order human masters, the one they feared most was Yang Kai, who was supposed to be trapped inside the Universe Furnace.
Though none of them knew how he had managed to escape, his presence here was an undeniable fact.
With that roar, another Pseudo-King Lord's aura abruptly vanished — not snuffed out as if slain, but more as though he had been sealed inside something, every trace of his presence disappearing in an instant.
"Form formations! Form formations quickly!" a Pseudo-King Lord barked. Figures broke away from their current engagements in droves, rushing toward one another.
The Scarlet Fire Army had no Ninth-Order master overseeing it, so the Ink Race Pseudo-King Lords would not ordinarily bother forming formations. Though Pseudo-King Lords could combine into Triadic Formations, they typically needed external pressure to force that choice. In a domain like Wu-5, where no real threat existed, they had mostly been fighting solo — which also served to pin down more Eighth-Order humans while giving themselves greater freedom of movement.
But now, with pressure and danger very much present, the Pseudo-King Lords immediately began linking their auras together, rapidly forming Triadic Formations. Only then did they feel slightly reassured.
The Ink Race had committed nearly twenty Pseudo-King Lords to the entire Wu-5 Domain — an enormous number. Without that, the Scarlet Fire Army, now bolstered in strength and supported by numerous Holy Spirits, would not have been struggling to retake this domain. Now that the domain lords had formed their formations, two remained standing alone, their situation awkward.
Two Pseudo-King Lords were not enough to form a formation, and there were no more available to join them. For the moment, those two looked as though they had been abandoned by their companions, cursing themselves for their slow reactions, their expressions bitter.
But they were not stupid. Unable to form a formation, they quickly withdrew from the battlefield and retreated to the rear.
With formations bolstering their confidence, the Pseudo-King Lords steadied themselves and looked ahead — only to be struck with shock at what they saw.
Through the battlefield, Yang Kai swept forward in grand momentum, a vast river coiling around him like a massive dragon spiraling at his side. Wherever he passed, the river surged with rolling waves, swallowing countless Ink Race soldiers into its depths without a trace — yet the humans who were fighting in the same area remained completely unharmed.
Nothing in his path could withstand him. Even domain-lord-level powerhouses could not endure a single wave's force.
By his own strength alone, he had carved straight through the raging battlefield like a spear through flesh!
What in the world was that?!
Staring at the long river coiling around Yang Kai, every Pseudo-King Lord was horrified. Each of them possessed formidable strength, yet even at their level, they had little confidence they could slice through an entire battlefield so effortlessly. The human warriors were no pushovers.
But Yang Kai had done it — without pausing, without any wasted movement. The sole means he had used was this bizarre long river.
The Pseudo-King Lords couldn't help but recall intelligence Monaye had provided before. This strange river was something Yang Kai had employed inside the Universe Furnace as well — and it was with this river that he had slain several Pseudo-King Lords. It appeared to be a river formed by converging the power of numerous Grand Daos, and once someone fell into it, their fate was uncertain.
Seeing Yang Kai closing in rapidly, seemingly heading straight for them, the Ink Race powerhouses grew tense and apprehensive.
They didn't know whether they could withstand Yang Kai's assault, but as Pseudo-King Lords, they could not simply flee at the sight of him. By now, they had at least accumulated enough strength to contest him!
Steel their nerves. The Pseudo-King Lords sent their thoughts surging, communicating with one another, and quickly settled on a plan.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai strolled across the battlefield with a somewhat rueful expression. His original intent had been to use Lei Ying's Innate Divine Ability to quietly assassinate the Ink Race's Pseudo-King Lords one by one. With the gap between his current strength and theirs, supplemented by Lei Ying's Innate Divine Ability, it would have been kill after kill with perfect accuracy — anyone he targeted would have had no chance of escape.
He didn't need to kill that many. Five, six, seven, or eight would have been enough.
But his earlier efforts to save Zuoqiu Yanghua and the others had forced him to reveal himself, and now that the Space-Time River was deployed, there was no way to conceal his presence again.
Still, he had to admit — on a battlefield where both sides had committed massive numbers, the Space-Time River was remarkably useful. Though its scale could not compare to the boundless river that had stretched across the entire world within the Universe Furnace, it was still considerable. With a mere thought, wherever it passed, it had virtually cleared out a vacuum zone, sweeping every Ink Race soldier within it into the great river.
Inside the Space-Time River, the converging powers of numerous Grand Daos obliterated most of the Ink Race who fell in. The few with greater strength could only cling to fading life.
In a short while, Yang Kai had crossed the entire battlefield, and his eyes fell upon three Pseudo-King Lords ahead who had formed a formation and were charging at him, while even more Pseudo-King Lords swung in from the flanks to encircle him.
Yang Kai ignored the Pseudo-King Lords maneuvering to the sides and went straight for the three ahead.
All three felt their scalps go numb. Facing this human killing star head-on required tremendous courage — it was only because they had advanced to Pseudo-King Lord and were numerous that they had the nerve to fight Yang Kai. Now, seeing him charging straight toward them, they swallowed their impulse to flee and unleashed a barrage of devastating secret arts at Yang Kai.