A streak of light shot in from beyond the sky, racing toward the floating continent where the Central Bureau was situated. Before the figure arrived, a jubilant cry echoed from afar: "Great victory at Wu Five! Great victory at Wu Five!"
The Human Race lacked the Ink Clan's ability to use Ink Nests for rapid information transmission, and with the front lines so distant, it had taken this long for the battle report from Wu Five to reach them.
In the early days, when the Human Race had been hemmed in at those dozen-odd domain theaters, with the Central Bureau serving as the hub, the distances between them had not been great, and news traveled at a reasonable pace. But now the battle lines had stretched immeasurably wide. The Human Race's twelve great armies were campaigning across the void, while the Central Bureau—the supposed hub—remained stuck in the rear. Communication between them had become agonizingly sluggish.
Mi Jinglun had once considered relocating the Central Bureau to the front lines, but as an Eighth Order Open Heaven Realm cultivator, he simply did not have the confidence to do so. If he made such a move, the Ink Clan would surely target them, and if a Pseudo-King Lord launched a surprise attack, the Central Bureau would have little capacity to resist.
When the victory report arrived, Mi Jinglun was in the Central Bureau deliberating on important matters with his numerous advisors. He had already advanced to the Ninth Order!
He had long been a veteran Eighth Order, his foundation deep and solid. It was only the limitations of the Open Heaven Method that had capped him at the peak of the Eighth Order for the rest of his natural life, leaving him stuck for years without the slightest progress.
With the Supreme-Grade Open Heaven Pill Yang Kai had given him, breaking through that bottleneck was effortless.
Now that he himself had advanced to the Ninth Order, Mi Jinglun finally had the credentials to relocate the Central Bureau to the front. What the group was currently discussing was which domain to move to in order to best coordinate the twelve great armies.
At the sound of the approaching cry, everyone froze. Though they had anticipated this, they were still overwhelmed with joy.
Since Yang Kai had gone to Wu Five, with him anchoring the Crimson Fire Army, resolving the Wu Five campaign should have been no trouble. What everyone wanted to know now was just how great a victory had been achieved.
Shortly after, a figure swept into the hall and announced elatedly: "Lords, a great victory at Wu Five!"
Mi Jinglun sat in the seat of honor, nodding slightly with a smile. "Let me see."
The messenger presented the battle report. Mi Jinglun sent his spiritual sense surging through it and soon wore a look of astonishment. "This…"
Though he had known that the Crimson Fire Army, with Yang Kai in command, would surely accomplish something remarkable, he had never expected the figures in this report to be so staggering.
"Commander Mi, how were the results?"
The cluster of advisors stared at him eagerly. Noticing the shift in Mi Jinglun's expression, their hearts skipped a beat. Wasn't this supposed to be a victory report? Why did Commander Mi look so stunned? Could the Crimson Fire Army have suffered devastating losses?
For a moment, anxiety rippled through the room.
Mi Jinglun smiled ruefully. "I still underestimated him. See for yourselves." With that, he passed the battle report outward, and the group took turns examining it. Within moments, every last one of them was dumbfounded, silently regarding Yang Kai as something close to a god.
The report showed that the Crimson Fire Army had engaged the Ink Clan forces in a brutal, protracted battle. The situation had been so dire that even the East Army's Corps Commander had nearly fallen on the spot. Yang Kai had burst onto the scene and turned the tide, deploying a Grand Dao River of profound mystery to trap several Pseudo-King Lords, saving Zuoqiu Yanghua and the others, and forcing the Ink Clan army into retreat.
Yang Kai then ventured alone into the Ink Clan's camp and captured two Pseudo-King Lords alive…
In that battle, a total of eight Ink Clan Pseudo-King Lords had been killed in succession. The survivors had been struck with terror and fled through the Domain Gates.
With the Pseudo-King Lords dead or fled, the Ink Clan army's morale collapsed. The entire force withdrew from the Wu Five Domain—but Yang Kai charged alone into their midst once more, cutting through the Ink Clan army like a hot knife through butter. With a single feat of spatial mastery, he sealed the Domain Gates, turning the Ink Clan forces that had not yet retreated into fish in a barrel!
Yang Kai then departed from Wu Five at the same time.
Though he had left, the Ink Clan army—stripped of its Pseudo-King Lords—was no match for the Crimson Fire. Under their respective Corps Commanders, the Crimson Fire Army's four divisions pursued and cornered the remnants across the Wu Five Domain. Over the span of a single month, they annihilated the Ink Clan forces to the last.
The battle report was brief, but the information it contained left every person feeling that it bordered on the absurd. If not for the knowledge that the front lines would never dare falsify a report, some might have suspected the Crimson Fire Army of inflating their achievements.
But considering Yang Kai had been involved, it was at least understandable.
When Yang Kai had first departed to reinforce the Crimson Fire Army at Wu Five, everyone had known the campaign was secure. Yet none of them had imagined results like these.
With just two interventions, eight Pseudo-King Lords had fallen—such a terrifying record was virtually impossible for any other Ninth Order of the Human Race to achieve.
It was precisely because of this that the remaining Pseudo-King Lords had been frightened out of their wits and fled the battlefield in haste. An Ink Clan army without Pseudo-King Lords was nothing more than a bone waiting to be gnawed clean.
And with the Domain Gates sealed by Yang Kai, the Ink Clan forces stranded in the Wu Five Domain had no path of escape other than fighting the Human Race to the death—which was precisely why the battle report carried such staggering merit figures.
To change the entire layout of a battlefield single-handedly, to lead the Human Race's armies to such a resplendent victory—it was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
"Where is Junior Brother Yang?" Mi Jinglun composed himself and looked toward the warrior who had delivered the report.