After withdrawing from the Returnless Pass, Yang Kai deployed one measure after another to seal the Domain Gates connecting the Void Domain to the Returnless Pass, the Domain Gate connecting Shattered Heaven to the Void Domain, and the Domain Gate leading into Shattered Heaven.
With all three Domain Gates sealed, the Ink Clan army stranded across the Three Thousand Worlds had been thoroughly turned into turtles in a jar.
The Ink Clan powerhouses at the Returnless Pass possessed the ability to forcibly break through the seals, but based on Yang Kai's understanding of Monaye, he would not make that choice.
The Ink Clan could count itself fortunate to have preserved a significant portion of its high-level combat strength. As for the Ink Clan armies left stranded on the various frontlines locked in battle with the Human Race—there was nothing the Ink Clan could do for them.
Monaye had neither the inclination nor the spare capacity to concern himself with the fate of those Ink Clan forces abandoned on the various battlefields, so there was naturally no need to waste time and energy breaking through the Domain Gate seals.
Meanwhile, great battles were erupting across every battlefield.
Just as Mi Jinglun had predicted, the Ninth-Order Open Heaven masters stationed at their respective battlefields had keenly sensed the changes within the enemy ranks.
After all, the departure of every single Pseudo-King Lord, along with a large number of Domain Lords and lords, was not exactly a quiet affair. Such a thing could not be accomplished without leaving a trace, especially with the two armies arrayed against each other.
When the Ninth-Order masters detected this, they immediately led their respective legions in probing assaults against the Ink Clan armies. It did not take long for them to discover that the enemy forces, who had fought them to a standstill all these years, had suffered a sudden and dramatic reduction in high-level combat strength. Not a single Pseudo-King Lord remained.
Though they had no idea what upheaval had occurred on the Ink Clan's side, the Ninth-Order masters were not about to let such an opportunity slip by. On all six battlefields where a Ninth-Order master was stationed, the Human Race armies shattered the enemy lines, slaying countless Ink Clan forces. The Ink Clan's casualties were catastrophic.
On the five battlefields without a Ninth-Order presence—places like Thunder and Burning Moon—the situation was different. Without that keen level of perception, the commanders there were less quick to notice.
What made it worse was that before withdrawing, the Pseudo-King Lords had employed various deception tactics, ordering the Ink Clan armies to stand in battle-ready formations and face the Human Race legions from a distance, which kept the Human Race side from making any reckless moves.
The only exception was the battlefield where the Green Cloud Army was stationed. The battle there began almost immediately.
The reason was simple: the Red Fire Army, having reclaimed the Fifth Martial Domain, had arrived to reinforce them after a brief period of rest.
With the two armies merging into one, their combined forces surged enormously. Moreover, the Red Fire Army rode the momentum of their great victory, and faced the Ink Clan without the slightest trepidation.
What was expected to be a fierce clash between dragon and tiger turned out to be anything but. Once the fighting began, it became clear that the Ink Clan had almost no capacity to fight back. It was only then that the senior commanders of the two merged armies were shocked to discover that the Ink Clan had very few powerhouses on the field.
Zuoqiu Yanghua was a quick-witted man. He soon figured out the crux of the matter, realizing this was the result of Yang Kai's campaign in the Fifth Martial Domain.
If it was like this here, the other battlefields were probably no different. He immediately sent word to the other fronts…
And so, even before the General Headquarters had a chance to relay its orders, the armies at Thunder, Burning Moon, and the rest had already received the intelligence Zuoqiu Yanghua had transmitted.
Every army launched a coordinated assault. The Ink Clan naturally could not withstand it. Their formations crumbled like paper, and the rout came swiftly. Before long, large numbers of Ink Clan soldiers fled through the Domain Gates, and the Human Race legions split their forces to give chase.
Several months later, a fleeing remnant of the Ink Clan routed army, led by a single Domain Lord, stumbled toward the Returnless Pass in a state of utter panic.
Their number was still considerable—roughly tens of thousands. They had originally been larger, with three Domain Lords among them, but they had been intercepted by Human Race pursuit forces along the way and suffered heavy casualties. Two of the three Domain Lords had fallen in battle, leaving only a solitary survivor.
Up ahead lay the Domain Gate leading into Shattered Heaven. Once they passed through it, they would enter Shattered Heaven, and from there cross through the Void Domain to reach the Returnless Pass. Only then could they finally escape the Human Race pursuit.
Time and again they had cheated death, and the toll on this Ink Clan remnant was immense. After months of flight, they had finally arrived at this point, and the exhausted, bedraggled survivors allowed themselves a sliver of relief.
But the moment the Domain Gate came into view in the distance, the Domain Lord at the forefront stiffened. He had a nagging sense that something about the gate… was not quite right.
A Domain Gate should have resembled a swirling vortex, but this one looked more like a frozen lake.
Before he could piece together what was wrong, a leisurely voice drifted to his ears. It was not loud, but to him it struck like a thunderclap.
"Another batch has arrived!"
"Who goes there!" the leading Domain Lord barked. The entire group of routed soldiers jolted in alarm.
As the voice faded, the Domain Lord finally made out the face of its owner. The man sat cross-legged not far from the Domain Gate—not particularly conspicuous, but by no means the sort of person one could easily overlook. He wore an expression of utter boredom as he quietly regarded the group of uninvited guests.
The Ink Clan Domain Lord could not fathom how he had failed to spot the man earlier. But the moment he recognized the face, he understood why he had not detected him in the first place.
The gap in their strength was simply too vast. If the other party wished to conceal himself, how could someone like him possibly have noticed!
Yang Kai!