"I'll head out first." Yang Kai greeted Mi Jinglun, selected two Void Guard Disciples, and the trio of three shot off toward No Return Pass.
As per the original plan, he was also going to lay down spatial formation arrays.
However, the spatial formation arrays he was responsible for would run from the exit of the secret passage to No Return Pass.
The exit of the secret passage was generally located in the Biluo War Zone, near the territory the Ink Race had occupied in the past. While the distance from here to No Return Pass was not as far as the distance to the Primordial Heaven Grand Formation, it was still by no means close.
With the massive and bloated formation of the Human Race's army as it currently stood, without the aid of spatial formation arrays for teleportation, it would take at least two years to arrive.
But with spatial formation arrays to teleport them, it would be much faster.
With the nearby Ink Race scouts already eliminated, it wouldn't be long before the Ink Race learned of the Human Race's incoming attack. At a time like this, speed was paramount—naturally, the sooner they launched their offensive, the better.
After Yang Kai departed, the Void Guard warriors who remained began setting up the first spatial formation array on the spot.
This task was actually not difficult, because all the spatial formation arrays had been prepared in advance and used the collected Cosmos Halls as vessels. All that was needed was to find a suitable location, install the Cosmos Hall, and make minor adjustments to the formation array.
An Eighth-Order Void Guard warrior opened the gateway to his Minor Cosmos, and as he worked, the gateway continued to expand. Before long, an ancient and weathered Cosmos Hall slowly emerged from within the Minor Cosmos. Under Mi Jinglun's guidance, the Cosmos Hall was installed at a certain location in the void.
Shortly after, several Void Guard Disciples streamed into the Cosmos Hall to inspect and calibrate the formation array. Before long, they reported that everything was in order and the formation array was functioning smoothly.
In this manner, the Human Race had finally set up its first spatial formation array in the Ink Battlefield. With this array as the connection point, the formation arrays being laid toward No Return Pass under Yang Kai's lead, as well as those being laid toward the Primordial Heaven Grand Formation under Li Wuyi's lead, could easily establish communication with each other. Once everything was complete, the Human Race would possess a teleportation corridor running all the way from No Return Pass to the Primordial Heaven Grand Formation.
Of course, the journey would certainly require numerous transfers along the way, but this was still far better than having the army march the entire distance. As long as the Human Race captured No Return Pass, they could dispatch an expedition to the Primordial Heaven Grand Formation at maximum speed and strike at the heart of the enemy.
At the exit of the secret passage, streams of the Human Race's army poured out ceaselessly. Apart from the first batch of elites who had arrived earlier, all those who followed were warriors of relatively modest cultivation.
The Human Race was powerful and possessed deep reserves of strength, but at the end of the day, it was still the middle and lower grades of the Open Heaven Realm that made up the largest proportion, particularly the mid-grade cultivators. Those of the Fourth and Fifth Orders were the most numerous, even exceeding the combined numbers of the three lower grades of the Open Heaven Realm.
This was quite different from the situation during the Human Race's peaceful years.
Back when the Ink Race had not yet invaded the Three Thousand Worlds, the most numerous among the Human Race were the lower three grades of the Open Heaven Realm. When Yang Kai had first entered the Three Thousand Worlds, he had even encountered quite a few First and Second Order cultivators.
But among the Human Race today, newly ascended Open Heaven Realm cultivators were almost never of the First or Second Orders. The minimum was Third Order at the very least, and in the Star Boundary and the Myriad Monster Boundary—the two great cradles of the Open Heaven Realm—Fourth Order was the baseline.
This situation had come about not only because of the Sub-Trees' nourishing effect, but also because obtaining resources had become easier than before.
In the past, many humans of humble origins lacked the ability or the capital to acquire the resources needed for advancement to the Open Heaven Realm. But now, as long as one had enough merit points, resources could be exchanged at the military quartermaster's office.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that obtaining resources had become easier for Human Race warriors, but rather that they now had a more direct avenue—something that those of humble origins never had in the past.
In the past, at the various passes of the Ink Battlefield, when fighting the Ink Race, the Fifth Order of the Open Heaven Realm had been the minimum requirement. Below the Fifth Order, one simply could not withstand the erosion of the Ink Force.
Now that the Human Race had methods to counter the Ink Force—not only the Light of Purification that could dispel Ink Force that had invaded one's Minor Cosmos, but also Ink Purging Pills that could prevent Ink Force erosion altogether—the requirements had been somewhat lowered. But no matter how low the requirements went, the Fourth Order of the Open Heaven Realm was still the absolute minimum.
Only those whose cultivation had reached the Fourth Order of the Open Heaven Realm were qualified to contribute on the battlefield. Below the Fourth Order, even if one went to the battlefield, their usefulness would be minimal. In other words, the lower three grades of the Open Heaven Realm basically had no business setting foot on the battlefield.
The Human Race did not have the habit of using weak cultivators as cannon fodder.
Yet for this expedition, Mi Jinglun had still brought along all the lower three grades of the Open Heaven Realm from the Human Race. The mission of these lower-grade Open Heaven Realm warriors was not to slay enemies on the battlefield, but to mine resources!
The Human Race's resources had long since run dry. If Yang Kai hadn't brought back a massive batch of supplies from the Ink Race decades ago, the repairs on Pure Yang Pass likely couldn't have been carried out at all.
Things had now reached the point where they were nearly completely exhausted.
Once the war against No Return Pass began, the demand for all manner of supplies would only grow even more immense—not to mention that teleporting the army each time also required resources.
After that, they would still need to teleport the army to the Primordial Heaven Grand Formation, at which point the consumption of resources would be truly staggering.