Mo Na Ye turned to Di Ya Luo again. "I will seek out Yang Kai. You look for an opportunity to strike. If there is no suitable chance, under no circumstances should you reveal yourself!"
"I understand!" Di Ya Luo nodded heavily. As the only Ink Clan member to have been promoted to Sovereign in the last twenty years, he was Mo Na Ye's trump card against Yang Kai. As long as he remained hidden, he remained a threat—but the moment he revealed himself, he would need to deliver a devastating blow against Yang Kai.
Among all the Ninth-Order cultivators, Yang Kai posed the greatest threat to the Ink Clan. The others, regardless of their individual strength, could be held in check by several False Sovereigns joining forces in formation. But Yang Kai alone, with his wondrous River of the Great Dao, was truly difficult to deal with.
To pin him down, those False Sovereigns alone would not suffice. Only a Sovereign-level powerhouse could possibly accomplish it. And even then, it would depend on whether Yang Kai gave them the chance. The fellow was a master of the Dao of Space, slippery as a loach. If he refused to give anyone an opening, there was nothing anyone could do about him.
The Ink Clan still had two Ink Giant Spirit Gods, but they could not be deployed lightly. The true Giant Spirit Gods were still watching from the Domain of the Void. If these two Ink Giant Spirit Gods left Never-Return Pass, there would be no guarantee of safety for the rear.
In a sense, the existence of those two Ink Giant Spirit Gods pinned down the Ink Clan's most powerful fighting forces. Of course, the same was true on the other side—neither held any real advantage.
With all arrangements in place, Mo Na Ye flickered out of the great hall and gazed into the depths of the void.
With his cultivation and eyesight, he could already faintly make out the magnificent spectacle of the human armies advancing. To the left and right, fleets so vast they seemed boundless stretched across the field of vision like a plague of locusts, bringing an overwhelming sense of pressure.
Among the human left-flank army, a towering fortress pass stood out prominently. At the sight of it, Mo Na Ye's eye twitched involuntarily.
This was none other than the Pure Yang Pass that Yang Kai had taken from Never-Return Pass twenty years ago. Though he had long known that handing it over to the humans would result in them using it against the Ink Clan, the circumstances at the time had left the Ink Clan with no choice but to make certain concessions. Otherwise, with Yang Kai running amok, there would have been no way to guarantee the safety of the False Sovereigns fighting on distant fronts.
The pass had been restored and reinforced by the humans. Every part of it exuded a sense of grim menace, and the various Artifacts arrayed along its surrounding walls were clearly not mere decorations. Should any Ink Clan member dare approach, they would be met with a devastating barrage.
With such a fortress protecting him, the safety of Mi Jinglun—the human commander—could be assured.
Mo Na Ye lamented inwardly. He had long sought an opportunity to eliminate Mi Jinglun, but throughout the previous wars, Mi Jinglun had always remained at the human headquarters, never setting foot on the battlefield. It left the Ink Clan utterly helpless.
Yang Kai had asked the Ink Disciples for the Pure Yang Pass, clearly to prepare it for Mi Jinglun. A cold laugh rose in his heart—this Yang Kai fellow certainly looked after that nominal human commander with meticulous care.
He wondered: if Mi Jinglun were killed in the humans' first battle against Never-Return Pass, would it throw the entire human army into chaos? Almost involuntarily, the thought surfaced in Mo Na Ye's mind.
Then... as the strongest Ninth-Order among the humans, where was Yang Kai?
Mo Na Ye swept his gaze across both flanks of the human army but could not spot Yang Kai's figure. This made him more alert. Yang Kai was a master of the Dao of Space and seemed to have also mastered an extremely mysterious concealment technique. If, when the great battle began, he lurked in the shadows to ambush the Ink Clan's False Sovereigns, no one would be able to withstand it.
Could that fellow be lurking somewhere nearby?
It was not impossible.
Just as Mo Na Ye grew suspicious, the two human armies—previously advancing slowly toward Never-Return Pass—suddenly accelerated their march.
The news was immediately relayed throughout Never-Return Pass.
The great battle was about to begin. A tense, deathly atmosphere pervaded the pass. Every Ink Clan member steeled themselves for a fight to the death against the humans, and the False Sovereigns each radiated overwhelming auras, making no effort to conceal their presence.
Two hours later, the two human armies had drawn very close to Never-Return Pass. Warriors of both sides with slightly higher cultivation could clearly see the various deployments within the opposing formations.
It was at this moment—when none of the Ink Clan, nor even the Sovereigns, had detected anything unusual—that the two Ink Giant Spirit Gods guarding the flanks of Never-Return Pass, standing like a pair of door gods, seemed to have noticed something.
One of the Ink Giant Spirit Gods seized a Cosmos Shard lying nearby and hurled it with tremendous force, just as it had done when attacking Yang Kai several months ago.
The sizable Cosmos Shard tore through the void. Under the bewildered gazes of the Ink Clan, it did not strike at either of the human armies. Instead, it hurtled toward the space between them.
Immediately after, the two Giant Spirit Gods began tossing Cosmos Shards one after another in rapid succession.
A surge of deep unease rose in Mo Na Ye's heart. According to the plan, these Ink Giant Spirit God attacks were to be used against the human armies after the battle began. Stationed at Never-Return Pass and unable to move freely, they were meant to use these thrown Cosmos Shards to cause significant disruption to the human forces, and with some luck, inflict considerable casualties.
A strike launched by a Supreme One's clone was something that even human Eighth-Order cultivators might not be able to withstand.
But now, before the battle had even begun, before the Ink Clan army at Never-Return Pass had moved, these two Ink Giant Spirit Gods had acted first. This was not part of the original plan.
Both Ink Giant Spirit Gods were clones of the Supreme One. Mo Na Ye had no authority to criticize them. And with their movements, he too finally sensed the anomaly.