What Mo Na Ye couldn't understand was — if Yang Kai possessed such a method, why hadn't he used it during the great battle two years ago instead of saving it for today? It made no logical sense. He couldn't very well believe that Yang Kai had somehow, using some means unknown to the Ink Race, cultivated so many Stone Clansmen over the past two years.
Though he desperately wanted to get to the bottom of it, he no longer had the luxury of time or leisure to dwell on such matters.
As hundreds of millions of Stone Clansmen poured onto the battlefield, the Ink Race's previously stable defensive lines began to crumble one after another. The foot soldiers positioned at the forefront were slaughtered in droves, which in turn endangered the Ink Race powerhouses positioned behind them.
Mo Na Ye had no choice but to focus entirely on the battle at hand, issuing command after command, trying to inflict as many casualties as possible while simultaneously resisting the combined assault of the Human Race and the Stone Clansmen army.
At the same time, he hadn't forgotten to keep tabs on Yang Kai's movements. Ever since Yang Kai had burst out of No Return Pass, every Pseudo Lord-Rank fighting in the field had been tied down.
The Human Race's standard approach to dealing with these Pseudo Lord-Ranks was to have Eighth-Order Open Heavens cultivators form battle arrays to oppose them. Although the Human Race now boasted a considerable number of Eighth-Orders, the Ink Race's Pseudo Lord-Ranks were hardly fewer. What's more, three Pseudo Lord-Ranks would often form a simple Triad Formation, enough to tie down four or five Six Harmonies Formations made up of Human Race Eighth-Orders.
The Human Race could have committed even more Eighth-Orders, but beyond a certain number, coordination became impractical — it would only hamper their own movements.
As such, on the battlefield where the highest-tier combatants of both races clashed, most encounters were roughly even. In some cases, the Pseudo Lord-Ranks actually held the upper hand, while the Human Race Eighth-Orders struggled to gain any real advantage.
But the moment Yang Kai charged out of No Return Pass, unleashed his massive army of Stone Clansmen, and then vanished without a trace, the situation took a dramatic turn for the worse.
On every battlefield where a Pseudo Lord-Rank was engaged, the tide turned against them in a remarkably short time. Each Pseudo Lord-Rank had their nerves pulled taut, extending their spiritual senses in all directions, guarding against the ambush that could come at any moment.
It wasn't until one of the Pseudo Lord-Ranks spotted Yang Kai's figure atop Pure Yang Pass that they finally breathed a sigh of relief. Yang Kai hadn't come for them — he'd gone to Pure Yang Pass instead. For the Ink Race powerhouses currently on the battlefield, this was undoubtedly good news.
They simply couldn't fathom what business Yang Kai had at Pure Yang Pass at a time like this.
Just as in the previous great battle, Pure Yang Pass — the sole mighty fortress under Human Race control — hovered outside the battlefield, gathering intelligence from all fronts and overseeing the greater picture.
On the ramparts, Mi Jinglun held a feather fan, looking every bit the refined scholar as he quietly observed the battlefield. Command after precise command issued from his lips.
A figure flickered, and Yang Kai stood beside him.
Mi Jinglun glanced sideways at him and spoke: "You went to the Chaotic Dead Domain?"
The Human Race's supply of Stone Clansmen had been all but exhausted in the many years of warfare. Yang Kai suddenly producing an army of over a hundred million Stone Clansmen to participate in the siege of No Return Pass made it obvious he had been to the Chaotic Dead Domain.
"Mm." Yang Kai nodded.
"Aren't you being a bit wasteful?" Mi Jinglun said, and the heartache in his voice was unmistakable.
Ever since Yang Kai had first bestowed large numbers of Stone Clansmen upon the various Human Race armies, this peculiar race had rendered meritorious service in countless battles against the Ink Race. In many small-scale engagements, the Human Race had been able to triumph against superior numbers, relying precisely on the Stone Clansmen's fearless disregard for death.
Years of war had whittled the Stone Clansmen down to nearly nothing, and the Human Race had lost a powerful asset in the process. Now that Yang Kai had brought back so many more, the thought of throwing such an enormous number into battle in one go still made Mi Jinglun's heart ache.
After all, the Stone Clansmen Yang Kai deployed directly onto the battlefield were destined to be unrecoverable — they would fight until they were ground to dust, down to the very last one.
Only when a Human Race warrior had refined them through beast-controlling or artifact-forging techniques could these low-intelligence beings be made to obey orders.
If the Human Race was one great family, then Yang Kai was like a nouveau riche who had suddenly struck it rich, spending lavishly and without restraint — enough to make Mi Jinglun, the steward who managed every last scrap of provisions and supplies, wince with pain.
Yang Kai flashed him a grin. "Don't worry about it. The haul this time was... rather plentiful."
"Plentiful?" Mi Jinglun raised an eyebrow.
"Very plentiful!" Yang Kai nodded emphatically. Even after releasing hundreds of millions of Stone Clansmen, his Small Universe still contained two or three times that number.
Hearing this, Mi Jinglun finally felt at ease.
"Senior Brother, please open your Small Universe's gate," Yang Kai said.
Mi Jinglun naturally knew what he intended to do and immediately opened his gate. The next moment, Yang Kai opened the gate to his own Small Universe as well, and the two gates rapidly overlapped, as though merging into one.
Immediately after, vast numbers of Stone Clansmen were transferred from Yang Kai into Mi Jinglun's Small Universe.
Gradually, Mi Jinglun's expression changed.
Though he had already guessed from Yang Kai's earlier responses that he had indeed brought back a great many Stone Clansmen, he had never imagined the number would be this staggering.
Before long, Mi Jinglun raised his hand. "That's enough. I'm reaching my limit."
His Small Universe simply didn't have the same depth and fortitude as Yang Kai's. Accommodating over a hundred million Stone Clansmen had pushed him nearly to his limit, and at this point the flow of his power had grown sluggish. If he were to face the Ink Race in this state, even a single Domain Lord might be enough to take his life.