Of course, if Yang Kai had deliberately concealed his presence, Mo Na Ye would have been unable to detect any trace of him at such a distance.
But the battle had been raging for days now, and Yang Kai still hadn't shown himself. What was he doing? From Mo Na Ye's perspective, the less he could see of Yang Kai, the more he had to worry about.
By this time, Yang Kai had already used the chain of Spatial Arrays to teleport back to Pure Yang Pass.
Not far from Mi Jinglun, he dropped his concealment and relayed everything he had learned—both the intelligence he'd gathered and his own speculations.
After listening, Mi Jinglun's expression turned grave.
Based on the intelligence Yang Kai had uncovered, once that elite Ink Clan reinforcement army arrived on the battlefield and coordinated with the forces at Returnless Pass, the Human Race's grand army would be utterly unable to hold them off. Caught in a pincer attack from both Ink Clan forces, the Humans would be trapped with no way forward or back.
Fortunately, that reinforcement army was stationed extremely far away and would need at least a decade or more to reach this location.
What eased Mi Jinglun's mind further was that the Ink Clan reinforcement army did not contain any true Lord-Ranks. This meant Yang Kai's speculation—that the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier had not completely collapsed—was correct.
But no one could say for certain when the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier would finally fall…
The assault on Returnless Pass had been progressing splendidly, yet now Mi Jinglun felt the undercurrents surging beneath the surface.
He raised a hand and rubbed his temples, then transmitted his voice: "Junior Brother, what are your thoughts?"
Yang Kai gazed toward Returnless Pass, where the front lines of both armies were locked in an endless tug-of-war, and slowly enunciated a few words: "A quick and decisive battle."
Mi Jinglun's eyelids twitched involuntarily. "If we do that… the number of casualties won't be small."
Yang Kai lowered his gaze. "The longer this campaign drags on, the greater the danger posed by the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier. Besides, over all these years, have the soldiers who fell in battle been few?"
Mi Jinglun fell silent. He understood the situation clearly. He knew what the wisest decision would be. But his heart still couldn't accept it, because he knew that once he gave that order, countless soldiers would pay with their lives.
It was said that the merciful cannot command armies. Mi Jinglun did not consider himself a compassionate man, and over the years he had issued his share of ruthless commands. But every one of those orders had been calculated to achieve the greatest possible result at the minimum cost. Every soldier who fell on the battlefield had died for something worthwhile.
As the commander who gave those orders, Mi Jinglun felt guilt toward the fallen, but no guilt toward the Human Race as a whole.
But the present situation was different.
If this order was truly given, the Human Race might lose several million more soldiers!
That was an staggering number—so heavy that even a veteran commander like Mi Jinglun could hardly bear it.
The root of the Ink threat was not Returnless Pass, but the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier!
The Human Race could certainly continue their current strategy, spending a decade or more to take Returnless Pass at minimal cost. But during that decade, who could predict what might happen at the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier?
If, during those ten-plus years, some irreversible catastrophe occurred at the Primordial Heaven Grand Barrier, then even if the Humans had captured Returnless Pass, it would mean nothing. By then, even more lives would be lost.
He understood all the logic. But… it was only a decade or more! The war between the two races had already lasted thousands of years, and within that vast span, a decade was but the blink of an eye. Yet at this critical juncture, unpredictable developments had suddenly arisen.
Even Mi Jinglun—always one to present a refined and scholarly image to the world—couldn't help silently cursing in frustration.
The sole piece of good news for the Human Race's army was that after six major battles over the past decade, the Ink Clan's strength had been significantly weakened. Leaving aside other losses, nearly a hundred Pseudo Lord-Rank powerhouses had fallen over those ten years, and the number of Domain Lords and Territory Lords killed was even greater.
The first two major battles had inflicted the heaviest damage on the Ink Clan. In the subsequent engagements, the Ink Clan had adopted an entirely defensive strategy, so their losses hadn't been too severe.
But there had still been some attrition.
So if the Human Race truly launched an all-out assault, taking Returnless Pass should not be a problem.
"How do we deal with the Ink Giant Gods?" Mi Jinglun asked, suppressing the turmoil in his mind.
To capture Returnless Pass, there was no way around the obstacle of the Ink Giant Gods. Over ten years of war, both the Human Race and the Ink Clan had been restraining the severity of their clashes. The Ink Clan needed to buy time, waiting for their reinforcements to arrive. The Humans wanted to minimize their own losses and were equally unwilling to escalate the fighting to the point where the Giant Gods joined the fray. With this mutual understanding in place, neither side had been willing to deploy their most devastating trump cards.
Thanks to their home-field advantage, the Ink Giant Gods occasionally provided limited support to the Ink Clan's forces. Ada and Ar, meanwhile, were content to sit behind their domain gates and watch the show.
"Leave the Giant Gods to Ada, Ar, and me. I can't guarantee we'll be able to slay them, but we can certainly keep them suppressed," Yang Kai replied.