Nearly four thousand years ago, the Ink Clan's massive army swept in, conquered Returnless Pass, and broke into the Void Domain. From there, using the Void Domain as a staging ground, they invaded the Three Thousand Worlds.
That was the prelude to the fall of all realms.
From then on, the original masters of the Three Thousand Worlds — the Human Race — were trapped in a corner. Despair and darkness hung over them, yet it was that very darkness that unified their resolve. Over thousands of years of accumulation and development, through desperate survival and ceaseless battle that claimed countless soldiers' lives, they had finally retaken Returnless Pass.
This battle had all but wiped out the Ink Clan forces at Returnless Pass!
This battle marked the moment the Human Race once again possessed the means to stand against the Ink Clan.
This was a battle worthy of the history books, one that would be revered by generations to come!
The long-suppressed humiliation and oppression had been fermenting in every Human soldier's chest. When the last Ink Clan member fell, the soldiers could no longer contain the joy and elation surging within them. Tearing shrieks and triumphant cheers ripped through the void…
But the war was not yet over.
One Ink-coloured Giant Spirit still fought on in its death throes.
Yet anyone could see it was merely clinging to life.
With Adai and Adar of the Giant Spirit clan working together to pin it down, this Ink-coloured Giant Spirit had no chance of escape no matter what it did. All the Human Race needed now was to make the right arrangements and coordinate with the two Giant Spirits to bring it down completely.
The Human army, having just secured a great victory, did not delay long. They did not even have time to tally their casualties. Every soldier, dragging exhausted bodies, moved out under the High Command's orders.
The twelve Human armies surged like twelve unstoppable torrents, sealing off every direction in the void. And at the very centre of that void was the battlefield where the two Giant Spirits clashed with the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit.
Every army's remaining warships were woven into vast fleets. The power of formations and Artifacts aboard each vessel quietly accumulated, their lethal auras all trained on the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit.
Under such circumstances, even an entity as powerful as the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit could not help but feel the despair of a dead end closing in.
It knew that this time, it would not survive no matter what.
In truth, when the first Ink-coloured Giant Spirit had been slain by Yang Kai and Adai working together, it had already considered fleeing. But at that time, Adar had fought desperately to keep it pinned, preventing its escape. By the time Adai arrived to reinforce, slipping away had become impossible.
Now, tens of millions of Human soldiers had formed a complete encirclement — the full military might the Human Race could currently muster. If they still could not bring down a single Ink-coloured Giant Spirit, what hope was there for any expedition?
At Pure Yang Pass, Mi Jinglun and the other Ninth-Order masters waited in silence. Ripples suddenly spread through the void, and when they faded, Yang Kai's figure materialized.
The Ninth-Order masters turned to look, each giving him a slight nod. No matter who it was, their eyes brimmed with respect.
In terms of seniority and age, Yang Kai might trail behind most of the Ninth-Order masters — apart from the newly promoted Shi Dazhuang and Tang Tao, every one of them had lived longer years.
But in terms of strength, he was indisputably the strongest of the Human Race!
If Mi Jinglun was the greatest mind of humanity, then Yang Kai was its sharpest blade. The fall of that first Ink-coloured Giant Spirit owed seventy percent of its success to Yang Kai, with Adai contributing the remaining thirty.
"Ready?" Yang Kai asked.
Mi Jinglun nodded. "We have been waiting for you."
Yang Kai cast a long, deep gaze toward the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit in the distance. "Then let us begin."
Mi Jinglun immediately made a hand signal. Behind him, a blood-stained herald saw the gesture and relayed the orders outward in every direction.
At the same time, Yang Kai's divine sense surged as he sent a few telepathic transmissions.
Within the battlefield sealed by the Human armies, three colossal figures tangled together without pause. Every clash sent shockwaves of devastation rippling outward, as though the sky were splitting and the earth cracking apart. Fighting two against one, Adai and Adar held an overwhelming advantage. The Ink-coloured Giant Spirit was battered and wretched under their combined assault — its entire body riddled with wounds, one leg twisted at an unnatural angle as though the bone inside had snapped.
The Giant Spirits and the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit were nearly equal in strength. In a one-on-one fight, neither could overcome the other — this much was evident from everything that had come before. Adar and his opponent had battled in the Void Domain for thousands of years without resolution.
In a battle between evenly matched opponents, the arrival of another fighter of equal strength would naturally tip the scales in favour of the side with greater numbers.
Even so, slaying such an enemy was no easy task. The death throes of such a powerful foe demanded caution from even Adai and Adar.
Fortunately, they had the Human Race as their rear guard.
When Yang Kai's transmission reached them, Adai paused briefly, but Adar understood at once. He barked a command to his brother: "Move!"
With that, he drove a kick into the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit's chest.
The force sent the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit tumbling through the void. Adar used the recoil to retreat. Though Adai reacted a beat slower, he had two fine qualities.
First, he listened to his brother.
Second, he listened to Yang Kai.
So he followed suit without hesitation, seizing the moment while the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit was still off-balance to pull back swiftly.
Once the two Giant Spirits had cleared enough space, the void suddenly shuddered. Countless powerful auras surged upward.
In the next instant, tens of millions of streaks of light converged from every direction, raining down upon the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit's colossal body like a violent storm. The kaleidoscope of colours wove the vast void into a dazzling tapestry.
In that moment, the formations and Artifacts aboard every Human warship unleashed their full might. The Human experts deployed their secret techniques and divine abilities without restraint, pouring them in a relentless torrent upon the Ink-coloured Giant Spirit.