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Translator: Silavin & VictorN
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
Dawning Light sailed through the battlefield. Yang Kai, Feng Ying, and several other Seventh-Order Masters floated around the Warship, each of them using their respective Divine Abilities to kill the surrounding enemies. Bai Yi stood at the prow, shooting down Feudal Lords at will. From time to time, she would even harass the Territory Lords who were fighting with the Eighth-Order Masters, causing them great frustration.
A Seventh-Order Human who was proficient in archery was a great deterrent on the battlefield, especially for those Territory Lords who were caught in the heat of battle and had to divert some of their attention to guard against Bai Yi’s sneak attacks.
Their strength was already inferior to the Eighth-Order Humans, and now they had an extra concern while locked in battle.
Yang Kai did not try to hit the Territory Lords when they were down, instead focusing on the Feudal Lords, which gave him brilliant results. Which Feudal Lord could block his spear? Furthermore, Dawn’s configuration was incomparable with any ordinary Squads. Not only were there more Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters, but Dawning Light’s capabilities were far superior to other Squad Rank Warships.
Wherever Dawning Light passed, it instantly emptied a large area of Black Ink Clansmen.
The great battle entered a fever pitch soon after it began. The Western Army wanted a quick, decisive victory, so they did not hold back in the slightest.
Although they were far away from the support of Blue Sky Pass, the Black Ink Clan Army was caught by surprise by the Western Army and was dealt a heavy initial blow that they were unable to recover from. It was obvious they could not hold out much longer.
Even though the Territory Lords knew that a disorderly retreat at this time would increase their casualties, if they did not flee, there was a great possibility that the entire army would be destroyed. If they could sacrifice their 200,000 troops for some Human lives, then it would not be considered a total loss; however, all the Fifth and Sixth-Order Humans were hiding in their Warships and would remain safe until their Warship was destroyed. Meanwhile, although there were some Seventh-Order Masters roaming the battlefield, they did not move far from the protection of their own Warships and would retreat to safety as soon as things became dangerous.
Many Black Ink Clansmen were killed or wounded in a fierce battle that lasted half a day, while the casualties on the Human side were quite low.
In such a situation, the choice was clear.
Since the Black Ink Clan Army had been defeated and was retreating, the Humans naturally would not let this good opportunity go to waste. Under the leadership of the many Eighth-Order Masters, they began chasing down and eliminating as many Black Ink Clansmen as possible.
They did not stop until two days later.
The result of the battle was spectacular, but it was impossible to know the exact numbers. The Black Ink Clansmen who escaped shouldn’t have numbered more than 50,000, which meant that at least 150,000 Black Ink Clansmen were killed in this engagement. Although it was not a total annihilation, it was still an enormous success.
Among the 150,000 Black Ink Clan casualties, less than half were killed in the initial battle while the majority were slaughtered as they fled.
150,000 casualties was not a big deal for the Black Ink Clan though as each time they laid siege to Blue Sky Pass with a huge army numbering in the millions. 150,000 troops worth of losses would not impact the overall situation much, only alleviate some of the pressure on the Humans in the initial stages of the war.
What was hard for the Black Ink Clan to accept was that in this battle, they had lost four Territory Lords.
Three of them were killed by the Eighth-Order Masters at the beginning of the battle, and the fourth was killed during the subsequent battle.
This was the loss that really hurt the Black Ink Clan.
As long as there were Black Ink Nests and available resources, they could easily replenish their 150,000 lost troops; however, four Territory Lords were not so easy to replace.
It took a very long time to cultivate even one Territory Lord. In the past, every time the two Races fought, there would be very few fallen Territory Lords. Almost all the dead were the Black Ink Clansmen under the Territory Lord Rank.
Thus, it could be said that the Black Ink Clan suffered heavy losses this time.
Warships of different sizes stopped in the void as the Western Army soldiers abided by the order to halt their pursuit.
Firstly, continued pursuit of the Black Ink Clan would not change the results of the battle significantly; secondly, they had to guard against being ambushed by the other Black Ink Clan armies. After all, if they were to be led into a trap by another fleeing Black Ink Clansmen, they would be at serious risk so far from Blue Sky Pass.
Thus, the Western Army decided to stand down and accept their victory.
The 200,000 Black Ink Clan Army had basically been beaten half to death, and the remaining stragglers could only rally together with the other armies.
The Western Army’s losses were negligible by comparison. Not many fell during this battle as the Warship’s all-encompassing protection allowed them to remain safe during critical situations. However, it was inevitable that the Western Army still incurred numerous casualties in such a large engagement.
“All Squads regroup. We’re heading back to Blue Sky Pass!” Zhong Liang gave an order that echoed across the void.
All abided by the order and one by one, the Squad Leaders and Battalion Commanders collected their Warships by placing them into their Small Universes. Then, huge flashing arrays of light appeared at the feet of the Western Army officers and soldiers one after another. Each flashing light represented an Open Heaven Realm Master returning to Blue Sky Pass through the Universe Array there.
The withdrawal was large, but orderly.
More than ten Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master guarded the four directions while those in the Fifth-Order were the first to transport back to the Great Pass, followed by those in the Sixth-Order, and then the Seventh-Orders.
Batch after batch of Open Heaven Realm Masters used the Universe Transference Law in a spectacular scene.
In the past, before Yang Kai had arrived on the Black Ink Battlefield, Blue Sky Pass did not dare to let their troops use the Universe Arrays at will, even though they possessed them.
If a Black Ink Disciple infiltrated the Universe Array, then there might be serious consequences.
Things were different now that they had Purifying Light sealed in each Universe Array. Even if a Black Ink Disciple managed to sneak in, they would be instantly purified; thus, there was no risk of being infiltrated via the Universe Array like before. Not to mention that before this battle began, everyone had received a Purifying Black Ink Pill for safety.
Now that there was a way to resist invasion by Black Ink Strength and a swift method to withdraw from the battlefield, the Humans would naturally have the means to take the fight to the enemy.
This was also the first time in countless years that the Human Race conducted this kind of action. It was considered a bold attempt with better-than-expected results. With the success of this initiative, there would surely be more such battles in the future.
The Black Ink Clan no longer held the initiative to wage war.
Once all the Western Army soldiers had re-grouped at Blue Sky Pass, the remaining Eighth-Order Open Heaven Realm Masters each activated the Universe Transference Law.
With the return of the Western Army soldiers, the victory of the battle quickly spread throughout the Inner Sanctum, and the entire Blue Sky Pass was in high spirits.
However, this was not the end of it.
The Black Ink Clan countered with another three 200,000-strong armies that approached from three different routes. Perhaps they had already learned what happened to the army that had branched out and lost their men. Either way, within two days of the Western Army’s return to the Pass, Human scouts from afar reported that the enemy armies were advancing towards Blue Sky Pass.
The entire Blue Sky Pass had been in a state of readiness for battle for countless years, so everyone knew exactly what they needed to do.
This time, however, Blue Sky Pass had a pleasant surprise in store for the Black Ink Clan Army.
Half a month later, the three Black Ink Clan Armies finally arrived at the million kilometres mark outside the Pass. The gathering heads looked spectacular from afar, and with Black Ink Strength emanating from them, it was as if a dark storm cloud was rolling in.
However, the Black Ink Clan did not attack immediately. After two or three days of gathering, they finally divided their forces into four groups and surrounded Blue Sky Pass from all four cardinal directions.
The Black Ink Clan Army surrounded the Great Pass just as they had for countless years.
The Black Ink Clan could not be blamed for using the same tactics as usual. With a huge Army numbering in the hundreds of thousands gathered in one place, there was really no need for original thinking. If they split up further that would only provide the Humans the opportunity to pick them off one group at a time.
The troops were divided into four groups so that the Humans could only deal with them head-on. In terms of numbers, the Humans were always at a disadvantage.
The two or three days of delay was most likely due to reorganizing the troops.
The three Armies were similar to the original Army that fled and had about 200,000 troops each. The original Fourth Army was beaten half to death and could not just rely on the 50,000 or so remnants to organize a counterattack. It would be suicide if they tried.
They had no choice but to divide part of the three groups into four so that they could have an effective siege.
With nearly 700,000 troops, it was still not the smallest number of troops the Black Ink Clan had used to surround their enemy. There had been times when their numbers had been much smaller.
After all, most of their troops were just cannon fodder, used to absorb the opening blow and create a favourable battlefield for the stronger Black Ink Clansmen.
When the Black Ink Clan got into position, they did not hesitate at all and immediately attacked Blue Sky Pass.
An endless number of Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen attacked from all four directions towards Blue Sky Pass, shouting and screaming with no regard for their lives.
Once they reached a certain distance, the Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen used their powers to attack Blue Sky Pass; however, their attacks were destined to be futile. The entire Blue Sky Pass could be considered a massive Mobile Palace Artifact. Through the countless years of operation by the Humans, there were countless shield and barrier Spirit Arrays arranged to deal with the Black Ink Clan’s attacks.
This was not only true for Blue Sky Pass, but for every Great Pass.
The walls of the Great Pass were unfazed by the Low-Rank Black Ink Clan’s Secret Techniques. The walls of Blue Sky Pass were protected by an outer layer light barrier, and the attacks only created ripples on its outer surface.
The Black Ink Clan was not discouraged and kept attacking.
It took energy to maintain such a barrier, and one of the tasks of the Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen, who were just cannon fodder, was to consume the power of the Humans.
100,000 kilometres… 80,000 kilometres… when the Black Ink Clan was within 50,000 kilometres of Blue Sky Pass, huge pillars of energy suddenly surged from the walls. As those pillars of energy blasted into the Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen it was like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood. Blasting out attacks of different shapes and sizes.
Under the terrifying bombardment, large numbers of Low-Rank Black Ink Clansmen instantly turned into dust.
At 50,000 kilometres, they were basically right under the nose of Blue Sky Pass, and the Secret Techniques from any Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with the support of offensive Arrays could reach such a distance.
So every time the Black Ink Clan cannon fodder attacked, many would be killed at this 50,000-kilometre line.
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