The battlefield quickly turned into a field of corpses from both the ink clan, and human race's sides. Though this time, the relative losses were nowhere near as steep for the human race, they had come prepared this time. It was an army composed of cultivators from all walks of life, studies of their dao, and even generations. All of them were there for a handful of reasons, though the most common one was; support the supreme masters in their death battle against Ink, for the sake of a future, and the vengeance for all those they had lost.
The battle continued on for years, and while people were dying left and right, Ink was completely occupied in his own battle to worry about his people. And adding the Human race's usage of the system I had introduced, the human race's losses began to slow, relative to the Ink Clan's of course. One captain and his squad had returned to their pass for their own recovery…
The captain stumbled out, bruised, bloody and beaten. A group of dedicated healers immediately took action. While they did this, an adjutant came over to the vice-captain.
"It seems your squad didn't fare any better than the others. I assume you have a similar report?"
The vice-captain shook their head. "I'm not certain what happened to the other squads here, but, we retreated after killing a Territory Lord. In the process, our squad's disciple of the Divine Emperor, was heavily injured in the attack. Luckily he will be fine, but it was touch and go for a moment there."
The adjutant nodded with a grim look on her face. "I understand. Get some rest and recover your strength." She ordered, and as she was about to leave she noticed the pained expression on the vice-commander's face. "You don't have to look so pitiful, if you can't continue fighting, it's best you spare no effort in returning to recover because then and only then, will you be able to return to battle. If you die out there, it's all over." She paused with a sigh. "I know it's a very different idea on fighting than the one we grew up with. But imagine this, what if we had the combined forces of all those we lost to our old methods? We honor their sacrifice, but we won't repeat the losses any longer than needed. We fight to secure a future. So, what's wrong with wanting to see that future for ourselves?"
Seeing the positive outlook of the adjutant, even among the fierce battles that could be seen in the distance. The vice-captain nodded, saluted and bowed. "There is nothing wrong with it. And please forgive me for showing you something unbecoming."
With a small flair of her aura, the adjutant smiled. "Don't worry, just hurry up and recover your strength." She then flew away.
"This war… It really takes every bit of strength we have within ourselves. And then some more on top of it." The vice-captain's eyes then glided over to the battle of the supreme masters. "The shockwaves are so powerful, they can be felt from this far away… I'd love to never stop my development along the Dao, but I also don't think I'd like to be on the receiving end of that kind of power."
Another team that was nearby, and just about to head back out to fight, their captain overheard these words. And he was also one of the disciples of the Divine Emperor. "Thinking like that, just imagine what my master went through. He fought that disgusting thing, head on, in a one on one battle to the death-"
"And now that I've seen it for myself, I have a newfound respect for him. He was truly a master among masters, a dragon among dragons."
My so-called disciple, really just a student as I never inducted them as disciples, but not a damn soul cared about that now, he smirked. "Well, wish us good fortune in battle. We're heading back out there to earn some more glory!"
With that, the squad, led by one of my disciples… Took off, wearing eager faces, and they acted like a mighty spear cutting through, and deep into enemy lines. They demonstrated damn near the limit what it meant to fight alongside the disciple of the most powerful cultivator in history.
However, elsewhere in the battlefield was where the lone 8th rank open heaven realm disciple of mine was. She was one who frequented my shrine, there she gave her respects and in return my remnant gave her instruction. She also just so happened to have married into the family as well, by wedding one of my younger half-brothers, specifically a brother born of Hu Fei's loins. As such, it wasn't a secret that these two had an extremely close relationship. Together they were nearly unmatched, within the 8th rank. However, if a Royal Lord really did show up, it would still be a desperate struggle.
The worst ended up coming to pass, their successes on the battlefield had not gone unnoticed. A pair of Royal Lords arrived just after my disciple and brother had finished their battle, they were exhausted. What happened next was nothing short of a guarantee, the royal lords began brutalizing them. Once they were done with the torturing, they began cackling as my disciple charged a powerful thunder barrier.
"I have to remember… Remember my master's teaching, his strength. His power…"
"Let me help you."
"You can't help with this, Husband. Just don't get in the way this time."
It was then that he felt something stir from deep within his core. A feeling that he couldn't place, no matter how hard he tried.
The two Royal Lord's inky attacks collided with the lightning sphere, and just like my very own, this sphere began to decompose the ink force and turn the pure energy into a proper and safe fuel source. Though, the difference between mine, and hers… Well, mine operated with a significantly higher degree of efficiency.
"Damn! Master really did this? And as if he was breathing… Wait… I guess I could call him my brother-in-law now? Wait… it's getting way easier for some reason? HAAAA!"
Then… The sound of a deep, and far off roar reached the battlefield. All of those with Ancient Divine Spirits, they heard this sound as not just an order, but a gift as well. There was a similar, yet lesser effect upon all those who practiced the Daos I had perfected.