The dark races didn't give the Empire much time to prepare. Several armies arrived in less than three days, assailing the sinkhole from several directions.

The sinkhole itself was tens of thousands of meters wide, surrounded by an even wider area covered in black flames. The entire stretch of land was about the size of an Imperial province.

A hundred thousand soldiers hardly made a splash when they were spread out in the region. The Imperial forces never left the sinkhole, a clear indication that Song Zining planned to fight the enemy head-on.

The dark races had no reason to shy away from the challenge. The sinkhole was filled with raging flames at the moment, but even the supremes didn’t know when they would die out. Every day that the humans remained near the sinkhole was an extra day of risk.

The battlefield was so wide that neither side could lock down the other’s movements. Even though there were only a couple of routes near the sinkhole, there were still too many leading to the periphery. The black flames in the hilly terrain were also changing constantly, and no one knew when it would gush out from a crack in the ground and cut off a path. This added greatly to the variables involved.

At this moment, Zhao Jundu and Song Zining were atop a mountaintop, surrounded by raging black flames. However, there was a dark origin power pulsing around the former’s body which served to suppress the blaze. He was actually deploying Omniscient Seal with his newfound origin power.

Zhao Jundu’s black origin power was draining at an unusually slow rate amidst the flames. It looked like he would have no problem holding out for one day and night.

Song Zining was looking much more relaxed within the range of the Omniscient Seal.

He glanced at Zhao Jundu, saying, “Your origin power is really strange. It can actually resist the black flames. I’d last a couple of hours at most in your shoes.”

“My origin power was refined in the new world, so it’s only natural to be a bit more resistant.”

“I… guess that’s a valid reason.”

Song Zining gazed into the distance. A dozen or so kilometers away, a group of dark race soldiers was advancing toward the sinkhole. Their formation stretched far behind the lead, consisting of at least ten thousand people. This unit was not inferior to the Empire’s Red Scorpion or Broken-Winged Angels, be it in terms of their aura or equipment.

Although they weren’t too far, the duo was not afraid of being exposed because of the black flames. The blaze suppressed perception exponentially and, although they didn't emit light, looking at them was even more uncomfortable than looking straight at the sun. Only those who could insulate the flames with origin power would remain unharmed.

Song Zining frowned slightly. Apparently, he had sensed that the enemy wasn’t going to be easy. Zhao Jundu spoke all of a sudden, “We’ve already seen three such squads, haven’t we?”

Song Zining nodded. “This is the fourth. If we count the ordinary ones, the dark races have gathered… at least three hundred thousand soldiers?”

He was shocked by the number as he said it, but his expression relaxed soon afterward. “No matter, more contributions for us.”

Zhao Jundu said, “Don’t rush. Are you really confident about winning against so many dark race soldiers?”

“We can slowly whittle them away. Do you really not trust me?”

Zhao Jundu frowned. “Give me a reason to.”

Song Zining shrugged helplessly. “Fine, the reason is that I can still use divination even in this place. It’s just that the results are blurry and it involves more effort.”

Zhao Jundu was surprised. After some thought, he fished out some divination tokens and tossed them to the ground.

“So you know a bit of divination as well…” Song Zining hadn’t finished speaking when the tokens burst into flames and were soon reduced to ashes. Zhao Jundu groaned and went pale.

Song Zining said, “Seeing you so cautious gives me confidence that you won’t go mad any time soon.”

Zhao Jundu said, “But I think you’ve already gone mad.”

Song Zining sighed. “Is three hundred thousand soldiers a lot?”

“That’s a sizable number, considering they were sent here.” Zhao Jundu’s reasoning was sound because those who could fight in Blacksun Valley were the elite among elites. The Empire could only send a hundred and fifty thousand qualified soldiers, while the dark race reinforcements were arriving constantly.

“There will be three hundred thousand more if I’m not wrong.”

“That many?”

“Don’t forget that the werewolves have three more continents.”

“Didn’t they exclude the werewolves?”

“That was before Jaero’s death. I’m guessing they’ve reshuffled their power structure after the general was lured out and killed by Prince Greensun. I think we’ll see the werewolf army before long.”

“I would never send my elites here if I were the werewolf leader,” said Zhao Jundu.

“Those who can enter the valley won’t be very weak.”

Zhao Jundu slowly nodded.

“What, afraid now?”

Zhao Jundu replied calmly, “I fear that if there are too many enemies, the Empire won’t be able to reward us for all of them.”

Song Zining laughed. “We can demand two more provinces for your family.”

Zhao Jundu couldn’t help but look surprised despite his usual calmness. That was because Song Zining’s suggestion had actually stepped over an unspoken red line. In the past, a major clan would never be granted more than five provinces no matter how prosperous it was. Even the Zhang clan, at its current peak, only owned four. Even then, the fourth province was away from their ancestral territories and still in the process of development.

The Zhao clan already owned You and Yan provinces. They had already captured their third but hadn’t named it because the rebel army hadn’t been wiped out just yet. In truth, the Zhao clan was already making plans for a fourth province, a territory tailor-made for Zhao Jundu. However, it was delayed because of the war in the new world and Zhao Jundu’s damaged foundations.

People didn’t expect too much from him at first, but now, things were looking decent after going through refinement in fire. At least, he had reached a realm no one had ever reached before. Seeing that his origin power was turning into pure darkness and about to break out, some in the family started bringing up this project again.

An important part of the plan was to use Qianye as a bargaining chip to seek an honorary duke title that could be inherited.

Zhao Jundu and Song Zining had racked up countless contributions in the new world. If they could route the dark race army here at the gateway to the inner world, two provinces would not be enough as a reward.

The Empire’s rewards for military accomplishments had always been the most generous, and they were almost never discounted. This was the founding principle of the Great Qin Empire. Hence, even though it would break ancestral traditions, adding two more provinces to the Zhao clan wasn’t impossible.

Zhao Jundu had never thought about this, but he couldn’t help but feel excited at the idea. After all, he had grown up in a major clan, so the concept of territories and status were a part of his being. Even though he had little in terms of desire, his heart began to beat faster after hearing about the possibility. More land meant more space for his clan to expand and grow.

It was the same for Song Zining. He glanced at Zhao Jundu enviously, saying, “You have it good, at least you still have family and foundations. I’ll get a province at most, everything else will just be empty rewards.”

“A prince title isn’t empty.”

Song Zining replied hurriedly, “I’ll pass on that.”

“Empress Li will make arrangements for you,” Zhao Jundu said meaningfully.

Song Zining shivered. “Please, no!”

“You seem to be afraid of her?”

“Of course not.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve done some shameful deeds.” Zhao Jundu’s expression was stern.

“Of course not, all I do is beneficial to the Li family.”

“Things that are beneficial to them means it’s detrimental to other families?”

Song Zining was cautious with his words, but Zhao Jundu simply wouldn’t let go. In the end, the former shrugged helplessly and said, “What do I do if I don’t work for Empress Li? Do I help that Imperial consort from your clan?”

Zhao Jundu was dumbfounded. Compared to Empress Li, that consort was far inferior both in terms of ability and looks. She was the result of the elder generation’s stubbornness that had lasted until this very day.

Especially that incident where she tried to incite disharmony between the Emperor and Imperial Steward Lin, then brought Prince Greensun into it as well. The heavenly monarch still wasn’t happy whenever he met the Zhao clan’s dukes. This kind of skill in offending people was practically unmatched. This also made people gossip about the Zhao clan’s ambitions in the Imperial court.

“Enough about these things, let’s get ready for war. I have a feeling that this fight won’t be easy.”

Zhao Jundu said, “The dark races have suffered greatly in our hands, so they’ll surely try to come up with countermeasures. They’ve probably picked the sacrificial piece as well, so we’ll have to decide whether to take it or not.”

“Indeed.”

The two left the mountaintop to join their units and prepare for the upcoming battle.

The sounds of battle broke out near the gateway to the inner world, much to the surprise of Song Zining and Zhao Jundu as they once again split up.

Making use of the local terrain, the Empire set up fortifications at the major crossroad leading to the gateway. Apparently, they were going to fight a head-on defensive battle against the dark races. Song Zining, on the other hand, roamed about unpredictably. His whereabouts were difficult to pinpoint, making it so that the dark races would always have to worry about their rear and supply lines.

Splitting up was a bad idea at first, especially as the Imperial forces were weaker than the enemy. The dark races’ frontline commander thought that the humans had finally revealed an opening, so he issued the order for a fierce assault.

However, the dark race army faced fierce resistance beneath the Empire’s makeshift fortifications. Zhao Jundu himself stood atop the barricade to fight alongside the soldiers, his dark origin power sweeping the enemies in like a tornado and grinding them into pieces.

Zhao Jundu was soon covered in wounds. This time, however, the dark race experts were broken down into essence within the black origin power. Zhao Jundu’s wounds began to heal at a visible rate as he absorbed this energy.

How was anyone to fight him like this? Even the arachne and demonkin found this strange black energy to be rather evil. And Zhao Jundu’s current regeneration was even faster than the vampire’s bloodboil state.

Just like that, the dark race army’s losses reached an alarming level, but the commander clenched his jaws and hung on because the defenders were also falling in droves.

The dark races’ losses were greater, but they knew they had superiority in numbers. The humans would be the first to fall at this rate, and the commander felt that his losses might not be too bad in the end.

It was at this time that killing intent burst out behind as Song Zining appeared with a large army. The rear guard couldn’t even send a message as they were wiped out.

The dark races’ three-hundred-thousand-strong army was routed by the pincer attack, with less than half of them making it back.

When the same scenario repeated itself, the dark races finally realized where the problem was. How had Song Zining taken out the forces in the rear without letting a single person escape?

The dark races didn’t want to attack again before solving this problem, but the Empire began to bring in a large batch of construction machinery. It looked as though they wanted to build up and research the gateway.