Moreover, Yuan Du and Gu Ling'er held the title of master and disciple. Back then, when Gu Ling'er had stood out among the lower-ranked disciples, Yuan Du had taken her under his wing and named her his only Personal Disciple.
This explained perfectly why Gu Ling'er had been corrupted by the Ink.
If even the master had fallen, what more could be said of the disciple?
And by leveraging his status as Gu Ling'er's master, he could freely visit the Spirit Province where she resided. Even if Li Yuanwang and the others noticed, they would have little reason to suspect anything.
At this moment, Yuan Du gazed at Yang Kai with a warm, amiable expression and smiled: "That recent trial was quite the spectacle, Junior Nephew. You put on a truly dazzling performance — this seat was left thoroughly impressed!"
Yang Kai bowed respectfully: "Senior flatters me. It was nothing but luck. I'm afraid I had no choice but to injure several of the Senior Brothers in the process, which weighs heavily on my conscience."
Yuan Du chuckled lightly: "The situation demanded it, and you had no alternative. Don't trouble yourself over it. Besides, you showed considerable restraint."
He turned to look at Gu Ling'er: "Is everything prepared?"
Gu Ling'er nodded: "Rest assured, Master. Everything is in order!"
Yuan Du gave a nod: "Then let us begin."
Zong Yuquan suddenly shot Yang Kai a series of playful glances: "Junior Brother Yang is in luck — we'll all get to benefit from this as a side bonus."
The other Ink Servants wore similarly excited expressions, their faces full of anticipation, as though something wonderful were about to happen.
Yang Kai looked puzzled: "Senior Brother, what do you mean?"
Zong Yuquan smiled enigmatically but said nothing more.
Just then, a surge of formidable World Force erupted into the air. Yang Kai's heart lurched as he quickly looked toward Yuan Du. What he saw was Yuan Du's robes billowing without any wind, snapping and rustling loudly, while behind him a vast phantom projection of a Small World materialized. The next instant, it expanded outward with a thunderous roar.
Yang Kai was startled — Yuan Du was clearly in the process of deploying his own Small World!
However, seeing that Zong Yuquan and the others showed no reaction whatsoever, as though they had long anticipated this, Yang Kai suppressed any impulse to act rashly. He held back his questions and waited quietly.
In the next instant, Yuan Du's Small World crashed down, engulfing everyone within it.
This was not the first time Yang Kai had encountered such a scenario. Back when he had been hunting down Zuo Quanhui in the New Great Domain, Zuo Quanhui — at the end of his rope — had deployed his own Small World in a desperate final gambit.
Yang Kai had responded in kind, deploying his own Small World to counter it. In that battle, although Yang Kai had led the many Open Heaven cultivators of Void Land to slay Zuo Quanhui, the clash had caused contaminants originating from Zuo Quanhui's power to become impurities within his own Small World.
He had later spent considerable effort eliminating those hidden dangers, and even so, the foundation of his own Small World had been noticeably weakened by the experience.
Having been through this once before, Yang Kai was now reasonably experienced in dealing with it.
Under normal circumstances, if Yuan Du were to deploy his Small World like this, the release of the Ink's power would certainly alert the High-Rank Open Heaven cultivators of Langya.
But this was Gu Ling'er's Spirit Province. Numerous restrictions and formations had been activated to isolate the interior from the outside — nothing that happened within could be transmitted outward.
When Yuan Du had asked Gu Ling'er whether everything was prepared earlier, he must have been asking about precisely this matter.
In the blink of an eye, Yuan Du's Small World had spread open and all of them now stood within it. Yang Kai looked around and saw that this Small World was virtually identical to the Blessed Land left behind after Shi Zheng's death — the ground was saturated with Ink, as if the entire world had been painted with thick black ink, creating an extremely unpleasant sensation.
But undeniably, as a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator, Yuan Du's foundation was genuinely formidable. Within this Small World, Dao Marks were incredibly dense, though Yang Kai couldn't immediately discern which particular types or combinations they belonged to.
Once they appeared on the blackened earth, the group looked around. Zong Yuquan and the others wore puzzled expressions, though Yang Kai couldn't tell what exactly was puzzling them.
As the master of this Small World, Yuan Du smiled pleasantly at Yang Kai and spoke in a genial tone: "Junior Nephew, something has just occurred to me. Perhaps you could help shed some light?"
Yang Kai was still glancing around. Hearing this, he nodded: "Please ask, Senior Yuan. I will answer to the best of my ability!"
Yuan Du said: "You were enlightened by Elder Shi Zheng, weren't you?"
"That's correct!" Yang Kai nodded.
"Elder Shi Zheng enlightened you how, exactly?" Yuan Du pressed further.
So this is where the suspicion lies… Otherwise Yuan Du wouldn't be raising this question at such a time.
Yang Kai's mind was crystal clear, and he had long been mentally prepared for this. He had told Li Yuanwang and Gao Ting beforehand — the grass had been cut, and the snake could no longer resist slithering out.
It was precisely with this in mind that Li Yuanwang had warned Yang Kai that staying on would be dangerous, urging him to think carefully.
But Yang Kai had come here precisely to deal with the Ink Servants and the Ink Clan. If safety were his concern, he never would have volunteered to take the vanguard and gather intelligence.
Yang Kai answered with utmost respect: "Elder Shi Zheng used an Ink Insect. I witnessed the miraculous power of the Ink and was instantly awakened, throwing myself into the Ink's embrace without a moment's hesitation. Everything I have today is thanks to Elder Shi Zheng!"