The descending will from the altar had already faded, but Yuan Du stood in place with furrowed brows, and no one dared to casually disturb him, so they could only wait in silence.
After quite some time, Yuan Du finally exhaled softly and raised his hand. "Let's go back out first."
As his words fell, the expanded Small World rapidly closed, and after a dizzying blur, when Yang Kai's vision stabilized, they had already returned to the original courtyard.
Yang Kai hurriedly asked, "Senior, what instructions did the Supreme God give?"
Yuan Du shook his head without a word.
Yang Kai's heart was anxious, but he didn't dare ask any more rashly for fear of causing Yuan Du to misunderstand. He had only just managed to infiltrate this group of Ink Devotees and earn Yuan Du's recognition—if he made him suspicious again, things would be hard to salvage.
After another long moment, Yuan Du finally looked up at him. "Nephew, could I trouble you to make another trip to the Sacred Spirit Ancestral Land? Try to find out whether that Giant God Spirit is dead or alive."
Yang Kai nodded. "That's naturally no problem. Last time I went, I already earned the recognition of the Sacred Spirits in the Ancestral Land. Ordinary people can't freely enter or leave that place, but as a Giant Dragon, I can come and go without hindrance."
"Good then. There's no rush—whenever you have time, you can go."
Yang Kai said, "Senior, if that Giant God Spirit is truly dead, then so be it. But what if he's still alive? Should I find a way to rescue him?"
Yuan Du asked, "Can it be done?"
Yang Kai pondered for a moment. "It's difficult! Senior may not know, but the Ancestral Land is now teeming with Sacred Spirits—those comparable to Seventh-Order and Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivators are everywhere. My strength is quite unremarkable there. However, if the Giant God Spirit is still alive and I can find a way to rescue him, then no matter how many Sacred Spirits the Ancestral Land has, they absolutely won't be his match!"
Yuan Du nodded. "The Giant God Spirit is indeed powerful. However, having been sealed for so many years, even if he isn't dead, once you free him, he likely won't be able to display his peak strength for quite some time."
Yang Kai's eyes darted around as he said, "Perhaps I could find a way to bring you all into the Sacred Spirit Ancestral Land as well, and then we could coordinate from inside and out! Senior, how many of us Ink Devotees are there, and what are our respective strengths?"
Yuan Du said, "We're all here. Oh, there's also Jiang Yan, who went out before and hasn't returned. And then there's Elder Shi Zheng, who's stationed in the Star Realm."
Yang Kai's jaw dropped. "We Ink Devotees have this little strength?"
Yuan Du smiled slightly. "Did you think creating Ink Devotees was an easy thing?"
Yang Kai said, "I only know that Ink Bugs are needed."
"Exactly. The creation of every Ink Devotee requires one Ink Bug. Ink Bugs are gifts from the Supreme God, and their numbers are extremely scarce. It took me over a thousand years to obtain just a few, and the last one was given to Elder Shi Zheng to use on you."
"So that's how it is!" Yang Kai's expression showed sudden realization, and his heart settled.
This was perfect! The Ink Devotees of Langya numbered only this handful. While it wasn't impossible that Yuan Du was lying, since he had already accepted his identity, there shouldn't be any need for concealment—especially since this matter involved the Giant God Spirit.
If there really were many Ink Devotees, Yuan Du would surely have had some ambitions of his own.
But with only these few Ink Devotees, there was no way to rescue the Giant God Spirit sealed in the Sacred Spirit Ancestral Land.
Moreover, Yuan Du had no more Ink Bugs! For Open Heaven cultivators, these things were the most troublesome threat. Without that threat, there would be far fewer reservations when it came time to fight.
"It looks like we still need to work hard to create more comrades!" Yang Kai stroked his chin, putting on an expression of deep concern for the future.
"Of course I want to as well, but the pattern of the Supreme God's bestowal of Ink Bugs is truly impossible to figure out."
Yang Kai let out a long sigh. "In that case, Senior should have created more Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivators back then!" After saying this, as if remembering something, he looked apologetically at Gu Ling'er and the others. "Please don't take offense, fellow disciples. It's not that I look down on you—it's just that the gap between the Seventh-Order and Sixth-Order is truly enormous. Of course, you'll all be promoted to the Seventh-Order very soon."
Gu Ling'er and the others kept blank expressions, ignoring his words entirely.
Yuan Du smiled faintly. "It's not that simple. Although Ink Bugs can create Ink Devotees, they themselves are extremely fragile—even a First-Order Open Heaven cultivator could kill one with a casual strike. So creating Ink Devotees requires catching them off guard. Elder Shi Zheng was only successfully created because he was familiar with me and had no guard up. The other Seventh-Order cultivators of Langya wouldn't work. If the creation failed, my identity could no longer be hidden."
Yang Kai's eyes lit up. "Senior, have you ever considered creating Leader Li as well? To bring him back from the wrong path."
Everyone was startled.
Yang Kai's nerve was truly outrageous—he had actually set his sights on the Sect Leader. But on second thought, while the risk was indeed great, the benefits if successful would be terrifying. If they then had the Sect Leader create others, the Ink Devotees' strength would surely snowball.
Perhaps the entirety of Langya could become the Ink Devotees' stronghold.
"Impossible!" Yuan Du waved his hand vigorously. "The Sect Leader's cultivation is profound beyond measure—he could break through his shackles and advance to Eighth-Order at any moment. Without getting close to him, there's simply no chance. And even if you got close, as long as he's on guard, there's not the slightest hope."
Yang Kai smiled. "It would naturally be impossible for us to do it. But what if we had Gu Pan do it?"