Yang Xue shook her head. "I haven't heard anything about that."
"Then we probably missed each other," Yang Kai said.
If Luo Tinghe hadn't just advanced to Seventh-Order and been in urgent need of consolidating her cultivation, she wouldn't have been in such a hurry to leave the Black Domain. After all, with the Ink Clan matter arising here, she bore the responsibility of a Yin Yang Heaven Supreme Elder to stay and handle things.
When she departed, Yang Kai had her bring his Third Disciple Xu Yi back to the Star Boundary as well.
Xu Yi had cultivated within his Small Universe for many years, building a solid and firm foundation. Now that he had accumulated some degree of cultivation, it was time for him to enjoy the myriad benefits brought by the World Tree's nourishment in the Star Boundary.
Any longer and it would be too late.
Yang Kai himself had no way to send him back to the Star Boundary, so Luo Tinghe's departure had been the perfect opportunity to bring him along.
However, Luo Tinghe's departure had coincided with the Lingxiao Palace contingent setting out for the Black Domain, so it was perfectly natural that the two parties hadn't crossed paths.
During the several hundred years Yang Kai had been away from Lingxiao Palace, a large number of new Open Heaven Realm cultivators had emerged within the Sect. Among them, Yang Xue, Mo Xiaoqi, and Lin Yun'er had advanced directly to Sixth-Order Open Heaven, while many who had previously advanced to Sixth-Order — including the Great Emperors who had spared no resources in their cultivation — had greatly increased their own foundations.
Moreover, thanks to the Creation Divine Furnace matter, Yang Kai had previously reached an agreement with the various Cavesheavens and Blessed Lands: each one's Small Source World would grant Lingxiao Palace a single opportunity for their people to enter and gain experience.
Nearly every Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator from both Lingxiao Palace and Void Land had entered a Small Source World and reaped enormous benefits.
Add to that Boss Lady as a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator, and the forces under Yang Kai's command could be said to have grown tremendously.
Atop the sprawling Cavesheaven and Blessed Land settlements stood a grand hall where the Supreme Elders held their deliberations.
At this moment, nearly every Cavesheaven and Blessed Land had sent a Supreme Elder, with close to a hundred figures scattered about, some seated and some standing.
Numerous Supreme Elders were voicing their opinions, the overlapping voices creating quite a cacophony. Yet each Supreme Elder could hear every word the others said, and some were even carrying on separate conversations with multiple people simultaneously.
Among them, Divine Lord Liumu had the loudest voice of all. He had rushed here immediately after returning with Yang Kai from the Chaos Dead Domain, and as a member of the war faction, he was naturally trying his utmost to persuade the other Supreme Elders who disagreed with his position.
"That Yang kid received techniques from Zhuozhao and Youying — purifying the Ink power is practically second nature to him. He's the very bane of the Ink power! With this ability on our side, we'll be like tigers with wings! What are you old fossils still afraid of? Let the Ink Clan out and we'll fight them to the death! Leaving him locked up is nothing but a ticking time bomb!"
Many were swayed by his words, but others held firm to their positions.
Divine Lord Liumu had a fiery temper and would have been happy to beat every last dissenter into submission.
Still, their concerns weren't entirely without merit. The Ink power Yang Kai had purified was only that of Ink Disciples, and at most ones with Sixth-Order cultivation. Whether his methods would remain effective against a true Ink Clan member, no one could say for certain.
Liumu talked himself hoarse to no avail. The stubborn persistence of the pro-sealing faction left him seething with fury.
After a few more sharp words exchanged, Divine Lord Liumu swept his sleeves and stormed out.
This was hardly the first time this had happened. The last time he'd lost an argument, he had followed Yang Kai into the Chaos Dead Domain, so the other Supreme Elders were used to it and made no attempt to stop him.
"A bunch of doddering old fools!" Liumu fumed, lifting his gaze toward the deepest reaches of the Black Domain. A crazed gleam flickered in his small eyes.
Since those people doubted Yang Kai's purification methods, all he had to do was prove those methods were effective enough, and that would convince them.
Liumu decided to take a bold gamble. Otherwise, if they kept arguing like this, who knew when they'd finally reach a conclusion.
He rose into the air, his figure transforming into a streak of light as he shot straight toward the deepest part of the Black Domain.
In less than half a day, he effortlessly reached the very center of the Black Domain — the place where the Ink Clan prisoner was held.
Any further and he would have entered the range of the grand sealing formation. Though Divine Lord Liumu possessed formidable strength, he knew nothing of formation arts and dared not advance rashly.
Standing here, he could clearly feel the foundation of his Small Universe draining at a terrifying rate under the influence of the colossal formation, like floodwaters rushing through a breached dam.
"What a damned nightmare of a place!" Liumu cursed inwardly. In a place like this, even he couldn't hold out for more than a few days before the accumulated foundation of his Small Universe — built up over thousands of years — would be completely drained away.
In that moment, he felt nothing but profound admiration for the ancient mighty being who had constructed this grand sealing formation within the Black Domain. In the current era, even if all one hundred and eight Cavesheavens and Blessed Lands banded together, they likely couldn't set up such a formation.
He stared ahead without hesitation, and behind him his Small Universe suddenly opened wide. He channeled his energy and called out: "Want to break free? Then come to me!"
His Small Universe lay completely unguarded, and the aura of an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator's cosmos was supremely rich. That aura was like the scent of fish blood in the ocean — enough to attract sharks from a thousand miles away, let alone the Ink Clan prisoner lurking right before him!
Liumu had steeled himself to face any eventuality. What he hadn't expected was for the other party to act with such astonishing swiftness.
Before his words had even finished echoing, a beam of black light shot forth from the depths of the Black Prison and plunged directly into his Small Universe.
It was as though the Ink Clan prisoner had been waiting for his arrival all along.
The instant the black light entered his Small Universe, Liumu perceived its true form.
An Ink Bug!
As an Eighth-Order Supreme Elder of the Golden Antelope Blessed Land, he naturally knew what an Ink Bug was. Though he had never seen one before, the moment it entered his Small Universe, he understood perfectly.
This was the most direct and effective method the Ink Clan used to convert others into Ink Disciples.
Liumu hastily retracted his Small Universe and turned to flee, his figure blindingly fast as a bolt of lightning. At the same moment, the Ink Bug detonated within his Small Universe, transforming into supremely pure Ink Essence.