However, the moment she set foot into the Black Domain, she was detected by those ancient mighty beings.
It must have been a cataclysmic battle.
The final outcome was naturally a victory for the ancient powers, but the appearance of the Void Passage had made matters thorny.
The extraordinary ancient cultivators had laid a grand super-formation within the Black Domain, transforming it into a cage to imprison the Ink Royal. At the same time, they had used the formation's power to turn her very being into a component of the formation itself, sealing the Void Passage shut.
And so it had remained — until today!
This was merely Yang Kai's speculation. What had truly transpired in the ancient era was beyond tracing, and no one could say for certain.
There were parts of this theory that didn't quite add up, yet there were also parts that made perfect sense.
Yang Kai had always been curious — if those ancient mighty beings had possessed the ability to imprison the Ink Royal for countless years, why hadn't they simply killed her to eliminate the threat for good? He had previously assumed they refrained from killing her because dealing with the Ink Force left behind by an Ink Royal's death would have been too troublesome. Now it seemed that wasn't the case.
The Void Passage might very well have been opened by the Ink Royal herself, and using her to seal it off was the most effective method.
During their earlier battle, even when the Ink Royal had faced the most dire peril, she had never moved from her position — and that was the strongest evidence.
It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to move, nor that she hadn't wanted to flee. Her entire existence had already merged with the seal within the Void Passage. She couldn't escape, and she couldn't move. She could only remain in place, enduring the attacks of countless powerhouses from the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands until her destruction.
If she had been able to move or flee as she pleased back then, perhaps the battle would have ended very differently.
Now that she was dead, the seal had loosened, and the Void Passage had gradually revealed itself, detected by Yang Kai.
Lan Youruo fell into deep thought upon hearing this. If things truly were as Yang Kai surmised, then once the seal was fully undone, the Three Thousand Worlds — which had been stable for countless years — would inevitably become directly connected to the Ink Battlefield. Countless Ink Clan would pour through the Void Passage into the Black Domain, spreading catastrophe across this vast expanse of Heaven and Earth.
She seemed to already see the scene — living beings reduced to misery, wailing filling the land — and the thought sent a chill through her.
A single Ink Royal, imprisoned for countless years and with her strength greatly diminished, had already inflicted unimaginable losses on the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands. If another Royal at the peak of full power were to come, who could possibly stand against them?
All of the Cave Heavens and Blessed Lands' Ninth-Order Open Heaven masters were stationed at the Ink Battlefield. The rear they guarded had no force capable of contending with an Ink Royal.
She silently prayed that the other end of the Void Passage would not turn out to be the Ink Battlefield.
Days passed one after another. The speed at which the seal loosened was not fast, but as time went on, the existence of the Void Passage could be perceived with increasing clarity.
At first, only Yang Kai had been able to detect it. Even someone like Liu Mu, an Eighth-Order Supreme Elder, could only sense that something was slightly off about the void.
But half a month later, any Eighth-Order — even Seventh-Order cultivators — could feel the faint fluctuations of spatial force emanating from the void.
This was undeniably a sign that the seal continued to weaken. Once it was fully undone, the Void Passage would connect two distant points in the void.
What lay on the other end of the passage, however, remained shrouded in mystery.
Yang Kai never left the spot where the Ink Royal had perished, constantly sensing the changes in the passage.
Liu Mu had been busy for several days, finally managing to clear the battlefield with the help of others. The residual Ink Force, however, remained a problem. Without Yang Kai's intervention, they could only use formations to seal away all the lingering Ink Force and leave it for later disposal.
He flashed to Yang Kai's side, focused his senses for a moment, and furrowed his brow. "It seems more pronounced?"
Yang Kai nodded. "Mm."
"Still can't sense what's on the other side?"
Yang Kai shook his head. "The seal still holds. Unless I can bypass the seal, there's nothing I can do."
The seal was a remnant from the ancient era. Yang Kai had attempted to probe it as well, but found nothing. It was simply too ancient — the methods of that era were vastly different from the present day. Moreover, the ancient mighty being who had laid this seal must have possessed cultivation unfathomably deep, far beyond what Yang Kai, a Sixth-Order cultivator, could hope to penetrate.
Liu Mu frowned. If they couldn't determine what was on the other side, they couldn't know what location it connected to. All they could do now was prepare for the worst.
"If one day—" Liu Mu said gravely, "I'm saying hypothetically — if this seal were to break completely, would you be able to re-seal it?"
Yang Kai nodded. "I can."
He answered so readily that Liu Mu was somewhat taken aback. "Are you certain?"
Yang Kai smiled with quiet pride. "In terms of cultivation, this junior naturally cannot compare to those ancient mighty beings. But when it comes to the attainment of the Dao of Space, I am confident I stand second to no one. Sealing this Void Passage would not be difficult."
Liu Mu let out a long breath of relief. "Good. When the time comes, it'll depend on your ability."
Yang Kai nodded. "Rest assured, Senior. However, this does raise one problem."
Liu Mu understood immediately. "When the seal breaks, the Void Passage will inevitably be exposed. If anyone on the other end notices it, they'll trace their way here!"