The idea might have been reckless, but the facts spoke for themselves.
Three Ink Clan warships had been lying in ambush here, intercepting human warriors heading toward Base Four. Had an ordinary squad stumbled upon them, they would have had no choice but to flee.
Instead, they ran into Dawn—backed by no fewer than five Seventh Order experts.
"Captain..." Feng Ying called out in a low voice, turning her head toward Yang Kai. Her expression froze. Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen beside her—the man had vanished without a moment's notice.
A thought struck her, and she quickly looked outward. Sure enough, Yang Kai had already materialized on the deck like a phantom, his figure streaking forward in a direct charge toward the Ink Clan forces.
Though solitary, his silhouette surged ahead with unyielding momentum, his aura sweeping like a rainbow.
The Ink Clan side had already descended into chaos after witnessing the devastating power of Dawn's warship. They had only just managed to steady themselves when the three leading Lords began contemplating a retreat.
They had thought they could pick off an easy target, but this warship's power seemed anything but ordinary. The attacks it unleashed were truly terrifying—one direct hit would mean certain doom. Moreover, human warships were notoriously sturdy, each one guarded by a Seventh Order Open Heaven expert. Without the ability to end the fight quickly, their ambush advantage was entirely negated.
At that very moment, the three Lords suddenly spotted a figure launching itself from the human warship, hurtling straight toward them. In an instant, that figure had separated itself from the warship behind it.
The tallest of the three Lords—its leader—lit up at the sight. This was practically heaven's gate thrown wide open for him. From the fluctuations of aura trailing the incoming figure, he determined that the newcomer was a Seventh Order Open Heaven—equal in rank to his own Lord-class cultivation.
This had to be the human Seventh Order who had been guarding the warship.
If that Seventh Order had stayed put inside the warship, relying on its defensive power, the Ink Clan might well have been helpless—short of destroying the warship first, there would have been no way to kill the human inside. But this Seventh Order had charged out so brazenly? He was courting death!
Thoughts racing, the Ink Clan Lord surged forward a full step, his massive mouth splitting open as a thick torrent of Ink Force spewed forth, transforming into a blanket of Ink Mist that shrouded the void.
Simultaneously, he followed close behind the mist, using it as cover. With a flick of his hand, a dagger-like weapon materialized in his palm.
Ink Force had always been the Ink Clan's most effective weapon against humanity. Unless absolutely necessary, humans would rather die than be tainted by Ink Force—in all the eons of war between the two races, there had not been a single exception.
This Ink Clan Lord clearly possessed extensive combat experience against humans. First, he expelled Ink Force to form a shroud of mist—serving the dual purpose of concealing his true movements and sowing confusion in his opponent. Once the enemy hesitated even slightly, a relentless storm of attacks would follow. Against that combination, even a Seventh Order Open Heaven would struggle to hold his own.
It was a tactic he had employed many times before, and it had never failed. This time, he was certain, would be no different.
But the unexpected always arrived when least anticipated. From within the Ink Mist, a figure came barreling through head-on, showing not the slightest hesitation. In a single instant, it had closed the distance.
The Ink Clan Lord's heart lurched. He cursed inwardly—what kind of fool charged in without following any established tactics?—but his hands did not pause. Gripping the dagger in reverse, he unleashed a whirlwind of icy killing intent that crashed down upon Yang Kai.
Yang Kai reached out and grasped at empty space. The Azure Dragon Spear appeared in his hand.
But he did not thrust immediately. Instead, his cold gaze locked onto the Ink Clan Lord, and his right eye suddenly went pitch black—the white of the eye vanishing entirely, lending him an utterly eerie appearance.
Purgatory Dark Eye! One of the two closely guarded secret arts of Myriad Demon Heaven.
Before departing for this Ink Battlefield, the Eighth Order Supreme Master of Myriad Demon Heaven, the Demon Slayer Divine Lord, had personally guided Yang Kai through the myriad profundities of this eye technique. He had held nothing back, sharing his own cultivation insights in their entirety, and had stated plainly that if this eye technique were cultivated to its deepest level, its power would be virtually limitless.
Until now, however, Yang Kai had never employed this eye technique in actual combat. The previous battles had been massive clashes between two armies—not individual duels—so there had rarely been an opportunity.
Now, though, was as good a chance as any.
Over the past while, as Yang Kai refined resources and strengthened the foundation of his Small Universe, he had also been comprehending the World-Cleansing Demon Eye and the Purgatory Dark Eye—these two great eye techniques—and had gained considerable insight.
The moment the Purgatory Dark Eye activated, the ink-black right pupil seemed to reflect a massive, distorted image of the Ink Clan Lord.
In that instant, the Ink Clan Lord felt his vision plunge into darkness, as though boundless shadow was descending upon him. Every one of his senses scrambled into utter disarray.
That was not all. Within Yang Kai's right eye, the reflected silhouette of the Ink Clan Lord twisted ever so slightly. And with that imperceptible distortion, the real Ink Clan Lord before him shuddered as though struck by some invisible blow, a muffled grunt escaping his throat.
To his credit, the Ink Clan Lord was a seasoned fighter. He immediately realized he had fallen prey to some manner of secret technique from this human. Human secret arts were infinitely varied and bizarre—the Ink Clan knew this from bitter experience, and over the ages, they had classified human techniques into tiers of severity.
Among them, several techniques of truly terrifying power were widely known throughout the Ink Clan.
Recalling that pitch-black eye and connecting it to his current condition, the words "Purgatory Dark Eye" blazed across the Ink Clan Lord's mind.