The Qiankun Art had far too many drawbacks in its execution — it could only be performed under extremely stable conditions. In this life-or-death crisis, how could the members of this human squad possibly pull off the Qiankun Art successfully?
All they could do was leverage the terrain and fight to the death under the leadership of the two Seventh-Rank Open Heaven cultivators in the squad.
Fortunately, this squad had two Seventh-Rank Open Heaven cultivators. If there had been only one, they might have already collapsed.
The Ink Clan were all concealed within the Ink Clouds, using the clouds as cover to strike in and out at will. They also deployed secret arts to throw the human cultivators into disarray. As time passed, the encirclement formed by the Ink Clouds was rapidly shrinking, and the human squad was on the verge of having nowhere left to stand.
It was at this moment that Daybreak charged in.
The Ink Clan within the Ink Clouds had clearly noticed Daybreak's approach. At one spot, the clouds churned and over a dozen tall Ink Clan figures burst out. The one leading them was exceptionally savage-looking, his body radiating the unmistakable aura of a Lord.
That Lord wielded an enormous spear, his bearing imposing. From his stance, it was obvious he intended to intercept Daybreak.
But as the two sides drew closer, Daybreak's disguise suddenly dissolved, revealing its fearsome true form.
The Ink Clan Lord charging toward Daybreak froze for an instant, then his expression changed drastically. Without a shred of hesitation, he spun around and dove back into the Ink Clouds, vanishing from sight.
The Dawn squad had been operating in this theater of war for roughly two months now. During that time, they scored victories every few days, killing substantial numbers. Dawn's formidable depth and the fearsome Daybreak had already earned a certain reputation among the Ink Clan.
Many Ink Clan had heard that the humans possessed a peculiar warship that looked different from ordinary vessels. That ship alone housed five Seventh-Rank Open Heaven cultivators, and one of them — a squad leader of sorts — was impossibly powerful, slaughtering Lord-level Ink Clan like chickens and dogs. Only a Domain Lord could stand against them.
This kind of composition was far beyond what any ordinary squad should have. Many Ink Clan forces had suffered devastating defeats at this human squad's hands, often encountering them only to be completely wiped out.
This particular Lord was well-connected and had naturally heard the rumors about Dawn and Daybreak. He had assumed that with the vastness of the theater, he was unlikely to run into them. But now, seeing Daybreak's true face after its disguise dropped, how could he not realize he had stumbled upon them for real?
Remembering those rumors, this Lord had no desire to face them head-on and immediately fled back into the Ink Clouds.
The Ink Clan who had followed him out were slightly weaker and a beat slower to react. Before they could figure out what was happening, attacks of terrifying magnitude were already raining down from Daybreak.
Each attack was colossal, its destructive power horrifying — how could these high-rank and low-rank Ink Clan possibly withstand them? In an instant, casualties were strewn about. Daybreak did not pause, passing right through the carnage of severed limbs and shattered flesh, and smashed directly into the Ink Clouds.
Taking advantage of the Ink Cloud's cover, the Ink Clan hidden within seized the opportunity to bombard Daybreak relentlessly. But Dawn was already prepared — the protective formation opened to its fullest, and a barrier of light instantly enveloped the ship.
Under the barrage of violent impacts, crater after crater was hammered into the barrier, and from each crater, concentric ripples spread outward.
Brute-forcing through the Ink Clan's assault, Daybreak pierced straight through the Ink Cloud blockade and reached the central area.
The squad that had been surrounded for so long had already been on the verge of despair. Suddenly seeing a human warship appear before them, they immediately realized reinforcements had arrived — and it was that extraordinary squad, Dawn. Every one of them was overcome with joy.
"Get aboard!" Feng Yingjiao called out from the deck.
She shifted her hand seals, and the protective formation opened a gap.
Seven or eight cultivators, utterly spent and with flickering auras, did not hesitate for a moment and leaped aboard one after another.
As they boarded, Yang Kai's figure flickered and he vanished from the deck. When he reappeared, he was already deep within the dense Ink Clouds.
His left eye instantly transformed into a golden vertical slit, radiating supreme majesty.
The Ink Clouds were highly corrosive to human cultivators and disrupted their senses, but the Eye of Annihilation could pierce through all illusions — in this environment, it was like a fish in water.
Not far away, an Ink Clan Lord crept closer in silence — the very same one who had turned tail upon seeing Daybreak earlier.
Having fled back into the Ink Clouds with his nerves still frayed, he had barely settled when Yang Kai suddenly appeared nearby.
This sent a jolt through him — both alarm and elation. Alarm because this person looked exactly like the impossibly powerful human squad leader from the rumors. Elation because this fool had been arrogant enough to charge into the Ink Clouds alone.
The Ink Cloud's suppression and corrosion on humans were inescapable. He did not know why this human had come running in, but since he was here, he wasn't leaving alive.
Leveraging the churning Ink Clouds, this Ink Clan Lord quickly closed to within thirty zhang of Yang Kai — a distance that, for a Lord, was absolutely perfect for a sneak attack.
Channeling all his power into the spear in his hands, murder flashing in his eyes, the Lord raised his weapon and was about to drive it straight into Yang Kai's undefended back.
But at that very moment, Yang Kai — who by all rights should have been completely unaware — suddenly turned his head and fixed him with a cold stare. The faint sneer on his lips was blindingly contemptuous, and the golden vertical slit in his left eye seemed to carry an inviolable majesty that made the Lord's mind go briefly blank.
The Ink Clan Lord's face drained of color. He could not fathom how he had been detected. Before he could process it, a spear was rapidly expanding in his field of vision.
The Lord screamed in terror and threw everything into blocking with his own spear. The moment the two weapons clashed, he felt a horrifying wave of force surge forward. His massive body was forced backward involuntarily, and the hand gripping his spear trembled uncontrollably.