In the midst of the chase, Heiyuan abruptly halted, his powerful will spreading outward to monitor all directions. But no matter what he did, he could no longer detect any trace of Yang Kai.
His expression darkened instantly.
He had actually lost track of him! How was that even possible?
Yang Kai was clearly at the end of his rope, with barely any power left — by what means had he managed to shake off the lock of his aura?
He did not believe Yang Kai possessed the ability to sever that thread of aura. The gap in their ranks was plain for all to see — if Yang Kai truly had such capability, he would have acted long ago instead of dragging things out until now. Moreover, Heiyuan had felt no sensation of his aura being cut.
Yang Kai had clearly vanished abruptly.
Under these circumstances, there was only one possibility: that fellow had instantly put enough distance between them to break his aura's lock.
But he clearly had almost no power left. Even if he employed that miraculous technique capable of covering tens of thousands of li in an instant, it shouldn't have been possible — unless he had enough power to use it repeatedly in quick succession.
Where could he have replenished such an enormous amount of power in so short a time?
Heiyuan stood in place, his expression grim, momentarily at a loss.
Across the vast void, with Yang Kai's trail gone cold, where was he supposed to search? However, he quickly rallied himself. The Yin-Yang Pass was sealed off by the Ink Clan's armies — Yang Kai had no way to break through in that direction, which was precisely why he had suddenly changed course and fled. In other words, no matter where Yang Kai was hiding now, he could only remain within Ink Clan territory.
And as long as he was on Ink Clan territory, his trail would eventually surface.
With that thought, Heiyuan immediately set off, heading straight for the nearest Domain Lord's territory.
The Lord of this territory had already led his people to the battlefield. Though plenty of Ink Clan remained behind to guard it, none among them were particularly powerful.
When Heiyuan arrived in person, the Ink Clan there bowed their heads and obeyed his commands without question. Soon, word spread outward from the local Ink Nest, and the entirety of the Twilight King's domain erupted into activity, with Ink Clan members searching for Yang Kai's trail visible everywhere.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai was hiding within a massive Ink Cloud, healing his wounds.
Just as Heiyuan had guessed, Yang Kai had relied on continuous spatial teleportation to break free of his tracking aura. The reason he had enough power to perform the teleportation was entirely because he had consumed a low-grade World Fruit.
When he had originally emerged from the Great Ruins Boundary, Yang Kai had brought out a total of sixteen World Fruits. The three mid-grade ones each served a purpose, but the thirteen low-grade World Fruits were comparatively lackluster.
Apart from one he had bestowed upon Guo Ziyan, allowing him to advance from Second-Order to Third-Order, Yang Kai had barely used the remaining low-grade World Fruits. Even those originating from the Mother Tree held little value.
Left sitting in his Small Universe, Yang Kai had all but forgotten about them.
It wasn't until his Small Universe had been completely drained of power that he suddenly remembered — while these things held little value in general, they were perfect for replenishing one's depleted reserves.
After consuming a single low-grade World Fruit, his desiccated Small Universe improved in a remarkably short time, accumulating enough power to sustain several teleportations.
It was with the help of a single low-grade World Fruit that Yang Kai had managed to escape Heiyuan's pursuit and retreat into this Ink Cloud.
Though things appeared safe for the moment, Yang Kai knew that as long as he remained deep in Ink Clan territory, he would never truly be safe. Heiyuan would not give up on him.
Still, he had at least earned a chance to catch his breath. The sensation of having his Small Universe completely emptied had been truly agonizing. With sufficient power, even if his combat ability fell short, he could at least fight back and flee.
After confirming that Heiyuan was not in pursuit, Yang Kai hurriedly began to restore himself.
He did not continue to use the low-grade World Fruits. Having learned his lesson, he would not squander these precious tools for rapid power restoration. He consumed handfuls of Opening Heaven Pills and produced a set of Seventh-Order resources to refine, and his Small Universe's power recovered swiftly.
However, the respite was short-lived. After only half a day, Yang Kai, who was still recuperating, suddenly sensed several auras breach the Ink Cloud where he was hiding.
These auras were not strong — clearly just a handful of upper-ranking Ink Clan.
Yang Kai frowned, doing his best to suppress his own aura.
Across the territories occupied by the Ink Clan, Ink Clouds of all sizes were virtually countless, and under normal circumstances, the Ink Clan paid them no mind. The fact that these upper-ranking Ink Clan were penetrating deep into the cloud to investigate clearly meant they were searching for him.
Yang Kai had been hoping they might overlook his location so he could continue recovering, but one of the upper-ranking Ink Clan happened to head straight toward where he was hiding.
In but a few moments, the upper-ranking Ink Clan drew close. Looking up, he could vaguely make out what appeared to be a human figure within the dense Ink Cloud, but before he could get a clearer look, a fist suddenly shot out and struck him dead on.
As violent power erupted, the upper-ranking Ink Clan didn't even manage a grunt before exploding into a mist of blood.
"Over here!" The nearby Ink Clan detected the disturbance and immediately raised the alarm, but before the words had even left his mouth, he was struck by a devastating blow and perished on the spot.
Two breaths later, Yang Kai burst out of the Ink Cloud. Every upper-ranking Ink Clan that had ventured inside was already dead.