"Back then... I helped you." The ferocity on Zagu's face faded. Shrouded in the aura of death, his eyes turned pleading.
Yang Kai glanced around and nodded. "I won't deny that you helped me. But where did your Ink Nest come from? Where did you get the resources to hatch it? Do you really think I don't know? Everything you have here started because of me. It's only fitting that I should be the one to end it!"
As his words fell, the Azure Dragon Spear trembled slightly, and Zagu's entire body burst apart, leaving nothing behind.
Though Yang Kai had gotten along reasonably well with Zagu in the past — and had indeed used his help to earn a substantial amount of Ink Coins and build his reputation as an Artifact Forger — at the time he had still been wearing the disguise of an Ink Disciple, and Zagu had only been using him in return. Humans and Ink Clan walked different paths, and Yang Kai had no intention of extending any courtesy on that account.
A Lord-level Ink Clan member could wreak considerable havoc on the battlefield. If Yang Kai spared him today, some human compatriot might very well die by his hand tomorrow.
Zagu's territory had only just begun to flourish, and he was the only Lord here. The rest were nothing but insignificant small fry — there were hardly even any upper-rank Ink Clan members among them.
With Zagu dead, the remaining Ink Clan had no hope of withstanding Yang Kai's assault. Despite their desperate resistance, they were completely wiped out in the span of half a cup of tea.
By the time Yang Kai departed, no sign of life remained in the territory.
Yang Kai had originally planned to destroy every Lord-level Ink Nest under Heiyuan's command, but what he had seen and learned at Zagu's place had saved him a great deal of effort.
It turned out that once a Domain Lord-level Ink Nest was destroyed, all the sub-nests under its command would be affected as well.
That explained why the Ink Clan's response had been so sluggish after he destroyed Heiyuan's Ink Nest. The destruction of Heiyuan's nest had not only crippled the intelligence network shrouding Heiyuan's territory — it had caused every sub-nest to wither as well. Those Lords who had their own fiefs were undoubtedly in a state of panic, and even with Heiyuan's orders, they likely had no mood to track down Yang Kai's whereabouts.
Still, to be safe, Yang Kai made his way to another Lord's fief to check the situation.
What he found was much the same as at Zagu's territory. The Lord-level Ink Nest there had already begun to wither and decay, its Ink Power leaking away. Before long, it would be completely dead.
Yang Kai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He hadn't expected that destroying Heiyuan's Ink Nest would yield such a tremendous unintended harvest. It seemed that the mysterious connection between Ink Nets had both its advantages and its drawbacks.
By this logic, if the Ink Nest in the Royal City were to be destroyed, every Domain Lord-level Ink Nest would wither in turn, triggering a collapse of all Ink Nets throughout King Twilight's domain.
A surge of impulse rose within Yang Kai — to charge back to the Royal City and destroy that Royal Lord Ink Nest.
But the thought had barely turned in his mind before he abandoned it. With his current strength, he could run roughshod through the Domain Lords' territories while the Ink Clan's rear was thinly garrisoned, but storming the Royal City would be walking straight into a trap. The odds of survival would be vanishingly slim.
After all, more than one Domain Lord was stationed in the Royal City.
Thinking of the Ink Clan's Royal City, Yang Kai couldn't help but recall the Yin-Yang Pass Ancestor. Using that ancient coin to open a spatial corridor, the Ancestor had arrived in person, rescuing him from mortal peril and engaging King Twilight in battle. After all this time, he wondered how those two were faring.
The Ancestor was certainly powerful, but this was near the Royal City, and going in alone might not have given him any advantage. Still, that wasn't something Yang Kai needed to worry about — at his current level, he had no business intervening in a battle between a Royal Lord and an Ancestor. Perhaps an Eighth-Order Open Heaven cultivator could lend a hand in such a situation, but Seventh-Order was still far too weak.
Back at the front lines, the Yin-Yang Pass army had likely already clashed with the Ink Clan. Yang Kai didn't know how things stood, but judging by the relative strength of the two factions, the Yin-Yang Pass army would probably have to fall back behind the pass before long. The disparity in numbers was simply too great, and while the Ink Clan didn't fear casualties, the lives of human warriors were precious. Fighting in open space was far too disadvantageous for humanity — relying on Yin-Yang Pass itself could minimize losses considerably.
The Yin-Yang Pass army had charged out primarily to cover his return, but Yang Kai had been far too injured and crippled to sneak past the Ink Clan army and rendezvous with them. The army's sortie was fated to come to nothing.
So Yang Kai figured that, if his guess was correct, the Yin-Yang Pass army had already withdrawn behind the pass by now, and the pass itself was surrounded by the Ink Clan's forces. The two sides had entered the familiar rhythm of siege and defense they had fought countless times before.
For endless years, this same kind of battle had played out again and again at every human stronghold. Whether human or Ink Clan, both sides knew it intimately.
If that was indeed the case, then the situation actually favored Yang Kai.
With the Ink Clan army gathered outside Yin-Yang Pass, the road ahead was unblocked. He could slip quietly back to the edge of the battlefield and, when the two armies clashed and chaos reigned, find an opportunity to slip back through the pass — just as he and Feng Ying had once led hundreds of rescued Ink Disciples back to Azure Bloom Pass.
But Yang Kai had no intention of doing so.
Destroying Heiyuan's Ink Nest and dealing a heavy blow to Heiyuan's forces had shown him just how rewarding it could be. Opportunities like this were rare, and Yang Kai wasn't about to let the chance slip by. He estimated he'd never encounter another opening like this again.
So, a few days later, Yang Kai had fought his way out of Heiyuan's territory and entered the domain of another Domain Lord.
He had no idea whose domain this was, nor where that Domain Lord's direct fief lay. But it didn't matter. He simply located the nearest Lord's territory and charged in alone, cutting a swath of destruction in every direction.