The Ink Race's assessment was that Yang Kai's periods of hiding were spent recuperating. After all, every time he appeared, he was inevitably wounded. However, those periods never lasted long—this human called Yang Kai appeared to possess an extraordinarily powerful recovery ability. No matter how severe his injuries, he could heal within ten days to half a month.
According to the intelligence leaked by the Ink Slaves, this recovery was most likely connected to his Dragon Clan bloodline. The Dragon Clan's restorative power was nothing short of terrifying.
Half a month later, Yang Kai appeared once again, just as the Ink Race had predicted. He struck at a territory adjacent to the Domain Lord whose Ink Nest had been previously destroyed.
Even though several hundred Lords had been lying in wait there, and Ink Slave-assisted formation arrays had been set up, they still couldn't withstand the devastating charge of a three-thousand-zhang dragon.
The same scene as before played out. The great dragon shattered the Ink Nest, tore the surrounding space apart, and though he sustained serious injuries, he ultimately broke through the encirclement and vanished without a trace.
Another Domain Lord's Ink Nest had been destroyed.
In an instant, outrage swept through the Ink Race. The destruction of the Ink Nests united them all in shared fury. Countless Lords secretly swore that they would kill Yang Kai and wash away this humiliation.
The void was crawling with Ink Race members hunting for Yang Kai's trail, making it far more difficult for him to recuperate.
Yet even so, every ten days to half a month, another Domain Lord's Ink Nest fell at his hands. Faced with the violent power of his dragon form, the Ink Race—without any true powerhouses guarding them—had no effective way to counter him.
Until this day. When Yang Kai once again descended upon a Domain Lord's directly controlled territory in his dragon form, five or six hundred Lords surged forward to meet him.
After a fierce battle, Yang Kai managed to claim some kills, but the sheer number of obstacles proved too great. He simply couldn't get close to the Ink Nest, and under the siege of several hundred Lords, he couldn't afford a moment of carelessness, or he might well meet his end in the most inglorious fashion.
With no other choice, Yang Kai was forced to retreat.
From the day Yang Kai had first struck and destroyed a Domain Lord's Ink Nest, roughly half a year had passed. In that time, he had destroyed no fewer than ten of them.
Previously, even when the Ink Race Lords had thrown everything they had at him, they hadn't been able to stop him. But today, they had actually forced him to withdraw empty-handed.
Watching the great dragon turn and flee, the assembled Lords were greatly invigorated, cheering with excitement. Some of the bolder Lords even gave chase, though Yang Kai ultimately escaped.
Although they hadn't managed to keep Yang Kai there, this was the Ink Race Lords' first victory against him. Through their combined efforts, they had managed to protect a Domain Lord's Ink Nest that Yang Kai had targeted. This was of enormous significance for all the Ink Race—something worth celebrating.
In stark contrast to the jubilant Ink Race, Yang Kai was in an extremely foul mood.
Over this past stretch of time, he had struck repeatedly. Though he had destroyed quite a few Domain Lord Ink Nest and slain many Lords, reaping rich rewards, he had also come to sense that with each successive attack, the resistance he faced grew ever greater.
Setting everything else aside, the number of Lords he faced each time kept increasing.
Moreover, many of those Lords looked familiar—which meant they certainly weren't people he was meeting for the first time.
After a brief moment of thought, Yang Kai quickly realized what was happening. Those familiar-looking Lords had been redeployed from other Domain Lords' territories.
His objective had always been crystal clear: target and destroy Domain Lord-level Ink Nests.
The territory covered by a single Domain Lord-level Ink Nest typically saw three to four hundred Lords gathered in its defense. Once he managed to destroy one, those Lords would be redeployed to reinforce neighboring Ink Nests. That was why he had encountered so many Lords today, and why so many faces were ones he had crossed swords with before.
If that was the case, then as the number of destroyed Ink Nests continued to climb, the resistance he faced would only grow greater in the future.
Today, he had already failed. With five or six hundred Lords defending with their lives, even in dragon form he hadn't been able to break through—instead, he had been battered into a wretched state.
It seemed this game was coming to an end. To press on any further would likely invite some unforeseen disaster.
Still, he had already destroyed a significant number of Domain Lord Ink Nest, dealing a severe blow to the Ink Race. He had also plundered resources from several Domain Lords' territories and cut down countless Ink Race members. These were rich gains.
Though unwilling, Yang Kai decided to withdraw.
He believed that after his extended campaign, the Ink Race in the Twilight Kingdom would suffer a massive blow to their strength. It would take them hundreds, if not thousands, of years to fully recover. Setting everything else aside, the destroyed Domain Lord-level Ink Nest alone—and the dozens of times that many Lord-level Ink Nest—were enough to make the Ink Race's hearts bleed.
Having made his decision, Yang Kai quietly set about healing his injuries.
The journey back was sure to be fraught with peril. Setting aside the Ink Race forces he would inevitably encounter along the way, the Ink Race army stationed outside Yin Yang Pass was also a significant concern.
Several days later, while Yang Kai was deep in healing, a thought stirred within him, and he created a clone within his small universe.
It was a place of beautiful mountains and clear waters. The three hundred artificers he had previously collected into his small universe had been settled here. Though they had been given this place to stay, beyond quiet cultivation there was nothing they could do.
After all, this was Yang Kai's small universe. If they were to recklessly invoke the power of their own Heavens and Earth, it would only add to his burden—potentially even contaminating his own power.
Everyone understood this, so they had been behaving themselves these past days, staying put with nothing much to do.
However, as the days stretched on without any word of the outside world, and with Yang Kai showing no sign of releasing them, Wu Xinghe and the others couldn't help but grow worried about his situation. They wanted to seek him out and ask what was happening.