Yang Kai thought carefully for a moment and suddenly realized, "That arm bracer?"
He knew that Hei Yuan had an arm bracer on his right arm — after all, he had dealt with Hei Yuan many times. He knew it was an Artifact crafted by a human race Artifact Refiner, but he never imagined it was something Wang Sibo had forged.
Sure enough, Wang Sibo nodded. "That's right, the arm bracer. Back then, Hei Yuan came to me and asked me to craft a protective Artifact, so I custom-made that arm bracer for him. Its defensive power isn't exactly overwhelming, but it's not weak either. In a critical moment, it might just save his life. Since Junior Brother has seen it, that means he wears it on him at all times."
Yang Kai nodded. "That's correct."
"Then this makes things easier," Wang Sibo said with a smile. "Junior Brother is also an Artifact Refiner, so you should know that most of us Artifact Refiners have a quirk — we like to leave some special mark or other signature in the things we forge, to distinguish them as our own work."
Yang Kai was well aware of this. Just as Wang Sibo said, many Artifact Refiners had this habit, leaving their own unique mark in the Artifacts they crafted. Of course, they didn't do it for every piece — only for those they considered exceptional. In the early days, this practice was mainly to build their reputation, and an Artifact bearing the unique mark of a master Artifact Refiner would naturally command a higher price as well.
This unique mark could sometimes be obvious, sometimes hidden, and the method depended on the Artifact Refiner's preference.
Actually, Yang Kai had done something similar himself, though what he left behind wasn't a unique mark but hidden prohibitions. Every Artifact he had crafted for the Ink Clan Lords contained such hidden prohibitions. When he killed Zha Gu, he had activated the prohibition on the spot, rendering Zha Gu's half-body armor completely useless as protection, allowing him to kill the target with a single strike.
So upon hearing Wang Sibo's words, Yang Kai immediately understood. "There's a mark left by Brother Wang in that arm bracer?"
"Exactly!" Wang Sibo nodded. The arm bracer he had forged for Hei Yuan back then was undoubtedly a masterwork, which was precisely why he had left his unique mark on it. "I can craft a small device that tracks the position of my mark. Perhaps we can use it to locate where Hei Yuan is hiding. However, if Hei Yuan is concealed within some secret realm, or if the distance is too far, it won't be able to track him."
If he were hidden inside a secret realm, he would exist in a different space entirely, making it impossible to track. If the distance was too great, the mark's position couldn't be sensed either.
But this was still worth trying. Yang Kai said immediately, "In that case, I'll have to trouble Brother Wang. If we can take this opportunity to kill Hei Yuan, that would be ideal. If we can't track him down, we'll head back inside the pass."
Wang Sibo naturally agreed without objection.
However, within Yang Kai's Small Universe, Wang Sibo couldn't freely channel his power. Left with no alternative, Yang Kai had to find a suitable location first.
Fortunately, there were plenty of secret realms deep in the Ink Clan's territory. When Yang Kai had caused havoc earlier, he had discovered many hidden entrances to secret realms but hadn't had time to explore them. Now finding one was no difficult task.
In just a single day, he successfully located a secret realm, opened the entrance, and stepped inside. He released Wang Sibo from his Small Universe and prepared everything the Artifact Refiner needed.
Crafting the tracking device wasn't too difficult and wouldn't take many days. Yang Kai then released Wu Xinghe and the others to stand guard, while he ventured deeper into the secret realm to check for any dangers and explore the area at the same time.
If there happened to be any precious herbs or Xuanpin Spirit Fruits, he could harvest them while he was at it.
As he explored the secret realm, Yang Kai was also contemplating where Hei Yuan might be hiding.
Although Wang Sibo could craft a tracking device, it would be useless if the distance was too great. He needed to determine Hei Yuan's approximate location first, so the device could work more effectively.
Hei Yuan's soul had suffered severe injuries. He would certainly be focused on recovery right now.
Logically speaking, the best way for an Ink Clan member to heal was to retreat into an Ink Nest. A Domain Lord-level powerhouse like Hei Yuan would naturally enter a Domain Lord-level Ink Nest. But with the Twilight King Realm in chaos due to Yang Kai's constant rampaging — specifically targeting Domain Lord-level Ink Nests — Hei Yuan might not dare to do so. If Yang Kai caught him inside an Ink Nest, that would be a serious problem.
So Yang Kai was eighty percent certain that Hei Yuan was not hiding in any Ink Nest.
He was most likely concealed within the area covered by the Domain Lord-level Ink Nests that Yang Kai had already destroyed. Since those locations no longer had Ink Nests, they were the last places Yang Kai would visit according to his previous patterns, making them extremely safe for Hei Yuan.
He might even be hiding right in his own territory, playing the game of hiding in plain sight!
Several days later, Yang Kai returned from the depths of the secret realm. There wasn't much of value in this particular realm — he had gathered some herbs but found no Xuanpin Spirit Fruits.
In the meantime, Wang Sibo had finished crafting the tracking device.
As soon as Yang Kai returned, Wang Sibo handed him a compass-like object. "With this device, you can sense the arm bracer's position within a certain range. Wherever the arm bracer is, that should be where Hei Yuan is."
"Understood!" Yang Kai said with a solemn nod.
"Junior Brother, be careful. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse — Hei Yuan is still a Domain Lord after all. If you find yourself outmatched, don't push it," Wang Sibo added with a word of caution.
Yang Kai replied, "Don't worry, Brother Wang. I still need to bring everyone back to the pass, so I won't take reckless risks."
He stored Wang Sibo, Wu Xinghe, and the others back into his Small Universe, then exited the secret realm. After consulting the World Map, he set off straight toward Hei Yuan's territory.