The power of the Ink possessed an insidious corrosiveness that was difficult to comprehend, especially with regard to the Small Worlds of Heaven Opening Realm cultivators. Once the power of the Ink infiltrated a Small World, the situation was essentially hopeless.
Before Yang Kai had come to the Ink Battlefield, the Human Race had been fighting the Ink Clan under precisely these wretched conditions. That was why humanity had forged such a vast quantity of Palace-type Artifacts—to provide effective shelter for warriors below the seventh-grade Heaven Opening Realm.
However, seventh-grade Heaven Opening cultivators had to engage the Ink Clan in close-quarters combat. Not only did they have to contend with the Ink Clan's attacks, they also had to constantly channel their energy to resist the erosion of the Ink power, making it impossible to bring their full strength to bear.
Just moments ago, the Ink Clan Domain Lord's power had been similarly suppressed by the Purifying Light that had invaded his body.
For countless years, the Ink Clan was finally going to taste the same bitterness that the Human Race had endured. In a sense, this was rather like answering poison with poison—the Ink Clan relied upon the power of the Ink, while humanity could now count on the Purifying Light.
Yang Kai did not kill the Ink Clan Domain Lord. He simply re-imprisoned him. The creature's injuries were not severe. Once the residual effects of the Purifying Light dissipated and he had recovered, he would be as good as new—and could continue serving as a test subject for Grandmaster Trouble.
"I'd estimate the suppression at roughly thirty percent." Outside the sealed chamber, Yang Kai relayed his assessment.
What he meant by thirty percent was the degree of power suppression exerted on the Domain Lord after the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear struck him and the Purifying Light erupted.
That was a terrifying figure. In the heat of battle, having thirty percent of one's power stripped away was practically a death sentence—and that was before accounting for the fact, at the same grade, a seventh-grade Heaven Opening cultivator was already somewhat stronger than a Domain Lord.
It was easy to imagine that if the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear were deployed on the battlefield, seventh-grade Heaven Opening cultivators would be cutting down Domain Lords like chickens and dogs.
The old man, however, was clearly not entirely satisfied. He shook his head slowly. "There's still room for improvement. After this thing hits the enemy, the eruption of Purifying Light seems a bit slow. If the Domain Lord is quick enough to pull it out before the light fully activates, it might not be effective at all. Do you have any suggestions?"
Yang Kai laughed. "You're the authority on this, Grandmaster. I'm just here to assist you—what suggestions could I possibly have?"
Grandmaster Trouble had known he would say that. He'd only asked out of habit, and waved a dismissive hand. "Fine. I'll think on it myself."
With that, he turned and walked away.
Yang Kai called after his retreating figure, "Grandmaster, two heads are better than one! You might want to discuss things more with Grandmaster Dongguo and the others."
The old man offered no response—it was impossible to tell whether he'd even heard.
Still, after this round of testing, Yang Kai knew that the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear was essentially complete. It was simply nowhere near ready for actual battlefield deployment.
On the battlefield between the two races, the course of war was always decided by a handful of high-level powerhouses—humanity's eighth-grade Heaven Opening cultivators, the Ink Clan's Territory Lords, and even the Ancestor and King Lord tiers!
Grandmaster Trouble's original intention in forging the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear had never been merely to deal with Ink Clan Domain Lords. This weapon was meant for Territory Lords!
The King Lord tier was simply too high. Even if the Purifying Light worked against them, no one could guarantee how effective it would be.
Domain Lords, on the other hand, were numerous. If one tried to use the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear against them, to say nothing of the artifact refiners being unable to keep up with production, Yang Kai himself wouldn't have nearly enough energy to store Purifying Light for each spear.
Therefore, the weapon could only be used against Territory Lords—and would only be used against Territory Lords.
Good steel had to be used on the blade's edge.
The current Evil-Breaking Divine Spear suppressed a Domain Lord's power by thirty percent, but how effective it would be against a Territory Lord remained completely unknown. Still, even a mere ten percent could tilt the outcome of a particular battle.
The spectacular victory at Azure Void Pass—a plan decades in the making—would be difficult to replicate. The Ink Clan had suffered a devastating blow outside Azure Void Pass several decades ago: over thirty Territory Lords had fallen, vast territories had been lost, and their living space had been drastically compressed. But the Ink Clan would never suffer such a loss a second time. Moreover, most of the Small Worlds and Grotto-heavens outside Azure Void Pass had been shattered and collapsed in the fighting between Territory Lords and eighth-grade Heaven Opening cultivators, rendering them unusable.
The Human Race desperately needed something that could shift the balance of power between the two races. This thing had to be effective not only at Azure Void Pass, but at every other human stronghold as well. That was the future that the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear was destined to bear.
If the Purifying Light that Yang Kai had brought gave humanity the possibility of launching a long-range expedition, then the birth of the Evil-Breaking Divine Spear would turn that possibility into reality—provided, of course, that Grandmaster Trouble's improvements bore fruit.
After parting ways with the old man, Yang Kai returned to the Dawn encampment. It had been only two months since their last hunting patrol, and there was still ample time before the next outing. He certainly wasn't going to waste it. Over these decades, Yang Kai had never once been lax in his cultivation. The time required to advance from seventh-grade to eighth-grade Heaven Opening was extraordinarily long, and not a single moment could be squandered.
Time flew by, and several months passed in the blink of an eye.
The day arrived for Dawn's rotation on hunting patrol duty. The members emerged from their seclusion one after another and quickly assembled. Yang Kai personally headed to the Military Command Office to register.
This was a mandatory procedure for every mission. The Forward Outpost needed to track the movements of every squad in order to coordinate deployments properly—it wasn't as though teams could simply leave whenever they pleased.
At the Military Command Office, he encountered Zhong Liang. After exchanging salutes, Yang Kai said, "Sir, Dawn requests permission to depart on a hunting patrol."
Zhong Liang, busy at his desk behind the counter, didn't even look up. He simply tossed a jade slip to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught the slip and scanned its contents, slightly surprised. "Sir, isn't this region a bit too deep?"
The information in the jade slip designated the area Dawn would be responsible for during this patrol. Each time a team reported for duty, the Military Command Office assigned a squad leader a specific region. With large armies deployed in the field, everything had to follow established protocols—otherwise, multiple squads might cluster in one area while others went entirely unmonitored.
The region Zhong Liang had assigned to Dawn this time was deeper than anywhere they had ventured before, uncomfortably close to the territory currently under Ink Clan control.