In the void, Yang Kai's figure flickered and shifted continuously as he pressed forward at tremendous speed.
The vast emptiness was silent and boundless, with no suitable landmarks and no regional Qiankun maps to guide him. Yang Kai had no idea precisely where he was at that moment.
Fortunately, the Qiankun Grand Formation was still available to him.
Under normal circumstances, as long as one remained within the same expanse of heaven and earth, anyone who had left an imprint on the Qiankun Grand Formation could activate the Qiankun Art to establish a connection with the formation and teleport directly back to it.
The only caveat was that distance mattered — the farther the gap, the greater the pressure one would face during teleportation. If the pressure became too great, one might suffer the embarrassing fate of arriving as a corpse.
Several days ago, Yang Kai had begun using the Qiankun Art to sense the Grand Formation's location, correcting his course accordingly.
However, because the distance between them was truly extreme, even Yang Kai would find it difficult to teleport across such a gap. He had been steadily closing the distance instead.
At a certain moment, he suddenly halted, his hand seals shifting as he activated the Qiankun Art.
A moment later, a massive formation beneath his feet blazed with light, and an ethereal connection formed with some distant, unknown location.
That was where the Qiankun Grand Formation resided — and where the Grand Formation was, that was where the North and South armies' Purging Vessels were hidden.
Yang Kai extended his senses briefly. His current position was still very far from the Grand Formation — at such a distance, an ordinary Seventh-Order cultivator would find teleportation virtually impossible. One would need to be at least Eighth-Order.
But for him, it was no longer an issue.
He opened his mind and body, allowing that invisible pulling force to envelop him.
Light erupted brilliantly, and Yang Kai's figure vanished without a trace.
---
A belt of floating continents, where the vast fleet of the North and South armies lay concealed.
This location was already a full ten days' journey from Dayan Pass!
Since the Ink Clan had first discovered their whereabouts, the fleet had shifted its hiding spot multiple times, yet each new position was inevitably exposed before long.
The Ink Clan had dispatched a truly staggering number of forces to track down this human army, spreading them out like a vast net in the direction of Qingxu Pass.
As a result, the North and South fleet had been forced to retreat again and again, until they reached their current location. If they were discovered here, they would have no choice but to fall back even farther.
After all, there was no Ancestor overseeing them here. Should an Ink Clan King Master show up, they would have no way to resist. For the sake of safety, the farther from Dayan Pass, the better.
On the central command Purging Vessel, Mi Jinglun stood at the bow of the deck, feather fan in hand, gazing in the direction of Dayan Pass.
Ouyang Lie and his disciple had departed to scout the situation at Dayan nearly ten days ago, and still no word had come back. He had no idea what was happening over there.
What baffled Mi Jinglun even more was the movement — or lack thereof — from the Dayan East and West armies. According to the original plan, they should have arrived near Dayan by now and made contact. Yet to this day, there had been not a single message from them.
The means of communication was with Ouyang Lie, who was currently near Dayan Pass. If the East and West armies wished to contact him, they should have been able to do so immediately.
Without the East and West armies' cooperation, the thirty thousand soldiers of the North and South armies alone simply couldn't accomplish much.
Unfortunately, there was little he could do at present. All he could manage was to keep the fleet hidden as best he could and wait in silence.
Just then, from somewhere aboard the Purging Vessel, a foreign aura suddenly appeared, followed by a startled shout: "Who are you?!"
Mi Jinglun snapped his head toward the source.
That was where the teleportation formation was located — the one corresponding to the chamber housing the Qiankun Grand Formation aboard the Purging Vessel.
If a soldier used the Qiankun Art to return to the vessel, they would first arrive in the chamber containing the Grand Formation. However, since that chamber was sealed with the Purifying Light stored within, there was an additional teleportation formation that would transport the person to a designated spot on the deck.
The corresponding formation on the deck was guarded at all times.
The shout had come from that very guard.
Someone had arrived aboard the Purging Vessel via the Qiankun Grand Formation! Mi Jinglun realized this instantly and sent a voice transmission to the guard: "Bring them here at once."
The guard acknowledged.
A short while later, the guard led a young man before Mi Jinglun.
The newcomer was, of course, Yang Kai. He took in the scholarly figure before him and, understanding immediately, cupped his fists in a salute. "Disciple greets Lord Mi!"
Mi Jinglun raised an eyebrow slightly. "You know me? I don't believe we've ever met."
Yang Kai replied: "We haven't, no! But Disciple knows the names of both commanders of the North and South armies. One of them, Lord Ouyang, sounds like the kind of man with a fiery temper — not one who would dress in such a scholarly manner. Since this isn't Commander Ouyang, then the person before me must be the other."
Mi Jinglun smiled faintly. "I see. You must be Yang Kai."
Now it was Yang Kai's turn to look surprised. "You know me as well, my lord?"
Mi Jinglun said: "Anyone who appears aboard the Purging Vessel must have left an imprint here previously. You are not a soldier of the North and South armies, and among all the human passholds, the only person to have left an imprint on every Purging Vessel is you — since you were the one who set up the Qiankun Grand Formation in the first place."