Ouyang Lie snorted. "Now that makes sense. But the way Mi Big Head said it, going round and round in circles, he'd just confuse the hell out of anyone."
Yang Kai said frankly, "That was my failing in not explaining things clearly enough."
Ouyang Lie waved a hand and said with satisfaction, "So what you're saying is, the
Yang Kai nodded. "That should be the case!"
Ouyang Lie burst into hearty laughter. "Now this is what I call searching high and low for something, only to find it right under your nose without any effort at all."
Back when Mi Jinglun had demanded that the Ink Clan leave this Ink Nest behind, he had already intended to use it to build a human intelligence network. However, even he hadn't anticipated that the Ink Clan would dig in their heels and refuse to budge on this particular matter.
The result had been a complete stalemate.
Now Yang Kai had stepped in, and in the span of ten years had managed to get the Ink Clan to voluntarily abandon the nest. Mi Jinglun's original goal could finally be achieved.
Yang Kai himself was somewhat surprised. He had only intervened to deal with the Ink Clan Domain Lords. He hadn't expected that in the end, the Ink Nest itself would fall entirely into human hands.
Although the King Lord-level Ink Nest had completely severed its connection to the Domain Lord-level Ink Nest in human possession, the latter had not withered as a result. The fundamental reason was that while the connection between them could be cut, and the space manifested by the King Lord-level Ink Nest's will could refuse entry to the Domain Lord-level Ink Nest's will, the hierarchical relationship between them could never be truly severed.
In other words, as long as the Ink Nest in the Ink Clan's Royal City was not destroyed, this Domain Lord-level Ink Nest in human hands would remain perfectly safe.
"If Mi Big Head hears the news about this, he'll be overjoyed. I'll go let him know." With that, Ouyang Lie turned and left.
After he departed, Yang Kai immersed his consciousness once more, opening the gateway to his Small Universe and linking with the Ink Nest's will.
Although he could no longer enter the Ink Nest space manifested by the King Lord-level Ink Nest's will, connecting with the will of the nest before him posed no difficulty. Moreover, there was no longer any need to guard against a possible ambush.
With no interference, Yang Kai easily brought the entire nest under his control. With a mere shift of his consciousness, it was as if the Ink Nest were an extension of his own body—every one of its functions and capabilities lay fully within his grasp.
After all, he had done this many times before. Setting aside the nest before him, he had linked with numerous Ink Nest wills during his time deep in Ink Clan territory, so this was far from unfamiliar to him.
Back then, however, he had had no interest in exploring the nest's other functions. Now things were different. The humans intended to use this Domain Lord-level Ink Nest to build their own intelligence network, so the better they understood its capabilities, the better.
After a short while, Yang Kai had a general grasp of the nest's various abilities.
He teleported to the Ink Pool and fed large quantities of resources into it, secretly controlling the nest to absorb and refine their energy.
The Ink Pool was the most critical part of every Ink Nest, the source of its power. Whatever resources were thrown in, they could quickly be converted into nourishment for the nest.
Using this nourishment, the Ink Nest could birth new Ink Clan creatures, spawn sub-nests of its own, and even facilitate communication between nests and sustain the spaces manifested by their wills—all of which required energy to maintain.
Yang Kai had no intention of using the nest to birth Ink Clan organisms. He wanted to create a sub-nest first.
His Small Universe needed a sub-nest so that the disciples of the Void Temple could familiarise themselves with the Ink Clan's characteristics as soon as possible.
But even more importantly, the human intelligence network required a large number of sub-nests. This was also an opportunity to verify the hypothesis he had just discussed with Ouyang Lie.
Could a higher-level Ink Nest sever its connection to its own sub-nests? And if that connection was severed, could it be restored?
If it could not be restored, that would naturally be good news for humanity—it would mean they could use this nest without worry.
If it could be restored, then caution would be essential. No one knew when the Ink Clan might suddenly re-establish the connection. Spying on human intelligence would be the lesser concern—if the Ink Clan could launch a sudden attack on the human soldiers stationed at the nest, that would be far more dangerous.
Under his control, the vast quantities of resources in the Ink Pool were quickly refined, and all the energy converged toward the surrounding flesh walls.
Before long, a fleshy bulge began to form on one section of the wall.
One glance at it was enough for Yang Kai to avert his eyes. He could clearly sense that what was being cultivated inside the bulge was not the sub-nest he wanted—it was an Ink Clan creature.
His first attempt had failed.
Yang Kai was not discouraged. Before the Ink Clan creature could fully form, he destroyed it and began again.
After several consecutive failures, a presence entered the Ink Nest—it was Mi Jinglun, who had come upon hearing the news.
He was not alone. The two Army Commanders,
This spoke volumes about the importance the higher-ups placed on the Ink Nest.
Yang Kai had no choice but to halt his attempts and step forward to pay his respects.