Dawn sketched forward at low speed, silent and imperceptible.
Even in the outer perimeter, they occasionally encountered patrol squads of the Ink Clan. Most were led by a Lord, with a dozen or twenty Ink Clan soldiers following behind.
It was clear how seriously the Ink Clan regarded this defensive line—they seemed terrified that some human powerhouse might infiltrate.
But the more cautious they were, the more it revealed that the Ink Clan had exhausted their options.
Throughout history, on the Ink Battlefield, when had the Ink Clan ever been forced into such a passive defensive posture? They had always launched massive assaults on human strongholds. Even when they suffered devastating losses, they could regroup and strike again once they had recovered their strength after a period of time.
And humanity, in order to repel those assaults, had always poured their hearts and souls into the defense. Generation after generation of elite talents were dispatched from the Three Thousand Worlds to the Ink Battlefield, barely managing to hold the line.
Now, however, the Ink Clan in the Great Principle Theater no longer had the luxury of arrogance.
This was the dawn of humanity's victory. This was the glory of Great Principle.
Roughly half a day later, another squad of Ink Clan soldiers spotted Dawn and rushed toward them. After a brief inspection, they found nothing amiss and quickly departed.
On the deck, Yang Kai locked eyes with Shen Ao. Both wore grave expressions.
This was no coincidence—the Ink Clan had truly discovered something.
"There were no signs of any probing. How did the Ink Clan find out?" Shen Ao asked, shaken.
Yang Kai thought for a moment. "Perhaps it's because of the Ink Nests."
"Ink Nests?" Ning Qizhi looked bewildered.
Yang Kai nodded slightly. "The Ancestor told me some things about the situation around the Royal City. After the Great Principle Eastern and Western Armies withdrew, at first there was nothing unusual on the Royal City side. But barely a decade later, the Ink Clan began establishing this defensive line forged from Ink Force. Where did the Ink Force come from? From the Ink Nests, naturally."
Bai Yi suddenly chimed in, "Where we passed before, I detected traces of two Ink Nests deep below. Based on their scale, they should be Lord-level Ink Nests."
Shen Ao was stunned. "You could see that?"
Bai Yi looked at Yang Kai. "The Captain should be able to see them too, right?"
She could perceive them because, as a disciple of the Divine Feather Blessed Land, she had to master ocular arts to complement her archery in battle.
Yang Kai had also cultivated ocular arts, and the Myriad Demon Heaven's ocular arts were in no way inferior to those of the Divine Feather Blessed Land—in certain respects, even superior.
Shen Ao and the others all turned to Yang Kai, their faces questioning.
Yang Kai nodded. "They are indeed two Lord-level Ink Nests. Just as the Ancestor previously mentioned, the Ink Clan has concentrated every last Ink Nest around the outer perimeter of the Royal City to maintain the Ink Force defensive line."
Originally, within the Great Principle Theater, there had been one Sovereign-level Ink Nest, nearly a hundred Domain Lord-level Ink Nests, and each Domain Lord had commanded dozens to over a hundred Lords who possessed Ink Nests.
In other words, across the entire Great Principle Theater—if one set aside the Sovereign-level and Domain Lord-level Ink Nests—there had been at minimum several thousand Lord-level Ink Nests.
When the Great Principle Eastern and Western Armies had previously pushed deep into enemy territory, they had destroyed quite a few, but that had been only a fraction. The Ink Clan still retained a great many Ink Nests.
Where were these Ink Nests now? Others might not know, but the Ancestor, who had made multiple trips to the Royal City, would certainly have observed them.
Dozens of Domain Lord-level Ink Nests had already been placed inside the Royal City itself, protected by the Ink Clan's main army.
This was a measure born of desperation. For the Ink Clan, the entire Great Principle Theater now offered no safe ground outside the Royal City. If the Ink Nests were left in the open, the humans might destroy them at any time.
The remaining Lord-level Ink Nests had been positioned around the Royal City's outer perimeter, consuming vast quantities of resources to generate Ink Force and push the Ink Force defensive line outward, reinforcing it continuously.
In other words, the Ink Clan's Royal City outer perimeter now had roughly one Lord-level Ink Nest every short distance, and these nests generated Ink Force without cease, channeling it into the defensive line and expanding it ever outward.
The Ancestor had destroyed a number of Ink Nests when she came through previously, but the moment she struck, she inevitably revealed her position, allowing the remaining nests to be quickly relocated. There had been no way to eliminate them all.
Dawn had twice blundered into Ink Force defensive lines constructed by different Lord-level Ink Nest clusters, and both times they had been detected. One could only imagine—the Ink Force truly did serve as an early warning system.
Presumably, a Lord stationed within an Ink Nest could sense the disturbance whenever the Ink Force was touched.
After a brief pause, Yang Kai said, "Send word to the other three teams. Inform them of the situation and tell them to exercise caution."
The current situation was tricky. One or two accidental contacts could be dodged with luck, but luck wouldn't hold forever. If an Ink Clan soldier came to investigate and happened to let off a stray strike, Dawn would be forced to reveal itself. The illusion array deployed on Dawn only created confusion—it offered no real protection.
Shen Ao acknowledged the order and hurriedly produced a Spirit Communication Pearl to relay the message to Chai Fang and the others.
On the deck, Yang Kai turned his gaze toward the direction of the Ink Clan Royal City. They were roughly a month's journey from it now. When the Great Principle Pass arrived here, the Ink Clan was certain to detect them. With the Ink Nests serving as communication relays, the Royal City could prepare itself in short order.
One month would be more than enough time for the Ink Clan to arrange a full response.
When that happened, the surprise factor of the Great Principle Pass's assault would be severely diminished.
Was there some way to blind the Ink Clan's surveillance?
Unless they could seize some of the outer Ink Nests without a trace.