The situation just now had been far too dangerous. It wouldn't have mattered if Dawn had been exposed—Daybreak had more than enough strength to slaughter every Dark Clan aboard that tower ship. But once their position was compromised, the other three squads would be put at risk, especially the Snow Wolf Team, who had penetrated deep into the enemy's defensive line. They were now operating in hostile territory, and if the Dark Clan launched a thorough search, they'd have nowhere to hide.
Fortunately, it had only been a false alarm.
What puzzled Yang Kai, however, was the question of where these Dark Clan had come from. What were they doing out here?
With a flicker of thought, his left eye transformed into a golden vertical pupil. Under the gaze of the Demon Eye of Annihilation, illusions were laid bare. His vision pierced through layer upon layer of Dark Force, tracking the tower ship as it moved beyond.
He wasn't the only one watching. Bai Yi was observing as well, clearly harboring the same doubts.
Under their combined gaze, the tower ship raced straight toward the nearest Lord-rank Dark Nest. Halfway there, it encountered a Dark Clan patrol sent to investigate, and the two groups merged, continuing toward the nest.
Before long, the tower ship arrived at the Dark Nest.
A towering Dark Clan Lord emerged from within. After exchanging a few words with another Dark Clan member who had descended from the tower ship, he accepted a Space Ring the other had produced, gave a slight nod, and returned to the nest.
The tower ship didn't linger. Having delivered the Space Ring, it retraced its path, passing by Dawn once more before hurtling into the depths of the Void and quickly vanishing from sight.
On the deck of Dawn, Yang Kai and Bai Yi committed the scene to memory and exchanged a glance.
Bai Yi said softly, "Resources!"
Yang Kai nodded. "Must be."
Shen Ao and the others stood nearby in confusion. Ning Qizhi frowned. "What kind of riddle are you two playing? What was that Dark Clan group about? Why did they go in and come back out so quickly?"
They hadn't cultivated particularly powerful eye techniques, and under the shroud of the Dark Force, they simply couldn't make out what was happening inside.
Bai Yi glanced at Yang Kai. Seeing that he had no intention of explaining, she spoke up. "The Dark Clan on that tower ship were transporting resources. Having delivered their shipment, they'd naturally head back out to mine more."
Shen Ao's expression cleared. "The Dark Clan maintaining a defensive line like this must consume staggering amounts of resources. Not only are these outer Lord-rank Dark Nests burning through supplies, but the Territory Lord-rank nests and even the King-rank nests deeper within are all drawing on them. Even with the Dark Clan's vast accumulated wealth over the years, they're probably running a deficit now. They have no choice but to send people out to gather more."
"Exactly." Bai Yi nodded. "Dark Clan groups mining resources in the field like that must number quite a few, and their strength wouldn't be high. Those on the tower ship just now were almost all low-rank Dark Clan, with at most a handful of high-rank members overseeing the operation."
Dark Clan Lords were stationed near the Royal City. Dangerous tasks like going out to harvest resources could only be entrusted to high-rank and low-rank Dark Clan. If a Human Ancestor happened to attack, it would be their lives that were forfeit.
"Why didn't we run into any before?" Ning Qizhi asked, brow furrowed.
Yang Kai replied, "Dark Clan resource-gatherers come and go quickly. We've been skirting the outer perimeter the whole time—it's not strange we haven't spotted any."
If they'd been stationed in one location, they would certainly have seen many resource-gathering parties returning.
Dawn continued its advance, searching for a weakness in the Dark Clan's defensive line.
Time flew by. A full month passed with nothing to show for it.
The Dark Clan inside didn't patrol beyond the defensive line, so the two sides never encountered each other. The only sightings were of Dark Clan returning from resource-gathering missions—twice more in total.
After a month, Yang Kai—who had been standing on the deck scanning the surroundings—finally stirred. In the next instant, his left eye transformed into a golden vertical pupil, and he focused his gaze deep within the Dark Clan's defensive line.
After a long moment of silent observation, he let out a long breath.
He had finally found an opening they could exploit.
Perhaps because the defensive line outside the Royal City was simply too vast, or perhaps because the number of Dark Nests was no longer sufficient, the section of the line directly facing Dawn was noticeably sparse in its coverage.
In a position like this, seizing control of three adjacent Dark Nests would give Da Yan enough space to slip through.
If that was the plan, Da Yan would need to coordinate. If such an enormous fortress-type Secret Treasure were to come sweeping in, the nearby Dark Nests would certainly notice—their Lords were no blind men.
After mulling it over, Yang Kai produced a Space Jade Slip, infused it with his consciousness to leave a message, and handed it to Shen Ao beside him. "Send this back to Da Yan. Find out the situation."
The position he had his eye on differed from Da Yan's original assault route—it was angled slightly to the upper left. If Da Yan wanted to strike through the gap he had identified, they would need to alter their heading.
Yang Kai didn't know whether Da Yan could manage that, so he had to ask first. If they could, then he could make his move. Even if he took the three Dark Nests here, it would be meaningless if Da Yan didn't come through this direction.
This required Da Yan's cooperation and coordination.
Through the Void Spirit Pearl, Shen Ao quickly relayed the jade slip back to Da Yan.
This time the wait was considerably longer. A full three hours elapsed before Da Yan's reply came—clearly, they needed time to work out the calculations as well.
The returned jade slip bore the unmistakable traces of Xiang Shan's consciousness: "Da Yan can alter course, but it will require several additional days. Take care of yourselves."
For a palace-type Secret Treasure of Da Yan's immense scale, changing direction was no simple matter. It wasn't like a warship that could turn nimbly with a few mid-order Open Heaven masters at the helm.
Da Yan's course correction required the Ancestor and all the Eighth-Order Open Heaven masters working in concert, with a vast stretch of distance needed as buffer to execute the maneuver.
Fortunately, Da Yan was still a month's journey away from Yang Kai. Any closer, and even if Yang Kai had found this gap, Da Yan might not have been able to make the adjustment in time.