On the deck, Blood Crow casually tossed two space rings toward Yang Kai.
Yang Kai caught them and probed inside. One space ring was rather ordinary—nothing particularly eye-catching, roughly equivalent to the personal wealth of an average Lord.
The other space ring, however, made his eyes light up.
This guy… was filthy rich!
The second space ring was packed with all manner of resources, so varied they made Yang Kai's head spin. Though he had seen his fair share of large hauls, even he couldn't help but be startled by this Lord's wealth.
The Mo Race Lords he had encountered before were never this prosperous.
Blood Crow spoke up: "Those aren't his things. The first space ring is his own—the second one he confiscated from various Ink Nests."
"What do you mean?" Yang Kai looked up and asked, a vague realization dawning on him.
Blood Crow let out a burp and explained: "This fellow came from the direction of the Mo Race's Royal City. He's tasked with collecting resources from the Ink Nests. In short, the Ink Nests out here on the periphery each belong to a different Mo Race Lord. They send their subordinates out to mine resources, and of the resources brought back, part is used by the Lords themselves—poured into the Ink Pools to generate Mo Force and expand their defensive lines. The other part is set aside, and the Royal City periodically sends people to collect it."
Yang Kai suddenly understood.
Nowadays, resources were critically important to the Mo Race. Whether it was expanding the outer defensive lines or sustaining the numerous Domain Lord-tier Ink Nests within the Royal City—or even the King-tier Ink Nest—all of it demanded enormous quantities of resources.
Even though they had accumulated quite a bit over the years, being besieged inside the Royal City meant they were burning through their reserves. They had to find ways to replenish them.
The source was the mining operations carried out by the peripheral Mo Race!
No wonder the Mo Race had been sending people this way—it was to collect resources. Judging by the stockpile in that second space ring, this fellow had clearly already visited quite a few places.
"Anything else?" Yang Kai asked.
Blood Crow said: "There are roughly twenty to thirty people like him responsible for resource collection, scattered in different directions. You know how it is—the Mo Race's defensive line is vast now, and everything within a one-month journey of the Royal City is blanketed in Mo Force. So they need that many hands. Domain Lords won't deign to handle such menial errand-running; that falls to Lords like him."
Yang Kai nodded slightly. That was understandable.
Moreover, the Domain Lords likely had more than just that reason—there was probably an element of fear toward Ancestor Xiaoxiao as well. They had no idea when she might suddenly come charging out, so naturally staying inside the Royal City felt safer. Who would dare wander out aimlessly?
Running into Ancestor Xiaoxiao would mean dying for nothing.
"Interesting!" Yang Kai grinned, suddenly feeling that this matter might be put to good use.
He had originally planned to use his previous method to seize the two nearby Ink Nests, but doing so again would introduce too many uncontrollable variables. His earlier success had relied heavily on considerable luck.
If he tried it a few more times, the Mo Race might grow sufficiently vigilant, and there was no guarantee he wouldn't be exposed.
But now, with this intelligence, perhaps a different approach could work.
Impersonating these resource collectors might yield very different results.
Yang Kai turned his head and instructed Shen Ao: "Send word to Chai Fang and Ma Gao—tell them to stop wandering around out there and bring their teams over. Also, try to contact Yao Kangcheng and have them pull out as well."
"Yes!" Shen Ao accepted the order and hurriedly produced a Spirit Transmission Pearl to send the message.
Gripping the space ring, Yang Kai stroked his chin in contemplation. Bai Yi and the others watched his eyes darting back and forth and understood he was cooking up some scheme, so they left him alone.
Before long, Shen Ao looked up: "Chai Fang and Ma Gao have replied. They'll be here within half a day. Can't reach Yao Kangcheng."
Yang Kai frowned slightly. This Yao Kangcheng—bold one. But being unable to make contact left him with no choice. All he could do was hope they were safe.
"You lot rotate keeping watch on the outside. I'll go man the central hub," Yang Kai ordered, then headed back into the Ink Nest.
On the deck, Blood Crow rubbed his belly, then turned and walked back into the ship's cabin. He needed to digest properly. The others watched him go, their faces grimacing in revulsion.
Half a day later, Yang Kai, stationed inside the Ink Nest, faintly sensed foreign presences breaching the defensive line where his Ink Nest lay. He immediately sent a transmission outward, warning everyone to stay alert.
But before long, another disturbance came—the second group had breached as well.
Yang Kai knew these had to be Old Turtle and Xuan Feng's teams.
Sure enough, moments later, a group of several figures crept in stealthily from the outer perimeter.
Leading them was none other than Chai Fang.
The man was clever enough to realize that a human warship here would be far too conspicuous. So, like Dawn's team, they had docked their ships outside and sent back all members below the Seventh Order. Only a handful of Seventh-Order cultivators slipped in silently.
Bai Yi, standing guard at the entrance, had already spotted them and guided them into the Ink Nest.