When the Ink-Expelling Pill had first come into existence, Yang Kai had conducted a number of experiments with several grandmaster alchemists from Biluo Pass.
The pill genuinely possessed the ability to counter Ink Force, but when facing an Ink Slave who had been completely corrupted by Ink, it was far less effective.
The deeper one had fallen under the influence of Ink Force, the more limited the Ink-Expelling Pill's effects became.
Because of this, the human race had adopted a two-pronged approach when dealing with Ink Force erosion. Soldiers took Ink-Expelling Pills before battle, and should they accidentally be contaminated, they would deploy Purification Light to dispel it. Only in this way could one ensure their own safety.
When Qingxu Pass had fallen and the twenty-thousand-strong army had fought to the last, barely over a thousand battered soldiers remained. Many among that remnant force had long suffered from the persistent erosion of Ink Force.
The Ink-Expelling Ship left behind was their only hope.
That was why Commander Hai, an Eighth-Order Commander, had led a team to reclaim the Ink-Expelling Ship. Yet once they departed, no word of them was ever received again. Sun Mao and the others had deduced that Commander Hai's group must have met with disaster, and that powerful enemies likely still lurked within Qingxu Pass. In the years since, none had dared approach the pass lightly.
It was only yesterday, when the tremors of a great battle had rippled outward, that Sun Mao and his companions had risked their lives to investigate—only to witness with their own eyes the scene of Yang Kai slaying that Tusked Domain Lord.
"Where are Commander Huang and the fellow brothers hiding now? Take me there right away—" Yang Kai had been about to ask them to lead the way so he could help dispel the Ink Force, when it suddenly struck him that he was no longer capable of doing so.
Dispelling Ink Force required channeling Purification Light, and Purification Light required Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals.
He had cultivated within the Grand Sea Phenomenon for four thousand years. Every last Yellow Crystal and Blue Crystal he possessed had been consumed long ago…
Yang Kai couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret. Had he known it would come to this, he should have set some Yellow Crystals and Blue Crystals aside as reserves. But while cultivating within those Rivers of Time, feeling his strength grow with each passing moment, how could he have brought himself to stop before his resources were fully depleted?
If he'd had even more resources on hand, he probably would still be cultivating within those Rivers of Time.
Such an opportunity was simply too rare to pass up.
"Please have Commander Huang and the others brought here. I want to inspect Qingxu Pass first to see if any remnants of the Ink Clan still linger," Yang Kai ordered.
Sun Mao and the others brightened at his words and hurried off to carry out the task.
Only after they had departed did Yang Kai begin his thorough examination of Qingxu Pass's interior. This time, he inspected it with extreme care, sweeping his Divine Sense across every inch of the pass's interior, confirming that no trace of the Ink Clan remained within.
It seemed the only Ink Clan members stationed here had been the three Domain Lords he had killed.
Come to think of it, this wasn't surprising. A human pass so battered it was practically in ruins—naturally, the Ink Clan wouldn't place much importance on it. The only reason three Domain Lords had been left behind was to guard against any humans who might come to recover the corpse of Qingxu Pass's Old Ancestor.
Three Innate Domain Lords acting in concert, in the absence of a human Old Ancestor, would have been more than enough to handle the vast majority of situations.
The Commander Hai that Sun Mao had mentioned must have perished at their hands.
Yang Kai made his way back to the plaza and bowed deeply toward the remains of the Qingxu Pass Old Ancestor. With careful reverence, he collected both the Old Ancestor and the Broken-Horned Ox Demon into his Small World.
Immediately after, he approached the Ink-Expelling Ship. The vessel had been nearly cleaved in two. Fortunately, the areas housing the sealed Purification Light and the World Great Formation had not sustained severe damage—otherwise, Yang Kai would have been unable to resonate with them when activating the World Art.
The question now was whether the Purification Light sealed inside had leaked. Purification Light was, strictly speaking, a form of radiance—a manifestation of pure energy. When constructing the Ink-Expelling Ship, Yang Kai had worked alongside a formation grandmaster to arrange a completely airtight environment within its hull, ensuring the Purification Light would not dissipate.
Entry and exit relied entirely on a teleportation formation.
Now, with the Ink-Expelling Ship damaged, if that formation had also been affected, even the slightest imperfection would have allowed all the Purification Light inside to escape entirely.
Yang Kai silently prayed. He no longer had any Yellow Crystals or Blue Crystals, so he couldn't generate Purification Light on his own. If the Purification Light stored within the Ink-Expelling Ship was gone as well, then Commander Huang and the others would be in dire straits.
Standing on the deck, he examined the teleportation formation and found it riddled with damage. He set to repairing it without delay.
In less than half a day, the teleportation formation had been restored. Yang Kai stood upon it and activated a test, silently letting out a breath of relief. Fortunately, the linked teleportation formation arranged inside the Ink-Expelling Ship's hull was intact—otherwise, he truly wouldn't have known how to get in.
The formation lit up, and Yang Kai instantly appeared inside the Ink-Expelling Ship. One look, and all his eager anticipation evaporated into nothing.
The formation inside the Ink-Expelled Ship had been damaged. The interior was no longer a sealed environment, and not a trace of Purification Light remained.
Moreover, a corpse of an Ink Clan member lay inside.
When the Ink Clan had seized Qingxu Pass, the Ink-Expelling Ship would have stood out markedly from other human vessels. How could the Ink Clan have neglected to inspect it?
This dead Ink Clan member must have entered to investigate, only to find himself dropped into a space flooded with Purification Light—like an ant tumbling into a vat of boiling oil. In his final moments before death, he had unleashed a desperate attack from within, destroying the formation and allowing all the Purification Light to leak away.
Yang Kai cursed through gritted teeth, then flickered out through the teleportation formation.