Moreover, if they wanted to take down someone like Yang Kai, they couldn't be watertight—they had to leave him an opening. Only then would he risk making a move. If they grouped the Domain Lords in fours, Yang Kai would likely just hide and never show himself, which would put the Ink Clan in a difficult position.
"Furthermore," Monaye continued, "the intelligence from the Ink Majesty shows that Yang Kai possesses extraordinary escape abilities. His movements are unpredictable and ghost-like. Even when the Ink Majesty personally pursued him, he still managed to slip away. So if any of you encounter him, you must engage and hold him at all costs—under no circumstances should you give him the opportunity to flee!"
The other four Domain Lords all nodded. "Understood."
The Snake Crest Domain Lord couldn't wait to speak up. "Monaye, shall we close the net now? The big fish have already taken the bait—there's no need to keep waiting, is there?"
Monaye pondered for a moment, then nodded. "We can seal the domain gates. However, there's no rush for us to act personally. Five more Domain Lords are already on their way, and by my calculations, they should be arriving in the Xiangsi Domain soon."
The four Domain Lords were all startled. The Meat Wing Domain Lord asked, "You called in reinforcements?"
Five more on the way—combined with the five of them, that meant a mere Xiangsi Domain was gathering a full ten Domain Lords! Ten Domain Lords joining hands to deal with a single human Eighth-Order... they were truly giving him more respect than he deserved.
"Caution is never wrong!" Monaye said gravely. "If we can eliminate Yang Kai this time, the Ink Majesty will certainly be pleased. What does it matter if we work a little harder?"
With the Ink Majesty invoked as his argument, the other Domain Lords had nothing more to say.
Shortly after, Monaye sent out his orders. At the five domain gates of the Xiangsi Domain, the Ink Clan armies that had been hiding in the shadows surged forth and took up tight defensive positions. At each gate there were a million soldiers. Though no Domain Lord was stationed at any of them, the sheer numbers alone meant that even if a human Eighth-Order tried to break through, they could hold him—at any cost.
Just as Monaye and the others were conferring, on the Bixi warship, the Bixi clone suddenly sensed something and turned his head to look in a certain direction.
Over there, there seemed to be an aura remarkably similar to his own. Though separated by billions of miles, auras from the same origin could not be severed by time or space.
His head immediately began to ache. What was this fellow doing here?
If this fellow was here, didn't that mean those little ones were here too? They should have been cultivating in the Star Boundary—what were they doing in the Xiangsi Domain?
The audacity! If something went wrong, how was he supposed to explain this to Yang Kai?
He quickly focused his mind and reached out to communicate with the other party.
"How did you bring those little ones out here?"
The other side responded almost immediately. "How did you end up here too?"
The Bixi clone replied, "It's a long story. The kid Yang wanted to come to the Xiangsi Domain, and Yu Rumeng and those women insisted on following along. I had no choice in the matter."
The other side fell silent for a moment, then said with a hint of guilt, "The kid Yang is back? Ahem... Has he been back to the Star Boundary?"
"Probably not yet." The Bixi clone paused, then added grumpily, "You've got far too much nerve. How could you bring them all the way out here?"
The other side answered, "I couldn't help it! Those little ones have made real progress in their cultivation, and they're all young and restless—they couldn't stand hiding in the Star Boundary doing nothing day after day. They kept nagging and pestering me nonstop, and you know how it is. At my age, I just couldn't resist their constant wheedling. I went soft for a moment, and..."
"You're absolutely useless!" The Bixi clone spat in contempt.
The other side was silent for a moment before saying, "You are me, and I am you. When you insult me, you're only insulting yourself."
The Bixi clone was momentarily speechless, but fortunately hadn't forgotten the important matter at hand. He quickly said, "Something's wrong on the Xiangsi Domain's end. The Ink Clan is surely fishing for something. Before the situation descends into chaos, get them out of there immediately. Delay, and things will change!"
"Understood!" came the quick reply from the other side, clearly having also sensed the wrongness of the Xiangsi Domain situation.
After a brief exchange, they each severed the connection. The Bixi clone felt somewhat melancholy—should he tell Yang Kai about this? If he did, Yang Kai would certainly not stand by and do nothing. But if he didn't, and Yang Kai found out later, how would he explain himself?
Just as the Bixi clone was wavering in indecision, Yang Kai, up ahead at Dawn, suddenly turned his head to glance back, his brow deeply furrowed.
Moments ago, he had faintly felt some peculiar fluctuation of power coming from behind, but when he tried to sense it carefully, he found nothing. This left him quite puzzled.
At his level of strength, these subtle feelings were rarely wrong. His heart jolted—could it be that an Ink Clan powerhouse was secretly watching them?
He immediately sent a voice transmission to the Bixi clone: "Old sir, did you sense anything unusual?"
The Bixi clone was riddled with guilt and hastily replied, "No. Did you sense something unusual?"
Yang Kai grew even more puzzled. Had it just been his imagination?
To be safe, he surged his divine sense outward, monitoring every direction. This scan was no trivial matter—in the distant void, he immediately detected five powerful auras streaking through the emptiness.
Five Domain Lords!