Yang Xiao, Yang Xue, three disciples, plus little Liu Yan, Qiong Qi, and even Xiao Hong and Xiao Xiao — all of them were actually in Xiangsi Domain?
Upon learning this, Yang Kai nearly lost control of his aura in shock. Fortunately, he steadied his mind in short order.
There was no time right now to figure out why these little ones were in Xiangsi Domain. That could wait until afterward. What mattered now was killing those Domain Lords.
After a moment's thought, Yang Kai transmitted a voice message: "Old Senior, how strong are they now?"
Since returning from the Ink Battlefield, Yang Kai had never once visited Star Boundary. Except for a brief encounter with Xiao Hong and Xiao Xiao at Void Land, he hadn't seen the rest of them in nearly a thousand years. He truly had no idea how their cultivation had progressed.
But if they had the nerve to become roaming hunters, their strength probably wasn't too weak. His three disciples in particular — Yang Kai had great confidence in them.
The Bixi Avatar transmitted back: "Yang Xiao went with the Dragon Clan to the Sacred Spirits' ancestral land back then and returned at the Seventh Order. Yang Xue broke through to the Sixth Order many years ago and should have reached the peak by now. As for your three disciples… all of them advanced directly to the Seventh Order Open Heaven."
Though every warrior who emerged from the Void Dao Academy within Yang Kai's Small Universe bore some trace of his legacy, when it came to true Personal Disciples, only Zhao Yebai, Zhao Ya, and Xu Yi qualified.
These three had each inherited his three most powerful Daos — Space, Spear, and Time.
Among the three, in terms of raw talent, the second disciple Zhao Ya was unquestionably the strongest. Her cultivation speed could be described as progressing a thousand li per day. Back when she had been cultivating within his Small Universe, Yang Kai had even made her suppress her own realm to keep it from growing too high, lest she return to Star Boundary and miss out on the World Tree's nourishment.
In truth, a great many warriors had since emerged from the Void Dao Academy, and quite a few prodigies were capable of advancing directly to the Seventh Order. But Yang Kai had rarely seen anyone whose cultivation talent could rival Zhao Ya's.
She was the kind of warrior born for cultivation. No matter what technique or secret art she picked up, she could master it with astonishing speed.
She was a true monster among monsters.
Xu Yi came in a distant second — a tier below Zhao Ya, but still exceptionally gifted. What was particularly rare was his extraordinary compatibility with the Dao of Time.
Zhao Yebai had the weakest talent of the three. To put it politely, he was mediocre; to put it bluntly, he was dull.
Yet among the three disciples, the one Yang Kai placed the most hope in was Zhao Yebai. Mediocrity and dullness meant he would put more heart and effort into his training, and the more he could consolidate his foundations.
A tower of ten thousand zhang rises from level ground. The more solid the foundation, the farther one can go.
Though dull, he possessed an extraordinarily keen sensitivity toward the Dao of Space — he was a natural born practitioner of it.
Back before Yang Kai had departed for the Ink Battlefield, he had sent all three disciples back to Star Boundary. Over the ensuing years, nourished by Star Boundary's sub-trees and bolstered by the massive resources Ling Xiao Palace had poured into them, the three had all advanced directly to the Seventh Order several hundred years ago.
In the past, any one of them would have been the most precious treasure of a major Cavern Heaven or Blessed Land — prime candidates to become future Ninth-Order Ancestors, each groomed as a successor by whichever power claimed them.
It was only now, with the sub-trees' nourishment producing an ever-growing stream of direct Seventh-Order advancement juniors, that these promising seeds of the Ninth Order had lost some of their former luster.
Even so, any warrior who advanced directly to the Seventh Order would receive the utmost attention and the finest resources from the Cavern Heavens and Blessed Lands. People like them represented the future hope of the human race.
Liu Yan, Xiao Xiao, and Qiong Qi all carried Sacred Spirit bloodlines and had trained at the Sacred Spirits' ancestral land. Their bloodlines had been purified to the point where they were on par with human Seventh-Order cultivators.
Being Sacred Spirits, however, they were naturally a cut above ordinary humans of the same rank.
As for Xiao Hong and Xiao Xiao, their mixed bloodlines disqualified them from the Sacred Spirits' ancestral land. They had remained at Bixi's side for their training and were somewhat weaker, only equivalent to the human Sixth Order.
Ten people aboard this ship — seven at the Seventh Order and three at the Sixth. If they included the Bixi Avatar as well, they would have the strength to fight even an Innate Domain Lord!
They had been roaming hunters for over a decade now. Their continued survival owed partly to the Bixi Avatar's protection, but equally to their own formidable strength.
Self-reliance was the foundation of everything. Without sufficient personal strength, no amount of outside protection would help.
Had the Bixi Avatar truly been blind to their intentions before agreeing to bring them out? Of course not. It was simply that the Avatar, too, believed flowers raised in a greenhouse served little purpose. In these chaotic times, shut-away cultivation could only take one so far.
Roaming the world and clashing with the Ink Clan was excellent tempering. Large-scale army campaigns had too many uncontrollable variables, whereas becoming a roaming hunter offered far greater freedom and flexibility.
Having learned of the little ones' growth from the Bixi Avatar, Yang Kai felt a surge of gratification. It wasn't just him growing stronger — the little ones were growing too. All of humanity was striving to become stronger.
The human race had a promising future!
With such a powerful and hidden reinforcement suddenly available, Yang Kai felt he could adjust his plan slightly.
Perhaps this was the perfect opportunity to let the little ones face an Innate Domain Lord head-on. They had probably never crossed blades with a Domain Lord before.
The thought turned over in his mind, and he sent out a transmission.
In the next instant, the two warships split apart and fled in opposite directions, looking for all the world like they were panicking.
The five pursuing Domain Lords saw this and split up to give chase almost without hesitation. Two Domain Lords pursued the Bixi warship while three went after Dawn's.
To the five Domain Lords, the two human warships before them were undeniably big fish. There was a single Eighth-Order human on board, true, but they hardly considered that a threat — one Domain Lord to pin down that Eighth Order was more than enough, and the rest of the humans could be slaughtered at their leisure.