Two large bumps had also risen on his forehead, as if something were trying to bore through from inside, and even his backside itched.
Yang Kai hadn't activated the Dragon Transformation Art, yet his body was showing signs of transforming of its own accord. This had never happened before—not even when he had trained inside the Dragon Pool.
The Dragon Pool was, after all, a secret realm belonging exclusively to the Dragon Clan—it offered nothing to other Sacred Spirits outside their race. But Ancestral Spirit Power was a force that benefited all Sacred Spirits equally.
If one were to compare them, Ancestral Spirit Power was undoubtedly more primitive and far more violent.
A resounding dragon roar split the air as golden light blazed forth. Where Yang Kai had been, a colossal golden dragon seven thousand zhang in length materialized in a flash. Since he couldn't suppress it any longer, he might as well let nature take its course.
In that instant, the torrent of Ancestral Spirit Power surged in even more violently. The golden dragon tossed its head and swept its tail, its scales rippling across its body. It felt unbearably itchy all over, yet it could clearly perceive its own body growing. Along with that growth came a profound joy welling up from the depths of its heart.
Ever since he had trained inside the Dragon Pool years ago and advanced to the seven-thousand-zhang form of an Ancient Dragon, his Dragon Clan bloodline had progressed at a crawl. Nearly three thousand years had passed, and he had grown less than a hundred zhang. The main reason was that he had never had the time to refine his own Dragon Vein, and moreover, once one's Dragon Vein cultivation reached his level, further growth became extraordinarily difficult—unless one trained inside the Dragon Pool.
The problem was that Fu Guang had been recuperating inside the Dragon Pool for some time, and after Fu Guang emerged, Yang Kai had immediately gone into seclusion himself. When would he have found the time to visit the Dragon Pool?
But now the power of the Ancestral Ground was pouring in from every direction, and Yang Kai's dragon body was growing at a pace visible to the naked eye—as if he were cultivating deep inside the Dragon Pool once more, advancing with astonishing speed.
This was of course useless for improving his rank in the Open Heaven Realm, but an increase in his Dragon Vein's power was an increase in his overall strength all the same.
Yang Kai suddenly felt the trip had been worthwhile—and he completely abandoned any lingering thoughts about that beam of light.
Inside the Ancestral Ground, storms raged and the Ancestral Spirit Power churned. Meanwhile, the two Innate Domain Lords who had fled the Ancestral Ground had already returned to No Return Pass, leading a large contingent of the Ink Clan with them.
Upon a towering throne sat the Ink Clan's sole Royal Lord, his complexion so pale it was nearly bloodless, lending him an eerie, almost effeminate air. He rested one cheek against his hand, listening to the terrified report of the two Domain Lords below.
That throne had been constructed from enormous bones, every one of them radiating a resplendent luster, suffused with the essence of the Great Dao.
These were no ordinary bones. They were the bones of Sacred Spirits.
Over countless years of warfare, the Sacred Spirits had suffered their share of casualties. Some of the fallen Sacred Spirits had been recovered by their human allies, while others had been seized by the Ink Clan, their bones extracted to build the throne.
A throne of this magnitude must have required no fewer than ten thousand bones—one could only imagine how many Sacred Spirits had fallen over the years. Especially when No Return Pass had been breached, even dragons and phoenixes among the dead had been plentiful.
In the final battle of the Empty Domain, the reigning Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress had both perished as well.
Though the Royal Lord released not the slightest hint of pressure and merely listened in silence, the two Domain Lords below felt as if they were sitting on pins and needles. Fleeing without battle was a crime. They had been tasked with guarding the Sacred Spirits' Ancestral Ground. After one Innate Domain Lord had been killed, they had fled in a panic without so much as exchanging a single blow with Yang Kai—and had even abandoned a precious Domain Lord-grade Ink Nest. Such a crime was enough to condemn them to eternal damnation.
Of course, Innate Domain Lords were precious assets to the Ink Clan. Over the years, a great number of Innate Domain Lords had fallen in battle and their numbers had dwindled considerably. The Royal Lord was unlikely to sentence them to death outright—more likely, he would banish them to one of the six battlefields where powerhouses from both clans were engaged, and have them earn redemption through merit.
Along both sides of the great hall stood two rows of Domain Lords, every one of them Innate. Although the Ink Clan now possessed a fair number of Acquired Domain Lords, those Acquired Domain Lords were either fighting on the frontlines against human powerhouses to temper themselves, or absorbing Ink Force inside Ink Nests in bitter cultivation.
Only the Innate Domain Lords, whose strength had been fixed at the moment of their birth, had little to occupy themselves with.
At this moment, most of the Domain Lords wore expressions of sympathy. Over these years, they had all heard the name Yang Kai. Running into that human killing star and managing to come back alive was already fortunate enough. Of course, it was also because that fellow had been mindful of the agreement between the two clans and didn't dare break his oath lightly—otherwise, these two probably would not have returned at all.
Having laid out the full account of what had happened, the two Domain Lords waited in anxious dread for judgment from above.
After a long silence, the Ink Clan Royal Lord finally spoke: "That Yang Kai entered the Sacred Spirits' Ancestral Ground?"
"Yes." One of the Domain Lords—who had wings sprouting from his back, making him resemble a colossal bat—replied respectfully.
"What was he doing there?" the Royal Lord asked again, unable to help but recall the appearance of that human who had escaped from under his hand more than two thousand years ago.
The Domain Lord lowered his head, his voice trembling: "I do not know."
The Royal Lord frowned. Come to think of it, he and Yang Kai had crossed paths twice before.
The first time, Yang Kai had led a ragged band of human remnants in a charge against No Return Pass. Using the physical body of an ancestor from Qingxu Pass and the power of an ox demon, he had carved a bloody path straight through the ranks of the Ink Clan's powerhouses, dragging a great number of human survivors into the Empty Domain.
The second time, he had returned alone from the Ink Battlefield. On that occasion, he had single-handedly destroyed six Royal Lord-grade Ink Nests, killed several Innate Domain Lords, and then escaped without a trace.
The Ink Clan's Royal Lord had flown into a terrible rage over it—yet there had been nothing he could do.
But before long, he began hearing reports about this Yang Kai from the front lines. Over the years, an untold number of Domain Lords had perished at that man's hands. The fellow had become the Ink Clan's most dire threat.
If not for the knowledge that this man could never advance to the Ninth Order, the Ink Clan's Royal Lord would have stopped at nothing to see him dead. An Eighth-Order Open Heaven was already causing this much havoc—if he were given the chance to reach the Ninth Order, the consequences would be unthinkable. By then, even he himself might not be a match.