Given the powerful connection between Ink Nests, Yang Kai faintly suspected that these Domain Lords could use this Ink Nest to communicate directly with those at Return Pass.
Clutching the small Ink Nest in his palm, Yang Kai pondered for a long while before abandoning the idea of using it to gather intelligence on the Mo Clan. He turned and headed toward the Primordial Great Restriction.
However, he did not make for the Ink-Repelling Platform. Instead, he made his way to the void where the flaw in the Primordial Great Restriction lay and concealed his presence.
He exchanged a few words with Wu Kuang via voice transmission and learned that nothing unusual had occurred at this location during the interim. Yang Kai then settled into a quiet vigil.
Ten days later, the scene he had witnessed before played out once more. Within the Great Restriction, dark ink-colored energy churned cautiously, and through some unknown means forced its way out through the sealed barrier. The darkness dissipated, revealing the figure of an Innate Domain Lord.
Without lingering, the Domain Lord headed straight in the direction the previous one had departed, and Yang Kai followed soundlessly behind.
Under normal circumstances, such tailing might not have escaped the perception of an Innate Domain Lord — especially one on such high alert. But having forced his way out of the Primordial Great Restriction, this Domain Lord had suffered considerable injuries, to the point where even his danger sense had grown hazy.
Yang Kai shadowed him until they were far from the Primordial Great Restriction, then struck without warning, killing him on the spot.
This Domain Lord had likely been heading to rendezvous with the previous seven, but those seven had long since been thoroughly eliminated by Yang Kai. How could he ever find them?
And so, over the course of two months, Yang Kai killed five Domain Lords in this manner before finally stopping.
The situation was not good.
The reason Yang Kai had not had Wu Kuang repair the flaw in the Primordial Great Restriction right away, and instead chosen to observe covertly, was that he wanted to determine the frequency at which the Mo Clan's Domain Lords were escaping the Restriction.
The results were alarming!
On average, two or three Innate Domain Lords managed to escape each month. Even at a conservative rate of five every two months, that amounted to a full thirty per year!
By Yang Kai's earlier estimates, the Primordial Great Restriction may have had problems as far back as several decades ago. A conservative estimate placed it at thirty years. At thirty per year, over three decades that added up to nearly a thousand Innate Domain Lords having escaped.
Nearly a thousand — an enormous number — and every single one of them was an Innate Domain Lord.
Yang Kai's mood grew heavy as he realized his earlier deductions had been correct. The reason he had been able to find the second hidden King Lord-level Ink Nest so easily was not because he had been lucky, but because the Mo Clan had made far more of these hidden arrangements than he had imagined.
"It's not a big problem. The repair won't be difficult. I'll be more careful from now on." Wu Kuang's voice transmission came through, his tone somewhat subdued. Anyone would be in low spirits after being outmaneuvered by the Mo Clan right under their own nose.
When he said it was not a big problem, he was not referring to the Innate Domain Lords who had escaped the Restriction, but merely to the flaw the Mo Clan had discovered.
Previously, he had not been paying much attention to that particular area, which was how the Mo Clan had exploited the opening. Now that the problem had been identified, all he needed to do was manipulate the Restriction and make the necessary adjustments to seal the flaw.
"Put more effort into it. If this happens again, the Human Race is finished." Yang Kai admonished him. Though the current situation was not ideal, the Mo Clan had not yet gained an overwhelming advantage. He quietly thanked his lucky stars that Ouyang Lie had stumbled upon that King Lord-level Ink Nest by chance. If the Mo Clan had been allowed to continue this scheme for several more centuries, the Human Race could truly have faced annihilation.
Wu Kuang fell sheepishly silent, apparently devoting his full attention to repairing the flaw.
It did not take long for Wu Kuang to complete the repair. At the same time, on the Ink-Repelling Platform, a Human Race warrior tasked with monitoring the Mo Clan's movements on the battlefield let out a surprised exclamation, as if he had noticed something strange. The sounds of battle that had raged across the battlefield for a thousand years were gradually falling silent. Even the Innate Domain Lords who had left the Primordial Great Restriction and were clashing with the Ink-Repelling Army's powerhouses had begun to retreat, withdrawing back through the gap into the Restriction.
Less than half a day later, on the Ink-Repelling Platform, thousands of Ink-Repelling Army soldiers stared blankly at the void before them.
The battlefield that had seen unceasing conflict for a thousand years had finally, today, welcomed a rare moment of peace. No more Mo Clan warriors surged out through the gap. Across the vast expanse of the battlefield, there remained only countless fragments of Mo Clan flesh and limbs, along with Ink Force so dense it seemed almost solid.
Cheers erupted from somewhere and soon swept across the Ink-Repelling Platform like a tidal wave. The soldiers were jubilant, their cries of "great victory" rising one after another. The converging roar of voices nearly seemed to shake the heavens and earth.
The rank-and-file soldiers believed that after a thousand years of war, they had finally defeated the Mo Clan within the Primordial Great Restriction, forcing them to no longer dare show their faces — a tremendous boost to the morale of the Human Race's armies.
Some Eighth Order commanders, however, furrowed their brows.
The Primordial Great Restriction had deliberately left the gap open to lure the Mo Clan out for slaughter, with the aim of alleviating future pressure on the Human Race. The Mo Clan now cowering and refusing to come out was not a good thing.
Still, the Ink-Repelling Army, having endured a thousand years of combat, genuinely needed a good rest. This situation was at least acceptable.
Only Yang Kai, hidden in the shadows, let out a quiet sigh.
The sliver of a flaw the Mo Clan had found had already been repaired by Wu Kuang. Without that, they had no need to send troops to their deaths on the front lines just to keep Wu Kuang occupied, so naturally they would stop sending reinforcements.