This Ink Nest had been brought out of the Primordial Heavenly Restriction by the Ink Clan. Its first purpose was to establish contact with No-Return Pass, and second, once supplies were received, it could be hatched so the Domain Lords could enter it to slumber and heal.
Now the Ink Nest was trembling, clearly an attempt by No-Return Pass to reach out.
Yang Kai was tempted to establish communication and gather some intelligence, but considering the risks, he decided against it. If the person at No-Return Pass trying to make contact happened to be Mo Naye himself, it would be difficult to fool him.
After all, communicating through the Ink Nest required immersing one's consciousness into that Ink Nest space, coming face to face. Given Mo Naye's caution, Yang Kai feared he wouldn't be able to hide anything.
He could only ignore it.
Though this response would make Mo Naye suspicious, it wouldn't directly expose anything. Delay for as long as possible was the best he could do.
Yang Kai put away the Ink Nest and resumed his journey of hunting down the Ink Clan's covert deployments. Time was running short—these days of wantonly slaughtering Domain Lords wouldn't last much longer.
Inside the Ink Nest space, Mo Naye had waited a full two hours with no response at all, and his expression had turned somewhat dark. He had a growing suspicion that the Primordial Heavenly Restriction had most likely been compromised.
If that were the case, then the last batch of Domain Lords who had escaped there had probably already fallen victim to the human powerhouses. Their Ink Nests had ended up in human hands, which was why there was no reply.
He didn't think those Domain Lords could have survived. The price of sneaking out of the Primordial Heavenly Restriction had been enormous, and if the humans had truly been prepared, finishing off those gravely wounded Domain Lords wouldn't have been much trouble.
Though he had long anticipated this scenario, the day had arrived far sooner than expected, and it left Mo Naye feeling somewhat disappointed.
He had thought the Ink Clan would have managed to slip more Domain Lords out...
His thoughts immediately turned to Yang Kai. With the Primordial Heavenly Restriction exposed, the humans on that side would have become aware, and it was only a matter of time before Yang Kai learned of it.
Perhaps... he already knew. That fellow relied on the Dao of Space to come and go without a trace—there was no guarantee he lacked contact with the Primordial Heavenly Restriction. Given his cunning, if he learned about the situation there, he could very well guess at Mo Naye's secret arrangements.
Mo Naye's expression grew grim. He immediately produced the communication bead that could reach Yang Kai and attempted to send a message through it: "Brother Yang, are you there?"
Mo Naye had never felt waiting to be so agonizing. He only wanted to use this method to determine Yang Kai's approximate distance—as for direction, that was completely impossible to judge.
If his message couldn't be sent through, it would mean they were far apart, and Yang Kai was not outside No-Return Pass. Over these years, Yang Kai had always been hiding in the outskirts of No-Return Pass. If he wasn't there now, that would无疑 speak volumes.
If the message did go through, then all was well—Yang Kai was still concealed somewhere outside No-Return Pass, monitoring the situation there, which was exactly what Mo Naye hoped to see.
To his relief, the communication bead in his hand gave a slight tremor, meaning the message had been sent. That meant Yang Kai wasn't too far away.
But there was no response from the other side.
Mo Naye waited a long while and, unable to hold back, sent another message.
Six million li from outside No-Return Pass, deep within a massive fragment of a destroyed world, a young man hunched in hiding, straining to suppress every trace of his aura. Not the slightest wisp was allowed to escape. In his hand he gripped a small communication bead, his focus absolute.
Judging by his cultivation, this person was merely at the peak of the Emperor Sovereign stage, having already condensed his own Dao Seal—the kind who could break through to the Open Heaven Realm at any moment. Moreover, the resources he had used to condense his Dao Seal were clearly of high quality, at least sixth-grade. In other words, if he broke through to the Open Heaven Realm, he would be a fine specimen capable of advancing directly to the sixth grade.
At this moment, the communication bead in his hand trembled faintly. The young man's spirit lifted—he realized that what the Dao Master had warned him about had truly come to pass. Someone was trying to contact this location.
He couldn't help but recall what had happened a month ago. He had been secluded in cultivation within the Void Dojo when he sensed something strange. By the time he opened his eyes, he had appeared in this place, and the person before him had sent his heart into a state of excitement beyond words. It was none other than the Dao Master himself!
He had only just managed to express his reverence for the Dao Master before this young man named Sun Zhao received a task directly from the Dao Master.
Suppress your aura and remain hidden here. Guard that communication bead!
The Dao Master's instructions had been extraordinarily solemn. He had said this matter was of grave importance, concerning the survival of the entire human race, and that Sun Zhao must not allow his whereabouts to be discovered.
Sun Zhao felt the weight of it pressing down like a mountain. He was nothing more than a minor Emperor Sovereign in the Void Dojo, not yet having broken through to the Open Heaven Realm. And yet, suddenly, he had been entrusted with a critical mission—a task that determined the fate of humanity.
But this had been personally commanded by the Dao Master. How could Sun Zhao dare not give it his all? He had immediately nodded and accepted. And so, this hiding had lasted an entire month.
The communication bead trembled gently in his hand. Sun Zhao strained to recall the Dao Master's earlier instructions.
"If no one contacts you, do nothing. If someone does, ignore it the first time, ignore it the second time as well—only respond on the third attempt!"
"Then how should I reply? And who is it that's sending the messages?" Sun Zhao asked humbly.