The reason they hadn't resorted to this before was primarily to avoid interfering with those Domain Lords' healing process. But compared to the current situation, disrupting their recovery was no longer a concern.
The Ink Nest Space continued to vibrate, transmitting urgent signals outward. Deep within the Ink Battlefield, in the partially hatched King Lord-level Ink Nests, the Domain Lords who had been slumbering to heal their wounds were all disturbed, waking one after another.
Soon, more and more figures materialized within the Ink Nest Space—each one representing a King Lord-level Ink Nest. Though these Domain Lords, interrupted during their recovery, were in no pleasant mood, they didn't dare show the slightest dissatisfaction before Mo Na Ye, this Pseudo King Lord. They all stood rigidly at attention, waiting in silence.
Mo Na Ye continuously counted the arrivals until no new figures appeared...
Everyone who should have been there had arrived—except four were missing!
Mo Na Ye's face turned ashen. He realized that no matter how careful and cautious he had been, he had still been one step behind. Four absent figures in the Ink Nest Space meant four King Lord-level Ink Nests had been destroyed, and the Domain Lords who had been recovering inside them had likely met grim ends.
That was nearly sixty Innate Domain Lords!
Such devastating losses.
After calculating the positions and distances between those four King Lord-level Ink Nests, Mo Na Ye immediately concluded that the perpetrator could only be Yang Kai. Only he could traverse the space encompassing four King Lord-level Ink Nests in such a short time and destroy the nests and slay the Domain Lords with thunderous methods!
The message that had come through the Communication Pearl earlier was definitely not from Yang Kai himself.
This fellow had calculated his every move to perfection! Whatever countermeasure Mo Na Ye might take, Yang Kai had already anticipated and arranged for it in advance. Infuriating!
"My Lord, what has happened?" an Innate Domain Lord asked upon noticing Mo Na Ye's altered expression.
Mo Na Ye quickly composed himself and said in a grave voice, "There is no longer any need to hide. Depart immediately and make for Non-Return Pass. We will send reinforcements to meet you along the way. If you encounter a human powerhouse on the road... do not engage. That person is incredibly powerful and his methods are bizarre—none of you can match him."
The Domain Lords' expressions turned grim. None of them could fathom what kind of human powerhouse could make a Pseudo King Lord this wary.
One Domain Lord ventured, "My Lord, if we do encounter him, what should we do?"
Mo Na Ye replied without hesitation, "Scatter and flee. Every man for himself."
"What about the Ink Nests?" another Domain Lord asked.
When fleeing for one's life, one would naturally discard the Ink Nest if necessary. But King Lord-level Ink Nests were extraordinarily precious to the Ink Race—they were the highest quality Ink Nests, directly nurtured within the Primal Sky Great Restriction, each containing a trace of the Supreme One's origin power. Even Mo Na Ye was reluctant to give them up lightly.
After a brief moment of deliberation, he said, "Take them along. If the situation turns dire, abandon them at any time! Go!"
With a wave of his hand, the Domain Lords took their leave. Soon, across the Ink Battlefield, Domain Lords flew out from King Lord-level Ink Nests one after another. Channeling their Ink Force, they enveloped the Ink Nests and rushed toward Non-Return Pass from different directions in batches.
Within Non-Return Pass, Mo Na Ye personally set out to provide reinforcements, while powerful Innate Domain Lords formed Four Symbols and Five Elements formations and dispatched to the four directions.
Nearly all the powerhouses of Non-Return Pass had been deployed, leaving behind only the King Lord Mo Yu and the Pseudo King Lord Meng Que, along with more than ten Domain Lords responsible for setting up the Four Gates Eight Palaces Sumeru Array at a moment's notice, in case Yang Kai came to cause trouble.
Inside that massive Heaven and Earth Fragment, the hidden Sun Zhao felt the overwhelmingly powerful auras approaching from a distance, then rapidly retreating, and couldn't help but tremble.
He instinctively sensed that this mobilization of powerhouses had something to do with the Dao Master. He wanted to send a message to warn the Dao Master, but had neither the means nor the method, so he could only pray silently.
Deep within the Ink Battlefield, Yang Kai stood amid a stretch of ruins. Just moments ago, he had found another King Lord-level Ink Nest and annihilated all the Domain Lords hiding within. By his count, this was the second King Lord-level Ink Nest he had destroyed since returning from the Primal Sky Great Restriction. Adding the two from before, a total of four King Lord-level Ink Nests had been reduced to rubble at his hands, and roughly sixty Innate Domain Lords had been slain.
Yet Yang Kai felt not the slightest joy. The greater his gains, the more it only meant that the Ink Race's hidden forces were even more numerous than he had thought. He had to find as many of these concealed Domain Lords and Ink Nests as possible before Non-Return Pass could react.
Drawing the small Ink Nest he had captured outside the Primal Sky Great Restriction from his robes, Yang Kai furrowed his brow. While he had been killing those Domain Lords, this little Ink Nest had started vibrating again—and more intensely than before. He had no idea what the Ink Race was plotting.
The Ink Nest had gone quiet now, but Yang Kai didn't dare casually probe it with his Divine Sense, lest he reveal his position.
He turned his head toward Non-Return Pass, wondering whether that kid Sun Zhao was alright. When circumstances had been urgent before and he'd had no suitable helpers at hand, he could only grab a random disciple from the Void Dojo to hold the Communication Pearl and hide outside Non-Return Pass.
That way, if Mo Na Ye tried to track him down, it would create false leads to confuse Mo Na Ye's judgment and buy some time.
Putting away the Ink Nest, Yang Kai set off once more on his killing journey to hunt down Ink Nests. Time was pressing, and he continuously activated the Laws of Space, his figure flickering unpredictably.
Having gained several rounds of experience, he had developed some sense of where Mo Na Ye would place these King Lord-level Ink Nests.
Several days later, Yang Kai passed by a dead Heaven and Earth. Suddenly, he changed direction and dove straight toward a specific spot within it.
Upon landing, Yang Kai looked around and frowned.