Under Blood Maiden's gaze, Yang Kai leapt down and soared toward the depths of the Ink Abyss.
At first, everything was ordinary, with nothing out of the ordinary.
But as he ventured deeper, an extremely faint power of Ink began to permeate the surroundings. This power originated from the very bottom of the Ink Abyss—the sealed Origin of Ink.
The environment around him also grew considerably dimmer.
On both cliff walls lining the Ink Abyss, numerous man-made stone chambers had been carved out, clearly the work of Ink Cult followers.
They cultivated in seclusion within these chambers, comprehending the mysteries of the Ink Power to enhance their own strength.
Most of the chambers were empty, with only a small number containing the presence of living people.
Yang Kai was somewhat curious about this. According to what Blood Maiden had said, the Ink Cult disciples who came here to cultivate were essentially maintaining a balance between comprehending the secrets of the Ink Power and resisting its erosion. If they could maintain that balance, their strength would advance significantly. If they couldn't, they would inevitably be completely eroded by the Ink Power and become Ink Disciples.
Yang Kai had never known that the Ink Power held any mysteries capable of strengthening a warrior's power.
That was different from his previous understanding.
Driven by curiosity, he quietly approached a chamber that held a person and concealed his figure to observe.
In the end, he reached a conclusion that he wasn't entirely certain about.
The Origin of Ink had been secretly divided by Mu, and only a portion of it was sealed here. Moreover, with the Gate of Profound Feminine present as well, the corrosive nature of the Ink Power had been greatly weakened.
When the Ink Cult disciples came here, the process of resisting the Ink Power's erosion often allowed them to break through their own shackles and bottlenecks. They could even refine some of the Ink Power into their bodies, unleashing it at critical moments to bolster their strength.
Earlier, when he had been with Zuo Wuyou, Yang Kai had killed a fair number of Ink Cult disciples. Before dying, many of them had activated the Ink Power, but the overwhelming gap in their abilities could not alter their fate.
This was actually an interesting discovery.
What Mu had said before—that the emergence of the Ink Cult was inevitable because the Origin of Ink was sealed here—made sense. No matter who was assigned to guard it, even the people of the Divine Light Sect, they would inevitably be eroded by the Ink Power, their natures twisted, causing them to abandon their faith and principles.
As for her claim that she couldn't get too close to the Gate of Profound Feminine and therefore couldn't bring it under her control, Yang Kai had his own suspicions.
Leaving the stone chamber, Yang Kai continued descending deeper.
He occasionally encountered Ink Cult patrol members, but upon seeing the identification token at Yang Kai's waist, none gave him any trouble. Some patrol members even kindly reminded him to know his limits and absolutely not to push himself too far, to which Yang Kai agreed each time.
The deeper he went, the denser the Ink Power became. The stone chambers along the cliff walls grew sparse, and the number of cultivators within them dwindled sharply.
Until, after about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, Yang Kai could no longer sense any trace of living things around him, and no more stone chambers appeared along the cliffs.
He knew he must have reached a depth that the Ink Cult disciples had never ventured to. Here, the Ink Power that filled the abyss had concentrated to its utmost extreme, nearly condensing into a pitch-black darkness so thick he couldn't see his own hand before his face. Yang Kai had to activate the World-Destroying Demon Eye and his Divine Sense to survey his surroundings.
The abyss was utterly silent, and the eerie environment was saturated with a bone-chilling atmosphere.
Yang Kai followed the source of the Ink Power. Downward. Downward. And further downward.
Until suddenly, his feet touched solid ground.
He had arrived at the very bottom of the Ink Abyss.
A crisp sound rang out from beneath his feet. Yang Kai looked down, and his brow arched slightly.
The depths of the Ink Abyss were covered with ghastly white bones, stretching beyond the horizon. Over countless years, it seemed that a countless number of Ink Cult disciples had perished here, creating this world of bones.
He bent down and picked up a bone to examine it, frowning slightly.
The bone in his hand was somewhat peculiar—it seemed considerably larger than a normal bone. Checking the others, many of them were the same.
What was going on?
The ground suddenly began to tremble, as though some enormous creature was charging toward him from some direction with savage ferocity.
Yang Kai raised his eyes toward the source of the disturbance, but he couldn't see anything. However, connecting what Blood Maiden had told him with the purpose of his visit, he already had a guess in mind.
He dropped the bone, and his Divine Sense swept outward. Soon, he had pinpointed the source of the commotion.
It was the movement generated by a creature with extraordinarily vigorous vital energy—so intense it was almost abnormal—as it ran.
Yang Kai pondered briefly and shifted his position, but to his surprise, the unknown creature followed right after him.
It could sense his location! Yet Yang Kai hadn't detected any fluctuations of Divine Sense probing him.
This was peculiar.
He stopped moving and stood quietly in place, waiting. He wanted to see with his own eyes what this entity in the depths of the Ink Abyss truly was.
Before long, a massive figure crashed through the darkness and appeared within Yang Kai's field of vision.