The Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall had suffered greatly for these past few months. Only a dozen or so of them remained of the hundred disciples who had come here, so those who remained had established extremely firm bonds.
Seeing Nan Sheng and Xiang Chu treat the Hu Sisters like cheap commodities to be bought and sold, how could they not become enraged?
Fang Ziji sneered as he looked at Nan Sheng, “Young Lord Nan, Young Lord Xiang, are first-class families free to determine whether our second-class Sect disciples live or die?”
“What do you want to say?” Nan Sheng muttered as he shifted his eyes towards Fang Ziji, a cold smile adorning his face.
“If that’s really the case, then of course I have nothing to say.”
“Then shut your mouth!” Nan Sheng casually flicked the dust off his sleeves and said indifferently, “If you want to blame something, then blame yourselves for being low born. Why do you think the world’s Sects and forces are divided into first, second, and third class? It’s so you wastes can recognize the gap in status between us! If you were from a first-class force, do you think you’d have to grovel so pathetically before this Young Lord?”
Nan Sheng sneered as he spoke, seemingly not feeling any problem with what he was saying. An air of superiority obvious in his tone stemming from his noble birth
Continuing, “If you belonged to one of those super-forces, heh, this Young Lord would have to bow down to you instead! This is the law of the jungle, that’s how it is. It’s almost funny that you can’t understand something so simple. One day, if you have strength and status far above mine, if You bully me, I swear I won’t have any complaints!”
“There will be such a day.” Fang Ziji said gloomily.
Nan Sheng in response just spat disdainfully.
All this time, Yang Kai had simply been watching and had not spoken. His hands held behind his back, quietly standing there observing the various parties argue amongst themselves, not bothering to express his own opinions. It was like everything happening had nothing to do with him.
However, it was clear that the four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters of the Nan and Xiang Families were constantly on guard against him.
Of all the members of the younger generation, only Yang Kai was worthy of their attention. Despite only having cultivation at the True Element Boundary Sixth Stage, his Blood Force’s intensity and True Qi’s potency were both astonishing, as such, it was impossible to figure out what his true strength was.
Yang Kai’s purpose in silently observing for so long was to see how many people here he could truly depend on and consider friends.
As the saying goes, only a distant road could test the strength of a horse. In order to learn about someone, one needed to spend a great amount of time with them.
It was only in moments of crisis that one could see a person’s true character and temperament.
If the disciples from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall chose to remain silent at this time and not involve themselves in his affairs, Yang Kai wouldn’t feel surprised at all.
In order to protect themselves, this was no doubt the smart thing to do. Right now, the Xiang Family and Nan Family held the absolute advantage, the Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall weren’t their match at all. If they continued to resist, they would only bring destruction on themselves.
However, seeing the three he was closest to didn’t let Yang Kai down!
Neither the Hu Sisters nor Fang Ziji hesitated in the slightest to stand before him despite the great disparity in strength between them and the forces of the two first-class families.
With warmth in his heart, Yang Kai smiled and slowly walked to the front and reached over to the Hu Sisters’ shoulders.
After glancing around at the four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, Yang Kai directed his gaze towards Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng again, grinning as he whispered to the Hu Sisters, “Don’t worry about me, if I want to leave, no one here can stop me.”
Hearing these words, Hu Jiao Er and Hu Mei Er’s delicate expressions relaxed suddenly; although they didn’t understand where Yang Kai’s confidence came from, but from the firm and steady tone in his voice they didn’t doubt he could really accomplish what he said.
On the other hand, Nan Sheng and Xiang Chu’s faces sank.
Fang Lao even let out a contemptuous snort, “Little brat, with the four of us here, you still dare boast so shamelessly?”
“Do you want to try me?” Yang Kai sneered back provocatively.
Fang Lao’s eyes flashed dangerously as he stared at Yang Kai, but to his surprise he didn’t see the slightest signs of panic in this strange youth’s expression.
No matter how absurd it sounded, it seemed like this kid really might have the strength to escape from here safely.
“Surround him!” Nan Sheng shouted angrily, Yang Kai’s aloof attitude and arrogant words having completely irritated him. No disciple of a mere second-class Sect had ever looked at him so disdainfully.
His gaze, like a sharp blade, had pricked his heart.
As the Young Lord of a renowned first-class family, this uncomfortable feeling had irked his pride.
The instant Nan Sheng spoke, the two Immortal Ascension Boundary masters behind him flew out and landed behind Yang Kai’s back, forming a tight encirclement with the Xiang Family’s two masters.
However, even surrounded by four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters each at the Seventh or Eighth Stage, Yang Kai still looked calm and relaxed, only his eyes narrowed slightly indicating his seriousness.
In his present state, it would be simple to escape from two of these Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, but now that there were four of them, he would need to pay a certain price in order to withdraw.
Of course, this was all just Yang Kai’s assumptions, things would likely deviate from his expectations as soon as he actually tried.
But as long as they didn’t manage to kill him in a single blow, Yang Kai still had confidence in escaping.
“Go on, run! Let’s see how you escape now!” Nan Sheng taunted Yang Kai in an arrogant tone, “Four respected Elders, if these second-class Sect disciples, don’t know what’s good for them and try to interfere, kill them, no need to hold back!”
“Yes Young Lord!” The four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Xiang and Nan Family all nodded at the same time.
A loud roar sounded as the demonic dragon hovering behind Yang Kai slowly began circling around him, its pitch black eyes coldly glaring at the four old men.
Nan Sheng shifted his gaze towards the people of Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall, smirking as he ordered, “This Young Master will give you ten breaths to leave this demon’s side or else…”
Xiang Chu’s brow furrowed as he quickly said, “Jiao Er, Mei Er, don’t be so obstinate.”
“You are going too far!” Hu Jiao Er spat hatefully.
Xiang Chu couldn’t help his expression becoming cold. He really did have intentions towards the Hu Sisters, but it wasn’t like he had to have them regardless of the cost. As the Young Lord of a first-class family, what kind of beautiful woman couldn’t he acquire? Such beautiful flowers were only a kind of amusement to him, what he enjoyed most was the process of pursuing and conquering them.
But after all of these events, Xiang Chu gradually realized that he might never be able to conquer this pair of sisters, which caused frustration and anger to well up inside him.
This smoldering anger quickly turned into resentment until he finally let out a cold snort, no longer intending to bother with this fruitless game.
“Ten breaths are up!” Nan Sheng calmly declared as he swept his eyes over the crowd and causally ordered, “Begin!”
The four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters suddenly pushed their True Qi and silently signaled to each other with their eyes.
At that moment.
Suddenly, a bright and crisp Eagle’s cry resounded.
This cry was extremely piercing and seemed to contain a kind of inexplicable and mysterious power, even the four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters couldn’t help pausing as they hurriedly looked up.
High up in the sky, more than a thousand meters up, a little golden light flickered.
That flash of gold was incomparably brilliant, like a tiny flash of sunlight, almost difficult to behold without averting one’s eyes.
As this golden light circled in the sky high above everyone’s heads, a series of eagle cries continued to ring out.
Seeing this, Yang Kai’s face suddenly cramped up, and his expression constantly fluctuated as he stared at the circling golden light.
The originally explosive scene had been thoroughly disturbed by the sudden appearance of this golden eagle.
“Such a wonderful golden eagle!” Nan Sheng couldn’t help crying out in praise.
Although the golden eagle was over a thousand meters above them, no one here was an ordinary person, with the eyesight of a cultivator they were all easily able to clearly make out this bird of prey’s appearance.
“This golden eagle…” The Xiang Family’s Xu Lao suddenly frowned, trying to recall something from his distant memory.
“Haha, this Young Lord has decided, I must capture this beast and take it back with me!” Nan Sheng declared loudly, if here were to posses such a striking and majestic eagle it would definitely be something worth bragging about, and if he could raise and train it properly, in the future it would certainly be of great use to him.
Listening to Nan Sheng, Yang Kai couldn’t help smiling and sarcastically called out, “You can’t afford it.”
Nan Sheng casually glanced back at him and sneered without saying anything, turning to his Elders and asking, “Have you ever heard of such a beast?”
Xu Lao’s brow was still furrowed as he quietly muttered, “I seem to have heard of it somewhere…”
“Where did you hear of it?” Xiang Chu, who was also interested in this golden eagle, quickly asked.
Xu Lao frowned and thought hard but couldn’t recall just where he had learned of this beast.
High up in the sky, the cries of the golden eagle suddenly became more hurried and intense, as if it had found something that caught it’s attention. Immediately afterwards, like a streak of golden light, it dove down to where the crowd below was gathered.
As he was at a loss about how to capture this golden eagle, when Nan Sheng saw it approach them of its own accord, he was naturally overjoyed. Rolling up his sleeves, he smiled, “Interesting, after only just meeting this Young Lord, does this beast plan on also delivering itself to me?”
Xiang Chu also grinned slightly and added, “Big Brother Sheng’s charm is just that great, as such, Little Brother will not fight with you for it.”
Nan Sheng nodded happily before shooting a glare towards Yang Kai, “Little brat, seems you get to live a little longer. Just sit there and wait until this Young Lord catches that eagle.”
“By all means, have at it!” Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and loosened his stance.
“Yang Kai, take this opportunity to escape!” Hu Mei Er quietly whispered to him.
However, Yang Kai simply shook his head and smiled.
“What are you thinking!?” Hu Jiao Er also anxiously scolded him, “If you really wait until after they catch that eagle, they’ll definitely focus on you again!”
“Impossible, they won’t have a chance!” Yang Kai laughed lightly, his expression completely relaxed.
The Hu Sisters were both worried and confused, not knowing why Yang Kai was apparently trying to show off.
A moment later, the golden eagle had already approached the crowd, and when it was only several dozen meters up, Nan Sheng suddenly leapt up into the air, his face filled with anticipation, and his hand reached out towards the eagle, trying to knock it down.
This golden eagle though wasn’t just attractive, its strength was also not low, and it easily avoiding Nan Sheng’s charge and swiftly counterattacked with a golden ray of light.
Nan Sheng expression also became serious, as he hurriedly dodged before immediately calling out excitedly, “A Fifth-Order Monster Beast! Two Elders, help me!”
A Fifth-Order flying Monster Beast, this was a truly rare treasure!
An ordinary Fifth-Order Monster Beast wasn’t particularly valuable, but it was another story altogether if it could fly. Whether it was used to scout an enemy’s camp or track their location, it could give one a decisive advantage, not to mention it could coordinated with it master in combat as well. If he could catch this Monster Beast, his Sect’s strength would increase greatly.
After seeing how great the eagle’s strength was, Xiang Chu couldn’t help having some stray thoughts, secretly regretting being so generous just now. Such an eagle was worth more than many ordinary Precious Treasures, but it was already too late, Xiang Chu knew that even if he regretted it now, he couldn’t rob this prize from Nan Sheng so he had no choice but to sit back and watch.
When the golden eagle’s wings were fully spread, they stretched more than a meter in length. Its claws were like steel, extremely hard and sharp, probably more so than ordinary forged weapons.
On top of this, it seemed to possess some naturally special abilities; the golden light it was able to freely radiate contained extraordinary power.
Although Nan Sheng could be considered as an elite amongst True Element cultivators, he still wasn’t fully capable of capturing this kind of Monster Beast, so after recognizing this, he immediately asked for assistance from the two Nan Family Elders.
The two Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators didn’t hesitate and, almost immediately after receiving his their Young Master’s command, sent out two Qi strikes towards the eagle, enough to completely restrict its movements.
“Wait!” Xu Lao, the Immortal Ascension Boundary master from the Xiang Family, suddenly shouted. Finally having remembered the origin of this golden eagle, he quickly did his best to stop the battle.
The two Immortal Ascension Elders who followed Nan Sheng couldn’t help but frown, not knowing what Xu Lao was up to, half suspicious and half puzzled, yet they ultimately didn’t stop their actions.
With two loud bangs, the golden eagle was swept up by two Elder’s moves, and its huge body tumbled several times through the air, nearly falling from the sky.
Although it was a Fifth-Order Monster Beast, equivalent to a human cultivator at the True Element Boundary, how could it withstand the attacks of two Immortal Ascension Boundary masters?
With it being knocked off balance Nan Sheng saw hope of capturing it alive, so letting out a loud laugh as he darted towards the eagle like a bolt of lightning with his hands outstretched as he tried to seize it.
Seeing this, the Xu Lao left his position next to Xiang Chu, dashed in front of Nan Sheng and yelled, “Young Lord Nan, you can’t!”
While shouting, Xu Lao went as far as to shove Nan Sheng, pushing him back quite a distance.
A crisp eagle cry sounded once more, but this time the eagle seemed a little flustered and angry, and it’s golden figure rapidly ascended back up into the sky before hovering nearby as it seemed to be staring down at its attackers.
“What is your meaning?” Nan Sheng, who felt he could have easily grabbed the golden eagle at that moment but was interrupted by Xu Lao at the last moment, was obviously greatly displeased. After regaining his stance, he couldn’t help but angrily stare at Xu Lao and Xiang Chu, before coldly asking, “Little Brother Xiang, shouldn’t you give me an explanation?”
Xiang Chu also frowned, unclear as to why his family’s Immortal Ascension Boundary master had suddenly acted so rashly, wrinkling his brow as he said, “Xu Lao, what is this all about?”
Xu Lao, beads of cold sweat dripping down his forehead still, shifted his gaze from the eagle in the sky, cupped his fists said, “Young Lord Nan, I apologize.”
“Hmph!” Nan Sheng coldly snorted, his expression extremely ugly, “Tell me why you stopped me just now!”
Xu Lao wiped the sweat from his forehead and replied, “This eagle already has an owner.”
“Already has a master?” Nan Sheng was startled for a moment before grinning maliciously, “So much the better, my Nan Family and my brother’s Xiang Family are first-class families! What trivial beast can’t we acquire? If this eagle truly has a master already, we can just let them gift it to this Young Lord instead!”
Hearing these words, Xu Lao couldn’t help but pale, and a half terrified look spread across his face.
Seemingly noticing the situation deteriorating, Xiang Chu took a deep breath and followed up, “Xu Lao, is there something special about this eagle?”
Xu Lao’s expression quickly became solemn and swept his eyes across the Blood Battle Gang and the Storm Hall disciples, except this time when he stared at these juniors his expression contained none of its previous contempt and disdain, but instead was extremely serious, even somewhat fearful.
Turning around, Xu Lao looked at the other three Immortal Ascension Boundary masters and said with a grave face, “A Fifth-Order Monster Beast. A great golden eagle, does it not remind you of anything?”
When the three other Immortal Ascension masters heard him say this, all of them still had puzzled expressions.
Seeing their confused looks, Xu Lao couldn’t help laughing bitterly, “Should I say you’re all too ignorant? It hasn’t been that long, has it? Nearly two decades ago, throughout the entire Great Han Dynasty, several similar eagles created quite a stir…”
Nearly twenty years ago…
Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning had just struck them, the three other Immortal Ascension Boundary masters recalled a certain important piece of information.
One of the Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Nan Family even involuntarily blurted out, “A Silver Blooded Golden Feathered Eagle?”
Silver Blood Golden Feathered Eagle!
As soon as this name came out, all the Immortal Ascension Boundary masters present felt a cold chill shoot up their backs.
Fang Lao was even more disturbed, muttering under his breath, “The Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feathered Eagle?”
Xu Lao nodded, quickly saying, “Right, it should be one of the Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feathered Eagles!”
“But… but how can that be? Isn’t there still a few years left before…?”
“I’m afraid… something extremely important has happened inside the Yang Family, so the Silver Blood Golden Feathered Eagles were sent out ahead of time!” Xu Lao boldly speculated.
The four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters didn’t make any efforts to hide what they were discussing, therefore everyone in the audience could hear them clearly.
The juniors from the second-class Sects listened in confusion, but Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng, as leading figures in the younger generation of first-class families, understood and couldn’t help but exchange a look and tremble slightly as they did.
“What are they talking about?” Fang Ziji muttered as he frowned.
“Uncle Le, do you know?” Hu Jiao Er turned towards Guan Chi Le and asked curiously.
Guan Chi Le looked thoughtfully at Yang Kai before grinning and nodded slightly as he said, “Anyone from the older generation should be able to understand.”
“Please explain to us then.” Hu Jiao Er couldn’t understand how a trivial Fifth-Order Monster Beast had suddenly made the Xiang Family and Nan Family’s people suddenly become so serious.
[Even if the master of this golden eagle is some famous Immortal Ascension Boundary master, it shouldn’t be worthy of such fuss, right?]
“Good,” Guan Chi Le knew that there was no reason to conceal anything now. Since this golden eagle had appeared, it meant that in the coming period of time, the entire Great Han Dynasty would be swept up into a period of unrest, unhurriedly explaining, “All of you have heard of the Yang Family, right?”
To this, everyone nodded, the cuckoo bird Yang Family, the head of the Eight Great Families, who hadn’t heard of them?
“The Yang Family has a special method of training their direct descendants: they will send all of them outside the family to survive on their own for ten years of life experience! During this period, all of these Yang Family juniors can’t rely on the power of the Yang Family and are forbidden from revealing their identities. The Yang Family does this to encourage them to struggle and temper themselves.”
“After these ten years are up, these descendants will be collectively recalled and then forced to compete for right to be the next Patriarch of the Yang Family. However, after an entire decade, a person will experience great changes, especially those from the younger generation. Since they were forced to conceal themselves during this life experience, it was obviously quite troublesome to find them, so the Yang Family came up with a very special method to find these scattered descendants.”
“What method?”
“They used a special breed of Monster Beast!” Guan Chi Le stretched his finger and pointed towards the sky, “The Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle! At a young age, these flying Monster Beasts had been nurtured with Blood Essence from the Yang Family, so they are particularly sensitive to the Yang Family’s bloodline. As long as a member of the Yang Family’s direct descendants are within a certain range, they can accurately be found.”
After listening to this explanation, everyone present suddenly understood.
Since a Yang Family Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle appeared here, didn’t that mean that one of these scattered direct descendants of the Yang Family was here? But, who exactly was it?
Guan Chi Le glanced back at Yang Kai quickly before continuing, “There are only a dozen or so Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagles in this world, all of which belong to the Yang Family. The Yang Family treats each of these beasts as a rare treasure. Besides when they need to seek out their direct descendants, they will essentially never be released, but once the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagles appear, it means that the Yang Family is recalling these scattered disciples, which also means that… the Yang Family’s Inheritance War is about to begin!”
“The Yang Family’s Inheritance War?” Fang Ziji wrinkled his brow, apparently his curiosity had been piqued.
“En, the Yang Family’s Young Lords, after their decade of life experience, gather helpers and allies and hold a competition to decide who the next Patriarch of the Yang Family will be! The last time the Yang Family’s Inheritance War happened was eighteen years ago, and many people died. The Yang Family’s Inheritance War not only causes a big shuffle inside the Yang Family but also amongst all of the world’s great forces as many people from these forces participate in it. If you are also interested and have confidence in your strength, you can also participate.”
While Guan Chi Le was speaking, those from the Xiang Family and Nan Family didn’t interrupt, allowing the disciples from all of the second-class forces present to listen carefully.
After all, information like this was of great importance to these juniors and couldn’t be heard casually.
When Guan Chi Le finished his explanation, silence fell upon the crowd, and no one made a sound.
Off to the side, Nan Sheng gripped his fists tightly in silence as cold sweat dripped down his back. Just now he had been wantonly arrogant about wanting the master of this Golden Feather Eagle to offer it up to him, but after learning that this was an important Monster Beast raised by the Yang Family, how could he dare have such thoughts?
No wonder Xu Lao was so anxious to stop him, it turns out he had recalled this information earlier.
Nan Sheng secretly thanked the Heavens he hadn’t injured this Golden Feather Eagle with his family Elders just now, otherwise if the person from the Yang Family witnessed such a scene, he couldn’t imagine the consequences.
With how rare and precious these Golden Eagles were, coupled with the overbearing and domineering attitude of the Yang Family, if he had really wounded it, it would definitely not be as simple as offering money as compensation.
After a moment, Xu Lao rushed over to Guan Chi Le and said, “This friend seems to have very detailed information that even this old master doesn’t quite understand, many thanks for explaining.”
Guan Chi Le couldn’t help sneering when he saw this, “Anyone who was around eighteen years ago should know this, how is it possible that you don’t?”
With such a massive mutation in the situation, Xu Lao had intended to take this opportunity to ease the tension between the two sides on scene, so he had offered such an obvious flattery. But how could Guan Chi not understand Xu Lao’s intentions? So, Guan Chi Le directly threw out such mockery, cutting off Xu Lao’s naive thoughts right from the start.
After a brief silence, Xiang Chu couldn’t help asking, “But… I remember that the Yang Family only sent out this generation’s direct descendants five or six years ago, there’s still quite some time till the ten year deadline isn’t there?”
It was also because the Yang Family’s ten-year-life-experience period wasn’t even close to be being over that all of them hadn’t remembered from the start that this eagle was the Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle.
If it was a few years later, when the whole world would concern themselves about the Yang Family’s movements, everyone would immediately recognize such a distinctive Golden Feather Eagle.
Nan Sheng also nodded slightly, “I’ve also heard about this. Is it possible that this Monster Beast is just similar to the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle?”
Xu Lao sighed and shook his head, “That is why I said that something significant must have occurred inside the Yang Family so they were forced to recall their descendants early. I have no doubt that this is one of the Yang Family’s Golden Feathered Eagle.”
“But if that’s true, then…” Xiang Chu’s face twitched as he swept his gaze across the crowd. When his eyes landed on Yang Kai, he couldn’t help trembling slightly and quickly turned away as he gripped his fists, “In other words, amongst the juniors gathered here, there is a Young Master Yang?”
Everyone was suddenly put on edge, and all of them glanced around at each other nervously.
Until just a moment ago, these two groups of people were engaged in serious conflict. Each of them ready to kill if need be, but in such a tense and explosive situation, they had suddenly learned that among these friends and foes, there was someone who absolutely could not be offended.
If this Young Master Yang was one of their allies, then everything was alright, but if he was one of their enemies…
In these circumstances, no one was able to remain calm.
Although a Young Lord of the Yang Family was present, how were they supposed to distinguish who it was?
Even those from the so-called first-class families weren’t qualified to associate with the Eight Great Families; what’s more, the Yang Family was the head of the Eight Great Families so its status was even more aloof.
The Young Lord from the Yang Family here had a chance to become the future Patriarch of the Yang Family, so now, while his strength was still low, was an excellent chance to befriend him, and doing so would naturally lead to many future benefits, so who would want to offend such a character at this time?
Unconsciously, Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng both converged their imposing air as they gazed around the crowd. It was like they had suddenly become shorter.
On the other side, everyone from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall couldn’t help glancing over at Yang Kai with gazes filled with a mix of surprise and anticipation. They were all familiar with Yang Kai’s name and abilities and easily linked him with the identity of a Young Lord from the Yang Family, but it was still not convenient to directly inquire about it, so all of them were subtly trying to gleam some clues from his expression.
Yang Kai’s face, though, remained relaxed, as if everything happening had nothing to do with him, which conversely made him more suspicious.
Xiang Chu wore a forced grin as he cupped his fist and asked towards the crowd, “Who here is Young Master Yang?”
Not that he didn’t know Yang Kai’s name, but he did not dare to assume that he was the Yang Family’s Young Lord. Xiang Chu only prayed that the hidden Yang Family Young Lord was amongst his own camp now.
A simple query, yet no one answered.
Yang Kai was surprised for a moment before laughing dryly.
*Ha Ha Ha Ha…*
Immediately, everyone’s eyes fell upon him, and under these watchful gazes, the black dragon that had been hovering above his head suddenly withdrew.
In the blink of an eye, a one hundred meter long dragon disappeared into Yang Kai’s body.
At the same time, the Heaven shaking Evil Qi also dissipated, and the youth pictured in everyone’s eyes once more took on the appearance of an ordinary True Element Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator.
The people from the Xiang and Nan Family both looked unnerved.
Yang Kai voluntarily relaxing his combat stance only served to increase their worries, rather than diminish them.
Looking up into the sky at the still hovering Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle, a grin slowly appeared on Yang Kai’s face.
Lifting his fingers to his mouth, Yang Kai let out a loud whistle.
As if it had received an order, the circling Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle swiftly responded, folded its wings and dove down towards the ground.
In an instant, it arrived atop the heads of the crowd. Its pair of bright eagle eyes stared with vigilance and hatred at the Nan Family trio as it slowly perched atop Yang Kai’s shoulder.
Spreading its wings wide, the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle cried out angrily at the Nan Family members.
Everyone from the Nan and Xiang Family immediately paled. Xiang Chu also stared at Yang Kai, dumbstruck and not able to believe what his eyes were seeing.
The moment the Yang Family’s unique Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle landed on Yang Kai’s shoulder, his true identity no longer required any speculation.
The Hu Sisters stared at Yang Kai blankly too, as if he had suddenly become a stranger.
Xie Rong of Thunder Light Sect and Li Fu of Soaring Rainbow Court went limp and collapsed to the ground. Both of them had willingly become Xiang Chu’s lackeys, helping him to abuse and shame, even attempt to murder Yang Kai, yet now, it seems they had only been scrambling for seeds while missing the melon in front of them. The one they had offended actually turned out to be a man who even Xiang Chu wouldn’t dare to offend.
This is a severe case of having eyes but failing to see!
Both of them had received extremely serious injuries, and one Immortal Ascension Boundary Elder from each of their Sect’s had died at Yang Kai’s hands. They had placed all their hopes on Xiang Chu to take revenge for them, and then in exchange for their loyalty, gain the support of the big tree that was the Xiang Family, but now…
Everything was in vain. Forget revenge, now that they had thoroughly offended a Young Lord from the Yang Family, they’d be lucky if they managed to keep their lives.
It was no wonder he had said that their Sects couldn’t afford the price of offending him.
They really couldn’t afford this!
“Young Master Yang?” Xiang Chu looked at Yang Kai hesitantly, his back covered in cold sweat. He was extremely unwilling, but unable to avoid asking.
Nan Sheng also opened his mouth, but no words came out, and his head was filled with feelings of regret.
He was supposed to have been an innocent bystander in all of this. He had only stopped here on his way back to the Nan Family, and had inadvertently been drawn into this situation, but now, unexpectedly, he had brought such massive trouble to himself. Had he only known, he would have rode his Cloud Treading Colt back to Nan Family as quickly as possible, not involving himself with any of this.
In response to Xiang Chu’s stuttered inquiry, Yang Kai only gave him a faint glance and then focused his attention on the feathers of the Silver Blood Golden Feathered Eagle on his shoulders.
This Fifth-Order flying Monster Beast was quite special. Its golden feathers seemed to radiate a golden sheen giving it a majestic appearance, and it had obviously been in the Yang Family for many years. It had also been raised with great care, as each of its feathers was sharp like a blade, and their hardness and sharpness was no less than an average Earth Grade Mid-Rank artifact. Along with its hook-like beak and razor sharp double claws, an ordinary True Element cultivator wouldn’t be its match. At the very least, one would need a True Element Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation to win against it.
Although Yang Kai didn’t speak, Xiang Chu didn’t dare reveal any displeasure even if he felt wronged and resentful, and instead he just stood there with his fists cupped and his head slightly lowered.
Nan Sheng’s face switched between white and red as he muttered unsteadily, “Young Master Yang, this Nan had eyes but failed to see. The matters just now were all this one’s misunderstanding. This humble one asks Young Master Yang not to take it to heart.”
Hu Jiao Er couldn’t help letting out a laugh seeing how Nan Sheng, who was extremely arrogant and overbearing when facing the dozen or so disciples from their second-class Sects just now, but currently had to humble himself in the face of a super-force like the Yang Family and all but bow down and beg Yang Kai for forgiveness.
Nan Sheng’s change in attitude was so great that it made people wonder if he hadn’t somehow been replaced by another person in that instant.
When Jiao Er’s laughter reached Nan Sheng’s ears, he felt even more unpleasant in his heart, and his face twisted into an ugly forced grin as he hastily said, “Young miss, this Nan had previous offended you and apologizes for it.”
“Hmph!” Hu Jiao Er sneered, not giving him the slightest face since she knew he wasn’t really apologizing to her.
The four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Nan and Xiang Family also wore forced smiles and cupped their fists respectfully, “Young Master Yang, please forgive our prior rudeness!”
Yang Kai breathed out a tired sigh and stared at them indifferently before grinning lightly, “I do not blame the ignorant.”
Hearing him speak such words, everyone from the Xiang Family and Nan Family smiled in relief.
Right now, as long as Yang Kai didn’t intend to pursue it, everything would be fine, and with the Yang Family Inheritance War about to begin, Yang Kai, a Young Master of the Yang Family, would naturally need to gather various powers to help him in his bid to become the next Patriarch, so this was a good opportunity for both sides.
After all, the Xiang Family and Nan Family were both first-class families! With such a powerful boost to his strength, as long as Yang Kai wanted to, he could certainly win the Inheritance War. As the saying goes, there were no permanent enemies, only permanent benefits. Yang Kai hadn’t suffered any real losses today, so in the face of such enticements he would naturally be willing to let some things slide.
If they played their hand right, they might even have a chance to forge a friendship with the Yang Family’s Young Lord today.
With such thoughts swirling about their heads, their moods took a rapid turn for the better; both Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng wore expression filled with happiness and expectation.
But just as they were silently celebrating, the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle on Yang Kai’s shoulder suddenly let out a mournful screech, like it had just been injured, before throwing open its wings and soaring back up into the sky
“What just happened?” Xiang Chu asked unconsciously as he turned a blank stare towards Yang Kai, his expression filled with confusion.
The same was true of everyone else too.
What they saw there though was Yang Kai holding two golden feathers in his fingers. The two feathers flashed a golden light like finely-polished blades. They were long, thin, and smooth in shape. Clearly they had been freshly plucked from the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle.
No wonder the eagle suddenly flew up in fright.
After plucking these two feathers, Yang Kai didn’t even look at them before casually dropping them on the ground.
“Young Master Yang, what are your intentions?” Nan Sheng’s head was filled with fog as he cautiously inquired to Yang Kai.
This Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle was born noble and possessed fierce combat ability. It was an extremely valuable beast. On top of that, it could even be considered the auspicious messenger that sought out and saved Yang Kai’s life. Even if he wasn’t fond of it for some reason, Yang Kai shouldn’t have had a reason to harm it so.
[What does he want to do?] Nan Sheng couldn’t understand.
Xiang Chu, whose thoughts were far more devious than Nan Sheng’s, couldn’t help wrinkling his brow. He looked at the two gold feathers that had been dropped by Yang Kai and began to feel nervous; however, before he had enough time to figure out exactly what was happening, two figures suddenly appeared on the horizon and rapidly approached.
The speed of these two was extremely fast, and the auras permeating from them were formidable. At a glance, it was obvious that they possessed great strength.
The few thousand meters that separated the two groups closed in a flash.
The newcomers were a man and a woman. The man had an imposing figure and cold eyes. A long scar across his face coupled with his imposing impression to give him a sturdy and aggressive look, like a veteran warrior of countless battles.
The woman had a majestic appearance and graceful stature that made it impossible to tell her how old she was. She was a dignified and beautiful woman, with a pair of sharp eyes that seemed to flash with piercing light. There was no melancholy or joy apparent on her perfectly shaped face, only a look of cold indifference.
Both of these two were Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, but the imposing manner they radiated as far stronger than those of the Xiang Family and Nan Family.
The instant they saw them, everyone instinctively compared them with the four Immortal Ascension Elders from the Nan and Xiang Family, but all of them soon came to the same conclusion. Among the four old men, not a single one was a rival of either of these two.
Every one of the Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagles would be followed by masters from the Yang Family so that, once the Yang Family’s Young Lord was found, he could be escorted home safely.
These two newcomers were obviously the ones accompanying this Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle.
Both of them had a jade talisman on their waists with a blood red “Yang” character inscribed on it.
“Yang Family Blood Warriors!” Fang Lao could not help shouting.
The Yang Family’s Blood Warriors had served the Yang Family for many generations and were their most trusted servants. Every one of them was exceptionally talented and had innumerable resources used to train them since birth.
Although their bloodlines weren’t as noble as the Young Lords and Young Ladies of the Yang Family, their position and importance was definitely not lower than any of these direct descendants.
The Yang Family had a Grand Elder who had reached the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary who was once one of these Blood Warriors. But now, the Yang Family treated him more as a respected protector. Even if a direct family descendant was to meet him, he would have to greet him respectfully.
Each Yang Family Blood Warrior represented a powerful fighting force, and all of them had the ability to fight ordinary cultivators at least one stage above their own cultivation. Within the same realm, they were basically invincible.
Their most important trait, however, was their undying loyalty; for the Yang Family, none of them would hesitate to give their life.
After all, since childhood, the Yang Family had given them ideological indoctrination to ensure they held the family’s benefit above all else. In order to cultivate these warriors, the Yang Family had truly paid an immense price.
If there was any suspicion left about the authenticity of the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle, now that two Yang Family Blood Warriors had appeared, there was no longer any room for doubt
This Monster Beast was indeed the Yang Family’s unique Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle and Yang Kai was really a Young Lord from the Yang Family.
“Where is the Young Lord?” The middle-aged man’s eagle like eyes swept over the crowd, his expression not changing in the slightest when it examined those from the Nan and Xiang family, as if they were no more consequence than anyone else here.
When he asked this question, the beautiful woman also scanned the crowd, trying to identify the Young Lord they had been sent to retrieve.
Almost everyone’s eyes immediately fixed on Yang Kai.
The next moment, the two Blood Warriors also cast their eyes towards him, but after seeing Yang Kai’s face and judging his age and cultivation, a tinge of suspicion crept into the expressions.
As Blood Warriors, they had naturally met with all of the Yang Family’s Young Lords, so even if they didn’t interact with them much, they would still be able to vaguely recognize them.
Both had assumed that with the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle, as soon as they found the place where their Young Lord currently resided, as soon as they found a familiar face, they would be able to determine his identity.
But when they saw Yang Kai, they couldn’t help feeling a sense of incongruity!
Among the Young Lords whom the Yang Family had sent out for life experience this time, was there one at such a young age? And this appearance, he didn’t seem familiar to them.
It was no wonder they would suspect Yang Kai’s identity, after all, he was only around twelve years old when he left home and at the time was still no different from an ordinary mortal with no cultivation, but after five years in the outside world Yang Kai had undergone massive changes.
It was only after a long time that the exquisite looking woman suddenly exclaimed, “Little Lord?”
The middle-aged man’s vision also contracted tightly, and a wave of shock swept across his heart.
The Little Lord! For this time’s life experience, he was the youngest direct descendant sent out, the son of the Yang Family’s Fourth Master. But… wasn’t it said that the Little Lord was born with a congenital defect and was incapable of cultivating?
When they had left the Yang Family this time, the Blood Warriors had all been informed that if they were to meet the Little Lord, they had to be especially careful when escorting him back because it was highly likely that he would still be no stronger than an ordinary mortal.
The Yang Family had enemies everywhere, so it wouldn’t be impossible for someone to take this opportunity to assassinate these scattered Young Lords.
But now that they had found him, how could he be considered an ordinary person? Clearly, this youth was a True Element Boundary Sixth Stage cultivator! Such a realm, although not top tiered amongst his generation, couldn’t be considered weak either.
The middle-aged man and the beautiful woman both glanced at each other before their images flashed and they suddenly appeared in front of Yang Kai, immediately sending out an invisible pressure that forced everyone around Yang Kai back several dozen meters.
The Yang Family’s overbearing attitude could be seen clearly!
The Hu Sisters who had been forced to retreat couldn’t help twitching their lips in annoyance.
“The ones beside me are all my friends.” Yang Kai lightly said to the two people before him.
The middle-aged man and the woman both maintained dull expressions, seemingly not taking Yang Kai’s words to heart.
Before Yang Kai’s true identity was confirmed, the two Blood Warriors wouldn’t display any unnecessary courtesy.
“Are you really the Little Lord?” The middle-aged man frowned at Yang Kai and asked firmly.
Yang Kai simply nodded slightly, lifted his hand, and pricked his finger tip with his True Qi, allowing a few drops of blood to immediately leak out.
The woman’s eyes flashed before she quickly took out a piece of jade and respectfully held it out with both her hands, accepting a drop of blood with it.
When the drop fell onto the jade, it disappeared instantly, like it had been inhaled. The originally unremarkable jade talisman began emitting a gorgeous glow immediately after.
Only when the blood of a direct descendant of the Yang Family was absorbed by this piece of jade would it radiate such a light.
It has been confirmed!
The middle-aged man and the beautiful women glanced at each other for a moment before kneeling respectfully, “Blood Warrior Tu Feng…”
“Blood Warrior Tang Yu Xian …”
““Have come to receive the Young Lord!”
“Rise!”
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian quickly stood up, and when they looked at Yang Kai again, clear signs of appreciation and respect could be seen on their faces.
If it were any of the other Young Lords from the Yang Family before them with a True Element Boundary Sixth Stage cultivation, they wouldn’t display any great change in expression.
But the Little Lord was different.
Because the Yang Family’s Fourth Master had been severely wounded that year, the Little Lord had been born with a congenital defect, and the first ten years of his life in the Yang Family had been passed as an ordinary person with no cultivation to speak of, but now he had actually grown to this point.
This meant that in only five years, without any assistance from the Yang Family’s resources, he had managed to cultivate to the True Element Boundary Sixth Stage!
Such cultivation speed made even Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian sigh in admiration. Who would look down upon this Little Lord again?
What’s more, this Little Lord was in a very dangerous place right now. This was the front lines of the war with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land. He, as a Young Lord of the Yang Family, dared to come here. His fortitude and courage were obviously not ordinary.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian had secretly thought to themselves that this assignment would be boring and uneventful, but instead, the Little Lord had given them a pleasant surprise the moment they had met him.
Sure enough, the Young Lords of the Yang Family were all incredible talents, not a single one of them could be judged by common sense.
For a moment, both of them stared in admiration.
After observing Yang Kai for a while, Tu Feng took his vision back and lifted his eyes, asking in a deep voice, “Who is in charge here?”
A shiver running up his spine, Xiang Chu hastily stepped forward, smiling as hard as he could while cupping his fists, “Replying to Senior, this place is under the management of my Xiang Family!”
“The Xiang Family…” Tu Feng raised his brow before nodding slightly, “The decisive battle concluded two days ago, so if there are no further problems here we will be leaving together with the Young Lord, if there are still some issues left to be resolved, you may request the Little Lord to have us offer our assistance.”
“Junior wouldn’t dare!” Xiang Chu was now incredibly anxious to send these Yang Family members far away as quickly as possible, how could he dream of asking them to stay? “There are no remaining issues here and we were also just about to withdraw, Senior does not need to bother with us!”
“En.” Tu Feng nodded at Xiang Chu, quite satisfied with the youth’s respectful manner, but just as he wanted to take Yang Kai and leave, his eyes suddenly contracted, an explosion of murderous intent suddenly erupting from him.
Tang Yu Xian’s pretty face also became ice cold as her eyes fell towards a certain pair of objects on the ground.
The Xiang and Nan Family members who didn’t know what had suddenly gone wrong all trembled in fear when this aura enveloped them.
“Heh heh…” Tu Feng snickered twice, the scar on his face warping to become even more terrifying as he spoke in an icy voice, “I wondered why the eagle was frightened and kept hovering in the sky instead of landing. I understand now!”
Hearing these words, the Xiang and Nan Family members all jumped in fright.
Xiang Chu eyes also shot up, suddenly looking towards Yang Kai, finally understanding why Yang Kai had plucked two feathers from the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle seemingly for no reason, only to drop them on the ground.
He clearly wanted to frame them!
“Who attacked my Yang Family’s eagle?” Tang Yu Xian’s expression became even colder as her piercing gaze swept over the Nan and Xiang Family members loudly ordering, “Step forward!”
Tu Feng also showed a fierce grin as he added, “Each of the Yang Family’s Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle is extremely precious and have not come out for quite a long time, now it seems some fools dare harm one of them. Interesting… truly interesting!”
“Respected Senior!” Xiang Chu stepped forward unsteadily, cold sweat dripping down his forehead, only now realizing the depths of Yang Kai’s scheme but helpless to avoid it, stuttering as he tried to explain, “It… it was we who had eyes but failed to immediately recognize this Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle, but I swear to Senior we did not hurt it.”
“Didn’t recognize it?” Tu Feng coldly snorted, “What use are you eyes even if you have them!?”
Tang Yu Xian followed up, equally aggressively, “Didn’t hurt it? Then why are two of its feathers lying here?”
“Uh… that is…” Xiang Chu was speechless.
He knew he couldn’t say that it was their Yang Family’s Young Lord who pulled them out himself and dropped them there. Never mind if they would even believe such an explanation, it was already an established fact that they had attacked the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle. With so many witnesses here, they couldn’t deny it even if they wanted to.
The Yang Family’s domineering arrogance was well known, and now that they had ‘injured’ one of their precious eagles, how could they possibly escape here unharmed?
Seeing the Xiang and Nan Family members faces filled with indignation, unwillingness and regret, the formerly oppressed Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall juniors couldn’t have been happier.
Sure enough, they were suffering the karma of their actions, the Heavens were just!
Just as they had used the Thunder Light Sect and Soaring Rainbow Court to frame Yang Kai, now the tables had been turned on them.
It was like all the injustices and smears they had pushed onto Yang Kai now had to be choked down by them.
Xiang Chu wasn’t resigned to such a fate and wanted to speak a few excuses, but Xu Lao beside him simply shook his head slowly.
Trying to defend themselves to the Yang Family was tantamount to trying to reason with a beast, utterly pointless.
Wearing a dispirited expression, Xu Lao said, “This was all a misunderstanding; can we not try to resolve this civilly?”
“Hmph, you know what we expect!” Tu Feng sneered dismissively.
The four Immortal Ascension Boundary masters all went white.
After a few moments of hesitation, all of them sighed deeply, knowing that today they had kicked an iron plate.
The two Immortal Ascension Elders behind Nan Sheng walked out and glanced at each other, their expression incredibly gloomy. Immediately afterward, they each extended two fingers and shaped their True Qi into a blade.
The two masters from the Nan Family’s eyes were full of sadness, and they couldn’t help but slight quiver, hesitating as they stood there unsteadily…
Tu Feng coldly snorted as he stared at them, his own True Qi surging forth wildly. Tang Yu Xian ’s pretty face also wore a ruthless expression, as if to say that if they hesitated any further they would immediately kill them.
“Haa…” A faint sigh came from the two old men as they both closed their eyes with helplessness painted all over their faces.
Slashing their True Qi blades, with a flash of light, two arms from the elbow down were severed as blood splashed out onto the ground.
As soon as the deed was done, the two old men’s faces became pale as they quickly used their True Qi to seal their wounds, one of them trembling as he looked towards Tu Feng, “Sir, is this to your satisfaction?”
All the disciples from the various second-class Sects were astonished.
Although they had all long heard of the Yang Family’s overbearing nature, but they had never thought that they were aggressive to such a degree. A single question from one of their Blood Warriors had forced two masters to sacrifice an arm!
Those were two Immortal Ascension Boundary Seventh or Eighth Stage masters! Had they come from their Sects, they would have been honoured Elders who could stand shoulder to shoulder with their Sect Masters.
But now, they had actually been bullied to such an extent, yet didn’t dare to resist in the slightest.
It wasn’t until this moment that these second-class Sect talents truly understood. What was the Yang Family? What did the title of leader of the Eight Great Families mean? With such deep heritage and strength, even first-class Sects were simply trash before them.
However, Tu Feng only coldly replied, “I only see two arms, aren’t there four masters here?”
The two Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Xiang Family suddenly became despondent.
Fang Lao and Xu Lao in fact hadn’t attacked the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle and Xu Lao had also taken the risk of offending the Nan Family trio by forcefully preventing their actions; however, the Yang Family’s Blood Warrior apparently didn’t intend to spare them.
“Respected Warriors, we two did not attack the eagle!” Xu Lao leaked cold sweat from his forehead as he quickly tried to explain.
The loss of an arm wasn’t a minor injury. If one were to suffer such a loss, their maximum combat efficiency would drop twenty percent or perhaps even more. In the future, it would be equivalent to them becoming half-wastes.
But to these overtures, Tu Feng seemed completely indifferent, glaring back at them coldly and firmly declaring, “An arm or your life, decide quickly!”
Fang Lao and Xu Lao both paled, not having expected Tu Feng to be so unreasonable.
“After three breaths you won’t have a choice anymore!” Tu Feng threatened, continuing to press the issue.
The eyes of Xu Lao and Fang Lao suddenly dimmed as they glanced at one another, both shook their heads as they grinned bitterly.
“Two Elders, take this as I, Xiang Chu, owing you a debt!” Xiang Chu let out a grief-stricken sigh as he promised.
What could these two masters do but agree? Although their Young Lord was nearby, and they knew that these Blood Warriors wouldn’t kill a potential heir of a first-class family for no reason, killing them was not a big problem.
“Understood, Young Master!” Xu Lao and Fang Lao both wore resigned expression and no longer hesitated as they gathered their True Qi, condensed it into a blade, and each sliced off an arm!
“Sir, is this enough?” Xu Lao asked palely.
“Was there no one else?” Tu Feng asked incessantly, his eagle-like eyes sweeping across the crowd.
When his glance landed on Nan Sheng, the latter involuntarily shrank his neck.
Seeing this, Yang Kai grinned happily at him.
Nan Sheng’s face immediately went ashen.
After all, Nan Sheng was the first person to engage the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle! The Xu Lao and Fang Lao of the Xiang Family hadn’t even attacked it yet ended up in such a state.
“Looks like there’s one more.” Tu Feng obviously saw through Nan Sheng’s guilty conscience and the panic in his eyes, knowing that this matter must be related to him and swiftly asked, “Will you do it yourself or do you want me to?”
The faces of the four masters from the Nan and Xiang Family all cramped up again.
The Blood Warriors had forcing them to sacrifice an arm was something they knew they couldn’t avoid, but now Tu Feng actually wanted to demand the same from Nan Sheng it was a completely different issue.
Nan Sheng wasn’t some ordinary youth, he was the Young Lord of a first-class family, he was also the successor to the Nan Family, and it would be a major problem if he were to lose an arm here.
Knowing this, even though the four Immortal Ascension masters knew that the Blood Warriors were more powerful than them, they still glared towards Tu Feng with resentment and vigilance, secretly circulating their True Qi in preparation.
If this man wanted to persecute them further, they could only fight back desperately!
Yang Kai, who had been silent until now, suddenly smiled and said, “Young Master Nan’s identity is noble, there’s no need for him to lose an arm.”
Tu Feng’s eyes flickered slightly but didn’t say anything whereas Nan Sheng who glanced over at Yang Kai showed a surprised yet grateful expression. Obviously he hadn’t expected that Yang Kai would let him off so easily.
“He only needs to offer two fingers instead!” Yang Kai smiled calmly as he casually continued.
The gratitude in Nan Sheng’s eyes quickly receded and was instead replaced with extreme anger and hatred.
“En, since the Little Lord has decided so, you only need to pay two fingers.” Tu Feng nodded deeply, as if he had just given Nan Sheng a precious gift.
“Good!” Nan Sheng was also a decisive person. Not bothering to speak any more nonsense, he quickly drew a dagger from his waist and with a flash of light two fingers fell to the ground. Throughout the whole process he didn’t even bat an eye.
“I, Nan Sheng, will remember you!” Nan Sheng gritted his teeth and looked coldly at Yang Kai, muttering under his breath.
However, Yang Kai simply chuckled and replied, “Young Lord Nan, I think you are mistaken, the two fingers were just the punishment for harming the young eagle, did you forget that the grudges between us still need to be settled?”
As if he had just heard a demon’s whisper, Nan Sheng’s face suddenly went white.
There was indeed a big grudge between Yang Kai and them. Just now, Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng had wanted to send Yang Kai to his death, and if it weren’t for the appearance of the Golden Feather Eagle, they might very well have been involved in a life or death struggle right now.
Yang Kai clearly didn’t want to resolve their grievances peacefully, so he had taken the initiative to pull out those two eagle feathers, which allowed him to exact his revenge immediately!
Listening to him, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both looked indifferent, not showing the slightest surprise. It seemed as though they had long ago noticed the subtle tension here.
The two Blood Warriors simply remained silent and stared towards Yang Kai, curious to know how he would resolve things.
The task the Blood Warriors had received this time was only to safely pick up the Yang Family’s descendants and escort them back. There had received no other instructions. They had only forced the Nan and Xiang Family masters into such a pitiful state because of the Golden Feather Eagle’s injuries.
Now though, if Yang Kai were to look for trouble with these people, that would be his personal matter and the two Blood Warriors would absolutely not intervene!
They had sworn loyalty to the Yang Family, not Yang Kai. In other words, Yang Kai was not qualified to order them to do anything. Only if his life was in immediate danger would the two Blood Warriors act.
As they glanced around, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian suddenly felt that this time’s mission to pick up their Little Lord would be very interesting.
All of them were members of the Yang Family. Each of them had eyes higher than the top of their heads, so Yang Kai’s aggressive and unrestrained behaviour actually quite suited their appetites.
At that moment, both of them were actually looking forward to his performance.
Xiang Chu let out a bitter laugh before asking, “How does Young Master Yang intend to settle things?”
Since the other’s fists were bigger, Xiang Chu had no choice but to humble himself.
Xu Lao also endured the pain from his severed limb and frowned, “Though it may be too late for me to speak so, but as the saying goes, one shouldn’t be too rigid with their grudges. Having one more friend is always better than one more enemy. Young Master Yang, you will soon be participating in the Yang Family’s Inheritance War, yes? Please think twice before acting rashly.”
Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became cold, snorting disdainfully, “Think twice you say? Bullshit!”
As soon as his voice fell, two blood-red petals suddenly flew out from his body.
These two petals gave off an odd floral fragrance that seemed to linger about everyone’s nose.
Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia!
The petals swayed and floated mid-air before suddenly turning into two red streaks that flashed across the battlefield.
Two ripping sounds immediately rang out, and soon after, Xie Rong of the Thunder Light Sect and Li Fu of Soaring Rainbow Court fell motionless to the ground.
Everyone in the audience was shocked!
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian also couldn’t help looking towards Yang Kai in surprise. The Nan Family and Xiang Family members also nervously glanced around at one another.
It seems that no one had expected that under the watchful eyes of all these people Yang Kai still dared to kill.
Once Xie Rong and Li Fu died, the remaining disciples from Thunder Light Sect and Soaring Rainbow Court could only stand there dumbfounded, staring towards Yang Kai in horror with an icy chill encompassing their entire being.
The two petals flickered again, and with a faint buzzing noise, all the juniors from Thunder Light Sect and Soaring Rainbow Court, no matter where they stood or how they tried to evade, all lay dead after merely ten breaths of time!
As they swept their eyes over the field of dead bodies before them, Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng suddenly stopped breathing and swallowed nervously.
“Within three months, I expect to see your sincerity for this offence, otherwise… I don’t mind tearing face with a pair of first-class families!” Yang Kai looked coldly at them as he laughed sinisterly, “As for your lives, I’ll let you keep them for a while longer.”
Xiang Chu’s expression was incomparably ugly as he felt a bitter taste spread throughout his mouth.
Nan Sheng was even worse off as he still held his wounded hand and glared back at Yang Kai hatefully.
After a long strained silence , Xiang Chu finally managed to pull a faint smile as he bowed deeply, “Many thanks for showing mercy, Young Master Yang! Let’s go!”
As soon as he finished this unpleasant farewell, Xiang Chu quickly led his forces away.
“Those three Cloud Treading Colts seem useful, leave them behind!” Yang Kai looked at the three Monster Beasts that the Nan Family rode over and shouted.
Nan Sheng, who had already mounted his steed, couldn’t help gritting his teeth in anger before quickly jumping off. He was then immediately held by the two Immortal Ascension Elders besides him as they swiftly departed.
Tang Yu Xian grinned as she looked towards Yang Kai approvingly. She felt deeply that this Little Lord seemed to have grown up a lot over the past five years, and he had learned to maximize his advantages.
As she was about to open her mouth and speak through, Tu Feng simply shook his head slowly.
“Little Lord, we will be waiting for you over there,” Tu Feng said casually. Even though he had the appearance of a muscle brain, his wits were actually quite sharp, understanding that Yang Kai and his friends still had things left to say, so he voluntarily withdrew along with Tang Yu Xian first.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded in appreciation.
When the only ones left were the members of Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall, Yang Kai discovered that these people were all giving him a weird look.
Many of them had a look of reverence and awe in their eyes; however, Yang Kai was pleased to see that the Hu Sisters and Fang Ziji didn’t look at him much differently if anything, Hu Jiao Er’s beautiful face actually had a bit of anger about it.
“Is there anything you’d like to ask?” Yang Kai rubbed his nose as he looked at the Hu Sisters.
Hu Mei Er licked her parched lips, obviously wanting to ask many things but unsure of where to start.
However, before her little sister could compose herself, Hu Jiao Er firmly declared, “No!”
“Ah…” Yang Kai couldn’t help showing a stunned expression before confirming “Are you sure?”
“I said no, so I mean no! We already know everything we need to know, what else do we need to ask?” Hu Jiao Er mercilessly shot him down before signalling to her sister with her eyes, “Go on then, go back to your home!”
“Mmm…” Hu Mei Er glanced towards Yang Kai apologetically and smiled before quickly catching up with her elder sister.
Guan Chi Le also rushed over to Yang Kai, cupped his fists respectfully before letting out a carefree laugh and leading the others away.
Fang Ziji stayed a moment and quietly ask, “Brother Yang, is the Inheritance War exciting?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never participated before.” Yang Kai shook his head.
“Are there any requirements to participate?” Fang Ziji asked as his brow wrinkled.
“As long as we have a certain amount of strength, you can join, but you must first get my approval!” Yang Kai declared.
“Interesting, then I’ll have to pay you a visit later!” Fang Ziji laughed happily.
“I’ll be waiting for you!” Yang Kai smiled.
The wind swept through Yang Kai’s black hair as he stood there watching the dozen or so members of Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall set out. There were two young women amongst them who looked back from time to time until they had disappeared into the distance.
A moment later, like a pair of ghosts, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian appeared beside Yang Kai and waited quietly.
“I want to enter closed cultivation for a while, stand guard for me here!” Yang Kai calmly said before heading back into the camp to find a fairly spacious dwelling.
“Ah…” Tang Yu Xian muttered in a surprised tone.
After standing there for some time, Tang Yu Xian’s brow furrowed as she thought out loud, “Closed cultivation? Does the Little Lord want to break through?”
“En, probably.” Tu Feng nodded slightly, acknowledging Tang Yu Xian’s speculation, “His True Qi is pulsating slightly and indeed shows some signs of breaking through.”
“It seems like before we arrived, he experienced a great battle.”
If it weren’t for such a reason, he wouldn’t suddenly feel the impulse to break through without any prior warning.
Tu Feng smiled faintly as he looked up at the Golden Feather Eagle in the sky, quietly asking “Yuxian, are you thinking that the Little Lord is too lenient?”
Tang Yu Xian shifted her gaze towards Tu Feng and replied, “I think he is still young, so it’s inevitable that he wouldn’t be ruthless enough.”
However, Tu Feng slowly shook his and countered, “No, he’s definitely a member of the Yang Family. Even if he is still a child you shouldn’t underestimate him. You have been in the Yang Family for many years, how could you still be so naive? The Little Lord is definitely not as simple as he seems.”
“Why do you say so?” Tang Yu Xian’s curiosity was suddenly piqued.
“You saw that he and the Xiang and Nan Family kids have some kind of grudge, right?”
Tang Yu Xian laughed loudly, “I’m not blind, of course, I could see that. Also, it seems their grudge isn’t shallow.”
“Knowing that, what do you think the Little Lord should do?”
“Kill!” Tang Yu Xian said calmly and relaxedly, “There was no reason to hold back! During the Inheritance War, there is no need for such an ally! He has thoroughly offended these people, yet he went and released the tiger back into the mountains. I’m afraid that the Xiang and Nan Families will now become his enemies.”
“And that’s why I say you’re still too naive.” Tu Feng grinned, “The Little Lord couldn’t easily kill those two kids. They are both candidates for the next Patriarch of the Xiang and Nan Families. If he were to kill them, the Little Lord would only bring trouble to himself. Right now, he isn’t powerful enough to handle such troubles. What’s more, it would be impossible for him alone to kill those two with those four Immortal Ascension Boundary Elders watching.”
“Does he plan to win them over then?” Tang Yu Xian muttered unconvinced.
“No, after all they have a deep grudge between them, what use is there trying to win them over? Even if he could draw them in, it’s likely those two would only superficially support him. Instead of fighting outright which will gain him nothing, or trying to win them over which isn’t likely to provide him much benefit, it’s best if he intimidates them and shaves off as much of their strength as possible.” Tu Feng’s eyes flashed, “If he can deal them a blow so severe that it will cause them to tremble in fear at the mere sight of him, it would be best.”
“But the Little Lord obviously doesn’t have such methods or strength to accomplish that.”
“True, the Little Lord really can’t do that, after all, he’s still young. But to those two Xiang and Nan Family kids, he should have given a deep enough impression, otherwise he wouldn’t have acted so overbearing towards them. Hah, I’m rather looking forward to how he performs in the Inheritance War now.”
Hearing this, Tang Yu Xian was suddenly puzzled, “How come you suddenly become so interested in him?”
Tu Feng grinned, stretching out his hand and casually drawing the two golden-coloured feathers which were lying on the ground some distance away to himself before handing them to Tang Yu Xian, casually stating, “These two feathers aren’t damaged in the slightest so they obviously weren’t shaken off by an impact.”
Tang Yu Xian couldn’t help squinting as she examined the two feathers, “These were pulled out? But who plucked them?”
“Who else?”
Tang Yu Xian stared blankly at the place where Yang Kai had secluded himself and exclaimed, “Is he really so sinister? He actually manipulated us!”
After realizing this point, she turned to Tu Feng and questioned, “Since you had seen through it long ago, why did you follow along with his scheme?”
“Was I supposed to expose him right then and there?” Tu Feng rolled his eyes, “No matter what, he’s still a Young Lord of the Yang Family, I couldn’t just let him lose face like that.”
“That smelly brat, he has such insidious methods!” Tang Yu Xian ground her teeth in frustration.
She had been just been manipulated into doing a junior’s bidding, so Tang Yu Xian was rather annoyed. Regardless of her status as a servant of the Yang Family, she was still a high level Immortal Ascension Boundary master, yet she hadn’t been able to see through this little trick. It was indeed a bit shameful.
Tu Feng’s brow furrowed suddenly as he said, “For this time’s Inheritance War, we don’t know which Blood Warriors will be asked to participate. If both of us are selected, we will need to find a trustworthy and strong Young Lord to follow during the battle, if we were to choose the wrong team, the consequences would be very serious.”
“Do you want to offer your services to him?” Tang Yu Xian also frowned slightly as she asked.
“No, at least not right now. We’ve only just met him and although his performance so far is decent, we should further evaluate him before making a decision. Heh, isn’t it one of the Yang Family’s unwritten rules that while escorting the Young Lords home, they are not only trying to win us over, but we are also observing them to see if they are worth serving?”
“Good, I’ll listen to you for now.” Tang Yu Xian nodded before suddenly wearing a fierce smile as she muttered under her breath, “I have to carefully polish my sight on the road home, I can’t have myself getting used by him so easily again!”
“Hahaha!” Tu Feng laughed loudly as he nodded happily.
Half a day later, Yang Kai emerged in a spirited manner.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both hurried forward and examined him, quickly discovering that Yang Kai had already broken through and reached the True Element Boundary Seventh Stage.
The two Blood Warriors nodded secretly to themselves, somewhat impressed that he had so quickly achieved a breakthrough after the battle. It seemed the Little Lord’s aptitude was quite high.
The only thing they found strange was that for more than ten years while he was in the Yang Family, why had be always been no better than an ordinary person? Over the past few years what exactly had happened to him that allowed him to achieve such a level of cultivation in so short a time?
Both Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian stared silently at Yang Kai, their expressions indifferent, seemingly waiting for something.
“What has happened inside the Yang Family? Why are we being recalled so early this time?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed as he asked the pair.
Tu Feng’s face suddenly became a bit gloomy as he replied, “It seems the Patriarch was injured. In the battle with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land masters, the Patriarch led the charge and was injured by the Profound Yin Ghost King and the Annihilating Poison King. Although he received prompt treatment and there is no immediate threat to his life, but the Family Elders said that the situation is not optimistic, so a candidate for the next Patriarch must be determined as soon as possible.”
“The Patriarch was injured?” Yang Kai looked at him in surprise.
According to his memory, the Yang Family’s current Patriarch should be Yang Kai’s Grand Uncle Yang Ying Hao and his strength was not low. It seems that even characters of his stature had actually been injured in the decisive battle and the injury was also not light, otherwise there would not have been such a rush to recall the scattered Yang Family descendants to launch the Inheritance War.
“En, understood!” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
When it came to the inner workings of the family, Yang Kai didn’t actually know much about it. There were even several of his uncles he had never greeted. Apart from his parents, Yang Kai did not have much affection for the others members of the Yang Family.
In fact, such an attitude was quite prevalent within the Yang Family.
Each of the previous generations direct descendants had been sent out of the family for ten years of experience in the outside world, after which they returned and worked together with those they had recruited to win the Inheritance War, so between lack of contact and vicious competition, the bonds between Yang Family members was particularly weak, at least nowhere near as deep as other great families.
Seeing him respond so flatly, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian didn’t seem surprised. The two of them had grown up inside the Yang Family for so long that they naturally knew the temperament of the Yang Family’s members.
“Little Lord,” Tu Feng calmly inquired, “If there is nothing else, let us return to the Yang Family first.”
Pausing for a moment, Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he asked, “Is there any provision for the latest we must return by?”
“There is not,” Tu Feng shook his head slowly, “I would also guess you are the first Young Lord to be found. It was only two days ago that the Golden Feather Eagles were released. Yuxian and I were deployed soon after and were lucky enough to bump into you so quickly, as for the others, I’m afraid they’re still following the other Golden Feather Eagles in search of the other Young Lords.”
“Excellent.” Yang Kai smiled faintly.
“Is there something else, Little Lord?”
“En, I wish to return to my Sect first!” Yang Kai replied as he nodded firmly.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian couldn’t help glance at each other in surprise.
The cuckoo bird Yang Family was quite famous for planting it’s descendants as disciples into foreign Sects after hiding their identities. Usually, after the ten year period expired, these Young Lords would sneak out of their Sects to avoid their Sect’s Elders and their Brother and Sister disciples from knowing.
After all, after living there for so many years, even the cold-hearted Yang Family descendants would develop some feelings towards their companions, so the act of deceiving their Sect mates would leave them feeling uncomfortable.
However, now one of these Young Lords not only didn’t intend to sneak away but actually wanted to return to his Sect. This was an interesting development.
The only question was, how was he going to explain to his Sect’s Elders and his fellow disciples when he got there?
Tang Yu Xian suddenly became curious, “What is the name of Little Lord’s Sect?”
Yang Kai chuckled as he glanced towards her, noting a faint smile upon her lips, as if she were looking forward to prying as much information out of him as possible before agreeing.
“It’s better if I not say it!”
Tang Yu Xian was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding what he meant.
However, as a Blood Warrior, she knew well enough not to inquire any further, but still, she became faintly aware that the Little Lord had his own problems.
“Let’s go!” Turning away from her, Yang Kai shifted his gaze towards the three Cloud Treading Colts and declared to the two Blood Warriors.
The two exchanged a glance before nodding as they flew towards the Cloud Treading Colts.
Although they were Immortal Ascension masters that could soar through the sky at incredible speeds, since they had ‘acquired’ these Cloud Treading Colts, they were naturally happy to conserve their True Qi.
The three Cloud Treading Colts broke out into a sprint as high above them the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle followed along, from time to time letting out a crisp eagle’s cry.
From here to High Heaven Pavilion was at least ten thousand kilometres, so even if they rode the Cloud Treading Colts at full speed, it would still take two or three days to arrive.
However, Yang Kai didn’t ride at full speed but instead maintained a rather casual pace.
About the Yang Family’s unwritten rules, since Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian knew them, Yang Kai obviously did too.
Along the way home, his performance would affect the future decisions of these two Blood Warriors!
The Inheritance War was not just a battle between the several Yang Family Young Lords, in fact, their personal strength could even be said to be the least important factor.
What was most valuable during the Inheritance War was the strength and number of outside forces the Young Lords could rally to their cause!
The more support they managed to gather, the more forces which kneeled before them, the more it demonstrated the Young Lord’s connections and methods, which was of paramount importance to the next Patriarch of the Yang Family!
The Yang Family was the head of the Eight Great Families, what its Patriarch needed most was the ability to influence and lead others!
Yang Kai right now could only be considered poor and alone. He naturally cared a great deal about the opinions these two Blood Warriors who had come to escort him home had of him.
If he could prove his worth to them during this journey, it would be tantamount to having two powerful Immortal Ascension Boundary helpers once he reached home.
So for this trip, he couldn’t go too fast. If he went too fast, even if Yang Kai wanted to demonstrate his abilities there wouldn’t be enough time to do so, but he also couldn’t go too slow, or he ran the risk of appearing unmotivated or flat out lazy.
Yang Kai led the way forward, and Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian followed along without complaint.
Each day they travelled two thousand kilometres or so, a fairly leisurely pace.
So after three days, they had only crossed half the distance.
That night, when the three of them stopped to rest, Tu Feng went hunting for some food while Tang Yu Xian looked for kindling nearby to raise a fire.
Soon after the campfire’s flames began crackling, Tu Feng returned with a full harvest. The two worked swiftly together to clean the game in a nearby stream before returning to the camp to grill the meat.
While the two were busy, Yang Kai kept whistling towards the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle resting atop a treetop several tens of meters away.
For the past few days, while they were travelling, Yang Kai would often call out to and tempt the Golden Feather Eagle.
But after three days, he hadn’t made any significant progress. The Golden Feather Eagle seemed to be very wary of him. That day, Yang Kai had plucked two of its golden feathers in order to frame Nan Sheng and Xiang Chu, so even now, the young eagle regarded Yang Kai as its lifelong enemy! Each time Yang Kai moved any closer than he current was, it would let out a flurry of cries and flap its wings aggressively.
Even though it recognized Yang Kai as a direct descendant of the Yang Family it still didn’t seem to make a difference to the eagle.
Tang Yu Xian glanced over as she was roasting some skewered meat above the flames. Seeing Yang Kai still unable to make any headway with the eagle she couldn’t help grinning happily.
“Hmph, serves him right!” Tang Yu Xian muttered softly, “The Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle is only a Fifth-Order Monster Beast, but its intelligence is quite high. Since he’s plucked two of its feathers before, he shouldn’t even dream of getting close to it in this lifetime.”
Tu Feng also couldn’t help nodding, obviously agreeing with Tang Yu Xian’s thinking.
“The Little Lord should also know this, so why does he insist on pursuing such a thankless task?” Tang Yu Xian wrinkled her brow in confusion.
Tu Feng grinned meaningfully, “There is obviously an ulterior motive!”
“What do you mean?” Tang Yu Xian shifted her gaze and asked.
Tu Feng chuckled as he replied, “The Little Lord is trying to impress us by taming the eagle. Haven’t you noticed that our speed these past few days hasn’t been that fast? He’s clearly dragging out our time together.”
Tang Yu Xian was slightly surprised at first, but after thinking about it, she immediately felt that Tu Feng was right, her eyes flashing a brilliant light, “How come your thoughts are so meticulous, yet your beard isn’t long and white at all.”
Tu Feng chuckled loudly, “It’s not that I’m any more thoughtful, it’s just that you’re too young. The Little Lord’s intentions are so obvious that even a fool could understand them if they… ahem… I mean…”
“You mean, what?” Tang Yu Xian looked at him while showing a smile that wasn’t quite a smile, causing Tu Feng to suddenly groan.
Not pursuing his slip of the tongue, Tang Yu Xian turned her attention back towards Yang Kai and smiled lightly, “If that’s his plan, it seems he’s bound to be disappointed.”
“En, well, regardless of his intentions, our duty is only to protect his safety.” Tu Feng grinned before calling out to the other side, “Little Lord, the food is ready.”
Yang Kai responded with a sigh before returning with a bland look.
While eating, Tang Yu Xian smiled and looked at Yang Kai as she asked, “Little Lord, how are your efforts progressing?”
After listening to her question, Tu Feng quickly signalled with his eyes to her not to go into Yang Kai’s matters, after all, if she intentionally asked about an issue she knew he hadn’t made progress on, wouldn’t that inadvertently cause the Young Lord to lose face?
Actually, Tang Yu Xian’s intentions were good, she had simply wanted to remind Yang Kai not to pursue futile endeavours. The greater one’s expectations were, the greater the disappointment would be when they failed.
It was a lesson she thought should be learned by the younger generation.
But to her surprise, after listening to her question, Yang Kai simply made a faint grin before swallowing and casually replying, “I’m nearly there, I should be able to sooth its hostility towards me by tomorrow…”
Tang Yu Xian and Tu Feng immediately froze up before staring towards Yang Kai’s innocently smiling face. At that moment, they didn’t know what to say.
Nearly there? Wasn’t it obvious he hadn’t made any progress at all?
On top of that, how could he be so sure that he could eliminate the Golden Feather Eagle’s hostility by tomorrow? This Monster Beast clearly held a deep hatred towards him for plucking two of its feathers, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it would never forgive him for that.
“Em? What’s wrong?” Yang Kai noticed them silently staring at him and couldn’t help but raise his head and ask.
“Ahem, no, it’s nothing.” Tu Feng quickly shook his head and smiled, “If so, I wish Little Lord the best of luck.”
This is a rather perfunctorily spoken statement, but Yang Kai seems to be unaware of that and simply nodded lightly, “En.”
Tang Yu Xian grinned as she suddenly felt a headache coming on.
In front of the Little Lord’s confident expression, she couldn’t exactly advise him against his current course of action, but if tomorrow the Golden Feather Eagle still ignored him, wasn’t he also going to lose a great deal of face?
If the Little Lord was simply ashamed it was one thing, but if he instead became unreasonably angry…
At that moment, Tang Yu Xian even shot a sharp glance towards the Golden Feather Eagle. As long as the Golden Feather Eagle encountered an ‘accident’ tonight, then the Little Lord wouldn’t need to feel embarrassed.
Looking at him together with Tu Feng, both of them lowered their heads and stifled their thoughts; they no longer wished to say anything more.
Yang Kai secretly observed the two Blood Warrior’s reactions while eating his barbecue, his innocent smile slowly transforming into an imperceptibly sly grin.
Early the next morning, Tang Yu Xian awoke at the crack of dawn, slowly got up, and emerged from her tent a moment later.
Not far away, Tu Feng was standing there with his arms cross, staring ahead motionlessly.
“What are you doing?” Tang Yu Xian walked over beside him and asked with a puzzled look.
“Hm…” Tu Feng casually made a gesture to her, indicating she should turn her gaze forward.
Secretly scoffing at his attempt to be mysterious, Tang Yu Xian rolled her eyes and looked in the direction he gestured and was immediately startled.
A short distance away, in front of his tent, the Little Lord was assuming an odd stance. With one foot on the ground and both his arms stretched out like two wings of a bird, he slowly and rhythmically swung them up and down.
At first glance, it seemed like he was imitating a bird soaring through the sky, his movements had an odd charm to them.
However, what made Tang Yu Xian even more surprised was that the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle was actually perched in front of the Little Lord imitating his stance.
With its two golden wings stretching out, a piercing cry resounded from its beak, and its wings swayed up and down sending out a gentle wave of wind.
The Golden Feather Eagle no longer displayed the intense hostility it had shown for the past few days, and instead, its cries seemed to contain a feeling of intimacy.
As time passed, when the rhythm of the man and eagle completely synchronized, the Little Lord and Eagle slowly lifted off the ground at the same time.
It seemed like at that moment, the two had united as one, perfectly coordinated with one another.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both stared at this scene dumbfounded.
Both of them were incredibly powerful and talented, but if they were honest with themselves, they had no way to make a Golden Feather Eagle so obedient. In fact, in the entire Yang Family, with the exception of ones who specially trained to raise them, the Golden Feather Eagles never became intimate with anyone, but now it was actually playing with the Little Lord.
On top of that, this was after the Little Lord had plucked two of its gold feathers!
For a moment, both Blood Warriors couldn’t help but wonder if they were still dreaming as they exchanged looks, and their eyes showed both confusion and shock. Neither of them had any idea what kind of magical method Yang Kai had used to achieve this.
After a moment, one man and one eagle had risen several tens of meters off the ground.
Then, with a loud laugh, Yang Kai suddenly flew directly to the Golden Feather Eagle, and under the watchful eyes of the two Blood Warriors, he landed atop the Golden Feather Eagle’s back, accompanied by a crisp resounding eagle cry as he did.
The back of the Golden Feather Eagle wasn’t very broad, just barely large enough for one person to sit down.
However, whether it was Tu Feng or Tang Yu Xian, they could clearly sense that Yang Kai was no longer using any True Qi to levitate at all. The Golden Feather Eagle was fully supporting him and flying of its own volition.
“Wasn’t that beast extremely vindictive and defiant?” Tang Yu Xian suddenly felt that her head couldn’t keep up with the reality before her.
Tu Feng grinned meaningfully before opening his mouth and replying, “Indeed, achieving such a feat is quite impressive, but if it’s just this… it’s still far from enough.”
Tang Yu Xian nodded slightly.
It was no simple matter to convince the Yang Family’s Blood Warriors to voluntarily submit. In particular, both Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian were superb Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, so how could they surrender to him as easily as this eagle had?
After a long time, the Golden Feather Eagle slowly flew down, hovering roughly ten meters off the ground. Yang Kai jumped from its back and landed, and then the Golden Feather Eagle folded its wings and perched directly on Yang Kai’s shoulders.
Using its sharp hooked beak, it then began helping Yang Kai comb his hair.
“Little Lord’s methods are impressive.” Tu Feng complimented generously.
Yang Kai reached up and stroked the Golden Feather Eagle’s head and smiled, “I offended it a few days ago so it took some effort to make friends with it.”
“How did you do it?” Tang Yu Xian asked curiously.
Yang Kai faced her and solemnly replied, “I sincerely opened my heart to it and let it perceive my intentions.”
Tang Yu Xian couldn’t help but blink, pondering over Yang Kai’s profound statement.
“Let’s set off!” Yang Kai didn’t show off any further and firmly shouted as he turned to the Cloud Treading Colts.
Over the next few days, the groups’ speed was still not very fast, but it was obvious that the relationship between the Golden Feather Eagle and Yang Kai became closer and closer. This Fifth-Order Monster Beast seemingly had a clear insight into the various aspects of Yang Kai’s commands. Whatever orders it was given, be they simple or complex, were completed without any mistakes.
The two Blood Warriors couldn’t help being surprised by Yang Kai’s display.
In their opinions, even the members of the Yang Family who reared the Golden Feather Eagles wouldn’t be as adept at handling them as Yang Kai.
This time, even if the Little Lord failed to win the Inheritance War, he would have no trouble becoming the chief breeder for the Yang Family’s eagles.
Yang Kai on the other hand secretly felt the whole situation was funny; if it weren’t for the sake of winning over the two Blood Warriors, he wouldn’t have spent so much effort putting on a show of taming a mere Fifth-Order Monster Beast, as he could have simply used his Beast Slave Seal from the beginning.
But instead, he spent a few days playing with it to make it seem like he had struggled to achieve the current relationship.
Three days later.
High Heaven Pavilion.
The entire Sect was still devastated.
Here and there patches of scorched earth and collapsed buildings could be seen.
It was an awful sight to behold.
Yang Kai’s expression and mood were both gloomy.
This Sect, which had survived for centuries, now lay in ruins. If it was a few years ago, Yang Kai wouldn’t have had a sense of belonging here, but after experiencing so many things, Yang Kai had taken this place as his second home.
“Little Lord, this is your Sect?” Tang Yu Xian looked at Yang Kai curiously, not knowing why the scene before her looked as it did, a blasted ruin.
Yang Kai dismounted the Cloud Treading Colt and nodded slightly.
Tu Feng stepped forward and found a huge scorched plaque on the ground. After picking it up and turning it over, he and Tang Yu Xian examined it.
When she had asked Yang Kai about his Sect last time, Yang Kai had evaded her question which had caused her some confusion.
“High Heaven…” Tu Feng muttered as he read the partial text.
The plaque itself was burned and the last words couldn’t be made out; however, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian were both quite knowledgeable so they immediately thought of a possibility.
“High Heaven Pavilion?” Tang Yu Xian’s pretty face showed surprise as both she and Tu Feng hurriedly looked towards Yang Kai.
“En!” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
The two Blood Warriors both sucked in a deep breath, unable to hide their shock!
High Heaven Pavilion. Originally it was just a random second-class Sect, but this Sect was now world-famous!
It was the Sect the new Demon Lord had originated from!
On top of that, it was said that when the masters from the Qiu Family came here to sanction the Sect they had suffered a major loss.
The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady Qiu Yi Meng had also disappeared here, along with Luo Xiao Man of Purple Fern Valley and the Bai Family’s Bai Yun Feng. In addition to those who went missing, several Immortal Ascension Boundary masters had been heavily wounded.
After that incident, the Qiu Family’s masters sent out a startling message. High Heaven Pavilion had a top-class master who had reached the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.
An Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master! No mere second-class Sect could possibly have a powerhouse of this level. The mere existence of such a figure watching over it allowed High Heaven Pavilion to be classified as a first-class force!
Because of Qiu Yi Meng’s disappearance, the Qiu Family’s masters had become enraged and burned down High Heaven Pavilion.
Even until now, there had been no news about the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady.
Such information wasn’t a secret amongst the Eight Great Families, so the two Blood Warriors from the Yang Family were naturally clear about this.
After learning about Yang Kai’s Sect, the two Blood Warriors couldn’t hide their shock.
Tu Feng stared at the broken plaque in his hands, hesitating on whether to keep holding it or to drop it, and a rare conflicted light flashed across his eyes.
Meanwhile, though, Yang Kai had already walked inside.
“Be careful Little Lord, there seem to be some people inside,” Tang Yu Xian hurriedly reminded.
“People inside?” Yang Kai was stunned, and he quickly swept the Sect with his Divine Sense, then a moment later showed a surprised expression.
There were indeed people inside, and quite a number of them at that, at least a few hundred or more.
A hint of suspicion welled up inside him, and Yang Kai hurried forward.
Having only walked a short distance, Yang Kai was greeted by an unexpectedly bustling scene inside High Heaven Pavilion. People were coming and going everywhere, and many of them were familiar faces. These people… were actually High Heaven Pavilion’s original members!
There were members of both the younger and older generations, and everyone was busy cleaning up the various ruins.
It seemed like they were in the process of rebuilding High Heaven Pavilion.
Yang Kai couldn’t help staring blankly.
Because of High Heaven Pavilion’s relationship with the new Demon Lord, it had been condemned as an evil Sect, and Ling Tai Xu had thus dismissed ninety percent of its disciples, leaving only about a hundred core Sect members who had evacuated through the Void Corridor.
But now, how come there were so many people here? And they even had the courage to start rebuilding like this.
Weren’t they afraid that the Qiu Family would come looking for trouble again?
As he was gazing around in confusion, a High Heaven Pavilion disciple who passed by in front of him suddenly paused and looked at him in panic, calling out involuntarily, “Yang Kai?”
Awoken by this voice, Yang Kai turned his eyes towards this person and discovered that it was actually Cao Zheng Wen.
Originally one of the Great Elder’s low ranked disciples, he was later solicited by the Bai Family’s Bai Yun Feng, but after being defeated by Yang Kai, Bai Yun Feng no longer paid any attention to him. Cao Zheng Wen had spent several months in the Sect recovering from his injuries, as for the matter of joining the Bai Family, it had apparently fallen by the wayside.
Since then, everyone inside the Sect had a rather unfavourable impression of him.
“Senior Brother Cao!” Yang Kai called out unconsciously.
However, Cao Zheng Wen panicked and stepped back a few steps. The last time they had met, Yang Kai had instantaneously heavily wounded him, which left a kind of psychological shadow, so the moment he saw Yang Kai again and found that he was much stronger than their previous meeting, he was naturally quite frightened.
The two voices which had called out loudly immediately attracted the attention of many people nearby.
After they discovered it was really Yang Kai, the disciples of the High Heaven Pavilion all showed awkward expressions.
“Yang Kai? Where is he?” Yang Kai couldn’t help letting out a sigh as soon as he heard this voice call out from the distance.
Looking towards the source of the voice, he saw a handsome young man striding over to him. A black combat outfit accentuated his overbearing stance, and his eyes flashed as he looked coldly towards Yang Kai.
Approaching to within ten meters of Yang Kai, this youth glanced indifferently towards Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, although his eyes lit up slightly as they passed over Tang Yu Xian’s beautiful figure.
However, he immediately shifted his gaze back towards Yang Kai and nodded slightly with a smug grin on his face, “Junior Brother Yang, you’ve back.”
Yang Kai also grinned, “Senior Brother Xie!”
Xie Hong Chen, one of High Heaven Pavilion’s Core Disciples, and someone who had innumerable grudges and grievances with Yang KaI.
“It’s good that you’ve returned,” Xie Hong Chen said as he nodded flatly. Putting on a show of his status as a Senior Brother, he puffed out his chest as he arrogantly said, “Now that you’re back you can help rebuild the Sect together with us. We just happen to be short of labour around here. It looks like Junior Brother Yang has grown a lot in recent years so there are plenty of places where you can assist and show off the skills, don’t let the rest of us down.”
Yang Kai’s brow slightly wrinkled while Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian couldn’t hide their surprise, as extremely odd expressions spread across their faces.
This person… was interesting.
Actually trying to arrogantly order a Young Lord of the Yang Family to help clear rubble while saying it was a chance to show off his skills.
The place where Yang Kai would show his talents was the Yang Family’s Inheritance War and definitely not here.
“Are these two your friends?” Xie Hong Chen turned his attention to Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian and asked in a faint voice.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded slightly.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian’s expression twitched slightly but they eventually didn’t speak. They were Yang Family Blood Warriors, and their official rank was lower than a Yang Family Young Lord, so naturally they weren’t qualified to be Yang Kai’s friends; however, Yang Kai simply admitting as such was quite flattering to them.
Xie Hong Chen though simply smiled and nodded, “Since they are friends of Junior Brother Yang then they are also friends of High Heaven Pavilion. If the two of you don’t mind, you can also help out around here, naturally, we will also provide enough benefits for your efforts.”
Both Blood Warriors’ brows twitched as somewhat mocking expressions spread across their faces.
The two of them had trouble maintaining a straight face as they glanced back and forth between themselves and Xie Hong Chen.
Although they were only ordinary Yang Family Blood Warriors and no doubt had a lower status than the Yang Family’s Young Lords, but that was still only a matter within the Yang Family. If they went out and announced their status, even if it was an Elder of first-class forces who saw them they wouldn’t dare treat them so frivolously, let alone ask them to act as labourers.
Was this little brat actually trying to get them to help rebuild the High Heaven Pavilion?
Also, did he really think he had enough benefits to entice a Yang Family Blood Warrior? That wasn’t something an average person could put out! Where was this little brat summoning such boundless courage from?
Xie Hong Chen, completely oblivious to the trouble his mouth had gotten him into, looked up into the sky and wrinkled his brow, muttering to himself, “What kind of eagle is that, it’s so irritating.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help scratching his nose as he stifled his laughter, glancing over towards Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian who were making even more awkward expressions.
The Golden Feather Eagle followed Yang Kai around faithfully and was circling up in the sky. The sounds of its cries had thus naturally attracted the attention of Xie Hong Chen.
Xie Hong Chen stared a moment before nodding slightly, and a hint of admiration flashed across his eyes, “Hmm, this eagle seems to have some extraordinary points though.”
Saying so, he quickly turned and shouted to the side, “Uncle Zhong.”
A middle-aged man about forty or fifty years old soon flew over. This man was also a former member of the High Heaven Pavilion, a disciple from the previous generation and had reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary First Stage with a decent aptitude. As he landed he casually asked, “Is there something wrong?”
Xie Hong Chen turned his gaze up towards the Golden Feather Eagle and asked, “Uncle Zhong, can you chase that eagle away? We wouldn’t want it disturbing the two young ladies.”
Uncle Zhong also looked up but a moment later shook his head, “It’s too high, and the eagle itself looks like it possesses decent strength, I’m afraid I can’t do anything about it.”
Xie Hong Chen frowned and looked displeased, waving his hand as he grunted, “It’s okay, carry on.”
“En.”
After Uncle Zhong left, Xie Hong Chen smiled indifferently, “Looks like I’ll have to do it myself. Junior Brother Yang, wait a moment while I handle this eagle.”
“Ah…” Yang Kai nodded as his expression remained indifferent.
The next moment, Xie Hong Chen shot into the sky and headed straight towards the Golden Feather Eagle.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian didn’t show the slightest desire to block him, instead of wearing a smug expression like they were looking forward to a good show as they stared at Xie Hong Chen’s back.
That was a Yang Family Golden Feather Eagle if it were so easy to catch or beat, it wouldn’t be a Monster Beast worthy of the Yang Family’s dedicated cultivation.
“Does the Little Lord and this man have some kind of resentment?” Tang Yu Xian looked towards Yang Kai with a smile. Just from the way, Xie Hong Chen spoke to Yang Kai and how he now was trying to show off his authority and skills, it was obvious to her that the two youths had some kind of grudge.
“It’s all in the past!” Yang Kai replied indifferently, gently shaking his head.
His dispute with Xie Hong Chen was just really just a petty squabble caused by jealousy, but now that their Sect had been destroyed and so much else had transpired, Yang Kai no longer cared about such trifles.
“Where is the eagle?” While Yang Kai was watching Xie Hong Chen, a concerned voice suddenly called out from nearby.
Immediately afterwards, two shadows quickly approached from the distance.
The first person was a young woman of around twenty years old. She had a tall figure, jade white skin, and a slim waist; her purple dress perfectly complemented her noble temperament giving her an impeccable appearance.
Next to her, there was an exquisite girl who seemed a few years younger. Although this girl was small, the pair of jade peaks rising above her chest could only be described as tremendous. It seemed like these two proud mountains would burst from the clothes which barely contained them at any moment as they bounced up and down in an exaggerated fashion. With a light blush on her small rounded face and a sleek shapely bottom that swelled just the right amount, the very sight of her made the nearby mean swallow unconsciously.
The pair of beauties stood and stared at the Golden Feather Eagle circling up in the sky, their expressions incredibly dignified. It was like they weren’t staring at an eagle but a giant monster.
When the two women arrived, the nearby High Heaven Pavilion disciples, regardless of whether they were male or female, young or old, all stopped what they were doing and respectfully saluted, “Greetings, Young Lady Qiu, greetings Young Lady Luo!”
Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man did not even bother responding to these greetings though as their gazes remained fixed on the Golden Feather Eagle.
“Elder Sister Qiu, is it really ‘that’ eagle?” Luo Xiao Man, who despite her alluring figure still gave people a feeling of innocence, whispered quietly as she continued staring.
“It should be,” Qiu Yi Meng nodded heavily, “But I’ve only ever heard of it and have never personally seen one before.”
“That Xie Hong Chen flew up after it.” Luo Xiao Man stretched her finger and pointed at a figure up in the sky.
“What does that idiot think he’s doing?” Qiu Yi Meng’s pretty face became ice cold as she said a solemn tone, “He absolutely can’t kill that eagle.”
Kill the eagle? Even if one were to hurt it, the consequences would be dire! Although she had long since known that Xie Hong Chen was a man who liked to be in the limelight, Qiu Yi Meng could now only think of him as a brain-damaged idiot.
As long as someone had even a bit vision, they would notice that this eagle was extraordinary, right?
“Young Lady Qiu?” Tang Yu Xian looked suspiciously at Qiu Yi Meng and asked softly.
When Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man finally regained their wits, they both turned their eyes towards Yang Kai and the two Blood Warriors, trembling in surprise as they did.
None of them had ever imagined they would meet again like this.
Yang Kai at least knew that they were being led around by Shan Qing Luo; however, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian didn’t know anything about Qiu Yi Meng’s situation since she had disappeared inside High Heaven Pavilion.
After carefully sweeping her eyes over Qiu Yi Meng, Tang Yu Xian confirmed that she was indeed the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady who had been missing for several months!
In her surprise, she couldn’t help calling out her name.
Surprised as well, Qiu Yi Meng quickly turned her eyes towards Yang Kai and couldn’t help freezing up.
Luo Xiao Man, on the other hand, reacted even more violently. Her beautiful face suddenly wore a frightened expression and quickly hid behind Qiu Yi Meng, before glaring back at Yang Kai for a while.
“Hm?” Tu Feng was suddenly puzzled, and his expression became strange, faintly feeling that the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady seemed to be familiar with their family’s Little Lord.
After a long time, Qiu Yi Meng smiled towards Yang Kai and then turned her attention back to Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, sweeping her eyes across them.
Tang Yu Xian recognizing her wasn’t too surprising as she was a famous figure, but she had no idea who Tang Yu Xian was; however, when she saw the jade talisman on the two Blood Warrior’s waists, her pretty face couldn’t help but becoming serious, “Yang Family Blood Warriors?”
“Greetings, Young Lady Qiu.” Both Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian greeted respectfully.
Qiu Yi Meng’s position was equivalent to their Little Lord’s, or more accurately, her status was even higher than Yang Kai’s. After all, this young woman was the Heaven-sent genius of the Qiu Family. She was already one of the most dazzling females in the entire younger generation while Yang Kai was still just a disciple that had yet to return to the family.
Faced with such a figure, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian couldn’t be sloppy.
Qiu Yi Meng’s expression underwent numerous changes as her eyes glanced back and forth across the three newcomers, but eventually her gaze fixed firmly on Yang Kai as she dumbfoundedly asked, “With two Yang Family Blood Warriors here along with the Silver Blood Golden Feather Eagle and a youth whose surname is Yang, then would it be correct to assume you are one of the Yang Family’s direct descendants?”
After seeing all of this, if Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t guess the true identity of Yang Kai then she wouldn’t be Qiu Yi Meng.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded casually.
“Oh… It seems I was mistaken.” Qiu Yi Meng muttered begrudgingly. Although she knew that Yang Kai hadn’t disclosed his identity because of Yang Family’s rules, she still felt somewhat bitter about it.
Thinking back, she couldn’t help feeling ridiculous about how she had tried to recruit Yang Kai into the Qiu Family by offering ‘generous’ conditions while they had been trapped in Shan Qing Luo’s Palace.
As a Young Lord of the Yang Family, what resources could he possibly be lacking?
[No wonder he hadn’t spared my offer a single glance back then,] Qiu Yi Meng thought to herself. Originally she suspected him of being an arrogant youth whose eyes were higher than his head, but now she knew better. He hadn’t considered her offer simply because it was vastly inferior compared to his actual position.
Staring at Yang Kai’s calm demeanour, Qiu Yi Meng’s brow twitched as she felt the urge to slap him across his smug face for all the embarrassment she had suffered.
No one had ever let her suffer such a big loss.
“You… you’re a Young Lord of the Yang Family?” Luo Xiao Man also stared at Yang Kai with a dumbfounded look.
“Naturally!” Qiu Yi Meng sneered gently.
Luo Xiao Man was speechless, not knowing what to say.
She still remembered when Qiu Yi Meng had evaluated Yang Kai. She had mentioned that fortunately, he didn’t have a strong background. If we’re to have a strong background, then there might be no one in the whole world who could surpass him.
No, it seems that not only did he have a strong background, it was actually the strongest one possible! None could compare.
“Do the two young ladies know my family’s Young Lord?” Tang Yu Xian’s beautiful eyes flashed as she curiously observed Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man.
As a woman herself, she sensed an unusual aura from the conversation these youths just had. It seems like there was something unusual between her family’s Little Lord and the two girls in front of him.
“En, I know him indeed!” Qiu Yi Meng showed a dazzling smile, but her teeth were clearly grinding as she did.
Hearing her response, a shiver ran up Tu Feng’s back as he was confused as to why he suddenly felt a chill in the air.
“Don’t be so hostile, I don’t owe anything to you.” Yang Kai looked at Qiu Yi Meng with a wry smile. He naturally felt the hostility coming from this young woman.
“You don’t owe us anything?” Qiu Yi Meng sneered, “I’d say you owe us a great deal.”
These words were quite ambiguous and immediately piqued Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian’s interest.
“Should I recount all of it for you?” Qiu Yi Meng stared at Yang Kai maliciously.
Yang Kai’s though maintained an indifferent attitude, “Go ahead, I’m listening.”
“Hmm…” Qiu Yi Meng suddenly smiled impishly, and her eyes flashed as she licked her lips and said, “Then I’ll start with what happened with Shan…”
“Hey…” Yang Kai’s expression quickly changed as he rushed forward and covered Qiu Yi Meng’s mouth.
Shan Qing Luo’s name was not something that could be mentioned casually.
Seeing their Young Lord act so boldly caused the two Blood Warriors’ brows to rise, and their expressions were somewhat intrigued.
That was Qiu Yi Meng! The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady, one of the dynasty’s favoured daughters of Heaven, was the target of almost every great family’s Young Lords.
However, even after being treated like this, she didn’t strike back but instead simply struggled like an ordinary woman.
Exchanging a quick glance, the two Blood Warriors could see the excitement in each other’s eyes.
[There’s definitely something between them!] Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both thought in their hearts.
“Let go of me!” Qiu Yi Meng who couldn’t break free quietly muttered under her breath.
However, Yang Kai gave her a threatening look before slowly releasing his hand and taking a few steps back.
Frowning deeply, Yang Kai stared at her indifferently and stated, “I don’t owe you anything. Everything you encountered you brought upon yourself, it had nothing to do with me.”
“Heartless bastard!” Qiu Yi Meng cursed viciously.
“Don’t say those kinds of easily misunderstood words, we only met by chance, there’s no friendship between us!” Yang Kai coldly snorted.
Qiu Yi Meng suddenly felt angry, as she found that none of her usual means had any effect on Yang Kai. If she had spent so much effort on any other young lords in the capital, they would all be more than willing to nod their heads and wag their tails for her, so why was this one always so cold towards her?
“There’s a lot of things I have to ask you, is there any place private we can talk?” Yang Kai said as he looked around.
Qiu Yi Meng snorted disdainfully; however, after calming herself for a moment she still nodded, “Come with me.”
The many High Heaven Pavilion disciples who had watched this scene play out all felt baffled.
Just now, Yang Kai and Qiu Yi Meng didn’t make any effort to conceal their discussion or their attitudes towards each other.
Just who Qiu Yi Meng was, they all knew quite well. Yet, it seemed like Yang Kai was acquainted with her, and their relationship was by no means simple.
What magical ability did he have in the end? How had he managed to become associated with the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady?
Not long after the group departed, Xie Hong Chen landed nearby with a slightly embarrassed appearance. After chasing after it for so long, he still hadn’t managed to even catch a single feather from the Golden Eagle, on the contrary, he had nearly been injured by it instead.
After landing, he quickly discovered that Yang Kai had disappeared.
“Where’s Yang Kai?” Xie Hong Chen asked the disciples around him coldly.
“Young Lady Qiu arrived and led him away.” A junior brother answered.
“Led him away?” Xie Hong Chen’s brow furrowed, and a look of disbelief spread across his face, “Are you sure she led him personally?”
The junior brother didn’t dare say he was certain about it but simply replied, “It seems like Young Lady Qiu wanted to discuss something with him.”
Xie Hong Chen nodded but was still suspicious. Why did Qiu Yi Meng want to talk to him? Previously she had given him authority over the rebuilding process so what qualifications did that little brat have to speak with her?
Unable to quell his doubts, he quickly walked toward the place where Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man had temporarily taken up residence.
In a house nearby, Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man sat in front of a table across from Yang Kai.
The house was very simple without any furnishings or decorations in it. It was obviously a newly built structure, probably erected specifically for the Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man while they resided in High Heaven Pavilion.
Outside the house, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian stood guard, indifferent to everything around them, and their expressions were cold and serious.
After the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady personally served tea, she sat back down and stared at Yang Kai for a moment before speaking, “If you have anything to ask, just ask!”
“When did she let you go?” Yang Kai lifted the teacup and casually asked.
“One month ago,” Qiu Yi Meng grinned wryly, obviously understanding that the ‘she’ Yang Kai was referring to was the Beguiling Demon Queen Shan Qing Luo. “She really didn’t embarrass us and only took us around to various battlefields. Before the decisive battle, she let us go.”
“And, what happened?”
“A lot of my preconceived notions changed….” Qiu Yi Meng paused for a moment before earnestly saying, “I used to believe that the world’s evil was contained within the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land and that all who lived there were demons and devils, but now I can’t think that way anymore. I saw many innocents brutally murdered by our so-called righteous path. I also saw many of our so-called just Sects commit numerous outrages inside the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land…. she was right that this world isn’t only black and white. Everyone has demons in their hearts, and everyone can become a demon, it all depends on whether or not they choose to give in to those urges or not.”
“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly as he witnessed the great change Qiu Yi Meng had undergone. It was indeed a rare enlightenment.
Shan Qing Luo was right to bring her around the battlefield.
Perhaps Shan Qing Luo had hoped to use the power of the Qiu Family to change the world’s opinion of the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, possibly bring about a more permanent understanding and peace.
“After she let us go, the next place I came was here.” Qiu Yi Meng said with a smile.
“Then, does the Qiu Family know you’re safe?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed.
“I have already sent them a message informing them of my safety,” Qiu Yi Meng nodded, “I also sent a letter to Purple Fern Valley, as for the Bai Family…”
Yang Kai gazed sharpened slightly as he stared straight at Qiu Yi Meng.
However, the latter simply giggled, “Oh, don’t worry, I told Xiao Man to tell the Bai Family that Bai Yun Feng was hunted down by the Thunderbolt Beast King’s henchmen and was unfortunately killed. I made sure there was no mention of you and her.”
“En, good!” Yang Kai smiled with satisfaction. Although Bai Yun Feng’s death really didn’t have much to do with him, if the truth of the matter were to spread, it would likely stir up the Bai Family’s resentment.
These great forces were notorious for being unreasonable, and while he, a Yang Family Young Lord, would likely escape unscathed, High Heaven Pavilion might still be targeted.
Qiu Yi Meng slowly stretched herself, fully revealing her graceful curves, not giving the issue a second thought, and indifferently continued, “I once told you that if one day I could regain my freedom, I would help clear High Heaven Pavilion’s name! Right now, I don’t have enough authority to do so, so best I can do right now is help rebuild it and plan for the future.”
Although Qiu Yi Meng was the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady, the matters surrounding High Heaven Pavilion were too serious and complex for her to call the shots.
At the very least, one of the leaders of a super-force would have to take the lead.
“So you’re the one presiding over the reconstruction work here?” Yang Kai asked as he stared at her.
“What do you think?” Qiu Yi Meng grinned, “High Heaven Pavilion has been declared an evil Sect, if I hadn’t shown up, who would dare to build anything here? I was prepared to declare it as a subsidiary of the Qiu Family for the meantime and look for opportunities later on the restore High Heaven Pavilion’s name as a favour to you.”
“No, there’s no such thing as selling me a favour, this is simply what your Qiu Family should do.” Yang Kai sneered back at her.
Qiu Yi Meng didn’t immediately refute this time, instead just nodding as she said, “What you say makes some sense, after all, it was my Qiu Family that set this place ablaze in the first place, but now that you’re back, and with an appropriate backing, you should take over yourself. I’m too lazy to get involved. Heh, as the property of a Yang Family Young Lord, no one would dare say anything about it, right?”
Yang Kai was slightly stunned but also didn’t refute her. After contemplating for a long time, he felt that what Qiu Yi Meng proposed was indeed a good idea. Therefore he nodded in agreement, “Good, I give you my thanks.”
Qiu Yi Meng’s eyes flashed imperceptibly as she maintained her smile.
“But what about those people outside? Where did you find all of them?” Yang Kai questioned.
“From around the local area,” Qiu Yi Meng grinned as she casually propped up her head with her hands which were resting on the table, a bit lazily replying, “They’re were all hanging around the two other nearby Sects, so all I needed to do was speak a few words to those faction’s Elders and they were all allowed to come back here.”
Yang Kai suddenly understood.
Those people outside should all be the disciples who were tempted by Storm Hall and Blood Battle Gang! However, it was unexpected for him that on the eve of the Sect’s disaster, Xie Hong Chen, who was a Core Disciple, had also abandoned High Heaven Pavilion, while on the contrary, Common Disciples like Li Yun Tian firmly stood with the Sect and finally escaped through the Void Corridor, fleeing ten thousand kilometers away.
It was only in times of crisis that one could truly understand what was in another’s heart.
However, Yang Kai didn’t give much thought to this matter, them choosing to leave the Sect at that time was their freedom.
It seemed that many of them were taken in by Storm Hall and Blood Battle Gang, but now that Qiu Yi Meng had arrived and sought them out, with her identity as the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady, what objections could Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall possibly say?
“One’s Sect should always be supported by one’s own people, don’t you agree?” Qiu Yi Meng smiled happily, as if looking forward to Yang Kai praising her efforts.
Yang Kai, unfortunately, turned a deaf ear to her, and instead chose to stare at Luo Xiao Man, the latter behaving like a vicious tiger had her in its sights.
Seeing this, Qiu Yi Meng simply rolled her eyes, knowing just how stubborn this young man was and did not force the issue any further.
“Right, when you came here, did you notice anything odd nearby?” Yang Kai suddenly recalled a certain point and inquired.
“Something odd?”
“En, like a place where Evil and Demonic Qi surged forth.” Yang Kai spoke in an intentionally casual tone.
“Oh, you mean that,” Qiu Yi Meng smiled and nodded, “We didn’t see it when we arrived, but after listening to your Senior Brother Xie Hong Chen, it seems like the place you call the Coiling Dragon Stream was once erupting with Demonic Qi, so much so that the two nearby factions were preparing to relocate, but it seemed like something down below was continuously absorbing that Demonic Qi, so, after a few months, the place was restored to its former calm.”
“Has anybody gone down to investigate then?” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling slightly nervous.
What was absorbing the Demonic Qi, others might not know, but Yang Kai was clear.
Old Demon!
Upon returning here, Yang Kai had done a quick sweep of the area with his Divine Sense, but he couldn’t find any traces of Old Demon’s aura, therefore he had simply assumed he had been successful, but now had no idea where he had gone.
[Did that old devil want to take this opportunity to escape from his control?] Yang Kai couldn’t help thinking of such a possibility.
It wasn’t impossible, Old Demon was a real Devil lord, not exactly someone who could be described as trustworthy and loyal.
“No, nobody has gone down there to check. The nearby cultivators were all extremely fearful of approaching the Coiling Dragon Stream!” Qiu Yi Meng slowly shook her head.
That was also understandable. All of them had witnessed what had transpired here. At the time, the Demonic Qi soared to the Heavens and shook the very ground beneath them, and all of them felt a fatal threat from it. Although it now appeared safe and sound, nobody was daring enough to risk their life just to satisfy their curiosity.
“Do you know what’s down there?” Qiu Yi Meng’s gaze suddenly became sharp as she stared at Yang Kai.
“Nope.” Yang Kai shook his head perfunctorily.
Qiu Yi Meng snorted, knowing that he didn’t trust her enough to tell her the truth.
“Forget it, if you don’t want to say then don’t. Let’s just focus on the rebuilding of your Sect. I’ve also lingered here for a long time and even though I’ve sent a letter back to the capital explaining the situation, I still have to go home as soon as possible, otherwise, my family would start worrying about me again. They might even send someone out to bring me back.” Qiu Yi Meng said bitterly. It seemed like she was somewhat reluctant to go back to the capital. “In which case, I think I’ll entrust the rebuilding efforts here to you instead of overseeing things myself. Right now everything has been given to that Xie Hong Chen to manage, but do you have any thoughts on the matter?”
“Leave things as it is, I believe in you!” Yang Kai simply nodded, not even pausing to consider the matter.
“How open-minded and generous of you,” Qiu Yi Meng said sarcastically, “Well whatever, you handle it, but let me say this, whatever happens, don’t come complaining to me. Although your Senior Brother acts like an elite, compared to you he’s not much better than trash, but if it’s just supervising some reconstruction, he should be capable enough.”
Luo Xiao Man who sat next to her also nodded imperceptibly.
Although she didn’t like Yang Kai and was even afraid of him, she also couldn’t deny that compared to those of his generation he was an outstanding talent.
Whether it was in terms of temperament, vision, perseverance or strength, he excelled far beyond his peers.
“Well, you should be clearer than I about the inner workings of your Sect, if you don’t feel comfortable leaving him in charge you can always swap him for someone else,” Qiu Yi Meng said carelessly.
“No need to bother, rebuilding the Sect’s buildings isn’t a big deal, let him manage it,” Yang Kai replied as he shook his head slowly and said before suddenly looking up towards the door and grinning, “Speaking of which, here he comes now.”
Qiu Yi Meng quickly heard Xie Hong Chen’s angry roar from outside, “Why are you blocking my way? I need to speak with Young Lady Qiu!”
“Young Lady Qiu is currently discussing some matters with our Young Lord, so you can’t enter!” Tu Feng said coldly as he stood in front of the door.
Xie Hong Chen couldn’t help bursting out into a fit of laughter as he looked at Tu Feng disdainfully and said, “Your Young Lord? Oh, oh, what Young Lord could you be referring to? You’re not talking about Yang Kai are you? Perhaps you’ve got the wrong idea, this is my High Heaven Pavilion’s site, wherever I wish to go, none can stop me!”
As he spoke, it was obvious he was preparing to barge in forcefully.
“You may not enter!” Tu Feng remained firmly in place with an indifferent expression upon his face.
Xie Hong Chen’s face sank as coldly spoke, “Out of consideration for Yang Kai I’ll give you a little face, but if you don’t know what’s good for you and continue to block my path, don’t blame me for being impolite!”
Tang Yu Xian immediately showed a dazzling smile, like she was looking forward to what came next.
Tu Feng, on the other hand, continued to stare indifferently at Xie Hong Chen, not the slightest bit of worry could be seen on his face.
Inside the house, Qiu Yi Meng grinned as she stared at Yang Kai, obviously eager to see how he would handle this debacle.
“Let him come in.” Yang Kai frowned as he called out. Xie Hong Chen could still be considered a disciple of High Heaven Pavilion and his Senior Brother, so in the beginning he had wanted to give him a little face, but now that he had made such a foolish display of himself, Yang Kai was obviously not going to be considerate with him anymore.
Hearing this command, Tu Feng obediently stepped aside.
Xie Hong Chen coldly snorted and adjusted his clothes before striding into the house.
But after seeing the situation inside, he couldn’t help but stare blankly.
What greeted him was the sight of Yang Kai sitting across the table from Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man. This kind of treatment was something Xie Hong Chen knew he couldn’t hope for.
Every time he came here to see Qiu Yi Meng, he would stand respectfully at the door and make his report before being sent off by her.
[How can Yang Kai sit there as though he is of their equal?]
Although the suspicions in his heart grew, Xie Hong Chen still wore a business-like smile on his face as he courteously spoke, “Greetings Young Lady Qiu, Young Lady Luo.”
“En,” Qiu Yi Meng responded with a sly grin, “You’ve come just in time, I was talking with your Junior Brother here about the rebuilding of High Heaven Pavilion, and it seems he has some ideas he wants to discuss with you.”
“Oh?” Xie Hong Chen chuckled lightly before turning towards Yang Kai, “What exactly is it that Junior Brother Yang wants to say?”
Although this voice was flat, it clearly contained some provocative tones.
Qiu Yi Meng quickly sat back and relaxed, as if she was a bystander watching a good show.
It was all she could do to stop herself from giggling. It seemed like this idiot still hadn’t figured out Yang Kai’s true identity. Not only was he speaking arrogantly in front of two Yang Family Blood Warriors, but he was also maliciously targeting one of the Yang Family’s Young Lords.
Even if someone was ignorant, how could they be stupid to such a degree?
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed and said, “I don’t have much to say, just a simple request.”
Xie Hong Chen laughed haughtily, “Request you say?”
“En.”
In front of Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man, Xie Hong Chen at least knew not to directly stir up trouble, so he could only pretend to be magnanimous and say, “Very well, let’s hear it.”
“Everything inside the Sect should be rebuilt exactly in accordance with the original layout and deployment. All buildings shouldn’t deviate from their initial position or appearance in the slightest. Senior Brothers have lived in the Sect for so many years that you should be very familiar with everything here. With you supervising, it should be accomplishable.”
Xie Hong Chen’s mouth twitched slightly when Yang Kai said these words. The tone he was speaking in was not one would use when making a request but rather one would use to give an order, and this naturally made him feel uncomfortable.
This was nothing short of a command!
However, as soon as he was about to rebut, Yang Kai continued, “If there is a shortage of people, you can ask for more to be dispatched from the nearby Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall. You can use the name of the Qiu Family’s First Young Lady over here and afterwards give them some compensation.”
Qiu Yi Meng could not help pouting slightly and stayed slient.
Shocked by what he heard, Xie Hong Chen couldn’t understand why Qiu Yi Meng hadn’t retorted just now.
“If there is a shortage of funds or supplies… send a letter to the capital and the Qiu Young’s Young Lady will arrange for it to be sent to you. Given the Qiu Family’s financial might, they shouldn’t care about such minor expenses, right?” Yang Kai turned his gaze towards Qiu Yi Meng and smiled.
“Shameless!” Qiu Yi Meng cursed as she ground her teeth.
Xie Hong Chen’s expression became solemn as he finally felt that things were more complicated than he had originally expected, though if, after seeing all of this, he still couldn’t at least figure that much out he would really be a fool.
The Junior Brother Yang in front of him he disdained so much now seemed to have some kind of relationship with Qiu Yi Meng. Otherwise, how could Qiu Yi Meng not react at all when he had provoked her so blatantly?
Rebuilding a second-class Sect wasn’t a big deal for a super-force like the Qiu Family, but it would still be a large amount of financial and material resources.
So how could Yang Kai, in just a few words, make such a sweeping decision? If he had absolutely no connection to Qiu Yi Meng, how could the latter simply agree?
A storm was suddenly set off inside Xie Hong Chen’s mind as he subconsciously realized that this Junior Brother of his wasn’t as simple as he appeared.
“Additionally…” Yang Kai tapped his fingers on the table for a moment and then said in a low voice, “Send out a message to every corner of the world, let all the disciples of High Heaven Pavilion…”
“Return home!”
The last two words he spoke were Yang Kai’s resolute decision. It was like a drum that had been struck, which caused the hearts of everyone inside the house to tighten, and a sense of awe swept over them.
Only after losing their Sect and being scattered by the wind would people realize just how stimulating the word ‘home’ was.
Silence prevailed inside the house, and even Qiu Yi Meng wore a solemn expression.
“Does Senior Brother have anything he’d like to add?” Yang Kai raised his eyes and stared at Xie Hong Chen as he asked.
Xie Hong Chen shook his head subconsciously and barely managed to mutter, “No.”
He had come here many times to discuss with Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man during this period of time, so he was relatively well informed about the matters regarding the rebuilding of the Sect so he really had nothing else to add.
“If so, then carry on.” Yang Kai stated definitively.
After Xie Hong Chen took some time to regain his wits, he hesitantly turned to Qiu Yi Meng and stuttered, “Young Lady Qiu, this…”
Qiu Yi Meng suddenly wore a displeased expression, “Didn’t you hear clearly?”
“I… I certainly heard, but… can Junior Brother Yang take responsibility for such decisions?” Xie Hong Chen desperately said, still unable to bring himself to believe what was happening.
However, Qiu Yi Meng just grinned wryly at his feeble protests and declared, “If he can’t take responsibility, then no one can.”
It was as if Xie Hong Chen had suddenly been struck by lightning as he blankly stared towards Yang Kai, and his eyes quivered slightly.
Yang Kai still remained indifferent though as he stood up and walked towards the door. But, as he passed by Xie Hong Chen, he suddenly paused and said in a low voice, “If you dare make a mistake while managing this project, I’ll make you regret being born into this world!”
Hearing these words, Xie Hong Chen could only feel a cold chill from the top of his head to the tips of his toes!
Qiu Yi Meng didn’t even spare him a glance as she casually followed Yang Kai out.
When Luo Xiao Man was about to exit though, Xie Hong Chen suddenly reached out and blocked her path.
“What do you want to do?” Luo Xiao Man looked at him suspiciously, feeling that this fool was quite pathetic.
“Young Lady Luo, my Junior Brother… who exactly is he?” Xie Hong Chen licked his dry lips and asked softly.
Luo Xiao Man bit her lip as she continued walking towards the door but whispered back to him, “Your Junior Brother is a Young Lord of the Yang Family.”
After speaking so, she walked out without turning back.
Xie Hong Chen suddenly felt his entire body go soft as he sunk to the floor and landed on his butt with cold sweat pouring down his face.
A Yang Family, Young Lord!
Those few words had been like an eruption of thunder in Xie Hong Chen’s ears, shaking his consciousness.
The insignificant Junior Brother who was neither talented nor strong actually had such a fearsome background!
It was ridiculous that he had been targeting him for years, even secretly plotting against him.
What qualifications did he have to fight with him? What qualifications did he have to be jealous of him?
He must be clearly aware of everything that had transpired in the past, but why did he not kill him now?
To be spared under such circumstances, Xie Hong Chen not only didn’t feel happy, but instead felt like his heart and his pride had been reduced to ash!
It was even more unpleasant than if he had simply killed him!
The fact that he let him go definitely meant that Yang Kai disdained to even think about him anymore.
After all, would a tiger be concerned with the provocations of an ant?
“Ha… haha….” Laughing stupidly, Xie Hong Chen suddenly felt that in this life, he was undoubtedly a complete loser.
A thousand meters below the top of the Coiling Dragon Stream.
Yang Kai entered his secluded home.
A group of people soon following behind him.
Looking around at the familiar scene before him, the faces of Su Yan and Xia Ning Chang flashed across Yang Kai’s eyes.
Although the Sect was destroyed, it seemed like only this place was completely preserved.
Inside this secluded home, it seemed like the two women’s fragrance still lingered about the stone bed in particular stained with Su Yan’s scent.
Little Senior Sister had also often slept here; every time she fell asleep, no matter how one shouted she wouldn’t wake up. Even if he stole some small advantages from her, she would resolutely ignore him.
Yang Kai didn’t know if she was really sleeping or if she was just extremely shy to this day. Thinking so, he suddenly felt that he should earnestly apologize to Xia Ning Chang the next time they met.
Regarding Xia Ning Chang, Yang Kai wasn’t worried. She must still be studying the Alchemic Way with Xiao Fu Sheng atop Medicine King’s Valley’s Hidden Cloud Peak right now. Along with Meng Wu Ya protecting her, she was definitely safe.
But what about Su Yan?
Since he was last separated with her, he had never heard from her again.
Where exactly did she go?
It seems the heaviness of Yang Kai’s mood didn’t escape the eyes of the two Blood Warriors, Qiu Yi Meng, and Luo Xiao Man, and all of them chose to stand quietly at the entrance of the cave without disturbing him.
After he walked inside, Yang Kai sat on the bed and stroked the smooth stone surface as memories seemingly flashed across his thoughts.
[I’m afraid it will be difficult to have a chance to return here again this time.]
After this, he would have to participate in the Inheritance War, the end of which was difficult to predict..
As his mood swung up and down, it wasn’t until this moment that Yang Kai discovered just how much he liked this place.