The servant quickly told Yang Kai what had happened after he had left. After hearing about the course of events and adding on his own discoveries, Yang Kai had a fair understanding of what transpired.
Walking over to the dining hall doors and carefully observing the inside with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai found that his parent’s True Qis were both fiercely circulating, the momentum spilling over from their bodies thrashing about wildly.
However, the situations faced by the husband and wife were slightly different.
Dong Su Zhu had already made a breakthrough, but the aura around her had yet to stabilize, obviously the energy within her body had not yet been fully absorbed. If she continued to refine the remaining energy, it wouldn’t be long before her new Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage cultivation would be completely consolidated.
On the other hand, Yang Ying Feng was facing some dangers. The Fourth Master had also broken through a stage, but now he was once again showing signs of breaking through.
A cultivator’s body was like a series of locked doors. Every breakthrough would unlock one of these locks allowing one to open the next door. Any cultivator, through a gradual accumulation, would be able to open these locks. This process could even be sped up by taking some Precious Treasures.
But the huge energy contained within the Myriad Drug Liquid not only allowed the Yang Family Fourth Master to open one lock in a short period of time, it had also shoved open that door and even begun to unlock a second lock.
This was a joyous event, but also a disaster.
Yang Kai too had broken through several Minor Realms before, but at that time his cultivation was very low so the danger of promoting several stages at once was quite small.
Yang Ying Feng’s circumstances were different. Although he had a chronic illness, he was still an Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage. Now he had broken through to the Fourth Stage what he should do was consolidate his cultivation before trying to take another step, but under the influence of the Myriad Drug Liquid, he has no leeway to do so.
If his body’s foundations and his understanding of the Martial Dao were insufficient, it was entirely possible that he wouldn’t be able to break through to the Immortal Ascension Fifth Stage, at that time, the huge amount of energy circulating through his meridians would have no outlet and could explode inside his body.
However, if his accumulation over the years was enough, then the Yang Family Fourth Master could transform this disaster into an opportunity.
Everything depended upon Yang Ying Feng’s understanding of the Martial Dao.
These thoughts all flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he carefully swept his parents with his Divine Sense, his slightly panicked expression calming down after a while as he waved to the nearby servant, “Everything’s alright, I’ll monitor the situation here, you can go back. If anyone visits these days, tell them that father’s injury has relapsed and he is currently closing up to recover.”
“Yes Young Master,” The old servant bowed and drew back, making arrangements according to Yang Kai’s instructions.
Putting out an invisible Divine Sense barrier around the dining hall, Yang Kai isolated the energy fluctuations from any outside nosing.
As a result, no one outside would notice what was happening here.
After doing this, Yang Kai stood quietly and waited outside.
He didn’t show any more worry on his face because he had enough confidence in his father’s Martial Dao foundation.
If it weren’t for that incident all those years ago, the Yang Family Fourth Master’s cultivation wouldn’t be so low. Although the rate at which he broke through was indeed very slow, but the precipitation over time was enough to make his understanding of the Martial Dao not worse than the other members of his generation.
Moreover, the Yang Family Fourth Master’s aptitude was by no means bad, after so many years of accumulation, promoting directly to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage wasn’t a big deal!
The only thing that confused Yang Kai was how his parent’s had come across such a violent reaction after taking the Myriad Drug Liquid.
After half a day, Dong Su Zhu’s aura began to stabilized, probably because all the energy from the Myriad Drug Liquid had been absorbed and refined by her.
Yang Ying Feng’s aura on the other hand still continued to surge upwards, seemingly endlessly.
After another half a day, the Yang Family Fourth Master’s aura suddenly stagnated before shooting upwards, as if it had broken though a thick barrier and soared ten thousand kilometers into the sky. An overwhelming force swept forth and the energy between Heaven and Earth became turbulent.
Yang Kai grinned broadly as Dong Su Zhu’s excited exclamation came from inside the hall.
An indescribable happiness and excitement was apparent in her voice.
The momentum which had shot upwards quickly subsided and after a short time, the air became calm once more.
“Come in!” Yang Ying Feng’s firm voice sounded from inside the hall. Yang Kai scratched his nose lightly before stepping inside.
The Fourth Master’s tone was dignified, so Yang Kai knew that he would have to accept some questioning about what had just happened. This wasn’t a surprise as the effect of the Myriad Drug Liquid was simply too amazing, how could his parents not have some doubts?
Inside the hall, Yang Kai simply smiled, his eyes glancing back and forth at the messy surroundings, not taking the initiative to explain.
Dong Su Zhu also stared at Yang Kai questioningly, the look on her face somewhat distressed, biting her lip as she held back the urge to speak.
Yang Ying Feng frowned for a moment before breaking the awkward silence, “Kai’er, tell me honestly, what exactly was that medicinal liquid you gave us?”
Yang Kai hadn’t even opened his mouth yet before the Fourth Master added, “And don’t say that it’s a medicine you concocted, the grades of those materials you asked for are clear to me, it’s absolutely impossible to create such a Heaven defying treasure from those ingredients!”
“Fourth Master is wise!” Yang Kai’s face showed not the slightest sign of remorse, instead quickly speaking some obvious flattering words.
Dong Su Zhu almost couldn’t stop herself from laughing while Yang Ying Feng also suddenly felt the urge to hit his son, but he somehow maintained his questioning expression as he started straight at Yang Kai, the look on his face clearly saying he wouldn’t let the issue drop without a proper explanation.
“It’s called Myriad Drug Liquid, it’s the distilled essence of millions of different medicinal pills that through some special Spirit Arrays had been filtered and concentrated over thousands of years,” Yang Kai sighed and casually said a few shocking words.
The husband and wife couple couldn’t help gasping, staring at Yang Kai in shock.
Millions of pills, thousands of years…
As soon as they heard these words, their first thought was that their son was spinning some kind of fairy tale.
But when they saw Yang Kai’s expression, both of them knew he was telling the truth.
[No wonder it had such a powerful effect.]
The accumulated medicinal efficacies over such a massive amount of time had no doubt created an elixir which by far exceeded the level of this world. Yang Kai obtaining this liquid was obviously an incredible opportunity.
Thinking so, both husband and wife became somewhat distressed. They weren’t distraught about how precious the Myriad Drug Liquid was, but instead distressed about the no doubt difficult and dangerous experience Yang Kai must have had in order to get it.
“This is extremely precious, right?” Yang Ying Feng stared at him deeply, intentionally not asking about where Yang Kai had obtained the Myriad Drug Liquid.
“I have plenty more of it,” Yang Kai comforted his father casually, suddenly unable to hold back his curiosity, “Just how much of it did mother and father drink?”
At this question, the Yang Family Fourth Master’s expression cramped up, Dong Su Zhu face blushed awkwardly as well.
After a long time, Dong Su Zhu eventually confessed, “I drank half a glass while your father… he had a whole cup!”
Yang Kai couldn’t help bursting into laughter; he really hadn’t expected his parents to be so bold.
Although, he also felt he was partly to blame for not explaining the true efficacy of the drug, instead only telling them to take one drop per person per day. As far as his parents knew, the Myriad Drug Liquid was concocted from a variety of Heaven Grade materials, how could they have expected it to have such phenomenal potency?
The end result though was one of them breaking through a Minor Realm, while the other had actually promoted two stages, a matter worth celebrating.
“Next time, you can’t drink it like that again.” Yang Kai said seriously, trying to contain his laughter.
His parents both nodded immediately, their expression completely serious.
This time’s breakthrough could be described as an unexpected pleasant surprise. Dong Su Zhu promoting to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage was the equivalent of her bypassing several years of hard work.
The Yang Family Fourth Master had obtained an even greater benefit. Not only had his cultivation risen two Minor Realms, directly breaking through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage, even the Demonic Qi which had stubbornly been attached to his dantian showed signs of dissipating.
Not daring to neglect this chance, Yang Ying Feng immediately chose to close up and use the Myriad Drug Milk to completely drive out the remaining Demonic Qi which had plagued him all these years.
Dong Su Zhu also entered secluded retreat in order to stabilize her current cultivation.
All of a sudden, the Fourth Master’s residence became very peaceful, only Yang Kai and the dozen or so servants bustled about inside.
The Golden Feather Eagle would also drop by once a day to obtain its treat from Yang Kai.
Five days later, Du Cheng Bai visited and eagerly told Yang Kai a piece of good news. His application to receive a Golden Feather Eagle in exchange for a Mysterious Grade Martial Skill had been accepted by the family and he was to go go to the Elder Hall in order to complete the exchange.
This really was great news for Yang Kai.
The only headache Yang Kai faced now was which Mysterious Grade Martial Skill he should use in order to exchange for the Golden Feather Eagle.
Over the years Yang Kai had acquired a large number of Martial Skills, but there were only two that were Mysterious Grade. Apart from Star Mark, there was only the Nine Star Sword Sect’s Strike of Ten Thousand Swords. Most of the time when confronting an enemy Yang Kai preferred relying upon his True Qi’s flexibility and his instinctual reactions.
When a cultivator began cultivating, high grade Martial Skills really could provide a significant boost to their combat strength, but at Yang Kai’s level, unless it was a Mysterious Grade Martial Skill, anything of lower grade fundamentally couldn’t increase the strength he could display, the potency of his Yang Liquid and the Demonic Qi in his Unyielding Golden Skeleton were enough on their own.
Thinking it over, Yang Kai eventually decided to hand over his Star Mark Martial Skill to the family.
Firstly, the drawbacks of this Martial Skill weren’t small; one would need plenty of time in order to display its full potential. Moreover, even if someone were to cultivate it, they would encounter difficulties storing enough True Qi to all Star Mark to have any noticeable effect. Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about someone using it against him some day.
Secondly, the Strike of Ten Thousand Swords was the core inheritance of the Nine Star Sword Sect. If others knew that Yang Kai had learned this Martial Skill, they were bound to associate him with Wu Cheng Yi and Qi Jian Xing’s deaths.
The Nine Star Sword Sect wasn’t weak, if possible, Yang Kai didn’t want to make enemies of them right now.
In the Yang Family, as long as one had enough contributions, they could obtain anything they wanted, unlike in other families where you would need special relationships to receive certain things.
For the Yang Family, everything was based on your own merits.
When Yang Kai arrived at the Elder Hall and handed over the Star Mark Martial Skill, a white-haired Elder immediately gave Yang Kai a jade slip to pass on to Du Cheng Bai. After that, the Golden Feather Eagle which had followed Yang Kai would official change hands.
From now on, it would belong to Yang Kai alone, not the Yang Family.
The same day he received the Golden Feather Eagle, Yang Kai took it with him to the Bamboo Knot Gang to familiarize it with Pang Chi and the other core members of the gang so it could serve as a messenger, saving Yang Kai from having to run back and forth to receive information from them.
Three days later, Yang Wei, the eldest brother of the Yang Family’s younger generation returned to the Central Capital. On the same day, two other Yang Family direct descendants also returned.
Two days after, another returned.
The crisp cries of the Golden Feather Eagles resounded constantly throughout the Central Capital, seemingly announcing the beginning of what would surely be a tumultuous time. The world knew that the Yang Family children had returned home and that the Inheritance War would soon begin.
Upon returning to the Central Capital, the Yang Family Young Lord frequently contacted the Young Lords and Young Ladies of the other seven families, only Yang Kai stood motionless amongst the storm, as if the Inheritance War had nothing to do with him.
The ones most solicited by the Yang Family Young Lords were undoubtedly the Liu Family’s Liu Qing Yao and the Qiu Family’s Qiu Yi Meng. So far, the number of invitations they had received equaled the number of Yang Family Young Lords, minus one of course. But from beginning to end neither of these two took a clear stand about which Yang Family Young Lord they intended to support.
It was rumoured that Liu Qing Yao had only stated that he would only ally himself with someone who could defeat him!
Facing this declaration from an Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage master, the Yang Family’s Young Lords all couldn’t help rolling their eyes.
Of the returning Yang Family direct descendants, only Yang Wei had reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary First Stage, the rest were only True Element Boundary cultivators.
It wasn’t that the Yang Family’s children had worse aptitude than Liu Qing Yao, it was simply that while they were outside for life experience, they couldn’t draw support from the main family, so with a slightly inferior environment, falling behind was only natural.
If he had access to the same resources, Yang Wei’s cultivation wouldn’t necessarily be worse than Liu Qing Yao’s.
But regardless, Liu Qing Yao’s strength and aptitude were unquestionable; on top of that, whoever could win him over would also be able to recruit the Liu Family.
With such a big boost available, all the Yang Family Young Lords were obviously anxious to recruit him, but unfortunately, none of them could meet his condition, the depression they felt was apparent.
As for Qiu Yi Meng, she hadn’t said a word, but the Yang Family Young Lord who contacted her could clearly see she had no interest in partnering with them. They also didn’t dare press her too hard, so all of them could only give up temporarily and try again later.
At night, the sky seemed dark as clouds rolled in, it seemed like a storm was brewing, leaving everyone slightly breathless.
The winds blew strongly, giving the air in the Central Capital a noticeable chill.
Yang Kai closed his eyes and sat in his courtyard, surrounded by an invisible Spiritual Energy which slowly condensed before hammering against the air.
This was Yang Kai’s second retreat since he came home, and with his persistent hard work these days, his True Element Boundary Seventh Stage cultivation had reached its peak, arriving at a bottleneck.
Although he knew he would break through this bottleneck sooner or later, Yang Kai didn’t want to idle about, waiting for that time. Since there was little he could do to enhance his True Qi cultivation, Yang Kai could only focus on cultivating his Divine Sense to see if he could find some inspiration.
Yang Kai had cultivated out his Divine Sense long ago, but strangely, until now, he still had not managed to open his Knowledge Sea.
Without a Knowledge Sea, his Divine Sense was like a rootless tree or a stagnant pool of water, if not for the constant supplement of his Soul Warming Lotus, his Divine Sense would have long ago dissipated.
It was also this reason that Yang Kai’s Soul Skills were somewhat lacking.
There were only three Minor Realms separating him from the Immortal Ascension Boundary, and Yang Kai very much looked forward to what changes his Divine Sense would show once he opened his Knowledge Sea.
Therefore, during this period of time, he had been cultivating more assiduously than ever. As long as he had free time, he would spend it cultivating.
By constantly using his Soul Skills, Yang Kai would consume his Spiritual Energy at a rapid pace, so just over an hour later he felt a sense of dizziness.
Stopping quickly, Yang Kai closed his eyes entered a meditative state.
In the middle of the night, as a light rain fell from the sky, a sudden sound of flapping wings reached Yang Kai’s ears. Raising his brow and opening his eyes, Yang Kai gazed upward.
A golden light stood out against the black night sky, rushing towards him like a bolt of lightning.
After landing atop Yang Kai’s shoulders, the Golden Feather Eagle only let out a few low cries.
Feeling the meaning conveyed from its voice, Yang Kai’s expression darkened as he quickly leapt up and flew northward.
The Golden Feather Eagle had been stationed at the Bamboo Knot Gang alongside Pang Chi for the past few days and had a dedicated caretaker there. It would only return once a day to find Yang Kai to receive its drop of Myriad Drug Liquid, but now it had actually flown back in the middle of the night, obviously the Bamboo Knot Gang had encountered some trouble.
The Bamboo Knot Gang’s forces weren’t large and the strength of their personnel wasn’t that high. There was nothing remarkable or valuable about them so generally no one would pay attention to them.
But something was clearly different tonight.
Remembering the internal quarrel the Bamboo Knot Gang had a few days ago, Yang Kai became concerned.
Ignoring the rapid consumption of his True Qi, Yang Kai managed to arrive in the North City District after only half an hour.
From the Bamboo Knot Gang’s headquarters, the sounds of battle rang out loudly. Pang Chi led a few of the gang’s masters in retreat as they endured the siege of a group of people. In the surroundings, a variety of Martial Skills and artifacts flashed and from time to time someone would fall, never to get up.
As blood flowed, the rain quietly washed it away, staining everything in its path a dark crimson.
The Bamboo Knot Gang didn’t have many members, and at the moment, their enemies numbered more than double their own, the opponent’s masters having not even needed to act. These enemy leaders simply stood by and watched the Bamboo Knot Gang struggle. With countless dead and wounded already, defeat was all but certain, it wouldn’t be long until everyone in the complex died.
Although Pang Chi was also scarred, he bitterly fought on. He had already released the Golden Feather Eagle while he confronted the enemy. Now his only hope was that their new master would bring reinforcements to rescue them.
As a Young Lord of the Yang Family, he should at least have a few masters under his command, right?
The only thing that made Pang Chi nervous was whether Yang Kai would be willing to come to their aid!
“Wu Qian!” Pang Chi roared angrily at a middle-aged man standing amongst the enemy camp, “Your Profound Light Gang and our Bamboo Knot Gang have always been well water not drawing from the river, what are you suddenly attacking us for?”
The man named Wu Qian simply sneered in response, his cold voice replying back sharply, “Pang Chi, why are you feigning ignorance? My family’s Young Lord had already said, if you don’t swear allegiance, you must die!”
“Do you not know who stands behind my Bamboo Knot Gang? Do you dare point your blade towards us?” Pang Chi spat as he continued attacking.
Wu Qian snorted before disdainfully saying, “The Eight Great Families people have never interfered in the disputes between us small forces. The Central Capital’s life is simply too boring, they only keep us around so they can have a bit of fun toying with us. Do you really think that after you die today, someone behind you will be willing to avenge you? In your dreams!”
Pang Chi’s expression was bitter; knowing what Wu Qian said wasn’t a lie.
The members of the Eight Great Families really didn’t intervene in the battles between small forces like them. For those of the Eight Great Families, if one of these little forces of theirs disappeared, it was no big deal. At worst, they could just find another one to support.
Every year, there were a countless number of small forces destroyed, but these small forces were like spring bamboo shoots after the rain, even if some of them were smashed, others would quickly sprout up to take their place.
It was for this very reason that he didn’t dare expect Yang Kai to save them.
As these two talked, on the top of a building adjacent the Clear Sky Tavern, a youth stood lazily staring at the battlefield below, a smile adoring his face as his eyes were filled with interest, seemingly enjoying a good show.
By his side, a number of Profound Light Gang masters quietly accompanied him. These masters generously pushed their True Qis not to assist in the battle below, but actually to keep the raindrops off of this young lord.
Therefore, even if he stood on the roof like this, the shirt he wore wasn’t the slightest bit wet.
As he stared at the scene before him, the young man even smiled and laughed, the masters next to him all wearing dignified expression, none of them daring to complain.
“Young Lord Huo, Bamboo Knot Gang is on the verge of collapse, do you want us to exterminate them… or are planning to collect them?” Mu Nan Dou, the man in charge of the Profound Light Gang, asked softly.
The Young Lord heard this and coldly smiled, not answering directly, instead just saying, “This Young Lord has a habit, the things I want, I must obtain on the first try, if I don’t succeed… then I don’t want it anymore, do you understand?”
Mu Nan Dou looked at him and nodded quickly, “Understood!”
The Profound Light Gang was supported by this Young Lord Huo to alleviate his boredom, how could Mu Nan Dou dare not listen to his orders?
Before, this Young Lord Huo had wanted the Bamboo Knot Gang to submit to him but was ultimately rejected by Pang Chi, which had apparently made him unhappy, so he no longer felt the need for it to exist.
Mu Nan Dou’s body flickered, wrapped up in a blue light as it quickly shot out.
But before he could engage Pang Chi and the remaining members of the Bamboo Knot Gang, a ray of light suddenly burst from sky as a devastating wave of energy descended towards him. Mu Nan Dou’s expression changed radically as he hurriedly turned around and dove towards the side.
At the same time, atop the roof with the remaining Profound Light Gang masters, several people shouted, “Young Lord, be careful!”
When Mu Nan Dou landed and looked back, he couldn’t help rubbing his eyes in doubt. He found that a young man had suddenly appeared at some point and was actually walking towards the Profound Light Gang’s masters, pointing his blade towards Young Lord Huo who stood in the middle of the crowd.
After steadying himself, Mu Nan Dou quickly flew back, at this time, what was most important was Young Lord Huo’s safety.
Before he could get halfway back though, Mu Nan Dou’s eyes are widened, because the young man before him was far too strong. The blood red sword in his hands sent out a raging Sword Qi and countless blood red petals circled around him, no one from the Profound Light Gang could resist a single one of his strikes, all of them either falling under his blade or scrambling to escape. In the blink of an eye, only Young Lord Huo remained standing.
[Did Liu Qing Yao come?]
Mu Nan Dou only had time to have such a thought before he saw the newly arrived young man walk over to Huo Young Lord and take him down with ease. The Young Lord couldn’t even react in time.
It wasn’t until then that two tyrannical Divine Senses suddenly blossomed and immediately, two grand figures appeared, standing mid-air, their eyes extremely cold.
Yang Kai grabbed the wrist of the Young Lord and held his sword across his neck. He didn’t even look at the experts from the Profound Light Gang, instead focusing all his attention on the two floating figures.
These two opponents were Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage masters, their strength not inferior to Blood Warriors!
The Huo Family was one of the Eight Great Families and since this Young Lord Huo was a Huo Family person, he was naturally guarded by a master.
For a battle between small gangs, these two masters wouldn’t appear, their responsibility was simply to monitor the surroundings in order to protect their Young Master. Both of them had actually been standing nearby their Young Lord the whole time but neither had expected Yang Kai to be so fierce, enough so that they didn’t have a chance to respond before their family’s Young Master was captured.
By the time they acted, it was already too late.
The two Divine Senses wandered about Yang Kai, hesitating for a moment before slamming against Yang Kai’s mind.
When the two Divine Senses rushed into his head though, it was like a stone being cast into the sea, not even the slightest ripples appeared.
In response to their actions, Yang Kai just sneered even more!
The two masters expressions darkened, only now realizing that the opposite party was no ordinary young person.
A True Element Boundary cultivator that could withstand the Divine Sense attack of both of them, he must have a very precious Soul artifact. Having such a high grade artifact, the identity of this youth wasn’t low. Fortunately, neither of them had any killing intent in their attack just now, their only objective was to rescue their Young Lord from the other’s hands, so even if he hadn’t resisted their Divine Sense assault, it wouldn’t have caused any permanent harm.
As such, they hadn’t torn all face so there should still be a possibility of resolution.
Looking at Yang Kai again, the eyes of the two masters became dignified, a hint of dread also flashing past.
Finally, the captured Young Lord also covered his wits, boldly stating without the slightest trace of panic, “You dare put your sword across my neck? Interesting, too interesting!”
Yang Kai grinned and said, “Is it?”
“Do you know who I am?” Huo Xing Chen chuckled and glanced back at him playfully.
“Should I?”
“Huo Family, Huo Xing Chen!”
Huo Family’s Huo Xing Chen, the only son of the Huo Family’s Patriach Huo Zheng. Huo Zheng was a tragic figure, as Patriarch of one of the Eight Great Families, he had countless wives and concubines, but after so many years, he had only been given one son, though the number of daughters he had was enough to form an all-female military guard.
In this way, he was quite similar to Blood Battle Gang’s Sect Master Hu Man.
However, he was more fortunate than Hu Man in that he had at least one son who could succeed him.
Because he was the only son of the main family, the blessings Huo Xing Chen received since birth was enormous. No matter what he wanted, the whole Huo Family would go all out to satisfy him, this in turn had cultivated his special personality.
Before the Yang Family Young Lords had returned to the Central Capital, there were three members of the younger generation whose names resounded the loudest.
The first was Liu Qing Yao of the Liu Family, having the strongest aptitude and highest cultivation. The second was the Qiu Family’s Qiu Yi Meng; not only was she a great beauty from a powerful family, but her aptitude was also amongst the best, naturally she was quite eye-catching.
Huo Xing Chen was the third, the Central Capital’s biggest delinquent. Whether it was drinking, gambling, seeking entertainment by bullying others or straight up fighting, no one in the younger generation surpassed him.
All of the Eight Great Families supported a number of underground forces, but they were often not very strict with their management, even disdaining to be involved in the frequent battles which took place between such forces, but this Young Lord Huo was different. Every time he was bored and decided to send out his underling forces to fight, he would definitely come to spectate the battle from a safe place nearby.
Accompanied by two Immortal Ascension Boundary masters not inferior to the Yang Family’s Blood Warriors, Huo Xing Chen had never worried about his safety before, but never had he expected that in a flash, under the surveillance of his two guardians, a sword would reach his neck.
Huo Xing Chen not only didn’t feel upset, but instead looked excited. When he was talking with Yang Kai, he was even secretly condensing his True Qi, waiting for an opportunity to escape from his captor.
It was this kind of life-threatening thrilling sensation that made his blood boil, giving him a rush that made him want to open his mouth and roar.
Feeling his fluctuating emotions, Yang Kai’s expression became slightly weird, gripping the blood red sword in his hand tighter as he pressed it harder against his prisoner’s throat.
“Fuck!” Huo Xing Chen couldn’t help yelling, “I already told you I’m the Huo Family’s Huo Xing Chen yet you still dare do this to me?”
Huo Xing Chen was shocked, quickly dissipating the True Qi he had just condensed for fear that the person behind him would really dare to kill him. He was starved for excitement, but it wasn’t like he didn’t care whether he lived or died.
“Who the hell are you?” Huo Xing Chen also realized that something was wrong, his name resounded throughout the Central Capital like thunder, if the other party didn’t have any status, how would he dare press a blade against his throat?
Over the course of this quick exchange, the two Immortal Ascension Boundary masters finally saw some clues, one of them cupping his fists, and politely asking, “May I ask which Young Master Yang you are?”
The young man in front of him was a stranger, and hadn’t said a word of greetings, but from his various performances, he was no doubt a junior from the Eight Great Families.
Only the Yang Family’s Young Lords who had recently returned would be unfamiliar to him!
“Yang Kai!”
“So it is Young Lord Kai!” The two old men replied before quickly cupping their firsts again.
Yang Kai simply stared back at them indifferent and nodded slightly.
As the masters talked, the battle below had already stopped. With the life of their Young Lord in the hands of an enemy, the members of the Profound Light Gang didn’t dare continue fighting; all of them had withdrawn from the compound and stood waiting for instructions.
Pang Chi and the remaining survivors down below gasped for breath as they gathered together, all of them staring up at the nearby roof in amazement, each of them showing a curious expression on their face.
They hadn’t expected that the Young Lord who had callously killed four people in front of them just a few days ago would really race through the night all alone in order to save them.
What made them even more surprised though was that he had succeeded!
Although Yang Kai’s great strength had long ago been recognized by Pang Chi, he discovered at this moment he had still underestimated his ability.
“Young Lord Kai,” One of the Huo Family masters sighed, “Can you release the Young Master first before we speak? Don’t worry, we won’t make any more moves against.”
The other master nodded as he stoically stared.
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed in thought for a moment before taking back his sword.
He wasn’t worried that the other party would renege on their word just now, the Huo Family masters wouldn’t do something so stupid, both sides were well aware of this.
Regaining his, Huo Xing Chen quickly took a few steps forward and turned back to look at Yang Kai. After seeing his face, he couldn’t help but curse, “Fuck, so young! Just how old are you?”
There was a deep sense of frustration hidden in his voice. After all, he had been defeated and restrained in an instant, yet Yang Kai clearly appeared younger than him.
Yang Kai didn’t answer, instead choosing to stare coldly at him.
“Hey hey, this Young Lord is talking to you.” Huo Xing Chen angrily shouted in frustration.
“Young Master,” One of the Huo Family masters helplessly tried to restrain his Young Master. Before knowing what Yang Kai’s bottom line was, the Huo Family masters didn’t want to continue provoking him.
“Let’s talk about the situation here.” Yang Kai grinned menacingly.
“As you wish Young Lord Kai, we old men are listening.”
“Pang Chi!” Yang Kai yelled as he waved to someone below.
Pang Chi’s body trembled before quickly flying up and cupping his fists, “Young Lord.”
“Investigate the casualties.”
“Yes!” Responding solemnly, Pang Chi hurriedly returned to the ground and began assessing the damage.
In the aftermath of the war, the battlefield was a mess. Although the members of Profound Light Gang and Bamboo Knot Gang clearly stared at each other with hostility, but both sides somehow managed to restrain themselves.
Huo Xing Chen looked at Yang Kai with great interest, his face constantly wearing an aggressive grin while on the other hand, Yang Kai simply stood there and waited quietly.
As for the two Huo Family masters, they both couldn’t help nodding in approval of Yang Kai’s calm demeanor.
A while later, Pang Chi flew up again with a trace of grief on his face and replied, “Among our members, sixty eight people died, and one hundred and eighty nine are injured!”
Yang Kai turned his attention to Huo Xing Chen and stared coldly.
The latter shrugging indifferently, “Name your price, I’ll compensate you for it!”
“50,000 for each of the dead, 10,000 for each wounded, you can pay in silvers, medicinal herbs, refining materials, or precious treasures!”
“You want to extort me?” Huo Xing Chen shouted.
Although he was the only heir to the Huo Family, Yang Kai’s price was simply too high for him to afford, if he were to really pay reparations according to how Yang Kai demanded, it would be calculated in the millions.
“Young Lord Kai, isn’t this price too expensive?” One of the Huo Family masters also objected, not having expected Yang Kai’s appetite to be so big.
“No discussions,” Yang Kai shook his head firmly.
“I refuse!” Huo Xing Chen puffed up his chest and said defiantly, after acting recklessly all these years, he really didn’t fear anyone.
Yang Kai suddenly let out a laugh, “You think you have the right to bargain with me?”
As soon as he spoke, a faint floral scent wafted across everyone’s nose.
Suddenly, a red flower blossomed from Huo Xing Chen’s chest, immediately scattering into hundreds of red petals that instantly engulfed him.
*Shua Shua Shua…*
A thousands blood red petals fluttered around Huo Xing Chen’s body, tightly encircling him, each piece giving off a sharp glint, exuding a cold pressure onto Huo Xing Chen, causing his forehead to break out into cold sweat .
The Huo Family’s two masters also changed complexion.
Neither of them had noticed when Yang Kai had planted this trap on Huo Xing Chen. These thousand petals were obviously a powerful slaughtering artifact, yet somehow, right before their eyes, this Yang Family Young Lord had hidden them on their young master.
The two masters didn’t dare underestimate Yang Kai any longer, nor think of him as just another member of the younger generation. Such decisiveness and such ruthless methods were simply too shocking.
“Do you dare to kill me?” Huo Xing Chen is still put up a strong front even at this moment.
“I can let you lie in bed for a half a year or so.” Yang Kai coldly snorted, causing Huo Xing Chen’s expression to cramp.
Perceiving the frigidness and impatience in his eyes, one of the Huo Family masters quickly interjected, “Young Lord Kai, we admit defeat, we will compensate you according to what you said! Please release the young masters first.”
“Don’t try my patience any further,” Yang Kai smiled malevolently, his tone filled with the meaning of warning.
“Absolutely!” The man nodded sternly.
The thousand blood red petals suddenly condensed into a little red light and in a flash, disappeared back into Yang Kai body.
The Huo Family masters couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief while Huo Xing Chen’s face was gloomy, no one able to tell what exactly he was thinking.
Soon after, one of the Huo Family masters looked at Yang Kai thoughtfully and said, “Young Lord Kai seems to have some signs of breaking through.”
Glancing back at this master, Yang Kai nodded calmly.
He had previously reached a bottleneck in his cultivation, but although today’s battle didn’t seem very dangerous, the outcome being decided in only a few breaths of time, but facing two Huo Family high level Immortal Ascension Masters, Yang Kai still felt a fair amount of pressure.
Unexpectedly, under this pressure, it seemed like Yang Kai had loosened this bottleneck.
Seeing him openly admit it, the Huo Family’s two masters both took in a sharp breath. Huo Xing Chen was even more surprised as he stared at Yang Kai, his eyes flashing an envious look.
“It is important for the Young Lord to focus on his breakthrough. You don’t have to worry about things here, this was all a result of my family’s Young Master’s boredom, we two Elders will handle it!”
Listening to these words, both Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou looked at each other and couldn’t help smiling wryly. Both of their forces had suffered multiple injuries and deaths all because one young master’s entertainment seeking. In the eyes of these big family young masters, their lives really were worthless.
“Good,” Yang Kai nodded readily, feeling a breakthrough just around the corner, he really didn’t have any time to waste here, quickly turning around and dashing towards the Bamboo Knot Gang’s main hall.
“Yang Kai!” Huo Xing Chen suddenly shouted from behind him.
Yang Kai paused and glanced back.
“Are you going to participate in the Inheritance War?” Huo Xing Chen asked with a grin.
“Yes!”
“Good, good, good!” Huo Xing Chen laughed darkly, “Just you wait, I’ll remember you, I’ll definitely participate as well!”
Yang Kai all but ignored Huo Xing Chen, turning around and disappearing into the hall.
After Yang Kai’s figure vanished, Huo Xing Chen smiled coldly, “Interesting, too interesting!”
Seeing this look on his Young Master’s face, one of the Huo Family masters quickly said, “You Master, please restrain your angry, as long as he intends to participate in the Inheritance War, he will inevitably appear before you again. At that time, he will know that having offended you today was not a wise move.”
Huo Xing Chen nodded slightly, “You don’t need to say any more, I’m not angry. In fact, I haven’t been this happy in a long time! These kinds of small fights have really become boring, they can’t satisfy this Young Master’s appetite anymore!”
After a pause, he asked, “Right, how much money do you have on you?”
The two Huo Family masters’ faces both cramped up, shaking their heads slowly, no matter who it was, they would never bring millions of silvers with them when they went out like this.
“It’s not a good feeling owing others money,” Huo Xing Chen held his chin and muttered to himself.
Inside the Bamboo Knot Gang’s hall, Yang Kai sat cross legged on the floor, circulating his True Qi rapidly as he impacted his bottleneck.
After an hour of effort, the shackles which weighed Yang Kai down finally broke and his surging True Qi slowly subsided, his cultivation advancing another step forward.
True Element Boundary Eighth Stage!
At the moment he broke through, Yang Kai seemed to see dazzling lotus softly radiating five colours floating before his eyes.
Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus!
Since he obtained it, Yang Kai had never seen this miraculous treasure again. Although he knew it existed somewhere in his mind and had constantly been moistening his Divine Sense, since he had still not opened his Knowledge Sea, it had always remained an ethereal existence.
Now, facing such a situation, Yang Kai was obviously delighted, even more anticipating the moment when he could open his Knowledge Sea and truly see the Soul Warming Lotus once more.
Yang Kai only had a general understanding of the strength of his Divine Sense.
He knew that it was no worse than an average Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage master’s, which was basically equivalent to having the Divine Sense intensity of an Immortal Ascension Boundary Ninth Stage master while only having a True Element Boundary cultivation. If he could really break through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary, just how much would his Spiritual Energy be enhanced after his Knowledge Sea formed?
Yang Kai impatiently looked forward to breaking through to the next Great Realm.
The Immortal Ascension Boundary had always been the supreme threshold of this world’s cultivators, only a handful of people would ever reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary and fewer still could rise even higher. The rest of the worlds cultivators could only look up at the Immortal Ascension Boundary for the rest of their lives.
Once one stepped into the Immortal Ascension Boundary, it meant that a cultivator had embarked on the road to the world’s apex, and in order to achieve this goal, countless cultivators had destroyed themselves, seeking for it day and night, pursuing it with single minded devotion.
Some people even chose to seclude themselves deep in the mountains all year round solely to understand the true meaning of strength, to spy on the mysteries of this realm.
However, most cultivators would spend their entire lives in such pursuits yet still never cross the final threshold, dying with great regret.
Even if they were lucky enough to break into the Immortal Ascension, the Immortal Ascension Boundary had nine minor realms, so the cultivator’s journey was by no means over, each advancement bringing them closer to the world’s summit.
After breaking through to the True Element Boundary Eighth Stage, Yang Kai didn’t get up right away.
Instead sitting silently in place, slowly exploring the insights this new stage had brought to him.
After he began using the Myriad Drug Liquid to cleanse his body, every breakthrough Yang Kai achieved would produce some obvious changes; at the very least he would feel significantly stronger than before.
This feeling was inexplicable, if forced to describe it, Yang Kai would only be able to say that his present self had absolute confidence in overcoming his pre-breakthrough self.
One day later, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes, remaining silent for a long time before standing up.
Opening the hall doors, he stepped outside.
Outside the hall, more than a dozen people stood, divided into two columns. Looking up and seeing Yang Kai emerge, all of them hastily cupped their fists, “Subordinate greets the Young Lord!”
Yang Kai swept his eyes over the crowd and couldn’t help but pause.
He found that the group of people standing on the left were several high-ranking members of Bamboo Knot Gang headed by Pang Chi, while on the right, several high-level executives of Profound Light Gang headed by Mu Nan Dou stood. Even Wu Qian who had formerly fought Pang Chi in a life or death struggle was saluting him respectfully.
The people on both sides bowed their heads and greeted him, but Mu Nan Dou’s expression was one of helplessness while in contrast, Pang Chi’s was full of vigor, even containing faint traces of worship.
Yang Kai frowned and looked at Mu Nan Dou suspiciously, “Why are your Profound Light Gang people here?”
Mu Nan Dou hurriedly explained, “Respond to Young Lord’s Kai, from now on, the Profound Light Gang belongs to the Young Lord and will obey any order issued to us!”
“What happened?” Yang Kai asked, even more confused.
“Young Lord, it’s like this…” Pang Chi saw the situation and quickly explained things to Yang Kai.
Apparently, after he had secluded himself in the hall to break through last night, Huo Xing Chen and the two Huo Family masters pulled out all the money they had on them, but that only amounted to several hundred thousand silvers.
Pang Chi saw that Huo Xing Chen’s expression was particularly ugly at that time so he suggested that the rest could be taken as debt and paid back later, but the Young Lord of the Huo Family seemed to despise owing others.
Although he had made the suggestion out of good intentions, Pang Chi hadn’t expected Huo Xing Chen to not say a word and instead turn around and punch him.
After thinking about it for some time, Huo Xing Chen decided to offer the Profound Light Gang as compensation!
After giving Mu Nan Dou an order to serve to Yang Kai from now on, Huo Xing Chen led the two Huo Family masters and swaggered away, leaving behind the Profound Light Gang.
The Profound Light Gang had more than a thousand members and was also known as Huo Xing Chen’s personal force. Usually, they could bluster about using his name, but now they had been traded away like loose change, Mu Nan Dou and the others were naturally depressed.
But even though he was unwilling, Mu Nan Dou didn’t dare to complain. He could only lead a group of people to stand here and wait for Yang Kai to come out.
After Pang Chi finished explaining, Mu Nan Dou’s couldn’t help lifting his head secretly to observe Yang Kai’s reaction, wondering how he would handle them.
What he didn’t expect was that Yang Kai would remain silent, his expression indifferent, completely impossible to read.
Mu Nan Dou trembled lightly as he felt some fear, quickly saying, “In fact, Young Lord Huo doing this isn’t a loss for the Young Lord.”
“Oh? How so?” Yang Kai asked flatly as he glanced at him.
Mu Nan Dou was ecstatic, knowing that this Young Lord was at least open to conversation he hurriedly explained, “The Profound Light Gang has accumulated a lot of wealth in recent years, if you were to collect all of it, it would be more than enough to compensate for last night’s damages.”
“How much exactly?”
“A couple million or so. Right, there are also a number of Precious Treasures Young Lord rewarded us with over the years.”
Yang Kai suddenly thought of something, grinning as he asked, “How does your Profound Light Gang compare with the rest of the Central Capital’s small forces?”
“Somewhere around the middle,” Mu Nan Dou laughed, “Not too big yet not too small.”
“What if you were to unite together with the Bamboo Knot Gang?”
“Definitely amongst the top fifteen forces,” Mu Nan Dou replied confidently.
“Good, from now on there will be no more Profound Light Gang!” Yang Kai looked at Pang Chi as he pointed at Mu Nan Dou, “This man will be your deputy in the future!”
“Yes!” Pang Chi was immediately overjoyed while Mu Nan Dou, though his face was bitter, once again, didn’t dare to complain, only able to laugh helplessly.
Seeing how much wealth the Profound Light Gang had accumulated, Yang Kai suddenly realized he had underestimated these small forces. Not all of them were as poor as the Bamboo Knot Gang.
Grinning fiercely, Yang Kai continued, “I want you to get familiarize yourselves with each other as soon as possible, and then… start nibbling away at the other small forces in the region.”
“Ah!” Pang Chi couldn’t help calling out in surprise while Mu Nan Dou wore a temperate expression.
“This… is this appropriate?” Pang Chi was hesitant. For the past many years, the Bamboo Knot Gang had never made aggressive moves towards its neighbours, only focusing on self-defence, yet not they had suddenly been told to become conquerors, Pang Chi was inevitably hesitant.
“What do you think?” Yang Kai glanced at Mu Nan Dou.
The latter hurriedly said, “There’s nothing wrong with following the law of the jungle. Last night, if Young Lord Kai hadn’t carved open a path with his blade, the Bamboo Knot Gang would have disappeared. In the Central Capital, battle between these small forces isn’t uncommon. Pang Chi, your mentality is too rigid.”
Pang Chi blushed in embarrassment for a while, but said nothing in retort.
“It seems like your Profound Light Gang often does this kind of thing.” Yang Kai looked at Mu Nan Dou meaningfully, the latter smiling back, “We mainly accompanied Young Lord Huo to relieve his boredom. So far, we’ve annexed two forces, but I’ve already inquired about which forces can be eaten around here, we were just waiting for a day when Young Lord Huo was bored again before leading him to watch the fun, haha…”
Now that he had a new owner, Mu Nan Dou naturally intended to perform well so he held nothing back from Yang Kai after learning about his future plans.
Pang Chi immediately realized that the situation wasn’t favourable, if he continued to allow Mu Nan Dou to take the initiative, retaining his position as Sect Master wouldn’t be guaranteed, immediately chiming in, “With Brother Mu’s help, I’m certain we can annex the local forces.”
“Very good,” Yang Kai nodded, “As for the wealth you collect, leave a portion for your own development; the rest should be used to purchase Alchemy and Artifact Refining materials of at least Earth Grade Top-Rank quality.”
“Yes!” Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou shouted together, glancing at one another knowingly, understanding that Yang Kai was preparing for the Inheritance War.
Not daring to delay, the two former adversaries led their respective people into the hall to discuss their upcoming campaign.
Standing in place for a moment, Yang Kai was amazed; he hadn’t expected Huo Xing Chen to act so decisively.
However, it was true that this wasn’t a loss for him, the number of people he could deploy as henchmen had increased and in the future, it would only continue to snowball.
……
The Fourth Master’s Residence.
When Yang Kai came back, the head servant immediately greeted him, “Young Master, the Master has instructed you to see him in his study upon your return.”
“En, understood.” Yang Kai nodded, walking over to his father’s study, pondering slightly. He couldn’t think of why the Fourth Master suddenly wanted to discuss something with him.
As he came up to the study door, before he could enter, he heard Dong Su Zhu’s voice, “You shouldn’t worry, Kai’er should be back soon.”
Yang Ying Feng suddenly complained, “You’re his mother, how come you didn’t know your son had left the house?”
Dong Su Zhu shot back immediately, “You didn’t know either! How can you suddenly try to blame others? Don’t speak so unreasonably!”
Yang Ying Feng’s face cramped up before drooping helplessly.
Two other voices let out a soft laughter at this familiar sight.
Yang Kai expression immediately changed upon hearing these voices, a smile appearing on his face, pushing the door open and walking in.
Seeing Yang Kai return, Dong Su Zhu quickly stood up and gnashed her teeth in anger, shouting, “Little brat, where did you run off to last night? Actually staying out all night without saying a word to us, do you know how worried your father and I were?”
As she spoke, Dong Su Zhu walked over to her son and gently sniffed him.
“What are you sniffing for?” The Yang Family Fourth Master asked suspiciously.
“To see whether he was out drinking last night!” Dong Su Zhu said seriously, sniffing for a while longer before wearing a relieved expression, “Fortunately there’s no smell of alcohol, or any perfume…”
“Don’t make trouble!” Yang Kai said helplessly, glancing to the side, “We have guests after all.”
“Oh…”
In the study, the Yang Family Fourth Master was sitting behind his desk while Dong Su Zhu stood nearby, but in addition, there was also a man and a woman sitting nearby. The male was burly while the woman was refined, it was the two Blood Warriors who had escorted Yang Kai back to the Central Capital, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian.
When they saw Yang Kai walk in they quickly got up from their chairs and cupped their fists to him, “Little Lord!”
Yang Kai smiled in response, “Sit down.”
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both took a seat once again but when they looked at Yang Kai they couldn’t help feeling amazed. They quickly discovered that Yang Kai had actually broken through again to reach the True Element Boundary Eighth Stage.
[How long has it been since the last time? Wasn’t it less than two months ago that he had his last breakthrough? Isn’t this cultivation speed a bit too unreasonable?]
When Yang Kai had broken through to the True Element Seventh Stage, they were also present. At that time, all of them had just met for the first time. At that point, the two Blood Warriors only thought that the Little Lord’s aptitude wasn’t bad, now it appeared that it was far more than just ‘not bad’.
But if so, why was it rumored that he only managed to last half a day in the Dragon Transformation Pond? Thinking about all of this, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both secretly shook their heads, more and more feeling like they couldn’t understand the Little Lord.
“Kai’er, you sit too,” The Yang Family Fourth Master quickly said, “There are some things we need to discuss with you.”
“En.” Seeing his father’s serious expression, Yang Kai also realized that something was unusual and promptly sat down with Dong Su Zhu.
Once everyone was seated again, silence filled the room. Yang Ying Feng’s brow furrowed after a while and finally said, “First off, let me tell you that yesterday, the Elder Hall released an edict about the upcoming Inheritance War. It’s good news, for this Inheritance War, the Blood Warrior Hall will be involved!”
Yang Kai’s brow lifted slightly, a light smile appearing on his face.
The Blood Warrior Hall was the headquarters for all the Yang Family Blood Warriors. Each member was an elite amongst elite, all of them basically high-level Immortal Ascension Boundary masters who could even fight against cultivators who exceeded them by a minor realm.
With the participation of the Blood Warriors, it would be a lot easier to win the Inheritance War.
“This is good news!” Yang Kai nodded happily, unable to understand why Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, even his father and mother all wore frowns.
“It is indeed a good thing,” Yang Ying Feng nodded, “But the Elder Hall has also decreed that although the Blood Warriors will participate in the Inheritance War, their mission will be limited to safeguarding the security of the Young Lords and cannot be used for other matters.”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled and thought for a moment before saying, “What that means is, they can only passively counterattack, and can’t take the initiative to attack, right?”
“En, the Blood Warrior’s strength is too strong, if they were allowed to proactively attack, they could solve most opponents singlehandedly,” Yang Ying Feng nodded, “There is a concern that the Young Lords will rely too heavily on that power, which would run counter to the point of the Inheritance War.”
“I understand,” Yang Kai nodded before smiling at Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, “What do we need to do in order to recruit help from the Blood Warriors?”
The two Blood Warriors couldn’t help but marvel at Yang Kai’s insight to even be able to guess this. Yang Ying Feng also wore a proud grin, “The condition for obtaining a Blood Warrior is that you must deliver a certain amount of benefits to the family, for example, the Secret Arts and Martial Skills you learned in the Sect these past few years!”
This was a thinly disguised order from the Elder Hall to the current generation of Yang Family children to turn over the secrets they had learned from the various Sects they had joined.
This was something the family would do before every Inheritance War in order to collect various powerful methods and techniques.
After so many years, the Yang Family’s collection of Martial Skills and Secret Arts had become extremely large. Regarding the sheer number of Martial Skills and Secret Arts, the Yang Family was indisputably ranked first, even the other seven families couldn’t compare with the Yang Family on this point.
“The more things you contribute, the stronger and more powerful the Blood Warrior you can receive!”
Although each Blood Warrior was very powerful, there were still differences in strength between them. Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian were relatively powerful amongst the Blood Warrior Hall’s members, but above them there were a number of others who still exceeded them, the strongest of course having reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Ninth Stage.
“Additionally, everyone may only receive two Blood Warriors!” Yang Ying Feng added.
“Heh heh…” Yang Kai grinned, “Are you worried that I don’t have enough to exchange in order to receive two Blood Warriors?”
Yang Ying Feng nodded lightly.
Last time, Yang Kai had turned over a Mysterious Grade Martial Skill to gain sole possession of a Golden Feather Eagle from the family. In Yang Ying Feng’s mind, his son had only been outside for a few years, how much more besides that Mysterious Grade Martial Skill could he possibly have obtained?
“You don’t have to worry about that, I’m already prepared,” Yang Kai smiled confidently. No one here was an outsider; there was no need to feign incompetence.
Yang Ying Feng suddenly remembered the Myriad Drug Liquid, immediately wrinkling his brow, “Do you want to use that thing?”
The Myriad Drug Liquid was too Heaven defying, if Yang Kai were to offer it, he would definitely be able to exchange it for the help of two Blood Warriors, but such a miraculous treasure wouldn’t be ignored by the family, which would in all likelihood bring Yang Kai a great deal of trouble. As a father, Yang Ying Feng was naturally worried.
However, Yang Kai simply shook his head.
Yang Ying Feng’s expression cramped, it wasn’t until this moment that he realized he had far underestimated his son’s harvest these past few years.
Looking towards Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, Yang Kai smiled and said, “Tu Feng, Yu Xian, it seems that we’ll be working together once more.”
Naturally he thought that the two Blood Warriors came here this time for this matter. When he returned to the Central Capital, Tu Feng and Yu Xian had already stated that if the family were to allow Blood Warriors to participate in the Inheritance War, they wished to serve Yang Kai.
That day’s agreement still rang in his ears, Tu Feng and Yu Xian wouldn’t forget, Yang Kai obviously wouldn’t forget!
Not it seemed the time had come to fulfil that pledge.
But unexpectedly, after Yang Kai spoke these words, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian didn’t show the slightest joy, instead, their expressions were a mix of sadness and bitterness, both of them lowering their heads slightly, not daring to look at Yang Kai.
The smile on Yang Kai’s face slowly sunk, his eyes gradually turned cold as he muttered under his breath, “Do you want to give me an explanation?”
The looks on the two Blood Warrior’s faces already said a lot.
However, neither Tu Feng nor Tang Yu Xian was the kind of person who would renege on a promise so although Yang Kai wasn’t very happy, he still wanted to hear what they had to say.
Why did they have such bitter expressions? Why wouldn’t they meet his eyes?
“Kai’er…” Yang Ying Feng called out lightly, calmly interjecting, “It’s not what you think, don’t misunderstanding.”
Dong Su Zhu also hurriedly said, “Yes, son, don’t talk like this. In private I have a good friendship with Yu Xian. We often discuss about Martial Skills and cultivation techniques together. When I knew she was one of the pair which had brought you home this time I was very happy.”
Noticing the cold anger on Yang Kai’s face, Dong Su Zhu couldn’t help feeling shocked, she had never see her son have such an expression, before he had been a clever and obedient son, now it seemed he had already matured into a young man.
Seeing this look, Dong Su Zhu felt a little scared, knowing that her son had really grown up, with his own thoughts and opinions, along with times he would show happiness and anger.
With both his parents speaking temperate words, Yang Kai’s sullen look relaxed slightly as he took a deep breath, “If I really had a misunderstanding, I would have sent them out rather than say anything.”
Hesitating for a moment, he followed up, “But, I still want you to give me an explanation.”
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both smiled bitterly, exchanging a glance before slowly standing up, half kneeling on the ground before quickly saying, “It is not that I and Yu Xian don’t wish to serve the Young Lord. If it were possible, the two of us wished we could pledge out lives to the Little Lord, to follow you through from this day, till the end of our days!”
These words were spoken with great conviction and resounding force, instantly setting off a violent storm in Yang Ying Feng’s heart!
Tu Feng declared his intent to become his son’s servant!
Tang Yu Xian also didn’t refute!
The Blood Warrior Hall was a very special organization in the Yang Family. Being a Blood Warrior wasn’t just a title, it also was a representation of honour and loyalty, but that loyalty was always, always loyalty to the entire Yang Family, not one individual.
Many years ago, when Yang Ying Feng returned from his outside life experience, the two Blood Warriors who escorted him had lukewarm attitudes towards him at best, the whole way home they had only thought about completing their mission.
Not to mention that year, even until now the Yang Family Fourth Master had never received thoroughly respectful treatment from any Blood Warrior much less have a Blood Warrior show fealty to him.
Something he was incapable of achieving, his son had easily done, how could Yang Ying Feng not be shocked?
On the other hand, Yang Kai remained indifferent, showing neither haughtiness nor shame, as if this display couldn’t be any more normal. For a time, the Yang Family Fourth Master couldn’t help feeling a sense of frustration that the father wasn’t as good as his son.
No wonder Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian had so anxiously arrived at his house when the Elder Hall had made their decree. At the time, Yang Ying Feng had been somewhat confused, but now everything was clear.
“So, what’s the reason? What is preventing you from displaying your loyalty to me?” Yang Kai asked in a cold tone.
“It’s not that we don’t want to.” Tu Feng said embarrassedly.
Tang Yu Xian quickly added, “It’s just that, there’s something we need to ask of Little Lord!”
“Get up,” Yang Kai frowned, suddenly realizing that the reason for Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian’s chagrin was because they wanted to request something of him.
This discovery didn’t put off Yang Kai, rather it made him happy. These two really weren’t ungrateful people, it’s just that their performance was too impetuous.
However, it was also related to his own expectations of them.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both slowly got up, looking a little dazed, Tang Yu Xian’s delicate face also blushed a little.
“We shouldn’t trouble Little Lord with this matter, but there isn’t anyone else we can turn to so we’ve shamelessly come to ask, we only hope that Little Lord won’t take offence.” Tu Feng sighed deeply.
“What exactly do you want to ask?”
“We’ve just finished explaining the matter to the Fourth Master. This servant is a bit sloppy with his words, so I believe it best to let Fourth Master explain.” Tu Feng said, sitting back down in a sullen mood.
Yang Kai turned his attention to his father who was calmly taking a sip from his glass, “Do you know how many of your brothers are back in the Central Capital now?”
Suddenly facing this unexpected question, Yang Kai was quite confused but still nodding lightly, “I have an idea.”
“Then are you aware of your Fourth Brother Yang Xin Wu’s situation?”
Yang Kai thought for a moment before remembering what Yang Zhao had said to him in the restaurant last time, suddenly frowning slightly, “I’ve heard about it.”
Yang Ying Feng was slightly surprised, now having expected Yang Kai to already be informed of this matter. This piece of news was quite well hidden. Seeing how his son was doing such thorough preliminary work, inquiring about various piece of news and intelligence, he suddenly felt a little more relaxed.
Yang Xin Wu, the fourth oldest amongst the current Yang Family younger generation, was ambushed and seriously injured on the way back to the Central Capital!
The two Blood Warriors who had been escorting him had both used activated their Mad Tyrant Blood Skill and fought hard but still failed to protect him.
Barely managing to escape, the two Blood Warriors hastily brought Yang Xin Wu back to the family to heal, but his condition only continued to deteriorate. No matter what precious medicines were used there wasn’t the slightest improvement and then, a few days ago, he finally succumbed to his injuries and died.
So far, of Yang Family direct descendants who had returned to the Central Capital, five of them had suffered ambushes. In addition to Yang Kai, there was also Yang Wei, Yang Kang, and Yang Ying; however, all four of them had come out relatively unharmed, in fact, apart from Yang Kang and Yang Ying who received some minor injuries, Yang Wei and Yang Kai were completely unscathed, unfortunately the same was not true for Yang Xin Wu.
The Inheritance War had yet to begin but already one of the Yang Family’s Young Lords had fallen, this was an unprecedented event, something that had never happened before.
The entire Yang Family was enraged at this development, swearing that they would find culprit and destroy all nine generations of their family.
The reason why Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian came to Yang Kai this time was precisely because of the two Blood Warriors who had been tasked with guarding Yang Xin Wu.
“Does the family want to execute them?” Yang Kai frowned, thinking of a possibility.
However, the Yang Family Fourth Master slowly shook his head, “The family doesn’t have such intentions, after all, both of them gave their all, even ended up severely injured to the point that they still haven’t healed until now. They did not dishonour the Blood Warriors so the family naturally wouldn’t sentence them to death.”
Every Blood Warrior was not easy to cultivate, and their loyalty to the Yang Family was unquestionable. As long as the Elder Hall hadn’t lost their minds, it would be impossible to kill two Blood Warriors over such an incident.
If they were to really do so, it would only serve to demoralize the rest of the Blood Warriors.
“But, punishment for this failure can’t be avoided.” The Yang Family Fourth Master shook his head.
Tu Feng continued, “Our two brothers hadn’t yet recovered from their wounds when they were sentenced to a hundred lashings. This lead to a countless number of their meridians being shattered, in this life their achievements will likely stop here…”
The whip the Yang Family used to punish crimes was no ordinary tool; it was actually a specially refined artifact. A hundred lashes from this whip was something that a Bloody Warrior at their peak state couldn’t handle, not to mention that they were heavily injured.
Some time ago, the Yang Family Fourth Master suffered thirty such lashes as was bed ridden for a few months.
Tang Yu Xian who sat beside Tu Feng also wore a sad expression.
“They failed to protect the Fourth Young Lord which greatly depressed them, now something like this happened, our two brothers… they’ve become disheartened.” Tu Feng licked his dry lips, sadness apparent on his face.
“They can’t even withstand such a blow? What use are Blood Warriors then?” Yang Kai snorted coldly.
“Kai’er!” Yang Ying Feng shouted as he stared at him sternly, “You don’t understand the depths of the Blood Warrior’s loyalty to the family. They haven’t become disheartened because their cultivation cannot improve again, what they are upset about is the death of your Fourth Brother; they feel like they have disappointed the family which so vigorously cultivated them. If your Fourth Brother hadn’t died they may be better, but now… haa…”
Yang Kai looked back at the Fourth Master silently for a long time before nodding, “Perhaps I’ve underestimated the dedication of the Blood Warriors.”
Turning his head and staring at Tu Feng, Yang Kai asked, “What is it that you want to ask of me? Do you want me to heal those two? I don’t have such great skill.”
“No.” Tu Feng shook his head slightly. “Yu Xian and I want to ask the Little Lord to elect our two brothers to fight for you in the upcoming Inheritance War!”
Yang Kai was stunned, quickly asking, “Why?”
Tu Feng quietly followed up, “Although they haven’t said as much, but we can feel that if for this Inheritance War, if no Young Lord chooses them, the two of them will destroy their cultivations as an apology to the family before secluding themselves in the mountains.”
The two Blood Warriors who had failed to protect Yang Xin Wu obviously didn’t have a favourable impression amongst the Yang Family’s younger generation, and now that they were injured and it was unknown just how long it would take for them to heal, for this time’s Inheritance War, it was unlikely anyone would choose to use them.
“Bullshit!” Yang Kai roared, “The family has spent so much money and resources to allow them to reach their present cultivation and now they want to cripple themselves? Since the Blood Warrior’s proclaim absolute loyalty to the Yang Family, their cultivation also belongs to the Yang Family’s, it’s not up to them whether they can waste themselves or not! ”
Although his words were harsh, when Tu Feng heard them he also understood the hidden meaning in them, quickly becoming excited, “Does that mean the Little Lord is willing to use them?”
Tang Yu Xian also hurriedly added, “As long as they feel that they are still useful, they will not be so pessimistic.”
“When did I say that?” Yang Kai couldn’t help rolling his eyes, suddenly discovering that Tu Feng was quicker on the uptake than he imagined.
However, Yang Kai finally understood why Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian had sought him out today. He also understood why they said that if they could, they would like to serve him, but the circumstances made that difficult.
If he were to really agree to Tu Feng’s request, he could only choose those two Blood Warriors, as for Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, who he was familiar with, they were destined to fall into the hands of others.
“Though we know this is a shameless request, of the Young Lords of this generation, the only one Yu Xian and I are familiar with is the Little Lord. The other Blood Warriors and other Young Lords haven’t exchanged many words, so for such a favour, we can only ask Little Lord.”
“Hmph, who made you Blood Warriors all have eyes on top of your heads, each of you acting aloof and indifferent to everyone else?” Yang Kai spat disdainfully.
Tu Feng laughed at this though and replied, “The other Young Lords simply didn’t have the ability to gain our acknowledgement.”
Yang Ying Feng and Dong Su Zhu both heard these words and unconsciously turned to each other, each of them seeing the shock and joy in the other’s eyes.
In other words, Yang Kai had thoroughly gained Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian’s acknowledgement.
“Little Lord…” Tu Feng rubbed his big hands nervously, his face wearing a complicated expression, Tang Yu Xian also beside him doing the same, her pretty face filled with the meaning of entreaty.
Yang Kai said nothing, his face gloomy, and his fingers tapping on the arm of his chair loudly.
The room was still and silent, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both felt their hearts stuck in their throat as they stared towards Yang Kai, waiting for his decision.
The Fourth Master picked up his cup again and squinted, his expression meticulous, showing no intention to speak. Dong Su Zhu also lowered her head, twiddling her thumbs round and round, seemingly trying to distract herself.
His parents were clearly indicating that this would be Yang Kai’s decision alone.
After a cup of tea’s worth of time, Yang Kai suddenly stopped tapping his fingers, raising his eyes and staring at Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian, causing both of them to inhale sharply.
“If I say I don’t want to use them?” Yang Kai looked at the pair, asking seriously.
Tu Feng smiled bitterly and replied without hesitation, “Little Lord’s consideration is enough. At least I will know that Little Lord prefers to have Yu Xian and I serve you, this is an honour for both of us!”
Tang Yu Xian also nodded firmly, her face full of gratitude.
Yang Kai’s eyes suddenly became as sharp as an eagle’s as he quietly asked, “Are you willing to become my enemies?”
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian’s expressions both instantly became solemn as they replied, “We hope such a day will never come!”
“You should pray hard that you aren’t chosen by my brothers,” Yang Kai grinned, his face filled with confidence, “But even if you are chosen by them, I will definitely take you back!”
Hearing Yang Kai’s words, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian were both overjoyed as they hurriedly stood up from their chairs, “Does that mean Little Lord is willing?”
Yang Kai nodded and somewhat reluctantly said, “Actually… I’ve never met these two before and would not have preferred to do this, but since you two have come here in person to ask this of me, I am willing to accept your request.”
“On behalf of the entire Blood Warrior Hall, we thank the Little Lord!” Tu Feng shouted.
“Thank you, Little Lord!” Tang Yu Xian’s pretty face also showed a faint blush and a happy smile.
“Go back. Tomorrow, I will handle things at the Elder Hall.” Yang Kai waved.
“Yes!” Both of them didn’t hide their excitement as they quickly walked to the exit, apparently wanting to convey this good news to the Blood Warrior Hall as soon as possible.
When he reached the door though, Tu Feng suddenly turned back and said, “Little Lord, although our two brothers are now seriously injured and cannot provide you with much help, but… their original aptitudes are both superb.”
“Oh? How are they compared to you?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“Both of them are better than us!” Tu Feng replied respectfully, “Hall Master once said that if they had enough opportunities, it was very likely they could break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary!”
“En, I understand.” Yang Kai nodded slightly, showing no surprise or expectation.
Tu Feng nodded lightly before turning around and leaving together with Tang Yu Xian.
When it was just the three family members left in the house, Yang Ying Feng commented, “I’ve heard the names of those two before, it is said that they have the best aptitude amongst all the Blood Warriors in the Blood Warrior Hall. If they are allowed to quit because of this incident and seclude themselves in the mountains, it would be a great loss to the Yang Family.”
Over the past few years, only one Hall Master from the Blood Warrior Hall had managed to break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary; he was now a Grand Elder of Yang Family with considerable influence.
Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “Father, your words are a bit much, even if the Yang Family suffered a loss or not, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Yang Ying Feng laughed despite trying not to, “I understand.”
It was precisely because of the family’s strength was too great while feelings of kinship were too light that each generation’s juniors didn’t have much sense of belonging to the family, if it weren’t so, there wouldn’t be a need for the brothers to fight in the Inheritance War when they returned from their outside life experience.
“But Kai’er, this time you’ve made a big profit.” Yang Ying Feng said with a pleased smile.
Yang Kai also nodded repeatedly, “That’s true, but I still hope that Tu Feng and Yu Xian will follow when the time comes, after all we’re already familiar with each other.”
“Profit? What profit? You father and son stop acting mysteriously.” Dong Su Zhu heard their discussion and couldn’t quite understand, immediately asking, “Hasn’t our son just suffered a big loss?”
Accepting two Blood Warriors who were both seriously injured and couldn’t help Yang Kai in the short term, even if they managed to recover, they wouldn’t necessarily provide more help to Yang Kai than Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian.
Yang Kai and the Fourth Master smiled at each other knowingly, the former slowly getting up and saying, “Please explain things to mother, I have to go back and prepare, I’ll visit the Elder Hall tomorrow.”
“Good, go on,” Yang Ying Feng waved his hand as he stared at Yang Kai’s back, a slightly complex feeling welling up inside him.
[He sure has grown. My son really has grown up!] Whether it was his thoughts or his means, they were already much stronger than his own when he was his son’s age. On top of that, he had so many magical things on his body; it was really difficult to imagine just what he had experienced these past few years.
Inside the room, Dong Su Zhu continued pestering her husband, sitting on the Fourth Master’s lap, gently tugging at his beard as she asked, “What exactly did our son gain here?”
The Fourth Master smiled warmly as he began to explain.
Yang Family Elder Hall.
The hall was huge and spacious, the floor covered with thick elegant carpeting, many beautiful landscape paintings adorned the walls and an incense burner in the middle of the hall filled the air with a pure calming fragrance. The roof was made from the finest stone with many inlaid gems which seemed to sparkle like stars.
A few gray-haired old men dressed in simple robes either sat or stood about, studying various scriptures or practicing different Secret Arts, thoroughly engaging in their study of the Martial Dao.
Each of these old men seemed ordinary, their Spiritual Essence completely restrained, almost indistinguishable for common old men one might find out on the streets, but in fact, each of them was a powerful and well known master.
At the head of the hall, Yang Zhen sat upon his chair. Although he was old and his hair was thinning, his eyes still held a youthful and animated light.
As one of the leaders of the Elder Hall, plus as an older man, it wasn’t convenient for him to go out much. Unlike the younger generations he couldn’t run around outside making contributions to the Yang Family so Yang Zhen sat in the Elder Hall all the year round along with a number of other Elders in order to handle various internal affairs.
At this time, Yang Zhen’s eyelids were drooping slightly, looking quite indifferent, his hands tucked into his sleeves folded across his chest as he listened to a young man in front of him talking about various things.
After a while, the young man finished and then looked up at Yang Zhen with nervous eyes, waiting for him to give a reply.
Slowly opening his eyes, the seemingly uninterested eyes of Yang Zhen flashed with light as he stared at the young man coldly, his expression darkening.
“Waste!” Yang Zhen roared, “You spent all these years outside but can only bring back this trash to my Yang Family? You want to trade these pieces of garbage for the services of a Blood Warrior? You must think I’ve become senile with old age!”
The young man who was harshly reprimanded by Yang Zhen blushed red with embarrassment.
“Go back, I’ll take down what you’ve brought back with you, but know that it is not enough to have any one of the Blood Warriors follow you,” Yang Zhen waved, impatiently adding, “When you have enough merits you may return to speak with us again, but with the Inheritance War about to begin, I’m afraid you won’t have time prepare any. For this Inheritance War, you should give up as soon as possible to avoid embarrassing yourself.”
The young man looked blank, letting out an exasperated sigh, his eyes filled with reluctance, opening his mouth to plead, “Elder, if I could use all of this to exchange for at least one…”
But before he could finish his words, he was mercilessly cut off by Yang Zhen, “If I say it’s not enough then it is not enough! Roll out! Don’t waste any more of our time.”
After the angry shout, an invisible force struck the young man and directly shot him out of the Elder Hall.
The entire building creaked under the residual pressure but none of the white haired Elders moved, like they were made of stone, completely oblivious to what had just taken place, instead only focusing on their own pursuits.
Outside the hall, the young man picked himself up, his face filled with shame, his cheeks a deep shade of red, clenching his fists tightly before angrily leaving.
Yang Kai, who had just arrived at the entrance of the hall, witness the entire scene and couldn’t help feeling slightly bitter.
The young man who was ejected from the hall was Yang Tie, Yang Kai’s Third Brother.
After the family announced that Blood Warriors would be allowed to participate in the Inheritance War, the various Young Lords had started moving quickly, exchanging the valuables they had acquired outside for the services of the Blood Warriors.
It seemed like Yang Tie hadn’t gotten anything too valuable over these past few years so he had been berated by the Elders.
“Seems Third Brother didn’t have enough.” Someone suddenly spoke out from beside Yang Kai, a tinge of regret in their voice.
Yang Kai looked over towards where the voice came from and saw Yang Zhao standing there with a sad look on his face, looking Yang Tie’s disappearing back, shaking his head.
“Second Brother!” Yang Kai walked over and greeted him.
“Brother Kai,” Yang Zhao smiled confidently.
Yang Kai then turned his gaze to another person who stood beside Yang Zhao. This young man stood there as straight as a sword, giving off an aura that made it seem like if the Heaven’s collapsed and the Earth split apart he would remain calm and indifferent from beginning to end, forever unchanging. It was only when Yang Zhao shouted out to Yang Kai that this youth turned his eyes shifted.
“Eldest Brother!” Yang Kai knew who he was in an instant.
The Yang Family younger generation’s only Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, his Eldest Brother Yang Wei!
“Brother Kai?” Yang Wei’s eyes showed a flash of shock. When Yang Kai greeted him, inexplicably, he felt his own True Qi fluctuate uncontrollably. Only when he felt pressure from an opponent would such a phenomenon appear.
Using his recently cultivated Divine Sense, Yang Wei swept over Yang Kai and found that he had only reached the True Element Eighth Stage. But still, he couldn’t help but frown, a suspicion welling up inside his heart, not quite able to understand why Yang Kai would give him such pressure, even if it only lasted a moment.
“I haven’t seen you for a few years, and yet you’ve grown up to this point.” Yang Wei nodded lightly, showing a touch of approval in his eyes.
As soon as he finished these words though, a feeling of shock surged through him.
Just five or six years ago, the little brother that stood in front of him couldn’t even cultivate, he was no better than an ordinary mortal with no strength to speak of, but now, after so short a time, he had reached the True Element Boundary Eighth Stage!
Although this realm was still lower than his own, the time his youngest brother had cultivated for was eight or more years shorter as well! Never had he expected that after a short separation Yang Kai would undergo such a massive change.
Yang Wei finally realized why his youngest brother would give him a sense of pressure. With such shocking cultivation speed, if he gave him some time, he would certainly surpass him one day!
“Has little brother also come to exchange some merits?” Yang Zhao looked at Yang Kai and chuckled, the latter nodding slightly and smiling bitterly, “There’s no choice, the family said to come, so I have to come.”
“Ha ha!” Yang Zhao laughed and patted Yang Kai’s shoulder intimately, “Why else do you think the family has so much in storage? It’s all things we’ve stolen from outside.”
“Everything belongs to the family, one day you’ll be able to use it for yourself.” Yang Wei seemed to be born with a cold face. In Yang Kai’s memory, he never laughed, nor said many words, he was always stoic, but his actions were always vigorous and resolute.
Listening to him, Yang Zhao and Yang Kai also stopped bantering about this subject.
“Are you going to exchange for the Two Blood Warriors that brought you back? I saw that they treated you quite well,” Yang Zhao asked seemingly offhandedly.
However, Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “I have other candidates in mind.”
Yang Zhao couldn’t help feeling surprised, wondering why Yang Kai wouldn’t choose to have Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian serve him.
But obviously Yang Kai wasn’t about to explain, instead quickly changing the subject, “Fifth Brother? Why isn’t Fifth Brother with you?”
Yang Zhao and Yang Kang were blood related brothers, they had always been inseparable and generally where one appeared the other would too.
To the side thought, Yang Wei scoffed loudly, “With me here, do you think he dares to appear?”
Yang Zhao and Yang Kai’s necks both shrank as they quickly exchanged a knowing glance. It wasn’t just Yang Kang who feared this cold faced big brother of theirs, all the members of the Yang Family younger generation had a sense of trepidation around him.
This wasn’t simply related to Yang Wei being the oldest.
“I’m going ahead,” Yang Wei casually gestured, striding forward confidently into the Elder Hall.
After a short while, he walked out again and without saying a word, strode away.
Yang Zhao shook his head and said with a wry smile, “Eldest Brother still doesn’t like talking much, even though the rest of us brothers want to be closer to him.”
“It’s just his character,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, in fact, he actually appreciated Yang Wei’s personality, no nonsense, no tricks or schemes, what he said was what he meant, what he did was what he wanted to do, living such a life must be liberating.
“Well, Second Brother will be going next, wait here for a bit.”
“En, go ahead.”
A long time later, Yang Zhao walked out with a big smile on his face, apparently very satisfied with his results. After he stepped out of the Elder Hall, Yang Kai stepped forward.
Seeing Yang Kai come in, Yang Zhen stared at him with sharp eyes. After Yang Kai walked up to him and bowed respectfully, Yang Zhen suddenly laughed and said, “Little brat, I remember you, last time you were here you exchanged a Mysterious Grade Martial Skill for ownership of a Golden Feather Eagle.”
“Yes,” Yang Kai nodded lightly, the last time he had visited the Elder Hall was indeed to obtain his Golden Feather Eagle. It was also Yang Zhen who he spoke with at the time and whom he obtained the jade slip which allowed him to redeem the Golden Feather Eagle from Du Cheng Bai, Yang Zhen naturally remembered such a recent event.
Grinning happily, Yang Zhen asked, “Do you regret it? Hahahaha! This old master knows you must regret it! Using a Mysterious Grade Martial Skill to trade for an only slightly useful Monster Beast, you really lost money on that! That skill could have been used to have a Blood Warrior serve you!”
It seemed like being able to see Yang Kai squirm made this old guy very happy.
Unfortunately for him, Yang Kai simply shook his head and smiled incomprehensibly, “I don’t regret it, and even if I did it wouldn’t change anything, it would only add to Elder’s troubles.”
Yang Zhen coldly snorted, muttering under his breath, “Dead duck’s mouth is hard!”
He obviously thought that Yang Kai was pretending to be generous while in reality his guts were turning green with regret.
“Good, then let’s see what you’ve brought to offer, I hope you can surprise me this time as well!” Yang Zhen’s hands still remained tucked into his sleeves, his expression carefree, “Speak, how many Blood Warriors are you here to obtain?”
“Two, since we can only receive two then of course I must obtain two!”
The smile on Yang Zhen’s face slowly converged as he stared at Yang Kai coldly, his eyes becoming serious. Even the other white-haired old men in the room perked up their ears and stopped the movement of their hands, turning their heads to observe.
In an instant, all the eyes in the hall were staring at Yang Kai, all of these old men wearing curious expressions, like they were looking forward to watching a good show.
The Yang Family’s Young Lords had all been sent out to various first-class forces for their life experience. The heritage of a first-class force wasn’t too deep, and what these Young Lord’s could obtain in such a short time was obviously not everything there was.
In order to exchange for the services of a Blood Warrior, the minimum offering would need to be a Mysterious Grade or three sets of Heaven Grade Top-Rank Martial Skills or Secret Arts.
The last time Yang Kai was here he had offered the family a Mysterious Grade Martial Skills, yet now he confidently said he wanted to obtain two Blood Warriors.
Didn’t that mean he had another two Mysterious Grade Martial Skills?
That was simply impossible! Martial Skills and Secret Arts of the Mysterious Grade wouldn’t be so valuable if they could be obtained so easily.
Everyone in the hall didn’t think that Yang Kai was able to offer up so much, so naturally they thought he didn’t understand the rules or overestimated his own chips.
One by one, all of them prepared to watch an entertaining farce.
After a long silence, Yang Zhen grinned and said casually, “Then let’s talk about your chips, this old master will evaluate whether or not what you’ve brought to us can be exchanged for two Blood Warriors.”
Yang Kai nodded confidently before taking out two white jade slips from his sleeve and placing them table in front of Yang Zhen.
Yang Zhen’s brow furrowed, an impatient look appearing on his face as he coldly snorted, pulling his hand out of his sleeve picking up one of the jade slips, reading its content with his Divine Sense.
Using True Qi to create markings inside a jade slip to convey information which was inconvenient to describe in words was a difficult technique, only those with extremely precise control of their True Qi could accomplish it.
So, when Yang Zhen saw Yang Kai take out two pieces of jade, he knew that what was recorded within was certainly of great value.
His Divine Sense swept over the jade slip, examining it carefully.
Suddenly, Yang Zhen’s brow wrinkled as his expression became dignified, and after a while, his eyes became filled with doubt which gradually changed to shock; quickly followed by amazement.
With the rapid changes in Yang Zhen’s eyes, his expression also became excited.
The old men who were going anticipating watching a good show saw Yang Zhen’s expression and couldn’t help becoming interested, wondering what exactly could provoke such a response from him.
A while later, Yang Zhen took a deep breath and slowly withdrew his Divine Sense from the jade. Turned his gaze towards Yang Kai and staring curiously before picking up the other jade slip.
As he examined this jade slip, it was as if the previous event were replaying themselves, the various expression changes on Yang Zhen’s face once again showing themselves in almost the exact same order.
The white haired Elders in the hall finally couldn’t sit still, many of them having gotten up gathered around quietly before anyone had noticed.
In no time at all, Yang Kai was squeezed out from this circle as all these old men gathered around and waited for Yang Zhen to retrieve his Divine Sense.
“What exactly is recorded in these?” An Elder couldn’t help but wonder what Yang Kai had brought back that could actually cause Yang Zhen to pay so much attention to it, as he spoke, reaching out for the other jade slip on the table.
But before he could pick it up, Yang Zhen snatched it back and gave this Elder a sharp glance.
“Little brat, come here!” Yang Zhen waved his hand and calmly pushed the curiously staring Elders aside.
“Disciple obeys,” Yang Kai stepped forward unhesitantly. By generation, Yang Zhen should be a character from Yang Kai’s grandfather’s age so he should refer to himself as Junior, but in the Yang Family, there was generally no familial kinship unless they were on particularly good terms.
Holding the two pieces of jade, Yang Zhen frowned, his old face turning slightly red as he asked aloud, “What are these?”
“You don’t even know what they are yet you’re so interested in them?” One of the white haired Elders blurted out, everyone else in the hall also slowly shaking their heads, all of their expectations suddenly somewhat dampened.
“Two Spirit Arrays.”
“Bloody Hell!” Yang Zhen snorted, “This old master isn’t a fool. Of course I know these are Spirit Arrays, what I’m asking is what these Spirit Arrays are for!”
As he spoke, Yang Zhen’s face grew even redder.
He was a very old man, and his experience was extremely rich, but at this moment, he couldn’t even identify something a junior two generations below him had presented him with, naturally he felt a little shame.
Yang Kai scratched his nose awkwardly before replying, “Spirit Arrays used for Alchemy!”
Yang Zhen was suddenly stunned, “These things are used for Alchemy?”
Shaking his head repeatedly, Yang Zhen continued, “Alchemy indeed uses a lot of Spirit Arrays, this old man has also seen many of them, but none of them come even close to the complexity of these Spirit Arrays. If one wanted to portray this kind of Spirit Array on a pill stove, it would be rather cumbersome and would cost an Alchemist more Spiritual Energy and True Qi than normal. Are you sure these two Spirit Arrays are useful?”
“Definitely!”
“Explain then, what are these used for?” Yang Zhen frowned. He didn’t quite understand Alchemy. Naturally, he couldn’t see through the mysteries of these Spirit Arrays, only able to subconsciously understand that they were extremely complicated and mysterious. Although these were definitely good thing, there were also some obvious drawbacks.
“One of them can improve the success rate of Alchemy refinement,” Yang Kai said flatly, “In other words, if an Alchemist’s chance to successfully refine a pill is only sixty percent, then by employing this Spirit Array, their success rate will improve to ninety percent!”
At these words, Yang Zhen almost jumped out of his seat.
Ninety percent! Even though he didn’t understand the Alchemic Dao, Yang Zhen knew that it was almost impossible for an Alchemist to guarantee a ninety percent pill refinement rate. The average Alchemist would often have a sixty to seventy percent success rate. This meant that for every ten sets of Alchemy materials, they could only refine six or seven pills.
Elite Alchemists could achieve around an eighty percent success rate while disciples from Medicine King’s Valley were mostly around this level. But now, if this Spirit Array really could improve the chances of successfully refining a pill by thirty percent, didn’t that mean that an elite Alchemist who used this Spirit Array could guarantee a one hundred percent chance of success?
Over the months and years, how much material could be saved? How much time and energy could be saved?
In an instant, Yang Zhen realized just how precious this Spirit Array was.
Of course, the premise was that what Yang Kai had said was true.
“What about the other one?” Yang Zhen pressed down the shock in his heart and tried to speak in a calm tone.
“This one gives a certain chance to improve the quality of a pill!” Yang Kai said lightly.
“What do you mean?” Yang Zhen’s brow subconsciously knit as he anxiously asked, his breathing becoming slightly hurried. If his understanding was correct, then the value of this second Spirit Array was even bigger than the previous one!
“If one were to be refining a Heaven Grade Mid-Rank pill, by using this Spirit Array, there is a possibility that the end result will be a Heaven Grade Top-Rank pill,” Yang Kai patiently explained, adding, “This chance isn’t that great, but it is a chance nonetheless!”
All the Elders in the hall sucked in a sharp breath, all of them understood the value of this Spirit Array.
One of them asked nervously, “What if we were to refine a Mysterious Grade Top-Rank pill using this Spirit Array?”
Yang Kai shrugged his shoulders and smiled, “If their luck is good, a Spirit Grade pill will appear.”
Spirit Grade! These two resounded like thunder in everyone’s ears, causing several of the Elders present to stumble, each of them staring fixedly at Yang Kai, wanting to see from his face whether he was cracking a joke.
However, Yang Kai remained completely calm!
These two Spirit Arrays were obtained from the True Alchemic Way, it was obviously impossible for them to be useless.
The entire Elder Hall was deathly silent, the group of old men all stood in place, some of them thinking about the value of these Spirit Arrays, some of them wondering whether Yang Kai’s words were true or false.
Only after a long silence did Yang Zhen suddenly recover, turning his gaze to stare at Yang Kai with a grim expression, “Little brat, do you know what kind of punishment awaits you if you lying to the Elder Hall? Even if you are a direct descendant of the Yang Family, if you dare try to deceive us I’ll make sure you die without burial right here right now!”
“Whether I’m lying or not, all you need to do is find someone who knows how to verify it,” Yang Kai replied, his brow wrinkling slightly.
“Good good!” Yang Zhen sneered, turning to one of the other Elders in the hall and shouting, “Go call Cheng Bai Lian from the Alchemy Hall.”
“En.” A fat Elder replied, his body flickering as he disappeared.
Cheng Bai Lian, the Yang Family’s Chief Alchemist! He was also an Alchemy Grandmaster whose name was famous around the world, but compared with Xiao Fu Sheng, he was still slightly inferior.
Xiao Fu Sheng was a Mysterious Grade Top-Rank Alchemist, the only one in the entire Great Han Dynasty whereas Cheng Bai Lian was just a Mysterious Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.
Although there was only a single rank of difference between them, but this single rank actually represented a massive gulf, enough so that Cheng Bai Lian could only look up to Xiao Fu Sheng with the utmost respect.
“Brat, it’s too late to regret now, when Cheng Bai Lian comes here and gives his opinion, this old master won’t spare you,” Yang Zhen sneered as he made a final probe.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled further, dissatisfaction appearing on his face, “Elder Zhen, I put out these two Spirit Arrays not just because I want two Blood Warriors to follow me, I also whole heartedly wished to give these things to Yang Family so that it can enjoy their benefits. After all, this is the place where I was born. If I had only wanted two Blood Warriors, a single one of these Spirit Arrays would be more than enough, why would I need to bring out two? Whether what I’m saying is true or false, I believe Elder Zhen should understand.”
Yang Zhen stared at him pondered for a moment, quickly thinking that what Yang Kai said made some sense, his expression relaxing slightly as he nodded, “You’re right, maybe this old master is being overly cautious, but in any case, we’ll soon know. If they’re real then your contribution to the family will definitely be recognized, if it is fake… heh heh!”
Finished speaking, Yang Zhen frowned and began looking over the two Spirit Array Jades again, trying to unravel at least some of their mysteries.
An hour or so later, the fat Elder who had rushed out before brought over a roughly fifty years old man.
When this man entered the Elder Hall, he wore a thick gloom on his face.
Once inside, not even waiting for Yang Zhen to speak, Cheng Bai Lian roared angrily, “Yang Zhen! Do you know what you’ve done? This old master was refining a Xuan Qing Pill when you summoned me! This old master was at a critical moment in the refining process when I was disturbed! You better compensate me for that furnace worth of material or this old master swears he won’t give your Yang Family any pills for three months!”
“Fine fine, I’ll compensate you!” Yang Zhen’s face went black, mechanically nodding again and again.
Although he was called by name by someone much younger than himself, and even more so was angrily scolded, Yang Zhen held his temper. After all, this man was the Chief Alchemist of the Yang Family. Many high-quality pills that the family needed were refined by him, so even though the gap in their cultivation and age was huge, Yang Zhen had no choice but to swallow his anger.
One cannot easily offend an Alchemist, especially one of high skill.
Cheng Bai Lian snorted and said, “That was a Heaven Grade Top-Rank pill. Although it wasn’t too expensive, it had cost this old master a lot of thought and effort, but seeing you act appropriately enough, 500,000 will do.”
Yang Zhen’s expression became even darker, doing his best to endure as he quickly changed the subject, “Let’s stop talking about this for now. We need to discuss the reason as to your summon.”
Cheng Bai Lian nodded before glancing at Yang Kai who was standing nearby, “I heard about it on the way. You say these two Spirit Arrays were brought back by this little brat?”
“Good, I want you to see if these things are really useful.” Yang Zhen handed over the two jade slips.
Cheng Bai Lian took the jade slips from him before sneering, “This old master has pursued the Alchemic Way for many years and has studied a great number of Spirit Arrays, but never once have I heard of such a magical Spirit Array. It seems that you’ve grown more confused as the years pass by, actually being so easily deceived. Now that you’ve been tricked you want to drag this old master into the muddy water, if this were to spread out what face would you have left?”
“Enough nonsense, just take a look!” Yang Zhen was enraged by Cheng Bai Lian’s taunting, but he really had nowhere to vent his frustrations, his old face turning purple with anger, secretly deciding that if Yang Kai really was lying to him, he would absolutely not let him off lightly.
Cheng Bai Lian found a place nearby and took a seat, his expression extremely relaxed as he casually released his Divine Sense into the jade examine it.
The entire Elder Hall except Yang Kai stared at him, wondering how he would evaluate these two Spirit Arrays.
But just as Cheng Bai Lian began using his Divine Sense to studying the jade’s content, he suddenly let out a scream, his body which had just sat down jumping up as his face showed an incredible expression.
Everyone who was holding their breath and waiting nervously also jumped in shock at this unexpected display.
“What happened?” Yang Zhen asked as he looked at Cheng Bai Lian with disappointment, “At such an age, getting so excited about something after merely a glance, please have some self-respect!”
However, Cheng Bai Lian completely ignored Yang Zhen, his eyes spinning round and round, a look of pure shock and joy flashing across his face. He turned and stared at Yang Kai for a moment, and in the next moment, his figure flickered and directly appeared in front of him, grabbing his shoulders in a vice grip as if he feared that Yang Kai would run away, asking in a slightly trembling voice, “Little brat, this Spirit Array… you… where did you get it?”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, faintly becoming aware of something before replying, “Medicine King’s Valley, Hidden Cloud Peak!”
Cheng Bai Lian’s body shook at these words, his face frozen in place as if he’d just been struck by lightning, a moment later nodding over and over again, “I knew it, I knew it…”
Saying so, he re-focused his gaze on Yang Kai again, hastily asking, “What is your relationship with Grandmaster Xiao?”
“Nothing much, I just stayed on Hidden Cloud Peak for about two months,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head and said in a low-key manner.
Cheng Bai Lian’s look suddenly became frigid as he glared at Yang Kai, the coldness in his eyes gradually becoming piercing as he spoke in an icy tone, “So you stole this Spirit Array?”
Yang Kai shook his head lightly in reply, “Grandmaster Xiao taught it to me.”
Cheng Bai Lian couldn’t understand why this young man who claimed to have nothing to do with Grandmaster Xiao would be taught these two precious Spirit Arrays, but he soon smiled again, “Good good good! Alchemy techniques can’t be stolen, definitely not, but since the Grandmaster taught you, then it’s alright.”
He obviously thought that Yang Kai had reservations about admitting his relationship with Xiao Fu Sheng to the public.
Although the conversation between the two was only a few words, it had let the Elders of the Elder Hall recognize something.
These two Spirit Arrays that Yang Zhen couldn’t identify… seemed to have a big background!
“Does Senior recognize this Spirit Array?” Yang Kai asked curiously. If Cheng Bai Lian didn’t recognize this Spirit Array, he wouldn’t have reacted so strongly to it, but this was something Yang Kai had gained from the True Alchemic Way, how could Cheng Bai Lian also know it?
Hearing Yang Kai’s question, Yang Zhen and the other Elders turned their eyes to Cheng Bai Lian, who simply shook his head and smiled, a far-off look of nostalgia surfacing in his eyes.
“Damn it, tell us already!” Yang Zhen had reached his limit, loudly cursing as he demanded an explanation from Cheng Bai Lian.
At any other time, the Yang Family’s Chief Alchemist wouldn’t have remained silent for so long, but right now he seemed to be completely absorbed in his thoughts, only speaking again after an extended silence, “Thirty years ago, at Medicine King’s Valley’s Alchemy Summit, I had the privilege of studying this Spirit Array once, but at the time it was only a half completed product.”
Yang Kai’s brow twitched, suddenly understanding what had happened.
“For that time’s Alchemy Summit, many geniuses came forth competed against one another! This old master passed through many trials and defeated dozens of opponents, advancing all the way to the finals, but in the end, I myself was defeated at the hands of another, that man was Xiao Fu Sheng!” Cheng Bai Lian looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “Grandmaster Xiao is a genius, born for the Alchemic Way, losing to him was not shameful in the slightest!”
Yang Zhen folded his arms and snorted. As a cultivator of the Martial Dao, he naturally didn’t understand the Alchemic Way, nor did he understand about the admiration and mutual understanding between high level Alchemists.
“The best young Alchemists at that summit were given the privilege of visiting Pill Saint’s Peak to pay tribute to the Pill Saint’s Portrait and ponder the Alchemic Way.” Cheng Bai Lian said, immersing himself in his memories, “Xiao Fu Sheng and I mounted Pill Saint’s Peak together and it was there that we both saw the half completed version of this Spirit Array. This old master’s only regret was not being able to see its full form.”
“After that, I came to the Yang Family while Xiao Fu Sheng entered Medicine King’s Valley, heh heh,” Cheng Bai Lian smiled as he spoke, “Over the past thirty years, I have corresponded with Grandmaster Xiao often and whenever I had free time, I would go to Medicine King’s Valley to study that half completed Spirit Array with him, trying complete it, but after three decades I still couldn’t succeed!”
“When the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land attacked Medicine King’s Valley and destroyed the Pill Saint’s Portrait, this old master thought that in this lifetime he would never have a chance to see this complete Spirit Array. Never did I expect… ha… haha… hahaha!” Cheng Bai Lian threw his head back as he stared up at the Heavens, a joyous yet somewhat bitter smile adorning his face, “Xiao Fu Sheng is indeed Xiao Fu Sheng, always one step ahead of this old master! Never did I expect that he had already completed this Spirit Array. This old master truly cannot compare to the world’s greatest Alchemist, his name is truly deserved!”
Yang Kai didn’t expect that the Spirit Array he had brought out actually involved these past events. Even characters like Xiao Fu Sheng were only able to obtain half of it from the Pill Saint’s Portrait, one could only imagine the infinite profoundness of the True Alchemic Way.
The appearance of this Spirit Array here had actually solved the thirty year old puzzle that had plagued two of this world’s best Alchemists.
Although there was some misunderstanding here, Yang Kai was not prepared to say anything, he had intended to push the credit for this Spirit Array onto Grandmaster Xiao from the beginning anyways.
“Yes yes you’ve said enough already, just tell us, are these two Spirit Arrays of any use?” Yang Zhen asked an impatiently.
“Nonsense!” Cheng Bai Lian snorted, “How could they be useless? This is a Spirit Array from the Pill Saint’s Portrait, a treasure left behind by the Pill Saint himself, of course it’s useful!”
“Then its value?” Yang Zhen asked anxiously.
“Immeasurable!” Cheng Bai Lian replied seriously.
All the Elders in the hall couldn’t help looking awkward. Yang Kai offering two of these Spirit Arrays to the Yang Family, the number of merits they were worth was huge, even Yang Zhen didn’t quite know how many he should reward Yang Kai with.
“I’ll take these Spirit Arrays back with them, this old master must study them well.” Cheng Bai Lian normally frowning face bloomed into smiles, holding the two jade slips in his hand as if they were the world’s most precious treasures.
“Good, take them with you, but remember not to let them leak out, you know the Yang Family’s rules.” Yang Zhen said solemnly.
Cheng Bai Lian rolled his eyes, “This old master has been in the Yang Family for thirty years now. How could I not understand the family’s rules?”
Yang Zhen just nodded slightly with a satisfied expression.
Cheng Bai Lian turned to look at Yang Kai, none of his previous disdain or contempt remaining on his face, politely asking, “Boy, what is your name?”
Yang Kai casually gave his name in response.
Cheng Bai Lian then patted his shoulder intimately, “Good good, this old master will remember you, when I have time I will invite you to my home to drink tea!”
After saying so, Cheng Bai waved his sleeves and strode out with great vigor.
Once again, all the Elders in the hall looked at each other in shock, some of them even wondering if they were dreaming.
Cheng Bai Lian had invited a junior to his home to drink tea…
Many of these old men had never been treated politely by the Yang Family’s Chief Alchemist, much less been invited to drink tea.
For the younger generation, even the generation above them, such an invitation was an extraordinary privilege, if it were to leak out it would surely create a stir.
A while after Cheng Bai Lian walked off, the group of old men secretly shook their heads, wondering just what kind of blessing Yang Kai had received. He could actually converse with characters like Xiao Fu Sheng and personally be taught two extraordinary Spirit Arrays by him.
“Elder Zhen,” Yang Kai called out, “The validity of my offering has been proven, can I exchange for two Blood Warriors now?”
Yang Zhen rolled his eyes and muttered, “Good! But this old master must first remind you, depending on the strength of the Blood Warrior, the merits you’ll need to exchange for their services are different.”
“Then… what kind of Blood Warrior can I receive with my current merits?”
“Ah… er…” Yang Zhen lightly coughed, “Among the masters from the Blood Warrior Hall, you can choose any of them, including the Hall Master and Deputy Hall Master!”
“Hall Master and Deputy Hall Master?” Yang Kai asked in amazement.
“Yes, those two both stand at the very apex of the Immortal Ascension Boundary!” Yang Zhen nodded, “If you have the two of them to guard you, no one should be able to get close to you in this Inheritance War.”
It seemed like the number of merits Yang Kai had earned all at once was too great so Yang Zhen wanted him to quickly consume them. Thus Yang Zhen spared no effort to promote the idea of Yang Kai recruiting the Hall Master and Deputy Hall Master.
Unfortunately for him, Yang Kai just slowly shook his head, “I don’t want them.”
“Yang Zhen secretly sighed to himself before nodding, “If you don’t want them, who do you want?”
“Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu!” Yang Kai reported the names of the two Blood Warriors who had been tasked with protecting his Fourth Brother Yang Xin Wu.
The looks on the faces of all the old men in the hall suddenly became weird, some of them staring at Yang Kai strangely, others with amazement.
Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu were originally the two best Blood Warriors in the Blood Warrior Hall in terms of aptitude, all the Elders naturally had heard their names and also had great expectations for them, but because of the incident with Yang Xin Wu and the punishment the family had given them as a result, these two Blood Warriors’ status had fallen significantly.
The Elders were quite sorry about the two warrior’s experiences but the rules of Yang Family were absolute, so they had to punish them. They had thought that for this time’s Inheritance War no one would dare to elect them, but they hadn’t expected that the youngest Yang Kai would actually take the initiative to choose them.
Even if Yang Kai had said he wanted the Blood Warrior Hall’s Hall Master and Deputy Hall Master the Elders wouldn’t have shown as much shock as they were currently.
Not pick the two most powerful Blood Warriors when given the choice, but instead choosing two nearly bedridden warriors instead, this Yang Kai was either an idiot, or… he was scheming something!
Yang Zhen looked at Yang Kai, thinking deeply for a moment before quick asking, “Those two have been heavily injured, are you sure you want them?”
“Yes!”
“Interesting!” Yang Zhen grinned, “Your appetite is quite big!”
In that brief moment, Yang Zhen seemed to have seen through all of Yang Kai’s thoughts and intentions, so Yang Kai simply shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
“Since you want, then I will give them to you!” Yang Zhen snorted, “I want to see just what kind of storm you can kick up by using those two for this Inheritance War! I hope you aren’t picking up a stone just to smash your own foot! Haha, don’t regret it later.”
“Of course, Elder Zhen doesn’t need to bother himself with my business.”
Yang Zhen smiled deviously, immediately taking out a parchment and stamping it with the Elder Hall’s seal before throwing it to Yang Kai.
Yang Kai took the parchment, glanced at it carefully before nodding with satisfaction, cupping his fists politely, “Many thanks Elder Zhen!”
“Good, after choosing those two Blood Warriors, you still have a lot of merits left! What else do you want to exchange for?” Yang Zhen raised his brow and asked, “For the Inheritance War, you can never do too much preparation.”
“How many merits do I have left?” Yang Kai asked curiously.
“A lot,” Yang Zhen said offhandedly, not disclosing a specific figures. It was quite possible he also didn’t know just how many merits Yang Kai’s contribution warranted.
“In that case I’ll exchange all of them for Alchemy and Artifact Refining materials, at least Heaven Grade Low-Rank, preferably Mysterious Grade.”
Listening to Yang Kai, Yang Zhen couldn’t help but look at him in surprise, he didn’t expect his request to be so simple, nodding as he replied, “I’ll help you prepare the materials and have someone deliver them to your home.”
“Many thanks for your effort Elder Zhen, disciple will take his leave.” Yang Kai nodded, turned, and walked out.
“Brat, don’t disappoint this old master by losing too early in the Inheritance War.” Yang Zhen’s called out from behind.
“Elder Zhen shouldn’t worry, just sit back and watch!”
When these words were said, the person had already disappeared.
“Cocky brat!” Yang Zhen snorted.
The fat Elder who had just gone to summon Cheng Bai Lian walked over and frowned at that moment, muttering, “Yang Zhen, that kid is gambling too much! If his bet doesn’t pay off, it’ll be his doom.”
“The entire Inheritance War is a gamble! Do you think those other kids didn’t see this opportunity? No! It’s just that none of them dared to make such a decision. Only he dared to!” Yang Zhen’s eyes flashed, nodding lightly, “Although in the short term I can’t see him having any great results, at least he has already made a head start on the Blood Warrior Hall. This little brat from Fourth Brother’s house is bold and decisive. He suits my Yang Family’s style perfectly!”
Yang Kai choosing those two Blood Warriors, the gains and losses of such a decision, how could the cunning Elders not understand? Such a choice, for this Inheritance War, as long he wasn’t defeated too quickly, would only bring him more and more benefits in the future! The only thing to worry about was not being destroyed in the early period while these two Blood Warriors were still recuperating from their injuries.
Blood Warrior Hall.
This was a special place in the Yang Family grounds, the headquarters and residence of all Blood Warriors. Even from a dozen kilometers away, one could clearly feel the fighting intent lingering about the Blood Warrior Hall.
This invisible force seemed almost tangible, like a sharp blade which was capable of splitting the sky apart.
Blood Warriors were natural fighters, their talents specially developed for combat. Their strong fighting spirit was a symbol of the Yang Family. Even if they were not engaged in battle, the killing intent of the Blood Warriors was so potent it had all but solidified, pervading the entire Blood Warrior Hall.
As Yang Kai approached this place, he couldn’t help feeling shocked by this momentum, his expression immediately becoming dignified.
Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian both stood respectfully outside the Blood Warrior Hall, waiting quietly for Yang Kai’s arrival. In front of them stood a burly man with his hands crossed behind his back, a plain black warrior’s outfit that could be seen anywhere cover his toned muscles, only his calm indifferent face showing. His long hair was draped over his shoulders and his eyes were like cold piercing stars.
Blood Warrior Hall’s Hall Master, Feng Sheng, a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary master. It was said that if he were to use his Mad Tyrant Blood Skill, it was possible for him to fight evenly with an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master.
This man’s name resounded throughout the Central Capital as one of the strongest cultivators alive.
Since listening to Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian yesterday, after they had reported back, Feng Sheng had some interest in this Little Lord. Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu were his subordinates. As the Blood Warrior Hall’s Hall Master, he naturally cared about them.
He wanted to see for himself what this Little Lord, who was willing to use Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu, looked like.
To this day, a few Yang Family Young Lords had visited, but until now, the Little Lord had still not appeared; however, Feng Sheng showed no signs of urgency, simply stood there quietly.
Tu Feng, on the other hand, was quite anxious. Although Yang Kai had already promised him and Tang Yu Xian yesterday, and he would never doubt the authenticity of Yang Kai’s words, he was worried that Yang Kai wouldn’t have enough merits to exchange for Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu.
If he didn’t have enough merits, then what?
While these thoughts flashed across his mind, a young man with a strong figure appeared at the edge of his vision, walking towards the trio without hesitation.
“Is that him?” Feng Sheng asked.
“It’s him, it’s the Little Lord!” Tu Feng replied affirmatively, feeling like a great stone had been lifted off his chest, immediately relaxing as he shot a glance towards Tang Yu Xian and smiled.
The Little Lord really kept his word! Unfortunately, for this time’s Inheritance War they couldn’t follow him, thinking of this, both of them felt a deep sense of regret.
Walking up to the three Blood Warriors, Yang Kai’s attention immediately focused on Feng Sheng.
Eyes that seemed to radiate sharp light, a dense imposing aura, and a physique that hid an unparalleled explosive power.
[Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary!]
Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, a single glance was all he needed to understand the great strength of this man. If he were to fight such a master, a casual brush of the opposite party’s hand would be enough to kill him. This massive gap in the cultivation realm was not something any artifact or even the Demonic Qi hidden inside his Unyielding Golden Skeleton could compensate for.
Yang Kai could clearly feel that although this person was simply standing there, not circulating his Secret Art, but the energy of Heaven and Earth still gently flowed towards him, seeping into his body, constantly enhancing his True Qi, increasing both its purity and density which was undoubtedly already superior to most others.
This was the strongest member of the Blood Warrior Hall!
Yang Kai secretly nodded to himself, the Yang Family being able to stand at the summit of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families for all these years was not without reason.
While he stared at this Immortal Ascension master, Feng Sheng was also observing him.
Yang Kai was dressed casually, without any expensive robes, even simpler compared to many young kids from average families, such clothing was undoubtedly more suitable for the combat. He was very young, probably no more than eighteen years old, but his cultivation had reached the True Element Boundary Eighth Stage. Most importantly, his look was calm, and although his eyes appeared normal, they occasionally flashed a sharp light.
Feng Sheng couldn’t help squinting his eyes the more he looked, a trace of appreciation apparent in his gaze.
He felt a dense murderous aura coming from Yang Kai’s body, its flavour quite obvious.
Murderous aura. Feng Sheng also had something similar; the only difference being that his aura was much stronger than Yang Kai’s. This kind of aura wasn’t something one could cultivate. It could only be obtained through killing a great deal of people.
The Little Lord was obviously a young man yet he had already killed so many people. It seems that he wasn’t somebody one should make an enemy of. Feng Sheng took a mental note.
What made Feng Sheng even more curious though was that the Little Lord seemed to have another strange force hidden in his body. This force even seemed to affect his own murderous aura, giving him a creepy feeling. It was like it was stimulating the violent tendencies which he had suppressed in his heart.
But even if he looked carefully, this feeling was quite vague. The only thing he could clearly understand was that this kid’s True Qi… was quite pure!
Shaking his head secretly, Feng Sheng’s brow furrowed.
With just a simple look, Feng Sheng understood that this Little Lord was not as simple as he appeared, but he didn’t care too much about this. Instead, he let out a voice asking, “Young Lord Kai?”
Yang Kai nodded slightly before turning his eyes to Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian.
The two quickly stepped forward, Tu Feng saying, “Little Lord, this is our Hall Master, Feng Sheng!”
“So it is Hall Master Feng!” Yang Kai greeted.
“Little Lord, in order to receive Blood Warriors from the hall, please show the documents issued by the Elder Hall!” Feng Sheng said as he reached out, Yang Kai quickly handing over a parchment to him.
After taking a look, Feng Sheng nodded gently, his face which had been as tranquil as an ancient well finally showed some subtle changes, “Young Lord Kai, please come in.”
Yang Kai stepped forward, Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian quickly following after him.
Feng Sheng on the other hand didn’t follow, still standing straight as a sword by the entrance.
Once inside the Blood Warrior Hall, Tu Feng laughed heartily, “Little Lord, I have never seen Hall Master so talkative! Several other Young Lords came before you but Hall Master didn’t even glance at them much less speak. It seems that Hall Master has a good impression of you.”
Tang Yu Xian also nodded heavily, as if she had just witnessed something amazing.
“It seems that my personality is a little praiseworthy.” Yang Kai laughed off.
Tu Feng shook his head though, “It is not a little. Little Lord being willing to use our two brothers has earned the entire Blood Warrior Hall’s thanks!”
“Is it really that serious?” Yang Kai chuckled lightly, obviously unconvinced.
But just as he spoke those words, Yang Kai froze in place, staring in front of him blankly.
Before him stood over twenty powerful Blood Warriors lined up in a row, all of them staring towards him, the gratitude in their eyes apparent.
The man who stood closest to him was the Blood Warrior Hall’s deputy Hall Master Zhou Feng, another Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary master.
Looking around at the other Blood Warriors, Yang Kai was secretly surprised.
Each one of these people was a powerful master that radiated an invincible aura. Both the men and women had strong cultivations, the lowest having at least reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage.
But even these Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage Blood Warriors were no worse than a first-class forces’ Immortal Ascension Eighth Stage master.
The depths of the Yang Family Blood Warrior’s heritage were astounding!
Looking at the more than twenty pairs of eyes, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a shocking pressure for an instant. This kind of pressure was not something deliberately released by the Blood Warriors, but simply the aura they had accumulated from all the battles they had fought over their many years of service.
Whenever the weak faced the strong, this kind of pressure would inevitably affect them.
Quietly circulating his True Yang Secret Art, pushing his True Qi slightly, Yang Kai managed to stabilizes his stance.
All of the Blood Warrior’s expression brightened imperceptibly!
Zhou Feng was also secretly surprised, though he didn’t show it, instead wearing his normal dignified expression, cupping his fists and saying, “Zhou Feng, on behalf of the entire Blood Warrior Hall, pays respect to Young Lord Kai!”
Like booming thunder, the other Blood Warriors echoed, “Many thanks, Young Lord Kai!”
Yang Kai’s expression became solemn, only now understanding that Tu Feng was indeed not exaggerating.
Although he had expected to win some support from the Blood Warrior Hall by this action, he never anticipated the result would be so exaggerated.
“I have only done what I need to do, there’s no need for thanks!” Yang Kai nodded lightly, gazing around Zhou Feng and casting his eyes at the two men who stood behind him.
Both these men were probably less than forty years old, but they had both reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage. Both of them wore extremely serious expression, even more so than the rest of the Blood Warriors in the hall, their gazes sharp and unrelenting, as if they were unafraid of death itself.
As they stood there, because they were enduring unbearable pain, their bodies couldn’t help trembling lightly, the clothes they wore stained red with fresh blood which seeped from their wounds like blossoming flowers.
At their feet, this fresh blood had already formed a small pool, filling the air with a faint taste of iron. But the two still stood upright, the other Blood Warriors not paying this blood any mind.
“You two are Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu?” Yang Kai gave them a look.
The two men quickly stepped forward and knelt down.
“Subordinate Qu Gao Yi.”
“Subordinate Ying Jiu, greets the Little Lord!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, “Get up, since you are my people now, then I will have you prove with your actions that my choice was not wrong!”
The two did not say a word, just getting up silently, but the determination in their eyes was apparent to all, revealing their firm and unyielding wills.