Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and stretched his numb body before looking down at his Little Senior Sister still wrapped in his arms. The two had maintained the same position all this time.
His Little Senior Sister’s mind was still immersed in her Knowledge Sea, digesting the Alchemy information Yang Kai had taught her.
Regarding the True Alchemic Way, Yang Kai had already told Xia Ning Chang everything he had managed to glean from the knowledge which was planted in his mind. If he wanted to teach her the rest, it would have to wait.
Staring fondly at the delicate veiled girl, Yang Kai leaned over and kissed her forehead gently before lightly placing her on her bed and standing up.
Opening the door as he rubbed his forehead, Yang Kai felt a burst of exhaustion.
Discussing the True Alchemic Way with Xia Ning Chang and lingering so long in her Knowledge Sea had consumed a massive amount of his Spiritual Energy.
Standing outside the door was a young, sweet looking maid who, upon seeing Yang Kai exit, rushed over with small steps while deftly holding a tray with a big steaming bowl on it.
“Young Master, you’ve finally come out.” The maidservant looked straight at him and said with a smile.
“Why are you here?” Yang Kai asked with a slightly furrowed brow.
“This is something Young Lady Qiu instructed this servant to do. She said that in order to restore your strength you’d need something hot to eat.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help but wonder why Qiu Yi Meng would suddenly act so considerately, hesitantly asking, “What is it?”
The girl’s face suddenly blushed faintly as she quietly whispered, “I don’t know exactly, Young Lady Qiu just said that it is good for one’s vitality and vigour…”
Yang Kai expression immediately became strained, Qiu Yi Meng doing this… What exactly did she want to say?
“Hehe, Young Master, please enjoy this slowly, I’ve reheated it for you several times.” The maid said, swiftly handing the tray over, which Yang Kai instinctively held, and before he could respond or say anything, the maid had already disappeared.
Looking at the vigour restoring soup in his hands, Yang Kai’s expression was complicated.
Suddenly, the door next door was flung open and a gloomy Meng Wu Ya came out and glared gloomily at Yang Kai with dissatisfaction.
Yang Kai grinned at him and drank the bowl of soup before casually greeting, “Treasurer Meng.”
Meng Wu Ya nodded gruffly before ushering him into his room.
After the two of them entered and sat down, Meng Wu Ya stared at Yang Kai for a while with questioning eyes, “Can you already use your Divine Sense? Or are you relying on some kind of artifact?”
The Divine Sense message Yang Kai had sent him prompted Treasurer Meng to notice some peculiarities, so this was naturally the first thing he asked about.
“It was indeed my own Divine Sense.” Yang Kai admitted frankly, he wanted to ask Meng Wu Ya for something related to this topic so he didn’t plan on hiding such basic information.
“How can that be?” Even someone as strong and experienced as Treasurer Meng couldn’t help looking shocked. Although he had speculated that Yang Kai may really have cultivated out his Divine Sense, when Yang Kai really admitted it, he still couldn’t believe it, “Little brat, can you tell me honestly what happened?”
“I don’t know exactly.” Yang Kai grinned sheepishly, “I encountered some opportunities and it somehow resulted in my being able to cultivate my Divine Sense.”
Meng Wu Ya couldn’t help narrowing his eyes at Yang Kai’s reluctance to reveal the details of his experience to him, but he didn’t press the issue. Everyone had their own secrets after all.
“However, your Divine Sense is a bit strange.”
“Strange how?” Yang Kai hurriedly asked.
“It’s too strong!” Meng Wu Ya said seriously, furrowing his brow as he continued, “It shouldn’t be so powerful. The intensity of your Divine Sense is already comparable to a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary master, yet you’re still just a True Element Eighth Stage cultivator. If you were to break through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary, just how powerful will it become?”
“Regarding this, I wanted to consult you with Treasurer Meng about something,” Yang Kai also frowned, “Although I have use of my Divine Sense, I don’t have a Knowledge Sea.”
Hearing this, Meng Wu Ya couldn’t help but sneer, “Stupid brat, you still haven’t reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, of course you don’t have a Knowledge Sea. Opening one’s Knowledge Sea is the defining symbol of the Immortal Ascension Boundary!”
“What about having a Divine Sense?”
Meng Wu Ya slowly shook his head, “No, breaking through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary isn’t necessarily a requirement for one to have use of their Divine Sense. According to this old master’s knowledge, there have been some rare cases like you and when they reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, they naturally opened their Knowledge Seas.”
“There are others like me?” Yang Kai couldn’t hide his surprise. It was only because of the existence of the Soul Warming Lotus that he was able to coincidentally cultivate out his Divine Sense. What other method existed out there?
“En, though there aren’t many, this old master does know of at least one such a person.” Meng Wu Ya’s expression slowly became one of reminiscence, eventually shaking his head, “It was an incident from a long time ago, and it only lasted briefly. We cultivators start out primarily by condensing Yuan Qi in our dantian and meridians, but once we reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary, not only is it necessary to cultivate one’s True Qi, but it also becomes important to cultivate our Spiritual Energy and Divine Sense. Similar to True Qi, when one begins cultivating their Divine Sense they need a place to store it, and that place is one’s Knowledge Sea!”
“Without a Knowledge Sea to store it, even if one managed to cultivate out their Divine Sense, it would simply be like melting snow in the early spring, a brief candle in the wind, dissipating within a few days. That’s why this old master said that person’s situation was short-lived. However, your situation is very different. Your Divine Sense is extremely strong and stable, obviously you didn’t begin cultivating it a day or two ago.” Meng Wu Ya smiled and looked at Yang Kai deeply, “This old master doesn’t know what secrets you’re hiding, but I can say for sure that you’ve found some way to store your Divine Sense and not let it dissipate.”
Yang Kai nodded silently with more than a hint of admiration in his expression.
For a master at Meng Wu Ya’s level, it was indeed possible for him to deduce some truths of the matter just from what he had observed. He may not know about the existence of the Soul Warming Lotus, but his inference was absolutely not wrong.
Yang Kai indeed had a place to store his Divine Sense: the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus in his mind.
“Since you have use of your Divine Sense, can you use Soul Skills?” Meng Wu Ya stared at him with interest.
“Yes, but I can only use a single one.”
“One is enough. Soul Skills are like Martial Skills. Only the weak need many different methods to show off their power. Once you reach a certain height, there’s no need to stick to a particular Martial Skill or Soul Skill. One can only be considered strong when they can adapt to the situation and freely display their strength.” Meng Wu Ya’s tone was firm and decisive, giving people the impression that he had once stood at such a height. After a short pause, he chuckled and continued, “However, in your current situation, when you use your Soul Skill, do you feel that its power is lacking?”
“Precisely.” Yang Kai said solemnly. “This is also what I wanted to consult with you about!”
“Naturally it will seem somewhat weak. Your Divine Sense doesn’t reside in your Knowledge Sea but is stored somewhere else. When you try to use your Divine Sense in combat, it means that you must first mobilize it from that place and then active your Soul Skill, a process which results in a lot of waste. Fortunately, the solution is simple, all you need to do is open up your own Knowledge Sea and the problem will solve itself.”
Hearing this, Yang Kai let out a breath of relief. Although he had made a similar guess himself, but having someone confirm his theory was still a great comfort.
“Treasurer Meng, do you have a method for cultivating Spiritual Energy on hand?” Yang Kai asked with hopeful eyes. Right now, he cultivated his Divine Sense mainly by studying the True Alchemic Way, but without sufficient pills to supplement his Spiritual Energy, he still felt his progress was too slow.
If he had a set of Spiritual Energy cultivation techniques, the situation would be different, but such things were far too rare. Yang Kai knew that the Yang Family had a set, but that was not something he could get his hands on. Even the Yang Family Fourth Master wasn’t qualified to learn it.
On top of that, from what little he knew of it, this set of techniques didn’t have very strong effects.
If a cultivator wanted to supplement their Spiritual Energy, they almost always had to depend on rest or taking pills.
At this request, Meng Wu Ya scoffed, “It’s not like I don’t have such a technique, but cultivation isn’t something to be rushed, if you think there are any shortcuts then you’re sorely mista…”
“Please teach me!” Yang Kai smiled and interrupted his preaching.
Meng Wu Ya’s brow twitched as he helplessly stared at Yang Kai, eventually letting out a sigh, “Fine fine fine, even if this old master doesn’t teach you, knowing your personality, you’ll just go out and take even bigger risks.”
Saying so, Meng Wu Ya used a special method to transmit the technique to Yang Kai with his Divine Sense.
Receiving this information package, Yang Kai studied it thoroughly, his expression slowly becoming excited, “How much can this technique improve my recovery rate by?”
“Twenty percent.” Meng Wu Ya replied casually.
“So little…” Yang Kai was stunned, thinking that any technique Treasurer Meng passed him wouldn’t be too bad, but twenty percent was still a bit shabby.
Meng Wu Ya sneered, “Don’t be greedy, this Spiritual Energy cultivating technique is an ancient and priceless treasure. This old master knows that your Yang Family and all the other Eight Great Families have their own methods, but those pieces of trash are nothing compared to what this old master has just given you. Their techniques can only increase the restoration rate of one’s Spiritual Energy by ten percent!”
Yang Kai expression brightened upon hearing this. Apparently the amount of high-end information he had was too small, so he had underestimated the value of this technique.
If he remembered correctly, the Yang Family’s Spiritual Energy cultivation technique should be a Mysterious Grade Top-Rank Secret Art!
Mysterious Grade Top-Rank techniques already stood at the pinnacle of this world, yet it could still only provide a ten percent improvement. But if that were true, then this method which was twice as effective… just what grade was this technique?
Understanding all this, Yang Kai no longer dared despise this technique, turning his eyes towards Meng Wu Ya and staring curiously.
He found that the more he contacted Treasurer Meng, the more mysterious he became.
Above Mysterious Grade was Spirit Grade, then what was on top of that? Yang Kai was puzzled and wanted to ask, but after giving it some thought, he realized that he had yet to even reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary, knowing too much now would do him no good.
“If you want to study it, do it elsewhere, don’t stay in Ning Chang’s room for so long.” Meng Wu Ya ruthlessly spat.
“How long has it been?”
“Five days!”
Yang Kai was dumbstruck, when he was discussing the True Alchemic Way with his Little Senior Sister, time seemed to pass by so quickly, he didn’t even realize he had been with her for five whole days. No wonder Qiu Yi Meng had ordered the maids to provide him with something to supplement his vigour.
Staying in his Little Senior Sister’s room for five days was more than enough to make people misunderstand a lot.
However, over the past five days, something must have happened. If things had gone according as he had expected, at least one of his brothers should have been eliminated. Yang Kai leapt up and thanked Meng Wu Ya quickly before swiftly exiting his room and rushing towards the main hall.
Along the way, all the people in the house greeted Yang Kai with somewhat awkward smiles. Especially the four girls from Ten Thousand Flower Palace, each of them looked at Yang Kai with a certain unspoken criticism in their eyes.
Even Lan Chu Die smiled ambiguously towards him.
Yang Kai, however, maintained his appearance, too lazy to explain anything. In any case, the more he tried to explain the worse things would get.
“Young Lord Kai, these past few days you’ve worked hard, are you sure you don’t need to rest for a while?” Huo Xing Chen appeared from somewhere and said with a big fat grin on his face, “So, how was it?”
“What do you mean?” Yang Kai replied blankly.
“Heh heh, you don’t need to pretend with me.” Young Lord Huo said as he licked his lips, a loose smile appearing on his face, “A single man and woman sharing a room for five days straight. Don’t tell me nothing happened?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yang Kai shook his head and pretended to be stupid.
“Forget it, I understand, but I have to say, this Young Lord really admires you now. Although I’ve encountered countless women, I’ve never gone at it for five days straight; it seems in such respects you’re better than me! One day, you must tell me your secret.” Huo Xing Chen said with full sincerity.
“Enough nonsense!” Yang Kai spat disdainfully.
“Oh, what are you talking about?” Qiu Yi Meng said as she walked over. After seeing Yang Kai, she couldn’t help letting out a bitter sigh, lightly chastising, “As one of the Young Lords who is participating in the Inheritance War, Yang Kai, I hope that you can pay attention to the overall situation. Gentle homes are the tombs of heroes, on this point you should be clearer than me.”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he shot back, “I naturally understand, no need to remind me.”
Qiu Yi Meng opened her mouth to continue but eventually swallowed the next sentence. She had already figured out Yang Kai’s temper and naturally would not blame him for refuting her here. This time, he had at least acknowledged her concerns. If she were to persist, this stinky man would likely get angry and become objectionable instead.
“Greetings Young Lord Kai!” From beside Qiu Yi Meng a delicate looking young man with handsome features suddenly called out. After offering such a polite greeting, he also stepped forward and cupped his fists formally, his performance quite modest and respectful.
“This is…” Yang Kai looked at him suspiciously, this young man who had just greeted didn’t seem familiar.
“This is Young Master Liu Fei Sheng, the Young City Lord of Tian Yuan City I mentioned to you previously.” Qiu Yi Meng explained.
Liu Fei Sheng smiled mildly and displayed a modest attitude as he said, “To be given an opportunity to serve Young Lord Kai, Tian Yuan City is extremely grateful.”
Yang Kai looked at him and nodded faintly, “Is there any relationship between you and the Central Capital’s Liu Family?”
“We don’t dare to claim so.” Liu Fei Sheng smiled wryly.
Qiu Yi Meng quickly followed up, “It’s correct to say that there isn’t much relationship between them, but they are still related. For hundreds of years the Eight Great Families have more or less interacted with innumerable external forces, and Young Lord Liu’s family should be one of the Liu Family’s branches; however, for some reason they were expelled by the Liu Family a few hundred years ago. If one was being particular, Liu Qing Yao should be his cousin.”
Liu Fei Sheng’s expression immediately became depressed as his posture slumped slightly, “My clan doesn’t dare claim kinship with the Liu Family. These past few hundred years we have been struggling hard with the ultimate goal of returning to the family. But even now, after my father had become a City Lord, we have yet to be accepted.”
Huo Xing Chen stroked his chin and nodded with a smile, “If you follow Young Lord Kai here, you’ll have a chance. If you can help him win this Inheritance War, I think the Liu Family would be willing to take you back.”
Hearing this, Liu Fei Sheng’s face couldn’t help showing a touch of excitement, cupping his fists as he said, “Then I’ll be taking advantage of Young Lord Huo’s auspicious words. My Tian Yuan City will definitely spare no effort in supporting Young Lord Kai!”
Yang Kai nodded slightly, not saying anything more on the subject, just turning to Qiu Yi Meng and asking, “Has my Eighth Brother been eliminated yet?”
Qiu Yi Meng looked back at him with admiration and giggled, “You already knew?”
“Naturally, if the people from Medicine King’s Valley hadn’t appeared, maybe my brother could continue struggling for a while longer, but the arrival of this group of Alchemists has definitely made my brothers feel a sense of crisis. At this time, if they don’t achieve some victories, I’m afraid that no one would dare support them openly.”
“En, it’s as you said, Yang Quan is out.”
“When did it happen?”
“The night before!”
Qiu Yi Meng proceeded to explain the details.
The emergence of more than thirty Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley really had made the other Yang Family Young Lords panic. They urgently needed to score a victory in order to boost their reputations. On the other hand, they also wanted to curb the propaganda these Medicine King’s Valley people would bring to Yang Kai.
The night before, Yang Zhao, Yang Kang, Yang Shen, and Yang Ying all invariably pointed their attention to Yang Quan.
Yang Quan only had one Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage Blood Warrior protecting him; in addition, Yang Quan’s mother’s family, his only real ally, was just a second-class force.
In such an absolute inferior position, obviously he couldn’t endure.
After the fight, Yang Zhao obtained the flag while Yang Shen managed to capture Yang Quan. So now, two of the Yang Family Young Lords had been eliminated from the Inheritance War.
“The fight that night was quite interesting,” Qiu Yi Meng grinned, “It wasn’t so much about your brothers attacking Yang Quan as it was about them fighting each other. All of your Eighth Brother’s defenses were swept away in the first wave of attacks with the exception of the Blood Warrior who was protecting Yang Quan himself. Everyone else had basically lost any ability to resist, the situation could almost be described as a rout.”
“After that, your four brothers divided into two camps to attack one another and all of them suffered some losses. Yang Zhao and Yang Kang are blood related brothers while Yang Shen and Yang Ying are also blood related, needless to say they divided along family lines.” Pausing here, Qiu Yi Meng stared at Yang Kai meaningfully before continuing, “However, can you guess who benefited the most from this battle?”
Huo Xing Chen also had a sly grin on his face as he waited for Yang Kai’s reply, it seemed like he thought there was no way he could answer this to this question correctly.
To his disappointment though, Yang Kai simply sneered and casually replied, “My Second Brother harvested the flag while my Sixth Brother grabbed the person, but these gains can only be equal to the losses they suffered in the battle. What they really harvested was only the prestige brought about by gaining a victory. If you want to know who actually gained the most, besides me… who else could it be?”
The sly smiles on Qiu Yi Meng and Huo Xing Chen’s faces gradually converged as they stared at Yang Kai in shock and awe, obviously he had long ago been aware of what had transpired.
Liu Fei Sheng who was standing nearby was also shocked, suddenly feeling a bit of fear in his heart. Although he had already done his best to overestimate Yang Kai’s abilities, it seemed reality had still exceeded his expectations.
“Did you already know?” Qiu Yi Meng asked hesitantly, “How did you know?”
“You tell me.” Yang Kai smiled slightly.
Qiu Yi Meng suddenly understood, remembering back to a few days ago when Yang Kai had rejected her suggestion to attack Yang Quan. He had certainly said he had another reason for his decision other than not wanting to stand out. At the time, he didn’t want to say because it would make him sound too arrogant and simply told them that after a few days they would understand.
It turns out that even back then he had already predicted this outcome.
“If I didn’t know that you had stayed inside the house for five days, I would swear someone had told you this in advance.” Qiu Yi Meng took a deep breath and smiled bitterly, “You… you really make people exhausted. You’re right, the one with the biggest gains from this incident is still you. Although you didn’t get the flag, didn’t get the person, and even though you didn’t even participate in the battle, you still gained a Blood Warrior!”
“The Blood Warrior who was protecting Yang Quan came here to offer his services immediately after Yang Quan’s exit!” Qiu Yi Meng quickly said, “The strength of this Blood Warrior is not worse than Tu Feng and Tang Yu Xian.”
“Are they injured? Where is he now?” Yang Kai asked quickly.
The Blood Warriors were a group of incomparably loyal guardians. Yang Quan had already just been eliminated, so the Blood Warrior who was sworn to protect him couldn’t possibly be uninjured. Right now, he was probably incapable of fighting at all.
“He has severe injuries and is currently recuperating. There’s no way for him to display his full power within a month or two, but with your magical means of curing people that shouldn’t matter, right?” Qiu Yi Meng snorted, although she didn’t know just what kind of precious elixir Yang Kai had given Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu, it was still a fact that it had allowed them to fully recover in only one day.
Even after Qu Gao Yi was seriously injured on the first night of the Inheritance War, the next day he had once again emerged from his room as strong and lively as a dragon.
The only thing that confused her was even if Yang Kai had such miraculous recovery medicines, shouldn’t they be extremely precious? How could he seemingly use them so unscrupulously?
“Good, I’ll go see him now.” Yang Kai nodded gently.
“Can you tell me why?”
“Why what?”
“Why that Blood Warrior didn’t choose to serve your brothers but instead came straight to you? Why you judged ten days ago that after Yang Quan lost, that Blood Warrior would offer his services only to you? It’s impossible there’s no reason at all, so why?” Qiu Yi Meng asked one question after another; obviously she had many doubts in her heart.
The events that had transpired between Yang Kai and the Blood Warrior Hall had only spread amongst the leadership of the Yang Family and the various Young Lords. Outsiders, including Qiu Yi Meng, were certainly not aware of the situation.
How could she have known that because Yang Kai had taken the great risk of choosing to use the heavily wounded Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu, he had gained the respect of the entire Blood Warrior Hall?
Every member of the Blood Warrior Hall placed loyalty and respect above all else, so after the Young Lords they followed were eliminated, who else would they choose to serve other than Yang Kai?
“No comment,” Yang Kai grinned, “But I can tell you that from now on, all the Blood Warriors who are released from their charge will come to me.”
The confidence in his tone bordered on arrogance.
Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t help imagining the scene where after the defeated Young Lords left, one Blood Warrior after another gathered in Yang Kai House, bolstering her confidence even further.
This was something that had never happened before. None of the previous generations of Yang Family children had ever garnered such reverence from the Blood Warriors.
If things really developed like Yang Kai said, it would be akin to a miracle. In time to come, with so many Blood Warriors siding with him, how could Yang Kai possibly lose? Such a situation would be no different from being invincible; any remaining enemies would only be able to pray that Yang Kai wouldn’t attack them.
“I suddenly have some sympathy for your brothers, this isn’t even a fair fight anymore.” Qiu Yi Meng smiled wryly.
“The Inheritance War was never fair! If this was a fair competition, how could Yang Tie and Yang Quan be forced to exit so early?”
The Inheritance War was not just about personal strength, it was also a measure of a Young Lord’s contacts and heritage. During the war, some Young Lords would inevitably be able to gather less support, while others would be able to gather more.
Even when it came to the participation of the Yang Family Blood Warriors, there was no such concept as fairness.
The Inheritance War itself was governed by the law of the jungle!
“There’s one other thing you should know.” Qiu Yi Meng hesitated and frowned, some worry apparent between her brows. Clearly she was disgruntled about this topic.
“Go on.”
“It’s about those Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley. Yang Zhao, along with several of your other brothers, have jointly protested to the Yang Family Elder Hall and requested that they cancel their right to participate, especially Qin Ze.”
“Naive!” Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent; not concerned in the slightest.
Qiu Yi Meng grinned slightly, “Although I think that in terms of the intention of your Yang Family’s Inheritance War, your Elder Hall won’t risk offending Medicine King’s Valley to support Yang Zhao and your brothers, but we should discuss this matter. If you were a member of your family’s Elder Hall, would you accept your brother’s petition?”
“Impossible,” Yang Kai shook his head decisively, “The Inheritance War is a test of one’s connections. My being able to forge a good relationship with Medicine King’s Valley is something the Elder Hall would deeply desire, how could they interfere?”
“What you say makes sense, but given Yang Zhao’s personality, he shouldn’t have made such a fuss if he knew it would only be in vain, he definitely has other intentions. In any case, you should pay some attention to this matter.”
“Other intentions…” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow and pondered for a moment before nodding slightly.
“Good. Those are the only major events you missed these past few days. The only other issue is that Qin Ze and his people have been clamoring for Alchemy materials, so…”
“Is the Pill Room ready?”
“It has already been set up and all the required equipment for Alchemy has been placed inside, but those Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley all have their own pill stoves so those tools probably won’t be used.”
Yang Kai nodded in approval, “Good, then I’ll deliver the materials to them myself, you can see to your own tasks.”
Qiu Yi Meng smiled before walking off. Liu Fei Sheng also cupped his fists before quickly following after Qiu Yi Meng.
“Young Lord Kai, that Tian Yuan City Young City Lord seems to have some intentions towards Qiu Yi Meng. Since coming here, he has done nothing but follow her around,” Huo Xing Chen grinned meaningfully. “Do you have any thoughts on this matter?”
“If any random Young Lord could conquer her, she wouldn’t be Qiu Yi Meng.” Yang Kai shook his head faintly, “Why do you mention this?”
“I don’t know why, but for some reason I don’t like that Liu Fei Sheng!” Huo Xing Chen spat disdainfully, “That little brat is more handsome than this Young Lord! There’s simply no justice in this world! Well, whatever. I’m going to go cultivate now so don’t let me bother you.”
Listening to these words, Yang Kai glanced at Huo Xing Chen’s receding back blankly, wondering when this dandy Young Lord had suddenly become so diligent.
Yang Kai thought that during his time here, Huo Xing Chen had probably begun to feel a sense of pressure. The people who had come to support him were all leaders of the younger generation of their respective forces, and all of their aptitudes were excellent. Huo Xing Chen, as the sole heir to one of the Eight Great Families, definitely wasn’t willing to appear worse than these others and it was precisely because of this reason that he had reigned in his previous debauchery.
Walking over to the Pill Room, Yang Kai went inside and took out all the Alchemy materials he had stored up so far.
When Qin Ze and the other Alchemists saw this pile of Alchemy materials, all of them smiled happily and rolled up their sleeves.
“Senior Brother Qin, I’ll have to entrust this hard work to you.”
“Nonsense,” Qin Ze smiled, “Being able to study the Alchemic Way from Master Aunt Xia, how could it possibly be hard?”
Xia Ning Chang was now a top level Alchemist comparable to Xiao Fu Sheng himself. Qin Ze and his fellow disciples almost never had the chance to speak with Xiao Fu Sheng much less watch him perform Alchemy. Now that they were given an opportunity to work with Xia Ning Chang, no matter how many pills they were asked to refine they would only be excited and anxious to do so.
“Little Senior Sister will need a day or two to of meditation to study some new knowledge she has just recently acquired. So for now, you should just familiarize yourselves with this place.” Yang Kai said with a slightly strange expression. The names they referred to each other by were all messed up; Qin Ze called Xia Ning Chang Master Aunt while Yang Kai called Qin Ze Senior Brother. The generational confusion was quite serious.
“Junior Brother Yang doesn’t need to concern himself with us, just go about your own business.” Qin Ze said carelessly, turning around and joining the rest of the Medicine King’s Valley Alchemists as they began examining the pile of Alchemy materials.
After that, no one paid any attention to Yang Kai.
With a helpless chuckle, Yang Kai simply turned around and left.
Just as Yang Kai predicted, Xia Ning Chang really exited her room two days later after she had completely digested the information he had taught her from the True Alchemic Way and was eager to put what she had learned into practice.
Inside the mansion, countless pairs of eyes monitored the movements from the Pill Room. In Yang Kai’s compound, besides the group from Medicine King’s Valley, there were a total of eleven forces gathered. These people had all come to support Yang Kai in the Inheritance War, so Yang Kai naturally had a responsibility and obligation to provide them with supplies and arms to enhance their strength in order to cope with the increasingly fierce battles to come.
Now that the Pill Room was up and running, auxiliary pills to help them cultivate would definitely become available; therefore, everyone, regardless of which force they belonged to, was looking forward to what kind of pills would come out in the first batch, what use they would have, and how many each of them could receive.
The atmosphere in Yang Kai’s house was calm, and all of War City was calm. After two Yang Family Young Lords were swiftly eliminated, the Inheritance War seemed to have entered a lull period.
Every Young Lord was actively recruiting more support and Alchemists and Artifact Refiners were constantly in short supply. There were also fewer and fewer materials circulating throughout the Great Han Dynasty and what was available was becoming more and more expensive, this situation had even spread to the Central Capital.
Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou of the Bamboo Knot Gang had also gathered a lot of materials during this time and had managed to quietly smuggle them over to Yang Kai’s compound in the dark of night undetected.
However, such good luck would only occur once. The next time they entered War City, they would very likely be intercepted.
Yang Kai had also exchanged Yang Tie’s flag for a large amount of supplies from the main family and placed all of them into the Pill Room.
Even with things proceeding so smoothly though, Yang Kai was still anxious. Another group of people who he thought would be of great help to him had, until now, still not shown up, so he couldn’t help worrying that something had come up to either delay or stop them.
Finally, half a month later, the first batch of pills from the Pill Room was finished!
The various representatives from the different gathered forces assembled in the main hall, all of them looking forward to Yang Kai’s announcement.
With the exception of the Duan Mu Family, everyone else in the room was either a handsome young man or a beautiful young woman, creating a somewhat dazzling picture.
This was a stage for young people!
“Young Lord Kai, does my Huo Family have a share this time?” Huo Xing Chen asked with a chuckle, “If there isn’t enough, then you can let others use them first, my Huo Family people aren’t in a hurry to receive pills!”
“Are you sure you’re alright with that?” Qiu Yi Meng looked at Huo Xing Chen and smiled meaningfully.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Huo Xing Chen said casually. “Qiu Yi Meng, you shouldn’t look down on this Huo Xing Chen. My Huo Family is also one of the Eight Great Families, what pill can I not obtain? I just can’t get things as easily from my Father right now is all.”
“My Dong Family is willing to stand by this round if need be as well, everyone else has come from afar, you can give priority to them.” Dong Qing Han also said graciously. He and Huo Xing Chen both figured that with only half a month having passed since the Pill Room had begun operating, even if these Alchemists were from Medicine King’s Valley and the supply of materials was sufficient, there probably weren’t many finished pills, at least there certainly wouldn’t be enough for so many people.
The Dong Family was Yang Kai’s mother’s family. Yang Kai wouldn’t neglect them no matter what, so drinking this round of fresh soup didn’t matter so much.
As soon as Dong Qing Han spoke, a chorus of other humble declarations rang out. All the young leaders clamoured to say they were willing to give priority to others.
Such a harmonious atmosphere spontaneously appearing brought a warm smile to Qiu Yi Meng’s face.
After so many days getting along with each other, she had deeply understood that these young leaders gathered in Yang Kai’s House weren’t like typical Young Lords and Young Ladies from great forces. They all did their best to cooperate and get along with each other, and even if there was some occasional friction between their juniors, they would voluntarily step forward to mediate the situation; obviously, they wanted to minimize Yang Kai’s troubles.
These small details were enough to illustrate just how much weight Yang Kai held with these people! If they didn’t have heartfelt respect for Yang Kai, given all of their individual statuses, they would never have acted to modestly.
All of this was because Yang Kai was here.
“Everyone, settle down.” Qiu Yi Meng smiled and said, “Do you think that if there wasn’t enough for everyone, Yang Kai would ask all of you to gather? It is precisely because everyone has a share that we’ll be distributing pills today.”
When they heard this, everyone couldn’t help showing looks of wonder.
Xiang Tian Xiao nodded slightly, commenting, “Sure enough, Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley are different, their Alchemy’s speed is extraordinary.”
Zuo Fang laughed loudly, “Even this Zuo is able to use the pills refined by Medicine King’s Valley’s disciples, this really is a great blessing bestowed by Brother Yang.”
The entire hall smiled and suddenly felt that it was a very wise choice to come support Yang Kai. No matter what else happened, as long as there was a steady supply of such pills from now on, all of their strengths would steadily improve.
Yang Kai grinned wryly but didn’t say anything.
This first batch of pills didn’t come from the hands of Medicine King’s Valley, but was entirely refined by Xia Ning Chang. The Medicine King’s Valley Alchemists were still studying the Alchemic Way from Xia Ning Chang and he estimated that it would still be a few days before they really started refining pills.
It wasn’t that their Alchemy aptitudes wasn’t good, it was just that the height Xia Ning Chang was too high. Even if they were learning directly from her, it would still take them a considerable amount of time and experience to comprehend her methods.
“Qiu Yi Meng, distribute the pills.” Yang Kai authoritatively said.
With a clap of her hands, Qiu Yi Meng summoned a group of people from her Autumn Rain Hall in. Each of these people was carrying a small tray with two bottles of pills on them.
“Two bottles per force. So many?” Huo Xing Chen stared at these bottles in surprise, he had thought that in such a short period of time, if each force could have a single bottle, it would already be good, but the result was actually twice as high as he expected.
However… with such a large number of pills, it probably meant that the grade of each one wasn’t high.
[Right, these should be Heaven Grade pills.] Young Lord Huo secretly speculated.
After everyone received their two bottles of pills, they smiled even more happily. Although they all thought these were Heaven Grade pills, they didn’t have any dissatisfaction.
Heaven Grade pills were by no means low quality, especially considering they needed to be supplied to so many people.
“These two bottles contain Consolidating Essence Pills used for cultivation,” Qiu Yi Meng smiled and added, “Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Consolidating Essence Pills!”
The lively sounds in the hall suddenly fell silent. Everyone still had a smile on their face, but everyone was now staring at Qiu Yi Meng and Yang Kai oddly, a trace of suspicion in their expressions, wondering if either they had heard wrong or Qiu Yi Meng had misspoken.
“Young Lady Qiu can actually make such a joke.” Huo Xing Chen suddenly laughed.
Everyone in the hall was surprised, thinking that even Qiu Yi Meng actually had such a side to her.
However, this joke wasn’t very funny, and no on aside from Huo Xing Chen laughed. All of them were afraid of embarrassing Qiu Yi Meng so they all decided to act modest.
Qiu Yi Meng stared out at the crowd indifferently, her beautiful pair of eyes casually sweeping over everyone’s faces, no making any attempt to refute the quiet chatter, only asking after a long silence, “Funny, right?”
Only a light, awkward cough sounded, everyone adjusting their expressions as they unconsciously straightened themselves up.
“Maybe you think I was joking, but what I said is true. These Consolidating Essence Pills are all Mysterious Grade Low-Rank. The pills are in your hands now, if you don’t believe me you can open the bottles and see for yourselves,” Qiu Yi Meng said succinctly.
“How could this be?” Huo Xing Chen obviously didn’t believe her, shaking his head as he continued, “The Consolidating Essence Pill is a Heaven Grade Top-Rank Pill. I’ve taken many before, so of that I’m certain. How could it suddenly become Mysterious Grade?”
Although Mysterious Grade Low-Rank and Heaven Grade Top-Rank were only separated by a single rank, the value of the two was far apart. Pills below Mysterious Grade were just ordinary pills, but any Mysterious Grade pill could already be called a treasure.
Every Mysterious Grade pill was not easy to obtain, not only was it difficult to collect the required materials, it would also take a lot of effort and time for even the best Alchemists to refine.
Since the Medicine King’s Valley group had arrived it had only been half a month, and all of these Alchemists had publicly made their Grade known.
If this group of Alchemists had refined this many Heaven Grade Top-Rank pills in such a short period of time it would be more than enough for everyone to admire.
However, Qiu Yi Meng just told them that these Consolidating Essence Pills were all Mysterious Grade, obviously everyone had a difficult time believing her. Forget about there not being enough Alchemists here to refine so many Mysterious Grade pills so quickly, it was impossible for Consolidating Essence Pills to be Mysterious Grade in the first place.
After saying so, Huo Xing Chen still opened one of his pill bottles and poured out a single grain. As he did so though, the scornful look on his face suddenly changed as he gazed at the pill in his palm.
The look spread across everyone’s face when they poured out their pills, cries of shock and surprise immediately bursting out.
“All of you have not low positions in your respective Sects, so you must have taken Consolidating Essence Pills before, Naturally, you can understand the quality of the pills in your hands right now.” Qiu Yi Meng smiled slightly, not saying any more.
Earlier this morning, when she saw this batch of Consolidating Essence Pills, her reaction was the same as Huo Xing Chen’s, thinking that Yang Kai was joking with her, but after verifying it with her own eyes, Qiu Yi Meng had no choice but to admit that these were indeed a batch of Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Consolidating Essence Pill!
“How is this possible?” Huo Xing Chen muttered in a dumbfounded voice. The mere existence of these Mysterious Grade Consolidating Essence Pills exceeded his realm of understanding.
Still in the midst of shock, the Huo Family’s Young Lord dumped out all the pills in this bottle and began checking them one by one, quickly discovering that this was indeed a full batch of Mysterious Grade pills.
“How could this be?” Huo Xing Chen muttered for the third time, a great sense of confusion washing over him as he began to question if he was still asleep and currently dreaming.
“Ah! Look! This pill has a pattern of lines above it like meridians!” Someone suddenly screamed, as if they had just discovered something extraordinary.
“Pill Veins!”
“Heavens! I also have a few pills with Pill Veins!”
“Me too! There are four of them! Hahaha… I’d only heard of rumors about Pills having Pill Veins; I never dreamed I would one day actually see one!”
On top of that, these Pill Veins had appeared on Mysterious Grade pills, and there wasn’t just one or two in the entire batch, between twenty and thirty percent of all the pills had Pill Veins.
Everyone was shocked, their faces still showing signs of disbelief but that did nothing to diminish their obvious excitement.
When an Alchemist refined a pill, if their skill was high enough, there was a chance that when the pill formed lines like human meridians would appear, these were Pill Veins.
Once a pill with Pill Veins appeared, its value would immediately double! Because of the existence of these Pill Veins, the effect of such a pill would be much stronger than an equivalent pill without such meridians, and no matter how long it was placed in storage, its potency would never fade. Even if a great amount of time passed, the Pill Veins would actively absorb World Energy in order to nourish and maintain the pill’s efficacy.
Above Pill Veins there was also the Pill Cloud! This was when a wispy cloud appeared atop a successfully refined pill and it was said that its effects were even stronger than Pill Veins.
However, all of this was the stuff of rumours and legends. Although the people gathered here didn’t have low status, even they could rarely witness pills with Pill Veins. It wasn’t that their respective Sects lacked money to purchase such pills, but that ordinary Alchemists rarely, if ever, managed to refine these things.
Even Alchemy obsessed Alchemists would only occasionally refine a pill with Pill Veins, and even then it was just a chance coincidence.
Also, the higher the grade of pill, the smaller the chance that Pill Veins would appear!
The appearance of Pill Veins was a symbol of a top level Alchemist, it was synonymous with the very best pills!
But now, at least twenty percent of the Mysterious Grade pills in everyone’s hands had Pill Veins! This ratio was nothing short of terrifying.
These Pill Vein pills were more astonishing than any treasure.
Everyone in the hall couldn’t help shouting and laughing joyfully.
The Tian Yuan City Young City Lord Liu Fei Sheng was even more excited. Holding the two bottles of Mysterious Grade pills in his hand, his face flushed and his breath became hot.
In his heart, he secretly thought to himself that coming here to support Young Lord Kai was the best decision he had ever made. Even before any big fights had erupted, each force here had been granted two bottles of Mysterious Grade pills. Over the course of the long campaign to come, what need was there to worry about not receiving such benefits?
Even the four girls from Ten Thousand Flower Palace were giggling happily at this moment, only Han Xiao Qi managed to contain herself slightly. Although she too was excited, she still maintained the proper poise of a Big Senior Sister, but this didn’t stop her from glancing towards Yang Kai and smiling gratefully.
As for Ye Han, her personality was lively to begin with. As she checked each individual pill, every time she came across one with Pill Veins she would call out loudly, leading her Senior Sisters to secretly scold her about showing proper etiquette.
“Senior Qin is too amazing. Medicine King’s Valley is simply on a different level!” After recovering slightly from his initial excitement, Chu Jing Shan of Soaring Feather Pavilion couldn’t help praising lavishly.
“Indeed, Senior Qin having such skill now, I’m afraid he can already stand shoulder to shoulder with Grandmaster Xiao!” Feng Qian Hen of Water Moon Hall added on.
Huo Xing Chen on the other hand had his brow furrowed, carefully grasping the bottle of Mysterious Grade Pills in his hand as he stared straight towards Yang Kai.
Different from those who came from first-class forces, Huo Xing Chen wasn’t as uninformed, the things that he had encountered and seen before were undoubtedly of a higher level than them. The Huo Family also had a Mysterious Grade Alchemist, more than one in fact, but according to what Huo Xing Chen knew, even those Alchemists couldn’t refine so many Mysterious Grade pills in such a short period of time. As for refining this many pills with Pill Veins, even if they were given another ten years they wouldn’t be able to accomplish such a feat!
Even if Qin Ze was the Young Valley Lord of Medicine King’s Valley, he was still only a recently promoted Mysterious Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, could he really be the source of these pills?
As Qiu Yi Meng’s gaze swept over the hall, her eyes met with Huo Xing Chen’s and the two young youths from super families shared a glance, each noticing the doubts in the other’s eyes.
This whole thing was extremely strange.
But in the end, having obtained these Mysterious Grade pills, naturally everyone was in a hurry to cultivate. With such a batch of pills available, improving their strength would only be a matter of time.
Everyone in the hall quickly offered some words of thanks before saying goodbye and returning to their own courtyard to enter retreat. Even Huo Xing Chen couldn’t wait to go back and try the effects of these pills.
After everyone else had left, Qiu Yi Meng looked at Yang Kai with a meaningful smile and asked, “So, would you like to tell me, who refined these pills?”
“Don’t bother asking, I won’t tell you.” Yang Kai faintly shook his head. This matter was related to his Little Senior Sister, Yang Kai obviously wouldn’t tell anyone.
Moreover, with the exception of the Medicine King’s Valley Alchemists and Yang Kai, everyone else was strictly forbidden from entering the Pill Room. Even Qiu Yi Meng didn’t dare enter this place lest she disturb the Alchemists inside, so she really wasn’t clear about the source of this batch of pills.
Rolling her eyes though, Qiu Yi Meng muttered, “Even if you don’t tell me, I know. These pills were refined by your Little Senior Sister weren’t they?”
The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady was extremely intelligent and observant. She had quickly judged that Qin Ze didn’t possess such great skill and in addition to Yang Kai and the Medicine King’s Valley disciples, only Xia Ning Chang had gone in and out of the Pill Room. Given this many clues, it was easy for her to infer some things.
“Don’t speak irresponsibly, be careful I don’t kill you to silence the witness.” Yang Kai glanced at her, his gaze filled with a meaning of warning.
Qiu Yi Meng’s beautiful face paled slightly, filling with a stunned expression. Just now, she had only made a wild guess, but given Yang Kai’s intense reaction, this batch of pill really seemed to have stemmed from his Little Senior Sister!
Not concerning herself with Yang Kai’s warning, Qiu Yi Meng’s look became dignified, realizing now that Xia Ning Chang was far more than just Yang Kai’s woman.
But with the exception of her veil which caused people to take notice of her, there didn’t seem to be anything especially noteworthy about this young woman. Although her strength was quite high for her age, at least Immortal Ascension Boundary First Stage, could she really have refined all of these pills herself?
Shaking her head as a wry smile appeared on her face, Qiu Yi Meng immediately dismissed this inconceivable notion.
By the time she came to her senses and looked around, Yang Kai had already disappeared.
“One day, one day I’ll dig up all your secrets!” Qiu Yi Meng muttered, secretly feeling some slight concern.
Yang Kai’s various mysteries had already made her pay special attention to him, and now even the woman around him seemed to hide some incredible secrets. Naturally, this piqued Qiu Yi Meng’s curiosity.
Meanwhile, Yang Kai strolled over to his Little Senior Sister’s room. Over this past half month, Xia Ning Chang had almost constantly been performing Alchemy and hadn’t had much rest, let alone had time to speak with him.
Opening the door and stepping inside, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly turned strange.
Inside there was not only Xia Ning Chang, but also Lan Chu Die. The two young women seemed to be chatting about something, gentle smiles upon their faces.
After noticing Yang Kai come in, two pairs of eyes immediately glanced over at him.
“Two Senior Sisters seem to be in a good mood. What are you talking about?” Yang Kai didn’t stand on ceremony and simply walked in.
Xia Ning Chang and Lan Chu Die exchanged a glance before grinning.
“Womanly affairs, there’s no need for you to know.” Lan Chu Die glanced at Yang Kai and said.
“There’s no outsiders here, let’s hear it.” Yang Kai replied with a laugh.
Hearing him say so, Lan Chu Die suddenly felt a little happy in her heart.
As Yang Kai spoke, he walked over to where Xia Ning Chang was sitting, gently picked her up and, ignoring the exclamation of his Little Senior Sister, sat her down on his lap before turning to Lan Chu Die and waiting for her to answer.
“Junior Brother…” Xia Ning Chang whimpered as she fidgeted uneasily, but wrapped strongly in Yang Kai’s arms, there was simply no way for her to flee. In a flash, her face had become bright red and her delicate eyelashes were fluttering violently, burying her head in her chest, not daring to meet anyone’s eyes.
“No need to be nervous, I just said, no one here is an outsider.” Yang Kai smiled, his face showing a roguish expression.
The delight on Lan Chu Die’s face quickly faded as she squeezed out an awkward smile, “It seems that I best no disturb you two any more than this.”
With that said, she immediately got up and left.
Xia Ning Chang also made another attempt to get up but Yang Kai gently tickled her, causing her to squirm slightly and give up any idea of escaping. Yang Kai had targeted her delicate waist which was a naturally sensitive place for her.
The reason he had acted so in front of Lan Chu Die was to let her leave. Time was precious, and he didn’t have much to spend with this Little Senior Sister of his, so how could he allow others to bother them?
After Lan Chu Die left, Yang Kai waved his hand and a soft wind gently shut the door.
Outside the room, Lan Chu Die’s smile was stiff and bitter. How could she not understand Yang Kai’s intention? It was because he made it so obvious that it had stung so much.
Both she and Xia Ning Chang were Yang Kai’s Senior Sisters! Both of them had had passed through the period of unfamiliar to familiar with him, but now, the difference in value between her and Xia Ning Chang in Yang Kai’s heart was as different as Heaven and Earth.
Along the road of life, often a single inadvertent choice could change ones destiny. Thinking so as she shook her head slightly, Lan Chu Die stared down at her somewhat thin clothing and suddenly felt that autumn had come and it was a bit cold.
Listening to the sounds outside the door and noticing that Lan Chu Die had left, Xia Ning Chang whispered as quietly as a mosquito, “Junior Brother, you can let go now…”
“Does it feel that uncomfortable?” Yang Kai looked into her eyes and said with a smile.
“Wu…” Xia Ning Chang gently applied, his cheeks hot.
“Do you like me?” Yang Kai’s grinned devilishly as he asked this mischievous question.
Xia Ning Chang didn’t dare to answer, holding her silence as her heart beat loudly.
“So you don’t like me,” Yang Kai sighed with a look of disappointment.
“No, no…” His Little Senior Sister suddenly panicked and waved her hands, her eyes spinning with anxiety.
Seeing her like this, Yang Kai couldn’t help but laugh.
Treasurer Meng next door tightly gripped his fists as he felt a raging fire flare up in his chest, barely able to stop himself from rushing over and beating Yang Kai so badly his own mother wouldn’t recognize him!
[Little brat! Little bastard! You dare bully this old master’s precious, innocent, adorable, treasured apprentice?! Shameless! Are you trying to enrage this old man?!]
“Junior Brother, are you teasing me?” Xia Ning Chang whimpered, her delicate cheeks visibly swelling with discontent under her veil.
Gazing at Xia Ning Chang, Yang Kai’s eyes grew soft. It seemed like all the exhaustion from this period of hard work had all been dispelled.
Xia Ning Chang was uncomfortable, but realizing she couldn’t get away, she instead turned her head and changed the subject, “Junior Brother, you don’t seem to like Senior Sister Lan.”
Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly and thought for a while before replying, “It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s just that I feel like I should avoid too much contact with her.”
“Why? From what I’ve seen, Senior Sister Lan seems to care quite a bit about you, even just how when she came to see me, she talked a lot about you.”
“It’s precisely because of that,” Yang Kai smiled slightly, “Let’s say, if I wasn’t a child of the Yang Family, or a former disciple of High Heaven Pavilion any longer, would that change your attitude towards me, Little Senior Sister?”
“No! No matter who you become, you’ll always be my Junior Brother.”
“I knew you’d say that, but not everyone is like you. Our Senior Sister Lan is like that, I’m afraid a large part of her caring about me right now is because of my identity. If, one day, I was no longer a Yang Family person, she may change her opinion of me again. Of course, these are just my personal opinions, but I still feel that I should try to contact her as little as possible. I can’t say that the way she does things is wrong, in fact it may even be the appropriate way for her to think, all I can say for sure is that Little Senior Sister is too good, there’s no comparison between you.”
Yang Kai shook his head and explained his thoughts to Xia Ning Chang who appeared slightly sceptical.
However, Yang Kai knew that in her heart she understood. Although Little Senior Sister was innocent and cute, she was not ignorant of worldly matters, she was simply too kind-hearted and didn’t like seeing the ugly side of others.
“Right, what about my pills?” Yang Kai asked.
“They’re on the bed, I’ll get them.” Xia Ning Chang leapt from Yang Kai’s lap and walked over to her bed, taking out a small bag and handing it over to Yang Kai.
Opening the bag, six bottles of pills appeared in Yang Kai’s eyes.
“There are three bottles used for cultivating True Qi, all of which are Yang Attribute, and three bottles used for restoring Spiritual Energy.” Xia Ning Chang said slightly regretfully, “Time was too tight, so I could only refine these for now.”
“This is more than enough,” Yang Kai said, extremely satisfied; after all, these pills are all Mysterious Grade Low-Rank.
Like the Consolidating Essence Pills from before, all of these should have been Heaven Grade Top-Rank pills but they had been upgraded by Xia Ning Chang to the Mysterious Grade Low Rank.
Myriad Drug Liquid wasn’t only useful for cleansing the body, but by adding a drop during the pill refinement process it could also enhance the quality of that pill. By using Myriad Drug Liquid in conjunction with the Spirit Arrays from the True Alchemic Way, accomplishing this seemingly impossible task had become a breeze for Xia Ning Chang.
If there was no help from the Myriad Drug Liquid and Spirit Arrays, given Xia Ning Chang’s current Alchemic ability, there would have been no way to refine so many Mysterious Grade pills in a short half a month. Yang Kai didn’t have so much Mysterious Grade material for her to play with.
“Don’t tire yourself out.” Yang Kai looked at her somewhat worriedly.
“I’m not tired at all. When I perform Alchemy, my strength also steadily improves, in fact, I feel as if I’m going to break through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage soon so I hope I can refine even more pills. If I can grow up quickly, I can be of more help to Junior Brother and master sooner!” Xia Ning Chang said happily.
[To her, Alchemy is cultivation; the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body is really special!] Yang Kai secretly thought to himself.
Finishing his conversation with Xia Ning Chang, Yang Kai too began to cultivate.
As always, Yang Kai started by absorbing the three bottles of Yang Attribute pills first and converted them into Yang Liquid, then used the other three bottles’ recovery pills to supplement his Spiritual Energy as he studied the True Alchemic Way.
In addition, by using the Spiritual Energy cultivation technique taught to him by Treasurer Meng, Yang Kai noticed a marked improvement in the speed his Spiritual Energy recovered.
While Yang Kai cultivated, Xia Ning Chang stayed quietly by his side, either restoring her strength or napping on her bed.
Such a scene reminded Yang Kai of the time the two had spent together in his secluded cave under the Coiling Dragon Stream.
Two days later, Xia Ning Chang once again went to the Pill Room to perform Alchemy, leaving Yang Kai suddenly feeling a bit lonely.
As time passed, Yang Kai could clearly feel that his strength was improving step by step, and he was only a step away from breaking through to the True Element Boundary Ninth Stage.
With the Immortal Ascension Boundary within sight, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a little excited.
As long as he arrived at the Immortal Ascension Boundary, he wouldn’t need to care about the surveillance of the eight Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters in War City.
In the quiet hours before dawn, Yang Kai was silently studying the mysteries of the True Alchemic Way when all of a sudden; he felt something slightly out of place. Opening his eyes rapidly, his brow furrowed as he used the full force of his Divine Sense to sweep the mansion.
At the same time, Yang Kai clearly felt that from the room next door, Meng Wu Ya also completely let loose his Divine Sense. Compared with his own, Meng Wu Ya’s Divine Sense was incredibly subtle, nearly undetectable, but its tyrannical strength was undeniable.
The two powerful Divine Senses simultaneously probed the entire mansion and quickly locked onto an anomaly.
“Courting death!” Yang Kai coldly snorted, condensing his Spiritual Energy and launching his Soul Skill towards the intruder.
In the darkness, a wisp of purple light burst out followed by a cry of surprise as a thin blurry figure suddenly appeared.
“Who goes there!” All of the strong masters in the mansion immediately noticed something amiss and Yang Kai’s mansion immediately became noisy.
The next moment, the sound of whistling wind rang out as countless people flew towards the disturbances’ source.
The thin and fuzzy figure was obviously stunned, apparently never having through they would be noticed.
Not daring to hesitate, the figure suddenly swayed and became engulfed in flowing lines of water. As this water curtain rippled open, the person’s body gradually blurred again.
Just as the figure was about to disappear completely, a ghostly figure flashed behind it and two daggers with shimmering cold light slashed open the surrounding several meters of space.
Ying Jiu!
With a great splashing noise, the figure exploded and scattered.
Ying Jiu’s eyes swept the area once before he quickly retreated into the shadows, fixing his gaze on the spot where the figure had just stood; however, there was no trace of anyone there, only a faint watery mist gently floating about.
A thousands meters away, a blurry figure was escaping at lightning like speed, causing Ying Jiu to furrow his brow slightly.
[Such speed…]
*Shua Shua Shua* A moment later, countless figures landed in the hallway and Yang Kai strode forward, glancing at a trace of blood on the ground then in the direction the invader had fled before letting out a cold grunt.
“What’s all the racket about?” The door to the Pill Room was suddenly opened and Qin Ze stepped out while muttering unpleasantly, but upon seeing so many people present along with Yang Kai, he quickly converged his expression and wrinkled his brow.
He could also see that the situation was unusual.
“Someone snuck in, did anything happen to any of the disciples from Medicine King’s Valley?” Yang Kai asked quickly.
“No.” Qin Ze shook his head.
Yang Kai released his Divine Sense again and carefully swept the area, confirming that there were no casualties amongst the Medicine King’s Valley group and that Xia Ning Chang was safe.
However… the Pill Room was the most heavily defended position in the entire compound, yet someone had still managed to invade all the way here. This alone was enough to alarm Yang Kai.
This was nothing less than a slap across his face!
“Quickly check if there are any losses inside the mansion!” Yang Kai ordered firmly, his expression akin to the gathering clouds before a great storm, causing all those present to feel their hearts clench.
The people who had gathered here departed as quickly as they had arrived; a short time later, they had all reported the situation to Qiu Yi Meng.
“There have been no losses.” Qiu Yi Meng said, her expression slightly unsightly. Although she was glad that there were no signs of damage and no one was injured, how a person managed to sneak into this heavily guarded area was worth investigating further.
Of course, a traitor wasn’t impossible, but it was unlikely. As of this moment, Yang Kai didn’t have any suspicions about the people inside his mansion.
However, this meant that a lone person had sneaked into the vicinity of the Pill Room solely relying on their own ability; such a thought made Qiu Yi Meng pale up.
By this point, Yang Kai had gathered a lot of strong people, a number of whom were Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage masters. The defense of the Pill Room was also the strictest in the entire compound, yet it was still almost invaded by this mysterious master, just how strong was this person?
But since he had successfully made it so far, why was he exposed all of a sudden? Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t understand what exactly had happened.
“Ying Jiu, did you see what he looked like?” Yang Kai asked, his brow thoroughly wrinkled.
From the shadows, Ying Jiu’s voice rang out, “I apologise, but your subordinate doesn’t even know if the intruder was a man or a woman, let alone their cultivation level.”
Hearing this, everyone couldn’t help gasping. In terms of concealment and assassination, Ying Jiu was an expert of the highest order, yet even he hadn’t managed to learn anything about the intruder. This person was really mysterious.
“However, if this subordinate isn’t wrong, this person’s real cultivation shouldn’t be very high; otherwise he wouldn’t have been caught by my Flickering Shadow Strike.” Ying Jiu commented.
Although the intruder managed to escape, he or she was still injured; the fresh blood on the ground was clear evidence of that.
Yang Kai sunk into contemplation for a moment before concluding, “Either he uses some kind of powerful artifact, or he cultivates some technique specializing in stealth! Interesting, who among my brothers managed to recruit such a master?”
This time, if he and Treasurer Meng hadn’t been on alert, this invader would likely have succeeded in their mission.
Sneaking into the vicinity of the Pill Room, his intentions were obvious. This person definitely wanted to act against the Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley. If the Medicine King’s Valley people suffered any harm, it would be a huge problem in many ways for Yang Kai.
“Junior Brother Yang, since nothing happened, I’ll be heading back first.” Qin Ze said nonchalantly, his expression perfectly calm, totally unlike someone who had just survived a possibly life threatening situation.
“En.” Yang Kai nodded lightly.
After Qin Ze left, Yang Kai called out, “Xiao Shun!”
“Reporting!” An Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage master a full head shorter than an average man walked out of the crowd.
This was the Yang Family Blood Warrior who had come to offer his services to Yang Kai after his Eighth Brother Yang Quan was eliminated. When he had arrived he was seriously injured, but with the help of Yang Kai’s miraculous healing pills he had completely recovered over the past couple of days.
“From now on you will stand guard in front of the Pill Room!”
Xiao Shun nodded firmly, “Little Lord can rest assured that as long as I still draw breath, no one will get close to the Pill Room!”
Yang Kai gently nodded before turning his gaze in the direction that the mysterious master had fled, a fierce grin slowly forming on his face.
It seems that the presence of these Medicine King’s Valley Alchemists was still bothering his brothers quite a bit, or it would have been impossible for them to send such a powerful master to deal with them. However, whoever ordered this really had some guts, daring to attack this group of Alchemists.
As the sun slowly began rising in the east, the sky gradually brightened.
Following this unprecedented event, no matter who it was, they couldn’t feel at ease; Qiu Yi Meng immediately redeployed the entire mansion’s defenses, keeping everyone busy.
Yang Kai stood in place and stared at the blood stain on the ground while thinking about the scene where his Divine Sense had discovered the intruder, eventually shaking his head helplessly. He too hadn’t been able to determine what this person was up to or even if they were a man or a woman.
Whatever Secret Art or artifact this mysterious master was relying on was truly amazing.
Suddenly, a set of approaching footsteps brought Yang Kai out of his contemplation. Turning around he saw a cultivator from the Qiu Family’s Autumn Rain Hall rush over and cup his fists in front of him, saying, “Young Lord Kai, a Yang Family representative has come!”
“A Yang Family representative?” Yang Kai expression became pensive.
“En, he holds an order from the Yang Family Elder Hall and has been brought to the main hall. He asks that Young Lord Kai come immediately!”
“En, I understand.”
Dismissing the man and frowning for a moment, Yang Kai suddenly sighed, “Everyone should prepare, today there will be a big event.”
“Haha, finally some action!”
“En en, these past few days have been nothing but cultivation and more cultivation, it’s killing me.”
“Yang Kai, this time, no matter what you decide to do, you have to bring us along.”
A group of young men and women all rolled up their sleeves and eagerly clamoured to stir up trouble, like they feared the world not being chaotic.
“Don’t get too hasty, I don’t know the details yet. Anyways, all of you should go back and get yourselves ready to move out.” Yang Kai smiled wryly and turned to the direction of the main hall.
Qiu Yi Meng rushed to catch up and asked suspiciously, “How do you know there will be something today?”
Yang Kai chuckled as he replied, “If my guess is right, the family should want to speed up the progress of the Inheritance War. Since my two brothers were eliminated, the remaining six of us have been quietly minding our own business for almost a month now. Such a peaceful scene is not something the family would desire.”
“Do you think the Yang Family will order you to take the initiative?”
“The Elder Hall wouldn’t use such a blunt instrument; they must be planning something else.” Yang Kai frowned, he too was speculating about what the family would do; however, in the end all he could do was listening to the official announcement.
As the two chatted, they quickly arrived at the main hall.
Inside the hall, someone with his hands crossed behind his back stood waiting.
After a single glance, Yang Kai wore a stunned expression before hurriedly greeting this man, “Father?”
When the Yang Family Fourth Master turned around and saw his son striding in, he couldn’t help himself from smiling, nodding lightly.
Qiu Yi Meng also reacted quickly, performing a graceful bow and politely greeting, “Qiu Family’s Qiu Yi Meng, greets the Yang Family Fourth Master.”
Yang Ying Feng looked at Qiu Yi Meng for a moment before smiling back, “Young Lady Qiu is too polite, since you’ve chosen to support Kai’er, we’re all one family now.”
Pausing for a moment, “To be here with Kai’er, you must have suffered.”
“Uncle doesn’t need to treat me like an outsider. Helping Yang Kai was niece’s decision, she did not suffer at all.”
Yang Ying Feng let out an even happier laugh as he nodded and said, “Kai’er is young. If he offends you, I ask little niece to not take it to heart. If you ever feel like you have been wronged here, just tell uncle bluntly and I’ll teach him a lesson for you!”
“Thank you, Uncle!” Qiu Yi Meng smiled sweetly, “If there ever comes a time, little niece will depend on Uncle’s words.” As she said so, she smugly shot a glance towards Yang Kai, silently saying ‘If you dare to bully me, I’ll definitely complain’.
As Yang Kai listened to his old man and the young woman beside him rapidly go from polite strangers to intimate family members, his expression couldn’t help turning black, quickly steering the conversation back to the main point, “Father, what are you doing here?”
“Delivering the family’s command!” Yang Ying Feng’s expression immediately became serious as he handed over the Yang Family Elder Hall’s order, quickly explaining, “Two hours later, fifty kilometers outside War City at Po Jing Lake, a batch of artifacts will appear; whoever manages to seize them can keep them!”
Hearing this, Yang Kai’s eyes lit up while Qiu Yi Meng’s beautiful face also showed an excited expression.
The biggest factor that determined a cultivator’s strength was their own cultivation, but in addition to this there were other external forces they could rely on.
There were three kinds of external forces, one was pills, the second was artifacts, and the last was Secret Arts or Martial Skills which could raise their combat power.
When it came to pills, Yang Kai didn’t need to spare a second thought. With Xia Ning Chang and the group of Alchemists from Medicine King’s Valley supporting him, Yang Kai had an absolute superiority in this aspect.
Secret Arts and Martial Skill weren’t things that he could easily obtain, so Yang Kai was focused on acquiring artifacts right now!
A cultivator could dramatically increase their combat efficiency by using a powerful artifact.
Also, compared to the use of techniques, the rise in strength brought by artifacts was simpler and more direct.
As of right now, this was the soft underbelly of Yang Kai’s mansion. The artifacts used by the cultivators in his house were all brought from their own forces and everyone only had one or two pieces each. If he could acquire a large batch of artifacts, then the overall strength of his supporters would be upgraded significantly.
Glancing over at Qiu Yi Meng, the two of them were clear about each other’s intentions.
“I have delivered the Elder Hall’s command, whether you go or not is for you young people to decide!” Yang Ying Feng smiled.
“Why wouldn’t I go?!” Yang Kai said enthusiastically, suddenly thinking of something, “This batch of artifacts is from the family, right?”
“No, not just our Yang Family, but all of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families donated some artifacts. However, most are still from the Yang Family. The other seven families only symbolically contributed.”
“How many pieces?”
“One thousand in total!” Yang Ying Feng said as he raised a single finger.
Both Yang Kai and Qiu Yi Meng were not inexperienced youngsters and could even be said to be amongst the top of the younger generation, but even they couldn’t help feeling some shortness of breath at this figure.
A thousand artifacts. Right now there were at most three hundred people gathered in the mansion, if all of these artifacts could be obtained, that would mean that every person here could receive three or four artifacts! Of course, such a calculation was definitely unrealistic.
“Eighty percent are Earth Grade artifact while the vast majority of the remaining twenty percent are Heaven Grade… but there are also a few Mysterious Grade artifacts!”
“All the more reason to go!” Yang Kai grinned.
The roles Mysterious Grade Artifacts could play were significant. If he didn’t grab them, they would only fall into others’ hands.
Being able to take out a thousand artifacts in one shot, the heritage of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families was really extraordinary, although most of the artifacts weren’t too high grade, this number was still scary enough.
“Uncle, is there any other news available?” Qiu Yi Meng asked with a sweet smile, apparently hoping to gain more information to help plan ahead.
For example, how and where exactly would these artifacts appear? Having such information would be of great value and make taking the initiative easier.
“Don’t bother asking, the family felt relieved enough to allow my own father to deliver their command, obviously they only told him information they wanted disclosed.” Yang Kai waved his hand.
Yang Ying Feng glanced at his son and nodded, “En, the only things I know are innocuous pieces of intelligence, the others who have come as messengers are the same. The starting point of all you juniors is the same. How much can you harvest will be up to your own means.”
“I was just asking.” Qiu Yi Meng shook her head gently, paying particular attention to her behaviour in front of Yang Ying Feng for reasons even she didn’t quite understand.
“In that case, we should go prepare ourselves now.” Yang Kai grinned fiercely, his expression overflowed with confidence as a raging fire burned in his eyes.
“If Father has nothing to attend to, you might as well stay here for a few more days.” Yang Kai suddenly proposed to Yang Ying Feng.
However, the Yang Family Fourth Master shook his head wryly, “Your mother has said specifically that I must go back and report your situation to her.”
“En, take care then, Father.”
“En, I’m off!” Yang Ying Feng waved and set out.
Word that a thousand artifacts were about to appear spread throughout War City quickly, instantly setting off a wave of commotion.
The six Yang Family Young Lords all hastily made preparations and set out.
Whether it was wealthy lords or low life gang members, everyone who got the news rushed to Po Jing Lake, ready to watch the fun.
Inside his mansion, Yang Kai rubbed his forehead as he stared out at his group of noisy allies before him. With the exception of the five Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Duan Mu Family who kept their silence, everyone else vehemently expressed their desire to have their force join Yang Kai this time.
Even the five Immortal Ascension masters from the Duan Mu Family who didn’t speak had an unmistakable fighting intent in their eyes.
This charade had gone on for quite some time now and had devolved into a loud mess.
Qiu Yi Meng didn’t know what to do. Most of these people were personal friends of Yang Kai, so unlike with the allies of the other Young Lords, they couldn’t be treated as simple henchmen and casually ordered about.
“Whatever the case, this Young Lord is definitely going to go this time! Damn, how can I, Huo Xing Chen, miss such a big event?” The Huo Family Young Lord made a face that screamed ‘if you don’t take me, I’ll go myself’!
Qiu Yi Meng opened her mouth to also voice her desire to go, but seeing Yang Kai’s current struggle, as his second in command, she felt it best not to add on to this chaos, restraining herself as she waited for Yang Kai to speak.
Looking at these enthusiastic allies, Yang Kai couldn’t help smiling.
Contrary to what they were saying, them wanting to go was not because they were bored, or because they were tempted by the thousand artifacts, it was simply because they had all just received those extraordinary pills from Yang Kai and felt they hadn’t given anything back to him yet.
All of them had come here to support him, so now that an opportunity to finally contribute had arrived, who would be willing to give up?
“Draw lots.” Yang Kai finally said, letting them continue to argue would accomplish nothing so he might as well use the simplest method to decide.
The noise in the hall instantly calmed down as everyone turned a surprised expression towards Yang Kai, not having expected him to propose such a method.
However… there was nothing wrong with this idea either.
“Good! Who stays and who goes will be decided by destiny!” Han Xiao Qi smiled slightly and was the first to agreed.
“En, we’ll draw!” Dong Qing Han nodded.
“This Young Lord has no opinion!” Huo Xing Chen grinned meaningfully.
To show fairness, Yang Kai personally held the lots and soon, the results came out.
From his eleven supporters, the Huo Family, Duan Mu Family, Dong Family, Ten Thousand Flower Palace, Reflecting Moon Sect, and Tian Yuan City groups would follow Yang Kai while the rest would remained to guard the mansion in case something came up.
“Any objections?” Yang Kai looked around.
“Alright, I’ll watch the house this time.” Qiu Yi Meng giggled and smiled.
“Good! Let’s go!” Yang Kai expression became serious, swinging his hand as he lead the way, the six forces accompanying him rushing to keep up.
Of the six forces, besides the Huo Family which only brought two Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage masters, each had at least five Immortal Ascension cultivators. Of these masters, four had reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage while the rest had an uneven distribution of strength but none of them were weak.
A total of nearly thirty Immortal Ascension Boundary masters and a large number of True Element Boundary cultivators; a spectacular line up.
At an inn a kilometer outside from Yang Kai’s mansion, at this moment, there was a party of a man and two women in the lobby. All three of these people were youths and two of them were even twins.
The pair of twins both wore light blue dresses and had refined, beautiful features, charming faces, slender waists, tall chests, and jade white skin. Simply by sitting there they frequently caused pedestrians and guests in the inn to stare.
Great beauties were rare, while beautiful twins were even rarer.
However, the expressions upon the beautiful faces of these two flowers weren’t good, one of them seemed helpless and depressed while the other appeared indifferent but with some faint dissatisfaction and resentment between her eyebrows.
As for the young man, he too didn’t seem too happy, smiling helplessly as he sighed over and over again, “Elder Sister, we have been here for more than a month now, do you still not want to go?”
The down sister also nodded, “En, Elder Sister, us staying in this inn won’t solve anything, since we’ve come, why don’t we just go see him?”
“Who do you want to look for?” The last person grumbled angrily, “We aren’t here looking for someone, we…”
“We just came out to play, I know, I know.” The man one again repeated the words he had heard too many times to count. “However, this War City is so chaotic right now. You two sisters living here will draw unwanted attention sooner or later. Haven’t you noticed that more and more people have been staring recently?”
“I won’t go!” The charming young woman firmly declared, “You can go by yourself, I’ll just hide in the room after you leave, problem solved.”
The young man shook his head and sighed again, “Wasn’t it just him hiding his true identity? Besides, it’s not like he was trying to deceive you, the Yang Family has its own rules that forbid him to announce himself, why are you so upset about it still?”
The young woman pursed her lips and pouted, unwilling to argue back.
Just as the young man and young woman were talking, a large number of people rushed out from Yang Kai’s mansion with Yang Kai himself at the head, all of them rushing towards the east.
Looking at the familiar figure fly past, the two beautiful twins’ eyes brightened slightly before suddenly dimming once more.
“Looks like there’s movement!” The young man commented; Yang Kai suddenly taking so many people out, obviously something big was happening. Turning to the two sisters in front of him, he quickly said, “I want to take a look, are you coming?”
“Elder Sister, I want to go!” One of them quickly said.
“I…”
“Do what you want, but don’t take too long to decide, let’s go!” The young man hurriedly said before rushing out.
The two sisters glanced at each other for a moment before not hesitating to catch up.
Just outside War City, another group of people quickly appeared beside Yang Kai’s. When the two sides noticed one another, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
It was Yang Zhao’s forces! Although a month ago Yang Kai’s supporters had surpassed Yang Zhao’s, as time passed, Yang Zhao had gathered more and more power, so this time, the number of people he had brought out was no less than the number following Yang Kai and amongst them there were many strong masters.
The distance between the two groups was less than three hundred meters but neither side was able to outpace the other.
“Ninth Brother’s Movement Skill is impressive.” Yang Zhao suddenly chuckled, “No wonder Third Brother was taken away by you.”
“Second Brother praises me too much.” Yang Kai also smiled slightly.
“This time Second Brother won’t let off so easy.”
“Any time Second Brother wants to fight, Ninth Brother will be more than happy to accompany you, we can even play now if you’d like!”
Yang Zhao’s smiling face instantly went a little stiff. Facing Yang Kai’s aggressive attitude made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, but he quickly recovered his composure and shook his head, “Another time perhaps. There’ll be plenty of chances for us brothers to compete in the future!”
“True enough!” Yang Kai nodded, not provoking Yang Zhao any further.
As the two brothers spoke, the sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from behind and a lone figure immediately passed the two groups and shot towards the distance like lightning.
Whether it was Yang Kai or Yang Zhao, neither of them could help staring at the back of this young man.
“Liu Qing Yao!” Huo Xing Chen exclaimed, gnashing his teeth, “That fellow is too arrogant!”
Although he had spoken angrily, there was some helplessness in his voice as well. After all, even Huo Xing Chen had to admit that Liu Qing Yao was far stronger than himself.
However, soaring directly over the heads of these two groups of people and flying away without a single word. His meaning couldn’t be clearer, he didn’t place anyone here in his eyes.
When he heard the exclamation of Huo Xing Chen, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly.
He had only heard the name Liu Qing Yao but until today he had never seen him.
After the start of the Inheritance War, he also learned that Liu Qing Yao had been spectating from inside War City, never helping any of the Yang Family Young Lords or acting against them either.
Obviously he thought none of them deserved his services.
[So he’s Liu Qing Yao! Sure enough, he has enough capital to act arrogantly.]
Yang Zhao couldn’t help snorting, “Ninth Brother, this is my Yang Family’s stage, how can we let an outsider rob the limelight?”
Yang Kai grinned and nodded, “Agreed.”
The smiles on both brothers’ faces were practically identical; immediately, both of them suddenly increasing their speeds, shooting off like a pair of shooting stars.
The people in the two groups behind, no matter who they were, gasped in admiration.
Yang Zhao had broken through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary First Stage a few days ago, and although he had yet to consolidated his cultivation, he had truly crossed the Immortal Ascension watershed.
Being able to suddenly display this kind of speed at the Immortal Ascension First Stage, even faster than what Liu Qing Yao had displayed earlier, was naturally quite impressive.
What was even more amazing was Yang Kai, a trivial True Element Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator that was no slower than Yang Zhao. The Movement Skill he used was indeed profound and made it seem like he could ride the wind itself.
[The Yang Family is really a collection of monsters!] Everyone shook their heads and thought secretly.
Mid-flight, Yang Zhao was also amazed by Yang Kai. It was only by using a special technique that he was able to achieve his current speed, and it was consuming a large amongst of his True Qi to maintain it. In other words, he wouldn’t be able to maintain this speed for a long time. At most he would only be capable of continuing at this pace for an incense stick worth of time before needing to slow down and recover or else he would overdraw his True Qi and suffer some backlash.
On the other hand, his Ninth Brother didn’t seem to be the same; he neither used some special technique nor an artifact, his speed seemed to be completely his own, only requiring him to circulate his True Qi normally to achieve.
At that moment, Yang Zhao felt a sense of disbelief and unwillingness, increasing his speed once more.
However, before he could open any noticeable gap between them, Yang Kai had already caught up, his expression still as light and easy as before, “Second Brother, doing this is quite tiring.”
Seeing and hearing this, Yang Zhao could only smile wryly, “First, we catch up with Liu Qing Yao, then deal with the consequences.”
Yang Kai grinned and nodded, “The Yang Family’s rightful place, I’ll take back. If Second Brother can’t keep up, you should just take a break!”
As soon as these words were said, Yang Zhao suddenly felt a scorching wave of heat burst out beside him as he saw Yang Kai transform into a great fireball, releasing a brilliant radiance before shooting off towards the horizon, instantly closing the gap between him and Liu Qing Yao, the wind trailing behind him sharply cutting past Yang Zhao’s face.
Yang Zhao’s eyes narrowed, letting out a light shout, “As the Second Brother, how can I not answer?”
A halo of light quickly blossomed from Yang Zhao’s body and in a flash, his speed too was raised to the limit.
Seemingly noticing these two people catching up with him, Liu Qing Yao in front couldn’t help glancing back, but before he could focus his vision, a great fireball rushed past him, the heat waves billowing off of it causing his heart to palpitate slightly.
“Hm?” Liu Qing Yao revealed a look of surprise, involuntarily calling out, “Such pure True Qi!”
“Young Lord Liu, we’ll be going on ahead!” Yang Zhao also soared past Liu Qing Yao and let out a big laugh as he flew off into the distance.
Looking at the backs of the two, Liu Qing Yao’s brows wrinkled slightly, his expression slowly sinking as he slowly shook his head, “Using external forces isn’t a real display of skill!”
Even if he said this, his speed also suddenly rose; obviously he wasn’t willing to fall behind.
A distance of fifty kilometers wasn’t far, so after slightly less than an incense stick worth of time later the three youths arrived at Po Jing Lake.
Yang Kai landed on the eastern bank, Yang Zhao the west, while Liu Qing Yao set down right in the centre.
It wasn’t until now that Yang Kai had his first good look at the rumored Central Capital’s First Young Lord!
Wearing a blue robe that seemed neither expensive nor vulgar, he didn’t appear very old, about twenty-seven or so at most, his posture as straight as a sword. His build wasn’t particularly burly but the force which seemed to pulse from his body couldn’t be ignored. His expression was indifferent, seemingly not caring the slightest for worldly matters, but the light in his eyes revealed a kind of aloof domineering arrogance.
This kind of arrogance had nothing to do with pride or pretense but was instead part of his innate demeanor, an aura a man who had stood at the top of the world for many years would naturally possess. It was as if he stood above the clouds and overlooked the scurrying mortals beneath him.
[He’s no soft persimmon!] From only this brief contact, Yang Kai had clearly understood this point.
Although outwardly his cultivation was only Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage, Liu Qing Yao’s combat strength was certainly not only comparable to an ordinary Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage cultivator; however, his true power could only be known by fighting him.
Remember the heroic proclamation this person had released before, Yang Kai grinned slightly; this subtle movement attracted the attention of Liu Qing Yao, his cold yet simultaneously extremely piercing eyes suddenly glancing over at Yang Kai as a wave of Divine Sense unscrupulously swept over him.
Yang Kai’s brow couldn’t help wrinkling, his expression becoming a bit disgruntled.
Although his opponent’s action couldn’t possibly threaten him and could even be said to have no malice behind it, such a blatant use of his Divine Sense to spy on him was still a rather uncouth display.
Such a provocative action could easily lead to unnecessary disputes and battles, so most people refrained from doing this kind of thing; however, it was apparent that Liu Qing Yao did this because he didn’t think much of Yang Kai.
Sure enough, after thoroughly examining him with his Divine Sense, Liu Qing Yao no longer paid any attention to Yang Kai, just conspicuously standing there silently by himself.
No one knew why he had run over this time.
Along another shore of Po Jing Lake, a group of people had arrived in advance; naturally, it was Eldest Brother Yang Wei’s people. After seeing Yang Kai and Yang Zhao arrive, Yang Wei just nodded faintly to them before turning his gaze towards Liu Qing Yao, his eyes narrowing unconsciously as his True Qi fluctuated slightly.
Rumor had it that when Yang Wei returned to the Central Capital, he had fought a battle with Liu Qing Yao, but no one knew the final result of that battle.
Now that the two sides had met again, it was only to be expected that some sparks would fly.
“Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage, the Eldest Young Lord’s cultivation speed is quite fast!” Surprisingly, Liu Qing Yao actually took the initiative to say hello to Yang Wei.
“My thanks for Young Lord Liu’s assistance; that battle helped me understand a lot.” Yang Wei replied indifferently.
Liu Qing Yao nodded lightly and said, “If you still wish to comprehend more, this Liu is always willing to oblige!”
The expression on Yang Kai and Yang Zhao’s faces suddenly became weird, exchanging a glance with each other across the lake, both of them seeing the deep meaning in the other’s eyes.
These two men had only said a few words, but the meaning in the words was quite intriguing.
It seems like the rumors were true that Yang Wei had lost his battle with Liu Qing Yao, and it was even likely that he was defeated quite miserably! Otherwise, why would Liu Qing Yao speak such haughty words?
Liu Qing Yao’s arrogance didn’t make Yang Wei angry, his expression not changing in the slightest, only nodding lightly, “I will definitely go, I hope at that time Young Lord Liu won’t be too surprised!”
Liu Qing Yao slowly shook his head, “It’s impossible for me to be surprised, because you’re not my opponent!”
As soon as this sentence came out, the allies behind Yang Wei suddenly felt some indignation, all of them turning angry stares towards Liu Qing Yao.
Disparaging Yang Wei in front of them was no different from shaming them directly.
Yet Yang Wei still showed no signs of anger, simply raising his hand to stop the chattering of the crowd behind him, solemnly saying, “My not being your opponent now doesn’t mean I won’t be in the future. And even if, in the future, I am not your opponent, that doesn’t mean no one from my Yang Family will be your opponent. Young Lord Liu, I am not the strongest of the Yang Family’s younger generation, but I know you are the strongest of the Liu Family’s. The limit of your Liu Family is you, but the limit of my Yang Family is still unknown.”
Liu Qing Yao expression finally changed, showing a look of interest, “Amongst the Yang Family’s younger generation, is there really someone stronger than you?”
After a pause, he turned his eyes to Yang Zhao, “The Second Young Lord perhaps?”
“Haha…” Yang Zhao couldn’t help laughing lightly, “Young Lord Liu surely jests, compared with Eldest Brother, Second Brother doesn’t measure up. Whoever you’re looking for, don’t look at me.”
Liu Qing Yao chuckled, “If it is not the Second Young Lord, then who else? Only you and the Second Young Lord from your Yang Family’s direct descendants are slightly worthy of attention, the others…”
Slowly shaking his head as he spoke, he casually glanced over at Yang Kai and immediately sneered.
Watching all this, Yang Wei, who was always aloof and indifferent, suddenly burst into laughter, “Young Lord Liu, since you can’t see it yourself, it means you’re already not his opponent.”
Liu Qing Yao’s expression sank as he stared at Yang Wei across the distance. He didn’t understand why this Yang Family Eldest Young Lord was so certain, because no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t see any of the Yang Family direct descendants being able to match himself.
However, if there truly was such a person, and even he couldn’t see any clues, it meant that this individual was indeed a scary person!
[If he really can deceive my eyes, he has already won!], Liu Qing Yao thought.
“Eldest Young Lord, I hope what you said is true.” Liu Qing Yao succinctly said.
“You’ll see soon enough!” Yang Wei nodded gently.
Yang Kai who had been sitting on the sidelines had not interrupted once. However, he always felt that Yang Wei’s eyes had been aiming at him, intentionally or unintentionally.
[What did Big Brother notice?] Yang Kai thought to himself suspiciously.
After a short while, Huo Xing Chen and a large number of people arrived and landed behind Yang Kai. Similarly, Yang Zhao’s people gathered around him.
When these people arrived, Yang Zhao finally relaxed and quietly put down his guard. Just now, he was obviously worried that Yang Wei would act against him.
Although he had a Blood Warrior guarding him at all times, it was still dangerous to come here all alone.
Soon after, more and more people gathered on the banks of Po Jing Lake. Yang Kang, Yang Shen and Yang Ying also arrived.
After such a long period of recruitment, how much support the six brothers had gathered could be distinguished at a glance.
The first three to arrive had brought roughly the same number of people, so even if there were some slight differences in strength, it wasn’t obvious; however, the later three’s situation was undoubtedly worse. Even though these three Young Lords had one of the Eight Great Families as an ally, it was still difficult for them to gather much support with just their personal connections.
When they noticed this gap in strength, the faces of Yang Kang and the others suddenly became ugly.
Yang Kai, who everyone initially thought would be eliminated on the first night, was now far ahead of them.
If this were to continue, their situations would only get worse and worse.
All three of them secretly thought to themselves that they must redouble their efforts to recruit supporters after this event. At the very least, they couldn’t lag behind Yang Kai.
Not only did the six Yang Family Young Lords gather at Po Jing Lake, but the cultivators who were spectating the events in War City also came to watch the show, forming a big circle around Po Jing Lake.
However, these people had enough common sense to stay far away from the lakeside, only moving close enough to get a good view.
No one would take their own life lightly. With so many powerful masters gathered together, once they accidentally got caught up in the fray they wouldn’t even know how they died.
The pair of twin flowers who were previously sitting in the inn lobby had also joined this outer circle, their position not far from where Yang Kai’s group had set down.
After not seeing him for a few months, he seemed a lot stronger than before, and perhaps because of his change of status, he now gave off a dignified and imposing aura as well.
One of the two stared towards him as a strange light flickered across her eyes, her enchanting face softening as she reminisced about past events, her change in mood indirectly affecting her sister, causing even her heartbeat to speed up slightly.
Gritting her teeth, the older sister took a deep breath and calmed the rising heat within her chest, smiling helplessly as she shook her head.
This was an unavoidable side effect of the Secret Art the sisters cultivated. Their two minds and hearts gradually became interconnected, so when her little sister felt strongly about something, she too would be affected.
From time to time, she would also think about this young man’s figure before immediately feeling embarrassed to say anything to her sister, leaving her somewhat depressed and uncomfortable.
And now, after having arrived in War City long ago, she couldn’t work up the courage to see him, so she kept hiding in an inn nearby his compound, often looking out the window and wondering if he would appear. Yet, for such a long time, he did not show up.
Finally, today, she had seen him at last. If she were to miss this opportunity, who knows when the next would come by?
Thinking about how she just couldn’t be honest with her words or even herself, the young woman couldn’t help feeling bitter, wishing she could be a little more like her younger sister whose every thought was written on her face, never needing or trying to hide what she was thinking.
“Hey, aren’t we going to help him?” The young man from before asked with a chuckle.
“Us, help him? What role can the three of us play with so many masters around?”
“Haa, this is why women are harder to deal with than enemies! I shouldn’t have come here with you!” The man said in exasperation. If he had known that such a big event was going to happen, he would have brought everyone in the inn. With only the three of them as True Element Boundary cultivators, they really couldn’t make much of a contribution.
As time slowly passed, everyone anxiously waited for the emergence of the batch of artifacts, many of them trying to guess how these thousand artifacts the Yang Family had invested would appear here.
Yang Kai used his powerful Divine Sense to sweep the surroundings, carefully monitoring the crowds for any signs of movement.
As he examined the spectators, he was surprised to find there were many masters hiding their presences! Perceiving this, Yang Kai secretly speculated that these masters weren’t here to watch the excitement, but had actually been deployed by the Eight Great Families to monitor the situation here.
Yang Kai also noticed that at the bottom of Po Jing Lake there were some subtle energy fluctuations. This anomaly was so small that even Yang Kai barely noticed it, not to mention other people.
It seemed like this batch of artifacts had long ago been placed at the bottom of the lake and would only appear at the appointed time.
Having noticed this, Yang Kai grinned slightly but didn’t make any movements, content with this slight advantage for the time being.
The appointed time soon arrived and everyone gathered around Po Jing Lake couldn’t help secretly circulating their True Qi, getting ready to move at a moment’s notice. The six groups not only monitored the surroundings for signs of the artifacts appearing, but also kept track of their opponents’ movements.
While grabbing these artifacts, there would definitely be fighting; after all, the Yang Family was using this method to stimulate the progress of Inheritance War.
Unlike Yang Kai who already had a relatively clear idea about the situation, the other five Yang Family Young Lords were all still guessing, carefully paying attention to Po Jing Lake while from time to time also observing the nearby shoreline and surrounding wilderness, quietly issuing orders to their allies.
The atmosphere grew tense.
Suddenly, a ray of light burst from the centre of Po Jing Lake and an intense energy fluctuation suddenly erupted. Soon, beneath the clear lake surface, a group of bright lines appeared and formed a mysterious Spirit Array which covered the entire lake bottom.
The aura between Heaven and Earth suddenly stagnated.
“It’s time!” Numerous exclamations came out of the surrounding crowds as everyone stretched their necks towards Po Jing Lake.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
One after another, radiant streaks emerged from the bottom of Po Jing Lake and shot into the sky. Inside each of these glowing lights was an artifact. The different colours, shapes, and sizes drew in everyone’s eyesight, causing flames of greed to well up within them.
In an instant, nearly a hundred rays of light had flown high up into the air while countless droplets of water which had been splashed up poured down like a rain.
Everyone stared hard at these hundred rays like starving wolves eyeing fresh meat.
After ascending about a hundred meters into the air, the various glowing lights slowly stopped. Suddenly, a burst of sound rang out and these artifacts shot off in all directions like a great meteor shower!
“Young Lord Kai!” Huo Xing Chen turned to look at Yang Kai, anxiously urging.
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
The next moment, nearly fifty percent of the people in the six camps flew out and moved towards the nearest artifacts, many of letting out bursts of joyous laughter as they grabbed hold of one of them.
The leading figures of the younger generation didn’t move, and most of the Immortal Ascension masters also remained still. Only ordinary disciples below the Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage set out.
This was not just the case with Yang Kai’s group, but with all the others as well.
Everyone knew that this first batch of artifacts would certainly not have very high grades so many didn’t think it worthwhile to disrupt their focus in order to seize them.
Also, because this first batch of artifacts had fallen into the surrounding area, it was almost equivalent to them being delivered right to them, there was no chance that their opponents could steal them away so naturally there was no reason to rush out to snatch them.
However, those who had only come to watch the fun had their eyes become extremely hot, swallowing hard as they stared at these glowing rays of light.
Since they had only come to spectate, most of these people had relatively low strength, so when they suddenly saw so many artifacts appear all at once, they were inevitable excited.
The six Young Lords had brought a total of nearly 800 people here, so even if only half moved, with only one hundred artifacts there were bound to be some who came up empty handed.
None of the artifacts made it past Po Jing Lake’s shore, all of them were intercepted by cultivators halfway.
After capturing these artifacts completely, the cultivators returned to their respective camps, each of them grinning happily.
This first batch of artifacts was divided almost evenly between the six groups and no real battles had been fought, so the amount harvested by each of the Young Lords was basically the same.
“All of them are Earth Grade Low-Rank.” Huo Xing Chen took a look at the artifacts that had been recovered and couldn’t help scoffing disdainfully as he muttered, “The Eight Great Families are really stingy.”
Hearing these words, Han Xiao Qi’s indifferent expression twitched as she commented, “Young Lord Huo, you come from a super family so you don’t understand the hardships of us lower born cultivators. These artifacts may not be anything for you, but to us they can improve our strength greatly.”
Huo Xing Chen grinned back at her meaningfully, “What you said is reasonable, beautiful young lady, but even though I am a Huo Family member, right now, all of us are allies, so we should be able to discuss such things freely. How about after this event we find some time to chat privately?”
Han Xiao Qi suddenly didn’t know what to do, only praying that Yang Kai could say a few words to make Huo Xing Chen stop harassing her.
However, at this moment Yang Kai’s brow was furrowed as he seemed to be concentrating quite hard, his eyes fixed on the mysterious Spirit Array under Po Jing Lake.
These glowing patterns hadn’t lost any of their brilliance and were still brightly illuminating Po Jing Lake. Right after Huo Xing Chen spoke, once again, nearly a hundred rays of light shot out from the water’s surface.
Huo Xing Chen glanced over at Yang Kai but only saw him still focusing on the Spirit Array, quickly letting out a sigh before shouting, “Snatch!”
The group of people who had just reaped a full harvest once again flew away.
“Be careful!” Yang Kai suddenly roared.
Everyone was still immersed in the joy of grabbing artifacts so some of them didn’t quite understand why he had shouted out a warning, but after noticing the trajectories of these artifacts, all of them quickly became alert.
The second batch of artifacts wasn’t the same as the previous one. This time the glowing artifacts didn’t fly out towards the surrounding area, but instead all densely grouped together in the center of Po Jing Lake.
Everyone’s True Qi madly burst out and the light of Martial Skills and artifacts blossomed as the six parties rushed headlong into each other.
Instantly, a great battle broke out!
From the six different camps, almost 400 people had gone out, ninety percent of them were True Element Boundary cultivators but there were still a number of low-level Immortal Ascension Boundary masters as well.
So many people rushing towards the center of Po Jing Lake made the scene suddenly chaotic.
Someone would grab an artifact only to be stared at by four or five enemies in the next moment, and before they knew what was happening, they would be killed, their broken body falling from the sky, their fresh blood staining the clear lake below.
The crowds watching repeatedly let out loud exclamations and shouts.
This kind of melee was precisely what they had come here to see.
In less than ten breaths of time, more than twenty people had been killed, and the number of casualties was still growing.
Almost all of the forces had been affected, causing all the young leaders from these various families and Sects to have ugly expressions, gripping their fists tightly, anxious to help.
However, before the Yang Family’s Young Lords issued orders, even if they were filled with indignation, all they could do was stand still and wait.
Everyone knew that this was just the appetizer! If they were to fall into disarray now, the next time they would be at a big disadvantage.
Gradually, the hundred artifacts from the second round had been distributed while those who were holding them had all become tempting targets. As they flew back, their respective allies guarded them as they cut open a path of retreat, sending a few corpses to the lake below as they went.
A number of intelligent people had done their best to throw the artifacts they managed to snatch towards their own camp before turning around and trying to rob artifacts from their opponents.
As the melee subsided, the people from the six groups gradually dispersed and separated from each other, heading back to their respective camps.
Everyone obtained some gains, but also suffered some losses!
The once crystal clear water of Po Jing Lake was now dyed red and nearly fifty bodies floated atop its surface!
“Your Yang Family’s methods are really brutal!” Dong Qing Han drew a sharp breath as he stared at the tragedy in front of him, slowly shaking his head.
It had been nearly a month without any battles and War City had settled into a peaceful calm, but with just a single order from the Yang Family Elder Hall, the calm had been shattered and all six of the Young Lords had attacked each other.
“Men die for wealth just as birds die for food!” Huo Xing Chen sneered, “The Yang Family has long ago seen through this.”
“It’s so tragic.” Chen Xue Shu whispered quietly. Since he had come to War City, this was the first time he had participated in any kind of battle. Nearly fifty people had died in only half a cup of tea’s time, his Reflecting Moon Sect has also suffered some losses so he wasn’t feeling great at the moment.
“It’s too simple!” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes as he suddenly said.
“Too simple?” Liu Fei Sheng looked at him with horror while everyone else also felt suspicious.
Yang Kai didn’t respond to this chatter but instead turned to look in the direction of Yang Wei and Yang Zhao, quickly discovering that his two oldest brothers were also frowning as they contemplated something. Noticing Yang Kai glancing at them, both Yang Wei and Yang Zhao glanced back.
With this brief silent communication, Yang Kai understood that they too had doubts in their hearts.
If this was all there was to this snatching artifacts event, then it really was too simple. It was impossible for the Yang Family to have planned only this. Right now, the Elder Hall hoped that everyone would fight, and the more people who died the better. But if so, how could all one thousand artifacts appear like this?
If things were to continue exactly as they were, as long as the six Young Lords reached some kind of consensus, it would be possible to divide these artifacts peacefully.
Of course, such an agreement wasn’t very likely.
But right now, Yang Kai, Yang Wei, and Yang Zhao had all realized this point, so no matter who it was, they were considering what would happen next.
The Inheritance War was also a battle of wits, it wasn’t enough to simply be brave and courageous.
Because of the deaths of their allies, the atmosphere in each of the six camps was smouldering, everyone staring at their opponents with cold eyes as they waited anxiously for the next confrontation where they’d have a chance to settle this grudge.
“The grades in this batch are slightly higher, but they’re still not very good.” Huo Xing Chen checked the artifacts that had been brought back and shook his head once more.
In the eyes of this Huo Family Young Lord, except for those at the Heaven Grade and Mysterious Grade, any other artifacts were no different from rubbish. Even if they were Heaven Grade, they had to at least be Mid-Rank before he would pay them any mind.
“For the next batch, we won’t participate!” Yang Kai suddenly said.
“What?” Huo Xing Chen gawked, “Won’t participate?”
Yang Kai turned his head and glowered at him, “Don’t speak so loud, they all might hear you.”
Huo Xing Chen couldn’t help lowering his head slightly as he quietly asked, “Why aren’t we participating? If we don’t snatch these, they’ll just fall into everyone else’s hands.”
Not only was Huo Xing Chen confused, the four girls from Ten Thousand Flower Palace were also suspicious. In the confrontation just now, one of their Ten Thousand Flower Palace disciples had died, so all of them were eager to seek retribution, so when Yang Kai suddenly said that they wouldn’t participate in the next round, all of them had difficulty understanding why.
“I want to observe the situation,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “If my guess is right, the next batch of artifacts should be Earth Grade Top-Rank at best, so even if we don’t grab them, our losses won’t be big, but if we do participate, I’m afraid there’ll be some unforeseen variables.”
Listening to his explanation, although everyone still had some doubts, none of them objected again.
A moment later, the Spirit Array at the bottom of the lake lit up again, causing the now blood red water to take on an eerie glow.
Having experienced this twice now, everyone knew that the third batch of artifacts was about to appear. Facing this upcoming battle, the spectating crowd all also wore expectant expressions, jostling about for good positions to watch the show from.
Having received his orders, Yang Kai’s group, although staring at the bottom of the lake with some enthusiasm, didn’t make any motions.
Yang Kang and the others on the other hand gripped their fists and prepared to set out.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
In a burst of light, a new batch of artifacts appeared.
“Go, kill anyone who dares block your path!” Yang Kang loudly shouted, the people around him quickly flying forward.
At the same time, Yang Shen and Yang Ying also issued the same order, their expression ruthless as though they were facing off against their most hated enemies.
However, when these three parties rushed out, everyone was surprised to find that there were two groups who didn’t move.
One of them was Yang Kai’s, the other was Yang Wei’s!
The eldest and youngest brothers seemed as if they were satisfied with their gains just now and had no plan to continue fighting.
“What are they doing? Why aren’t either of them acting?” The onlookers whispered amongst themselves. This six party melee was too interesting, but with two less participants, it just didn’t seem as lively.
“They can’t be scared, right? How could such cowards even think of fighting in the Inheritance War?”
“Come on, what are you doing you stupid pigs? Fight and die!”
“Fuck! Such a good opportunity, how can they not grasp it? If only I belonged to a stronger Sect and was allowed to join one of these Young Lords, I could have grabbed these artifacts here today!”
….
Ignoring these boos and shouts from the crowd, Yang Kai glanced over at Yang Wei and saw a rare smile on his face, as if he was saying he had also seen through this situation.
“Come back!” The next moment, Yang Zhao’s brow furrowed as he called out to his allies.
The cultivators who were excited and ready to show their skills were already halfway to the lake’s centre and were preparing to snatch some artifacts, so when they heard Yang Zhao’s sudden recall order, how could they not be confused?
Some acted quickly and immediately returned to Yang Zhao’s side while some were reluctant to give up this chance, greed flashing across their eyes as they reaching out towards the nearest artifacts in front of them.
In the next instant, a terrible reaction occurred. The moment these cultivators grasped the floating artifacts, from the centre of Po Jing Lake a great distortion suddenly formed and a burst of energy shot forth.
*Boom…!*
Flames ignited, lightning flashed, ice crackled, Sword Qi sliced through the air and waves of blinding light erupted all around. In the sky above Po Jing Lake’s centre, a myriad of deadly attacks spread outwards, indiscriminately striking the group of cultivators at point blank range.
Everyone was stunned.
The spectators who had just been shouting and cursing out Yang Kai and Yang Wei for not participating fell silent.
The group of cultivators who had gone forward to snatch these artifacts had only been on guard against their opposing forces, so when they suddenly came under attack from an unexpected source, they had been caught completely off guard, many of them calling out in shock and surprise.
Most of these people were True Element Boundary cultivators, and none of them had anticipated such a situation.
In truth, this array of attacks was quite messy, and each strike wasn’t very strong, but what made the people cough and vomit blood was the sheer number of them.
Pile enough sand and you can build a tower, collect enough drops of water and you can form a river. Under this massive barrage, how could these True Element Boundary cultivators endure?
In the blink of an eye, the cultivators gathered in the central most position were swept away, broken limbs and hunks of flesh scattered about as fresh blood sprinkled down like rain.
A void nearly twenty meters in diameter had suddenly appeared, almost like everything in that range had been swallowed up by an invisible black hole.
Slightly further away, the cultivators who survived this onslaught rushed to escape, no longer dare to remain, glancing back occasionally at the miserable scene behind them, their faces filled with horror, silently thanking the Heavens for blessing them with good luck.
The entire scene fell quiet and only the sounds of body parts dropping into the lake disturbed the silence.
“Really sinister!” Yang Kai muttered under his cold breath.
These sudden bursts of energy didn’t come from the various cultivators involved, but from the hundred artifacts themselves.
This third batch of artifacts obviously had the True Qi of strong masters sealed within them and were set to unleash an attack when a cultivator tried to seize one; this had completely caught everyone off guard.
This whole setup was a trap! The Yang Family had intended this to happen when they lured everyone here to snatch these artifacts!
The first two waves were meant to reduce the various cultivators’ vigilance, while the third batch hid a killing blow…
“If our people had also rushed over just now…” Su Xiao Yu’s face paled slightly. It wasn’t like she hadn’t witnessed death before. When she went for life experience in that Isolated World’s she had personally killed people, not to mention the scene a little while ago where fifty cultivators had died in battle trying to snatch artifacts.
But seeing several dozen people suddenly cut to pieces in a terrible explosion was still considered a horror scene to her.
“Young Lord Kai, I deeply admire you from the bottom of my soul!” Huo Xing Chen’s shouted as his cheeks twitched slightly. When Yang Kai had ordered them not to participate in this round of artifact snatching, Huo Xing Chen felt he was being too paranoid, but now, it was obvious to him that Yang Kai wasn’t acting cautious, but was already aware.
If they had rushed forward without thinking like last time, they would certainly have suffered a lot!
Realizing this, how could Huo Xing Chen not admire him? Not only the Huo Family’s Young Lord, all of Yang Kai’s allies stared towards him with respectful and awe filled looks.
“Eldest Young Lord, how did you know…” Across the lake, Meng Shan Yi’s expression also changed greatly as he whispered to Yang Wei.
However, Yang Wei simply shook his head, “I didn’t, but so long as Ninth Brother doesn’t move, we won’t either, everyone just needs to follow his lead.”
“You mean, when you saw Yang Kai just now…”
“En.” Yang Wei nodded, “Thankfully Ninth Brother acted cautiously. If it wasn’t for him…”
Meng Shan Yi took a deep breath and no longer dared underestimate Yang Kai. Turning to look at the other Yang Family Young Lords, Yang Zhao’s expression was a mix of fear and relief. Just now, he had fortunately issued a command to fall back in time, so he only lost three cultivators to this trap. As for Yang Kang and the others, their faces were incomparably pale and ugly.
Yang Kang, Yang Shen, and Yang Ying had suffered heavy losses this time. When the third batch of artifacts emerged, each of them had ordered their allies forward as quickly as possible, so the central dead zone was almost completely occupied by their people.
Each of them had lost more than a dozen people, and many others had suffered varying degrees of injuries, including many low-level Immortal Ascension masters.
What’s more, they now appeared even more incompetent compared with Yang Kai and Yang Wei! This made them feel a little angry.
The floating artifacts in the sky seemed to have expended all their stored power in that one burst so at this moment they appeared somewhat dull. When the surrounding cultivators had all retreated back to the lake’s shore, these artifacts also slowly fell back towards the lake.
However, after suffering such a big loss, no one dared to approach these artifacts right away.
“You can grab them now!” Yang Kai squinted and said a faint voice.
“What are you waiting for?” Huo Xing Chen immediately roared.
From Yang Kai’s camp, almost everyone shot forward, leaving behind the various young leaders and a few Immortal Ascension masters.
At the same time, Yang Wei also issued an order, seemingly determined to act as Yang Kai did.
The cultivators from the other camps around Po Jing Lake didn’t miss the movements of these two groups, but given their recent experience, and in the absence of an order to do so, none of them dared act rashly.
Yang Kang and the others struggled for a while but eventually didn’t send their allies out again.
Before these artifacts could fall into the lake, the cultivators from the two groups had all rushed up and wantonly began harvesting them, not suffering any sudden or unexpected attacks.
Unexpectedly, the two sides reaped many gains and returned triumphantly to their own camps without the slightest harm.
Watching this scene play out, Yang Kang and the others’ guts wrenched with remorse. Yang Zhao’s expression was also quite ugly. If he hadn’t hesitated just now, he too would have been able to eat a piece of this pie.
“Young Lord Kai! We obtained fifty four artifacts!” Huo Xing Chen counted the number and excitedly reported, “What’s more, they’re all Earth Grade Top-Rank!”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, his eyes glancing over at Yang Wei before saying, “Eldest Brother’s men over there, don’t clash with them in the future!”
“Understood!” The crowd nodded.
Yang Kai noticed that just now when they had been snatching artifacts, several of his people had attacked Yang Wei’s allies, but those people had only defended themselves and not fought back, it seems they had received some kind of instructions from Yang Wei.
It was for this reason that his people had managed to snatch a few more pieces than his brother’s.
This seemed to be his Eldest Brother’s way of silently forming an alliance with him, otherwise he wouldn’t have given such an order.
“Young Lord Kai, what do we do next? Do we still sit back and watch?” The Huo Family Young Lord asked with a smile.
Yang Kai shook his head. “They’re not fools. After suffering a loss this time, they won’t make the same mistake again. For the next batch we will go forward to snatch things as well, the only difference is now you’ll have to be wary of attacks from enemies and also these artifacts. Maintaining your own safety is top priority, use whatever Martial Skills and artifacts you have to defend yourselves, don’t die too fast!”
Hearing Yang Kai’s instructions, everyone nodded.
The reason why the batch of artifacts had been able to kill so many people just now was because everyone was vigilant against their opponents and didn’t expect to suddenly suffer attacks from these seemingly idle weapons, so they had taken far more hits than they normally would have. Even some Immortal Ascension Boundary masters had suffered as a result.
This was only the third batch of artifacts and there was nearly a hundred corpses in Po Jing Lake already. After all one thousand artifacts had appeared, just how many people would have died?
Thinking of this, whether it was the spectating crowd or the involved cultivators, all of them felt a slight chill.
The Yang Family and the other seven families had really set up a nasty event this time.
“Young Lord Kai, what should we do about these artifacts right now? There’s quite a lot of them.” Huo Xing Chen asked with an aloof snort, but anyone who saw him now would notice he was smirking.
“Have the Duan Mu Family’s five seniors look after them.” Yang Kai thought for a moment before saying.
The number of artifacts that they snatched from now on would only increase. These artifacts varied in shape and size, some were large while others were small. Some of the smallest were the size of rings and earrings while the largest were the size of swords and axes. For those larger objects, everyone holding onto what they had snatched was obviously not a good solution so someone had to be assigned to look after them.
Because of this, a group of masters would be required to stay behind to guard them, and Yang Kai figured his brothers would also act similarly.