Inside a trivial War City, at this moment, eleven Above Immortal Ascension Boundary top-ranking powerhouses had gathered. The situation had now developed far beyond either side’s ability to control.
Now that things had gotten to this point, it was impossible for anyone to easily retreat. Both sides had exposed their complete strength, so whoever backed down first would appear weak and timid.
Ling Tai Xu secretly passed a message to Yang Kai warning him to be careful.
Yang Kai silently signaled to his allies to fall back from the battlefield and rally together.
At the same time, Ye Xin Rou issued similar instructions to the remaining seven family forces.
Within a few breaths of time, a kind of no-man’s land had formed.
Up in the sky, the eleven old men confronted each other while down below, the cultivator from Yang Kai’s house and the masters from the seven family coalitions, separated by a thousand meters, faced off, most of nervously holding their breaths as they waited for what came next.
“Are we really going to fight?” Meng Wu Ya looked at the eight people opposite him and calmly asked.
“Things have already reached this point; we must at least exchange pointers.” Among the eight, a fat old man replied. He was the one who had been quite optimistic about Yang Kai and didn’t want this kind of dispute to happen, but with his own backyard on fire, he had little choice but to act now.
After all, as a Grand Elder, he had to stand on the side of the Eight Great Families, so even if he had high expectations for Yang Kai, there was nothing he could do for him.
“Might as well,” Meng Wu Ya nodded before smiling temperately, “All at once, single challenge, consecutive fights, how do you want to play? Feel free to choose whatever method you like, the three of us will accommodate you.”
Several of the eight old men couldn’t help snorted coldly, their expressions darkening.
Meng Wu Ya saying so clearly indicated he didn’t place them in his eyes, naturally this made them somewhat unhappy.
The fat old man calmly grinned, “Your Excellency’s tone is quite big.”
All of them were Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, people of great status. None of them would easily enter a fight and no one below their level was qualified to challenge them. But even so, today’s battle seemed inevitable; however, if they were to really fight eight against three, once word spread out, their reputations would be severely damaged.
Since a group battle was impossible, they could only choose between issuing challenges or consecutive fights. Against these three, none of them had confidence in winning a one-on-one challenge, so really, there was only one choice left.
But these eight old men weren’t fools. Obviously, they weren’t going to answer Meng Wu Ya’s words. Doing so would be an admission of their inferiority.
Yang Li Ting suddenly stepped forward and loudly declared, “Sect Master Ling, your relationship with my Yang Family is quite deep. Two generations of my Yang Family’s descendants have been cultivated by your Sect. Since we already have a debt of sentiment, today, this Yang will personally compare notes with Sect Master Ling!”
Ling Tai Xu smiled calmly in return, “Very good. Since I broke through, I have yet to spar against someone of the same level. I hope Brother Yang will show mercy in the coming bout.”
“Please!”
As soon as these words were spoken, Ling Tai Xu and Yang Li Ting suddenly shot up into the sky, disappearing in an instant. A moment later, from several thousand meters above, a series of violent energy fluctuations proliferated, accompanied by brilliantly burst of light.
Naturally, this was the fallout from the two Above Immortal Ascension Boundary’s fight, not many gathered here were able to observe any more than this.
“After so many years, Brother Yang is still so anxious.” The fat old man shook his head wryly and grinned, suddenly staring towards Meng Wu Ya and saying, “Brother Meng, let’s also go up.”
Saying so, his figure flickered and an azure streak shot up into the night sky.
Meng Wu Ya followed soon after.
“Old Devil lord, this old master will accompany you!” Another person stood forward and called out Old Demon.
However, in response, Old Demon simply sneered, “Since both Ling Tai Xu and Meng Wu Ya have gone up, this old master must remain. If I leave, who will protect Young Master?”
The old man gawked for a moment before angrily shouting, “What do you mean by those words? Are you implying that after engaging you three in battle we will take the opportunity to act against a mere junior?”
“Was that not what you were planning?” Old Demon cast a taunting gaze towards him and chuckled.
The old man was infuriated and loudly declared, “If you really think so, you look down upon us far too much! We would not dishonour ourselves with such a shameless action!”
Old Demon simply laughed, “Who knows what you really think.”
His steadfast appearance, silently declaring that he would not move an inch from this spot, obviously indicated he was really worried about the issue he just raised.
Old Demon refusing his challenge suddenly made this old man’s face turn blue while the other Grand Elders behind him also wore ugly expressions as they glared towards Old Demon, their True Qi welling up.
“Good, I believe that everyone here is an honest and upright individual who would never use such despicable means against my Young Master.” Old Demon sneered and deliberately shouted as loud as he could.
Although he also felt that given these people’s status, they would disdain to use such methods, but when forced into a desperate situation, one can never be certain what depths people may sink to, so Old Demon preferred to be more vigilant than not.
However, if he continued to refuse this challenge, it would only intensify the contradictions between them, so he was forced to make do with issuing this statement.
“Young Master, you must be careful. Do not drop your guard.” Old Demon whispered before turning into a bloody streak, his voice echoing from high above, “Come up, this old master is waiting for you!”
The old man who had just spoken to Old Demon quickly flew up.
Six Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters fighting a mid-air battle several thousand meters into the sky, everyone down below couldn’t help craning their necks to stare at it but although the strength of these people wasn’t low and their eyesight was far more powerful than that of ordinary mortals, the amount they could see was still quite small.
Even Yang Kai was only able to sense a small portion of what was transpiring during this profound battle.
These six combatants each had their own unique understanding of the Heavenly Way which was reflected in their every move and attack.
If one could perceive even a tiny portion of this understanding it would be of great help to their future cultivation.
Everyone stood there, silently watching and observing, trying to imprint these profound and mysterious images into their minds in the hopes of one day being able to thoroughly understand them.
The battle seemed to be getting fiercer and fiercer as the burst of light high above them became even more brilliant and dazzling, soon blanketing the entire night sky in a faint radiance amidst which some indistinct figures flickered back and forth.
Some of the more intelligent spectators present quietly snuck a peak at the faces of the strongest masters from the seven family coalition, soon discovering that all of these top rank powerhouses either had nervous or helpless expressions. They suddenly realized that the grand battle happening high up in the sky was apparently going quite poorly for the Eight Great Families.
This discovery shocked many people.
The eight Grand Elders who resided in the Seal Temple had always been regarded as some of the most powerful figures in the world, but now they were being suppressed by three unknown men from Yang Kai’s house.
The Above Immortal Ascension Boundary was a realm shrouded in mystery. Without actually reaching it, no one could truly understand its profundities, even top level masters like Tu Feng didn’t really comprehend what it meant to be an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator.
So after learning that the Eight Great Families’ Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters were at a disadvantage in this fight, everyone couldn’t help feeling shocked by the strength of the Ling Tai Xu trio.
Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon had clearly reached this level through some strange methods while Ling Tai Xu had only broken through to his current realm less than a year ago, but apparently all of them were superior to the top masters from the Eight Great Families.
Each of these Grand Elders had achieved their current cultivation at least fifty years ago, so did that mean the strength they gained from fifty years of hard work wasn’t even equivalent to that of someone who just broke through?
Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, just what kind of realm was it?
Just as everyone was filled with curiosity and shock, one of the contests high above them seemed to have reached a conclusion.
A moment later, the two figures flew down, it was Meng Wu Ya and his opponent.
Meng Wu Ya’s expression was calm and relaxed, but the fat old man’s face was blue, and although he seemed quite unwilling to do so, he still hurriedly cupped his fists to Meng Wu Ya and bowed, “Many thanks for your instruction.”
“En.” Meng Wu Ya nodded gently.
Neither of these two had any signs of injury after their battle, which meant that either they had been calmly comparing notes or the gap in power between them was insurmountable.
The former possibility was highly unlikely. From the conversation before the battle, the dangerous air was apparently to all. Even if it hadn’t reached the level of a life or death struggle, it was impossible for them to have competed peacefully.
As for the latter possibility… no one dared to imagine it.
A while later, Ling Tai Xu and Yang Li Ting also flew down, both of them panting for breath as they stared at one another.
“Sect Master Ling’s methods are profound, this Yang has lost.” Yang Li Ting threw out these words and then stepped back.
The audience was dumbstruck.
Meng Wu Ya had won, Ling Tai Xu had also won, were these Ancestor level characters from the Eight Great Families really no match for these two old men from Yang Kai’s forces?
What about the last battle?
As many people were about to turn their eyes back up to see, they heard the sound of a heavy object falling through the air and before anyone could react, a loud bang resounded and a deep pit was opened up in the ground before them.
After the cloud of dust from this impact settled, everyone peered into the newly formed crater and was shocked by what they saw.
They discovered the old man who had previously challenged Old Demon stand above a pit of his own making, his face extremely aggrieved, his complexion pale, and fresh blood overflowing from his mouth; obviously he had suffered some internal injuries.
Old Demon swooped down and stop a dozen or so meters above him, overlooking his opponent while smirking, “I apologize, this old master is a bit boorish and isn’t used to controlling his strength as well as Sect Master Ling and Meng Wu Ya.”
The man raised his head and stared at Old Demon for a moment but didn’t say anything, quickly retreated to his camp, sitting down, and circulating a healing technique. After a while, he opened his mouth and spit out a reddish black breath.
This breath was filled with a strange evil aura and should have been the residual energy left inside his body from when Old Demon wounded him.
Three fights, three defeats!
The audience was stunned, and everyone’s expression incredulous. Were the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Eight Great Families actually so vulnerable? Didn’t they stand at the peak of the Martial Dao?
“Looking at your faces, you don’t seem to be convinced yet. Fine, let’s go again; we’ll settle things here today.” Old Demon smiled grimly.
It seemed as if Old Demon was provoking them, but everyone knew that since the top level masters from the Eight Great Families had appeared, they wouldn’t retreat unless a definitive conclusion was reached.
Even if three of them had lost, there were still five of them left! Everyone tacitly understood this point.
As if responding to Old Demon’s words, three more people came out.
Ling Tai Xu sighed and Meng Wu Ya shook his head helplessly as both of them flew upwards for the second time.
The fierce battle between six Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters once again appeared while the masters from the seven family coalition couldn’t help but secretly pray that this time wouldn’t end with their completely defeat again.
These eight old men from the Seal Temple had always been the object of worship for the world’s common people. If they were to all be defeated, by a group less than half their number no less, the prestige of the Eight Great Families would collapse.
The Immortal Ascension Boundary masters of the seven family coalition held their breaths as they watched the battle high up into the sky.
The two Above Immortal Ascension Boundary Grand Elders who had yet to fight also closely observed.
“Brother Huo, that Meng Wu Ya… just how strong is he?” The square faced master whispered to the fat old man, although he had watched the entire battle just now, his understanding of what happened was obviously less comprehensive as the one who had actually been fighting.
The fat old man from the Huo Family let out a long sigh and smiled helplessly, “Please forgive me for only being able to use the words ‘completely unfathomable’.”
The square faced old man couldn’t hide his surprise when he heard this response.
The fat old man shook his head and continued, “I am not trying to overstate things in order to preserve my own prestige. I have lived many years and have been diligently studying the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary for much of that time, forming my own unique sentiments and understanding about the Heavenly Dao, but I have never once encountered anyone like him… Forget about one-on-one, even if all eight of us fought him consecutively in order to wear down his strength, he would still be able to beat all of us.”
“What!?” The square faced old man cried out in shock as his face went pale.
Although he knew that Meng Wu Ya wasn’t a simple opponent, this evaluation was simply too high, but since the fat old man dared to say so, he must have absolute confidence in his judgement.
All eight of them had been together for so many years and were well aware of each other’s personalities so he knew that this Huo Family Grand Elder was never one to exaggerate.
“That Devil Lord is also extraordinary…” Old Demon’s opponent who had also been defeated just now slowly opened his eyes and said bitterly, “Although his strength isn’t as exaggerated as that Meng Wu Ya’s, he’s not someone any of us can deal with.”
The fat old man’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he muttered in a pensive tone, “It’s not just about them being strong. I somehow feel like there is a more fundamental difference between the two of them and us… like we aren’t even on the same plane.”
“What do you mean? How can we not be on the same plane as them? Aren’t they also Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators?”
“I can’t explain it well.” The fat old man’s brow wrinkled, when he compared himself and Meng Wu Ya, he always felt like the latter was standing on the cloud, overlooking himself from a height he was unable to even conceive of.
“On the other hand, Ling Tai Xu is quite normal.” Yang Li Ting interjected, “Ling Tai Xu’s cultivation is similar to our own, but you can see Meng Wu Ya’s shadow in each of his movements. After discussing the Martial Dao at High Heaven Pavilion for so many years, he must have learned a lot from Meng Wu Ya. In terms of his practical ability, he should only be able to win two rounds before exhausting his strength.”
“Win two rounds!” The square faced old man’s expression became ugly, “Doesn’t that mean we’re going to lose all eight rounds?”
Their opponent numbered three while they had eight, so even if Ling Tai Xu only fought twice, Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon could easily handle everyone else.
‘If we could just win one round’, this simple idea had become the extent of these eight Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master’s ambitions, it was really quite laughable.
All five of the Grand Elders were extremely depressed but also powerless to change anything.
These people formerly sat in the Seal Temple and were hailed as Grand Elders of the Eight Great Families, Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters that all the world’s people worshiped and paid homage to, even if they knew there were some out there better than themselves, they didn’t think the difference would be very big. It was not until today, at this moment, that they realized just how ignorant and incompetent they really were.
“Frogs sitting at the bottom of a well, staring up at the sky, thinking they know everything there is to know of the world…” Yang Li Ting muttered faintly, his words reflecting the thoughts of all of the old men present.
“Brother Ye, whoever you fight, whether it is Meng Wu Ya or that Devil Lord, you must take extreme caution. Meng Wu Ya is better, he at least holds back somewhat, but that Devil Lord does not show any mercy.” The old man who had taunted Old Demon before seriously warned, “You as well, Brother Liu, no matter what, avoid being wounded by his Demonic Qi… it is particularly difficult to resolve.”
After managing to say these few words, the old man’s complexion paled again and he hurriedly circulated his healing art, apparently not having completely recovered yet.
The Grand Elders from the Ye and Liu Families nodded solemnly, the square faced Ye Family old man suddenly wearing a dignified expression as he turned his head and glanced towards Yang Kai.
Currently, Yang Kai was also paying attention to the fierce battles up above immersing himself in the various profundities being displayed.
Suddenly, a slightly disconcerting feeling arose in his heart.
Yang Kai immediately raised his guard upon feeling this faint chill shoot through his body, but after hurriedly examining himself he didn’t discover anything out of place.
Frowning, he turned his gaze towards the old men from the Eight Great Families and just happened to meet eyes with the square faced Ye Family Grand Elder.
The other party indifferently stared back for a moment before moving his line of sight away.
“Little Lord…” Tang Yu Xian quickly noticed Yang Kai’s perturbed expression and immediately asked, “What is it?”
“Nothing,” Yang Kai shook his head, “Probably just a misconception.”
“En.” Tang Yu Xian saw that there was nothing wrong with him and stopped asking.
Narrowing his eyes at the square faced old man for a moment, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed. Although he didn’t perceive anything wrong with himself, that flash of disquiet a moment ago was definitely real.
Just as beasts have sharp instincts, so too do cultivators, and to a certain extent, a cultivator’s instincts is more sensitive and precise than a wild beast’s.
That square faced old man wanted to act against him or had already done so, causing him to subconsciously detect something.
Seeing that the situation was deteriorating, was this old man trying to find a way to turn things around by targeting him? Yang Kai’s expression became gloomy as he cursed in his heart.
Yang Kai didn’t dare show the slightest neglect. If a master at the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary secretly took action against him, it would be normal for him to not notice anything.
Gently taking a breath, Yang Kai closed his eyes and used his powerful Divine Sense to carefully inspect every part of his body but still found no abnormalities.
Sending his Divine Sense into his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai’s Soul phantom floated above the vast sea and scanned the surroundings.
His Knowledge Sea was as tranquil as always, colourful fish swam through the water while birds flew through the sky. These fish and birds were formed from threads of his Soul and carried all of Yang Kai’s memories and experiences.
In the middle of his Knowledge Sea, there was a five coloured island, quietly standing there like a great treasure mountain.
Above the island, a small sword and a strange round object gently floated.
The five coloured island was obviously the Soul Warming Lotus while the little sword Yang Kai’s Soul type artifact. As for the strange round object, it was the treasure that had appeared from the seventh page of the Black Book.
Unfortunately, Yang Kai still had no idea what this round object’s function was or even what it was supposed to be. From the moment he acquired it and it settled in his Knowledge Sea, it had provided nothing to him nor caused him any harm.
Along with the light spring drizzle, the scene inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea could only be described as a paradise on earth, filled with wonder and beauty.
[Was it really just a misconception?] Yang Kai pondered, had the other party not actually taken action against him?
After all, beforehand, Old Demon had been worried about this possibility and had deliberately announced it to the public while the square faced old man had loudly declared it was impossible for them to target Yang Kai while Meng Wu Ya, Ling Tai Xu, and Old Demon were distracted.
These eight were ancestor level members of the Eight Great Families, the words that they spoke naturally carried weight.
Smiling wryly, Yang Kai turned around to withdraw from his Knowledge Sea.
But at that moment, his movements suddenly stopped and his eyes filled with frigid light. Staring around at his Knowledge Sea with a cold, piercing gaze, he suddenly let out a laugh and muttered, “Interesting, I don’t remember it ever raining inside my Knowledge Sea.”
Everything in one’s Knowledge Sea was a reflection of oneself. When one was happy, there would be nothing but sun and blue skies for tens of thousands of kilometers, when one was distressed, there would be storm clouds and pouring rain wherever one looked.
Yang Kai had thought that this spring drizzle was just a reflection of his current mood, but he quickly realized that something was wrong. When he tried to control it, he found that this drizzle actually had no relation with himself.
Since this rain had no connection with him, it must be someone else’s scheme.
“Show yourself!” With a great angry shout, Yang Kai’s formerly calm Knowledge Sea suddenly turned into a rampaging storm with waves rising high in the sky and water columns leaping from the water like dragons.
The drizzle seemed to stagnate for a moment and then, under the intense bombardment from Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, came to a complete halt.
An illusory figure suddenly appeared not far in front of Yang Kai, staring towards him with a dignified expression.
“I knew it was you!” Yang Kai sneered, ridiculing, “What, are the words of a noble Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master nothing more than farts?”
The opposite person was the Soul phantom of the Ye Family’s square faced Grand Elder.
Since he had appeared tonight, he had constantly denounced and opposed Yang Kai, making the latter wonder just where he had offended him. Finally, after thinking about it, the only explanation Yang Kai could come up with was that this old man was helping Ye Xin Rou.
After all, he was a Grand Elder of the Ye Family.
There was a good deal of surprise on the old man’s face, apparently he had never thought that Yang Kai would see through his methods, nodding faintly as he praised, “You really are out of the ordinary, having an Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage cultivation yet being able to see through this old master’s Soul Skill. This old master’s Spring Drizzle has never failed before.”
Spring Drizzle, Silent Infiltration, was a unique technique of this old man.
As an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master, he had originally thought that using this move to deal with Yang Kai was overkill, but to his surprise, before achieving anything, he was seen through and exposed.
Yang Kai just snorted and stared at him coldly without saying a word.
“Yang Family brat, how did you cultivate your Knowledge Sea?” The old man asked, “With your Second Stage cultivation, it’s absolutely impossible for you to have such massive and pure Spiritual Energy. This kind of Spiritual Energy strength, although much worse than this old master’s, is still far above that of an ordinary Peak Immortal Ascension cultivator.”
“Old dog, you sneaking into my Knowledge Sea was not to ask such a retarded question, right?” Yang Kai mocked, not waiting for the opposite party to respond before continuing, “Did you think that since your plans tonight have failed miserably you could find some way to salvage the situation by plotting against me?”
The old man didn’t care about Yang Kai’s mockery and just casually replied, “This old master was just curious, if you don’t want to tell me, I won’t bother asking. In any case, I’ll be able to figure it out sooner or later. As for the reason why this old master snuck in here, naturally I want to unravel some of your secrets.”
“My secrets?” Yang Kai gawked for moment before wearing a sly grin, “About how I quickly improved the strength of my allied cultivators?”
The old man nodded without any shame, “Right, your Yang Family not coming to your aide tonight is clearly because they want to force you to retreat to the Central Capital to accept their asylum. We are also taking advantage of your Yang Family’s attitude to see if we can obtain your methods. However, even if we’re not able to obtain your secrets first, how could our seven families not gain any benefits after accompanying your Yang Family to put on this show tonight?”
The old man casually exposed the machinations of the Eight Great Families to Yang Kai.
This was reality.
The Yang Family not ordering Yang Kai to return, only sending Yang Zhen and several Elders to negotiate with him, was by design.
In the family’s view, since everyone wanted whatever secrets Yang Kai was hiding, Yang Kai himself would certainly not be able to withstand the pressure and at that time would willingly return to the Yang Family for protection in exchange for knowledge of his ability to rapidly improve the strength of his allied cultivators.
Forcefully squeezed melon isn’t sweet, so the family had never intended to use violence against Yang Kai. Firstly, they were afraid Yang Kai would resent them, and secondly, the military force he had gathered around him wasn’t to be underestimated. Of course, the biggest reason for their actions was because they felt that as a member of the Yang Family, Yang Kai should willingly surrender everything to them in the first place!
To the Yang Family, if one of their descendants discovered a way to rapidly promote a cultivator’s strength, they should naturally offer it to the family.
However, if he were to return to the Yang Family, his cultivation would no doubt be crippled, a consequence impossible for Yang Kai to accept.
The other seven families took advantage of this subtle contradiction between Yang Kai and the Yang family to insert themselves.
The best result would be for them to capture Yang Kai in this battle. At that time, they could directly negotiate with the Yang Family about how to divide the hidden benefits he was holding.
But even if they couldn’t catch Yang Kai tonight, simply forcing him back to the Yang Family was also acceptable.
As the square faced old man said, the seven families had accompanied the Yang Family to perform this face and in the process lost many masters, if the Yang Family didn’t provide them with some compensation would they willingly give up?
Yang Li Ting appearing today was precisely because of these considerations. On the one hand, he was accompanying the other Grand Elders to pressure Yang Kai, while on the other, he was secretly ensuring that Yang Kai didn’t fall into another’s hands.
In summary, everything was done to maximize the benefits of the Yang Family!
After listening to the old man’s explanation, Yang Kai nodded lightly but couldn’t help feeling a sense of desolateness.
This was typical behaviour for great families, compared to the overall benefits of the family, individual members were unimportant. If the family demanded anything from any of its members, they had no choice but to comply.
The old man spoke again, “Our original purpose was indeed this, but now, this old master has found something even more interesting.”
“You want to obtain the method to instantly promote to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary?” Yang Kai grinned. He wasn’t an idiot, and could naturally guess what the other party was after.
Tonight, Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon had both used Heaven defying methods in order to instantly increase their cultivations to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, this was extremely shocking to everyone present.
Regarding Meng Wu Ya, it was very likely he had already reached such a realm, yet had part of his strength sealed and had only broken this seal to recover his original cultivation.
Such a method was of no use to others as Meng Wu Ya’s circumstances were essentially unique and couldn’t be replicated.
On the contrary, it was at least possible to use Old Demon’s Demon Specter Saint Technique to reach the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary in a single bound. If any of the Eight Great Families could obtain this technique, it would no doubt become their most valuable possession.
Each of the Eight Great Families had at least a dozen or so Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, so with this forbidden technique, in a moment of crisis they could create a dozen or more Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators.
What kind of concept was that?
If the Ye Family’s Grand Elder could obtain this technique, it wouldn’t be a dream to crush the Yang Family under his feet.
So what if Old Demon’s methods were bloody and cruel? Compared to the benefits he could obtain, everything else was irrelevant.
Whether it was a black cat or a white cat, as long as the mouse was caught, it was a good cat.
“Interesting, this time you don’t care whether it’s an Evil Technique or Demonic Secret Art?” Yang Kai taunted the old man sarcastically, “Because I have the potential to become a Demon Lord, all of you joined up to crusade against me, yet now you so highly covet Old Demon’s brutal methods? So in the end you also want to cultivate such an evil skill?”
“No matter what the nature of a skill is, as long as it is useful to the family, it’s worthy acquiring!” The old man coldly snorted, not showing the slightest bit of shame.
Yang Kai was astonished, “So you already understood this point yet pretended not to. Putting up a righteous front in order to suppress and destroy me, don’t you feel even slightly embarrassed?”
The old man slowly shook his head, “One’s standpoint changes based on where one stands. Using such methods to suppress and eliminate you, if you must have an explanation… then it is because you are too weak. If you stood in my position now, no one would dare accuse you of anything!”
“I know.” Yang Kai nodded gently, his expression becoming dignified. “In the end, it’s because I have no power.”
“En, even if you are a Young Lord of the Yang Family, in front of us, you’re nothing but an insignificant brat.”
“Many thanks for your enlightenment. In the future, I will work hard to reach a height where everyone will look up to me and obey my will.” Yang Kai grinned fiercely as a raging fire burned in the depths of his eyes.
“You’ll have no such chance.” The old man shook his head indifferently; his attitude cold and aloof, “If you hadn’t broken this old master’s technique, you might still have had such an opportunity, but now that you’ve discovered me, do you think this old master will let you leave here safely?”
“You plan to kill me?” Yang Kai stared at the square faced old man without the slightest fear, even appearing somewhat eager to fight.
“I won’t kill you. If you die, how will I get that technique from that Devil Lord? For this old master, controlling you is far more valuable than killing you.” The old man said faintly, as if he was speaking of some trivial matter, “You can’t leave here to expose me either, this old master has already sealed up your Knowledge Sea!”
“Who said I wanted to leave here?” Yang Kai grinned. As he said so, his entire Knowledge Sea surged up, “Old dog, have you forgotten? This is my Knowledge Sea, here, I am the master!”
As soon as he said so, countless water columns rushed out from the sea below, like great flood dragons, and charged towards the old man’s Soul phantom.
The old man stood calmly in place. Facing this fierce assault, he didn’t seem worried at all, only waving his hand casually the moment before the water columns were about to strike him.
With a bang, the water columns all seemed to hit upon an invisible wall, unable to even wet the old man’s clothes.
“Your Soul is very powerful, but there is still a wide gap between our levels, didn’t this old master tell you so before?” The old man snickered towards Yang Kai sarcastically.
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, suddenly discovering that at some point, unbeknownst to him, this old man’s Spiritual Energy had infiltrated every part of his Knowledge Sea.
With Yang Kai’s entire Divine Sense submerged into his Knowledge Sea, at this moment, his main body was essentially defenceless.
But with the great battle between Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators taking place, attracting everyone’s complete attention, it was unlikely that anyone would notice his abnormal condition.
In other words, if Yang Kai was unable to handle this old man himself, he may really end up being controlled by him.
Waving his hand, Yang Kai summoned all the birds flying through the sky and all the fish swimming in the sea and sent them flying towards the old man.
The square faced old man’s expression became slightly dignified. Although it was true that his Soul was stronger than Yang Kai’s, but not to the degree he could outright ignore the latter. This Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage brat’s Divine Sense attack far exceeded what should normally be possible for one at his cultivation realm, forcing the old man to take it seriously.
An invisible energy was released from the Ye Family Grand Elder’s Soul phantom and intercepted the impetuous birds and fish.
With things having reached this point, neither the old man nor Yang Kai held anything back, leading to an Earth-shattering battle inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.
Fish burst into fluorescent lights and the birds fell from the sky. Yang Kai’s attack was unable to cause any substantial damage, but the old man’s face only became more and more dignified as time passed. The Spiritual Energy contained inside his Soul phantom was being drained at a noticeable rate, making his realize that defeating Yang Kai here would be far more difficult than he had imagined.
*Xiu…*
Above the five coloured island, the Soul type small sword artifact flashed a brilliant burst of light and shot out, causing the old man’s expression to no longer remain calm.
Although this Soul type artifact was only Heaven Grade Top-Rank, it was specially designed to damage a cultivators Soul, so to the old man’s Soul phantom, it was a particularly dangerous weapon.
Yang Kai now using it against was something the old man couldn’t ignore.
A series of visible Spiritual Energy threads glowing a faint green light appeared from the old man’s body and instantly wove into a great net that show towards the small sword.
The green net was extremely tough and when the small sword it could not immediately tear through it, instead it was as if the sword had sunk into a mire, its forward momentum greatly reducing.
When he saw this, the old man coldly snorted, “Yang Family brat, surrender peacefully. This old master has already given you enough face by not immediately capturing you, don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!”
“Stop pretending!” Yang Kai shouted, “If you could have done that why would you have bothered talking in the first place?”
The old man’s expression instantly cramped. Although he would never admit it, what Yang Kai just said was true.
Before infiltrating Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, he had never expected the other’s Spiritual Energy to be so strong, greatly impeding how quickly he could implement his plan.
During the conversation, the small sword finally broke through the green net and flew over to Yang Kai. Grasping the Soul type artifact in his hand, Yang Kai poured his Spiritual Energy into it without reservation, causing the palm sized sword to radiate a terrifying sword Qi.
Holding this small sword, Yang Kai grinned fiercely and rushed straight towards the old man. Before even arriving, Yang Kai used the palm sized sword to send out a sword wave comprised of Spiritual Energy several meters in length towards the old man.
The Ye Family Grand Elder’s face went pale as he loudly cursed, “Damn brat, you’re insane!”
The confrontation up until now had only been the two of them smashing their Spiritual Energy into their opponents. Even if their Souls were weakened somewhat, there wouldn’t be any lasting effects, but if either of their Soul phantoms was damaged, the consequences would be dreadful.
If the damage was light, one would suffer mental damage and degenerate into an idiot, if the damage was heavy, death would be instantaneous.
So when he saw Yang Kai’s Soul phantom so recklessly use this small sword, how could the old man not be shocked? What kind of madman would use this method to fight?
Yang Kai’s Soul type artifact quickly broke through several layers of the old man’s green Spiritual Energy woven nets and the two entered into close quarter combat range.
Although he was at an advanced age, the old man still had an instinctual fear of death.
Before exchanging a single blow, the old man’s courage faltered and he hurriedly retreated, putting as much distance as he could between himself and Yang Kai.
“Old dog, can you only flee like a coward!?” Yang Kai pursued while not missing the opportunity to viciously taunt the old man.
This place was Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, so Yang Kai had an absolute advantage. From the water below, he constantly sent out Divine Sense attacks to impede the old man’s escape.
How could the square faced old man have any time to respond?
“A moment ago, did you say you were going to control me? Come, come, tell me how you plan to do that.” Yang Kai laughed happily, as he spat out ever more intense ridicule, taking great pleasure in the old man’s awkward expression.
Inside the world of Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai and the old man’s Soul phantoms continued their game of cat and mouse around the five coloured island.
The old man is not willing to face Yang Kai head on with his Soul phantom, lest he encounter some kind of accident, while on the other hand, Yang Kai seemed full of vigor, chasing after him with dogged determination as if he made a vow to never rest until striking a killing blow.
Purely in terms of momentum, the old man had already lost.
But in reality, Yang Kai had no way to decisively defeat his opponent. Although this was his own Knowledge Sea, and although he was the true master of this place, never mind the gap in cultivation, the old man had nearly a hundred years more experience in the use of his Spiritual Energy than Yang Kai. As a result of this disparity in experience, the old man could safely evade Yang Kai’s pursuit.
While on the run, the old man could even afford to investigate the strange five coloured island.
The more he observed it, the more difficult it was for him to suppress his desire to possess it. He didn’t know what this five coloured island was, but that didn’t stop him realizing how extraordinary it was.
When the old man’s Soul phantom was near this island, he felt his Spiritual Energy noticeably increase and any loss he had experienced during this battle was quickly restored.
After only a moment, the old man understood that this mysterious five coloured island must be a supreme Soul treasure! This also explained why Yang Kai had such a powerful Soul even though he was only an Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage cultivator.
This five coloured island was the root of everything.
The value of this island may even be greater than that old Devil Lord’s promotion technique.
Realizing this, the old man’s breathing became slightly rushed.
He had used his Divine Sense to silently infiltrate Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea in order to find an opportunity to control the latter, and although things hadn’t gone according to his original plans, he had now discovered this priceless treasure.
This time, he had profited greatly!
Even if he had to damage his Soul phantom, he had to capture this little brat, the secrets and wealth hidden on him were capable of making anyone’s eyes go red, so the old man steeled his determination.
Seemingly aware of the change in the old man’s thoughts, Yang Kai’s expression became gloomy.
He had three secrets that he absolutely could not let those he didn’t have absolute trust in know.
First was the Wordless Black Book. This secret was so far known to no one, the second was the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus about which only Old Demon knew, and the third was the Myriad Drug Liquid.
Now his second biggest secret had been exposed to an enemy, causing the opposite party to covet the Soul Warming Lotus, Yang Kai’s murderous intent swelled.
No matter what, he couldn’t allow this old man to leave his Knowledge Sea safely and reveal this secret!
Responding to his intention, Yang Kai’s entire Knowledge Sea became violent and the number of attacks which flew towards the old man instantly multiplied.
However, in response, the old man suddenly stopped, turned around, and sneered disdainfully towards Yang Kai, “Yang Family brat, you’re still too tender!”
Yang Kai heart clenched and suddenly felt a sense of crisis.
The old man laughed wantonly, “Did you think you were chasing this old master? Hahaha, this old master was simply leading you around while he made his preparations yet you never even realized! Such youthful impetuousness!”
As he spoke, a multitude of deep green lights appeared mid-air and wove into a giant curtain that completely enveloped the five coloured island.
In an instant, Yang Kai suddenly felt the Soul Warming Lotus become isolated from his Knowledge Sea.
Yang Kai face went pale and he immediately gripped the small sword artifact and shot towards the green curtain without the slightest hesitation, wanting to destroy it.
“In your dreams.” The old man shouted angrily. After consuming a massive amount of his Spiritual Energy to arrange this green curtain, how could he allow Yang Kai to break it?
If Yang Kai succeeded in destroying his layout, it would waste all of his previous effort.
Letting out a great and waving his hand, a thin green net appeared around Yang Kai and tried to bind him in place.
Yang Kai turned around and slashed at this green net and although he cut several of its threads, he was unable to break through it entirely.
As the sense of crisis he felt grew even stronger, Yang Kai’s entire Knowledge Sea was seemingly affected as well, becoming turbulent and restless.
The old man on the other hand sneered, a smug, confident expression appearing on his face.
Just as the thin netting was about to wrap around Yang Kai, an astonishing pressure descended.
Suddenly, whether it was the old man or Yang Kai, neither of them could move a muscle, it was almost as if, under this pressure, both of their Souls would momentarily be crushed into dust.
The old man was dumbstruck, completely unaware of what had happened. Even if he was an old Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master and had a wealth of experience, he had never before felt such terrifying pressure.
The netting he had previously laid out to trap Yang Kai rapidly disappeared, like spring snow under a blazing sun.
Although Yang Kai was also exposed to this pressure, he was still much better off than the old man. This pressure seemed to be targeted towards the old man while Yang Kai only received some residual effects.
*Kacha…*
A crisp sound rang out.
As this sound echoed throughout Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, the two people were both stunned silent.
The two of them saw a horizontal crack appear on the oddly shaped object that had been floating above the five coloured island.
As if someone had torn a hole in the void, the crack slowly expanded, and as it expanded, the crushing pressure became stronger and stronger.
Inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, there was an unprecedented surge of violent wind.
The old man shuddered as his heart filled with an intense sense of crisis, making him almost want to collapse to the ground. His Soul phantom fluctuated unsteadily as a miserable howl emerged from his mouth.
As Yang Kai stared at the strange round object in the sky, he suddenly felt a cold chill throughout his body.
Since unsealing the seventh page of the Black Book, Yang Kai had repeatedly tried to unravel this strange object’s mysteries but had never once succeeded. Never had he expected that today, when he fell into a critical situation, this thing would suddenly show a reaction.
[What exactly is this thing?] Yang Kai stared at it tightly, wondering what it was, what it was doing, and what, if anything, he should be doing in response.
The crack continued to expand and under the ever increasing pressure, the formation the old man had painstakingly arranged was torn apart like strips of paper.
After a while, the crack expanded to its limit and after seeing what lay within it, both Yang Kai and the old man couldn’t help feeling a sense of absolute terror.
The old man cried out between his pitifully howls, “An eye?”
It was an eye!
A giant eye!
When Yang Kai first obtained this thing, he had made a guess about what it was; originally thinking it was some kind of fruit that looked like an eye.
However, it was a tightly closed eye.
Now, this single eye had finally opened.
Unlike an ordinary person’s eyes though, this one’s eyeball was jet black and had a golden pupil.
It radiated an imposing and majestic aura that made any who saw it give birth to the idea of bowing down and paying homage to it.
Although it was just a solitary eye, it stood there quietly above the treasure island like a supreme ruler, staring down at the old man in an overbearing manner, it was as if, before it, this Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master was nothing but an insignificant ant.
“Yang Family brat, what the hell is this!?” The old man screamed, attempting to gain some information from Yang Kai. Under the gaze of this eye, he felt like his Soul was under such great pressure it would be disintegrated in the next instant.
Obviously Yang Kai didn’t answer, his own thoughts racing.
In truth, he couldn’t answer even if he wanted to as he also didn’t know what this thing was.
Just as the old man was trying to make a last ditch struggle, a golden beam of light suddenly shot out from the solitary eye and washed over the Soul phantom of the old man.
Without the slightest sound, or the slightest movement, the Soul phantom of an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters was instantly purified, leaving behind only a large mass of pure Spiritual Energy gently floating mid-air.
Yang Kai was dumbstruck.
After completing all this, the giant eye, which had opened for some unknown reason, slowly closed and once again entered a mysterious state of dormancy.
However, Yang Kai faintly felt that before this solitary golden eye closed, it seemed to have stared at him, showing a slightly disappointed yet simultaneously gratified look.
Inside his Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai saw the weather once again become calm and the sun shine down. All kinds of fish continued to swim in the sea and the great flocks of birds leisurely flew through the sky.
Yang Kai remained in a daze for a while, but was unable to understand any of the golden eye’s mysteries, he quickly withdrew his consciousness.
Immediately upon exiting his Knowledge Sea, a series of shouts and screams reached his ear.
Looking towards the origin of these voices, what appeared in his vision were the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Eight Great Families.
The fat old man was supporting the body of the square faced old man as he anxiously called out, “Brother Ye, Brother Ye, what happened?”
Yang Li Ting also closely examined the situation but after a while he just slowly shook his head and muttered in a solemn voice, “He’s dead.”
Everyone, whether they were allies of Yang Kai’s or masters from the seven family coalition, immediately gawked, unable to believe what Yang Li Ting had just said.
An Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master… died?
“There’s no sign of injury; I don’t know what happened.” Yang Li Ting’s brow furrowed as he vigilantly scanned his surroundings.
The Ye Family’s square faced Grand Elder had almost the same strength as him, but he had suddenly died for no reason without suffering the slightest external injury. Did his vital essence run out, or was he secretly plotted against by someone?
The former possibility was unlikely. Yang Li Ting had been together with him for so many years, if he really was on the verge of death, as a fellow Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master, he would have also been somewhat aware of it.
Since he had never heard him say anything regarding this, it was all but certain he had not arrived at the end of his lifespan.
[Was he secretly poisoned?] Yang Li Ting couldn’t think of anyone who could kill an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master in front of so many people. In this world, no one had such skill; even the Demon Lord of the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land couldn’t accomplish this!
“What happened?” Yang Kai deliberately asked the nearby Blood Warriors.
Tu Feng swallowed hard and replied in a dignified voice, “I’m not clear. We didn’t see anything. All I can tell is that the Ye Family’s Above Immortal Ascension Boundary Grand Elder suddenly began to foam at the mouth and then collapsed to the ground like that.”
Yang Kai nodded lightly, his expression indifferent while inside he was once again astonished by the killing power of the solitary golden eye.
A superficial strike had completely erased the Soul of an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master.
The Ye Family old man’s Soul phantom carried all of his thoughts, so once it was destroyed, how could his body survive?
This solitary golden eye, what exactly was it?
Across the battlefield, the atmosphere suddenly became solemn, whether it was the remaining Eight Great Families’ Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters or Meng Wu Ya and Ling Tai Xu, all of these top level powerhouses deeply frowned as they pondered over this mystery.
Old Demon suddenly broke the silence with a callous chuckle, “Don’t make any absurd accusations that we used some underhanded means to kill him. When this incident occurred, all three of us were thousands a meters up fighting a battle, none of us had an opportunity nor method to accomplish this.”
Although Old Demon’s words give the impression that he was intentionally playing innocent, anyone present could tell he was speaking the truth.
When the Ye Family’s square faced Grand Elder fell to the ground, Meng Wu Ya, Ling Tai Xu, and Old Demon were still fighting high up above and had only returned to the ground after noticing the strange commotion.
The three of them never had an opportunity to do this, nor did anyone believe they possessed such a means of silently killing such a master, or else there would have been no need for them to agree to fight in the first place.
An Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master suddenly and inexplicably dying was an event momentous enough to shake the world itself. The masters from the Eight Great Families no longer had thoughts of seeking trouble with Yang Kai tonight.
This mysterious death of the Ye Family’s Grand Elder made everyone present nervous and uncertain about their security.
An unseen enemy silently being able to kill an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master would undoubtedly be able to kill anyone here without them being able to resist.
“Many thanks for your hospitality regarding tonight’s matters.” Yang Li Ting glanced over at Meng Wu Ya, Ling Tai Xu, and Old Demon, faintly saying, “In the future, I hope you will offer us your guidance once more.”
Delivering this nondescript message, he picked up the body of the Ye Family Grand Elder and flew towards the Seal Temple with the six other old men.
Meng Wu Ya and the other two masters didn’t move to block them, their display of strength tonight was only to secure Yang Kai’s safety.
“Collect our fallen comrades. We’re leaving.” Ye Xin Rou ordered the remaining members of the seven family coalitions in an absent minded voice.
Although all seven families had suffered losses during tonight’s operation, the biggest loser was definitely her Ye Family.
An Above Immortal Ascension Boundary inexplicably dying was a devastating blow to the Ye Family.
Soon, the fresh corpses of their allies were gathered and the invaders who had arrived in high spirits retreated into the night.
“What exactly happened?” Meng Wu Ya muttered, even he was confused as to how the square faced old man had suddenly died. As he asked this question, his eyes unconsciously drifted towards Yang Kai.
“Why are you looking at me?” Yang Kai said, “I didn’t do anything.”
This response made many people grin and chuckle under their breath.
While the Little Lord had many profound and mysterious methods, astonishing aptitude and potential, and could repeatedly create miracles, silently killing an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master was definitely beyond his abilities.
“I didn’t say it was you, stop acting so sensitive.” Meng Wu Ya rolled his eyes while in his head suddenly thinking of something.
If Yang Kai didn’t just deny responsibility, Meng Wu Ya would probably have never considered him as the culprit. Just now though, Yang Kai’s response seemed to only be a subconscious act, but the very fact he felt the need to deny involvement made Meng Wu Ya suspicious.
[Was this matter… really related to this little brat?] Meng Wu Ya was suddenly confused.
“We should also attend to our fallen.” Yang Kai said solemnly as he swept his eyes across the battlefield.
His allied forces all quickly dispatched some members to recover the corpses of their dead cultivators.
As the sky began to brighten slightly, the night’s fierce battle finally came to an end. Although it felt somewhat anticlimactic, with such an important even suddenly happening, there was really no choice but to temporarily cease hostilities.
However, after tonight’s battle, everyone in Yang Kai’s house realized one important truth.
The current situation was even more serious than what Yang Kai had anticipated. In other words, Yang Kai was in no way being an alarmist when he had previous warned them and may have actually been underestimating the severity of the current predicament.
He had really become enemies with the Central Capital Eight Great Families!
On top of that, the dispute was serious enough to force multiple Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters to intervene.
What skill or ability did Yang Kai possess in order to actually let the Central Capital’s super forces make such a move? Why did the Yang Family remain silent, completely disregarding Yang Kai’s existence?
None of them knew the answer to these questions, but all of them now realized the seriousness of the problem.
After a day of recuperation, many people not only showed no signs of recovering, but instead were even more distressed. The previous night’s battle had caused substantial damage. The death of multiple Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, for these forces, was a huge loss.
Everyone couldn’t help feeling a nervous and low-spirited.
Inside Treasurer Meng’s room, Yang Kai met with Meng Wu Ya, Ling Tai Xu and Old Demon to discuss the future.
“Little Yang Kai, what are your plans?” Meng Wu Ya, whose cultivation had returned to the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary, asked seriously.
Last night, both he and Old Demon hadn’t received much, if any damage, but today the two of them seemed somewhat listless.
“I’m going to leave here,” Yang Kai smiled forcefully and shook his head, “This place can’t accommodate me anymore.”
Meng Wu Ya nodded lightly, “You should have left long ago. Since you don’t want to become the Patriarch of the Yang Family, you shouldn’t have participated in the Inheritance War and gotten mixed up in this turbid water in the first place.”
Yang Kai sighed lightly, “My reason for participating in the Inheritance War was just to clear the Sect’s name, but it seems like that will be impossible now given my current situation.”
“Don’t feel embarrassed. Clearing the Sect’s name is the Sect’s responsibility, you don’t need to worry about such things,” Ling Tai Xu gently consoled him.
Yang Kai nodded gently, “I understand.”
Old Demon suddenly laughed and said, “Leaving here is for the best. Soaring through the vast sky and sailing across the broad sea, with Old Servant by your side to assist you, Young Master’s future achievements will no doubt reach an unprecedented height, at least a hundred times higher than that nonsense Yang Family Patriarch’s position. Just wait, when Young Master’s strength breaks through the pinnacle of this world and you return here, those shit Central Capital Eight Great Families will all beg for the chance to lick your feet.”
“Your words are too disgusting.” Yang Kai gave him a disapproving stare.
Meng Wu Ya shook his head and followed up, “Although the way he put it is truly disgusting, it’s still the best course of action for you to take right now. Moreover, we all feel that with your aptitude and potential, achieving this won’t be an issue. You are better suited to independent cultivation, not constrained by the shackles a Sect or family will impose on you. If you can’t break free from all these fetters, your future achievements will be limited.”
Yang Kai swept his eyes across the three old men in front of him and discovered that each of them had a strong look of confidence on their faces. Suddenly feeling heartened, he smiled and said, “Then, I will work hard to live up to all of your expectations.”
“En, very good.” Ling Tai Xu smiled, “You don’t have to worry about the Sect or its members, as long as this old master still draws breath, sheltering them won’t be an issue. As for your family, you don’t need to worry about your parents’ safety. Although the Yang Family has acted unfairly towards you, they won’t stir up future problems by causing trouble for your mother and father.”
“En, I know.” Yang Kai let out a long breath.
“Young Master, when do you plan to depart?” Old Demon asked.
“As soon as possible.” Yang Kai said, his expression becoming somewhat depressed as he did so. After investing so much time and effort, having to give up at the very end was still somewhat vexing.
“This old master needs a few days to recover; this old Devil Lord does as well.” Meng Wu Ya lightly coughed, “Ahem, well, take advantage of these few days to discuss things with the people in the house, they’ve paid a lot for you after all.”
Yang Kai nodded slightly before suddenly curiously asking, “Treasurer Meng, how did you and Old Demon suddenly break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary?”
Everyone was curious about the Heaven defying methods the two of them had used last night and Yang Kai was no exception.
Hearing this, Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon look at each other and suddenly laughed.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear about this matter too.” Ling Tai Xu showed a look of interest.
Meng Wu Ya thought for a moment before nodding lightly. With a wave of his hand, an invisible energy shrouded the room, isolating it from any form of outside investigation.
“This old master knows that the methods this old Devil Lord and I showed last night have definitely attracted a lot of attention and coveting.” Meng Wu Ya said while lightly scoffing, “But all of those brats at too short-sighted if they think that so long as they obtain our methods, they can duplicate our actions.”
Yang Kai was surprised, “Even if they know your methods it won’t do them any good?”
Old Demon nodded, “Correct, they probably realized that Old Meng’s method isn’t something they can learn from. But regarding the method Old Servant used, even if they obtain it, they won’t be able to have someone at the Peak Immortal Ascension realm break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.”
“Why?”
“Because the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary is a different from all previous realms, and without a certain foundation, it is impossible to achieve. In order words, without the proper understanding, the gap between the two realms can’t be bridged.” Old Demon said a few words but soon found he wasn’t able to properly describe what he meant and quickly gave up, “Old Men, you explain.”
Seeing Old Demon’s frustrated expression, Meng Wu Ya couldn’t help chuckling, “Simply put, Old Demon used to be an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, but since he lost his original body and had to seize a new one, his cultivation has fallen to the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary. However, since he has the foundation of an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary and understands its mysteries, he can use that Demon Specter Saint Technique to temporarily return to that realm.”
Yang Kai suddenly understood.
The Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary masters from the Eight Great Families all cultivated assiduously in order to reach the next realm, but before they successfully broke through, how could they understand its mysteries? So what did it matter even if they could cultivate the Demon Specter Saint Technique? They still wouldn’t be able to ascend to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.
“As for this old master, heh heh…” Meng Wu Ya grinned, “My cultivation is just sealed, all I did last night was break part of that seal.”
Yang Kai’s expression became slightly dignified at these words.
Even though he had speculated that this was the case, when Meng Wu Ya confirmed his suspicions, Yang Kai still found it difficult to believe.
Meng Wu Ya’s strength had really been sealed!
Did he seal it himself? Or was he plotted against and bound against his will?
If he had sealed his own cultivation, what were his reasons? If it was someone else’s doing, who was it that had such astonishing means?
No wonder Treasurer Meng constantly seemed to be shrouded in a veil of mystery and had always been reluctant to take action during the Inheritance War. Originally, it was for this reason.
Masters at the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary all cared deeply about their own dignity. How could they be willing to degrade their status by bullying others in something as trivial as the Inheritance War?
“But whether it’s this old master or this Devil Lord, although we used different methods to return to temporarily reach the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, we both suffered some backlash in doing so; I think you can see that from this old Devil Lord’s current complexion. So, if you want to leave here, you should wait for us to fully recover before setting out.”
No one knew whether the Eight Great Families would let Yang Kai leave here peacefully, so in order to ensure their success, it was necessary for Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon to be at full strength.
“Good, thing should be quiet for a few days anyways. I imagine that the Eight Great Families are currently too busy dealing with the Ye Family Grand Elder’s death to care about me.” Yang Kai snickered. “At some point, you need to tell me about the mysteries of the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary. “
“En, not a problem, with Old Servant next to Young Master, you’ll naturally learn about it when the time is right,” Old Demon replied.
After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai took out some Myriad Drug Cream and handed it to Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon, “This thing should help your restore yourselves.”
Ling Tai Xu’s expression suddenly became excited, “Is it that?”
Yang Kai nodded.
Meng Wu Ya glanced at Ling Tai Xu curiously, “What kind of treasure is this that it can cause such a great reaction from you?”
“Brother Meng, using this thing is what allowed me to break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.” Ling Tai Xu said lightly.
Meng Wu Ya couldn’t help being shocked and quickly used his Divine Sense to investigate the Myriad Drug Cream, after a long time asking in a startled voice, “There’s something of this grade in this place?”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he asked, “What grade is this?”
In truth, he was still unclear about what grade of treasure the Myriad Drug Liquid, Milk, and Cream were because no one had set a grade for them so far. Now, listening to Meng Wu Ya’s question, he naturally couldn’t help asking curiously.
Meng Wu Ya didn’t answer him though and instead inquired, “Is this what the Eight Great Families want?”
“Sort of.” Yang Kai nodded his head lightly, a slight suspicion welling up in his heart. He noticed that whenever it came to some high-end things, Meng Wu Ya would refuse to elaborate and swiftly change the topic. Yang Kai didn’t know why he did this.
But since he wasn’t willing to explain, Yang Kai didn’t press the issue any further.
“I can’t use this thing, you keep it.” Meng Wu Ya said while handing the fingernail sized dollop of Myriad Drug Cream back. Glancing over at Old Demon thoughtfully, he suddenly smiled and said, “Old Devil, you’re in luck. With this thing, you should be able to really break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.”
“Is this thing really helpful for people trying to break through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary?” Yang Kai heard this and was extremely happy. When Ling Tai Xu used the Myriad Drug Cream to break though, Yang Kai had thought it was just a coincidence, but now that Meng Wu Ya had said this, he realized that the preciousness of the Myriad Drug Cream was actually far above his original estimation.
“This thing contains a trace of the Heavenly Dao, which provides a strong assistance when breaking through the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary bottleneck, and since this old devil already has the necessary foundation, if he can’t break through, he should simply commit suicide.”
Old Demon snickered and quickly received the small piece of Myriad Drug Cream like he was accepting a priceless treasure.
“The time required for this thing’s formation must not be short, right?” Meng Wu Ya asked Yang Kai.
“Somewhere between five or six thousand years.” Yang Kai answered truthfully.
“Sounds about right, precipitating over thousands of years… A good treasure, very good. Unfortunately it can’t help me undo this seal.” Meng Wu Ya sighed.
“Then use some of this.” Yang Kai took out some Myriad Drug Liquid and handed it over.
Meng Wu Ya examined this liquid carefully for a moment before nodding, “This is also not bad. Although it’s not as pure or potent as the stuff you took out before, it’s still a rare treasure. It’s probably best used restoring injuries and, wait… this thing seems like it can also help people cleanse their bodies.”
“Treasurer Meng has good eyes.” Yang Kai casually flattered.
Meng Wu Ya snorted in response, “How could this old master’s eyesight be bad? How much more of this do you have?”
Yang Kai scratched his head in thought for a moment before casually reporting a number.
When the three old men heard how much of this treasure he possessed, all of their eyes bulged as they stared at Yang Kai.
“Give some to this old master’s apprentice, this thing is useless to me, but it will provide a tremendous boost to Chang’er.” Meng Wu Ya immediately said without the slightest bit of politeness.
“I already gave her some.”
Treasurer Meng suddenly understood, “No wonder her rate of cultivation has increased rapidly these last two years, it was because of this thing. The Mysterious Grade pills taken by the cultivators in your mansion also have some of this thing added to them, right?”
“En.”
Ling Tai Xu smiled wryly and shook his head, “The Yang Family really lifted a rock to pound their own foot this time.”
If they knew that Yang Kai had so much Myriad Drug Liquid on hand, how much would they regret their decision to coerce him into surrendering it?
If the Yang Family had treated Yang Kai well, not insisting he was a demon and insisting his cultivation be abolished, with the amount of resources Yang Kai possessed, he would definitely not mind giving them some advantages.
With so much Myriad Drug Liquid, Milk, and Cream in his possession, even if he liberally used it on his friends and relatives it would be far more than enough for a lifetime, so why would he not help improve his family’s strength?
However, the Yang Family’s various schemes to forcefully obtain this treasure had actually had the opposite effect and forced Yang Kai to rise up against them.
Leaving Meng Wu Ya’s room, Yang Kai next went to visit Qiu Yi Meng.
The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady hadn’t stabbed herself too deeply in the first place, so after Su Yan took care of her injury and a day of rest, she had basically made a full recovery.
Informing her of his decision, Qiu Yi Meng wore a bitter expression but didn’t offer any objections, now, in this situation, leaving was indeed Yang Kai’s best choice.
“Go and inform everyone to assemble in the main hall, I have something to say to all of them.” Yang Kai casually said.
Qiu Yi Meng was startled for a moment but instantly recovered. Understanding what he intended to do, she gently nodded and went out to gather everyone.
Although she had left Yang Kai’s house yesterday morning and brought people to attack it that same night, after the dust had settled, everyone understood her difficulties and no longer blamed her or Huo Xing Chen, instead having some sympathy for her circumstances.
Forced into opposing one’s former friends and allies, who among them could understand just how much pain they felt in their hearts?
Qiu Yi Meng was still the mansion’s second in command, no one could shake her position.
Inside the main hall, all the leaders of the various forces had gathered together, but everyone’s expression was a little down, even the most unruly Huo Xing Chen wore a serious look on his face at the moment.
Everyone waited quietly.
After a short while, Yang Kai stood up and began speaking, “The Inheritance War has continued for roughly ten months now. I, Yang Kai, am here today to offer my sincere thanks to all of you for your unwavering support through this difficult struggle. Although we nearly achieved victory numerous times, each time, circumstances would appear that caused us to unfortunately fall short. Now however, this battle is no longer the Inheritance War, so I am not planning to continue struggling pointlessly. I will leave here in a few days. For failing to live up to all of your expectations, I offer my apologies.”
No one said anything, all of them just staring at him quietly.
Everyone knew that Yang Kai making such a decision was because he had no other choice.
“As I said before, continuing to follow me will only make you an enemy of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families and will compromise the safety of the Sect or family behind you! Before, I was not certain this would be the result and had just meant to remind everyone, but after last night, this worry has become a reality. The current situation is not something you can take responsibility for, so I hope that each of you can carefully consider the wellbeing of your own Sects and families while deciding whether you will stay or go. Whatever your decision, I will not stop you, and if you must leave, I will do my best to compensate you for the losses you suffered this time. The Pill Room and Artifact Refining room had accumulated a lot of savings during this period, enough to assign a large portion to everyone.”
After finishing, Yang Kai stood there quietly, waiting.
Everyone looked at him, yet no one spoke. No one seemed to have plans to leave.
Yang Kai suddenly grinned wryly, “I’ve already decided to leave here and no longer participate in the Inheritance War, what point is there for you to remain? Even if we all part here, everyone will still be friends when we meet again the future; this is definitely not a final parting.”
Saying so, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became solemn as he continued, “To put it bluntly, if you choose to remain here, it will only endanger your Sect or family. Drawing a line with me now is the most sensible choice. I am not trying to scare you, I’m just speaking the truth. Some of you believe you have debts of gratitude to me, but after ten months of effort and suffering, know that you have already repaid more than I could ask for. You don’t owe me anything, so you should not feel the slightest guilt in leaving now.”
Dong Qing Han suddenly smiled and objected, “Why are you trying so hard to convince us? Didn’t you just say we have the right to choose our own course? When we decide it’s time to leave, we will naturally go. As for you talking about owing debts, I think it’s fair to say no one here owes anyone anything. Although each of our forces have suffered not insignificant losses, but… which of us hasn’t reaped greater gains? Those of us still standing here would not have our present cultivations if not for the constant supply of Mysterious Grade pills you provided. In fact, I estimate that without those pills each of us would need several years of hard work to obtain our current strength. On top of that, everyone who has survived till now have at least three high-grade artifacts which are unobtainable even for most first-class families.”
“You and I are relatives, you have no right to speak here.” Yang Kai shot him a glare.
Dong Qing Han couldn’t help rolling his eyes and shouting, “I’m not trying to defend you.”
“What Young Lord Dong said is exactly what I think.” Han Xiao Qi smirked as she stared at Yang Kai, “Do I have no right to speak?”
Yang Kai sighed, “I’m not trying to force you out, but now…”
“We understand.” Han Xiao Qi interrupted, realizing what Yang Kai’s difficulties were and wanting to say something more, but suddenly, a loud voice resounded outside the mansion.
“All people in Yang Kai’s house now hear this, helping a tyrant oppress the innocent, helping a villain do evil, such sins are unforgivable, but considering that many of you are young, impetuous, and inexperience, Young Lady Ye is willing to offer you a chance at redemption. As long as you cast off the demon Yang Kai and offer your services to Young Lady Ye, we will no longer pursue your crimes, if you continue to be obstinately oppose the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families, when the time comes, you will have only yourselves to blame for the consequences!”
The voice was like a great bell, echoing throughout all of War City, everyone in Yang Kai’s house clearly heard each and every word.
Once, twice, the message was shouted over and over again.
Yang Kai’s expression became strange for a moment before he sneered dismissively, “Ye Xin Rou is quite interesting, actually using this kind of trick.”
He was already preparing to leave, but he hadn’t expected to be able to see such an amusing show at the last minute.
“Trying to use intimidation?” Huo Xing Chen shook his head. Ye Xin Rou making people shout this message would probably really shake the hearts of some people here.
Consequences, what consequences?
According to what Yang Kai just said, naturally these people could connect the word ‘consequences’ together with the family or Sect behind them.
Some people in the crowd suddenly became hesitant, their expressions complex.
Not everyone here could swear to stand beside Yang Kai regardless of life or death. Moreover, even if they decide to leave now, Yang Kai was in no position to blame them.
“Little Lord.” Someone suddenly shouted.
Yang Kai looked over at the source of the voice and saw Tian Yuan City’s Liu Fei Sheng. Nodding his head lightly, he signaled the youth to continue, “Young Lord Liu, feel free to speak.”
“My Tian Yuan City… must leave!” Liu Fei Sheng turned red and said with great difficulty.
“A wise decision,” Yang Kai nodded firmly, without ridiculing or embarrassing him in the slightest and instead saying in a light tone, “For your efforts this time, I offer my thanks to Young Lord Liu and Tian Yuan City.” Turning to the side, he called out, “Bring the items.”
In response, several High Heaven Pavilion disciples, each of them holding a tray, entered the hall and quickly walked over to Liu Fei Sheng.
“These are ten bottles of Mysterious Grade Pills and five artifacts, a small token of my appreciation, please accept them, Young Lord Liu.”
“This…” Liu Fei Sheng couldn’t help but hesitate. From what he knew of Yang Kai’s personality, he had never imagined he would send him such a luxurious gift at this moment of parting.
He had been expecting the opposite party to thoroughly ridicule him and then kick him out of the house.
Turning his head and looking around, he saw no looks of disdain or ridicule, everyone in the main hall was just staring at him plainly. Facing this situation, Liu Fei Sheng couldn’t help feeling a bit ashamed and suddenly wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
The indifferent attitude of these people was more difficult for him to accept than ridicule would have been.
“Little Lord is far too generous, these past few months, this Liu did not provide any significant help. These things…” Speaking haltingly, his expression was filled with struggle and hesitation.
Although these five artifacts were high quality treasures, Liu Fei Sheng was the Young City Lord of Tian Yuan City so his status was not low. Obtaining such artifacts elsewhere was completely possible. However, the ten bottles of Mysterious Grade pills was not something he could ignore. These mere ten bottles could save him at least two or three years of hard work, giving him a distinct advantage in terms of cultivation versus his fellow peers.
“Take them,” Someone encouraged him.
“Very well, if this Liu were to refuse further, it would be disrespectful.” Liu Fei Sheng grit his teeth and accepted the ten bottles of pill and five artifacts, cupped his fists to Yang Kai and then turned to leave.
Yang Kai stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm and temperate as he continued to wait.
“Little Lord, we also must leave.” An Immortal Ascension Boundary master from the Duan Mu Family came forward and stated calmly.
The Duan Mu Family was originally the only ally of the Yang Family’s Third Young Lord, Yang Tie. On the first night of Inheritance War, Yang Tie had been eliminated and the majority of the Duan Mu Family cultivators had been killed. The five remaining masters had then come to offer their services to Yang Kai in accordance with Yang Tie’s instructions.
Last night, these five masters had all fought bravely, and now, only two of them remained.
They had only been following Yang Kai to avenge the deaths of their fellow Duan Mu Family members. This wish had already been realized, so now, with only the two of them barely being able to maintain their lives, they had no further desire to fight, especially since Yang Kai had already announced his plans to depart.
With the additional pressure of this situation compelling them, they naturally took this opportunity to leave.
Yang Kai nodded gently, “Many thanks two Seniors for all of your efforts during this conflict.”
Another group of High Heaven Pavilion disciples brought ten bottles of pills and five artifacts forward. The two Duan Mu Family masters gratefully accepted and then quickly left.
“Little Lord, my Purple Fern Valley will also be leaving.” Fan Hong stepped forward and smiled bitterly.
Yang Kai once again nodded and waved.
Fan Hong took the Mysterious Grade pills and artifacts, said his farewells to Yang Kai, and walk out.
After taking a few steps, he suddenly paused though and turned back to ask, “Junior Sister, are you coming with us?”
Obviously he was speaking to Luo Xiao Man.
Fan Hong and Luo Xiao Man were both from Purple Fern Valley so the two of them had a Junior Sister, Senior Brother relationship.
Luo Xiao Man shook her head slowly, “I wish to remain with Elder Sister Qiu. Senior Brother should leave without me.”
Fan Hong thought about it for a moment but didn’t force her to come with him, turning around and leaving without another word.
“Is there anyone else who must leave?” Yang Kai glanced around, “There’s no need to hesitate. There’s still enough time if you depart now. If you remain any longer, you’ll probably be declared an enemy by the Eight Great Families. Even if you don’t fear such a fate, you should also consider your own family and Sect before making a rash decision.”
“There’s no need to say any more,” Hu Jiao Er snorted, “Those who are still here probably have no intention of leaving.”
All those who still sat in the main hall nodded in unison.
The ones who had just left were the forces that had joined Yang Kai’s mansion because of various circumstances while everyone here now had joined the Inheritance War solely because they wanted to support Yang Kai.
“En.” Chen Xue Shu nodded. “Brother Yang, you just said that you will leave here shortly, so when you leave, we will too. What, it’s just a few days, would the Eight Great Families really be petty enough to care about such a small delay?”
Looking around at all of the determined faces, Yang Kai remained silent for a moment before nodding, “Good, then everyone will set out together a few days from now.”
“Good good, everyone attend to your own affairs.” Dong Qing Han casually shouted, since it had been decided that everyone will leave in a few days, the crushing pressure that had been weighing on all of their shoulders suddenly vanished.
The only thing that made them feel a little depressed was that after fighting and suffering together for so long, they would soon have to separate.
In one’s life, there were few people one could truly depend upon to stand beside them in the face of death, but those in this house were all such friends!
Soon, only Yang Kai and Qiu Yi Meng remained in the hall.
Yang Kai looked at Qiu Yi Meng with a smile, “What do you want to say?”
Qiu Yi Meng slowly shook her head, “Nothing, I just feel all of this is somewhat regretful. It’s too unfair to you.”
Yang Kai stood up and walked out a few steps, letting out a light sigh, “This is the way of the world, moreover, I had never thought life was being unfair to me. At the very least I have given it my all. Beauty, can you not look at me like I’m some kind of lost puppy? I haven’t fallen so far yet, have I?”
Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t help letting out a light laugh at these words and the room suddenly became a lot brighter.
“You and Huo Xing Chen have to leave quickly, staying here for too long will not do you any good.”
The two youths had both used some deceptive methods in order to return to Yang Kai’s mansion, one of them particularly shoddy at that, but with all of those Eight Great Family masters present, how could no one have seen through their little charade
“My injury hasn’t fully healed yet, it will probably take a few days for me to be able to move about freely.” Qiu Yi Meng spit out her tongue playfully, she also wanted to spend these last few days together with everyone in the mansion.
Yang Kai smiled wryly and nodded, but suddenly, his brow furrowed.
For some reason he didn’t understand, the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia inside his body suddenly became slightly restless, like some strange power was trying to summon them.
This discovery made him quite surprised and he hastily circulated his True Qi in order to suppress these two artifact’s trembling.
Before he could figure out what had just happened, a dignified voice resounded outside his mansion, “Supreme Solitary Sect’s Li Yuan Chun has come to visit. Might this be the house of the Yang Family’s Youngest Young Lord, Yang Kai?”
When this voice rang out, the expression of both Yang Kai and Qiu Yi Meng suddenly became strange.
At the same time, both Meng Wu Ya’s and Ling Tai Xu’s voices reached Yang Kai’s ear, “This person is an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master!”
“Supreme Solitary Sect?” Qiu Yi Meng’s wrinkled her brow, “The super force of the Endless Sea Islands? What are they doing all the way out here? Why do they seem to be looking for you?”
Yang Kai was also quite shocked but quickly recovered his calm and grinned, “It’s really an eventful time.”
He also immediately understood why the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia had suddenly tried to leave his control; it was probably not just the Supreme Solitary Sect that had come.
Outside the house, a large group of people were bustling about with a grey haired, ruddy complexioned old man at their head. This group of at least fifty people were all Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators and a large number of them were actually peak level masters.
After Li Yuan Chun yelled, one of the people beside him excitedly shouted, “I can feel it, my Asura Sect’s Hallowed Treasure, the Asura Sword, it’s really here.”
Nearby, a beautiful and enchanting female, her fingernails all painted jet black and a thick malevolent aura swirling about her, also delicately whispered, “The scent of my Falling Blossom Temple’s Hallowed Treasure, the Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia, is also present.”
The man who spoke earlier quickly added, “It’s a pity that the Asura Sword has been refined by someone, so even if I use my Sect’s secret method I can’t easily recover it.”
Li Yuan Chun nodded lightly, “Since Ancient Cloud Island recovered its Broken Moon Transformation Art more than three years ago from Red Cloud Sect, all of our Endless Sea Islands Sects have searched tirelessly for the Hallowed Treasures that were stolen from us three hundred years ago. Now, at last, we’ve discovered their whereabouts, so all of us should not act impulsively. Our best option is to discuss things peacefully; after all, this is not the Endless Sea Islands, it’s not wise to act arrogantly in another’s territory.”
“All of us understand this point and will follow Senior Li’s lead.” All of the others nodded lightly in agreement.
As they were speaking though, Li Yuan Chun’s face showed a trace of suspicion. The representative from Asura Sect had sensed the aura of their Asura Sword while those from the Falling Blossom Temple had detected the presence of their Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia, but why couldn’t he sense any trace of his sect’s Supreme Solitary Seal?
According to the intelligence gathered by the Endless Sea Islands’ great Sects, all of their Hallowed Treasures should have been obtained by a single person and should thus all be in one place.
As all of these people discussed amongst themselves, they couldn’t help occasionally glancing over at a lone young girl standing not far away.
This young woman had a potent charm about her.
Long hair that seemed to dance in the wind, thin delicate eyebrows, a pair of bright slender eyes, a dainty pointed nose, a fragrant scent of flowers wafting from her body, plump red lips, snow white skin that was filled with a glowing radiance, a graceful figure that was perfectly proportioned.
However, what was especially interesting about this little girl was that at such a young age she had already reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary.
Many people were secretly surprised and even Li Yuan Chun couldn’t help sighing slightly at the strength of Inland cultivators, a little girl they had randomly met actually possessed such strength.
Although this girl had arrived here at the same time as them, she was not part of their group.
The young woman stood a distance apart from the crowd and while remaining silent, she was also quite vigilant of these people from the Endless Sea Islands, like a little crouching tiger, a scene which made many people present feel a little amused.
While this group of visitors waited outside the house, inside, Yang Kai gave Qiu Yi Meng a simple summary of his past experiences in the Endless Sea Islands.
In the past, he had traveled to the Endless Sea Islands for life experience, had been ‘recruited’ by Red Cloud Sect, and then taken to Hidden Island. On Hidden Island, Yang Kai had acquired the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus as well as the Hallowed Treasures of many of the Endless Sea Islands’ forces.
So far, of these Hallowed Treasures, he had only used the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia.
Although Yang Kai had been very careful, the number of times he had used these two artifacts these past few years had not been small. If the forces from the Endless Sea Islands investigated persistently, it wasn’t surprising for them to have found some clues after such a long time.
It was probably because of this that the group of visitors outside had traveled ten thousand kilometers from the Endless Sea Islands to retrieve the Hallowed Treasures their Sects had lost three hundred years ago.
“So it’s like this.” Qiu Yi Meng listened and nodded; this was also the first time she had learned of this incident. “Returning others’ Hallowed Treasures is really the right thing to do, but you’re not in the wrong here. All you did was accidentally obtain these items. However, now that they’re here looking for their treasures, what are planning to do?”
“Talk with them first.” Yang Kai laughed. The Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia had provided him with a great deal of help these past three years, but as his cultivation advanced, and after obtaining two Mysterious Grade artifacts at Po Jing Lake, the role these two Heaven Grade artifacts could play became smaller and smaller.
In the first place, Yang Kai didn’t like depending on the power of artifacts to enhance his strength.
Therefore, if the conditions were right, he didn’t mind returning these things. In any case, keeping them was of no use to him and if these people were determined to take their Sects’ Hallowed Treasures back, refusing them strongly would only attract unnecessary hostility.
After delaying to explain things to Qiu Yi Meng, the shouts coming from outside Yang Kai’s mansion became a bit louder and more urgent.
Hearing these anxious calls, Yang Kai smiled and said, “Let’s go out and have a look.”
Qiu Yi Meng nodded lightly and hurriedly followed.
When he came outside, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling surprised at the number and strength of the assembled cultivators.
These people should have come prepared, otherwise they wouldn’t have put together such a strong lineup. This was especially true of their leader, who was an old man that gave Yang Kai a great sense of pressure.
He was obviously an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master.
Seeing Yang Kai coming out, countless pairs of eyes fixed upon him.
Li Yuan Chun smiled warmly and took the initiative to inquire, “May I ask, are you the Yang Family’s Little Lord, Yang Kai?”
“Indeed, and you are…”
“Supreme Solitary Sect, Li Yuan Chun.”
“Asura Sect, Ye Fang.”
“Falling Blossoms Temple, Hua Duan Hun… hehe.”
“Scarlet Tradition Sect, Xu Qian Hao.”
“Gemini Island…”
“Cloud Dragon Island…”
The people from the major Endless Sea Islands Sects introduced themselves one after another as they carefully examined Yang Kai. The more they looked though, the more surprised they felt. The young woman who had been waiting outside with them had already caused them quite a shock, but now seeing Yang Kai, many of them were genuinely dumbstruck.
The Yang Family’s Little Lord was no doubt younger than the young girl from before but he actually had an Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage cultivation.
Yang Kai nodded his head as he swept his eyes over the crowd, but when his gaze landed on the young woman standing slight apart from everyone else, his expression suddenly became a bit strange, “Bi Luo?”
The young woman coldly snorted, obviously not happy to see Yang Kai.
Qiu Yi Meng also turned her eyes towards this lone young woman, and after recognising Bi Luo, she was equally astonished, unconsciously casting a glance over at Yang Kai, her pretty face suddenly showing an ambiguous look.
Bi Luo was the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land Beguiling Demon Queen Shan Qing Luo’s most trusted maid. When Qiu Yi Meng and Luo Xiao Man were put under house arrest by Shan Qing Luo, Bi Luo had been the one they interacted with the most. Moreover, that one day, when they had intruded on Bi Luo and Yang Kai….
Now seeing this girl again, Qiu Yi Meng couldn’t help thinking of the scene that day, recalling the milky white liquid at the corner of Bi Luo’s lips…
Suddenly her face went bright red.
Yang Kai’s expression also went through a series of changes, involuntarily fixing his eyes on Bi Luo’s thin, delicate mouth.
[This little mouth… wasn’t bad…]
“So Young Master Yang and this girl are old acquaintances,” Li Yuan Chun smiled, “We also met her just now, we didn’t come here together.”
“I know.” Yang Kai nodded, Li Yuan Chun and others were from the Endless Sea Islands while Bi Luo was from the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, and obviously they had not traveled here together.
[But, what is Bi Luo doing here?] Yang Kai suddenly felt a trace of uneasiness.
“I know why all of you are here; please come inside where we can talk.” Yang Kai gestured, stepping back and opening the way.
Listening to his words, everyone from the Endless Sea Islands smiled happily, the looks they sent him becoming significantly warmer. At the very least, he didn’t deny having obtained their Hallowed Treasures.
Did this mean that he was willing to return their stolen property?
Wondering about this in their hearts, everyone entered the house one by one.
“Bi Luo, you come in too.” Yang Kai casually said.
“You go first, I don’t want to get too close to you.” Bi Luo spat, since that day’s incident where she had eaten such a big loss at Yang Kai’s hands, she had developed a deep wariness towards him.
Yang Kai laughed awkwardly despite trying not to but didn’t insist, simply nodding towards Qiu Yi Meng, “Take care of her.”
“En,” Qiu Yi Meng gently nodded and walked over to Bi Luo with a smile, “Ms Bi Luo, it’s been quite a while.”
“It’s you.” Bi Luo suddenly smiled charmingly, “It really has been a long time.”
Saying so, she rushed up and grabbed Qiu Yi Meng’s hand pulling her closer in a very intimate manner.
Although Qiu Yi Meng felt her behaviour was a little strange, she didn’t think much of it, brushing it off as Bi Luo acting warmly towards her, allowing her to hold her hand as the two of them walked into the house.
“That little girl with the big chest?” Bi Luo’s beautiful pair of eyes flashed a brilliant radiance as she asked Qiu Yi Meng.
“You mean Xiao Man?” Qiu Yi Meng showed a faint smile, “She’s also here. You can see her later.”
“Really? Great!” Bi Luo smiled, her expression filling with expectation.
Inside the main hall, the Endless Sea Islands visitors all took a seat and Yang Kai had the maids serve everyone tea. The scene was peaceful, as if all of them were indulging in the tea’s flavour, seemingly not in any rush to discuss the purpose of their visit.
Yang Kai also didn’t take the initiative to say anything, instead just sipping his tea while watching Bi Luo act slightly discourteously towards Qiu Yi Meng.
The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady also noticed that something was wrong as Bi Luo persistently held and stroked her hand, praising her skin for its smoothness while asking her how she maintained her beauty, from time to time even boldly touching her waist and chest.
Qiu Yi Meng complexion was a deep shade of crimson by now.
Unfortunately, under the gaze of such a big crowd, it was not appropriate for Qiu Yi Meng to make a fuss. Therefore, the only thing she could do was send pleading glaces to Yang Kai for help.
Of course, Yang Kai pretended he saw nothing.
After a while, Li Yuan Chun smiled and said, “Young Master Yang is really a dragon amongst men. Although we have heard a lot about the Yang Family Inheritance War on our way here and know of some of Young Master Yang’s accomplishments, upon arriving at your house today, this old master fully realized that the rumors were not hollow. Young Master Yang’s mansion is filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons, it is truly astonishing.”
“Senior flatters me too much.” Yang Kai said lightly, “The Inland cannot compare to the Endless Sea Islands. The Endless Sea Islands are full of rich World Energy and contains countless Precious Treasures; it is a cultivation paradise I greatly envy.”
Li Yuan Chun laughed happily, “The Endless Sea Islands has the conveniences of the Endless Sea Islands while the Inland also has its unique advantages; however, listening to Young Master Yang’s words, it seems you really have been to the Endless Sea Islands before.”
“En, a few years ago I visited the Endless Sea Islands once and almost met misfortune at the hands of Red Cloud Sect.”
Li Yuan Chun eyes narrowed slightly, “The Red Cloud Sect that was destroyed by Ancient Cloud Island?”
“Indeed.”
“Ancient Cloud Island’s Island Master, Gu Feng found his Sect’s Broken Moon Transformation Art which they had lost three hundred years ago in the hands of Red Cloud Sect several years ago. So everything was arranged by Young Master Yang.”
“En, I had some grievances with Red Cloud Sect, but at that time I was too weak so I had no other option but to use Ancient Cloud Island to destroy them.”
Li Yuan Chun inhaled a sharp breath, “Young Master Yang’s methods are impressive!”
Everyone else in the room also wore slightly solemn expressions.
Three years ago, how old was the young man in front of them? However, using a single little trick he had actually caused the destruction of an entire Sect. Such decisiveness and ability was really not something an average man could possess.
“Since Young Master Yang found the Broken Moon Transformation Art, did you also happen to obtain several other treasures?” Li Yuan Chun stared at Yang Kai expectantly.
“I indeed obtained many treasures.” Yang Kai smiled and summoned a crimson sword to his hand and a blood red flower filled with murderous intent atop his other palm.
A touch of floral fragrance soon filled the air.
“Asura Sword!”
“Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia!”
Asura Sect’s Ye Fang and Falling Blossom Temple’s Hua Duan Hun’s faces lit up as the leapt to their feet and stared greedily at the Heaven Grade artifacts in Yang Kai’s hand.
Their Sects had been searching for more than three hundred years for these Hallowed Treasures but had never discovered any trace of them. Now that they had appeared in front of their eyes, how could they not be excited?
“Sit down!” Li Yuan Chun lightly shouted.
Ye Fang and Hua Duan Hun’s expression became unwilling, but after hesitating for a moment, both of them returned to their seats. However, their eyes never left their respective Sect’s Hallowed Treasure.
Yang Kai smiled slightly and didn’t show the slightest bit of tension, casually placing the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia, remaining calm and composed even as all the Endless Sea Islands masters stared towards him.
Li Yuan Chun lightly coughed and asked seriously, “Young Master Yang, you said that all of our Hallowed Treasures are currently in your possession, so why can this old master not sense his Sect’s Supreme Solitary Seal?”
Even if Yang Kai had managed to somehow refine the Supreme Solitary Seal and take it into his body, Li Yuan Chun should still be able to perceive its presence.
The Supreme Solitary Seal was the Hallowed Treasure of the Supreme Solitary Sect.
“The Supreme Solitary Seal requires Supreme Solitary Sect’s unique Secret Art in order to refine it so I obviously haven’t. Instead, I stored it and all of the other treasures I obtained in a safe location,” Yang Kai responded with a light smile.
All of these things were currently stored in his Black Book space, so Li Yuan Chun and the other Endless Sea Islands’ masters naturally couldn’t sense them.
“So that’s how it is.” Li Yuan Chun nodded lightly, his confusion abating, “This old master greatly admires Young Master Yang frank and sincere transparency about these matters.”
Before coming here, they were afraid that the other party would refuse to acknowledge anything, so they had first prepared to approach the situation with courtesy and then force. Otherwise, they would not have sent out more than fifty Immortal Ascension Boundary masters lead by an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary powerhouse.
It could be seen from this show of force just how much importance they attached to this matter.
Just as Yang Kai had suspected, a few years ago, when Ancient Cloud Island suddenly found their long lost Broken Moon Transformation Art on Red Cloud Island, the other Endless Sea Islands’ forces all sent representatives to Ancient Cloud Island to inquire about their own Hallowed Treasures; unfortunately, they didn’t learn anything useful at the time.
After everyone calmed down and analysed the situation, they felt that the Broken Moon Transformation Art suddenly appearing on Red Cloud Island was unnatural and inferred someone had planted stolen goods in order to shift blame onto Red Cloud Sect.
But since someone had used this trick of planting stolen goods and genuinely obtained Ancient Cloud Island’s Broken Moon Transformation Art, it was possible he had also obtained all of their Hallowed Treasures as well.
Over the past three years, the Endless Sea Islands forces had frequently sent people to inquire about Inland news and Yang Kai frequently using the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia had naturally allowed them to glimpse a few clues. After obtaining confirmation of this information, seeing a glimmer of hope, all of them had assembled this group and rushed here.
Now that their suspicions had been confirmed, everyone was inevitably very excited.
“Young Master Yang must know that although these items aren’t too valuable, some of them even having no use for cultivators, they all hold special significance for our Endless Sea Islands Sects. Each of these items is a treasure passed down from our Sects’ Ancestral Founders and many of them are even considered to be our Sects’ Sect Master tokens.” Li Yuan Chun did not rely on his age, cultivation, or identity to oppress Yang Kai but instead spoke in a sincere tone.
Yang Kai nodded lightly. He had long known this information. Some of the things that he had obtained on Hidden Island were really useless and could only be used as tokens.
“As such, the purpose of this old man and these various elders, Young Master Yang must be clear about.” Li Yuan Chun paused for a moment to carefully consider his words, hesitating for a moment before asking, “Might I ask, Young Master Yang, what conditions do you have in order to return these items to us?”
“That depends on what all of you can offer.” Yang Kai slowly shook his head and intentionally didn’t set an opening price.
He really didn’t care about what these things he had obtained on Hidden Island. Even the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia weren’t too important to him anymore. With the improvement of his strength, these two artifacts now had little value to him, but him handing all of these things over for free was also impossible.
He wasn’t a charitable man, if they wanted these Hallowed Treasures back, they had to show him some sincerity.
Especially at this time. Yang Kai had been entangled by so many things, which added frustrations onto more frustions. Finally, when the Endless Sea Islands forces and ran up to him, Yang Kai had already locked his schemes onto them.
“This…” Li Yuan Chun suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. This time, when they had set out on this journey, none of them had brought along anything precious or valuable things, so hearing Yang Kai suddenly ask for a show of sincerity, they naturally felt a bit helpless.
The Endless Sea Island’s people hadn’t thought Yang Kai would be so amiable and were caught off guard. Their original intention was to use force when negotiations broke down. In any case, they came from the Endless Sea Islands, so the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families had no influence over them.
Even if a battle broke out, as long as they retrieved their Hallowed Treasures and returned to the Endless Sea Islands, the Eight Great Families’ complaints and threats would be nothing more than farts.
However, the auras coming from the masters inside Yang Kai’s house had made Li Yuan Chun and the other Endless Sea Island envoys’ original plan invalid. If they really started a fight, it wasn’t certain who would win. Not to mention, only the Asura Sword and Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia had appeared while all the other Hallowed Treasure’s locations was still unknown.
If they really were to provoke this Yang Family brat, it would not do anyone any good.
“En, what Young Master Yang says is reasonable.” Li Yuan Chun was an old fox and quickly found a way to stall for time, turning to Yang Kai and asking, “Can you give us a moment to discuss this matter?”
Yang Kai smiled and nodded patiently.
The masters from the Endless Sea Islands all began exchanging meaningful glances, seemingly conversing with each other using their Divine Senses.
At this time, Yang Kai turned his attention to Bi Luo and asked, “Bi Luo, what brings you here?”
Bi Luo was still fondly holding onto Qiu Yi Meng, causing the latter to becoming increasingly uncomfortable. She had wanted to pull her hand away several times but had not succeeded as of yet, so when she Yang Kai’s question, Qiu Yi Meng suddenly let out a sigh of relief overjoyed.
Bi Luo gawked for a moment before suddenly standing up and saying, “I almost forgot, Mistress let me convey you a message.”
“Oh, what message?”
“Leave here as soon as possible, the Holy Land’s forces are coming.”
“What?” Yang Kai instantly discolored, “Where exactly are planning to go?”
“Here,” Bi Luo said in a dignified tone, “When you Yang Family initiated the Inheritance War, the Eight Great Families forces were split, so the plan is to first level War City then proceed to attack the Central Capital. All Six Great Evil Kings and their armies, led by the Demon Lord himself, have set out. It’s impossible for War City to withstand such an assault, so you should escape quickly.”
“When will they arrive?” Yang Kai asked in a deep voice, realizing the situation was far worse than he had imagined.
“Tonight!” Bi Luo replied, the corners of her lips unconsciously rising slightly.
“Such an important matter, why didn’t you say so sooner!?” Yang Kai roared furiously, but soon noticed the slightly smug look on Bi Luo’s face, realizing she had done all of this deliberately.
If he hadn’t asked her, she may not have ever said anything.
[This woman…]
Yang Kai wished he could spank her red right now!
Under orders from Shan Qing Luo, Bi Luo arriving here to give him a warning was already more than Yang Kai could have asked for; however, he knew just how infatuated this young woman was with Shan Qing Luo, so Yang Kai understood that Bi Luo was actually looking forward to him dropping dead.
Qiu Yi Meng was also dumbstruck, only recovering after a moment of stunned silence and asking, “You mean, the Demon Lord is leading the Six Great Evil Kings here?”
“As well as all of the Holy Land’s masters.” Bi Luo quickly added.
“Their courage isn’t small!” Qiu Yi Meng said coldly, “Since when as my Eight Great Families so easily bullied?”
“Do you think you can resist?” Bi Luo looked at Qiu Yi Meng mockingly, “Since the people from the Holy Land dare to come here, they definitely have complete confidence in obtaining victory. I’ll tell you now, you can’t stop them.”
“How many Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters does your side have?” Qiu Yi Meng didn’t squabble with her, instead hurriedly seeking for useful information.
“A dozen or so. Except for my Mistress’s territory where only she had achieved this realm, all of the other Kings have at least two such masters.”
“Shan Qing Luo also broke through?” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling stunned. When they had last parted, she was still just a Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator. But now, after a little more than a year, Shan Qing Luo had actually reached the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.
The Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land’s Six Great Evil Kings had always been Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, or rather, in order to become a true Great Evil King, one had to reach such a realm. On top of that, each of them possessed astonishing strength.
If not for these powerhouses, the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land would have collapsed when it was besieged more than a year ago.
“A trivial dozen people, War City alone has seven Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters standing guard.” Qiu Yi Meng snorted, even though she said so, she also knew that the situation wasn’t optimistic.
However, Bi Luo just slowly shook her head, her enchanting little face showing a hint of disdain, “It’s useless. Forget about the seven people here, even if your Eight Great Families sent out all of their Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, you still wouldn’t be able to stop the Demon Lord. Sir Demon Lord is a little different; Mistress told me that in this world, no one is his opponent. If he wanted to, it would only take him a single move to defeat an ordinary Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master, and kill one within three moves.”
Qiu Yi Meng’s beautiful face paled at these words.
“Not to mention, besides Sir Demon Lord, there are also the Thunderbolt Beast King, Tyrannical Force King, Profound Yin Ghost King, Lightning Flash Shadow King, Annihilating Poison King, and Beguiling Demon Queen. Among these six, my Mistress is by far the weakest.” Bi Luo said bluntly.
“Yang Kai, what should we do?” Qiu Yi Meng asked in a hurry, such an important matter suddenly arising had affected even her, causing her to feel slightly muddleheaded.
Perhaps, if Yang Kai wasn’t here she would be able to maintain her calm and make appropriate decisions, but with someone around she could rely on, Qiu Yi Meng suddenly became somewhat dependant on him.
Yang Kai’s expression was solemn as he stared at Bi Luo.
Since Bi Luo herself had come to deliver this message, it was unlikely to be a lie. Although Shan Qing Luo was also one of the Six Great Evil Kings, but from his contact with her, Yang Kai felt she wasn’t a wicked woman. In the first place, sending Bi Luo here to warn him about this was pointless if it weren’t true. Doing that had absolutely no advantage for her either way.
“Qiu Yi Meng, you go to the Seal Temple with Huo Xing Chen and inform the seven Grand Elders about this news.” Yang Kai took the initiative and said directly.
“Good,” Qiu Yi Meng nodded, quickly asking, “If they ask how I obtained this information… what should I say?”
“The truth!”
Qiu Yi Meng smiled bitter and stood, “I’ll head out now.”
The seven Grand Elders would definitely ask about the source of this intelligence, and if she answered truthfully, whether they believed her or not, it would only further convince them that Yang Kai was guilty of colluding with Demons.
Having a ‘relationship’ with the Beguiling Demon Queen, if that wasn’t collusion then what was?
However, with disaster fast approaching, Yang Kai had no way to conceal this point any longer.
As Yang Kai was hastily making arrangements, Bi Luo just sat to the side quietly, neither hindering nor helping him in any way, as if all of this had nothing to do with her.
After Qiu Yi Meng left, Yang Kai also hurriedly walked towards the exit.
“Young Master Yang…” Li Yuan Chun couldn’t sit still and quickly shouted; after traveling ten thousand kilometers in order to find the Hallowed Treasures of their respective Sects and even basically reaching an agreement with Yang Kai, how could these Endless Sea Islands envoys not feel anxious with such a sudden development?
In the unlikely event that Yang Kai died in this conflict, who could they look for in order to retrieve their property?
“Everyone, do wait here for now!” Yang Kai didn’t have time to pay attention to them and immediately disappeared out the door.
Li Yuan Chun’s expression became quite ugly.
The Endless Sea Islands masters all glared towards Bi Luo bitterly. If it weren’t for her delivering this news, they could be settling things with Yang Kai now.
Being stared at by so many masters caused Bi Luo to feel quite unnerved, so she quickly got up and left.
Arriving outside the Blood Warrior’s quarters, Yang Kai whistled loudly and in the next moment, nine figures flew over and assembled before him.
“What are Little Lord’s orders?” Tu Feng asked.
“All of you follow me.” Yang Kai didn’t halt his footsteps and hurriedly walked toward Meng Wu Ya’s room while trying to come up with a plan in his head.
Reaching Meng Wu Ya room soon after, Yang Kai unceremoniously kicked open the door, ignored the angry glare of Treasurer Meng, picked up a brush and paper from the nearby desk and began writing a letter.
“What the hell is all this about, why are you acting so flustered?” Meng Wu Ya called out in a disgruntled voice. Ling Tai Xu was also shocked by this sudden intrusion and looked suspiciously towards Yang Kai.
“The Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land’s forces are on their way here.” Yang Kai quickly summarized the information he had received from Bi Luo. Upon hearing this shocking news, everyone in the room paled and quickly asked about the reliability of this intelligence.
“Ninety percent certain.” Yang Kai replied seriously and then handed the letter he had just written to Ying Jiu, “You return to the Yang Family and give this letter to my father.”
“Yes.” Ying Jiu took the letter and shot off like a bolt of lightning.
Of all the Blood Warriors, he was the fastest, so the mission of messenger was naturally given to him.
“What are you planning to do?” Meng Wu Ya asked solemnly.
“Leave here. If we depart quickly, there should still be enough time.” Yang Kai took a deep breath and replied. Although there were many powerful masters in his house, the majority of the people here, many of whom were Yang Kai’s personal friends, had yet to even reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary. If they were really involved in a battle with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, all of them would likely die.
The Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land had obviously been preparing for this campaign for quite some time and had chosen to strike at the height of the Yang Family Inheritance War when the strength of the Eight Great Families had been split between two cities. War City’s defense was not as strict as that of the Central Capital so it was all but certain that this place would be completely destroyed.
Continuing to remain here was definitely unwise.
All he could do now was let Qiu Yi Meng and Huo Xing Chen rush to the Seal Temple to warn the seven Grand Elders about the severity of this situation while Ying Jiu returned to the Yang Family with his letter to inform his parents so they could allow the Yang Family to prepare.
With this, he has already done all that he can.
Listening to him lay out his plan; Meng Wu Ya also nodded gently, “A wise choice.”
“Tu Feng, relay my orders, let everyone in the house prepare, within half an hour everyone must be ready to set out.”
“Yes.” Tu Feng immediately left spread the word.
Soon, everyone in the house began moving. Although no one understood what exactly was going on, when they saw the solemn expression on Tu Feng’s face, they knew that the situation was serious.
The younger generation leaders all hurriedly came to ask Yang Kai for more information, but when they got the answer, all of them were dumbstruck.
“Impossible. The Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land making such a big movement, why haven’t we received any news about this?” Zuo Fang muttered.
Dong Qing Han’s brow furrowed deeply as he replied, “I’m afraid that there are no living witnesses from the places that have been attacked.”
The Demon Lord, Six Great Evil Kings, and countless Devil Path masters decimating everything in their path, leaving behind a trail of destroyed buildings and scorched earth in their wake, such a picture couldn’t help surfacing in all of these youth’s minds.
Everyone couldn’t help shuddering unconsciously.
A great eagle cry rang out and Yang Kai’s Golden Feather Eagle flew off into the distance. This Golden Feather Eagle had been staying in Yang Kai mansion for the past ten months and had already successfully evolved into a Sixth-Order Monster Beast. Unfortunately, as the Inheritance War dragged on, the role it could pay only became smaller and smaller until now it spent most of its time playing with the various beauties in the house.
However, at this moment, it was the best advanced scout available.
After half an hour, everyone had finished their preparations.
Seemingly aware of the abnormal situation inside the house, the Endless Sea Islands’ emissaries rushed to find Yang Kai under the leadership of Li Yuan Chun, but before any of them could speak, Yang Kai pre-emptively said, “Senior Li, do not rush to bring up your Hallowed Treasures, Junior promises you he will return them to you, just not at this moment. For now, why don’t you accompany us and we can discuss the issue on the road?”
In the face of Yang Kai’s proposition, what more could Li Yuan Chun say?
Although in his mind he was quite clear that Yang Kai was essentially using them as a group of free bodyguards, in this situation, he had no choice but to agree, forcing himself to smile and nod, “Very well.”
These Endless Sea Islands people didn’t put the Eight Great Families or the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land in their eyes because their foundations weren’t Inland!
At the same time, a thousand kilometers away from War City.
Dust and smoke are billowed as countless human figures and innumerable Monster Beasts marched forward.
At the head of this tide was a giant Monster Beast with a wide body. A man stood atop this Monster Beast’s back, indifferently staring in the direction of War City.
This man appeared around forty or fifty years old but there didn’t seem to be anything extraordinary about him, his green robes were also quite common, items you might find in any ordinary shop; only his eyes were different, filled with a confident light as he gazed off into the distance, completely aloof from the world around him.
This man was none other than the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land’s Demon Lord, Yang Bai!
Those who only knew of his reputation thought that the Demon Lord was a three-headed, six-armed man with a fierce and sinister aura, but the few who had met him and lived knew that Yang Bai actually couldn’t be any more ordinary in terms of appearance.
If one were to randomly meet this man, they would never be able to believe that such a person had actually conquered the entire Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land.
More than twenty years ago, Yang Bai had once been a direct disciple of High Heaven Pavilion’s Sect Master, Ling Tai Xu, but due to his lust for power, he had cultivated an unknown Demonic Secret Art, fallen to the Devil’s Practices, and then brutally attacked his Senior Brother Yang Ying Feng and master Ling Tai Xu. As a result of that battle, Yang Ying Feng suffered heavy losses and was left with a debilitating chronic illness while Ling Tai Xu became disheartened and secluded himself, no longer interfering with the operation of the Sect.
A few years after that battle, Ling Tai Xu personally took action and captured Yang Bai, crippling his cultivation and imprisoning him in High Heaven Pavilion’s Coiling Dragon Stream.
However, this act inadvertently led Yang Bai to an astonishing opportunity below the Coiling Dragon Stream which he used to re-cultivate and then exceed his previous height. Eventually, he had escaped from his prison, attacked High Heaven Pavilion, killed one of the Elders, mortally wounded Ling Tai Xu, and then swaggered off without looking back.
He then travelled to the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land and proceeded to subdue it.
Finally, today, he had become the absolute ruler of the entire Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land.
Behind Yang Bai there were six figures following closely, occasionally glancing over at him, their eyes filled with awe and fear.
These people were the Six Great Evil Kings of the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land. The six consisted of five men and one woman.
Each of these six people had dramatically different appearances and characteristics.
One of them rode a great Monster Beast, one was engulfed in a green poisonous fog, one had a thick Yin Qi swirling around him, one had an enormous beast-like physique, while one was covered in faint sparks of lightning.
The only one who appeared relatively normal was the lone woman, the Beguiling Demon Queen, Shan Qing Luo.
However, Shan Qing Luo had a unique, otherworldly enchanting air to her. Anyone who laid eyes on her would instantly be unable to extricate themselves from her charms.
Even the other five Evil Kings didn’t dare stare too long into Shan Qing Luo’s eyes.
Since she had broken through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, the Seduction Technique of this devilish woman had become even more powerful than before, so much so that the five other Evil Kings, who were stronger than her in terms of cultivation, had to take care not to be inadvertently ensnared by her charm.
These six people either flew or rode Monster Beasts as they followed behind Yang Bai.
Behind these six were the many masters from the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, including several Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, as well as countless Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators.
Additionally, a phenomenal number of fierce Monster Beasts, each of which had at least reached the Fifth-Order were also in tow, while large quantities of Sixth-Order Monster Beast abounded.
There was even a Seventh-Order Monster Beast!
This Seventh-Order Monster Beast was the huge Spider Mother that Yang Kai had once encountered, the one capable of communicating with people using its Divine Sense.
A Seventh-Order Monster Beast was equivalent to an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator. Today, this Spider Mother was together with the Thunderbolt Beast King. Although the Beast King hadn’t subdued it, the two of them had reached an agreement with each other, so for this time’s campaign against the Central Capital, the Spider Mother had naturally followed along.
Because of the ruckus Yang Kai and Shan Qing Luo had raised in the Spider Mother’s lair, the Spider Mother was quite hostile to Shan Qing Luo at the moment, but in the face of the Demon Lord’s great strength, she didn’t dare to act recklessly.
If Demon Lord Yang Bai was not here, the Spider Mother would definitely attack Shan Qing Luo.
“Master, War City is only eight hundred kilometers away.” The Profound Yin Ghost King suddenly said, “Subordinate wishes to move ahead and scout out the situation.”
Yang Bai’s expression didn’t change as he continued to move ahead at his own pace, not even bothering to respond.
“Ghost King, after not killing anyone for half a day, can you no longer suppress your itching?” The Annihilating Poison King snickered as he squinted at the Ghost King.
The Profound Yin Ghost King grinned and cackled, “Poison King understands me well. I heard that a lot of masters are now gathered in War City. The previous time, these people all came to attack our Holy Land, so I believe it would be improper to not return the favour. This old master just wants to deliver them a special gift as quickly as possible.”
The Poison King also grinned, “When it comes to mass-murder, this old man also has many means. Master, please permit me to head out first.”
The Ghost King also didn’t back down, “While I admit your poison is good, this old man’s little spirits are plentiful, and when it comes to killing, they aren’t any worse than your means.”
As he spoke, a series of eerie shrieks and howls suddenly rang out and from the body of the Ghost King, a great number of distorted transparent faces emerged. These phantom faces were filled with looks of pain and struggling, they seemed to be the Souls of deceased cultivators that had been imprisoned inside the Ghost King’s body, subject to his whims.
“If you want to go, just go.” Yang Bai said a faintly, not making any attempt to prevent them.
“Many thanks!” The Ghost King and Poison King heard this and laughed with joy, quickly using their movement skills to rapidly fly towards the horizon.
“I’ll go too.” The Lightning Flash Shadow King said, his body flickering for an instant before also disappearing into the distance.
“That quick bastard is going too?” A booming voice called out. A giant with arms as thick as a fully grown man’s torso stepped forward, his eyes radiating a bloodthirsty light as he shouted, “If all of you run over now, when I, your father arrive, who will I get to kill?!”
Saying so, the Tyrannical Force King leapt forward and hurriedly pursued his fellow Evil Kings, the earth trembling every time his feet hit the ground, like a living, breathing catastrophe, greatly shocking everyone who saw him.
“Heh heh… I’ll also go join the fun.” The Thunderbolt Beast King drove his mount forward, a large group of Monster Beasts quickly separating from the army and following behind him.
In the blink of an eye, five Great Evil Kings had set out, leaving only Shan Qing Luo to follow Yang Bai.
“Qing Luo, are you not going as well?” Yang Bai glanced back at Shan Qing Luo casually.
“There’s no need. The five of them are more than enough.” Shan Qing Luo slowly shook her head.
“En, you not going is also good, those five’s desire for slaughter is too heavy. They won’t be able to advance far along the Martial Dao like that.”
Shan Qing Luo couldn’t help staring at Yang Bai strangely; she hadn’t expected him to evaluate those five as such.
“On another note, that maidservant you always have with you, Bi Luo… I haven’t seen her for a few days.” Yang Bai said in a voice like he had inadvertently remembered something trifling.
Shan Qing Luo’s tender body trembled slightly but she quickly regained her composure, steadied her breathing and calmly said, “I sent her to handle some matters.”
“En.” Yang Bai nodded nonchalantly.
Shan Qing Luo was incredibly nervous at this moment; afraid Yang Bai would continue to ask questions, but to her surprise, he no longer said anything, as if it was really just something he had casually noticed.
Shan Qing Luo couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief.
Staring off in the direction of the far away War City, the Beguiling Demon Queen silently prayed in her heart, praying that the little bastard left quickly. This massive Holy Land army was not something a trivial War City could resist.
Shan Qing Luo faintly suspected that even the Central Capital wouldn’t be capable of stopping them.
The rate at which Yang Bai’s strength increased was simply too great. When he first came to the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land and conquered the Six Great Evil Kings, Shan Qing Luo could still vaguely see through his bottom line, but now, even though she had broken through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, she could no longer understand what height Yang Bai had reached.
The strength of this person was too frightening; no one in the Central Capital could stop him!
Closing her eyes and carefully sensing, Shan Qing Luo discover that Yang Kai was still inside War City and couldn’t help feeling anxious.
Eight hundred kilometers was too far for even an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary to sense.
However, soon after they had met, Shan Qing Luo had marked Yang Kai with her Soul Seeking Seal and so long as it existed, she would be able to sense his location even if he ran to the ends of the earth.
Yang Kai’s image had been firmly imprinted in Shan Qing Luo’s heart, so she had planted the Soul Seeking Seal on him as a precaution against him escaping from her, but she had not anticipated that it would come in handy in such a way.
[What is that little bastard doing? Why hasn’t he tried to escape yet? Bi Luo should have arrived some time ago to warn him.]
War City, Yang Kai’s house.
Everyone was ready to set out.
All of them had also been informed about how serious the situation was, so when Yang Kai told them they were leaving right away, no one raised any objections.
Just as they were preparing to set out, Qiu Yi Meng and Huo Xing Chen came back. The two of them had followed Yang Kai’s instructions and went to the Seal Temple to inform the seven Grand Elders about the coming attack.
“How was it?” Yang Kai asked.
Qiu Yi Meng smiled bitterly and shook her head, “They didn’t believe us.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help snorting, “Pig headed even in the face of impending death. Utter foolishness! Never mind them, we’ve done all we can; what are you planning to do? Are you going to head back to the Central Capital or…”
“We’re coming with you!” Qiu Yi Meng said decisively.
“Good, let’s go.” Yang Kai waved his hand and said nothing more. Right now, every moment was precious; there was no time to argue even though Yang Kai thought it would be better for Qiu Yi Meng and Huo Xing Chen to return to the Central Capital instead of wandering around destitute with him.
With Yang Kai leading them, a large group of people set out.
Some time ago, a group of people had arrived outside Yang Kai’s mansion to threaten and intimidate his allies.
And until now, these people were still shouting their propaganda.
However, when they saw Yang Kai leading such a massive number of cultivators out of his complex, the people tasked with standing here and issuing threats were quite surprised. They mistakenly thought that Yang Kai was making a big move and quickly sent out warnings signals.
In the next moment, a large number of masters appeared from the surroundings and blocked Yang Kai’s path forward.
After last night’s battle, although the seven family coalitions had suffered losses, their foundation had not yet been shaken. Assembling now, this group of people still made for an intimidating sight.
“Little Lord, what are trying to do?” Kang Zhan took the initiative to step out from the crowd and ask.
Yang Kai stared at him, wrinkled his brow and hesitated for a moment before saying, “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you. The Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, under the leadership of the Demon Lord, is coming here. If you don’t want to die, then quickly leave War City and return to the Central Capital.”
Kang Zhan stared back Yang Kai, seemingly not understanding the words he just spoke.
After a short silence, he laughed despite trying not to and shook my head wryly, “Little Lord, you saying such things… What exactly are you implying?”