All of a sudden, four Transcendent Realm masters had been killed. Not only was this a great loss in terms of the Central Capital’s combat strength, it was also a devastating blow to their morale.
However, what made the Eight Great Families’ Patriarchs even more frustrated was that they were unable to understand what Yang Kai’s intentions were.
“Seventeen Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters!” Meng Xi Ping’s lips quivered slightly as he stared at the luxurious lineup around Yang Kai.
Thirteen Blood Warriors, Old Demon, Ling Tai Xu, Li Yuan Chun, and Lu Si, a grand total of seventeen cultivators who had reached the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.
This huge number made all of the Eight Great Families blush in shame. Their families had each worked tirelessly for centuries in order to produce four or five such masters; when compared to Yang Kai’s mansion, they were no different from mortals stuck on the ground gazing up at the Heavens.
How had the strength of these people suddenly increased so much? None of them could understand.
“Ying Jiu, follow me, everyone else can act on their own.” Yang Kai gave a succinct command and then charged into the chaotic and bloody battlefield with Ying Jiu in tow.
The remaining sixteen Transcendent masters flew into the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land forces without saying a word.
The Eight Great Families’ allied cultivators, after hesitating for a moment, also followed Yang Kai’s forces and began encircling the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land cultivators.
“Order our forces to retreat.” Yang Bai suddenly appeared and calmly ordered the five Great Evil Kings.
The expressions of these five weren’t much better than the ones on the Eight Great Families’ Patriarch’s faces. After seeing the number and strength of Yang Kai’s cultivators, the five Evil Kings also felt that the situation had taken a turn for the worse.
For so long, they had been in a deadlock with the Eight Great Families, but now with the sudden emergence of this huge variable, their stalemate would no doubt be broken.
Whichever side could win Yang Kai’s support would be able to dominate the other.
The only comfort the five Great Evil Kings had was that Yang Kai had not only killed the people from their Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, but also a number of masters from the Central Capital. For now, it seemed like he had no intention of joining either side. Whoever challenged him, he would kill.
After hearing Yang Bai’s order, the five Evil Kings didn’t hesitate to recall their forces.
A dull horn sounded across the battlefield.
Receiving this signal, the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land forces began withdrawing and gradually disappeared back into their own camp.
Yang Kai’s cultivators and forces of the Eight Great Families pursued for a short time but didn’t dare to launch a comprehensive assault on the enemy camp, soon also returning to their encampments.
Since the arrival of Yang Kai’s mansion, only about as much time as it would take to boil a cup of tea had passed yet the battle had already ended. Both of the original sides had large numbers of dead and wounded while on the other hand, Yang Kai’s allies had not suffered a single loss. At most, some of them had received some minor injuries.
All of them smiled broadly as they stood around outside Yang Kai’s mansion.
Yang Kai himself took a quick lap around the battlefield, absorbed all the residual Spiritual Energy of the fallen Immortal Ascension Boundary masters he could, and then returned to the house along with Ying Jiu.
After entering the mansion, Yang Kai directly entered secluded cultivation to purify and refine his gains, not even bothering to greet the Eight Great Families.
Such wanton arrogance, blatant disregarding the Eight Great Families, caused the eight Patriarchs expressions to dim greatly.
“Brother Yang, isn’t this little brat from your Yang Family a bit too arrogant?” After all of their troops had withdrawn, Kang Rui looked over at Yang Ying Hao and asked in annoyance.
“He has the capital to act so.” Yang Ying Hao replied indifferently.
“But he is still a Junior from your Yang Family, can’t you use your status as Patriarch to rein him in?”
“Bullshit, after everything that’s happened do you think he will give a damn about my Yang Family?” Yang Ying Hao coldly snorted.
“Ha… It seems we miscalculated,” Meng Xi Ping sighed, “We should not have targeted him back then, trying to force him to give up his secrets. If we had acted more discreetly…”
“What point is there in bringing up the past now?” Ye Kuang Ren cut in, glaring towards Meng Xi Ping coldly as he firmly stated, “Right now the situation is clear. If we can gain Yang Kai’s support, within half a month we can rout the Ash Grey Cloud Evil Land. Conversely, if the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land manages to recruit him, then the only fate of the Central Capital will be…”
Destruction!
“But he just killed four Above Immortal Ascension masters from the Nan Family, Xiang Family, Huang Family, and Radiant Palace. How are we going to handle this?” Gao Mo frowned and asked, “This is not a trivial matter. Those four were some of the few who came here in response to our Eight Great Families’ Conscription Command, if we don’t handle this well, it would only cause a chilling effect on all the other Great Han Dynasty forces.”
Everyone suddenly fell into silence and realized how difficult the situation was.
Logically, Yang Kai killing these four people was not something the Eight Great Families could forgive, and even if they were to, they must give the rest of the Great Han Dynasty’s forces a justifiable reason for doing so. But if by condemning his actions, they annoyed Yang Kai, the consequences were not something they could afford to bare.
“What kind of person is this kid anyways?” Huo Zheng asked with a slightly pensive expression, “How did he become who he is today?”
Listening to this question, seven pairs of eyes turned and stared towards Yang Ying Hao.
Yang Ying Hao unfortunately could only shrug and replying faintly, “Don’t look at me, I don’t know much about him. All I can tell you is that his temperament is incredibly firm, during the brief time he was in the Yang Family, he would absolutely never be willing to suffer a loss.”
“Summon his parents and ask them, they should know more than us.” Kang Rui suddenly proposed.
“Not a bad idea. Even if this little brat is ruthless and refuses to compromise with our Eight Great Families, he should still care about his parents, right?”
Yang Ying Hao’s brow furrowed deeply for a moment before nodding, “Very well, I’ll send for them, but remember, none of you may act against them.”
“Naturally, naturally,. Brother Yang need not worry.” Seven people nodded at once.
At this moment, who among them would dare to offend Yang Kai?
During this war, the Yang Family Fourth Master and his wife had always remained inside the Yang Family compound and had never been sent to the front lines by Yang Ying Hao’s special arrangement. Although Yang Ying Feng had requested combat assignments several times, the answer had always been no.
This was all Yang Ying Hao could offer Yang Kai in compensation for their previous grievances.
Soon after, the Yang Family Fourth Master couple arrived.
Yang Ying Feng cupped his fists and curiously asked, “Patriarch, for what reason have you summoned my wife and I at this time?”
He and Dong Su Zhu didn’t know that Yang Kai had arrived in the Central Capital today and just now settled a big fight between the two warring factions so naturally Yang Ying Feng had doubts about why Yang Ying Hao would suddenly send for them.
“Nothing important,” Yang Ying Hao lightly coughed and said, “It’s just that I and the other Patriarchs want to understand the personality and character of Yang Kai a bit more.”
“Kai’er?” Yang Ying Feng’s brow wrinkled, the confusion on his face only deepening.
“Has something happened to Kai’er?” Dong Su Zhu suddenly became nervous and hurriedly asked.
Yang Ying Hao quickly shook his head, “Yang Kai is safe. Sister-in-law doesn’t need to worry.”
“What’s happened then? Why do you suddenly want to know about my Kai’er?” Dong Su Zhu became vigilant, her pair of sharp eyes quickly glancing around only to discover that these Patriarchs, who normally acted arrogant and aloof, were all staring towards their husband and wife pair cautiously, some of them even wearing half flattering smiles.
Such a sight was something she had never encountered before, causing Dong Su Zhu a great deal of puzzlement.
Yang Ying Hao smiled helplessly and could only briefly explain about what had happened just now.
“That disobedient son…” The Yang Family Fourth Master angrily spat, “Since he came back to the Central Capital, why hasn’t he come back to the family yet? Is he still holding a grudge against the Eight Great Families for acting unfairly towards him?”
The eight Patriarchs all immediately wore incomparably ugly expressions.
Although Yang Ying Feng seemed to be blaming Yang Kai for his actions, all of them clearly understood he was actually venting dissatisfactions for his son.
If the Eight Great Families hadn’t acted unfairly towards him before, he would still be a member of the Yang Family; how could he have chosen to stand apart from them?
“Patriarch, forgive me, that rascal son of mine is young and impulsive and has made a great mistake. The next time I see him I will definitely reprimand him sternly on everyone’s behalf.”
“That’s not necessary.” Kang Rui said in a fluster. If Yang Kai became indignant after being scolded by the Yang Family Fourth Master and decided to take out his anger on the Eight Great Families, the situation would become dire, “We just want to know more about Yang Kai today, as the ones who raised him, surely you understand him better than anyone else, yes?”
“About this…” The Yang Family Fourth Master hesitated, “Although it embarrasses me to say so, I’ve had very little communication with my son, so I don’t know too much about him.”
“I do!” Dong Su Zhu raised her hand and shouted.
Everyone turned their attention to her immediately, a look of anticipation appearing on their faces.
Dong Su Zhu thus began to ramble on about many trivial events from when Yang Kai was a child, causing the eight Patriarchs’ expression to become more and more awkward as time passed.
After an hour or so of Dong Su Zhu’s storytelling, the eight people had not heard any useful information but had on the other hand become well versed in Yang Kai’s childhood antics.
“Good…” Just as Dong Su Zhu was about to launch into another tale from Yang Kai’s past, Yang Ying Hao quickly interrupted her, “We have an idea now.”
Dong Su Zhu giggled lightly and continued, “My son is not a bad child, from an early age I taught him that those who respect me one step, I respect ten steps, and those who wrong me once… hehe, I beat three times!”
The eight Patriarchs all suddenly wore dignified looks as they stared at the seemingly young, innocent, and naive Dong Su Zhu.
Dong Su Zhu on the other hand stared back at them fearlessly, a big smile upon her face.
Meanwhile, the Yang Family Fourth Master, like statue, stood silently beside his wife.
“We understand.” Kang Rui nodded gently and seriously.
“Since all of you understand, then we husband and wife will take our leave.” The Yang Family Fourth Master asked to be excused and left with Dong Su Zhu.
After the Yang Family Fourth Master and his wife left, the eight Patriarchs’ expression became stern, realizing that the Fourth Madam, who always seemed to behave like a young girl, was not a simple character. Yang Kai’s current behaviour, attitude, and temperament were likely a result of her many years of ‘guidance’.
“Those who respect me one step, I respect ten steps, was it?” Everyone fell into contemplation.
Yang Kai’s house.
After this large scale absorption and purification by the Solitary Golden Eye, Yang Kai entered secluded retreat for two days and finally broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Fifth Stage, completely closing the gap in cultivation between him and Su Yan.
Reaching this realm, Yang Kai couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Since he had met Su Yan, her strength had always been superior to his own. As her man, Yang Kai naturally wanted to surpass her.
This was not out a sense of competition nor a sense of manly pride, Yang Kai simply understood better than anyone how limitless Su Yan’s potential was and if he were to relax for a moment, the gap between them would only grow wider and wider.
After exiting his retreat, Yang Kai once again led the various masters in his house against the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land forces.
But having eaten such a big loss, the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land was no longer caught off guard, so Yang Kai’s attack did not cause them any significant damage, only losing several Immortal Ascension masters and a few Monster Beasts.
The harvest this time was minimal.
Yang Kai wasn’t worried though. From the beginning he had only considered the benefits he gained from the Solitary Golden Eye’s as an auxiliary to his own cultivation, if he truly wanted to become stronger, he could only rely on his own perseverance and dedicated cultivation.
The reason he launched frequent attacks was, one, to obtain Spiritual Energy from cutting down enemy Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, and two, to hone himself through live combat.