Martial Peak

As Free And Unfettered Spirit Temple’s Temple Master, Wu Zheng naturally recognized Yang Kai; after all, he and Chu Yi of Veiled Heaven Palace as well as Fang Yue Bai of Mist Lock Tower had pursued the Ancient Demon clansmen across half of the Human Territory to the nine peaks.

Wu Zheng also harboured hatred towards this young man who colluded with Demons, as well as a deep sense of envy.

The reason for this was quite simple. Yang Kai was nothing but a young man yet he was already the master of one of the world’s greatest forces and was even able to subdue so many powerful Demon Race masters.

The power he held in his hands was enough to make anyone jealous.

Wu Zheng didn’t know where he was worse than him and why this kind of good deed hadn’t landed in his lap instead.

“Wu Zheng!” Yang Kai grinned as he stared faintly at the old man.

“Holy Master Yang… it’s been a long time,” Wu Zheng looked around and frowned, “Might I ask, why has Holy Master Yang has come to this place? Also, have you seen Chou Xu and Xiu Li? I just heard Chou Xu’s cry a moment ago and sensed the fallout of battle from this place, it couldn’t be that Holy Master Yang…”

“If you’re referring to that one-eyed man and a middle-aged and that beautiful woman, they’re already dead.”

“Dead?” Wu Zheng expression darkened as he stared deeply at Yang Kai, “Could it be they died at Holy Master Yang’s hand?”

“Indeed,” Yang Kai admitted frankly.

Wu Zheng brow furrowed as a cold light flashed across his eyes, “Why did you kill them? What enmity did they have with Holy Master Yang?”

“Can I not kill people without there being enmity between us?” Yang Kai laughed and narrowed his eyes at Wu Zheng, lifting his hand and pointing at him while grinning fiercely, “Not only them, but you too must die today!”

Wu Zheng’s face cramped as he glanced cautiously towards Li Rong and Han Fei, saying with a smile, “What does Holy Master Yang mean by all this? Is there someplace where this Wu has offended you?”

He had just heard Chou Xu’s pitiful scream and immediately realized that something was wrong. When he rushed over, he first saw Yang Kai, but without understanding what the situation was, Wu Zheng didn’t feel much sense of crisis.

After all, Yang Kai was the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land so it was impossible for him to kill someone for no reason at all, not to mention that Wu Zheng was also the master of a force not too inferior to Yang Kai’s.

He had taken it for granted that they were of equal status and could sit down and talk things out if there was some kind of issue.

Little could he have imagined that Yang Kai had no intention of discussing anything with him and responded to his words with murderous intent.

“How have you offended me?” Yang Kai’s eyes grew ice-cold as he gloomily said, “This place is my home, yet you and your lackeys invaded, humiliating my friends and family…”

Before Yang Kai even finished talking, Wu Zheng understood that the situation was beyond saving.

Whether his words were true or not, it was a fact that Chou Xu and Xiu Li were already dead. Since Yang Kai dared to kill them both, perhaps he would be willing to kill him too.

Wu Zheng was a decisive person, and after hearing just part of Yang Kai’s explanation, he immediately summoned out a shield artifact, transforming it into a light barrier around himself and flew away from the Central Capital as quickly as possible.

Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled as he turned to look in the direction Wu Zheng had fled, waving his hand a moment later.

Without saying a word, Han Fei immediately pursued.

There was no need to speculate about Wu Zheng’s fate, he would die without a doubt!

Once an Ancient Demon Clansmen used their Demon God Transformation, they could fight opponents above their own realm. Li Rong had fought Xue Li to a draw when she was just a Second-Order Saint. The current Han Fei was also a Second-Order Saint, so killing Wu Zheng was just a matter of time.

“Li Rong, sweep the Central Capital, clean up anyone brought here by Wu Zheng.”

“Yes,” Li Rong responded promptly before disappearing, her immense Divine Sense spreading out like a tide in the next instant, covering the entire Central Capital.

Yang Kai then flew down to the ground.

“Little Lord!” The Blood Warriors looked all stared at him with excitement and shouted.

Yang Kai glanced at them and nodded, “Everything’s alright now, let’s go back first before we talk.”

“Good.”

By the time Yang Kai arrived at the Yang Family, Li Rong had already completed the mop-up work and the majority of the people brought over by Wu Zheng had been gathered in the Yang Family to begin with, allowing her to easily take care of them.

After hearing the whole story from Li Rong, many Yang Family members had assembled in anticipation of Yang Kai’s arrival.

The Yang Family Fourth Master husband and wife pair were both waiting eagerly, Dong Su Zhu constantly wiping the tears from her eyes.

A moment later, when Yang Kai and the numerous Blood Warriors appeared in their field of vision, Dong Su Zhu rushed out to Yang Kai despite the Fourth Master trying to hold her back.

“Mother!” Yang Kai shouted happily.

Dong Su Zhu grabbed hold of his shoulders and began looking him over from head to toe, wanting to see if he was in good health. After determining that her son was uninjured, she tightly embraced him.

Yang Kai immediately felt like it had become difficult to breathe.

Li Rong stared strangely at this mother and son reunion. If Yang Kai hadn’t taken the initiative to call out a moment ago, Li Rong would have assumed that this young woman was Yang Kai’s Elder or possibly even Younger Sister. She never would have expected her to actually be her Master’s mother.

“Isn’t that enough, everyone is waiting, why are you hugging Kai’er as if he’ll disappear if you let go?” Yang Ying Feng finally stepped forward to remind her after seeing his wife show no signs of letting their son go.

“Who cares about them… This is my son,” Dong Su Zhu tears continued to pour out, acting like she was suffering some intolerable grievance, as if someone was trying to snatch Yang Kai away from her.

“Father!” Yang Kai grinned and greeted the Yang Family Fourth Master.

“En, good, very good!” Yang Ying Feng nodded heavily, a hint of relief appearing on his face as the corners of his eyes began to water up too.

Yang Kai had been away from home for more than ten years with no news about whether he was even alive or dead, so of course the ones who were most worried were Yang Ying Feng and Dong Su Zhu. Now though, not only were they able to determine their son was safe and sound, Yang Kai had also once again rescued the Central Capital; naturally, a sense of pride rose in the Fourth Master’s heart.

After some time, Dong Su Zhu’s mood gradually calmed down and she reluctantly released Yang Kai.

“Wait until tonight, our family can have a good chat then,” Yang Kai patted her hand and comforted.

“En.”

Yang Kai walked forward and swept his eyes over the faces of the Yang Family Elders as well as his seven brothers, greeting them one by one.

Speaking in a friendly tone with all of them.

“Ninth Brother!” The brothers also greeted him calmly. Yang Kai was the youngest of the nine brothers, but now he was without a doubt the one with the highest achievements. Comparing him with themselves, each of them couldn’t help feeling a bit distraught while at the same time happy for him.

“Second Brother, how is life as the Patriarch?” Yang Kai laughed loudly as he turned to Yang Zhao.

Yang Zhao just let out a long sight, “One doesn’t understand the burdens of being in charge until he finds himself in a position of power. Second Brother was far too naive before, if I was given another chance, I would never have participated in that damn Inheritance War.”

Among the Yang Family’s nine brothers, next to Yang Kai, the most suitable one to become Patriarch was Yang Zhao. Although Eldest Brother Yang Wei had great personal strength, he was obsessed with pursuing the peak of the Martial Dao and cared little for anything else, so the family’s Elders did not feel relieved passing the position to him.

As such, after Yang Kai left, responsibility for the family’s affairs had fallen to Yang Zhao.

After ten years apart, all of the brothers had already established their own families, each of them having gotten married and some of them even fathering children.

“Let’s go inside first. We brothers have not been reunited for a long time,” Yang Zhao said and ushered everyone inside.

Under the insistence of Yang Ying Feng, Yang Kai first stopped by the Yang Family’s Ancestral Burial Hall to burn a stick of incense.

According to the words of the Fourth Master, the reason why they could turn danger into safety was all because of the ancestors’ blessings and had nothing to do with Yang Kai. Yang Kai was just following the fate his ancestors were guiding him towards.

(Silavin: This is a Chinese thing. Basically, from Confucius, we believe in fate being related to how we treat others; especially our ancestors. So, the Fourth Master is basically saying that Yang Kai was led back to save them by their ancestors. Even if Yang Kai wasn’t there, due to the road of fate being set in stone, some other event would have occurred to save them. For those interested in this ideology, it is the belief of absolute fate AKA Fatalism.)

After worshipping his ancestors, Yang Kai walked out of the hall and followed the Fourth Master to the Yang Family’s Elder Hall.

At this moment, the hall was filled with people, and upon noticing Yang Kai enter, all eyes turned to stare at him.

“Grand Master!” Yang Kai spotted Ling Tai Xu amongst the crowd and quickly rushed over.

Ling Tai Xu smiled and nodded, but he seemed to be seriously injured, his face pale as paper as he stood there unsteadily.

Yang Kai’s heart clenched as he asked quickly.

“It’s nothing serious, I just took a palm strike from a man named Wu Zheng. Fortunately, he didn’t have any intention of taking my life or I would not be standing here right now,” Ling Tai Xu comforted.

Yang Kai couldn’t help reaching out and grabbing Ling Tai Xu’s wrist, carefully examining him.

After a while, Yang Kai’s expression slightly relaxed.

The wounds Grand Master had suffered were heavy but there was no risk to his life, such injuries would be easy for Yang Kai to treat with his current means.

“Grand Master, take this pill,” Yang Kai took out a pill and handed it to him.

Ling Tai Xu didn’t hesitate and swallowed the pill directly before patting Yang Kai’s shoulder, “You and the others talk, I’ll first go and refine this pill.”

“Good.”

“Master, let me see you out!” The Yang Family Fourth Master hurried to help Ling Tai Xu.

“Senior Ling was injured trying to save us from that person,” Tu Feng suddenly said, “This time, if not for Ling Tai Xu attracting the attention of those people, we would not have been able to escape from the Yang Family.”

“Unfortunately, we were almost captured, it is only thanks to Little Lord’s punctual arrival that we did not waste Senior Ling’s efforts,” Tang Yu Xian said in low spirits, hanging her head.

“Don’t worry about it, Grand Master acting so was surely because he had carefully considered the situation, and in the end didn’t everything work out” Yang Kai smiled, “Come in and sit down so we can talk.”

Inside the hall, everyone sat down in their own position while those who didn’t have an assigned seat just stood around nearby, all of them turning their eyes to Yang Kai, apparently waiting for him to talk.

“Second Brother, how serious are the family’s losses?” Yang Kai found a random spot to sit down before turning to Yang Zhao and asking.

Hearing his question, everyone’s expression became low-spirited, causing Yang Kai’s heart to sinking.

“The biggest losses were from the Blood Warrior Hall,” Yang Zhao sighed heavily, “When those people arrived, we knew nothing about their strength which resulted in Hall Master Feng Sheng and Deputy Hall Master Zhou Feng both dying in battle. The entire Blood Warrior Hall was hit hard.”

The Blood Warrior Hall was filled with the most loyal guardians of the Yang Family, it was the place where the Yang Family specifically raised its protectors.

When danger arrived, naturally they were the first to resist.

Yang Kai had a faint impression of Hall Master Feng Sheng and Deputy Hall Master Zhou Feng; after all, he had also interacted with them before a few times, but he hadn’t expected that both of them would be killed during this invasion.

Tu Feng clenched his fists and his body trembled as he sobbed, “Qu Gao Yi, Ji Li, Xiao Shun, Luo Hai, and Fu Cong… also died.”

Yang Kai shook.

The Blood Warriors that Tu Feng named just now had all followed Yang Kai during the Inheritance War. During the final stages of the Inheritance War, Yang Kai had brought together thirteen Blood Warriors and used various resources to transform them into thirteen Transcendent Realm masters.

In particular, Qu Gao Yi, along with Ying Jiu, was the first to follow Yang Kai; they were the loyalist and most talented members of the Blood Warrior Hall.

Hearing that all these old friends had passed away caused stabbing pain in Yang Kai’s heart.