Martial Peak

Time flew by and even when the sun rose, Yang Kai remained immersed in cultivation; unable to extricate himself.

It wasn’t until there was a knock at his door that Yang Kai awoke from his meditative state.

With his brow wrinkled, Yang Kai waved his hand slightly, sending a soft breeze out that opened the door, revealing Qiu Yi Meng’s figure.

“What is it?” Yang Kai looked at her and asked.

The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady came in and quietly replied, “Someone from the Yang Family came and brought a decree from the Elder Hall... you’ve been ordered to quickly return to the Central Capital!” Finished delivering the message, she stared straight at Yang Kai, her eyes flashing a concerned light.

She didn’t know why the Elder Hall would suddenly summon Yang Kai back.

Yang Kai also showed a slightly confused expression, stroking his chin a few times before asking, “They want me to return to the Central Capital alone? What about Big brother, Second Brother, and Seventh Brother?”

“It seems only you have been called.” Qiu Yi Meng licked her dry lips.

“Got it.” Yang Kai slowly stood up, his brow furrowing further.

This summon from the main family was quite unusual. Why would they only summon him back to the Central Capital? The last time messengers were sent out from the Yang Family was only a few days ago to inform all of the Young Lords about the appearance of artifacts at Po Jing Lake, but what about this time?

“Yang Kai, I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about this!” Qiu Yi Meng’s tone was a bit solemn, her two jade hands fidgeting slightly, making a display of her inner tension.

The Yang Family only calling Yang Kai back to the Central Capital was definitely not for no reason, but as for what that reason was, she was still unclear.

Also, Yang Kai traveling back to the Central Capital would provide an opening for his brothers to take advantage of.

“Since it is an order from the main family, for the round trip there won’t be any concerns regarding my safety,” Yang Kai shook his head, he was confident that if he was ambushed on the way to or from the Central Capital and lost, the family wouldn’t stand by and say nothing or they would lose a great deal of face.

“You should take precautions anyways,” Qiu Yi Meng shook her head and continued, “I’ve already informed Ying Jiu and Tang Yu Xian to prepare; they’ll escort you there and back.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly.

The family had ordered him to quickly return to the Central Capital, so Yang Kai didn’t dare delay, immediately setting out.

Outside the main entrance, Ying Jiu and Tang Yu Xian, who had both already recovered from their previous injuries, stood waiting. The stoic Ying Jiu remained silent as always, not saying a single word, while the mature beauty Tang Yu Xian wore a happy expression as she called out, “Little Lord.”

Returning to Yang Kai’s service had made both Tang Yu Xian and Tu Feng feel a deep sense of satisfaction. This past half a year, although they had served Yang Kang diligently, the entire time they did so, they wondered when they would be able to reunite with Yang Kai and witness the miracles he seemed capable of performing over and over again.

“Have you already recovered from your wounds?” Yang Kai also asked in a pleased voice.

“Thanks to Little Lord’s gift, I’ve made a complete recovery,” Tang Yu Xian smiled brilliantly, gratitude flashing across her beautiful eyes.

After activating her Mad Tyrant Blood Skill and battling with Ying Jiu it would have been reasonable to spend quite a bit of time healing, but after taking the magical pill Yang Kai gave her, both Tang Yu Xian and Ying Jiu had both restored themselves to their peak in only a day or two.

Although she had already experienced this once before, Tang Yu Xian still found it difficult to believe.

“Good, if there is time later, I’ll have to consult with you about the use of Soul Skills.” Yang Kai grinned before mounting his Cloud Treading Colt.

“Of course Little Lord. Please feel free to ask at any time.” Tang Yu Xian replied frankly.

Among the many Blood Warriors, Tang Yu Xian was the most skilled in the use of Soul Skills and Divine Sense. Each Blood Warrior had their own speciality. Qu Gao Yi was good at rapid outbursts of strength, Ying Jiu was good at concealment and assassinations; while Tu Feng was good at frontal battle and Tang Yu Xian’s accomplishments with regards to the Soul were second to none in the Blood Warrior Hall.

“Come back quickly and be careful along the way.” Qiu Yi Meng looked at the three people on their mounts and called out softly.

Yang Kai nodded lightly before urging his mount forward, the three Cloud Treading Colts soon rushing off towards the Central Capital.

Outside the mansion, a cold breeze blew past, causing Qiu Yi Meng’s blue silk dress to flutter in the morning sun. The Qiu Family’s First Young Lady’s stood there for a long time, the uneasiness in her heart becoming stronger as time passed.

“Pass down my orders, everyone is to suspend their cultivation, divide into two teams, and guard the mansion in rotating shifts, if any enemy appears, kill without mercy! Maintain the highest level of alert until Yang Kai returns!”

“Yes!”

As evening fell, the huge Central Capital, like a sleeping dragon, sat upon a vast swath of land, the bright stars shining brilliantly in the darkening night sky above.

Three Cloud Treading Colts rushed into the exclusive Yang Family South Gate.

The guards at the gate didn’t even time to call out to them before the three rode past, leaving only a cloud of dust in their wake.

“The Ninth Young Lord returns home. Stand down!” Tang Yu Xian turned back and yelled, the guards immediately stopping, some were even trembling lightly.

Ninth Young Lord... Yang Kai!

This name resounded like a thunderclap, piercing all of the guards’ ears. None of them dared step forward lest they offend him, all of them quickly sneaking back to the gate, pretending they had seen nothing.

Inside the Fourth Master’s house, the Yang Family Fourth Master and Dong Su Zhu were awakened from their cultivation by the sound of Cloud Treading Colts, both of them rushing outside and quickly spotting Yang Kai coming towards them followed by Ying Jiu and Tang Yu Xian.

“Kai’er?” Yang Ying Feng was surprised while Dong Su Zhu’s eyes teared up, soon rushing forward and embracing Yang Kai, kissing his forehead gently before hurriedly checking to see if he had any signs of injury.

Since the beginning of the Inheritance War, mother and son had not exchanged a single word as direct family members weren’t allowed to go to War City.

“Mother...” Yang Kai couldn’t wait to find a hole to crawl into. Tang Yu Xian and Ying Jiu were right behind him and had seen this entire display. What face would he have left in front of them from now on?

As he spoke, he quickly glanced backwards, but whether it was Tang Yu Xian or Ying Jiu, both were doing their best to maintain straight faces as they silently stared down at their toes.

After a while, Dong Su Zhu finally vented the worry in her heart and contented herself to just holding Yang Kai’s hand, though her eyes were still tearful.

“Kai’er, why have you come back?” Yang Ying Feng asked the important question.

“The Elder Hall ordered me back,” Yang Kai replied, his brow wrinkled as he stared at his father, apparently the Fourth Master was unaware about this situation as well.

“The Elder Hall...” Yang Ying Feng really hadn’t heard anything regarding thing. Although he was a member of the Yang Family, his position wasn’t very high up so he wasn’t always informed about the Elder Hall’s decisions.

“Come inside first.” Yang Ying Feng took a deep breath and said.

“Mother is going to give you a good meal.” Dong Su Zhu said, hurriedly beckoning to Tang Yu Xian, “Yu Xian, you come help.”

“En.”

Inside the house, the lights glowed brightly.

The family of three gathered around the table while Ying Jiu and Tang Yu Xian stood behind Yang Kai and no matter how Dong Su Zhu invited, they steadfastly refused to sit down.

“Why did the Elder Hall call you back to the Central Capital? Did they say anything to you?” The Yang Family Fourth Master asked, suddenly hearing about his son being summoned by the Elder Hall caused a number of ideas to pop into his head.

“They didn’t.” Yang Kai didn’t know anything either, but the command of the Elder Hall was to quickly return, so Yang Kai could only hurry back.

It was already night by the time he arrived, so he could only wait until tomorrow morning to go to the Elder Hall and understand the situation.

“You don’t have any speculations? Have you perhaps done something that would arouse the attention of the Elder Hall?” The Yang Family Fourth Master asked.

“Father, are you thinking it’s related to that demon?” Yang Kai smiled and shook his head, “It’s impossible for him to be the reason the Elder Hall summoned me. I have already reached an agreement with Grand Elder Yang Li Ting about him. Grand Elder allowed him to participate in the Inheritance War, but after the Inheritance War is over, he must leave immediately.”

“Grand Elder also summoned you?” Yang Ying Feng couldn’t help showing some surprise.

Yang Li Ting was a member of the Yang Family’s oldest living generation, even the Yang Family Fourth Master had never personally spoken to him, yet now his son had been fortunate enough to be summoned by him.

This was a great honor for the Yang Family Fourth Master; however, he quickly noticed that whenever Yang Kai mentioned Yang Li Ting, his expression became somewhat strained and bitter, causing him to wonder what exactly had transpired between the two.

“Kai’er, no matter what you may think, you are a Yang Family person, when it comes with Devil Path cultivators, if you can avoid them, avoid them, lest people start making unreasonable claims.” Yang Ying Feng solemnly reminded.

Yang Kai nodded lightly, he naturally understood the Fourth Master’s meaning.

Over countless years, the Yang Family had played a leading role in the confrontation with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land’s Devil Path cultivators, but now Yang Kai was associating with an extremely powerful demon and had actually brought him to participate in the Inheritance War.

If Yang Kai really became the heir to the Yang Family with the help of this demon, it would be easy for negative rumours to start spreading.

“If it’s not about that demon...” The Yang Family Fourth Master tapped the table with his fingers as his eyes narrowed, “Then perhaps it’s about Ying Jiu breaking the Qi Binding Seal.”

During their conversation, the Fourth Master noticed Ying Jiu’s condition and was quite puzzled about it.

Among the six Blood Warriors who had been hit by the Qi Binding Seal, five of them were still currently unable to use their True Qi, yet somehow Ying Jiu appeared perfectly fine.

The Qi Binding Seal was a technique of one of the Yang Family’s other Grand Elders, Huang Jiu Zhou. Yang Kai suddenly being recalled to the Central Capital to question him about how he had so easily broken this technique was also possible.

“There’s no point in guessing, we’ll understand everything tomorrow.” Yang Kai shook his head, too lazy to think about it any further.

“Fair enough, have a good rest tonight, no matter why you were summoned by the Elder Hall... It’s definitely not a good thing.” Yang Ying Feng sighed, in the past he had been summoned several times by the Elder Hall and each time he was either assigned some unreasonable task or was disciplined for violating some family law, so that place had left a kind of psychological shadow in his heart.

Putting aside this topic for now, the room immediately become livelier. As the family of three talked and laughed, the warm and peaceful atmosphere even infected Ying Jiu and Tang Yu Xian a bit.

It was like they had temporarily escaped from the bloody Inheritance War and were enjoying a short period of peace.

A quiet night passed.

The next day, Yang Kai said goodbye to his mother and father, and under the extremely reluctant gaze of Dong Su Zhu, he, Tang Yu Xian, and Ying Jiu rushed to the Elder Hall.

“Ninth Brother!” As soon as Yang Kai reached the Elder Hall’s main entrance, someone called out to him.

Turning his head towards this voice, Yang Kai saw Yang Tie standing nearby, seemingly waiting for him.

Last night, when Yang Kai entered the South Gate and returned to the family, news of his arrival quickly spread so Yang Tie knowing he was here wasn’t surprising.

“Third Brother.” Yang Kai stepped forward and asked, “Is there something wrong?”

Yang Tie chuckled, pausing for a moment to find his words before saying, “Third Brother just wanted to thank you for helping the Duan Mu Family obtain revenge.”