Martial Peak

“Hasn’t left?” Yang Zhao’s expression suddenly became pensive, tapping his finger lightly on the table, only speaking after a long silence, “Has there been any movement at Ninth Brother’s mansion?”

Ye Xin Rou shook her head, “Nothing so far.”

Yang Zhao jumped up, an excited smile on his face, clenching his fist tightly, “No movement is right.”

“Second Young Lord, I don’t quite understand,” Ye Xin Rou wrinkled her brows, “What do you mean no movement is right?”

“No movement means that he’s already moved!” Yang Zhao smiled slightly, “Ninth Brother and Ying Jiu should already have left.”

“Already left?” Ye Xin Rou was shocked, if what Second Young Lord had just said was true, hen Yang Kai’s courage was simply too big.

“Ying Jiu is proficient in concealment and assassination. If he wanted to sneak into or out of War City, our people not noticing wouldn’t be strange.” Yang Zhao explained patiently.

“What about the Little Lord, does he also have such ability?” Ye Xin Rou couldn’t help sneering disdainfully, subconsciously feeling that even if Yang Kai was strong, it was impossible for him to disappear silently like Ying Jiu.

Yang Zhao had posted so many spies around Yang Kai’s compound that if there was a single blade of grass out of place, he would know about it.

“I’d rather not believe it, but it’s entirely possible Ninth Brother has this ability. When he attacked Fifth Brother’s house, Eldest Brother brought his people to contain me, did you ever wonder why?”

“Obviously, he had reached an agreement with Little Lord.” Ye Xin Rou replied lightly, “I naturally know this, but what’s the problem?”

“That’s exactly the problem. None of us know when Ninth Brother formed an alliance with Eldest Brother; that means he has the ability to go to Eldest Brother’s house and talk to him for an extended period of time without our knowledge. If he hadn’t gone personally, Eldest Brother would never have agreed. Since he could do that then, obviously he can do so now!”

“Not to mention, Pang Chi not leaving Ninth Brother’s compound clearly indicates he knows some important piece of information and has temporarily been detained there. If he didn’t know something of vital significance, Pang Chi should have left already...”

Listening to Yang Zhao’s analysis, Ye Xin Rou couldn’t help feeling surprised. What he said indeed made a lot of sense.

“Interesting...” Yang Zhao laughed, “Bamboo Knot Gang is Ninth Brother’s subordinate force. I already knew this. I also know that ever since he subdued them, he made people of Bamboo Knot Gang go out and search for something or someone...”

“Whether he is looking for someone or looking for something, it’s definitely of great value to Little Lord. Now, it seems he’s finally received the news he wants.” Ye Xin Rou’s beautiful eyes flashed a cunning light, obviously understanding Yang Zhao’s intentions, “If that’s the case, we can use this to our advantage.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Yang Zhao grinned, “The only problem is I don’t know where Ninth Brother went. If I knew that...”

The Inheritance War has been in a deadlocked for two months. Although over this period his forces had grown significantly, Yang Kai’s allies obviously weren’t idle either. Yang Zhao obviously wanted to use every possible means to break this stalemate.

Yang Kai going out on his own was undoubtedly an excellent opportunity. As long as he could capture him, how many masters he had in his house would become irrelevant.

Nonetheless, the strength of the Masters in Yang Kai’s mansion still left Yang Zhao wary.

“Second Young Lord, do you want me to go back to the Central Capital and ask someone from Bamboo Knot Gang?” Ye Xin Rou suddenly suggested. It would be impossible to extract any information from those inside Yang Kai mansion, but since this news came from Bamboo Knot Gang, someone there should know the details.

“Bamboo Knot Gang ... As far as I know, since surrendering to Ninth Brother, they have annexed many small forces, but Pang Chi’s management skills are somewhat lacking, so their interior power structure isn’t united, especially when it comes to the second in command, Mu Nan Dou, who joined later. He shouldn’t be convinced serving Pang Chi, or that loyal to Ninth Brother. He’s likely just overawed by the Yang Family’s reputation. Seek him out. As long as you offer the right conditions, I’m sure he’ll be willing to cooperate.” Yang Zhao said.

“And if he doesn’t cooperate?”

Yang Zhao smiled lightly, reaching out and gently holding Ye Xin Rou’s smooth chin, saying in a slightly provocative manner, “There’s no need for me to tell you that.”

“En, I know,” Ye Xin Rou’s cheeks blushed red, her eyes shimmering as she nodding lightly.

“This needs to be handled swiftly. Leave now; I hope to have accurate information by tomorrow afternoon at the latest!”

Ye Xin Rou smiled brilliantly, turned around, and rushed off into the night.

............

Two figures, a thousand meters up, flew through the darkness at lightning fast speed.

Yang Kai lead the way while Ying Jiu followed just behind. Even if the difference in their cultivation was an entire Great Realm, Ying Jiu still had to use eighty percent of his maximum speed to keep pace with Yang Kai.

Knowing Yang Kai was quite anxious, Ying Jiu just silently shadowed him without asking a single question. Only the sound of their clothes fluttering in the wind broke the silence of the night.

Traveling non-stop for a day and night, even a master like Ying Jiu was breathing somewhat heavily and had to take True Qi supplementing pills to maintain his peak state in case any sudden accident occurred, but Yang Kai didn’t even seem flustered, only more and more excited with no traces of exhaustion on his face at all.

Ying Jiu hadn’t even seen Yang Kai take a single pill!

Feeling not a small amount of shock, Ying Jiu really wanted to know how Yang Kai stored so much True Qi that he could be so calm and relaxed even with such massive consumption.

One day and one night, nearly three thousand kilometers, and Ying Jiu was fairly certain the Little Lord was flying at full speed the whole time. Was such expenditure no burden at all for him?

Without stopping to rest, after another silent night, when the eastern horizon began glowing a faint golden hue, Yang Kai suddenly stopped and stood mid-air, overlooking the scene below.

A dense jungle seemingly placed within a 100,000-meter mountain range, lush verdant forests filled with ancient trees, clear sky, like morning mist, and blue skies. It was like an untouched paradise.

In this forest there seemed to be some traces of Monster Beast activity as well as quite a few good spirit herbs.

The hundred members of High Heaven Pavilion had secluded themselves in these mountains.

[Such a great area they’ve found!] Yang Kai smiled as his emotions fluctuated wildly. His Spiritual Energy surging upwards, he spread out his Divine Sense over a massive range, taking in all the sights and sounds for kilometers around.

The people of Bamboo Knot Gang being able to find anyone here probably had a lot to do with luck. In such an expansive wilderness, finding a mere hundred people couldn’t be described as simple ‘difficult’.

After a short while, Yang Kai took back his Divine Sense and showed a disappointed expression. Although his current Divine Sense could cover a wide range, he still didn’t notice any people, not even any traces of human activity could be perceived.

“Little Lord, do you want to split up and search separately?” Ying Jiu suggested.

“No need.” Yang Kai shook his head. “As long as I’m close enough, I’ll be able to sense them.”

Although Ying Jiu wasn’t clear what method Yang Kai had to seek his former Sect members, he didn’t ask any questions.

Pang Chi had only given Yang Kai an approximate location and a rough map, but with just this it was enough for Yang Kai to determine a general direction to search in.

After an hour, Yang Kai, who was still flying at full speed, suddenly stopped in place, a glimmer of hope flashing across his eyes as he turned his head in a certain direction.

“Follow me!” Calling out to Ying Jiu, he quickly sped off.

After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, Ying Jiu noticed a series of newly built thatched cottages in the foothills surrounded by tall mountain.

The arrival of the two seemed to have alarmed the people living in this place, immediately causing several Immortal Ascension Boundary masters to emerge from their houses and stare at them vigilantly.

Ying Jiu quickly did a sweep of the area and discovered that there were only a few Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, the strongest of which had only reached the Fourth Stage, while all of them belonged to the older generation and their True Qi wasn’t very pure.

He suddenly felt a bit curious. For the former Sect of his Little Lord, shouldn’t there at least be a master at the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary? With a rising star like Yang Kai, how could all these people be so mediocre?

The people down below quickly noticed Yang Kai and they couldn’t help but point and shout, the caution on their faces quickly transforming into joy.

Before they even approached one another, Yang Kai smiled and waved to all of them, everyone down below following suit, several of them calling out to the nearby houses, resulting in a flurry of opening doors. In an instant, nearly a hundred people emerged, each of them waving and calling out excitedly.

Yang Kai immediately spotted Su Mu and Li Yun Tian and his other old friends, a warm feeling soon welling up in his chest.

After a while, Yang Kai and Ying Jiu fell to the ground, the former hurriedly walking up and cupping his fists, “Disciple Yang Kai greets Martial Uncles!”

“Good good! How did you find us here?” One of the older members, around forty years old, asked, “Aren’t you supposed to be participating in the Inheritance War in War City?”

“There’s no need to worry, disciple has been looking for your whereabouts for some time now. A few days ago, after finally receiving some accurate information, I decided to come find everyone.” Yang Kai took a deep breath and replied while sweeping his eyes over everyone present, seeing many familiar and unfamiliar faces, all of whom were smiling happily back at Yang Kai.

“Brother!” Su Mu ran forward and greeted.

Yang Kai grinned meaningfully and patted him on the shoulder.

Looking at Su Mu, he couldn’t help feeling a little surprised; he found that Su Mu had actually grown from the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage to the True Element Boundary Fifth Stage. While this level of strength wasn’t very high amongst the elites of the younger generation, it was already very good for him.

“Come inside and talk!” The several Martial Uncles of High Heaven Pavilion encouraged.

This place was very humble, probably built only to satisfy basic living conditions. Once inside the house, the several members of the older generation intentionally or unintentionally inquired about the identity of Ying Jiu; after learning that he was a Yang Family Blood Warrior, all of them were quite shocked and immediately became somewhat cautious.

The Yang Family Blood Warriors, for them, were already people they could only look up to. Ying Jiu didn’t put on any airs however, nodding slightly to anyone who greeted him, but as a result of his naturally cold expression and temperament, the High Heaven Pavilion members didn’t dare disturb him more than absolutely required.

After tea was served, Yang Kai began to inquire about their situation this past year, the old men slowly explaining everything that had happened during this time.