Martial Peak

“I once said that when I broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary one day, I would set you free!” Yang Kai said with a friendly chuckle to Leng Shan’s suspicious face, “Now, it’s time to fulfill that promise.”

Leng Shan’s eyes suddenly flashed a brilliant light, full of hope and expectation.

A few years ago, when she had gone out for life experience in that Isolated World, Yang Kai had left a brand on her and Zi Mo of Tian Lang Dynasty’s Souls. At the beginning, Leng Shan and Zi Mo tried every means to escape Yang Kai’s control, but after wide variety of experiences, Leng Shan’s attitude towards him slowly changed.

Later, when they had reunited at the Evil Cavern and Yang Kai had single-handedly saved her and her fellow Ghost King Valley disciples, Leng Shan even began to feel grateful towards him.

When she had learned of the Inheritance War, Leng Shan and the Ghost King Valley disciples who owed Yang Kai a deep debt of gratitude had defied their Elder’s commands and journeyed to War City to assist him.

By now, she wasn’t very concerned about the Soul brand that Yang Kai had left in her mind, not even really caring if it remained or not. After all, beside the initial period where she had tried to rebel against him, Yang Kai had never used it to harm or coerce her in any way.

But despite all that, hearing Yang Kai say he was going to remove it still made Leng Shan a little happy.

This man really was someone who kept his word.

Yang Kai gently nodded, and Leng Shan stepped forward and sat down in front of him.

“Relax.” Yang Kai laughed lightly when he saw some nervousness on her face.

The next moment, the huge and pure Divine Sense condensed and directly rushed into Leng Shan’s mind.

Right now, Leng Shan was still only a True Element Boundary Ninth Stage cultivator, but although she hadn’t broken through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary yet and opened up her Knowledge Sea, as a sentient creature, she still had a Soul.

His powerful Divine Sense scanning through Leng Shan’s mind, Yang Kai immediately found an energy fluctuation which matched his own.

It was the Soul brand he had implanted on Leng Shan a few years ago!

Next, Yang Kai carefully drew out this Spiritual Energy and assimilated it into his Divine Sense.

This process wasn’t difficult for Yang Kai who had reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary.

After only as long as it would take to drink half a cup of tea, Yang Kai took back his Divine Sense and smiled, “Done.”

Leng Shan blinked slowly and looked at Yang Kai, her emotions somewhat torn.

Regaining her freedom was obviously a happy event, one worth celebrating, but after so long subtly feeling Yang Kai’s presence near her, Leng Shan now suddenly felt like something was missing, which was somewhat disconcerting.

“Thank you.” Leng Shan recovered quickly, stood up and thanked him gently.

From now on, she and Yang Kai were no longer connected. After the end of the Inheritance War, she would likely return to Ghost King Valley with her fellow disciples and never again set foot in the Central Capital and War City.

“It’s what I should do.” Yang Kai nodded lightly.

Leng Shan smiled shyly, nodded, and then left the room.

In the hall outside, Old Demon chuckled and said, “Leng girl, congratulations.”

But in response, Leng Shan actually gave him a cold stare. Her expression greatly confused the Old Demon, wondering where he had offended her.

“Old Demon, come in.” Yang Kai suddenly called out from inside the room.

Old Demon hurried in and asked, “What other instructions does Young Master have?”

“Take a seat.”

“Ah...” Old Demon was shocked and suddenly realized what Yang Kai was planning. Unable to hide a look of excitement he hesitantly began to say, “Young Master...”

“Since I told you to sit then sit, dispense with the nonsense.”

Old Demon obediently sat down in front of Yang Kai, trying his best to calm himself even as he anticipated what was to come next.

“Relax your Knowledge Sea’s defence.” Yang Kai said lightly.

Old Demon hastened to comply.

The next moment, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense poured into Old Demon’s Knowledge Sea and began seeking for his Spiritual Energy brand.

A short while later, Yang Kai and Old Demon blinked at the same time, the former staring at the latter somewhat strangely.

“Heh heh...” Yang Kai grinned as he stared at Old Demon, “Seems like I’ve seen something incredible.”

Just now, when he had invaded Old Demon’s Knowledge Sea, the first thing he saw was a blood red sea.

Old Demon’s Knowledge Sea, which could only be described as an ocean of blood, was filled with potent Demonic Intent and was in no way weaker than Yang Kai’s, and also carried a slight feeling of unease.

While exploring this bloody Knowledge Sea, Yang Kai faintly perceived some of Old Demon’s memories, including his previous desires to escape from and seek revenge on him.

However, everyone had their own thoughts and secrets so Yang Kai didn’t dare to spy too much, lest he come across something he would rather not see, and after finding the thread of Divine Sense belonging to him and retrieving it, he hurriedly evacuated.

Old Demon immediately paled, “Young Master, please calm your anger. All of those thoughts were something old servant had long ago. Now, old servant is completely loyal to Young Master and will continue to be until the earth is destroyed and the sun and moon fade from the sky!”

“Fine, fine.” Yang Kai stood up and casually waved his hand, “Don’t try to flatter me. If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have set you free in the first place.”

“Young Master is the epitome of magnanimity!” Old Demon loudly declared, “From this day forward, Old Servant pledges to redouble his efforts to loyally support Young Master.”

Yang Kai simply nodded lightly, not saying anymore.

Old Demon didn’t get up to leave immediately though and instead began fiddling with his hands, seemingly wanting to say something.

Yang Kai noticed this and waited for him to speak.

“Young Master, Old Servant must inform you of a previous offence.” Old Demon nervously said.

“If you’re referring to your previous thoughts, you don’t have to say any more.”

“No, something else.” Old Demon shook his head in embarrassment, “It’s about your method of controlling others.”

“You mean your method.”

“Yes, yes, Old Servant’s methods,” Old Demon nodded. Whether it was himself, Leng Shan, or Zi Mo, it was only through Old Demon’s assistance that Yang Kai was able to control them.

In the process, Yang Kai was only responsible for providing a thread of Divine Sense while all the other arrangements were made by Old Demon.

At those times, Yang Kai’s cultivation was still relatively weak and it was impossible for him to use his Spiritual Energy to brand others’ Souls.

“What Old Servant wants to say is... this method has both advantages and disadvantages.” Old Demon stole a glance at Yang Kai, and seeing his expression remain indifferent, he couldn’t help wincing slightly and quickly continuing, “The biggest advantage of this method is its ease of use; Young Master had likely already realized that, with the help of Old Servant, by only using a thread of Divine Sense it is easy to control others.”

“And the drawbacks?” Yang Kai thought that this was the main point as he hadn’t heard Old Demon mention any kind of disadvantage before.

Old Demon scratched his head awkwardly and after a long silence said, “The malpractice of this method is that if one suffers, so does the other...”

“Speak clearly.” Yang Kai frowned.

“If the Soul of the one being controlled by this method is destroyed, then Young Master’s Soul may also be injured...” Old Demon grit his teeth and explained.

Yang Kai was somewhat startled but hurriedly made a conjecture, “Is it because my thread of Divine Sense in their mind would also be destroyed?”

“En, precisely. Fortunately, both Old Servant and that little girl Leng Shan were both safe the whole time.” Old Demon wiped the cold sweat from his forehead as he said, “But... perhaps... if that girl Zi Mo encounters some kind of tragedy...”

Yang Kai snickered, understanding what Old Demon wanted to say.

“Young Master, if this issue concerns you, Old Servant will immediately take a trip to Tian Lang Dynasty and bring her here.” Old Demon quickly proposed.

“Do you have such ability?” Yang Kai stared at him.

Although Tian Lang Dynasty wasn’t as powerful as the Great Han Dynasty, it was still a vast land where many cultivators gathered. Sen Luo Temple where Zi Mo hailed from was the pinnacle super forces of Tian Lang Dynasty and would obviously have more than one Above Immortal Ascension Boundary Master guarding it.

Even though Old Demon’s cultivation was strong and his methods profound, snatching someone from Sen Luo Temple was still impossible.

Old Demon had never told him this before because he had originally wanted to use this method to leverage his freedom. But after all this time, Yang Kai understood that Old Demon no longer had any intentions of doing this and naturally had no intention to pursue it any further. The fact that Old Demon had willingly told him about this malpractice was enough to explain his frankness and loyalty.

On top of that, in Yang Kai’s view, this malpractice wasn’t actually a big deal.

As long as Zi Mo didn’t die, he wouldn’t receive any injury.

“No need, we can deal with it later on.” Yang Kai casually said.

“Yes.” Old Demon said awkwardly as he nodded.

In any case, having his thread of Divine Sense in someone else’s mind wasn’t an issue to be resolved by others. Yang Kai could only wait for the Inheritance War to end before finding some free time to seek out Zi Mo.

Thinking about that bold and daring woman, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly became a bit strange.

[Back then, in that Isolated World, she and I almost...]

Reflecting on his youthful recklessness Yang Kai shook his head and sighed.

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

Two days later, in the early morning, a group of uninvited guests came to Yang Kai’s mansion.

The guards on duty hurriedly informed Yang Kai of these people’s arrival. When Yang Kai arrived in the main hall a short while later, he discovered Yang Zhen, the Head Elder of the Yang Family Elder Hall, sitting at the table.

Along with Yang Zhen, there were a few others who Yang Kai had never greeted before, but one thing these people all shared in common was that they were very strong, each of them having at least reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage.

Five such masters had suddenly appeared at once.

Furrowing his brow slightly, Yang Kai stepped forward and cupped his fists politely, “Greetings Elder Zhen.”

Yang Zhen nodded lightly, his expression quite solemn.

“Elder Zhen, these are...” Yang Kai glanced around at the other seated figures.

“Elders of our Yang Family.” Yang Zhen explained.

Yang Kai had already met a number of the old men who belonged to the Yang Family’s Elder Hall. Those Elders had served the Yang Family for many years and now that they were approaching the twilight of their lives, had been granted the status of Elder and given a seat in the Elder Hall. Besides handling some minor chores now and then, most of those old men spent their time studying the Martial Dao or enjoying their remaining years however they chose to.

However, there was another group of Elders who really managed the Yang Family’s affairs and were the ones with real power.

The Elders in front of him now were obviously from the latter group.

Understanding this, Yang Kai nodded slightly to each of them.

None of them responded though, their expressions remaining aloof and indifferent.

Yang Kai didn’t pay this any mind. The Yang Family’s top management were mostly like this, as were the Elders of the other Eight Great Families.

“May Junior ask what purpose Elders have in coming to my house at this time?” Yang Kai asked, a bad feeling welling up in his heart.

Last time, because of the Blood Warrior issue, Yang Kai had been summoned back to the family. Now, a number of Elders had personally come to see him. Obviously the problem this time was more serious than last time; otherwise this would not be the case.

“Why ask something you already know?” Yang Zhen coldly snorted and said, “You killed the heirs to the Nan and Xiang Families in full view of tens of thousands of people in War City. Such wanton lawlessness, do you really think yourself to be above the Heavens?”

“Is that what this is about?” Yang Kai stared blankly at Yang Zhen for a moment before chuckling, “Several Elders, aren’t you making too much of a fuss over nothing?”

“Too much of a fuss?” A man wearing a blue gown suddenly called out coldly. “They were two heirs of two first-class families, not stray dogs or cats that could be casually butchered!”