Martial Peak

The old man was a First-Order Origin Returning cultivator. If it weren’t for certain concerns he had, he would have saved himself all this trouble by reading the information from Yu Feng’s mind using a Soul Search.

However, because of said concerns, the old man didn’t dare to kill off anyone just yet. Furthermore, using a Soul Search was exhausting and did not guarantee that one will get the exact piece of information that one is looking for. These factors combined were why he was resorting to these simple methods of interrogation instead.

Seeing how stubborn Yu Feng was, the malicious-looking brute laughed, “Good, good! I like people with guts! You can withstand this torture, but what about them? I’d like to see if everyone is as tough as you are!”

He looked towards the second person, asking the same question as before.

The reply was another glob of bloody spit.

Once again, the whip lashed out, sending the disciple from the Hai Ke Family spinning into the air. He landed heavily on the ground and stayed there for a long while.

Following this, he turned towards the third person, furious to the extreme. He roared, “Make this easy for yourself and give it up! Or else you’ll get what’s coming to you!”

The third Hai Ke Family disciple raised his head and looked him in the eye, expression cold. He had the lowest cultivation out of everyone here, a mere First-Order Saint. With his Saint Qi sealed, a single strike from the whip could mean half a month in bed.

Yu Feng opened his mouth as if wanting to say something, but the disciple cut him off, “Don’t worry, Brother Feng. We haven’t spent that much time at Dragon Cave Mountain, but we have all received great benefits. We won’t be ungrateful traitors. To hell with Shadow Moon Hall. Have they got the means to improve the cultivation of so many people by one or two Minor Realms in such a short period of time?”

“Exactly!” Yu Feng felt a swell of pride and nodded. The disciple was right. The fifty or so Hai Ke Family disciples who separated from the family under the leadership of Wu Yi to join the Dragon Cave Mountain had no worries regarding cultivation resources these past two to three years. They were given an endless supply of various pills and medications and each received at least one or two artifacts, all of which were Saint King Grade. This was infinitely better than what they could have gotten back in the Hai Ke Family.

It can be said that every Hai Ke Family disciple had recognised Dragon Cave Mountain as their home, resulting in a strong sense of belonging.

By now, the brute understood that he was wasting his breath with these questions, and simply raised the whip. Just as he was about to unleash a strike, the old man on the chair suddenly opened his half-closed eyes and turned to look outside.

Boom…

A loud noise was accompanied by several violent pulses of Saint Qi. There appeared to be a fight going on outside, but everything died down after a few cries of shock and agony.

“Who dares trespass the Gathering Source Hall!” The old man’s expression stiffened as he rose from his seat and turned to head out. However, he let out a strange cry midair, flying backwards as if he had suffered a serious injury.

A burst of white light followed after him, landing in the room and heading towards the old man with a tremendous aura.

Shocked, the old man immediately took out a defensive artifact in the shape of a small shield, placing it in front of himself.

A huge blast rang out, causing the old man to stumble back several steps before he was able to disperse the immense force. Looking down at his shield, he couldn’t help but wince.

A small flicker of jet-black flame was burning on this Low-Rank Origin Grade Artifact, and its blazing heat was starting to cause the shield to melt.

This sight frightened him greatly. Had he touched this flame just now, he would have suffered a fatal injury even if he didn’t outright die.

Before he could react, two gusts of Shi descended from the sky, enveloping the whole room. He raised his head and saw the imposing figure of a youth clad in a chilling aura entering the room.

Behind the youth were two old people, both who were First-Order Origin Returning cultivators. The two gusts of Shi from earlier were clearly their doing.

The old man’s eyes widened, knowing that the situation had become unfavourable for him. As a lone First-Order Origin Returning cultivator, there was no way he could handle two other cultivators of the same Realm by himself. Realising this, he immediately took out an item from his Space Ring and crushed it, secretly breathing a sigh of relief as he successfully did so.

“Yang Kai! Foreign Elder Chang, Foreign Elder Hao!” Yu Feng and the rest exclaimed in joy when they saw the intruders.

Yang Kai took a quick look across the room, eyes narrowing as he saw the grievous injuries on several of the detained individuals. Murderous intent welled up within him. He could tell how serious the injuries were, and how they had caused their vitalities to deplete almost to the extent of damaging their foundations. Right now, a few pills and a few days of recuperation could still heal them, but had he come out of seclusion a day or two later, their cultivations would undoubtedly have fallen.

“You’re Yang Kai?” the old man stared at him in shock after hearing their words.

Yang Kai glanced at him, showing no interest in answering his question. Instead, he signalled towards Chang Qi.

Chang Qi immediately walked up, condensing Saint Qi onto his fingertips like knives, cutting Yu Feng and the rest out of their bondage. He then checked the restrictive barrier that was placed within their bodies and furrowed his brows.

Although this was merely the work of a fellow First-Order Origin Returning cultivator, it would still take him two to four hours to undo it. Now was clearly not the best time for that.

He brought Yu Feng and the rest back to Yang Kai’s side, and communicated the situation to him in a hushed voice before standing down.

Yang Kai nodded, then looked towards the old man. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “You sound like you already know me?”

“Hmph! So what?” the old man grunted.

Yang Kai smirked, then asked, “Is your surname Xie?”

The old man’s expression changed immediately to one of extreme shock, “How do you know?”

“I knew it!” Yang Kai nodded, a look of understanding spreading across his face. He had guessed it earlier when talking with Wu Yi and the rest about the situation. If there really was internal strife in Shadow Moon Hall, the Dragon Cave Mountain shouldn’t have been affected to this much of an extent.

After all, Dragon Cave Mountain was a major customer, meaning that there’s nothing but benefit in cooperating with them. No one would make an enemy of them without any reason like this.

Yang Kai instinctively felt that anyone who would stand against Dragon Cave Mountain so brazenly must be someone with a grievance against him. That, together with the criteria of being related to Shadow Moon Hall, narrowed the choices down to a single one: the Xie Family.

Xie Hong Wen had been a disciple of Shadow Moon Hall, while his father, Xie Li, was a Deacon. His status was not as high as Qian Tong, but it did give him some degree of power.

The Xie Family was a faction independent from Shadow Moon Hall, but these two definitely shared some connections.

As for why they would antagonize Yang Kai, there were two reasons. Firstly, out of suspicion that Xie Hong Wen’s death had something to do with him. After all, Xie Hong Wen died in the Flowing Flame Sand Field after a Shadow Moon Hall disciple told him about Yang Kai’s location there, which was enough for the Xie Family to believe that Yang Kai had something to do with his death. They probably refrained from causing Yang Kai trouble so far because they were apprehensive of Qian Tong and that Origin Grade Artifact Refiner.

Secondly, they probably wanted to take this chance to test the waters with Qian Tong!

If Qian Tong still had the time to look after Dragon Cave Mountain, he would have long since done so. It would, therefore, seem that he wasn’t in a favourable situation either.

Yang Kai quickly deduced the possible state of affairs based on his own assumptions. Even though he couldn’t be completely certain whether that was the truth just yet, it shouldn’t be far off. He just had to ask around a little afterwards to make sure.

Suddenly, Yang Kai’s mood improved slightly. As long as it wasn’t Qian Tong acting against him, it was fine. Moreover, since the Xie Family was the main mastermind, it must mean that the strife in Shadow Moon Hall was quite serious. Not only was Qian Tong occupied, but his opponent also didn’t have the time to care about this either.

In that case, Yang Kai had no more concerns. The current Dragon Cave Mountain had no problem handling a mere Xie Family. If they came at him, he would give them a reason to be sorry.

“I am Xie Quan!” The old man realised his slip-up and stopped trying to hide it altogether. He laughed coldly, “You’re quite bold for daring to destroy the Gathering Source Hall even after knowing that I’m from the Xie Family!”

“Xie Family… Hehe…” Yang Kai laughed for a while. Stroking his chin, he asked Yu Feng, “Who beat you up?”

Yu Feng looked stunned for a while, before pointing at the brute behind Xie Quan.

Yang Kai nodded, face twisting into a rage. He flicked his wrist, sending a thin golden thread flying straight at the brute.

Xie Quan’s expression changed, and he exclaimed, “How insolent!”

At the same time, a wave of Shi burst from his body, and he sent several bursts of energy towards the golden thread with flicks of his fingers.

He thought that it would be easy to disperse the attack of a Third-Order Saint King. In fact, releasing his Shi was beyond necessary.

However, his eyes grew wide in shock the next moment. The golden thread tore his Shi to shreds, nullifying the bursts of energy completely.

That’s when he understood that he had underestimated his opponent. He hurriedly took out an artifact in the shape of a top. As it spun, wave after wave of light rays shot out from it, forming a protective layer in front of the brute in the blink of an eye.

As an Origin Returning cultivator, it would be too shameful to allow Yang Kai to capture someone right in front of him.

However, yet another shocking scene unfolded. The protective shield was not able to stop the advance of the golden thread, shattering to pieces as it made contact. In the next moment, the brute shouted in surprise as he was pulled towards Yang Kai with immense force.“Put him down!” Xie Quan’s face was fuming red. Channelling the Saint Qi within his body, he struck his palm towards Yang Kai, materializing a gigantic palm print in the process, as if trying to flatten Yang Kai completely.

Yang Kai laughed coldly and pushed his own palm forward.

Another gigantic palm print materialized, meeting Xie Quan’s own head on. Not only did it swallow Xie Quan’s palm print entirely, it advanced towards Xie Quan with an intensity that seemed to cover Heaven and Earth.

Xie Quan’s eyes were almost popping out of their sockets. Never had he thought that a Third-Order Saint King could face him head-on, not to mention gain the upper hand in the process!