Martial Peak

Nobody expected Yang Kai to kill Xie Quan.

The Origin Returning Realm masters had not dared to act carelessly just now for two reasons. Firstly, there was the threat of the Artifact Spirit Firebird. Secondly, Xie Quan had been subdued by Yang Kai. They acted cautiously out of fear that Yang Kai might kill Xie Quan out of anger. After all, everyone had seen how brutal Yang Kai was. If Xie Quan really died here, it would become a problem with Xie Li later on.

But now, this was no longer a concern, and ironically, Yang Kai was the one who removed the concern for them. This was not just unexpected, it was infuriating as well! Only now did they realise that they had completely underestimated this youth’s madness and insolence!

Without Xie Quan as a hostage, did he really think that he was a match for so many Origin Returning Realm masters? The thought of Xie Li’s anger when he learned of the deaths of Xie Quan and the Xie Family disciples further agitated the crowd. Ma Xin Yuan pointed several times at Yang Kai, seemingly too enraged to speak. After a long while, he finally spoke through clenched teeth, “You’re dead, brat. You’re really dead.”

“Brother Ma, stop wasting your breath with him. Let’s just capture him and bring him to Manager Xie,” someone spoke coldly from aside.

“You think you can?” Yang Kai laughed boldly. If Chang Qi and the rest were still here, he might have some trouble, but now that he was the only one left, not even a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm would be able to stop him. Having cultivated Space Force, he could escape by tearing space anytime.

The situation this time was nothing like that time in the Corpse Cave, where he not only had to bring Yang Yan with him but also face off an opponent on the level of a Thousand-Year Corpse General.

There were only seven or eight First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators here. They would be dreaming if they thought that they could capture Yang Kai.

“Let me turn Heavenly Fate City upside down before I settle my grudges with you!” Yang Kai’s voice suddenly grew cold, raising his hand and commanding, “Burn it!”

The Artifact Spirit Bird raised its head towards the sky and let out a long shriek when it received the command. The flames on its body blazed, and the Fire Attribute World Energy started converging onto it once again. In a flash, it had become even larger.

Seeing this, the Origin Returning Realm cultivators turned pale, hastily covering their bodies with Saint Qi and summoning their own defensive artifacts in order to protect themselves.

The Firebird opened its mouth wide, a huge ball of light forming within. After a moment, the ball turned into a beam of fire that burst out with frightening force, its temperature almost high enough to melt space itself.

The target of the attack was not any cultivator, but the largest store in the vicinity.

Yang Kai was actually planning on turning the entire Heavenly Fate City upside down. Given how badly the people of Dragon Cave Mountain had been bullied, there was no way he could back down. Doing so would only leave an impression of weakness, making them the prime choice as a target in the future.

After all, this could be considered Dragon Cave Mountain’s first fight since its establishment!

Before the beam of fire reached the store, the latter had already been set ablaze by the high temperatures. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from far away, reaching the store before the fire, causing a thin layer of energy to surround the building.

This was the defensive barrier of the store, which can be considered a kind of Spirit Array. All of the larger stores in Heavenly Fate City had this, but the strength of the barrier depended on the profits of the store in question.

The barrier of this particular store clearly wasn’t weak. It was emitting a light green glow like ripples of water, obviously a work of intricate design.

Even so, when the fire came into contact with the barrier, it shook and broke apart almost immediately. The green glow dimmed quickly, and it didn’t even last a few seconds before shattering into pieces.

The remaining fire roared straight down towards the shop.

Suddenly, an artifact looking like a Round Bowl appeared, growing to a size of several dozens of metres in midair and intercepting the fire right above the shop.

Unable to change its course, the fire shot right into the Bowl. Following this, a flash of blue light shone out from within the Bowl, rounding the fire into a ball and suppressing it within. A middle-aged man dressed like a scholar then appeared above the Round Bowl, his expression sombre to the extreme. He shot several bursts of Saint Qi towards the Round Bowl, and with the activation of his Divine Sense, the Bowl quickly shrank to its original size.

With a wave of his hand, the middle-aged scholar summoned the Round Bowl back to his palm, staring at the fire raging within with a disturbed expression.

“You’ve finally shown yourself!” Yang Kai snorted coldly. He did not make any further moves, instead choosing to stand there and glare at the middle-aged scholar.

He had sensed the scholar’s presence the moment he stepped foot into Heavenly Fate City. After all, the scholar had the cultivation of Third-Order Origin Returning Realm!

Other than him, there was no one else in the entire Heavenly Fate City whom Yang Kai was apprehensive about. Otherwise, he would not have acted so fearlessly before.

The only thing he could not understand was how the scholar did not seem to have any intention of showing himself despite everything that Yang Kai was doing. However, Yang Kai had kept track of him, and now that the store was almost going to be destroyed, the scholar finally could not bear to stay hidden any longer.

Yang Kai did not yet know whether he was friend or foe, but he instinctively felt that he did not mean any harm, or else he would have come out long ago.

“Blue Jade Bowl!”

“City Lord Fei!”

The exclamations of the First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators gave away the identity of the scholar.

The City Lord of Heavenly Fate City, Fei Zhi Tu!

Although Yang Kai has never interacted with him before, he had heard of his name. Back when he was having a conflict with the Hai Ke and Xu Families, the two Families once went to the City Lord’s Mansion to ask for help. While they were not able to meet Fei Zhi Tu in the end, Patriarch Yi En from the Hai Ke Family bumped into Xie Hong Wen there and managed to drag him into the conflict.

Yang Kai only knew him from Wu Yi’s introductions, and even then he didn’t know that he was a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm.

Looking at him, Yang Kai finally felt a sense of apprehension. The Blue Jade Bowl, being able to contain the attack of the Firebird, was clearly of a rather high grade and he, himself, had an unbelievably deep aura comparable to that of Qian Tong’s.

Just because he had the ability to act as he wanted under the eyes of seven to eight First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators didn’t mean that he could do the same before a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master. However, he also didn’t have any plans to retreat before confirming the standpoint of the scholar. There were still trump cards that he had not yet played, such as the Space Blade and the Blossoming Lotus Secret Technique.

The crowd’s expression changed slightly when they recognised Fei Zhi Tu, and immediately stepped forward to pay their respects. Ma Xin Yuan said, “City Lord, Sir, I heard that you were cultivating a Secret Technique in retreat? Does this mean that you have succeeded?”

Fei Zhi Tu took a slow look at him, replying, “Why, is Steward Ma interested in the Secret Technique of this City Lord?”

“No, no, it was just a random question,” Ma Xin Yuan flinched and decided to stop talking.

“Hmph!” Fei Zhi Tu looked at the First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators one by one, speaking in slight mockery, “If this City Lord had not appeared, were you planning on taking apart this entire Heavenly Fate City?”

“We apologise, City Lord!” The crowd cupped their hands and responded immediately after hearing that. One of them stepped forward to explain, “There’s a reason for all of this. It is not our fault that the stores ended up in this state, but that insolent brat’s reckless actions that caused this. We ask you to be fair in your judgements, City Lord, Sir!”

He pointed towards Yang Kai.

Fei Zhi Tu turned to look at Yang Kai. While he was somewhat surprised at the fact that Yang Kai met his gaze without fear, he did not show it, instead scolding, “What a bunch of useless garbage! You call yourselves Origin Returning Realm cultivators when you can’t even handle a single Saint King Realm brat? I can’t believe you’ve still got the face to be here. Even dogs can do better than you!”

The seven or eight Origin Returning Realm cultivators all lowered their heads without saying a single word, a feeling of indignation growing in their hearts.

After scolding them, Fei Zhi Tu finally turned to Yang Kai and laughed dryly, “And aren’t you a brave little brat? Daring to wreak all this havoc in the Heavenly Fate City as if I didn’t exist?”

“Please understand, Senior. I was only forced to engage in a little bit of self-defence because this group of dishonest people were bullying me,” Yang Kai replied indifferently.

“A little bit of self-defence…” Fei Zhi Tu’s face twitched slightly. He had seen the whole exchange while he was in hiding. It was not so much self-defence as it was Yang Kai toying with the Origin Returning Realm cultivators. [What a shameless brat], he thought, lying with a straight face. “I heard you saying that you wanted to turn Heavenly Fate City upside down?”

Yang Kai cringed, “That was merely a bad choice of words due to all the anger I was feeling just now. Surely, you are too magnanimous of a person to take it seriously. Right, Sir?”

Fei Zhi Tu took a deep breath, laughing coldly, “I don’t care if it was just a bad choice of words. What’s said is said. Either you actually turn Heavenly Fate City upside down today, or you accept a punishment. Otherwise, you won’t be leaving this place that easily.”

Hearing that, Yang Kai’s expression hardened. After a moment’s thought, he smiled, “If that’s the case, then I shall be so bold as to ask for your instructions!”

With such a high cultivation master here, he certainly wouldn’t be able to keep causing trouble. However, from the implied message within Fei Zhi Tu’s words, it seemed that he wasn’t exactly an enemy.

The other Origin Returning Realm cultivators weren’t idiots either, and they clearly understood Fei Zhi Tu’s unspoken message. The City Lord was trying to call a truce with Yang Kai. Ma Xin Yuan’s heart jumped at the thought, and he was just about to speak up when Fei Zhi Tu said, “You’ve killed quite a few people and burned a number of shops. Even if the Shadow Moon Hall was in the wrong, this should be more than enough revenge for you. Originally, things would end here, but if word got out that I let you off just like this, people will assume that this City Lord is but a mere coward.”

“I understand!” Yang Kai nodded.