Martial Peak

“Brother Yang…” Xue Yue suddenly grit her teeth and spat his name.

Yang Kai’s brow twitched violently as he felt the intense anger coming from her, but he could only smile and cup his fists, “Third Young Master, I trust you’ve been well since we last met!”

“Thanks to you!” Xue Yue replied coldly.

Inexplicably, after hearing the conversation between the two, Shen Tu shivered and instinctively sensed that there was some kind of terrible grudge between the two!

Glancing at Xue Yue, then at Yang Kai again, Shen Tu coughed and prepared to act as a peacemaker, but before he could say anything, Xue Yue suddenly gave him a cold glare and declared, “You leave, I have something to discuss with this Brother Yang!”

She stressed the ‘Brother Yang’ extremely hard.

Shen Tu choked down the words he was about to say as he fought an internal battle with himself. On the one hand, his friend who he owed his life to was facing a terrible crisis, but on the other hand, his own life was hanging by a thread. Perhaps escaping into the green hills now would be the best choice, at least there would be no need to worry about firewood…

After hesitating for two breaths, he solemnly declared, “Alright then, if that’s the case, Second Brother will wait outside. You two… have a peaceful chat!”

Having said so, like his heels were greased, he quickly escaped from the hall, beckoning with his eyes to Aunt Chun and Li Nuo who seemed to be in something of a daze at the moment, to follow him.

The two women got the message, glared at Yang Kai faintly, then left together with Shen Tu.

*Peng…*

The entrance of the hall closed shut.

Shen Tu, Aunt Chun, and Li Nuo all hurriedly stopped, turned sideways, and raised their ears towards the door.

There were no signs of movement from inside though, neither fighting nor quarrelling, simply silence.

After a long time, Shen Tu finally could not restrain himself, and said anxiously, “Third Brother won’t dare act too presumptuous and try to fight with Brother Yang, would he? Brother Yang is a Second-Order Origin King, and if he were to hurt Third Brother, how would I explain it to father?”

“Second Young Master, there’s no need to worry about that,” Li Nuo glanced over at Shen Tu, pursed her lips and said with a wry grin, “It didn’t look like they were about to fight to me.”

“They weren’t going to fight?” Shen Tu was stunned, “Didn’t you see the way Third Brother was glaring at us just now? It was as though he wanted to drink our blood? While he might behave politely in front of outsiders, I know full well how bad his temper is. From childhood, it’s clear to me that Third Brother has the heart of a devil, and it looks like he and Brother Yang have a lot of grievances between them…”

“They may be rivals, intense ones in some sense, but I’m afraid that has nothing to do with any kind of grudge, rather…” As Li Nuo spoke, her mood became more and more embarrassed, and her cheeks began to dye slightly red.

“Rivals, but not over some grudge?” Shen Tu frowned before suddenly the truth of the matter dawned on him, “Then, they must be rivals in love! Could it be that Third Brother is trying to snatch a woman from Brother Yang? Which woman is so blessed that she was able to attract both of those two at the same time?”

Li Nuo rubbed her forehead when she heard this, feeling a slight headache coming on as she whispered softly, “It’s not about a woman… Didn’t you see how Third Young Master was eyeing Senior Yang?”

“Like a vicious butcher? Why?” Shen Tu asked innocently.

Li Nuo immediately face-palmed, her headache getting much worse as she felt completely incapable of explaining to her thick-headed Young Master.

Shen Tu saw this look and grumpily said, “Speak clearly!”

To the side, Aunt Chun coughed lightly, and with blushed cheeks spoke, “Second Young Master, if you think about it, Third Young Master is a true dragon among men, but have you ever seen him seek out any women all these years?”

“No,” Shen Tu thought for a while before shaking his head, “This is one of the few points this Young Lord actually admires about Third Brother. When it comes to such affairs, he always maintains an impeccable sense of professionalism, but… what does that have to do with today’s affairs?”

“Then, Second Young Master, have you heard of the… rumour about Third Young Master?”

“Which rumour? There are far too many!” Shen Tu spat disdainfully, “With his status and aptitude, how could there not be a plethora of rumours about him? Some people say that he is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior god, some say that he is secretly actually a woman. Hell, there are even crazy rumours out there about how he does not like women and instead prefers men, hahaha…. How could I believe such nonsense that people gossip about in the street markets? All of those are clearly just made up stories.”

Aunt Chun and Li Nuo just stared at him solemnly and silently.

Shen Tu’s laughter stopped abruptly, as if he suddenly realized something, and his face sank as he murmured, “Third Brother is still a man, but I have never seen him take any interest in any woman, or even get close to one for that matter. In the Chamber of Commerce, there have been several Elders who have introduced him to the young ladies from their families, each of whom is a stunning and talented beauty, yet none of them were ever able to enter Third Brother’s eyes, but… the way that boy was just looking at Brother Yang…”

Aunt Chun and Li Nuo nodded together hearing this, thinking to themselves that it took Shen Tu long enough.

“It couldn’t be?” Shen Tu quickly began leaking cold sweat.

“I certainly hope not!” Aunt Chun also said solemnly.

If things were really as they thought, then how many young girls in Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce would fall into depression? How many young women would have their hearts broken? It would definitely cause an unimaginable disaster.

Inside the hall, Xue Yue and Yang Kai stared at each other for a long time before Xue Yue ground her teeth and shouted, “You bastard!”

Saying so, she punched him as hard as she could.

But by the time fist fell on Yang Kai’s chest, it only landed softly and powerlessly.

Yang Kai just stood on the spot and chuckled lightly, allowing her delicate fists to hit him a few times so weakly that even his clothes weren’t ruffled.

Xue Yue raised her head and stared at him stubbornly, biting her thin lip lightly.

Yang Kai quickly reached out and embraced her.

Xue Yue struggled symbolically for a moment before settling down and leaning her blushed face into his broad chest.

With her hair right at the tip of his nose, Yang Kai could smell the natural floral fragrance that wafted from her and could not help feeling relaxed and comfortable.

“Since you came here, why didn’t you come to see me the first chance you got!?” Xue Yue complained quietly.

“I was planning to see you shortly after I arrived, but I didn’t expect that the matter I asked Shen Tu to handle for me would actually delay me for so long.”

“Useless Second Brother!” Xue Yue snorted coldly, seemingly pushing all the blame onto Shen Tu.

“Tell me, how did you manage to escape from Zi Long last time?” Xue Yue raised her head and looked at Yang Kai eagerly, as if she could not wait to hear what had happened after they had parted.

Her glamorous red lips, which were now right in front of him, looked exceptionally alluring to Yang Kai.

Yang Kai could not help leaning in and taking a light peck.

Xue Yue’s face blushed red all the way to her ears and down to her neck.

Although she had some close contact with Yang Kai in the Severed World, that was during a life or death crisis. Xue Yue thought she was about to die and simply let go of all her inhibitions, but things were different this time.

Especially knowing that her Second Brother was still eavesdropping outside the door, she became incredibly tense as well as a bit excited.

Panicked, she hurriedly pushed Yang Kai away and quickly escaped from his embrace.

Yang Kai laughed at her behaviour, found a chair for himself, and sat down.

Xue Yue saw him acting so calmly and could not help angrily stomping her foot, her expression exactly like that of a wronged young girl.

In a huff, she sat down on the chair beside Yang Kai, poured a cup of tea graciously for him, then picked up a spirit fruit resembling a grape, peeled it, and popped it into Yang Kai’s mouth.

“Don’t keep me in suspense. How did you manage to escape? Wasn’t Zi Long dead set on killing you? Has the secret of the Immortal Divine Tree being in your possession leaked?”

Xue Yue asked a series of questions all at once, with clear worry on her face. However, after the last question she asked, she hurriedly added, “You can rest assured, I asked Uncle Ni not to tell anyone about the Immortal Tree.”

“I believe you,” Yang Kai nodded gently.

However, Xue Yue understood the nuance in Yang Kai’s words, how he believed in her, but as for Ni Guang… That had yet to be verified.

After all, Ni Guang was an executive member of the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, so the secret about Yang Kai carrying something as important as the Immortal Tree was not something a single request from Xue Yue could silence. Even so, Yang Kai was confident that even if Ni Guang did tell the others, the number would probably not exceed what one could count on a single hand.

Everyone wanted to monopolize the best treasures, so widely publicizing the existence of one was never a good idea.

And so, Yang Kai began narrating the story of what happened after he left the floating continent that day.

After learning that Zi Long and Zi Dong had died at Yang Kai’s hand, Xue Yue could not help gasping.

Until now, she had not bothered to probe Yang Kai’s cultivation. She was just a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator right now, so it was basically impossible for her to see through Yang Kai’s depths if he did not want her to, but it was not an issue if Yang Kai didn’t block her Divine Sense.

“You’re already a Second-Order Origin King!?” Xue Yue was shocked.

Back in the Severed World, the two of them were both Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators, yet now, after only a few years had passed, the man in front of her had arrived at the Second-Order Origin King Realm!

On the other hand, she was still languishing back in the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm.

Xue Yue suddenly felt a sense of crisis in her heart and almost wished she could go back right now, enter retreat, and breakthrough.

However, she was not a petulant little girl. Having dealt with so many matters for Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce on her father’s orders year in and year out, she had developed a tough and mature disposition, so she calmed her raging emotions after taking a deep breath and said cheerfully, “Since Zi Long is dead, and Zi Dong was buried with him, doesn’t that mean that Purple Star is now a dragon without a head?”

“En, not only is it a headless dragon, but it’s also… suffered some serious damage to its foundation.”

“Why do you say that?” Xue Yue looked at Yang Kai with a weird expression. Although Zi Long’s death was a huge blow to Purple Star, it was definitely not enough to damage its foundation severely, so she immediately realized that something else must have also happened to Purple Star.

“It’s nothing. I just went to Purple Star for a little trip and raised a bit of a fuss, injuring their Great Elder Gong Sun Liang severely during a bout of infighting they were going through. A lot of their masters also fell at that time!”

“Such a thing happened?” Xue Yue’s eyes flashed, “Tell me about it carefully.”

Yang Kai grinned and gestured to Xue Yue with his eyes.

Xue Yue glanced at him angrily but still reached out, peeled another spirit fruit, and fed it to him.

Yang Kai then began telling her what happened on Purple Star.

Xue Yue’s smile only grew brighter as time passed, eventually shaking her head and saying, “Right now, you’re probably the most hated enemy Purple Star has, but even a master like Kuang Shi Zong couldn’t stop you from destroying one of their Origin King Grade Starships. He’s probably feeling a deep sense of regret.”

“He was the one who insisted on killing ruthlessly, it’s not my fault,” Yang Kai smiled lightly.

“But how could Second Brother not report such a big incident to father? It’s too outrageous. Also, now I understand why Purple Star has suddenly begun acting so meek, even going so far as to withdraw a number of their businesses. It turns out it was all because of this,” Xue Yue showed a look of enlightenment. Many things she was unable to understand before now suddenly made sense.