Martial Peak

Inside the Bamboo Knot Gang’s main hall, Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou hesitantly looked at the two people behind Yang Kai.

“Do you have a problem?” One of the seemingly dying people suddenly coldly snorted, an overwhelming Divine Sense pressure filling the air.

Feeling the power of this Divine Sense, Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou’s expressions immediately changed, realizing that these two men, even if half-dead, were unfathomable masters.

The extraordinary strength of these two Divine Senses would be enough to sweep away the small forces in the entire North City District.

Quickly collecting themselves, the two gang leaders hastily shook their heads, “Subordinate doesn’t dare!”

“Go!” Yang Kai casually waved his hand.

Before they could see the movement of the two towering figures behind Yang Kai, Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou found themselves wrapped in an irresistible force and disappeared from the hall, leaving behind only a faint bloody smell in the air.

After Qu Gao Yi and Ying Jiu disappeared, Yang Kai grinned.

It had been five days since these two had begun following him.

The two Blood Warriors were seriously injured and should be spending their time recuperating in bed, but Yang Kai had completely ignored their physical conditions and even seemed eager for them to die as soon as possible, taking them with him wherever he went.

Over the past five days, Yang Kai didn’t talk to them or give them any instructions.

But what made Yang Kai happy was that he didn’t feel any annoyance or unwillingness from either Qu Gao Yi or Ying Jiu.

Right now, the two could exert less than thirty percent of their full strength, but that was already more than enough to sweep up the small forces in the Central Capital’s North City District.

If there was time, Yang Kai had wanted to let Pang Chi and Mu Nan Dou slowly annex these small forces themselves, but the Inheritance War was about to start, therefore, he couldn’t afford to wait so long.

Left with no other choice, he decided to dispatch the two Blood Warriors in order to expedite the process.

Standing up, Yang Kai walked out of the main hall and signaled to one of the Bamboo Knot Gang’s executives, “Take me to your warehouse.”

“Yes!”

The Bamboo Knot Gang had already swallowed up two small forces and purchased a lot of Alchemy and Artifact Refining materials at the request of Yang Kai, all of which was now stored in their warehouse.

Yang Kai entered for a moment before just as casually walking out, his Black Book space now filled with many more good things.

In addition to the large amount of materials sent to him five days ago by Yang Zhen and the Elder Hall, Yang Kai’s current stockpile was already quite significant.

The efficiency of the Elder Hall was quite high, it only took them one day to convert all of Yang Kai’s remaining merits into materials and deliver them to the Yang Family Fourth Master’s residence.

When they saw the two rich piles of delivered goods, both Yang Kai and his father couldn’t help feeling shocked.

Everything that was sent was above Heaven Grade, and one-tenth of them were actually Mysterious Grade, half for Alchemy, half for Artifact Refining!

Fortunately, the Yang Family had a solid foundation; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to produce so much material in such a short time.

Yang Ying Feng didn’t understand how Yang Kai could have so many remaining merits after acquiring two Blood Warriors.

Yang Kai did not expect to receive so much either.

It was quite a while before the father and son due came to their senses. Now, all of these things had been swept away into the Black Book space.

“Inform Pang Chi to continue to collect materials. When there is enough, have them shipped to War City,” Yang Kai said offhandedly before walking off.

War City! A city built by the Yang Family specifically to host the Inheritance War, located only a hundred kilometers or so from the Central Capital.

“Yes!” The Bamboo Knot Gang’s executive responded vigorously.

After Yang Kai left, the man felt a little confused. Why did the Young Lord want to see the warehouse? It seemed like he just walked in and walked out without taking anything.

Curious, he quickly looked inside, but what he saw almost caused his soul to leave his body, a cold sweat immediately dripping down his forehead.

All the materials originally placed in the warehouse had disappeared, like they were never there.

[This… how did… what… but…]

Three days later, the Yang Family presented offerings to Heaven and their ancestors.

A majestic stage with a perfectly smooth floor covered in a majestic red carpet. The Offering Sacrifices To The Heavens Stage had two magnificent stone pillars atop it that seemed to ascend straight into the sky. On the stone pillars were various lifelike carvings of dragons and phoenixes that appeared to swim through the Nine Heavens.

The sky was blue with not a cloud in sight for ten thousand kilometers, the wind blowing through caused the Yang Family’s blood red banners to flutter gently.

Nearly a thousand Yang Family cultivators, dressed in black uniforms, gathered around the huge ceremonial altar.

These thousand cultivators inhaled and exhaled as one, almost as if this stretch of Heaven and Earth was breathing.

Just below the altar stood the eight Yang Family Young Lords, all of them wearing their finest robes, their appearances meticulously put together, arranged in order from oldest to youngest, staring up at the ceremonial stage.

Suddenly from somewhere behind them, a voice called out, “Qiu Family Patriarch, Qiu Shou Cheng!”

“Ye Family Patriarch, Ye Kuang Ren!”

“Meng Family Patriarch, Meng Xiping!”

……

Just like a few decades ago, the Yang Family Inheritance War was the largest and most lively event in the Central Capital. The other seven families would naturally not miss its commencement, all of the various Patriarchs showing up personally.

Yang Family disciples would meet these distinguished guests and bring them to their arranged positions to sit, carefully serving them tea as they waited.

In the short span of half an hour, the seven family’s Patriarchs had all arrived.

With a cyan flash, the Yang Family’s Patriarch, Yang Ying Hao, along with a few Grand Elders who had reached the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, appeared on the ceremonial stage.

As soon as the host appeared, Qiu Shou Cheng and others rose up and cupped their fists.

Yang Ying Hao returned to the ceremony politely before shouting, “Today is the day my Yang Family presents offerings to the Heavens and worship our ancestors. Many thanks to our honoured guests for joining us this day, please be seated!”

Qiu Shou Cheng, Ye Kuang Ren, Meng Xi Ping, nodded slightly before once again sitting down.

Yang Kai’s eyes fixed on Yang Ying Hao. This person, if one went by generation, should be his uncle, his real age probably only a few years older than his father, the Yang Family Fourth Master.

But now, Yang Ying Hao’s hair had gone completely gray as if he had already entered his late years, even his face had many deep wrinkles adoring it.

Before the battle with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, he was not like this. At that time, he also had the appearance of a middle age man, maybe not young, but definitely not so old.

The reason for his rapid aging was because of an injury he had received at the hands of the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land battle by the Profound Yin Ghost King and the Annihilating Poison King. After returning to the family, he had taken advantage of the Yang Family’s life and death technique to steady his injuries at the cost of shortening his life expectancy to thirty years at most.

The Yang Family Patriarch’s role was crucial, so even though a life expectancy of thirty years wasn’t very long for someone of his cultivation realm, Yang Ying Hao didn’t hesitate to use this forbidden technique to stabilize himself.

His current condition wasn’t simply the result of his trauma, but also a result of him directly overdrawing his vitality.

As such, Yang Ying Hao became very old.

It was because he didn’t know how long he could live that the Yang Family had so anxiously recalled all the Yang Family Young Lords in order to launch the Inheritance War.

Yang Zhao and Yang Kang both looked at their aged father and felt deeply saddened in their hearts.

Yang Ying Hao, on the other hand, wore a light expression as he extolled the Inheritance War’s rules.

Essentially, there were no rules. The Yang Family would only provide Blood Warriors to the Young Lords and these Blood Warriors would have many restrictions imposed on them for the duration of the Inheritance War. Besides that, the Yang Family would not provide any Young Lord with any direct help.

No matter what kind of force or treachery was used, the one who survived until the end would be the winner of the Inheritance War.

“Do you understand?” Yang Ying Hao looked at the eight youths standing below and asked, each of them nodding firmly in response.

“Good, then bow to the Heavens, bow to the ancestors!” Yang Ying Hao waved his hand and shouted loudly.

All kinds of offerings had already been prepared in front of the solemn ceremonial platform, an incense burner released a gentle fragrance while a rare Sixth-Order Monster Beast was carried up, which Yang Ying Hao proceeded to kill, scattering its blood all over the stage.

Offering a blood sacrifice to the Heavens to worship the ancestors!

The ceremony was very elaborate, but Yang Family’s younger generation completed their tasks meticulously under the guidance of Yang Ying Hao.

Throughout the whole process, the other seven families elites also watched carefully, observing the performance of these eight youths, doing their best to determine whether the ally of their son or daughter was appropriate while also examining which of their enemies was formidable.

Finally, after paying respects to the Yang Family’s ancestors one last time, the ceremony was finally completed.

“Go now! From this point on, it is either you die or I die, put your all into it to achieve victory!” Yang Ying Hao shouted, “Go!”

At his command, a whistle rang out and eight exquisite Cloud Treading Colts arrived in front of the eight youths, each these Yang Family Young Lords swiftly riding their mounts.

The wind stopped and the air around the ceremonial stage suddenly seemed to stagnate, the breath of over a thousand people suddenly halting.

The eight youths glanced at each other and grinned confidently.

Here they were all brothers, but outside the Central Capital, they were enemies! There would be no mercy.

And so…

“Eldest Brother will take the lead!” Yang Wei quickly said, his Cloud Treading Colt sprinting away the moment his voice fell.

“Let’s go!” Yang Zhao chuckled.

Eight Cloud Treading Colts dashed towards the Yang Family’s dedicated gate, a cloud of dust billowing up in their wake.

“This old master is going to see the excitement!” Kang Family Patriarch Kang Rui snorted and with a wave of his hand, the pure True Qi wrapped him and his entourage up before they shot off like lightning.

“Good, we’ll go together!” Gao Family Patriarch Gao Mo Jin followed after.

“This old man will also come!” Not to be outdone, Huo Family Patriarch Huo Zheng also called out loudly.

In an instant, all the members of the seven families had disappeared.

“Hmph, no manners at all!” Yang Ying Hao coldly snorted, blaming these old men for not coming up to say hello to him at least.

All the way, eight Cloud Treading Colt rushed along the ground while seven groups of people flew through the sky, a moment later all of them arriving at the South city Gate.

Outside the South Gate, it seemed to be even more lively than at the Yang Family’s ancestor worshipping ceremony. Countless small forces stood around watching, all of them understanding that today was the beginning of the Inheritance War. It was only natural for them to arrive here early and wait for the various Yang Family Young Lords they had agreed to follow so they could travel to War City together.

Beyond the South Gate, a dense crowd of people spread out several kilometers, while there were many others secretly observing from afar.

“Which Young Lord is your Great Yang Valley going to follow?” Some people familiar with one another began asking.

“Of course it’s the Sixth Young Lord, Yang Shen!”

“Don’t go, you’ll definitely lose. Come with us Flying Cloud Manor to follow the Second Young Lord, Yang Zhao, the second Young Lord has more potential than the Sixth Young Lord.”

“Is that true?”

“Naturally it’s true, come come, I’ll tell you about it, I know a lot of inside information.” The two men hooked their shoulders and went off to discuss things in secret.

Small third-class forces like Great Yang Valley and Flying Cloud Manor normally had no way to socialize with the likes of the Yang Family, so before the start of Inheritance War, they had no way to see the Young Lords and could only wait here. They were even less clear about the strengths and weaknesses of these Young Lords, so most of them wanted to observe them for themselves or listen to friends who might know more before deciding who to follow.