Yang Kai saw a lot of familiar faces, most of which he had met for the first time at the mountain lake.
The Ten Thousand Flower Palace’s four girls were among them, along with disciples from Pure Heart Palace, Water Moon Hall, Nine Star Sword Sect, Raging Fire Temple, Soaring Feather Pavilion …
Disciples of these various factions had all gathered here, totalling around thirty people, all of them leaders and elites from their respective forces.
But now, the state of these people did not look very good, their True Qi consumption was severe, and many of them had varying degrees of injuries.
Clearly, they had just experienced a hard fight. Thus, most of the thirty or so disciples were in meditative recovery; only one person was moving about the battlefield, gathering up the Blood Beads left behind by the defeated Monster Beasts.
Looking around, Yang Kai saw a young man about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old glaring at him coldly.
This young man had a tall stature with an arrogant bearing. Although his clothes had many rips and tears, they were still neatly arranged without the slightest wrinkle; even the numerous blood stains on him only added to his cold and imposing aura. He stood there quietly, like a sharp, unsheathed sword, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
After staring at Yang Kai for a moment, the young man’s interest faded as he turned his eyes away and talked to the person who had just been collecting the Blood Beads, reaching out and receiving them from him.
As Chen Xue Shu and Su Xiao Yu came over, both of them revealed a tired expression as they scanned the aftermath of the battle.
“What happened here?” Yang Kai frowned; he really could not see how the situation had developed into this. These younger generation disciples had all come here from different Sects for life experience, so the relationship between them was akin to rivals and enemies. If there were no special circumstances, even if they didn’t attack one another, gathering together en masse like this would simply be impossible.
“It’s a long story!” Chen Xue Shu grit his teeth and motioned for Yang Kai to sit down.
Seeing that Chen Xue Shu’s injury was not light, Yang Kai reached his hand into his sleeve and pulled out of a bottle, from which he poured out a couple pills.
“Healing pills…” Su Xiao Yu’s eyes lit up.
Chen Xue Shu hastily signaled to her with his eyes and quickly whispered, “Brother Yang, quickly hide those!”
Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled even more, and although he was confused, he quietly put the bottle back into his sleeve while stealthily placing the pills he had taken out into Chen Xue Shu’s hand.
He was truly puzzled; after all, it was just a few healing pills, so why had Su Xiao Yu made such a fuss? Every young disciple who came here for life experience had certainly brought a few bottles of these with them to use from time to time.
Inside his Universe Bag, he himself had more than ten bottles of pills prepared for him by his Grand Master Ling Tai Xu, although he had barely used any of them.
Su Xiao Yu quickly turned around and stuck out her tongue, an apologetic look upon her face.
“Senior Brother Chen, why are all of you gathered together?” Yang Kai whispered. This was what he was most uncertain about.
“We had no choice!” Chen Xue Shu wryly smiled.
“Somebody threatened you?” Yang Kai’s expression went cold.
“Not quite.” Chen Xue Shu shook his head repeatedly. “We didn’t gather together voluntarily, but out of self-protection. You see, if we hadn’t converged, none of us would have been able to survive up till now.”
“There’s some kind of danger here that forced all of you to join hands?” Yang Kai questioned.
“En.” Chen Xue Shu nodded his head.
“Is it some terrible Monster Beast?”
“It’s a group of people. Well, the Monster Beasts are also a problem.” Chen Xue Shu sighed deeply, glancing over and asking, “Do you remember when we were waiting by the lake side, there was a group of people whose looks and clothes were somewhat different from the rest of us Great Han Dynasty cultivators?”
How could Yang Kai not remember? The impression given by that group of people was quite strong after all. “You mean those Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators?”
Chen Xue Shu looked at him stunned, “Brother Yang even knew their origin! Our group had to pay a big price before we finally figured out that they weren’t from our Great Han Dynasty.”
“Grand Master told me before.”
Chen Xue Shu’s face revealed both shock and admiration, “Predecessor Ling is truly well informed.”
“What is the relationship between those Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators and your current situation? I know they are really strong, but in the end, there are only four of them. With so many of you here, how could they pose a threat to you?” Yang Kai frowned, only more confused by Chen Xue Shu’s explanation so far.
“If it was just the four of them, we would never fear them! If those damn Tian Lang Dynasty dogs dared act presumptuous in front of us Great Han Dynasty cultivators, we would never tolerate it! Just a few of us together here would easily be able to destroy them!” Chen Xue Shu spat out angrily before putting on a wry smile, “But now it’s not just the four of them, *haa…*, we don’t know what kind of strange Secret Art or Martial Skill they’ve cultivated, but whatever it is it allows them to enslave Monster Beasts, forcing them to fight for them! Those four people now have hundreds of Monster Beast servants, so how could we possible fight back against them?”
Hearing this, many things that confused Yang Kai suddenly made sense, “Just now, when you were surrounded by Monster Beasts; are you saying those Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators were the ones who arranged that?”
“En,” Chen Xue Shu nodded heavily. “The disciples from hundreds of sects and various forces in the Great Han Dynasty entered this isolated world, but none of us were prepared for that group from Tian Lang Dynasty. The first month or two, that group of bastards didn’t make any big movements, mostly ignoring us Great Han Dynasty cultivators, letting us kill Monster Beasts and fight amongst ourselves. However! Two months later, after they had enslaved a considerable number of Monster Beasts, they immediately began launching attacks on us, who were still scattered and unaware. Many people were caught off guard and were hunted down by those Monster Beasts while those Tian Lang Dynasty people just sat back and watched, reaping all the rewards from our deaths without having to exert any effort themselves.”
(Silavin: That’s a good plan. You kill of those that got fat from the blood bead, giving you an even better meal.)
Yang Kai was astonished, unable to regain his composure for a long time.
But now, at least all the doubts had been cleared up. No wonder he found a group of Monster Beasts from various different species attacking the two of them. Someone else had driven them!
“These past few days, those Tian Lang Dynasty peoples’ Monster Beasts are only increasing in number, there’s simply too many of them for us to kill. On the other hand, our Great Han Dynasty group has been continuously shrinking! When we first gathered together, there were nearly fifty of us, but since then more than a dozen have died, and now, aside from those you see here, I’m afraid everyone else has perished.
In other words, the only living people in this isolated world now were those four Tian Lang Dynasty cultivators and the thirty or so disciples here.
Yang Kai took a deep breath and tried to gather his wits. In the beginning, there were about two or three hundred people who entered this isolated world, but half a year later, only about one tenth remained. Those who had died were all elites from their respective forces, so the loss to the Great Han Dynasty couldn’t be simply described as heavy.
Exasperated, Chen Xue Shu ground his teeth in frustration as his face flushed red with anger, “This is beyond shameful, once this news spreads out, all the Sects which sent disciples here are bound to lose all face…”
So many Great Han Dynasty young elites had gathered together, but they were all swiftly and decisively beaten down by only four Tian Lang Dynasty youths. If this really spread out, everyone here would become the world’s laughing stock, so he had good reason to be upset.
“Senior Brother, it’s not your fault!” Su Xiao Yu softly comforted, “It’s not that we are weak, it’s just that those people are too treacherous, plotting too deeply.”
“Haa…” Chen Xue Shu sighed dispiritedly, “I just hope that this damned place closes quickly so those of us left can escape.”
Pondering for a moment, Yang Kai suddenly frowned and asked, “With so many of you gathered together, who is in charge?”
Everyone here was an elite, in their respective forces they were all capable of summoning the wind and rain, so naturally many of them were rebellious, arrogant, and highly self-confident. If there was no one here capable of suppressing all these egos, this group would only be a mess.
Chen Xue Shu glanced towards the side and motioned, “Him. Nine Star Sword Sect’s Wu Cheng Yi, a True Element Boundary Seventh Stage master. Of everyone gathered here, his strength is the strongest, so for now we’re all following his lead.”
As he turned his eyes, Yang Kai was surprised to find that the one Chen Xue Shu talked about was the young man who had previously been staring at him.
[No wonder he gave off the feeling of an unsheathed sword, turns out he’s an elite disciple from the Nine Star Sword Sect.] Yang Kai secretly thought.
The Nine Star Sword Sect’s disciples all cultivated the way of the sword; it was an extremely famous Sect whose reputation echoed throughout the Great Han Dynasty.
Nine Star Sword Sect could be considered the first sect just beneath Eight Great Families! A sect of such great standing in the Great Han Dynasty can be considered a sect meant to train up dragons and phoenixes!
Wu Cheng Yi possessed great personal strength and came from an extraordinary background; such a person temporary commanding this group made sense, in addition to him, there was likely no one else in this group young elites who could serve as leader without drawing public criticism.
Yang Kai nodded and said, “This man’s temperament and demeanor really does make him look like a leader; it seems that Nine Star Sword Sect has placed a lot of emphasis on cultivating him.”
Su Xiao Yu who had been listening quietly up till now suddenly whispered angrily, “Hmph, he’s just an arrogant man who treats the rest of us like his henchmen. He demanded that all the Blood Beads we obtain by killing Monster Beasts be handed over to him so he can distribute them, who knows how many he’s greedily tucked away.”
Chen Xue Shu softly looked towards Su Xiao Yu, “Don’t say that, if not for him taking charge, it’s unlikely we would be able to gather together like this, and would have long been picked off one by one by those Tian Lang Dynasty people. His combat strength is the highest,and he’s also made the most contributions, so getting more benefits is also reasonable. Besides, more than eighty percent of the Monstrous Beasts in this isolate world have been enslaved by that Tian Lang Dynasty group. Either way, we wouldn’t be able to obtain many Blood Beads. If he wants them he can have them, my only wish is to be able to escape here alive, everything else isn’t important anymore.”
However, Su Xiao Yu was clearly not convinced, “If it was just that I wouldn’t care so much, but what bothers me is he doesn’t take the lives of other people seriously. Just now, we were sent out to contain more than a dozen Monster Beasts, if not for Junior Brother Yang saving us, Senior Brother… you …”
Thinking of the danger the pair had encountered, Su Xiao Yu suddenly burst into tears, her eyes quickly becoming red and swollen like a child’s.
“Now… now, what are you crying for? Do you want to show Brother Yang here such a miserable look? Didn’t we make it out safe and sound?” Chen Xue Shu laughed while comforting her, directing a grateful smile towards Yang Kai.
On the other hand, Yang Kai frowned and asked, “Were you being surrounded by those Monster Beasts because of his orders?”
Chen Xue Shu smiled wryly, “We all take turns, it’s just our Senior Brother and Junior Sister’s bad luck that there were more than usual this time, almost causing us to fall.”
Watching him let out a deep sigh, Yang Kai could feel Chen Xue Shu’s helplessness; in their current situation, even if he was dissatisfied with Wu Cheng Yi, he could only endure it and act in the best interests of the group, if the two of them were to leave, with his and Su Xiao Yu’s strength, they would only end up dying faster.
Thinking through all of this, he finally understood why, when he took out those few healing pills, Su Xiao Yu had been so pleasantly surprised.
Over the past few months, this group must have suffered countless battles, and although each of them had brought many spare pills, by now, they had certainly run out. In addition, this isolated world did not seem to have any herbs or flowers with medicinal properties. So, even his commonplace healing pills were considered extremely rare and valuable treasures.