Chapter 2320 - Strength is King
Chapter 2320, Strength is King
Translator: Silavin & frozenfire
Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun
Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys
The next half-day went by with Gui Zu and the others asking Yang Kai about the matters that happened to him after entering the Star Boundary.
Yang Kai didn’t conceal much as he started narrating his experiences. After hearing his stories, Gui Zu and the others could not help but sweat, despite knowing in their shocked hearts that Yang Kai had managed to safely avert the various dangers that he had encountered.
It was only then that they discovered that Yang Kai’s experience during these past few years was much richer, and far more dangerous than what they had gone through. However, Yang Kai’s progress in his cultivation was much quicker and far-reaching than theirs. They could not help but perspire and have a youthful, heroic feeling surge within their hearts.
Another half a day passed before they dispersed and retreated to their rooms to rest and recuperate.
Yang Kai went to find Ye Jing Han for her assistance to find a few herbs.
It was not a difficult task to refine a Coagulation Pill, though Yang Kai was lacking in the necessary materials to do so. If not, he would have already taken out his furnace on the ship to refine it. The few herbs he needed weren’t too difficult to find, so Yang Kai was naturally confident to let Ye Jing Han deal with procuring them.
She naturally accepted this small matter without the slightest hesitation and proceeded to transmit a message back to her Sect.
As the ship proceeded to move along, it took them less than two days to reach Thousand Leaves Mountain Range.
All of a sudden, Yang Kai, who was seated, felt a tremor rock through the ship. In the next instant, a humming noise rang out, before the ship came to a halt.
Opening his eyes, he sensed that they should have reached their destination. Just as this thought crossed his mind, a knocking sound came from the door, before Ye Jing Han’s voice called out, “Young Master Yang, we’ve arrived.”
Standing up, Yang Kai lightly smiled at Ye Jing Han, indicating for her to lead the way.
After a short while, the two arrived on the deck. Gui Zu, the others, as well as the Thousand Leaves Sect disciples were all present, with him being the last one to arrive.
Seeing him appear, Gui Zu and the others turned towards him, faint smiles present on their faces.
“Father!” With a sudden shout, Ye Jing Han leapt off the ship and lunged into the arms of an old man, hugging him tightly as she raised her head and said, “Why did you come out?”
The old man seemed to be past his prime, with a head full of white hair. Although a lively aura radiated from him, the strength of his vitality had already started to wane. In other words, his journey on the Martial Dao was already at its end. As time passed, his cultivation would only grow weaker and weaker, alongside his waning lifeforce. If he could not break through to the Emperor Realm, he would pass away within ten years.
From the looks of it, Ye Jing Han and the old man shared some facial similarities.
Yang Kai immediately realized that this old man was Thousand Leaves Sect’s Sect Master, Ye Hen; Ye Jing Han’s father.
A faint smile on his face, Ye Hen gave Ye Jing Han a light pat on her shoulder, “With the arrival of our honoured guests, it’s natural for me to come out to welcome them. On the contrary, you’re not young anymore, yet you still fawn over your father like this. You’re making the guests laugh at you.”
Ye Jing Han wrinkled her brows, “Why say that I’m not young? I am not married yet.”
Ye Hen chuckled, “Then I’ll marry you off tomorrow.”
Ye Jing Han pouted and snapped back, “You dare!?”
As she said those words, Du Xian and the others flew down from the ship, arriving before Ye Hen before cupping their fists, “Greetings, Sect Master.”
Ye Hen nodded his head and replied, “Many thanks for your hard work.”
Du Xian replied, “You’re too courteous, Sect Master. It is our duty to accomplish tasks for the Sect, so we don’t dare to claim credit for it.”
Ye Hen nodded his head in satisfaction, before turning his head towards Yang Kai and the others. After a cursory sweep, he focused on Yang Kai, a faint smile adorning his face as he cupped his fists, “You must be Grandmaster Yang, right? You’re young indeed, a true dragon amongst men.”
Clearly, he had already received quite a few pieces of information from Ye Jing Han, and also knew why she had brought Yang Kai back to Thousand Leaves Sect. As such, he was clearly emotional when he said these words, though no one was able to notice it due to his masterful poise.
Cupping his fists, Yang Kai replied, “Junior Yang Kai greets Sect Master Ye!”
Yang Kai had always been respectful towards the elderly and those who were senior to him, and would never underestimate anyone despite his rise in his strength.
“This Ye is truly grateful to Grandmaster Yang for making the arduous journey here,” Ye Hen quickly said.
Du Xian and the others gawked upon hearing his words, as they did not know why their Sect Master was displaying such an attitude. All of them assumed that Ye Hen had uttered the wrong words in the heat of the moment, instantly causing weird looks to appear on their faces.
Ye Jing Han did not tell them the real purpose she had invited Yang Kai, so they naturally wouldn’t understand.
This wasn’t due to her not being able to trust them, but this matter concerned the future rise or fall of Thousand Leaves Sect, so it was best if fewer people knew about it.
“Many thanks, Sect Master Ye, for your kind words,” Yang Kai exchanged pleasantries before his gaze turned slightly towards the figure of another old man standing by Ye Hen’s side, asking in doubt, “This Senior is…”
This old man was dressed in a black robe, and stood by Ye Hen’s side. He did not utter a single word the whole time and his gaze was sharp, while his cultivation was also at the Third-Order Dao Source Realm. From the looks of it, the Source Qi in his body was strong and pure, while his cultivation realm was not far off from Ye Hen’s. While Yang Kai was chatting with Ye Hen, this old man had been shooting a cold glare towards him while showing no intention of interrupting, nor wanting to exchange greetings with Yang Kai at all.
However, from what Yang Kai could tell, since this old man’s cultivation was at the Third-Order Dao Source Realm, and stood by Ye Hen’s side, his status should not be low. Therefore, out of respect, he naturally had to ask.
A faint wrinkle appeared on Ye Hen’s forehead, though he quickly smiled and proceeded with the introductions, “This is…”
“This Old Master is Thousand Leaves Sect’s Vice Sect Master, Shi Cang Ying!” The old man immediately interrupted Ye Hen and shot a gloomy look at Yang Kai.
Yang Kai frowned, as he could instinctually sense that this old man was radiating with hostility and repulsion. Therefore, he could not help himself from sizing the latter up in detail. He was very sure that he had never greeted this person before, nor did he have any dealing with him at all. Did he somehow offend this old man in some way?
Ye Hen quickly tried to mediate the situation, “Vice Sect Master Shi is a pillar of our Sect. It is due to his contribution over these years that our Thousand Leaves Sect has been able to continue surviving.”
“So, it is Vice Master Shi. This Junior has been disrespectful.” Yang Kai didn’t take much issue with the situation and replied by cupping his fists and putting on a faint smile.
Nevertheless, Shi Cang Ying did not have any intention of giving Yang Kai face and responded with a cold snort before turning towards Ye Hen, “Sect Master, this Old Master had assumed that it was the arrival of an extraordinary young genius that made you go all the way out personally. However, it doesn’t seem so from the looks of it. How is this trivial brat able to make you raise such a big fuss? You have gone senile, Sect Master.”
Not only did he treat Yang Kai as an insignificant flea, he had even cursed Ye Hen in the process.
The entire atmosphere turned suffocating as soon as his words rang out. Nevertheless, despite their faces brimming with anger, the few Thousand Leaves Sect disciples present did not dare to refute Shi Cang Ying.
A look of embarrassment covered Ye Hen’s face as he clearly did not expect Shi Cang Ying to be this tactless and say such words in front of Yang Kai, leaving no place left to manoeuvre.
Shi Cang Ying continued, “Furthermore, these few people have caused such a huge ruckus in the City Lord’s Mansion just two days ago. Not only did they offend City Lord Luo, they also offended many important guests in the process. This Old Master even heard that Sky Peak Temple’s Sir Ke was beaten to death by them! On top of that, Sky Illumination Palace’s Young Palace Master Qiu has suffered serious injuries during the scuffle! How could such walking disasters be allowed to enter our Thousand Leaves Sect?”
Ye Hen frowned and replied, “Brother Shi, the matter isn’t what you made it to be. There are some underlying circumstances…”
Shi Cang Ying abruptly interrupted, “This Old Master has a clear understanding of the whole matter, so there’s no need for Sect Master to explain it to me. What crime did City Lord Luo commit when taking in a mere concubine for him to suffer such humiliation before so many guests!? Sect Master, you will be letting wolves in the house if you let these few people into our Sect! When the time comes, Sky Crane City, Sky Peak Temple, and Sky Illumination Palace will definitely not leave the matter at that. When that happens, our Thousand Leaves Sect will be hopeless to deal with them!”
Right as those words rang out, Ye Hen’s face changed slightly, a clear indication of the extreme dread he had towards those few great forces.
By the side, Gui Zu let off a weird cackle that sounded incomparably sinister. Black Qi started to swirl around his body before a pair of pupils burning with a ghostly fire locked onto Shi Cang Ying’s body, “From this Friend’s words, we’re the ones that have done something wrong? When that Luo Jin forced my Fifth Sister to be his concubine against her will, we were supposed to cooperate obediently and not treat it as something humiliating but something honourable?”
Shi Cang Ying shot a cold look back at him, “Strength is king. Your cultivation is mediocre, so it is your good fortune to have the opportunity to seek shelter under the big tree that is the City Lord’s Mansion. However, not only did you all not appreciate it, you even managed to cause a disaster and create trouble for yourselves. What a joke.”
“Shut your trap, you old dog!” Chi Yue’s face turned red with rage as she cursed out between her clenched teeth, “Why don’t you marry your wife or daughter to that old bastard and lean on his big tree then? You dare accuse others without any self-conscience?”
Rage filled Shi Cang Yang’s face as soon as he heard her words and Source Qi started to gush out from his body. Despite being a mere First-Order Dao Source Realm cultivator, Chi Yue still dared to say such words to him. As such, he was naturally unable to endure it and subconsciously thought about taking action to teach her a good lesson.
However, before he could gather his strength, he suddenly felt an exceedingly contemptuous gaze bearing down on him. Under that gaze, Shi Cang Ying could not help feeling a mysterious shiver run up his spine while a feeling that he would end up in an exceedingly miserable state if he was to take action surged within his heart.
Turning his head around, he just so happened to see Yang Kai grinning while looking right at him.
This made him frown, though he did not dare to recklessly take action. With a haughty look, he said, “This Old Master is a Third-Order Dao Source Realm Master, so there is no need for me to move according to Luo Jin’s whims. If you all reach this realm of cultivation, you would naturally be able to do what this Old Master does.”
Speaking to this point, Yang Kai finally realized why Shi Cang Ying had shown such hostility and repulsion to them despite meeting them for the first time.
He was clearly afraid of drawing trouble to himself.
After all, Yang Kai had offended quite a few powerful influences due to the massive ruckus he had created in Sky Crane City’s City Lord Mansion two days ago, where he had killed a number of people. Among them were important members of several powerful forces that Thousand Leaves Sect needed to be wary of, especially Sky Peak Temple and Sky Illumination Palace, both of which were overseen by strong Masters.
From the attitude Shi Cang Ying had shown, Yang Kai and the others weren’t the ones he truly feared would bring disaster to his Thousand Leaves Sect. On the contrary, he was afraid of trouble falling on him due to associating with Yang Kai and his group. Therefore, he was very unwelcoming to them, wanting to use this as an attempt to chase them away and not let them have any association with Thousand Leaves Sect.
This made him treat Ye Hen with utter disregard and not show any face to Yang Kai and the others.
“What you say does make sense, old Sir!” All of a sudden, Yang Kai said this sentence with a faint smile on his face.
“Smelly brat!” Chi Yue’s face sank as she shot a wicked look at Yang Kai. Not only did Yang Kai not say anything to back her up, he had actually agreed with this horrid old fart. This was something she never expected, and was truly unable to accept.
Yang Kai winked back at her, “Strength is king, while seniority is only to be respected. Whoever has the biggest fist has the most say. Regardless of the time, this is the law that never changes. Isn’t that right?”
Shi Cang Ying sneered, “It’s rare for a young little brat like you to be able to see so clearly. Good, very good.”