Chapter 352 – Provocation

Watching as Xiang Chu strode away, Yang Kai couldn’t help but grin wryly.

This group of people, who had never seen him before, had completely treated Yang Kai as though he was air.

The Xiang Family was a first-class family, so their treasured Young Lord acting aloof and domineering wouldn’t be abnormal.

But now, seeing this Xiang Chu first-hand with his elegant manners, harmless disposition, carefree and unrestrained personality, allowing people to have a positive impression of him, Yang Kai couldn’t help but be surprised.

Yang Kai could clearly see that this person had great interest in the two Hu Sisters and made no effort in hiding his meaning. On top of that, even though Hu Jiao Er responded so coldly to him, he did not respond with any kind of displeasure or annoyance, instead maintaining an ever-genial temperament.

Yang Kai couldn’t understand at first glance why the Hu Sisters and everyone else seemed to despise this young man.

However, everything must have a cause, and Yang Kai also understood well that one’s outer persona didn’t always reflect their true self. His intuition told him that this Xiang Chu must have a side to him that he didn’t expose to the public.

After Xiang Chu had departed, the genius of Fang Ziji approached Yang Kai and said with a chuckle, “Yang Kai, you mustn’t be deceived by that guy. Although he looks kind and harmless, his tongue is slippery and his mind is scheming, it’s just that he hides all of this deeply, or else there’s no way he’d be able to maintain his command over this place.”

“En.” Yang Kai nodded lightly. He never had any intention of underestimating Xiang Chu’s depths.

People like Bai Yun Feng, who wore their arrogance on his sleeve and clearly treated people either with respect or disdain, couldn’t cause any threat to Yang Kai.

But someone like Xiang Chu who would smile warmly while plotting against you had to be guarded against.

“This place is actually under his command now?” Hearing this, Hu Jiao Er couldn’t help asking before glancing towards Fang Ziji strangely, “What exactly happened? He’s just a member of the young generation, how could he be put in command here? Are there not any Elders from the Xiang Family present here anymore?”

Fang Ziji however just laughed wryly and turned his gaze to Guan Chi Le.

Guan Chi Le hesitated a moment before saying, “The Young Ladies must be tired and should rest for now, as for these other matters, this old man will explain in the evening.”

“Good.” Hu Jiao Er nodded without hesitating; firstly, although she had noticed that something was unusual as soon as they had arrived at the camp, it didn’t seem to be a pressing matter. Second, she really did mean for her and Mei Er to clean themselves up. This past month of running and hiding with Yang Kai made it so they hadn’t had a chance to do so at all.

Women always loved to be clean.

“Yang Kai, you come with me.” Fang Ziji warmly said.

Yang Kai smiled and followed him away.

That night, around a big outdoor campfire, the cultivators from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall all gathered round while Yang Kai and Fang Ziji both roasted some wild game atop the flickering flames.

The sizzling of oil and crackling of wood gentle echoed about.

After a long time, Hu Jiao Er finally asked, “Uncle Le, what happened? The number of masters here has dropped significantly. Where did the Elders of our Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall go?”

Three months ago, before the two sisters had been forced to flee into the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land, there were many Immortal Ascension Boundary masters here, but now that they had returned, they soon discovered that there were less than ten such masters remaining. Aside from the two who served as Xiang Chu’s guards, the other Immortal Ascension masters here didn’t have particularly strong cultivations.

Although this location in relation to others on the front wasn’t too important, it wasn’t negligible either. With the camp’s current combat strength, if the enemy across the hill were to suddenly attack in force, everyone here would quickly be overwhelmed.

Guan Chi Le let out a sigh before calmly replying, “The situation has changed. A month or so ago, the Eight Great Families sent out a summons recalling all of the masters and elites who were participating in the war with the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land. It seems that the Eight Great Families and the Demon Lord want to stage a decisive battle.”

“A decisive battle?” Hu Jiao Er exclaimed.

Guan Chi Le nodded sternly, “We’re not a proper army after all, all of us just happen to be grasshoppers on the same string. Although we started off with a great amount of hatred and enthusiasm, after fighting for so long most of us simply want this war to end earlier. It’s probably that the heads of both sides have reached some kind of consensus so most of the masters here have been transferred away, your father included.”

“Dad also left…” Hu Mei Er whispered softly.

Although Hu Man’s cultivation had reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage and could be considered one of the elite able to look down disdainfully on the whole world, now that he was forced to participate in this so called decisive battle, if he was the slightest bit careless, there was still a chance he may die.

How could the the Hu Sisters not worry?

“It’s the same for our Storm Hall, the Sect Master and all the Elders left, fortunately the masters across the hill have also left.” Fang Ziji grinned wryly, his master was Xiao Ruohan, Storm Hall’s Sect Master.

“If it wasn’t for Sect Master’s request, this old man wouldn’t have been able to stay here.” Guan Chi Le’s blank look suddenly livened up, “Sect Master said that the two young ladies would surely return here one day, so he requested permission for this old man to remain here, firstly to take care of our disciples, and secondly, to wait for the two young ladies. Now it seems that Sect Master’s decision was the right one.”

Speaking till here, Fang Ziji suddenly cut in, his voice filled with extreme resentment and hatred, “If it weren’t for Senior Guan’s help, your Blood Battle Gang and our Storm Hall’s disciples would probably have all died.”

“What happened?” Hu Jiao Er’s face sank.

“The same as before,” Fang Ziji sneered, “Because our two Sects were lumped together with High Heaven Pavilion, none of the other Sects here have a very good opinion of us. When the two of you were here things were better because Xiang Chu would intervene here and there, but after you disappeared, Xiang Chu simply brushed us aside, and any dangerous task was then quickly pushed onto our two Sect’s disciples.”

His expression became cold, and then Fang Ziji angrily said, “When we first arrived here there were more than a hundred of us, but now? There’s only a dozen or so of us left.”

Having witnessed the tragic deaths of so many of his Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters, the pain Fang Ziji’s felt was difficult to describe.

Suddenly, Fang Ziji suddenly remembered something, quickly turning towards Yang Kai, “You shouldn’t mind me, I don’t mean anything else.”

“I know.” Yang Kai nodded lightly. Although Fang Ziji went out of his way to not create a misunderstanding between them, Yang Kai knew very well that it was because of their relationship with High Heaven Pavilion that Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall received such harsh treatment.

Without a doubt, High Heaven Pavilion held some responsibility for these two Sect’s current circumstances.

However, these other forces were taking things too far! Just because it was the Sect the Demon Lord had come from, High Heaven Pavilion had been burnt to the ground while the treatment given to Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall was completely unreasonable.

Having heard Guan Chi Le’s remarks, Hu Jiao Er thought to herself for a moment before saying, “Since that’s the case, then this region is even less important than before, right?”

Guan Chi Le nodded lightly, “Young Lady is correct, as soon as three or five days, or as late as half a month from now, a decisive battle will be fought. The victor from that battle will essentially decide the outcome of this war, so whether it’s us or the forces on the other side of the mountain neither wants to stir up any trouble. As long as we wait until after the decisive battle is finished, both sides will likely withdraw from here so both sides here probably think fighting each other is pointless.”

“En.” Hu Jiao Er nodded slightly.

“That being the case, the Xiang Family simply gave command here to Xiang Chu.” Fang Ziji grinned wryly, “They probably wanted to use this rare opportunity for him to hone himself.”

There weren’t many opportunities for this kind of gathering. In this place, there were various elite disciples and elders of at least five or six forces. When this many parties gathered together, there would inevitably be disputes. If Xiang Chu could handle these matters well, it would prove he was also capable of handling matters related to the Xiang Family. Such experience would be of great use to him if he was to become Patriarch of the Xiang Family some day!

Clearly this was the Xiang Family’s way of training him as a future successor.

After learning about these things, the Hu Sisters were finally able to put down most of the burdens in their hearts, though they were still worried about Hu Man’s safety.

A short time later, the wild game was cooked and the fragrance of roasted meat wafted through the air. Yang Kai chewed on it with impunity, and it wasn’t long before the Hu Sisters were unable to bear the temptation and began eating gracefully.

In this one month following Yang Kai, life had been difficult and was very much lacking these simple pleasures.

After eating and chatting for a while, the serious atmosphere eventually became lighter, especially when the surviving members here thought that they’d soon be able to return to their Sects. Nothing would make them happier now; Fang Ziji even pulled out some wine he had hidden somewhere and drank heartily with Yang Kai.

Yang Kai even feared he would keel over drunk on the spot.

While they were enjoying themselves, a group casually approached them amidst the darkness.

The leaders of this group were a handsome man and a beautiful woman, neither of whom seemed very old.

In particular, the woman was particularly enchanting, wearing a tight-fitting garb that clearly highlighted her exquisite figure. Her sleeveless top exposed her two snow-white jade arms that even in the dark or night seemed to glisten like freshly fallen snow under the moonlight.

As these two walked closer, a malicious grin appeared on their faces and quickly spread to the rest of their companions.

When this group of newcomers was less than three meters away, the lead man suddenly ‘slipped’, nearly falling to the ground.

As a result of his actions, a large amount of dirt and sand was sent flying right into the faces of the Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall disciples.

“Ah…” The man exclaimed in an exaggerated manner, seeming to hurriedly try to stabilize his stance.

The people from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall who just now were laughing, eating, and drinking of course noticed this sudden change and though Guan Chi Le immediately took action, he couldn’t stop all of the sand.

After all, packed into this ordinary soil was no small amount of True Qi.

*Pu pu pu…*

Everyone was pelted, many of their faces experiencing a stinging pain, and all of their drinks and food had been covered in dirt.

Quickly recovering, the disciples from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall all stood up and glared at these newcomers angrily.

What they saw there was a man exaggeratedly shaking his head, a fake look of shock plastered all over his face as he cried out, “That was close! I almost fell!”

The beautiful woman next to him giggled, “How could you be so clumsy Senior Brother Xie Rong?”

That Xie Rong replied, “Junior Sister Li Fu is mistaken! Senior Brother was watching a pack of monkeys doing tricks and accidentally stumbled.”

Li Fu laughed cheerfully, glancing around, wearing her best innocent smile as she pouted, “Senior Brother loves telling jokes, how could there be any monkeys out this late at night? How come Junior Sister can’t see them?”

Xie Rong smiled slyly “Junior Sister’s eyes aren’t very good, can’t you see, these monkeys not only do tricks but also eat meat and drink wine, isn’t that so strange?”

Li Fu suddenly wore an amazed expression, “Is that true? Do such entertaining monkeys really exist? Junior Sister must have a look at them! Where are they? Where?”

As she spoke, her seductive eyes glanced ‘unintentionally’ towards the campfire, a thick disdainful smile upon her face.

Everyone obviously knew that these two acting out this play were referring to the disciples from Blood Battle Gang and Storm Hall.

Silavin: Once again, dear Patreons, please come to Discord and PM me so that I can give you the permissions to read ahead.