Chapter 553 – Soul Battle

The old man casually exposed the machinations of the Eight Great Families to Yang Kai.

This was reality.

The Yang Family not ordering Yang Kai to return, only sending Yang Zhen and several Elders to negotiate with him, was by design.

In the family’s view, since everyone wanted whatever secrets Yang Kai was hiding, Yang Kai himself would certainly not be able to withstand the pressure and at that time would willingly return to the Yang Family for protection in exchange for knowledge of his ability to rapidly improve the strength of his allied cultivators.

Forcefully squeezed melon isn’t sweet, so the family had never intended to use violence against Yang Kai. Firstly, they were afraid Yang Kai would resent them, and secondly, the military force he had gathered around him wasn’t to be underestimated. Of course, the biggest reason for their actions was because they felt that as a member of the Yang Family, Yang Kai should willingly surrender everything to them in the first place!

To the Yang Family, if one of their descendants discovered a way to rapidly promote a cultivator’s strength, they should naturally offer it to the family.

However, if he were to return to the Yang Family, his cultivation would no doubt be crippled, a consequence impossible for Yang Kai to accept.

The other seven families took advantage of this subtle contradiction between Yang Kai and the Yang family to insert themselves.

The best result would be for them to capture Yang Kai in this battle. At that time, they could directly negotiate with the Yang Family about how to divide the hidden benefits he was holding.

But even if they couldn’t catch Yang Kai tonight, simply forcing him back to the Yang Family was also acceptable.

As the square faced old man said, the seven families had accompanied the Yang Family to perform this face and in the process lost many masters, if the Yang Family didn’t provide them with some compensation would they willingly give up?

Yang Li Ting appearing today was precisely because of these considerations. On the one hand, he was accompanying the other Grand Elders to pressure Yang Kai, while on the other, he was secretly ensuring that Yang Kai didn’t fall into another’s hands.

In summary, everything was done to maximize the benefits of the Yang Family!

After listening to the old man’s explanation, Yang Kai nodded lightly but couldn’t help feeling a sense of desolateness.

This was typical behaviour for great families, compared to the overall benefits of the family, individual members were unimportant. If the family demanded anything from any of its members, they had no choice but to comply.

The old man spoke again, “Our original purpose was indeed this, but now, this old master has found something even more interesting.”

“You want to obtain the method to instantly promote to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary?” Yang Kai grinned. He wasn’t an idiot, and could naturally guess what the other party was after.

Tonight, Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon had both used Heaven defying methods in order to instantly increase their cultivations to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, this was extremely shocking to everyone present.

Regarding Meng Wu Ya, it was very likely he had already reached such a realm, yet had part of his strength sealed and had only broken this seal to recover his original cultivation.

Such a method was of no use to others as Meng Wu Ya’s circumstances were essentially unique and couldn’t be replicated.

On the contrary, it was at least possible to use Old Demon’s Demon Specter Saint Technique to reach the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary in a single bound. If any of the Eight Great Families could obtain this technique, it would no doubt become their most valuable possession.

Each of the Eight Great Families had at least a dozen or so Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary masters, so with this forbidden technique, in a moment of crisis they could create a dozen or more Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators.

What kind of concept was that?

If the Ye Family’s Grand Elder could obtain this technique, it wouldn’t be a dream to crush the Yang Family under his feet.

So what if Old Demon’s methods were bloody and cruel? Compared to the benefits he could obtain, everything else was irrelevant.

Whether it was a black cat or a white cat, as long as the mouse was caught, it was a good cat.

“Interesting, this time you don’t care whether it’s an Evil Technique or Demonic Secret Art?” Yang Kai taunted the old man sarcastically, “Because I have the potential to become a Demon Lord, all of you joined up to crusade against me, yet now you so highly covet Old Demon’s brutal methods? So in the end you also want to cultivate such an evil skill?”

“No matter what the nature of a skill is, as long as it is useful to the family, it’s worthy acquiring!” The old man coldly snorted, not showing the slightest bit of shame.

Yang Kai was astonished, “So you already understood this point yet pretended not to. Putting up a righteous front in order to suppress and destroy me, don’t you feel even slightly embarrassed?”

The old man slowly shook his head, “One’s standpoint changes based on where one stands. Using such methods to suppress and eliminate you, if you must have an explanation… then it is because you are too weak. If you stood in my position now, no one would dare accuse you of anything!”

“I know.” Yang Kai nodded gently, his expression becoming dignified. “In the end, it’s because I have no power.”

“En, even if you are a Young Lord of the Yang Family, in front of us, you’re nothing but an insignificant brat.”

“Many thanks for your enlightenment. In the future, I will work hard to reach a height where everyone will look up to me and obey my will.” Yang Kai grinned fiercely as a raging fire burned in the depths of his eyes.

“You’ll have no such chance.” The old man shook his head indifferently; his attitude cold and aloof, “If you hadn’t broken this old master’s technique, you might still have had such an opportunity, but now that you’ve discovered me, do you think this old master will let you leave here safely?”

“You plan to kill me?” Yang Kai stared at the square faced old man without the slightest fear, even appearing somewhat eager to fight.

“I won’t kill you. If you die, how will I get that technique from that Devil Lord? For this old master, controlling you is far more valuable than killing you.” The old man said faintly, as if he was speaking of some trivial matter, “You can’t leave here to expose me either, this old master has already sealed up your Knowledge Sea!”

“Who said I wanted to leave here?” Yang Kai grinned. As he said so, his entire Knowledge Sea surged up, “Old dog, have you forgotten? This is my Knowledge Sea, here, I am the master!”

As soon as he said so, countless water columns rushed out from the sea below, like great flood dragons, and charged towards the old man’s Soul phantom.

The old man stood calmly in place. Facing this fierce assault, he didn’t seem worried at all, only waving his hand casually the moment before the water columns were about to strike him.

With a bang, the water columns all seemed to hit upon an invisible wall, unable to even wet the old man’s clothes.

“Your Soul is very powerful, but there is still a wide gap between our levels, didn’t this old master tell you so before?” The old man snickered towards Yang Kai sarcastically.

Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled, suddenly discovering that at some point, unbeknownst to him, this old man’s Spiritual Energy had infiltrated every part of his Knowledge Sea.

With Yang Kai’s entire Divine Sense submerged into his Knowledge Sea, at this moment, his main body was essentially defenceless.

But with the great battle between Above Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivators taking place, attracting everyone’s complete attention, it was unlikely that anyone would notice his abnormal condition.

In other words, if Yang Kai was unable to handle this old man himself, he may really end up being controlled by him.

Waving his hand, Yang Kai summoned all the birds flying through the sky and all the fish swimming in the sea and sent them flying towards the old man.

The square faced old man’s expression became slightly dignified. Although it was true that his Soul was stronger than Yang Kai’s, but not to the degree he could outright ignore the latter. This Immortal Ascension Boundary Second Stage brat’s Divine Sense attack far exceeded what should normally be possible for one at his cultivation realm, forcing the old man to take it seriously.

An invisible energy was released from the Ye Family Grand Elder’s Soul phantom and intercepted the impetuous birds and fish.

With things having reached this point, neither the old man nor Yang Kai held anything back, leading to an Earth-shattering battle inside Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea.

Fish burst into fluorescent lights and the birds fell from the sky. Yang Kai’s attack was unable to cause any substantial damage, but the old man’s face only became more and more dignified as time passed. The Spiritual Energy contained inside his Soul phantom was being drained at a noticeable rate, making his realize that defeating Yang Kai here would be far more difficult than he had imagined.

*Xiu…*

Above the five coloured island, the Soul type small sword artifact flashed a brilliant burst of light and shot out, causing the old man’s expression to no longer remain calm.

Although this Soul type artifact was only Heaven Grade Top-Rank, it was specially designed to damage a cultivators Soul, so to the old man’s Soul phantom, it was a particularly dangerous weapon.

Yang Kai now using it against was something the old man couldn’t ignore.

A series of visible Spiritual Energy threads glowing a faint green light appeared from the old man’s body and instantly wove into a great net that show towards the small sword.

The green net was extremely tough and when the small sword it could not immediately tear through it, instead it was as if the sword had sunk into a mire, its forward momentum greatly reducing.

When he saw this, the old man coldly snorted, “Yang Family brat, surrender peacefully. This old master has already given you enough face by not immediately capturing you, don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!”

“Stop pretending!” Yang Kai shouted, “If you could have done that why would you have bothered talking in the first place?”

The old man’s expression instantly cramped. Although he would never admit it, what Yang Kai just said was true.

Before infiltrating Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, he had never expected the other’s Spiritual Energy to be so strong, greatly impeding how quickly he could implement his plan.

During the conversation, the small sword finally broke through the green net and flew over to Yang Kai. Grasping the Soul type artifact in his hand, Yang Kai poured his Spiritual Energy into it without reservation, causing the palm sized sword to radiate a terrifying sword Qi.

Holding this small sword, Yang Kai grinned fiercely and rushed straight towards the old man. Before even arriving, Yang Kai used the palm sized sword to send out a sword wave comprised of Spiritual Energy several meters in length towards the old man.

The Ye Family Grand Elder’s face went pale as he loudly cursed, “Damn brat, you’re insane!”

The confrontation up until now had only been the two of them smashing their Spiritual Energy into their opponents. Even if their Souls were weakened somewhat, there wouldn’t be any lasting effects, but if either of their Soul phantoms was damaged, the consequences would be dreadful.

If the damage was light, one would suffer mental damage and degenerate into an idiot, if the damage was heavy, death would be instantaneous.

So when he saw Yang Kai’s Soul phantom so recklessly use this small sword, how could the old man not be shocked? What kind of madman would use this method to fight?

Yang Kai’s Soul type artifact quickly broke through several layers of the old man’s green Spiritual Energy woven nets and the two entered into close quarter combat range.

Although he was at an advanced age, the old man still had an instinctual fear of death.

Before exchanging a single blow, the old man’s courage faltered and he hurriedly retreated, putting as much distance as he could between himself and Yang Kai.

“Old dog, can you only flee like a coward!?” Yang Kai pursued while not missing the opportunity to viciously taunt the old man.

This place was Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea, so Yang Kai had an absolute advantage. From the water below, he constantly sent out Divine Sense attacks to impede the old man’s escape.

How could the square faced old man have any time to respond?

“A moment ago, did you say you were going to control me? Come, come, tell me how you plan to do that.” Yang Kai laughed happily, as he spat out ever more intense ridicule, taking great pleasure in the old man’s awkward expression.