A moment later, the Golden Feather Eagle’s figure flew over. Yang Kai reached out his hand and the Golden Feather Eagle perched cheerfully on his shoulders, quickly proceeding to comb his slightly messy hair with its beak, obviously very pleased that its master had returned.
“It seems your sense of smell is getting more and more sensitive!” Yang Kai laughed as he rubbed the eagle’s head.
He had not expected that upon his return to the Central Capital, the first one to come out and meet him would actually be this eagle.
Soon after the eagle reached him, a beautiful young woman soared over.
Qiu Yi Meng pushed her speed to the limit and had all but caught up to the eagle by the time it reunited with Yang Kai.
“Long time no see!” Yang Kai greeted her with a cheerful smile.
Qiu Yi Meng’s face flooded with a mix of excitement, delight, concern, worry, and a myriad of other emotions as she came to a halt ten steps in front of Yang Kai, tears instantly filling her big beautiful eyes as she stared at him.
She didn’t dare to approach any closer, for fear that all of this was just an illusion that would collapse and disappear the moment she touched him.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai asked gently.
Qiu Yi Meng took a deep breath, steeled her will, and stepped towards him. As soon as she was within arm’s reach, her pretty face flashed a glimmer of ruthlessness as she grabbed his arm and viciously bit down on it.
Staring up at Yang Kai’s face, her teary eyes filled with grievance, confirming that he was really real; she gradually loosened her bite and simply sobbed instead.
Yang Kai sighed, “Looking so sad and forlorn upon seeing me again, have I really bullied you so badly?”
“I… I thought… I thought you were really dead… that you died… You’ve been gone for over half a year… Where… Where have you been all this time?” Qiu Yi Meng finally couldn’t stand it and burst into tears, wailing like a lost child that had finally been reunited with her family, venting all the fear and anxiety she had acc.u.mulated in her heart these past seven months, her delicate body becoming slightly limp as she slowly squatted down, her shoulders quivering, appearing truly pitiful and helpless.
Yang Kai’s mood suddenly became complicated. Uncertain of what he should do, he stood there dumbly, waiting for her to vent for a while before slowly reaching out and helping her up.
Qiu Yi Meng wiped the corners of her eyes with as she did her best to choke back her sobs, her face blus.h.i.+ng slightly, seemingly quite embarra.s.sed.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you cry,” Yang Kai couldn’t help laughing, “It’s such a contrast from how you normally look, like two completely different people.”
“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Qiu Yi Meng punched Yang Kai angrily, her sobs mixing with a tinge of laughter.
Taking a deep breath and finally regaining her calm, Qiu Yi Meng restored her usual self-confident look, but seeing the teasing grin on Yang Kai’s face and realizing he was still making fun of her even now, she swiftly trampled his foot and snorted coldly, turning around and walking back towards the Central Capital.
But on her face, there was still a big happy smile.
Yang Kai scratched his head and mused to himself that even such an intelligent and valiant woman also had such a fragile side.
It seemed like the movement of the Golden Feather Eagle had alerted the people of the Central Capital, so before Yang Kai even reached the city limits, large numbers of people had already come out to greet him.
From far away, Huo Xing Chen shouted in a tearful voice, “Young Lord Kai, Young Lord Kai, you really didn’t die! I had always said that good people don’t live long but scourges endure for a thousand years!”
Yang Kai’s face immediately went black.
Behind Huo Xing Chen was Dong Qing Han and Dong Qing Yan, the four girls from Ten Thousand Flower Palace, Luo Xiao Man from Purple Fern Valley, Chen Xue Shu and Su Xiao Yu from Reflecting Moon Sect, Zuo Fang from Pure Heart Palace, Chu Jing Shan from Soaring Feather Pavilion, the Hu Sisters of Blood Battle Gang, Fang Zi Ji from Storm Hall, Tao Yang from Treasure Instrument Sect…
Almost all of the younger generation of the leaders from his mansion had arrived, each and every one of them wearing excited smiles.
These people quickly flew over to Yang Kai and Huo Xing Chen even crashed into him and gave him a big bear hug.
“Young Lord Kai, you’re finally back, you nearly scared all of us to death!” Huo Xing Chen breathed a heavy sigh of relief and said sincerely.
Yang Kai felt quite touched in his heart as he gently pushed Huo Xing Chen away and said seriously, “I missed all of you too, come, everyone give me a hug, I need to see how all of you developed while I was away.”
“Shameless!” Han Xiao Qi of Ten Thousand Flower Palace turned red and couldn’t help shouting.
A burst of laughter resounded as Yang Kai glanced over at Luo Xiao Man and nodding approvingly, “Good, it seems Xiao Man’s chest has become even bigger since I left.”
“Nonsense…” Luo Xiao Man’s face turned red as she whispered in a grieved tone.
“Alright, stop fooling around. Let’s head back so we can talk,” Qiu Yi Meng said as she glared towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai, who had been missing for half a year now, suddenly returned to the Central Capital, causing a great stir. The thirteen Blood Warriors from his mansion and the other young Patriarchs and Elder of the Eight Great Families immediately rushed to the Yang Family main hall upon receiving this news.
Inside the hall, the Yang Kai’s parents both cried tears of joy as Dong Su Zhu held tightly onto Yang Kai’s hand, as if she was afraid that he would suddenly disappear again.
The great hall was filled to the brim with all of the important figures from the Eight Great Families clamouring about, welcoming Yang Kai home.
These people all stared curiously at Yang Kai, wondering just where he had been these past seven months and why he hadn’t appeared until now. They also hoped he could tell them just what had transpired beneath the Central Capital half a year ago.
Why had so many people gone missing? Why was it that only Yang Kai had returned so far?
All kinds of doubts swirled about people’s hearts.
“Ninth Brother,” Yang Zhao suddenly stood up, “Since you’ve returned safely, this Yang Family Patriarch’s position…”
Yang Kai quickly raised his hand and interrupted him, smiling as he shook his head, “Second Brother, I have no desire to hold that position, the t.i.tle of Yang Family Patriarch suits you far better than I.”
Yang Zhao slowly shook his head in response, “In the Inheritance War, I was thoroughly defeated, what qualifications do I have to hold the position of Yang Family Patriarch?”
Yang Kai disagreed though, “Second Brother is being far too modest, your means and ability are obvious to everyone, and the Inheritance War can’t prove anything.”
“But……”
“First listen to what I have to say.”
Yang Zhao paused before nodding slightly.
“I am going to be leaving here soon, so it’s impossible for me to take on the position of Yang Family Patriarch.” Yang Kai slowly said.
Dong Su Zhu trembled violently and couldn’t help grabbing Yang Kai’s hand even tighter as she asked nervously, “Where are you going?”
Yang Kai pointed his finger towards the sky, “A higher world!”
Inside the main hall, everyone stared at him blankly.
“The world we live in right now is not the only world. There are some places out there that we have never heard or seen before, similar to how we never knew that the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary is actually known as the Transcendent Realm!”
Many people in the halls suddenly showed curious expressions.
“Demon Lord Yang Bai’s leading the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land to attack the Central Capital was all in order to travel to that higher world.”
“What does attacking the Central Capital have to do with traveling to another world?” Dong Qing Han asked in confusion.
“Beneath the Central Capital, there is an Earth Pulse, and at the heart of that Earth Pulse, there was a portal that led to that higher world. Yang Bai’s real objective was that portal.” Yang Kai took a short breath and continued, “Seven months ago, he started that war in order to obtain enough fresh blood to locate and open the Earth Pulse with a special blood sacrifice ritual, allowing him to enter it and find that portal. The eight old Patriarchs followed him down there in order to stop him and I, together with Old Demon, Treasurer Meng, Senior Sister Su and Senior Sister Xia also pursued him. During the final battle, Treasurer Meng managed to kill Yang Bai, but in an attempt to drag all of us down with him, Yang Bai detonated all of his Demonic Qi causing the Earth Pulse and portal to become unstable and explode.”
Everyone held their breath as the listened to Yang Kai’s story with rapt attention.
What Yang Kai was narrating now was exactly what they had been puzzled about for the past half a year, what had happened in the depths below the Central Capital!
“Before the portal collapsed, Treasurer Meng managed to safely take his apprentice and Senior Sister Su through and safely arrive at that higher world.”
Meng Wu Ya transmitted some information to Yang Kai at the last moment before the Void Corridor fully collapsed which was how the latter knew that his two Senior Sisters and Treasurer Meng had survived.
“Unfortunately, I was a little late in entering and the force of the void sent me to the Endless Sea Islands instead of that higher world. For the past half a year I have been in the Endless Sea Islands recovering.”
Everyone suddenly understood what had taken place but they were still no less shocked.
The battle underground half a year ago actually had so many unexpected twists and turns.
“What about the eight former Patriarchs?” Someone asked nervously.
“They… they likely died,” Yang Kai’s expression became a little gloomy, “They entered the portal after me so while the force of the void sent me far away, they must have taken it head on along with the shockwave from the Earth Pulse exploding. They’re probably buried deep underground. It’s a great loss for the Eight Great Families.”
Hearing this news, everyone couldn’t help feeling a little depressed.
“But you managed to survive,” Ling Tai Xu nodded gently, “We all thought that everyone who went down there had died, but now we know that some of you managed to survive, this is truly good news.”
Meng Wu Ya surviving that incident obviously made Ling Tai Xu quite happy.
The main hall fell silent for a while before Qiu Yi Meng asked, “Yang Kai, you said you are going to a higher world, do you know anything about that place?”
“I do, but not much,” Yang Kai shook his head, a meaningful grin suddenly appearing on his face as he turned his eyes towards a remote corner of the hall, “Although I am somewhat ignorant about that place, there is someone here with knowledge of it, am I right, Shui Ling?”
In the corner of the hall, a young girl with light blue hair that stood out from the crowd leaned against the wall, calmly chewing on a piece of fruit as if this conversation had nothing to do with her, but when Yang Kai turned his gaze to her, Shui Ling couldn’t help grinning.
“If I’m not mistaken, you should be from that world, right? The same as Treasurer Meng and Old Demon.”
At that moment, everyone’s eyes turned towards Shui Ling.
“What of it? Why are all of you staring at me for?” Shui Ling said in a slightly annoyed tone. She was upset that she hadn’t followed Meng Wu Ya at that time, because if she had, she could have returned home seven months ago and not had to idle away in this backwater place any longer.
“I’d just like to know what that world is like,” Yang Kai asked politely.
“Is that all?” Shui Ling furrowed her brow slightly, “If you want me to describe it for you, I don’t think I can give you a complete picture.” Thinking about it for a moment, she continued, “But for example, in this place, you divided Sects and Families into Super, First, Second, and then Third cla.s.s forces, correct?”
Yang Kai nodded, urging her to continue.
“Then if we were to consider your Central Capital Eight Great Families as a single force, by that world’s standard you’d only be a second-cla.s.s force at best.”
Hearing this, everyone suddenly went slightly pale.
Yang Kai thoughtfully asked, “What about your Water Spirit Temple?”
“First-cla.s.s.”
Yang Kai couldn’t help taking a sharp breath, discovering that he had still far underestimated this higher world; however, knowing how great the disparity between here and there was only caused him to yearn for it even more.