Those few warriors of modest strength had originally been controlled by the Insect Emperor through the Myriad Poison Wicked Gu. After Yang Kai arrived here, he had no intention of harming them — he merely confined them in place.
Now, as Yang Kai went to work, every one of them began to tremble violently, their faces contorting as though they were enduring excruciating pain. Two had already collapsed with foam spilling from their mouths, though none were in any mortal danger.
Pang Zhen watched coldly from the side, and this time he did not rush in recklessly as before.
After a moment, accompanied by a series of squeaking sounds, several streaks of light suddenly shot out from the minds of these warriors.
Yang Kai snatched them up, then spread his palm open and gestured toward Pang Zhen.
Several bizarre insects, each no larger than a fingernail and colored in black and red, squirmed and struggled ceaselessly in his hand, unable to break free from his grip.
Pang Zhen stared wide-eyed for a long while before finally swallowing hard: "These are the Myriad Poison Wicked Gu?"
He had never seen these insects before, yet he could sense a thread of primordial aura emanating from them — as if these creatures hailed from some impossibly ancient era. They gave him a distinctly dangerous feeling.
"That's right. Once the Myriad Poison Wicked Gu is planted, the victim becomes bound to the Gu Master," Yang Kai said with a slight smile.
"Could I take a look?" Pang Zhen asked, his eyes lighting up with the keen interest of a collector. He was tempted to take one of the Myriad Poison Wicked Gu back for study. Dangerous as they might be, if one could understand them thoroughly and learn how to command them, it would be tantamount to gaining an additional secret technique.
Yang Kai regarded him with a half-smile: "If Island Master Pang isn't afraid of these things burrowing into your Spiritual Sea, you're welcome to have them all."
Pang Zhen's face went pale. He hesitated for a long time before finally shaking his head in resolve: "Forget it. Pang here admits he lacks the ability. Sect Master Yang should dispose of these himself."
Yang Kai chuckled softly, flicked his wrist, and the squirming Myriad Poison Wicked Gu were ground to dust in an instant.
Having confirmed that the earlier incident had indeed been a misunderstanding — that Yang Kai had not been slaughtering innocents on Rosy Light Island but had in fact resolved a massive trouble for him — Pang Zhen's attitude toward Yang Kai grew considerably warmer.
Perhaps what he feared even more was Yang Kai's strength.
To be sent flying with a casual wave of the hand — no one in the entire Carefree Sea had that kind of ability.
Pang Zhen enthusiastically invited Yang Kai to visit his estate.
Yang Kai, for his part, was interested in exchanging words with him and agreed without hesitation.
As the Island Master of Rosy Light Island, Pang Zhen's estate occupied the finest spirit-vein site on the entire island. The construction was grand and imposing.
Once inside the estate, Pang Zhen immediately ordered his people to bring out delicacies of every kind and fine jade nectar, accompanied by over a dozen young maidens dressed in sheer gauze — their lithe figures half-concealed, half-revealed — who sang and danced to the accompaniment of music.
The island's Return to Void masters served as company at the gathering.
The atmosphere was lively and convivial.
The Sea Hall had heard more than a few rumors about the upheavals on the mainland in recent years, but since the turmoil had not yet spread into the deep sea, the details remained unclear to them.
Pang Zhen had enthusiastically invited Yang Kai for two reasons: first, he was impressed by Yang Kai's strength, and second, he wanted to probe for information about the current situation on the mainland.
Yang Kai, naturally, had nothing to hide.
When the Sea Hall cultivators learned that the Corpse Spirit Religion had been utterly uprooted, they cried out in astonishment one after another. And when they learned that Qian Tong had indeed become a Void King Realm cultivator, the faces of Pang Zhen and the others clouded with deep worry.
The Dark Star had not seen a Void King Realm cultivator in tens of thousands of years. It was a realm spoken of across generations but reached by no one. How powerful the Void King Realm truly was — Pang Zhen and the others did not know. But that did nothing to diminish their sense of apprehension.
They feared that Qian Tong, his ambitions ignited, might turn his sights toward the deep sea.
Though the Sea Hall's influence in the deep sea was deeply entrenched and enormously vast, whether it could truly withstand a Void King Realm cultivator — that was something they had no confidence in.
Yang Kai observed their expressions and naturally understood what they were worrying about. He found it mildly amusing, though he saw no need to point it out.
Setting aside whether Qian Tong even harbored such ambitions, even if he did, he alone would likely find it impossible to conquer the deep sea. Shadow Moon Hall simply did not have that kind of capability.
Pang Zhen and the others were being a touch paranoid.
"Island Master Pang, I have a request to make — I wonder whether Island Master Pang might be willing to oblige." After several rounds of wine, Yang Kai suddenly spoke up.
"Sect Master Yang, please say it," Pang Zhen replied promptly, looking up at him.
"I'd like to arrange a meeting with a few of your Sea Hall's Hall Masters," Yang Kai said with a pleasant smile, taking a small sip of the fine wine.
Pang Zhen was taken aback: "May I ask what this is regarding, Sect Master Yang?"