The youth called Yang Kai must have severed his own cultivation at a critical moment — otherwise, there was no way he could have walked away unscathed.
Severing one's own cultivation was tantamount to cutting off the path of martial arts entirely. Ling Yinqin couldn't help but feel a twinge of regret at the thought. And judging by his complexion, he seemed to have sustained some rather serious injuries as well — otherwise, why would he look so terrible?
This fellow really was unlucky. He hadn't been in the Silence Void Secret Realm for more than a few days before running into this kind of disaster. If he had arrived just two months later, he might well have been able to make a run at the Emperor Realm back in the outside world.
"Brother Yang, the breakthrough… failed?" Jiao Yi blurted out with his mouth agape.
He hadn't thought much about it — he'd simply seen Yang Kai return so quickly without the slightest trace of improvement in his cultivation, and the question had just tumbled out.
The moment the words left his mouth, however, Ling Yinqin quietly kicked him. Jiao Yi immediately realized he'd misspoken and clamped his lips shut.
If no one else had been around, asking after Yang Kai's well-being would have been perfectly understandable. But with others present, his question essentially broadcast to everyone that Yang Kai was in a very bad state.
"Mm, it failed!" Yang Kai replied calmly, without the slightest hint of vexation on his face.
"Breakthrough?" The purple-robed man across from them raised an eyebrow at the words, seeming to grasp something. He fixed his gaze on Yang Kai and asked, "Does that mean the commotion just now was caused by your breakthrough attempt?"
"And who are you?" Yang Kai glanced at him coolly.
Ling Yinqin hastily transmitted her voice: "That's Yang Leshui, the Vice Hall Master of the Profound Cloud Hall. The Profound Cloud Hall has considerable influence on Heaven-Reaching Island — the Hall Master has reached the Emperor Realm. Don't say anything; leave this to me."
From her tone, she was clearly very wary of the Profound Cloud Hall.
Yang Kai had already chatted quite a bit with Jiao Yi and knew that Heaven-Reaching Island hosted numerous factions. To survive in this wretched place, warriors had no choice but to band together, and over time, all manner of organizations big and small had sprung up. Ling Yinqin and her crew technically counted as one such faction — just an insignificant one.
Across all of Heaven-Reaching Island, there were a full three to five Emperor Realm cultivators, and the factions under their command were the most powerful. No one dared provoke them lightly, and the Profound Cloud Hall was one of them.
Yang Kai hadn't expected to run into a Profound Cloud Hall ship on this vast open sea.
Ling Yinqin's warning was clearly out of concern that he was a newcomer who might not know any better and offend the wrong person — a kind gesture on her part.
At the same time, a man standing beside Yang Leshui leaned in and whispered something in his ear.
Yang Leshui's eyes lit up at once, and his expression as he looked at Yang Kai took on a meaningful air. He smiled and said, "Kid, you and that woman — you're both newcomers? You don't look familiar."
Ling Yinqin's heart sank at the words. The dozen or so crew members on her ship were all regulars — Yang Leshui's subordinate clearly recognized every one of them. The moment he spotted Yang Kai and Liu Xianyun's unfamiliar faces, he'd immediately deduced that they were new arrivals.
Newcomers to this realm generally carried at least some Source Crystals, making them fat sheep in the eyes of anyone who'd been living in the Silence Void Secret Realm. Even someone like Jiao Yi had entertained such thoughts — to say nothing of people from the Profound Cloud Hall.
Ling Yinqin spoke in a deep, measured tone: "Brother Yang, these two are my crew members, not newcomers. You must be mistaken."
Yang Leshui's expression darkened. "Slut, since when do you get to call me 'Brother Yang'?"
Though his cultivation was only at the third level of the Dao Source Realm — roughly equal to Ling Yinqin's own — he was the Vice Hall Master of the Profound Cloud Hall with an Emperor Realm powerhouse backing him. His status and standing were nothing someone like Ling Yinqin, a lone wolf operating without faction backing, could hope to compare to. Hearing her address him so familiarly, Yang Leshui grew instantly irritated.
Ling Yinqin's expression turned ugly, but when the balance of power was this lopsided, she had no choice but to bow her head. "Vice Hall Master Yang, this one misspoke. Please don't take offense."
She had lived in the Silence Void Secret Realm for decades and knew exactly who could and couldn't be provoked. So even though fury churned inside her, she swallowed it all and endured — anything for a moment's peace.
Jiao Yi and the other crew members quietly clenched their fists, grinding their teeth.
"Hmph!" Yang Leshui shot Ling Yinqin a sideways glance. "Once is a warning. Do it again and I won't let you off."
"Thank you, Vice Hall Master Yang." Ling Yinqin spoke through clenched teeth.
"As for these two…" Yang Leshui pointed at Liu Xianyun and Yang Kai with a grin. "Whether they're newcomers or not — do you really think I can't tell? Anyone who's been living in this wretched place long enough picks up traces of sea qi on them. But these two haven't. It's obvious they only arrived recently. Ling Yinqin, you've got some nerve — daring to deceive me!"
Ling Yinqin's lovely face shifted, knowing she could no longer deny it. She cast a worried glance at Yang Kai and Liu Xianyun, her mind racing for some way to extricate them — though she knew the chances were slim. Guilt flooded her heart.
She had fully expected Yang Kai and Liu Xianyun to be thrown into a panic by Yang Leshui's attention, trembling and groveling. But when she looked over, the two of them were standing together with expressions of complete indifference, murmuring to each other in low voices. It sounded as though Yang Kai was asking Liu Xianyun who had struck her across the face, while Liu Xianyun just kept shaking her head and refusing to say, leaving Yang Kai utterly exasperated.
"Hand these two over, and hand over half of this trip's harvest — and I'll make an exception and let you go!" Yang Leshui pointed imperiously at Yang Kai and Liu Xianyun.
"Half the harvest?" Jiao Yi was hot-tempered by nature and exploded the moment he heard that. He jumped to his feet. "Why the hell don't you just rob us?!"