"Young Master Yang, you have shown me the grace of saving my life, and your kindness toward all of Thousand Leaves Sect is as weighty as a mountain. Please, speak freely — I am all ears," Ye Hen said solemnly.
Yang Kai smiled. "Emperor Heaven Valley is indeed a fine place. Safety here is assured, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is reasonably impressive — very suitable for Cultivation. However, for all its merits, the valley is simply too small, and entering or leaving is inconvenient. Sect Master Ye harbors ambitions of reaching the Emperor Realm, and your resolve is firm — staying here for three or five years may be nothing to you. But what about your disciples?"
Those five hundred disciples varied wildly in strength. If they were truly trapped here for three to five years, restlessness and anxiety would inevitably take hold, potentially giving rise to heart demons and the like.
Ye Hen sighed. "How could I not be aware of this? The question is — where else can we go?"
"What if I could offer Sect Master Ye a better place?" Yang Kai said.
"A better place?" Ye Hen was taken aback.
Yang Kai spread his arms. "It is a thousand — no, ten thousand times larger than this valley, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is far denser and richer. Forget five hundred people — even fifty thousand could enter without it feeling crowded. Countless spirit peaks sit vacant and unclaimed. If you were to take your disciples there, Sect Master Ye, you wouldn't need three to five years. One or two would likely suffice to break through to the Emperor Realm."
Ye Hen's eyes lit up. As Yang Kai described it, a vast and magnificent landscape seemed to unfurl before his eyes like a scroll painting.
But his expression soon twisted into a bitter smile. "If such a blessed mountain truly existed, the great sects would have claimed it long ago. How could it possibly be left for my Thousand Leaves Sect?"
Yang Kai chuckled. "Sect Master Ye speaks truly. This sacred ground was indeed occupied by a major sect — but that sect has since been annihilated."
"Annihilated?" Ye Hen stared in shock. "May I ask where this place is, Young Master Yang?"
"The Northern Domain. The Wenqing Sect!"
Ye Hen frowned in thought for a moment, then his expression shifted dramatically. "You mean the Wenqing Sect?!"
His reaction made it clear he had heard of the Wenqing Sect by reputation. After all, it was one of the premier sects in the Northern Domain. It boasted a Third Stage Emperor Realm powerhouse among its ranks. In terms of standing, it was on par with major Southern Domain powers like the Qingyang Divine Temple and the Tianwu Holy Land — institutions that Thousand Leaves Sect could not even hope to compare with.
"That's right."
"The Wenqing Sect was destroyed? Who did it?" Ye Hen felt a chill crawl up his spine. Such a colossal force annihilated — he could scarcely imagine it. By comparison, while Thousand Leaves Sect had also suffered catastrophic destruction, it had at least preserved five hundred disciples and Emperor Heaven Valley. But from Yang Kai's tone, the Wenqing Sect seemed to have been wiped clean off the map, its entire legacy abandoned without a second thought.
The words had barely left his mouth when something struck him, and his voice filled with shock. "Could it be... Young Master Yang, did you...?"
The Wenqing Sect had a Third Stage Emperor Realm cultivator at its helm, but Yang Kai was someone who had killed an Elder of the Star God Palace and kept a Demon King at his side. Destroying the Wenqing Sect... it wasn't exactly impossible.
The thought startled him. He had never imagined that this refined, mild-mannered young man was so ruthless — casually wiping out an entire sect.
Yang Kai let out a soft laugh, neither confirming nor denying it. "I established a place called Lingxiao Palace at the former site of the Wenqing Sect. As of now, it is mine. If you're interested, Sect Master Ye, you're welcome to bring your disciples there and settle in temporarily. Safety won't be an issue — I hired a Grand Formation Master to redesign the Sect-Protecting Grand Formation. It's solid as iron."
Ye Hen's heart surged with admiration. How old was Yang Kai? And yet he had already claimed the former grounds of a premier Northern Domain sect and established his own faction.
He reflected on himself — he couldn't even safeguard the legacy passed down through his ancestors. The contrast was humiliating.
Yang Kai continued. "Though I founded Lingxiao Palace, it's sparsely populated. The blessed grounds are essentially empty. Since it's going to waste anyway, if you're willing, Sect Master Ye, why not bring your disciples over and settle there?"
Curious, Ye Hen asked, "May I ask how many people your sect currently has, Young Master Yang?"
Yang Kai let out an awkward laugh and held up three fingers.
"Three thousand? That's not many, true enough," Ye Hen nodded in understanding. For a sect that had once held the Wenqing Sect's vast territory, three thousand people would barely make a dent. Many spirit peaks would still sit empty. After all, Thousand Leaves Sect had once had three thousand disciples of its own.
"Not three thousand, not three thousand!" Yang Kai wiped the cold sweat from his brow.
"Three hundred?" Ye Hen blinked. That made sense — even if Yang Kai had truly established Lingxiao Palace, he couldn't have recruited that many disciples in such a short time. A new sect would naturally adhere to the principle of quality over quantity, accepting only the best. And even if there were only three hundred, those three hundred were likely all elites among elites.
Yang Kai's face darkened with a strained expression. "Not three hundred either."
"Then..." Ye Hen's eyes widened. He hesitated. "Could it be..."
"Just three for now," Yang Kai said with a hearty laugh.
Ye Hen could scarcely believe his ears. Such vast and magnificent grounds — with only three disciples? Those three disciples must be the luckiest people alive! Dense spiritual energy from towering spirit peaks to absorb at will, countless Cultivation sanctums open to them freely — their strength would skyrocket at an unimaginable pace.