A sliver of fish-belly white appeared on the eastern horizon.
When the sky had just begun to brighten, Yang Kai returned to Fuchi's Spirit Island.
This night had been a tumultuous rollercoaster. Having learned of Zhu Qing's situation one month from now, and having captured Fu Ling and planted a Soul Imprint in her mind to control her life and death, the fury in his heart was suppressed. He knew that losing his temper now was useless. The only path forward was to figure out how to rescue Zhu Qing within the month.
The Dragon Clan's grand wedding — when the time came, presumably all dragons would be in attendance, and the Elders would certainly not be absent. The Grand Elder and the Second Elder were both existences on par with Great Emperors. With his current strength, could he possibly snatch someone away right under their noses?
The chances of success were virtually nonexistent, unless he could find a way to get the Grand Elder to side with him and have him deal with the Second Elder. Only then was there even a sliver of hope.
This was no wild fantasy — it was actually feasible. From what Zhu Lie had said, the Grand Elder was a relatively mild-mannered person, whereas the Second Elder was the iron-faced, impartial type. The Grand Elder likely didn't approve of this marriage either, but had kept quiet out of deference to the clan's rules.
So what method could he come up with to win the Grand Elder's support?
The Dragon Island Token might be a decent option, but it wasn't reliable enough.
Right now, Yang Kai could only hope that Fu Ling would be able to uncover some useful intelligence for him. Otherwise, a month from now, he might truly be walking into a death trap.
Subduing Fu Ling had been the right choice. At the very least, he had now planted a piece on Fuchi's side of the Dragon Clan. If the piece turned out to be useless, so be it — but if it proved useful, it might yield results beyond his wildest expectations.
Lost in thought the entire way, when he finally arrived back at the Spirit Island, Lü Sanniang and her daughter were still standing on the beach, waiting.
The moment she saw Yang Kai land, Lü Sanniang hurried over: "Brother Yang, you're back?" Her beautiful eyes were full of worry. She didn't know what Yang Kai had gone off to do, but she could guess that something major must have happened.
Seeing his dark expression, she didn't dare ask any further.
Lü Yuqin, being young, had witnessed yesterday's events firsthand — particularly the gruesome deaths of several people right before her eyes — and she still hadn't fully recovered. Her small face was deathly pale, and she clung tightly to her mother's embrace.
Yang Kai stood in place for quite a while before he managed to sort through his tangled thoughts.
The first thing he needed to do was ensure that he could meet with Zhu Qing in one month. If he couldn't even get an audience with her, how could he possibly spirit her away?
He took a deep breath, having already formed a plan. He turned his head toward Lü Sanniang and said as evenly as he could: "Yuan Wu's space rings — where are they?"
"Right here." Lü Sanniang hastily produced several rings. "Madam Hua's rings are all here as well."
Yesterday, when she had taken Lü Yuqin to bury Yuan Wu and the others, she had collected the space rings. She hadn't harbored any thought of secretly keeping them, so when Yang Kai asked, she immediately brought them out.
There were five space rings in total — four had belonged to Yuan Wu and his companions, and the remaining one had been given to him by Fu Qi a few days prior, containing rare materials intended for the construction of the palace.
Yang Kai swept his divine sense across them, pocketed the ring belonging to Dragon Island, and returned the remaining four to Lü Sanniang.
"This…" Lü Sanniang hesitated as she accepted them.
"Keep them," Yang Kai said simply. His figure shot upward, and he flew off toward the interior of the island.
At the site of the palace, the scene was a hive of bustling activity.
In just a few short days, the structure had already taken on the rough shape of a palace. The foundation was all that had been finished so far, but for something of this scale, the progress was already quite impressive.
Roughly two hundred people were hard at work. No one dared slack off — this was a task assigned by the Dragon Clan, and an Eighth-Order Thunder Dragon was living on the island. Who could guarantee they wouldn't get caught slacking? So everyone gave it their all, working day and night, only taking a brief rest to consume some spirit pills when they were truly exhausted.
"Well, well — what a rare visitor. What brings Brother Yang here?"
A cheerful voice rang out, and Wu Chen, the sharp-faced, simian-looking man, greeted Yang Kai with a grin.
The warriors nearby glanced up at Yang Kai when they heard the greeting, and looks of displeasure crossed their faces.
It wasn't without reason. Every warrior here had been assigned a different task by Yuan Wu, and none of them were idle. Even Lü Sanniang and her daughter had been sent into the sea to forage for luminous pearls. Yang Kai alone seemed to have nothing to do at all, drifting about in perfect leisure.
Such preferential treatment naturally bred resentment among the others, but Yang Kai was a man of mysterious and formidable methods — he had crushed Yuan Wu with ease before. Even those who were unhappy weren't eager to pick a fight with him. So after casting him a glance, they simply went back to their work.
"Brother Wu!" Yang Kai nodded.
Wu Chen furrowed his brow and walked up to Yang Kai: "Oh, by the way, Brother Yang — have you seen Lord Yuan? Word was he'd gone over to your place, but I haven't seen him come back."
"Yuan Wu is dead!"
Wu Chen froze, staring at Yang Kai with a blank, uncomprehending expression.
The surrounding warriors all looked over at Yang Kai again, every face marked with disbelief.
Wu Chen's mouth twitched. He said in a hoarse voice: "Dead? How did he die?"
"Offended the Dragon Clan. They killed him."