But things had already come to this, and nothing more needed to be said. If they wanted to live, they could only offer their loyalty—and curse Tuchalo inwardly for not making things clear sooner. Had he explained earlier, they might never have wavered in the first place.
Yang Kai ordered the two Demons to open their Spiritual Seas, and he planted Soul Brands in each of them in turn. The cold, distant expression on his face finally vanished, replaced by a warm geniality. Now that they were his people, there was no need to maintain such a facade.
Lao Ke, Corson, and Yin stepped forward as well, offering congratulations without end—though worry lingered in their hearts. Though Yang Kai had been granted the title of Prince and seemed to enjoy the Sacred Venerable's high regard, she had sent him to Cloud Shadow to maintain the World Gate. And yet the man had conquered Lan Yuan, led them in killing numerous Demon Kings of high rank—would the Sacred Venerable blame him for all of this?
After all, within the Demon Domain, while the Demon Saints did fight amongst themselves, leading their respective continents to be hostile toward one another, that was still considered internal strife. Whether it was Cloud Shadow or Lan Yuan, both belonged to Yu Rumeng's domain. Especially now, with the Demon Domain and the Star Realm locked in a full-scale war, all internal disputes should have been set aside so everyone could unite against a common enemy.
Furthermore, even if the Sacred Venerable wouldn't hold it against him—what about Yue Sang?
Yue Sang had indeed been banished to the battlefield between two realms, but Lan Yuan had always been his territory. The day he returned from that battlefield, the matter of Lan Yuan would be difficult to resolve peacefully.
Lao Ke and the other two were deeply troubled, but there was nothing they could say at this point. Though Yang Kai bore some responsibility for what had happened—ordering Corson to seal Lan Yuan's World Gate had been overstepping—Lan Yuan's response had been equally excessive. Otherwise, things would never have deteriorated to this state.
What was done was done. All they could do was take it one step at a time.
Yue Sang's trusted confidants had been eliminated. The remaining three high-rank Demon Kings, including Tuchalo, had all been branded with Soul Brands. The rest naturally had no thought of resistance. After all, the nail that stuck out got hammered down—with Tuchalo and the other Demon Kings standing in front, they had nothing to fear. In a single battle, all of Lan Yuan had fallen into Yang Kai's hands. This was something no one on Lan Yuan could ever have anticipated.
Yang Kai had no intention of micromanaging Lan Yuan's affairs. He left Tuchalo and the other two to handle things themselves. All he wanted was stability while he maintained the World Gate.
He then ordered everyone to collect the corpses of the Demon Kings killed in battle and dumped them all into the Small Mysterious World for his Dharma Body to devour.
Though these Demon Kings were dead, their physical bodies still contained a great deal of undigested power. Having the Dharma Body absorb them would serve some purpose.
As for the spoils, Yang Kai kept the greater share and gave the rest to Lao Ke to distribute among the troops. This immediately earned him the undying gratitude of all the Demons, who felt their new lord was remarkably generous.
Only after all matters had been settled did Yang Kai lead his people back to Cloud Shadow to continue his task.
Two months passed in the blink of an eye.
Throughout this period, Yang Kai had been stationed at the World Gate, meditating and cultivating. With both Lan Yuan and Cloud Shadow under his control and both sides of the World Gate sealed off, no one disturbed him. Two months of contemplation brought considerable gains to his understanding of the Spatial Laws, though he made little headway on the actual maintenance of the World Gate. He wasn't particularly concerned about that, however.
As for Yang Kai's seizure of Lan Yuan, it had stirred up quite a commotion back in the Sacred City.
Bai Zhuo had once explained that in the Demon Domain, the strength of a Demon Saint or Half-Saint was directly proportional to the territory they controlled. This was not only because the continents under their dominion provided certain mysterious strokes of fortune, but more importantly, because of the Myriad Demon Pills each continent produced.
The more territory one held, the more Myriad Demon Pills one could obtain—and the same went for the number of powerful subordinates under one's command.
Lan Yuan had originally been Yue Sang's territory. Now that Yang Kai had seized it while Yue Sang was away, it was neither proper nor justified. On top of that, he had killed six high-rank Demon Kings and dozens of mid- and low-rank Demon Kings, severely crippling Lan Yuan's fighting strength. This drew the ire of many Half-Saints who had remained behind in the Demon Domain, and Yu Rumeng received no shortage of complaints from them. They demanded that she punish Yang Kai severely to serve as a warning to others.
Yu Rumeng naturally had no intention of doing any such thing. But with so many Half-Saints griping about the matter, she couldn't simply ignore it either—doing so would inevitably damage her authority.
One month after Yang Kai's forcible takeover of Lan Yuan, Yu Rumeng sent someone to deliver a harsh reprimand. She told Yang Kai that Lan Yuan was not his territory and he must not act in such a manner. She also stated that Lan Yuan's forces had been greatly weakened and lacked a suitable leader, so Yang Kai would serve as interim administrator of Lan Yuan's affairs until Yue Sang returned from the inter-realm battlefield, at which point control would be handed back.
When word of this spread, the Half-Saints found it inconceivable. They felt the Sacred Venerable was far too biased toward this human. She said control would be returned to Yue Sang upon his return—but who knew when Yue Sang would come back, or whether he would even survive?
The fighting in the Star Realm was fierce. It was entirely possible for even a Half-Saint to fall.
But since Yu Rumeng had already made concessions, they couldn't push too hard. The matter was dropped. Their attempt to use Yang Kai as a cautionary tale had failed; instead, it had actually legitimized his claim to Lan Yuan. The various Half-Saints had no choice but to reassess their opinion of this human named Yang Kai.
Yang Kai himself couldn't have cared less about the whole affair. Over these two months, apart from cultivating at the World Gate, he had dispatched people to gather intelligence across various continents.
Now that he had personnel from two continents at his disposal, he had sent out no fewer than ten thousand scouts.