The bonfire crackled and popped, sending showers of sparks into the air. Countless eyes were fixed on Yang Kai — worry, surprise, shock, horror, humiliation, and fury, every emotion written plain on the faces around him.
From Lei Guang's group, a young man stepped forward. His expression was grim as he stared at Yang Kai and spoke in a low voice: "Friend, let's talk this through calmly. Could you release them first?"
The people from Feihong Academy immediately chimed in. Someone shouted: "Let Senior Sister Li Fu go right now!"
The belle of their own sect — a girl admired and admired by countless fellow disciples — was having a dirty boot grinding into her pretty face. How could the young men of Feihong Academy possibly stomach that?
This was sacrilege! This was humiliation!
Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing through his pupils, and grinned: "Talk things through calmly?"
"We haven't done anything to you, friend. Don't you think you're going a bit too far?" the young man from Lei Guang replied, maintaining a measured tone that was neither servile nor arrogant.
"Interesting!" Yang Kai chuckled and tilted his head toward Guan Chile. "Senior, what do you think?"
Apart from Guan Chile, who was a Shenyou Realm expert, none of the others present had reached the Shenyou Realm. Naturally, none of them had been able to detect just how dangerous the situation had been moments ago.
Those two soul-technique attacks launched by the experts from Lei Guang and Feihong Academy had been utterly silent and invisible. Had Yang Kai not already cultivated his Divine Sense and possessed defensive soul techniques of his own, he would most likely be dead by now.
To everyone else, it had looked like Xie Rong simply shouted the word "attack," and Yang Kai had struck first — in a brutal and overbearing manner at that.
But the truth of the matter was clear only to Yang Kai and Guan Chile.
Gan Chile had been momentarily stunned as well. He couldn't figure out how Yang Kai had emerged unscathed. Hearing Yang Kai's question, he quickly stood up, his expression no longer as casual as before. In fact, there was a hint of gravity in the way he looked at Yang Kai now.
Guan Chile narrowed his eyes, pondered for a moment, then let out a cold laugh: "If this can be tolerated, what can't!"
"Ha ha, well said, Senior!" Yang Kai laughed heartily and pressed his foot down harder on Li Fu's cheek.
"You... how dare you treat me like this!" Li Fu shrieked in a hoarse voice. The moment the words left her mouth, she gagged on a mouthful of grit. Her once-pretty face had drained of all color, her eyes brimming with humiliation and unwillingness.
Her strength wasn't particularly high. Her talent wasn't all that special either, but within Feihong Academy — a second-rate sect — she was considered quite good. On top of that, she was beautiful, so naturally she got whatever she wanted. She had always been rather arrogant, and apart from Xiang Chu, she had never given a second glance to any other male disciple of her generation. When had she ever suffered such humiliation?
Feeling the sand and soil in her mouth, imagining the position she was in — trampled under someone's foot — Li Fu nearly passed out.
"Shut up," Yang Kai said flatly, glancing at her.
"I'll fu—"
Xie Rong was clearly unwilling to submit meekly either. He opened his mouth and hurled a curse.
Before the full insult could leave his lips, Yang Kai's fist slammed into his gaping mouth.
With a muffled boom, the rest of the curse was swallowed back down Xie Rong's throat along with five or six broken teeth. In an instant, his mouth was a mess of blood.
His face twisted in terror, and he didn't dare make another sound.
"Stop!" Only at this point did the two Shenyou Realm experts from Lei Guang and Feihong Academy hurry over. After being struck by Yang Kai's soul technique, they had immediately realized something was terribly wrong and rushed back — but they still hadn't arrived in time.
Whoosh, whoosh — the two of them materialized ten zhang in front of Yang Kai, their eyes cold and wary as they stared him down.
Guan Chile subtly shifted his position, placing himself squarely between the two sides.
Yang Kai raised his eyelids and regarded the newcomers with perfect composure.
These two weren't particularly powerful either — in fact, their cultivation was even lower than Guan Chile's. They were merely at the second level of the Shenyou Realm.
After all, the true experts had all been transferred away. Those left behind were only here to look after the younger generation; there was no need for top-tier cultivation.
The three faced each other in silence. The atmosphere was heavy and strange.
A good while passed before the two experts finally glanced at the blood-soaked Xie Rong and Li Fu, half her face buried in the dirt, and couldn't help but flush with embarrassment.
Having their junior disciples bullied like this made them lose face. What's more, this had happened after they had launched a sneak attack first — which only made them look all the more incompetent.
"I've learned my lesson," the Shenyou Realm expert from Lei Guang said in a heavy voice.
"Same here," Yang Kai replied coolly.
The Shenyou Realm expert from Feihong Academy coughed dryly, then said hesitantly: "Young man, release them first. This... doesn't look good, you know."
"That's your problem, not mine."
The man's face darkened slightly. "Why does it have to be this way?"
The Lei Guang expert also wore a displeased expression, his face cold as he said: "Young man, for what happened just now, this old man and I offer our apologies. Release them first, won't you? Remember — leave room for others, and you'll have an easier time meeting them again."
His words were deliberately ambiguous. Others would think he was apologizing for the rude behavior of Xie Rong and Li Fu, but Yang Kai knew perfectly well he was referring to the sneak attack.
Yang Kai flashed a grin, his bearing spirited and sharp: "Some things can't be resolved with a simple apology."
"Then what do you want?" the Lei Guang expert's face turned grim in an instant. He knew Yang Kai was no ordinary person, but he had no reason to be afraid. The only reason he was swallowing his pride was because Xie Rong and Li Fu's lives were in the other's hands. For him, this was already the limit.
"I don't want anything!" Yang Kai sneered repeatedly, true yuan pulsing unpredictably in his hand — dangerous as a viper's flickering tongue.
What he wanted to figure out most right now was why these two harbored killing intent toward him.
He had only just returned here today with the Hu sisters. There was no reason for such murderous hostility and targeting to suddenly appear out of nowhere.