With that thought, everyone's composure crumbled.
A young master of the Yang Family of Zhongdu — what an exalted status was that?
So-called first-rate families were utterly insignificant before the Eight Great Families of Zhongdu, let alone the fact that the Yang Family stood at the very pinnacle of those eight, its position even more revered.
For all anyone knew, the Yang Family young master present here could very well become the future patriarch. To curry favor with him now, while his strength was still low, would bring untold benefits down the road. Who would dare offend him?
Involuntarily, both Xiang Chu and Nan Sheng reined in their overbearing auras, their gazes heavy with gravity as they swept through the crowd. It was as though, in an instant, they had shrunk a full head shorter.
As for the members of the Blood Battle Gang and the Wind and Rain Tower, they stared at Yang Kai with a mixture of astonishment and anticipation. They all knew Yang Kai's name, and they naturally connected it to the Yang Family young master's identity — yet it wouldn't be appropriate to ask outright. Every one of them gazed at him with expectant eyes, trying to read something in his expression.
Yang Kai's face was placid, his demeanor utterly at ease, without the slightest hint of anything different from usual. This only deepened their suspicion and uncertainty.
Xiang Chu let out a bitter laugh, cupped his fists, and called out in a clear voice: "Who is Young Master Yang?"
It wasn't that he didn't know Yang Kai's name. It was just that, on some subconscious level, he couldn't bring himself to link the two. All Xiang Chu hoped for was that the hidden Yang Family young master was someone within his own ranks.
His question hung in the air, unanswered.
Yang Kai let out two strange little chuckles.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh…
Countless gazes converged on him. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the pitch-black flood dragon that had been circling above his head suddenly dove straight down.
In the blink of an eye, the twenty- or thirty-zhang-long flood dragon had burrowed into Yang Kai's body and vanished without a trace.
At the same time, the sky-piercing aura of killing intent retreated entirely. All that remained visible to everyone was an ordinary sixth-layer Zhenyuan Realm martial artist.
The expressions of the Xiang and Nan families shifted between dark and pale.
The fact that Yang Kai had dispersed his last trump card at a time like this left them no choice but to let their imaginations run wild.
Yang Kai looked up at the sky. The Silver-Blood Golden-Feather Eagle was still circling overhead, its cries sharp and urgent.
He curled his fingers, slipped them into his mouth, and blew a piercing whistle.
As if receiving a command, the circling Silver-Blood Golden-Feather Eagle answered with a joyful cry, spread its wings, and plummeted from a height of several hundred zhang.
In an instant, it had arrived above the assembled crowd. Those bright eagle eyes fixed on the three members of the Nan family with wary hostility before it slowly descended onto Yang Kai's shoulder.
Folding its wings, the Silver-Blood Golden-Feather Eagle let out a defiant cry directed at the Nan family trio.
The faces of the Nan and Xiang families went considerably paler in an instant. Xiang Chu's skin twitched subtly as he stared at Yang Kai, seemingly unable to believe his own eyes.
The Silver-Blood Golden-Feather Eagle, unique to the Yang Family, had just landed on Yang Kai's shoulder. Yang Kai's true identity no longer required any further speculation.
The Hu sisters stared at Yang Kai without blinking, as though seeing him for the first time, a strange light flickering in their beautiful eyes.
Meanwhile, Xie Rong of the Thunderlight Sect and Li Fu of the Rainbow Fei Hall went weak in the knees and collapsed limply to the ground. Their two sects had gone to tremendous lengths to ingratiate themselves with Xiang Chu, abetting a tyrant and serving as his willing henchmen. They had done everything possible to slander Yang Kai — only to find that they had traded a sesame seed for a watermelon, and the person they had offended was someone even Xiang Chu dared not cross.
This was truly having eyes but being blind, seeing no further than one's own nose!
Both of their sects had already suffered devastating casualties, each losing a Shenyou Realm elder at Yang Kai's hands. They had pinned their hopes on Xiang Chu to avenge them, and perhaps attach themselves to the Xiang family's mighty trunk as well — but now…
All of it had been in vain. Never mind revenge — having offended the Yang Family's young master so profoundly, whether they could even survive was now an open question.
No wonder he had said the price of offending him was something their two sects could not bear.
They truly could not.
"Young Master Yang?" Xiang Chu stared at Yang Kai with an awkward expression, his palms slick with sweat. Still, he had no choice but to steel himself and ask.
Nan Sheng opened his mouth, his belly churning with regret and frustration.
This time he had truly suffered an unprovoked disaster. He had merely been passing through on his way back to the Nan Family and had decided to get involved on a whim. He never imagined it would stir up trouble of this magnitude. If he had known, why would he have come to gape at the spectacle? He could have just ridden his Cloud-Treading Steed and galloped straight home.
Facing Xiang Chu's inquiry, Yang Kai merely gave him a cool glance. Then he turned his full attention to grooming the feathers of the Silver-Blood Golden-Feather Eagle perched on his shoulder.
This fifth-grade flying demon beast was quite remarkable in appearance. Its plumage gleamed as though cast from gold, radiating brilliant golden light. Having been raised by the Yang Family for so many years and meticulously cared for, every feather was sharp as a blade — its hardness and keenness no lesser than a typical earth-grade, middle-rank Artifact. Combined with its hooked beak and razor-sharp talons, an ordinary Zhenyuan Realm cultivator facing it would likely not stand a chance. One would need to be at least a sixth- or seventh-layer Zhenyuan Realm martial artist to have any hope of defeating it.
Yang Kai said nothing. Xiang Chu, for all the grievances and indignation roiling inside him, didn't dare let a hint show. He simply stood there with his fists cupped, his face a mask of utmost caution.
Nan Sheng's face flushed red, and he said with thick-skinned candor: "Young Master Yang, this one was blind and ignorant. What happened just now was entirely my fault. I humbly ask that Young Master Yang not take it to heart."