Lü Liang was truly at his wit's end.
There was just no getting through to Yang Kai. He might be the patriarch of the Lü family, but Young Master Yang's own standing wasn't low either. Even though Lü Liang was seething inside, he couldn't afford to blow up on the spot. All he could do was speak in this mild, measured tone, hoping the young man would read between the lines—do others a favor, and you do yourself one too.
But unfortunately, this Young Master Yang was no sharp reader of situations. It was as if a single track ran through his head, one straight line from top to bottom. Lü Liang's meaning was so obvious, yet Yang Kai actually asked in genuine bewilderment, "Why should we go somewhere else?"
A vein on Lü Liang's forehead twitched.
Suppressing the anger and frustration churning in his chest, he said with a grave expression, "To be honest with you, Young Master Yang—this place is the meditation retreat of an expert from my Lü family. Normally no one comes here to disturb him. Talking here like this, I fear we might startle the old master. If that were to happen... heh."
"An expert?" Yang Kai sprang to his feet, his voice suddenly rising several notches, booming like a thunderclap.
The faces of every Lü family member present instantly turned ugly.
This guy... was he doing this on purpose?
Yang Kai seemed completely oblivious. He looked all around with keen interest, circled the room, then faced Lü Liang with a beaming smile. "How expert are we talking?"
"Young Master Yang!" Lü Liang's face darkened and he gave a cold snort. He had truly reached the limits of his patience. "Please control yourself!"
Getting Lü Liang to say something like that was no small feat.
If this weren't the seclusion place of Lü Si, Lü Liang would never have risked offending Yang Kai by showing his displeasure.
Yang Kai looked momentarily taken aback, then chuckled.
The smile was open enough, without any hidden meaning—just a touch of surprise, nothing more.
He genuinely hadn't expected this to be a crucial site of the Lü family!
He knew there had to be an expert living here; otherwise there was no reason to go through all this trouble—having the Golden Feather Eagle drop a porcupine and then seizing the chance to slip in here himself. But even knowing there was an expert on the premises, it wasn't until Lü Liang and the others showed up in a hurry that he realized he'd probably touched a nerve of the Lü family that shouldn't be touched.
But things had already come to this. He could only play the fool, to avoid embarrassing both sides.
Yang Kai was not someone who didn't know when to back off. The moment Lü Liang and his people appeared, he'd sensed something was off. Now that Lü Liang was openly showing his displeasure, he could naturally confirm who was in seclusion here.
The Lü family's only person above the Shenyou Realm!
Otherwise, Lü Liang couldn't possibly be this nervous, this grave about it.
Interesting—the thing he'd been after was actually in the quarters of such an expert. That made things rather difficult.
He furrowed his brow slightly, considering whether to just let it go, when the large door of a neighboring building suddenly swung open.
A soft creak.
Lü Liang and the others all shuddered. Their expressions turned solemn as they hurriedly turned to face the door and bowed in unison.
"Young friend, come inside and let's talk." A somewhat elderly voice drifted out from within—plain and ordinary, betraying no joy or anger, yet it made everyone outside show expressions of surprise.
Yang Kai's eyes flickered. He chuckled, and without standing on ceremony, strode toward the building.
Lü Liang watched with eager eyes, his face full of envy, and slowly followed behind.
Arriving at the building, Yang Kai halted and glanced back at Lü Liang, gesturing. "Please go first, Patriarch Lü."
Lü Liang smiled bitterly and waved his hands repeatedly. "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. Elder Si only invited you. Just go on in."
With that, he led his people to spread out before the door, standing ramrod straight, their expressions perfectly solemn.
Yang Kai glanced at him, knew he wasn't just being polite, nodded slightly, and stepped inside.
The room was spartan—without even a bed. There were only a table and chairs, with a purple clay teapot sitting on the table. Apart from that, there was nothing else.
But the moment Yang Kai entered the room, both his eyes blazed with burning light as he stared with insatiable greed at something beneath the old man sitting inside.
His gaze was unrestrained, utterly undisguised!
The old man within was clearly the Lü family's strongest member, Lü Si. His frame looked rather thin, his hair and beard completely white. His bearing somewhat resembled Ling Taixu's, though not as detached and as untroubled as Ling Taixu's was.
But on the whole, Lü Si still possessed the unique demeanor of a true expert.
This was the second person above the Shenyou Realm that Yang Kai had encountered so far.
When one's strength reached above the Shenyou Realm, it seemed to grant an air of transcending all things—a feeling impossible to articulate, utterly profound. Any person above the Shenyou Realm was a supreme expert standing at the pinnacle.
And right now, Lü Si sat cross-legged on a massive piece of precious jade. The jade was entirely golden, streams of resplendent light flowing ceaselessly across its surface like fish frolicking through water.
This jade seemed like a naturally formed bed, large enough for a person to lie down upon. Lü Si sat upon it with perfect poise, his aura drawn out and unbroken.
The energy within the jade was extremely restrained—even though Yang Kai stood a full yard in front of it, he couldn't sense the slightest fluctuation. But the Yang Source Seal on his chest was pounding nonstop.