Yang Kai wasn't particularly invested in the Bamboo Joint Gang. He only wanted them for gathering intelligence and passing along messages.
Truth be told, they were nothing more than a ragtag bunch. Any decent expert could wipe the whole lot out. If Yang Kai hadn't been short on resources to deploy at the moment, he wouldn't have bothered with them in the first place.
Pang Chi had accepted the large sum without any hesitation—a clear declaration of loyalty. Yang Kai understood that perfectly well.
Leaving the Bamboo Joint Gang behind, he headed back the way he'd come.
Halfway there, a shout suddenly reached his ears from the side.
He turned toward the voice and spotted Yang Zhao on the second floor of a nearby restaurant, smiling and waving at him. "Brother Kai! Come up and talk."
Yang Kai frowned slightly. He hadn't expected to run into him here, but he didn't refuse. He dismounted from the Cloud-Stepping Horse and walked straight into the restaurant.
On the second floor, stepping into the private room where Yang Zhao sat, he was immediately met by several sharp gazes directed at him.
"Second Brother." Yang Kai cupped his fists in greeting, discreetly sweeping his eyes around the room. A small flicker of interest stirred within him.
Though he didn't recognize most of the people present, from their clothing, bearing, and demeanor, he could tell these young men and women came from influential backgrounds.
"Come, come!" Yang Zhao pulled Yang Kai over enthusiastically and pointed to a young man seated in a chair, one hand stroking his chin, watching them with a faint smile. "Do you recognize who this is?"
Yang Kai took one look and smiled. "Fifth Brother!"
Ranked fifth among the younger generation of the Yang family—Yang Kang. He and Yang Zhao were blood brothers, so Yang Kai knew him well. He simply hadn't expected him to have returned to Zhongdu as well.
Yang Kang looked Yang Kai up and down without a word, offering only a slight nod, a lukewarm smile hanging on his face.
A meeting between brothers should have been warmer than this, yet Yang Kang said nothing of substance. The condescension was written all over his face.
The others seated around the table watched Yang Kai with amused expressions, apparently hoping to catch some trace of embarrassment or awkwardness on his face. When his expression remained unchanged, they looked faintly disappointed.
Yang Zhao, seemingly oblivious, continued introducing everyone with undiminished warmth.
Sure enough, they were all people of considerable standing—scions of the Eight Great Families.
Kang Zhan of the Kang family, Gao Rangfeng of the Gao family, and Ye Xinrou of the Ye family—two men and a woman. Each was a leading figure of their respective family's younger generation. Their meeting with the Yang family's direct heirs here meant they were already planning to take part in the war of succession.
Which side they would ultimately choose, however, remained uncertain.
Once the introductions were done and everyone had taken their seats, Yang Kang smiled faintly and looked at Yang Kai. "Brother Kai, I heard you only lasted half a day in the Dragon Transformation Pool last time before coming out?"
Yang Kai nodded. "That's right. My aptitude was too poor—I couldn't gain much from it."
Yang Kang chuckled lightly and said bluntly, "For you, that's already pretty impressive."
"Fifth Brother!" Yang Zhao scolded softly, shooting him a glare. He then patted Yang Kai's shoulder reassuringly. "Your Fifth Brother speaks his mind and can't keep words in his mouth. Don't take it to heart. The Dragon Transformation Pool isn't as miraculous as the rumors make it out to be. At the very least, I stayed four days inside and didn't gain that much either."
"Second Brother is amazing!" Yang Kang looked genuinely impressed. "I couldn't last more than three days before it became unbearable."
"I heard the Yang family's Dragon Transformation Pool is a place that tests a person's aptitude?" Ye Xinrou asked with a smile, her lips pressed together.
Kang Zhan and Gao Rangfeng both showed interest, and Kang Zhan added, "I've also heard that the longer you can stay inside, the better your aptitude is."
Yang Zhao glanced at Yang Kai with a somewhat troubled expression before giving a slight nod. "That's what people say, but the truth of the matter—nobody really knows. Can a person's aptitude truly be measured by something as simple as a pool?"
"But the shorter the time, the worse the aptitude. That's certain." Yang Kang's face lit up with a smile as he looked at Yang Kai. "Brother Kai, you really shouldn't dwell on it too much. Back in the day, you couldn't even practice martial arts. I hear you've now entered the Zhenyuan Realm—that's an incredible stroke of fortune already. People should learn to be content."
"And they should also know their place. Wouldn't you agree, Fifth Brother?" Yang Kai replied coolly. Yang Kang was clearly targeting him—how could he not see that? He didn't feel particularly close to his cousins, but he harbored no ill will toward them either. Yet Yang Kang's words were laced with barbs at every turn, and it rubbed him the wrong way.
When words fail to connect, even half a sentence is too many. He couldn't be bothered to read someone's face.
Yang Kang seemed to have never expected Yang Kai to talk back to him like that and was visibly taken aback. The three young members of the other Great Families were even more astonished—they had never imagined the youngest of the young lords could be so assertive.
Yang Zhao's eyes flickered momentarily, then he burst out laughing. "Let's drop it. The Dragon Transformation Pool is just a pool in the end. The future of the Yang family's children isn't something it can decide."
"Indeed." Kang Zhan nodded slightly, then shook his head with a rueful smile. "Every single one of you Yang family juniors is a wolf or a tiger. In the old days, Zhongdu was the domain of our seven families. Now that the Yang family has returned, we'll have to step aside."
"Brother Kang is too kind. Zhongdu is vast—one family can't swallow it all. The future here belongs to our entire generation."
Gao Rangfeng furrowed his brow and asked, "How many of your Yang family juniors have returned so far?"
"Four." Yang Zhao's expression dimmed for an instant. "Besides the three of us, Fourth Brother Yang Xinwu has also come back. But he was ambushed and severely wounded on the way—nearly lost his life. The elders in the clan are treating him now, but I don't know how he's doing..."