Turning his head to glance at the courtyard where Yang Kai was staying, a flicker of suspicion crossed the face of the young man surnamed Kong. He had a nagging feeling that the person he'd just seen looked rather familiar, but due to the angle, he hadn't gotten a clear look at the face, nor could he recall where they might have met.
He slowly shook his head, suppressing his doubts, and quietly awaited news.
"Master!" Inside the great hall, Qing Kui strode in and cupped his fists in salute.
"Is it done?" Xu Linggong was in a fine mood. When Qing Kui entered, he had been drinking and eating by himself, humming a little tune.
"It is done," Qing Kui replied respectfully. "Following your instructions, I've arranged for him to stay on Destined Peak."
"Good, good, heh heh." Xu Linggong cackled with glee.
Qing Kui asked in confusion, "Master, what's special about Destined Peak? Why arrange for Yang Kai to stay there?" He had only been back a few days after all, and still didn't fully understand the situation within the Sect.
Xu Linggong picked up a morsel of food and said while chewing, "The Dao Discussion Assembly doesn't officially start for a few more days. It was supposed to be a gathering where only Fifth-Order Open Heaven cultivators participated, but now suddenly there's a Sixth-Order one. What do you think those old foxes' reactions will be?"
Qing Kui said, "They'll naturally be thrown into a scramble. To save face for their own Sects, they'll need to readjust the participants." This was exactly what they had planned ahead of time.
Yang Kai, that troublemaker, had already been inserted into the Dao Discussion Assembly. Now they just had to watch how the factions that had previously schemed behind the scenes would react. Sure enough, things were developing exactly as they'd envisioned.
"Exactly. But having a Sixth-Order Open Heaven that nobody knows about won't do — we naturally need to stir up some commotion so that everyone becomes aware." Xu Linggong grinned. "On that Destined Peak, there happens to be a candidate for the position of Alliance Master of the Heavenly Sword Alliance — the eldest son of the former Alliance Master Kong Feng, Kong Tianyu!"
"The Heavenly Sword Alliance!" Qing Kui's eyebrows shot up, and he couldn't help but whistle in delight. "Now this is going to be good entertainment."
Even though he wasn't intimately familiar with Void Land, he knew that the Heavenly Sword Alliance and Void Land had a blood feud. The previous Alliance Master, Kong Feng, had been killed inside Void Land after leading the Hundred Clans Alliance in an assault. And at the time, Yang Kai had only been at the Emperor Realm, relying on the power of that Nine Heavens Grand Formation — otherwise, how could a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator like Kong Feng have been slain by someone in the Emperor Realm?
After Kong Feng's death, a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator named Shen Liang had apparently taken over as Alliance Master, only to die as well. He hadn't been killed by Yang Kai personally, but it was still the people of Void Land who had done it.
Two consecutive Alliance Masters killed at the hands of Void Land — the Heavenly Sword Alliance had been dealt a devastating blow, and the grudge ran deep. It was a case of absolute, irreconcilable enmity.
With Kong Tianyu on Destined Peak and Yang Kai now staying there, peace and quiet were simply out of the question.
"Master truly is... a crafty old fox!" Qing Kui praised without reserve. The words had barely left his mouth when a wine jar came hurtling toward his head. Startled, he scrambled away with his arms over his head as Xu Linggong's string of curses echoed from behind.
On Destined Peak, the man surnamed Sun was clutching his Transmission Bead when his expression suddenly became strange.
Kong Tianyu asked, "Did you find out anything? What's that person's background?"
The man named Sun glanced at Kong Tianyu and stammered hesitantly, "Brother Kong... that person appears to be the master of Void Land — Yang Kai!"
"Yang Kai?" Kong Tianyu froze for a moment, and then his voice shot up sharply, his face twisting into a grimace. "You're certain that person is Yang Kai? That Yang Kai from Void Land?"
The man named Sun nodded. "Absolutely certain. This information wasn't hard to dig up — the participant list for the Dao Discussion Assembly isn't exactly classified. The news came from within Yin Yang Heaven. If you don't believe me, Brother Kong, you're free to verify it yourself!"
"No need." Kong Tianyu turned around to face the courtyard where Yang Kai was staying, gritting his teeth as he said, "No wonder he looked familiar. It's you — it's actually you!" He then let out a low, dark chuckle. "Heaven's gate is wide open and you refuse to walk through it, but when hell has no door, you just have to force your way in. Father, just wait — your son is going to avenge you and wipe away this shame!"
The esteemed former Alliance Master of the Heavenly Sword Alliance, Kong Feng — a Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivator — had been slain by someone in the Emperor Realm. Sure, the other party had relied on the power of a grand formation, but when word got out, it had been a source of ridicule and scorn.
Kong Tianyu was the Alliance Master's son, and his own talent was far from ordinary. He had advanced straight to the Fifth-Order several hundred years ago and had been the leading candidate for the next Alliance Master. If everything had gone smoothly, once he advanced to the Sixth-Order, he could have assumed the position.
However, Kong Feng's death had tarnished the Heavenly Sword Alliance's reputation, power had slipped away, and he had fallen from first candidate to fifth.
At such a ranking, there was virtually no chance of him ever becoming Alliance Master.
One could say that his originally brilliant future had been destroyed entirely by Yang Kai. Adding to that the blood feud of his father's death, Kong Tianyu thought of nothing but killing Yang Kai to restore his father's honor and cleanse the Kong family's shame.
It was just that Void Land was no ordinary place, with two Sacred Spirits presiding over it — even the Heavenly Sword Alliance didn't dare provoke it, so this grudge had been buried deep in his heart.
When Yin Yang Heaven announced the Dao Discussion Assembly to find a husband for Qu Huashang, he had seen a glimmer of hope in the darkness. If he could claim victory at the Dao Discussion Assembly, he could marry into Yin Yang Heaven and never again have to remain in the Heavenly Alliance, enduring cold shoulders and marginalization.
Heavens be praised — Yang Kai had actually left Void Land to participate in the Dao Discussion Assembly. This was a heaven-sent opportunity.
Kong Tianyu had been keeping track of news about Yang Kai. With a blood feud on his mind, of course he knew that Yang Kai had advanced to Fifth-Order Open Heaven outside the Wuying Hollow Heaven in the Broken Star Field roughly two years ago.
Both were Fifth-Order, but someone who had only advanced two years ago and his own deep foundation accumulated over several centuries were worlds apart in terms of true strength!