Being defeated by Yang Kai during the trial was their own shortcoming—there was nothing to complain about. Yang Kai had at least left Langya a fig leaf in the end, and they were grateful for that.
But that didn't extinguish the urge to beat Yang Kai up.
Now that they'd had their go at him, most of the pent-up frustration had dissipated.
One of them suddenly produced a jade vial and held it up in front of Yang Kai's face with a pleasant smile. "Junior Brother Yang, Langya Blessed Land's specially crafted healing pills—care to take a look?"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
One jade vial after another appeared, all thrust toward Yang Kai in a dense cluster!
Yang Kai let out an indignant roar: "Don't push it too far!"
Senior Sister Zhou sneered without mercy: "Turnabout is fair play. We're just giving back what you did to us before. Stop stalling—one healing pill is worth an entire set of Sixth-Order resources."
"In your dreams!" Yang Kai clutched his Space Ring protectively.
Whatever went down his throat was never coming back! This trial had been his biggest haul yet—those materials were worth hundreds of billions of Open Heaven Pills!
Senior Sister Zhou's beautiful face darkened. "It seems Junior Brother still doesn't quite grasp his situation!"
Yang Kai gritted his teeth. "You're forcing my hand… Dragon Transformation!"
…
Many of the lower-ranking Langya Disciples witnessed an extraordinarily bizarre scene that day. High above Wuhua Spirit Prefecture, a colossal dragon stretching a thousand zhang in length, its entire body blazing with golden light, soared into the sky, twisted its head and tail, and vanished from sight.
A Dragon Race! And a true dragon at that!
This was the kind of sight most people would never see in their entire lives, yet here it had appeared within Langya Blessed Land. The lower-ranking Disciples had no idea what was going on, nor could they fathom why this golden dragon had suddenly materialized over Langya. Could it be that the sect was secretly keeping a dragon in captivity?
In the end, Langya's many Sixth-Order resources were never recovered. The instant Yang Kai transformed into the colossal dragon, everyone was overwhelmed by the terrifying dragon pressure, and Yang Kai seized the opportunity to shatter the sealing formation of Wuhua Spirit Prefecture, making his escape.
Gazing at the golden dragon's receding figure, the assembled Langya Open Heaven cultivators finally understood why, despite all being Sixth-Order, their strength had been so utterly insignificant in Yang Kai's presence.
Even Senior Brother Le Mang, who had already grasped the momentum for advancement, was no match.
That fellow surnamed Yang appeared to be merely Sixth-Order on the surface, but in reality he was a colossal dragon—a being capable of contending with High-Order Open Heaven cultivators! The Langya Open Heaven cultivators all felt that their defeat had been entirely justified.
In the great hall, Yang Kai—his face bruised and swollen—glared resentfully at Li Yuanwang, who sat looking as though nothing had happened at all, sipping his tea with delicate composure.
After a good while, Li Yuanwang finally spoke: "Be content. Your gains this time were hardly insignificant. I never expected you'd hand them back anyway. You just took a beating—hardly anything worth fussing about."
Yang Kai sneered repeatedly: "Easy for you to say, Sect Master Li. Why don't you go get beaten up yourself?"
Li Yuanwang's neck stiffened: "Who would dare?"
Yang Kai snorted coldly: "I don't care. Langya is going to compensate me for my losses."
Li Yuanwang laughed out of exasperation: "You want compensation? You've made off with hundreds of billions of Open Heaven Pills' worth of materials—what losses could you possibly have?"
Yang Kai rapped his finger heavily on the armrest of his chair and said solemnly: "Sect Master Li, I was shedding blood and putting myself on the line for Langya! You didn't lift a finger to help me, and at the final moment you stabbed me in the back—is that any way to treat a person?"
Li Yuanwang considered this with genuine thoughtfulness, then suddenly rose and walked over to Yang Kai.
"What now?" Yang Kai eyed him warily.
Li Yuanwang bowed deeply to the waist: "It was my oversight. Nephew, please don't hold it against me—Li offers you his sincere apology!"
Yang Kai's jaw dropped. This man had absolutely no shame. He was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven cultivator, for heaven's sake—moreover, the Sect Master of Langya—and he just apologized just like that?
But with a senior figure like Li Yuanwang going this far, Yang Kai really couldn't press the matter any further.
He would just have to swallow this bitter pill.
After sitting back down, Li Yuanwang's expression turned grave. "This trial—did you discover anything else of note, nephew?"
Yang Kai understood exactly what he was asking. After a brief pause, he said: "Gu Ling'er, Chang Anyi, Liangqiu Hong, Jiang Yan."
Li Yuanwang's eyes narrowed slightly. He had hoped Yang Kai might uncover something during the trial, but when the results actually came in, the pain was still acute!
All four were among the finest of Langya's Sixth-Order Open Heaven cultivators!
"Can you confirm it?" Li Yuanwang asked in a low voice.
Yang Kai nodded. "Confirmed without doubt!"
These four had all spoken the phrase "Mo shall be eternal" to him—only those who had been Mo-ified would say such a thing. Though Yang Kai had sensed not the slightest trace of Mo's power from any of them, Shi Zheng too had shown no abnormalities before his exposure.
Mo's power was extraordinarily insidious and well-hidden. Unless one inspected the Small Universe directly, or the Mo-ified individual revealed themselves, there was simply no way for outsiders to detect it!
"What's confirmed for now are these four. Whether there are others hidden even more deeply among the rest, I can't say."