In the side hall, Yang Kai sat quietly, clad in black robes that concealed him completely, waiting. Behind him stood Shadow Nine, his expression indifferent, his Divine Sense sweeping outward, vigilant in all directions.
Seeing Yang Kai’s utterly calm demeanor, unaware of the meaning of fear, Shadow Nine felt a secret surge of admiration.
Earlier that night, Yang Kai had abruptly ordered him to follow. Shadow Nine hadn’t asked where they were going. When they finally reached their destination, creeping along under cover of darkness, he had been shocked.
Yang Kai had brought them to Yang Wei’s residence! Immediately, Shadow Nine had become extremely cautious, raising his guard to the highest level.
Recalling the argument between the young master and Qiu Yimeng earlier that day, Shadow Nine suddenly understood. Qiu Yimeng must have been vehemently opposed to Yang Kai’s reckless action of diving deep into enemy territory alone, disregarding his own safety. That was why the eldest miss of the Qiu family had lost her usual refined composure.
Since entering the side hall, Shadow Nine had sensed numerous traces of Divine Sense sweeping over them intermittently, yet not a single person had shown themselves. Even Yang Wei himself had not appeared.
Shadow Nine knew it was the experts of Yang Wei’s residence secretly observing them.
Not only did Shadow Nine know this, but the young master certainly did too. Yet he remained composed, at ease.
“Old Nine, your courage is considerable. Daring to come to my residence alone—aren’t you afraid I’ll keep you here?” A cold shout suddenly echoed from within, reverberating through the side hall, making eardrums tremble. “Or do you believe my residence is empty?”
Yang Kai felt only Yang Wei’s shout filling his ears, a persistent buzzing. At the same time, a powerful surge of Divine Sense struck, though entirely devoid of killing intent. It was clearly just a test.
A few days ago, when Yang Kai had fought Liu Qingyao, Yang Wei had watched from over a hundred zhang away. He hadn’t felt Yang Kai’s true strength firsthand, so he was naturally curious about the young man’s capabilities.
Yang Kai remained unmoved, allowing the force of Divine Sense to slam into his mind. He chuckled lightly. “Afraid? If Big Brother were the type to do that, I wouldn’t have come!”
“Ha ha!” Yang Wei laughed heartily, finally emerging from the shadows to stand before Yang Kai.
Shadow Nine’s eyes narrowed sharply. To his surprise, Yang Wei had arrived completely alone, without a single Blood Servant guard at his side. Although many powerful experts surrounded the side hall on alert, Shadow Nine was certain that capturing Yang Wei would be a simple matter with just a single move.
These two brothers… Shadow Nine shook his head slightly. Truly, each trusted the other more than the last.
Yang Kai pulled back the hood obscuring his head, revealing his true face. He smiled at Yang Wei. The latter lightly clapped his hands, and immediately a maidservant brought tea.
After the maid withdrew, Yang Kai spoke. “Big Brother, this is the first time we’ve spoken like this, isn’t it?”
“Indeed.” Yang Wei nodded. From childhood, Yang Wei had always given people an impression of aloof solitude. He wasn’t close to any of his brothers, and this was Yang Kai’s first time having a private, face-to-face conversation with him.
“Old Nine, you came this time because you’re planning to make a move?” Yang Wei went straight to the point, clearly having his own suspicions.
“Yes.” Yang Kai nodded, taking a deep breath. “The clan is very dissatisfied with our progress. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have invested a thousand Artifacts to accelerate the process. Since they want us to move faster, we have no choice but to comply. Otherwise, they’ll have even more measures to push us. Big Brother understands this too, right?”
“I understand. I think the others do too,” Yang Wei nodded.
“Which means, if we don’t act now, we’ll only let others seize the advantage.” Yang Kai’s voice was low. The clan’s stance was already perfectly clear. The thousand Artifacts invested had sent a message of urgency, and everyone had grasped it silently.
Once the various factions had digested that batch of Artifacts, someone would inevitably make a move, unable to hold back any longer.
“Big Brother, who do you think will be the first target?”
Yang Wei glanced at him, his expression serious. “Isn’t that obvious? It’s either you, or me!”
“I think so too.” Yang Kai grinned.
Among the remaining six Yang family heirs, Yang Zhao and Yang Kang were biological brothers, as were Yang Shen and Yang Ying. Although they were still rivals amongst themselves, when facing other enemies during the Succession Battle, they would still watch each other’s backs.
You pick the low-hanging fruit. If a major move were to be made, these two pairs of brothers would undoubtedly join forces. Their target would be either Yang Kai or Yang Wei, who appeared relatively isolated.
Yang Wei was, after all, the eldest brother, and during the first night of the Succession Battle, he had shown deference to his brothers. Those four would likely not attack him first.
Calculating it this way, within ten days, Yang Kai would certainly face attacks from multiple directions!
His visibility was too high. Just a few days ago, he had snatched two Mysterious-grade Artifacts. How would those brothers give him any breathing room?
Any single one of those four and the support they could muster didn’t concern Yang Kai in the slightest. But if all four joined forces, repelling them would come at a great cost—unless Meng Wuya and the Earth Demon acted together, there would be little possibility of minimizing losses.
It was precisely because he recognized all this that Yang Kai had rushed to Yang Wei’s residence in the dead of night to discuss matters with him.
“Who do you want to hit?” Yang Wei asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
“The Fifth Brother,” Yang Kai replied with a grin.
Yang Wei froze for a moment. After thinking, his expression cleared, and he snorted coldly. “Old Five chose Tu Feng and Yu Xian as his followers—not a wise decision at all!”
Among the strength comparison of the remaining six brothers, Yang Kang was definitely not ranked last. Yet Yang Kai still chose him as the first target. This was clearly because of the Blood Servants, Tu Feng and Tang Yuxian.
If no unforeseen incidents had occurred before the Succession Battle began, Tu Feng and Tang Yuxian would now be following Yang Kai’s side.
Yang Kai’s targeting of him showed he clearly cared somewhat about those two Blood Servants.
“What do you need me to do?” Yang Wei asked in a deep voice.