Looking around, Yang Kai immediately spotted the commotion over by Lingxiao Pavilion. Though he couldn't tell exactly what had happened, he could sense something was off, and his expression darkened.
"Senior Brother Yang! Senior Sister Su!" Li Yuntian screamed in anguish. "Young Master Su… Young Master Su has been stabbed!"
Su Yan's beautiful face lost all color in an instant. Her slender white figure transformed into a streak of light as she plunged into the crowd, with Yang Kai close behind her.
One glance at the scene and his eyes narrowed, his face turning an iron shade of grey.
In the center of the crowd, Su Mu sat on the ground cross-legged, his complexion deathly pale. A sharp blade jutted out from his right chest, piercing clean through. Blood foamed continuously from his mouth and nostrils, his vital signs flickering weakly. He gasped for air like a worn-out bellows in a blacksmith's shop being dragged open with laborious, grinding resistance.
An elder from Lingxiao Pavilion was behind him, pressing a palm against his back and pouring True Yuan into his body.
Su Yan's eyes turned red instantly.
She and Su Mu were siblings. Seeing her brother in such a wretched state, how could she not feel anguish?
Yang Kai pushed through the crowd and quickly knelt beside Su Mu, pressing fingers to his wrist to assess his condition for a moment. Then he pried open Su Mu's mouth and flicked a few drops of Myriad Medicinal Spirit Milk inside.
The moment the spirit milk entered his body, Yang Kai grabbed the long sword lodged in Su Mu's right chest and yanked it out, drawing a spray of dark blood.
He fired off several bursts of True Yuan to seal the blood flow around the wound, then turned to Su Yan and said gently, "He'll be all right."
Su Yan gave a soft nod.
With the Myriad Medicinal Spirit Milk, Su Mu's life was truly no longer in danger. He might even turn this misfortune into a blessing and see some improvement in his strength. But… if he and Su Yan hadn't arrived when they did — if they'd been even half an hour later — Su Mu's fate would have been impossible to predict.
Even if he survived, he could have been left crippled for life!
Yang Kai rose slowly to his feet, his expression perfectly calm. He turned to face Kang Zhan, who stood nearby.
Kang Zhan suddenly felt his lips go dry. Yang Kai's silence unsettled him, and he realized with a jolt that things were about to go very badly.
"Who did this?" Yang Kai stared at Kang Zhan and asked softly.
Kang Zhan swallowed hard and said hesitantly, "Ninth Young Master, this was just an accident…"
"Who did this?!"
Kang Zhan furrowed his brow. Though well aware of how formidable Yang Kai was, he was the one in charge of this operation and a young master of Zhongdu in his own right. He refused to show too much cowardice and said in a low voice, "Ninth Young Master, this is the War of Succession. One or two casualties are perfectly normal. You and I are enemies here. Putting aside the fact that your friend isn't in any mortal danger, even if he had died, it wouldn't matter. Have you not killed quite a few people under the Ninth Young Master's own hand?"
"Quite a few, indeed," Yang Kai nodded. "I've killed plenty. If their friends and family want revenge, they're welcome to come for me. Now someone has hurt one of my people, and I want revenge. So I need to know — who did it?"
Kang Zhan was struck speechless. He had a point — vengeance for wrongs suffered, repayment for grudges owed. You can kill and maim, but you expect others not to retaliate? What's more, the two of them had previously agreed that Lingxiao Pavilion would not take part in this battle.
Under that agreement, with a Lingxiao Pavilion member seriously injured, Kang Zhan was absolutely in the wrong.
But betraying someone on his own side? Kang Zhan couldn't do that either. It would make him look spineless. And it would make it seem like he was afraid of Yang Kai.
"It was that guy!" Li Yuntian suddenly sprang to his feet, trembling with righteous fury, pointing off to the side. "Just now two groups came from over there — it was that one who tried to kill Young Master Su!"
Following the direction of his finger, Yang Kai cast his gaze toward Nan Shen, who stood not far away.
Kang Zhan's brow knotted. He suddenly realized that Nan Shen and Xiang Chu had, at some point, slipped away and retreated back to their own people's side.
He had stayed behind to clean up their mess, and they had slunk off without a word. Kang Zhan's fury flared.
"Understood." Yang Kai gave a slight nod, then shot a sidelong glance at Kang Zhan. "Young Master Kang, I told you — keeping Lingxiao Pavilion's people out of the fight was for your benefit. If they get hurt, I will go on a killing spree. It seems you didn't quite believe me."
Kang Zhan froze. Then his eyes filled with horror.
He realized that Yang Kai's entire aura had suddenly turned violent and bloody. A dense killing intent surged skyward like a pillar.
Instinctively, Kang Zhan stumbled backward. Yang Kai regarded him with icy eyes, flicked his wrist, and sent the long sword torn from Su Mu's chest hurtling toward Kang Zhan in a streak of cold light.
Kang Zhan's face changed drastically. He hadn't expected Yang Kai to strike so decisively. In a panic he scrambled to deploy a martial technique to block, but the sword carried a devastating force within it — far beyond what a warrior of his caliber could hope to withstand.
Pfft…
Kang Zhan grunted as the blade punched through his right chest, mirroring Su Mu's exact wound. The tremendous force drove him back over a dozen steps before he barely managed to steady himself.
Trembling, Kang Zhan stared at Yang Kai in disbelief.
Everyone stood in stunned silence, their faces masks of shock.