Although the Earth Demon's words gave off a feeling of "the lady doth protest too much," everyone knew he was telling the truth.
When the square-faced Ye Family expert had collapsed earlier, Meng Wuya, Ling Taixu, and the others had genuinely been battling opponents in the sky. It was only after sensing the commotion below that they had flown back down.
The three of them truly had neither the time, the opportunity, nor the means to pull off such a thing.
A Shenyou Realm expert had just died out of nowhere — this was an earth-shattering matter. None of the experts from the Eight Great Families had any desire to trouble Yang Kai further.
Until the mystery of the Ye Family expert's death was solved, no one would feel safe.
A hidden hand lurking in the shadows had been able to silently kill a Shenyou Realm expert. That meant it could just as easily eliminate everyone else.
"Forgive the disturbance tonight." Yang Liting regarded Meng Wuya and the others, speaking coolly. "We'll come another day to seek instruction from your esteemed skills."
With those words, he picked up the corpse of the Ye Family expert and hurried toward the Sealed God Temple with the other six.
Meng Wuya and the rest made no move to stop them. Their show of force this time had been solely to stand up for Yang Kai.
"Clean up the bodies. We're leaving too." Ye Xinrou looked rather hollow as she issued the withdrawal order.
Although all seven families had suffered losses in tonight's operation, the greatest damage had unquestionably fallen on her Ye Family.
A Shenyou Realm expert dead for no apparent reason — this was a devastating blow to her family.
Soon the gatherings dispersed and the intruders had all retreated.
"What on earth happened?" Meng Wuya was just as bewildered, unable to fathom how that man could have simply died. As he spoke, he glanced at Yang Kai — perhaps intentionally, perhaps not.
"Why are you looking at me?" Yang Kai protested. "I didn't do it."
Those words made several people want to laugh, but they couldn't.
Indeed. Even if Young Master Yang's methods were extraordinary, his potential astonishing, and he never failed to produce miracles that left people slack-jawed in awe, actually killing a Shenyou Realm expert was still far beyond his reach.
"I never said it was you. Why so defensive?" Meng Wuya rolled his eyes. Then he suddenly realized something.
If Yang Kai hadn't jumped to defend himself, the thought might never have occurred to him. Glancing at Yang Kai earlier had been purely instinctive. But Yang Kai's knee-jerk denial had planted a seed of suspicion.
Could this matter… really be connected to that kid? Meng Wuya was now thoroughly confused.
"Let's clean up the battlefield too." Yang Kai's expression was solemn as he surveyed the ravaged grounds.
All the forces, large and small, quickly mobilized to retrieve the corpses of their fallen warriors.
Dawn was breaking. The night's fierce battle had come to an end. Though it felt somewhat anticlimactic — a tiger's head tapering to a rat's tail — such a momentous event was beyond anyone's power to prevent.
But after tonight's battle, everyone in Yang Kai's estate understood one thing.
The current situation was likely even more dire than what Yang Kai had previously described. In other words, his earlier warnings had not been alarmism at all — if anything, he might have underestimated how bad things truly were.
They had truly made enemies of the Eight Great Families of Zhongdu!
And moreover, experts above the Shenyou Realm had been drawn into intervening on that side.
What had Yang Kai possibly done to warrant such a response from those supreme powers of Zhongdu? And why had the Yang Family maintained their silence, leaving Yang Kai to fend for himself?
They didn't know. But they had come to fully grasp the gravity of the situation.
After a full day of rest, many people looked more haggled than refreshed. The previous night's battle had exacted a toll on every faction, and the fall of Shenyou Realm experts was an enormous loss for them all.
Every family wore expressions of somber disquiet.
In a private room, Yang Kai, Meng Wuya, Ling Taixu, and the Earth Demon gathered to discuss their plans.
"Little Yang Kai, what do you intend to do now?" Meng Wuya had restored his cultivation to the peak of the Shenyou Realm and asked in a deep voice.
He had sustained little damage from last night's battle. The Earth Demon, however, looked somewhat weakened today.
"Leave this place." Yang Kai shook his head with a bitter smile. "There's no room for me here anymore."
Meng Wuya nodded slightly. "You should have left long ago. If you had no intention of becoming the head of the Yang Family, you should never have joined the succession battle and waded into these troubled waters."
Yang Kai's expression turned somber. "My original purpose in joining the succession battle was simply to restore our sect's reputation. Now it seems I'm in no position to accomplish that from where I stand."
Ling Taixu offered gently, "Don't feel guilty. Whether or not the sect's reputation is restored, it remains the same sect. There's no need to care about what the world thinks."
Yang Kai nodded softly. "I understand."