A reminder to vote with your monthly tickets~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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All told, over the course of a month, the Cangyun Evil Grounds had suffered dozens of casualties, and the remaining forces, under Evil Lord Yangbo's orders, had completely pulled back and refused to venture out.
During this month of entanglement between Yang Kai's Manor and the Cangyun Evil Grounds, the Eight Great Families had also gained a brief respite to regroup. Though they occasionally coordinated with Yang Kai's movements to harass the Evil Grounds' forces, they hadn't committed any large-scale forces—because to this day, the Eight Great Families still couldn't figure out what Yang Kai was thinking.
All of Zhongdu had become a three-way standoff between Yang Kai's Manor, the Eight Great Families, and the Cangyun Evil Grounds.
The relationships between them were intricate and tangled, impossible to see through clearly.
The Eight Great Families and the Cangyun Evil Grounds were naturally at each other's throats, while Yang Kai's Manor, sandwiched in the middle, also frequently launched attacks against the Evil Grounds. But the people of the Manor didn't give the Eight Great Families any face whatsoever—if members of the Eight Families crossed them, they'd strike back just as hard, and without holding back.
Fortunately, the heads of all Eight Families had issued strict orders to their elites: under no circumstances were they to provoke Yang Kai's Manor. Even if there were conflicts of interest on the battlefield, they had to swallow their pride and back down.
At this critical juncture, the Eight Great Families wanted no further friction with Yang Kai's Manor.
As a result, all the spoils of war on the battlefield went exclusively to Yang Kai's Manor. The pills, artifacts, and treasures on the bodies of fallen Evil Grounds cultivators were all confiscated by the Manor's warriors—the Eight Families didn't get so much as a single hair.
Yang Kai's Manor's fearsome reputation spread with astonishing speed.
A month later, large groups of cultivators had gathered outside Yang Kai's Manor, and the commotion drew Qiu Yimeng's attention. After going out to investigate, she immediately found Yang Kai.
"What's going on?"
"A huge number of people are outside."
"What kind of people?" Yang Kai furrowed his brow, looking displeased—he assumed they had come looking for trouble.
"They've all come to pledge allegiance to you."
"Pledge allegiance to me?" Yang Kai was taken aback and chuckled in disbelief. "This isn't a succession battle."
Qiu Yimeng rolled her eyes at him. "Those factions are all first-tier powers. They answered the Eight Great Families' summons to come reinforce Zhongdu."
"The Eight Families summoned them, so why aren't they going to the Eight Families? Why come to me?" Yang Kai looked baffled.
"Stop playing dumb!" Qiu Yimeng snorted. "It's because it's safe here, obviously. Before we arrived, some first-tier factions had already come to reinforce Zhongdu, but those factions have basically been battered to pieces—the elites of their clans and sects have suffered more than half dead or wounded. Those who came before serve as a warning to those who come after. So the factions arriving now, do you think they'd dare count on the Eight Great Families to protect them?"
"So they come to me?" Yang Kai's expression turned serious.
"Exactly." Qiu Yimeng nodded slightly. "And besides, there's already a precedent right here in the Manor."
"You mean the Lü Family?" Yang Kai understood at once.
"The Lü Family's elites originally came to reinforce Zhongdu as well, but they ended up under your banner. In all this time, not a single member of the Lü Family has died—on the contrary, they've killed quite a few Evil Grounds cultivators." Qiu Yimeng grinned with undisguised schadenfreude. "You set the precedent yourself. Now that everyone's come knocking, let's see how you handle it."
"So that's how it is…" Yang Kai's brow furrowed.
He had kept the Lü Family around because he'd had some prior dealings with Lü Si, and their elites weren't bad, which was why he'd let them stay at the Manor. But if every faction that had come to reinforce Zhongdu converged on his estate, forget whether the Manor was big enough to house them—even if it could fit everyone, that many people living together was bound to breed conflict.
After a moment's thought, Yang Kai suddenly broke into a grin. "If they've come to pledge allegiance, then take them all in."
Qiu Yimeng stared at him in surprise—she had fully expected Yang Kai, given his temperament, to send every last one of them packing. She hadn't anticipated this answer.
After a brief moment of contemplation, her expression turned playful. "You've got quite the appetite."
"This is an opportunity," Yang Kai said with a cold laugh. "Zhongdu and the Eight Great Families… it's time for a change of blood."
Qiu Yimeng's beautiful eyes lit up, and she felt a secret thrill of anticipation. She hurried out of the Manor to begin making arrangements.
On the Eight Great Families' side, staring from afar at the sea of people crowding outside Yang Kai's Manor, every leader's face was grim. These factions had all answered the Eight Families' summons to come reinforce Zhongdu—yet now they refused to fight on the same front as the Eight Families, instead flocking to Yang Kai's side.
The heads of the Eight Great Families couldn't help but feel that bitter, wistful sense of having done all the work only for someone else to reap the rewards.
"The sky is about to change," Kang Rui sighed softly, as though he had already glimpsed the shape of things to come.
The world's factions were rejecting and distrusting the Eight Great Families, while simultaneously flocking to Yang Kai's Manor—the contrast could not have been starker.
If this continued, the Eight Great Families' authority would be completely erased, and in their place would rise the newly ascendant Yang Kai's Manor.
Once this crisis had passed, into whose hands would Zhongdu fall?
"Your Yang family… has produced one remarkable individual." Several of the clan heads gazed at Yang Yinghao with undisguised envy and jealousy.
The corner of Yang Yinghao's mouth twitched faintly, and he sighed. "Let's hope he still remembers whose blood runs in his veins."