Martial Peak
chapter-2908

Chapter 2908, Future Looks Quite Bleak

In the wilderness, four gazes focused on Yang Kai after he made his greeting, all with looks of scrutiny.

Three of the four others gathered here were men, with only one being a woman. Two of them were in the First-Order Emperor Realm while the other two were Second-Order, each of them standing in pairs. Clearly, only Hua Yu Lu was alone before Yang Kai arrived.

Even though the Camouflage Artifact could hide the paleness of Yang Kai’s face, his weak aura could not be concealed in any way. Not to mention the fact that everyone here was an Emperor, so just a quick check would reveal the depth of his cultivation.

[First-Order Emperor Realm!] This allowed the other four to breathe a sigh of relief somehow.

One of the men with a short and stumpy body coldly snorted with a look of displeasure, “Palace Master Hua, is this your friend? He’s a haughty one, isn’t he, making us wait like this?”

He didn’t hide his true thoughts in the slightest. He was obviously annoyed by having to wait here for so long and straightforwardly criticized Yang Kai. It was also true that Yang Kai did not arrive in time as he had been delayed for a few days during his trip, so there wasn’t much he could say. If Yang Kai had been a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master, then this stocky fellow might not have had the guts to criticize him, but a First-Order Emperor was nothing to be feared.

Faced with the man’s criticism, Hua Yu Lu smiled apologetically, “Brother Wu, please calm your anger. Senior Brother Yang was met with some problems some days ago that delayed his trip. This Mistress will apologize in his stead.”

Even though she had no idea what held Yang Kai back a few days, causing him to miss their appointed time, she was certain he wasn’t the type to just break appointments on purpose. Otherwise, Xia Sheng wouldn’t have asked him to help. As the inviter, Hua Yu Lu naturally had to speak for Yang Kai.

The man coldly snorted, “Your Hundred Flowers Palace is filled with women, where does this Senior Brother Yang come from? I’ve never heard of men entering Hundred Flowers Palace before. What’s more, this Brother Yang is hiding his head while only showing his tail. Does he not even have the guts to show his true appearance? Or does Brother Yang have something else he’s hiding?”

He seemed to dislike Yang Kai and immediately confronted him about using the Camouflage Artifact.

It was reasonable to call this an impromptu treasure hunting team, so there was no need for them to look deeply into each other’s backgrounds and origins. They each had their own ulterior motives to begin with. When they could work together, they would work together, but if not, they would just separate. If they happen to chance upon some treasure, they may even get into a fight for it. Everyone knew this, so Hua Yu Lu did not ask who the helpers of the other two were or where they were from, as if it was a tacit agreement.

Therefore, the stubby man clearly had ill intentions to target Yang Kai, and there were even suspicions of him trying to sow discord with his last sentence.

The Star Boundary was so huge that the number of people living in it reached the trillions. Each one of them had a different nature and temperament, so walking around with a Camouflage Artifact wasn’t a strange thing; however, when it came to this man surnamed Wu, it seemed he intended to blow up matters here, intent on getting Yang Kai to take off his artifact and reveal his true appearance without taking no for an answer.

Hua Yu Lu frowned and was clearly displeased with this situation. She was the Palace Master of Hundred Flowers Palace, so the fact that she could put down her status and apologize already showed her sincerity. Still, the incessant pestering of this man naturally annoyed her. However, it was not a favourable situation for them as both she and Yang Kai were First-Order Emperor Realms, while the other two were in pairs of one First-Order and one Second-Order Emperor. Things may become messy if a fight were really to break out here.

She was fortunate enough to have seen Yang Kai’s skills before when he sparred with a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master at Azure Sun Temple’s Grand Canonization Ceremony. Being able to block a Third-Order Emperor Realm’s surprise attack, then land one of his own, proved Yang Kai’s strength could not be judged with common sense. However, Hua Yu Lu was able to sense that Yang Kai’s aura was quite weak at the moment, and she guessed that he must have endured some sort of injury, leading him to hide his appearance.

She did not want to get into a conflict with the others right now.

Just as she was about to say something, Yang Kai spoke, “May I know what to call this friend?”

The man surnamed Wu grunted, “Wu Kuang Yi!”

“So it is Brother Wu!” Yang Kai nodded lightly and smiled, “There is no deeper meaning for my disguise. Only… My appearance is a little odd so if I appear before others with my true appearance, I’m worried I would scare… this lady!”

While speaking, Yang Kai raised his head and looked at the other woman on the scene other than Hua Yu Lu.

The woman was not with Wu Kuang Yi and was instead standing next to the other elderly man. She had a Second-Order Emperor Realm cultivation and was clearly the helper hired by him. The woman’s appearance could not be described as extremely beautiful, but her temperament was very refined, and she had a graceful figure. Her goose yellow dress outlined her delicate figure wonderfully.

Since Yang Kai appeared, this woman and the others have been silently observing him, so now that the topic had turned to her, she was slightly taken aback before she smiled and commented, “My courage isn’t that small.”

There was a strange charm to her smile, and it seemed to be able to drive the emotions of others, but there was no sign of her using any kind of Charm Technique. It was quite apparently an innate talent she possessed, which made it so Yang Kai could not help but take closer notice of her. At the same time, he also raised his wariness slightly.

“And what should I call Little Brother?” The woman asked.

“Yang Jiu!” Yang Kai answered promptly.

He was the ninth oldest son in his Yang Family, so there was a basis for his name. It wasn’t just made up.

Wu Kuang Yi’s frown was knitted even tighter when he saw the woman actually chatting with Yang Kai casually, but just as he was about to say something, the elderly man who was standing with the woman stepped forward and smiled, “It’s fine, it was only a few days. For those at our level of cultivation, a few days is but a blink of an eye. Brother Wu does not need to mind it too much. Just think of it as resting time for cultivation.”

His smile was very warm, just like an amiable neighbourhood grandpa, causing people to have a good impression of him.

When the elderly man spoke, it became difficult for Wu Kuang Yi to push the matter. Moreover, it wasn’t a big deal, so if he continued to dwell on it, it would only make him look small-minded and damage his image. What’s more, Hua Yu Lu had already apologized, so he took this opportunity to step back. Still, he kept a sullen look on his face, as if he were informing others that he was very unhappy with the state of affairs.

After a while, Wu Kuang Yi said, “Since we’re all here, let’s set off. We’ll discuss the details of our cooperation along the way.”

Hua Yu Lu and Yang Kai naturally had no objections to this and both nodded in agreement. To be honest, it was only now that Hua Yu Lu could breathe a sigh of relief. She was not close with Yang Kai, and when he didn’t show up on time, she had of course worried that he intended to break their appointment. So, when she finally saw him, she naturally put down the worries in her heart.

“Please wait a little longer!” The amiable old man raised his voice and said.

Everyone turned their eyes to him at once, none of them understanding his intentions.

The elderly man explained, “One more person is coming!”

“Another person?” Wu Kuang Yi’s face darkened and the anger that was originally suppressed rose up again as he quickly shouted, “What do you mean, Yang Tai? We agreed half a year ago that we could only find one helper each, and they had to be at the Second-Order Emperor Realm or below. You’ve already brought one, so you can’t be telling me that there’s another, right?”

Now, even Hua Yu Lu’s face went dark.

Compared to Yang Kai who was late for a few days, if this elderly man, Yang Tai, really did what Wu Kuang Yi accused him of, then that would truly be an intolerable betrayal of everyone’s trust.

Yang Kai glanced at the woman standing beside Yang Tai and found that she was still smiling as before, clearly aware of this news beforehand and not surprised by it.

Yang Tai quickly said, “Please calm yourself, Brother Wu. This Old Master did not break our agreement. I really have asked only Lady Chen to assist me. The one who is on his way is not my helper.”

He had a helpless expression on his face as if Wu Kuang Yi had wronged him.

Wu Kuang Yi was furious, “Then I must ask Brother Yang to explain this situation. If you can’t give us a satisfying explanation… Even if I accepted it, Palace Master Hua and this Brother Yang Jiu may not necessarily be able to.”

The Ancient Cave Mansion was discovered by him, Yang Tai, and Hua Yu Lu, so it was considered a shared belonging of the three of them. Both Wu Kuang Yi and Hua Yu Lu kept their promises and brought only a single helper, yet Yang Tai actually asked them to wait for another person, which caused Wu Kuang Yi to lose his temper.

Yang Tai smiled bitterly, “Once that man arrives, Brother Wu will understand. When the time comes, Brother Wu and Palace Master Hua can decide whether you will allow him to accompany us or not. If you refuse, this Old Master will not have any objections.”

Wu Kuang Yi sneered, “It sounds like Brother Yang is quite insistent on having this man come with us. Or perhaps I should ask, what sort of great use is he to us? I would like to know what sort of man he is exactly.”

But Yang Tai did not say anything more. He just smiled and kept silent with a profound look on his face.

Since things had come to this, Wu Kuang Yi could not clash with Yang Tai even though he was annoyed, so he could only hold his temper and wait.

For Yang Tai to sound so confident, he was frankly quite curious about what sort of person they were waiting for as well.

Yang Kai and Hua Yu Lu exchanged glances, both of them feeling that this treasure hunt was going to be more complicated than they anticipated. They had just met up and all sorts of conflicts had already broken out. They were six people split into three small groups, so they couldn’t cooperate sincerely with each other. When the time came, it would be considered good if no fights were to break out.

But this was the norm, and Yang Kai was already prepared for this. However, Hua Yu Lu had a worried look on her face.

While they were waiting, Yang Kai took the opportunity to secretly communicate with Hua Yu Lu and asked the names of the others.

He knew about Wu Kuang Yi and Yang Tai already as both of them were First-Order Emperors and had explored the Ancient Cave Mansion together with Hua Yu Lu half a year ago. Of them, Wu Kuang Yi’s cultivation seemed to have risen greatly in the Ancient Cave Mansion. Even though he was still in the First-Order like the rest of them, Wu Kuang Yi used to have the weakest aura out of the trio, but now it seemed his aura could vaguely compare to that of a Second-Order Emperor. It was clear he had already reached the peak of the First-Order and was the strongest of the three.

The helper that Wu Kuang Yi brought with him was a silent man. Since Yang Kai arrived, he had not heard this person speak once. He seemed to have been born with a cold face and looked uninterested in everything, as if he couldn’t want for anything more than to obtain eternal peace immediately. From Wu Kuang Yi’s introduction earlier, he knew that this man was called Fang Zhuo.

The woman standing next to Yang Tai was called Chen Bing Ru. Hua Yu Lu knew nothing about Fang Zhuo and Chen Bing Ru’s origins, and could only make a few guesses based on her experience. However, Hua Yu Lu knew the details of Wu Kuang Yi and Yang Tai very well.

During their secret communication, Hua Yu Lu passed on all of this information to Yang Kai.