Chapter 1128, Countermeasures Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain Many Elders and Foreign Elders in the Hai Ke Family’s discussion hall fell silent. Any speculations about Ba Qing Yan making all of this up as a joke had now been completely dispelled. It made no sense for more than a dozen of their clansmen to cooperate with each other to tell such a lie to them, so the only explanation was that they were telling the truth! “Is there really such a Junior in this world?” Yi En muttered under his breath, clear shock still covering his face as he sighed, “Why was he not born in my Hai Ke Family? If he were...” Yi En’s thoughts were echoed by many others. If such a powerful young man had been born to the Hai Ke Family, their rise would truly be right around the corner. They wouldn’t have to remain as just a peripheral force attached to Shadow Moon Hall. Peripheral Force was just a title. It sounded good but carried no real weight. In truth, the Hai Ke Family was simply hanging Shadow Moon Hall’s sign next to their name in exchange for providing them with a certain amount of tribute each year. In return, Shadow Moon Hall didn’t look for trouble with them. They didn’t receive any benefits from Shadow Moon Hall, and if Shadow Moon Hall wished, they could dissolve this relationship or even the family itself at any time. “Patriarch, although this Yang Kai wasn’t born into my clan, it’s not necessarily impossible for him to become part of it,” The beautiful woman named Huang Juan who had spoken before suddenly said with a smile. “Oh? The meaning of Foreign Elder Huang is...” Yi En immediately directed an excited look towards her. Huang Juan pursed her lips into a smile and said, “Elder Ba just said that in order to shield him, Wu Yi even declared she would leave the family. In my opinion, the relationship between those two may not be so simple. At the very least, Wu Yi seems to have some strong intentions towards that boy.” Hearing this, everyone’s eyes brightened! “Foreign Elder Huang is right,” Wa Lun nodded in agreement, a grin appearing on his face, “Wu Yi’s looks are good and her aptitude is one of the best in the family. Regardless of whether that Yang Kai has feelings towards her now, all we have to do is match them together and the situation should progress all on its own. However, before we do anything, we need to find out about the origins of this young man; him being able to kill Xu Zhi Shen with just a Saint Realm cultivation makes it clear he cannot be an unknown person, yes?” “Do you mean to say he may be the first master of Thunder Typhoon Sect’s younger generation, Fan Tian Zhong? Fan Tian Zhong is said to have the ability to kill enemies above his own realm. En, Wei Gu Chang of Shadow Moon Hall also has such ability along with Heaven Battling Union’s Qu Chang Feng. Could Yang Kai simply be an alias? If it’s not, why haven’t we heard about him before?” Someone asked. “He is absolutely not any of them! Those geniuses are all already Saint Kings, possibly even having reached the Third Order by now. They are a full Great Realm above this Yang Kai in cultivation, he clearly has nothing to do with them.” “About his origins, this Elder may know a little something,” An old man with a well-trimmed goatee spoke up, attracting everyone’s attention. After pausing for a moment, he continued, “I heard from one of those little brats that during Wu Yi’s last mining expedition, Yu Feng picked up a stranger from the Starry Sky. Yang Kai should be that person.” “Picked up?” The group of Elders in the hall were all stunned. Could a young man of such astonishing aptitude simply be picked up? Yi En expression changed once more as he glanced over towards a certain individual with a smile, “Foreign Elder Chang, when Wu Yi previously set out to mine ore, it was you who accompanied her, correct? What can you tell us about this Yang Kai?” Chang Qi frowned slightly. He had a good relationship with Wu Yi and often looked out for her as she was growing up. Today, hearing Wu Yi had been forced to leave the family, Chang Qi had become quite disgruntled towards Ba Qing Yan. He didn’t want to comment, but now that the Patriarch had directly asked him, even if he wished to remain silent, he didn’t have a choice. After all, when Yu Feng picked up Yang Kai, and when Yang Kai emerged from the blood-red crystal, Chang Qi had been present, so he knew better than anyone present about Yang Kai’s origins. Grumbling to himself for a moment, Chang Qi reluctantly described what had happened at that time. The looks on the faces present changed once more when they heard about Yang Kai’s bizarre origins, actually emerging from a blood-red crystal. But soon, Huang Juan let out pleasant laughter, “Since we know his origins, everything is much easier to handle. In the outside world, he may not be an unknown person, but now that he is here on Shadowed Star, it is the same as him not having any family or backing. Although my Hai Ke Family isn’t too strong, it can still be regarded as a sizable force. If we show him favour, he shouldn’t have any reason to refuse, not to mention Dragon Cave Mountain where he lives now belongs to my family.” “Foreign Elder Huang is right, young people are always reckless and impetuous, but all of them still love beauties. Since he seems to have some ideas about Wu Yi, we just need to push them together,” Immediately, someone else came forward to agree, with many others nodding in approval. “We cannot!” Suddenly a voice of opposition sounded. Yi En turned his eyes to the source and asked calmly, “Why does Elder Ba feel this is improper?” Actually, Yi En had not expected the first one to object would actually be Ba Qing Yan. However, Ba Qing Yan quickly explained, “First, Yang Kai killed Xu Zhi Shen, and although this clearly demonstrates his great strength and superior combat prowess, if it was not related to the Hundred Mountains Picture, the Xu Family may be able to swallow it, making big things small, and small things nothing, at most demanding some compensation from him so they can save face. But now that the Hundred Mountains Picture has been snatched, even if the Xu Family fears Yang Kai, it is impossible for them to back down. If my family now goes and shows goodwill towards Yang Kai, we will definitely have trouble with the Xu Family.” “What thing is the Xu Family? My Hai Ke Family has never been afraid of the Xu Family, so what is Elder Ba worrying about?” Elder Wu Lun coldly snorted. “That’s right, Elder Ba, the Xu Family now doesn’t even have the Hundred Mountains Picture, so we really have no need to fear them, perhaps we can even take this opportunity to annex the Xu Family completely!” As soon as this remark was made, many people were moved. The Xu Family’s Hundred Mountains Picture was a huge deterrent, but now that the Xu Family has lost this precious artefact, there was no need to fear them anymore. This was indeed a good chance for the Hai Ke Family to deal with the Xu Family while at the same time pulling Yang Kai closer to themselves. Instead of rushing to agree though, Yi En frowned slightly and motioned to Ba Qing Yan, “Elder Ba, continue.” Ba Qing Yan glanced around at the spirited faces of his colleagues who were not itching to immediately crusade against the Xu Family now and sneered, “The Xu Family need not be feared, but what about Shadow Moon Hall?” Everyone froze up, but upon remembering a certain fact, all of them wore an expression of dread. “We and the Xu Family are peripheral forces of Shadow Moon Hall. This dispute has nothing to do with Shadow Moon Hall, but that Xie Hong Wen has his eyes on Wu Yi. If we were to arbitrarily match Wu Yi with Yang Kai, do you think Xie Hong Wen will ignore it? A trivial Xie Hong Wen we need not fear, but that little bastard’s father is a genuine Shadow Moon Hall Deacon! A Deacon’s status in Shadow Moon Hall isn’t high, but it is still not a person my Hai Ke Family can provoke.” “What Elder Ba says is true,” Yi En nodded, “Although that Yang Kai is good, after all, he has no foundation or background, a loner. If trying to befriend him offends Xie Hong Wen, the gains will not make up for the losses. En, this matter needs further consideration. Not only do we need to recruit that Yang Kai, but we need to do so in a way that does not offend Xie Hong Wen. Elder Ba, your methods are meticulous. Return to Dragon Cave Mountain and probe that young man’s intentions and desires and whether we can satisfy them. If he really covets beauty, my Hai Ke Family has many unmarried girls, several of whom are not inferior to Wu Yi. As long as we can gather him, sending him a few unimportant women isn’t an issue.” “I will carry out Patriarch’s command!” Ba Qing Yan stood up and bowed gently, thinking about something before asking, “Patriarch, what should we do about that Saint Grade Artefact Refiner called Yang Yan? Her Spirit Array accomplishment shouldn’t be bad.” “Act at your own discretion, Elder Ba. We have need of a good Array Master, but that Yang Yan is still very young, so even if she has some accomplishments in arranging Spirit Arrays, it can’t possibly be too profound. Our main concern now is Yang Kai.” “Understood.” Having received the Patriarch’s orders, Ba Qing Yan couldn’t easily object; however, his instincts told him that the Spirit Array arranged by Yang Yan wasn’t so simple and perhaps her value was greater than Yang Kai. After leaving the discussion hall, Ba Qing Yan didn’t immediately rush to Dragon Cave Mountain. He knew Yang Kai didn’t want to see him right now and if he were to suddenly show up, he would definitely be met with closed doors. Moreover, Yang Kai had just broken through to the Saint King Realm and was probably in secluded retreat to consolidate his cultivation. [Consolidate his cultivation?] Ba Qing Yan’s eyes brightened as he thought of something. Hurrying to the family’s storeroom, Ba Qing Yan withdrew a jade box from it, and upon opening the jade box, he found a longan sized pill that exuded a soothing fragrance. Wasn’t what Yang Kai needed the most right now this Saint King Pill? Ba Qing Yan smiled confidently and walked out of the warehouse. Inside Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai was engaging in meditative cultivation while Yang Yan was organizing her available materials with the help of Wu Yi. The materials owned by Yang Kai were a real mixed bag with things of varies grades all piled together in massive quantities. When the two women saw this pile, they were both somewhat dumbstruck; however, they were also quite happy, neither of them having imagined Yang Kai had been hoarding so many treasures. Suddenly, Wu Yi began laughing loudly. Yang Yan looked over at her with a puzzled expression and asked, “What are you laughing at?” Wu Yi explained through her giggles, “I’m laughing at how Yang Kai is too sly.” “Sly? How is he sly?” Yang Yan asked curiously. “When I picked him up, he only had a single Space Ring on his him, and it was quickly stolen by Yu Feng. When I realized this and saw what a pitiful state he was in, I gave him a few Saint Crystals and pills back, but seeing this now it’s clear he had other Space Rings on him, I just didn’t know where he hid them! If that wasn’t the case, he wouldn’t have had so many Saint Crystals and materials left, yet back then, he showed me a sincere look of thanks, making me think I had done a good deed. Turns out he was playing tricks on me the whole time.” “En, he really is quite cunning,” Yang Yan nodded, “But those Saint Crystals have nothing to do with him, those are all my credit.” Wu Yi was puzzled but before she had time to clarify what Yang Yan meant, Yu Feng finally returned from purchasing materials. “How did it go?” Wu Yi asked. “It was amazing!” Yu Feng grinned from ear to ear, “Young Lady, you can’t even imagine the kind of joy receiving such supreme treatment is. All those stores I bought materials from treated me like I was their grandfather. The feeling of spending so much money is too awesome, there were even a few beautiful girls secretly sending hot looks!”