Chapter 551: Chapter 333: Apology

"Good boy, no wonder you weren’t worried at all. So you had this kind of confidence."

Xiong Wanhai felt invigorated. "Brother Duan, keep an eye on things here. I’m going to take a trip to Dragon Ascending Street."

He couldn’t wait to ask Xu Yang how he had done it, wanting to see this disciple of his old friend.

Hearing this, Duan Ming said in a deep voice, "Don’t go. Although Lin Jingyu hasn’t officially married the young lady yet, it is already public knowledge that he was going to. Now that Xu Yang has killed Lin Jingyu, we still don’t know what the family’s stance will be."

Xiong Wanhai’s expression changed slightly, finally remembering Lin Jingyu’s other identity—the un-wed son-in-law of the Kong Family, into whom they had already poured many resources.

Now that Lin Jingyu had been beaten to death by Xu Yang, the Kong Family’s attitude toward Xu Yang was uncertain. As a Honored Guest Elder of the Kong Family, going to see Xu Yang at this time could easily invite trouble.

"Thank you for the reminder, Brother Duan," Xiong Wanhai said, breaking out in a cold sweat.

If he went to find Xu Yang now, it would be akin to biting the hand that fed him.

***

"No matter what, Lin Jingyu was the un-wed son-in-law of our Kong Family. If he was killed and we don’t react at all, others will inevitably look down on the Kong Family."

"How do you want to react? Send someone to Dragon Ascending Street to assassinate Xu Yang, or go to the authorities?"

"So Lin Jingyu just died for nothing?"

"He was less skilled. Retaliating will also make others look down on the Kong Family."

"If we can’t kill him, we’ll just be inviting hatred for no reason. He was just a genius. Now that he’s dead, we’ll just recruit a new one. It’s merely a small waste of resources."

***

In the Kong family’s discussion pavilion, a group of Elders and the Patriarch gathered, discussing how to handle the matter of Lin Jingyu.

Some believed they should retaliate against Xu Yang, while others advised against it. It wasn’t that they were favoring Xu Yang, but rather that Xu Yang would soon enter the Celestial Strategy Academy. By then, even the hands of a Thousand-Year-Old Noble Family would find it hard to reach inside. They would only be making an enemy out of Xu Yang for nothing.

"Don’t forget, Huo Xiaochen isn’t dead yet. He and Xu Yang will continue to fight in the future. There is absolutely no need for our Kong Family to get involved in this matter. Let the Xiao Family and Huo Xiaochen fight Xu Yang," Kong Shuyuan said.

"Shuyuan’s words make sense. This is fundamentally a matter for the Xiao Family and Huo Xiaochen. Our Kong Family was just dragged down by them due to an error in judgment. There is no need to take the burden of revenge upon our Kong Family."

The Kong Family Patriarch made the final decision.

If a Thousand-Year-Old Noble Family like the Xiao Family and Huo Xiaochen couldn’t kill Xu Yang, their Kong Family certainly shouldn’t provoke him. If they could kill Xu Yang, then Lin Jingyu’s death would be avenged anyway.

There was no need for the Kong Family to take full responsibility for the trouble Huo Xiaochen stirred up.

"Then what about our losses?" an Elder asked.

Their desire to deal with Xu Yang mainly stemmed from the significant resources they had already invested in Lin Jingyu. For a Thousand-Year-Old Noble Family, interests were often more important than reputation.

"This is the Xiao Family’s matter. We were helping them, so now that we’ve suffered losses, we naturally need to seek compensation from the Xiao Family."

The Kong Family Patriarch said, "Send someone to inform the Xiao Family to give us some compensation. We will pass the compensation we receive on to the Yellow Maple Valley. We can’t let people say that the Kong Family abandons people as soon as they are no longer of use..."

***

At the Purple Sun Sect’s residence.

"Brother Xu, the information summary is here. Are you interested in hearing it?"

"Yes!"

Xu Yang was meditating in his room. Hearing Jiang Fan’s words, he immediately stopped his meditation.

The so-called information summary detailed what had happened during today’s great battle, including various statistics. He had no channels to ask around, but the Jiang Family had the means to obtain it.

Pushing the door open and walking into the courtyard, he saw that everyone was there, even Bai Shaoling and Yue Zhong.

"Let’s begin," Jiang Fan said, looking at Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan nodded. "This year, a total of 2,327 people signed up for the Secondary Dragon Ascension. Of those who passed the first round of selection, only 1,135 remain."

"So many were eliminated!" Sun Tao was a bit surprised.

In just a quarter of an hour, half of the participants had actually been eliminated. From this, one could imagine how fierce the great battle had been.

"Actually, you can’t blame Chu Nanguai for his drastic methods. There are simply too many people. If they really tested everyone’s talent one by one, a Secondary Dragon Ascension would take nearly a month from start to finish, just like in the past," Jiang Fan said.

From the perspective of Sect disciples, they naturally hoped for individual talent testing, so they wouldn’t have to risk their lives. But a big shot like Chu Nanguai simply didn’t have that much time to waste.

"How many died?" Li Chuyang asked.

Jiang Yan said heavily, "According to statistics from all sides, a total of 183 people died."

Everyone gasped in shock. Over 180 Celestial Essence Martial Artists had just died like that, and all of them were geniuses who had broken through to the Celestial Essence Realm before the age of thirty.

"What about the geniuses on the Lingyun List?" Zhang Hanzhou asked.

If enough geniuses on the Lingyun List died, with his talent, he might have a chance to squeeze onto the list himself. If he could enter the Celestial Strategy Academy as a Lingyun List genius, the resources he obtained would be much better.

"A total of seven geniuses from the Lingyun List died."

Jiang Yan glanced at Xu Yang. Only seven Lingyun List geniuses had died, and two of them had been beaten to death by Xu Yang. This guy’s reputation was terrifyingly huge right now.

Xu Yang was usually cautious, so no one expected him to do such a thing. Killing Lin Jingyu was understandable, but slaying Li Yunzhou left many people baffled.

"Who were they?" Jiang Fan asked.

"Ranked one hundredth Yang Xun, fifty-ninth Zhou Yun, twenty-fourth Wang Xianteng, as well as Li Yunzhou, Lin Jingyu, and two others." Jiang Yan added, "Besides the seven who died, there were six other geniuses on the Lingyun List who, although they didn’t die, were eliminated."

Everyone fell silent. Between the dead and the eliminated, the Lingyun List had undergone a massive reshuffle. Thirteen people had vanished from it all at once.

If the normal selection methods were used, these people would have guaranteed spots in the Celestial Strategy Academy. Now, however, most had lost their lives, including someone like Lin Jingyu—ranked eleventh on the Lingyun List and a genius with a Perfection of Comprehension.

Chu Nanguai’s methods were no longer just drastic; they were brutal.

The crowd’s gazes toward Xu Yang shifted slightly again.

In name, he and Sun Tao had teamed up to kill Lin Jingyu, but anyone who had watched the great battle knew that Xu Yang was the main force. Sun Tao had merely helped to tie Lin Jingyu down.

"There are also some street rumors. Do you want to hear them?" Jiang Yan chuckled.

"Spit it out," Zhang Hanzhou urged.

"Some predict that when the Lingyun List is released for the second time, Xu Yang and Sun Tao should be able to rank in the top thirty, and Xu Yang should be close to the top twenty."

Sun Tao was dissatisfied. "Junior Brother Xu even slaughtered Lin Jingyu. Why is his ranking still so low? What idiot made this prediction? Does he even know how to predict?"

"This ranking isn’t low. Although Xu Yang killed Lin Jingyu, the age gap between them is too large. If they were the same age, Xu Yang naturally wouldn’t be at this rank."

Xu Yang didn’t care about this ranking, nor did he want to take Lin Jingyu’s spot. The lower his ranking, the better.

Jiang Yan shared a few more pieces of news. The people from the Yellow Maple Valley had already left Dragon Ascending Street with Lin Jingyu’s corpse to return to Fufeng County, and the Kong Family had sent experts to help escort them. During the chaotic battle, Li Yunfei, the genius of the Haisa Sect, had faced off against the genius ranked ninth on the Lingyun List. The two had fought for a quarter of an hour without a clear victor, so Li Yunfei’s ranking might rise even further. Huo Xiaochen’s performance had been unsatisfactory, so his ranking on the Lingyun List might drop.

"What about the Spirit Bone Celestial Prides?" Xu Yang asked.

He had heard plenty of gossip, but not a single piece about the Spirit Bone Celestial Prides. During the great battle, he had been busy dealing with Lin Jingyu and hadn’t had the time to pay attention to the rest of the battlefield.

"The Spirit Bone Celestial Prides entered the Celestial Strategy Academy to cultivate a long time ago. Chu Nanguai doesn’t care about the lives of mediocre talents like us, but there’s no way he’d bear to let the Spirit Bone Celestial Prides take this kind of risk," Jiang Fan said, curling his lips.

With the title of Spirit Bone Celestial Pride, everyone would want to test their mettle. If they dared to appear on the battlefield, they might be besieged by dozens or even hundreds of people. Under those circumstances, even Spirit Bone Celestial Prides were in danger of falling.

"They actually entered the Celestial Strategy Academy a long time ago?" Xu Yang was a bit speechless.

He had thought the Spirit Bone Celestial Prides also participated in the great battle, and that Chu Nanguai was truly ruthless enough not to worry about them getting hurt. He hadn’t expected these people to have entered the academy long ago. The only ones who needed to risk their lives were those who weren’t Spirit Bone Celestial Prides.

The group chatted for a while longer and soon dispersed.

That evening, Xu Yang, Sun Tao, and the others returned from eating at a restaurant outside. They saw two men standing outside the Purple Sun Sect’s residence. Seeing them return, one of the men stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Greetings, Fellow Xu."

"You are?" Xu Yang asked, puzzled.

He didn’t know this person.

"I am Tao Xiancai, an Elder of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion," Tao Xiancai said with a smile.

An Elder of the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion?

Sun Tao’s heart tightened. If he remembered correctly, the Li Yunzhou that Xu Yang had slain seemed to be a Honored Guest Elder recruited by the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion.

"Are you here because of Li Yunzhou, Elder Tao?" Xu Yang secretly raised his guard.

Although fighting was forbidden on Dragon Ascending Street, there was no shortage of audacious people.

Tao Xiancai immediately realized that Xu Yang had misunderstood and hurriedly explained, "There’s no need to be tense, Fellow Xu. I am not here to seek revenge, but to apologize."

Xu Yang blanked. "Apologize?"

Tao Xiancai nodded earnestly. "Yes, exactly to apologize. Our Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion only does business and never gets involved in grievances. Li Yunzhou trying to kill you today was not on our pavilion’s orders. It was Steward Fang Xinghai, our Northern Steward, who made a private agreement with Li Yunzhou, instigating him to cripple you.

"Fang Xinghai has now been expelled from our Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. I hope you are aware of this, Fellow Xu."

Xu Yang sneered internally. Previously, his feud with Li Chuyang had caused his cooperation with the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion to fall through. Why hadn’t they mentioned then that the pavilion didn’t get involved in grievances?

Them coming to apologize and bow their heads now was merely because he had slaughtered Lin Jingyu, displaying extraordinary talent and making the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion wary of him. If they truly didn’t get involved in grievances, they wouldn’t have demanded that he reconcile with Li Chuyang back then.

Of course, he wouldn’t say this out loud and put Tao Xiancai on the spot. Grievances were best kept in one’s heart; a moment of verbal satisfaction was useless.

"So it was at Fang Xinghai’s instigation. Don’t worry, Elder Tao, I won’t hold a grudge against the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion," Xu Yang said with a smile.

Tao Xiancai turned around, took an item from his attendant, and smiled. "This matter was due to our Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion’s improper management, causing trouble for you, Fellow Xu. Here is a small gift as an apology. Thank you for being magnanimous and not taking issue with it.

"If you are interested, Fellow Xu, we can continue with the cooperation we failed to reach previously."

Smiling, Xu Yang reached out and took the item. "I’ll accept the gift, but there’s no need for cooperation."

"I will take my leave!"

Greatly disappointed, Tao Xiancai cupped his hands, turned around, and left.

Having lost Li Yunzhou, the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion naturally wanted to recruit new geniuses. Xu Yang was undoubtedly a very good choice. Unfortunately, due to past events, Xu Yang had already lost interest in the pavilion, rejecting them without even discussing terms.

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