Having noticed this, Yang Kai grinned slightly but didn’t make any movements, content with this slight advantage for the time being.
The appointed time soon arrived and everyone gathered around Po Jing Lake couldn’t help secretly circulating their True Qi, getting ready to move at a moment’s notice. The six groups not only monitored the surroundings for signs of the artifacts appearing, but also kept track of their opponents’ movements.
While grabbing these artifacts, there would definitely be fighting; after all, the Yang Family was using this method to stimulate the progress of Inheritance War.
Unlike Yang Kai who already had a relatively clear idea about the situation, the other five Yang Family Young Lords were all still guessing, carefully paying attention to Po Jing Lake while from time to time also observing the nearby shoreline and surrounding wilderness, quietly issuing orders to their allies.
The atmosphere grew tense.
Suddenly, a ray of light burst from the centre of Po Jing Lake and an intense energy fluctuation suddenly erupted. Soon, beneath the clear lake surface, a group of bright lines appeared and formed a mysterious Spirit Array which covered the entire lake bottom.
The aura between Heaven and Earth suddenly stagnated.
“It’s time!” Numerous exclamations came out of the surrounding crowds as everyone stretched their necks towards Po Jing Lake.
*Xiu xiu xiu…*
One after another, radiant streaks emerged from the bottom of Po Jing Lake and shot into the sky. Inside each of these glowing lights was an artifact. The different colours, shapes, and sizes drew in everyone’s eyesight, causing flames of greed to well up within them.
In an instant, nearly a hundred rays of light had flown high up into the air while countless droplets of water which had been splashed up poured down like a rain.
Everyone stared hard at these hundred rays like starving wolves eyeing fresh meat.
After ascending about a hundred meters into the air, the various glowing lights slowly stopped. Suddenly, a burst of sound rang out and these artifacts shot off in all directions like a great meteor shower!
“Young Lord Kai!” Huo Xing Chen turned to look at Yang Kai, anxiously urging.
Yang Kai nodded lightly.
The next moment, nearly fifty percent of the people in the six camps flew out and moved towards the nearest artifacts, many of letting out bursts of joyous laughter as they grabbed hold of one of them.
The leading figures of the younger generation didn’t move, and most of the Immortal Ascension masters also remained still. Only ordinary disciples below the Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage set out.
This was not just the case with Yang Kai’s group, but with all the others as well.
Everyone knew that this first batch of artifacts would certainly not have very high grades so many didn’t think it worthwhile to disrupt their focus in order to seize them.
Also, because this first batch of artifacts had fallen into the surrounding area, it was almost equivalent to them being delivered right to them, there was no chance that their opponents could steal them away so naturally there was no reason to rush out to snatch them.
However, those who had only come to watch the fun had their eyes become extremely hot, swallowing hard as they stared at these glowing rays of light.
Since they had only come to spectate, most of these people had relatively low strength, so when they suddenly saw so many artifacts appear all at once, they were inevitable excited.
The six Young Lords had brought a total of nearly 800 people here, so even if only half moved, with only one hundred artifacts there were bound to be some who came up empty handed.
None of the artifacts made it past Po Jing Lake’s shore, all of them were intercepted by cultivators halfway.
After capturing these artifacts completely, the cultivators returned to their respective camps, each of them grinning happily.
This first batch of artifacts was divided almost evenly between the six groups and no real battles had been fought, so the amount harvested by each of the Young Lords was basically the same.
“All of them are Earth Grade Low-Rank.” Huo Xing Chen took a look at the artifacts that had been recovered and couldn’t help scoffing disdainfully as he muttered, “The Eight Great Families are really stingy.”
Hearing these words, Han Xiao Qi’s indifferent expression twitched as she commented, “Young Lord Huo, you come from a super family so you don’t understand the hardships of us lower born cultivators. These artifacts may not be anything for you, but to us they can improve our strength greatly.”
Huo Xing Chen grinned back at her meaningfully, “What you said is reasonable, beautiful young lady, but even though I am a Huo Family member, right now, all of us are allies, so we should be able to discuss such things freely. How about after this event we find some time to chat privately?”
Han Xiao Qi suddenly didn’t know what to do, only praying that Yang Kai could say a few words to make Huo Xing Chen stop harassing her.
However, at this moment Yang Kai’s brow was furrowed as he seemed to be concentrating quite hard, his eyes fixed on the mysterious Spirit Array under Po Jing Lake.
These glowing patterns hadn’t lost any of their brilliance and were still brightly illuminating Po Jing Lake. Right after Huo Xing Chen spoke, once again, nearly a hundred rays of light shot out from the water’s surface.
Huo Xing Chen glanced over at Yang Kai but only saw him still focusing on the Spirit Array, quickly letting out a sigh before shouting, “Snatch!”
The group of people who had just reaped a full harvest once again flew away.
“Be careful!” Yang Kai suddenly roared.
Everyone was still immersed in the joy of grabbing artifacts so some of them didn’t quite understand why he had shouted out a warning, but after noticing the trajectories of these artifacts, all of them quickly became alert.
The second batch of artifacts wasn’t the same as the previous one. This time the glowing artifacts didn’t fly out towards the surrounding area, but instead all densely grouped together in the center of Po Jing Lake.
Everyone’s True Qi madly burst out and the light of Martial Skills and artifacts blossomed as the six parties rushed headlong into each other.
Instantly, a great battle broke out!
From the six different camps, almost 400 people had gone out, ninety percent of them were True Element Boundary cultivators but there were still a number of low-level Immortal Ascension Boundary masters as well.
So many people rushing towards the center of Po Jing Lake made the scene suddenly chaotic.
Someone would grab an artifact only to be stared at by four or five enemies in the next moment, and before they knew what was happening, they would be killed, their broken body falling from the sky, their fresh blood staining the clear lake below.
The crowds watching repeatedly let out loud exclamations and shouts.
This kind of melee was precisely what they had come here to see.
In less than ten breaths of time, more than twenty people had been killed, and the number of casualties was still growing.
Almost all of the forces had been affected, causing all the young leaders from these various families and Sects to have ugly expressions, gripping their fists tightly, anxious to help.
However, before the Yang Family’s Young Lords issued orders, even if they were filled with indignation, all they could do was stand still and wait.
Everyone knew that this was just the appetizer! If they were to fall into disarray now, the next time they would be at a big disadvantage.
Gradually, the hundred artifacts from the second round had been distributed while those who were holding them had all become tempting targets. As they flew back, their respective allies guarded them as they cut open a path of retreat, sending a few corpses to the lake below as they went.
A number of intelligent people had done their best to throw the artifacts they managed to snatch towards their own camp before turning around and trying to rob artifacts from their opponents.
As the melee subsided, the people from the six groups gradually dispersed and separated from each other, heading back to their respective camps.
Everyone obtained some gains, but also suffered some losses!
The once crystal clear water of Po Jing Lake was now dyed red and nearly fifty bodies floated atop its surface!
“Your Yang Family’s methods are really brutal!” Dong Qing Han drew a sharp breath as he stared at the tragedy in front of him, slowly shaking his head.
It had been nearly a month without any battles and War City had settled into a peaceful calm, but with just a single order from the Yang Family Elder Hall, the calm had been shattered and all six of the Young Lords had attacked each other.
“Men die for wealth just as birds die for food!” Huo Xing Chen sneered, “The Yang Family has long ago seen through this.”
“It’s so tragic.” Chen Xue Shu whispered quietly. Since he had come to War City, this was the first time he had participated in any kind of battle. Nearly fifty people had died in only half a cup of tea’s time, his Reflecting Moon Sect has also suffered some losses so he wasn’t feeling great at the moment.
“It’s too simple!” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes as he suddenly said.
“Too simple?” Liu Fei Sheng looked at him with horror while everyone else also felt suspicious.
Yang Kai didn’t respond to this chatter but instead turned to look in the direction of Yang Wei and Yang Zhao, quickly discovering that his two oldest brothers were also frowning as they contemplated something. Noticing Yang Kai glancing at them, both Yang Wei and Yang Zhao glanced back.
With this brief silent communication, Yang Kai understood that they too had doubts in their hearts.
If this was all there was to this snatching artifacts event, then it really was too simple. It was impossible for the Yang Family to have planned only this. Right now, the Elder Hall hoped that everyone would fight, and the more people who died the better. But if so, how could all one thousand artifacts appear like this?
If things were to continue exactly as they were, as long as the six Young Lords reached some kind of consensus, it would be possible to divide these artifacts peacefully.
Of course, such an agreement wasn’t very likely.
But right now, Yang Kai, Yang Wei, and Yang Zhao had all realized this point, so no matter who it was, they were considering what would happen next.
The Inheritance War was also a battle of wits, it wasn’t enough to simply be brave and courageous.
Because of the deaths of their allies, the atmosphere in each of the six camps was smouldering, everyone staring at their opponents with cold eyes as they waited anxiously for the next confrontation where they’d have a chance to settle this grudge.
“The grades in this batch are slightly higher, but they’re still not very good.” Huo Xing Chen checked the artifacts that had been brought back and shook his head once more.
In the eyes of this Huo Family Young Lord, except for those at the Heaven Grade and Mysterious Grade, any other artifacts were no different from rubbish. Even if they were Heaven Grade, they had to at least be Mid-Rank before he would pay them any mind.
“For the next batch, we won’t participate!” Yang Kai suddenly said.
“What?” Huo Xing Chen gawked, “Won’t participate?”
Yang Kai turned his head and glowered at him, “Don’t speak so loud, they all might hear you.”
Huo Xing Chen couldn’t help lowering his head slightly as he quietly asked, “Why aren’t we participating? If we don’t snatch these, they’ll just fall into everyone else’s hands.”
Not only was Huo Xing Chen confused, the four girls from Ten Thousand Flower Palace were also suspicious. In the confrontation just now, one of their Ten Thousand Flower Palace disciples had died, so all of them were eager to seek retribution, so when Yang Kai suddenly said that they wouldn’t participate in the next round, all of them had difficulty understanding why.
“I want to observe the situation,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head, “If my guess is right, the next batch of artifacts should be Earth Grade Top-Rank at best, so even if we don’t grab them, our losses won’t be big, but if we do participate, I’m afraid there’ll be some unforeseen variables.”
Listening to his explanation, although everyone still had some doubts, none of them objected again.
