Two weeks passed,
Yang Zhai was sitting in the gazebo. Whilst, Si Kim was sitting far away from Yang Zhai. It was because Yang Zhai was absorbing the spiritual energy around him and Si Kim could not obtain too much spiritual energy sitting close to Yang Zhai: thus, he sat far away from Yang Zhai.
Yang Zhai was in meditation and his eyes were closed. Nothing was out of the ordinary here.
But,
I am about to break, I need to be careful: Yang Zhai muttered and looked in his aperture. His aperture was shaking as he was about to advance to the next stage.
After six hours,
Yang Zhai broke through to the rank 3 mid-stage. One more yellow line had appeared in his aperture. Now, there were five red lines, five orange lines, and two yellow lines in his aperture.
Outside, everything was normal. Yang Zhai was still sitting quietly, and his eyes were closed, and he did not act or anything. It was as if he was really meditating and cultivating.
However, he had broken through to the next stage. When a cultivator breaks through to the next stage, nobody could notice, as only the aperture advances and not the body. However, if he had advanced to the next rank, then there was a chance that someone could notice him. After all, when a cultivator advances to the next stage, their body becomes stronger than it was at the previous rank.
However, even if there was any kind of fluctuation when Yang Zhai broke through, nobody would be able to notice as there was a very dense amount of spiritual energy around Yang Zhai right now.
Nothing abnormal happened in the garden. Yang Zhai could focus only on his cultivation here. And he could also sense that the Strength Ka was changing a bit. He could tell that there was a change happening in it. If he kept on this, there was a chance that the Strength Ka might change into something else or even advance to the next stage.
"It's strange, I can feel that Yang Zhai absorbed more spiritual energy than usual. Not just that, but his absorbing speed is increasing day by day. Just what exactly is he using to absorb the spiritual energy? Nobody should be able to absorb spiritual energy. Could it be that he is using some kind of method to do this?" Si Kim muttered.
He was cultivating when he suddenly sensed that Yang Zhai's spiritual energy absorption speed had increased. Not just this, he had been feeling this for a few days already. The speed with which Yang Zhai absorbed the spiritual energy was increasing slowly day by day.
"But, today his absorption speed increased by quite a lot. It's as if there is someone else apart from Yang Zhai absorbing the spiritual energy too."
…..
"So, what did you find out?" Tai Qi asked Zihao De.
Both of them were sitting at opposite sides of the floor table. They were present in Tai Qi's residence.
"As we expected, all three of them had left for the Ma clan. From what I found out, they were stronger to stay there." Zihao De said after thinking.
"So, what happened then?"
"I don't know about that, it's a complete mystery."
There was silence in the room for a while after Zihao De said this.
"What about Cu Gil and Mah Qi?" Tai Qi broke the silence and asked.
"They are missing. Nobody knows where they are or whether they are even alive. But I don't think they would stay in the Ma clan after what happened. Even if they are staying in the Ma clan, then they must be waiting to strike. Whatever is happening, I know one thing for sure, and that is that Mah Qi is in danger for sure." Zihao De stated.
He knew that Tai Qi was worried about Mah Qi. Even if she was his daughter or not, Tai Qi still loved her. Love was not something that could end just because of others' desires. Mah Qi was innocent in all this, and Tai Qi knew that Mah Qi loved him regardless of what.
"This Ma clan is really getting on my nerves. First, Jun Nie killed Ming Qi, then they transformed Yua Emi into a beast and even sent her to the Bai clan. Not just that, they even wanted to kill our disciples, even though only Si Kim and Yang Zhai were their targets. I need only a single reason to attack them, only a single reason." Tai Qi's eyes were narrowed. A wave of anger lingered in his tone.
He wanted nothing more than to attack the Ma clan. Of course, the Ma clan was not weak and would not go down that easily. When Tai Qi attacks the Ma clan, a war would break out between the two clans, resulting in even more casualties. This was the rule of the war, it required sacrifices, or it could be said that it required even more sacrifices to make up for the previous sacrifices.
"Brother, that's what I am worried about as well. The Ma clan is not so foolish. They won't give us any opportunity to attack them. They know that competition is important to them, so they will take every step with extreme care. Not just that, they must also know that we know what they did to Yua Emi, so they would be even more careful. After all, even a fool would realize the anger you have built up inside you because of their deeds." Zihao De stopped and contemplated before continuing,
"After all, we don't have any evidence that can be used against the Ma clan. Even the information about Cu Gil and Yua Emi was discovered through the traitor that I implanted in the Ma clan. And I am not so foolish as to reveal my trump cards so easily."
It was to be expected, after all, even the Ma clan had planted traitors in the Bai clan. And even if the traitor that Zihao De was talking about revealed themselves, they would not be much useful: after all, that person would be a traitor, and who believes in the traitors? In a way, he was just a person who could lie just like the others.
"Well, they are humans too, they also make mistakes. I just need to wait for that mistake." Tai Qi smiled.
Time was not running away. At most, it would take days, weeks, months, or even years.
"Right now, the best way is to win the competition and make the Ma clan desperate into making some kind of mistake. After all, this inheritance is no ordinary inheritance. It has already been confirmed that this inheritance is of a higher power that we have never seen before, and the Ma clan would not want to lose it. If we win the competition, they might make foolish moves." Zihao De also smiled.
They could not attack the Ma clan without any reason. First, they had a Treaty with the Ma clan and could not attack each other unless one of the clans was doing some harm to the other clan. Second, it would tarnish their reputation in front of others. Nobody would trust them anymore, and would stay away from the Bai clan. The other clans might even gang up on the Bai clan in the name of righteousness. This was what people called, kicking the weak while they were down.
…..
"Did you find Cu Gil?" Ma Wan Luo asked a servant.
"No, my lord, we looked everywhere but could not find him. It appears that he has already left the Clan." The servant replied with respect.
"No, no, they won't run away. I could see in Cu Gil's eyes, the hate that he was emitting from every one of his reactions. The anger in him and the will to take revenge won't let him leave the Clan. He will attack me for sure. Just wait for him to strike."
!*****!*****!