65 At the peak. (1/2)

With Li Yang leading the members of the Liang tribe, they had no need to fear the Demonic beasts that roamed the Demon Plains. They had seen how easily he had dealt with the people from the clans, so they thought that there was not much more Li Yang could show them to shock them, but they quickly found out how wrong they were.

On the entire way back through the Demon Plains, Li Yang did not make a single move against any attacking Demonic beasts. The ones who did all the fighting were the crow that was perched on his left shoulder and the golden serpent that was coiled around his neck. In front of these two beasts, none of the Demonic beasts were able to resist more than two attacks, often perishing to the first attack.

Li Yang had no intention of letting the members of the Liang tribe know the truth about Jinwu and Shenlong, so he had already made preparations. Jinwu was fine, as he already looked like a normal crow, so he only had to make Shenlong hide some of his features, mainly his limbs. He was a wingless dragon, so once he hid his limbs and altered his head just a little, he looked no different from a golden snake.

The villagers were quite a bit slower than Li Yang's own speed, but they did their best to not be a burden on Li Yang, pushing themselves to move as fast as possible. It had only taken Li Yang around half a day to reach the dugout mountain, but even with the villagers pushing themselves, the journey back took a little over a day.

Once out of the Demon Plains, the journey back to the village did not take too long. Upon seeing the familiar village before them, the people from the Liang tribe could not help but burst into tears. Despite their tears, none of them dared to run to the village without getting permission from Li Yang. Li Yang could somewhat guess at what they were thinking, so he gave a slight wave of his hand.

”Alright, run along now, I'm gonna go look for Liang Zhou.”

The villagers gave Li Yang a quick bow before dashing into the village, looking for their other family members. Li Yang walked through the village with slow steps, sweeping the surroundings with his gaze. A purple light flashed through the village, Huanglong quietly fusing back into Shenlong.

Li Yang quickly noticed that something in the village wasn't quite right, it was far too quiet, a solemn atmosphere hanging over the entire place. Li Yang activated his tracking technique, quickly finding Liang Zhou hiding inside Li Yang's home.

Li Yang turned his body and headed for his own home, quietly opening the door and entering. Liang Zhou was sitting at the small table that was located at the center of the room, his face pale as he drank what seemed to be cold tea. Li Yang walked to the kitchen corner and picked up a cup for himself, sitting down in front of Liang Zhou and pouring himself a cup of tea.

”The atmosphere in the city is quite dreary, did something happen?”

Thanks to his tracking technique, Li Yang was able to tell that there was one villager missing, so something had clearly happened while he was gone. Liang Zhou raised his head somewhat, allowing Li Yang to see that his eyes were quite bloodshot. Liang Zhou put on a thin and weak smile, glancing towards the outskirts of the village.

”There were a few presences outside the village a while ago, but they suddenly vanished after a purple light flashed. I take it that was because of you?”

The presences Liang Zhou was talking about were the people from the Puppet God Sect that had tried to take the people in the village hostage. Thanks to being strengthened by the Demon Warrior technique he was able to just barely sense them, but they vanished as quickly as they appeared. Li Yang did not affirm or deny, merely putting on a slight smile as he sipped the cold tea.

”You didn't answer my question.”

Since Liang Zhou seemed unwilling to answer, it was easy to guess that he was part of the reason behind the dreary atmosphere. Liang Zhou looked at Li Yang in silence for a bit, but in the end, he lowered his head somewhat, responding in a disheartened voice.

”Liang Youten died. I performed the procedure, but I made a mistake and he died. They are burying him now, but I couldn't face his family so I am hiding here.”

Liang Zhou closed his eyes, waiting for any condemning or comforting words from Li Yang. But the words he expected never came. Instead, Li Yang's voice was calm as he questioned.

”I see. And what did you learn from it?”

Liang Zhou could not help but open his eyes and raise his head after hearing Li Yang's question, his head involuntarily tilting in confusion as a slight sound leaked out from his mouth.

”Huh?”

Was he not going to ask what mistake he had made, was he not going to try and comfort him? Faced with the confused Liang Zhou, Li Yang placed down his cup, once again questioning him.

”What did you learn from the mistake you made? As long as you learned something and manage to improve, then it wasn't in vain.”

Mistakes weren't good, but they were only terrible if one was unable to learn from them. If one was able to learn from the mistakes they had made, mistakes could even become opportunities. Liang Zhou lowered his eyes somewhat, quietly looking at his tea for a few moments before he responded.