Chapter 903: A Family Drama

Yang Ze had made up his mind, and Li Pu knew that it would be difficult to change it. "What a pity that Mars couldn't secure a talent like you… Honestly, from the very beginning, I should have beaten the clan leaders into submission. If you ever change your mind, let me know. As long as I'm a marshal of Mars, I'll be willing to uphold the offer I made to you."

"Thank you, Marshal. I won't disrupt your rest any further, then." Yang Ze bowed, then left the infirmary. He saw Zhang Lie waiting outside for him.

Zhang Lie asked, "Are you done?"

Yang Ze nodded.

Zhang Lie met his gaze. "If you want to leave, I won't stop you. Make the choice that works best for you."

"Thank you." Yang Ze headed off to make preparations for the bug invasion, only to find his path blocked by members of the Yang clan once again.

The Yang clan head was rather ashen-faced, and the other members of the Yang clan all had tattered clothes and bruises all over.

Yang Ze frowned. "What's going on?"

The Yang clan head knelt down on the ground, followed suit by the rest of the Yang clan.

Yang Ze's frown deepened. "What are you up to now?"

The Yang clan head slapped himself harshly on his cheek. "Yang Ze, I was wrong. I shouldn't have forced you out of the clan on the basis of mere rumor. I was mistaken!"

Yang Ze laughed dryly. "Are you trying these tricks again? Do you think you can rope me back into the clan like this?"

The Yang clan head cried out, "No, of course not! It's all my fault. If you're angry at the clan, hit me, scold me, kill me, even! But please, save those disciples of the Yang clan behind me. Among them are your cousins and even your brothers—they're all innocent, and they all have a future waiting ahead of them. Please, don't let them die here."

Yang Ze frowned. "Now that the Zenith Dojo is here, Mars has the ability to deal with the bug invasion. Stay put in the encampment and don't try anything, and you'll all survive."

"I was wrong to have let you go. Never could I have expected that you would have such success, Yang Ze, and I regret my decision more with each and every moment that passes." The Yang clan head was close to tears.

Yang Ze was indifferent to the Yang clan head's show of regret and guilt. Impatiently, he asked, "Just what do you want? I don't have time to deal with the likes of you. Stop wasting my time!"

The Yang clan head crawled forward and tugged on the leg of Yang Ze's pants. "Yang Ze, please return to the Yang clan. Give me an opportunity to make up for my mistakes!"

Yang Ze's frown deepened again. So this was what the Yang clan head had been planning.

The Yang clan head continued, "Please give me a chance."

Yang Ze's lips formed a thin smile. "Clan Head Yang, just what sort of relation do we share?"

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"We're blood relatives!" the Yang clan head cried out.

"We share the same blood, but we might as well be strangers. If not for the limit-breaking potions that my captain engineered, you wouldn't even remember my name, would you? You have to take responsibility for what you did, and some choices can't be redeemed even with a lifetime's worth of regrets. I won't return to the Yang clan, not now, not ever. If not for the fact that I've grown used to my name, I wouldn't even mind changing it."

Yang Ze extricated himself from the Yang clan head's prying grasp, then marched off quickly. He didn't want to listen to another word of nonsense from the Yang clan head's mouth.

"Not even a sliver of a chance?" the Yang clan head pleaded.

"No. You owe me nothing. I owe you nothing."

"But your blood—"

"Silence!" Yang Ze cut off the trembling Yang clan head. "Would you like me to undergo a blood transfusion, then? Give all your Yang clan blood back to you? I'll submit to that if only to sever all ties with you. Given my current status, it won't be a difficult feat."

"No, I don't mean it that way, Yang Ze!"

"No? Good. Everything I have now came from Zhang Lie's benevolence— and even before that, I had to fight for any belonging I wanted. My blood is my mother's. There's nothing I need repay the Yang clan."

The Yang clan head tried one last tactic. "The Zenith Dojo doesn't belong to you, Yang Ze! Won't you prefer your family legacy? If you're willing to return to the Yang clan, you'll be the next ?Yang clan head!"

Yang Ze whirled back around and glanced at the husky-like members of the Yang clan, who were still kneeling on the ground. "I'm doing very well in the Zenith Dojo, thank you—thousands of times better than in the Yang clan."

He stalked off into the distance. As the members of the Yang clan glanced at Yang Ze's back, they barely checked their malice, anger, and... envy.

No one else in the Yang clan would dare to speak to the Yang clan head in this fashion, and all would jump at the opportunity to be the next clan head. And yet Yang Ze completely resisted that temptation—he really did already have something better.

The Yang clan head stood up and shouted hoarsely, in anger, "Leave, then! But even if you leave, don't forget that Yang blood still flows in your veins!"

Yang Ze called back without turning around, "You must be mistaken. Don't forget that I'm no longer a member of the Yang clan—you said so yourself."

Yang Ze vanished from sight, his head held high.

"Y-You!" The Yang clan head clutched his chest. In his anger and shame, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

The members of the Yang clan all clambered up to help support the Yang clan head.

"Clan Head!"

"Clan Head, what's the matter?"

"Are you ill or wounded, Clan Head?"

"Yang Ze made the clan head so mad he spat out blood..."

The Yang clan head pointed in the direction in which Yang Ze had departed, his voice hoarse, his hand quivering in mid-air. "He would have belonged to the Yang clan; the honor of the Void Cup would have been shared by the Yang clan! The kingdom of Limit would have harbored the Yang clan..."

A moment's folly had cost the Yang clan a hunter who surpassed even the marshals of Mars.

A moment's folly had cost the Yang clan a genius.

A moment's folly had cost the Yang clan the chance to take over Mars.

The Yang clan head, whose head was filled with such thoughts, spat out another mouthful of blood and fainted.

Yang Ze smiled as he left the scene, his steps light. He ignored the commotion that had occurred behind him—but the moment he turned the corner, his smile crumpled. "What are all of you doing here?!"

The members of Team Zenith stared back at him with grins on their faces.

The members of Team Zenith had just watched Zhang Lie worm his way out of a sticky situation; Yang Ze was the next victim.

Yang Ze asked, "Were none of you guys going to help me out? Are we truly teammates? Is this all our camaraderie was worth? And to think that I proclaimed my undying loyalty to the Zenith Dojo! Is this all my faith and dedication is worth?!"

Li Feng laughed at Yang Ze's antics. "Our captain called me over to watch the show," he claimed, selling Zhang Lie out.

"I passed by, and Zhang Lie flagged me over," Sun Mengmeng reported, selling Zhang Lie out for a second time.

"Captain mentioned that there was a family drama taking place," Zhou Ying said, chewing on some snacks.

"My sister brought me over," Sun Xiaowu declared. He glanced at his hands in astonishment.

"My goodness, when did all these recording devices appear? I certainly am not responsible for them, and we never discussed that we'd upload this footage of the invasion of Mars to the hunters' forums!" Sun Xiaowu hastily stowed his equipment in his soulspace as Yang Ze watched on in growing astonishment.