Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

Yang Kai’s Soul was extremely powerful, so this crystal that could easily make him fall into an illusion was naturally not something ordinary and it most likely was related to the Illusion Array he had just now been trapped inside.

This thing may very well have been the Array Core of that Spirit Array. With the Artifact Spirit removing it from wherever it had been, the previous Illusion Array had been broken. The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more convinced he became and the greater his interest in this crystal grew. After steadying his mind, he once again began examining it.

However, this time, no black Qi poured out of it. Instead, Yang Kai felt as if his Knowledge Sea became unstable and great dizziness overcame him. For a moment, Yang Kai felt as if his body had become weightless and the Heavens and Earth had been inverted.

Startled, Yang Kai quickly took back his gaze and closed his eyes, taking quite a while to finally re-adjust himself.

No longer daring to spy on this strange crystal at will, Yang Kai beckoned to the Artifact Spirit, let it bring the crystal over, then tossed it into his Space Ring, planning on first going back before studying it further.

The Artifact Spirit saw that Yang Kai had finally returned to normal and no longer made a fuss, flying back and landing on Yang Kai’s shoulder before combing its feathers elegantly.

Yang Kai began examining the sixth layer carefully.

Just a brief glance left him stunned.

This was because he found that this sixth stage was incredibly small, only a few dozen kilometres across. With the barrier to the fifth stage Flame Area surrounding it, Yang Kai was capable of seeing the entire sixth stage at a glance.

In this sixth stage, the World Energy was incredibly thick, and a few kilometres away from where Yang Kai was standing, there was a noticeable green bamboo forest. These bamboos were quite slender and swayed freely in the wind.

There seemed to be a loft of some sort in the very centre of this bamboo forest, one that must have existed for countless years but even now showed no signs of decay.

The entire sixth stage was wrapped around by the fifth stage, but it wasn’t even slightly affected by the blistering heat.

Yang Kai stared at the green bamboo forest and the delicate loft fixedly.

Although he had encountered a huge Sect ruin in the fourth layer and realized that this Flowing Flame Sand Field was inhabited long ago, it was still a surprise for Yang Kai to find such a loft here.

The World Energy here was richer than at the site of that Sect ruin, so the loft which was built here was obviously not the home of someone ordinary. Most likely, it had belonged to a very high-level figure of that Sect.

What’s more, this person was likely female, because the environment here was filled with a sense of elegance that male cultivators wouldn’t care about.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai kept his Demon Eye of Annihilation open and slowly walked over to the loft.

Since he had already arrived here, he wouldn’t hold himself back. Yang Kai wanted to see if there was anything good left inside this loft while also examining this green bamboo forest. Any bamboo that grew here must not be ordinary.

Originally, Yang Kai was worried that there would be barriers everywhere, with powerful Spirit Arrays hidden all over the place, but after easily walking a few laps around the green bamboo forest, he didn’t encounter any such dangers, surprising him greatly. Was he just being paranoid?

Regardless, Yang Kai didn’t dare drop his guard. Standing at the edge of the green bamboo forest, he condensed a Demonic Flame sword in his hand while staring at the thumb-or-so thick, several-metre tall bamboo in front of him, then chopped towards it.

Each of these bamboos was emerald green and gave off a powerful vitality, clearly indicating that they weren’t just ordinary bamboo. All of these bamboos could be regarded as good material for Artifact Refining. There were at least several thousand bamboos in this forest so, naturally, Yang Kai planned on cutting some down and bringing them back for Yang Yan to refine some artifacts from.

After swinging his sword though, something unexpected happened. The place where the bamboo was chopped remained completely unharmed, without even a scratch.

Yang Kai saw this and was startled, quickly realizing that he had greatly underestimated these green bamboos, but at the same time he became overjoyed. Since these green bamboos were so tough, they would obviously be excellent Artifact Refining materials.

Thinking so, Yang Kai began chopping vigorously with his sword.

Half an hour later, Yang Kai stood with a dark look upon his face as he stared at the green bamboo in front of him.

During this half an hour, he had used almost all the means he could think of but still failed to cut down a single bamboo. Even after using a few dozen Space Blades, he had only left a tiny, almost negligible notch in it.

Judging from this rate of progress, it would be impossible for Yang Kai to cut down a single one of these green bamboos without spending at least ten days of effort.

How could Yang Kai waste so much time here? Staring at the bamboo in front of him for a moment, he let out a long sigh and gave up on cutting it down, instead turning and walking towards the loft.

Yang Kai was more interested in seeing if there were any gains to be had in this loft.

A moment later, Yang Kai arrived in front of this loft, but instead of rushing inside, he simply stood there and observed this several tens of thousands of year-old building.

It was indeed of a different construction style from current lofts, but these differences were quite minor. Yang Kai couldn’t figure out what material it was constructed from, but it was extremely well preserved, the front door not even having any dust on it.

This loft had three stories, each one about five metres in height with a dome-shaped roof.

Yang Kai hesitated for a while, before turning to look at the Artifact Spirit standing on his shoulder. The Artifact Spirit was staring at the loft with its small pair of eyes, as if also interested to see what was inside, but upon noticing Yang Kai’s vision land on it, it seeming felt a sense of crisis and its body quickly flickered and disappeared into the Artifact Refining Furnace in his sleeve.

[Damn useless bird!] Yang Kai cursed to himself. He had been planning on letting the Artifact Spirit scout out the situation, but how could he have known that this fellow would realize his intent and immediately hide in its vessel.

However, Yang Kai didn’t intend on forcing it; after all, he had completely relied on it to escape the previous Illusion Array and gained the strange crystal with its help.

Shaking his head slowly, Yang Kai stepped forward, reached out, and slowly opened the door to the loft.

With a slight creak, the door opened.

Yang Kai wore a dignified look upon his face as he vigilantly condensed his Saint Qi.

But even when the door was completely opened, Yang Kai didn’t feel the slightest sense of danger. Instead, there was a light, relaxing aroma wafting about this loft, one that seemed to refresh all his senses when he inhaled it.

Looking towards the source of this fragrance, Yang Kai knit his brow and walked over to discover a small incense burner.

This incense burner had a similar appearance to the shrunken Artifact Refining Furnace in his sleeve and its grade was clearly not low. It was sending out a vigorous aura that made it apparent it was an Origin King Grade Low-Rank artifact; however, from how it was refined, it was clear it had no combat power and was just a simple furnishing.

A trivial decoration was actually an Origin King Grade Low-Rank artifact. This loft was indeed amazing.

What surprised Yang Kai wasn’t this small incense burner, but the thumb-sized piece of incense inside it. This purple sandalwood-like incense was clearly extraordinary, and the invisible scent wafting from it was equally so. Yang Kai couldn’t detect the incense in the air, but from the aroma he smelled, he could tell it was very helpful to a cultivator’s cultivation. It should allow any cultivator to quickly enter their most perfect meditative state.

“Ten Thousand Year Incense?” Yang Kai thought for a while before blurting out a name in excitement.

Although he hadn’t recognized what this purple sandalwood incense was at first, after observing it for a while, Yang Kai was able to make an educated guess. If it really was Ten Thousand Year Incense, then it was an incredible treasure.

Ten Thousand Year Incense could literally burn for tens of thousands of years, and clearly this thumb-sized Ten Thousand Year Incense had been burning for such a length of time. Just from this fact alone, it was clear how incredible this it was, probably the highest grade of Ten Thousand Year Incense.

Ten Thousand Year Incense wasn’t naturally generated, but rather something artificially refined. The raw materials required to refine it were astonishing, with parts of over a dozen species of Tenth-Order Monster Beast as the core ingredients. The rarest of all these materials was the heart of a beast called the Seven Coloured Elk.

The Seven Coloured Elk was an extinct ancient Monster Beast. It was born as an Eighth-Order Monster Beast and would grow to become a Tenth-Order as an adult. It was not only rare in quantity but also amazing in strength. The seven-coloured radiance it could emit from its body was capable of penetrating any form of defence, so even if an Origin King Realm master were to meet a Seven Coloured Elk, they would have no choice but to give way.

If one wanted to kill a Seven Coloured Elk, they needed to gather at least five Second-Order Origin Kings.

After removing a Seven Coloured Elk’s heart, one had to use it within ten days, otherwise, its aroma would completely dissipate.

It was for these reasons that Ten Thousand Year Incense was so rare. This thing not only had the effect Yang Kai originally perceived of helping a cultivator enter a perfect meditative state, inhaling it while cultivating also allowed a cultivator’s chance of obtaining enlightenment and could also help clear their mind and eliminate heart demons.

When a cultivator broke through to a new Great Realm, not only would they require a certain degree of comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao, they would also need to face any heart demons they possessed. These heart demons were usually pains or regrets a cultivator hid deep in their heart. While normally these heart demons could be suppressed, during a breakthrough, they would silently emerge and would often affect a cultivator’s chance of breaking through.

It wasn’t uncommon for a cultivator to die tragically or suffer crippling injuries under the influence of a heart demon.

Yang Kai hadn’t encountered any heart demons during his cultivation because he didn’t have many regrets or hidden pains. Only the separation from his beloved woman for so long made him feel some sorrow and guilt, but he also firmly believed that they would one day be reunited, so this didn’t cause him any difficulties when breaking through.

However, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t one day take on such a heart demon, and once he tried to break through to the next Great Realm, the consequences would be dire.

Now that he had obtained such a piece of Ten Thousand Year Incense, this issue could be easily solved.

Yang Kai was able to recognize this Ten Thousand Year Incense because it was a product related to Alchemy, one that needed to be refined by an Alchemist.

Yang Kai was overjoyed, and quickly put this small incense burner and the piece of Ten Thousand Year Incense into his Space Ring, nodding with satisfaction as he did so. This Ten Thousand Year Incense alone was enough to make it worth venturing into this loft.