Martial Peak

When he raised his head again, Yang Kai suddenly found that there was a painting of a figure hung on the wall behind the incense burner. This painting only showed its subject’s back, but it was clearly the profile of a woman. This woman had a slender, exquisite figure and was dressed in long white robes, like an inviolable goddess.

Yang Kai only glanced at this figure but couldn’t help feeling a deep sense of reverence, immediately circulating his Secret Art to resist the impulse to kneel down.

Looking more closely, Yang Kai’s brow furrowed.

He found that the back of the woman in this painting seemed vaguely familiar, as if he had seen her before somewhere.

Moreover, after dispelling the impulse to worship this woman, the picture suddenly appeared quite bland, as if it was an ordinary painting without any special features.

Shaking his head slightly, Yang Kai carefully checked the picture with his Divine Sense and determined that there was nothing out of the ordinary with it before taking back his vision.

He was certain that the woman in this picture was either the owner of this loft or had a strong connection with its owner, otherwise, a painting of her back wouldn’t have appeared here.

Yang Kai didn’t plan on taking this picture away though. He had obtained the Ten Thousand Year Incense, so he was already quite satisfied; there was no need for him to also take a picture of a stranger’s back.

Looking around once more, Yang Kai found nothing else of note.

On the first floor of this loft, it seemed only the Ten Thousand Year Incense lit inside the incense burner and the strange picture existed.

Yang Kai quickly found a staircase leading to the second floor and proceeded up it.

After ascending the stairs, Yang Kai easily reached the second floor.

What he saw here though stunned him.

The second floor was actually a woman’s boudoir. Although there wasn’t much inside the room, Yang Kai could still infer from the furnishings that this was indeed where a woman lived.

One bed, one table, one chair, and a meditation mat atop the bed. Other than this, there was nothing else.

Glancing around the room, Yang Kai’s eyes soon landed on the meditation mat. The owner of this loft apparently lived here, and this mat she used was not something ordinary.

Thinking so, Yang Kai stepped forward and reached out to pick up the mat.

But to his surprise, the moment his finger touched it, it disintegrated into a pile of dust.

It turns out it really was just an ordinary mat, one that was unable to withstand the erosion of so many years. Seeing this, Yang Kai gawked for a moment before suddenly letting out wry laughter. After gaining so many good things one after another, it seemed that he’d become a bit greedy, not even willing to let off someone else’s meditation mat.

After searching the second floor for a while, Yang Kai determined that there was really nothing good here before turning around and walking over to the stairway to the third floor.

During his exploration of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had already achieved great results, and after experiencing the accident with the meditation mat just now, his mood had also calmed down greatly. Even if there was nothing on the third floor, he wouldn’t care too much.

Thinking so, Yang Kai quickly ascended the stairs to the third floor.

To his surprise, there actually was something on this third floor.

Looking at it, it seemed to be some kind of token floating mid-air!

Yang Kai went stiff the moment he saw this token, quickly searching through his Black Book Space in the next instant.

After a moment, another token appeared in his hand. This token was almost identical to the one floating in front of him. Both tokens were made of some material that was neither metal nor wood and had no designs or embellishments. Only a large ‘Emperor’ character appeared on it.

From the token in his hand, Yang Kai felt a powerful coercion, one that made the heart of anyone who saw it race while simultaneously making one wish to prostrate themselves before it.

“Star Emperor Token!” Yang Kai’s face became solemn as he instantly recognized this token.

Star Emperor Tokens were rumoured to have been created by the Starry Sky Emperor many aeons ago. Gui Zu once told Yang Kai that there were ten Star Emperor Tokens in total, but no one knew where all of them where. Additionally, each Star Emperor Token sealed a Divine Ability of the Starry Sky Emperor, and by using this Divine Ability, one could easily kill an Origin King Realm master.

The Star Emperor Token Yang Kai had on him was given to him by Gui Zu. Yang Kai had brought Gui Zu out from the floating continent, ending his two-thousand-year imprisonment there. At the time, Gui Zu had acted unpredictably, making no distinctions between good and evil, but at the last moment, for some reason Yang Kai still didn’t comprehend, Gui Zu had actually given him this Star Emperor Token.

Perhaps it was Gui Zu’s way of rewarding Yang Kai for saving his life.

At that time, Gui Zu told him that when he encountered true danger, he could infuse his Saint Qi into this token to use the Star Emperor’s sealed Divine Ability.

Of course, even if he were to use the Star Emperor’s Divine Ability to kill a powerful enemy, with Yang Kai’s current cultivation, there was basically no chance he would survive the ensuing backlash; after all, the Divine Ability of the Star Emperor Token was far too powerful, once Yang Kai used it, it would quite possibly destroy him in the process.

Since obtaining this Star Emperor Token, Yang Kai had been hiding it in his Black Book Space, never intending on using it.

On the one hand, it was too dangerous to use. On the other hand, Yang Kai had yet to encounter a calamity he couldn’t resolve, so there was no need to use it.

Yang Kai never imagined that in this loft in the sixth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he would find a second Star Emperor Token!

However, Yang Kai quickly found that something was wrong, because the Star Emperor Token suspended in mid-air in front of him didn’t seem the same as the one in his hand. The aura coming from it, although majestic, didn’t give off any feeling of danger.

Someone had used the Divine Ability sealed inside this Star Emperor Token! In other words, this token didn’t have the Star Emperor’s killing strike anymore.

Yang Kai figured this must be the case, but the fact that this Star Emperor Token hadn’t been destroyed after it was used was also quite surprising to him.

No matter what, with a Star Emperor Token in front of him, Yang Kai obviously wasn’t going to just ignore it. When he was about to reach out and take it though, a faint layer of light rippled from it.

Yang Kai’s face changed when he noticed the murderous intent contained in this light halo and pushed his Saint Qi hard to retreat. However, although Yang Kai’s speed was great, the light ripples were faster, and they quickly reached him.

Yang Kai face was ashen. Even if this Star Emperor Token had already been used, it seems it couldn’t just be touched at will.

Just when Yang Kai thought he was doomed, the intact Star Emperor Token in his hand also released a faint light ripple that cancelled out the approaching one, causing both to disappear.

The second Star Emperor Token, which had been suspended in the middle of the third floor of the loft, seemed to lose its support and fell to the ground, making a clinking sound as it bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

Still quite frightened, Yang Kai clenched his own token tightly as cold sweat seeped from his forehead.

He hadn’t expected such a change to happen. If he hadn’t happened to be holding his own Star Emperor Token, he would at least have been heavily injured just now. The strange power that was contained in that faint light halo wasn’t something he was currently capable of resisting.

After taking a moment to calm his breathing, Yang Kai walked forward slowly.

At this moment, the world suddenly seemed to shake, and Yang Kai felt that something in the surrounding space had changed. There was a faint repulsive force coming from all directions, seemingly rejecting his very presence.

At the same time, a slim, illusionary jade white hand appearing from the sky and seeming tried to grab Yang Kai.

This jade white hand clearly belonged to a woman, but it was surprisingly large, almost covering the entire floor, and it completely ignored the loft itself as it descended directly on top of Yang Kai’s head.

Yang Kai’s face changed greatly, instantaneously understanding that it was time for the Flowing Flame Sand Field to close, which was why the surrounding space had become turbulent.

Yang Kai figured that this scene was happening in front of all the cultivators still inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field. This jade white hand had clearly appeared to remove all of them from this place.

Yang Kai’s conjecture wasn’t wrong. From the first layer to the fourth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, the same illusionary jade white hand reached out from the void and easily scooped up all the cultivators who were resting, walking, or even fighting, transforming into a brilliant flash of light that soon disappeared together with the cultivators.

The next moment, outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, figures strangely appeared and the Elders of the major Sects who had been waiting outside joyfully went forward to meet them.

On the third floor of the loft, Yang Kai fiercely pushed his Saint Qi and sent out his own palm to meet this jade white hand.

Naturally, though, his Heaven Covering Hand failed to even stall this illusionary jade white hand. Yang Kai raced forward at that instant, sending out a dozen Space Blades to block this jade white hand for just a moment.

Taking advantage of this hard-won time, Yang Kai quickly grabbed the Star Emperor Token on the ground before calmly standing in place, not intending to resist any further.

However, when the jade white hand grabbed Yang Kai, and space around him began to distort and teleport him out, the two Star Emperor Tokens in his hand glowed, forming a light blue protective cover.

The jade white hand disappeared, but Yang Kai was still standing in the third floor of the loft with a confused look on his face.

Soon, the distorted space returned to normal and even the feeling of rejection disappeared.

It was as if Yang Kai had been forgotten as he stood there alone.

It took him a while to react, but when he did, a happy smile appeared on his face.

Yang Kai was certain that the phenomenon just now was a signal that the Flowing Flame Sand Field had closed, and that the teleportation power just now had somehow been blocked by the two Star Emperor Tokens, meaning he was now the only one left here.

He was happy that he now had a lot more time to use, but what worried him was whether he would face any danger when trying to leave.

After all, when the Flowing Flame Sand Field opened, the danger of the Flame Areas was reduced many times, but now that it was closed, the Flame Areas would become certain death zones. If Yang Kai wanted to leave, he would have to pass through all six layers by himself.

However, there was no point considering such things now, it was a coincidence that he had been left behind so thinking about how to take advantage of the situation at hand was his first priority.

Yang Kai didn’t dare take back the two Star Emperor Tokens as he had no idea what would happen if he did. For now, all he could do was store them in his sleeve.

Silavin: Well, that was an unexpected development.