Martial Peak

During this past half a year, the Artifact Spirit and Stone Puppet fought at least a dozen times, and each time ended with a draw. Yang Kai was naturally too lazy to manage them though and never intervened in their fights. These two eventually seemed to form a bond through these battles and would sometimes get together and seemingly discuss something.

In addition to consolidating his Second-Order Saint King cultivation and refining the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai also began refining the dragon bone and Dragon Bead. Yang Kai had placed the dragon bone and Dragon Bead into the Artifact Refining Furnace, then took the Artifact Refining Furnace into his body. This way, even if Yang Kai didn’t deliberately refine it, the Artifact Spirit could use Yang Kai’s Saint Qi and its own pure Fire Attribute energy to actuate the Artifact Refining Furnace and continuously refine the dragon bone and Dragon Bead.

However, these two treasures were worthy of being materials from a True Dragon. The Artifact Spirit had been refining them for two months already yet there was not much progress, with only a slight bit of Yang Kai’s aura penetrating them. It seemed that if he wanted to completely refine them this way, it would take at least four or five years. Only if Yang Kai consciously mobilized his Saint Qi in combination with the Artifact Refining Furnace would it be possible to speed up the process.

However, Yang Kai was not in a hurry and instead took this opportunity to learn, studying the Demon Blood Thread technique given to him by Deng Ning.

Originally, Yang Kai had simply wanted this technique to have an excuse to deal with Ye Yang Rong while also making sure that Deng Ning wouldn’t betray him. He did not have any expectations for this secret technique at all, but during the month he used to return to Dragon Cave Mountain, Yang Kai discovered that this Demon Blood Thread was actually an amazing technique and suited his cultivation perfectly.

This greatly shocked Yang Kai.

Demon Blood Temple was an extremely evil force, which put it in opposition to many forces on Shadowed Star. On top of that, it had a small internal war every five years and a big one every ten. The only reason why this Sect had yet to be destroyed was actually thanks to this Demon Blood Thread technique. The Elders and Protectors of Demon Blood Temple all cultivated this mysterious technique and when using it to fight others could often display shocking and unpredictable power. As such, most people intentionally avoided finding trouble with Demon Blood Temple and decided that: ‘so long as they didn’t provoke us, we would do the same’, allowing Demon Blood Temple to endure through the years.

But if one wanted to cultivate this secret technique, they needed to use their own Blood Essence as a foundation.

A cultivator’s Blood Essence was extremely precious, and once used in battle it would severely damage their foundation. It could be said that after using a single drop of Blood Essence, a cultivator would need to spend several months to years to restore themselves. But Demon Blood Temple had created this Demon Blood Thread technique which allowed one to use their Blood Essence in combat without seriously harming themselves.

Once cultivated successfully and used against an enemy, an individual’s combat power would soar because the Demon Blood Thread was condensed from one’s own powerful Blood Essence. On top of that, it would be incredibly flexible to use because it was closely tied to one’s life and vitality, making it like an artifact, yet not one at the same time.

Blood Essence was also precious to Yang Kai and he dared not use it easily, but Golden Blood was something he could spare. Additionally, his Golden Blood contained an immense amount of vitality which made it perfectly suited as a base material to cultivate this Demon Blood Thread.

When Yang Kai realized this, he was barely able to contain his joy, and from that point on he had been thinking about the pros and cons of cultivating this Demon Blood Thread constantly. Only recently had he decided to try it out.

With this secret technique, the more Blood Essence one used, the stronger the Demon Blood Thread they would be able to condense, and the more power it would be able to display!

This secret technique was simply tailored for Yang Kai! How could he just give up on it?

Currently, when he found himself against enemies, Yang Kai mainly relied on his Nine Heavens Divine Skills and his own ability to control Saint Qi. This resulted in a certain lack of variety in his combat abilities though. If he could successfully cultivate the Demon Blood Thread technique though, he could greatly broaden the scope of his offensive and defensive skills.

Successfully cultivating this secret technique would give Yang Kai a big boost in strength. On top of that, the Demon Blood Thread he cultivated would undoubtedly be stronger than the Demon Blood Thread a Demon Blood Temple disciple could produce, because the root of this secret technique was Blood Essence, and his Golden Blood was far stronger than any Demon Blood Temple disciple’s Blood Essence.

Yang Kai had actually spent most of his time during this six-month retreat cultivating the Demon Blood Thread technique and was now showing some signs of reaching he minor accomplishment stage.

Inside the stone room, with a single though, Yang Kai condensed a tiny golden filament at the tip of his finger. This golden filament seemed like a radiant silk thread and could stretch to several tens of metres in length. Under the control of Yang Kai’s Divine Sense, this golden thread flickered back and forth, making a slicing noise as it seemingly cut through the air, like Yang Kai was whirling around a thin golden whip.

Experimenting with the power of this Demon Blood Thread, Yang Kai was quite satisfied; after all, it was something that cost him a drop of Golden Blood to cultivate. On top of that, it was able to display this much power after only partially comprehending the technique, if Yang Kai were to fully master this technique, its power would increase greatly.

This was a single Demon Blood Thread, if Yang Kai was able to cultivate several dozens of them, he could hardly imagine how difficult it would be for his enemies to contend with.

Yang Kai realized that the master who created this Demon Blood Thread was a true genius, thinking up a way to use his own Blood Essence to create a pseudo-artifact. However, the creator of this technique probably never imagined someone like Yang Kai would exist in this world who would be able to condense Demon Blood Threads using his Golden Blood. If given enough time, Yang Kai would surely be able to bring this Demon Blood Thread to a new height.

However, this thing couldn’t really be called a Demon Blood Thread any longer, it was more appropriate to call it a Golden Blood Thread.

Yang Kai grinned and took back this Golden Blood Thread into his body before continuing to cultivate.

During this period, Yang Kai also refined Space Spirit Crystals to enhance his Space Force.

Three more months passed but Yang Kai still showed no signs of exiting his retreat. Thankfully, Dragon Cave Mountain did not need him to do anything, so there was no problem with him remaining in retreat.

On this day, as Yang Kai was cultivating his Golden Blood Thread technique, his expression suddenly changed, and his eyes opened in surprise. Immediately closing his eyes again, Yang Kai sent his consciousness into the Black Book Space where he quickly manifested his Soul Avatar.

After seeing the scene in front of him, what Yang Kai was about to say was swallowed back down his throat and he instead stared dumbfounded at the tree exuding a potent Yang Attribute aura.

This big tree was none other than the Divine Tree which had been taken into the Black Book Space by Yang Kai many years ago.

Some time ago, it had swallowed two drops of Yang Kai’s Golden Blood before falling into a deep sleep to undergo an evolution. Now, three years later, it had woken up and sent Yang Kai a message, resulting in the latter sending his Soul Avatar into the Black Book Space.

The Divine Tree’s new appearance was a little strange though. Yang Kai remembered that it had been a towering tree before its evolution, with dense leaves atop its crown and rich Yang Attribute energy coursing through its body.

But now, after this most recent evolution was completed, it had become several times smaller, only about twenty metres in height or so. All of its branches and leaves now had a dazzling golden light about them, appearing quite eye catching. Among its leaves, there were also some small longan sized fruits. If these fruits were mature, they would surely be a great supplement for people like Yang Kai, but it was obviously they had only just begun budding.

What surprised Yang Kai the most though were not these changes but rather the face which appeared at the centre of the Divine Tree’s trunk.

It was a very strange face, with eyes, a nose, a mouth, but no eyebrows. On top of that, this face was quite large and appeared somewhat wrinkled, like that of an old man

On both sides of its trunk, there were even two forks like arms with branches sticking out that gave the appearance of fingers.

At first glance though, it was obvious that the Divine Tree’s two arms and two hands contained great power.

The Divine Tree’s roots had also transformed into a large number of tentacles which were supporting its huge body, as if it had grown countless long legs. When Yang Kai came in, the Divine Tree seemed to be adapting to its own changes and its tentacles were moving slowly as it walked about the Black Book Space.

After noticing that Yang Kai had come in, it immediately stood still, turned its two huge eyes towards him, and seemingly smiled.

“You…” Yang Kai looked at it in amazement, not knowing what to say for a while.

“There’s no need for concern…” What made Yang Kai even more surprised was that the Divine Tree spoke to him. However, the voice it used was quite loud and somewhat hoarse. It seemed that this was its first time speaking and it was not quite used to it yet.

In the past, the Divine Tree had communicated with Yang Kai exclusively through Divine Sense Messages. This was the first time Yang Kai heard its voice, causing him to stare blankly again for a moment.

After a long pause, the Divine Tree continued, “Although I do not quite understand why I’ve become like this after my evolution, I can feel that it is a good thing. It seems that your Golden Blood has helped me a lot, helping me grow into something different from what I used to be.”

Yang Kai heard this and finally felt a bit relieved, asking with some concern, “Is nothing wrong?”

“Nothing at all, I feel wonderful actually.” The Divine Tree’s voice gradually became clearer, as if after speaking a few words it had begun to master the trick to communicating verbally. As it spoke, it also began slowly walking about the Black Book Space again, “If there is anything wrong, I feel that this place is no longer suitable for me to remain in. It’s quite empty and no longer conducive to my growth.”

Yang Kai was startled for a moment but immediately understood what was going on.

Before the Divine Tree’s latest evolution, it could only be regarded as a sentient World Spirit Treasure, so there was no problem with it remaining inside the Black Book Space. But now, it had evolved into a kind of living unique life-form, resulting in the Black Book Space no longer being appropriate for it to live in. It may be fine for a while, but if it stayed in this space for too long and was no longer able to adapt to the outside world’s principles, and it may result in some unpleasant consequences. Withering away was also not out of the question. If that were to happen, Yang Kai would be at fault.