Martial Peak

Seeing this young woman speak, Gong Xing He squinted slightly before nodding, “Fu’er, explain. What other solution do you have?”

The young woman smiled and said, “Did father forget? Among my disciples, there is one who has cultivated the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art.”

The young woman and Gong Xing He shared a father-daughter relationship, but both were Third Order Origin Returning Realm masters. This situation was not uncommon on Shadowed Star though, because the Third Order Origin Returning Realm was the limit a cultivator could achieve here. As such, within many great Sects, multiple generations of the same family, as well as many Masters and Disciples could have the same cultivation.

From the way Gong Xing He addressed this young woman and from the words she spoke, it was apparent that she was the one Dai Yuan mentioned to Yang Kai, Gong Ao Fu of Myriad Crystal Peak.

“Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art…” Gong Xing He heard these words and could not help a trace of fear from flashing across his eyes. The other Elders present were also the same, all of them seemingly remembering something with complex expressions.

“You mean the Junior who currently lives on Thousand Illusion Peak?” Gong Xing He’s eyes quickly returned to normal and he asked lightly.

“Yes.” Gong Ao Fu nodded.

“Where is she?” Gong Xing He asked.

“It seems that she’s already on her way here, probably because she noticed the situation,” Gong Ao Fu turned her head towards a certain direction where an azure streak of light was quickly approaching.

After waiting for a moment, the azure light arrived in front of everyone and a graceful figure revealed itself.

However, when everyone saw the face of this figure, many strange expressions appeared.

The one who had arrived was naturally Dai Yuan, but obviously having anticipated that many of the Sect’s Elders would already be here, she didn’t show any signs of panic and greeted Gong Xing He with a calm expression, “Thousand Illusion Peak disciple Dai Yuan greets Sect Master!”

Gong Xing He gently nodded but did not say anything.

Dai Yuan next saluted Gong Ao Fu and the other Elders who had gathered.

Gong Ao Fu Dai frowned slightly as she used her Divine Sense to sweep Dai Yuan, suspiciously asking, “Yuan’er, what have you been up to these past few days? Why does it look like your vitality is slightly damaged?”

Dai Yuan bowed her head and replied, “Disciple had a slight accident while cultivating, but it has not caused any lasting harm. Many thanks for Honoured Master’s concern.”

Although her words were polite, Dai Yuan’s expression was completely indifferent, as if she was only making the appropriate replies without any emotion behind them.

Seeing this, Gong Xing He knit his brow slightly, but not caring about her attitude, he quickly asked, “Your Honoured Master said that you have a way to investigate the situation below Coloured Glass Mountain, is this the case?”

“Investigate below Coloured Glass Mountain?”

“Yes, we suspect that the underground barrier has been damaged, but we are unable to tell if it was some kind of natural occurrence or if it was done intentionally, so we need to check it. Is there any problem?”

“The Sect raised and nurtured me, so now that I can be of use to it, Dai Yuan will naturally cooperate!” Dai Yuan replied faintly.

Hearing this, Gong Ao Fu opened her mouth and seemed to want to say something, but thinking twice, she simply said, “Since that is the case, investigate the situation and report back to us.”

“Disciple understands!” Dai Yuan did not hesitate, immediately closing her eyes and circulating her Secret Art. Soon, Coloured Glass Divine Light identical to the one bursting from Coloured Glass Mountain burst from Dai Yuan’s body, the only difference was the light from her was less than a millionth in intensity. This halo of Coloured Glass Light surrounded Dai Yuan for a moment before suddenly condensing into a ray that shot into the ground below Coloured Glass Mountain.

Seeing this situation, many Elders who had never witnessed the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art in action showed looks of interest. Because Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain could not be suppressed by the five elements and also had the effect of restraining Spiritual Energy, even if their cultivation realms were much higher than Dai Yuan’s, they were unable to use their Divine Senses to investigate the situation below Coloured Glass Mountain.

But now, Dai Yuan, who was just a Third Order Saint King, was easily able to accomplish this feat, stimulating their curiosity.

Naturally, they understood the dangers of cultivating the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, so while they were curious about its effects, none of them had any intent to practice it, most of them soon just waiting for Dai Yuan to finish her investigation.

Sometime later, a ray of light shot up from below Coloured Glass Mountain and rushed into Dai Yuan’s tender body.

Seeing this situation, the gathered Elders of Coloured Glass Sect looked to Dai Yuan and waited for her answer.

However, Dai Yuan kept her eyes closed tightly, as if she was perceiving something. It was only after quite a while passed that she opened her eyes and bowed, “Reporting to Sect Master, Honoured Master, the barrier beneath Coloured Glass Mountain has indeed been damaged, and nearby where the damage is there seems to be the corpse of a Monster Beast. It looks as if this Monster Beast touched the barrier and was killed by it, damaging it in the process.”

“A Monster Beast?” The beautiful woman surnamed Du was shocked and could not help asking, “Could it be the Mountain Quarrying Beast?”

“It can’t be,” The man surnamed Ma also looked puzzled, “The Mountain Quarrying Beast shouldn’t have damaged the barrier. It has already performed many investigations around the mountain and never once had any trouble, why would it suddenly make such a grave mistake?”

The beautiful woman surnamed Du looked at Dai Yuan and asked with a faint smile, “Martial Niece, could you have been mistaken? The Mountain Quarrying Beast was specially purchased from Myriad Beast Sect to be used here and should not have broken the barrier.”

“I can’t be certain what happened, I only reported what I was able to see. If Elder Du does not believe me, you should find some other ways to investigate the situation.” After Dai Yuan said a few words, her face became quite pale. Using the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art just now had exhausted her greatly.

The beautiful woman surnamed Du smiled with embarrassment and did not say anything more. If they had a way to check the situation carefully, how could they have needed to use Dai Yuan’s ability? It was more so that since she and Elder Ma had been guarding Coloured Glass Mountain when this problem had occurred, they would inevitably have to bear some responsibility.

“Since it was the fault of the Mountain Quarrying Beast, this issue isn’t complicated. What we need to do now is patch the Spirit Array. Since the barrier underground has been damaged, we need to find some way to repair it remotely or compensate for the breakage,” Gong Xing He flashed a thoughtful look on his face but did not ask Dai Yuan any further questions.

“Father… Since this problem was caused by the Mountain Quarrying Beast, should we still investigate the outsiders currently inside the Sect?” Gong Ao Fu glanced over at Dai Yuan when she asked this question, apparently having heard from Yin Su Die a few days ago that Dai Yuan had brought guests back with her.

“I’ll leave responsibility for this matter to you!” Gong Xing He waved his hand before turning around and flying off, his figure quickly disappearing.

After the Sect Master left, many Elders could not help secretly breathing a sigh of relief. Elder Ma and Elder Du soon exchanged a glance, the former saying, “Although according to the investigation by Martial Niece Dai Yuan, the barrier was not damaged by an outsider, something about this situation feels slightly off. Elder Du has been cultivating that Mountain Quarrying Beast for more than thirty years and has never made any mistakes, yet this time there was an accident. Perhaps there is something more to this incident we are not aware of yet.”

Everyone who heard this naturally understood that these two were trying to deflect responsibility. If this incident was the result of an outsider’s meddling, the responsibility borne by Elder Ma and Elder Du would naturally be lighter. As such, Elder Du immediately took the initiative to launch a thorough investigation.

Elder Ma could not feign lack of involvement and naturally cooperated fully with Elder Du to check all the outsiders who had recently arrived in the Sect.

On the other side, Dai Yuan came over to Gong Ao Fu with a pale face and bowed politely, “Honoured Master, disciple will take her leave now.”

“En, good, you’ve worked hard. The damage to your vitality this time has not been light; Before you reach the minor accomplishment stage in the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art, you must avoid using the Coloured Glass Divine Light as much as possible. Return to Thousand Illusion Peak and take a good rest for the next few months. Take this bottle of Hundred Gauze Pills, it should be able to help you restore some of your lost strength.” Saying so, Gong Ao Fu threw a bottle of pills to Dai Yuan.

Dai Yuan took it, expressed her gratitude, then departed respectfully. Gong Ao Fu asking her to take a few months to recuperate was exactly what Dai Yuan wished for. She originally intended to spend several months recovering her strength before attempting to break through to the Origin Returning Realm.

While the Coloured Glass Sect Elders busied themselves repairing the grand Spirit Array around Coloured Glass Mountain, Dai Yuan returned to Thousand Illusion Peak. Once there, she headed straight to the room where Yang Kai had been living.

Standing inside this room and looking around, Dai Yuan’s beautiful eyes flashed a touch of uncertainty.

After a brief hesitation, Dai Yuan pushed her Saint Qi and released the Coloured Glass Divine Light from her body again, condensing it into a ball she then sent underground. Closing her eyes, Dai Yuan carefully investigated the situation down below before suddenly shivering slightly as a look of shock appeared on her face, murmuring under her breath in the next month, “It really was you!”

She had noticed earlier when she was exploring the situation with Coloured Glass Mountain that a small tunnel had been dug beneath it. On top of that, the interior of Coloured Glass Mountain seemed to have been hollowed out somewhat and a great deal of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass was missing.

However, while following this small underground tunnel, Dai Yuan was shocked to discover that it actually led off towards Thousand Illusion Peak!

Although the entire tunnel had been deliberately covered up, there were still some slight traces left behind. Under the Coloured Glass Divine Light’s investigation, these traces became quite noticeable.

Shocked at the time, Dai Yuan did not dare to report everything she had seen because she vaguely felt that this matter might have something to do with Yang Kai. At that time, it was just a hunch, but to make sure there were no accidents she pushed the blame for the incident onto the Mountain Quarrying Beast. However, Dai Yuan could tell that the Mountain Quarrying Beast had not been killed by the barrier at all. Instead, it looked as if it had been patted to death by some kind of blunt object.

Now that she had returned to Thousand Illusion Peak and investigated, Dai Yuan was immediately able to verify her suspicions.

Beneath the room where Yang Kai had been staying, there were identical traces of a small tunnel leading towards Coloured Glass Mountain.

In recent years, Dai Yuan had only received two guests on Thousand Illusion Peak, Yang Kai and Yang Yan, so it only made sense that this was their doing.

Dai Yuan did not know what kind of magical method Yang Kai had used to dig a tunnel from here to Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain then extract a large amount of Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass completely undetected, however, she knew if this matter ever came to light, Yang Kai would be hunted down Coloured Glass Sect. His method of collecting Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass without using the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Art was something the Elders of the Sect would not be willing to let go of.