Martial Peak

These few Yin Souls were not powerful, and their attack was easily repelled by Yang Kai, but as a result of having to defend himself, Yang Kai’s figure was exposed and noticed by the group of four nearby.

This group of four was startled and quickly directed a vigilant look towards Yang Kai, only to see him standing there with a helpless and awkward expression.

Of those four, the two males naturally had grim looks upon their faces because they were currently trapped inside a barrier and there was a separate pair of cultivators sneakily watching them from the outside. Such a situation would naturally cause suspicion as suspecting Yang Kai had some kind of nefarious purpose here wasn’t unreasonable. As such, both of them stopped their movements and directed wary glares towards Yang Kai.

On the other hand, the two women, after seeing Yang Kai, just gawked, but soon, Chen Shi Tao and the other beautiful young woman recalled who this familiar looking young man was.

Although it had been almost two years since they separated, how could Chen Shi Tao forget this man who had brought her such great benefits? Immediately revealing a look of joy, she waved her jade white hand and shouted, “So it’s you.”

The other beautiful young woman smiled lightly at Yang Kai, a look of delight filling her face.

Yang Kai felt a headache as he decided to feign ignorance, showing a surprised look and asking, “You are…”

Chen Shi Tao covered her mouth and smiled coquettishly, fluttering her lashes as she asked, “Could it be Little Brother Yang doesn’t recognize me? This Young Lady is Chen Shi Tao of Clear Sky Sect, we met each other in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.”

“Flowing Flame Sand Field?” When the two men beside Chen Shi Tao heard this, they could not help frowning slightly as they re-examined Yang Kai.

After all, anyone who could survive the Flowing Flame Sand Field could not be taken lightly. The two of them had missed the opportunity to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field for various reasons and after learning about the massive harvest Chen Shi Tao and her team had reaped, they had felt a deep sense of regret. Their understanding of the Flowing Flame Sand Field also came from stories Chen Shi Tao had told them, so both felt that any cultivator that could return safely from it was worthy of their attention.

However, after realizing that Yang Kai was just a Second-Order Saint King, one of the two men spat disdainfully and promptly began ignoring him. He figured that the reason Yang Kai was able to return alive was because he had only wandered about the first layer.

The other male’s cultivation was lower, but he appeared quite full of spirit and was even staring at Yang Kai with interest.

He was the same as Yang Kai, a Second-Order Saint King, so naturally felt a bit of competitiveness.

Seeing Chen Shi Tao showing such a familiar look, Yang Kai felt the situation become more troublesome. When he last encountered this woman, Yang Kai deeply realized that she was a source of stress, but he had underestimated her sense of familiarity. Seeing her greet him so enthusiastically, Yang Kai really had no choice but to smile and nod, “So it’s you, I remember now.”

“So you’ve finally remembered me, for a moment I thought Little Brother Yang hadn’t put me in his eyes and really forgotten about me, hehe…” Chen Shi Tao seemed very happy and smiled charmingly despite still being trapped inside a barrier, her playful laughter stunning the other three in her group greatly.

Hearing her say this, Yang Kai could only laugh along with her.

After giggling for a while, Chen Shi Tao suddenly looked at Yang Kai elegantly and asked, “Right, Little Brother Yang, why have you come here?”

“We stumbled upon this place by accident and felt it was a little strange so we decided to come in and explore. We sensed some movement from this place a moment ago and came to investigate; however, we didn’t know what was happening, so we concealed ourselves. Please don’t blame us for acting cautiously!” Yang Kai cupped his fists.

“Stumbled upon this place…” Chen Shi Tao smiled as she looked at Yang Kai deeply. Although she naturally did not believe Yang Kai’s words, she didn’t ask anything more, her eye rotating slightly as she changed the subject, “Since you’ve come here, could I ask Little Brother Yang for a favour?”

“What kind of favour?” Yang Kai felt his brow twitch as he knew he could not avoid the coming trouble.

“Could you attack this barrier with your companion from the outside? This barrier has the ability to reflect attacks so it is quite troublesome for us to break from the inside, but if you attack from the outside, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Yang Kai hesitated for a moment as he turned silently to Yang Yan; the latter gently nodded to him.

Yang Kai then nodded, “Of course.”

Chen Shi Tao pretty face filled with happiness as she said, “Many thanks, Little Brother Yang. After we get out of trouble, I will be sure to express my gratitude.”

“It’s just a minor matter, Sister Chen need not be so polite!” Yang Kai waved his hand before asking the group of four to stand back a bit and taking out his Hundred Mountains Picture, summoning several phantom peaks and smashing them towards the barrier.

Yang Kai did not use his own Saint Qi because he didn’t want to expose too much in front of outsiders. The Hundred Mountains Picture was just an artifact, so others would not be able to judge much from him using it.

The phantom peaks smashed down violently, and just as Chen Shi Tao had expected, the rebound effect of the barrier did not activate. It seems that only those trapped inside would have their attacks reflected back at them while those attacking from the outside wouldn’t encounter such a situation.

Under the attack of Yang Kai, the dome-shaped barrier soon became creaky and its glow dimmed. Judging from the rate at which it was weakening, it would likely break in about a cup of tea’s worth of time.

Seeing this, Chen Shi Tao and the other beautiful young woman could not help feeling cheerful. The four of them had been trapped here for two days already, and although they could forcibly break this barrier in another day or two, it was naturally much easier if they had help from someone on the outside, allowing them to escape from this damned place.

It was at this time that the male Third-Order Saint King suddenly whispered, “Sister Chen, are you familiar with this person?”

Chen Shi Tao heard this and after considering how to respond for a moment, honestly nodded and said, “I am not too familiar with him, I just met him twice in the Flowing Flame Sand Field; however, he’s quite an interesting person.”

“Interesting?” The male cultivator was shocked, wondering what the meaning of Chen Shi Tao’s evaluation was. Just when he was about to inquire more carefully though, the other young man spiritedly asked, “Sister Tao, just now you said he was also in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, right?”

“En, I met him in the Flowing Flame Sand Field. Oh… he is actually a Second-Order Saint King now. The last time I saw him, he was just a First-Order Saint King. It looks like he had some good opportunities inside,” Chen Shi Tao’s eyes brightened as if she had discovered something surprising.

“A First-Order Saint King actually dared to enter Flowing Flame Sand Field, he really must not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth!” The male cultivator who had spoken first snorted coldly and scornfully said, “Him being able to live must all be due to luck, I bet he only wandered around the periphery of the first layer.”

For some unknown reason, this person seemed to look down on Yang Kai greatly, and although this was only their first meeting, he was intentionally disparaging him in front of Chen Shi Tao.

Chen Shi Tao however just smiled and shook her head, “He didn’t just wander around the periphery of the first layer, he at least reached the second layer as that’s where I met him.”

“He broke through the first layer?” The male cultivator looked surprised. After all, he heard many people say that crossing the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s first layer Flame Area was not too difficult, but there were still many dangers. Those with weaker or impure Saint Qi, such as poorly prepared Second-Order Saint Kings, wouldn’t be able to overcome these dangers and reach the second layer, so how could this brat, who was just a First-Order Saint King at the time, have the ability to break through?

He did not believe it.

“Naturally. Junior Sister Lu Ying was also present at the time, so if you do not believe me, you can ask her,” Chen Shi Tao pointed to the other beautiful young woman standing beside her.

The beauty called Lu Ying’ nodded repeatedly, confirming that Chen Shi Tao wasn’t lying.

“But… Senior Brother Wang is right about one thing, his luck is really quite good,” Chen Shi Tao smiled deeply.

“His luck?” The cultivator surnamed Wang heard this and slowly shook his head, “Luck is not strength, Junior Sister Chen. Haven’t you heard that counting on luck only leads to disaster? If everything in life was decided by luck, there would be no need to cultivate at all.”

Chen Shi Tao immediately showed a disapproving look, and seeing this, the cultivator surnamed Wang turned to the other male and asked, “Junior Brother Chen, do you think your Senior Brother’s words are unreasonable?”

“No, Senior Brother’s words makes sense,” The man with the same surname as Chen Shi Tao, and who even looked a bit similar to her, didn’t hesitate to agree with his Senior Brother’s words; however, he still looked at Yang Kai with a smile and asked Chen Shi Tao, “Sister Tao, could he be the guy you mentioned last time?”

“En!” Chen Shi Tao gently nodded.

“So it’s him! In that case, we should really become friends with him.”

He had clearly obtained information about Yang Kai from Chen Shi Tao and just like her, he had become interested in Yang Kai.

Seeing the appearance of these two people, the cultivator surnamed Wang snorted softly but no longer said anything.

Outside, Yang Kai’s brow twitched slightly but his expression remained indifferent.

Although the voices of the people inside were extremely low, with the strength of his Divine Sense, how could he not have heard them? Listening to the content of the conversation this group of four caused him to secretly complain to himself and made him feel like being curious was not always a good thing. He had come here just to quietly investigate but had wound up doing free labour while also drawing the ire of a complete stranger.

However, since these four people had appeared here, Yang Kai estimated that they had some important reason, otherwise they would not have come to such a strange place. Perhaps after escaping from this barrier, they would not want to become entangled with him and would look forward to him leaving as quickly as possible.

Hoping so, Yang Kai immediately relaxed a lot and increased the power he put into his Hundred Mountains Picture.

After the time it would take to boil a cup of tea, the giant phantom peaks finally overwhelmed the barrier trapping Chen Shi Tao’s group and with a crisp sound, it began to shatter.

Seeing this, Yang Kai took back the phantom peaks, stowed away the Hundred Mountains Picture, and stood waiting in place.

A moment later, Chen Shi Tao’s group emerged from the broken barrier with smiles on their faces and walked over to Yang Kai.

A delicate fragrance reached Yang Kai’s nostrils as Chen Shi Tao arrived in front of him, smiled happily, and said, “Many thanks for your assistance, Little Brother Yang, this Young Lady is extremely grateful.”

“Sister Chen is too polite, such a trivial matter isn’t worth mentioning,” Yang Kai quickly waved his hands and was just about to take his leave when out of the corner of his eye he spotted Yang Yan silently rushing out to examine the broken barrier, as if she was seeking something.