Martial Peak

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Seeing this, Yang Kai was very satisfied. Qian Tong was a man worthy of respect. Yang Kai risking his life to rescue Qian Tong had paid off. Without even mentioning the grievances between Yang Kai and the Xie Family, just the ten percent discount on materials purchased from Shadow Moon Hall would be of enormous benefit. From the speed at which Dragon Cave Mountain purchased materials, this ten percent discount would save them many Saint Crystals in short order.

The second piece of information recorded in this letter was about the Emperor Garden.

On that day, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu had joined forces to investigate whether the Emperor Garden had truly manifested or not, and although they were forced to retreat before they could get close due to the Emperor Pressure, they were able to confirm one thing.

The Emperor Garden before them was real, and not some short-lived illusion that would quickly disappear like its previous incarnations. This time, it had appeared before all of Shadowed Star’s cultivators, creating a shocking scene.

Moreover, after so many days, many Origin Returning Realm masters had gone to check the situation, but none were able to approach the Emperor Garden. On top of that, no one knew how to enter it even if they did manage to approach it. As the host of this place, Shadow Moon Hall had widely distributed invitation letters to all the great forces on Shadowed Star to hold a discussion about entering the Emperor Garden.

Qian Tong told Yang Kai that many masters from all over Shadowed Star had rushed to Heavenly Fate City in recent days, many of whom were Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivators.

Although this was conveyed to him as simple information, Qian Tong’s meaning was very obvious. He was subtly telling Yang Kai to not cause trouble during this time.

Seeing this, Yang Kai raised his brow and grinned.

Even without Qian Tong’s causion, he wouldn’t try to stir up trouble. It was really not an appropriate time to be taking overt actions and Yang Kai still had many things to deal with, so he had already been thinking about using this opportunity to completely close off Dragon Cave Mountain and cultivate quietly for a while.

It wouldn’t be too late to worry about the Emperor Garden after it was investigated. If the masters found a way to enter the Emperor Garden, Yang Kai would naturally be willing to participate. The Life Revitalizing Jade Cream rockery needed to be investigated, and that Ice Attribute World Spirit was also important to the Phoenix Empress Inheritance. If the Ice Phoenix Remnant Soul was able to swallow that World Spirit, it would definitely bring it great benefits, which in turn would allow Su Yan to gain more benefits when she finally accepted it.

Thinking so, Yang Kai used his Demonic Flames to burn the letter from Qian Tong to ash before telling Wu Yi and Qian Yue to take good care of Yang Yan and handing over his damaged Purple Shield to them. Asking the two women to have Yang Yan repair the broken shield, Yang Kai returned to his cave mansion alone.

Yang Kai first took a look at the Red Candle Fruit which had been stored in the cave mansion and found that, under the nourishing effect of the Red Candle Stalk and the rich World Energy aura over the past few years, the Red Candle Fruit piece showed no signs of withering or losing its medicinal efficacies.

Back in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, choosing to prioritize this Red Candle Stalk had really been the right choice. Yang Kai didn’t know how the other great forces were preserving their Red Candle Fruit pieces, but even if they had astonishing means, he was confident that none were as good as the one he implemented.

This fruit piece was a rare treasure, and if refined into a pill it might help a cultivator break through the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm bottleneck and reach the Origin King Realm! Although Yang Kai couldn’t use it right now, there would always come a day when he could.

The Ten Thousand Year Incense fragrance lightly floated through the cave mansion, but its magical effects of calming one’s mood did not diminish in the slightest.

This tiny cave mansion was actually filled with countless treasures.

After checking up on all these precious treasures, Yang Kai returned to his regular room, sat cross-legged and sorted out his thoughts.

In any case, his top priority was to increase his strength. If those masters really found a way to enter the Emperor Garden, he would need enough strength in order to compete with Shadowed Star’s tyrants for the benefits inside.

Yang Kai didn’t believe he could break through to the Origin Realm any time soon, but increasing his cultivation realm wasn’t the only way to improve his strength, there were many other methods.

Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression became firm and he waved his hand, laying out all of the spoils he collected during his latest outing.

This time, there weren’t many items harvested, but each one was invaluable. Not to mention the long-lost Life Revitalizing Jade Cream, the Spectral Cloud Array Plate was a powerful trump card. Yang Kai originally owned two artifacts, but during this trip he had detonated one while the other was severely damaged, lowering his overall combat strength greatly. This Array Plate happened to supplement his losses just perfectly.

As long as he refined it, it would provide him with a big boost in combat strength.

There was also the strange, giant, jet-black stick. Yang Kai had never seen the material this thing was made from, but the amount it weighed was truly astonishing. It didn’t need any fancy effects or to be wielded in any special manner, as long as one could swing it at an enemy, given its immense weight, it would simply be unstoppable.

Before overwhelming strength, nothing else mattered.

However, to his dismay, Yang Kai found that even when using his full strength, he was unable to use this stick as a weapon, causing him to sigh helplessly.

These three things were his gains this time, nothing more, nothing less.

Of course, Yang Kai had other things to deal with besides these three treasures.

After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai reached out his hand and summoned the Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace into his palm. A crisp chirp resounded as the Artifact Spirit materialized, spreading its wings a dozen metres out across the cave mansion.

In the next instant, the Artifact Spirit shrank down and flew over to Yang Kai’s shoulders, landing on him before calmly preening its feathers with its long beak.

Yang Kai glanced at it and a smile appeared on his lips, immediately using his Divine Sense to communicate with it. After a moment, Firebird tilted its head at him before glancing down at the special ring on Yang Kai’s finger, a dignified yet excited light flashing across its eyes.

It was hesitant and fearful, but also extremely excited.

“If you don’t want to, you can refuse and continue to help me refine the Dragon Bone and Dragon Bead,” Yang Kai smiled slightly.

As soon as he said these words, the Artifact Spirit turned into blazing flames and rushed towards the special ring. Yang Kai raised his brow as he sent his Divine Sense into the ring, causing a suction force to emerge from it and draw in the Artifact Spirit.

The Artifact Spirit ultimately couldn’t resist the temptation Yang Kai had just suggested. Seeing this, Yang Kai was very satisfied.

After a moment, the ring flashed and Yang Kai released the Artifact Spirit again. Only now, the Artifact Spirit’s body appeared slightly different from before, because there was a red fiery thread wandering about inside of it like a snake.

The Artifact Spirit let out a sharp tweet as the raging flames which composed its body seemed to be struggling against this crimson light, trying to refine and assimilate it.

Sun’s True Fire!

This special ring on Yang Kai’s finger contained only two things, one was the Ten Thousand Year Ice Jade Pedestal and the other was the Sun’s True Essence.

The last time the Artifact Spirit devoured a wisp of Sun’s True Fire, it had gained tremendous benefits and growth, but when fighting with the Ice Attribute World Spirit in the Emperor Garden, it had still not been the latter’s opponent, showing just how difficult it was to handle this Ice Attribute World Spirit.

Since Yang Kai had ideas about this ​​Ice Attribute World Spirit, naturally he intended to enhance the strength and power of his Artifact Spirit, and devouring more Sun’s True Fire was the most effective and efficient way to accomplish this.

Of course, this method was quite dangerous, so he had offered the Artifact Spirit a choice and it had not failed to live up to his expectations. Its desire for the Sun’s True Fire exceeded its fear, and it had actively entered his ring to ingest a trace of it.

Having experienced this process once before, the Artifact Spirit’s performance this time was much better than back in the Corpse Cave. Although it seemed that its form had become somewhat unstable under the impact of the Sun’s True Fire, and the Fire Attribute Energy which composed its body was fluctuating unstably, at least it had not fallen directly into a coma.

Yang Kai smiled heartily as the Artifact Spirit returned to the Artifact Refining Furnace and began to assimilate the Sun’s True Fire.

He believed that when the Artifact Spirit re-emerged, it would become stronger than before.

After dealing with the Artifact Spirit, Yang Kai put away the Artifact Refining Furnace, picked up the Array Plate of the Spectral Cloud Array, and began carefully examining it.

When he obtained this Array Plate, he didn’t have time to take a closer look at it, and only through talking to Cai He and Du Si Si did he learn about its great value and that it was a long lost treasure. Now, after observing it, Yang Kai suddenly found that this Array Plate wasn’t made of any kind of metal or wood he could identify. It looked like a wooden token, but it weighed quite a bit more than that. It was roughly the size of a palm and there were many images of white clouds on its surface. If one stared at it closely, they would feel as if they were seeing a sea of ​​clouds. Yang Kai sighed and quickly withdrew his vision before holding it in his palm, closing his eyes and using his Saint Qi and Divine Sense to refine it.

Array Plates were refined by Artifact Array Masters and were existences similar to artifacts, so the process to refine them was naturally the same. Moreover, an Array Plate could be completely refined without too much effort, making it an extremely convenient tool.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed by. During this period, Yang Kai had successfully refined the Array Plate and taken it into his body. Now, as long as he could comprehend the mysteries of the Spectral Cloud Array, he could instantly set up this powerful Spirit Array anytime, anywhere he wanted.

Yang Kai was very pleased with this unique treasure as it more than made up for the loss of his Hundred Mountains Picture, which he was forced to destroy.

At this moment, Yang Kai opened his eyes as he sensed something and found Yang Yan sitting in front of him, staring at the metre long black stick lying nearby.

Although she was still shrouded in her signature black robe, Yang Kai found that her expression was a little weird, as if she was deep in thought.

“When did you arrive?” Yang Kai asked in amazement.

Although Yang Yan also had a control token for the cave mansion’s barriers, Yang Kai not even being able to notice her arrival was quite surprising.

“A few days ago, but I saw you were refining that Array Plate so I didn’t disturb you,” Yang Yan replied casually before wearing a cheerful smile and pointing to the black stick on the ground, “Did you bring the Heaven Shaking Pillar back with you from the Emperor Garden?”

“Heaven Shaking Pillar?” Yang Kai frowned, but quickly realized something and asked in surprise, “Can you read these characters?”