Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

In fact, this kind of unfounded accusation was completely unjustified; Shadow Moon Hall knew it and the other great forces knew it too.

But who made the Emperor Garden float above Shadow Moon Hall’s territory? Everyone feared that Shadow Moon Hall would reap all the benefits due to their proximity, but no one said it out loud, instead using this incident to raise a fuss.

After some arguing and bargaining, the great forces on Shadowed Star reached a consensus, which was, even if the Emperor Garden opened, the masters from Shadow Moon Hall couldn’t enter it in advance and had to wait for the other great forces to arrive, otherwise they would face universal condemnation.

Although the current situation of Shadow Moon Hall wasn’t akin to walking on thin ice, it clearly wasn’t in a very good situation either; after all, it had just experienced a serious internal power struggle and was in need of time to rest and recuperate, so faced with this unfair proposal, they had no choice but to acquiesce.

Currently, Heavenly Fate City was completely overcrowded as the number of people left here to monitor the Emperor Garden was quite significant. All the inns in Heavenly Fate City had no open rooms, their businesses literally bursting at the seams.

Even some small families in the surrounding area had begun hosting one or more delegations from the various great forces.

Where there were more people, there were inevitably more conflicts; after all, the great forces on Shadowed Star by no means had only harmonious relationships. There were various rivalries and grievances between each of these forces, so when they all gathered, disagreements and fights naturally broke out.

Almost every day, cultivators died, all while the host, Shadow Moon Hall, adopted a policy of non-interference. As long as these foreign forces didn’t interfere with Shadow Moon Hall’s interests, they were content to remain a neutral party.

Inside his cave mansion, Yang Kai poured his Space Force into the strange contraptions Yang Yan brought him while listening to her update him on the situation outside, asking a question or two, which she promptly answered.

As the two of them were conversing, Yang Yan’s expression suddenly changed and she quickly took out a communication artifact from her Space Ring, sent her Divine Sense into it, then shot a somewhat ambiguous look towards Yang Kai.

“What happened?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“Someone is looking for you,” Yang Yan smiled and said profoundly, “A special friend.”

“Special friend?” Yang Kai’s face turned black. There were very few people he knew on Shadowed Star and even fewer he could call friends, so Yang Yan saying someone was looking for him confused him greatly. Even after thinking about it for a moment, he could not think of anyone who would suddenly come to find him. On top of that, when Yang Yan said it was a ‘special friend’, her tone was clearly a bit strange.

“Who?” Yang Kai did not bother guessing and simply asked.

“Dai Yuan!” Yang Yan replied with a smile.

“Her…” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed. If it was someone else who had come, he would have unceremoniously declared that Dragon Cave Mountain was closed and refused to see them, but since it was Dai Yuan then it was a different matter. She had given him her Coloured Glass Bead, which Yang Kai had obtained great benefit from. Additionally, Yang Kai had no idea if Coloured Glass Sect had discovered any clues about the Stone Puppet digging a channel from Dai Yuan’s peak to the Thousand Illusion Coloured Glass Mountain last time, so this was an opportunity to quietly probe Dai Yuan about this matter.

Considering all this, Yang Kai stood up and said, “I’ll go have a look.”

Saying so, he walked outside.

A moment later, Yang Kai arrived at the entrance to Dragon Cave Mountain, took out his control token and poured his Saint Qi into it, causing a mysterious light to be emitted from it and open a large path through the protective barrier.

But before Yang Kai could step outside, he heard many voices and couldn’t help feeling suspicious. Could Dai Yuan have come here with a group? However, when he listened to what the people outside were saying, his face sank and he quickly walked out.

Currently, Dai Yuan silently stood outside Dragon Cave Mountain. If one were simply to observe her from behind, they would think she was a peerless beauty whose mere figure was enough to enchant others, making them sink into an inextricable reverie.

However, once one saw her face from the front, they would not be able to associate her with the word beauty.

Dai Yuan maintained the same image as before, her face filled with scars and pustules, giving her an extremely ugly appearance which she stubbornly refused to cover up.

Beside her, a group of more than a dozen cultivators wearing matching robes and with various cultivations were unscrupulously showing their disgust, pointing at Dai Yuan while several women were snorting disdainfully towards her.

These women were not too beautiful, but compared with Dai Yuan’s face, all of them immediately appeared more attractive, causing them to feel a sense of superiority.

“Hey, this Young Master is talking to you! Are you deaf or mute woman?” The leader of this group shouted out to Dai Yuan.

Dai Yuan glanced over at him lightly but showed absolutely no intention of answering.

This blatant disregard immediately annoyed the leader of this group and he quickly sneered, “Damn woman, just speaking to you is giving you more face than you deserve. Don’t think that this Young Master doesn’t dare deal with you because you’re a woman. Although you are the epitome of ugliness, you’re still a woman. This Young Master has given you face, so don’t refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”

Dai Yuan’s brow furrowed and a trace of disgust flashed across her face, but she quickly regained her calm.

Before, if she had heard such an insult leveled against her, she would lose control and attack. This was simply because her appearance was her reverse scale. But now, after Yang Kai helped detoxify her, her appearance had been restored, and she was just using her pockmarked face as a disguise. Even if this group of people’s words were unpleasant to hear, she didn’t let it get to her.

“Senior Brother Hai, don’t bother speaking any nonsense with her, just seize her directly. Clearly, she came here to find someone so she must know the people inside. We’ve been waiting here for a few days now yet the owner of this place has yet to appear. They’re clearly not putting us in their eyes,” Someone from the crowd called out impatiently, his face filled with eagerness to fight.

“Oh? And who exactly am I supposed to put in my eyes?” A slightly mocking voice suddenly called out from inside Dragon Cave Mountain. As these words were spoken, the fog-like barrier split open, revealing a young man.

“Yang Kai,” Dai Yuan wore a happy expression as she quickly called out to him.

“Sister Dai Yuan!” Yang Kai gently nodded to her before glancing over at the other group of people standing outside and asking lightly, “Are these people with you?”

Dai Yuan shook her head and said softly, “They’re from Sea Heart Sect.”

“Sea Heart Sect? Never heard of it,” Yang Kai spat disdainfully. Although he still wasn’t familiar with all the various big and small forces on Shadowed Star, he at least knew about all of the relatively powerful and influential ones so, since he hadn’t heard of this Sea Heart Sect, it showed that they weren’t an important influence.

On the contrary, Dai Yuan seemed to be incredibly well informed about such matters, allowing her to see through the origins of these people from their robes alone and quietly whisper, “It’s a force from the Limitless Ocean. It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai nodded. The Limitless Ocean was extremely far away from here, and if not for the Emperor Garden sudden appearance, they would definitely not have sent representatives here.

“Are you the owner of this place?” On the Sea Heart Sect’s side, their leader swept his eyes over Yang Kai and with some surprise.

“Yes, I’m the master of this place!” Yang Kai grinned.

“En, since you’re the owner of this place, then we can talk,” The cultivator saw Yang Kai’s cultivation wasn’t very high, only reaching the Third-Order Saint King Realm, and inevitably felt somewhat contemptuous, speaking with a smug, prideful look on his face, “We are Sea Heart Sect’s disciples from the Limitless Ocean. This mountain is now requisitioned by our Sea Heart Sect! Go back inside and tell your people to clean it up and make room for us.”

This man wore an aloof expression, as if he was instructing his subordinates to do things, speaking without a trace of politeness.

Dai Yuan heard this and could not help wearing a strange look on her face, turning back to Yang Kai, wondering if these people regarded Yang Kai as the patriarch of the small family attached to Shadow Moon Hall.

Yang Kai also had this conjecture. Although he did not understand what was going on when he first came out, he now had a rough guess.

Now that Heavenly Fate City was completely full, many foreign cultivators could not find places to lodge, and as a result, some small families nearby were becoming targets. To conveniently monitor any chances in the Emperor Garden, it was only natural to find a good location.

Dragon Cave Mountain was located almost directly below the Emperor Garden, so its location was excellent and many people had set their sights on it.

As a matter of fact, since a while ago, many cultivators belonging to various great forces had taken a fancy to Dragon Cave Mountain and tried to enter it, but the protective Spirit Array here was incredibly powerful and seeing this, most groups had simply given up.

Others knew that Dragon Cave Mountain’s owner was a young man capable of killing Origin Returning Realm masters and who had a good relationship with Qian Tong, so they naturally steered clear. However, Sea Heart Sect was based on the Limitless Ocean, so it was inevitable that they did not know such local information.

Dragon Cave Mountain had many internal secrets and was constantly shrouded by various powerful Spirit Arrays, so not to mention Sea Heart Sect, even if representatives of Heaven Battling Union or Thunder Typhoon Sect came, Yang Kai would not give this place up. On top of that, these people had come forward and declared that this place was now theirs, as if letting them living in Dragon Cave Mountain was an honour that couldn’t be refused, a fact that Yang Kai found both funny and infuriating.

Requisitioning Dragon Cave Mountain for themselves, this Sea Heart Sect’s tone was simply higher than the Heavens.

Understanding all this, Yang Kai’s eyes turned slightly before he let out a chuckle and cupped his fists, “So these friends are from Sea Heart Sect, this one has long admired your Sect’s resounding name.”

This flattering comment caused this group of Sea Heart Sect disciples’ pride to inflate even further, thinking that their Sect’s reputation was so great that it had even spread all the way to Shadow Moon Hall’s territory. Their leader puffed up his chest proudly as he glanced back confidently at his Junior Brothers and Junior Sisters before turning to Yang Kai and saying with a smile, “There’s no need to act so polite, since you know we are from Sea Heart Sect, quickly prepare a proper place for us to stay. For the dozen or so of us here, it matters not, but when our Martial Uncle arrives you must serve him well. Martial Uncle’s temper is a bit poor, so if you cannot satisfy him, you should know the consequences.”

Saying so, the threatening tone this man used was quite strong, as if providing insufficient entertainment would result in disaster for Dragon Cave Mountain.