Martial Peak

“En, although Sea Heart Sect is situated far away on the Limitless Ocean, it is not a weak Sect, so this one has heard a thing or two about it. On top of that, in Sea Heart Sect, there is only one Elder with fiery red hair, so naturally I knew you were Brother Cui,” The cultivator in front of the Sea Heart Sect group explained in a calm and relaxed manner.

After hearing such compliments, the red-haired old man’s look eased, but he did not relax his guard and continued to ask, “And who are you?”

“My surname is Xie!” The man smiled profoundly.

“Surnamed Xie? What business do you have with me?” The red-haired old man frowned.

The cultivator surnamed Xie’s brow wrinkled slightly, but after thinking about it for a moment, he tentatively asked, “Brother Cui has travelled far to come here. How many days has it been since you arrived?”

“It’s only been three days, but what does that have to do with you?” The red-haired old man was confused by the seemingly erratic line of questioning the other party was following. This man was not explaining himself clearly, or even giving his full name, making him seem all the more suspicious. This, in turn, caused the red-haired old man to become somewhat impatient.

“So that’s how it is. Presumably, Brother Cui didn’t carefully investigate the various forces located around Heavenly Fate City yet, yes?” The cultivator surnamed Xie seemed to understand something and smiled lightly.

The red-haired old man coldly snorted, “What of it? Speak clearly damn it!”

The man surnamed Xie chuckled, “Please forgive me, Brother Cui, but it now makes sense why your disciples actually went and pulled the tiger’s whiskers atop Dragon Cave Mountain.”

“Pulled the tiger’s whiskers?” The red-haired old man narrowed his eyes, “Atop that small hill? Are they worthy?”

The man surnamed Xie said lightly, “If this Xie told Brother Cui that the owner of that hill has a close relationship with Elder Qian Tong, is rumoured to have ties to City Lord Fei Zhi Tu, and killed a First-Order Origin Realm cultivator with his own hands, would Brother Cui continue looking down on him?”

“What?” The red-haired old man suddenly paled, his expression becoming somewhat hesitant as he muttered, “Are you serious?”

“This Xie doesn’t need to lie to you.”

“Even so, that brat killed my Sect’s top disciple! He must pay for this with his own blood!” The red-haired old man tried to put up a strong front while secretly feeling anxious inside. Although the information this man surnamed Xie just gave him was very worrying, there was no way for him to not seek revenge with things having reached this point.

If he could not achieve this, there was no way he could return to Sea Heart Sect.

“Haha! This Xie was hoping Brother Cui would have such sentiment,” The man surnamed Xie laughed as a sharp glow flashed across his eyes, “I’ll be honest with Brother Cui, the Origin Realm master who died at that brat’s hands was from my Xie Family, so we have an absolutely irreconcilable grudge with that brat!”

“Oh?” The red-haired old man raised his brow in surprise, seemingly understanding something all of a sudden as he swept his eyes over the cultivator in front of him and hesitantly asked, “In Shadow Moon Hall, there is a Deacon named Xie Li. Could Your Excellency be…”

“Xie Li is my cousin!” The man surnamed Xie smiled lightly.

Hearing this, the red-haired old man was overjoyed and did not dare continue acting in a standoff manner, cupping his fists politely and bowing, “So it is Brother Xie, this Cui has been disrespectful.”

“Pay it no mind!” The cultivator surnamed Xie waved his hand carelessly, continuing intimately, “Might I assume Brother Cui has been tasked with monitoring the movements of the Emperor Garden along with your disciples and is currently searching for a place to stay nearby? If so, why not come to my Xie Family’s residence? Although my Xie Family is not a big family, we still have plenty of well-tended courtyards that I’m sure we can make available.”

“That sounds great! Then we’ll be imposing on your honoured family,” The red-haired old man smiled happily. He had been worried that he would not be able to find a good place to settle down nearby, but now someone had actually come to invite him into their home. On top of that, it seemed that this new host of his had a profound resentment with the boy who owned Dragon Cave Mountain. As someone who shared a common enemy, it was natural for this man surnamed Xie to reach out to them; after all, the enemy of one’s enemy was their friend. Although the red-haired old man also understood that this man surnamed Xie was trying to take advantage of them, he did not particularly care.

“Brother Cui is too polite; you and your disciples are more than welcome at my Xie Family. Let us talk while we walk, this one has always been interested in visiting the Limitless Ocean but has never had a chance to go. Perhaps Brother Cui has some interesting stories he could tell,” The cultivator surnamed Xie invited.

“Please!” The red-haired old man politely nodded before leading the dozen or so Sea Heart Sect disciples towards the Xie Family residence.

The man surname Xie was quite an elegant speaker and chatted fluidly with the red-haired old man along the way, weaving a web of stirring stories while expressing just the right amount of interest and longing for the scenes of the Limitless Ocean, immediately making the red-haired old man open up to him as if they were old friends.

After chatting for a while, the red-haired old man started to inquire about Yang Kai. After learning that he truly had Qian Tong’s backing, his face could not help becoming slightly gloomy. If this was really the case, the difficulty of seeking revenge definitely wouldn’t be small.

Moreover, the Xie Family was also a peripheral force related to Shadow Moon Hall. Would blatantly acting hostile towards the Dragon Cave Mountain be an issue as well?

Seemingly realizing the concerns in this red-haired old man’s heart, the cultivator surnamed Xie immediately told him that Shadow Moon Hall had decided to not intervene in the grievances between the Xie Family and Dragon Cave Mountain. This news greatly heartened the red-haired old man and he felt that deciding to go to the Xie Family was the right decision more and more. As long as Shadow Moon Hall didn’t interfere with the Xie Family and his Sea Heart Sect’s strengths combined, wouldn’t it be easy to destroy a small hill?

Thinking this way, the red-haired old man could almost imagine the scene of him shredding Yang Kai’s corpse into ten thousand pieces.

……

Meanwhile, on Dragon Cave Mountain, inside a relatively large loft, Yang Kai welcomed Wei Gu Chang and the others. After everyone had taken their seats, Wu Yi personally brought out a few plates of spirit fruits and served them fragrant tea before respectfully withdrawing.

“Brother Yang, please accept this Wei and Xuan’er’s sincerest gratitude!”

To Yang Kai’s surprise, Wei Gu Chang suddenly stood up again and bowed deeply to him along with Dong Xuan’er.

“Brother Wei, what is this for?” Yang Kai was stunned and quickly got up to hold them up.

Wei Gu Chang grinned, “This Wei has lived his entire life never humbling himself to anyone from Shadowed Star’s younger generation. Even Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong are not worthy of having this Wei bow. Brother Yang, you are the first and the only one I sincerely admire.”

Yang Kai frowned for a moment but quickly understood why Wei Gu Chang was acting so solemnly here and hurriedly waved his hand, “Brother Wei need not do this. Rescuing Elder Qian recently had little to do with me. The specific process must have been explained to you by Elder Qian so you should know I simply followed City Lord Fei around the Emperor Garden. In the end, if City Lord Fei and the others had not accidentally triggered that ancient restriction, perhaps I would still be trapped back there.”

“Perhaps, but I know for a fact that if not for Brother Yang, Cai He and Du Si Si would definitely have died inside that place. If those two had fallen inside the Emperor Garden, their families would resent my Shadow Moon Hall so, regardless of anything else, I and Xuan’er should thank you.”

Hearing him go this far, Yang Kai did not try to argue any more as doing so would only make him appear insincere. On the other hand, when Dai Yuan heard this conversation, she could not help turning a surprised look towards Yang Kai, seemingly never having expected him to have already entered the Emperor Garden.

“I only regret that Xuan’er and I were both consolidating our cultivation at that time and were unaware of the outside situation. If not for us accidentally hearing some people gossiping about this matter after we went out, we might still have been ignorant of these events,” Wei Gu Chang’s face flashed a low-spirited look. Although he was not Qian Tong’s direct disciple, but rather the Sect Master’s, after so many years of receiving his favour, Qian Tong held no less weight in Wei Gu Chang’s heart. Learning that Qian Tong had fallen into danger yet knowing he had not done anything to help made Wei Gu Chang feel a deep sense of guilt every time he thought about it.

“The Seniors of Shadow Moon Hall were only acting out of concern for both of you. So soon after you two broke through to the Origin Returning Realm, before you even had time to consolidate your cultivations, how could they possibly tell you such news and risk disturbing your state of mind? Enough about this though, Brother Wei. Might I ask why you’ve come to visit all of a sudden?” Yang Kai quickly changed the subject when he noticed the atmosphere turning gloomy.

“It’s nothing important really. We’re just here to deliver an invitation,” Wei Gu Chang chuckled as he nodded to Dong Xuan’er.

The latter understood and quickly withdrew a golden invitation from her Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai.

“An invitation you say? Could it be an invitation to Brother Wei and Sister Xuan’er’s most important celebration?” Yang Kai chuckled as he asked meaningfully.

Dong Xuan’er immediately blushed brightly, spat out her tongue, and ran over to Dai Yuan’s side, seemingly too embarrassed to continue this conversation.

Wei Gu Chang, on the other hand, wore a big grin and said, “Unfortunately not, but there will certainly be a chance in the future. When that day comes, Brother Yang will, of course, receive an invitation. The invitation we’re here to deliver today still isn’t something an ordinary person can obtain, mind you.”

Yang Kai raised his brow slightly and looked down only to mutter in surprise, “Treasure Trove Pavilion?”

“Yes, it is an invitation from Treasure Trove Pavilion,” Wei Gu Chang returned to his seat and took a sip of the fragrant tea before slowly explaining, “This invitation is to Treasure Trove Pavilion’s upcoming auction; does Brother Yang have any interest in participating?”

Yang Kai did not answer immediately. The last time he had participated in the Treasure Trove Pavilion’s auction, his gains were not small and he was also somewhat interested in this upcoming event, but he didn’t think it was necessary to go either. Rather, he was wondering why Treasure Trove Pavilion had suddenly decided to hold an auction and what implications this action had.

“Oh, they’re hosting it in Heavenly Fate City again?” Yang Kai was even more surprised now. According to what he knew about Treasure Trove Pavilion, they were the biggest merchant and commercial alliance on Shadowed Star, focused on doing business to accumulate Saint Crystals. Their auctions were held once every few years to a decade, but each time the location would change as they rotated through the major cities in the various great force’s territories.

It had only been a few years since the last auction was held, yet they were planning to host another, and in Heavenly Fate City, no less. Obviously, this was breaking with their previous practices. According to precedence, it should be at least another hundred years before this grand auction was held in Heavenly Fate City again.

“Naturally, it’s going to be held in Heavenly Fate City. All the great forces on Shadowed Star have their attention focused here because of the appearance of the Emperor Garden, so if Treasure Trove Pavilion chose Heavenly Fate City as the location to host its auction, no one would disagree,” Wei Gu Chang chuckled.

Hearing this explanation, Yang Kai nodded in agreement. The cultivators gathered in Heavenly Fate City were more numerous than the hairs on an ox, with all forces big and small being represented. Taking advantage of this opportunity to hold a grand auction was a natural move.

Moreover, although the Emperor Garden had indeed appeared, it was temporarily impossible for anyone to enter it and no one knew when it would open, so many cultivators were already planning ahead and trying to find ways to enhance their strength. When the Emperor Garden opened, they all hoped to rush inside to obtain a rich cup of soup. Under these circumstances, an auction would surely attract a lot of guests.

After all, when Treasure Trove Pavilion was taking advantage of the Flowing Flame Sand Field opening last time, their auction had been a massive success, so obviously, Treasure Trove Pavilion was hoping for a repeat performance.