Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Compared to the various treasures and benefits he could obtain in the Emperor Garden, increasing his own strength was far more important to Yang Kai; after all, one was related to his foundation while the other was simply external tools.

Yang Kai could naturally determine which was more important.

As such, Yang Kai decided that entering the Emperor Garden a bit later wasn’t a problem. As long as his plan succeeded, the benefits he would obtain were far greater than any treasure he could find inside the Emperor Garden!

Considering all this, Yang Kai became quite enthusiastic.

Yang Yan didn’t try to persuade him otherwise, simply pondering for a moment before saying, “Do as you please then, just remember not to act recklessly. I have Great Elder here to protect me, so you don’t need to worry about my safety.”

“En,” Yang Kai nodded lightly before turning to look at Ye Xi Yun, cupping his fists, and saying, “Senior Ye, I’ll be leaving Yang Yan in your hands.”

“Sect Master may rest assured, as long as this Queen still draws breath, no harm will come to Madam!” Ye Xi Yun declared proudly.

Yang Kai grinned and waved, “Go. I’ll find and meet up with you inside the Emperor Garden if possible!”

Yang Yan glanced at him, urged him to be cautious again, then continued to fly upwards. A moment later, however, she suddenly paused again, turned back, and shouted, “Yang Kai!”

“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai looked at her curiously.

“For the days we spent together… Thank you,” Yang Yan smiled radiantly, saying some incomprehensible words before turning around and flying off again.

Yang Kai stared towards Yang Yan’s back blankly, frowning slightly, wondering what this woman was trying to say and why she had suddenly become so sentimental. But unable to understand no matter how much he thought about it, Yang Kai soon shook his head and focused on the task at hand, condensing his Shi with the help of the Emperor Pressure here.

Sweeping away any distracting thoughts, Yang Kai continued to fly upwards unhurriedly.

Every cultivator, after breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm, would begin to condense their own Shi! No one was an exception to this process.

Shi wasn’t something which could be clearly categorized or described. It wasn’t the same as the fighting intent of a cultivator, but rather a fusion of will, Saint Qi, and Spiritual Energy. Once one successfully condensed their Shi, it provided them with a great boost in strength when fighting against opponents!

There were even cultivators who could incorporate their Shi into their Secret Techniques and Divine Abilities, allowing it to play an indispensable role.

However, it was extremely difficult to condense and cultivate one’s Shi, generally requiring years of meditation, insight, and amalgamation. Only after cultivating one’s Shi to the grand accomplishment stage could an Origin Realm cultivator attempt to break through to the Origin King Realm!

This was one of the necessary conditions to achieve a breakthrough.

On Shadowed Star, the number of Origin Returning Realm masters was innumerable, and there was no shortage of those who had reached the Third-Order, but only about one percent of these peak level masters had actually cultivated their Shi to the grand accomplishment stage.

Ye Xi Yun was undoubtedly one such master!

Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu’s situations were somewhat vague, they may have reached the grand accomplishment stage, but perhaps not. On the other hand, masters like Jin Shi and Old Woman Feng had certainly not reached this level. As such, even amongst masters at the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm, strengths varied greatly, and the primary reason for this was the difference in their respective Shi.

After initially condensing their Shi, an Origin Realm master would see their combat strength rise at least thirty percent.

Thirty peak Third-Order Saints may be able to defeat a First-Order Saint King.

But thirty peak Saint Kings would definitely not be the opponent of a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator who had condensed their Shi. This clearly illustrated the massive gap between the two Great Realms. Once an opponent fell into their enemy’s Shi, whether it was their Saint Qi circulation or the power of the Secret Techniques they executed, both would receive dramatic suppression, unless they cultivated some kind of Secret Technique which specialized in destroying Shi, such as Demon Blood Temple’s Demon Blood Thread!

Yang Kai had formed a plan for condensing his Shi long ago.

Although he had just broken through to the Origin Realm a few days ago, he had not absorbed the Soul remnants of so many Origin Realm masters in vain, and together with the teachings and personal experiences Qian Tong, Fei Zhi Tu, Wei Gu Chang, Dong Xuan’er, and others had given to him, Yang Kai was confident he could quickly succeed in condensing his Shi.

His foresight and pre-planning had now finally come in handy.

High up in the sky, Yang Kai stood straight like a sword, the Saint Qi in his body condensed to the limit as it rapidly circulated through his meridians.

Above him, there seemed to be an invisible set of stairs that allowed him to climb upwards, and with a relaxed expression, Yang Kai slowly ascended these steps, seemingly not experiencing the slightest pressure.

At this time and place, the Emperor Pressure wasn’t too strong and could only impede the circulation of his Saint Qi slightly. Yang Kai was using this slight suppression to silently ascertain how to integrate his will and Spiritual Essence into one.

As he continued to climb higher, the Emperor Pressure surrounding his body gradually increased, eventually reaching a point where he began to struggle.

Every step soon became laborious and consumed a massive amount of Yang Kai’s strength. At the same time, crackling sounds rang out from his body. The Emperor Pressure here not only hampered Yang Kai’s movements but had also greatly suppressed the speed at which he could circulate his Saint Qi.

It was as if he had fallen into a quagmire, with the surrounding space becoming thick and viscous.

Yang Kai’s expression was grim and the blood vessels on his neck and forehead were now clearly visible. His eyes were bloodshot and looked akin to those of a feral beast.

Although Yang Kai looked quite distressed, there was a deep joy flashing across the depths of his eyes.

Using Emperor Pressure to condense his Shi really had a wondrous effect! At this moment, it seems like every bit of his physique was being crushed by the surrounding Emperor Pressure, which in turn served as a kind of magical catalyst for fusing together his will and Spiritual Essence.

This forced fusion allowed Yang Kai to vaguely comprehend what Shi was, and how to condense his own.

Looking up into the sky, Yang Kai once again took a step forward with great difficulty.

The distance spanned by his foot was less than a normal walking pace, but Yang Kai still felt like it took him several dozen days to make this simple movement!

The Emperor Pressure around him not only slowed Yang Kai’s movements but also began to distort his senses. This kind of slowness was obviously not actually occurring in the outside world, and was all a product of Yang Kai’s mental state, a truly rare and unusual experience.

Crossing this seemingly short stride allowed Yang Kai to experience what would take an ordinary cultivator a massive amount of time to in one moment.

After advancing this one step, Yang Kai closed his eyes and pushed his Saint Qi fiercely, feeling it break free from the Emperor Pressure’s shackles slightly and circulate a tiny bit faster than before.

After a long pause, Yang Kai opened his eyes again, and took another step forward, then closed his eyes again to feel the changes within himself before repeating the process all over again!

At this moment, the benefits of a strong physique fully manifested. If Yang Kai’s physical body wasn’t so intrepid, he wouldn’t have been able to persist in this environment for so long as under the surrounding Emperor Pressure. Instead, he would have already been badly battered.

Fortunately, Yang Kai had just finished cultivating the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art to its first stage and greatly enhanced his physical strength.

Simultaneously, Yang Kai’s newly achieved Origin Returning Realm cultivation was rapidly being consolidated.

Studying the strange sensation filling his body saved Yang Kai a significant amount of time and effort; if not for it, he would have needed to spend at least a year or two in meditative cultivation to achieve the same result.

This alone made this trip worthwhile.

However, Yang Kai wasn’t satisfied with just this. He continued the excruciating climb higher, completely immersing himself in his comprehension, as if he had forgotten everything else around him.

After a full day, Yang Kai managed to climb a thousand metres. This distance was nothing worth noting and he was still extremely far from the Emperor Garden, but this short ascension had allowed Yang Kai to obtain insights in the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao which would ordinarily take a cultivator a hundred years to achieve.

A kind of invisible force was now beginning to spread out from Yang Kai’s body and countering the Emperor Pressure.

Shi!

This was the Shi which belonged to Yang Kai! Although his Shi was weak compared to the awe-inspiring Emperor Pressure, like a newborn fledgeling not even worth mentioning, reaching this step in such a short time was nothing short of a miracle!

No cultivator had ever managed to condense their Shi and reach the minor accomplishment stage in a single day before!

If someone were to even hear of such a feat, they would definitely not believe it to be true.

But Yang Kai, taking advantage of this rare opportunity, truly managed to achieve this.

The Emperor Pressure which emanated from the Emperor Garden was far more coherent and powerful than the one which had permeated Fallen Emperor Mountain.

In the past, many cultivators had gone to Fallen Emperor Mountain to use the profound and mysterious Emperor Pressure to condense their Shi, most of them reaping huge benefits as a result.

Yang Kai had simply imitated this practice but was doing so under far more advantageous conditions than were present in Fallen Emperor Mountain, allowing him to obtain twice the results with half the effort. Nevertheless, Yang Kai was far from done, this was just the beginning.

With a firm expression, Yang Kai continued to climb while immersing in this wondrous experience.

During the past day, some cultivators had caught up to Yang Kai. These cultivators had rushed to the Emperor Garden starting from the periphery of the Flowing Flame Sand Field and had wasted a great deal of time going around the flame barrier. All of these cultivators now showed anxious looks, obviously fearing that others who had gone ahead of them would take away all the benefits inside the Emperor Garden.

When passing by Yang Kai, however, these same people would all gawk at him in complete shock.

They were easily able to resist the Emperor Pressure here and fly upwards because of the protective light halo produced by their Emperor Jades.

But here, they saw that Yang Kai was actually resisting the Emperor Pressure with his own strength.

How could this scene not shock them?

Many of these people were well-known characters on Shadowed Star, and all of them had cultivations at the Second or Third-Order Origin Returning Realm, but even so, none of them dared dismiss the Emperor Jade’s protection.

Occasionally, there were some masters who saw Yang Kai’s actions and couldn’t help feeling a competitive impulse, dismissing the Emperor Jade’s light halo, but in a flash, their forward momentum plummeted and they were quickly surpassed by others.

Although this impact wasn’t enough to cause these masters to immediately fall, just tasting the ambient Emperor Pressure was enough to make them extremely uncomfortable. Thinking about the benefits inside the Emperor Garden, all of these people quickly re-activated their Emperor Jades and flew past Yang Kai.

Not everyone had possessed Yang Kai’s boldness to willingly sacrifice time inside the Emperor Garden searching for treasure in order to condense and cultivate their Shi.

Additionally, not everyone was willing to turn a blind eye to Yang Kai’s existence. Most of these masters were shocked by Yang Kai’s actions, but all of them still quickly left because the seduction of the Emperor Garden was simply too great.

When the masters from the several great forces that had grievances passed by Yang Kai, all of them showed fierce expressions, seemingly wanting to solve this problem once and for all.

Not only did Jin Shi of Demon Blood Temple think this way, he actually acted upon this impulse as well.

During the battle of Dragon Cave Mountain, Jin Shi had participated in order to snatch the piece of Profound Gold from Yang Kai, but after going to steal a chicken he had failed miserably and ended up losing his rice as well, losing an arm to Dragon Cave Mountain’s Origin King Grade Starship’s Crystal Cannons. That battle had forged a deep hatred inside Jin Shi towards Yang Kai and Dragon Cave Mountain.