Martial Peak

Kong Wen Dong perished without any suspense. Although his cultivation wasn’t any worse than the lead young woman from Ice Heart Valley, in a four on one, with the lead young woman able to calmly display the power of the Profound Yin Heart Shattering Drum and Yang Kai attacking from nearby, there was no way Kong Wen Dong could escape no matter how strong he was.

After struggling desperately for about an incense stick worth of time, Kong Wen Dong fell to his four attackers’ coordinated assault.

What the young female leader from Ice Heart Valley said was true; Kong Wen Dong had a Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire in his body, one that was exactly the same as the yellow-robed old man’s, a dark crimson flame with black lightning arcs flickering about it.

After Kong Wen Dong died, this Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire was naturally swallowed by the Firebird Artifact Spirit.

Once the battle ended, it was time to divide the spoils. The Space Rings of these four enemies couldn’t be let off. Yang Kai acted with no trace of politeness, taking away Kong Wen Dong’s Space Ring while casually leaving the other three for the trio from Ice Heart Valley to collect.

Regarding this, although the lead young woman wore a somewhat displeased expression, she didn’t say anything; after all, if not for Yang Kai’s assistance, they would have gained nothing and might not even have been able to preserve their lives. At the very least, her weakest sister would definitely have been in a dangerous situation.

The Firebird Artifact Spirit continued hovering above Yang Kai’s head, calling out happily, seeming to be in a good mood after devouring two Heaven Scorching Thunder Fires.

When she looked at the Firebird Artifact Spirit, the lead young woman’s beautiful eyes could not help flashing a look of dread. While she had been unable to observe much of Yang Kai’s true abilities, just the fluctuations coming from this Firebird Artifact Spirit were incredibly worrisome.

[This Artifact Spirit can no doubt compete with a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master!] The young woman secretly judged.

“Little brother, this Mistress offers her sincere thanks. If not for little brother taking action to uphold justice here, this Mistress might not have been able to kill these Brilliant Flame Sect villains.” A bright smile appeared on the young woman’s face as she thanked Yang Kai.

Yang Kai smiled lightly and replied modestly, “Sister is too serious, I only acted according to my own needs. What’s more, they were the ones who attacked me first.”

Although this young woman had shrouded him with the Profound Yin Heart Shattering Drum just now, Yang Kai wasn’t planning on tearing face with her over it, whether it was intentional or not.

However, it was necessary to put up a show of deterrence lest this woman decide to burn bridges after crossing them. The Profound Yin Heart Shattering Drum she was carrying was very powerful and quite troublesome to deal with, so as long as it wasn’t necessary, Yang Kai didn’t want to stir up conflict with these three from Ice Heart Valley. Now, he just wanted to finish up his business here and head to the main palace of the Emperor Garden.

As such, Yang Kai made no attempt to take back his Artifact Spirit and instead used it to indirectly pressure this young woman so she wouldn’t get any ideas.

“Right, Sister, would you mind explaining to me why both those Brilliant Flame Sect cultivators were able to cultivate that Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire Secret Technique?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“Hehe, so Little Brother was still wondering about this issue,” the young woman smiled and didn’t try to conceal anything, simply stating, “In fact, there are many cultivators in Brilliant Flame Sect who have cultivated this Secret Technique, not just the two of them. Most of their stronger masters and have cultivated the Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire, but the strength of each individual’s thunder fire varies dramatically.”

“Oh? How do they accomplish this?” Yang Kai was very interested. The Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire was of great benefit to his Artifact Spirit, but unfortunately, of the four Brilliant Flame Sect masters here, only Kong Wen Dong and the yellow-robed old man seemed to have cultivated this Secret Technique. After listening to this young woman’s words, Yang Kai naturally had to investigate further.

“It’s actually quite simple: they have a Heavenly Thunder Fire in Brilliant Flame Sect that also serves as the foundation of their Sect. Relying on this Heavenly Thunder Fire, coupled with a special Secret Technique, most of the high-level cultivators from Brilliant Flame Sect can cultivate the Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire which has many profound uses in combat,” The young woman explained lightly before asking casually, “Since little brother asked this, does it mean you are not from Scarlet Wave Star?”

“En, I’m indeed not from Scarlet Wave Star,” Yang Kai didn’t try to deny it but also did not explain his origins, simply nodding and continuing, “So that’s how it is, about that Heavenly Thunder Fire…”

Although its name was only slightly different from the Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire, it was, after all, the foundation of Brilliant Flame Sect, as well as the foundation upon which Kong Wen Dong and the yellow-robed old man cultivated their own Heaven Scorching Thunder Fire. If his Artifact Spirit could devour the original Heavenly Thunder Fire, what kind of benefits would it obtain?

Of course, this thought only briefly passed across Yang Kai’s mind.

After all, the Scarlet Wave Star was in this vast Star Field, it was impossible for Yang Kai to simply take a trip to it for no reason at all. What’s more, there was no way for him alone to challenge all of Brilliant Flame Sect as he could infer from Kong Wen Dong’s cultivation that this Sect very likely had an Origin King master commanding it!

“Never mind, let’s not talk about this now,” Yang Kai grinned before changing the subject, “Sister, shouldn’t we enter that secluded home now? There’s bound to be many good things inside!”

“Hehe, that’s right,” The young woman’s brow twitched slightly. Although she was filled with reluctance, she could not simply renege on her previous agreement with Yang Kai now.

When she first tried to win him over, she had not put Yang Kai’s strength in her eyes and felt that she could arbitrarily decide the distribution of benefits once everything was over, but following this battle, she realized that her original thoughts were little more than wishful thinking.

This boy was not some weakling she could casually bully and he obviously had some vigilance towards her now. Otherwise, he would not have continued to have his strange Firebird hover above them all this time.

With things having reached this point, the young woman could only sigh lightly. Unwilling to deal with any more trouble, she simply turned around and flew back to the hidden mountain valley.

The other two women followed closely.

A moment later, the group of four arrived at the barrier concealing the mountain valley again.

This barrier was still maintaining its previous appearance, flickering slightly while projecting a somewhat distorted image. These were clear traces of it having been attacked before but it was still a fair distance from completely breaking.

“Is little brother proficient in cracking Spirit Arrays by any chance?” The young female leader of Ice Heart Valley turned to Yang Kai and asked.

“No!” Yang Kai shook his head decisively. If it were Yang Yan here instead of him, this barrier would likely take her less than ten breaths to crack, but Yang Kai was not Yang Yan.

The young woman failed to stifle her laughter hearing this before shaking her head and declaring, “Then there’s no other way, this Mistress and her sisters also have not studied Spirit Arrays, so we’ll just have to break it by force.”

Saying so, she took the lead by summoning a long crystal sword into her hand that looked like it was refined from the purest of ice jade, pouring her Saint Qi into it, then slashing towards the barrier. The other two young women from Ice Heart Valley quickly followed suit.

Naturally Yang Kai wasn’t idle either, the only difference was he didn’t use any kind of artifact, not because he didn’t want to, but because the only offensive artifact he had on him was the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword, which was not something he could easily show others.

As such, he could only use his Demonic Flame to attack the barrier. Even so, that didn’t make his momentum any weaker, especially as his Demonic Flames fluctuated rapidly between hot and cold, causing severe damage to the barrier.

Ultimately, Yang Kai’s attack power wasn’t any weaker than those of the three women.

For a time, the group of four simply stood before the mountain valley, shelling its protective barrier together.

Regardless of how strong this barrier was, it could not withstand such indiscriminate bombings, not to mention that this barrier had been left unattended for over ten thousand years. Even if it was originally incredibly solid, after so many years of neglect, its power had obviously waned.

Even so, the group of four spent half a day attacking this barrier before it finally broke!

During this period, the three women from Ice Heart Valley were obviously on edge, seemingly afraid that another strong enemy would come to investigate, so after successfully breaking the barrier undisturbed, they couldn’t help flashing happy looks. After exchanging a quick glance, the lead young woman dove in first.

Yang Kai released his Divine Sense, found there wasn’t any danger inside, and quickly followed.

The interior was a gourd-shaped mountain valley with a narrow entrance that expanded the deeper one went.

Passing through a several-kilometre-long mountain trail, the group of four arrived at the heart of the valley and were greeted by a stunning scene.

Before their eyes was a vast Medicine Garden filled with exotic flowers and spirit herbs planted in neat rows. Even after countless years with no one tending to them, many of these spirit grasses were still alive and well.

At a glance, there were at least a thousand precious herbs in this place.

The entire mountain valley was filled with a rich medicinal fragrance.

It turned out this mountain valley was actually a hidden Medicine Garden!

Yang Kai could not help showing a look of joy and excitement on his face, and the appearance of the three women from Ice Heart Valley was not any better, each of them breathing somewhat rapidly as their eyes flashed brilliantly.

This could not be helped though as this place had not seen any visitors in at least ten thousand years, which meant that even if the herbs here were of lower grade, their medicinal ages would be at least ten thousand years!

With such high medicinal ages, even ordinary herbs would become priceless treasures, so it was only natural that all of them were so excited.

This harvest alone had made their trip to the Emperor Garden worthwhile.

However, the leading young woman didn’t allow herself to become blinded by the riches in front of her, quickly turning to Yang Kai first to ask, “Little Brother, this…”

“En, let’s collect everything first then figure out how to distribute it afterwards,” Yang Kai smiled carefreely.

“Good!” The young woman nodded lightly, shot a glance towards the other two women, then immediately got to work picking these herbs.

Although collecting precious herbs like these required some special procedures since any negligence could lead to a great reduction in their value, everyone here was an Origin Realm cultivator, so they naturally had enough experience with this kind of task. As such, Yang Kai didn’t need to remind the three women about anything in particular.

As for these three trying to secretly harbour these herbs, it probably wouldn’t happen as Yang Kai was constantly releasing his Divine Sense, unabashed. Even if these three women had such thoughts, they would likely be too embarrassed to try to act on them with Yang Kai so obviously watching them.

While these three were collecting herbs, Yang Kai also got to work, meticulously collecting the various herbs from the Medicine Garden at a rate much faster than the trio from Ice Heart Valley.

For an Alchemist like Yang Kai, he couldn’t be more familiar with this kind of work.

The more Yang Kai collected though, the more excited he became, because in this hidden Medicine Garden, he not only saw many long-extinct spirit grasses and spirit medicines, he even found many herbs he could not recognize.

Such herbs were undoubtedly extremely valuable.

The grades of these herbs varied somewhat, from Saint King Grade all the way to Origin King Grade; however, likely because they couldn’t withstand the passing of time, there was nothing lower than Saint King Grade. Even so, the Saint King Grade herbs here could still be used to produce excellent pills.

Yang Kai was extremely happy. During his last retreat, his Alchemy skill had reached the Origin Grade High-Rank, but if he wanted to go a step further, he needed to practice a great deal with Origin King Grade herbs.