Martial Peak

On Fallen Emperor Mountain Range, in front of a particular mountain, Yang Kai and his group of five people finally came to a stop after three straight days of flying.

This was already considerably far into Fallen Emperor Mountain. Before the Emperor Garden appeared, no creature was able to set foot into this place because prolonged exposure to the overwhelming ambient Emperor Pressure would grind them to dust.

However, after the Emperor Garden appeared, the Emperor Pressure which pervaded Fallen Emperor Mountain disappeared, making it possible to explore these previously desolate regions.

The group of five managed to arrive here without any kind of incident along the way.

“Here?” He Wei glanced around with a deep frown on his face while the others wore similarly confused looks.

Although the World Energy in this place was quite abundant, none of their Divine Senses could detect the slightest trace of a Spirit Array barrier, let alone the cave mansion of an ancient cultivator.

“Yes, it’s here,” Jiang Shan said with confidence and a smile on his face, “If not for this Jiang having gotten into a scuffle here that led to some unusual energy fluctuations, I might not have been able to discover anything either. It was a lucky coincidence.”

“Old Jiang, enough with the suspense, where’s the ancient cave mansion hidden?” Chen Li asked with a mixture of impatience and eagerness.

“It’s right in front of you,” Jiang Shan smiled lightly, “Brother Chen might as well attack this spot at will to see some clues.”

“Oh?” Chen Li raised his eyebrows and looked in the direction Jiang Shan was pointing, but all he could see was a smooth rock wall. Even using his powerful Second-Order Origin Returning Realm Divine sense, he was unable to detect anything out of place.

However, since the other party was so confident, he likely wasn’t lying, so Chen Li didn’t hesitate and immediately sent out a punch.

Saint Qi surged forward as the fist pressure condensed to the point where it was visible to the naked eye. A golden fist shadow flew out of and blasted directly towards the rock wall.

Chen Li’s Saint Qi actually had a Gold Attribute, making its sharpness and might unmatched.

Yang Kai raised his brows as he watched while gently nodding. Although he didn’t know which great force this Chen Li came from, from the density and purity of his Saint Qi, it was apparent this burly man was a fair bit stronger than an average Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator.

Yi Lin stood to the side with a bright smile, obviously satisfied with her husband’s strength and imposing manner.

A fantastic scene happened next. Just as the fist shadow was about to hit the rock wall, a series of ripples suddenly appeared in the air. It seemed that there was an invisible layer blocking this region, and when the threatening fist shadow struck it, it just sank into this invisible wall like a stone being thrown into the ocean, creating no noticeable effect before swiftly vanishing.

However, in the next moment, the golden fist shadow which had just disappeared strangely reappeared and flew straight back towards Chen Li.

This sudden change caused the burly man to cry out in surprise as he hurriedly dodged.

*Hong…*

With a series of booming sounds, the golden fist shadow flew out a few thousand meters as it burst through rocks and trees.

“This thing can actually reflect attacks?” He Wei called out in surprise, his eyes flashing a brilliant light.

“Yes, this is one of the Five Elements Scattering Array’s strong points and why this old man had no choice but to search for help to crack it!” Jiang Shan gently nodded.

Although Chen Li embarrassed himself slightly just now, he did not become irritated and instead just said, “This Spirit Array is a bit interesting. Old Jiang, tell me, how do we crack it?”

Jiang Shan chuckled, “This old man doesn’t have any great talent, but he does know how to crack this particular Spirit Array. As long as everyone works together, it should not be a problem.”

Hearing what he said, the crowd gathered around quickly.

The look on Jiang Shan’s face became serious as he began explaining how they needed to cooperate to crack this Spirit Array.

Everyone present was an Origin Realm master, and although none of them was a top-level expert, they each had some experience with such Spirit Arrays after cultivating for so many years. After listening to Jiang Shan’s remarks, everyone nodded lightly, indicating they understood what needed to be done.

“Alright, since you now understand the cracking method, we should first restore ourselves to our peak state.”

No one had any objections and immediately sat down cross-legged to supplement their Saint Qi consumption with some Saint Crystals.

After about half a day, everyone opened their eyes and exchanged looks filled with expectation.

“By the way, Little Friend Yang, do you have pills on you which can quickly replenish your Saint Qi?” Jiang Shan asked somewhat anxiously. Although he had vaguely guessed that Yang Kai’s background wasn’t shallow, this was a matter of great importance, so he didn’t dare act carelessly.

“En, Old Jiang need not worry,” Yang Kai replied lightly.

With the massive reserves of Saint Qi stored in his body, Yang Kai did not need to take any kind of pills to restore himself. Even if his Saint Qi was exhausted, he only needed to burst a drop of Golden Blood, and he would instantly be back at full strength.

Throughout Yang Kai’s life as a cultivator, he had very rarely run into the problem of Saint Qi exhaustion.

“Very good. You should all keep some restorative pills where you can easily reach them as well. Although the Five Elements Scattering Array isn’t difficult to crack, it has high requirements for the continuous output of Saint Qi. This is an ancient cave mansion so none of us should underestimate it.”

“We are well aware of such things. Stop wasting time Old Jiang, let’s get started,” Chen Li urged.

“Good, take your place and follow the plan this old man laid out,” Jiang Shan said seriously before rushing over to a specific spot.

The other four also rushed to their assigned positions, soon forming a kind of star-shaped pattern with each of them at one of its points, equidistant from one another, as if they had measured the spacing with a ruler.

“Everyone, begin!” Jiang Shan yelled as he immediately poured his Saint Qi into the space in front of him.

The others didn’t lag behind. After seeing Jiang Shan act, all four of them also sent their Saint Qi out into the space in front of themselves.

In an instant, the five energy fluctuations with entirely different attributes appeared, and although these fluctuations weren’t too overpowering, they were steady and continuous.

Among them, the Saint Qi of Yang Kai was naturally Fire Attribute. Although the Secret Art he cultivated was technically Yang Attribute, with the improvement of his strength and the transformation of the Saint Qi in his body, his Demonic Flame could now be transformed into a pure Fire Attribute strength.

Of course, the nature of his Demonic Flame could freely change between hot and cold, making it difficult to classify or resist.

Chen Li, who had taken action once before, naturally possessed the Gold Attribute, Yi Lin possessed the Water Attribute, Jiang Shan the Wood Attribute, and He Wei the Earth Attribute.

The five elements gathered together, and five different colours of Saint Qi poured into the air. Strangely though, this Saint Qi did not dissipate but instead began collecting towards a central position, as if there was some kind of invisible well pulling it in.

The Five Elements Scattering Array was both strong and weak. It could rebound all forms of attack and at its peak could even resist the bombardment of an Origin King Realm master. One needed to make use of all five elements to crack it safely.

If one wanted to rely on brute force, they would need to be at least a Third-Order Origin King with a powerful artifact or Secret Technique.

However, the Five Elements Scattering Array in front of the group was over ten thousand years old and was no longer in peak condition.

Even so, it wasn’t something that could be broken by ordinary means.

As the group of five continued pouring their Saint Qi into the Spirit Array, they didn’t encounter any kind of backlash for a couple reasons. First, they weren’t technically attacking the barrier, and second, everyone was observing Jiang Shan and adjusting their Saint Qi output to match his. If anyone used just slightly more or slightly less, this cracking method wouldn’t work since a balance between the five elements needed to be maintained. Once this balance was broken, the Spirit Array would immediately reflect their Saint Qi towards them.

Things were somewhat tricky in the beginning, but Jiang Shan let out a sigh of relief and relaxed after seeing the other four adjust their Saint Qi appropriately. This was a collaboration between five strangers where if any of them failed to play their role, all of them would be affected, so how could he not feel somewhat anxious?

Seeing that things were going smoothly, Jiang Shan slowly began increasing his output of Saint Qi.

The others naturally followed suit, not daring to show the slightest neglect.

Time passed slowly, and the surrounding forest was so quiet one could hear a leaf drop. Soon, the Saint Qi flowing from each of the five people gradually flooded the central space and began intertwining, mutually reinforcing and restraining one another in a kind of endless cycle.

And with the flow of Saint Qi, a hole vaguely began to appear in the originally smooth, mirror-like rock wall.

It was the entrance to the ancient cave mansion!

Five pairs of eyes lit up when they saw this scene.

However, this entrance was still quite illusory and seemed like it would disappear at any moment. Everyone knew that this was because the Spirit Array hadn’t been broken yet, so they immediately took out restorative pills and stuffed them into their mouths to replenish themselves as they continued to pour their Saint Qi into the space before them.

Yang Kai was no exception. His current cultivation was just First-Order Origin Returning Realm, so to not stand out, he casually took a few pills and pretended to restore himself.

In the blink of an eye, another two hours passed.

All five were now sweating profusely after having to output their Saint Qi for such a long time continuously. No cultivator can afford to do this even with good pills to supplement their Saint Qi as there was simply no way for restoration to keep up with their consumption.

However, the entrance of the cave mansion had still yet to fully reveal itself. Although it was now much clearer than before, the protective Spirit Array here was still far from being broken.

Realising this, everyone’s expressions became quite difficult.

“Everyone, the situation doesn’t look promising,” Yi Lin exclaimed first.

“Boy, you better be able to hold on, if you drop out now, father here won’t let you off!” The burly Chen Li turned his head and shouted at Yang Kai. He saw Yang Kai looking somewhat unsteady and clearly feared that his Saint Qi would not be able to last, causing them to fall short here.

“It’s not a problem!” Yang Kai said lightly.

Jiang Shan frowned as he also glanced over at Yang Kai with some worry, secretly regretting looking for a First-Order Origin Returning Realm like Yang Kai. At that time, he had miscalculated the power of this Five Elements Scattering Array and thought that merely gathering five appropriately attributed cultivators could crack it. How could he have known it would take so long to break this Spirit Array though? Even worse, it seemed they would need to keep this up for at least a few more hours.

Sustaining this kind of output for such a long time would be difficult even for him, not to mention Yang Kai, who was a Minor Realm weaker than everyone else.

Jiang Shan secretly felt anxious about Yang Kai, worrying that he would be unable to last till the moment the Spirit Array was broken.