Martial Peak

No other great force would have such a lopsided disparity in population and strength. Although lower-level cultivators didn’t possess as much power, they were the hope of every Sect’s future, so whether it was Heaven Battling Union, Thunder Typhoon Sect, Shadow Moon Hall, Coloured Glass Sect or any other big Sect, they would always have a massive number of low-level cultivators with a proportionally smaller number of high-level masters.

Star Emperor Mountain’s situation, however, was the exact opposite.

The reason for this was because of the strict requirements to join Star Emperor Mountain.

The threshold to worship Star Emperor Mountain as one’s Sect was so high it was nigh impossible to meet. One needed to have superb aptitude as well as be incredibly young. Most people brought to Star Emperor Mountain from the outside were less than ten years old. This age was the best for indoctrination, which was why through the generations Star Emperor Mountain’s reverence for the Great Emperor had not faded.

Because each new disciple would be instilled with this concept by the older generation as they grew from infancy to maturity.

However, once one joined Star Emperor Mountain, they would be able to enjoy the best cultivation environment and the most abundant cultivation resources on Shadowed Star.

Star Emperor Mountain would use all of its resources to pave the way for its disciple’s cultivation.

In exchange, one needed to break through to the Origin Returning Realm before they turned forty years old!

If one was unable to achieve this, their cultivation would be abolished and they would be expelled from Star Emperor Mountain.

These rules were strict and cruel, but the results they produced were remarkable.

By adhering to this doctrine, the cultivators of Star Emperor Mountain cultivated extremely quickly, allowing Origin Returning Realm masters to appear one after another.

Rising stars like Qu Chang Feng, Fang Tian Zhong, Wei Gu Chang, and other leaders of the younger generation on Shadowed Star all broke through around this age, as did Yang Kai.

However, as a cultivator’s strength advanced, they would age slower, allowing them to retain their youthful appearances.

Yang Kai was thirteen years old when he entered High Heaven Pavilion, and now looking back, it had been about twenty or thirty years since then.

Yet, he was now just a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator!

It was not an exaggeration to say that any randomly chosen cultivator from Star Emperor Mountain was comparable to Qu Chang Feng or Fang Tian Zhong.

Additionally, because Star Emperor Mountain had endured since ancient times, it possessed countless Secret Arts and Secret Techniques of the highest quality, allowing its cultivators to display combat prowess greater than outsiders in their own realm.

Once a Star Emperor Mountain disciple successfully broke through to the Origin Returning Realm before the age of forty, they would be able to descend from the mountain for life experience and to temper themselves; of course, this was done incognito.

The reason why the Ancient Yang Sect was destroyed overnight by Star Emperor Mountain two thousand years ago was because one such wandering disciple had been murdered by them.

For various reasons, the number of mid and high-level cultivators in Star Emperor Mountain was unusually large compared to the lower level disciples.

Among these lower-level disciples, their cultivations were uneven, but each one was quite young and immature. The youngest one, who was just recruited into Star Emperor Mountain a year ago, was only eleven years old, but already had a Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivation, one step away from entering the True Element Boundary.

This was unimaginable in any other Sect. Perhaps Heaven Battling Union or Thunder Typhoon Sect could cultivate such a disciple, but such cases were rare, while in Star Emperor Mountain, it was the norm.

At that age, Yang Kai had yet to even read up on the Martial Dao…

Today, two hundred members of Star Emperor Mountain gathered in the main square, but despite the crowd, there was no sound. All of them seemingly waited quietly for something with solemn expressions.

This crowd was naturally headed by Yang Xiu Zhu, Lin Yu Rao, and Chu Han Yi.

While waiting, the three met eyes and passed Divine Sense Messages between themselves frequently, as if deep in discussion.

After a long time, someone in the crowd could not help asking, “Brother Yang, didn’t you say that Sect Master had something important to announce? Why have we been waiting here for so long, yet not seen any trace of Sect Master? This old master needs to go back and enter seclusion to finish cultivating his Shocking Wave Burst technique, this matter cannot be delayed!”

“Yes, Brother Yang, you said that Sect Master has something important to tell us all, which is why this old woman left her cave mansion. This old woman’s White Dragon Pill is in the final stages of refinement. If something were to happen to it, are you able to compensate this old woman for her losses?” Another old woman yelled impatiently.

As soon as these two spoke up, everyone else began shouting as well.

Most of these people were in retreat in their secluded homes all year round, cultivating Secret Arts or Secret Technique, or practising Artifact Refining or Alchemy. Usually, they refused to go out, so it was quite rare to see so many of them gathered together at once.

Two days ago, Yang Xiu Zhu, Lin Yu Rao, and Chu Han Yi had sent out a joint message saying that the Sect Master was calling for an assembly to discuss an important matter.

Although the three of them weren’t in the current leadership’s favour, their reputations from the past were still apparent, so when all three of them sent out such a message, naturally not many dared to ignore them and arrived one after another.

After waiting for a long time though with the Sect Master nowhere to be seen, it was only natural that complaints would arise.

“Everyone please remain calm and wait a moment longer!” Yang Xiu Zhu shouted, raising his eyes towards the horizon but unfortunately not seeing what he was looking for still.

“Until when do you expect us to wait?” An old woman said with a disgruntled look, coldly snorting as she slammed her cane against the ground, “Let me state this clearly, this old woman will give you face and wait one stick of incense worth of time more. After that, if the Sect Master does not show up, this old woman will leave. Don’t blame this old woman for not telling you in advance.”

“Indeed!” Someone echoed, a slight look of suspicion appearing on his face a moment later, “Brother Yang, since when did your relationship with Sect Master improve so much? Why did he choose you to convey his instructions? Isn’t this kind of announcement normally Elder’s Bai responsibility?”

He vaguely remembered that Yang Xiu Zhu and the Sect Master did not see eye to eye.

“Yang Xiu Zhu, your courage isn’t small!” An angry shout suddenly came from the distance. Along with this shout, a red light shot over and soon landed in front of the crowd, dispersing to reveal three figures.

“Bai Xi!” Yang Xiu Zhu narrowed his eyes as he looked towards the leader of this group, a faint trace of fear flashing across his eyes.

This grey-haired old man wore brown robes and had a stoic look of indifference on his face while the powerful Shi and Saint Qi fluctuations which pulsed around his body demonstrated that he was a peak Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master.

If Yang Kai was here, he would definitely recognize this person.

This old man was the one who had attacked him with the Annihilation Thunder Bead in Fallen Emperor Mountain that day.

“Elder Bai!” Seeing this old man appear, many people in the crowd bowed and saluted.

Bai Xi held the position of Great Elder in Star Emperor Mountain, and although many people here had the same cultivation as him, it was natural to give him some respect due to his position. Additionally, Bai Xi was a crony of the Sect Master, so others had to take the initiative to salute him.

However, seeing Bai Xi’s raging appearance, everyone was puzzled and wondered why he was so angry.

“Yang Xiu Zhu, after not seeing you for just a few months, you’ve gotten much bolder, even daring to fabricate a command from the Sect Master! Tell me, what are you plotting here?” Bai Xi glared fiercely as he shouted at Yang Xiu Zhu.

“What? Faking the Sect Master’s command?” An exclamation came from the crowd and in an instant, countless stunned and suspicious eyes stared towards Yang Xiu Zhu and the others.

Such a matter had never happened before on Star Emperor Mountain. With Star Emperor Mountain having so few members, everyone was as close as blood brothers and sisters, so while they quarrelled, there were rarely any true fights among them.

Why had Yang Xiu Zhu been willing to risk universal condemnation by falsifying a command from the Sect Master?

What did he hope to achieve by doing this?

Bai Xi was a close confidant of the Sect Master, so since he said the order was false, it definitely was.

“You believe this old master faked a command from the Sect Master?” Yang Xiu Zhu stared back angrily at Bai Xi and sneered, “This old master is not so bold as to ignore the ancestor’s decrees. All of Star Emperor Mountain reveres the Sect Master as our leader, this old master is well aware of this credence as well as the punishment which awaits all those who violate it!”

“Good!” Bai Xi also sneered, “This Bai met with Sect Master less than a cup of tea ago and rushed here straight afterwards. If Sect Master had issued any instructions to assemble, how could this Bai not know about them?”

“Because you don’t need to know!” Before Yang Xiu Zhu could answer, a tender yet resolute voice echoed through the air.

Immediately after, in a flash, the figure of a beautiful woman wearing noble and elegant robes strangely appeared and stood proudly mid-air, her pair of phoenix eyes gazing down like icy blades.

Bai Xi turned back abruptly, and when he saw this figure, he was so shocked he could not help calling out hoarsely, “Sect Master Ye!”

“Senior Sister Ye!”

“It’s Senior Sister Ye! Impossible, didn’t Senior Sister Ye already perish? Is this old master getting on in years and seeing things?”

“Is that you, Senior Sister Ye? It’s you isn’t it?” The old woman who had been arguing with Yang Xiu Zhu just now suddenly shot forward, her body trembling as she stared at Ye Xi Yun with a look of surprise and confusion.

Ye Xi Yun turned to this old woman and smiled, “I haven’t seen you in a hundred years, Junior Sister Lan’s heart seems to have matured much!”

Xu Xin Lan was shocked, and tears soon filled her eyes, but she still let out a burst of happy laughter, “Senior Sister Ye’s elegant demeanour has only grown stronger. Junior Sister did not expect that she would be fortunate enough to see Senior Sister once more in this lifetime!”

“Many thanks for Junior Sister’s concerns. Because of the machinations of certain individuals, I’ve had been forced to live in seclusion for the past hundred years.” Ye Xi Yun said softly.

“Someone dared plot against Senior Sister? Who dares!” Xu Xin Lan suddenly roared, her expression becoming cold and vicious. Suddenly thinking of something though, a touch of gloom appeared between her brow as she gloomily asked, “Could it be…”

“En,” Ye Xi Yun gently nodded, “This Queen has returned to settle these old accounts and to clean up the Sect.”

“Good!” Xu Xin Lan grit her teeth and shouted, “Junior Sister will join you. Even if Junior Sister dies here, she must gnaw off a piece of that animal’s life!”

As these two spoke, the two hundred cultivators assembled on the main square all had their minds sharply turned.

Although most of these people were in retreat on Star Emperor Mountain all year round, even ignorant of Ye Xi Yun’s appearance in the outside world, participation in the Battle of Dragon Cave Mountain, and subsequent joining of High Heaven Sect, with just these few words, they were clear about what had transpired. They were aloof of worldly affairs, but not stupid, so with just a little thought, they understood the cause and effects of this matter.

Even if they didn’t know all the details, forming an educated guess which closely approximated the truth wasn’t difficult.

Conspiring against the previous Sect Master, driving her away from Star Emperor Mountain, seeking power to usurp the throne, rebelling against the Sect! These were unforgivable crimes on Star Emperor Mountain.

What’s more, among these two hundred people, many were notified by Yang Xiu Zhu in advance and understood that there would be such a big show today. Now that Ye Xi Yun had returned, these people were naturally overjoyed.

All of them had received some degree of favour from Ye Xi Yun in the past.

When Ye Xi Yun was in charge of Star Emperor Mountain, their cultivation environment was much better than it was now, and since Ye Xi Yun disappeared, their treatment had become noticeably worse.

Comparing the two sides, many naturally hoped that Ye Xi Yun would return to power again.

Moreover, such a return was more than justified!

A hundred years ago, Ye Xi Yun was already the strongest master on Shadowed Star. Now that a hundred years had passed, it was likely that her strength was even greater, so who else was more qualified to assume the position of Sect Master?

Even Yang Xiu Zhu and the other peak Third-Order Origin Realm masters were inferior to Ye Xi Yun in terms of age and strength.