Martial Peak

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yang Kai instantly began looking around, and noticing this, Meng Wu Ya seemed to know who he was looking for, grinned meaningfully, and took the initiative to speak, “Ning Chang is at a critical moment of her retreat, so it’s not convenient for her to see you, but I’m sure she will the moment she exits her seclusion. En, as for your Grand Master, he does not live in Nine Heavens Holy Land but instead over at War Spirit Temple’s former grounds together with your Yang Family and the others from that side.”

“En, I’ll visit them later,” Yang Kai took a deep breath, calming his mood a little.

Back then, he had brought his relatives and friends from the Great Han Dynasty to Tong Xuan Realm, but since Nine Heavens Holy Land didn’t have enough space to house them all, Yang Kai decided to have them stay in the former War Spirit Temple and Shattering Mystical Palace ruins a thousand or so kilometres away. These two great forces used to be enemies with Yang Kai but were both wiped out by him in the end. However, their Sect foundations were left behind, so it was the perfect ready-made place to settle the cultivators from the Great Han Dynasty.

After several dozen years, his friends and relatives from the Great Han Dynasty had also settled down and developed steadily. Protected by Nine Heavens Holy Land, they lived a safe and worry-free life, as if they had come to a paradise.

With so many old acquaintances meeting each other, the atmosphere was naturally quite lively.

The Holy Master returning to the Sect was a grand, joyous event for Nine Heavens Holy Land. After everyone welcomed Yang Kai back to the main peak, Great Elder Xu Hui ordered a big banquet to be arranged immediately.

Anyone with even the slightest status in the Holy Land attended.

No one asked Yang Kai where he had been and what he had done these past few decades, all of them simply happy he had returned safely and was now sitting and chatting with them just as before.

The atmosphere of the banquet was noisy, as everybody raised their glasses over and over again. Even women like Li Rong and Han Fei got drunk.

This night was doomed to be sleepless.

The banquet started at sunset and continued into the early morning.

Most of the people present had already drunk several rounds, with only Xu Hui remaining perfectly sober.

At a certain point, Yang Kai called out to him.

“Holy Master, what are your orders?” Xu Hui asked respectfully.

“How have the Hu Sisters been all these years?” Yang Kai asked casually as he watched the sunrise over Tong Xuan Realm he had not seen in so long.

“Reporting to Holy Master, the Hu Sisters have been very well these past few years. The two of them have been cultivating diligently in Twin Spirit Pavilion, and with Wu Fa and Wu Tian’s careful guidance, their growth has been quite astonishing. A few years ago, the two sisters broke through to the Saint Realm and took up the mantle of Tong Xuan Realm’s most glorious rising stars!”

“En,” Yang Kai lightly nodded.

His relatives and friends from the Great Han Dynasty had all basically been settled in the ruins of War Spirit Temple and Shattering Mystical Palace, but the Hu Sisters, who had inherited the Twin Qi Shared Spirit Divine Art, the foundational inheritance of Twin Spirit Pavilion, had chosen to live and cultivate there instead.

With the aptitude of the two sisters and the magical Secret Art they cultivated, it was only natural for them to reach the Saint Realm after several dozen years.

However, this was only the expected result on Tong Xuan Realm’s with its extremely thin World Energy. If the two sisters had instead lived on Shadowed Star, their achievements would be far greater than this.

They would definitely be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Qu Chang Feng and Fang Tian Zhong.

“Contact Hu Jiao’er and Hu Mei’er and tell them to come to Nine Heavens Holy Land,” Yang Kai ordered.

“Right away!” Xu Hui hurriedly responded, a sly expression suddenly appearing on his face. “If they hear Holy Master has returned to the Sect, they will likely hurry over on their own even without an invitation.”

Yang Kai glanced over at him sideways, to which Xu Hui just smiled dryly.

“Also, send a message to the Great Seniors of the Monster Race asking them to come to Nine Heavens Holy Land. I have something I wish to discuss with them.”

“Yes, Subordinate will see to it immediately. Does Holy Master have any other instructions?”

“No, go on.”

Xu Hui bowed and withdrew, not bothering to ask anything, simply going about the tasks he had been assigned.

Looking back at the messy palace, Yang Kai grinned before his figure flickered and he disappeared to somewhere else on the Nine Peaks.

The place he arrived at was none other than the room where Little Senior Sister Xia Ning Chang was currently in retreat. Standing outside this cultivation room, Yang Kai could smell Xia Ning Chang’s gentle scent and could not help feeling refreshed.

He did not know what Xia Ning Chang was in retreat to cultivate, but he didn’t intend to bother her, instead just quietly releasing his Divine Sense to check on her a bit.

With his current tyrannical cultivation, this kind of silent investigation would be impossible for Xia Ning Chang to detect.

He only wanted to see if everything was well with his Little Senior Sister, but when his Divine Sense swept over where Xia Ning Chang was, he could not help frowning as a look of shock filled his face.

Xia Ning Chang’s cultivation… had reached the Second-Order Saint King Realm!

[How is that possible?] Yang Kai almost thought something was wrong with his senses.

He quickly and carefully investigated the situation, but no matter how he saw it, his previous thoughts seemed to be correct.

Little Senior Sister Xia Ning Chang really was a Second-Order Saint King!

Yang Kai was thoroughly astonished.

Although he was now a Second-Order Origin Realm master, a full Great Realm higher than Little Senior Sister, that was because he had been in the Star Field for several dozen years. Only with the nourishment of abundant World Energy and many opportunities was he able to possess his current cultivation.

Even if Little Senior Sister was an astonishing talent, in Tong Xuan Realm, a place where the World Energy aura was so thin, it should have been absolutely impossible for her to reach the Second-Order Saint King Realm. The aura here simply could not meet the requirements to break through to such a realm.

It was not an exaggeration to say that with this kind of cultivation, Xia Ning Chang already stood far above the peak of all of Tong Xuan Realm. If she was willing to, she could subdue the entire star on her own.

In the past, Great Demon God was able to reach the First-Order Saint King Realm, yet Little Senior Sister had managed to go a step further than even him.

But how did she do it?

Yang Kai was startled and uncertain. Sometimes, such an accident was not a good thing.

He began to investigate Xia Ning Chang’s status more carefully.

But at that moment, the Saint Qi in Xia Ning Chang’s body seemed to become disordered and there were signs of it roiling through her meridians. Little Senior Sister unconsciously groaned as a look of pain appeared on her pretty face. Obviously, she was suffering greatly.

“Cultivation deviation!” Yang Kai’s complexion darkened, his figure flickering and arriving beside Xia Ning Chang in the next instant.

Stretching out his hand to her back, Yang Kai’s powerful Saint Qi burst forth.

Cultivation deviation was an extremely dangerous situation, and if he had been a cultivator in the same realm, there would have been nothing he could have done to help. In fact, external interference in such a situation would likely just make the situation worse.

Ordinarily, cultivation deviation could only be resolved by the party in question through great effort and perseverance.

But Yang Kai was currently an entire Great Realm higher than Xia Ning Chang in terms of cultivation, so it was not a problem for him to assist her.

Under Yang Kai’s guidance, the Saint Qi in Xia Ning Chang’s body gradually stabilized, and the pained look on her pretty face subsided.

Yang Kai finally felt relieved.

As the disordered Saint Qi in her body was smoothed, Xia Ning Chang seemed to feel that someone was helping her, her long eyelashes trembling a few times before her beautiful eyes opened.

The next moment, a mixed look of joy and loss flashed across her face.

She smiled sweetly, stretched out her delicate jade white hand, and touched Yang Kai’s cheek, whispering under her breath, “I can only see you in my dreams, so I hope… this is a long one, so I won’t have to wake up alone again.”

She obviously thought she was dreaming.

Yang Kai felt a deep pain in his heart, as if someone had grabbed hold of it and clenched tightly, making it almost impossible to breathe.

Although he opened his mouth, Yang Kai found no words.

Back then, he had hot-bloodedly left Tong Xuan Realm, and although his goal was to look for Su Yan, doing so had clearly caused Xia Ning Chang deep pain.

But at that time, she had not tried to stop him in the slightest, instead supporting Yang Kai’s decision completely.

She had shown incredible kindness when she asked Yang Kai to find Su Yan and bring her home.

After more than thirty years though, Yang Kai still had not found Su Yan but had forced Little Senior Sister to spend more than thirty years in loneliness.

He felt deeply ashamed of himself for wronging this gentle and innocent woman and blamed himself entirely.

“Rest, rest well, everything is fine now,” Yang Kai embraced Xia Ning Chang and gently poured his Saint Qi into her body, causing her to fall asleep.

Xia Ning Chang blinked as a trace of nostalgia flashed across her beautiful eyes. She seemed unwilling to just fall asleep and she wanted to keep her eyes open to continue gazing upon the man in front of her.

But in the end, she could not resist Yang Kai’s methods and her eyelids eventually grew heavy, sealing shut as she breathed smoothly.

Yang Kai stared at her with a gentleness in his eyes that could melt the coldest of hearts. Next, however, as he gently cradled her, his Divine Sense locked onto a certain position in Xia Ning Chang’s body.

His face suddenly becoming menacing, he shouted sharply, “Get out!”

As he shouted, Yang Kai pressed his hand towards Xia Ning Chang’s abdomen and sent out a majestic pulse of Saint Qi.

All at once, he grasped and pulled out a grey mass of energy from Xia Ning Chang’s body.

As soon as this grey aura left Xia Ning Chang, it began screaming and struggling, as if it possessed its own sentience and was desperately trying to escape from Yang Kai’s clutches.

Yang Kai’s face sank as he quickly increased his Saint Qi output. At the same time, several dozen Golden Blood Threads shot out and fused together in a dazzling golden light. After the radiance faded, the several dozen Golden Blood Threads had woven together to form a net around the grey aura.

Yang Kai stared at this strange object coldly as he continued using his Divine Sense to scan it, wanting to figure out what it was.

When he had sent his Saint Qi into Xia Ning Chang’s meridians just now, he accidentally discovered this grey Qi hidden in her body.

He had not taken action immediately, instead choosing to let Little Senior Sister fall asleep peacefully before dealing with it.

He did not know if Xia Ning Chang’s cultivation deviation was related to this grey aura, but he could tell it was not something she had cultivated herself and was instead some kind of foreign object. What he could not tell, however, was why it was attached to her.

It did not seem to be some type of Soul, because Xia Ning Chang showed no trace of being taken over.

[If so, what is it?] Yang Kai frowned deeply as even with his knowledge and experience; he couldn’t identify what this mass of grey Qi was.

The battering sounds continued as the grey aura flickered back and forth inside the golden net, like a beast trapped in a cage, unable to escape.

Suddenly, Yang Kai raised his brow as he showed a look of surprise.

He felt traces of Xia Ning Chang’s life and Soul Brand inside this mass of grey Qi.

Which meant Xia Ning Chang knew about its existence and had refined it.

However, Yang Kai still felt like this was not anything good as it seemed to have a kind of invisible connection with Little Senior Sister, and this connection caused Little Senior Sister’s vital aura to also turn somewhat grey!

This discovery made Yang Kai’s heart sink even further.

If his judgment was not wrong, then this mass of grey Qi and Little Senior Sister shared a symbiotic relationship. If one suffered, both suffered, if one prospered, both prospered. If he rashly destroyed it, Little Senior Sister would likely die as well.