Martial Peak

When entering Shimmering Moon City, Monster Race cultivators only needed to pay three Mid-Rank Saint Crystals, but Yang Kai needed to pay one High-Rank Saint Crystal.

Regarding this, Yang Kai had no complaints. After paying two High-Rank Saint Crystals, he entered the city together with Xia Ning Chang.

The extremely spacious street was large enough to accommodate several carts driving side by side, and on both sides of the street was a wide variety of shops that had dazzling wears on display. Human and Monster Race cultivators went to and fro, creating a bustling atmosphere.

The owners of these shops also attended to their customers with great zeal, actively soliciting business for their stores.

Yang Kai walked around the streets and soon discovered that most of these stores were opened by humans, with stores run by Monster Race cultivators being the minority.

In terms of business, humans obviously had more talent than the Monster Race.

Observing the wares along the road, Yang Kai’s eyes gradually brightened.

He found many cultivation materials on this Monster Emperor Star that were not available on Shadowed Star. This was normal though, as every star had its own unique products.

Monster Emperor Star was a Cultivation Star that was dominated by the Monster Race, so here, the most common goods on the market were naturally Monster Beast parts and Monster Cores.

When he discovered this, Yang Kai could not help feeling shocked.

He had not expected that everyone was openly selling Monster Beast parts in a city ruled by the Monster Race.

This was genuinely surprising; after all, many Monster Race cultivators were born as Monster Beasts, so didn’t they feel disgusted by such businesses?

It would be the equivalent of someone in a city on Shadowed Star selling human limbs or organs… no one would patronize such a shop.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Yang Kai relaxed and found this practice quite reasonable. Since the business of selling Monster Beast parts was thriving, everyone had become accustomed to it. What’s more, not all of the Monster Race were transformed from Monster Beasts, and even those who were would have plenty of experience killing other, weaker Monster Beasts when they too were Monster Beasts in order to consume their flesh and swallow their cores to strengthen themselves.

Yang Kai began simply observing with interest.

“Junior Brother, there are so many high-end materials here,” Xia Ning Chang’s eyes also shined brightly.

On Tong Xuan Realm, she was restricted by the level of materials available and could not refine higher grade pills, but after arriving here on Monster Emperor Star, it was like she had just entered a giant treasure trove. The dazzling array of high-end materials made her wish she could buy them all then go back and refine pills immediately.

Now that she had refined its Star Source, the prosperity or decline of Tong Xuan Realm was closely related to her cultivation, so Xia Ning Chang could not wait to improve her strength.

To her, performing Alchemy was the same as cultivating, and by doing so she could rapidly improve her strength.

“En, it’s a pity that we don’t have that many Saint Crystals left,” Yang Kai also felt the situation was a bit troublesome.

Since Xia Ning Chang took a fancy to these materials, how could he not? However, most of the Saint Crystals he had brought with him had been used up when Xia Ning Chang refined the Star Source. What he had left was only some reserves and were not enough to purchase these materials in large quantities.

Seeing the disappointment in Xia Ning Chang’s eyes, however, Yang Kai smiled lightly and said, “But, buying a few ingredients should not be a problem.”

Little Senior Sister smiled immediately as her eyes bent into happy crescents.

The two quickly walked into a nearby shop and began checking out its wares while bargaining with the owner.

Half a day later, Xia Ning Chang’s Space Ring was filled with many Alchemy materials.

There were also many valuable treasures in Yang Kai’s Space Ring. There were herbs he obtained from the floating continent and Emperor Garden in the past, along with others he had brought with him from Shadowed Star. If these herbs were paired with the right Monster Beast parts and Monster Cores, Yang Kai would be able to use many of the ancient pill recipes in the True Alchemy Enlightenment Scripture.

Yang Kai had not been able to acquire the materials needed for these ancient pill recipes so far because most of them required specific Monster Beast parts or Monster Cores, and on Shadowed Star, the number of powerful Monster Beasts was quite low. Even the cleverest woman could not cook a meal without rice.

But on Monster Emperor Star, many things satisfied his requirements. If nothing else, the amount of Monster Beast materials here was enormous.

Yang Kai was already considering whether he should stay in this place for a while and search through it carefully.

In addition to Alchemy materials, cultivating Blood Beasts as well as refining Origin King Grade Spirit Pills required Monster Beasts.

However… not having enough Saint Crystals was a big problem.

After buying these materials, Yang Kai brought Xia Ning Chang to the nearest inn and asked for a good courtyard.

Although the architectural style of Shimmering Moon City was quite wild and rough, the rooms in the courtyard Yang Kai booked were quite delicate. Besides having an excellent environment, this courtyard also had barriers around each of its rooms which could block the Divine Senses of others.

This was to ensure the privacy of guests.

The owner of this inn was a Monster Race cultivator, but he was not as domineering as others of the Monster Race. On the contrary, this old man was quite amiable and he warmly received Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang, changing the pair’s impressions of the Monster Race, somewhat.

After settling Xia Ning Chang in, Yang Kai left the inn and began to search for information in Shimmering Moon City.

He hadn’t forgotten that his main purpose in coming here was to look for Shan Qing Luo. Currently, the biggest problem he had was finding a way to approach the Red Moon Tribal Lord’s palace.

After staying in Shimmering Moon City for several days, Yang Kai was no closer to finding a solution to this problem.

Instead, he had bought some precious Monster Beast materials using the limited Saint Crystals he had left.

“Young man, you seem to have something on your mind.”

On a certain day, while Yang Kai was drinking at the inn, lost in thought, the owner walked over with a smile, set down a plate of snacks, then sat down opposite him.

“These past few days it seems you’ve been looking for people to inquire about how to visit Lady Tribal Lord’s palace, but why do you want to see Lady Tribal Lord?” The old man from the Monster Race, who appeared about sixty years old, had a rickety waist and amicable smile. In recent days, he had taken care of Yang Kai well and done his best to satisfy any requests the latter had.

Seeing the owner sitting down on his own initiative, Yang Kai chuckled and replied, “To tell you the truth, Old Man, I’m not asking about Lady Tribal Lord’s palace because I wish to see her.”

“Oh?” The owner of the inn looked at him with interest, “Then what do you want to do? Do you realize that your inquiries had begun to attract the attention of many people? The Monster Race isn’t too friendly to humans here.”

“I understand,” Yang Kai gently nodded. He had indeed noticed how over the past few days, whenever he asked about this topic, the Monster Race cultivators he spoke with either mocked him or dismissed him. Some even spoke ill of and threatened him.

If it were not for the laws Chi Yue had instated, it was likely the Monster Race cultivators would have attacked him already.

A trivial human daring to inquire about Lady Tribal Lord’s palace really did not know the immensity of Heaven and Earth.

“You don’t want to see Lady Tribal Lord? Then what do you want?” The inn owner asked.

“Actually, I have a friend who should be in Lady Tribal Lord’s palace, one who I haven’t seen in several dozen years. The last time we met we were forced to make an abrupt farewell, without even enough time to say a proper goodbye, so this time I wanted to meet with them and have a good chat,” Yang Kai answered honestly.

“A friend… heh heh, a woman, right?” The owner of the inn smiled meaningfully with an expression that said he knew everything already.

Yang Kai gave a dry laugh.

“Does that woman like you?” The inn owner asked again.

“Old Sir must enjoy gossiping,” Yang Kai flushed slightly.

The old man just smiled lightly in response, not pressing the subject anymore and instead just saying with some emotion, “Young man, you’re quite fortunate. That woman you came here with is also a good girl, simple and pure, yet outside there is another woman who keeps you in her heart. En, this old man is somewhat envious.”

Shifting the subject, the old man continued, “Actually, if you want to know what is happening in the palace, it’s actually quite simple.”

“Oh? Please enlighten me, Old Sir,” Yang Kai immediately became energetic and asked humbly.

“Every month, some people will leave the palace to purchase supplies from the surrounding towns. Shimmering Moon City is not too far from the palace, and it is also quite prosperous, so it is generally regarded as one of the primary destinations for such trips. You only need to wait a few days in order to see some of the maidservants from the palace here; if you’re lucky, it might even be the woman you wish to meet.”

He obviously thought the same as the previous Monster Race cultivator, that Yang Kai’s friend was a maidservant in the palace.

After all, most humans who were able to enter the palace of Lady Tribal Lord had such statuses.

Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.

Although the owner of the inn had misunderstood the identity of Shan Qing Luo, this wasn’t a problem.

If one of the maidservants that came out from the palace could pass Shan Qing Luo a message from him, then everything would be solved.

“Many thanks, Old Sir!” Yang Kai cupped his fists happily.

“It’s fine, this old man didn’t do anything worthy of thanks.”

“Old Sir,” Yang Kai looked at him curiously and asked, “I feel that your attitude towards humans is very different from others of the Monster Race, do you not discriminate against humans?”

“Discriminate? Why should I?” The owner of the inn looked at Yang Kai with a smile, “You humans are fine the way you are. This old man once knew a very special human when he was young…”

Yang Kai clearly saw a strong, almost inexhaustible tenderness flash across the old man’s eyes at that moment.

Yang Kai suddenly understood something then.

“Never mind, just pretend I didn’t say anything. Young Man, take your time, this old man is getting on in years and needs to lie down for a while,” The owner of the inn suddenly became somewhat disinterested and saying so, stood up to leave, his waist seemingly even more rickety than before.

Yang Kai sighed at this sight.

It seemed that when this inn owner was young, he was in love with a human woman.

Love across races was something that was the subject of disgust in any place, not to mention this was Monster Emperor Star, where the Monster Race ruled supreme and humans had no status whatsoever.

It was precisely because such love was forbidden in many places that inter-racial couples were often split apart and eventually forced into committing suicide, inspiring many an epic story.

Yang Kai did not think too much about this issue, however, simply drinking a few glasses of wine before returning to his courtyard. After updating Xia Ning Chang, who was still studying Alchemy, Yang Kai went straight to the city gate.

According to the owner of the inn, it would be a few days before the maidservants from the palace came here to purchase supplies, but Yang Kai intended to get there ahead of time and come up with a way to send a message to Shan Qing Luo.