Martial Peak

Above the wilderness, eight Origin Kings looked towards Yang Kai, waiting for his reply.

Over a thousand other cultivators had their eyes focused on Yang Kai as well, and for a moment, Qian Tong’s breakthrough to the Origin King Realm faded into the background.

Xu Bin Bai stood to the side and smiled, seemingly not surprised at all. To him, it was only natural that Yang Kai had attracted the attention of so many people.

“Several Seniors’ intentions, Junior understands very well,” Yang Kai nodded faintly, “But please forgive this Junior for speaking presumptuously. This Junior is flattered and thankful, but I am afraid this Junior is not fated to receive several Seniors’ blessings.”

“Uh…” Old Jiu was stunned, obviously not having anticipated Yang Kai would refuse so many sincere invitations from all of the Origin Kings who were trying to win him over.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take some more to consider this matter?” Li Wan Ning was also quite surprised. All of these Origin Kings had been certain that Yang Kai would not refuse such an invitation and would accept at least one of them.

However, he actually rejected all of them, a truly surprising turn of events.

The cultivators who were watching also flew into an uproar!

“Is this boy an idiot? So many great opportunities were laid out in front of his eyes, yet he plans to actually refuse all of them?”

“There’s definitely something wrong with this brat’s head. Why are all of us even here? Isn’t it to seek opportunities and resources? Now that all these benefits were offered to him, doesn’t he want any of them? Why didn’t I receive this kind of Heaven sent opportunity? The injustice of it all!”

“Senior Jiu, I am willing to join the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, please take me with you.”

“Senior Lei, I have long admired Sword Union, please be sure to accept me.”

“Senior Li…”

The scene descended into chaos as the invitations of all eight Origin King Realm masters were rejected by Yang Kai. The Origin Kings also felt slightly uncomfortable having been rejected like this, and when they saw others yelling towards them suddenly, their expressions sank, and they released some of their strength.

No one present could withstand the anger of an Origin King and realizing that these masters weren’t in a good mood, the clatter abruptly stopped, with no one daring to act presumptuous again.

“Little brother, are you certain?” Li Wan Ning looked at Yang Kai in disbelief. She really did not understand why Yang Kai was so indifferent. The conditions she offered weren’t bad and could even be said to be extremely generous. Moreover, she had even offered to personally guide him in his cultivation.

The personal guidance of an Origin King Realm master was something that all Origin Returning Realm cultivators dreamed of.

Was he not tempted at all?

“That’s right, please think twice about this,” Old Jiu looked at Yang Kai unwillingly.

Yang Kai, however, just slowly shook his head, smiled, and said, “Junior really must decline several Seniors good intentions. Junior simply has no plans to join any great force currently.”

Hearing him say this, everyone showed a look of regret; after all, they had just missed out on such a good seedling and only the Heavens knew when they would run into another in the future.

“Alright, Alright. Since this little brother doesn’t want to join any of you, there’s no need to force the issue. Besides, aren’t there still many good candidates here?” Luo Hai smiled gently.

“En, a forcefully picked melon is not sweet, this old master won’t insist any further. However, little brother, if you ever feel like joining my Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce someday, just go to Water Moon Star to find this old master. The doors of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce will always be open to you and the conditions this old master offered will remain unchanged,” Old Jiu nodded lightly to Yang Kai.

“The same goes for my Sword Union,” The old woman surnamed Lei immediately said.

The other Origin Kings expressed similar opinions, saying that if Yang Kai wanted to join them in the future, he could come look for them directly whenever he wanted.

…..

The Origin Kings gathered around Yang Kai then scattered and began to look for other outstanding candidates to recruit.

They had come to Green Mountains Star this time first to lead some of their own great force’s disciples to participate in the Blood Prison Trial, and second to recruit new talents after the trial ended.

Yang Kai’s performance had simply been too blinding, so he had become their first goal. Now that Yang Kai had refused their offers though, they naturally set their sights on other candidates.

In an instant, many people gathered around the Origin King Realm masters, all of them volunteering to join their forces.

Luo Hai didn’t move though.

Yang Kai turned to him, thought about it for a moment, then cupped his fists politely, “Many thanks Senior for your assistance, this Junior will keep this favour in mind.”

Luo Hai glanced at him and smiled lightly, “You’re welcome, this King is Green Mountains Star’s Star Master, so this is only what this King should do. En, looking at your face, it seems you have some concerns bothering you right now. Could the one breaking through to the Origin King right now be your friend?”

Yang Kai did not try to deny this, as in front of such a master denial served no purpose, simply nodding and saying, “Yes, he is one of my elders.”

“No wonder you aren’t interested in the offers of others, it turns out one of your Elders is going to break through to the Origin King Realm!” Luo Hai seemed to understand something and chuckled, “This King is also a little curious, where are you from? How come each of you seems to be so outstanding?”

While speaking, he glanced around at Yang Xiu Zhu, Chu Han Yi and Lin Yu Rao who had all been standing beside Yang Kai. With Luo Hai’s eyesight, he was naturally able to see that each of these three had cultivated to the very peak of the Origin Returning Realm, which meant they only needed to achieve a slightly deeper comprehension of Shi in order to break through to the Origin King Realm.

In other words, these three were pinnacle masters in the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm.

Yang Kai knit his brow, and although feeling somewhat reluctant in his heart, he still replied, “We are from Shadowed Star.”

“Shadowed Star…” Luo Hai frowned, because despite being quite knowledgeable, he had never heard of Shadowed Star before. Glancing over at Yang Kai for a moment, however, he wore a meaningful smile and said, “It must be a good place!”

He clearly thought Yang Kai had casually fabricated the name of a Cultivation Star to fool him.

Luo Hai did not have any intention to pursue this issue though, as he fell silent and turned to stare outwards indifferently, as if he had sunk into contemplation.

Yang Kai also raised his eyes and focused his attention on Qian Tong’s location.

Over there, Qian Tong’s Shi had now spread out to a radius of a few thousand metres, and the swirling winds inside this range were becoming more and more violent. Small vortices combined to form bigger ones, while bigger ones split apart into several smaller ones in a constant dynamic situation.

The earth within this radius now appeared like it had been haphazardly plowed by an iron hoe, with criss-crossing ravines and ditches dug out in random directions.

What’s more, an astonishing and terrifying amount of World Energy had gathered high up into the sky, gradually forming a thick black cloud that blotted out the sun.

Yang Kai was both shocked and moved.

He noticed just how immense the World Energy hidden inside these dark clouds were and it was enough to frighten even him.

This was also not the end as the surrounding World Energy was still continuing to gather together.

As time passed by, the noisy scene gradually calmed, and the Origin Kings who had been recruiting talents gradually returned. Each of them had apparently gained a lot, but those they had gathered were offered vastly different treatment than what was offered to Yang Kai previously.

Not only did these newly recruited talents have to accept some difficult tests, even if they were to pass these tests and became eligible to join the great forces these Origin Kings represented, they could not enjoy the rich treatment Yang Kai would have.

No one dared to complain though.

Bargaining with an Origin King Realm master was no different than courting death!

All eyes were now staring towards Qian Tong’s location while the several Origin Kings who had once again gathered began whispering amongst themselves.

Soon, these Origin Kings seemed to obtain some information from Luo Hai and all of them turned to look at Yang Kai in astonishment and asked, “Little brother, is the person who is breaking through your Elder?”

“En.” Yang Kai nodded.

“Is his temperament the same as yours?” Old Jiu quipped.

They felt somewhat regretful being unable to win over Yang Kai, but there was another person more worthy of them trying to win over here, Qian Tong!

In the end, Yang Kai was just a good seedling with excellent aptitude, but his future was still uncertain.

The Star Field was vast and had so many geniuses living in it, but most of these geniuses would fall before they truly reached the peak of the Martial Dao. On the other hand, there were some who plodded along slowly but who would eventually have the last laugh as they simply managed to survive to reach a height where others had no choice but to look up to them.

Among the many Origin Kings present, not all of them had started out as top-level geniuses, but they were all now amongst the most powerful cultivators in the Star Field.

In short, Qian Tong and Yang Kai’s worth was vastly different at this moment; after all, once Qian Tong broke through successfully, he would be a genuine Origin King Realm!

There were not many Origin Kings in each great force, so even adding one more would greatly increase their overall strength.

It was obvious these Origin Kings would put in their best effort to win over Qian Tong!

Of course, this was all based on the premise that Qian Tong was able to break through successfully.

“Do several Seniors want to try winning him over?” Yang Kai quickly understood.

“Of course,” Old Jiu nodded.

“If that is the case, several Seniors might as well speak with him when the time comes, if he wishes to join any of you then this Junior will naturally not have any opinion.”

“Why you…” Old Jiu smiled helplessly.

With this matter temporarily settled, everyone fell silent and focused all their attention on Qian Tong’s approaching breakthrough.

At a certain moment, Yang Kai frowned suddenly and turned his eyes towards the thick black clouds high up in the sky, faintly feeling something was wrong.

He didn’t know why, but though this dark cloud had been growing continuously, and had drawn in all the World Energy within a ten thousand kilometre radius, it still hadn’t initiated Qian Tong’s baptism.

Breaking through to a new Great Realm would inevitably be accompanied by a World Energy baptism, after which a cultivator’s cultivation would truly rise.

However, the baptism still refused to begin, leaving only an extremely tense atmosphere.

“Brother Yang, the concentration of World Energy here is insufficient!” Xu Bin Bai suddenly moved to Yang Kai’s side and whispered.

“Is that a problem?” Yang Kai showed a look of surprise.

“En. Because I am at the peak of the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm, I can break through to the Origin King Realm at any time, but before attempting to do so, my Master had warned me that the most important thing to prepare is a place with sufficient World Energy!” Xu Bin Bai explained.

Yang Kai frowned.

Although the World Energy of Green Mountains Star was indeed quite good, there were naturally some places which were superior to others. The World Energy density in this vast wilderness was not very high and was obviously insufficient to meet the requirements of Qian Tong’s breakthrough.

“Is there a solution?” Yang Kai asked hurriedly.

“Of course, there is,” Before Xu Bin Bai could answer, Old Jiu suddenly laughed and interjected, “If there is not enough World Energy, one simply needs to supplement it. Saint Crystals are the best choice in this kind of situation. Little brother, if you wish to borrow some Saint Crystals from this old master, this old master will naturally oblige. Although this old master does not have much on him, he certainly has enough Saint Crystals to solve this little issue.”