Martial Peak

Chapter 2016, Quota

How many cultivators were there in Maplewood City?

This time alone, tens of thousands of Origin Kings and Origin Realm cultivators had entered the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, and there were still all the cultivators in lower realms as well. Although there was no exact statistics, the number of cultivators in Maplewood City was somewhere between 500,000 to 1,000,000.

With so many cultivators, even if the six Emperors worked tirelessly to check each of them one by one, the amount of time it would take was absurd.

What’s more, during such a long period of time, many unexpected events could occur.

So, this approach was completely impossible to achieve.

“Although we cannot be sure whether the Wood Spirit is dead, you may rest assured that after losing so many of its Wood Seeds, even if it is not dead, its foundation is likely severely damaged, so it won’t cause any trouble in the near future. You only need to instruct the cultivators in the city to inspect themselves regularly while taking some preventive measures,” Gao Xue Ting said lightly.

“This Duan will respectfully carry out Senior Gao’s orders!” The matter was done, and Duan Yuan Shan knew that there was no good way except this method, so he could only nod in agreement.

“Good, you should head out. We still have something to discuss!” Xiao Yu Yang suddenly waved his hand and said.

Duan Yuan Shan complained again and hurried back, not daring to be disrespectful.

Although this was his City Lord’s Mansion, the Emperors present were all from the most powerful forces in the Southern Territory, and he could not afford to provoke any of them. It was extremely rare to meet even one such master, much less six, so Duan Yuan Shan did not dare to disobey.

After Duan Yuan Shan left, Xiao Yu Yang suddenly stretched out his hand and waved, forming an invisible barrier around the group of six.

Vice President Ceng Yuan of Seven Glories Chamber of Commerce narrowed his eyes and asked with some surprise, “What is it that Senior Xiao wants to discuss that warrants such caution?”

“Is it because of the Wood Spirit?” Vice President Lou Chi of Violet Source Chamber of Commerce also asked in surprise.

Xiao Yu Yang smiled, “Naturally not, how could this King pay so much attention to a trivial Wood Spirit? What this King has to discuss with you is about the Shattered Star Sea.”

“Shattered Star Sea?”

As soon as this statement came out, the other five Emperors could not help turning solemn.

Feng Ming of Orthodoxy Temple thoughtfully asked, “Senior Xiao means… The Shattered Star Sea is about to open?”

The others also looked at Xiao Yu Yang excitedly, as they cared very deeply about the Shattered Star Sea.

“A few days ago, according to a message from the Great Emperor, the entrance to the Shattered Star Sea is indeed about to open, but as for exactly when it will happen, the Great Emperor has still yet to determine. I am simply informing all of you now,” Xiao Yu Yang turned to the south and slightly cupped his fists.

Everyone naturally knew who the Great Emperor he spoke of was.

In the entire Southern Territory, the only one of the Ten Great Emperors was the Sect Master of Star Soul Palace: Bright Moon Great Emperor!

“Since the Great Emperor has said so, it should not be wrong,” Gao Xue Ting said, lightly nodding. “Senior Xiao, may we inform our respective Sects about this matter?”

Xiao Yu Yang smiled, “Junior Sister Gao need not worry, the Great Emperor has already dispatched messengers to each of your Sects to inform them about this. Since we have all gathered here though, I am simply taking this opportunity to discuss it with you.”

“So that’s how it is!” Chen Wen Hao nodded and said, “Although we all belong to the same Southern Territory, it is still a rare occurrence to gather together like this, especially for our six great forces. Taking this opportunity to discuss some matters is truly a great idea.”

“That was the Great Emperor’s intention. This way, we will save some time and effort,” Xiao Yu Yang smiled and said, “All of you know that the reason why this Shattered Star Sea was born is related to the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor. Back then, the Heaven Devouring Great Emperor was so arrogant that he dared to swallow all things in creation in order to enhance his strength. Even the sun, moon, and stars could not escape his clutches. In the end, however, he aroused the anger of the Heavens and was thus purged by the world itself.”

“Ahem…” Feng Ming lightly coughed, and said, “Senior Xiao, there’s no need to mention such falsehoods with us.”

Xiao Yu Yang chuckled, “Naturally. This is only the story the average cultivator knows of, while those of us here understand the real truth of this matter. However, during that battle, it is true that worlds collapsed, and the order of Heaven and Earth was shattered, leading to the creation of the Shattered Star Sea, a broken, but Self-Contained World. Unfortunately, although the Shattered Star Sea is vast, only Dao Source Realm juniors may enter it. If an Emperor were to rashly try to intrude, it may destabilize the pathway to the Shattered Star Sea and force it to close. One must know that there are many Shattered and even complete Star Sources inside that place, which are of great benefit even to us.”

As soon as this statement came out, the other five Emperors also showed a look of yearning.

Quickly though, everyone sighed again.

Gao Xue Ting followed up, “For that reason, we Emperors have never been allowed to enter the Shattered Star Sea since it first formed. If that were not the case, I would have liked to enter it to explore.”

“If Junior Sister Gao is interested, you can try,” Feng Ming chuckled.

Gao Xue Ting coldly snorted, “I’d rather not be killed by the Great Emperor. If Senior Brother Feng does not take his life seriously, he is free to make an attempt.”

Feng Ming tapped his nose and grinned, not saying anything more.

“Although we cannot enter, the disciples from our forces can, and they are more than capable of bringing back Star Sources with them, so why should we worry? If any of you wish to sell some Star Sources when the time comes, my Seven Glories Chamber of Commerce will purchase all of them, regardless of the cost!” Ceng Yuan smiled lightly.

“I will second that notion. My Violet Source Chamber of Commerce has vast business dealings and can definitely afford to buy a few Star Sources,” Lou Chi quickly added.

The Vice Presidents of the two big chambers of commerce glanced at each other and smiled, sparks seemingly flying between them.

“The two of you must be sleep talking,” Xiao Yu Yang chuckled. “But enough about this, we do not even know when the specific opening time of the Shattered Star Sea will be, so discussing how to divvy up the gains from it is a bit premature. Regardless, the opening of the Shattered Star Sea is a great event in my Southern Territory, so once the news spreads, there is certain to be some chaos, especially with the limited number of entry quotas. What we need to discuss now is exactly these quotas, or more precisely, how many quotas each Sect may occupy.”

…..

Inside his secluded home, with all the barriers open, Yang Kai left the Sealed World Bead on the floor and entered inside.

Inside, he transplanted the spirit grasses and medicines he obtained from the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda into his medicine garden one by one.

He could only recognize less than half of these herbs and was unable to even tell what their purpose was.

The few multicoloured fungi, which were constantly changing colours, were the first harvest he obtained inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda when he appeared above that swamp. Judging from the aura they emitted, these were Dao Source Grade herbs and should be worth a lot of money.

Although this fungus had been sitting around for a number of days already, they still possessed most of their vitality and rapidly adapted after being transplanted into the medicine garden.

This was not a surprise though as the medicine garden inside this Small Sealed World now had five Earth Vein Crystals supplying World Energy as well as a massive amount of Heavy Earth. The spirit grasses and medicines which were planted here would undoubtedly grow faster and stronger than in any great force’s medicine garden.

Yang Kai believed it would not be long before these spirit grasses and medicines vigorously matured.

As for the five Golden Crystal Grass, Yang Kai knew what they were for, but if he wanted to refine them into Golden Crystal Pills, he would need to acquire several other herbs first, so for the time being, Yang Kai simply transplanted them into the medicine garden.

In addition to these gains, Yang Kai also had a lot of materials from various Monster Beasts.

Yang Kai sorted through these materials as he prepared to sell some of them at a later date.

In any case, he did not have a need for artifacts for now, so these Monster Beast materials were useless in his hands. It would be better to just exchange them for Source Crystals.

There was also a Dao Source Fruit which Yang Kai took out and examined for a while before storing it away again.

He wasn’t too concerned with finding a Dao Source Fruit before, but now that he had one, he would not just let it go to waste. Yang Kai believed that as long as this fruit was refined into a Dao Source Pill, it would help him reach the Dao Source Realm even faster.

Of course, the prerequisite for this breakthrough was that he finished transforming his Saint Qi into Source Qi.

Next, Yang Kai took out another jade bottle and stared at it solemnly.

If one asked what Yang Kai’s biggest gain during his exploration of the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda this time was, aside from the massive amount of Shattered World Principles he acquired in the third layer, which not only gave him some preliminary insights into Principle Strength while also promoting the evolution of his Sealed World Bead, it would be this jade bottle.

This jade bottle was surprisingly obtained on the first layer from the Soaring Dragon Altar.

The dozen or so treasures on the Soaring Dragon Altar had basically all been fake, mere illusions, but whatever was contained inside this jade bottle was undoubtedly real.

At that time, Yang Kai had used his Demon Eye of Annihilation, which was capable of seeing through all illusions.

While checking through the dozen or so treasures on the Soaring Dragon Altar together with Duan Tian Ci and Zong Zi Jin, Yang Kai had quietly hidden this jade bottle and exchanged it for another.

At that time, everyone was immersed in their disappointment and fooled by this little trick.

Only Qin Yu from the Qin Family seemed to have noticed something.

Later, when she had come to ask Yang Kai about whether all the treasures had been fake, Yang Kai had initially thought he had been discovered, but after thinking about it carefully, he concluded that Qin Yu was only suspicious, not certain.

Yang Kai did not know exactly what was inside this jade bottle.

During those days inside the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, he had not taken this bottle out to investigate.

However… he vaguely guessed that the contents of this jade bottle should be related to actual Dragons, because whether it was back then or right now, the Dragon Scale on his chest felt slightly hot, like it was resonating somehow with the contents of the jade bottle.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Kai lifted the jade bottle in front of his eyes and then slowly opened its cap.

At that moment, an abrupt change occurred.

A high-pitched dragon roar suddenly rang out from the jade bottle while Yang Kai stared in surprise. Before he could figure out what was happening though, he saw something small rush out from the bottle.

This little figure was only one finger long and had the appearance of a tiny snake.

At this moment, its whole body seemed to be exuding burning hot flames as it shook its head and flicked its tail, rushing straight up into the sky.

After getting rid of the shackles of the jade bottle, this tiny snake immediately tried to escape!