Martial Peak

Chapter 2742, Spirit Lake Palace's Change

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

"So, this is Yuan Furnace Mountain?" Ji Ying asked in surprise as he looked at the mountain peak that was almost completely collapsed.

Traces of the old Yuan Furnace Mountain were almost nowhere to be seen as only dark red rubble remained in its place, naturally the result of the erupting magma.

"En!" Yang Kai nodded, "This is where I received Senior Gong Sun Mu's inheritance back then. Originally, his cave mansion was located at the bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately, the surge of Earth Fire beneath caused lava to erupt, destroying the place."

It was with the Earth Fire's help that Liu Yan was able to obtain strength comparable to the Dao Source Realm back then.

"I was too weak back then and was unable to give Senior Gong Sun Mu a proper burial, so I had only managed to bury him hastily. However, quite clearly, what I did to Senior was shameful." Yang Kai sighed.

"Brother Yang need not mind. It is all thanks to Brother Yang that Third Senior Brother is able to return to Medicine Pill Valley now. He would surely be grateful to know this deed you have done for him, so how could he fuss over such trivialities?" Ji Ying consoled him.

Yang Kai told him, "Senior's burial place is quite far underground. Let us clean up a little first."

"En!"

At once, the two of them used their own means to excavate the site.

They were both Emperor Realm Masters, so their strength was enough to move mountains and flip seas. As such, it did not take long before the half of Yuan Furnace Mountain that was left behind was removed.

The pair then found a spot each and began digging into the ground. At the same time, they spread out their Divine Senses to search thoroughly.

It wasn't until a whole day later that Yang Kai suddenly discovered that he had gotten the direction wrong. He turned and dug towards his left-hand side while sending a message via Divine Sense to Ji Ying at the same time.

In just a short while, Ji Ying flew down into the hole that Yang Kai had dug, stopping next to him and asking, "Did you find something?"

"En. You should search in that direction," Yang Kai pointed to a direction and said.

Ji Ying immediately used his Divine Sense to search in that direction, and after a few moments, he wore a solemn look on his face and nodded, "It's really there."

He was clearly able to find a skeleton buried in the ground in that direction.

Now that they had located the skeleton, everything else was much easier. Holding the Myriads Sword in hand, Yang Kai channelled his Emperor Qi slightly. Wherever the blade passed, the hard stone was ground into dust by the astonishing energy fluctuations, allowing the pair to pass through quickly.

An incense stick of time later, they finally arrived at Gong Sun Mu's burial place.

Ji Ying went forward and carefully removed the dirt near the bones, revealing a white skeleton.

"Third Senior Brother, this is Junior Brother Ji Ying. By order of Honored Master, I've come to bring you home!" Ji Ying solemnly cupped his fists at the skeleton before approaching it. He took out a jade coffin that he had prepared and laid it down before he kneeled and picked up Gong Sun Mu's remains piece by piece, placing them into the coffin.

It did not take long before he was done picking up the bones, after which Ji Ying sealed the coffin and returned it to his Space Ring.

"Now that this is done, this Ji has to return to the Northern Territory to report back to Honored Master. What are Brother Yang's plans?" Ji Ying looked at Yang Kai and asked.

"I still have some matters to attend to here," Yang Kai said, "But it's nothing important. I will send Brother Ji back first."

Ji Ying laughed, "Since Brother Yang has business to attend to, then this Ji will not trouble you. This Ji remembers the way back, so it will be fine for me to go alone."

Yang Kai said, "You may remember the route back, but you won't be able to activate the Space Array."

"Why not?" Ji Ying was surprised.

What Space Array was there in this world that he could not activate?

Yang Kai briefly explained, "I have added a restriction to the Cross-Territory Space Array so that no one will be able to activate it without me."

"Such a thing can be done?" Ji Ying was amazed. To be able to tamper with a Cross-Territory Space Array was not something even an ordinary Great Emperor would be able to achieve, so how was Yang Kai able to do it?

Ji Ying had no idea that this Cross-Territory Space Array had been arranged by Yang Kai to begin with.

"Here, take this. With this, you'll be able to activate the array." Yang Kai took out a token and handed it to Ji Ying. It was the Transmission Token that he had especially refined and held his unique Space Principle fluctuations.

Ji Ying accepted it and promised solemnly, "Please rest assured, Brother Yang, once I return to High Heaven Palace, I will be sure to return this token to Manager Hua."

The value of this token could not be underestimated as it was essentially a pass that allowed a person to travel directly from the Northern Territory to the Southern Territory. This was an extremely precious treasure, so Ji Ying naturally did not dare to keep it for himself. The way Yang Kai was able to pass him this item proved how much he trusted in his character and was a sign of his respect.

Yang Kai smiled and waved his hand, however, "No need. Since Brother Ji is now my High Heaven Palace's Chief Alchemist, Brother Ji is qualified to possess this Transmission Token. It will also be easier for you if you ever need to visit the Southern Territory in the future."

Ji Ying was moved and cupped his fists, "In that case, many thanks, Brother Yang. Please rest assured, this Ji will return to High Heaven Palace as soon as Third Senior Brother's matters are dealt with. When Brother Yang returns to High Heaven Palace, the Dragon Blood Pills will already have been refined."

"I would have forgotten if you had not mentioned that," Yang Kai grinned, "Then I will have to trouble you, Brother Ji."

Above Yuan Furnace Mountain, the two cupped fists and said their farewells, going their separate ways.

Only after Ji Ying's figure disappeared from his view did Yang Kai turn around and look in a certain direction.

Maplewood City. It seemed like he had not returned even once since he left, and that was many years ago.

Technically speaking, Maplewood City was Yang Kai's first stopover after arriving in the Star Boundary, and it was here that he met his first friend. Now, on his trip back to Maplewood City, his main intention was to see how the place had changed, and secondly to do some shopping.

After performing the Dragon Transformation Secret Technique, his body would swell in size and rip apart his clothes, so Yang Kai became interested in buying a good Artifact Armor.

Moreover, his store of Space Spirit Crystals and Space Spirit Jade was almost exhausted. These were essentially materials for arranging Space Arrays, and as the saying went, even the cleverest woman could not cook a meal without rice.

Yang Kai's plan was to connect the four territories of the Star Boundary using Cross-Territory Space Arrays. Once this was finished, the disciples of High Heaven Palace would be able to go wherever they wanted. Not only would it make it convenient for the disciples to go out and train, but it would also be a great advantage to High Heaven Palace when it came to purchasing cultivation resources.

The price of materials differed greatly in different territories. Some materials may be expensive in one region, but extremely cheap in another.

Many nimble-witted cultivators would risk their lives travelling to and from each territory, buying and selling goods and making a lot of profit. If Yang Kai's idea could be realized, then it would have an irreplaceable effect on the future development of High Heaven Palace.

Flying ahead at a leisurely pace, Yang Kai inexplicably felt as if he were returning to his hometown in full glory, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

Even though Maplewood City was not his hometown, his feelings were not wrong either. When he left Maplewood City back then, he was not very strong, only a First-Order Dao Source Realm, but now, he was an Emperor Realm Master that was looked up to by many.

Yuan Furnace Mountain was not too far away from Maplewood City. When Kang Si Ran brought Yang Kai to Yuan Furnace Mountain back then, it had only taken a few days, but now, Yang Kai's strength had increased dramatically, so he was naturally much faster than before.

After flying forward for half a day, Yang Kai could faintly catch a glimpse of Maplewood City. What's more, there was another city just a short distance away that was no smaller than Maplewood City.

Spirit Lake Palace!

Yang Kai suddenly remembered.

This Spirit Lake Palace had been born because of him.

Originally, there was no Spirit Lake Palace outside of Maplewood City, but one day, eighteen Spirit Springs suddenly appeared here and began gushing out World Energy, directly forming a giant Spiritual Lake at this place. The matter alarmed all of the top Sects in the Southern Territory, and even Star Soul Palace stepped in during the event.

But nobody could monopolize this heavenly creation.

Finally, after much discussion, the top Sects of the Southern Territory took the lead in building Spirit Lake Palace on top of the Spirit Lake, creating cultivation rooms that were separated into several grades, namely Heaven, Earth, and Mortal. The Southern Territory's cultivators cultivated in these rooms as much as they could, for a modest amount of Source Crystals, of course.

The profits from this business were then divided among the top Sects in the Southern Territory.

Yang Kai's Embodiment's current weapon, the Demonic War Hammer was found by Yang Kai beneath Spirit Lake Palace. He fought a great battle with an Ancient Great Demon's remnant spirit there at the time to seize this weapon.

Spirit Lake Palace had now become a landmark in the Southern Territory, its abundant World Energy attracting many cultivators as such a fine place to cultivate could not be found just anywhere. The Heaven Grade cultivation rooms in Spirit Lake Palace were not much worse compared to the cultivation rooms of those top Sects, and were the best choice for cultivators looking to break through their bottlenecks.

Countless cultivators who have been stuck at the peak of their current realms for many years would spend huge amounts of Source Crystals in order to enter Spirit Lake Palace to cultivate, all in the hopes of achieving a breakthrough inside.

In the past few years, some people really managed to succeed at this, resulting in their strength soaring; however, most ended up losing their money without gaining anything in return. This was a huge gamble. Cultivators would gamble away all of their wealth for a chance to advance on the Martial Dao, but more often than not they would fall short, losing everything. Even so, the number of cultivators that visited each year only rose in numbers, never falling. The most numerous Mortal Grade and Earth Grade cultivation rooms could not meet the public's needs, however, so cultivators had to wait for a long time in the queue if they wanted to make use of these cultivation rooms.

As for the Heaven Grade cultivation rooms, not everyone was qualified to enter them. If one wished to cultivate in these Heaven Grade rooms, then not only did they have to shell out enough Source Crystals, they also needed some inside connections to put in a good word for them.

On the other hand, many of the disciples from the Southern Territory's top Sects came to Spirit Lake Palace's Heaven Grade cultivation rooms to enter retreat.

The revenue that Spirit Lake Palace brought in each year was counted in the hundreds of millions.

The existence of Spirit Lake Palace had gathered the attention of not only the cultivators of the entire Southern Territory, but even cultivators from other territories that were willing to travel millions of kilometres just to take advantage of the situation. With the increase in population, more and more buildings were constructed around Spirit Lake Palace, and after a few years, a new city had been formed.

Maplewood City, which was just a short distance away, also benefited from the existence of Spirit Lake Palace.

Back then, the World Energy in Maplewood City was thin, and the cultivators living here were slow to improve. The strongest cultivator back then was City Lord Duan Yuan Shan, and he was only in the Second-Order Dado Source Realm. The pair of Vice City Lords and the Patriarchs of the major families were only in the First-Order Dao Source Realm.

But now, the World Energy in Maplewood City had already become very dense, almost on par with other top-tier cities in the Star Boundary. As a result, the population in Maplewood City exploded and the city naturally flourished. Emperor Realm Masters were no longer a rare sight in Maplewood City as many of them lived in Maplewood City year-round, unlike before where it would depend on one's luck whether they could witness the majesty of an Emperor Realm Master or not.

Spirit Lake Palace was too small, unfortunately, so many people who couldn't find a place to settle down there would make a temporary stop at Maplewood City. The distance between the two cities was not that great anyway, so it was convenient to make round trips between the two.