Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Jon

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“Fifth-Order?” The Proprietress asked again.

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai forced a fawning smile.

“Why must you infuriate me so?!” The Proprietress stomped her foot so hard the ground shook.

“The Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm still makes me an Open Heaven Realm Master.” Yang Kai rubbed his nose.

The Proprietress glared at him with reddened eyes and gritted her teeth as though she wanted to skin him alive.

The moment she heard Yang Kai’s voice just now, she knew that he must have entered the Open Heaven Realm; otherwise, he couldn’t possibly have entered the Shadowless Cave Heaven. That was because only Open Heaven Realm Masters could enter this damned place.

However, given his situation, it was extremely difficult for him to obtain a High-Rank Yin Element treasure. For a moment, she prayed that he had come into this place as a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master.

Nevertheless, as soon as she saw him, she knew that he didn’t manage to directly advance to the High-Rank Open Heaven Realm.

In that case, it would give her some solace if he at least was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master. Unfortunately, the Fifth-Order was all he could achieve.

She was fully aware that Yang Kai had built an incredibly solid foundation, and that was the reason she was heartbroken. He had the potential to become a High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Master directly, but he ended up breaking through to the Fifth-Order instead. It could be said that his Martial Dao was ruined and his future was bleak.

To the side, Accountant and Chef fell silent as they looked sympathetically but admiringly at Yang Kai. They finally acknowledged him as one of their own.

Yang Kai must have come all the way here to save the Proprietress. Although they had no idea what had transpired for him to eventually advance to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm, they could venture a guess. While Yang Kai was unable to find a High-Rank Yin Element treasure, he was too concerned about the Proprietress’ safety, which was why he quickly directly advanced to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm and entered this place.

The Proprietress sighed. She had accidentally fallen into the Shadowless Cave Heaven when she was looking for a High-Rank Yin Element treasure for Yang Kai, but he decided to ruin his own future and become a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master in the end in order to save her. Everything had gone wrong.

However, the fact that he had done all this for her proved that he was a righteous and loyal person.

“Don’t cry, Proprietress,” Yang Kai suddenly said as he stared dazedly at the tears sliding down her face. He raised his hand in an attempt to brush the tears away, but the woman turned around and disappeared into the magma.

Yang Kai pressed his lips together and scratched his head.

His impression of the Proprietress was that she was a resolute and astute woman. It was as though she was able to support the sky’s weight with her slender arms even as it came crashing down on top of her. It never crossed his mind that he would see such a woman cry one day.

“I’m doomed!” Yang Kai was apprehensive as he gazed pleadingly at Chef and Accountant, “She must be so mad that she started crying. What should I do?”

Chef heaved a sigh and went over to pat his shoulder, “She isn’t crying because she’s mad.”

“What do you mean?” Yang Kai was startled, “What is the reason, then?”

“She’s blaming herself,” Accountant spoke up, “She must be thinking that if she hadn’t fallen into the Shadowless Cave Heaven, you wouldn’t have forcefully broken through to look for her. She believes that you’ve fallen into such a state because of her. You’re supposed to be able to make it to the Seventh-Order directly, but you only ended up in the Fifth-Order. She’s crying because she’s heartbroken and is deep in self-blame.”

Yang Kai furrowed his brow, “Ascending to the Open Heaven Realm is my own decision. It has nothing to do with her.”

Chef shot him a glance, “Do you even believe what you’ve just said?”

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai became startled and fell silent.

Chef went on to say, “Regardless, what is done is done. Let’s go in first. Since you’ve come all the way here to look for us, you’ll also be my good brother from now on. In the past, only Old Bai and the Accountant were my good brothers, and now, you’re also included.”

As he spoke, he went over to hoist the battered Yang Kai.

With a serious expression, Accountant nodded, “You’re also my good brother.” Then, he dashed forward and helped Yang Kai up alongside Chef.

Yang Kai suddenly muttered, “Chef, you punched me 38 times and kicked me 13 times just now. As for you, you punched me 27 times and kicked me 16 times.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Chef and Accountant released him at the same time, which caused him to fall on his butt. While Yang Kai was in a dazed state, the two of them turned into rays of light and plunged into the magma. A furious Yang Kai said through clenched teeth, “You two really are my ‘good’ friends, huh!?”

Then, he got to his feet and rubbed his backside before chasing after them.

There was a cave below the caldera that was separated from the magma using a Spirit Array. Although the environment wasn’t pleasant, it wasn’t unbearable at the very least. It was a cave about the size of several houses, and since the restriction had opened up, Yang Kai was able to enter easily.

Presently, the Proprietress was seated motionlessly on a rock chair as she faced away from the entrance.

Chef and Accountant, who had come into this place earlier, were just standing behind her. Chef turned his head to take a glance and said in a small voice, “He’s here, Proprietress. Do you want us to chase him away? Or do we let him stay?”

The Proprietress didn’t respond to him, as though she hadn’t heard anything at all.

Accountant followed up, “What’s the point of asking this question? Proprietress is obviously mad. Chase him away and let him perish on his own outside!”

Chef grunted in a deep voice, “Good.”

Following that, they were ready to make a move as they rolled up their sleeves.

Unable to take it anymore, the Proprietress said coldly, “Do you two want to anger me as well?”

Upon hearing that, Chef stiffened as he put on a fawning smile, “We wouldn’t dare. Please don’t be mad at us, Proprietress. We won’t chase him away.”

Then, he sent a signal to Yang Kai with his eyes. Yang Kai got the message and took a seat in the opposite corner of the cave.

After that, the two of them said to the Proprietress in a subservient manner, “Please get some rest.”

As they exchanged glances, they carefully moved away and approached Yang Kai. One of them looked condescendingly at him while the other crouched down and stared at him.

Chef tutted, “Is a swollen face the trend these days, Yang Boy?”

“How do you even have the face to ask such a thing?” Yang Kai glared at him. Right after he was beaten up by the Proprietress, these two guys mercilessly assaulted him. If it weren’t because he had a strong physique, his face would’ve been deformed by now.

Chef grinned meaningfully, “These flesh wounds don’t matter. I have a blood staunching paste with me. Come on, I’ll help you apply it.”

Upon finishing his words, he fished out a slimy paste from his Space Ring and scooped up a bit of it with his fingers before applying it on Yang Kai’s face.

Yang Kai looked away to dodge him, thinking that he wouldn’t need any blood staunching paste for these flesh wounds; however, he saw the Chef subtly signaling with his eyes in the Proprietress’ direction.

Yang Kai’s expression changed as he figured out what he was trying to do; therefore, he stopped avoiding him and let him do it. Nevertheless, he soon screamed at the top of his lungs, “Ouch! It hurts! Can’t you be a bit gentler?”

Snorting, Chef replied, “I’m a cook, this is how I deal with the meat and the fish every day!”

Yang Kai snapped, “Do you think I’m some kind of meat to be tenderized? You just said I’m your good brother!”

Chef refuted, “This and that are separate issues. How can you confuse them?”

Accountant, who was standing in front of them with his hands behind his back, grew impatient and said, “Alright, stop arguing. Yang Kai, how did you find out we’re here? Did Old Bai tell you about it?”

Yang Kai nodded, “En. Old Bai came to Void Land and told me what had happened. That’s why I rushed over here.”

“How is he now?”

Yang Kai replied, “He’s fine, so don’t worry about him. He should be in Void Land now. He initially wanted to follow me into this place, but I had no idea what was going on here or whether I would be able to leave or not, so I shook him off and snuck into this place on my own.”

Accountant nodded gently, “That’s good.”

Then, he took a glance at the Proprietress, and upon seeing that she had straightened up to listen attentively, he secretly found it funny. After that, he asked, “There’s one thing I don’t understand. You’d built up such a solid foundation, but why did you end up in the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm? You could’ve ascended to the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm at the very least. Weren’t you only lacking a suitable Yin Element treasure?”

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai smiled helplessly, “It’s a long story.”

Before coming to the Shattered Heaven, he wasn’t aware that only Open Heaven Realm Masters could enter the Shadowless Cave Heaven. If he knew, he would’ve gotten a Sixth-Order Yin Element treasure ready just in case of emergencies.

However, it was too late as he only found out about it after arriving at this place. Sixth-Order materials were already highly sought after in Void Land to begin with, to say nothing of the fact that Yin Element materials were even rarer.

As soon as any Sixth-Order materials appeared in the Star City, those from Void Land would buy them up.

In the end, when Yang Kai needed such a resource, he realised that he didn’t even have one with him. Even Ti Zheng and the others didn’t possess one.

Left with no choice, he could only ascend to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm.

Upon hearing that, Accountant snorted, “I knew that something was off about it. Now, it seems that some people were really behind this.” After falling into the Shadowless Cave Heaven, he had some suspicions but he didn’t have any evidence to prove it. After hearing Yang Kai’s story though, he realised that his speculations were right.

They hadn’t accidentally fallen into the Shadowless Cave Heaven; rather, it was a trap they had been caught up in.

After the Proprietress was trapped, they released Bai Qi to let him inform Yang Kai about it; then, they set up a siege just outside the Shadowless Cave Heaven.

It would be best if they could kill Yang Kai, thus settling this issue for good. Even if they couldn’t kill him, they could force him to ascend to the Open Heaven Realm as that was the only way to enter the Shadowless Cave Heaven.

In the end, their plot was successful as Yang Kai had no choice but to ascend to the Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm.

However, they had never expected that Black Crow Divine Monarch would lead a group of people and launch a sneak attack on them at the critical moment, which resulted in them suffering immense losses. Furthermore, in order to make Yang Kai willingly ascend to the Fifth-Order, the Space Rings of all four High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters were confiscated. It could be said that their losses were almost unbearable.

In any case, they had finally settled the issue regarding Yang Kai. This kind of outcome was still acceptable, and while no one was happy, they were at least satisfied. As for their grudges with Black Crow, they would have to settle the score with him in the future.

“You had the potential to become a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, but you ended up in the Fifth-Order. Don’t you regret it?” Accountant asked in a grim voice. If he were the one who had to go through this, he couldn’t have remained calm and collected.

“It’s a shame that I’m unable to achieve my goal, but I don’t regret my decision.” Yang Kai shook his head, “Given the situation I was in, I probably won’t be able to get a High-Rank Yin Element treasure even if I waited for 1,000 years. Rather than wasting so much time waiting for something that might not even come to be, I believe I should have a power I can call my own.”