Martial Peak

Just now, he had knocked her off her feet and caused her to fall to the ground, and until now she still had not stood up. Her face was filled with panic and fear, like she had received a terrifying shock, and her tender body still trembled lightly.

If things had gone even a little bit differently, she wouldn’t have gotten away with such a light injury.  The sharp sword strike had cut off a lock of her hair and left a fresh red mark on her pale white neck, which she was still clutching till this moment as a fragrant sweat covered her body.

Noticing Yang Kai looking towards her, the girl’s heart could not help jumping as a look of terror spread across her face.

It wasn’t until now that she truly understood what kind of terrifying existence she had provoked. Seven or eight lives had been snuffed out by this young man in less than thirty breaths of time like he was simply cutting grass.

Yang Kai, on the other hand, frowned, walked over, and squatted down in front of her.

The girl’s eyes darted back and forth repeatedly as her long eyelashes quivered. Clearly, she was overwhelmed with fear.

Letting out a chuckle, Yang Kai poked her forehead with his finger and then inspected the fresh scar on her neck before saying, “It’s just a flesh wound, if you treat it well there won’t even be a scar.”

While talking, he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a healing pill, then gently handed it to her.

Seeing this, a small smile emerged on the girl’s face, “I have my own pills…”

Since her vigilance was so high, Yang Kai did not insist and re-stowed his healing pill.  Meanwhile, the girl timidly watched him to see if he had any hidden malicious intent, and only after a short time did she work up the courage to take out a bottle and remove her own healing pill.

“Just now, why didn’t you try to fight back?”  Yang Kai frowned.

“I … I’ve never actually fought anyone for real before…”  The girl replied with a light blush.  Although she had definitely sparred before during her cultivation practice, at most, it was a match between friends, which never escalated anywhere close to a life and death struggle. Thus, when a long sword was held to her neck, she instantly froze up and didn’t know what to do.

Yang Kai looked at her carefully and found that she was really just a young tender maiden.  Her dress was also quite luxurious, even though it looked somewhat strange, but that could not disguise the unique temperament she radiated.  This kind of temperament wasn’t something someone from an ordinary, small force could possess.

She was certainly a young lady from some great family!  No wonder a young girl only slightly younger than him had a Peak Separation and Reunion Boundary cultivation, but no actual combat experience.

It was the result of her being pampered.

“How did you provoke these people?”

“I don’t know.”  The girls suddenly said indignantly.  “I had just run away from home… *cough* … I mean, I was playing outside, when this group suddenly came out of nowhere, chased after me, and tried to capture me.  All of them were so hideous, it was really frightening.”

Yang Kai could not help but smile.

Seeing that he was so easy to talk to, the girl’s courage couldn’t help but grow. Staring at him with her big almond eyes, she smiled at Yang Kai and said, “And you, why did you throw me back like that, don’t you know how dangerous that was?  If I had died there I’d definitely come back to haunt you, following you around every day to annoy you!”

Yang Kai looked up into distance. His eyes revealed a deep thoughtfulness before moving back to the girl’s face, and he bluntly stated, “Perhaps when you shouted just now you didn’t really have any malicious intent, but what would have happened if I had been some weak powerless person?  If my luck was bad, I may have ended up as a corpse after getting caught up in the chaos.”

The girl shivered as a light flashed across her eyes, lowering her head she softly said, “I was wrong…”

But soon after she looked up with a wronged expression on her face, “However, aren’t you a bit too cruel?  People say that you should help fellow travelers on the road, so with your great strength, what does it matter if I borrow it?”

Yang Kai chuckled but didn’t bother explaining.

Just now, when those few thugs had surrounded this girl, their eyes had flashed an obscene light which Yang Kai had natural seen, so his intention was to pretend to leave and secretly observe the situation before intervening, but he had not thought these people would immediately try to attack him.  Since they didn’t let him go, he simply took away their lives, which resolved everything.

Standing up and ignoring the girl’s complaints and questions, Yang Kai casually activated his Movement Skill and dashed towards Medicine King’s Valley.

The girl stared blankly for a moment before she too stood up and quickly began traveling the last few kilometers to Medicine King’s Valley.  She was afraid that if she lingered any longer, another group of wicked people might come out and try to stop her from reaching Medicine King’s Valley.

Chasing after Yang Kai’s figure, she soon reached the valley town, but the young man was nowhere to be found.

“He’s clearly not much older than me, yet his strength is so amazing. Which great family is he from?”  The Girl muttered, and thought about it for a long time, but ultimately failed to come up with an appropriate candidate, which caused her much chagrin.

When he finally entered the town, a variety of medicinal smells wafted about, which  caused him to feel relaxed and refreshed.  Yang Kai casually strolled around town and soon discovered that, in addition to the inns and restaurants, every other shop was somehow related to either herbs or pills.

Ordinary and rare spirit grass, exotic fruits, and wondrous flowers were everywhere he went. There was a variety of herbs for sale. There were even many different types and species he had never heard of before that were scattered about in a dazzling array.

[Truly worth of Medicine King’s Valley!]  Yang Kai praised in his heart.

Seeing such a scene, as long as one was an Alchemist, they would no longer be willing to leave.  Alchemists had a special love and respect for herbs, so encountering a place with so many different and exotic medicines on display made it strange to be willing to leave.

In every shop, there were many who came in to browse around or bargain with the shopkeepers to purchase herbs.

There were also many Alchemists doing business, offering to help cultivators refine pills.

But the Alchemists in the valley town were actually all disciples of Medicine King’s Valley!  Of the cultivators who came here to seek help from an Alchemist, most of them had been attracted by the Medicine King’s Valley name in the first place, so naturally they would not go looking for Alchemists from other forces.

Yang Kai strolled around for a long time and enjoyed all the new sights and scenes along the way, before eventually discovering that these Alchemists had their own hierarchy as well.

Their respective grades corresponded to the grades assigned to Precious Treasures, respectively, Common Grade, Earth Grade, Heaven Grade, and Mysterious Grade, each grade was further divided into Low, Mid, and High ranks.

Most of the Alchemists here were around Earth Grade, such as the one in the shop just in front of him who had a two-leaf silver flower on his chest that indicated that he was an Earth Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist, which also meant that he had the necessary skill to refine Earth Grade Mid-Rank pills.

The flower petals corresponded to one’s Grade, while the gold, silver, and white colours corresponded to a High, Mid, and Low Rank respectively. Through the embroidery on an Alchemist’s clothes, one could easily tell what level he was.

Heaven Grade Alchemists were a very rare sight, and as for those of Mysterious Grade, there were none to be seen.

Only the Elders of Medicine King’s Valley were Mysterious Grade Alchemists.

In many shops, there were finished pills for sale. However, ordinary pills were of no interest to Yang Kai. Only Soul nourishing pills would cause him to stop and take notice.

These pills would not only allow him to cultivate his Soul, but would also nourish his Soul Warming Lotus, so that the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus could progress towards its ultimate Seven Coloured form.

Once the Soul Warming Lotus had evolved into its Seven Coloured form, the benefits he would receive would also greatly increase.

But the number of Soul nourishing pills was quite small, and their price was also many times more expensive than average pills.

A bottle of ten Earth Grade High-Rank pills was around five thousand silvers.

But a bottle of Earth Grade High-Rank Soul nourishing pills was at least thirty thousand silvers; a full six times as expensive!

Checking inside his bag, Yang Kai could only sigh and look away.

After strolling around for a long time and seeing the sky gradually grow dark, Yang Kai decided to find an inn to stay at.

At night, the Medicine King’s Valley’s town became even more bustling, so after having something light to eat at the inn, Yang Kai went out again to inquire about the latest news.

His original purpose in coming to Medicine King’s Valley was to see the Myriad Drug Pond, but the Myriad Drug Pond was a forbidden area within Medicine King’s Valley, so obviously it was not going to be easy to visit it.

After a few days, Yang Kai had toured around most of Medicine King’s Valley’s town to inquire about information, but in the end he had been left with a bitter taste in his mouth and a feeling of anxiety in his heart.

Medicine King’s Valley’s Myriad Drug Pond was located at the top of the Pill Saint’s Peak; however, not only was the Myriad Drug Pond situated there, the unchanging Pill Saint’s portrait was also hung inside.  It was not an exaggeration to say that the Pill Saint’s Peak was the Holy Land of Alchemists in this world, and even the ordinary Medicine King’s Valley disciples could not approach it. Only the Valley Lord and Elders were eligible to gaze upon the Pill Saint’s portrait and study the profound alchemic mysteries he had left behind.

About the Pill Saint’s portrait, Yang Kai had heard many rumors, all of them in general were related to the inheritance of alchemic knowledge and skills.  It was said that many Alchemists who gazed upon the Pill Saint’s portrait had gained solutions to the problems that had long confounded them, some even gained some form of alchemic inheritance, which lead many of them to reap great benefits.

For this reason, the Medicine King’s Valley was very strict in its protection of the Myriad Drug Pond.

With such a heavy guard in place, how could Yang Kai hope to get close?

The Myriad Drug Pond was not the same as High Heaven Pavilion’s Coiling Dragon Stream. Although the Coiling Dragon Stream was also a forbidden area, despite being incredibly vast it was also extremely dangerous, so usually nobody would approach it.

On this day, Yang Kai was wandering aimlessly around the town when he all of a sudden spotted a familiar figure.

Staring at the back of this person, Yang Kai let out a light chuckle.

Quietly following behind this person, a short while later, Yang Kai saw him enter into one of the town’s many shops.

Arriving before the shop, Yang Kai looked up at the plaque on the shop which read, “Dong Family Pill Shop”.

Upon walking into the shop, a shop hand immediately came up and warmly greeted Yang Kai, “Good sir, how may I help you today?  Our Dong Family Medicine Shop has a wide selection of items for sale, whether it is alchemy materials or finished pills, we carry everything, all for sale at very fair prices. If good sir is searching for anything in particular, please feel free to have a look around.”

“I’m not here buy anything.”  Yang Kai said as he shook his head.

“Uh…”

“I’m looking for the young man who just came in!”  Yang Kai declared.

Hearing this, the shop hand’s expression immediately became vigilant, and he carefully examined Yang Kai again while maintaining his calm before asking, “May I ask how I should address this little brother?

Yang Kai smiled back at the shop hand and said, “Just tell him, a guest from High Heaven Pavilion is here to visit.”

The shop hand’s brow wrinkled slightly, but he still eventually nodded.

Turning around and disappearing into the back halls, it was not long before the shop hand re-emerged with a giant flattering smile on his face, “Little brother please come with me, my Young Master will see you right away!”

Yang Kai simply nodded.

Walking into the inner hall then up the stairs to the third floor, Yang Kai follow all the way until they reached a certain door. The shop hand then bowed and said, “My Young Master is inside!”

Finished guiding this esteemed guest, the shop hand then respectfully receded.

After all of this, Yang Kai proceeded to open the door and step inside.

Immediately seeing a slightly rounded face smiling towards him.

Dong Family, Dong Qing Han!

Right behind him were the Dong Family’s Wind and Cloud Dual Guards. The two old men stood there in silence. When their eyes met, they simply produced a simple bow and remained in position, as though they had gone senile and could only do so much.

By Dong Qing Han’s side sat a pretty young girl with a dignified temperament, daintily sipping a cup of tea.  But as Yang Kai glanced towards her, their four eyes suddenly meeting, he was instantly stunned.

The girl was also shocked. Her face contorted wildly as her eyes stared towards Yang Kai, involuntarily spitting out the tea she had just drank, spraying it all over Dong Qing Han’s face.

Silavin: 2nd post this week. Got a little delayed but here it is!