Martial Peak

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Cai He and Du Si Si were also listening and with rapt attention.

The old woman paused for a moment before explaining, “The Immortal Divine Tree is said to have been created at the beginning of the universe and is, itself, an immortal and indestructible existence. Immortal Source Liquid is rumoured to be the dew secreted from the Immortal Divine Tree. According to ancient records, some people with Heaven defying luck have managed to acquire some Immortal Source Liquid, but no records of anyone ever seeing the Immortal Divine Tree itself exist. Whether it is even real or not, this old woman doesn’t know.”

“So it’s like that!” Yang Kai thought about it while stroking his chin. If this was the case, it would clearly be more reliable for him to cultivate the Five Element Indestructible Sword Tempering Art. Even if the effects of the Five Element Indestructible Sword Tempering Art were somewhat exaggerated, all in all, it was still a high-quality Body Tempering Secret Art. After cultivating it, it would definitely increase his strength whereas this Immortal Source Liquid and Immortal Divine Tree were only illusory existences that may or may not exist.

“Good, let’s end the talk about the Three Great Divine Waters here. Right now, we should decide how to divide this Life Revitalizing Jade Cream,” The old woman waved her hand and wore a solemn look as she stared at the three Saint Kings in front of her and said, “This old woman won’t use her age to take advantage of you Juniors. How about we simply split this Life Revitalizing Jade Cream equally?”

Cai He and Du Si Si glanced at each other briefly before nodding happily.

Yang Kai certainly wouldn’t raise any objections.

Seeing this, the old woman immediately took out a few jade bottles and used some mysterious method to extract the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream from the pool. The whole process was carried out in front of the three Saint King Realm youths’ eyes so they could tell she didn’t play any tricks. This old woman really divided up the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream into four equal parts, one for each of them.

“Take good care of this and after you return home, make sure you discuss its existence with no one!” The old woman again exclaimed solemnly.

“Yes!” Cai He and Du Si Si tightly clenched the bottle of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream in their hands before carefully storing it away into their respective Space Rings.

Having obtained such a precious treasure, both of them felt that this entire trip had been worthwhile and Du Si Si no longer felt like blaming Cai He for dragging her through the black Space Array Gate. Deep down, she was now actually feeling grateful towards him.

If not for Cai He’s actions back then, she would have missed this opportunity to obtain this priceless treasure.

“Let’s go, we still need to find a way out of this place,” The old woman seemed to be in a good mood and led the three Saint King youths away after saying so.

Yang Kai remained silent the whole time, but before he left, he couldn’t help glancing back at the rockery, a strange light flashing across his eyes.

Since Life Revitalizing Jade Cream was known as one of the Three Great Divine Waters, according to reason, its effects couldn’t possibly have been so weak. The old woman had taken a drop of it but it had only made her appearance a few years younger, which was not something too remarkable.

Moreover, the old woman had freely divided the pool of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream into four parts, something which puzzled Yang Kai greatly. Just taking her strength and age into consideration, even if she requested to take half of the pool for herself, Yang Kai believed Cai He and Du Si Si wouldn’t refuse, nor would he, but the old woman only took a quarter, which was oddly generous.

Thinking about the traces of liquid flowing into the rockery, Yang Kai silently guessed that this pool of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream was not actually composed of pure Life Revitalizing Jade Cream.

Perhaps… it was just a diluted byproduct which had flowed here from somewhere else!

If he could follow the flow of this liquid back to its source, he may be able to find a purer Life Revitalizing Jade Cream!

If this was the case, the old woman’s actions could also be explained. She may have been aware of this, so she was willing to divide up the pool of Life Revitalizing Jade Cream equally, satisfying the others first while intending to come back here another time to further explore this region.

This wasn’t impossible! Considering all this, Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a grin. If others had such ideas, there was no way he didn’t have them too. After all, obtaining good things for oneself would not only bring a greater sense of accomplishment, but also a greater sense of satisfaction.

Of course, all of this was just his own guess and it would be necessary to verify whether this was really the case in the future.

After dispersing for a time, the group of four gathered together at an agreed upon spot and began going over their findings in turn.

After half a day of exploration, everyone found that there was really no danger here, but even after deciding to split up and search for a way out, it had taken half a day to fully search this space.

Once they regrouped and spoke of their individual discoveries, Yang Kai immediately understood that this location was an isolated space that occupied a large area, but apart from the Life Revitalizing Jade Cream they had previously discovered, there was nothing else worthy of note. There was also no obvious exit.

The only possible way out was discovered by Cai He.

After he mentioned this possible exit, the old woman quickly postulated, “So we can only leave through that exit? Cai Boy, did you see anything about that exit we need to pay attention to?”

“There was nothing there worth noting besides a several-dozen-metre-tall humanoid statue that was standing above the exit. That statue looked fierce and imposing and the exit is actually between its legs.”

“A humanoid statue?” The old woman frowned.

“En, other than that, there was nothing suspicious.”

The old woman nodded lightly, “Since that’s the case, let’s go take a look.”

After a brief discussion, the group of four moved to the location Cai He had found. Half an hour later, everyone arrived at their destination and Cai He pointed to the front and said, “Senior, that’s the exit I found.”

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing and couldn’t help staring for a moment because there was indeed a round gateway there, one that was pitch black and seemed bottomless. Sending their Divine Senses into this black abyss felt like tossing a rock into the ocean, making it impossible to determine what lay beyond.

In front of this gateway was a several-dozen-metre-tall statue, its legs spread ever so slightly as they stood on either side of the gateway. This scene made everyone smile somewhat bitterly.

Although it was just a statue, it was quite an uncomfortable feeling to have to pass under a humanoid figure’s crotch.

Moreover, whether this statue held any secrets or dangers was undetermined. The old woman said nothing and released her Divine Sense to probe the statue carefully. Yang Kai did the same.

After a while, the old woman took back her Divine Sense and whispered, “There doesn’t seem to be anything amiss with this statue, nor do there seem to be any traces of barriers or Spirit Arrays, but everyone should remain alert. Since this statue was placed here specifically, it must have some purpose, so don’t act carelessly.”

The Saint King juniors naturally nodded and consciously raised their vigilance.

The Spirit Array traps in this Ancient Ruin were all extremely well hidden, to the point that even Fei Zhi Tu was sometimes unable to notice them until it was too late. If that wasn’t the case, after entering this Ancient Ruin their group wouldn’t have gotten trapped in one Spirit Array after another.

There was no guarantee that this statue wasn’t part of some kind of barrier, Spirit Array, or trap mechanism.

A dignified look flashed across the old woman’s eyes as she opened her mouth and spat out a brown beam of light. This brown light was clearly some kind of artifact and quickly transformed into a halo which surrounded her body.

With this extra layer of protection, the old woman’s expression calmed slightly as she called out, “This old woman will lead the way, all of you follow close.”

Yang Kai and the others also summed their own defensive artifacts and then immediately followed after the old woman.

A moment later, the old woman walked to within a hundred or so metres of the gateway while constantly monitoring her surroundings to guard against any accidents. Of course, most of her attention was focused on the statue.

However, until now, nothing had happened, allowing her to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, even after approaching so close, there had been no signs of danger, causing her to think that this place was probably really safe.

But instead of relaxing her guard, she became even more alert.

Walking a dozen more steps forward yet still not suffering any accidents, the old woman let out a wry laugh and was about to say something when a subtle noise suddenly rang out from the humanoid statue standing in front of her.

Hearing this, everyone’s face changed dramatically.

The old woman’s reaction was also extremely quick, her figure leaping backwards, leaving behind an afterimage in her place as she hurriedly escaped.

But what happened next terrified the old woman. When she looked up, her view was covered with a giant palm that was reaching towards her with unstoppable momentum. This palm moved so fast it gave the old woman no opportunity to dodge and in the blink of an eye had captured her.

“Senior!” Cai He called out in alarm as his eyes bulged with fear.

Yang Kai was also shocked as he hoarsely called out, “A puppet?”

At this moment, the humanoid statue, which hadn’t shown any reaction until now, actually began moving, its eyes gleaming with terrifying, dark-red light. Its giant body seemed clumsy at first glance, but its actual speed was nothing short of astonishing.

Yang Kai was right behind the old woman so he had clearly seen what happened just now. The moment the humanoid statue made a noise, its big hand swept over, and although the old woman’s reaction was quick, she was still caught by the other party.

All this happened in the blink of an eye and by the time Yang Kai had instinctually leapt away, the old woman had been captured.

Fortunately, this old woman was a First-Order Origin Returning Realm master who had been immersed in this realm for many years, so her strength was deep. Condensing her Saint Qi, she formed a massive blade that she ruthlessly chopped down onto the puppet’s hand that was holding her body.

A crisp metallic sound rang out at the moment of impact and a large amount of sparks flew out, but to the old woman’s shock, her full powered attack was unable to even scratch the puppet’s giant hand.

Seemingly angered because it had been attacked, the giant puppet’s red eyes flashed dangerously and it tightly clenched the hand it was using to hold the old woman.

The old woman’s complexion became ashen as a force not inferior to a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master burst from her body as she struggled violently.

Unfortunately, all of this was to no avail as the giant hand was like an iron vice, tightly binding her body and rendering all of her struggles futile.

*Kacha…*

A loud noise rang out as the brown light halo the old woman was using to protect her body filled with cracks under the immense force of the puppet’s giant hand, and in the next moment it completely shattered. At the same time, a bead-shaped artifact fell to the ground and crumbled to dust.

This high-grade defensive artifact had actually been completely destroyed!