Martial Peak

Inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field first layer Flame Area, Yang Kai took leisurely strides as a pale blue light halo radiating from his chest. This light halo dispelled all threats around him. Even the intense heat and fire poison of the Flame Area was unable to penetrate it, making it possible for Yang Kai to remain safe here even without using Saint Qi to protect his body.

It has been more than half a year since the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, and during this period, Yang Kai had spent most of his time in the sixth layer.

It wasn’t that he was searching for treasures though, as he had already taken away everything of value from the loft.

The reason he stayed there was just to cut down a few of the green bamboos.

His original plan was to cut a handful of these bamboos and then leave, but they had turned out far more tenacious than he expected. Even using his Space Blade, it had taken him a full twenty days to cut down a thumb thick bamboo.

However, using his Space Blade for twenty days straight wasn’t a waste of time, as Yang Kai quickly discovered that his mastery of the Space Blade had greatly improved, along with its power and stability.

Pleasantly surprised, Yang Kai no longer cared about how much time cutting these bamboos took.

For the next six months, Yang Kai had taken this bamboo forest as his training ground and fought against them with all his might. Still, after all that time, he only managed to cut down twenty bamboo stalks. If not for him worrying that delaying longer would worry Yang Yan and Wu Yi, Yang Kai wouldn’t have minded staying longer though.

And so, one month ago, Yang Kai had set off towards the outside of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

During this period, Yang Kai had kept the two Star Emperor Tokens on his person, not daring to store them away for a moment. After the Flowing Flame Sand Field completely closed, the dangers inside really increased dramatically. The second and fourth layer Treasure Areas didn’t experience much change, but the third and fifth layer Flame Areas had their ambient heat and fire poison concentration increase ten-fold.

Yang Kai quickly concluded that even his cold black flames couldn’t resist such scorching heat. Fortunately, the Star Emperor Tokens created a layer of protection that allowed him to travel about freely.

He didn’t know why the Star Emperor Tokens could restrain the Flame Area environment, but Yang Kai vaguely felt that this Flowing Flame Sand Field should have something to do with the legendary Starry Sky Emperor. Otherwise, a second, used Star Emperor Token wouldn’t have appeared in the loft in the sixth layer.

At this time, if someone were to enter this place, it would indeed be a death sentence, so it was no wonder that cultivators on Shadowed Star would only enter when the heat weakened and conditions became relatively safe.

Currently, not far in front of Yang Kai, there was a kind of dark red energy curtain that contained a sensational heat. Anyone who approached this energy curtain would undoubtedly be burnt to ash in a flash.

When Yang Kai saw this dark red energy curtain though, not only was he not frightened, his expressed filled with joy as he raced towards it, as if he didn’t know how to write the word ‘death’.

However, just as Yang Kai reached the energy curtain, it seemed to sense something and a gap split open, allowing him to pass through it with ease.

After Yang Kai passed through, this gap in the curtain closed.

Outside the red energy curtain, Yang Kai was greeted by a completely different scenery. Although the surrounding aura was still filled with heat and the ground at his feet was still dry and cracked, the overall view was much different from the Flame Area.

He had finally come out. The Flowing Flame Sand Field was truly enormous. Yang Kai had used his Wind and Thunder Wings continuously along the way, but it had still taken him an entire month to travel from the innermost to the outermost layer.

Yang Kai estimated that this Flowing Flame Sand Field was at least a couple hundred thousand kilometres in radius. No one ever knew just how big it was before because no one had ever gone deeper than the second layer, making it impossible to speculate.

(PewPewLazerGun: That must be because all cultivators suck at math…)

(Silavin: Thou cultivates Dao. Not thy pathetic Math. I like Math though)

As soon as he walked out, Yang Kai put the two Star Emperor Tokens he had kept in his chest pocket back into the Black Book Space.

In the next moment though, Yang Kai frowned as he didn’t know where it was now. Although the Yuan Magnetic Compass could determine which direction he had to walk inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field. It only pointed towards its centre, meaning if one walked in the opposite direction it pointed they could leave.

As such, Yang Kai couldn’t judge where he was using it anymore.

However, thinking that no matter what, he was somewhere on Shadowed Star, Yang Kai calmed down, but just as he was about to use his Divine Sense to explore his surroundings, his brow furrowed again as he glanced over in a certain direction.

Not far from where Yang Kai was standing, he saw a figure flying towards him, and when their eyes met, this stranger showed an expression of shock.

It had been six months since the closing of the Flowing Flame Sand Field and every big and small Sect had long ago departed, so this newcomer hadn’t expected to encounter living people here.

But in the next instant, this man quickly waved his hand, as if he recognized Yang Kai.

Yang Kai was also extremely surprised.

If the other party recognized him, how could he not recognize them?

Although he didn’t know the name of this guy, Yang Kai had indeed seen him once. It was back when the Flowing Flame Sand Field had just opened and Yang Kai first entered. The man who was flying over was actually the same one who had invited him to travel together back then.

At that time, two people had been transported inside nearby Yang Kai, one belonging to Shadow Moon Hall while the other was this cultivator.

Yang Kai had refused his invitation.

Seeing Yang Kai at this moment, this man showed a joyful look and immediately adjusted his heading to rush straight towards Yang Kai, but before he could approach, his expression changed greatly and he abruptly came to a halt.

Another figure quickly crossed this cultivator and stopped in front of him.

Immediately after, another figure appeared behind this man, these two clearly attempting to intercept this person.

The man’s face couldn’t help but sink and he glanced over at Yang Kai seemingly unintentionally, appearing like he wanted to say something but ultimately remaining silent.

The two newcomers saw they had successfully blocked this man and released sighs of relief. They also secretly used their Divine Senses to investigate Yang Kai but upon seeing he was just a Second-Order Saint King, neither of them paid him much mind.

The taller of the two cultivators chuckled as he looked at that man he had intercepted with clear malicious intent and said “Junior Brother Deng, I was wondering why you decided to run towards this Flowing Flame Sand Field. Turns out you had a helper here, but why would you think a mere Second-Order Saint King would be able to help you resist us?”

The other cultivator, who was wearing purple robes, sneered and added, “It seems that Junior Brother Deng Ning has been riding high lately and become somewhat muddled. Otherwise, why would he rush to such an out of the way place? There’s no need for Senior Brother Ye to try to reason with him.”

Deng Ning, who was caught in the middle of these two, wore a dull expression on his face and made no attempt to acknowledge or deny these two’s speculations, instead just asking, “Ye Yang Rong, An Zhi, for a trivial Blood Fusion Pill, are you really willing to discard all our brotherly sentiments from the past and act so ruthlessly?”

The tall cultivator named Ye Yang Rong sneered, “Brotherhood? In Demon Blood Temple, such a thing is nothing but an illusion. Senior Brother here doesn’t expect any such feelings from you either. As for the Blood Fusion Pill… Junior Brother Deng should understand his own situation. Hand over that pill and out of consideration for our relationship as ‘brothers’, I won’t make things too difficult for you.”

“Oh, really?” Deng Ning chuckled sarcastically, “Aren’t you just afraid that I’ll desperately fight back? Don’t think that you two alone can easily kill me. Even if I die, I can still drag at least one of you down with me.”

Hearing this, Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi’s faces both sank, revealing a hint of hesitation, apparently knowing that Deng Ning’s words weren’t an empty threat.

An Zhi frowned and converged some of his murderous intent before attempting persuasion, “Junior Brother Deng, you obtained many good things inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field last time, and because of that harvest the Elders rewarded you with that Blood Fusion Pill, but as far as I know, that wasn’t all you obtained, was it? The Sect also allowed you free access to the skills and technique library and granted you a powerful artifact, so why make such a fuss over a mere pill? We don’t want any of your other treasures, as long as you hand over that pill, it will be enough. Senior Brother Ye and I can even each compensate you thirty thousand Saint Crystals for it.”

He thought that if he gave Deng Ning a way to de-escalate, the other party would compromise; after all, it wasn’t cost-effective to lose one’s life for a pill, but how could he have anticipated that after hearing this offer, Deng Ning would simply scoff, “Thirty thousand? As a Demon Blood Temple disciple could you be ignorant of the value of a Blood Fusion Pill? Do you think a mere thirty thousand Saint Crystals would be enough to make up for my loss? Don’t even think about it.”

An Zhi’s face went cold, and he was about to say something again but Deng Ning cut him off first, “Senior Brother An, don’t blame Junior Brother for not reminding you about just what kind of person Senior Brother Ye is. Everyone here knows there’s only one Blood Fusion Pill, so even if I handed it over to you, how are you going to decide who gets it? If you really believe whatever promises Senior Brother Ye gave you, I think your future is actually more worrying than mine.”

As soon as these words came out, An Zhi’s expression immediately became ugly. Of course he had thought about this, but he was now riding a tiger and could only join forces with Ye Yang Rong to snatch the Blood Fusion Pill first.

How to allocate it after grabbing it could be thought about later.

Seeing An Zhi’s expression change, Ye Yang Rong quickly called out, “Junior Brother An, don’t believe his words, you and I are allies now. Whoever grabs the Blood Fusion Pill is who it will belong to. If Senior Brother here happens to have better luck and obtains it, Senior Brother guarantees he will compensate you appropriately.”

Hearing this, An Zhi’s brow relaxed slightly as he forced out a smile and said, “If Junior Brother has better luck, he will do the same for Senior Brother.”

These two had clear ulterior motives, but at the moment they had still agreed to cooperate.

Seeing that his plan to sow discord among these two had failed, Deng Ning grumbled to himself before reaching out to his Space Ring and extracting a crimson pill containing the amazing Blood Qi from it.

“Blood Fusion Pill!” Upon seeing this pill, Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi both stared at it covetously, as if this pill was a superb treasure for them.