Martial Peak

The rise of a red sun shocked all the cultivators who were present in the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

On a certain hill, six Saint Kings wearing golden robes stood behind Qu Chang Feng, staring in shock towards the place where the sun had risen from.  All of these shocked Saint Kings were muttering to each other, discussing what they thought it might be, but Qu Chang Feng’s face remained extremely bad.  During this expedition into the Flowing Flame Sand Field, he had seen many good things, but he was actually unable to acquire any substantial benefits.  This was especially true when it came to the Soul Cleansing Divine Water, an incident that was still causing him grief.  Naturally, this strange phenomenon appearing all of a sudden had immediately caught his attention.

After hesitating for a moment, he waved his hand and shouted, “Let’s go take a look!”

Saying so, he brought his group and rushed towards the rising position of the red sun.

On a certain plain, four cultivators with incredibly pure Saint Qi were using Martial Skills and artefacts to send out bolts of brilliant lightning, blasting their surroundings away with extraordinary ferocity.

When the red sun rose, this group just happened to be surrounded by a group of Fire Spirit Beasts.  After dispatching this group of beasts, one of them collected the scattered Fire Crystal Stones on the ground before returning to the side of his companions who were all assembled around a plain-looking, crudely dressed youth.

“Senior Brother Fang, what is that?” Someone asked.

The crudely dressed young man slowly shook his head and said lightly, “We’ll know once we go check it out.  It’s very likely that some kind of extremely precious treasure has appeared for such a scene to appear in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.”

Saying so, he began walking straight towards the direction of the rising sun, his pace seemingly slow but with thunder suddenly appearing around his feet, his body seemed to glide forward and in the blink of an eye, he had already crossed a hundred metres.

Atop a towering rock, a cold-looking man was meditating and adjusting his breathing.  At this moment, he also saw the red sun rise, and after a slight hesitation, he got up and set out.

At the deepest part of the third layer Flame Area, a man who appeared to be in his thirties seemed to be struggling to resist ambient heat and fire poison.  Seeing his appearance, it seemed he wanted to venture further inside, but when the red sun rose, he couldn’t help glancing back and immediately showed a look of shock and ecstasy, muttering to himself, “Even something like this has matured… Hahaha!”

After saying so, he immediately turned around and ran back in the direction of the rising red sun, as if he was afraid that the benefits would be taken away if he was too late.

Many similar situations were occurring in various places around the third layer and soon, the elite disciples who had entered this layer were all rushing towards the red sun.  All of them were guessing what kind of phenomenal treasure was born to cause such a Heavenly Vision to manifest.

However, before they could rush to the site from which the red sun appeared, a fiery red wind suddenly swept out, carrying with it a terrifying heat that caused all the approaching cultivators’ faces to pale and forced them to push their Saint Qi to protect themselves.

To everyone’s surprise though, after this seemingly fierce gale struck, not only did it not cause them any damage, instead, a strange fragrance wafted throughout the entire third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

This strange fragrance which filled was like the fresh scent of fruit, but many, many times more potent.  On top of that, it seemed to contain a mysterious power that made one wish to close their eyes and immerse themselves in it, as if it carried with it some kind of enlightenment.

Of course, no one really stopped to meditate.  Just this scent had such an effect, so if they could snatch this unknown treasure, how shocking would its effects be?

When this fruity aroma spread, everyone’s expression became even more determined and they pushed themselves to run faster.

By the disappeared lava lake, Yang Kai and the others were also hit by this fiery red wind, and after this magical fruit scent reached the tip of his nose, Yang Kai’s whole body shook as he shouted, “A spirit fruit has matured!”

It was only at that moment that he realized what was happening.  The scene of the rising sun was not caused by an artefact, nor the birth of some rare treasure, but rather because a certain spirit fruit had matured.

The omnipresent fruit aroma in the air was the best proof.

In their minds, the name of a certain supposedly extinct spirit fruit came to mind and almost simultaneously, Yang Kai and Dai Yuan exclaimed, “Red Candle Fruit?”

Yang Kai glanced over at Dai Yuan in surprise, not having anticipated that this disciple from Coloured Glass Sect would actually recognize this extraordinary Red Candle Fruit. According to his knowledge, this spirit fruit had vanished thousands of years ago and even in the outside world had not appeared for aeons.  It was the same as the Soul Warming Lotus and Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, something that existed only in ancient records and rumours, with no one living having actually seen it before.

However, Dai Yuan was actually able to call out its name, something that truly surprised Yang Kai.

“Red Candle Fruit?”  Dong Xuan’er and Dai Yuan had an extremely close relationship, so she didn’t hesitate to ask, “What is that?”

“An Origin King Grade High-Rank spirit fruit!”  Dai Yuan clenched her fists and slowly annunciated.

Besides Yang Kai, who was aware of this already, everyone wore a shocked expression.

Shadowed Star had some spirit grasses and spirit medicines that reached the Origin King Grade, but they were extremely rare, only one or two appearing every few decades.  Ninety-nine percent of these Origin King Grade herbs which appeared though were Low-Rank, with Mid-Rank being almost unheard of.

But now, in the third layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, an authentic Origin King Grade High-Rank spirit fruit had appeared.

“What use does it have?”  Although Dong Xuan’er’s had strong self-control, she couldn’t stop her voice from slightly trembling.

The words Origin King Grade High-Rank had struck her heart like a heavy sledgehammer.

“It has many uses.  While it is in the final stages of maturing, all cultivators who inhale its scent are able to integrate the mysterious laws it contains to promote their own cultivation. Of course, this is not the main thing… It’s said that any cultivator who consumes it will have a chance to break through to the Origin King Realm!”

“What!?”  Wei Gu Chang couldn’t remain calm upon hearing this.

An Origin King Realm master had never appeared on Shadowed Star.  If at this time, one of the great forces was able to obtain this Red Candle Fruit and allow an Origin King to rise from their Sect, wouldn’t they be able to rule the entire star?

As the first Core Disciple of his sect, how could Wei Gu Chang not understand what this implied?

If it was something else, after all the losses Shadow Moon Hall had suffered this time, Wei Gu Chang would try to avoid wading into the muddy waters.  He originally planned to have his two Junior Brothers and Junior Sister return to the second layer while he and Dong Xuan’er walked around the third layer to see if they could find any opportunities, but if the Red Candle Fruit really had such profound effects, even if he might die, he had to take action!

Moreover, he had to win!

Once such a treasure fell into the hands of others, especially an enemy, it would be a disaster for Shadow Moon Hall.  Wei Gu Chang couldn’t just sit back and watch this happen.

“Senior Brother…” Dong Xuan’er bit her red lips, her beautiful eyes staring at Wei Gu Chang with anxiety.

The latter’s expression was cloudy and uncertain, but soon became firm.  Turning to his Junior Brothers and Junior Sister he declared, “You three return to the second layer, don’t involve yourselves in this Red Candle Fruit affair. This will definitely be incredibly chaotic!”

“What about you, Senior Brother Wei?”  The tall woman asked.

“I’ll take a look together with Xuan’er.”  Wei Gu Chang then glanced over at Dai Yuan, the latter chuckling in response, “This is a rare event, naturally I want to take a look.  Besides, there are still a few days before it reaches full maturity, it will be an opportunity to fuse some of the profound insights present in its fragrance with our cultivation.”

Wei Gu Chang seemed to have known that she would say so and simply nodded his head before finally turning to Yang Kai and asking, “What are Brother Yang’s plans?”

“I’ll check it out too.” Yang Kai said lightly.

“Good, let’s go!”  Wei Gu Chang no longer hesitated.  After spending a day restoring himself, he had almost completely recovered.  If he continued to restore himself along the way, by the time they reached their destination, he should be able to return to his peak state, then he wouldn’t have to fear fighting others.

Together, the group of four hurried towards the sight of the Red Candle Fruit.

On the way, Yang Kai gave Dai Yuan a thoughtful look, and said with a smile, “Is Ms. Dai Yuan familiar with spirit herbs?”

If she wasn’t perennially immersed in the study of herbs and Alchemy, it would be impossible for her to recognize the Red Candle Fruit so quickly.  Moreover, from what Yang Kai could observe about Dai Yuan, it was clear she had studied all kinds of rare and precious herbs.

After hearing Yang Kai’s question, Wei Gu Chang laughed happily, “I’m afraid Brother Yang doesn’t know, along with outstanding strength, Junior Sister Dai Yuan is also a Saint King Grade Alchemist.”

“Oh?” Yang Kai was genuinely surprised this time.  He hadn’t realized that Dai Yuan, who he had just randomly met and travelled together with, was actually an Alchemist as well.  Of course, he was an Origin Grade Alchemist with the other party was just a Saint King Grade Alchemist, so the difference between them was still quite big.

Dai Yuan said humbly, “I’m just a Saint King Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, nothing too impressive.  My aptitude in Alchemy is also not very high.  Junior Brother Yang, are there many Origin Grade Alchemists and even Origin King Grade Alchemist in the outside world?”

Yang Kai chuckled, knowing that she should have asked Dong Xuan’er about his details.  Not caring about such minor matters, he slowly shook his head, “There are indeed a lot of Origin Grade Alchemists, but Origin King Grade Alchemists… they’re quite rare.  I haven’t seen one at least.”

“So Origin King Grade Alchemists are a rare existence outside as well,” Dai Yuan said with surprise.

“Naturally, there aren’t many Origin King Grade masters outside either.”

Hearing this, Dai Yuan opened her mouth, as if she wanted to ask something, but she suddenly hesitated, causing Yang Kai to frown.  However, since the other party didn’t ask, he wasn’t going to meddle.  It wouldn’t be worth it to get tangled up in some tedious matter by being nosy.

A few hundred kilometres was a distance these four could normally cross in short order, but inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, such a distance actually took some time to traverse.

But the further forward they went, the richer the fruit fragrance became.  On top of that, the red sun had also risen quite a lot, and now seemed to have climbed to a several hundred-metre height.

“We should pick up our pace.  When the Red Candle Fruit matures, there will be a Three Suns Grand Risings Phenomenon.  After the appearance of Three Suns Grand Risings, it will reach full maturity.  The time before this happens is extremely precious, the sooner we arrive, the more benefits we can obtain,” Dai Yuan urged softly.