Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

Early morning the next day.

The first rays of sunlight emerged from beyond the horizon, illuminating the mountain range, a single beam soon transforming into a golden blanket.

Bathed in this morning splendour, the mountain range appeared particularly beautiful, for a moment even seeming to radiate a golden hue.

Numerous cultivators looked up at these mountains with solemn and respectful gazes.

A rich aura overflowed from these massive mountains, rolling down their slopes like a slumbering dragon which had just awoken.

On the second floor of the small palace, Yang Kai opened his eyes from his meditation and released his Divine Sense, quickly discovering that Xue Yue was no longer here but there was an unfamiliar life aura waiting outside.

Yang Kai turned his head to looked outside and found a cultivator dressed in a guard uniform waiting patiently, his cultivation slightly higher than Yang Kai’s, most likely a Third-Order Saint.

He stood there with a bored expression, looking a little impatient and displeased. It seemed that someone had arranged for him to take an errand that he didn’t appreciate very much.

After thinking about it, Yang Kai leapt off the second floor briskly, landed in front of the guard, and asked casually, “Friend, is there something wrong?”

When the man heard this movement, he turned around and reluctantly cupped his fists, “Are you Lady Xue’er’s guard?”

“Yes,” Yang Kai gently nodded.

“Lady Xue’er has departed to complete a task together with Branch President Ha Li Ka and it may take a few days for her to return. Since you are not familiar with this place, I have been ordered to entertain you!”

“Entertain me?” Yang Kai eyebrow slightly lifted.

“I am well informed about Rainfall Star’s various sights and scenes, I won’t disappoint you!” Saying so, he swept his eyes over Yang Kai, really not understanding how this young man had become Lady Xue’er’s escort. Since he was her guard, why was he not following behind his charge to protect her safety, but instead being left here by Lady Xue’er for him to entertain!

How was this justifiable? If all guards could receive such treatment, it would be blissful indeed. He was also a guard, so why had he never had such good fortune?

This guard was more than a little indignant and desperately wanted to follow Lady Xue’er if this was the kind of duty it was.

After hearing what the guard said, Yang Kai suddenly understood that Xue Yue was worried he would get bored so she had left somewhere here to help him kill time. Shaking his head wryly, Yang Kai wore a light smile and said, “I appreciate this friend’s offer to show me around, but I have no interest in lively scenes or seeking amusement.”

The guard shot Yang Kai a strange look, seemingly not having expected him to have such a serious attitude, nodding lightly a moment later and continuing, “There are some quiet places we could visit. The branch is just about to hold a large-scale auction where many rare treasures will appear. If this friend is interested, we can go take a look. “

“An auction?” Yang Kai eyes brightened slightly.

“En, about half the items being auctioned will be provided by the Chamber of Commerce while the rest are contributed by foreign cultivators who obtained them from various exploits throughout the Star Field. Such events are held every few years, and sometimes an incredibly rare and valuable treasure will appear.”

“That does sound interesting,” Yang Kai smiled and nodded. He had never participated in such a grand event, despite having heard about similar ones in Tong Xuan Realm multiple times and knowing that such auctions were important way for cultivators to purchase exotic treasures.

“Rainfall Star’s grand auction will be held over multiple days, and only Saint Crystals are accepted for transactions; however, after the auction, there will be a private trade fair. The trade fair’s exchanges will depend on personal preferences, once can use Saint Crystal or barter using other types of treasures!” The man saw Yang Kai show some interested in this and couldn’t help saying a few more words, asking again, “Would friend like to take a look? “

He could see that Yang Kai was somewhat ignorant of such affairs, but since he seemed to be valued by Lady Xue’er, the guard still had to treat him with courtesy.

“How many Saint Crystals do I need to get participate?” Yang Kai asked.

The man smiled and said casually, “At least half a million, otherwise, you might not even be eligible bid.”

“Half a million…” Yang Kai’s mouth twitched.

On the floating continent, he had seized all the Saint Crystals from the Purple Star and Sword Union cultivators, but the total number was not that large, and after purchasing his new Star Shuttle and a variety of rare ores, he only had a few hundred Saint Crystals left.

There was obviously no way for him to pull out half a million Saint Crystals right now.

Yang Kai did have a lot of Origin Grade and even Origin King Grade spirit grasses and spirit medicines. If he were to bring these out and sell them, each one would likely fetch an immense price, but Yang Kai himself was an Alchemist, so these herbs were more useful to him for studying the Alchemic Way. He wasn’t prepared to sell them.

“How about it, has Friend made a decision?” The man urged a little impatiently. He had been ordered to entertain Yang Kai, but Yang Kai taking so long to think about it was making him quite unhappy.

“Forget it, I can’t go,” Yang Kai waved his hand, going to an auction just to watch the fun was too boring. On top of that, he didn’t have anything he urgently wished to buy.

“If that’s what friend has decided, I will take my leave,” The man didn’t say anything more, simply cupping his fists to Yang Kai curtly before departing.

Basking in the warm sunlight and feeling the warmth in the air, was something those who cultivated Yang Attribute Secret Arts or Martial Skills like Yang Kai particularly enjoyed.

Standing in front of the palace, his tens of millions of pores wide open, thousands of rays of sunlight beaming down onto him, Yang Kai felt the pure Yang Attribute energy pour into his body.

His mood was calm and his mind relaxed.

Although he had refused the offer from the guard, Yang Kai himself did want to go out.

He had no idea when Xue Yue would be back, so it didn’t make much sense for him to simply stay here doing nothing.

On top of that, Yang Kai was anxious to find a safe way to remove the effects of the Soul Chains.

As long as he and Xue Yue were both willing, the Soul Chains could be unlocked at any time, but this method was far from safe.

Yang Kai had never thought that he and Xue Yue could really forget about all their previous grudges. That was all just an illusion created by the Soul Chains. He had to make sure that Xue Yue would not act against him after the effects of the Soul Chains were lifted, otherwise, it was almost certain she would try to kill him the moment she was freed.

Yang Kai had to guard against this and had secretly been contemplating the issue, but as of this moment, he had yet to come up with a viable solution.

Summoning his Star Shuttle, Yang Kai quickly flew off.

Like a bolt of lightning, Yang Kai soared through the clouds, exploring the world around him, without any kind of specific destination in mind.

Back on Water Moon Star, Yang Kai had spent a whole two months touring the star, firstly to familiarize himself with the structure and customs of the Cultivation Stars in the Star Field, and the other in the faint hope he would be able to find Su Yan.

Now that he had arrived on a different Cultivation Star, Yang Kai wanted to try his luck again.

Rainfall Star was not big, much smaller than Water Moon Star at least.

In just twenty days, Yang Kai had traversed almost the entirety of Rainfall Star but had not found any trace of Su Yan’s aura.

Yang Kai wasn’t too disappointed with this result; after all, the Star Field was far too large and the number of Cultivation Stars within it was nearly endless. Even if he knew Su Yan and the others from Ice Sect had arrived in the Star Field, Yang Kai had no idea which Cultivation Star they might be on, so he was not expecting to find them in any kind of short order.

Yang Kai stopped atop a great mountain and swept his eyes over his surroundings.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a huge mountain valley in the distance.

This mountain valley covered a massive area and there seemed to be traces of it been artificial expanded. The mountain valley shouldn’t have originally been that big, but someone had used powerful Divine Abilities to naturally expand it until it stretched a full one hundred kilometers in length.

At the center of the mountain valley, there was a small palace, and around the palace were vast fields of exquisite Medicine Gardens, each one filled with various colourful spirit grasses and spirit medicines

Standing where he was, Yang Kai felt that these Medicine Gardens were arranged inside some kind of grand Spirit Array which caused the surrounding World Energy to flow continuously into the mountain valley, making the density of the aura reach an extraordinary height.

Even while separated by hundreds of kilometres, Yang Kai was able to smell a medicinal fragrance that made one’s soul feel refreshed.

[Inside this mountain valley, there must be a profound Alchemy Grandmaster!] Yang Kai decided.

Setting off again, Yang Kai flew over, wanting to pay a visit to this unknown Alchemist to help pass the time, but as soon as he reached the mountain valley, he felt a strange sense of incongruence.

This feeling came to him when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye!

Pausing, Yang Kai took a more serious look at the vast Medicine Gardens again, contrasting them with what he had seen a moment ago.

Immediately, Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed, and he understood where this sudden incongruent feeling came from.

The distribution of the Medicine Garden inside the mountain valley was obviously different from the one he had just seen from the top of the mountain just now. There seemed to be some subtle changes among the planting and placement of the various herbs.

The more Yang Kai observed, the more he began to realize the peculiarity of these Medicine Gardens.

Soon, Yang Kai was surprised to find that there was a very special power flowing beneath these Medicine Gardens and that this power coincided with some kind of Heavenly Law which in itself was a shocking discovery.

The flow of this strange power changed with the various distances between the rows of the Medicine Gardens, allowing each Medicine Garden act as part of a larger, more complicated formation. This grand formation of Medicine Gardens caused the various energies of Heaven and Earth to concentrate in this place. On top of that, it seemed to allow all the spirit grasses and spirit medicines to more easily accept these energies, improving their vitality noticeably.

Yang Kai was shocked, and attracted by the exquisite layout of these Medicine Gardens he stopped mid-air and began releasing his Divine Sense to perceive the hidden mysteries in one of the Medicine Gardens.

Inside the palace, an old man with short stature and messy hair, appearing somewhat deranged, was busying himself in front of a series of large and small pill furnaces. Each pill furnace was filled with various medicinal liquids from different herbs. The old man had a white beard and sunken eyes, as if he was perennially exhausted, his skin was wrinkled and figure somewhat emaciated.

Only his eyes were filled with shining light and incomparable excitement. He devoted almost all his focus to the dozens of dozen of pill furnaces of various sizes in front of him, constantly extracting rare herbs from his Space Ring and tossing them towards different pill furnaces one after another.

He was simultaneously handling dozens of pill furnaces and refining several dozen different pills at the same time without any errors!