Martial Peak

Both Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang were Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemists, but the time and resources they had spent achieving that rank were completely different.

Xia Ning Chang had been constantly running around with Meng Wu Ya for the past ten years and had very few stable days to spend improving her Alchemy technique. On top of that, Treasurer Meng wouldn’t have been able to easily gather large quantities of Alchemy materials like Yang Kai had in order to allow Xia Ning Chang to continually practice and build up her experience.

It could be said that Yang Kai being able to achieve his current level of Alchemy proficiency was completely thanks to piling up an incredible amount of time and resources.

On the other hand, Little Senior Sister has used her innate talent and special constitution to reach such a height while the time and resources she consumed was only a fraction of what Yang Kai had spent.

Yet now, they had both reached the rank of Saint Grade Mid-Rank Alchemist.

The difference in talent between the two was easy to judge.

Although he was surprised, Yang Kai was not discouraged but rather felt a great sense of joy, the more amazing his Little Senior Sister was, the happier he was.

Unlike the common men who would feel annoyed or even jealous that their woman had surpassed them in a certain field, Yang Kai only felt a sense of pride.

(Silavin: Haha. Sure.)

“Don’t worry, from now on, you will never lack for herbs to practice your skills with. I believe that soon, your Alchemy technique will experience rapid growth and it won’t be long before you reach the same standard as Old Man Li!” Yang Kai grinned, stretching out his hand and condensing a white ball of light on top of his palm before passing it over to Xia Ning Chang’s Soul Avatar, “Inside this is all the knowledge of the True Alchemic Way, take your time to comprehend it.

“En,” Xia Ning Chang opened her mind and body and absorbed the Spiritual Energy light containing the complete True Alchemic Way into her Soul Avatar before immediately beginning to study it.

Yang Kai did not bother her and quietly left.

Leaving his room, Yang Kai came out and strolled over to the main hall of the Holy Master Court.

An Ling’er was there going over recent reports, seemingly taking inventory of the Holy Land’s current accounts, her pretty face filled with a joyful smile.

Yang Kai’s arrival did not alarm her as she continued to immerse herself in her work, compiling the various documents into a single summary.

It wasn’t until Yang Kai sat down opposite her and poured himself a glass of water that An Ling’er looked up at him and grinned, “What’s wrong? After you finally managed to reunite with each other, shouldn’t you be spending a long time alone together? How come you came out after just two days?”

Yang Kai’s expression became somewhat awkward as he muttered, “We talked about everything we needed to, what else were we supposed to do?”

“Oh? You just talked?” An Ling’er’s grin grew even wider.

“What did you think we were doing?” Yang Kai quickly discovered the strangeness in her expression and understood she had gotten some wrong ideas in her head.

“Who knows, a single man and single woman spending several days all alone together, certain things are bound to happen, no?” An Ling’er seems to be in a good mood as she teased.

“You’re not jealous, are you?” Yang Kai stared at her blankly.

An Ling’er snorted, “Stop flattering yourself, the Elders might think we have that kind of relationship but you and I know better.”

“A Saintess daring to say such words to the Holy Master, you must definitely be the first,” Yang Kai laughed.

“Who made you turn out so differently from all the previous Holy Masters? It’s you who gave up this opportunity on your own. Good, enough about that, the Holy Land’s income for these past few months is all recorded here, do you want to take a look?”

“Why not,” Yang Kai took the account book from her and began glancing over it. Just from scanning the document briefly, Yang Kai saw various entries about which pill the Holy Land’s Grandmaster had refined and what kind of compensation they were given. No matter how small the exchange was, all its details were clearly recorded.

Most of the remuneration paid was in the form of Crystal Stones but there were also things like rare materials and even some Secret Arts, Martial Skill, artifacts, and other strange items.

Browsing through this long list, Yang Kai soon became disinterested and tossed the account book back to An Ling’er, “Forget it, you keep track of things.”

Spreading his Divine Sense out across the Holy Master Court, Yang Kai suddenly wrinkled his brow and asked, “Where’s Treasurer Meng? Why can’t I sense him?”

Hearing him ask this question, An Ling’er replied, “If you didn’t ask, I would have also forgotten. Senior Meng said he was going out for a while and asked me to tell you to take care of his apprentice. He also said that if you dared to bully her, he would make you unable to walk or eat.”

“He went out? When did he go out? Did he say when he might be back?”

“He left yesterday and didn’t say anything about when he would be back,” An Ling’er shook her head.

Yang Kai furrowed his brow; although he didn’t know exactly why Meng Wu Ya had left so soon after coming to the Holy Land, he could faintly guess it had something to do with the strange Mysterious Small World they had entered before and was possibly even related to the words Great Demon God’s Soul Clone had spoken.

However, Treasurer Meng’s strength had been completely restored now so as long as he didn’t do something like flying over to the Demon Capital to challenge the Demon Commander, he shouldn’t be in any danger.

Just as Yang Kai was pondering this issue, Xu Hui hurriedly walked in from the outside and shouted, “Holy Master, Wu Jie wishes to meet you!”

Yang Kai brow rose, “Wu Jie?”

“It seems that something worrying has happened as his expression is a bit disturbed,” Xu Hui followed up.

“Let him come in,” Yang Kai commanded.

Yang Kai had not met with Wu Jie in several months but from listening to Xu Hui and the others’ reports, it seemed that after taking in a lot of elite disciples from Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple, Wu Jie’s Netherworld Sect had grown considerably and was developing at a good pace.

A moment later, a black-robed Wu Jie appeared like a ghost and cupped his fists said, “Sir Holy Master!”

“Sect Master Wu,” Yang Kai greeted, “Has something happened?”

Wu Jie nodded slightly and said in a solemn tone, “Indeed, it’s related to the stone forest inside Shattering Mystical Palace.”

Yang Kai expression instantly became serious, “What happened to that stone forest?”

“If it is convenient for Sir Holy Master, I believe it would be best if you come and see for yourself,” Wu Jie did not immediately explain.

However, from his behaviour and tone, Yang Kai could basically guess what this was about. No longer saying anything, Yang Kai simply agreed and stepped out of the Holy Master Court.

At the same time, Yang Kai sent a Divine Sense Message to Li Rong, asking her to come along, and a moment later the trio set out for Shattering Mystical Palace.

“Master, is something wrong?” Li Rong asked curiously.

“Wu Jie said that something happened in the stone forest and requested I see it personally.”

“The stone forest?” Li Rong half-shouted, “You mean the stone forest that leads to the Starry Sky?”

“En.”

“What happened there?”

“I don’t know,” Yang Kai shook his head.

After an incense stick worth of time, the group of three arrived in the sky above the stone forest. Looking down at it, Yang Kai’s eyes instantly shrank.

At the centre of the stone forest, a pitch-black entrance had silently opened, exactly like what had happened to the Holy Tomb.

Li Rong hurriedly asked, “Who opened the entrance to the Starry Sky?”

Wu Jie shook his head and explained, “This situation was inadvertently discovered by my Sect’s disciples. Because this Wu knew that this place was important to Sir Holy Master, since the last time we met, I ordered my disciples to stop coming in and out of the Shattering Mystical Palace, but yesterday, when a group of disciples from my Netherworld Sect flew nearby this place, they suddenly saw the situation down below and out of curiosity, several of them went in to explore, but none of them ever came back. The ones who remained behind hurried back to the Sect and told the story to one of the Elders who relayed it to me. After receiving this news, I rushed over to Nine Heavens Holy Land.”

Listening to his story, Yang Kai nodded faintly, “You should be glad that you did not go in to investigate it yourself.”

Wu Jie smiled and said, “This Wu is well aware of his limits. So, is this really an entrance to the Starry Sky?”

“Yes. Last time, Li Rong and I went in to examine this Void Corridor once and discovered that it really does lead to the legendary Starry Sky. Anyone below the Third Order Saint Realm who enters it will definitely die; your disciples won’t be coming back.”

Wu Jie’s face paled, “Only Third Order Saints can enter?”

“There is a horrible pressure filling the entire Starry Sky and only those who possess physiques on par with Third Order Saints can withstand it,” Li Rong explained.

Wu Jie couldn’t help feeling a bit of cold sweat drip down his brow as a lingering fear gripped his heart.

Fortunately, when he first received word of this situation, he had chosen to first inform Yang Kai rather than rush in to investigate the matter himself, otherwise with his current cultivation, he would likely have shared the same fate as his lost disciples.

“But the question is… who opened this entrance?” Li Rong muttered in confusion.

“It may be that it opened on its own,” Yang Kai said pointedly.

“Opened on its own?” Li Rong and Wu Jie looked at him with some surprise.

“En, there is also a Mysterious Small World in the Holy Land called the Holy Tomb. Originally it was the place where all previous Holy Masters were laid to rest, but several days ago, the entrance to that Mysterious Small World opened by itself, causing the Great Elder no small amount of panic. Even now, it remains open and we have yet to find a way to close it,” Yang Kai explained in a casual tone while on the inside he was feeling more and more uneasy.

The entrance to the Holy Tomb opened on its own, as did the entrance to the Starry Sky, and both of these strange events occurred a few days ago. Strictly speaking, all of this took place on the day he brought Meng Wu Ya and Xia Ning Chang out of that strange place.

Did all of this really have something to do with that strange Mysterious Small World?

The distance between each of these places was really quite far though, how was it possible they were all related?

“Sir Holy Master, what should we do here? Do you need me to place some people here as guards?”

“No, you go back and warn your Netherworld Sect’s disciples that none of them should enter this Void Corridor. I’m not exaggerating; no one under the Third Order Saint Realm will be able to survive.”

“Yes, this Wu firmly believes the words of Sir Holy Master,” Wu Jie nodded sincerely.

“I will also let the Holy Land’s disciple stay away from this place, as for outsiders… if they want to go in, just let them; their lives have nothing to do with me!” Yang Kai snorted, “Let’s head back first.”

“This Wu will also take his leave; this time’s trip to the Holy Land was mainly to inform Sir Holy Master about this matter.”

“Good, do as you please. Oh right, if you have any Saint Pill that needs refining, just come to the Holy Land and find me,” Yang Kai urged, “I can give you priority in refining it.”

Wu Jie was overjoyed hearing this and repeatedly offered his thanks, claiming that he would patronize the Holy Land as soon as he went back to retrieve the required materials.

In fact, he had long wanted to go to Nine Heavens Holy Land to request Alchemy services, but because of his friendly relationship with Yang Kai, if he were to suddenly make a request, it would be quite embarrassing and might even damage Nine Heavens Holy Land’s reputation.

However, since Yang Kai had taken the initiative to offer, how could Wu Jie refuse? After saying goodbye he immediately left in an excited mood.

After Wu Jie departed, Yang Kai and Li Rong rushed back to the Holy Land, both of them remaining silent the whole way as Yang Kai was deep in thought, going over the words Great Demon God’s Soul Clone had said to him back in that strange world, trying to find some clues or information that might explain these strange happenings.