Martial Peak

Being bound and sealed by a master like Li Rong, Saintess Nan wouldn’t be able to escape no matter how heaven-defying her abilities were, so there was no need to worry about any harm coming to An Ling’er.

The sun was gradually setting, but all of Nine Heavens Holy Land was still bustling with activity.

The several thousand Holy Land disciples returning from the Holy Tomb all had many things to do.

The Ancient Demon Clan followed Yang Kai and Xu Hui to the mountain where they would later be living.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

Exactly one month later, the flurry of activating inside the Holy Land gradually calmed down.

The mess left behind when the Monster Race withdrew had been processed and Nine Heavens Holy Land once again entered into a steady state of development. On the mountain where the Ancient Demon Clan had settled, rows of new and refurbished houses were neatly lined up, making for an exquisite sight.

As the Ancient Demon Clan was constructing their new residences, Xu Hui had made sure to provide them with any resources and assistance they required, earning him Li Rong’s sincere gratitude.

After spending more than a month getting along together, Xu Hui and the other Elders couldn’t help changing some of their preconceived notions and instinctual repulsion to the Demon Race.

They had found that this group of Demons who had chosen to serve Yang Kai, besides being from a different race with a different kind of energy flowing through their bodies, were, in every other way the same as themselves.

None of them had seen or even heard of any of them running amok or causing trouble and were instead very cordial and law-abiding.

Gradually, a peaceful coexistence formed between the Holy Land disciples and the Ancient Demon Clan.

Yang Kai was very satisfied with the current situation. This past month, he had not had a moment’s rest as he had to deal with a myriad of issues big and small regarding Nine Heavens Holy Land and the Ancient Demon Clan, causing him to feel quite exhausted and wishing he could clone himself to split his workload. He hadn’t even had a spare moment to communicate with the Divine Tree.

Now that he had obtained a stable foothold, Yang Kai wanted to let the Divine Tree out of the Black Book space.

However, considering the difficulty of doing so and the presence of the Ancient Demon Clan, he decided to put off this idea for now.

The Yang Attribute energy aura released by the Divine Tree was so potent that even the Ancient Demon Clan may be adversely affected by it. On top of that, even with Yang Kai’s current strength, trying to remove the Divine Tree from the Black Book space would likely completely exhaust his strength.

For now, the best he could do was to occasionally send his Soul Avatar into the Black Book space and spend some time with the Divine Tree to appease its loneliness.

During one of these visits, Yang Kai also learned from the Divine Tree that the two pitch-black round stones were still absorbing the essence from the rare ores he had piled up. By now, almost all the minerals and ores in the Black Book space had been consumed, leaving behind only a large pile of dust and impurities.

After such a long time, the meridian like traces on the surface of the pitch-black round stones had become far more prominent.

Yang Kai faintly thought there was something unusual about these two stones and couldn’t help wondering just what kind of change they would undergo after absorbing so much mineral essence.

One day, as Yang Kai was discussing some matters with Li Rong and Xu Hui, a Holy Land disciples suddenly entered the hall and reported, “Holy Master, there is someone outside the Sect who requests an audience.”

“What person?” Yang Kai knit his brow.

“Netherworld Sect’s Sect Master, Wu Jie!” The disciple responded.

“Wu Jie?” Hearing this name, Xu Hui pounded the table with his fist and shouted, “The nerve! This old master hasn’t gone to settle accounts with him for his previous offence yet now he dares to show up outside my Holy Land’s nine peaks? This time there will be no road to Heaven or path to Hell for him to escape! How many people has he brought with him?”

The disciple quickly answered, “Sect Master Wu is alone, but he seems to have caught two unfamiliar people and is currently holding on to them.”

Xu Hui coldly snorted, “He actually dares come here alone? Does that green bastard really think he can not place my Holy Land in his eyes? Holy Master, please permit this old master to teach him a harsh lesson!”

Yang Kai just smiled wryly, “No need, Wu Jie is an ally.”

Xu Hui was stunned, unable to understand why Yang Kai would say such a thing.

Three years ago, that hateful fellow had followed Zhang Ao and Cao Guan to crusade against the Holy Land. Naturally, Xu Hui still bore a deep grudge for this and couldn’t wait to peel Wu Jie’s skin, tear his flesh, and drink his blood to vent the hatred in his heart.

Yang Kai did not hurry to explain and simply said to the waiting disciple, “Go invite him here.”

The disciple bowed politely before leaving to complete his task while Yang Kai slowly explained the situation to Xu Hui.

After learning that Wu Jie had taken the initiative to make peace with Yang Kai three years ago and, in recent times, had actually followed him around and offered his assistance, Xu Hui couldn’t help furrowing his brow and muttering, “I had heard that Wu Jie’s forte was building and managing interpersonal relationships while accurately analysing the overall situation. It seems his reputation is well-deserved.”

“Him being able to show goodwill towards Master a few years ago proves his vision is better than most,” Li Rong smiled, “Not everyone can see the potential of Master, like that Zhang Ao and Cao Guan. They had only their own lack of foresight to blame for their deaths.”

“Zhang Ao and Cao Guan are dead?” Xu Hui was extremely surprised.

“Ah right, I have forgotten to tell you about that,” Yang Kai nodded offhandedly, “The leadership of Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple have both basically been destroyed. By now, Wu Jie has probably finished handling their dismantlement.”

“Hmph, they got what they deserve!” Xu Hui still seemed somewhat angered and aggrieved, “This old master was still thinking about when to settle accounts with them, but now it seems there is no need for that. They got lucky, if they had fallen into this old master’s hands, I would surely have let them know what a life worse than death tastes like!”

Xu Hui cursed as he ground his teeth and clenched his fists.

Li Rong pursed her lips as she glanced over at Yang Kai, doing her best not to laugh.

A short while later, Wu Jie came in from the outside, still dressed in his trademark black robe, carrying with him two unconscious cultivators just like the messenger disciple had reported earlier.

Both these cultivators didn’t have a single scratch on them and simply seemed to be sleeping, their auras uniform and undisturbed, quite the mysterious sight.

Walking over, Wu Jie dropped the two unconscious men onto the floor and cupped his fists, “Greetings Sir Holy Master, greetings Senior Li… En, Great Elder as well.”

Yang Kai and Li Rong smiled and nodded while Xu Hui wore a gloomy look on his face and coldly snorted, obviously not happy to see Wu Jie, secretly thinking to himself that this person lacked honour and simply went where the wind blew, a sinister villain who was only concerned with benefits.

However, Wu Jie did not mind this reaction one bit.

“Have a seat!” Yang Kai gestured.

Wu Jie gently nodded and sat down at the table.

A pretty female disciple immediately served tea.

After sipping the tea for a moment, Yang Kai asked, “Sect Master Wu appearing here must mean you have finished processing those two Sects, yes?”

Hearing this question, Wu Jie couldn’t help grinning happily as he said, “I must thank Sir Holy Master for that. After a month or so of work, this Wu managed to absorb two thousand talented new disciples. The rest who only had average aptitude were given some cultivation resources and then dismissed. Now, within the surrounding thousand-kilometre radius, besides Nine Heavens Holy Land, only Netherworld Sect is left.”

“How much did it end up costing you?” Yang Kai chuckled.

“It didn’t cost much at all; after killing a few recalcitrant leaders, everything else was easy to handle,” Wu Jie replied casually.

“En, that’s certainly encouraging. It seems it is only a matter of time before your Sect rises. All that’s left is for Sect Master Wu to break through to the Second Order Saint Realm.

Wu Jie immediately looked awkward upon hearing this, smiling bitterly, “Sir Holy Master must not make fun of this Wu too much. What my aptitude is, this Wu is crystal clear, in this life, without some great opportunity, I’m afraid my current cultivation is my limit. “

“Seems you still have some self-knowledge!” Xu Hui snickered, his eyes filled with disdain.

Wu Jie let out a hollow laugh, knowing that Xu Hui was just venting his anger, quickly getting back to the discussion, “So my hopes will instead be placed on the next generation. In the future, Netherworld Sect will follow only Nine Heavens Holy Land’s lead, I only hope Sir Holy Master and Great Elder will show my Netherworld Sect some consideration in exchange for our loyalty!”

“We’re all one family, no need to act so humble!” Yang Kai nodded lightly.

Xu Hui’s expression softened somewhat hearing this. Wu Jie, being able to utter such words as a Sect Master, had largely dispelled Xu Hui’s remaining grievances.

“Right, these are the cultivation materials collected from Shattering Mystical Palace and the War Spirit Temple. This Wu left behind thirty percent for himself while the remaining seventy percent have been brought over. Please feel free to inspect it, Sir Holy Master,” Wu Jie said as he took out a few Universe Bags and handed them over respectfully.

Xu Hui looked over questioningly towards Yang Kai and received a slight nod.

Standing up, Xu Hui walked over and accepted the Universe Bags Wu Jie had brought. Sweeping them with his Divine Sense, a joyful expression soon filled his old face.

The Universe Bags sent by Wu Jie were all full of valuable materials, and from the amount, it was easy to tell he had really only kept about thirty percent for himself.

The treasury of Nine Heavens Holy Land was currently empty, and just when they were in need of resources, Wu Jie had delivered them, giving Xu Hui the impression of receiving charcoal in a snowstorm.

Xu Hui was very satisfied and finally smiled, “Sect Master Wu is too polite, I hope that our two Sects will be good friends in the future and never again experience such unpleasant misunderstandings.”

“No no, Great Elder may rest assured that this Wu is not as short-sighted or petty as Zhang Ao and Cao Guan.”

“Very good!” Xu Hui nodded firmly, his attitude finally easing.

“En, there is one more thing I must report to Sir Holy Master!” Wu Jie’s expression suddenly became serious again.

“About these two people?” Yang Kai asked.

“Indeed,” Wu Jie nodded, “When this Wu came to the Holy Land today, I accidentally discovered a rather large number of people wandering around outside your nine peaks… they all seemed to be searching for something so this Wu conveniently grabbed two of them to inquire about their motives.”

“Could they be disciples that were expelled from Shattering Mystical Palace and War Spirit Temple?” Yang Kai asked suspiciously.

“No,” Wu Jie shook his head firmly, “These two are both First Order Transcendents. If they belonged to Shattering Mystical Palace or War Spirit Temple, this Wu would definitely have some kind of impression of them, but I have never seen either of them before.”

“Hmm… wake them up and ask them what they came here for,” Yang Kai suddenly felt a bit disgruntled. At this time, so many foreign cultivators linger around outside the Holy Land was definitely something he had to investigate.

Yang Kai smelled a conspiracy behind all of this, making him feel uncomfortable.

Wu Jie got up, walked over to the two sleeping cultivators, and gently tapped their heads. A moment later, the two people who were soundly sleeping leapt up, their True Qi surging as they swept their eyes around at Wu Jie, Yang Kai, and the others in the hall.