Martial Peak

In the deepest part of the mountain valley, Yang Kai stared at the Golden Dragon head that suddenly appeared as his heart pounded furiously.

The tingling sensation Yang Kai had been feeling, had transformed into an intense throbbing that seemed to be resonating with the dragon roar coming from the valley. In the next instant, the Golden Dragon tattoo leapt off his back and flew straight toward the giant dragon head floating high up in the sky.

As the two dragons met, the intensity of the golden light rose drastically, to the point where no one could even open their eyes.

A moment later, the light faded and Yang Kai discovered that he was now inside a golden world filled with an unfathomable amount of pure energy. A Golden Dragon only a few meters in length was now swimming around him, constantly swallowing this rich golden energy.

Yang Kai probed this dragon slightly before relaxing his guard.

This several meter long Golden Dragon gave off the same aura as him and if Yang Kai’s guess was correct, it should be the tattoo which normally resided on his back. As to why it had suddenly manifested itself and was devouring this golden energy, Yang Kai did not know, but even so, he could tell that as it fed, this Golden Dragon was slowly growing both in size and strength.

From behind Yang Kai, all of a sudden, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out. Turning around, Yang Kai saw a youth roughly fourteen or fifteen years old sitting on his butt staring back at him in terror.

Seeing this, Yang Kai’s brow wrinkled.

He had been so focused on the shocking scenes before him that Yang Kai had actually not even noticed when this youth had appeared.

This boy was a True Element Boundary Seventh Stage cultivator, which in front of the current Yang Kai was no different from an ant.

After releasing his Divine Sense for a moment, Yang Kai slowly shook his head. He didn’t know why, but his Divine Sense was unable to penetrate this ocean of golden energy so he was unable to determine what had happened outside.

Sweeping his eyes around, Yang Kai confirmed that, besides the young boy in front of him, there was no one and nothing else present.

With a light smile, Yang Kai stepped towards this youth.

Yang Kai had many suspicions in his heart, and this boy was the perfect candidate to confirm them.

Seeing Yang Kai approach, the boy seemed to be overcome with fear and before Yang Kai could even speak a single word, the boy’s eyes rolled back and he fainted on the spot.

“Seriously?” Yang Kai gawked. Although he didn’t think he was particularly handsome, he also didn’t believe he appeared wicked. The timidity of this little brat was simply too great.

Without any choice, Yang Kai could only sit down and wait while carefully examining his surroundings.

This place had been completely engulfed by this golden energy ocean, and the Golden Dragon tattoo that usual rested on his back was still slowly swallowing it. Yang Kai tried to see if he could break through this energy blockade, but soon concluded it was futile.

The golden energy ocean was impregnable, and Yang Kai estimated that even if he used his Devil Transformation, he wouldn’t even be able to leave a scratch on it.

By tearing space, he may be able to leave here, but when he tried to recall the Golden Dragon, it didn’t respond to him, so Yang Kai had no choice but to settle in.

In any case, it was unlikely anyone from the outside could come in here as well.

Turning his attention to the youth in front of him, Yang Kai was surprised to discover that this boy’s Secret Art was actually a Yang Attribute one, similar to his own, and although the True Qi flowing through this boy’s body couldn’t be considered outstanding, it was still not bad considering his cultivation realm.

After waiting for half a day, the boy finally regained consciousness.

Upon opening his eyes, the youth didn’t seem to understand the situation he was in. However, the moment he spotted Yang Kai sitting a short distance away, breaking into a smile, the youth hurriedly crawled in retreat; he dared not lessen his vigilance against this stranger in front of him.

The youth’s eyes were filled with dread.

Seeing this, Yang Kai chuckled, “Don’t be afraid, I just have some things I want to ask you.”

The youth, however, maintained his wariness, showing a stance similar to a rabbit cornered by an eagle, pushing his True Qi to its maximum, preparing to put up a final resistance.

Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a hint of approval.

In a sense, Yang Kai felt this boy was somewhat similar to himself, when faced with a strong enemy, he unconsciously wanted to resist.

“If I wanted to kill you, there’s nothing you could do to resist!” Yang Kai grinned fiercely.

Hearing these words, the youth seemed to be dumbstruck for a moment but soon let out a long sigh, and with a resigned expression, got to his feet, patted the dust from his pants, and bowed, “Please ask whatever you want, Senior.”

“Senior?” This time it was Yang Kai’s turn to be stunned. This was the first time he had ever been called this by another. Nodding slightly, Yang Kai figured that he really was the Senior in this circumstance. In terms of strength, he was far above this boy, and even in terms of age, he was around ten years older, being called Senior was understandable.

“What force do you belong to?” Yang Kai asked after a moment of contemplation.

The youths eyes flashed a confused light before he hesitantly answer, “Dragon Phoenix Palace… Doesn’t Senior know this already?”

“Dragon Phoenix Palace… Sure enough!” Yang Kai took in a breath. When he noticed the Golden Dragon tattoo on his back behaving unusually, he had guessed as much, so hearing this name from this boy’s mouth was just a way of confirming his speculation.

When he was back in Ice Sect, Qing Ya had mentioned Dragon Phoenix Heaven. Though the name was not exact, it was similar and unique enough to be recognisable to him.

Qing Ya told him that ‘the inheritance he and Su Yan had obtained may be related to Dragon Phoenix Heaven’. Many centuries ago, Dragon Phoenix Palace was a powerful force on par with the Ice Sect of that time, but it had gradually declined because of the loss of its core inheritance.

Although the long years had been unkind to it, causing it to wither away somewhat, like Ice Sect, Dragon Phoenix Palace had yet to disappear into the annals of history.

There were several forces which had similar experiences throughout Tong Xuan Realm, Dragon Phoenix Palace was simply one of them.

At that time, Yang Kai secretly decided that when he had free time he would pay a visit to Dragon Phoenix Palace to have a look around, but unfortunately, he had been involved in a series of troubles after leaving Ice Sect which kept him thoroughly occupied.

It was only a coincidence that while practicing his tearing space method he had come here today.

Perhaps this was also some kind of divine intervention or fate.

After learning that this place was Dragon Phoenix Palace, Yang Kai immediately affirmed that the inheritance he and Su Yan obtained back in the Inheritance Heaven’s Cave was from this force.

“Senior… who are you? How did you open the Dragon Valley’s ancient barrier? Before now, all of us just thought it was some kind of legend.”

“Me?” Yang Kai thought about it for a moment, “In a sense I have some connection with your Dragon Phoenix Palace.”

The youth happily smiled upon hearing this and hurriedly asked, “Does that mean we’re all one family?”

“One family? Heh, well you can think that if you’d like.”

The young boy’s expression suddenly relaxed a lot, “That’s good, I thought my time of death had arrived.”

“Were you afraid I’d kill you?” Yang Kai squinted at him with a wry grin.

The youth scratched his head awkwardly and replied, “Please don’t take offence, Senior, Junior was simply thinking too much. Right, I should introduce myself, this Junior is Dragon Phoenix Palace disciple Sun Yu.”

“My surname is Yang…” Yang Kai smiled and nodded.

“Greetings, Senior Yang,” Sun Yu’s bowed politely, as if he was greeting an Elder from his Sect.

It was only reasonable for Sun Yu to think like this; after all, this Senior Yang had the ability to open Dragon Valley’s ancient barrier, so he must have some relationship with Dragon Phoenix Palace. On top of that, Yang Kai had just acknowledged having some connection to his Sect, so Sun Yu immediately felt relieved and was no longer on edge.

“Come and sit down, there are many questions I still need to ask you,” Yang Kai motioned to Sun Yu in a congenial manner.

“Please speak freely, Senior Yang, disciple will do his best to answer your doubts,” Sun Yu nodded quickly.

After chatting with Sun Yu for a while, Yang Kai gradually understood Dragon Phoenix Palace’s current situation.

Simply put, it was neither weak nor strong. There was a single Saint Realm master in the Sect named Chen Zhou, he was the one Yang Kai had previously detected at the mouth of the valley.

Although just a First Order Saint, that was enough to barely guarantee the safety of Dragon Phoenix Palace.

The ceremony Yang Kai had witnessed was known as the Dragon Valley’s Trial and it was held once every three years. The various youths who participated were selected from Dragon Phoenix Palace’s disciples, like Sun Yu, as well as others from the nearby affiliated Sects.

The disciples who came from Dragon Phoenix Palace’s affiliated Sects and Families would have to return to their own forces if they failed to pass this trial.

Every past Palace Master of Dragon Phoenix Palace presided over this test in hopes that one day, one disciple would be fortunate enough to pass and revitalize Dragon Phoenix Palace.

Unfortunately, after innumerable years and many successive Palace Masters, no disciple had ever passed the Dragon Valley’s Trial. This had led to Dragon Phoenix Palace’s declining to the point where only the current Palace Master still believed there was any kind of hidden legacy inside Dragon Valley.

That was, until now when Yang Kai inadvertently arrived here, causing Dragon Phoenix Palace to once again see hope.

As Sun Yu was explaining all of this, he suddenly face palmed and jumped up, “Oh crap, Palace Master and the others must think I was the one who opened the barrier and passed the Dragon Valley Trial.”

“Just let them think so, what’s the problem?” Yang Kai smiled casually.

“But… this really has nothing to do with me, all I did was walk along the valley until a sudden strong force pulled me here. No no, this isn’t right, I have to tell Palace Master.”

“You can’t get out,” Yang Kai shook his head as he turned his eyes to the surrounding golden barrier, “Not only you, even I can’t get out. We’re stuck here until all of this golden energy has been swallowed up.”

“What?!” Sun Yu’s face went white, “Then… what should I do?”

“Wait,” Yang Kai replied briefly, not showing the slightest bit of anxiety.

Seeing this Senior Yang acting so calm and relaxed, Sun Yu also seemed to regain his composure and slowly sat back down.

After chatting a bit more, Yang Kai learned from Sun Yu that while the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance was hidden in Dragon Valley, Dragon Phoenix Palace had another restricted area called the Phoenix Nest!

Inside the Phoenix Nest was the inheritance of the Phoenix Empress.

Anyone who passed the Dragon Valley’s Trial would have to select a young woman to inherit the Phoenix Empress’ position and become his life partner.

Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress were the titles given to the two strongest masters of Dragon Phoenix Palace many centuries ago. With these two masters at the helm, Dragon Phoenix Palace was considered one of the most powerful forces in the world.

Nowadays, the leader of Dragon Phoenix Palace only dared call themselves Palace Master.

Yang Kai expression changed when he heard this, suddenly becoming interested in this so called Phoenix Nest. If his guess was right, there should be something important there for Su Yan.

“The disciples selected to participate in the Dragon Valley’s Trial will be granted a special Secret Art from Palace Master even if we fail to pass. As such, as long as we can find the right girl, we won’t cultivate too slowly in the future.”

“A Dual Cultivation Secret Art?” Yang Kai asked bluntly.

Sun Yu nodded slightly as his face turned somewhat red.

“Do you have a girl you admire?”

Sun Yu shook his head rapidly, his face becoming even redder, “But there are many beautiful girls in the Sect… we can choose freely from among them, but once we form a pair, it will be for life!”

Yang Kai expression changed, only those who had cultivated profound dual cultivation technique knew the true meaning of not separating for a lifetime. As such, Sun Yu’s words just now seemed to resonate with Yang Kai, causing the look in his eyes to become gentler.

(Silavin: Hmmm… Suspicious…)