Martial Peak

The seabed, somewhere in the Ancient Ruins.

In this place, within a thousand meters, there were more than a hundred cultivators lying on the ground, most of them already dead. Only a man and a woman still showed any signs of life, but they were both comatose.

In front of these cultivators there was a glowing light sphere that was continuously emitting some subtle energy fluctuations. As these fluctuations rose and fell, the light from the sphere also pulsed, sometimes brilliant and blinding, other times seemingly on the verge of being extinguished.

Suddenly, a golden radiance bloomed from the light sphere. When this golden aura appeared, the nearby space gradually became hot.

This golden aura began expanding outwards and soon encompassed the entire region, turning the light sphere into a miniature golden sun, the burning sensation in the air become more and more intense.

*Kacha…*

The sound of something shattering rang out.

At the same time, two Souls shot out from the light sphere, circle a few times, and then slowly landed on two of the bodies lying down below.

The golden radiance coming from the light sphere gradually dimmed and after a while, the entire orb went dark.

A moment later, An Ling’er slowly struggled to open her eyes and arduously picked herself up off the ground. After finally managing to stand upright, she looked around and spotted Yang Kai a short distance away.

As the pair met eyes, they couldn’t help grinning slightly.

Inside the Soul Battle Hall, in order to refine the artifact, Yang Kai had been persistently burning the three glowing words with his powerful Spiritual Energy, and just now, after who knows how long, he finally managed to succeed.

After overcoming such hardship together, An Ling’er suddenly felt that Yang Kai was somewhat good but still in most cases, bad. However, still quite bearable to be around. Yang Kai also thought that this young woman wasn’t so bad either, even if she was a bit naive. When he was refining the artifact, she had not tried to disturb or hinder him in any way and had instead just waited quietly while keeping her distance.

After successfully refining the Soul type artifact, it was easy to leave; Yang Kai simply summoned an exit and the two of them stepped through it.

Their Souls having been separated from their bodies for quite some time, a sense of discomfort was unavoidable. Yang Kai’s condition wasn’t too bad; after all, his Soul was significantly more powerful than An Ling’er’s, while the latter was still struggling to adjust. After confirming that Yang Kai had also returned, she promptly sat back down and began circulating her Secret Art while re-adjusting herself.

Yang Kai also sat down and carefully confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his body before standing up and walking over to where the Soul type artifact was.

Now that he had finished refining it, this artifact naturally belonged to Yang Kai.

Standing beside it, with a single though, Yang Kai stored it into his Knowledge Sea.

After inspecting the artifact for a while, Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised. This was a rare treasure left behind by the ancient Sect which once stood here and was definitely Saint Grade. Even after experiencing endless years idling in this place, this artifact had actually not lost much of its strength.

After nourishing it within his Knowledge Sea for some time, Yang Kai believed he could restore it to its original strength.

Yang Kai was very satisfied and felt that this trip had been worthwhile. Earlier he had obtained a Pill with a Pill Cloud, making it difficult for him to contain his excitement, and now he had acquired a Soul type artifact that was perfectly suited to him, it could be said that his harvest here had been bigger than anyone else.

Taking back his consciousness, Yang Kai looked around and found that An Ling’er was still meditating while Hai Wang Gu and the others had already died. Yang Kai thought about it for a moment before walking over the bodies and sifting through the various Universe Bags, taking anything he found useful while discarding the rest.

Half a day later, An Ling’er slowly opened her beautiful eyes; after this short adjustment, she had basically made a full recovery.

Seeing Yang Kai seemingly looking after her, the Nine Heavens Holy Land Saintess smiled, an inexplicable sweetness welling up in her heart.

Getting up and gently stepping over to Yang Kai, she asked, “Are we going back now or continuing to explore?”

“I want to continue exploring this place. There is at least one place I need to investigate, as for you… well, do whatever you want,” Yang Kai replied bluntly before walking off.

Seeing Yang Kai acting somewhat cold towards her again, An Ling’er pursed her lips and quickly followed after him without a word.

Arriving in front of a grand palace, Yang Kai couldn’t help frowning slightly.

This palace was the one originally guarded by the Soul Battle Hall, the one Hai Wang Gu and Old Man Cheng had gathered over a hundred cultivators together to break into, hoping to discover more treasures.

Unexpectedly though, after breaking the barrier around this palace, everyone’s Soul had been pulled into the Soul Battle Hall, thoroughly disrupting their initial plans.

Now though, when Yang Kai and An Ling’er inspected this place, they discovered signs that other people had already been here recently. The palace had essentially been ransacked and anything of value had already been taken.

“Did someone else come here later and discover this place?” An Ling’er guessed.

Yang Kai nodded lightly, agreeing with her analysis.

Although more than a hundred people had been dragged into the Soul Battle Hall, there were still many others who had entered these Ancient Ruins.

Yang Kai didn’t know how much time had passed, but he estimated that by now, the entire Ancient Ruins had been looted clean.

Realizing this, Yang Kai no longer wasted time, left the palace directly, and headed straight towards the source of the Yang Attribute fluctuations he felt.

Although it may have already been a month or two since they arrived at this place, the Yang Attribute aura that had first drawn Yang Kai here was still present.

Yang Kai wanted to know just what it was.

An Ling’er didn’t say anything to provoke or question Yang Kai and simply followed behind him step by step.

Yang Kai knew that she had still not given up on persuading him to return with her to Nine Heavens Holy Land so he deliberately ignored her.

After some time, Yang Kai felt he was drawing closer to the source of the Yang Attribute energy, but along with the Yang Attribute energy, Yang Kai also felt another kind of special fluctuation.

Void force!

Yang Kai suddenly realized that something was wrong and a sinking feeling told him he wasn’t likely to gain anything for his troubles here.

Sure enough, after passing over a small ridge, Yang Kai’s steps came to a halt and a helpless frown appeared on his face.

An Ling’er saw his expression droop and quickly looked over in the direction he was staring, covering her mouth in shock in the next instant and shouting “A Void Corridor?”

A short distance ahead, a roughly five-meter pitch black hole appeared in the ground. Naturally, it was a Void Corridor.

The Yang Attribute energy and the force of the void that Yang Kai felt were both coming from this black hole.

“How come there is a Void Corridor here?” An Ling’er couldn’t help feeling surprised. Void Corridors weren’t very common. It was said that a long time ago, masters tore holes in space as they fought which resulted in the formation of Void Corridors. There was also a theory that these Void Corridors were natural formations that had coincidentally formed on their own.

Through researching the mysteries of Void Corridor, some masters in the current world could use their own great strength to manipulate the force of the void to create Void Corridor-like existences, allowing them to cross ten thousand kilometres in a flash.

Chu Ling Xiao of Soaring Heaven Sect possessed such ability!

However, doing this consumed a great deal of time and energy, so even a master as powerful as Chu Ling Xiao was not willing to do so if not absolutely necessary.

However, the pseudo-Void Corridors these masters constructed and legitimate ones were worlds apart in terms of stability and distance of transmission.

There being a Void Corridor in this Ancient Ruin came as quite a surprise to An Ling’er.

It was a mystery what lay on the other side, it may be somewhere else in Tong Xuan Realm, or it may be a separate Mysterious Small World.

“Let’s head back!” Yang Kai said after a short silence. Although the source of the Yang Attribute energy was of great interest to him, he wasn’t about to rush head long into a Void Corridor. If it transported him to a distant part of the Starry Sky, it might be impossible for him to find his way back.

Saying so, he didn’t even wait for An Ling’er to reply before soaring straight up.

“Ah, wait for me!” An Ling’er shouted and quickly chased after him.

A moment later, the two of them arrived at the barrier of the Ancient Ruin, passed it, and plunged back into the sea.

Instantly, Yang Kai felt an enormous pressure from all directions, seemingly trying to crush even his bones.

Feeling this tremendous pressure, Yang Kai quickly pushed his True Qi and opened up a bubble around himself.

An Ling’er’s eyes flashed and dove into Yang Kai’s True Qi bubble, standing close by with a relaxed smile on her face.

“Why you…” Yang Kai glared at her.

“What?”

“Isn’t a Saintess supposed to be pure and noble? Sticking so close to an unfamiliar man, is that something you should be doing?”

“Unfamiliar man?” An Ling’er argued back, “Didn’t I tell you, you are fully qualified to become the next Holy Master. If you didn’t have such qualification, I wouldn’t even approach you.”

“If you dare mention that again just see if I don’t kill you!” Yang Kai shouted fiercely.

“You say that but you don’t have any intention of acting on it,” An Ling’er seemed to have seen through Yang Kai’s nature and was no longer frightened by him so easily.

Yang Kai ground his teeth as he stared at her wickedly, a devious smiling soon forming on his face, “You like provoking me? Do you really think I don’t have a way to tidy you up?”

“Try it if you dare!” An Ling’er stared back at him defiantly.

Yang Kai’s grin became even wider as he slowly began taking back his True Qi, shrinking the bubble around the two of them greatly.

An Ling’er let out a slight yelp upon seeing this and quickly leaned in towards Yang Kai, fearing she would be exposed to the outside sea if she didn’t.

Yang Kai continued to withdraw his True Qi, shrinking the bubble more and more.

The noble and holy Saintess soon had no choice but to squish up against Yang Kai, her delicate little hands grabbing tightly onto his clothes as her chest met his, her pretty face fluctuating between bright red and pale white, secretly gnashing her teeth but not daring to say anything more.

Soon, An Ling’er’s face had become a deep shade of crimson.

As the defensive barrier shrank, she could wrap her arms and legs around Yang Kai, her two proud peaks greatly deforming as the pressed against his strong chest.

Even though she was extremely unwilling, she had no choice but to maintain this humiliating posture.

“You pervert! Criminal! Demon!” An Ling’er bit her lips and pouted pitifully to Yang Kai, exhaling hot, fragrant breath next to his face.