Martial Peak

Just after Di Yao successfully refined his pill, Yang Kai also patted his pill furnace with his hand and a brownish pill flew out which Yang Kai quickly caught.

“Impressive!” Di Yao sincerely complimented, from the aroma wafting from Yang Kai’s pill furnace, he could tell that the pill Yang Kai refined was without a doubt Spirit Grade, as for the specific rank it was, he would have to see it in order to make a proper judgement.

What was most incredible though was that Yang Kai’s speed was not inferior to his own.

Regarding the speed Di Yao could perform Alchemy, he had put in a great deal of effort to reach his Master’s high requirements.

From the moment he gained awareness of the world around him, Di Yao had followed his Master and studied the Alchemic Way as they crossed mountains and plains. Every day, he would listen attentively to his Master’s teachings and receive hands-on guidance, taking nearly two decades before finally reaching his current level of achievement. So the question was who was the master of this youth he had just met? Who was capable of raising such a talented disciple?

Di Yao was now really interested in Yang Kai, his eyes filled with curiosity, but also a strong determination not to lose.

“When it comes to refining speed, you’ve won. I’m impressed.” Yang Kai’s expression was light, not showing the slightest emotional fluctuation because of this little loss, “Let’s compare the quality and grade of our pills then.”

Di Yao smiled and opened his hand, presenting the pill he had just refined to Yang Kai, confidently declaring, “Spirit Grade Top-Rank!”

“What a coincidence, I also refined a Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill!” Yang Kai opened his hand and said.

Hearing this, Fei Yu let out a light sigh.

The two of them had refined the same quality and grade of pill, but Di Yao had used slightly less time to do so, the result of this competition was clear.

“Hahaha, I won!” Di Yao laughed happily.

“Not necessarily,” Yang Kai slowly shook his head.

“Do you want to renege on our deal?” Di Yao’s expression abruptly became gloomy as he stared at Yang Kai with cold eyes, his True Qi showing some signs of welling up.

“Of course not, take a look yourself,” Yang Kai also shook his head lightly before tossing over the pill he had just refined. Di Yao grabbed and turned his eyes suspiciously towards it, but in the next instant, his eyes bulged as he called out in shock, “Pill Veins?”

The pill refined by Yang Kai just now had a myriad of tiny lines atop its round surface. These lines closely resembled the meridians within a human’s body and inside them a powerful medicinal efficacy flowed. Listening carefully, it was almost as if Di Yao could hear the medicinal power coursing through these Pill Veins.

The medicinal efficacies of this pill had undoubtedly been refinined to the extreme by Yang Kai.

“How can this be?” Di Yao couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared fixedly at this pill.

Yang Kai on the other hand wasn’t in any hurry and simply waited quietly. Fei Yu’s face also lifted as she swept away her prior nervousness and replaced it with a bright smile.

After a short while, Di Yao took a deep breath and straightened his half collapsed self-up before turning a complex look towards Yang Kai, “You’re really fierce!”

Regardless of whether this pill giving birth to Pill Veins was due to Yang Kai’s luck, they very fact that it had meant the latter’s Alchemy technique was unquestionably profound. If Yang Kai didn’t refine the pill’s medicinal efficacies to their fullest extent, even with great luck, forming Pill Veins would have been impossible.

Once a pill formed Pill Veins, its value would be multiplied several times.

It was for this reason that highly skilled Alchemists would pursue the birth of Pill Veins when they refined pills, because if they succeeded, the efficacies of the ingredients used would be magnified several times.

Even Di Yao’s Master couldn’t refine pills that gave birth to Pill Veins as he pleased; only when he was in a perfect state was it sometimes possible to do this.

Pills with Pill Veins had always been considered treasures by cultivators, and were often capable of saving their lives in the most critical of situations, placing them on the same level of trump cards.

“I lost,” Di Yao took a deep breath, calmed the unwillingness in his heart, and once more wore his usual sunny smile, calmly admitting his defeat without the slightest bit of grievance.

Yang Kai simply smiled back at him.

Fei Yu made the final announcement, “Since this little brother admits defeat, this Earth Fire Core now belongs to little Martial Nephew and myself.”

“Good, since I am willing to gamble I am prepared to lose, it’s yours,” Di Yao nodded lightly.

Fei Yu handed the Earth Fire Core to Yang Kai and the latter quickly stuffed it into his Black Book space.

“Friend, may I take the liberty to ask, who is your teacher?” Di Yao asked with a hopeful grin.

“I can’t say,” Yang Kai shook his head; it was actually the truth he couldn’t say anything about this subject.

“I understand.” Unexpectedly, Di Yao didn’t continue to inquire, instead just nodding easily and saying, “These powerful masters aren’t normally willing to expose their identities.”

Yang Kai stared at Di Yao thoughtfully as he suddenly realized that this youth must have been taught by a powerful master. It was highly probable that the Master behind him was an Alchemy Grandmaster who was famous throughout the realm.

“I have a presumptuous request, would friend be willing to agree?” Di Yao looked at Yang Kai sincerely.

“What request?”

“Can I take this pill away with me?”

“Feel free,” Yang Kai smiled faintly.

A Spirit Grade Top-Rank pill with Pill Veins was quite expensive, but it was still slightly inferior to the Earth Fire Core. Moreover, this Di Yao fit quite well with Yang Kai’s personality and after openly competing against him he naturally didn’t care about such minor gains and losses.

“Many thanks!” Di Yao was overjoyed and quickly stored the pill away.

“Martial Aunt, can you help me pour some tea? I want to talk a little bit with Brother Di a little more,” Yang Kai asked Fei Yu. It was rare for two such people to meet like this so Yang Kai also had the intention to make friends with Di Yao.

Yang Kai had very few male friends he could speak openly with while he actually had a considerable number of ‘close’ female friends. When he thought of this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit ashamed.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to calmly drink tea right now,” Fei Yu didn’t move, her pretty face suddenly wearing a chilly expression.

Yang Kai blinked once and quickly realized that the trouble he had been expecting had come. Outside the inn where he was currently staying there was a group of people rapidly approaching, they had yet to arrive but their murderous intent could already be felt.

“He really went and found reinforcements?” Di Yao just shook his head.

“Kid, I don’t know what you are relying on, but since this mess was something you provoked on your own, don’t expect others to help you. One of Floating Clouds City’s Vice City Lords, even I can’t afford to offend such a character,” Fei Yu said with a smile.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t plan to bring you into this matter,” Di Yao said, walking to the window and glancing out; but after seeing the situation, he simply whistled in admiration, “There sure are a lot of people.”

Turning around, he called out to Yang Kai, “Brother Yang, I hope we have a chance to chat again another day. En, you must go to Ascending Heaven Cliff and condense the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, it will have great benefits for you. I’m looking forward to working with you!”

Yang Kai expression changed and was about to ask what Di Yao meant, but before he could open his mouth the opposite party had already leapt from the window.

“This little kid…” Fei Yu lazily leaned against the window and looked at the situation down below while helplessly shaking her head.

“He seems to know some secrets that others don’t,” Yang Kai frowned, Di Yao’s last words before he left had piqued his attention.

This trip to Floating Clouds City was mainly for the medicinal liquid of the Thousand Year Demon Flower which could greatly assist Transcendent Realm masters break through to the Saint Realm, but listening to the meaning of Di Yao, simply condensing the medicinal liquid would also have benefits for Yang Kai.

But it was just condensing medicinal liquid, how could that bring any benefits to him? Yang Kai simply couldn’t understand.

Standing at the window and looking out, Yang Kai saw the street below the inn was now completely crowded with people.

Most of these people had come from the Trading District. Knowing there would be a good show here, they had come early to stake out good seats in preparation to watch the fun.

Still others had gotten word of this event and had hurriedly made their way over.

The rest of the people were cultivators brought by a beautiful middle-aged woman. This beauty was emitting a fierce aura, her pretty face twisted in anger as she ground her teeth menacingly.

Beside this beautiful woman was the one handed Nie Cong. He was silently rubbing his stump arm while staring at Di Yao with extreme hatred.

“Hey, this guy has some guts, not only did he not run away, but he even showed up on his own initiative,” Seeing Di Yao jump out all on his own surprised many in the crowd.

“Like I said, this little brother must have a very strong background so he doesn’t fear that bitch Nie Chu Feng!”

“Who cares how strong his background is? Strong dragons don’t oppose local snakes, this is Floating Clouds City, and I still think this brat is more unlucky than lucky.”

“This little brat really doesn’t have a sense of discretion, actually provoking Nie Cong. Everyone in Floating Clouds City knows that Nie Cong is doted upon by that bitch, only a foreign genius would dare act so unscrupulously. With her nephew losing a hand, how could Nie Chu Feng possibly just let things go?”

There was a constant buzz amongst the crowd as everyone talked about the relationship between Nie Cong and Nie Chu Feng. These voices did not escape the ears of the middle-aged beauty though and only caused her murderous intent to rise as she swept her eyes coldly around the onlookers.

Everyone hurriedly shut up, for fear of getting into trouble.

“Was it you who took the hand of my nephew?” Nie Chu Feng stared at Di Yao and asked in a cold voice.

“En,” Di Yao nodded casually.

“Why would you do such a thing?” Nie Chu Feng asked as she grit her teeth hard.

“I warned him. He didn’t listen, so I acted,” Di Yao shrugged his shoulders and snorted, “Anyone who dares to destroy my herbs is my enemy, I show no mercy to my enemies!”

“Your courage isn’t small!” Nie Chu Feng sneered, “A trivial herb, can it compare to my nephew’s hand?”

Di Yao expression became cold, “What thing is your nephew? Can his life compare to the herb I want?”

“Aunty, don’t talk nonsense with him, let me kill him!” Nie Cong snarled.

Nie Chu Feng stared deeply at Di Yao and asked in a cold voice, “There were two of you who dared attack my nephew right? Call that other brat out, I’ll send both of you off on the road together.”

“A real man takes responsibility for his own actions, this matter is mine and mine alone,” Di Yao slowly shook his head.

“Good,” Nie Chu Feng took a deep breath, her full rich peaks heaving up and down as she spoke icily, “How do you want to die? Tell me and I can grant it as your last request.”

“I don’t want to die!” Di Yao smiled, not showing the slightest signs of nervousness.

“That’s not something you can decide anymore,” Nie Chu Feng slowly raised her jade hand and gathered a green True Qi into her palm. In an instant, a putrid scent filled the air, causing anyone who smelt it to have the urge to vomit.