Martial Peak

Atop the high platform in the centre of the auction hall, Yan Pei waited for half a stick of incense, but after seeing that no one was willing or able to make this exchange, he couldn’t help showing a look of disappointment, “It seems that none of you have a Flowing Flame Flying Fire or news of a pool of Soul Cleansing Divine Water. Alright. Very well, that is all, thank you all again for attending this auction!”

Saying so, he turned away and left.

Although the masters from the various great forces very much wanted to acquire the Star Emperor Token, since none of them could meet the request of the token’s owner, they could only shake their heads and sigh. They had no intention to snatch this token either; first of all, the Divine Ability it contained had already been used rendering it mostly useless, but more importantly, doing so would highly offend Treasure Trove Pavilion which made it not worth it.

Soon, the cultivators in the auction hall withdrew, but when Yang Kai glanced around the hall curiously, he suddenly discovered that Lu Ye had at some point disappeared.

It appeared that even he knew he had shown off too much of his wealth and drawn too much attention to himself, making it dangerous for him to remain, thus he quickly and quietly left. Yang Kai snorted and no longer paid any attention to the issue. In any case, the grievance between him and Lu Ye would be resolved sooner or later, so Yang Kai wasn’t in a rush. Standing up, he turned to Qing’er and said, “Take me to see Senior Yan, I have something I want to discuss with him.”

“Yes!” Qing’er nodded, not asking any questions before leading the way.

Although Yang Kai had only bid on one item this auction, that alone was enough to prove his extraordinary wealth. On top of that, when he had arrived at Treasure Trove Pavilion, Qing’er saw Yan Pei take the initiative to speak to Yang Kai and Yang Yan, indicating that the two of them weren’t strangers. As such, Qing’er knew that Yang Kai was qualified to meet with Yan Pei.

Just after leaving private room B-13, Yang Kai felt two subtle Divine Senses sweep over him, causing him to pause for a moment before he continued following after Qing’er casually.

Although he couldn’t trace who was spying on him, Yang Kai had a fairly good guess.

No doubt it was Old Woman Feng from Myriad Beast Mountain and Jin Shi from Demon Blood Temple. During the auction, the one time Yang Kai bid on something he had been competing against these two, and now it seemed they had not given up on acquiring the Profound Gold.

Sneering dismissively in his heart, Yang Kai didn’t show anything on his face.

The Divine Senses that spied on him just now had come and gone rapidly, without showing any other intentions. After a while, Yang Kai arrived at one of Treasure Trove Pavilion’s back rooms and sat down to wait.

About half a cup of tea’s worth of time later, Old Black Face Yan Pei opened the door with a smile, walked in, and greeted, “Little Friend Yang.”

“Greetings, Senior Yan!” Yang Kai got up and cupped his fists.

“You are very courteous, please have a seat,” Yan Pei gestured before walking over to a chair opposite Yang Kai, sitting down, and asking, “Does Little Friend Yang have a matter he needs this old master’s assistance with?”

“Senior Yan thoughts are indeed sharp. This Junior does have something he wishes to ask Senior Yan to assist him with,” Yang Kai grinned and added, “En, to be precise, I want to borrow the strength of your noble establishment.”

“Please go on. However, please keep in mind that my Treasure Trove Pavilion’s primary objective is to earn profit, so even though this old master is happy to help Little Friend Yang, you will still have to pay a certain amount of Saint Crystals. Additionally, Treasure Trove Pavilion and this old master do not accept requests that require killing or pillaging.”

“Junior naturally understands this and has no intention of violating Treasure Trove Pavilion’s principles.”

“Very well!” Yan Pei nodded in satisfaction.

“En, Junior would like to request Treasure Trove Pavilion look for a precious treasure of the Earth Attribute.”

“An Earth Attribute precious treasure?” Yan Pei raised his brow as he observed Yang Kai and smiled meaningfully, “Today, Little Friend Yang spared no expense to obtain a piece of Profound Gold, and now you come requesting my Treasure Trove Pavilion search for an Earth Attribute precious treasure… could it be Little Friend Yang is trying to cultivate some kind of profound Secret Technique?”

[This old fox!] Yang Kai secretly cursed. Around sharp and well informed people like Yan Pei, one needed to be extra careful with how they spoke as anything one said may give away precious information. However, even though the other party had guessed his purpose, Yang Kai wasn’t about to foolishly admit to anything and instead just smiled, “Senior Yan, in addition to collecting treasures from around the world, could it be Treasure Trove Pavilion is really responsible for prying into others’ private information?”

During the auction that was just held, Old Woman Feng of Myriad Beast Mountain had said something to similar effect, so now Yang Kai taking advantage of her words couldn’t be considered as offensive.

Yan Pei gawked for a moment before letting out a chuckle, “This old master was simply asking casually. Little Friend Yang does not need to explain his purpose, of course. However, I must ask Little Friend Yang for a few more specifics so that this old master and Treasure Trove Pavilion will be able to determine a direction and objective for our search. There is even a chance we may have what Little Friend Yang needs in our storehouses already.”

“My specific requirements are that the scale of this treasure must be no lower than a Tenth-Order Monster Beast core!”

“A Tenth-Order Monster Beast core…” Yan Pei narrowed his eyes as he stared at Yang Kai with some shock. Although he had some speculations, he hadn’t expected Yang Kai’s request to be so great. If this was the case, then the items Treasure Trove Pavilion currently had in storage would not be able to meet Yang Kai’s request; after all, a Tenth-Order Monster Beast was equivalent to an Origin King Realm master. It was impossible to find such an existence on Shadowed Star.

“It need not be a Monster Core, any treasure which is of equivalent scale to a Tenth-Order Monster Beast Core will do,” Yang Kai added.

“Alright. This request will be somewhat difficult to fulfil, so this old master doesn’t dare make any guarantees. I can only say that Treasure Trove Pavilion will do its best. Of course, Little Friend Yang should not remain idle himself, perhaps with enough opportunity Little Friend Yang will be able to obtain what he wants on his own.”

“Junior naturally understands this,” Yang Kai gently nodded. Of course he wasn’t going to place all his hopes on Treasure Trove Pavilion. This time, him coming to see Yan Pei was primarily to discuss the Star Emperor Token, the Earth Attribute treasure was simply a side-note.

Thinking this way, Yang Kai moved the conversation forward, “Right, Senior Yan, the Star Emperor Token you took out a moment ago…”

“What’s wrong, do you want to exchange for it?” Yan Pei put down the tea he was drinking when he suddenly heard Yang Kai mentioning the Star Emperor Token, raising his brow and asking hurriedly, as if he was quite anxious to make this deal.

This came as a great surprise to Yang Kai; after all, according to Yan Pei, he was only acting on behalf of a mysterious old friend. Seeing Yan Pei act so urgently though, showed that the relationship between this powerful master and Yan Pei was not shallow, otherwise how could this Old Black Face act so urgently?

“Good, this Junior is interested in this exchange!” Yang Kai nodded thoughtfully.

“You have a Flowing Flame Flying Fire?” Yan Pei’s eyes widened as he asked excitedly.

Yang Kai, however, shook his head.

Yan Pei frowned for a moment but was immediately startled and shouted, “Then you know where to find Soul Cleansing Divine Water?”

“I don’t,” Yang Kai still shook his head. Soul Cleansing Divine Water could not be carried away from its source, hence it could only be used where it was found. If this wasn’t the case, when the pond of Soul Cleansing Divine Water was found in the Flowing Flame Sand Field, Qu Chang Feng, Leng Qing, and all the others would have long ago divided it up and taken it away, there would have been no need to soak in that pool at all.

Seeing him repeatedly deny having the required items for this exchange, even though Yan Pei had a good impression of Yang Kai, he still couldn’t help his face from sinking as he asked lightly, “Little Friend Yang, are you intentionally making trouble for this old master? Only these two items can be exchanged for that Star Emperor Token, but since you have neither a Flowing Flame Flying Fire nor information about Soul Cleansing Divine Water, why would you bring up this topic?”

“Please calm yourself, Senior!” Yang Kai smiled lightly, not showing the slightest signs of panic as he explained, “If it is convenient, could you allow this Junior to speak directly with the Senior who made this request? Junior guarantees he will not disappoint him.”

Seeing how calm Yang Kai looked, Yan Pei couldn’t help wondering where the former’s confidence came from.

If it were someone else, Yan Pei would have already asked them to leave, but Yang Kai’s origins were quite profound. According to his investigations, Yang Pei knew that Yang Kai actually came to Shadowed Star from the outside world. Perhaps he would have some means or methods that locals of Shadowed Star didn’t possess that were comparable in effect to Soul Cleansing Divine Water or a Flowing Flame Flying Fire.

Considering all this, Yan Pei’s complexion eased but he still stated calmly, “Since that is the case, I will call him over, but Little Friend Yang, you’d best have enough assurance of success.”

“Is one hundred percent assurance enough?” Yang Kai grinned confidently.

This was not an exaggeration on Yang Kai’s part, for even if his speculations were wrong, he still had Flowing Flame Flying Fires on him; it was simply that he didn’t want to exchange them unless forced to do so.

Yan Pei’s mouth twitched slightly when he heard this but did not say any nonsense, instead immediately taking out a communication artifact, pouring in his Divine Sense, exchanging a few words with someone, then quietly waiting.

Less than half an incense stick worth of time later, a knock came at the door.

“Come in!” Yan Pei shouted.

The door was pushed open immediately and a man walked inside. This man looked young but the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes showed that he was not as young as he appeared.

What was more eye-catching though was this man’s peculiar looking face. He had two thin eyes that seemed to almost be closed as well as puffy cheeks and rounded ears, making him look a bit like a monkey. Additionally, his arms were somewhat long, his hands somewhat big. However, of all his odd features, it was his two buck teeth that drew the most attention.

Yang Kai’s first impression of this person was wild.

After recovering from his initial shock, Yang Kai swept this man with his Divine Sense and was shocked to discover that he was only a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator.

This was the man Yan Pei called an old friend?

[Why does he look like a common thug from the city backstreets?] Yang Kai almost spat out his tea, and even Yang Yan who was sitting next to him couldn’t help covering her mouth with her small hands, trying hard to suppress her shock and laughter.

Yan Pei lightly coughed and broke the silence, “There’s no need for suspicion, this is a disciple of my old friend. It is a little inconvenient for my old friend to appear in public, so the Star Emperor Token was brought to exchange this time by him.”

Yang Kai showed a look of understanding. If this wild looking man was the disciple of a powerful mysterious master, having such a cultivation at such an age was reasonable.

“Senior Yan, you wanted to see me?” The bucktoothed man didn’t seem to put Yang Kai or Yang Yan in his eyes at all and instead directly asked Yan Pei upon entering.

“En,” Yan Pei gently nodded.

The other party looked delighted and asked, “Is there news about the proposed exchange?”

“Something like that,” Yan Pei didn’t know how to answer, and his words caused a look of surprise to appear on this bucktoothed man’s face. Fortunately, Yan Pei moved the conversation along quickly by pointing to Yang Kai and explaining, “This Little Friend Yang Kai, he says he can satisfy Nephew Ge’s requirements, but that he wished to speak with you face-to-face first. This old master is only responsible for introducing the two of you, as for what comes next, that will be up to you to discuss.”

“Satisfy my requirements?” The bucktoothed cultivator turned his head and looked at Yang Kai for the first time, a strong look of suspicion and disdain flashing across his eyes.