Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“Is that all?” Yang Kai asked in surprise after he finished listening.

“That’s all!” Fei Zhi Tu nodded slowly, “After crossing that ice road, whether breaking any kind barriers or rescuing Qian Tong, you don’t need to worry about it, this City Lord will make appropriate arrangements. If not for being unable to find an appropriate Fire Attribute artifact to restrain the chill of that ice road, I wouldn’t have delayed for so long. “

Yang Kai stroked his chin silently.

Fei Zhi Tu did not urge him further, allowing Yang Kai time to think things over. This was a matter of great importance, and although Fei Zhi Tu said he only wanted to use the power of Yang Kai’s Artifact Spirit to safely cross the ice road, it would still require entering an Ancient Ruin, so saying that there would be no risks was impossible. Even a master like Qian Tong had become trapped in that place, so Fei Zhi Tu could not make any guarantees.

This was a life or death risk, so of course, Yang Kai would need to think about it.

However, Fei Zhi Tu was confident Yang Kai would agree. As Heavenly Fate City’s City Lord, Fei Zhi Tu knew much about the nearby Dragon Cave Mountain and had heard enough rumours about Yang Kai to know he wasn’t an ungrateful villain.

Sure enough, after a while, Yang Kai raised his head and a steady look flashed across his eyes, obviously having made a decision. Noticing this, Fei Zhi Tu immediately stared at him.

“City Lord Fei, my Dragon Cave Mountain truly owes Elder Qian a great graciousness, so now that he has encountered trouble this Junior will naturally try his best to help!”

Hearing this, Fei Zhi Tu gently nodded, a trace of satisfaction appearing on his face as he secretly thought this youth had a praiseworthy sense of character.

But in the next instant, Yang Kai grinned and asked, “But what benefits are there in this for me?”

“Benefits?” Fei Zhi Tu was dumbfounded as he gawked towards Yang Kai and asked, “You actually want benefits?”

Yang Kai smiled as he said, “Isn’t City Lord Fei underestimating Junior too much? Junior has already passed the age where he acts hot-blooded and reckless with no regard for the future. City Lord Fei doesn’t think I will agree to help after only hearing a few words, right? Since I must take on risks, naturally I want to obtain some benefits!”

Fei Zhi Tu frowned as a trace of disappointment flashed across his face, coldly saying, “But this is about rescuing Qian Tong, not some random stranger!”

“And so? If Elder Qian had sent me a message personally, of course, Junior would have done his utmost without asking for compensation, but the one asking for my help now is Senior Fei. Junior is not familiar with you, so naturally, I should be asking you for benefits; after all, if we successfully rescue Elder Qian, the one Elder Qian will owe a favour to is you. It will have little to do with this Junior.”

“What kind of sophistry is that!?” Fei Zhi Tu’s face went blue as he shouted. Never had he imagined that Yang Kai would bluntly ask him for benefits. This was completely different from what he had envisioned. In Fei Zhi Tu’s opinion, his inviting Yang Kai was already giving this youth a great amount of face. If the other party didn’t possess that Fire Attribute Artifact Spirit, with his Third-Order Saint King Realm cultivation, he would simply not be eligible to participate in this action, and when the time really came, how could Qian Tong not show this kid any gratitude?

[This little brat is too shameless!] Fei Zhi Tu snorted angrily.

“Whether or not my words are sophistry, City Lord Fei should be able to judge himself,” Yang Kai replied calmly, not showing any signs of impatience.

Fei Zhi Tu glared at him for a long time, but suddenly remembering something, he wore a cunning grin and said, “If you want benefits, then I will give you benefits! Boy, you killed Xie Hong Wen of the Xie Family, right?”

Yang Kai’s face changed slightly but he quickly said, “City Lord Fei, food can be eaten freely, but words may not be spoken randomly. What evidence do you have to prove that I killed Xie Hong Wen?”

“Don’t try to play dumb with me!” Fei Zhi Tu coldly snorted, “Do you think other people don’t know about what you’ve done?”

Yang Kai frowned, feeling that the other party really was not just making baseless accusations. Quickly wearing a humble appearance, he asked, “Please enlighten me, Senior.”

Fei Zhi Tu smiled deviously and said, “Your grievances with Xie Hong Wen were known by many people, and when the Flowing Flame Sand Field opened, Xie Hong Wen deliberately brought two Xie Family Saint King Realm disciples with him just to seek revenge on you. However, when the Flowing Flame Sand field closed, none of them appeared again, so clearly they had died in the Flowing Flame Sand Field!”

“The Flowing Flame Sand Field is filled with danger. Even if he did die inside, what does that have to do with me?” Yang Kai’s expression remained indifferent as he continued to deny the charge.

“Shadow Moon Hall has a rather special Secret Technique which can be applied to a Junior by their Elders. When a Junior falls, this Secret Technique will transfer itself to the one who killed them automatically. Not only does Xie Hong Wen have this Secret Technique placed on him, Wei Gu Chang, Dong Xuan’er and all the other elite disciples of the Sect do as well. I assume this City Lord doesn’t need to explain any further, yes?”

Yang Kai’s flashed an amazed expression. If Fei Zhi Tu was not lying to him, he must have been marked by that Secret Technique, and if that was the case, his killing Xie Hong Wen was probably not a secret.

“The Xie Family hadn’t taken action against you for two reasons, firstly because they feared Qian Tong and secondly because you rarely appeared after returning from the Flowing Flame Sand Field. The barriers and arrays protecting Dragon Cave Mountain are extremely powerful, so the Xie Family masters were unable to detect whether that Secret Technique had been transferred to you, but you leaving Dragon Cave Mountain just once was enough to confirm you killed Xie Hong Wen,” Fei Zhi Tu grinned meaningfully, “As long as you can accompany this City Lord on this trip, not only can I help you to disperse that stubborn Secret Technique, I can also promise you that in the future the Xie Family will never trouble your Dragon Cave Mountain again. I can even restore your previous trade relationship with Shadow Moon Hall, so are these benefits enough?”

While he was talking, Yang Kai had already used his Divine Sense to carefully examine his body, a moment later his expression turned extremely ugly.

In his body, Yang Kai discovered an extremely well concealed foreign energy mark. This mark’s energy fluctuations were very weak and if not for him meticulously scanning every inch of his body, Yang Kai would not have noticed it. Even with Fei Zhi Tu revealing this, Yang Kai had to check himself three times before he was able to discover the existence of this mark.

It seemed that this Shadow Moon Hall Secret Technique was truly covert.

“You found it?” Fei Zhi Tu looked at him in surprise. Although Yang Kai did not say anything, from the change in his expression, this point was fairly easy to determine.

This Secret Technique was extremely stealthy, and as far as Fei Zhi Tu knew, the mark which was applied to Xie Hong Wen was planted by Xie Li. Xie Li was a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, but even a master with equivalent strength may not have been able to find a trace of it, so how had this Third-Order Saint King youth done so?

Fei Zhi Tu could not help admiring Yang Kai while secretly wondering if he had used some kind of powerful artifact to help him find this mark.

Yang Kai did not answer his question and instead tried to wrap this weak energy mark with his Demonic Flames to dissolve it. However, he soon found that although this mark’s energy fluctuations were extremely weak, they were also extremely difficult to refine. From the looks of it, it would take at least a few days to eliminate this mark.

Now that he had found it though, Yang Kai wasn’t in a hurry to remove it and pondered for a moment before turning to Fei Zhi Tu with a solemn expression, “I can agree with half of Senior’s proposal!”

“Half?”

“En, after this matter is completed, Dragon Cave Mountain’s trade relationship with Shadow Moon Hall can be restored, but the price of goods will need to be discussed again. As for Xie Family… heh, this Junior only has one request.”

“Let’s hear it!” Fei Zhi Tu narrowed his eyes at him.

“Shadow Moon Hall must not interfere with my and the Xie Family’s grievances!” Yang Kai declared.

Fei Zhi Tu raised his brow in astonishment. He had thought that Yang Kai was going to ask Shadow Moon Hall to suppress the Xie Family and not allow them to seek trouble with Dragon Cave Mountain in the future, how could he have known that this little brat’s courage would be so great. From the request Yang Kai made, it was obvious he wanted to personally and permanently settle things with Xie Family!

After understanding this point, Fei Zhi Tu suddenly became interested.

Although the Xie Family wasn’t a top-level family, it still had many Origin Returning Realm masters with its Patriarch being a genuine Second-Order Origin Realm master. With the strength of Dragon Cave Mountain today, could it really compete with a force like this? Was this boy simply sleep-talking?

Fei Zhi Tu didn’t want to interfere in the grievances between Yang Kai and Xie Family in the first place, and he was completely disinterested in what kind of bear hearts and leopard galls this boy had eaten to dare run his mouth like this, so he immediately nodded, “Sounds reasonable. As long as Qian Tong can return, I can guarantee that even if you destroy the Xie Family completely, Shadow Moon Hall will not raise any objections; of course, that will depend on if you have this ability.”

He was not very confident about Yang Kai’s chances.

Yang Kai did not bother arguing with him and instead began discussing the details of the operation. After agreeing on a date and place to meet, he got up and left the City Lord’s Mansion alone.

After Yang Kai left, Fei Zhi Tu frowned and muttered, “Wait, why didn’t that boy ask me to help him get rid of that Secret Technique mark? Does he have a way to remove it himself?”

Thinking about it for a while, Fei Zhi Tu slowly shook his head, too lazy to bother with it any further. The Xie Family already knew that Xie Hong Wen had died at Yang Kai’s hands, so it didn’t really matter if this mark was removed or not.

Yang Kai returned to Dragon Cave Mountain without alerting anyone.

The date he agreed on with Fei Zhi Tu was in three days’ time. Fei Zhi Tu apparently still had to make some preparations and he had to make sure to conceal his activities, otherwise, he might draw unwanted attention.

Taking advantage of these three days, Yang Kai planned to purge the weak mark from his body. Although from what Fei Zhi Tu had explained, this Secret Technique was only used to determine the killer of an elite disciple, who knows what other kinds of effects it could have?

Such a thing lingering inside his body made it impossible for Yang Kai to rest easy.

Fortunately, Yang Kai’s Demonic Flames were quite extraordinary, incomparable to the Saint Qi of ordinary cultivators.

With the Artifact Spirit Firebird’s help, only two days later, Yang Kai managed to destroy the energy mark and, upon re-examining himself, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, Yang Kai summoned Chang Qi, Hao An, Yang Yan, Wu Yi, and Qian Yue, carefully telling them not to go out during this time, so as not to be targeted by the Xie Family’s people. After seeing everyone nod, Yang Kai returned to his cave mansion to make a few preparations.

In fact, there were no special preparations to make. Saint Crystals would ordinarily be a must, but in addition to what Yang Kai always carried with him, Yang Yan had given him many of the crystal spheres the Stone Puppet had compressed and refined. Whether it was in terms of quantity or total internal energy, these spheres were far superior to High-Rank Saint Crystals whether they were used for healing, restoring, or combat.

Yang Yan called these Saint Crystals spheres made by the Stone Puppet Saint Crystal Sources!