Martial Peak

Half a year later, on a certain day, High Heaven Sect’s reception hall was extremely lively.

After waiting for half a year, the Emperor Garden’s opening was just days away, and those forces that had reached agreements with Yang Kai to depart from High Heaven Sect’s territory had naturally arrived early.

Shadow Moon Hall’s representatives were, unsurprisingly, Qian Tong, Fei Zhi Tu, Wei Gu Chang, and Dong Xuan’er. Unfortunately, not all of them were going to the Emperor Garden. Although Shadow Moon Hall had paid a massive price and managed to obtain a third Emperor Jade over the past six months, that was ultimately their limit, so for this expedition to the Emperor Garden, Dong Xuan’er would not be going.

Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu would only be accompanied by Wei Gu Chang this time.

Needless to say, Clear Sky Sect’s group was led by Mo Yu. In addition to him, there was a grey-haired Third-Order Origin Returning Realm old man whose strength rivalled Mo Yu’s: Clear Sky Sect’s Sect Master Gu Zhen. Rounding out the group was Chen Shi Tao who, thanks to her close relationship with Yang Kai, had obtained Clear Sky Sect’s final entry quota.

Strictly speaking, Chen Shi Tao’s aptitude and cultivation were not sufficient to warrant her entering the Emperor Garden. Clear Sky Sect had a large number of talents in its younger generations who were superior to Chen Shi Tao in both of these respects, but Mo Yu and Gu Zhen were both worldly old foxes and understood that Clear Sky Sect establishing a connection with High Heaven Sect was completely dependent on Chen Shi Tao’s existence. Therefore, they naturally were not going to deny her the chance to explore the Emperor Garden. Instead, over the past half a year, they helped Chen Shi Tao raise her cultivation to the First-Order Origin Returning Realm by using various precious pills as well as a special Secret Technique executed by several of the Sect’s high-level Elders!

The price Clear Sky Sect paid to accomplish this was not small!

Chen Shi Tao felt immense gratitude towards Yang Kai! Standing behind Gu Zhen and Mo Yu, her beautiful eyes continued to glance around since they arrived, hoping to express her thanks to Yang Kai in person.

Shadow Moon Hall and Clear Sky Sect both arrived right on time, so obviously Coloured Glass Sect did not fall behind.

As Qian Tong had suspected, Dai Yuan had obtained the right to enter the Emperor Garden, but it seemed that Coloured Glass Sect’s luck was better than Shadow Moon Hall and Clear Sky Sect’s, having obtained four Emperor Jades.

Sect Master Gong Xing He had come in person, accompanied by Dai Yuan, Gong Ao Fu, and Yin Su Die.

At this moment, Yin Su Die was gritting her teeth secretly as her red lips wriggled from time to time, whispering something under her breath, her beautiful eyes shooting glances towards Dai Yuan from time to time, a somewhat depressed look on her face.

Dai Yuan simply turned a blind eye to her, however, while like Chen Shi Tao, her attention was focused outside the reception hall, seemingly waiting for something or someone to appear. Her cultivation had already reached the First-Order Origin Returning Realm, but unlike Chen Shi Tao, she had achieved a breakthrough through her own efforts without borrowing assistance from others’ hands.

Both Gong Xing He and Gong Ao Fu were quite surprised by this result, neither of them having expected Dai Yuan to break through to the Origin Returning Realm so quickly. If not for this point, they might not have agreed to let Dai Yuan enter the Emperor Garden.

It was precisely because Dai Yuan showed no inferiority to Yin Su Die in terms of aptitude and cultivation speed that the two of them had relented. In any case, both Dai Yuan and Yin Su Die were disciples from Coloured Glass Sect, so there was no reason to vehemently refuse Dai Yuan from entering the Emperor Garden, and by doing so they could take advantage of this opportunity depart from High Heaven Sect ahead of all their competitors.

In addition to the familiar faces from these three Sects, there were also two strangers present, both of whom were old Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters.

Yang Kai hadn’t had any dealings with these two before, but they were also famous characters on Shadowed Star.

They were the Sect Master and Great Elder of Floating Mist Palace! Floating Mist Palace was also a first-class force on Shadowed Star, so the cultivations of its Sect Master and Great Elder were naturally not bad. The reason they were here was that they had sold an Emperor Jade to High Heaven Sect.

In exchange for this Emperor Jade, High Heaven Sect allowed these two old men to set off directly from the Sect’s Front Court.

At this moment, there were eight Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters seated inside High Heaven Sect’s reception hall, all of them possessing extremely lofty status, but even so, none of them dared to even breathe too loudly and all of them wore solemn looks upon their faces.

The reason for this was simple. With Ye Xi Yun also seated here, who among these guests would dare act arrogantly?

After tasting some of the tea and eating some of the prepared spirit fruits, Qian Tong lightly coughed, looking over at Yang Yan who was sitting at the head of the table, and asked politely, “Lady Yang Yan, has Yang Kai not come out yet?”

Yang Yan just slowly shook her head in response, “There’s been no sign of him exiting yet.”

Qian Tong couldn’t help frowning with worry, “He’s been in retreat for almost half a year, and now the Emperor Garden is about to open, possibly within the next day or two but at latest seven or eight days from now. If he doesn’t exit soon, won’t he miss this opportunity?”

“Thank you for your concern, Elder Qian, but I don’t believe he will miss this opportunity. Perhaps he will make an appearance in the next couple of days,” Yang Yan smiled lightly, but although her expression looked calm, she was actually feeling quite anxious inside.

She naturally knew what Yang Kai was in retreat for, he wanted to enhance his strength as much as possible before the Emperor Garden opened, but until now, there had not been any significant movement from First Heavenly Palace, so Yang Yan was unable to tell if things had gone well for Yang Kai or not.

She wanted to investigate, but worried about disturbing him, Yang Yan could only wait patiently.

“All of you are our honoured guests and you have travelled far to reach here, so for now you might as well return to your temporary residences and rest. Before the Emperor Garden opens, there will definitely be some significant signs; it won’t be too late to assemble and depart at that time,” Yang Yan proposed, fulfilling her duties as Vice Sect Master flawlessly.

Hearing this, everyone exchanged a glance before standing up, thanking Yang Yan for her hospitality, and setting out, preparing to return to the courtyards High Heaven Sect had prepared for them.

But before they could even leave the reception hall, the surrounding World Energy flow became slightly turbulent.

Everyone present was a top-level master, so despite this change in the World Energy being quite minor, they still detected it.

Everyone’s face immediately changed, not bothering to speak with Yang Yan anymore, dashing out of the reception hall and staring up into the sky.

Up above their heads, from the dozen kilometre wide gap in the flame barrier, the sun still shone down brightly, nurturing the vegetation around High Heaven Sect. Although everything appeared normal, everyone present could feel a certain pressure in the air, like a storm was approaching.

Soon, this feeling became obvious, and the World Energy aura began tumbling and surging as if it were a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, making everyone uneasy.

“This is…” Gong Xing He’s eyes narrowed as he showed a startled look.

“Father, is this a sign the Emperor Garden is about to open?” Gong Ao Fu asked softly, her beautiful eyes filled with excitement. Yang Yan had also just said that if the Emperor Garden really opened, there would be some kind of obvious disturbance in the atmosphere, but no one had expected it to occur so quickly.

Most people present shared the same thoughts as her, Qian Tong, Fei Zhi Tu, Gu Zhen, Mo Yu, and the pair of old men from Floating Mist Palace all wore looks of anticipation.

But soon, the brows of these top experts wrinkled as they all turned to look in a different direction.

“No, someone is about to break through!” Qian Tong muttered, stunned silent for a moment before excitement returned to his old face, “It must be Yang Kai!”

He quickly understood what this disturbance was all about.

Yang Yan’s expression also filled with joy as she flew off towards First Heavenly Palace.

The others present naturally wanted to take a closer look as well, but before they could move, Ye Xi Yun’s figure flickered and appeared before them, a cold look filling her face as she declared, “Stay where you are!”

Although most of the people had some friendship with Yang Kai, several of them even having quite close relationships, Yang Kai was at a critical juncture right now, so how could Ye Xi Yun possibly allow them to approach? Yang Kai was about to break through to the next Great Realm, and if he were to fall short because he was disturbed at the last moment, the consequences would be disastrous.

As such, she forced everyone else to remain here without hesitation.

Qian Tong and the others naturally understood this and nodded their heads, halting their steps and preparing to observe from where they stood.

Seeing that everyone was keeping their place, Ye Xi Yun did not say anything more and chased after Yang Yan.

In an instant, only Qian Tong and the other guests remained in front of the reception hall.

“Senior Brother, do you think Senior Brother Yang will be able to break through smoothly?” Dong Xuan’er asked with some concern; after all, she had just crossed this step and well understood the difficulty of breaking through from the Saint King Realm to the Origin Returning Realm.

Every time a cultivator made a breakthrough, they would experience great risks; after all, cultivation itself was an act of struggle against oneself and against the Heavens!

Without even mentioning others, when she and Wei Gu Chang were breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm, they had both experienced several tribulations. When Dong Xuan’er was accepting the World Energy baptism which accompanied her breakthrough, she had almost found it impossible to bear and a stream of heart demons which appeared one after another nearly caused her to fail.

Overcoming this ordeal had nothing to do with aptitude and was something every cultivator had to face.

After hearing Dong Xuan’er’s question though, Wei Gu Chang simply grinned, “Relax, while I wouldn’t dare make any guarantees about others, Brother Yang breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm will absolutely not be a problem.”

While Wei Gu Chang’s words were filled with confidence towards Yang Kai, Yin Su Die nearby bit her lip even harder. Although she dared not say anything here, she was secretly looking forward to Yang Kai dying here.

At the same time, three kilometres away from First Heavenly Palace, Yang Yan came to a stop and observed the situation quietly.

It was not long before Wu Yi, Qian Yue, and Chang Qi and many others arrived, all of them briefly exchanging a few words before they grasped what this situation was about.

In order to prevent Yang Kai from being disturbed, an order was issued that no one was to approach closer than three kilometres to First Heavenly Palace. All the Sect’s disciples also immediately set up a patrol to guard against anyone trying to sneak a closer look.

Not long after this order was disseminated, the atmosphere around Heavenly Palace underwent a dramatic change.

High up in the sky, a great World Energy funnel appeared. This funnel was only a few metres across at first, but it rapidly expanded until it was several hundred metres in diameter in the blink of an eye.

As this funnel revolved though, it disturbed the World Energy aura within a several-hundred-kilometre radius, pulling it all violently towards First Heavenly Palace.

Different coloured lights soon began to appear, some bright red like flame while others pure white like ice. These multi-coloured lights integrated into the funnel one after another, causing the pressure it was emitting to increase dramatically.

“Five Element World Energy?” Ye Xi Yun frowned, a look of shock appearing on her face.

These colourful wisps of light were clearly formed by the integration of the Five Element Energy with the ambient World Energy. In fact, during one of the Emperor Garden’s mutations, such a scene had appeared across all of Shadowed Star.

At this moment, a similar scene was occurring, but unlike the previous incident, the scale was far smaller; however, this was still a remarkable phenomenon.

The Emperor Garden was an Emperor Artifact, it being able to cause a change which affected all of Shadowed Star was not surprising in the slightest.

But now, Yang Kai simply breaking through from the Saint King Realm to the Origin Returning Realm had caused Five Element World Energy to once again appear, making it impossible for Ye Xi Yun to not be shocked.