Martial Peak

Ran Yun Ting swept her eyes over this young woman and a hint of approval flashed across her face, “En, it seems you’ve made progress in your Ice Jade Secret Art once again. You have not disappointed your Master’s expectations.”

The young woman’s expression showed no change at all, her whole body still just radiating a deep chill, as if she was truly carved from ice.

Hearing these words of praise, however, the woman still spoke, “Disciple dares not neglect Honored Master’s care.”

“Very good, sit down!” Ran Yun Ting nodded lightly before pointing to an ice jade cushion in front of herself.

Once every month, this young woman would come to Ran Yun Ting’s residence to consult with her about any questions or doubts she had in her cultivation, and today was that day.

Both Master and Disciple had obviously experienced this kind of meeting several times so the young woman did not hesitate to sit down obediently.

“Have you encountered any difficulties in your cultivation recently?” Ran Yun Ting asked lightly.

Although Ran Yun Ting’s current cultivation was two Minor Realms higher than this disciple of hers, with the latter’s cultivation speed, it would likely only be a few more years before the two were on equal footing. A few years after that, her disciple may even reach the same height as the Supreme Elder. Ran Yun Ting had high hopes for her disciple, so she did not hold back when cultivating her.

The young woman nodded lightly and was just about to speak when her beautiful eyes suddenly caught sight of a portrait hanging on the ice wall behind Ran Yun Ting.

The young woman’s tender body shivered suddenly and her always calm demeanour and expressionless face filled with shock and amazement as she stared fixedly at this portrait.

The look on the young woman’s face was an extremely complex mix of pleasant surprise, disbelief, and loss… changing several times in an instant.

However, in just the blink of an eye, she once again regained her composure.

“Do you know this person?” Although the young woman’s expression had calmed down quickly, her sudden change had not been missed by Ran Yun Ting, causing the latter to ask doubtfully.

The young woman shook her head slowly, “I don’t.”

Ran Yun Ting frowned, as if she did not quite believe her.

The young woman explained, “Honoured Master’s house has always been sparse, with only a bed, chair, and table inside, so when disciple suddenly saw the portrait of a man hanging on the wall, she was a little surprised.”

Hearing her explanation, Ran Yun Ting narrowed her eyes and simply said, “En, I have never met the person in this painting, but apparently Brilliant Flame Sect is searching for him. Valley Master has ordered all the disciples who go out to search for him as well since he may be the key to resolving our Ice Heart Valley’s crisis!”

“So that’s how it is!” The woman tried her best to control her emotions and nodded lightly.

Ran Yun Ting carefully observed the young woman’s reaction but was unable to see anything suspicious in her expression. At this point, she was about eighty percent confident her disciple was telling her the truth, so she simply smiled lightly, “This matter is for others to worry about. Your only concern right now is to cultivate and strive to reach the same realm as your Master as soon as possible. Once you reach this height, Ice Heart Valley will be your world. Do not disappoint these expectations.”

“Disciple will do her best!” The young woman quickly said.

“Very good, en, tell me about the problems you have encountered in your cultivation recently,” Ran Yun Ting gestured kindly.

The young woman immediately opened her mouth and asked a few questions that had been confounding her. Ran Yun Ting listened and answered her carefully. The Master and Disciple pair continued this session for some time.

In a blink of an eye, it was dawn, and the young woman stood up and bid her Master farewell.

After leaving the ice room, the young woman walked outwards without any haste. A while later, she left the inner section of Pure Ice Island and arrived at the outer region.

Pure Ice Island was divided into an Inner Island and Outer Island. The Inner Island was tightly protected, and ordinary disciples weren’t allowed to enter unless they were summoned. Only those direct disciples of the Sect’s Elder and the core personnel of Ice Heart Valley could enter the Inner Island freely.

The Outer Island was where common disciples lived and cultivated.

The Outer Island was vast, but the young woman flew straight towards a certain peak in its southeast without stopping.

On that ice peak, there were hundreds of artificially excavated ice caves, and on the Outer Island, there were hundreds of similar ice peaks!

These ice caves were naturally caved mansions for Ice Heart Valley’s disciples, and depending on their cultivation and their contributions to the Sect, disciples could occupy different grades of ice cave mansions.

The young woman came to an icehouse near the foot of the mountain, stretched out her hand, and poured a bit of her Saint Qi into the barrier around it before waiting quietly.

After a long time passed, however, there was no response.

The young woman frowned, took out a token from her Space Ring, and placed it on the barrier around the cave mansion. The next moment, the barrier split apart, revealing a passage that led inwards.

The woman stepped through this opening quickly.

Soon, she came to the innermost area of the cave mansion but after looking around, she couldn’t find any trace of its inhabitant. Only a letter left on the desk which read ‘For Su Yan!’ caught her eye.

With her hands shaking lightly, the young woman picked up the letter, unsealed it, and pulled out a piece of paper from inside before reading it carefully.

“Su Yan, the Elder Council has issued orders for me and the other disciples to go out and perform a task for the Sect. The orders came so quickly that I was unable to send word to you before we departed. If you have come here to find me, you will definitely see this letter. The task we were assigned is to look for someone. But, to think that person turned out to actually be Yang Kai! He is here on Scarlet Wave Star! I do not know why, but Brilliant Flame Sect is looking for him as well! Remember, don’t act rashly, wait for me to return first so we can discuss this!”

Then the letter was signed by Qing Ya!

Ice Sect’s Sect Master Qing Ya, a former peak-level master on Tong Xuan Realm!

Su Yan read this short letter several times from beginning to end as her tender body trembled, making sure she understood it correctly.

Yang Kai was here!

Seeing the portrait of Yang Kai in the room of her Honoured Master, Su Yan could hardly believe her eyes. For a variety of reasons, it was difficult for her to ask Ran Yun Ting anything about it, so early this morning, she had hurriedly came to see Qing Ya and see if the latter had heard anything.

Qing Ya had come to Ice Heart Valley with her back then; after all, Qing Ya also cultivated an Ice Attribute Secret Art. The reason for her low cultivation, however, was because of Tong Xuan Realm’s insufficient World Energy aura, so when Ran Yun Ting brought Su Yan back to Ice Heart Valley, she had brought Qing Ya as well.

Although Qing Ya also had a good aptitude, she was incomparable to Su Yan, so she could only live in the Outer Island and become a common disciple of Ice Heart Valley. Now, Qing Ya was a Second-Order Saint King and would soon break through to the Third-Order.

Su Yan would often take time to visit Qing Ya as the two were both from Tong Xuan Realm and naturally had a close relationship.

But this time, it seemed Su Yan had arrived a bit too late.

Yesterday, after the Elder Council’s meeting, it was immediately decided that disciples be sent out to look for Yang Kai, and upon receiving this order, Qing Ya left Pure Ice Island with countless others from the Sect.

Qing Ya could not go to the Inner Island to send a letter to Su Yan, but she knew that Su Yan would definitely come to visit her, so she left behind this note before she left.

Holding the letter in her hand, Su Yan’s mood fluctuated rapidly, and her eyes became slightly moist.

If Ran Yun Ting saw this scene, she would be stunned.

She always thought that her disciple’s heart was as firm as ice and that she had no worldly attachments, so how could she be this moved by a simple letter?

Several dozen years of longing were now being released all at once, and these emotions were enough to overwhelm Su Yan!

Suddenly, her blood boiled and Su Yan’s face paled as she coughed up a mouthful of blood. Her Saint Qi also fluctuated wildly and became unstable.

Su Yan’s beautiful face filled with fright. Not daring to neglect, she quickly sat cross-legged and began to calm the chaotic fluctuations in her cultivation.

After quite some time, her chaotic aura gradually calmed down. Getting up, Su Yan carefully collected the letter and quickly left Qing Ya’s icehouse!

The two top forces on Scarlet Wave Star frequently sent out a large portion of their disciples, causing the entire Cultivation Star to stir for a time.

The smaller Sects and families that had close ties with the two great forces also began cooperating with Brilliant Flame Sect and Ice Heart Valley to search for Yang Kai.

Scarlet Wave Star was almost turned upside down!

However, Yang Kai seemed to have disappeared into thin air, with no one even catching a glimpse of him.

….

Inside the Small Sealed World, Yang Kai devoted himself to cultivating.

He did not rush outside the first chance he got. He had finally escaped from Luo Hai, so how could he rashly show himself now?

It was likely that Luo Hai was still looking everywhere for him. If Yang Kai rushed out and fell into a trap, he would be forced to escape in distress again.

This was a good opportunity to take some time and consolidate his most recent gains.

An invisible power permeated from the loft where Xia Ning Chang lived; naturally, it was Space Force.

The Small Sealed World was originally only about a hundred kilometers in radius, and with ten thousand people from the Three Clans living here, although it was not crowded, it wasn’t exactly spacious either.

But today, with the spread of these invisible Space Force fluctuations, the area of the ​​Small Sealed World began expanding outwards at an incredibly rapid rate. Soon, some previously unseen sceneries appeared in front of the Small Sealed World’s inhabitants.

Two hundred kilometers, five hundred, one thousand…

Two thousand…

Three thousand…

Soon, the masters from the Three Clans who were in retreat sensed something was changing in the environment around them and began exiting their seclusions. One after another, they released their Divine Senses to investigate their surroundings and immediately discovered the Small Sealed World was expanding.

“Brother Ling, this Small Sealed World is expanding, right?” Standing mid-air, Meng Wu Ya observed the bizarre scenes in the distance with a shocked expression.

“En,” Ling Tai Xu nodded his head slightly, “It’s really expanding.”

“Hahaha!” A loud laugh rang out as the Monster Race Great Senior Thunder Dragon appeared beside Meng Wu Ya and said, “This is wonderful. Now, we don’t have to squish up against Zhang Yuan’s group anymore. This King has had more than enough of that cold Demonic Qi of theirs!”

“Thunder Dragon, this Senior isn’t deaf!” A cold snort sounded as Demon Commander Zhang Yuan appeared.

“So what if you heard me? This Thunder Dragon wasn’t speaking behind your back, he was just telling the truth,” Thunder Dragon curled his lips into a grin.

Zhang Yuan snorted in response, “You think this Senior likes living next to you? Your Monster Qi isn’t anything good either.”

Thunder Dragon grinned freely, not seeming to care.

Although the Three Clans were all living in the Small Sealed World now and there were no major disputes between them, their competitive natures had not been dulled. Yang Kai had given them this opportunity and all of them were determined to pursue greater heights in the Martial Dao with all their might.

As such, when these masters occasionally met one another, they would naturally bicker and quarrel amongst themselves.

Silavin: Well, most of you probably already guess it.

Original title – Su Yan