Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

In the foyer of the inn, a beautiful woman in a full-length white outfit stared at Yang Kai with a cold expression, nodded, and replied, “Yes, he’s the one! Qing Ya, you have done a good job in finding this man, this Elder will report to the Valley Master and Elder Council about this merit and you will definitely receive an appropriate reward!”

After Qing Ya sent her a message, it only took two hours for Ice Heart Valley’s Thirteenth Elder to arrive and meet Yang Kai at the inn.

On the orders of the Valley Master, Ice Heart Valley’s disciples had been searching for Yang Kai outside for a year now, so all of them were naturally familiar with his appearance. Being able to find him made the Thirteenth Elder quite pleased.

“Many thanks, Elder,” Qing Ya didn’t show much joy on her face and instead asked with some worry. “Elder, may disciple ask, why has our Ice Heart Valley been seeking him?”

Thirteenth Elder turned her head and glanced at Qing Ya, her beautiful eyes flashing an icy light as she asked coldly, “Are you concerned about him?”

Qing Ya’s expression remained unchanged as she spoke, “He rescued me from a pair of Brilliant Flame Sect disciples and can be considered my lifesaver, so…”

Thirteenth Elder gently nodded, her doubts swept away, and slowly said, “We naturally have a reason for looking for him, but you need not ask about it. However, since he is your saviour, this Elder can at least tell you that Ice Heart Valley will not treat him poorly.”

Hearing this, Qing Ya let out a sigh of relief and quickly thanked her.

Thirteenth Elder next turned to Yang Kai, examined him carefully for a while, then nodded in approval, “Your strength isn’t bad, what is your name?”

“Yang Kai.”

“You’re not from Scarlet Wave Star?” Thirteenth Elder seemed to be wary of Yang Kai.

“No, I came from Green Mountains Star.”

“Green Mountains Star!” Thirteenth Elder narrowed her eyes as some vague speculations came to her mind. However, unable to verify any of these suspicions here, she simply asked, “You know that Brilliant Flame Sect and Ice Heart Valley are looking for you, so why have you chosen to go to Ice Heart Valley?”

Yang Kai smiled lightly, “I have some grievances with the Brilliant Flame Sect and have killed a number of their people, so if I want to seek refuge now, I can only choose Ice Heart Valley.”

After explaining himself, Yang Kai asked back, “Is Senior doubting my motives?”

“One cannot know the hearts of others at the first meeting!” Thirteenth Elder did not deny the charge, “But your choice is correct, now only Ice Heart Valley can shelter you. En, very well, we’ll remain here for a day until preparations are completed. Tomorrow, this Elder will personally escort you back to Ice Heart Valley!”

“Many thanks!” Yang Kai suppressed his emotions and offered his thanks.

[At last, I will be able to meet Su Yan!] Yang Kai was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. He wanted to see with his own eyes how she was doing now.

Yang Kai waited anxiously in the inn.

As for Thirteenth Elder, she was making some kind of arrangements in secret.

That night, the cultivators belonging to Ice Heart Valley Sect and their attached forces took the initiative to launch an all-out assault on the disciples of Brilliant Flame Sect. Instantly, a myriad of battles erupted, consuming nearly everyone’s complete attention.

While it was still dark, Thirteenth Elder came to the inn again and brought Yang Kai and Qing Ya out of the city.

Roughly thirty kilometres outside the city, a group of about a dozen or so women were waiting quietly.

After seeing the arrival of Thirteenth Elder, all of them bowed their hands.

“Let’s go!” Thirteenth Elder did not bother with any nonsense and led the group forward with a wave of her hand.

The dozen or so women scattered about, keeping Yang Kai in the middle of their group as they followed Thirteenth Elder towards Pure Ice Island.

Wisps of different fragrances assaulted him from all sides, lingering at the tip of his nose, causing Yang Kai to become aware he was surrounded by a group of beauties.

These female disciples of Ice Heart Valley, regardless of their cultivation, all had outstanding appearances, slim figures, and assorted temperaments, each showcasing their own characteristics.

While on the way, however, all these disciples would stare at Yang Kai from time to time, their expressions somewhat strange.

They had been rushing around for a year, engaging in many battles, all to search for Yang Kai, so now that they got to see him in person, they naturally paid attention to him.

All of them were very curious as to what was so special about this man that Scarlet Wave Star’s two top Sects were going all out to find him.

For this man, many of their companions had died tragically while many others had unknown fates…

Naturally, Yang Kai did not miss the hostility these women were directing towards him.

Of the dozen or so women who were responsible for protecting him, at least half were directing hostile intent towards him.

Yang Kai was completely bewildered by this situation!

If it were not for Thirteenth Elder assuming command here, Yang Kai estimated that these women would have already joined together to beat him before they bothered trying to speak with him.

“Senior Sister Qing Ya, they don’t seem to like me very much,” Yang Kai whispered to Qing Ya quietly.

Qing Ya gave a wry smile. As a disciple of Ice Heart Valley, she had participated in this operation so she naturally knew why her fellow Sect Sisters were acting this way; however, explaining this was somewhat awkward so she could only say, “Don’t mind it, Ice Heart Valley’s disciples are generally hostile towards men.”

“En.” Yang Kai nodded, not doubting her words.

The group continued to advance at an extremely fast pace.

Three days later, the group passed by a certain mountain valley.

Suddenly, Yang Kai frowned and turned to look in a certain direction.

Thirteenth Elder, who was at the front of the team, also seemed to sense something and shouted, “Enemy attack!”

As soon as her voice fell, hot, domineering, and violent energy fluctuations burst forth. Several fire dragon phantoms charged out from the mountain valley down below and bared their fangs towards the Ice Heart Valley disciples.

There were eight of these fire dragons in total, and each one contained a terrifying power and killing intent.

The timing of the enemy’s attack was also just right. Even with Thirteenth Elder’s warning, the women from Ice Heart Valley were too late to react.

The light of Saint Qi shone from their bodies as the eight fire dragons crashed towards them.

Screams rang out as two women with lower strength were swallowed by the fire dragons and instantly disappeared. The others were caught in a precarious situation as they hurriedly tried to dodge.

Yang Kai stood to the side, protecting Qing Ya as he narrowed his eyes towards the valley.

From the mountain valley down below, several people flew up. There were fewer in this ambushing group than there were in the Ice Heart Valley’s team, but each of these attackers was an Origin Returning Realm master. The two who led this group also had auras which were on par with Thirteenth Elder.

Thirteenth Elder’s phoenix eyes narrowed as her expression became extremely ugly.

She had not expected that even after doing her best to act in a covert manner she had still been exposed.

Before setting out, she had eliminated any possibility of them being tracked. For this mission, the dozen or so disciples she had arranged to help her escort Yang Kai were strictly selected to ensure their absolute loyalty to Ice Heart Valley. Each of these women also had deep personal enmity towards Brilliant Flame Sect so it was impossible for them to have betrayed their fellow sisters to the enemy.

Was all of this just a coincidence? Thirteenth Elder’s thoughts flashed like lightning as she quietly shot a glance towards Yang Kai. Finding that he was unharmed, she was able to relax slightly.

“Yu Xue Qing, you must not have expected this old master to be waiting here for you!” A loud laugh came from below as a middle-aged man with pale skin appeared and began ogling Thirteenth Elder’s shapely and attractive figure.

“Yan Chi Lei!” Yu Xue Qing grit her teeth and shouted lowly.

The opponent’s surprise attack had caused the death of two Ice Heart Valley disciples, so Yu Xue Qing was making no qualms about exposing her killing intent.

“It is this Yan!” The middle-aged man took a step forward, “I knew what happened on that battlefield three days ago was your doing. Now the question is, what are you sneaking about like this for?”

“Elder Yan, why bother talking nonsense with her? We should just attack and get this over with,” A short old man next to Yan Chi Lei snorted coldly and said.

Yu Xue Qing looked towards the old man and her beautiful eyes immediately shrank, “Jiang Xi!”

“Heh heh, I didn’t expect that this old master’s name would even be known to Ice Heart Valley’s Thirteenth Elder. This old master is truly honoured!” The short old man smiled triumphantly.

Yu Xue Qing’s expression turned even uglier and she quietly signalled to the Ice Heart Valley women to prepare themselves while asking in a solemn voice, “Jiang Xi, my Ice Heart Valley has neither grievance nor grudge with you, so why are you inserting yourself into this chaotic situation?”

“Neither grievance nor grudge?” Jiang Xi coldly snorted, “Thirteenth Elder, are you purposefully talking nonsense? This Jiang has not forgotten the shame of twenty years ago. If you want to talk about grudges between your Sect and this King, you should ask your Ice Heart Valley’s Fifth Elder!”

“That story is true?” Yu Xue Qing was visibly surprised.

She had thought that rumour was just that, a rumour, but now it was apparently true.

If this was the case, it was not surprising Jiang Xi had decided to side with Yan Chi Lei of Brilliant Flame Sect; it seemed things were about to become troublesome.

She was not afraid of Yan Chi Lei on his own, but Jiang Xi was actually more difficult than Yan Chi Lei. Jiang Xi had cultivated numerous Poison Arts that were both difficult to defend against and deal with. The disciples who she had brought with her were not Jiang Xi’s opponent, and to make matters worse, it wasn’t just him and Yan Chi Lei they had to face.

“Those rumours were true…” Qing Ya looked at the short, ugly old man with a weird expression and muttered to herself.

She too had apparently heard about this story.

“What rumours?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“It was said that twenty years ago, this old man wanted to marry my Ice Heart Valley’s Fifth Elder, but not only was he rejected outright, Fifth Elder seriously injured him as well. However, I thought it was just a rumour, not something that actually happened.”

“Him?” Yang Kai’s mouth twitched.

Sizing up Jiang Xi seriously again, Yang Kai was unable to find a single redeeming feature in his appearance.

Not only was Jiang Xi short, but he also seemed to have been born ugly, with a fat, crooked nose, large, beady eyes, thick lips, long ears, yellow skin, thick neck, short limbs…

Yang Kai had never seen Ice Heart Valley’s Fifth Elder before but judging from the quality of the women who were escorting him, this Fifth Elder was definitely not ugly.

Jiang Xi coveting this Fifth Elder brought only one phrase to Yang Kai’s mind.

“A toad lusting after a swan!”

Although the situation was extremely grave, Qing Ya still could not hold back her laughter.

Jiang Xi’s hearing was naturally not bad, and as soon as Yang Kai uttered these words, he immediately turned his head towards him and said in an icy voice, “Boy, what did you just say?”

Jiang Xi’s ugly physique had caused his personality to become ugly as well, and the one thing he hated the most was others insulting his appearance.

Yang Kai had undoubtedly hit upon his reverse scale.

Yan Chi Lei also glanced over at Yang Kai and suddenly showed a look of pleasant surprise, shouting in a low voice, “It’s you!”

At this moment, he could not help wanting to laugh.