Martial Peak

Ran Yun Ting gently nodded before sweeping her eyes across Qing Ya’s face indifferently.

She didn’t know if it was because she had just met with Yang Kai, but Ran Yun Ting suddenly realized that this Outer Island disciple was also from Tong Xuan Realm and seemed a bit unpleasant to the eye. Just thinking of Yang Kai’s arrogant face made her feel irritated.

“What are you quarrelling here for? Don’t you all know that Su Yan is in retreat?” Ran Yun Ting shouted.

The eyes of the two female disciples responsible for guarding Su Yan flashed a trace of horror as they realized that Great Elder was in a very poor mood and immediately became anxious.

The woman surnamed Zhou quickly glanced over at Qing Ya and said in an aggrieved voice, “Reporting to Great Elder, this Junior Sister came here to see Su Yan. We stopped her, but she refused to back down!”

“Great Elder please understand, it’s not that we wished to disturb Su Yan, it’s all because this woman was being unreasonable!” The other woman also chimed in.

Ran Yun Ting’s stern eyes fell on Qing Ya and she said coldly, “If she refuses to withdraw, why did you not just force her to leave? Have both of you cultivated all these years in vain?”

As soon as these words came out, Qing Ya and the others all stared dumbfounded.

None of them seemed to have thought their Great Elder would say such a thing.

In Ice Heart Valley, although there were disputes and enmities between Sisters, no one ever openly fought because of them.

However, Great Elder’s words just now were clearly implying they should have beaten Qing Ya, weren’t they? The woman surnamed Zhou was so shocked she was unable to even reply and just stood in place, mute.

“What are you waiting for? Are you both deaf?” Ran Yun Ting shouted again.

The woman surnamed Zhou quickly understood that Great Elder was not cracking a joke, and feeling aggrieved in her heart at being reprimanded for no apparent reason, she nodded and yelled, “Yes, Disciple will obey Great Elder’s order!”

Saying so, she circulated her Saint Qi and pushed a palm out towards Qing Ya.

“Great Elder…” Qing Ya opened her mouth and called out, but after only a few words, her chest was struck by a fierce Qi and her tender body flew out almost uncontrollably through the air, causing her to cough up a mouthful of blood, staining her white dress red.

*Hong long long…*

Qing Ya flew several dozen meters away before smashing into an ice wall and falling down distressingly.

Her face was pale and bloodless as the wind was knocked out of her, making it difficult for her to even breathe much less get up.

She was a Second-Order Saint King while the woman surnamed Zhou who hit her was a First-Order Origin Realm cultivator, the gap between them was massive so she was completely unable to resist.

A single palm was all that was needed to injure Qing Ya!

Her beautiful eyes trembled violently as she turned to look at Ran Yun Ting in disbelief, still unable to understand why Great Elder had suddenly given such a ruthless command!

“Get out! If you dare set foot on the Inner Island in the future, this Elder will expel you from Ice Heart Valley!” Ran Yun Ting reprimanded coldly and without mercy.

“Qing Ya!” Su Yan’s door suddenly opened, and she appeared anxiously and flew over towards Qing Ya.

Although she heard the dispute between Qing Ya and the woman surnamed Zhou just now, because of Ran Yun Ting’s orders, she had not dared to appear without permission and could only remain behind closed doors.

But now, Qing Ya had actually been injured, so she could no longer hold back!

The two of them were both from Tong Xuan Realm and joined Ice Heart Valley together, becoming fellow sisters, so how could she just stand back and watch Qing Ya being beaten?

However, the moment she appeared, Ran Yun Ting waved her hand and forced Su Yan back.

“If you dare take one step forward, I’ll kill her right now!” Ran Yun Ting stood outside the ice room and stared at Su Yan’s sad face with a cold expression.

A trace of horror flashed across Su Yan’s face as she stared at Ran Yun Ting in shock, opening her mouth to speak, but eventually decided to not act rashly here. Taking a deep breath and gritting her teeth as she said, “As this is Qing Ya’s first offence, Disciple begs Honoured Master not to punish her further!”

Ran Yun Ting nodded, “As long as you are obedient, I will not embarrass her!”

Su Yan grit her teeth, clenched her fists, and whispered softly, “Disciple will obey Honoured Master’s command.”

Ran Yun Ting showed a look of satisfaction, “Good! I came here to tell you that that boy has arrived on Pure Ice Island. Now, sever your emotional ties with him immediately to make up for the flaw in your mood, or this Elder will do it for you!”

Su Yan’s tender body trembled as she stared at Ran Yun Ting in horror, a pleading expression appearing on her beautiful face as she muttered, “Honored Master…”

Severing her emotions was tantamount to cutting off her connection from Yang Kai, becoming complete strangers from then on.

But if she allowed her Honoured Master to act, there would only be one result… Yang Kai being killed!

Neither option was something Su Yan could accept; it was simply worse than letting her die.

“There is no third choice! I’ll give you a few days to think about it, you can tell me then!”

Su Yan’s beautiful eyes dimmed for an instant, as if they were covered by dark clouds, blocking all the light from her world, leaving her stunned and unable to move.

By the time she recovered, Ran Yun Ting had already left and Qing Ya was nowhere to be seen, only the two Senior Sisters responsible for guarding her remained, smiling at her mockingly.

These smiles angered her deeply!

For the first time in more than thirty years, she felt like shaking off the shackles which were binding her and escaping from this place.

It was undeniable that Ran Yun Ting had been very good to her. Ever since Su Yan came to Ice Heart Valley, Ran Yun Ting had taught her with complete devotion and provided her with an abundance of resources, allowing her to cultivate in the best environment possible Yan.

However, while teaching Su Yan without reservation, Ran Yun Ting was also chaining her.

She had too many expectations of Su Yan and placed a great burden on her. It was not an exaggeration to say Ran Yun Ting placed all her hopes and dreams onto Sun Yan, but Su Yan was ultimately unable to live up to those expectations.

The future of Ice Heart Valley, the mysteries of the Origin King Realm, Su Yan had heard Ran Yun Ting mention these concepts more than once.

Before, she had not given it much thought. Since her Honoured Master had given her such orders, all she needed to do was follow them; after all, without Ran Yun Ting, she, Qing Ya, and Qian Hao might still be struggling to support themselves on Green Mountains Star. How could their lives be so worry-free?

But now, Su Yan only felt exhausted.

The arrival of Yang Kai gave her an object to rely on. She did not want to take on the future of Ice Heart Valley, she simply wanted to travel freely together with Yang Kai, enjoying all the sights and scenes of the wider world.

She never had great ambitions, she simply wanted to lead a simple, enjoyable life.

Outside Su Yan’s door, her two Senior Sisters continued snickering and sneering without reservation, seemingly in a very good mood.

Su Yan felt aggrieved but did not dare to raise a fuss, simply sitting down cross-legged without saying a word and waving her hand to close the door of her ice room.

…..

In his guest house on the Outer Island, Yang Kai turned to the Ice Heart Valley female disciple who was responsible for his daily life.

This disciple was also an Outer Island disciple and only a First-Order Saint. She looked about twenty-four or five years of age, and although her appearance was not beautiful per se, she had a delicate and clean aura about her.

The disciples of Pure Ice Island all cultivated Ice Attribute Secret Arts, so she had a faint chill about her as well.

“Girl, do you know Qing Ya?” Yang Kai asked while looking at her.

“Senior Sister Qing Ya? I know her!” The woman nodded and replied, smiling slightly as she said, “Our ice rooms are not very far apart, so we meet each other frequently. Does Senior Brother also know Senior Sister Qing Ya?”

“En, can you take me to see her?”

“You wish to go see Senior Sister Qing Ya?” The woman was startled and frowned hesitantly, “I’m afraid I cannot agree to your request.”

“Why?”

“The Elders told me that Senior Brother may only rest here and cannot walk around without permission. Senior Brother, you should know, our Ice Heart Valley only has female disciples and no men are allowed to even set foot into the Sect. If you and I were to be seen walking around outside together…”

As she spoke, the young woman blushed.

“That’s… never mind, forget it,” Yang Kai smiled freely, not trying to insist, changing the subject, and chatting with the young woman a bit before turning around and walking back into his room.

Seeing Yang Kai not try to make things difficult for her, the female disciple could not help breathing a sigh of relief, thinking that this person was quite easy to talk to.

Returning to his room, Yang Kai wore a calm look that displayed neither happiness nor anger, but in his heart, he felt somewhat annoyed.

Wasn’t he essentially under house arrest?

Moreover, it had been three days since Ice Heart Valley’s Valley Master Bing Long and Great Elder Ran Yun Ting jointly visited. For these three days, no one had come to see him, and even Qing Ya had not shown up.

This confused Yang Kai somewhat.

It was fine if others did not come to see him, but why had Qing Ya not visited? She knew why he had come to Ice Heart Valley this time but now he was trapped in this small Outer Island icehouse, unable to leave much less see Su Yan.

Over the past three days, Su Yan had not attempted to communicate with him again.

The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, so he quietly released his Divine Sense and found the disciple who was responsible for attending to him.

Space Force surged beside Yang Kai and in the next moment, his figure disappeared like a ghost.

If it was someone else, they might have difficulty sneaking out from this place, but for Yang Kai who cultivated the Dao of Space, it was extremely easy.

Without that female disciple noticing anything, Yang Kai appeared in a conceal spot a few kilometres away.

Looking up at an ice peak more than a dozen kilometres away, Yang Kai’s figure flickered again.

As they were chatting just now, Yang Kai had subtly probed the young female disciple about the position of her cave mansion.

Since she said that she lived close to Qing Ya’s cave mansion, it should be somewhere on this ice peak.

Yang Kai just did not know where exactly.

A moment later, Yang Kai arrived at the foot of the ice peak and concealed his aura.

There were hundreds of cave mansions here excavated into this ice peak, with many people living in them. Just looking at this scene gave Yang Kai a headache.

Release his Divine Sense to investigate, Yang Kai found that every cave mansion was protected by a barrier, and although with his Divine Sense’s strength, it wouldn’t be a problem breaking into these, doing so would certainly lead to trouble.

With no other choice, Yang Kai simply frowned and decided to wait quietly.

Just as he was searching for some kind of clue, however, a group of Ice Heart Valley disciples suddenly arrived at the base of the ice peak.

One of these five was a First-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator while the rest were Saint Kings.

Although their cultivation was not very high, Yang Kai could feel that each of them was radiating a type of unvarnished hostility, a fact that caused him to frown.