Martial Peak

When he was fighting with Yang Kai a few days ago, Yang Kai had suddenly used his Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art, so this old man was able to see some clues.

On Shadowed Soul Island, Saint Qi couldn’t be used at all, so the only explanation for the five-coloured glow was that it came from some kind of Body Tempering Secret Art. The force gained by cultivating a Body Tempering Secret Art was not related to Saint Qi, so it would not be restricted here on Shadowed Soul Island.

“Yes!” Yang Kai did not try to conceal the truth.

A fiery look flashed across the old man’s face.

Body Tempering Secret Arts, even considering the entire Star Field, were relatively rare, and profound Body Tempering Secret Arts were even rarer.

However, just because they were scarce did not mean Body Tempering Secret Arts were actually that precious.

Firstly, it was far more difficult to cultivate Body Tempering Secret Arts than ordinary Secret Arts. Even if it were just an ordinary Body Tempering Secret Art, it would be very difficult to cultivate to a high level. Secondly, all cultivators had a limited amount of time and energy, and for the most part, trying to cultivate a Body Tempering Secret Art was a waste of both.

The vast majority of cultivators relied on the strength of their Saint Qi and Spiritual Energy to survive, so even if many people knew the benefits of a strong physique, few pursued one.

However, everything was different on Shadowed Soul Island.

In this damned place where Saint Qi could not be used and Spiritual Energy was highly suppressed, Body Tempering was the best and only way for a cultivator to increase their strength!

For countless years, there had been cultivators trapped on Shadowed Soul Island, so a few Body Tempering Secret Arts had come to exist here as well. In fact, this old man cultivated one such Secret Art, but it was quite a basic one, completely incomparable to Yang Kai’s Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art.

The reason why the Five Elements Indestructible Sword Tempering Art was so powerful, however, was not because of the Secret Art itself, but rather because of the materials required to cultivate it.

The old man still thought that if he could get hold of Yang Kai’s Body Tempering Secret Art, his own strength would definitely increase.

So, when he heard that Yang Kai had a profound Body Tempering Secret Art, his eyes naturally became fiery.

However, as an experienced master, and knowing that one could not ask for another’s Secret Art casually, the old man forcefully suppressed his greed.

“Allow me to introduce myself, this old master’s name is Sha Hu!” When he said these words, he had a sense of self-satisfaction, as if Yang Kai should have heard of this name.

Unfortunately, the results disappointed him, with Yang Kai just cupping his fists lightly and saying, “So it is Old Man Sha, this Junior’s name is Yang Kai!”

Sha Hu frowned and asked tentatively, “Have you never heard of this old master’s name?”

Yang Kai smiled lightly, “Old Man Sha was born on the Limitless Ocean, right?”

Sha Hu nodded and quickly understood, “Are you from the inland?”

“It is as you guessed!”

Sha Hu knew that on Shadowed Star, the ocean and inland cultivators belonged to two separate systems, and although everyone had some degree of interaction between them, it was quite rare to get involved in the other party’s affairs or territory, so it was not surprising that people from the inland didn’t know the names of masters from the Limitless Ocean.

Knowing this, Sha Hu’s expression relaxed and he chuckled, “This old master has been trapped here for more than three hundred years, but before then, he was Sea Temple’s Second Temple Master. How is Sea Temple now?”

“Old Sir is the Second Temple Master of Sea Temple?” Yang Kai was stunned and proceeded to explain, “In truth, this Junior came here from Sea Temple’s Sunrise Island. Sea Temple is now very powerful on the Limitless Ocean, well deserving of the title ‘strongest Human Race Sect’ and on par with Sea God Palace.”

Sha Hu listened quietly before nodding with satisfaction, “That group of boys aren’t bad, at least they haven’t disappointed our ancestors! Does little brother have some kind of friendship with Sea Temple? Why were you on Sunrise Island?”

“I just passed by accidentally, there’s no real friendship between myself and Sea Temple,” Yang Kai laughed.

Perhaps because he was able to learn how Sea Temple was currently, Sha Hu’s expression brightened significantly, and seeing that Yang Kai did not have the same overbearing aggressive streak that most young men possessed, he felt quite satisfied with him.

Both of them put aside the embarrassment of the previous battle and even began chatting in a friendly manner.

Yang Kai needed to know the situation of Shadowed Soul Island, and Sha Hu wanted to inquire about the current situation of Sea Temple, so as they took turns asking questions, the atmosphere gradually became harmonious.

After a long time, both got the intelligence and information they wanted.

Yang Kai frowned slightly after learning that this Shadowed Soul Island was an independent and enclosed space that no one knew how to leave. Even Sha Hu, as the Island Master of Shadowed Soul Island back then, could not leave this place.

As for Ming Yue, he was originally the Deputy Island Master under Sha Hu, and his strength was not inferior, but one day, Ming Yue’s strength suddenly rose somehow, and defeated Sha Hu after a fierce battle, forcing the latter to flee from Shadowed Soul Island and hide on this small island.

By rough count, that event happened almost a hundred years ago.

For a hundred years, Sha Hu had endured this humiliation in hopes of one day returning to Shadowed Soul Island to seek revenge.

Unfortunately, his strength seemed to have reached a bottleneck and he was unable to continue improving, forcing him to remain hidden here.

Fortunately, this little island was quite far from Shadowed Soul Island and most people could not reach it, allowing Sha Hu to live freely without disturbance. In fact, Yang Kai was the only one who had made it here in the past hundred years.

As for how big this independent space where Shadowed Soul Island sat was, even Sha Hu did not know. He once left this small island to explore, but the deeper he went, the stronger the sea beasts became, to the point where even he could no longer defeat them, so with no other choice, he returned here.

“Is there truly no way to leave Shadowed Soul Island?” Yang Kai frowned.

“Perhaps there is, but this old master has not found one,” Sha Hu shook his head. “As least, one cannot be found here.”

“What Old Sir means is…”

Sha Hu frowned and pondered for a moment, “This is just this old master’s guess. Whether it is correct or not, this old master cannot say for certain.”

“Senior, please speak.”

“If there is a way out of here, there should be a clue on Shadowed Soul Island. There is a mysterious place on that island, one this old master wanted to investigate, but couldn’t enter,” Sha Hu said without hesitation.

Yang Kai’s brow rose slightly.

Sha Hu laughed and said, “If the two of us join forces, we may be able to capture Shadowed Soul Island, but all of this is still just a possibility. Ming Yue was stronger than me back then, and now a hundred years have passed, so I don’t know how strong he is currently. Perhaps we would simply be walking into a trap.”

Yang Kai showed neither approval nor disapproval.

He did not care about this Ming Yue at all as he had not used his full strength when fighting Sha Hu. What’s more, he still had his Stone Puppet, Xiao Xiao!

In a simple contest of physical strength, who in this world could defeat Xiao Xiao?

As long as Xiao Xiao took action, on one on Shadowed Soul Island would be able to resist!

What Yang Kai was considering was the authenticity of Sha Hu’s words. Although this old man seemed straightforward and honest, who knew whether this was just a front? If, when the time came, it turned out Sha Hu was just using him, the gains Yang Kai made would not be worth the effort.

Yang Kai would rather be overly suspicious and pessimistic than regret it after the fact.

Seeing Yang Kai remain silent, Sha Hu smartly changed the subject, “Were you just studying the Shadowed Heaven Lotus and Shadowed Heaven Pill?”

Yang Kai took back his wandering thoughts and nodded, “Yeah, this thing is a specialty of Shadowed Soul Island, right?”

“En, Shadowed Heaven Lotus cannot be found in the outside world, only Shadowed Soul Island’s unique environment can produce it. All the cultivators who wind up here use Shadowed Heaven Pills to enhance their physical strength. Unfortunately, this old master does not know anything about Alchemy, and taking Shadowed Heaven Lotus raw cannot help me, otherwise, how could this old master have left so many Shadowed Heaven Lotuses in that lake?”

Saying so, Sha Hu showed a pained expression on his face.

That was a thousand Shadowed Heaven Lotuses! The thousands of cultivators on the entire Shadowed Soul Island running around for a few years may not be able to find so many, but they had all entered Yang Kai’s Space Ring.

Yang Kai suddenly asked, “Does Old Man Sha have the Shadowed Heaven Pill pill recipe?”

“Of course,” Sha Hu chuckled and said proudly. “Regardless of how he has ended up, this old master was still once the Island Master of Shadowed Soul Island, so he naturally has such a pill recipe…”

Saying so, Sha Hu’s eyes lit up and he pointed at Yang Kai tremblingly, “Are you an Alchemist?”

If Yang Kai wasn’t an Alchemist, there would be no need to ask about pill recipes.

Staring at Yang Kai, Sha Hu’s eyes burned extremely hot, as if he was staring at an amazing treasure.

Yang Kai chuckled, “I am!”

“Are you really an Alchemist?” Sha Hu immediately stood up.

Yang Kai nodded again.

Sha Hu was taken aback, then laughed loudly, “The Heavens have not forsaken me! Ah! This is simply too good to be true!”

The reason why his strength had stagnated over the years was that he did not have access to Shadowed Heaven Pills, and directly swallowing Shadowed Heaven Lotus had no effect on him. Only by refining Shadowed Heaven Lotus into pills could he strengthen himself.

So, when he learned that Yang Kai was an Alchemist, Sha Hu was so excited he couldn’t help losing some self-control.

But soon, he frowned, glanced at Yang Kai, and sighed deeply.

“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai was puzzled. Just a moment ago, Sha Hu was laughing happily, but in the next instant he became depressed, the contrast was simply too great.

“Even if you are an Alchemist, you can’t perform Alchemy without Earth Fire!” Sha Hu’s face turned gloomy as he sat down again. “Alchemists are extremely rare on Shadowed Soul Island. Out of around ten thousand people, there are perhaps only four or five Alchemists, and the levels of these Alchemists are quite varied; however, they all need to rely on Shadowed Soul Island’s Earth Fire to perform Alchemy. We simply don’t have any Earth Fire here.”

“I don’t need Earth Fire!” Yang Kai chuckled.

“Nonsense!” Sha Hu snorted, “How can an Alchemist perform Alchemy without Earth Fire? That may be true outside, but in the place, where one can’t use Saint Qi, Earth Fire is the only… uh…”

Sha Hu was suddenly struck speechless.

Because he clearly felt a scorching power spread out from Yang Kai’s body, but it was not Saint Qi but instead Spiritual Energy!

“Conflagrated Spiritual Energy?” Sha Hu’s face changed drastically.

Yang Kai just smiled back at him lightly.

Even in the outside world, he did not need to use Saint Qi to refine pills, because he would always use his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea instead.

What’s more, he still had Liu Yan with him. Since fusing together with the Heavenly Thunder Fire of Brilliant Flame Sect, Liu Yan had fully integrated with her natal Artifact Refining Furnace and gained complete sentience as well as a human form.

She was the highest quality Earth Fire there was!

Even if all else failed, Yang Kai could simply enter the Sealed World Bead and perform Alchemy. The Sealed World Bead had its own separate World Principles, so his Saint Qi would not be restricted there.

With all these methods at his disposal, Yang Kai didn’t need to worry about being able to perform about Alchemy. Nevertheless, he did not plan on revealing any more secrets to Sha Hu than necessary.