Martial Peak

“Huh…” Zi Dong suddenly let out a cry of surprise as he took out a token-like object from Xu Wei’s ring.

The material of this token was quite strange, being neither wood nor metal, and even with Zi Dong’s eyesight, he was unable to identify it. The token was black in colour and simple in design, with only the character for ‘Emperor’ engraved on its front.

A profound aura radiated from this character though, and as Zi Dong glanced at it, and felt that his very soul was being bathed in this aura, causing him to fall into a state of astonishment.

“A Star Emperor Token!” After seeing this token, Zi Long, who had been standing to the side silently, snatched it from Zi Dong’s hand and his eyes burst with red hot light, releasing his Divine Sense to carefully investigate it.

This was indeed a Star Emperor Token!

Star Emperor Tokens were relics the Great Emperor had personally refined millennia ago and were legendary existences that few in the entire Star Field had ever seen. However, as the Sect Master of Purple Star, Zi Long stood at the pinnacle of the Star Field’s hierarchy so he was naturally familiar with the secrets of the Star Emperor Tokens.

What’s more, there was also a Star Emperor Token in Purple Star’s possession, which was personally kept by the Supreme Elder, a Third-Order Origin King. The Supreme Elder used the light Emperor Pressure which radiated from the Star Emperor Token to cultivate while he was in retreat, trying to use it to comprehend the mysteries of the Martial Dao and break through to the next realm.

“A used Star Emperor Token…” After scanning it for a while, Zi Long found that the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability which had been sealed in this Star Emperor Token had already been used, causing a faint trace of disappointment to appear on his face.

“This thing is something this old servant managed to obtain after braving many dangers…” Xu Wei explained with a smile on the side, feeling extremely distressed. If it had not been for this Star Emperor Token being already used, how could he have fallen into his current miserable state?

It was rumoured that the Great Emperor refined nine Star Emperor Tokens in total, each one containing one of his supreme Divine Abilities.

No one knew how strong the Great Emperor truly was, but Xu Wei was certain that with the help of the Great Emperor’s Divine Ability, killing Zi Long and his son would have been a breeze.

If the Divine Ability sealed in this Star Emperor Token still existed, Xu Wei would have used it rather than turning over his Soul Brand and accepting the humiliation of becoming a slave.

“Father, I’ve heard that there is a shocking secret hidden within the Star Emperor Tokens, is that true?” Zi Dong asked curiously as he stared at the Star Emperor Token held by Zi Long. He was Purple Star’s Young Master, but this was his first time seeing a real Star Emperor Token. Until now, Zi Dong had at most read some ancient records regarding the Star Emperor Tokens.

“There are indeed such rumours, but I don’t know if there is any earth-shattering mystery hidden within them,” Zi Long replied faintly, “Even if there was some kind of earth-shattering mystery, it’s not something that would be revealed with just one or two Star Emperor Tokens. One would need to gather all nine before they could try to discover this secret.”

“Gather all nine?” Zi Dong was stunned for a moment but soon laughed, “I’m afraid no one is capable of that. The Star Emperor Tokens are ancient, and many have been lost in the Star Field. The only one I know of for certain is the one that Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce holds…”

“Not just Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, Sword Union also has one!”

“Sword Union has one too?” Zi Dong was a little surprised.

“Don’t underestimate Sword Union. Although Sword Union is the weakest among the three super forces of the Star Field, it is by no means weak. In the age when the Great Emperor lived, our three forces were able to provide the Great Emperor with some small assistance, and in return, we were each granted a Star Emperor Token that had one of his Divine Abilities sealed inside as compensation. Purple Star, Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, and Sword Union all came to possess Star Emperor Tokens this way.”

“Something like that happened?” Zi Dong was shocked, and even Xu Wei showed a dumbfounded look.

Although he was an Elder of Abandoned Lair, he still knew nothing about such a secret.

“It happened a long time ago,” Zi Long sighed slightly. “After over ten thousand years, the Star Emperor Tokens owned by our three forces have already been used when respective disasters struck. If it had not been for those Star Emperor Tokens, our three forces might not have survived to this day. The rise and fall of great forces are like the ebb and flow of the tide, nothing is infinite and immutable, so great forces can fall at any time. Only individual strength is real strength, remember this well.”

“Yes, Father, I will remember!” Zi Dong nodded respectfully, secretly making up his mind that he needed to enter seclusion after returning from this expedition and not leave until he broke through to the Origin King Realm! If he could reach the same realm as the Great Emperor one day, he would become the new legend of the Star Field and assume the Great Emperor’s lauded mantle. Just how glorious would that be?

While lecturing his son, Zi Long stored the Star Emperor Token into his Space Ring.

Although this Star Emperor Token had already been used, its value was still enormous.

Zi Dong also returned Xu Wei’s Space Ring to him, but everything of value had already been looted. When Xu Wei used his Divine Sense to investigate, he nearly coughed up blood from distress, feeling as if a good chunk of his flesh had been flayed off.

“Let’s go, but be careful of the surrounding Void Cracks. That boy may really be hiding nearby, looking for opportunities to launch sneak attacks!” Zi Long swept the surrounding Void Cracks with his eyes before leading the way forward.

Zi Dong quickly followed while Xu Wei, pale and helpless, brought up the rear.

Inside The Void, Yang Kai wandered freely.

After attacking Xu Wei, he returned to the extremely safe Void and began happily searching for Space Spirit Crystals.

The words he left behind just before disappearing were only meant to intimidate the enemy, he was not really interested in following after Zi Long and the others. A single successful sneak attack was likely the most he could get away with in any case; now, his enemies would be taking precautions, so Yang Kai did not plan to linger around any longer.

There were so many good things here, how could Yang Kai bother wasting time with those three anymore?

Therefore, after uttering that threat, Yang Kai immediately left.

His choice of a target last time was also something Yang Kai carefully considered. Zi Long was a Second-Order Origin King, so Yang Kai was not certain he could successfully sneak attack him or Zi Dong, who was standing beside him. As such, Yang Kai had to settle on targeting Xu Wei. Although he did not manage to kill Xu Wei, he did cost the latter an arm, collecting a little interest in advance.

Yang Kai estimated that Xu Wei would have to cut off his arm in order to save himself which would result in a serious injury and a massive temporary drop in strength. Once that happened, Zi Long likely would not let him off, quite possibly killing him on the spot!

What Yang Kai did not anticipate was that Zi Long did not kill Xu Wei but instead allowed his son to collect Xu Wei’s Soul Brand…

With the Seven Coloured Radiant Light having just receded, there was plenty of time to hunt for treasure, so after Yang Kai shuttled The Void for half a cup of tea’s time, he found a random weak spot and returned to the medicine valley.

The surroundings were quiet, without a single person, so Yang Kai enthusiastically began to search for more precious herbs.

After half an hour, he returned to The Void again.

Repeating this process over and over again, Yang Kai’s gains continued to pile up.

At the same time, he was silently keeping track of time.

Before entering, Ni Guang mentioned to him that the longest one could remain in the Severed World was a month, after which they needed to return to the Star Field; otherwise the consequences would be extremely serious.

Because the ancient aura here was too rich, it was not suitable for modern-day cultivators to remain for too long. If they did, they would encounter suppression and rejection by the World Principles here.

Similar to how Qian Tong was repelled by Shadowed Star’s World Principles, the world itself would begin imposing punishments that no cultivator could resist for long.

However, Yang Kai estimated that from entering the Severed World until now, only eleven or twelve days had passed, so even if it would take him some time to return to the entrance, he should have at least ten more days to continue exploring.

As such, he wandered around the medicine valley with peace of mind.

In the blink of an eye, another few days passed.

As time went on, the number of precious herbs that could be found in the medicine valley gradually reduced, but that was not surprising; after all, no matter how large this medicine valley was, it still had a limit. Even if the number of cultivators who entered this place was not large, after so many days of searching, most of the good things here had already been collected.

Even Yang Kai’s gains in terms of Space Spirit Crystals had shrunk dramatically.

On this day, Yang Kai spent half a day inside The Void and only managed to harvest a total of three Space Spirit Crystals and one somewhat valuable herb.

Compared to the first day he entered the medicine valley, it was quite a shabby result.

“It’s time to rendezvous with Gui Zu!” Yang Kai stood in place, stored the herb into his Space Ring, and muttered to himself.

Now that the harvest had started to become thin, it did not matter if he acted separately from Gui Zu or not. If they joined up though, they could assist one another if need be.

Thinking so, Yang Kai poured a bit of his Saint Qi into the mark left by Gui Zu on his shoulder.

Yang Kai stood in place for quite some time but did not see any trace of Gui Zu.

It seemed that Gui Zu was not within a thousand kilometres of him or he would have sensed his call.

Yang Kai was not in a hurry though and simply decided to change position before trying again, but at that moment, a deep rumbling suddenly rang out from the depths of the medicine valley.

The moment he heard this sound, Yang Kai instinctively thought that the Seven Coloured Radiant Light was about to appear, but he realized that something was wrong in the next moment.

The Seven Coloured Radiant Light’s cycle was incredibly regular, allowing Yang Kai to grasp the time when it would appear and disappear with near-perfect accuracy, yet according to his calculations, the Seven Coloured Radiant Light should not appear for another cup of tea worth of time.

Not only that, but the sound he heard was wrong somehow.

Every time the Seven Coloured Radiant Light appeared; the Seven Coloured Radiant Peacock Divine Bird would release a loud exhalation sound from where it roosted in the depths of the medicine valley.

The sound that reached Yang Kai’s ear now though was vastly different from a breathing beast, but rather like… the sound of wings flapping, stirring up the air.

Thinking so, Yang Kai’s complexion changed abruptly as he gazed off in the direction the sound was coming from.

At that moment, a piercing cry rang out.

This cry sounded similar to the call of a cat, but many, many times louder as it pierced the sky like a sharp sword, seemingly wanting to penetrate the Severed World itself.

Yang Kai Knowledge Sea even shook slightly from the impact of this sound.

Immediately afterwards, high up in the air, a seven coloured light appeared and blanketed half the sky!