Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

It took Yang Kai half a month to completely arrange accommodation for this mass of people. During this period, he was so busy that he was practically running around all the time. Fortunately, he had Hua Qing Si and Bian Yu Qing helping him; otherwise, he would have died from overwork.

The hundreds of Spirit Peaks of various shapes and sizes in High Heaven Palace were originally empty; however, they were now filled to the brim with people. The smaller Spirit Peaks housed up to several hundred while the largest Main Peaks could house up to three thousand people. With more than a hundred thousand people distributed among the hundreds of Spirit Peaks, High Heaven Palace instantly transformed into an extremely lively place.

Managing so many people was a huge challenge, be that as it may, Hua Qing Si made a suggestion that they select a Peak Master for and from each peak. These hundreds of Peak Masters would fall under her direct responsibility while the Peak Masters would be responsible for the newly welcomed disciples living in their respective Spirit Peaks. That way, it would save everybody a lot of trouble.

Naturally, Chi Yue, Ai Ou, Gu Cang Yun, and Gui Zu were each capable of overseeing a Spirit Peak; moreover, the Spirit Peaks they oversaw were the Main Peaks. Although their cultivation had yet to enter the Emperor Realm, they now all stood at the peak of the Third-Order Dao Source Realm. They were much more powerful than the cultivators from the Star Field. For that reason, the four of them gave up the Five Saints Peak that they had been living on for a long time and relocated to other Spirit Peaks.

Gu Cang Yun was the former Union Master of the Sword Union, and Yang Kai brought most of the elites in Sword Union here with him; thus, all the disciples from Sword Union were pushed onto Gu Cang Yun to manage. Yang Kai was fairly certain that those disciples would not mind either. If their numbers were insufficient, he could transfer people in from other places to fill the empty spots.

Meanwhile, Ai Ou was placed in charge of the cultivators from Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce; Gui Zu and Chi Yue each oversaw a portion of those who were originally in High Heaven Sect. It was because the three thousand members of the Monster Race had been assigned to the three Monster Kings, so she had nobody available under her.

The others such as Ye Xi Yun, several Elders of the original Star Emperor Sect, Qiu Yi Meng, and Old Demon, who were in the Origin King Realm, were all promoted to become Peak Masters of their respective Spirit Peaks too. With this system in place, the entire structure within High Heaven Palace immediately became clear and far more convenient to manage.

Yang Kai patrolled and monitored the conditions of the various Spirit Peaks along with the two Head Managers, Hua Qing Si and Bian Yu Qing. After confirming that everything was in order, he finally had some time to rest for a few days. Even so, he did not spend the so-called 'rest days' doing nothing. It was just that he wasn't as busy as he had been at the beginning.

With so many people moving in, a large number of cultivation resources and Secret Arts and Techniques would definitely be needed for cultivation.

Now that everyone was in the Star Boundary, the Secret Arts they cultivated in the Star Field would not be able to keep up with their progress. It was only natural to replace those Secret Arts with better ones.

Fortunately, Yang Kai had killed countless people ever since he entered the Star Boundary, and even a top Sect like Seeking Passion Sect had been destroyed at his hands; therefore, he had gathered quite a collection of Secret Arts. There were many different varieties of Secret Arts suitable for all kinds of cultivators to choose from.

Furthermore, Hua Qing Si had long been prepared for this potential future and had built a library on one of the Main Peaks that contained countless Secret Arts and Secret Techniques. The library was now open for the numerous Peak Masters to freely browse. The matter regarding the Secret Arts was temporarily solved, only the matter regarding cultivation resources remained.

Cultivators in the Star Field mostly cultivated using Saint Crystals while those in the Star Boundary mostly cultivated with Source Crystals. The two were completely different in terms of quality. Luckily, High Heaven Palace accumulated a lot of wealth over the years. Source Crystals were piled up like mountains in the storehouses and Yang Kai had just received a fortune from the Three Great Divine Venerables recently. Combined with the earnings from the trade between Hua Qing Si and Violet Source Chamber of Commerce in the Southern Territory over the years, a rough estimation indicated that High Heaven Palace had no need to worry about Source Crystals for the next fifty years, at the very least.

Moreover, transactions with Violet Source Chamber of Commerce took place every year, and the trade of materials was on a very large scale, so there would definitely be a surplus of Source Crystals even after fifty years. Hence, the matter regarding Source Crystals could be put aside. The only problem left to consider was the supply of pills.

Yang Kai brought along many cultivators from the Star Field who were in the Origin Returning Realm. Additionally, the number of people breaking through to the Origin King Realm would increase gradually with time. This wasn't of particular concern as Origin Kings weren't anything special in the Star Boundary. On the other hand, it was the process of advancing into the Dao Source Realm from the Origin King Realm that was extremely pill-consuming. That was because every cultivator required Source Condensing Pills during this period to aid in the transformation of their Saint Qi to Source Qi.

Yang Kai had also experienced this process back then. The same went for Chi Yue, Gui Zu, and the others. Without the assistance of the Source Condensing Pill, it would take an Origin King at least ten or twenty years to completely transform their Saint Qi into Source Qi, and that was considered fast. Those that were slower might take hundreds of years to complete the process.

Consequently, High Heaven Palace would require an enormous amount of Source Condensing Pills over the next hundred or even thousand years. They would not be able to meet this demand just by relying on the Sect's own production alone. It would be far from enough, even with High Heaven Palace's very own Spirit Pill Peak. Thus, there was a need to buy such pills in bulk while training their own Alchemists.

For that reason, Yang Kai had asked Hua Qing Si, who had just returned, to visit the Southern Territory again. She took a large number of Monster Beast Cores with her and was prepared to use these to exchange for a batch of Source Condensing Pills from Violet Source Chamber of Commerce to tide over this emergency period for now.

Yang Kai had a few million Monster Beast Cores in his possession, the vast majority of which he obtained when he entered the Ancient Wild Lands in the past. Those Monster Beast Cores were the results formed from the accumulation of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years in the Ancient Wild Lands' Ten Thousand Spirits Tomb and he had stolen them all in one fell swoop. Among them, there was no lack of Twelfth-Order Monster Beast Cores. Violet Source Chamber of Commerce would certainly be more than happy to go through with such a transaction.

Yang Kai had taken out more than ten thousand Monster Cores of all kinds just to obtain an urgent supply of Source Condensing Pills. It was an incredibly high expenditure for High Heaven Palace.

After working for one month straight, Yang Kai finally let out a breath of relief. On this day, he led Xia Ning Chang to the top of one of the Spirit Peaks. This peak was one of the Main Peaks in High Heaven Palace. The scenery here was far more beautiful than all the other Spirit Peaks. Not only was it abundant in World Energy, but it was also surrounded by flowers and birds.

Compared to the other lively Spirit Peaks, this one was quite different. Although the Peak was extremely tall and large, it was quiet and peaceful. That was because he did not allow any other cultivator from the Star Field to disturb this Spirit Peak. This was Spirit Pill Peak of High Heaven Palace!

There were two similar Spirit Peaks, Spirit Array Peak and Spirit Instrument Peak. The respective Peak Masters were Nanmen Da Jun and Hou Yu. Needless to say, these two Peak Masters were forcibly appointed by Yang Kai. Regardless of their consent, the two of them were to be the respective Peak Masters of Spirit Array Peak and Spirit Instrument Peak from now on.

On the other hand, Spirit Pill Peak did not have a Peak Master even though it was the place where Ji Ying, an Emperor Alchemist, was located. Strictly speaking, Ji Ying was not part of High Heaven Palace. He was the Fifth Disciple of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor after all. It was only because he lost to Yang Kai in an Alchemy competition back then that he stayed in High Heaven Palace to help with Alchemy. He could be considered an Honoured Guest of High Heaven Palace.

Nonetheless, Ji Ying was not a pedantic person. Not only was he in the Emperor Realm, but he was also an Emperor Alchemist. Moreover, he was a Legacy Disciple of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor. All three of these statuses would attract a lot of attention no matter who held them, but it was all the more terrifying when all three of them were held by the same person.

Yang Kai would not have been able to do anything to Ji Ying if he had refused to admit his loss back then; furthermore, he could not be killed since that would surely offend Wondrous Pill Great Emperor. The wrath of a Great Emperor was not to be taken lightly; however, Ji Ying actually stayed to fulfil his bet with Yang Kai and refined a large number of Spirit Pills for High Heaven Palace over the years. The Spirit Pills he personally refined were not only of high grade, but the quality was also guaranteed too.

Ji Ying had several disciples under him, who he brought along with him to Spirit Pill Peak to help out. Thus, only Ji Ying and his disciples lived on Spirit Pill Peak, along with several others who were in charge of miscellaneous work.

Yang Kai and Xia Ning Chang slowly wandered up the peak and soon arrived at the summit. A man who appeared to be in his twenties was waiting in front of the great hall and when he saw Yang Kai, he bowed, "Palace Master Yang, Honoured Master has been waiting for your arrival. Please come with me."

Yang Kai smiled and nodded. He knew that Ji Ying had noticed his presence the moment he arrived.

After following the disciple into the great hall, Ji Ying quickly appeared to greet Yang Kai, "Brother Yang, it has been a long time since we last met."

The two had not seen each other for more than ten years, which certainly was quite a long period. Besides, Ji Ying was so friendly not only because he lost to Yang Kai in the Alchemy competition, but also because of Gong Sun Mu. It was only thanks to Yang Kai that the Third Disciple of Wondrous Pill Great Emperor, Gong Sun Mu, was able to return to Medicine Pill Valley after his death.

Ji Ying was grateful to Yang Kai for that reason.

"Brother Ji!" Yang Kai responded with a smile.

Ji Ying grabbed Yang Kai's arm and exclaimed, "Brother Yang, you came at just the right time! I've been experimenting with a new Alchemy Technique recently. I've had some gains with it, but I would like to ask you for some advice."

Ji Ying was an Emperor Alchemist, so there were very few people in the world who could discuss Alchemy with him. Although he had several Senior Brothers and a Senior Sister, they were all taught by the same Master, so there was a limit to what he could gain from discussing Alchemy with them.

Whereas, Yang Kai was different. Ji Ying might not know who taught Yang Kai Alchemy, but he knew that Yang Kai's skills in Alchemy were not inferior to his own. Furthermore, Yang Kai was unique in the sense that he had his own style and methods. One would surely gain something from communicating with him.

"Uh…" Yang Kai looked speechless. [Alchemists truly are single-minded. I came here today for a purpose, but he's already dragging me off somewhere the moment we meet…]

Thinking that he had things to request during their meeting this time around, Yang Kai decided that it would be best if he could earn some favours to make the discussion go a little bit smoother later. Hence, he had no choice but to humbly state, "I don't dare to give advice, but I don't mind discussing the matter with you, Brother Ji."

It had been pure luck for him to defeat Ji Ying the last time they competed in Alchemy. Yang Kai did not think that he was better than Ji Ying in any way; after all, he still felt that Ji Ying was better than him when it came down to Alchemy skills.

Ji Ying laughed heartily, "Brother Yang is too humble. Even Honoured Master is full of praise for your Alchemy skills. It's a pity…"

"What's a pity?" Yang Kai was stunned. [Could it be that the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor has some sort of negative opinion of me?]

"It's a pity that you can't focus solely on the Alchemic Dao."

[Oh! So, that's why they feel that it is such a waste…] Yang Kai grinned, "There are three thousand Daos, and I simply choose one of them. It's enough for me to pursue that path to the peak."

Ji Ying was taken aback for a moment before he nodded, "Fair enough."

Afterwards, he no longer wasted any time, dragged Yang Kai into his Pill Refining Room, took out some precious herbs, and began refining. Needless to say, Xia Ning Chang followed them inside.

Ji Ying did not know who this young woman was; however, he did not stop her from entering upon seeing that her relationship with Yang Kai seemed a bit unusual. Besides, his new Alchemy Technique wasn't something that could be learnt by just anybody watching it.