Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

"There's just one thing… About Medicine Pill Valley…" Li Jiao looked at Yang Kai rather worriedly.

There was no real Great Emperor Sect in the Northern Territory. Medicine Pill Valley was simply the place where Wondrous Pill Great Emperor lived in retreat, it was not a Sect. However, if Yang Kai were to cause pandemonium in the Northern Territory, it might draw out the people of Medicine Pill Valley, and the situation might get out of hand once they intervened.

Yang Kai sneered, "It's not like I'm going to slaughter the billions of cultivators in the Northern Territory. I just want to occupy a few cities so that they pay tribute to me every year. Why would Medicine Pill Valley care about that?" Tilting his head to the side, he looked at Li Jiao and asked, "Brother Li, you didn't actually think that I was going to destroy all the major Sects in the Northern Territory, right?"

Li Jiao broke out in a cold sweat, "It seems that I have misunderstood."

When he first heard Yang Kai talking about unifying the Northern Territory, he actually believed that Yang Kai was about to go on a killing spree. Only now did he realize that he had been overthinking things. [It's not too much if he is simply occupying some cities and making the major Sects in the Northern Territory pay tribute. There will be no ruthless killings after all so there's a lot of room for appeasing the masses.]

Yang Kai stretched out his hand and patted Li Jiao's shoulder, "In order to do that, I need to set up some prestige for myself first. Full Sky Sect is a good target to start with. Brother Li, please help me send a message asking Mi Qi to come to High Heaven Palace as soon as possible."

Li Jiao smiled bitterly, "Brother Yang, you are making me into the villain."

Yang Kai blinked, "There's no other choice. You are more familiar with Mi Qi, after all, Brother Li."

"Fine. I will let him know as soon as possible. It's just I don't know how he will react."

"It's enough if you let him know." Yang Kai smiled before he turned around and stepped onto the Space Array. A bright light flashed, and he was gone without a trace.

….

Full Sky Sect was also one of the top Sects in the Northern Territory, its strength on par with Fire Dragon Palace and Ice Heart Valley, each having a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master commanding their respective forces. Since Yang Kai wanted to establish his dominance and spread High Heaven Palace's reputation, he had to choose a suitable target to demonstrate his worthiness. Since Ice Heart Valley and Fire Dragon Palace were his allies, he could only target the Full Sky Sect.

Having said that, Full Sky Sect was similar to Fire Dragon Palace in that it was also suffering from the crippling debt owed to Yang Kai. Although it had paid back a lot of Source Crystals over the years, it was still far from paying off the bulk.

Time flew by quickly with Yang Kai being so busy every day that he didn't even have the time to speak with Shan Qing Luo or Xue Yue. Providing resources, shelter, and cultivation techniques to more than a hundred thousand disciples was a huge issue. As long as he could not solve these problems, there was no way he could do anything else.

When Hua Qing Si received his instructions, she went back to the Southern Territory again, bought a large number of Source Condensing Pills from the Violet Source Chamber of Commerce, and distributed them to the cultivators who were at the peak of the Origin King Realm and on the verge of breaking through to the Dao Source Realm.

After a few days, the hundred instructors from Fire Dragon Palace arrived. Yang Kai and Hua Qing Si discussed the distribution of these hundred teachers and then assigned them to respective Spirit Peaks. These hundred were all in the Dao Source Realm, so it was not a problem for them to teach the cultivators from the Star Field.

Once each Spirit Peak produced its own Dao Source Realm Masters, they could fill in the gaps in the ranks of High Heaven Palace. In time, the old would guide the new in a never-ending cycle. There was no need to worry too much in that aspect.

Each Spirit Peak varied in size, and accordingly, the number of people living there varied too. It ranged from a minimum of two hundred people to a maximum of three thousand. Those instructors who were assigned to Spirit Peaks with fewer people were overjoyed while those who were assigned to Spirit Peaks with more were extremely dejected. Just imagining what would happen if a person were to guide three thousand people in their cultivation was a headache. Even if only 1% of the population came to ask a single question each day, the instructor would still have no time to rest whatsoever.

One month later, Yang Kai sat at the head of High Heaven Palace's Main Conference Hall. The three Monster Kings and the Head Manager, Hua Qing Si, were seated on both sides of the table while the area below the platform was densely packed with people. More than a hundred people squeezed inside the hall today to attend the first general meeting involving the entire High Heaven Palace. These people were the Peak Masters of High Heaven Palace whose cultivation varied in strength. Yang Kai did not even know half of them personally.

Yang Kai swept a sharp gaze over the crowd below him, and they simultaneously bowed, "Greetings, Palace Master!"

Regardless of whether the person in front of him used to be his Elder or his fellow cultivator, they came to the Star Boundary and entered High Heaven Palace only thanks to his blessing, which meant that they were now part of High Heaven Palace. As the Palace Master, it was natural for Yang Kai to receive their respect.

Raising his hand in acknowledgement, Yang Kai secretly found this scene somewhat amusing. He himself never expected that things would turn out on such a grand scale when he first established High Heaven Palace. [I'm afraid there is no other Sect across the entire Star Boundary that would have so many people gathered just for a general meeting. It feels like when an Emperor assembles his court. But then again, there should be no Sect that has more people than High Heaven Palace either. Such a situation is inevitable under these circumstances.]

Although it was supposed to be a meeting, they were simply establishing the rules and regulations of the Sect today. Nothing could be accomplished in a Sect without established rules, and with more than a hundred thousand disciples and more than a hundred Spirit Peaks, High Heaven Palace was now a very large enterprise. Even if there was no shortage of cultivation resources, those supplies could not be given out at will. How many resources could be claimed each month by each Spirit Peak and how much of that would be distributed to each disciple were things that required very detailed considerations.

Aside from that, there was the matter of rules for handing out rewards and punishments too. These had all been previously discussed by Hua Qing Si and Bian Yu Qing, so at this moment, the two of them stood at the head of the hall and announced these laws. The main reason for doing so was for the Peak Masters of each Spirit Peak to record them and convey the information to the rest of the disciples when they returned, lest the disciples claimed injustice when they made mistakes. Suffice it to say, where there were punishments, there would also be rewards. Those who made rapid progress in their cultivation and those who contributed to Sect would receive rewards.

Half a day passed just like that.

Afterwards, it was time for each Peak Master to report the situation on each Spirit Peak. Fortunately, there was no trouble so far. All the disciples had been acting rather amiably considering they had just arrived here and most were cultivating in retreat after receiving some cultivation resources.

It wasn't until evening rolled around that the crowd slowly dispersed, one after another. Then, somebody rushed in from outside the hall to report, "Greetings, Palace Master. Honoured Master asks that you visit him."

Yang Kai fixed his gaze on the speaker and discovered that it was the Eldest Disciple under Ji Ying, which immediately lifted his spirits, "Is Brother Ji back?"

The disciple replied, "Honoured Master returned at noon but heard that you were having a meeting with the Peak Masters, so he decided not to bother you until it was over."

"I'll head over immediately." After saying that, Yang Kai immediately headed towards Spirit Pill Peak.

Upon arriving at Spirit Pill Peak, Yang Kai entered the hall and looked around only to see that Ji Ying was alone. Yang Kai smiled happily and cupped his fists, "Brother Ji!"

Ji Ying replied, "Brother Yang, fortunately, I did not fail my mission."

Even though Yang Kai had guessed as much when he did not see Xia Ning Chang around, he was still overjoyed to hear the words Ji Ying uttered. He quickly pulled Ji Ying by the arm and sat down together, "Did the Great Emperor agree to accept Ning Chang as his disciple?"

Ji Ying smiled, "No."

The expression on Yang Kai's face froze, "How can this be!?"

Ji Ying had been gone for more than a month, and when Yang Kai didn't see Xia Ning Chang around, he naturally assumed that Wondrous Pill Great Emperor had already taken her in as a disciple. Who could have known that Ji Ying would bring him down with such news? Yang Kai's emotions instantly cooled down.

"Brother Yang, please listen to me first." Ji Ying smiled slightly, "Honoured Master has said that he would no longer accept disciples, so he cannot go back on his word."

Yang Kai glared, "Ning Chang has the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body, how can the Great Emperor be unmoved by that?"

Ji Ying explained, "It is precisely because Sister-In-Law has the Sacred Spirit Medicine Body that Honoured Master believes it would be a waste of her unique talent if he let her go. That is why he allowed Sister-In-Law to remain in Medicine Pill Valley."

"What does that mean?" Yang Kai looked puzzled. [If he didn't accept Xia Ning Chang as a disciple, then why keep her in Medicine Pill Valley?]

Ji Ying continued with his explanation, "Honoured Master wants Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, and Fourth Senior Sister to jointly teach Sister-In-Law. He even mentioned that if there was anything she did not understand, she could directly ask him for advice. It is just that they will not have the status of Master and Disciple."

Yang Kai asked in astonishment, "Is there a difference compared to taking her in as a disciple?"

Xia Ning Chang was allowed to remain in Medicine Pill Valley and would be jointly taught by several of Wondrous Pill Great Emperor's disciples. Moreover, she was allowed to approach Wondrous Pill Great Emperor directly to ask Alchemy-related questions. No matter how he thought about it, it was no different from taking her in as a disciple.

Ji Ying smiled slightly at those words, "Honoured Master seemed slightly remorseful about his past declaration that he would no longer accept disciples. He is even more vexed that what he said back then had been spread to the public."

Yang Kai was stunned for a long time before he burst into laughter. It wasn't that the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor didn't want to accept Xia Ning Chang as a disciple, it was just that he could not embarrass himself by going back on his word. If not for the fact that his words were already widely known to the public, he would never have refused to take Xia Ning Chang in.

"So, there's no need to worry, Brother Yang. Little Junior Sister has Senior Brothers and Senior Sister teaching her. She will definitely flourish under Honoured Master's mantle."

Yang Kai looked at Ji Ying teasingly, "The Great Emperor did not accept my wife as his disciple, but you are calling her 'Little Junior Sister'… If the Great Emperor hears…"

"That is how it is," Ji Ying wasn't bothered. He was the Fifth Disciple of the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor, so how could he not understand what the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor was thinking? Besides, the Great Emperor was a person who cherished talented people. Although he could not take Xia Ning Chang in as his disciple due to what he said back then, he would definitely teach her carefully. In her case, she simply lacked an official title. Nonetheless, she was recognized by Ji Ying and his fellow Senior Disciples.

"Wonderful! How wonderful!" Yang Kai clapped his hands excitedly.

Su Yan had gone to Ice Heart Valley to be a disciple there while Xia Ning Chang had gone to Medicine Pill Valley and became a disciple in all but name there. It could be said that they shared the same fate. However, it was inevitable. Compared to the others, their age and cultivation were incomparable. [If they become Little Junior Sisters, then so be it. They can benefit from studying under an influential person.]

Meanwhile, there was no place he could arrange for Shan Qing Luo and Xue Yue to go. Shan Qing Luo refused to go to the Ancient Wild Lands, so the two women could only remain in High Heaven Palace to cultivate. It wasn't too bad for Shan Qing Luo though since she could consult the three Monster Kings on their experience in cultivation. Unfortunately for Xue Yue, she could only teach herself. Although Yang Kai had also blindly stumbled and groped his way along his cultivation journey, he was in the Second-Order Emperor Realm now, so it was not a problem for him to teach her when he had time.

In great spirits, he remained at Spirit Pill Peak to have a drink with Ji Ying in joyous celebration.

…

Full Sky Sect was one of the four top Sects in the Northern Territory. The Sect Master, Mi Qi, was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master who was famous throughout the entire Northern Territory. Unfortunately, life began to become increasingly difficult ever since High Heaven Palace appeared. Mi Qi had to hand over more than half of the Sect's annual income to High Heaven Palace every year, forcing him to live on a tight budget. Fortunately, Fire Dragon Palace was in the same boat; otherwise, he would have been at a loss for what to do.

On a certain day, Li Jiao suddenly paid a visit.

Mi Qi and Li Jiao were old acquaintances, so it was only natural that he greeted Li Jiao with enthusiasm.

A banquet was held to honour this guest, and after a few rounds of drinks, Li Jiao smiled slightly and spoke up, "Actually, I came over uninvited today because I was entrusted with a task."

Mi Qi was taken aback by those words, "You were entrusted with a task? What task?" Like Mi Qi, Li Jiao was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master; moreover, Li Jiao carried a Half-Dragon bloodline. If it came down to a fight, Mi Qi had to admit that he was no match for Li Jiao, so what kind of person had the power to entrust Li Jiao with the task of delivering a message to him?