Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Five days passed in the blink of an eye. The trees were verdant in the mountain valley of the Restricted Area and the air was refreshing as a spring day. Meanwhile, Yang Kai was sitting cross-legged, looking up at the sky.

Night fell, and the weather was still clear, allowing the bright moon and glowing stars to gently illuminate the surrounding valley. There was nothing out of place in the surroundings and as time flowed by, the full moon slowly climbed high into the sky. At that moment, a strange power began subtly fluctuating. The power was so weak that Yang Kai would not have noticed it if he had not been paying close attention.

"Is this it?" Yang Kai muttered to himself under his breath. Focusing, he began paying more attention to his surroundings than before. He was extremely curious about the strange changes that only occurred in the Restricted Area of Luo Sha Sect on the night of a full moon. Under his perception, a sense of calm fell over the mountain valley again, almost as if the fluctuations just now were nothing but an illusion. A few moments later though, the same strange fluctuations appeared again. It was much clearer than before, but disappeared again in a flash.

"Where is it coming from?" Yang Kai pondered as he studied his surroundings with great interest, his eyes shining brightly. The third wave of fluctuations soon appeared, and this time around, he was prepared. Instantly, Yang Kai cast his gaze in a certain direction and was stunned. When he visited this place five days ago, a certain cliff in this place had left the biggest impression on him as it was clearly naturally formed but was as smooth as a mirror; now though, it would appear that the strange energy fluctuations were coming from this extremely flat cliff wall.

Yang Kai was surprised and thoroughly scanned the entire cliff with his Divine Sense, wondering if there was some sort of sophisticated barrier that had escaped his prior investigation; however, he found nothing even after careful study.

Fortunately, the frequency of the appearance of the peculiar fluctuations increased over time until, finally, a wondrous scene appeared on the smooth wall of the cliff. It was as though the cliff wall had transformed into a mirror, a blurry and somewhat vague one. Following those changes in the cliff wall, a sizable amount of World Energy appeared out of nowhere and filled the entire mountain valley to the brim.

Yang Kai couldn't help feeling surprised as a brief scan of his surroundings told him that the World Energy in this mountain valley was now no inferior to Spirit Lake Palace's Heaven Grade Cultivation Rooms located just outside of Maplewood City. If an ordinary cultivator were to cultivate in this place, a day's effort in this place would be equivalent to 10 days' worth of effort in other places.

That was not the case in the mountain valley during the day as the World Energy here was not much stronger than the surrounding region; thus, it was simply amazing for this place to experience such shocking changes on the night of a full moon. Nevertheless, Yang Kai had the feeling that this change was simply scratching the surface of this mystery. The most important revelation might still lie in that smooth cliff wall, so he focused his gaze and stared intently at the cliff in hopes of stumbling upon its hidden secrets.

A moment later, Yang Kai made a soft exclamation of surprise because he witnessed something inexplicable coming from the light pulsing from the cliff wall. As his attention focused, the folding and flipping light transformed into a set of characters, and the more he focused, the clearer the words became. Not daring to be negligent, he carefully wrote down this text.

After a while, he realized that this was an extremely profound Secret Art, astonishing him greatly. On the night of a full moon, a Secret Art would appear on this sheer cliffside in the mountain valley of Luo Sha Sect's Restricted Area. If he had not seen it for himself, he would never have believed it.

Yang Kai could not get a complete picture of the Secret Art; however, a careful study revealed that it was a cultivation technique suitable for women. It was somewhat similar to Luo Sha Sect's core inheritance in fact, and upon further thought, Yang Kai surmised that the Secret Arts that were cultivated in Luo Sha Sect probably came from this cliff wall.

In the past, Yu Luo Sha probably discovered the anomaly in this place and obtained this opportunity, which allowed her to cultivate until she became an Emperor Realm Master. It was precisely because of this reason that she established Luo Sha Sect here.

While Yang Kai was immersed in his thoughts, the scenery on the cliff wall changed again. It was no longer a wall of vague and distorted text but instead a vague figure. That figure seemed to be dancing atop the cliff under the moonlight; however, that figure revealed mysterious Divine Abilities with every move it made, mesmerizing anyone who watched it. If a person immersed themselves in this dance to gain enlightenment, they would surely be greatly rewarded.

Yang Kai did not know how this strange scene was formed. It might have been man-made, or it could have been caused by nature, he could only say that the world was truly full of surprises.

Immersing his mind into the dance, he carefully comprehended its secrets. Confirming what he learned, one by one, turned out to be very rewarding in itself; thus, he couldn't help sighing in amazement. Yu Luo Sha was extremely unlucky it seemed. Given enough time, she would definitely have become a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master if she continued studying this opportunity. It was a pity that she died in Orthodoxy Temple and passed away before she had the chance to flourish. Nevertheless, Yang Kai understood why Yu Luo Sha had turned this place into a Restricted Area, even barring Tao Ying Ruo and the others from approaching it.

It was always better to keep these sorts of things for one's exclusive use, and if news about this were to leak out, many would have coveted it for themselves. This was in part due to Yu Luo Sha's selfishness, but it was also just human nature. Then again, Yu Luo Sha was only a First-Order Emperor Realm, which showed that her comprehension of this Secret Art was far from sufficient; otherwise, it was impossible for her growth to stop in this Realm with such an opportunity in her hands.

All of a sudden, the light coming from the cliff disappeared, vanishing without any warning. Yang Kai, who was immersed in various stages of comprehension, noticed the change and turned his head to look in a certain direction. His gaze was penetrating, almost as though he could stare directly at something through the barriers of space.

Frowning in thought for a moment, he stood up and vanished from where he was standing, arriving at the edge of the mountain valley by the time he reappeared again. He quietly stared at the space in front of him and Space Principles fluctuated wildly as he slowly reached out both hands. Then, his hands disappeared as he inserted them into the Void.

"Open!" Following a loud shout, space was ripped apart and a Void Crack appeared on the spot which Yang Kai plunged headfirst into. The surroundings were filled with nothingness and chaos and there were terrifying Void Turbulences surging everywhere. Anyone who came here would find it difficult to move freely and the slightest bit of carelessness would cause them to be devoured by the Void Turbulence, losing their way forever.

Yang Kai was not afraid of this place, however, as it wasn't his first time coming to such an environment. The Principles around his body oscillated, and the Void Turbulences surging towards him were guided by an invisible force to slide around his body. Immediately following that, he enveloped his Divine Sense in the Space Principles before spreading it out in all directions to investigate his surroundings carefully.

A long while later, Yang Kai revealed a disappointed look, slowly shook his head, and returned to where he came. Upon his return to the mountain valley, he suddenly realized that the night had passed without him knowing and it was now almost daytime. Standing in place, he looked around and lifted his head to look at the sky. Then, he looked back at the smooth cliff wall in the distance, a thoughtful expression flashing across his face. An extremely bold conjecture formed in his heart. If he had guessed correctly, then he had a vague understanding behind the changes in the mountain valley of the Restricted Area. It was a pity that he had failed to grasp the truth behind the phenomenon all night. It wasn't until it was almost over that it dawned on him. If he wanted to thoroughly understand this phenomenon, then he would have to wait a month until the next full moon to study it again. As such, he couldn't help feeling a little frustrated. Nevertheless, he quickly came to terms with his frustrations when he thought about the benefits he gained from this venture.

Upon Yang Kai's return to Luo Sha Peak, Ran Yi Rou and Yu Ke Ran both welcomed him back respectfully. They immediately bowed when they saw him. He passed them and headed directly into the room, his voice floating out, "Inform me when it's time for the ceremony."

"Yes." Ran Yi Rou and Yu Ke Ran responded respectfully.

For the next few days, Yang Kai remained behind closed doors to cultivate and didn't take a single step outside. It wasn't until the day of the ceremony that he dressed in formal robes with Ran Yi Rou and Yu Ke Ran's help.

It was not his first time experiencing a Grand Canonization Ceremony as he had participated in one at Azure Sun Temple before. Speaking of which, it was rather amusing that, while both times were the same Grand Canonization Ceremony to become a High-Rank Guest Elder, it only became increasingly grand each time.

Any other Sect would not have held such a large ceremony like this even if they hired a High-Rank Guest Elder; at most, they would send out an announcement to the surrounding Sects that were on good terms with them, telling those Sects something along the lines of 'this person is now the High-Rank Guest Elder of our Sect. Please show some respect if you run into them in the future'.

On the contrary, Yang Kai was highly valued by both Azure Sun Temple and Luo Sha Sect. Leaving aside Azure Sun Temple for the moment, Luo Sha Sect's very future was tied to him, so how could they not hold a grand celebration for him?

Guests from all around came to offer their congratulations. It wasn't just those from the nearby great forces who had received invitations who came as many people whom Luo Sha Sect had never even had dealings with before appeared. Facing a stream of Emperor Realm Masters who arrived uninvited, the disciples in charge of welcoming guests in front of the main gate were under a lot of pressure. Similarly, Tao Ying Ruo, Qin Pei, and the others didn't know whether to laugh or cry as they did not expect so many people to attend the Grand Canonization Ceremony.

There were only five Dao Source Realm Masters in the entire Luo Sha Sect now, but even so, they had no choice but to send out three of them to welcome guests at the front gate while the other two were busy ushering people into the ceremony grounds. They were so busy that their feet barely touched the ground and they couldn't excuse themselves from their duties. Nevertheless, they knew the reason these people came without invitation was not out of respect for Luo Sha Sect but for Yang Kai.

After such a long time, news of the incident at Orthodoxy Temple had spread throughout the entire Southern Territory. Not to mention, most of the influential Sects in the Southern Territory had been involved in the incident. All those who survived that incident basically owed Yang Kai a life debt; therefore, it was only natural that they come to offer their congratulations on this occasion.

The disciples in charge of recording down the gifts various guests brought were almost numb from shock by the generosity of these offerings. The giant pile of precious treasures left the group of Luo Sha Sect disciples, who had little experience in the outside world, feeling utterly dumbfounded. Even their hands holding their brushes trembled as they recorded down the gifts.

There were so many guests that the seats originally prepared for the ceremony were far from enough. Tao Ying Ruo urgently mobilized the disciples of Luo Sha Sect to increase the number of seats by nearly five times, which barely made up for the insufficient supply.

On that day, the thousand or so disciples of Luo Sha Sect, regardless of their cultivation, worked around the clock with no time to rest at all. After the ceremony, the records showed that hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters had come to offer their congratulations to Luo Sha Sect. In addition, there were countless other cultivators with varying cultivations who came as well. The total number of guests reached around fifteen hundred, a number so large it was greater than the total number of members of Luo Sha Sect. This truly showed Tao Ying Ruo and the others what it meant by 'being influential'.

The ceremony was held as scheduled, and under countless congratulatory wishes, Yang Kai became Luo Sha Sect's High-Rank Guest Elder. When his position was confirmed, Tao Ying Ruo and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.