Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Jon

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Seeing as Yang Kai was willing to accept her advice, Hua Qing Si heaved a sigh of relief. Even though she might appear disrespectful, she still had to point it out to him. She was worried that while Yang Kai had gained immense power, he'd also go through some unexpected changes. The increase in power and authority could awaken the dark nature in some people; however, now it seemed that Yang Kai hadn't changed one bit.

Therefore, Hua Qing Si directly advised, "If we want to unite the entire Northern Territory, we can't rely solely on our immense power. That is the tactic we have to use in the initial stage, but if we want to be respected as a leader, we have to gain the people's trust. Although violent suppression might be effective at first, it will cause the people to be resentful of us. The demise of two Sects is no trivial matter. Recently, many Sects in the Northern Territory have been worried that we might target them next. Even though we don't have that intention, they might not believe it."

Narrowing his eyes, Yang Kai uttered, "Mi Qi has truly crossed the line by acting recklessly this time, so he should be punished."

Hua Qing Si cupped her fists and replied, "Palace Master, you've indeed made a wise decision. How do you plan to punish him?"

Yang Kai questioned her instead, "Sister Hua, do you have anything in mind?"

After giving it a thought, she uttered, "Despite Mi Qi's intentions, he still misinterpreted your will and committed a mistake. If we punish him too severely, the others might think that we're too timid. However, if we punish him too lightly, that will be meaningless. I think that we can force him to resign from his post and have him spend his retirement years in Full Sky Sect from now on."

Yang Kai pursed his lips, "Sister Hua, your consideration is indeed comprehensive…"

Hua Qing Si pouted, "Just tell me straight away if you think I'm trying to remove a person who has contributed a lot to our Sect. It's written all over your face."

"That's not what I meant." Despite what Yang Kai had said, that was truly what he felt in his heart. Two reasons contributed to their successful occupation of the Northern Territory. First, they were powerful enough. Second, they had joined forces with three other top Sects to suppress resistance in the Northern Territory. During the process, Mi Qi had made significant contributions. After witnessing the power of Yang Kai and High Heaven Palace, he even personally went into action, leading Emperor Realm Masters from Full Sky Sect to suppress the other great forces.

Now that everything was settled, if they forced him to resign, it was akin to removing a contributor to their success.

Hua Qing Si uttered, "Mi Qi isn't a particularly conniving man, but he's too aggressive, so it's hard to control him. If we can take advantage of this incident and deal a blow to him, we can plant a puppet in Full Sky Sect and gain full control of it."

This was her true intention.

Among the four top Sects in the Northern Territory, Ice Heart Valley was close to Yang Kai, while Fire Dragon Palace regarded him as a true leader. The only variable was Full Sky Sect. If they could remove Mi Qi and support a Sect Master that they could control, they'd be able to rule over the Northern Territory without any further worries. By then, whatever order High Heaven Palace gave, the other three top Sects would follow, and the other great forces would never dare to go against them.

Certainly, Yang Kai had seen through her intentions. At that instant, he felt that he had made the right decision by appointing her to be Head Manager. Although her cultivation wasn't the greatest, she had grown up in Star Soul Palace and learned a lot from there; therefore, she was able to handle such matters with ease.

Without any opposing views, Yang Kai let her deal with this matter.

After the discussion, Mi Qi's fate was decided. Hua Qing Si would bring the three Monster Kings to Full Sky Sect, and Mi Qi wouldn't even dare to resist them.

Then, Hua Qing Si stated, "You also have to personally visit Orthodoxy Temple."

Yang Kai asked, "Does it have something to do with the Outer Astral Wind?"

Every top Sect had their own foundational secrets. In the Southern Territory, Star Soul Palace had the Five Coloured Treasure Pagoda, Azure Sun Temple had the Divine Ascension Mirror, Orthodoxy Temple had the Outer Astral Wind, and Heavenly Martial Holy Land had the Martial Intent Temple. All of them were precious.

Although Orthodoxy Temple had been destroyed, and all their disciples were killed, their heritage wasn't ruined. Besides the Cultivation Paradise and the wealth they had accumulated over the years, the Outer Astral Wind was also highly valuable.

However, after consulting with Star Soul Palace's Elders, they had taken out all of Orthodoxy Temple's wealth and distributed it to the Sects in Southern Territory to compensate for their losses.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai was granted the land upon which Orthodoxy Temple was built.

In the battle against Orthodoxy Temple, Yang Kai had single-handedly saved tens of thousands of cultivators from the Southern Territory, so his contribution was undeniable. If he had any demands, those from the Southern Territory would have to give it serious consideration.

At that time, Yang Kai didn't ask for anything else other than Orthodoxy Temple's territory.

Although Star Soul Palace was reluctant, they still had to give in to Yang Kai. On the other hand, Azure Sun Temple wouldn't hold Yang Kai back. If he took over Orthodoxy Temple's territory, they would gain some benefits as well. Since the other two Sects had agreed to it, the opinion of the Holy Master of Heavenly Martial Holy Land, Ma Qing, didn't matter anymore.

Therefore, Orthodoxy Temple's land was Yang Kai's private property now.

He had thought about relocating Luo Sha Sect to Orthodoxy Temple; after all, Orthodoxy Temple had many grand Spirit Mountains which were comparable to the Main Peaks in High Heaven Palace. If Luo Sha Sect could move to that place, it would be beneficial for their future development.

However, after giving it a thought, he decided to give up on that idea. In fact, the future prosperity of the Luo Sha Sect had nothing to do with him. He wanted to protect them because he wanted to set his mind at ease, and now that they had Sheng Yu Zhu, that burden was completely lifted.

Furthermore, High Heaven Palace had too many disciples. Although their foundation was robust, having more than a hundred thousand disciples was still unbearable for them. There were no other Sects that had this many disciples.

Orthodoxy Temple could help share their burden; moreover, they had a precious area like the Outer Astral Wind, which could help cultivators temper their bodies.

Yang Kai knew better than anyone the importance of having a robust body. When there was an attempted assassination previously, if he hadn't had a sturdy physique, he would have been killed instantly, unable to turn the situation around.

Anyone else wouldn't be able to make use of such a precious piece of land even if they had obtained it; after all, High Heaven Palace's base was in the Northern Territory, while Orthodoxy Temple was located in the Southern Territory, making it virtually impossible for one force to manage both places.

However, it was a different case for Yang Kai. He had connected the North and the South via Space Arrays, so no matter which side was in trouble, the other side could come to the rescue quickly, unless hostile forces somehow snuck in and destroyed the Space Arrays.

During Yang Kai's stay in Luo Sha Sect, High Heaven Palace had been slowly assimilating Orthodoxy Temple's foundation, building a Branch Sect in the Southern Territory.

Preparations were needed if they wanted to achieve this goal, so Hua Qing Si had sent Nanmen Da Jun over first to build a new Sect Defending Array around Orthodoxy Temple. When the Spirit Array was ready, they could start moving their disciples over.

Hua Qing Si intended to relocate about fifty thousand people to that place to alleviate the burden on High Heaven Palace; after all, these cultivators had followed Yang Kai from Heng Luo Star Field to this place, so their cultivations were rising rapidly and they had an insatiable need for World Energy. With more than a hundred thousand people within the palace, there just wasn't enough for everyone. By diverting half the disciples to this new space, the burden on High Heaven Palace would ease.

"The Outer Astral Wind is indeed very mysterious. I've been there once and realised that it is the perfect tool to help temper our bodies. Monster King Xi Lei is guarding that place now, so its safety isn't an issue; however, Palace Master still needs to personally arrange a Space Array there."

"En, good," Yang Kai nodded.

After a sigh, Hua Qing Si went on to state, "We have too few Emperor Realm Masters in the palace. A Branch Sect has been set up in the Southern Territory, but I'm worried that we don't have enough powerful Masters to watch over both places. Some people might try to snatch our territory from us if we cannot show enough strength."

There were more than ten Emperor Realm Masters in High Heaven Palace. Besides Yang Kai and Liu Yan, they were the three Monster Kings, Ji Ying, Hua Qing Si, Bian Yu Qing, Nanmen Da Jun, Hou Yu, and Ye Hen, who had just recently reached the Emperor Realm. This number of Emperor Realm Masters was already inconceivable for such a young Sect, so anyone in Yang Kai's shoes would be over the moon. However, strictly speaking, Ji Ying, Nanmen Da Jun, and Hou Yu were specialists, so Yang Kai wouldn't let them go to war unless there was no other choice as they were more valuable acting behind the scenes.

On the other hand, the three Monster Kings were fairly powerful, but they were from the Ancient Wild Lands in the Eastern Territory, not raised in High Heaven Palace. Moreover, they were from the Monster Race. As for the others, they were all First-Order Emperors.

Apart from that, High Heaven Palace had a limited number of Dao Source Realm cultivators, so although it appeared mighty, only insiders knew the limits of its power and it would take them a long time to rectify this.

"I'll settle this issue," Yang Kai darted his gaze around as an idea sprang into his mind.

Hua Qing Si took a glance at him and understood what he was thinking, so she put on a smile.

After the discussion, Yang Kai decided to head to Orthodoxy Temple the next day. Then, he moved and disappeared from the place.

The next day, Yang Kai, whose expression was dark, and Hua Qing Si set off on their journey together.

"Palace Master, didn't you get a good rest last night?" Hua Qing Si observed his expression and teased him with a smile.

Yang Kai shot her a glance and grinned at her, "Of course, I couldn't take a rest with a beautiful woman in my embrace."

Hua Qing Si blushed and rebuked, "Shameless!"

Nevertheless, she didn't expose his lie. As the Head Manager of High Heaven Palace, Hua Qing Si was aware of everything that was going on in the palace. Last night, Yang Kai had indeed wanted to spend the night with one or more of his wives; after all, he had just come home after a long period working outside, so he wasn't willing to leave his wives alone. However, as far as Hua Qing Si knew, all his attempts failed miserably last night.

Xia Ning Chang was engrossed in learning the Alchemic Way from Ji Ying, so she had no time for Yang Kai at all. In fact, after Yang Kai arrived on Medicine Pill Peak, he was immediately chased out by Ji Ying. If anyone in High Heaven Palace had the guts to disobey Yang Kai, it would be Ji Ying. Alchemists hated it when they were interrupted during Alchemy, and Ji Ying was Wondrous Pill Great Emperor's disciple, so although he was normally a benevolent person, his attitude became vastly different when it came to Alchemy.

On the other hand, Su Yan had gone to Ice Heart Valley, so they couldn't meet up as well.

Under the arrangement of Ying Fei and Xie Wu Wei, Shan Qing Luo had gone to the Ancient Wild Lands where the environment was better suited for her to cultivate.

And as for Xue Yue, she was currently in the middle of a secluded retreat.

Yang Kai had four wives, but he had to spend the entire night by himself, so he was indeed quite pitiful. However, he wasn't willing to let anyone know what had happened, and in order to not hurt his dignity, Hua Qing Si decided not to expose his little lie.

Silavin: Hmmm… isn't this how he starts having more wives?