Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Ashish

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

It was a bit troublesome to enter the city. Xiao Hei and Xiao Hong were too big and fierce-looking, so naturally they couldn't be brought inside.

Yang Kai didn't dare to take them into the Sealed World Bead either. He had tried something similar before and knew that the Small Sealed World could only accommodate entities below the Open Heaven Realm. If he forcefully tried to accommodate anyone with the strength of the Open Heaven Realm, the Small Sealed World would risk collapsing.

And according to Yang Kai's insight, whether it was Xiao Hei or Xiao Hong, they probably had the strength comparable to Open Heaven Realm Masters. But because of the unique environment of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, they could not display their full strength.

Fortunately, he also had the Six Fated Paths Bag. It might be a little small for them, but he had no choice but to squeeze them in.

He squeezed the two into the Six Fated Paths Bag whether they liked it or not, amazing Yue He; after all, even in the Outer Universe, not many artifacts could accommodate living creatures and each one was extremely rare and precious. She couldn't even begin to guess where Yang Kai got this artifact.

After having done this, Yang Kai's team of six finally made their way towards the city gate.

Unsurprisingly, they stopped at the entrance and needed to pay a hundred Open Heaven Pills to enter.

A hundred Open Heaven Pills was a large amount of wealth for any Emperor Realm cultivator, so Meng Hong's heart ached. If it was before, Yang Kai wouldn't have so many Open Heaven Pills either, but fortunately, he killed Old Xu of the Wind and Cloud Auction House, who was a Fourth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and took his Space Ring. Old Xu was a powerful figure of a prosperous auction house, so his net worth was quite high.

The entrance fee of six hundred Open Heaven Pills wouldn't put a dent in Yang Kai's wallet, so he readily paid and entered the city.

Everyone couldn't help but be dumbfounded after entering the city. When they first walked inside, they were surprised to find that it still retained the appearance of the former Star City; streets crowded with people, all kinds of shops everywhere, stalls lining the streets selling all kinds of items.

If what they had faced over the past few days wasn't still fresh in their minds, everyone would have thought that they had entered a typical Star City in the Outer Universe, rather than some place in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary.

Along the way, Yang Kai's Divine Sense remained active, and whenever he found the herbs he required, he would buy them right away.

It was a rare opportunity to find such a settlement of cultivators, so naturally Yang Kai splurged and shopped a lot. All the Dragon Blood Flowers had been picked, so he needed to refine them into Dragon Blood Pills as soon as possible in order to ensure that they didn't lose their medicinal efficacy. Yang Kai believed that he would need to stay in this city and refine pills for a long time.

After sweeping several streets of herbs, he had gained a huge number of necessary ingredients.

Everyone else had kept their ears open all along the way, learning that a great force called Scarlet Star was in control of this small city. Scarlet Star was just like Thunder Light, one of the former three great forces that controlled the previous Star City. Scarlet Star's luck was relatively good as well as they didn't encounter any kind of attack after their section of the Star City was swallowed by the Grand Ancient Ruins Rolling Fog. Only a few exotic beasts came to attack them sporadically, which were easily defeated. As a result, they gained a lot of fame and thereby, took over this place, becoming the ruler of the surrounding region.

Today, the one who maintained order in this Star City, the one who made rules here, and the one who was charging the exorbitant fees at the city gate was Scarlet Star. By occupying such a large piece of land in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, Scarlet Star could reap benefits just by sitting back and waiting.

In this city, Scarlet Star members were like local tyrants. No one dared to provoke them.

After roaming around the city for a long while and buying many herbs, Yang Kai finally led everyone to an inn to rest.

At first, they wanted to take six rooms, but unfortunately, the rooms available were quite few, so in the end, they could only get three.

Yang Kai took a room to himself; after all, he would be refining pills for a long time and couldn't be disturbed. Yue He and Chen Yue took another room, and the remaining room was taken by Meng Hong and Great Moon Province disciples.

After everything was decided, everyone went to their rooms and closed their doors. Yang Kai handed over all his Open Heaven Pills to Meng Hong beforehand and told him to visit the Star City if he had the time and buy the required herbs when he found them. As long as the price wasn't too expensive, he had complete discretion.

Naturally, Meng Hong readily agreed; after all, this wasn't a difficult task. As for the herbs Yang Kai required, he had been Yang Kai all this time and remembered them well.

The days from then on were uneventful.

Yang Kai remained in his room, opening all the barriers so he could focus on Alchemy. Day after day, batches of Dragon Blood Pills were refined.

Yang Kai didn't remain idle while he was practicing Alchemy though and would take Dragon Blood Pills from time to time to purify his bloodline. Even Xiao Hei and Xiao Hong, who were kept inside the Fated Paths Bag, got to eat a lot.

Every seven or eight days, Meng Hong would come over and deliver the purchased herbs to Yang Kai's room.

It was only at this moment that Yang Kai would temporarily take a rest and chat with Meng Hong to understand the situation outside.

From Meng Hong, Yang Kai learned that this Star City was managed quite well by Scarlet Star. After many people came to know that there was such a place in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, where cultivators were gathered and safety was provided, people flocked to join.

The most obvious indication of this rise in population was through the rising price of the inn. The price had already risen thrice in less than a month and now a room was more than double the cost of when they first arrived. Still, the inn was completely full every day.

Scarlet Star was also growing bigger and bigger as many people wanted to join but couldn't!

Because the Star City was located in the foggy forest, it was surrounded by abundant natural resources, so no matter which direction one searched, they would find something if they were lucky.

Rumour had it that someone had obtained Fifth-Order and even Sixth-Order Open Heaven materials! As for Fourth-Order, they were nearly endless. This was a huge temptation for any Emperor Realm cultivator. Compared to the other harvests such as precious herbs and treasures, Open Heaven materials of these Orders were far more valuable.

What the Emperor Realm cultivators needed most now were these Open Heaven materials. It was true that they couldn't break through to the Open Heaven Realm in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, but as long as one could accumulate enough here, they could reach the Open Heaven Realm the moment they left the Grand Ancient Ruins.

Therefore, countless cultivators formed teams and went out to obtain the cultivation resources they needed.

Many people had their wishes fulfilled, but some people encountered a crisis and never returned!

The Martial Dao had always been like this though. Only after endless struggles and overcoming various obstacles, what one finally sees might not necessarily be the fruits of their labour, but death.

Today, Meng Hong delivered Yang Kai many herbs.

Yang Kai thanked him and stated, "You don't need to bring any more."

After non-stop Alchemy of three months, Yang Kai had finally consumed almost all of the Dragon Blood Flowers. He had refined thousands of Dragon Blood Pills, using a small portion of them before storing the rest in his Space Ring. Presumably, it would take him years to finish refining all these pills.

Meng Hong casually nodded.

Yang Kai added, "Have the Open Heaven Pills I gave you run out?"

Although he got a windfall after plundering Old Xu's Space Ring, the cost of buying so many herbs for such a long time would definitely not be small. At first, Yang Kai was a little worried that his Open Heaven Pills would be insufficient, but when Meng Hong kept delivering the herbs, he didn't ask much.

Meng Hong replied, "The Open Heaven Pills you gave me had long been used up. Now, Lady Yue He is paying for these herbs."

Yang Kai was stunned when he heard this as he hadn't expected it to be like this.

Meng Hong continued, "Lady Yue He has very deep feelings for Brother Yang. You are very lucky." Meng Hong sighed with a look of envy on his face.

Yang Kai's brow twitched as he had no idea what to say. But after giving it a thought, Yue He was a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master so she was definitely rich. Spending this much shouldn't be a big deal to her. [In any case, I will remember this and will pay her back when I find an opportunity in the future. I will not take advantage of her.]

"Brother Meng, is something wrong?" Yang Kai asked, seeing a rather mournful look on the other's face.

"Nothing's wrong!" Meng Hong forced a smile before bidding goodbye, "Brother Yang, you carry on with your things. I will stop bothering you."

Saying so, he retreated out of the room.

Yang Kai, staring in the direction of the door, pondered for a while before burying himself in Alchemy.

After half a month, Yang Kai was sitting cross-legged before the Alchemy Furnace, quickly forming hand seals. The room was filled with pill fragrance and the furnace was rattling.

At a certain moment, Yang Kai slapped the pill furnace as its lid flew up and several red pills with a bloody aura flew out.

Yang Kai took out a jade bottle he had prepared beforehand, and took these pills into the bottle.

Looking at the pills in the bottle, Yang Kai started grinning.

After four months, he was finally finished. All the Dragon Blood Flowers had been consumed while he was completely exhausted. He hadn't refined pills with so much dedication in many years. Sitting in the room all day was also a very big test of his will and temperament.

[It's finally over.] Yang Kai was in a good mood.

After deactivating the many barriers around the room, Yang Kai walked out and felt as if he had been reborn.

Yang Kai was in high spirits and wanted to look for Meng Hong and the others to have a drink, but he couldn't find anyone in their rooms. Yue He was nowhere to be found either.

Yang Kai couldn't help but be stunned.

He had been holed up in his room doing Alchemy for four months and only learned about the outside situation from Meng Hong. He had no idea about anything else or what Yue He and the others were doing.

After taking out a communication artifact and sending some messages, Yang Kai finally learned that they were all in the lobby.

When Yang Kai came down, he found four people from his group sitting around a table full of empty wine bottles.

Yue He called Yang Kai over and offered, patting the seat next to her, "Come here."

Yang Kai wasn't polite and sat down straight away. Yue He smiled, resting her cheek on her palms, "You are finally out. If you hadn't come out, I would have almost forgotten you."

Her breath reeked of alcohol.

Yang Kai glanced at her and then at the others before asking with a frown, "Why are you drinking so much during the daytime? What is making you so happy?"

Yue He looked away with a pout, muttering, "We are drowning sorrows with drinks!"

Yang Kai looked again and noticed that Meng Hong was sitting with his head hung low. He looked dejected. It wasn't clear what he had experienced, but he seemed to have lost his soul over it.