Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Jon

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“I shall offer my thanks in advance then.” Hua Yong put on a smile, “If you’re fine with it, I’ll give you the bamboo forest that you’ve been staying in and assign some people to tend to your needs.”

The Proprietress nodded, “Many thanks, Island Master Hua.”

Hua Yong took a glance at Yang Kai and said, “Brother Yang, if you ever decide to join Twin Spirit Island one day, we’ll be more than willing to give you the positions of Head Island Master and Second Island Master.”

It wasn’t certain whether he was sincere or not, so Yang Kai didn’t respond to him. Yang Kai didn’t have the heart to join Twin Spirit Island to begin with. The reason he had arrived at the Shadowless Cave Heaven was to bring the Proprietress out of this place, so he wasn’t willing to stay here for long. Moreover, he was a newcomer who hadn’t gained a footing, so even if Hua Yong and Shu Mu Dan were willing to give up their positions, it wasn’t like Yang Kai had the necessary authority to lead this great force.

What’s more, although others couldn’t find the exit of the Shadowless Cave Heaven, it didn’t mean he couldn’t. After all, Yang Kai had found his way into this place, unlike others who had accidentally fallen into it.

The Proprietress was still troubled by the residual Monster Qi in her body, so she needed a quiet place to recuperate; hence, the four of them soon left.

As Hua Yong watched them leave, he breathed a sigh of relief. Now, it seemed that Yang Kai and Lan You Ruo didn’t have the intention of taking over his great force, which allowed him to set his mind at ease.

However, this was only temporary. Just like what he had said to his Wife earlier, there wouldn’t be a problem in the short term. Nevertheless, a long time later, once Yang Kai and Lan You Ruo realised that there really wasn’t a way to leave the Shadowless Cave Heaven, they might develop some ill intentions.

Then, he suddenly became energised as he said, “My Wife, it’s the chance for us to strengthen our power.”

A puzzled Shu Mu Dan inquired, “You mean…”

“Mao Zhe and the others are missing, and Profound Yang Mountain has been destroyed, so there are a lot of people who have lost their place to stay. In the entire Shadowless Cave Heaven, only Twin Spirit Island and Unrivalled Guild can take them in. Those from Unrivalled Guild might not be aware of the situation yet, so we should take action quickly.”

Following that, he turned around and told his subordinate to bring Zhang Shun and the others over. After a jovial chat, he directly agreed to let these people join Twin Spirit Island.

Zhang Shun and the others had nowhere to go, so they were feeling apprehensive. Upon hearing Hua Yong’s words, they were ecstatic.

Then, Hua Yong ordered them to invite their friends and family as he welcomed them to join Twin Spirit Island as well. Zhang Shun and the others were grateful and soon left Twin Spirit Island to look for their friends from Profound Yang Mountain.

Upon their persuasion, many of the cultivators from Profound Yang Mountain were soon absorbed into Twin Spirit Island, which significantly increased their power.

Inside the bamboo forest, the Proprietress was recuperating in seclusion while Chef and Accountant had respectively selected a bamboo hut to cultivate.

Both of them had ascended to the Open Heaven Realm right after the Blood Monster Cave Heaven collapsed. Strictly speaking, it had only been a short time since they achieved an ascension, so they needed a large amount of time to solidify their cultivations.

That was the case for Yang Kai, as well. He had to consume a lot of Open Heaven Pills to strengthen the heritage of his Small Universe. While cultivating, he also studied his new Sun and Moon Divine Wheel in an attempt to improve it.

Since his venture into the cultivation world, Yang Kai had rarely cultivated in seclusion, for he didn’t need to do so much in the past. In fact, the speed at which he traversed the Martial Dao was extraordinarily quick. Every time he broke through, it would only take him a short time before he would take another step forward. Therefore, he didn’t have to cultivate in seclusion to refine various resources like what the other cultivators did.

The speed at which he cultivated was rapid to begin with, so if he just sat there and cultivated in seclusion, it would actually destabilise his foundation.

Therefore, every time he achieved a breakthrough, he would go out and get into fights to solidify his realm.

However, the Open Heaven Realm was different. When a cultivator reached this realm, he or she would need a lot of patience. It took time to strengthen the heritage of one’s Small Universe.

It was expected that Yang Kai wasn’t used to this. He had attempted to refine Open Heaven Pills when he was a Fifth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, and the rate of consumption was shocking. Now that he was a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, he realised that he needed even more Open Heaven Pills, and the results were not even as good as before.

Hence, he decided to refine some resources and realised that it was much more useful than refining Open Heaven Pills alone.

It was only now that Yang Kai realised why Open Heaven Realm Masters were still crazy about procuring resources of different Orders, especially the resources that matched their own Order. Refining these resources was significantly more efficient than refining Open Heaven Pills.

Yang Kai initially didn’t have a lot of resources with him because his previous spoils were all given to Bian Yu Qing. Those in Void Land required a lot of resources after all.

Now, however, he had the resources he had snatched from Ti Zheng and the other ambushers. The contents of the Space Rings of four High-Rank Open Heaven Realm Masters were mind-boggling as there were countless materials of different Orders inside, even including some High-Rank ones.

However, half a month later, Yang Kai suddenly stopped cultivating and frowned as though he was pondering on something.

A moment later, he got to his feet and headed to the adjacent bamboo hut, then knocked on the barrier lightly.

Soon, the barrier disappeared and Yang Kai stepped inside and went upstairs.

Presently, Chef was seated on the ground with his legs crossed as he looked doubtfully at him, “What’s wrong?”

Yang Kai took a seat in front of him and said with a solemn expression, “I’d like to ask you something.”

Chef extended his hand to motion for him to ask right away.

It was then that Yang Kai told him about his cultivation process over the past fifteen days, then he frowned, “Although it’s not conspicuous, I have a feeling that something is wrong. If I keep on cultivating like this, I feel something terrible will happen to me.”

A speechless Chef shot him a glance, “Although I have no idea what resources you’ve been refining, it seems you haven’t been trying to harmonise your Yin, Yang, and Five Elements.”

“What do you mean?” Yang Kai arched his brow with a humble expression.

After a sigh, Chef explained, “You rushed to ascend to the Open Heaven Realm, then you immediately entered the Shadowless Cave Heaven, so it makes sense that no one told you about what you had to take note of after you broke through. Fortunately, you’ve realised the problem early, so it’s not too late to correct it.”

A shocked Yang Kai asked, “So, there’s really something wrong with my cultivation?”

“It’s a minor problem.” Chef waved his hand to motion for him to be at ease, “The Small Universes of Open Heaven Realm Masters are formed from condensing the Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements, then splitting Heaven and Earth apart in our bodies. The reason Open Heaven Pills are able to strengthen our Small Universes is that these pills also contain a balance of Yin, Yang, and the Five Element Powers. It could be said that every Open Heaven Pill has a bit of World Force in it. Once you consume Open Heaven Pills, you’re essentially refining the World Force in it. That’s how you can fortify your heritage.”

Yang Kai nodded his head to indicate he understood.

“Open Heaven Pills are refined by Alchemists, so they contain some readily available World Force; however, raw materials are different. Refining a Fifth-Order Fire Element material only adds Fire Element Power to your Small Universe. Since that’s the case, you’ll have to refine the other six Elements to balance your Yin, Yang, and Five Elements again. Only by maintaining this kind of balance can you increase your World Force and improve your cultivation.”

Then, Chef shot him a glance, “You only refined materials from one or two Elements instead of all of them, right?”

It was then Yang Kai realised what had gone wrong, “I see.”

He had a feeling that there was something wrong with his cultivation method, but he was unable to figure out what it was. Upon hearing Chef’s explanation, he now understood.

Just like what Chef had said, he didn’t try to harmonise Yin, Yang, and the Five Elements, which caused an imbalance in his Small Universe. There wouldn’t be a problem in the short term, but if he didn’t correct this issue, it would eventually destabilise his Small Universe.

Once that happened, it would have serious consequences and take much effort to fix.

“So, when we refine cultivation materials, we should do so after collecting a complete set?”

“It’s the ideal way, but you can also try to collect those materials while refining one of them. However, you have to make sure that the entire set is in the same Order.” Chef paused for a moment, “You’re familiar with the water barrel theory of the Open Heaven Realm, right?”

Yang Kai replied, “En, the shortest plank in the barrel is what decides the Order an Open Heaven Realm Master can reach directly.”

“That’s right.” Chef nodded, “The water in the barrel is like the heritage of our Small Universe. Cultivating in the Open Heaven Realm is akin to increasing the height of the barrel. All seven planks have to be heightened at the same time. Just one of them won’t do.”

Yang Kai cupped his fists with a solemn expression, “Many thanks for your teachings.”

Chef grinned, “It was the Proprietress who taught me all this; otherwise, I wouldn’t have known about it either. You’ve suffered a setback because no one taught you, that’s all.”

Yang Kai nodded. His decision to ascend to the Open Heaven Realm was rushed, so no one was around to teach him what to do after he succeeded and he was left trying to figure things out on his own.

Chef went on to say, “After making it to the Open Heaven Realm, it’s time to slowly build up your Small Universe.”

As he spoke, he patted his rounded belly, “If you manage it well, you’ll become powerful, and vice versa, which is also why there’s a huge gap in power between Open Heaven Realm Masters even in the same Order. In order to increase the heritage of your Small Universe, you can either refine Open Heaven Pills, materials of different Orders, or other sources of World Force that match your own. Either way, this all takes a long time. You’re now a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master, so you’re able to refine Mid-Rank materials up to and including Sixth-Order ones. Given the current heritage of your Small Universe, you’re still unable to refine High-Rank materials. With that said, the higher the Order of a material, the more useful it’ll be to you.”

Yang Kai nodded in agreement. He had experimented over the past fifteen days by refining materials of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth-Order.

Given his Sixth-Order cultivation, he was able to refine all these materials quickly. The benefits of Third-Order materials were almost negligible. Fourth-Order materials were slightly better, while the Fifth-Order ones were much better. He hadn’t tried to refine a Sixth-Order material, so he had no idea how effective it would be. Nevertheless, he reckoned that it would be terrific.

Although he had snatched the Space Rings of four High Rank Open Heaven Masters and obtained some High-Rank materials, he was still unable to collect a complete set of Sixth-Order materials. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been forced to ascend to the Fifth-Order at that time.