Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“Senior Brother Gao has left?” Yang Kai was surprised.

Although Gao Xin Peng did say he was leaving the Sect in a few days, Yang Kai hadn’t expected him to be gone on this day.

“It was an emergency. Since the Elders had given the order, Sir had to leave,” the medicine boy replied respectfully.

“En.” Yang Kai nodded. After giving it a thought, he asked the medicine boy about the location of the Divine Flame Hall then walked down the mountain.

The medicine boy thoughtfully asked Yang Kai whether he needed a guide; however, getting an Alchemy Flame shouldn’t be a difficult task. Moreover, Gao Xin Peng had informed those from the Divine Flame Hall about it beforehand; therefore, Yang Kai turned him down.

The Divine Flame Hall was located in a mountain valley where there were many guards. As Yang Kai headed to his destination, he was stopped and checked several times. Nevertheless, after he showed them his Identity Token, the guards at the Divine Flame Hall stepped aside respectfully.

Soon, he arrived at a large palace and as soon as he entered he saw two people chatting among themselves. One of them was clad in the clothes exclusive to Heaven Grade Alchemists of Profound Pill Sect, and he was followed by two bodyguards.

The other person was clad in black tight-fitting clothes. Yang Kai was unable to sense his cultivation since his aura was restrained, but he had a feeling that the man was a Spirit Realm Master.

The Spirit Realm Master in black clothes said, “Since you’re all ready, Alchemist Wei, good luck.”

Alchemist Wei cupped his fist with a smile, “Many thanks for your kind wishes, Vice Hall Master. I’ll definitely succeed; after all, I’ve been preparing for it for two years.”

“You may go now. Someone from the Divine Flame Cave will lead you there.” The Spirit Realm Master nodded.

Alchemist Wei nodded, then led his Blood Warriors towards the door. Before he left, he shot a curious and doubtful glance at Yang Kai. Despite finding the man unfamiliar, he didn’t say anything.

After he was gone, the Spirit Realm Master turned to look at Yang Kai and examined him, then asked, “Alchemist Yang, I presume?”

“You know me?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

The Spirit Realm Master replied with a smile, “There are only a small number of Heaven Grade Alchemists in the Sect, and I’ve met them all. The only one I’ve never met is the newly joined Heaven Grade Alchemist. Alchemist Gao informed me about your arrival yesterday.”

Upon hearing his explanation, Yang Kai asked, “I see. How may I address you?”

“Divine Flame Hall Vice Hall Master, Wu Zheng Qi.”

“So it is Vice Hall Master Wu!” Yang Kai cupped his fist and thought that it was no wonder this person was a Spirit Realm Master. Since he was the Vice Hall Master of the Divine Flame Hall, the fact that he was a Spirit Realm Master wasn’t so surprising.

“Have you come here to obtain an Alchemy Flame?” Wu Zheng Qi asked.

“Yes.” Yang Kai nodded, “Senior Brother Gao said that since I’ve joined the Sect, I should prioritise getting an Alchemy Flame.”

Although Wu Zheng Qi wasn’t an Alchemist, he knew a thing or two about Alchemy since he had been in Profound Pill Sect for a long time. Upon hearing that, he nodded, “Since Alchemist Gao has said so, there wouldn’t be a mistake.”

“However, it is my first time coming to the Divine Flame Hall. Is there anything I should prepare?” Yang Kai inquired modestly.

Wu Zheng Qi replied with a smile, “You don’t have to prepare anything. The Divine Flame Cave is a special place where the Alchemy Flames accumulated over the years are stored. You just have to go in and sense your surroundings. As long as you are capable enough, you’ll find a suitable Alchemy Flame. What’s more, the Alchemy Flames will also be looking for worthy Masters to follow.”

Yang Kai was puzzled, “You mean, those Alchemy Flames are sentient?”

Wu Zheng Qi burst into laughter, “Alchemy Flames are not living creatures, so why would they be sentient? However… the Divine Flame Cave is a special place. It was built by the ancestors of Profound Pill Sect taking much time and care. It is also one of the Sect’s foundations. I’m not an Alchemist, so I don’t understand the abstrusity of it; nevertheless, the same thing happens to every Alchemist who tries to obtain an Alchemy Flame, so you don’t have to worry about it. Moreover, I heard that the greater a person’s aptitude, the better the Alchemy Flame they can obtain.”

“Are the Alchemy Flames graded?” Yang Kai figured out there was a deeper meaning to the Vice Hall Master’s words.

“Of course.” Wu Zheng Qi looked curiously at him, wondering why a Heaven Grade Alchemist wasn’t aware of such common knowledge, “Just like we cultivators, Alchemy Flames are divided into Mortal, Earth, Heaven, and Spirit Grades. Although there are different grades, an Alchemy Flame can swallow others to improve itself; therefore, even if one only gets a Mortal Rank Alchemy Flame, it will grow into a Spirit Rank Alchemy Flame as long as there’s enough hard work and opportunity. Moreover, the powers of the Alchemy Flames in the same rank can vary greatly. Good, if you want to find out more about it, you can head to the Records Hall when you’re free. There are many books about Alchemy Flames inside.”

“Many thanks for your guidance, Vice Hall Master Wu.” Yang Kai thanked him sincerely, for he had no knowledge of such information prior to this, “By the way, do you mean that there are Spirit Rank Alchemy Flames in the Divine Flame Cave?”

“Indeed.” Wu Zheng Qi nodded, “The Alchemy Flames that the Elders possessed over the generations were all Spirit Flames. Before their predestined time of death, they would try to separate the Spirit Flames from their own bodies and return them to the Divine Flame Cave. This process normally damages the Spirit Flames, causing them to regress into Heaven Flames. Nonetheless, some of the Spirit Flames still survived over the years. However, I advise you against coveting a Spirit Flame; after all, they are very powerful. If you don’t have sufficient power to match, you’ll be harming yourself instead.”

“I understand. However, is it alright that so many Alchemy Flames are put together? You just said that an Alchemy Flame could swallow others to upgrade itself…”

Wu Zheng Qi shook his head, “The Alchemy Flames that have returned to the Divine Flame Cave are all planted with seals, so they won’t swallow each other. Otherwise, the cave would’ve been gone for good long ago.”

“I see.” Yang Kai finally figured it out after his explanation, but he still asked worriedly, “Is there really nothing I have to prepare? Just now, I heard Alchemist Wei say that he had been preparing for it for two years.”

“He…” Wu Zheng Qi burst into laughter, “He’s different. He wants to obtain a particular Alchemy Flame from the Divine Flame Cave, so he has been trying to prepare some bait over the past two years to tempt that Alchemy Flame. If you have your own target, you naturally have to prepare some things in advance. However, if you’re just getting a random one, you don’t have to do that.”

It was then Yang Kai realised he had been overthinking things. Following that, he replied, “I’ll just obtain one at random then.”

“Do you have other questions? If not, you can head to the Divine Flame Cave now.”

Yang Kai shook his head.

“Come with me, then,” Wu Zheng Qi said, then led the way for him.

It wasn’t certain whether it had something to do with Gao Xin Peng or that the fact Yang Kai wasn’t familiar with this place was taken into consideration, but when Alchemist Wei headed to Divine Flame Cave just now, Wu Zheng Qi didn’t lead the way for him. Instead, Yang Kai had the honour to receive such treatment.

Naturally, Yang Kai had to thank him again.

The Divine Flame Cave wasn’t far away, and there was an entrance that led to it inside the hall. When they arrived, Yang Kai saw that the Blood Warriors that Alchemist Wei had brought with him were standing outside the cave while the Alchemist himself was nowhere to be seen. It was apparent that he had entered the cave.

Wu Zheng Qi pointed ahead and explained, “That’s the entrance to the Divine Flame Cave. There’s a rule in the Sect that only Alchemists can enter this place, so I’ll have to stop here. You can just go in.”

“Many thanks.” Yang Kai cupped his fists and shuffled into the cave.

The Divine Flame Cave was located deep beneath the ground, and as Yang Kai walked down, it took him almost an hour before descended into complete darkness.

It wasn’t the kind of darkness that was caused by a lack of light, but rather a kind of pure black colour that was indescribable with words.

Yang Kai initially intended to look for Alchemist Wei and observe how the latter was going to obtain an Alchemy Flame; however, he could see nothing in the darkness, let alone look for Alchemist Wei.

Turning his head, Yang Kai saw that there was a bit of light at the entrance that served as a beacon for when he needed to leave. However, the light was restricted in a radius of three metres in an eerie manner.

It seemed that the Divine Flame Cave was truly abstruse, so it was no wonder that it was one of Profound Pill Sect’s foundations.

Shaking his head, Yang Kai continued moving forward. In the darkness, he was unable to determine how far he had gone, so he could only turn to look at the light at the entrance to know that he had moved forward for quite some distance.

Reckoning that it was time to stop, he sat down on the ground with his legs crossed.

Wu Zheng Qi had said that the Divine Flame Cave was a special place and upon entering, an Alchemist just had to sense their surroundings to look for the Alchemy Flames that suited them.

Yang Kai didn’t understand the abstrusity of it, so he could only do as he was told.

After emptying his mind, he focused on sensing his surroundings. He initially couldn’t detect anything special, but as he released his Divine Sense, he realised that dots of light started appearing out of thin air.

He was taken aback by the sight and almost awoke from his meditative state, which caused the lights to start flickering.

However, he soon composed himself, and the lights stabilised as well.

This was a strange feeling. Although his eyes were closed as he was only sensing his surroundings, it was as though he could really see those lights. The intensity of the lights varied, looking like different sized candles that had been lit up in the darkness.

Besides that, the lights continued to increase, and soon, they started growing exponentially. From a few dots of light, they grew into dozens to over a hundred.

In the distance, more lights appeared all of a sudden.

[Are these the Alchemy Flames in the Divine Flame Cave?] Yang Kai fell into his thoughts as he inspected the lights, trying to determine their Grades by judging the intensity of the light.

Just like what Wu Zheng Qi had said, the Alchemy Flames here ranged from the Mortal Grade to the Spirit Grade.

The small number of the brightest lights should be the Spirit Flames, while the slightly weaker ones were Heaven Flames, followed by the Earth Flames and then the weakest Mortal Flames.

What surprised Yang Kai was that these Alchemy Flames came in different colours, which illuminated the originally dark cave.

While he was still awestruck by the sight, something happened all of a sudden.

The lights of different colours started rushing towards Yang Kai, as though they had been drawn by something. In the blink of an eye, he was surrounded by countless Alchemy Flames.

“Uh…” Yang Kai was stunned, not knowing what was going on.