Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“Yang Kai?” The woman’s pretty brow furrowed together tightly before the realisation struck her a moment later, “You’re that disciple who joined the Sect recently!”

“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded seriously.

Looking him up and down, her gaze paused on the golden token on his waist for a moment and she snorted softly, “The Sect Master sure thinks highly of you. He even went so far as to issue you an Elder Token.” She beckoned towards him once more, “Come down so we can speak.”

Yang Kai obediently leaped down and stood before her respectfully. Seeing as this woman also had an Elder Token on her, she was definitely one of Profound Pill Sect’s Elders. In addition to being Spirit Grade Alchemists, all the Elders of Profound Pill Sect were also Spirit Realm Masters.

She glared at him, “What were you doing up there?”

Yang Kai casually came up with an excuse, “The Sect Master ordered me to come and comprehend the mysteries of the Medicine King Furnace whenever I have the time. This Disciple wondered if it would be easier to learn something if I stood closer to the Divine Armament. That’s why I went up there. If there’s anything wrong with my actions, please punish me, Martial Aunt.”

She angrily snapped, “The ignorant are truly fearless! How could you dare to touch the Divine Armament at will!? You’re lucky I found you early! If I were any later, I would be collecting your corpse instead!”

He was shocked, “Was it that serious?”

The female Elder nodded, “The Ten Great Divine Armaments represent part of this World’s Grand Dao. Ever since ancient times, those who obtained the Divine Armaments were those with great destiny and immense opportunities. It is not something just anybody can touch as they please.”

Although Yang Kai felt that the situation was not as serious as she made it seem, he pretended to be overwhelmed by the situation, “Many thanks for your warning, Martial Aunt!”

Her expression relaxed slightly. She then glanced at him with another measuring look, “So, did you realise anything just now?”

“I believe so, but it’s very vague. I will need more time to sort through and comprehend it.”

She gently nodded, “I’ve heard about you. Since you have a connection with the Medicine King Furnace, then don’t disappoint the Sect Master’s expectations of you. But, never forget this, don’t act rashly and overreach yourself for the sake of greed; otherwise, nobody can save you if something goes wrong.”

“Yes!” Yang Kai nodded firmly, though he couldn’t help feeling strange. This woman seemed rather concerned about him, but he was uncertain if it was just a figment of his imagination, so he offhandedly asked, “Did you come here to comprehend the mysteries of the Medicine King Furnace too, Martial Aunt?”

She let out a soft sigh, her well-rounded peaks heaving up and down slightly, “That’s right. Old people like myself come here every once in a while to see if we can receive any inspiration from this place. If a Spirit Grade Alchemist wants to exceed their current limits... Well, it won’t be so easy. It’s a pity that we old folk are so useless. On the other hand, a young boy like you can see through some of the mysteries here. It’s truly surprising.”

“This Disciple simply had a stroke of fortune. Besides, you are not old, Martial Aunt. You are clearly in the prime of your life.”

The woman glanced at him in surprise before bursting into a peal of laughter, causing flowers to tremble before her beauty. After a while, she finally stopped laughing and snorted softly, “You’re as glib-tongued as that old ghost! No wonder he took you in as a Disciple! Let me ask you this, is that old ghost doing well?”

Yang Kai was confused for a moment; then, he realised that the person she mentioned was referring to his fabricated Master. Looking at her expression and listening to the tone of her voice, this woman seemed to have some kind of deeper relationship with his fake Master. Now, he understood why she seemed concerned over him.

“When Honoured Master taught this Disciple, this Disciple was very young. I don’t remember much from back then, but Honoured Master was quite healthy at the time. Especially when this Disciple made a mistake. He was very strong when spanking this Disciple’s bottom!”

The woman was taken aback for a moment before she laughed happily, “His temper certainly leaves much to be desired, but his vision seems to be as far-sighted as always. You were still young at the time, so it’s only natural for him to spank you when you didn’t reach his standards. I’m sure he will be very proud if he learns about your current achievements.”

After that, she asked him a few more questions, to which Yang Kai either came up with more nonsense or simply claimed that he no longer remembered, so as to not reveal any flaws. Nevertheless, the woman listened with relish no matter how trivial the matter was. A long while passed before she waved her hand to dismiss him, “It looks like you’re tired. You should go back and get some rest. If you run into any trouble, you can come and visit me at Qian Luo Peak. I usually live there.”

“Many thanks, Martial Aunt! This Disciple will take his leave!”

Upon returning to the Fixed Moon Peak, Yang Kai went to Yang Huai and inquired about the circumstances. Only then did he learn that the Peak Master of Qian Luo Peak was an Elder known as Lan Yin. That was probably the woman he encountered in the Restricted Area earlier.

Yang Kai initially wanted to inquire more about his Master, but unfortunately, Yang Huai had lived in the Blood Warrior Hall since he was a child so he only knew about the existence of this person in Profound Pill Sect, but didn’t know much else, so there was nothing that he could tell Yang Kai.

In reality, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Yang Kai had begun to search for more information about his supposed Master ever since he joined Profound Pill Sect. He had joined Profound Pill Sect as that person’s Legacy Disciple after all, so it would not hurt to learn as much as he could about this person. Unexpectedly, there were no records about him in the Records Hall. Seeing as he could not inquire too much from the others lest he exposed his lies, Yang Kai had failed to learn much about his Master so far.

The days that followed were uneventful. Yang Kai provided Alchemy services at the Seeking Pill Pavilion to earn the necessary cultivation resources for himself. At the same time, he travelled to the Restricted Area and back in an attempt to refine the Medicine King Furnace.

He did not know if anybody else in Profound Pill Sect had attempted to refine the Divine Armament before, but he was quite certain that there were precedents; after all, who would not be tempted when the Divine Object was just sitting in the Restricted Area?

It was more likely that Sect Master Baili Yun Sang and the other Elders had tried to refine the Medicine King Furnace only to fail in their attempts. That was because he did not sense any traces left behind by the others from the Medicine King Furnace. On the contrary, Yang Kai made some progress every time he went there. Refining the Medicine King Furnace was a long-term process and was by no means something that could be achieved in a short period of time.

With the consumption of substantial resources, Yang Kai’s cultivation increased steadily.

In addition, he also came up with some pill recipes and Alchemy Techniques that did not belong to the Divine Armament World. Each time that happened, he would receive a considerable number of contribution points. Moreover, the Elders of Profound Pill Sect would research the things that he came up with great fascination.

Yang Kai had already redeemed the pill recipe for the Hundred Revolutions Clear Heart Pill and his cultivation had slowly advanced into the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm. It would not take long before he was ready to advance into the Spirit Realm. He had no plans to refine the Hundred Revolutions Clear Heart Pill for himself though. With so many contribution points in his possession, he could spend them to exchange for a Hundred Revolutions Clear Heart Pill from Profound Pill Sect instead and save himself some time and effort.

At this point, it had only been less than two years since he entered Profound Pill Sect. The Heaven Devouring Battle Law was as horrifying as it was impressive. If he had not chosen to cultivate the Heaven Devouring Battle Law in the Divine Armament World back then, he could not have experienced such an explosive growth in such a short period of time. This Heaven-defying Evil Art had greatly shortened his cultivation time. Unfortunately, the drawbacks of this Evil Art were also gradually revealing themselves.

Yang Kai was now in the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm, just one step away from advancing into the Spirit Realm. At the same time, the strength of his Dragon Vein had been tremendously stimulated and his physique was unbelievably strong.

In the beginning, Yang Kai believed that his Dragon Vein could offset many of the hidden dangers brought about by cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, and that was indeed the case in the early stages of his cultivation. He had not sensed anything wrong at the time, so he confidently and eagerly cultivated the Heaven Devouring Battle Law. However, as time went on and his cultivation increased, his Dragon Vein was no longer able to keep up with the purification Yang Kai required.

He could now sense that the impurities in the energy that he devoured during cultivation were subtly affecting his body and mind. The most obvious sign was that his temperament had become a little more irritable than before. He would occasionally experience random temper flare ups without any particular reason.

This was not a good sign. It had to be said that one must be aware and wary of arrogance and impatience in cultivation. If his mind became disturbed at a critical moment, there was a high possibility of suffering from cultivation dissonance.

Unfortunately, things had already come to this point and Yang Kai had no solution to the problem, so he could only stop cultivating for the time being and slowly stimulate the power of his Dragon Vein in an attempt to gradually suppress the drawbacks brought about by the Heaven Devouring Battle Law.

Thanks to this experience though, Yang Kai became certain that the Heaven Devouring Battle Law was not something that could be cultivated freely. The hidden dangers that the Heaven Devouring Battle Law brought were unavoidable, no matter how much he guarded against them.

It was fortunate that he noticed this situation early on. Only a few years had passed since Yang Kai entered the Divine Armament World, so he still had plenty of time before the next Divine Armament Tournament. Besides, he was not using his actual body here, so even if he suffered from any hidden dangers, these side effects would not affect him once he left.

Due to his given task of comprehending the mysteries of the Medicine King Furnace, Yang Kai had a good excuse to explain why his cultivation was improving so quickly. Among the pill recipes that he contributed, some pills were able to assist in cultivation and some pills could even directly enhance one’s cultivation. These pill recipes were quickly implemented in the Blood Warrior Hall, and their efficacies were swiftly verified. As long as one had these pills and enough cultivation resources, it would not be difficult for them to increase their cultivation.

Nevertheless, nobody paid too much attention to Yang Kai’s cultivation so far. For an Alchemist, cultivation was only an auxiliary to support their Alchemy, it was not their main focus.

Time flew by, and another year passed.

Over the past year, Yang Kai’s cultivation did not increase any further. He remained at the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm. Having noticed the drawbacks of cultivating the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, he had been working hard to stimulate his Dragon Vein to help eliminate the hidden dangers.

Despite all his efforts, however, some of the subtle hidden dangers caused by the Heaven Devouring Battle Law remained, despite his Dragon Vein having been significantly strengthened during this time. Those little hidden dangers were like gangrene that festered in his body and he could not remove them no matter how deeply he dug into their roots. Thus, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling helpless. The might of the Heaven Devouring Battle Law was also reflected in this situation, highlighting its immense strength in another aspect.

Yang Kai could not understand how Wu Kuang had managed to cultivate this Secret Art. Logically speaking, Wu Kuang should have lost his mind a long time ago. More so since his cultivation grew to such a level with the Heaven Devouring Battle Law as his foundation. Despite what should have happened though, Wu Kuang was alive and kicking. That was not all; he had even managed to infiltrate Myriad Demons Heaven!

Just thinking about it was unbelievable; hence, Yang Kai could only admire that guy’s talent and genius.

On the other hand, both Hua Rong and Yang Huai had grown tremendously!

There was nothing much to be said about Hua Rong. She was already in the Sixth-Step Heaven Realm when she first started serving under Yang Kai. Having her cultivation at such a young age meant that her aptitude was outstanding in the first place, and after serving under Yang Kai, she received an almost unlimited supply of various cultivation resources and pills. Thus, she advanced to become a genuine Spirit Realm Master half a year ago.

Yang Huai might have started out on a lower footing, but he was very compatible with the Supreme Tyrant Body Art that Yang Kai taught him. Over the years, he also reached the Ninth-Step Heaven Realm so like Yang Kai, he could advance into the Spirit Realm at any moment. It was just that Yang Kai did not allow him to advance so quickly. Yang Kai wanted him to train and hone his strength in the Heaven Realm for a little longer in order to solidify his foundation before attempting to break through.