Martial Peak

“Who is this Senior, why does Old Man Du call himself a disciple?” Mi Na was still unaware of the situation and whispered to Yang Kai.

“You should ask Old Man Du some other time,” Yang Kai replied quietly.

“Hmph, acting all mysterious,” Mi Na spat disdainfully.

Given her personality, if she had encountered such a situation before, she would definitely have come right out and said, “Hey old man, who are you?”

But when she saw how Old Man Du was acting, Mi Na didn’t dare speak too rashly.

She was blunt but not an idiot.

Before the group of people had recovered from the excitement, Yang Kai looked over at the Old Man Of Heaven’s Keep and asked, “Old Man Li, Brother Di knowing so much about the Thousand Year Demon Flower, were you the one who told him?”

“Indeed,” Old Man Li nodded lightly as he glanced over at Yang Kai and smiled, “Little friend, I feel from you an aura somewhat similar to my own, after the conclusion of this event, would you care to speak of few words with me? If you don’t mind, I believe there are many things I can help you to understand.”

Cang Yan and the others’ eyes all brightened as they silently signalled to Yang Kai to accept.

Yang Kai was a promising young Alchemist and the other side was the world’s foremost Alchemy Grandmaster. No matter who it was, they would leap at the chance to listen to the Old Man Of Heaven’s Keep’s teachings. Such a great opportunity suddenly appearing in front of their Little Martial Nephew, how could they not encourage him to agree?

Yang Kai couldn’t help smiling wryly. He had just been agonizing over whether to disclose the secret of his Conflagrated Knowledge Sea to Old Man Li, but now it seems the other party had been aware of this secret all along.

Now, with no need to hide anything, and given the fact that Yang Kai felt no maliciousness intent from this powerful old master, he quickly nodded, “I’d like nothing more!”

“Good good good,” Old Man Li nodded with a big smile.

“Master, let’s talk about this Thousand Year Demon Flower with Brother Yang and the others, they all must be quite confused right now while hoping you can dispel their doubts,” Di Yao suggested.

Everyone turned their attention to Old Man Li upon hearing these words.

Old Man Li drew a light breath before nodding, “Good, making Di Yao wait here was indeed this old master’s intent, because the Heavenly Manifestation really has not yet appeared. The Thousand Year Demon Flower is currently in the process of opening and it will be around another half a day before it truly blossoms, it won’t be too late to ascend the mountain then. All there is up there now is a chaotic battlefield; going now has only detriments and no benefit.”

“A thousand years ago, when the Demon Flower last bloomed, it was Master who condensed its medicinal liquid, so in regards to it, he definitely knows more than anyone else,” Di Yao added.

Cang Yan and others were once again shocked.

This piece of news was something they had never heard of before.

A thousand of years ago, the Old Man Of Heaven’s Keep certainly did not have the same aloof status and worldwide fame as he did today. At the time, he was also just a young man like Yang Kai and Di Yao.

As time passed, he had gradually earned his reputation until finally, the name Old Man Of Heaven’s Keep had been etched into Tong Xuan Realm’s history.

As for his early exploits, most of them had basically been forgotten by the world.

Old Man Li smiled and slowly continued, “The Thousand Year Demon Flower is said to originate from the Starry Sky. Legend has it that many years ago, a seed fell from the Heavens onto Ascending Heaven Cliff and the Thousand Year Demon Flower came into being, its medicinal liquid is able to greatly enhance one’s chance of breaking through to the Saint Realm, so every thousand years, there is an epic struggle for it in which many masters lose their lives.”

“Many masters have attempted to monopolize this Thousand Year Demon Flower over the years, but no matter how many people searched for its whereabouts, before the time came, none of them ever found a trace of it. Ascending Heaven Cliff, once reached a height of ten thousand meters, but now it is only eight thousand because many have tried to smash open its summit in order to find the Thousand Year Demon Flower.”

Everyone listened carefully, as if afraid they would miss something, their demeanours all extremely focused.

“Why couldn’t they find it? I have always been very curious about this; since the Demon Flower is so important, why has no one ever successfully taken it from Ascending Heaven Cliff?” Mi Na asked the question on everyone’s mind.

“Because the Thousand Year Demon Flower is not there!” Old Man Li glanced at her and smiled, “What you see, is not the real Thousand Year Demon Flower!”

“Not the real thing?” The crowd was stunned.

“En, it is indeed a rare treasure of heaven and earth and contains extremely mysterious energy. After waiting for a while, when you see it, you will naturally understand what this old master means,” Old Man Li seemed to have no intention of hiding anything, freely explaining all he knew, “Also, it is quite sensitive, once it detects the aura of a Saint Realm master, it absolutely will not blossom. Long ago, many Saints tried to obtain the Thousand Year Demon Flower during its scheduled blossoming, but each time the Demon Flower failed to bloom, that is why in recent times no Saint has participated in this event.”

“Old Man Li, what should we do after this wait?” Cang Yan asked quickly.

“Escort these two youngsters until they enter the flower, after that, everything will be up to their own abilities. There’s nothing more you can do to help them.”

Hearing this, Cang Yan couldn’t help feeling confused.

Old Man Li laughed and said, “Saying anything more now won’t make it any clearer, when the time comes, you will understand.”

Cang Yan and the others nodded slightly and no longer asked.

While they were speaking, the violent battle up ahead continued. It was as if the entire mountain had become a battlefield with various Transcendent Realm masters escorting their Alchemists to the summit all while competing against their surrounding rivals.

Gradually though, the fight calmed down. It seemed as though everyone had noticed that something was not right with the Thousand Year Demon Flower and had ceased their battle for now.

Half a day later, the five coloured rays atop the mountain peak burst and in the sky, a beautiful flower bud appeared.

This flower bud was so massive that even those back in Floating Clouds City, several dozen kilometres away, could clearly see it suspended mid-air above the summit of Ascending Heaven Cliff.

Everyone also saw that this flower bud had no physical form and was instead purely composed of energy; it was extremely mysterious.

When this flower bud manifested, the World Energy within a few hundred kilometres immediately began madly flooding towards it.

The streams of converging World energy were visible to the naked eye and were constantly pouring into the flower bud, disappearing in the next instant.

At the same time, atop the mountain, the masters who had survived the previous war all rushed towards the flower bud.

Several dozen teams comprised of hundreds of Transcendents all exerted their full strength in an attempt to claim this prize.

The battle that had just calmed down broke out once again, and this time, it was even bloodier and crueller than before.

Masters continuously fell as Martial Skill and artifacts flashed across the sky, shredding both bodies and Souls. Even the Alchemists who were being protected by these masters were not spared in this chaotic melee.

In a flash, several teams were completely annihilated, leaving no survivors behind.

Everyone couldn’t help wearing dignified expressions as they suddenly realized just how intense this competition would be.

“Old Man Li…” Cang Yan asked once again, his face quite tense.

“There’s no rush!” Old Man Li slowly shook his head, his expression remaining as calm as ever.

Cang Yan took a deep breath and steadied his mood, waiting quietly for the moment to come.

A short time later, one team managed to rush over to the flower bud, but this team did not even have time to rejoice before they were submerged in attacks by the crowd that followed.

In the vicinity of the flower bud, countless people fought a bloody battle.

There were also some cunning people who avoided this whirlpool of death and were trying to find ways to condense the Thousand Year Demon Flower’s medicinal liquid, but no matter what they tried, they failed to achieve anything. Helpless, they could only turn towards the flower bud and join the fray.

This battle over the Thousand Year Demon Flower had greatly damaged the strength of several dozen forces and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Transcendents.

After another hour or so, the World Energy in the air gradually became thinner, apparently, it had all been absorbed into the flower bud of the Thousand Year Demon Flower and reached a saturation point. The flower bud which had been closed the whole time also began showing signs of blooming.

“It’s time,” Old Man Li said lightly.

“Let’s go!” Cang Yan shouted, and with Yang Kai and Di Yao in the middle, their team set out, each of them using their movement skills to quickly rush towards the bud.

Their group of twelve, with the exception of Yang Kai and Di Yao, were all Transcendents, six Third Orders and four Second Orders, whether it was in terms of number or strength, they were amongst the most formidable teams on the mountain.

However, Cang Yan and the others still dared not relax, tightly surrounding Yang Kai and Di Yao to ensure not the slightest harm came to them.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the huge flower buds ahead and gradually, the closed petals began expanding outwards, blossoming faster and faster. Cang Yan and the others had only made it halfway up the mountain yet the Thousand Year Demon Flower had almost fully bloomed.

Suddenly, a multi-coloured light burst out and an inexplicable energy fluctuation pulsed across the sky. Under the influence of this strange energy, everyone couldn’t help suddenly calming down.

The remaining masters also stayed their hands, each of them directing all of their attention towards the now open petals of the Thousand Year Demon Flower, each of them putting their guards up and monitoring their surroundings while signalling to their respective Alchemists to begin condensing the medicinal liquid.

Unfortunately, though, none of these Alchemists knew where to start, the True Qi they sent out towards the blossomed flower was able to wrap up its petals but that was all, no sign of refining or condensing occurred.

This discovery made everyone’s expression sink.

All of them had scrambled madly to be here, many of their teams having suffered heavy injuries or even deaths, but now they couldn’t make any progress at all, what was the point in all of this then?

By the time Yang Kai’s group arrived, the Thousand Year Demon Flower floating in the sky had already been surrounded with almost no free space for them to settle down on.

“Go to the position where the centre of the flower is!” Di Yao suddenly whispered.

As they had no idea what else to do, upon hearing this, Cang Yan led everyone towards the indicated spot.

The centre of the flower (the pistil) was naturally a very eye-catching position, and at this moment it was already occupied by two powerful teams, each of them searching for a way to condense the medicinal liquid.

The arrival of Yang Kai’s team had immediately aroused their attention and vigilance.

The two competing teams both turned to face their new opponents, their attitudes surprisingly consistent.

Perceiving the number and cultivation of the other party, Cang Yan’s brow furrowed, quickly summoning his Saint Grade sword and pushing his Flame Attribute True Qi to condense a giant flame sword, his momentum rising to its peak as he stared towards his opponents.

“There’s no need to settle this with violence,” Di Yao said before immediately calling out the two other teams, “How about you open up a spot for us and in return I tell you how to refine the Thousand Year Demon Flower.”

“Do you know how?” The eyes of the opposite groups all flashed upon hearing Di Yao’s words.

“Probably,” Di Yao smiled lightly, “But if you don’t agree, we can only fight it out.”

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