Martial Peak

Chapter 1359, Adjacent To The Real Prize

Hearing all this, Du Si Si shot a grateful look towards Cai He.

If not for Cai He’s foresight, taking her hand back then and bringing her with him, she would have certainly passed through the white Space Array Gate with Ning Xiang Chen and the other masters, which would have undoubtedly been disastrous for her with her weak cultivation.

Lian Guang’s safe return should be taken as an exception; after all, he was proficient in puppet techniques so, at a moment of crisis, he could use his puppets to preserve his life. Du Si Si, on the other hand, didn’t have such an ability.

Although they had still encountered that giant humanoid puppet after entering the black Space Array Gate, the overall situation on that side was quite relaxed, with only a single battle needing to be fought.

On Fei Zhi Tu’s side, after fighting several dangerous battles, their group had entered an ice-cold chamber where they found an Ice Crystal Jade Coffin. There seemed to be a person lying inside this jade coffin, but before they could figure out who it was, they accidentally triggered some kind of Spirit Array.

What happened next, Yang Kai and the others already knew; the Emperor Garden’s World Principles repelled everyone, teleporting them ten thousand kilometres outside of Fallen Emperor Mountain.

It seemed that jade coffin was the root of this sudden development as Fei Zhi Tu and his group tripping the Spirit Array near it had resulted in all of them being sent out and the Emperor Garden appearing.

As for who was inside that jade coffin, Ning Xiang Chen couldn’t tell clearly. All he could see from that individual’s outline was that it was most likely a woman.

Hearing this, Yang Kai raised his brow pensively.

He had experienced this World Principle rejection twice now, and both times he had witnessed a flourishing jade white hand. That jade hand was obviously a woman’s hand. Now, an Ice Crystal Jade Coffin inside the Emperor Garden contained a woman who seemingly possessed no vitality. Were all of these incidents somewhat related?

Moreover, what kind of connection was there between the Flowing Flame Sand Field and the Emperor Garden? The more Yang Kai thought about it, the more confused he became.

Unable to make sense of any of this, Yang Kai simply shook his head.

In addition to these mysteries, Shadowed Star also had quite a few peculiarities to it. There were no Origin King Realm masters here, and even the highest grade of Alchemist and Artifact Refiner was merely Origin Grade Low-Rank. It seemed like there was some kind of suppressive force at work here that made it impossible to overcome these bottlenecks. Everyone being unable to escape these shackles made Yang Kai faintly feel there was more to this star than met the eye.

The journey back was uneventful, with only a few words exchanged the whole way. Several days later, the group returned to Heavenly Fate City and Cai He, Du Si Si, and Lian Guang said their goodbyes, while Ning Xiang Chen stayed and chatted with Yang Kai briefly before taking his leave.

Knowing what it was this old man had been thinking about, and taking into consideration the care Ning Xiang Chen had shown him along the way, Yang Kai certainly wouldn’t act stingy. Immediately, he told him that whenever he had time he could come to Dragon Cave Mountain as a guest, and if he wanted to repair his artifacts, to simply let him know.

Receiving this promise, Ning Xiang Chen was overjoyed and immediately thanked Yang Kai before hurriedly leaving. Apparently he had some preparations to make; after all, in order to properly repair his artifacts, it would be necessary to collect some materials. He couldn’t expect Yang Kai to also provide such things.

Standing outside Heavenly Fate City, Yang Kai looked up at the sky.

At this moment, Emperor Garden seemed to have stabilized and was suspended somewhere above Shadowed Star. Its size had still not changed, but the crushing Emperor Pressure had essentially disappeared, obviously because it was now very far from the ground.

Yang Kai didn’t know what Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong were planning on investigating, but he estimated that before long, all of the great forces on Shadowed Star would begin moving.

The Emperor Garden’s appearance was a matter of great importance, so no great force could afford to ignore it. When the time came, everyone would want a piece of the benefits, so there would definitely be some friction and conflict in the near future.

After observing for a while though, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly sank and became incredibly ugly.

He hadn’t paid much attention to it before, but now that he observed the Emperor Garden carefully, especially its placement, he noticed that it was hovering above Heavenly Fate City. Or more precisely, it was hovering just above Dragon Cave Mountain.

[Shit…]

Yang Kai almost couldn’t help cursing out loud. With the Emperor Garden floating here, although Dragon Cave Mountain was simply adjacent to the real prize, that would be enough to cause some unnecessary trouble. The masters of all the great forces on Shadowed Star would definitely come here to investigate, and Shadow Moon Hall would not be willing to provoke them, so even with Qian Tong’s protection, Dragon Cave Mountain may not necessarily remain safe.

With a hazy expression, Yang Kai stood in place pondering for a while before eventually stomping his foot and flying off towards Dragon Cave Mountain.

Worrying about this now was meaningless; in the first place, he didn’t have any way to get rid of the Emperor Garden. What he should be considering right now was how to strengthen Dragon Cave Mountain’s defences.

Silently cursing the Starry Sky Great Emperor in his head, Yang Kai quickly rushed back.

A short time later, Yang Kai arrived outside Dragon Cave Mountain’s protective barrier and took out the control token Yang Yan had given him. Pouring his Saint Qi into this token, a stream of light poured out from it and into the giant Spirit Array.

Instantly, a straight passage opened in the fog bank that surrounded the mountain. With a casual look, Yang Kai put away the token and walked inside. After he passed through it, the passage disappeared again and the entire Dragon Cave Mountain was once again shrouded in a fog bank, completely obscuring it from the outside world.

As soon as he entered, a few figures flew over to intercept him, but upon seeing it was Yang Kai, all of these people showed looks of joy on their faces and quickly cupped their fists to welcome him.

Yang Kai couldn’t actually remember the names of these people, only knowing they were originally disciples of the Hai Ke Family. After Wu Yi separated from her family and joined Dragon Cave Mountain, all these people, with their incredibly varied strengths, followed her here.

However, thanks to the amazing financial resources of Dragon Cave Mountain, everyone’s cultivation had improved greatly. Now, the leaders among this group were all Saint Kings, while almost everyone else was a Third-Order Saint.

This kind of cultivation in the outside world was nothing, but it was something the Hai Ke Family could only dream of cultivating in such a short time.

“Sect Master, it’s good that you’ve returned,” The leading Saint King Realm called out happily, but a hint of anxiety remained on his face.

Yang Kai frowned and asked, “Why do you address me as Sect Master?”

The leader grinned meaningfully and explained, “Young Lady Wu Yi said I will have to call you Sect Master when I see you in the future. She said that you will definitely found a Sect in time, so calling you Sect Master now shouldn’t matter.”

Yang Kai was struck speechless.

He indeed had the idea of founding a small Sect, not to develop some kind of great force, but rather to pave the way for his friends and family on Tong Xuan Realm. When the time comes, he would need to bring them out into the Star Field. At that time, they would need a place to stay, and given the number of people he planned to bring, forming a Sect was the most logical option.

He had never mentioned this out loud, but it seemed Wu Yi had taken notice and begun making plans.

Yang Kai didn’t dig any deeper into this issue, instead noticing the look of anxiety on the face of the man who spoke to him and asking, “What happened while I was out? Why do you all look so worried? Did the Xie Family stir up trouble again?”

Yang Kai almost took it for granted that the Xie Family would target Dragon Cave Mountain, so seeing the anxious looks on everyone’s face, he immediately felt some anger welling up.

Hearing this question, the lead cultivator quickly said, “No, no, a trivial Xie Family can’t pose any threat to our Dragon Cave Mountain. After Sect Master left, they tried to scout us out a few times, but after everyone they sent died without a complete corpse, they learned their lesson and didn’t dare try to break into our protective barrier.”

“Then why do you all look like this?”

“It’s… it’s…” His eyes darting around, it appeared that whatever this lead cultivator had to say was something quite difficult to bring up.

“Stop hesitating and explain!” Yang Kai’s face sank.

“It’s Young Lady Yang Yan!” The cultivator grit his teeth and shouted.

“Yang Yan?” Yang Kai’s complexion changed, “What happened to Yang Yan?”

“I don’t know, I only heard from Young Lady Wu Yi that Young Lady Yang Yan suddenly fell into a deep sleep a few days ago and has not awoken since. Young Lady Wu Yi and Miss Qian Yue have been trying to find a solution this whole time but…!” The lead cultivator couldn’t finish answering Yang Kai’s question before the latter disappeared without a word. With his First-Order Saint King Realm cultivation, this man wasn’t even able to tell how Yang Kai disappeared, causing a look of admiration and envy to fill his face.

Hearing that something happened to Yang Yan, Yang Kai had no patience to listen to a long explanation.

Since coming to Shadowed Star, he had only made a few friends, and even fewer of these friends could he truly open up to.

Yang Yan was one of his closest friends, and the weight she held in Yang Kai’s heart ranked first in Shadowed Star. Without her, Dragon Cave Mountain wouldn’t have been able to develop to such a scale. Without her, Yang Kai wouldn’t have so many artifacts in his possession.

Dragon Cave Mountain being able to reach its current glory was largely in part due to Yang Yan’s contributions. Yang Kai was able to cultivate with peace of mind all thanks to Yang Yan’s efforts.

In the beginning, this mysterious woman was refining Saint Grade artifacts to earn a measly few Saint Crystals at the Artifact Refining Pavilion in Heavenly Fate City. If not for a series of coincidences that resulted in Yang Kai bringing her back with him to assist with arranging a Spirit Array, the two of them might never have even met.

As time passed, Yang Yan’s importance to Yang Kai increased greatly, so now hearing that something was wrong with her, he naturally became anxious.

Releasing his Divine Sense, Yang Kai soon found that Yang Yan was in the loft where she normally lived.

At the moment, Qian Yue and Wu Yi were there too, one of them feeding Yang Yan a bowl of some kind of potion while the other sat cross-legged by her bed and poured their Saint Qi into her, attempting to wake her up.

The two women were in a state of sorrow and anxiety.

In a flash, a figure suddenly appeared behind them and Wu Yi’s and Qian Yue’s expressions both changed dramatically. The two of them were about to attack, but when they saw it was Yang Kai who had come, both of them smiled happily towards him.

Yang Kai didn’t waste any time talking to them as he focused his attention on Yang Yan. From a glance, he could see she was completely unconscious and extremely pale. Even in this kind of deep sleep, she seemed to be experiencing some kind of nightmare.

The Saint Qi in her body was also flowing irregularly, creating a kind of chaotic circulation.

Yang Kai quickly arrived at the bed, stretched out his fingers, and placed them on Yang Yan’s wrist while also releasing his Divine Sense to carefully inspect her condition.

A moment later, his brow furrowed as he removed his hand from Yang Yan’s wrist and asked, “What happened? When did it happen?”

Wu Yi and Qian Yue glanced at each other for a moment before the former replied, “Just four days ago she was perfectly fine. At that time I was helping her refine something when suddenly her complexion went pale and she whispered some words I couldn’t understand before directly fainting. I didn’t know what had happened, so I brought her to her bed, but since then she remained unconscious. We fed her the healing pills you left behind as well as pills meant to restore Spiritual Energy, but nothing we did was able to improve her condition.”