Martial Peak

Chapter 729, Ice Sect

Atop the glacier, several Ice Sect disciples in their pure white robes rushed forward. They were the ones who had just traded with He Pu.

Under the leadership of a middle-aged man, the group of people walked in a seemingly random pattern across the snowy landscape.

There were many large and small outcroppings on this vast glacier, and with their white clothing and special methods of concealing their auras, it would be almost impossible to detect them if one didn’t carefully inspect the area.

As the middle-aged man led his fellow disciples back towards the Sect, he couldn’t help wrinkling his brow. He instinctively felt like they were being tracked, but even after sweeping the surroundings with his Divine Sense repeatedly, he couldn’t detect anyone, causing him some distress.

After traveling for quite some time, not only was this group not closer to Ice Sect, they were instead getting farther and farther away.

The young woman next to him finally couldn’t help but ask, “Ni Ren Martial Uncle, why are we flying in this direction?”

The middle-aged man didn’t answer, as if he hadn’t even heard her.

The young woman didn’t give up though, her expression becoming somewhat puzzled as she asked, “Also, when that youth asked about Junior Sister Su Yan, why did you tell him that Junior Sister wasn’t in the Ice Sect? She is obviously there, I even spoke a few words to her less than a year ago.”

Ni Ren just shot a cold glance towards the young woman, scaring her and immediately causing her to stop talking.

A young man next to the woman quickly explained, “Don’t ask too much Junior Sister, Martial Uncle naturally has a good reason for doing this. Everything he does is for our protection. Outsiders are all sinister and deceitful; at first glance it was obvious that guy back there wasn’t anything good, actually wanting to intrude into our Ice Sect, who knows what kind of evil plot he has.”

“Oh... en,” The young woman simply replied; although she somewhat disagreed in her heart, she didn’t dare say any more.

Another seemingly concerned disciple sped up and approached Ni Ren, whispering, “Martial Uncle, are we being followed?”

Ni Ren frowned a moment before muttering, “I don’t know, it may just be my imagination. Among that group of people, no one should have the ability to shadow us without me noticing, but just in case we’ll take a roundabout way back.”

“Yes.”

Ni Ren’s expression did not relax though; recalling Yang Kai’s appearance though, he just shook his head and felt he was being overly cautious.

Although that young man seemed out of the ordinary, and was certainly not an average Junior, in the end, he was still nothing but a kid. It should be impossible for his cultivation to be higher than his own.

However, what Ni Ren really cared about was that he was actually looking for Su Yan.

The young woman who had suddenly entered Ice Sect two years ago!

Not long after joining, that young woman created a huge sensation, the Sect Master and all the Elders lavishly praising her, saying that one day she would certainly become a Third Order Saint!

Her performance was certainly awe inspiring. When Su Yan joined the Sect, she was still just an Immortal Ascension Boundary Eighth Stage cultivator, but in less than a year, she successfully broke through to the Transcendent Realm and continued progressing rapidly. According to Elder Qian Yue, for the past year, Su Yan had been in secluded retreat, as to what kind of realm her cultivation had reached, Ni Ren could only imagine.

On top of that, Su Yan easily mastered all of Ice Sect’s Secret Arts and Martial Skills, becoming proficient in most of them almost at first glance.

This kind of achievement was unheard of in all of Ice Sect’s history.

Her aptitude actually didn’t differ much from one who possessed the legendary Ice Crystal Jade Body special constitution. Unfortunately, the Ice Crystal Jade Body was incredibly rare and had essentially never been seen before.

Ni Ren hadn’t had much contact with Su Yan, but he had learned from Elder Qian Yue that this young woman was simply supremely suited to cultivating in Ice Sect! Originally, the Sect Master had half forcibly admitted her into the Sect against the other Elder’s objections, but after discovering her amazing talent, Elder Qian Yue’s attitude completely changed and even hoped to accept her as a direct disciple. Forget about allowing Su Yan to freely read the Sect’s Secret Arts and Martial Skills, Elder Qian Yue even allowed her to freely enter the Sect’s Sacred Ground, the Ice Cave, to cultivate.

Unfortunately, Su Yan didn’t seem willing to join Ice Sect, causing Qian Yue no small frustration, but there was really nothing she could do.

When Yang Kai mentioned Su Yan, he made Ni Ren feel quite wary.

If it was any other disciple, Ni Ren probably won’t have bothered concealing the truth, but since it was about Su Yan, Ni Ren thought he should first report the incident to Elder Qian Yue.

As these thoughts swirled about his head, Ni Ren’s feet never stopped moving, shuttling back and forth across the glacial landscape.

Yang Kai, who was a fair distance behind this group, saw this and merely snickered lightly.

The other party seemed to be faintly aware they were being tracked but were not certain, so they were eagerly trying to shake Yang Kai off.

Unfortunately for them, having been locked onto by Yang Kai’s powerful Divine Sense, everything Ni Ren tried was in vain.

Three days later, Yang Kai noticed that the group he was tracking had suddenly disappeared into an ice mountain, their life auras seemingly vanishing into thin air.

After stopping in place for a moment, Yang Kai frowned and decided to walk closer to the region they had disappeared, soon coming across a dense field of ice mountains.

Even after examining the area in front of him for some time, Yang Kai couldn’t discover anything out of place; all he knew was that these ice mountains were concealing some kind of secret.

However, his efforts weren’t completely fruitless as, to his great joy, he felt Su Yan’s aura!

Because they had cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art, as long as the two of them were within a certain range of each other, they could sense the other’s existence.

After they had absorbed the energy of the Yin Yang Monster Ginseng, this invisible spiritual connection had grown even stronger.

Su Yan was inside one of the ice mountains a short distance in front of him, her aura incredibly calm and peaceful, as if she was in some kind of deep sleep, but when Yang Kai tried to reach out to her, he wasn’t able to obtain the slightest response.

Yang Kai’s expression instantly became gloomy upon realizing this.

Most likely, Su Yan had encountered some kind of accident! Otherwise, after sensing his presence, she would definitely excitedly run out to see him.

In an instant, Yang Kai’s anger flared up and a murderous aura began leaking from his body, his eyes becoming sharp and dangerous.

Inside the ice mountain field lay a snowy paradise.

Ice Sect’s foundation was in this mountain range. Innumerable years ago, Ice Sect was a well-known super force in Tong Xuan Realm, but because of a certain incident, Ice Sect had abandoned its former domain and secluded itself here, no longer contacting the outside world or accepting outsiders into its territory.

Every ten years, Ice Sect’s Elders would go out and search for some disciples with excellent aptitude to inject fresh blood into the Ice Sect; these disciples would all be orphans without any other family members.

The strictness with which Ice Sect selected its disciples was incredibly harsh so each one of them was a talented elite.

There weren’t many people in Ice Sect; from the Sect Master to the youngest disciples, there were only about five hundred in total. However, there were quite a few masters including several Saints and at least twenty or thirty Transcendents. It could be seen from this alone that Ice Sect’s cultivation methods and vision were extraordinary when it came to its disciples.

At this moment, in the center of one of the ice mountains, inside an ice room, Ni Ren was reporting about the recent transaction to Elder Qian Yue.

Qian Yue was a middle-aged beauty and although she did not look old, she was already a powerful First Order Saint. Like Fei Yu, she had simply done a good job in maintaining her appearance.

After listening to Ni Ren’s report, Qian Yue nodded lightly, “Well done, you’ve worked hard, bring the disciples of your team to take some of those supplies to cultivate with.”

“Many thanks, Elder Qian Yue,” Ni Ren said, but did not immediately retreat, a look of hesitation appearing on his face.

“Is there something else?” Qian Yue stared at him with her pair of beautiful eyes, realizing something was not quite right thus taking the initiative to ask.

“It’s like this, Elder. During this time’s transaction, something happened that concerns this disciple.”

“Go on.”

“There was a young man who asked this disciple about Su Yan’s whereabouts. I don’t know where he obtained his information, but he seemed to be aware that Su Yan was in our Ice Sect!”

“He was looking for Su Yan?” Qian Yue’s pretty face dimmed, her brow wrinkling slightly “What kind of man?”

Ni Ren quickly described Yang Kai’s appearance and added, “He is not old, but there was something strange about him. Disciple is incompetent and wasn’t able to spy on his strength, but he faintly gave me a sense of oppression.”

“He gave you a sense of oppression?” Qian Yue said slightly shocked, muttering to herself, “Is he the person that old guy mentioned to the Sect Master before? How could he have come so quickly?”

When that old fogy brought Su Yan to Ice Sect and handed her over to the Sect Master, he had once said that someday a young man might come looking for her. He also made a point of saying, when that time came, the Sect Master should not shut him out. Otherwise it would very likely cause some form of heaven shaking disaster.

The Sect Master and Elder Qian Yue weren’t aware of Su Yan’s aptitude at the time, so they only reluctantly agreed, but after witnessing Su Yan’s talent first hand, neither of them wanted to let her leave. As long as Su Yan stayed in Ice Sect, given her natural ability, she would definitely one day inherit the position of Sect Master.

What made Qian Yue feel helpless though was that Su Yan had encountered an accident and currently was unable to meet with anyone.

This young man’s relationship with Su Yan must be very close, if he were to learn of Su Yan’s current state, it would likely lead to some unwanted consequences.

Qian Yue couldn’t help rubbing her forehead, feeling a slight headache coming on as she asked, “Did you lead that young man back to the Sect?”

“No,” Ni Ren shook his head, “Disciple thought it best to report the situation to Elder first, so he did not tell him the truth.”

“Good, well done,” Qian Yue nodded with satisfaction, but before she could offer a few words of praise for Ni Ren’s quick judgement, her expression suddenly changed. Releasing her Divine Sense into the surrounding area, she soon coldly snorted and said, “Ni Ren, Ni Ren, you really are incompetent! Allowing someone to follow you back to our Ice Sect, yet not even realizing it?”

“Ah?” Ni Ren was stunned, “Impossible, I lead my team to wander through the ice fields for several days outside just in case someone was following us before coming back, how could he have...”

“Hmph!” Qian Yue coldly snorted, “If I say he followed you, then he follow you. Also, that little brat seems to be very dissatisfied with our Ice Sect, the aura he’s emitting right now is quite unfriendly.”

“Please calm your anger, Elder disciple will go now and drive him away!” Ni Ren quickly said, a tinge of irritation on his face.

When he came back, he had been extremely cautious and alert, but he had still been silently follow, not even realizing after he returned to the Sect, it was really a big loss of face to him.

“Go and send him away. This little brat is obviously not the friendly type so give him a good lesson, but remember, you mustn’t endanger his life,” Qian Yue ordered. In the end, this youth was somehow related to that old fogy, if they were really to kill this young man, it would be difficult for the Sect Master to explain to that old fogy.

The Sect Master had already reprimanded Qian Yue regarding Su Yan’s accident, so she was not eager to receive another sermon.

Ni Ren hurriedly nodded before rushing out, his look cold and gloomy.