Martial Peak

When Yang Kai immersed himself in the Earth Vein, it was like bathing in World Energy, his whole body felt comfortable, without needing to run his cultivation technique, his body’s millions of pores naturally absorbed the surrounding Qi, every inch of flesh and drop of blood was refreshed.

Obtaining this rich and pure World Energy, Yang Kai was overjoyed.

Sitting cross-legged, running his Secret Art, he was like a fish in water, devouring the energy of the Earth Vein.

The reason that thief could use only thirty years of time to cultivate to a realm where he was a headache for every Endless Sea Island Great Sect, one was due to the Soul Warming Lotus, the second was this Earth Vein.

The former for his soul, the latter for his body, sitting on these two supreme treasures, not rapidly enhancing his strength would be strange.

Unfortunately, this really was just a small Earth Vein, the World Energy it contained was not too large, combined with it having been constantly used for three decades, the World Energy in this Earth Vein was running out, and was about to dry up.

But even so, for the present Yang Kai, it was still a great help.

His body was peculiar, allowing him to absorb this World Energy much faster than that year’s thief. The Golden Skeleton was simply a bottomless pit, no matter how much energy was absorbed into it, it could all be swallowed; there was no fear it could not handle it.

Additionally, the World Energy in the Earth Vein was extremely pure, making it easy to refine. Simply drawing it into his meridians then circulating it for a few breaths of time was sufficient. It could then be absorbed into the Unyielding Golden Body, adding to Yang Kai’s strength.

While Yang Kai was absorbing the Earth Vein’s World Energy, Old Demon was busy swallowing the remnant Knowledge Sea, the two did not interfere with each other, completely content in their cultivation, gradually forgetting the passage of time.

After a full month and a half, Yang Kai slowly breathed out and opened his eyes.

After Yang Kai had unscrupulously cultivated in this small Earth Vein for so long, it had completely dried up and the dense World Energy was fully dissipated.

Carefully checking his current realm, Yang Kai revealed a satisfied face.

Without him knowing, his cultivation had risen to Qi Transformation Ninth Stage, with just one more step, he could break through to the Separation and Reunion Boundary.

And Yang Kai could feel, his Yuan Qi, be it in quality or quantity had already reached level of a Separation and Reunion cultivator, all he was lacking was a crucial accumulation of martial arts sensibility.

Every great realm promotion required a cultivator to acquire a certain amount of insight. When Yang Kai had broken through from the Initial Element Stage to the Qi Transformation Stage it was so; and now to break through to Separation and Reunion Boundary he would also need to consolidate his sensibility.

But since Yang Kai did not have such accumulated sensibility, acquiring it would depend on his opportunities and luck; it was not something relentlessly cultivating could achieve.

Lifting his eyes, he saw that Old Demon had already completely absorbed the Knowledge Sea remains surrounding the Soul Warming Lotus, and was now idling around bored, waiting for him to finish cultivating.

Staring at the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus in front of him, Yang Kai slowly stood up, and walked towards this supreme soul nourishing treasure.

“Old Demon, is there anything I should pay attention to?” Yang Kai asked.

“No, if young master had already reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary and had started to cultivate his soul, it may have been necessary to wrestle with it somewhat, but as young master is currently, you can simply receive it now.”

Since there was nothing to pay attention to in particular, Yang Kai did not hesitate anymore and directly reached out to the Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus, only just touching it with his fingers before it disappeared.

At the same time, Yang Kai suddenly felt his whole existence being refreshed. His mind became many times clearer than ever before, even his perception was enhanced.

Involuntarily, Yang Kai took a deep breath, as his body completely immersed itself in a warm comfort and shivered.

He could not sense any trace of the Soul Warming Lotus no matter how carefully he checked, but Yang Kai knew that it had certainly entered his mind and only after cultivating his soul would he be able to see it again.

“Haa... a Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus... ” Old Demon sighed, full of envy and jealousy.

“Haha.” Yang Kai laughed loudly.

“Young master, in the future, if you can find some Soul nourishing Precious Treasures, and allow this Soul Warming Lotus to absorb them, one day evolving it into its Seven Coloured form , the benefits you receive from it will be even greater.”

“It can evolve?” Yang Kai asked, amazed.

“Of course, when a Soul Warming Lotus is born, it only has one color, it can be thought of as its grade, the more colours it has, the higher the grade, the higher the grade, the more powerful the benefits it brings to a cultivator. As a simple example, if a Single Coloured Soul Warming Lotus needs a hundred years to double the strength of a cultivator’s Knowledge Sea, then a Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus would only need twenty years, while a Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus would take just five years!”

“Incredible!” Yang Kai was shocked, although he had not cultivated out his soul, he was well aware of just how difficult it was. As Old Demon had said before, cultivating one’s soul was more than a hundred times more difficult than cultivating one’s realm, but now with the Soul Warming Lotus’ aid, he no longer had to worry about this; he could do nothing and his soul would simply become stronger and more solid over time.

“So to say, this Five Coloured Soul Warming Lotus is an amazing find.” Yang Kai was completely satisfied. This treasure was still a heaven defying existence; it would be ridiculously ungrateful to be disappointed that it was not Seven Coloured.

“Naturally this is an amazing treasure. Just wait until it evolves into its Seven Coloured form and then it will truly be a world shaking treasure! But this thing grows very slowly and only by absorbing the energy of Precious Treasures that enhance the soul, so if young master wants to evolve it into a Seven Coloured Lotus, I’m afraid it will be quite difficult.”

“This can be a consideration for later, no need to force things now!” Yang Kai remained calm, if in this life he could evolve it into a Seven Coloured Lotus, then it would happen eventually, if not, then that was that, getting anxious and forcing things would be useless.

“It’s good if young master can think like that.” Old Demon openly admired him. Being so young, and yet able to remain calm and collected, the more he observed Yang Kai, the more his feelings of admiration grew.

If it were some other youngster, this sinister and worldly old devil would have long ago been able to manipulate him. But faced with Yang Kai, Old Demon did not dare to scheme, always showing the utmost respect for him.

“Let’s go.” Yang Kai took a deep breath. He had stayed here for more than a month, he received the Soul Warming Lotus, and sucked clean an Earth Vein; the benefits had all been swept away, naturally he had no reason to remain.

Before leaving, Yang Kai dug a grave and buried the bones of the thief.

On the way out, passing by the stone shelves again, Yang Kai hesitated for a long time, wrestling with the ideas and impulses inside him to take these treasures away, he finally managed to leave.

There were three artifacts on the stone shelves, aside from the Seal which could not be activated; Yang Kai could make use of the other two. But seeing how the old thief did not use them, there must certainly be a reason.

Perhaps once he used these things, those Endless Sea Island Great Sects would be able to perceive them through some special method. This was not Yang Kai’s own speculation, but simply a fact. Many great Sects would place a seal or prohibition on their important artifacts, so that over a certain range, any unauthorized use could be detected. Yang Kai had intended to return to Sea City after this, naturally he did not dare refine these hot potato.

[First leave these here, when I’m ready to leave the island I can return for them.]

Climbing up a few thousand feet, Yang Kai came to the top of the solitary peak. The insects were still diligently guarding the broken stone door, and there were no signs that the Red Cloud Sect True Element masters had returned; they had all probably been killed by the two giant eagles.

Ordering the giant insects to retract the fog blocking the exit, Yang Kai went out.

Standing on the solitary peak, Yang Kai looked around.

It was ten thousand miles from here to Sea City, and if he wanted to leave the island, he could only rely on his Flaming Yang Wings, but using them required massive amounts of Yuan Qi. After all his recent battles, the Yang Liquid remaining in his dantian was less than thirty drops, nowhere near enough to support him flying this distance.

Flying the ten thousand mile distance was just one problem, once he encountered a storm at sea, he would need to go around to avoid it, causing his Yang Liquid consumption to be even greater.

[I have to save at least four hundred drops of Yang Liquid in order to leave this damned place!]

Four hundred drops, would Hidden Island have so many Yang type Precious Treasures?

Yang Kai felt somewhat depressed, but in any case, looking for Yang type Precious Treasures, and increasing the Yang Liquid in his dantian was his priority.

Ordering them to re-block the cave with their fog barrier, Yang Kai also left a lot of insects to guard here, while taking the other half out to explore.

After some time, Yang Kai’s search for Yang type Precious Treasures was quite fruitful; in just four or five days, the Yang Liquid stored in his Dantian had reached more than a hundred drops.

Equipped with his Yang Origin Seal, within three thousand feet of him, no Yang attribute Precious Treasure could escape Yang Kai’s search.

Yang Kai was not anxious, on the whole Hidden Island, the only living human was probably him. In addition to those powerful Monster Beasts, Yang Kai could somewhat be regarded as the master of this island.

Exploring and collecting everywhere, if he encountered a Precious Treasure, it would be harvested. If it was Yang attribute he would convert it to Yang Liquid, if it was some other property then he would pack it up and store it for later.

When he occasionally encountered an exotic flower being guarded by a Monster Beast, Yang Kai would instruct his insects to attract its attention, then sneak in and pick it, always minimizing his risk.

The map he had received from Madam Jiang was also a lot of help. Before, Yang Kai did not know what the dark markings on certain locations of the map meant, but when he inadvertently entered such a place, he met a sixth-order Monster Beast, suddenly understanding, those dark marked places were obviously warnings about danger zones.

Since then, Yang Kai had been careful to avoid these marked areas, and really did not encounter much trouble.

Traveling far and wide, in less than half a month, Yang Kai had explored the entire island, and had harvested all the Precious Treasures he could find, all of which had been packed into his now giant sack.

These were good things, all of them Earth Grade and Heaven Grade; it was at least ten times the harvest compared to the one he had obtained on the Red Cloud Island peninsula.

Yang Precious Treasures were also plentiful, but until now, Yang Kai’s dantian still only held about three hundred drops of Yang Liquid.

Three hundred drop of Yang Liquid; if his luck was good, he might be able to reach Sea City.

But it was only a chance, Yang Kai was not certain.

If he ran out of True Yang Qi while mid-flight and fell into the sea, he would end up dead, even if he didn’t drown, the Sea Monster Beasts would eat him alive.

He had to find more Yang type Precious Treasures, enough to have four hundred drops, in order for his plan to be foolproof.

Silavin: Chapter 1/3 for this week – just having fun to keep count. Not going to do this every week.