Martial Peak

“So long?” Yang Kai’s brow furrowed slightly before immediately smiling, “If Senior Li is concerned about the various Hallowed Treasures, there’s no need to worry, since I have given my word, once the current danger has been resolved, I will definitely return them.”

Yang Kai held no malicious intent towards Li Yuan Chun.

Perhaps when he and the Endless Sea Islands envoys had just arrived, Yang Kai had been a little annoyed with them, but as the situation evolved, he had made up his mind to ride out the storm together with them.

Most importantly, the Endless Sea Islands group wasn’t weak, consisting of more than fifty Immortal Ascension Boundary experts and an Above Immortal Ascension Boundary master. They were a powerful boost.

How could Yang Kai easily let them go? Facing the current life or death crisis, such a powerful ally would greatly improve his chances of survival. Even if all of them had only been True Element Boundary cultivators, Yang Kai wouldn’t have let them go.

Therefore, even if his practice of forcing them to remain by holding their Hallowed Treasures hostage was somewhat underhanded, Yang Kai didn’t hesitate to do so.

Both times Li Yuan Chun had previously spoken with Yang Kai, it had been about this issue. Therefore, when Li Yuan Chun took the initiative to speak to him, Yang Kai naturally thought he wanted to discuss the return of the Hallowed Treasures and quickly expressed his attitude.

However, to his surprise, Li Yuan Chun instead smiled and waved, “This old master isn’t here to discuss my Sects’ Hallowed Treasures.”

“Oh? What advice does Senior have?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrow and asked curiously.

Li Yuan Chun laughed awkwardly, hesitating for a moment before gritting his teeth and continuing, “I was wondering if Young Master Yang would be willing to let my Endless Sea Islands’ people also use this medicinal bath?”

The efficacy of Xia Ning Chang’s mysterious medicinal bath was simply too astonishing. The True Element Boundary cultivators who had entered it, within a few days, would without exception have their cultivations rise by at least one minor realm. Some of them even breaking through up to three minor realms! Almost every day someone would achieve a breakthrough inside this bath.

Such a grand matter happening within the mansion had obviously not gone unnoticed by the Endless Sea Islands group, causing many of their eyes to glow red with envy

All of them had expressed a desire to enter this medicinal bath and cleanse their bodies.

Unfortunately, for the past month, Yang Kai had been in retreat, but sensing him emerge today, Li Yuan Chun had hurriedly come to speak with him.

After making this request, Li Yuan Chun stared at Yang Kai quietly as his heartbeat raced; wondering if this Young Master Yang would refuse. After all, the people from the Endless Sea Islands weren’t his friends or allies, they were barely even acquaintances, and they had only come seeking him in order to ask him to return their lost property.

If Yang Kai refused, it would only be natural.

But surprisingly, Yang Kai just turned to Xia Ning Chang and asked, “Does soaking in this medicinal bath have any benefit for Immortal Ascension Boundary masters?”

“En,” Little Senior Sister nodded lightly before glancing over at Li Yuan Chun, smiling somewhat helplessly, “But it’s useless for those at the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.”

“This old master doesn’t matter,” Li Yuan Chun quickly said, “I don’t need to go in.”

“What about materials? Is there enough?” Yang Kai continued.

Xia Ning Chang pondered for a moment before nodding lightly.

The herbs in the medicinal pool had to be changed every three days, resulting in a large consumption of resources. Three days was also the amount of time it would take a cultivator to gain the maximum amount of benefit from this medicinal bath.

As such, every time the herbs were replaced, a new batch of cultivators would enter the medicinal bath to cleanse their bodies and improve their physiques.

“Since there’s enough then arrange for our Endless Sea Islands guests to have a turn.” Yang Kai said decisively.

Qiu Yi Meng nodded before quickly making a plan; looking over at Li Yuan Chun with a smile a moment later, “Senior Li, the Endless Sea Islands cultivators will be scheduled after all the other forces in the mansion have had their turn, but please rest assured that even if it is the last batch, the quality of the medicinal bath will not be any different.”

Li Yuan Chun was overjoyed, not having expected Yang Kai to so readily agree to this request, quickly saying, “Many thanks for your generosity, Young Master Yang.”

“No need to be so polite,” Yang Kai said with a friendly smile, “From now on, all of us are one big family, regarding such benefits; we’ll all have a share.”

“Haha...” Li Yuan Chun’s face twitched slightly, silently thinking to himself that it would be quite embarrassing when the time came to ask Yang Kai about the Supreme Solitary Seal again.

However, such things didn’t matter anymore. Since Yang Kai had already declared he would return their Hallowed Treasures, it was only a matter of time before he fulfilled his promise.

During the past month while Yang Kai had been in secluded cultivation, it seemed as if a cultivation frenzy had erupted within the mansion. Without having to worry about their immediate safety, everyone naturally wanted to improve their ability to defend themselves and were working hard towards that end.

Not only were the major forces taking advantage of Xia Ning Chang’s medicinal bath to improve their physiques, Yang Kai nine Blood Warriors had also all entered retreat.

Even the four Blood Warriors serving Yang Wei and Yang Zhao who Yang Kai had previously rescued didn’t dare to relax.

After having Qiu Yi Meng brief him about the situation in the house over the past month, Yang Kai was quite pleased.

The people in his mansion had not been disheartened by the invasion of the Ash-Grey Cloud Evil Land and were instead even more motivated to improve themselves.

After handling these matters, Yang Kai left and went straight to Meng Wu Ya’s room.

Inside Meng Wu Ya’s room, only the trio of Ling Tai Xu, Old Demon, and Treasurer Meng sat.

These three old men often gathered together to discuss the Martial Dao and exchange their unique sentiments regarding the Heavenly Way. Ling Tai Xu was a listener for the most part and had gained a great deal from the other two, seemingly having achieved some breakthroughs this past month. However, Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon’s frequent disagreements raised quite a racket.

The scene was lively as always today.

When Yang Kai arrived, the two old men were passionately arguing about one topic or another while Ling Tai Xu sat to the side and smiled lightly, absorbing anything useful from this discussion he could.

Different paths lead to different outcomes, and such sentiments was fully portrayed by Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon. Despite the two of them both being incredible masters, they had achieved their strength through very different means so they naturally had many points of disagreement about the Martial Dao.

However, despite the paths they traveled being very different and their comprehension of the Heavenly Way essentially being polar opposites; their ultimate goal was actually the same.

“Three Seniors seem to be quite enthusiastic,” Yang Kai smiled and sat down in front of them.

Meng Wu Ya and Old Demon stopped their quarrel and the three old men all glanced over at Yang Kai suspiciously for a moment, a look of surprise soon flashing across their faces, “Did you break through again?”

Since Yang Kai broke through to the Immortal Ascension Boundary, his strength has progressed incredibly rapidly, reaching the Second Stage after only ten days and now, after slightly more than a month, breaking through once more to the Immortal Ascension Boundary Third Stage.

Even the well-traveled and experienced Meng Wu Ya couldn’t help feeling shocked by Yang Kai’s blistering cultivation pace.

On the other hand, Yang Kai stared at Old Demon with amazement, smiling happily, “Old Demon, have you broken through to the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary?”

Old Demon laughed and nodded, “With the precious gift Young Master granted, this old servant easily broke through.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly in approval. Meng Wu Ya had also said that Old Demon had the foundation and insight into the mysteries of the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary and only because his original body had been destroyed had his strength dropped to the Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary.

With the assistance of the Myriad Drug Cream, it really had been a simple matter for him to reach the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary.

“What matters are you here to discuss this time?” Meng Wu Ya looked at Yang Kai and asked.

Yang Kai took a deep breath and adjusted his expression before asking, “Treasurer Meng, I remember more than a month ago you said that Demon Lord Yang Bai’s strength was First Under the Heavens, right?”

“Correct.” Meng Wu Ya nodded, his expression also becoming somewhat dignified.

“Even if you release your seal, are you not his match?”

“No. I’ll still fall slightly short of his strength.” Meng Wu Ya slowly shook his head.

“I see. I want to know what kind of realm Yang Bai has reached and what kind of realm all of you have achieved. What exactly is the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary and why does it differ so much from all the previous Great Realms?” Yang Kai asked a series of questions he had been seeking answers for these past few years.

Listening to him ask these questions, the three old men exchanged a glance.

Eventually, Meng Wu Ya sighed and said, “I didn’t want to explain this realm to you too early because the more you know the more impact it would have on your development.”

“Are you afraid I would lose my way and aim too high?” Yang Kai raised his eyebrows.

“I feared that you would become discouraged,” Meng Wu Ya smiled, “But now it seems I should explain to you just what kind of strength the enemy you are facing has.”

Pausing for a moment, Meng Wu Ya seemed to be consider how best to explain things to Yang Kai, a while later continuing, “This world’s common people call the level above the Immortal Ascension Boundary the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary because they don’t truly understand what kind of Great Realm it is. I can tell you now though that this realm is not called the Above Immortal Ascension Boundary, that’s just a title given to this world’s peak level masters. It actually has a formal name.”

Yang Kai suddenly held his breath, secretly thinking to himself that Meng Wu Ya was about to reveal some ancient secret that remained unknown in his current world.

“The realm after the Immortal Ascension Boundary is called the Transcendent Realm!” Meng Wu Ya quickly said.

“The Transcendent Realm?”

“When one transcends beyond the realm of mortals, they reach the Transcendent Realm. When you reach this level, you can no longer be considered a mere mortal since you have shed the shackles of the mundane world.”

“What does that mean?”

“To those who have reached the Transcendent Realm, everyone at or below the Immortal Ascension Boundary is a mortal. The gap is similar to the gulf between cultivators and average humans. As such, when cultivators at or below the Immortal Ascension Boundary face off against those at the Transcendent Realm, they basically have no way to fight back.”

Yang Kai furrowed his brow slightly; Meng Wu Ya’s explanation was too general, so he couldn’t understand the mysteries of the Transcendent Realm. It seemed like he could only wait until he really broke through to this level before he could truly comprehend what all of this meant.

“The Above Immortal Ascension Boundary masters you’ve met so far are all Transcendent Realm cultivators. However, this realm is somewhat different from the ones before, the division of strength isn’t as detailed. The Immortal Ascension Boundary is separated into nine stages, but because achieving breakthroughs in the Transcendent Realm is significantly more difficult. Each time one advances a minor realm, the increase in their strength is much greater.”

“Oh, how is the Transcendent Realm divided?” Yang Kai asked curiously.

“It only has three stages!”

“Three stages?” Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit stunned.

“En, First Order Transcendent, Second Order Transcendent, and Third Order Transcendent!” Meng Wu Ya explained, “Those eight people in the Seal Temple were all First Order Transcendent cultivators. Of those from your Eight Great Families, and even this entire whole world, ninety percent are First Order Transcendent Realm cultivators, and because their comprehension of the Martial Dao and Heavenly Way are limited, they are unable to advance their cultivation any further.”

Meng Wu Ya smiled and said, “That Li Yuan Chun has quite a solid foundation and has reached the limits of the First Order, so he’s quite a bit stronger than an average First Order Transcendent, but without someone to guide him, this will be the limit of his life’s achievements, he’ll forever be unable to break through to Second Order.”