Martial Peak
chapter-1056

Even so, Ha Li Ka was in an extremely difficult situation at the moment, his left arm completely frozen in ice, and no matter how he urged his own strength, he could not dispel the chill. On the contrary, the profound cold was still expanding and would soon reach his shoulder.

Ha Li Ka grit his teeth and in a flash of determination suddenly let out a great roar burst his power to its maximum.

Along with this roar, his frozen arm was suddenly sliced off and blood poured out from the wound like a fountain. Ha Li Ka’s face suddenly paled as he slumped to the ground.

He had cut off his own arm!

Yang Kai’s pupils shrank, shocked not only by Ha Li Ka’s decisiveness but also by the terrifying cold energy!

Whatever this cold energy was, it was so overwhelming that it had forced the Third Order Origin Returning Realm Ha Li Ka into a life or death crisis which necessitated self-mutilation in order to survive!

Lin Mu Feng and the middle-aged woman rushed up and stopped Ha Li Ka’s bleeding shoving several high-quality pills into his mouth.

Several other cultivators who come back with Branch President Ha Li Ka witnessed this act and clenched their own teeth, pulling out sharp weapons and cutting off the frozen sections of their bodies. Instantly, severed limbs and blood covered the ground, and the few people who had survived groaned in misery.

Ha Li Ka sat cross-legged on the ground while urging his healing art, stabilizing his injuries while gasping for breath, a look of fear still lingering on his face.

“What was that?” Lin Mu Feng asked nervously.

“Profound Yin Sunflower Water!” Ha Li Ka answered with gritted teeth.

“Profound Yin Sunflower Water?” The middle-aged woman screamed aloud, “It was really Profound Yin Sunflower Water? Was such a treasure actually buried in that Ancient Ruin?”

Even Lin Mu Feng couldn’t help feeling a bit agitated as a look of fascination filled his face.

Profound Yin Sunflower Water was an Origin King Grade material and any cultivator who could successfully refine a drop of it would experience a leap in strength! If their strength was low enough, this precious treasure could even result in a direct increase in realm.

Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce focused on business and its understanding of various treasures was unmatched by any force. Lin Mu Feng and middle-aged woman naturally knew just how valuable Profound Yin Sunflower Water was.

If they could safely collect this Profound Yin Sunflower Water from the Ancient Ruins, it would definitely be a great achievement and they may even be able to transfer to the Home Star, Water Moon Star, to enjoy a better cultivation environment as well as higher status!

It was just that this kind of treasure was extremely rare and the environmental conditions required to produce it were extremely demanding. On top of that, the formation process could stretch across tens of thousands of years.

Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce controlled several Cultivation Stars, dozens of Medicine Stars and Ore Stars , and countless cultivators, yet after so many years, they had never once been able to gather Profound Yin Sunflower Water.

So when they heard Ha Li Ka mention Profound Yin Sunflower Water, whether it was Lin Mu Feng or the middle-aged woman, both couldn’t stop their eyes for lightning up and an exhilarated look from appearing on their faces.

“How could there be Profound Yin Sunflower Water under this mine?” Lin Mu Feng still couldn’t believe it.

“It was probably left here by some expert from ancient times. We discovered it inside as damaged Space Ring. When we tried to retrieve it, the Space Ring exploded, releasing the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, catching everyone off guard,” Ha Li Ka explained quickly, his face turning blue. Just thinking back to the events caused him to feel both the fear of death and the relief of survival.

If he hadn’t acted decisively enough just now, he wouldn’t have just lost an arm but instead died without burial.

“Where is Lady Xue’er?” Yang Kai stepped forward and asked.

Ha Li Ka looked up at him and sighed sadly.

Yang Kai’s face became uglier.

“The Space Ring was in her hands when the Profound Yin Sunflower Water burst out, she bore the brunt of the explosion…” Ha Li Ka sighed heavily and didn’t say any more.

He was certain Lady Xue’er was doomed!

After all, she was only a Third Order Saint King, and even he, a Third Order Origin Returning Realm master had been unable to resist the Profound Yin Sunflower Water’s erosion, how could Lady Xue’er, whose entire body had been exposed, have possibly survived?

In all likelihood, she was already dead!

Yang Kai coldly snorted, “Is there a map of down below?”

“What do you want that for?” Lin Mu Feng looked at him in surprise.

“She’s not dead!” Yang Kai shot him a cold look.

“Do you want to try to save her?” The middle-aged woman immediately understood Yang Kai’s intentions and slowly shook her head, attempting to persuade him, “Young man, don’t be impulsive, after being exposed to a large amount of Profound Yin Sunflower Water, she has no chance of surviving; searching for her will just result in you losing your life in vain.”

Ha Li Ka also added, “There are many barriers down below, with such low strength, you won’t be able to reach her.”

“If she’s alive, I must see her in person, if she’s dead, I must see her corpse!” Yang Kai said flatly.

The several branch executives directed a stunned look at him when these words came out, many of them showing some appreciation.

Yang Kai’s external identity was Xue Yue’s guard, so when they saw Yang Kai so eager to save her, not giving a single thought to his own safety, their opinion of him rose significantly. Even if this young man didn’t have great strength, he was still valuable because he possessed the most important quality a guard must have, loyalty!

Everyone present suddenly felt a sense of respect.

The ring on Ha Li Ka’s hand flashed and he pulled out a set of papers he promptly tossed over to Yang Kai, “These are the maps we drew up this time to avoid getting lost, they may be of some use to you.”

Yang Kai caught these maps, gave them a quick glance, then without saying another word dove straight into the mine tunnel.

“What an honourable little guard!” The middle-aged woman gently nodded, looking in the direction where Yang Kai disappeared, muttering somewhat regretfully, “I’m afraid he has no chance at coming back alive.”

“He has to go!” Lin Mu Feng said indifferently, “Lady Xue’er is the woman of Third Young Master, if she dies, as her guard, that young man will definitely die as well.”

Having been reminded by him, the middle-aged woman’s beautiful face couldn’t help paling slightly, the excitement brought on by the discovery of Profound Yin Sunflower Water fading away. Just thinking about how they would now have to withstand the anger of the Third Young Master caused her to feel uneasy.

“I hope the merits from this event can compensate for the losses,” Ha Li Ka sighed heavily, all thoughts of promotion and transfer to the Home Star disappearing from his thoughts. Although they had found Profound Yin Sunflower Water, which was no doubt great merit, the Third Young Master’s woman had died as a result. Who knew how Third Young Master would react?

The best result they could hope for was that the merits and demerits would balance out and that Third Young Master wouldn’t investigate the matter here and the branch maintaining the status quo.

“Old Ha, you rest first,” Lin Mu Feng comforted, “We can discuss what to do next after you restore yourself.”

“Looks like we can only act so,” Ha Li Ka nodded and closed his eyes to refine the medicinal efficacies of the pills he just swallowed.

Inside the mine shaft, Yang Kai rapidly descended.

He didn’t know how deep this mine shaft was, but it took Yang Kai the time it would take to make a cup of tea to reach a crossroad. Looking up, only a faint ray of light from the surface reached this place while the mining area all around him was pitch black.

Tunnels extended in all directions.

This mining area formerly produced some less precious ore so the cultivators of Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce had not been very systematic about excavating it.

The Ancient Ruins were discovered during the mining process and the people from the branch didn’t dare to investigate it at will, sealing off the area and reporting the matter to the Home Star instead.

Xue Yue had come here this time specifically to deal with these ruins.

She had been extremely cautious along the way, exploring the ruins under the leadership of Ha Li Ka, gaining some harvests in the process, but how could she have known that a simple Space Ring would contain such danger? Having been placed in the ruins for so long, the Space Ring had already become unstable, and when Xue Yue used her Divine Sense to probe what was inside of it, the Space Ring suddenly burst apart, bombarding her with the Profound Yin Sunflower Water stored inside.

She immediately lost consciousness and the Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce cultivators in her immediate vicinity instantly died, only the strongest Ha Li Ka and a few others who were further away managed to flee in time.

Yang Kai recalled the map in his mind and quickly spread out his Divine Sense and began diving through the various mine tunnels.

After half an hour, he finally arrived at the location where the Ancient Ruins were found.

He felt a lot of subtle energy fluctuations from in front of himself and immediately knew that what Ha Li Ka said was right.

The numerous barriers and traps inside these ruins were extremely dangerous.

When Xue Yue’s team had been exploring it, they had tried their best to avoid these barriers and only cracked or destroyed those they had to.

Yang Kai was currently in a rush to save Xue Yue, so how could he possibly patiently break these barriers one by one?

Making his Divine Sense leap across space, Yang Kai penetrated deep into the ruins, inspected the situation inside, found a safe location, then tore space to arrive at it.

When Yang Kai appeared again, he was already standing somewhere inside the ruins, then consulting the map given to him by Ha Li Ka, he tore space again.

After repeating this process several times, he suddenly discovered a faint life aura somewhere nearby. This life aura was like a candle in the wind, in danger of being extinguished at any time.

Xue Yue!

She was just about a thousand meters away from where he currently was, but Yang Kai was unable to see her situation because of some obstacles between them. The only thing that was certain was that she hadn’t died yet!

Yang Kai took a deep breath to calm his anxiety and sat down cross-legged, tossing a pill into his mouth to replenish his Spiritual Energy.

Half an hour later, he stood up and tore space once last time.

A thousand meters away, Yang Kai appeared leisurely.

Immediately, he saw Xue Yue lying on the ground, covered with frost. Even in this frozen sleep, her charms were only magnified, making her seem even more bewitching than before.

From her body, a seven coloured hue pulsed, making her look like a glowing goddess. This glow as constantly fighting against the frost covering her body, preventing it from sapping the last bit of Xue Yue’s vitality, maintaining a strange state of equilibrium.

However, with the passage of time, the seven coloured light was growing fainter.

Yang Kai didn’t know what kind of artifact she was wearing or what kind of unique technique she had cultivated which allowed her to preserve her life even under these extreme circumstances, but if the situation continued as is, it wouldn’t even take half a day for this seven coloured light to disappear, at which point Xue Yue would die.

When that happened, Yang Kai’s life would also expire.