Martial Peak
chapter-1170

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

Wei Gu Chang was actually quite a talkative person and after gradually getting acquainted with Yang Kai, the topics he brought up also increased. From the distribution of the great forces on Shadowed Star to the well-known talents of the younger generation, Wei Gu Chang clearly and eloquently described them all, allowing Yang Kai to benefit a lot.

He also intentionally or unintentionally tried to bring up the topic of the outside world, but whenever he did, Yang Kai would subtly steer the conversation away from it.

After failing two or three times in this approach, Wei Gu Chang no longer mentioned it.

He thought Yang Kai didn’t want to discuss the greater wonders of the outside world, but the truth was that Yang Kai simply didn’t know much about it in the first place. Since entering the Star Field, he had only ever been to Water Moon Star and Rainfall Star, both of which belonged to Heng Luo Chamber of Commerce, so he had no knowledge of the Star Field’s other locations or great forces.

Dong Xuan’er, on the other hand, had a quiet demeanour. Most of the time she was quietly meditating, occasionally revealing the look of a happy young woman, as if being embraced by Wei Gu Chang like this was all that mattered to her.

One day later, Yang Kai clearly felt that the temperature in the air rise and the landscape down below also became more barren, the forests giving way to a reddish-brown dessert that became hotter and more desolate the further they flew.

The Flowing Flame Sand Field had existed on Shadowed Star for innumerable years and the scorching temperatures it gave off had already affected the surrounding environment.

At a certain moment, Yang Kai lifted his eyes and stared off into the distance to see a glowing red region on the horizon that was giving off such intense heat that the air around it had become distorted.

“That’s the edge of the Flowing Flame Sand Field,” Wei Gu Chang pointed to the dark red energy curtain up ahead and said in a dignified tone, “From the looks of it, it should be a few more days until the Flowing Flame Sand Field officially opens.”

“Is there any way to tell?” Yang Kai asked.

“The changing colour of the energy curtain is the most obvious way. When it turns into a light shade of red, we can enter through the entrances. But now, anyone who tries to enter will die!” Wei Gu Chang breathed in lightly as a look of dread flashed across his face.

After flying for a while longer, the trio finally arrived roughly fifty kilometer outside the Flowing Flame Sand Field. At this time, there were already around five hundred people gathered. These people were divided up into groups of different sizes and were occupying good spots to sit in meditation and save up their strength. It seemed that they had all arrived here early to wait for the Flowing Flame Sand Field to open. When these people noticed Yang Kai and his group arriving, many of them couldn’t help turning to check them out.

The people here were mostly Saint Kings, with a few Origin Returning Realm masters scattered amongst them, likely Elders here leading their respective forces’ teams.

However, at the forward-most position there was a distinct group of Origin Realm masters standing at the edge of the Flowing Flame Sand Field, seemingly observing the changes in the energy curtain diligently.

This group of masters were representatives from Shadowed Star’s most powerful Sects and many of them were in the Third Order Origin Realm. Many of them had been here for months or even half a year so they could pass information about the Flowing Flame Sand Field back to their respective Sects as quickly as possible, allowing their forces to prepare early.

Shadow Moon Hall was located quite far from here, so naturally, it had come later than others. After the trio landed, they simply found an empty place to occupy.

Wei Gu Chang glanced around for a moment before saying, “Brother Yang, you wait here, Junior Sister and I need to go greet the Martial Uncles from our Sect, lest they complain about us being ill-mannered.”

“Brother Wei doesn’t need to concern himself with me,” Yang Kai nodded lightly.

Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er summoned their Star Shuttles again before flying off in a certain direction, disappearing a moment later.

Yang Kai didn’t pay them any mind and instead began looking around at his surroundings. The cultivators who had come here were all in groups, the smallest of which only had twenty members while others were similar to Shadow Moon Hall and had around fifty gathered in one place.

Many of the people here were also looking at Yang Kai with curiosity, but the majority of these people’s faces were filled with disdain.

Yang Kai’s cultivation was too low, and he had arrived here with only Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er, so it was easy for others to mistakenly think they were from a small family force only capable of sending out three people, similar to the small forces attached to Shadow Moon Hall.

Yang Kai had only just sat down when a pair of people leisurely walked over and stood in front of him, looking down at him condescendingly.

Yang Kai saw that these two had come from a group that had around thirty people in it. Being able to have thirty entry quotas for the Flowing Flame Sand Field meant that, while incomparable to Shadow Moon Hall, the force these two came from was not small.

And it wasn’t just these two, many people from other groups had also stood up and were clearly planning to approach him, but these two young men just happened to be the fastest, so the others could only temporarily stand where they were and observe.

[Why are they looking for me?] Yang Kai was puzzled.

The two men in front of him were both young, probably in their thirties or forties, with one of them having reached the Third Order Saint King Realm while the other was just a First Order Saint King. Neither of them seemed to be particularly wicked, but the Third Order Saint King had a number of scars on his face, giving him a somewhat fierce impression.

“Friend,” The man with scars on his face bluntly called out, “Are you also planning to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field?”

Although there was nothing wrong with what this young man asked, Yang Kai could clearly hear the snide disdain in his tone.

The other man behind the one who spoke was staring at Yang Kai fixedly, as if Yang Kai had something he very much wanted.

Yang Kai didn’t want to talk to these two, but this time he had come here together with Shadow Moon Hall, so if any kind of conflict started, it might make things difficult for Qian Tong, so after thinking about it for a moment, he patiently nodded and replied, “Yes.”

The man grinned, “You’re not very strong, entering will be quite dangerous.”

“That’s for me to worry about,” Yang Kai vaguely guessed what these two wanted; after all, Qian Tong had said that quotas to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field could be transferred.

The others who had stood up just now probably had similar intentions, but this scarred man had managed to act faster than any of them could.

Sure enough, the man with the scars shook his head and said, “I’m telling you this for your own good. I saw there was only three of you, and that man and the woman seem to be a couple, so after going inside they probably won’t care about you and there’s a good chance you’ll die a miserable death.”

He was speaking in hyperbole and wore an exaggerated look of concern on his face, as if he was truly worried about Yang Kai’s safety; however, when he saw Yang Kai’s expression remain completely indifferent and unafraid, the scarred man couldn’t help annoyed and got straight to the point, “I have a business proposition for you, are you interested?”

“No,” Yang Kai refused decisively. Now that he knew what they wanted to do, Yang Kai was too lazy to talk to them anymore.

“Don’t be in a hurry to refuse,” The scarred man grinned as he squatted down and whispering, “Friend, you see, just entering the Flowing Flame Sand Field will put your life at risk. In the end, you want to go in to obtains some benefits right? I have a proposition that will let you obtain some benefits without worry about your life.”

Saying so, he retrieved an artefact from his Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai, “This is a Saint King Grade Low-Rank artefact, its quality is quite good. I’ll give it to you, I believe that after friend refines it, your strength will definitely rise a lot. En, of course, I’m not giving it away for free, I want your entry pass in exchange.”

“What’s an entry pass?” Yang Kai asked in confusion.

“It’s the pass that lets you enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field, don’t try to act dumb!” The First Order Saint King who had been staring at Yang Kai with scorching eyes suddenly shouted.

“There’s such a thing?” Yang Kai frowned. He really hadn’t heard anything about this from Wei Gu Chang and Qian Tong hadn’t mentioned it either.

Seeing Yang Kai’s dazed look, the scarred man thought he was feigning ignorance and couldn’t help sneering, “Friend should not reject this face-saving offer. My Junior Brother just wants to join our Flowing Flame Sand Field expedition, unfortunately, my Blue Sparrow Sect doesn’t have enough quotas. Your quota, however, can solve this problem for us. Besides, it’s not like I’m trying to take your entry pass for nothing, haven’t I already given you a precious artefact?”

“You want to buy my entry pass for a mere Saint King Grade Low-Rank artefact?” Yang Kai sneered, “Forget about whether I have this entry pass thing you’re talking about or not, even if I did, I wouldn’t sell it to you.”

“Does friend intend to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit? Can you show me your Space Ring?” The scar-faced man also gloomily.

“You want to see my Space Ring? Do you have the ability?” Yang Kai expression went cold.

Each cultivator’s Space Ring was their most private of possessions. In general, it would be impossible for others to make such a rude request. The words of this scarred man-made Yang Kai enraged, it was no different from having directly slapped his face.

“Senior Brother, don’t talk nonsense with him, just snatch it, he wouldn’t dare try to fight back,” The First Order Saint King cultivator seemed incredibly keen on entering the Flowing Flame Sand Field and couldn’t help urging the scarred man on.

Seeing the scarred man still looking a little hesitant, this First Order Saint King actually stepped forward and grabbed towards Yang Kai’s Space Ring.

Yang Kai’s patience had already reached its limit. These two men had been saying whatever they wanted in front of him while trying to rob him under the guise of doing business, it was truly repugnant. So, seeing the First Order Saint King try to grab him, Yang Kai didn’t evade and instead seized the other party’s outstretched hand.

How could a trivial First Order Saint King avoid Yang Kai’s attack? Caught completely off guard, this man soon found his hand inexplicably grasped by the opponent he had been looking down on a moment ago.

Before this man could even figure out what was happening, a startling cracking sound rang out. Looking down, this man saw that his arm had been twisted into an impossible angle by the other party. Severe pain suddenly hit him and he let out a terrible scream as great beads of sweat began dripping from his forehead.

“You dare!” The scarred man didn’t react until he heard this scream, but seeing his Junior Brother suffer such a big loss, he immediately pushed his Saint Qi and punched towards Yang Kai’s face.

This fist was filled with vigorous strength and from the spot he was targeting, it was obvious he wanted to kill Yang Kai.

Before this punch could reach him though, Yang Kai directly dragged the scarred man’s Junior Brother into its path.

The scarred man saw this, panicked, and tried to withdraw his strength but was only able to take back about half of it.

With a muffled thud, that Junior Brother was knocked to the ground twitching, his body curled up and his face paled.