Martial Peak
chapter-1201

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

Chen Shi Tao was already worried that her Space Ring might not be big enough and was wondering whether she should contact the others from her Sect to come here and help them mine this lode. This was an incredible opportunity. Forget about collecting spirit grasses and spirit medicines outside, as long as they had enough Saint Crystals, what fear was there they couldn’t just buy what they wanted?

Considering this, Chen Shi Tao suddenly looked at Yang Kai with a scorching gaze, as if she wanted to see just how much good fortune was hidden in his body. Just by following him, they were able to obtain such immense benefits.

Just in case, everyone went to explore a few other passages to see if there were more Saint Crystal deposits down them, and unsurprisingly, down each tunnel, they found massive chunks of High-Rank Saint Crystal just lying out in plain sight.

“We’ve got plenty of time, everyone can split up and mine on their own. Before the Flowing Flame Sand Field closes, we’ll mine as much as we can, and if we can’t mind this place clean….” After a moment of hesitation and a glance over towards Yang Kai, who didn’t say anything, Chen Shi Tao said, “Then we’ll bring news of this place back to the Sect and wait until next time the Flowing Flame Sand Field opens to let others mine it!”

Her original idea was naturally to contact others from her Sect; after all, the more people that came, the more they could mine, and the more benefits they would obtain. However, besides the Chen Shi Tao’s group of five from Clear Sky Sect, there were also two outsiders, Yang Kai and Chang Qi, so it would not be a good idea for her to call in others lest she creates dissatisfaction between the two groups.

If it was Chang Qi it wouldn’t have mattered, but this young man named Yang Kai was a man of great destiny and Chen Shi Tao wanted to remain on good terms with him so in the future she might possibly gain more benefits from him.

On the other hand, Yang Kai was very satisfied with her decision and immediately nodded in agreement.

The seven people dispersed immediately, each picking a mine shaft to enter then using their own methods to collect Saint Crystals.

Yang Kai naturally chose the tunnel he had been eyeing from the start, walking only a hundred meters in before arriving at a massive block of Saint Crystal. Yang Kai condensed a dagger of Demonic Flame in his hand and using this incredibly sharp tool began cutting parts of this giant Saint Crystal into washbasin size chunks before tossing them into his Space Ring.

Although Yang Kai wasn’t as excited as the others to mine the Saint Crystals here, having more of them was never a bad thing.

Yang Kai worked hard at mining these Saint Crystals while keeping a lookout for the snake-shaped World Spirit Treasure. While he was certain it had entered this passage, and there was no other way out, Yang Kai wasn’t able to locate it immediately, confusing him greatly.

After that World Spirit Treasure entered this place, it had seemingly disappeared!

Aside from it drilling into these Saint Crystals, Yang Kai wasn’t able to find another reasonable answer, but could that World Spirit Treasure really drill into solid Saint Crystal? He didn’t know of any World Spirit Treasure which had such ability.

On top of that, this entire place was somewhat strange. It stands to reason that which such a massive ​​Saint Crystal lode underground, the plain up above should be filled with spirit grasses and spirit medicines, but there was actually nothing on the surface but ordinary weeds.

Unable to think up any explanations for these mysteries, Yang Kai focused on digging and exploring this lode’s depths, tossing one large chunk of Saint Crystal into his Space Ring after another. The Saint Crystals in Yang Kai tunnel were decreasing at a rapid rate.

The dagger condensed of Demonic Flame was extremely sharp, able to easily slice through the raw Saint Crystal, but the Demonic Flame had the inherent property of burning everything it touched, so whenever Yang Kai made a cut, he would also burn away a significant amount of Saint Crystal.

One or two such losses were irrelevant, but as they compounded over time, this loss would be difficult to estimate.

After thinking about it for a moment, Yang Kai summoned a drop of Golden Blood from his veins and transformed it into a short sword.

Even a casual swing of this Golden Blood short sword was able to cut through the raw Saint Crystal here like tofu, making mining not only incredibly easy but also far more efficient than before with the added bonus of not suffering any losses. Yang Kai was very satisfied.

A day later, Yang Kai had harvested a large amount of Saint Crystal but was still unable to locate the little snake World Spirit Treasure even though he had dug another ten meters into the channel.

While Yang Kai was mining Saint Crystals, he suddenly heard some light footsteps at the entrance to his tunnel and soon saw Chang Qi’s figure emerge.

Foreign Elder Chang was wearing an excited look while constraining his aura and footsteps. Seeing Yang Kai’s sceptical look, Chang Qi only beckoned to him mysteriously.

As soon as he saw Chang Qi’s expression, Yang Kai knew the former must have found something good and couldn’t help also becoming excited, following after him quietly in the next moment.

As he followed Chang Qi, Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to ask, “Did you find a trace of that World Spirit Treasure?”

“It’s hiding here?” Chang Qi frowned, a bewildered expression filling his face.

“It’s hiding here, I sensed its aura in the tunnel yesterday, but I haven’t found it yet.”

Chang Qi shook his head and replied, “I didn’t come to you because of it, but because I found something incredible. This old man’s vision is too poor though so I don’t recognize what it is, nor do I dare to move it, but you come from the outside world and are well-informed, so perhaps you will know something about it.”

After listening to Chang Qi’s comment, Yang Kai was a little disappointed, but he was still looked forward to whatever it was the former had found, immediately falling silent as he followed Chang Qi to another passage.

The raw Saint Crystal in this channel had been mined by Chang Qi, but not as much had been collected as Yang Kai had. Although Chang Qi had only collected about half of what Yang Kai had thought, it was still an enormous amount of wealth.

“Take a look, do you recognize this?” Chang Qi pointed forward.

Yang Kai looked in the direction he was guiding and his eyes narrowed.

Amongst the raw Saint Crystal in front of him was a small tree-like object inlaid in the wall. It was roughly a meter tall and had nine branches leading out from its trunk as well as a number of leaves. It seemed to be formed from the purest of crystal and was beautiful.

It seemed like it had grown out from the surrounding Saint Crystal but also like a frozen fossil, almost lifelike in nature.

There was no vitality coming from it, but it seemed to exude a wondrous aura from its leaves and branches. Whether it was Chang Qi or Yang Kai, when they were exposed to this aura, they couldn’t help feeling a sense of enlightenment.

Chang Qi had even noticed the bottleneck which had prevented him from break through for many years showing some signs of loosening.

This situation startled him and he quickly suppressed his surging Saint Qi, not daring to have any distracting thoughts.

This was the Flowing Flame Sand Field, and inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field, any Origin Returning Realm master would definitely die. Chang Qi was currently at the peak of the Third Order Saint King Realm, and once he broke through, he would reach the Origin Returning Realm. If that were to happen here, he would immediately be killed by the strange World Principles in the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

It was after Chang Qi experienced this strange sensation that he hurriedly found Yang Kai.

Firstly, Chang Qi didn’t recognize what this thing was and didn’t know how to deal with it; secondly, he didn’t dare approach it at will, much less touch it. If this thing were to force him to break through, it would be a disaster.

Yang Kai, however, recklessly immersed himself in this wonderful aura, his face revealing a soothed expression.

Soon though, he regained his calm look and stared towards this small tree embedded in Saint Crystal seriously. After a long time, he exhaled softly and said, “This should be a Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree.”

“Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree?” Chang Qi apparently was hearing this name for the first time and couldn’t help but ask, “What is that?”

“A type of unparalleled treasure!” Yang Kai said in a low voice. “It is a higher grade existence than even World Spirit Treasures. I have seen records about it in an ancient book before. It has a slim chance of being formed in extremely rich High-Rank Saint Crystal lodes. After concentrating the essence of all the surrounding Saint Crystal, a tiny seedling can be produced. This Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree has already grown to a meter in height, so it is at least 20,000 to 30,000 years old, possibly even older.”

Chang Qi couldn’t help feeling astonished.

No matter what it was, anything that could reach 20,000 to 30,000 years of age was an extraordinary existence. Even a weed may obtain sentience and evolve into a World Spirit Treasure over such a long period of time.

This Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree was born from the essence of this Saint Crystal lode and was then nourished by the aura of the all the surrounding High-Rank Saint Crystal. Its starting point was already extremely high, so after so long it could be imagined how extraordinary it was.

Yang Kai knowing about this treasure was naturally thanks to Zong Ao. The ancient books stored in Zong Ao’s palace back on Rainfall Star had no discernible filing system, but thanks to browsing them, Yang Kai was able to learn about a great many wondrous things. Those ancient books not only had records about the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, but it also had information about the Soul Warming Lotus and various other treasures.

It could be said that the value of the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree was on par with the Soul Warming Lotus; incomparable to ordinary treasures.

Most cultivators throughout the Star Field had never even heard of the Soul Warming Lotus or the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, much less seen them. Only in records from the distant past was there any information about them, almost as if such things had all disappeared without a trace.

“What wondrous uses does it have? Can it be used in Alchemy?” Chang Qi saw Yang Kai knew something about it and immediately asked.

“Alchemy?” Yang Kai chuckled, “Naturally it can be used for Alchemy, but if you were to do so, it would be the epitome of wasting Heaven’s precious gifts. If any master who knew about the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree were to hear someone used it for Alchemy, they would immediately chop them to pieces then burn their body to ash.”

“Ahem…” Chang Qi face went bright red, knowing he was a bit ignorant here and probably asked a ridiculous question.

“You should have realized its greatest usefulness already. If one cultivates near it, it can help cultivators break through their bottlenecks. That’s why it is a priceless treasure.” Yang Kai said with satisfaction.

Most things that could help a cultivator overcome a bottleneck were special pills, but if one took such a pill and still failed to break through, taking a second pill would have no effect; however, the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree was different. It could help a cultivator to slowly increase their own comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dow, allowing them to overcome their bottleneck completely naturally.

Taking a pill was considered using external forces to help one break through, but the magical aura of the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree fundamentally improved a cultivator’s own comprehension, the effects of the two weren’t even on the same level.

Sure enough, when Chang Qi heard this, his eyes brightened and his body trembled with excitement.