Martial Peak
chapter-1202

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

The reason Chang Qi and Hao An were both unable to break through to the Origin Returning Realm was that they couldn’t overcome the bottlenecks they had, and the Hai Ke Family didn’t have the ability to purchase Origin Condensing Pills for them. As such, if they didn’t obtain some kind of special opportunity, they would remain Third Order Saint Kings for the rest of their life, unable to ever grasp the mysteries of the Origin Returning Realm.

The two of them had entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field for two reasons, one was to complete the agreement they had with Yi En, the other was to seek a breakthrough opportunity.

But now, this little tree in front of him could easily help them break through their bottlenecks, so how could Chang Qi not be excited?

Just thinking about being able to take that one last step which had eluded him and Old Hao for so long, Chang Qi couldn’t help shedding some tears.

Yang Kai didn’t tell Chang Qi that the profound aura of the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree wasn’t just useful for cultivators trying to break through their cultivation bottlenecks but also bottlenecks in comprehending Martial Skills, Soul Skills, and so on and so forth. Essentially, as long as a cultivator was having trouble comprehending anything related to their cultivation, the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree could help them, and the higher one’s strength became, the greater the benefits they could obtain.

The higher a cultivator climbed, the harder it became to advance as it not only required the accumulation of strength over time, but also increased comprehension of the Heavenly Way and Martial Dao. Breaking through to the Origin Returning Realm was already incredibly difficult, so one could only imagine how challenging breaking through to the Origin King Realm was.

However, the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree could help cultivators overcome this problem on a fundamental level.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was an unparalleled treasure. Depending on how it was used, it could be considered even more valuable than the Soul Warming Lotus. A Soul Warming Lotus could only be used by one person, but the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree could be used by countless people.

“It finally makes sense why the plains up above only have weeds growing on them with no trace of spirit grasses or spirit medicines,” Yang Kai smiled.

Chang Qi asked reflexively, “Why?”

“Because it is impossible for spirit grasses or spirit medicines to grow in a place where this thing exists, it has exhausted all of the Heavenly Dao within a few hundred kilometers…” Yang Kai suddenly frowned.

Chang Qi obviously remembered something as well quickly asked, “But didn’t that World Spirit Treasure come from this place?”

Yang Kai glanced over at him and conjectured, “That might not have been a World Spirit Treasure.”

In any case, with a Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree appearing here, Yang Kai and Chang Qi had completely disregarded the issue of the World Spirit Treasure for now. Chang Qi was afraid to even move this peerless treasure, fearing he might damage it, but Yang Kai didn’t hesitate to use his golden sword to excavate the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree from the surrounding Saint Crystal and toss it into his Black Book space.

Yang Kai only kept some unimportant things inside his Space Ring while all of his real treasures were stored inside the Black Book space.

“Foreign Elder Chang, I’ll hold onto this thing for now. After we return, I’ll return it to you. It will definitely help you to break through to the Origin Returning Realm.” After all, Chang Qi was the one who found it, so although Yang Kai was a bit envious, he didn’t plan on taking it for himself.

Chang Qi however quickly waved his hands and with a very satisfied expression on his face declared, “You saying so is treating this old man as too much of an outsider. This old man isn’t ignorant of this thing’s true value, it’s just… this old man is well aware that he doesn’t have the qualifications to hold onto such a treasure. If I were to try to keep it to myself, it would only be a curse rather than a blessing. This old man has already lived so many years and his only remaining wish now is to break through to the Origin Returning Realm, but even that seemed all but impossible. It was when this old man and Old Hao were at their lowest and most helpless point that you appeared to help us. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have even had a chance to enter the Flowing Flame Sand Field, and this old man would never have been able to arrive here. This Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree is yours now, allowing this old man and Old Hao to cultivate beside it for a while is plenty.”

Hearing him say so, Yang Kai no longer acted polite and immediately said, “Thank you. In the future, when you and Foreign Elder Hao come to live on Dragon Cave Mountain, you will definitely obtain far more benefits than you could in the Hai Ke Family. Breaking through to the Origin King Realm won’t be impossible.”

Chang Qi laughed, “That will be a goal for the future.”

Obviously he didn’t have much hope for such a future. He had yet to break through to the Origin Returning Realm so how could he dream of reaching the Origin King Realm? What’s more, an Origin King Realm master hadn’t appeared on Shadowed Star for countless years, Chang Qi didn’t believe he would be the one to break this pattern.

Yang Kai didn’t say anymore, his target had already been set on the Origin King Realm, so if it was impossible on Shadowed Star, he would simply have to go to a different Cultivation Star. After all, he would not be trapped here for his entire lifetime! At that time, taking others along would be a simple matter.

After collecting the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree, Yang Kai returned to his own tunnel and immersed himself in mining again.

The entire underground cave was quite quiet, with only the faint sounds of mining coming from the various passages. Whether it was the five disciples from Clear Sky Sect, Yang Kai, or Chang Qi, all achieved great results.

Time marched on and soon four days had passed.

Yang Kai had dug more than thirty meters into his own passage and he had already obtained the equivalent of three million Saint Crystals; however, there was still no trace of the World Spirit Treasure that looked like a little snake.

A Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree had appeared here, so Yang Kai was even more curious about that little snake-like World Spirit Treasure because he wanted to know if it had grown and evolved here, or it had simply unintentionally hidden here after being chased down.

And so, Yang Kai kept digging deeper.

Two days later, Yang Kai frowned, secretly wondering if he should give up.

His biggest objective in entering the Flowing Flame Sand Field was finding a place to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. The first layer Flame Area failed to meet his requirements, so he hadn’t stopped there and was instead intending to take his chances on the next Flame Area beyond the Treasure Area. Considering this, it wasn’t worth it for him to continue wasting time here.

Saint Crystals were good, but Yang Kai felt that if he wanted to obtain Saint Crystals it wasn’t difficult, so there was no need for him to keep mining them here.

After pondering for a while, Yang Kai decided to spend two more days digging here. After two days, no matter what the result was, he had to leave this place.

Yang Kai didn’t know if it was his determination paying off or just good luck, but half a day later, after digging out a large piece of Saint Crystal, he suddenly felt a distinctive aura overflowing from the Saint Crystal in front of him.

This aura was very strange. Although it seemed quite thin and weak, it was also incredibly noble and majestic!

Under this aura, Yang Kai even felt a bit fearful and apprehensive, as if a great pair of eyes were staring at him, the owner of which could immediately kill him if it wished.

This sensation startled Yang Kai and he quickly focused himself to resist it.

Suddenly, Yang Kai felt light again, and after carefully inspecting his surroundings again, his expression became weird.

This majestic aura was somewhat familiar to him. It wasn’t the same majesty of the Demon Eye of Annihilation, but instead felt similar to the one the Golden Dragon Tattoo produced when it materialized. Although there were some slight differences, the general feeling was the same.

Sensing the peculiarity of this matter, Yang Kai immediately became excited and accelerated his movements, chucking raw pieces of Saint Crystal into his Space Ring faster and faster.

As he went deeper, the majestic aura became thicker and more and more obvious.

Yang Kai even felt his body grow somewhat hot and the Golden Dragon Tattoo on his back began moving about all on its own, as if it had come alive, even letting out a faint dragon roar once in a while.

Not only that, but the Ice Phoenix Tattoo which had never responded to any kind of stimulus before suddenly grew restless and began letting out piercing phoenix cries.

Whatever it was deeper inside, it had caused a reaction from the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress’ Inheritance.

After proceeding another ten meters or so, after Yang Kai cut apart a big piece of Saint Crystal, a burst of azure light suddenly appeared in front of him before a dark green glow filled the passageway.

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and swiftly pushed his Saint Qi to resist the fierce pressure coming from the front. For a moment, breathing became somewhat difficult and it seemed as if he had been caught in a mire, unable to move forward.

Yang Kai’s face changed greatly, but in the next moment, this feeling disappeared without a trace, as if everything was just an illusion. Only the azure ball of light remained, the glow coming from it now even more dazzling than before.

Looking forward curiously, Yang Kai was surprised by what he saw.

In the passage he had excavated, there was an open space. This space wasn’t large, only about three meters in diameter. At this moment, a round bead the size of a pigeon egg was lying quietly on the ground. This bead was colourless, but inside it, there seemed to be a tiny green snake swimming about. This snake seemed to possess its own intelligence, and seeing Yang Kai looking at it, it actually became livelier and swam about faster.

Yang Kai felt the aura of a Soul from this little snake!

It must have been the little snake that Chang Qi had chased before and had mistakenly thought was a World Spirit Treasure; but now, Yang Kai discovered it was actually a soul!

Now it made sense why Chang Qi had found it resting atop a Soul Nourishing Flower. Disembodied souls like this couldn’t exist for a long period of time, so every once in a while, it probably had to visit that Soul Nourishing Flower to absorb some of its medicinal effects in order to maintain its own stability.

Unfortunately for it, it had been accidentally discovered by Chang Qi and then forced to escape, apparently leading its pursuers to its home.

The azure light was being emitted from this little snake, but at this moment it was obviously very weak, so weak that after releasing that burst of majestic aura, it had become dispirited.

This soul was obviously just a remnant and had definitely received grievous wounds, probably damaging its sentience and consciousness greatly. Yang Kai was curious as to what kind of soul it was.

Next to the round bead the little snake inhabited, there was a section of bone a bit more than a meter in length and about as thick as a baby’s arm, resembling a jade crystal pillar. Although it had clearly been here for innumerable years, it actually showed no signs of damage and instead seemed to contain an overwhelming power. It was almost as if it was a great ancient beast that could wake at any moment. Feeling this wild and fierce aura, Yang Kai was quite startled.

This bone did not belong to a human skeleton but instead came from some type of Monster Beast.

[It couldn’t be dragon bone, could it?] Yang Kai’s eyes lit up.

Judging from the commotion the Dragon Emperor and Phoenix Empress Inheritances were raising, Yang Kai could only draw such an incredible conclusion.

It was the only way to explain why the Golden Dragon Tattoo and Ice Phoenix Tattoo had become so excited. On top of that, the little snake inside the round bead didn’t appear simple. It had two horns stop its head as well as a set of sharp claws. There was also a beard beneath its chin. It was clearly an extremely tiny version of a legendary ancient dragon.

Yang Kai’s heart pounded with excitement.

Even when he obtained the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree a few days ago, he had not been so thrilled.

Because Yang Kai didn’t experience any bottlenecks while cultivating, the existence of the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree was just an extra flower in a bouquet to him, unnecessary for the most part. The biggest role the Nine Branch Jade Crystal Tree could provide was to help his friends and relatives in their own breakthroughs.