Martial Peak
chapter-1238

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

When Yang Kai extended his Divine Sense beyond his body, it was immediately distorted by the extreme temperatures, and although he only spread it out for a moment, his Divine Sense was still burned slightly.

This made Yang Kai’s expression contort in pain, but fortunately his Divine Sense was extremely powerful and with the Soul Warming Lotus constantly nourishing his Soul, this bit of damage could be ignored.

During his brief investigation, Yang Kai was able to locate a certain landmark several thousand meters away from his current position. Looking over in that direction, all he could see was a horrifying red eruption of heat coming from the ground. This burst of heat soared up into the sky like a soaring dragon and seemed as if it would burst through the red curtain covering the sky, but the Flowing Flame Sand Field’s barrier seemed able to perfectly disperse this wave of heat, scattering it evenly across its surface at the moment of impact.

An extremely pure Fire Attribute energy was being released from the place where the heat wave had appeared, and it wasn’t long before it swept across Yang Kai’s position. At once, the sand and stones in the fifth layer of the Flowing Flame Sand Field were blown away by this heat shockwave.

Yang Kai’s heart clenched as he stood in place and waited until this eruption finally subsided before arduously heading over towards its source.

After two full hours, Yang Kai managed to traverse the thousand-meter distance and found himself staring at a huge pit, his expression filled with doubt and uncertainty.

This was a massive hole in the ground, and standing at its edge and looking down, all Yang Kai was able to see was dark red lava that seemed to be flowing about like water. At this moment, while still roiling, had no semblance of its previous explosive ferocity. The Fire Attribute aura which escaped from the depths of this hole was quickly mixing with the air of the fifth layer and strengthening its ambient heat little by little.

Occasionally, some gravel would fall into this pit and disintegrate upon contact with the lava, making it clear just how terrifyingly hot it was.

It looked like a volcanic crater, but it was clearly not a volcano, because this giant hole was on flat ground and no magma was erupting from it.

Moreover, Yang Kai was keenly aware that there seemed to be countless tunnels extending out in all directions beneath this pit. Every now and then, one could even hear what sounded like regular breathing coming from down below.

The gears in Yang Kai’s mind started to turn and he soon blurted out a name, “Earth Lung Fire Pond?”

After speaking, Yang Kai was instantly stunned, seemingly unable to believe what he was looking at.

An Earth Lung Fire Pond was an extremely rare subterranean fire vein and it was the most prized geographical formation for Artifact Refiners. When an Artifact Refiner was engaged in their craft, they could take advantage of this underground fire vein’s extreme heat to help them temper and purify materials, saving them a great deal of time and energy.

However, there were very few Sects that could possess an Earth Lung Fire Pond. Yang Kai had not had much contact with many Sects on Shadowed Star and naturally didn’t know much about their secrets or heritage but he was fairly certain that on this star, there were absolutely not more than three Sects which possessed an Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refining.

One of the most recognizable characteristics of an Earth Lung Fire Pond was the faint breathing sound it gave off, as if it were a pair of lungs contracting and releasing air, making it easy for Yang Kai to recognize it at a glance.

Judging from the purity of the Fire Attribute aura being released from the Earth Lung Fire Pond in front of me, it was definitely of the highest quality. Any Artifact Refiner who worked here would be able to completely display their skills and maximize their efficiency, refining artifacts they wouldn’t usually be able to while greatly enhancing their final product’s might.

Many thoughts flashed across Yang Kai’s mind as he stared down in pleasant surprise.

Although he couldn’t take this Earth Lung Fire Pond away with him, it was without a doubt the best place for him to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water. He hadn’t been expecting to come across such a perfectly location. Originally, Yang Kai was planning to simply find a nearby spot where the heat was especially high to refine the Profound Yin Sunflower Water, but now he decided to take at what was down below here first.

Although it was dangerous to dive into such a place, the great the danger, the greater the reward. If a cultivator wanted to advance, they couldn’t fear danger.

Considering all this, Yang Kai’s expression became firm but he also didn’t dare act recklessly. Pushing his Demonic Flames to their maximum, Yang Kai also took out his purple shield and used it to create a purple light halo and a miniature sandstorm around his body.

He didn’t stop here though. Yang Kai freely spend his Saint Qi to condense several dozen Grand Heavenly Shields around his body as well.

Only after completing these preparations did he take a deep breath and jump into the pit.

Mid-air, Yang Kai’s expression turned extremely solemn as he swiftly glanced around. Finding a good foothold in a certain potion, his figure flickered and he quickly descended to reach a rocky outcropping. Identifying another foothold, Yang Kai leapt out, repeating this process again and again as he descended into the giant hole.

*Chi chi chi…*

The lava down below was very unstable, and it bubbled up and burst from time to time, sputtering molten rock across the walls of the pit.

The lava here was much more powerful than the lava in the ancient Spirit Array Wei Gu Chang had previously fallen into.

Several spurts of lava slammed into Yang Kai, shattering his Grand Heavenly Shields on contacted. In the blink of an eye, the several dozen barriers he had put up around himself had been completely destroyed.

The sandstorm which formed the next layer of protection around Yang Kai was somewhat successful in sweeping aside these bits of lava while those that still managed to make it through were blocked by the layer of Demonic Flames around Yang Kai’s body. Seeing this, it allowed him to put down his worries and concentrate on finding appropriate footholds.

As he descended, Yang Kai continuously replenished his destroyed Grand Heavenly Shields.

About thirty breaths of time later, Yang Kai’s eyes brightened, and his figure flickered to the side, leaping directly into a hole in the rock wall.

As soon as he entered this cave, Yang Kai felt the heat around him decrease dramatically, as if it was being blocked by the invisible barrier. This phenomenon immediately drew Yang Kai’s curiosity.

Turning around and looking out, Yang Kai gawked in shock.

Because he saw countless caves on the opposite wall, all of which seemed to be roughly the same as the one he had entered and were obviously not naturally generated because numbers had been engraved at their mouths.

These caves turned out to be artificially opened.

With a little thought, Yang Kai immediately understood what all of this was about and quickly began investigating the cave he had entered.

This cave was quite deep, running at least a hundred meters into the rock. After walking down this long, straight passage, Yang Kai came to a spacious stone room.

The walls were adorned with strange lighting stones that despite having been here for countless years were still emitting soft light, making this stone room quite bright.

With these lights for illumination, Yang Kai began looking around this stone room while putting away his purple shield and dispelling his Demonic Flames.

The floor of this stone chamber was smooth and flat, and there was a massive Spirit Array engraved onto its surface. This Spirit Array still seemed to be intact and was conducting heat from outside towards the centre of the room.

In the centre of the stone room stood a huge tripod furnace that was engraved with coiling dragons and soaring phoenixes but otherwise seemed somewhat plain in design. At first glance, it was obvious that this furnace was quite old and after being baked with such intense heat for so many years, was bright red and exuded an extremely hot aura.

Yang Kai inspected it and soon determined that this furnace was actually an Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace.

Yang Yan used to use an Artifact Refining Furnace to quench materials, but since the birth of the Stone Puppet, she no longer needed to use it. Only occasionally, while refining high grade artifacts, she would use her furnace for the final shaping and adjustments.

Sure enough, when he saw such an Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai showed a look of comprehension.

When he saw so many openings in the stone walls across from him, Yang Kai had a guess in mind, and now that he had seen the situation inside this stone room, it confirmed his guess.

This Earth Lung Fire Pond was really a place where a great Sect’s Artifact Refiner performed Artifact Refining.

It wasn’t surprising that such a treasure land would be occupied by a Sect’s Artifact Refiners. The caves cut into the walls must have been created for Artifact Refiners to use.

And the unknown ancient Spirit Array drawn on the stone chamber’s floor must have been designed to extract the extreme heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond for Artifact Refiners to use.

[Amazing!] Yang Kai was speechless. The methods and means needed to create such an elaborate setup inside this Earth Lung Fire Pond was not something ordinary people could achieve. Without a doubt, an Origin King Realm master was involved in setting this up.

The only regret Yang Kai had was that the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace here had been damaged quite severely, with many parts of it having melted or warped. It seemed that it was unable to endure being heated so recklessly for so many years.

On the other hand, the reason the Spirit Array here was able to run for tens of thousands of years was definitely because the Earth Lung Fire Pond was constantly supplying it with energy.

Understanding this, Yang Kai turned his head to look around, his eyes soon landing on a stone table of sorts in the corner of the room. Although Yang Kai didn’t know much about Spirit Arrays, after being together with Yang Yan for so long, he had at least gained some general knowledge.

This stone table should be the control center for this stone room’s Spirit Array.

Walking over to the stone table, Yang Kai poured his Saint Qi into it and sure enough, the along with a loud rumbling, the Spirit Array went dim and ceased functioning, no longer drawing in heat from the Earth Lung Fire Pond.

Yang Kai waited until the Artifact Refining Furnace had cooled down a bit before walking up and probing it more carefully.

However, after a quick inspection, Yang Kai was as disappointed as he expected to be.

After it cooled down, this Artifact Refining Furnace actually broke into pieces with just a light tap. Moreover, whatever material that was being quenched inside of it had already become useless slag.

This wasn’t surprising though. After being exposed to such high temperatures for so many years, even the most precious of materials would turn into scrap. If the Origin Grade Low-Rank Artifact Refining Furnace itself had been destroyed, how could the materials it was being used to quench have possibly endured?

But this was just one stone room. There were many others just outside.

Thinking that after stumbling into a treasures trove he couldn’t just walk out empty handed, Yang Kai began investigating the stone chambers one by one.

It took two days to explore at least three hundred stone chambers, but apart from obtaining some Artifact Refining tools and materials which were stored in these stone chambers, Yang Kai actually didn’t obtain much of note as all of the Artifact Refining Furnaces were essentially damaged beyond repair.