Martial Peak
chapter-2333

Yang Kai could immediately tell that Ye Chong didn’t trust him completely and was afraid that he would covet the treasures in the ring for himself, which was why Ye Chong had put a bloodline seal on the ring.

Of course, Ye Chong wasn’t specifically targeting him, as it was obvious that this seal had been placed ten thousand years ago.

Even though Yang Kai understood this, he still felt displeased inside.

Ye Chong was clearly the one asking for help handing over an item, yet he was acting like Yang Kai was a thief. Who would feel good about that?

However, Yang Kai didn’t show this on his face. He simply took the ring and said, “Rest assured, Senior, I’ll definitely hand this to Sect Master Ye.”

“Very good, very good!” Ye Chong gently sighed, as if a great weight had been removed from his heart, “Of course, this King won’t ask for your help for free.”

Yang Kai’s eyes couldn’t help but light up when he heard this. He knew that Ye Chong was going to give him something good, so he immediately looked forward to what it was.

However, Ye Chong didn’t immediately say what he was going to give Yang Kai and instead directed a contemplatively look towards Liu Yan as a highly complex light flashed in his green eyes.

Although Liu Yan was only an Artifact Spirit, she still felt like her hair was standing on end being stared at like this. She couldn’t help but hide behind Yang Kai’s body. Ye Chong was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master, after all. Even if he was an arrow at the end of its flight, who knew what else he might be capable of?

After a long while, it seemed as if Ye Chong made up his mind as he said, “You should enter the cave that this King previously stayed in. Perhaps you can find an opportunity there.”

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Yang Kai hurriedly asked, “Senior, please explain.”

Ye Chong told him, “You’ll naturally know when the opportunity comes. If the opportunity doesn’t arrive, then asking is useless!”

Yang Kai’s face went black. Ye Chong’s words were the same as saying nothing at all. Ye Chong was giving him something good, but not explaining anything at all and instead hiding information, which seemed too stingy.

Still, Ye Chong was an Old Master from ten thousand years ago, so Yang Kai couldn’t be bothered to argue with him, nor did Yang Kai want to thank him. To Yang Kai, he only came here to help Thousand Leaves Sect repair their World-Crossing Space Array. It was only a coincidence that he had been able to talk to Ye Chong.

Yang Kai hadn’t intended on keeping Ye Chong’s ring for himself to begin with. Of course… if it wasn’t for Ye Chong placing a bloodline seal on the ring, Yang Kai would first ‘borrow’ what was in the ring to ‘study’ before giving it to Ye Hen.

Yang Kai was quite interested in Dao of Puppetry as well.

But since there was the bloodline restriction, Yang Kai naturally wouldn’t investigate what good things were inside the ring. If he actually tried to do so, it was likely that he would receive some type of backlash. Ye Chong was a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master. Who knew what dangerous trap he might have left behind on that bloodline seal?

Just as Yang Kai was secretly thinking such things to himself, Ye Chong suddenly asked, “How much time has passed?”

Yang Kai furrowed his eyebrows, “I don’t know the specific number of years, but it’s been at least ten thousand years.”

“Ten thousand years…” Ye Chong was astonished before he began to chuckle bitterly, “How is Thousand Leaves Sect’s current situation, then? Are there many experts in the Sect?”

Yang Kai replied honestly, “If Senior is asking about Dao Source Realm experts, there are quite a few, but as for Emperors, there’s not a single one.”

Ye Chong sighed, “This King has wronged the Sect!”

His tone contained strong self-blame and regret. If it wasn’t for his stubbornness back then in taking all the Secret Arts and Secret Techniques into the Sealed World despite others’ objections, because he had wanted to attempt to refine his own body into that of a puppet and reach the peak of his Dao of Puppetry, Thousand Leaves Sect wouldn’t have become like how it was today.

And in the end, Ye Chong had failed.

Right when he failed, he realized that he had been wrong. He had underestimated the Heavenly Way when he felt that he would definitely succeed. Ye Chong then predicted the decline of Thousand Leaves Sect, which was why he did everything he could to leave a sliver of Remnant Soul in the Corpse Puppet. Ten thousand years later, his efforts allowed him to meet Yang Kai.

Yang Kai couldn’t really say anything about Ye Chong’s current condition.

After Ye Chong sighed, his head suddenly fell down listlessly on his chest as the green light in his eyes gradually dimmed and then vanished. A black aura then flew out from the Corpse Puppet’s head and transformed into nothingness.

Yang Kai knew that this former Thousand Leaves Sect Master from ten thousand years ago had now completely died, with not even a single sliver of Remnant Soul remaining.

After the Corpse Puppet lost its last bit of Remnant Soul, it suddenly clattered all over as it collapsed into a pile of white ash.

Yang Kai could only stare silently.

Even the strongest cultivator would eventually die. Ye Chong had wanted to use his body to defy the Heavenly Way and obtain an immortal body. Unfortunately, even though he was a Heaven defying genius, he was still unable to break free from the restrictions of reality.

It was like this even for a Third-Order Emperor Realm Masters, so just how difficult would it be to truly achieve eternal indestructibility? It was unknown if even the Ten Great Emperors were capable of achieving this.

Yang Kai then slowly shook his head when he thought of this. The Ten Great Emperors definitely couldn’t achieve such a feat either. If they had been capable of doing so, then Heaven Devouring Great Emperor and Flowing Time Great Emperor wouldn’t have died.

Yang Kai actually had some hope of achieving immortality, although the prerequisite was for him to refine the Immortal Tree. According to legends, a person could become immortal and indestructible after refining the Immortal Tree, although it was unknown if there was any basis for the rumours.

After pondering for quite a while, Yang Kai brought Liu Yan with him to bury Ye Chong’s bones.

Yang Kai didn’t spend too much effort on the burial, since Ye Hen would definitely come here after the Space Array was fixed. As Ye Chong was Ye Hen’s ancestor, Yang Kai could just leave the formal burial to him. It was likely that Ye Hen would hold a grander burial ceremony.

After he finished burying Ye Chong’s bones, Yang Kai took Liu Yan with him to the cave where he previously met Ye Chong.

Yang Kai was rather doubtful about the opportunity that Ye Chong mentioned inside the cave. Although Yang Kai hadn’t carefully investigated the cave when he entered last time, he also hadn’t found anything special about the cave.

Liu Yan also really wondered as she followed Yang Kai. “Master, why was that Senior Ye staring at me when he said that there was an opportunity?”

“Because you’re pretty,” Yang Kai answered flippantly.

“Be more serious!” Liu Yan glared at Yang Kai. Although Liu Yan felt that her illusionary human form wasn’t ugly, why would Ye Chong stare at her just because of that? He was a Sect Leader for one of the top Sects back in his day, so of course, he would have seen all sorts of beautiful women before.

Yang Kai chuckled, “He must have seen what your true form was, which was why he was focused on you. There’s nothing strange about it.”

“I think that’s probably the reason as well,” Liu Yan nodded in agreement.

They soon reached the cave again as they chatted. Since Ye Chong said that there was an opportunity here, Yang Kai came in this time with Divine Sense fully released, searching around carefully.

But, even as he reached the end of the cave, he still hadn’t found anything suspicious at all.

“Could he have been lying to me?” Yang Kai felt rather frustrated. It was fine if Ye Chong was on guard as if he was a thief by placing a bloodline seal on the ring, since that wasn’t really targeting him specifically, but if Ye Chong had lied about an opportunity here, then that was really just too much.

Yang Kai hadn’t been counting on getting anything from Ye Chong to begin with; however, if Ye Chong had voluntarily mentioned giving him an opportunity but also lied to him, then that would be a simple issue of morality.

Yang Kai refused to believe this or give up though, and searched the deepest depths of the cave several more times. He even sent his Divine Sense through the stone walls to search deeper into the mountain, but still discovered nothing.

Meanwhile, Liu Yan suddenly stopped and kept staring at an oval-shaped rock.

“Did you find something?” Yang Kai inquired.

Liu Yan told him, “Master, it seems like this rock is no ordinary rock.”

Upon hearing this, Yang Kai arched his brow and immediately sent his Divine Sense to scan the oval rock. He had already checked this rock earlier but hadn’t paid it much attention, since this rock didn’t even have any discernible energy or aura, so it obviously wasn’t any precious treasure.

Yet, Yang Kai noticed something unusual when he checked it again.

This rock was actually absorbing his Divine Sense as he scanned it, causing a slight stinging in his Knowledge Sea.

“Em…?” Yang Kai was astonished, “Is the opportunity that Ye Chong mentioned actually this rock?”

There was nothing else suspicious in the entire cave. The oval-shaped rock was the only strange thing here. If there really was an opportunity here, then this rock had to be the opportunity.

But, what could a rock even do? Could it be a High-Grade Artifact Refining material? Yang Kai had a confused look. He didn’t need Artifact Refining resources and he already possessed several Emperor Artifacts, so he had no need to create any more artifacts.

Liu Yan also had a confused expression as she reached with her hand towards the rock. She wanted to see just what strange attributes this rock had.

“Wait!” Yang Kai hurriedly tried to stop her. Although he didn’t know what strange attributes this rock had, it obviously wouldn’t be good to touch it until its true nature was identified. Besides, this was a strange rock that could even devour his Divine Sense.

However, he shouted just a little too late.

Liu Yan had already touched the strange rock. When she heard Yang Kai’s shout, she instinctively tried to retract her hand, but at this time, a powerful suction force suddenly came from the strange rock. The suction force was so strong that Liu Yan couldn’t resist at all. She only had the time to shout out in surprise before she was absorbed into the rock and instantly disappeared.

Yang Kai’s expression immediately changed. Although Liu Yan was capable of assuming a human form that made others see her as a living beauty, she didn’t actually have a physical body and didn’t even count as living. Her body was made from pure energy, although the energy was dense enough that she seemed corporeal.

[Just what the hell is this strange rock? How did it absorb Liu Yan!?] Yang Kai couldn’t possibly stand back and do nothing.

Yang Kai didn’t hesitate at all as he pushed his Source Qi and hit the strange rock.

With a loud boom from Yang Kai’s attack, a clear handprint was left on the strange rock; however, the abnormal part was that the rock didn’t actually shatter. Instead, it actually began repairing itself after Yang Kai’s attack.

In less than ten breaths, the strange rock restored itself to its original form. It was impossible to tell that Yang Kai had just attacked it.

“Free-Flowing Memory Metal?” Yang Kai’s expression changed slightly, but he soon realized that he was wrong.

Although Free-Flowing Memory Metal was one of the best Artifact Refining materials, and any artifact with just a little bit of Free-Flowing Memory Metal would gain miraculous restorative abilities, even rendering the most severe damage easily fixable, the Free-Flowing Memory Metal that Yang Kai knew about definitely wasn’t like this strange rock.

Yang Kai had originally wanted to destroy the strange rock and save Liu Yan, but he instantly realized that wouldn’t work after his attack. This strange rock wasn’t hard, but it was incredibly durable and impossible to shatter.

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Not only that, Yang Kai sensed that his mysterious connection to Liu Yan, which had remained since they met, had suddenly been cut off after Liu Yan was absorbed into this strange rock.

Liu Yan was an Artifact Spirit. Back when Yang Kai first refined her Natal Body Artifact Refining Furnace, the two of them had forged an invisible connection that hadn’t broken for so many years now, yet the connection had suddenly just vanished.

Yang Kai’s face paled as he thought that Liu Yan had just died.

That was the only explanation for why the connection between the two of them had suddenly been severed.

Yang Kai instantly felt as if his heart had been stabbed through and his mood became incredibly gloomy.