Martial Peak
chapter-2784

Chapter 2784, A Scourge Lasts a Thousand Years

The ground of this cave was extremely hard; however, the sword made from the Scarlet Feather Stone penetrated all the way to its hilt just from its falling momentum. This was enough to showcase just how sharp its blade was. What was even more commendable was that the sword had been made with a Scarlet Feather Stone as the primary material with no other materials being added to it. Although Scarlet Feather Stone was known for its toughness, it was not known for its malleability. That alone gave Yang Kai a general assessment of this woman’s Artifact Refining ability.

He reached out and grabbed the sword, and as the Scarlet Feather Stone sword sat heavily in the palm of his hand, Yang Kai poured his Emperor Qi into it, causing it to hum softly.

“Dao-Source Grade Low-Rank!” He said with slightly raised eyebrows.

“Hahahaha!” The woman stood on the rock and spread open her arms, laughing maniacally, “Surrender to the mystical and powerful Artifact Refining techniques of mine!”

Nanmen Da Jun’s expression darkened, “Palace Master, why don’t we go back and just forget about this?”

If Nanmen Da Jun had made this suggestion before the woman started refining, Yang Kai might have gone back home without any hesitation. Unfortunately, he had other plans after seeing this woman’s skills. The woman in front of them still looked extremely unreliable, but she definitely had ability far beyond the average Grandmaster.

“Little Brother, are you convinced now?” She glanced at Yang Kai proudly with an expression that seemed to say ‘hurry up and worship me’.

“It’s not bad.” Yang Kai nodded slightly.

“Not bad?!” Her expression became sullen as she stressed each word, “Not… Bad?!” Her divine skills only received a trivial evaluation like ‘not bad’!? She looked angry, waving her hands as if she were driving away flies, “Scram, scram! Leave this place at once. You’re not welcome here. Stay as far away from me as possible.”

Seeing as that brat was a guest brought by Nanmen Da Jun, she had treated him with some courtesy; otherwise, she would not have deliberately revealed her Artifact Refining skills in front of him. However, his neutral evaluation of her skills left her burning with rage and she immediately kicked him out as a result. She no longer had any interest in talking to him as she hated his kind the most! Not only did they not know how to appreciate how amazing her skills were, but they also pretentiously acted as if they understood!

Yang Kai smiled slightly, “It’s certainly not bad.”

Her expression turned icy as she calmly scolded, “Little Brother, watch what you say. Careless talk can bring misfortune. I might not look like much, but a single word from me could destroy you completely!”

Nanmen Da Jun chuckled, “Xiao Hou, you sure are talking big. Be careful or you might have to choke down your words.”

She scoffed in response, “I am an Emperor Artifact Refiner. Do you think nobody would help me if I really wanted to kill somebody? Those guys outside might be going crazy searching for me to pay back my debts; however, they will all become my lackeys if I step up to negotiate with them!”

He lightly replied, “Palace Master is an Emperor Alchemist!”

“Uh…” She looked at Yang Kai in surprise before turning to look at Nanmen Da Jun as if trying to detect a sign that he was lying from his expression. In the end, she was disappointed by the results. His expression was solemn, and he looked dead serious. Besides, based on what she knew about him, he would never lie about such matters.

[An Emperor Rank Alchemist?! At such a young age?!] She seemed rather shocked by the news. Even so, she stubbornly insisted, “So what? There’s not much difference between an Emperor Artifact Refiner and an Emperor Alchemist anyway.”

It was funny if you thought about it. An Emperor Artifact Refiner, an Emperor Alchemist, and an Emperor Array Master were gathered on this nameless island at this moment. That was a terrifying lineup. Any Sect would go crazy at such a sight, trying to recruit them all at any cost.

Yang Kai said, “You are called Grandmaster Hou, right? It seems that you don’t have a good impression of me, Grandmaster Hou.”

She snorted, “Whatever. I’m not close to you anyhow, so it doesn’t matter what you think of me.”

“The reason I said that your skills are not bad is that I have met a more skilful Artifact Refiner than you.”

As soon as the words left Yang Kai’s mouth, she jumped to her feet and screeched, “Bullshit! How could there be an Artifact Refiner better than me in this world?! In the Dao of Artifact Refining, I am the greatest!” She turned to glare at Nanmen Da Jun and spoke through gritted teeth, “Can I beat this little brat up?”

Nanmen Da Jun shook his head, “There’s no such thing as the best in the world.”

Nobody would dare to call themselves the best in the world in any field. Perhaps the Wondrous Pill Great Emperor could call himself that in the Alchemic Dao; however, this woman was certainly not of that calibre yet.

“You don’t believe me, Grandmaster Hou?” The corners of Yang Kai’s mouth curved, revealing a subtle smile.

The woman scoffed, “If that’s the case, then you have to bring me to this ‘more skilful Artifact Refiner’ that you mentioned. I want to see just who is stronger or weaker between us.”

Yang Kai shook his head and said, “I don’t know where she is right now.”

This drew a disdainful snort as Grandmaster Hou’s expression turned contemptuous. It was clear that she thought he was slandering her without reason.

“But…” Yang Kai continued, “What if I can prove that there is someone in this world that is better than you in the Dao of Artifact Refining? What happens then?”

“I’ll marry you then!” She sneered. Tugging at her floral dress as she puffed out her chest and uttered some shocking words, “I’m beautiful and have an ample bosom and stylish figure! Moreover, I still have my innocence. You better not say that I’m not good enough for you!”

Yang Kai glanced at Nanmen Da Jun who was currently facepalming before bringing a hand up to cover his own face in exasperation. The two wore annoyed expressions as if they just discovered how shameless this woman really was.

“Fine, fine,” Yang Kai nodded in exasperation before taking something out of his Space Ring and tossing it to her, “Please have a look at this, Grandmaster Hou.”

She caught it and glanced at it before sneering disdainfully, “An Origin King Grade artifact? Where did this toy come from? Ugh. Moreover, it’s a warship…”

Origin King Grade artifacts were artifacts that were only used by Origin King Realm cultivators, it was certainly a toy to her at her current level; furthermore, a useless one at that.

Yang Kai only smiled faintly and replied, “The simpler the item, the easier it is to evaluate the ability of the one who refined it, right?”

The woman’s brow furrowed together slightly as it was rare that she agreed with his point of view, “Good.”

Just like cooking, what challenges a master chef’s skills the most are not luxurious delicacies, but the simplest of dishes one would eat every day.

“Hmm?” Her gaze suddenly focused as the contempt in her eyes vanished abruptly and was replaced by prudence and amazement. She flipped the delicate little warship about, playing with it in her palms, her Divine Sense flowing out to investigate its internal structure.

“Palace Master… Do you really intend to recruit this woman into High Heaven Palace?” Nanmen Da Jun asked through a secret transmission, “You’ve seen what she is like… If she really joined High Heaven Palace, she might bring trouble to us. Moreover, she behaves perversely and acts however she pleases. I’ve yet to meet anybody who can subdue her. Do you have the confidence to make her submit to you, Palace Master?”

“Nope!” Yang Kai shook his head, “The only way to make her submit is to defeat her in what she does best. I am not capable of that.”

On this point, Nanmen Da Jun understood through his own experience. The reason he agreed to join High Heaven Palace was not that he was touched by Yang Kai’s sincerity nor how well Yang Kai treated him, it was simply because High Heaven Palace had something in his Dao that he was interested in but was unable to comprehend; that was the main reason he joined the Sect.

“But, even if I don’t have the ability, the people around me do,” Yang Kai smiled mysteriously.

“Are you referring to that Origin King Grade warship?” Nanmen Da Jun frowned, realizing that it was the key to their problem.

Yang Kai grinned meaningfully in response but said nothing more. Even though it was just an Origin King Grade warship, far too low grade for Yang Kai to use now, it was still refined by Yang Yan herself back on Shadowed Star. Yang Kai was very familiar with Yang Yan’s Artifact Refining skills. If this Grandmaster Hou was superior to Yang Yan in Artifact Refining, then he would have nothing to say, but Yang Kai believed that to be very unlikely, and the serious expression the woman in front of him was wearing reinforced that view.

As the saying went, ‘While the connoisseur recognized the artistry involved, the layman simply enjoyed the show’. A trivial Origin King Grade warship was nothing but a low-grade toy to Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun; however, it was an extremely delicate treasure of refinement to this woman.

Time passed slowly as the cave remained utterly silent. Grandmaster Hou’s expression became increasingly serious as a fine layer of sweat oozed out of her forehead. This both shocked and horrified Nanmen Da Jun, as the only reason for her current behaviour was that the Origin King Grade warship had had a huge impact on her.

Although he did not recognize her self-proclaimed title of being ‘the best Artifact Refiner in the world’, he believed that nobody was significantly more skilled in the entire Star Boundary in terms of Artifact Refining. Now, it seemed like the saying that ‘there is always a mountain beyond the mountains’ was true. But just who in the world created this Origin King Grade warship? And, where did Yang Kai obtain it?

“Activate it,” the woman suddenly raised her head and issued a command to Yang Kai. Her voice held no trace of politeness in it.

Fortunately, Yang Kai wasn’t bothered by her rudeness and simply formed a hand seal. Then, the warship that was the size of his palm immediately swelled until it became thirty metres long. A hatch opened and the woman entered the warship in a flash. From the looks of it, she planned to study it carefully from the inside out.

Since Yang Kai was in no hurry, he decided to wait outside with Nanmen Da Jun. At present, he was eighty percent certain that he could successfully recruit her into his Sect. The rest all depended on whether she was willing to accept her loss.

One hour later, she walked out of the warship with a dazed expression, looking like a walking corpse. It was as if she had been brutally ravaged by dozens of burly men to the point where she even walked stiffly and awkwardly. Only a strange light shone in her beautiful eyes. Moreover, her mouth was moving slightly, muttering something under her breath.

Glancing at each other, Yang Kai and Nanmen Da Jun tactfully did not disturb her from her trance.

Time passed. An hour… Four hours… Half a day… One night… A whole two days later, her demeanour finally changed. Her eyes shone brightly as she jumped up and clapped her hands, “Hahaha! I understand! So, that’s how it is!”

[She actually gained some kind of enlightenment from this!] Seeing this, Nanmen Da Jun let out a long sigh of relief. He had been quite worried over the last two days. Although they had known each other for so long and she constantly got on his nerves, they were still old friends, so he had been worried that she might suffer from dissonance in her cultivation when he looked at her possessed appearance. Still, it seemed like he had been worried over nothing. It made him feel relieved but a little angry at the same time. [Good people don’t live long, but a scourge lasts a thousand years. Based on what she has done in the past, she might just live forever. Why was I foolishly worried about her?]