Martial Peak
chapter-5073

Yang Kai followed Zha Gu to the deepest part of the castle. After they descended nearly three kilometres, they arrived at a huge cave where hot air blew right at their faces.

As Yang Kai lifted his head and was surprised by what he saw. That was because there was natural Earth Fire in his underground cave. The omnipresent hot air billowed from that Earth Fire.

In this cave, there were some traces of restrictions set up by Humans and the entire cave was covered with a Grand Array.

The centre of the Grand Array was where the Earth Fire gathered.

There were also some miscellaneous materials strewn around the cave. It seemed that many of the materials had been used here before.

Yang Kai frowned with a puzzled expression.

Zha Gu shuffled towards the centre of the Grand Array. His aura seemed to have triggered the Grand Array’s power and the Earth Fire, which was hot enough to melt metal, came right at him. Ignoring it, Zha Gu covered his hand with Black Ink Strength and extended it into the Earth Fire.

When he retracted his hand from the Earth Fire, he was holding something.

He walked away from the centre of the Grand Array and passed the thing to Yang Kai, “Look at this.”

Yang Kai took it with both hands and instantly felt a hefty weight. Even with his strength, his arms still sank slightly, which went to show how heavy this thing was.

It was a giant halberd that was about 15 metres in length and as thick as a Human leg. This giant halberd looked awkward in Yang Kai’s hands, but it did suit Zha Gu’s size quite well.

“This…” Yang Kai examined the giant halberd in shock. As he scanned it with his Divine Sense, he soon realised something, “Was this created by a Human Artifact Refiner?”

He then turned to look at Zha Gu in astonishment, “Where did you get it?”

Given his eyesight, he could see that even though this giant halberd was made by a Human Artifact Refiner, it wasn’t fully refined. It was more like a half-finished prototype. This kind of weapon wouldn’t be useful on the battlefield as any Open Heaven Realm Master could easily destroy it.

“I used to have a Black Ink Disciple who knew a little about Artifact Refining. He spent a lot of time and resources creating this thing for me.”

Yang Kai was stunned as he hadn’t expected that to be the story behind it.

“It was because of his suggestion that I decided to build my estate here. This place has an Earth Fire he needed for Artifact Refining so that he could make full use of his skills. Unfortunately, before he could finish refining this thing, he… Before that, he left behind a set-up and told me to nurture this thing in the Earth Fire. He said that perhaps it would be usable after 100 years or so.”

Upon hearing that, Yang Kai shook his head, “It’s useless. Since the foundation isn’t solid, it’s pointless to keep nourishing it.”

Zha Gu arched his brow, “What do you mean?”

Yang Kai explained, “I have no idea what kind of achievements your former Black Ink Disciple had in the Dao of Artifact Refining, but this thing looks mediocre to me. The foundation of this artifact has been set, so even if it is nurtured for 100 years, you will only obtain a Low-Rank artifact.”

Zha Gu’s eyes brightened, “Are you saying that you’re more skilful than he was in Artifact Refining?”

Yang Kai put on a proud smile, “Indeed.”

An agitated Zha Gu asked, “If you were to refine it, what do you think you can make out of it?”

After a moment of deliberation, Yang Kai replied, “The artifacts used by Humans are categorised into Low, Mid, and High, which correspond to the Ranks of the Open Heaven Realm. People who can make High-Rank artifacts are called Artifact Refining Grandmasters. My Artifact Refining skills are average, so I’m far from being a Grandmaster. Nevertheless, it won’t be hard for me to make Mid-Rank artifacts.”

Yang Kai had spent 10 years learning Artifact Refining, and the one who taught him was Chai Hao, who came from Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven.

Chai Gao was the Sixth Disciple of Dong Guo An Ping, and even though he wasn’t as skilful as a Great Grandmaster like Dong Guo An Ping, he was still a Grandmaster. With such a person as a teacher, anyone would grow a lot regardless of how terrible their aptitude was.

Moreover, there were many similarities between Artifact Refining and the Alchemic Dao. Additionally, Yang Kai was a Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm Master with outstanding strength and aptitude. During the 10 years he had spent learning Artifact Refining from Chai Hao, his skills improved greatly.

Now, his Dao of Artifact Refining had reached the third level of comprehension, Taking the Initial Steps.

However, due to the limit of his aptitude in this Dao, it was destined that Yang Kai wouldn’t achieve great things in Artifact Refining. Perhaps he would be able to refine High-Rank artifacts one day if he kept improving his skills, which would make him a Grandmaster. Nevertheless, that would be the limit he could never break through in his lifetime. He could never become a Great Grandmaster like Dong Guo An Ping.

As Yang Kai had learned from a Grandmaster from Divine Cauldron Cave Heaven, regardless of his level of Artifact Refining now, his vision was much sharper than that of the average Artifact Refiner. He could clearly see the weaknesses in this giant halberd.

He hadn’t expected that Zha Gu had a subordinate who was an Artifact Refiner in the past; nevertheless, judging from the way this giant halberd was made, it was safe to assume that the Artifact Refiner who refined it was not very accomplished in this Dao, and since he wasn’t around, he had probably lost his life on the battlefield. Fortunately, the Artifact Refiner had at least built a set-up to allow the giant halberd to be nourished in the Earth Fire, so it was possible that Zha Gu could obtain a Low-Rank artifact in 100 years.

Nonetheless, as a Feudal Lord, it would be of no help to him to use a Low-Rank artifact in combat.

Meanwhile, Zha Gu became increasingly excited, “You must not lie to me.”

Yang Kai tiled his head and asked, “Why would I lie to you?”

“Prove it to me, then. Make me an artifact based on this one here. I’ll provide all the materials you need. If you succeed, I’ll give you a reward.”

“Fair enough.” Yang Kai directly agreed to it. This was the reason he had come all the way here in the first place, but he hadn’t expected that things would go so smoothly.

Moreover, there was already an environment that an Artifact Refiner needed. It could be said that Yang Kai had acquired the inheritance left behind by Zha Gu’s former Black Ink Disciple.

As he felt the giant halberd with his hands and examined it, Yang Kai commented, “It would be wasteful to create an entirely new weapon. Although this thing is a bit shoddy, and its form has been finalised, the materials used are precious. I just need to enhance it.”

“What do you need? I’ll prepare them for you.” Zha Gu asked, high-spirited.

Yang Kai replied, “Just get me some cultivation materials.”

“You only need those things?” Zha Gu was surprised.

Yang Kai nodded.

This wasn’t difficult. Zha Gu fished out a Space Ring and passed it to Yang Kai, “Do you think these are enough?”

After taking it, Yang Kai realised that there were a lot of Open Heaven Pills and several sets of Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order materials.

The origins of these Fifth-Order and Sixth-Order materials were untraceable; however, only Humans could refine Open Heaven Pills, and they were only useful to Humans. It was apparent that Zha Gu had acquired these pills from the battlefield.

Judging from the number of Open Heaven Pills in this ring, Yang Kai reckoned that Zha Gu had killed quite a lot of Human soldiers.

While forcing himself to remain calm, Yang Kai put away the Space Ring and examined the Grand Array in this cave. He then turned to Zha Gu, “Where’s the Array Plate that’s used to control this Grand Array?”

Zha Gu landed a slap on his own forehead, “Right.”

Upon finishing his words, he tossed an Array Plate at Yang Kai, who took it and started refining it.

It wasn’t difficult to refine this thing, so it only took Yang Kai a dozen breaths to finish. With this token in possession, he had full control over the Grand Array in this place.

With the help of the Earth Fire in this place, he would achieve twice the results with only half the effort.

When everything was prepared, Yang Kai extended his hand and summoned out a glittering silver hammer.

This nameless hammer was given to him by Chai Hao. It was used by Chai Hao when he was younger, but it fell into disuse after his skills improved and he acquired a better one. If not for the fact that Yang Kai was somewhat talented in the Dao of Artifact Refining, and that he was eager to learn, Chai Hao wouldn’t have given this sentimental hammer to him.

Although this thing was no longer useful to Chai Hao, it was a symbol of his growth that carried special meaning with it.

While it was useless to Chai Hao, it was precious to Yang Kai, and given his level of Artifact Refining, he could only utilise a small part of its full potential. It was also pointless for him to use better tools as he couldn’t bring out their strength with his low comprehension.

Yang Kai gently jabbed the hefty giant halberd into the ground so that it stood straight.

Zha Gu could see that Yang Kai raised the hammer in his hands and forcefully struck the giant halberd.

The moment the hammer was lifted, the Earth Fire in the cave madly streamed into the hammer, making the tool glow red.

A deafening clang was then heard.

A strike of such intensity should have destroyed the entire cave, but what was strange was that all the force stayed within the giant halberd without any of it escaping from the weapon. This was apparently because Yang Kai had full control over his strength, allowing him to put all of it to use.

Zha Gu arched his brow at the sight. For all intents and purposes, a Feudal Lord was equivalent to a Seventh-Order Human Master. However, Zha Gu reckoned that he didn’t have such precise control over his strength.

This went to show the vast difference in power between Yang Kai and himself, and he reckoned that it was no wonder Yang Kai was able to kill so many Black Ink Clansmen on his own.

However, what he saw made him feel puzzled.

In the past, he had observed from the side when his Black Ink Disciple created some artifacts. Although he knew nothing about the Dao of Artifact Refining, he could see that the way his Black Ink Disciple refined artifacts had a certain beauty and abstrusity to it. On the other hand, Yang Kai’s approach was brutal and blunt. It was as though he was just striking with all his might.

While Zha Gu was perplexed, he heard another clang the next instant.

A series of clangs were continuously heard and each time Yang Kai wielded the hammer, he seemed to be using all of his strength. The intervals between the strikes were precise, and every time he lifted the hammer, the Earth Fire in the Grand Array would be drawn into it, causing it to burn.

There were 81 strikes in total as Yang Kai hammered the giant halberd from the tip of its blade to the butt of his shaft.

Initially, Zha Gu hadn’t noticed anything, but as time passed, he could feel that the prototypical giant halberd was going through a kind of transformation. However, the transformation was so vague that he wasn’t even sure if he was seeing an illusion.

After 81 strikes, Yang Kai’s aura had become a bit unstable.

He then stored the hammer and sat down with his legs crossed before stuffing a handful of Open Heaven Pills into his mouth.

Zha Gu knew that Yang Kai’s strength had plummeted as a result of the damage to his Small Universe, so he didn’t dare to disturb him as the latter must be exhausted from all the hammering.