Martial Peak
chapter-5927

Yang Kai chuckled, “I do need to work harder from now on.”

After the light-hearted chat, both Yang Kai and Yang Xue felt warm with familial love.

Yang Kai finally turned to Yang Xiao, who had been standing on the side all along.

“Adoptive Father!” Yang Xiao stood rigidly with sweat beading across his forehead.

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes, “Are you feeling extremely nervous?”

“Of course not! Never!” Yang Xiao denied it at once, “My heart is leaping with joy at the fact that I get to see you when we’re in such a challenging situation, Adoptive Father!”

Yang Kai scoffed.

Yang Xiao jumped a little.

“Spend more time on your cultivation so that you become a Divine Dragon as soon as possible,” Yang Kai instructed after eyeing Yang Xiao for a while.

“Yes! I won’t let you down!” Yang Xiao firmly declared.

“Go on,” Yang Kai waved his hand.

Yang Xue began leading away a stiff Yang Xiao, but all of a sudden, she turned back around and reminded, “Make sure you be careful, Big Brother!”

Perhaps the connection they shared due to their Bloodline allowed her to sense that Yang Kai was about to do something dangerous, so she had a look of worry on her face.

Yang Kai nodded, “You both take good care of yourselves too.”

After watching Yang Xue and Yang Xiao leave, Yang Kai turned back to his three Disciples.

“Greetings, Honoured Master!” All three of them kneeled and bowed in greeting.

Yang Kai accepted the bow before lifting his hand, “You may rise.”

Zhao Ye Bai and the other two stood up.

Yang Kai had a faint smile as his eyes flitted over the three.

All of the disciples from the Void Dao Temple could be said to have inherited his mantle and were proficient in the cultivation of various Grand Daos. Thus, all of the cultivators from Void Dao Temple could be considered his Disciples.

However, only these three in front of him truly inherited his Legacy.

It was not that Yang Kai held back when he taught others his Daos, but Zhao Ye Bai and the other two were the only ones who formally underwent the ritual to become his Disciples.

They each inherited one of the Grand Daos that Yang Kai was most focused on, and all along, he had high hopes for them. Based on their achievement over the years, they did not let him down, nor did they waste their talents.

“Are you about to break through to the next Order?” Yang Kai suddenly realised there was something amiss about their aura. All three of them seemed to be suppressed by some kind of energy, and they were also doing their best to rein themselves in.

Zhao Ye Bai replied, “Reporting to Honoured Master, we will be breaking through soon, but Senior Wu Kuang said that as the Suppressing Black Ink Army is currently in hiding, we shouldn’t make too much of a commotion, so he had Senior Fu Guang put some seals on us to delay our breakthrough.”

Yang Kai nodded lightly, “That was wise.”

The Suppressing Black Ink Army was in a difficult spot right now and just covering their tracks alone took up a sizable amount of Wu Kuang’s attention. If Zhao Ye Bai and the others had their breakthroughs now, there was a high chance that the Humans would be exposed and they would be caught.

However, from the looks of it, their breakthrough was happening just as Yang Kai had predicted. They would have undoubtedly become Ninth-Order Masters by now if they had not been sucked into the Primordial Heavens Source Grand Restriction. Both they and the Suppressing Black Ink Army would have received a great boost in power.

“Come. I do have some knowledge to share regarding the breakthrough to the Ninth-Order Open Heaven Realm. Now’s my chance to share it with you,” Yang Kai took out a few futons from his Small Universe and tossed them onto the ground for him and his Disciples to sit on.

Zhao Ye Bai and the others quickly sat down to listen carefully to Yang Kai’s advice.

Although Yang Xue had shared some of her knowledge with them, every Master who ascended to the Ninth Order would encounter slightly different situations, so it was still beneficial for them to listen to their Honoured Master’s teachings.

After sharing some pointers and things to look out for when becoming a Ninth-Order Master, Yang Kai used his Divine Sense to confer with Wu Kuang. He was in a good mood as he asked, “It’s rare for us to have some spare time on our hands. Do any of you have any difficulties in your cultivation that you need assistance with?”

All three of them became spirited at once, but Zhao Ye Bai was the first to speak, “Honoured Master, this Disciple seems to have hit a bottleneck in the Dao of Space and wants to seek guidance from you.”

Yang Kai nodded, “Use some of your Space Principles. Let me take a look.”

Zhao Ye Bai immediately did as he was told. When Yang Kai sensed the movement of Space Principles, he raised his brow in pleasant surprise.

When it came to cultivation aptitude, Zhao Ye Bai was the weakest of Yang Kai’s three Disciples. In fact, he was weaker than most of the disciples from the Void Dao Temple.

There was only one reason why he was able to get this far in his Martial Dao, and that was because he had overwhelming compatibility with Space Principles, as if he had been born to cultivate the Dao of Space.

Yang Kai had taken Zhao Ye Bai as his Disciple because when the former had been wandering around in his Small Universe, he sensed that Zhao Ye Bai, who was still in his Mother’s womb at the time, had formed a connection with Yang Kai’s Space Dao Essence.

At the time, Zhao Ye Bai had not even been born yet!

A cultivator who had an innate connection with a Grand Dao would surely be able to cultivate that Grand Dao a lot more easily than others. The compatibility between this cultivator and the Grand Dao would be far above everyone else’s.

Zhao Ye Bai’s compatibility with the Dao of Space was able to make up for what he lacked in general cultivation aptitude.

Based on Yang Kai’s categorisation of Grand Dao Mastery, Zhao Ye Bai was currently at the peak of the Seventh Level, just one step away from the Eighth Level.

This was incredibly rare. Usually, only fully grown Phoenixes would be at this level, but those of the Phoenix Clan were born with a natural advantage as the Dao of Space was their Bloodline Talent, making it far easier for them to cultivate it.

Li Wu Yi was probably the only other Human to reach this level as well, but Li Wu Yi had been cultivating for much longer than Zhao Ye Bai.

Yang Kai even felt that if he cultivated normally, he would not be as proficient as Zhao Ye Bai was. His own elevated mastery of the Grand Daos was mainly due to the benefits he received from the Great Sea Celestial Phenomenon and the Infinite River. He had refined a lot of pure Dao Strengths from these two mysterious places and that had enabled his proficiency over the various Grand Daos to soar greatly.

When it came to higher levels of individual Grand Daos, words conveyed very little, so after a moment of silent thought, Yang Kai manipulated Space Principles to elucidate some mysteries to Zhao Ye Bai.

Zhao Ye Bai watched attentively.

After a long silence, he declared, “You’re incredible, Honoured Master. This Disciple is in awe!”

Yang Kai’s display was akin to breaking the Dao of Space down into minute details and showing Zhao Ye Bai the deepest, innermost mysteries. Due to Zhao Ye Bai’s compatibility with the Dao of Space, he was able to learn a lot from this alone.

The new knowledge and understanding flooded Zhao Ye Bai’s mind and he was confident that a brief retreat of focused cultivation would be enough for him to break through his bottleneck and allow his mastery of this Grand Dao to ascend to a new level.

Though he was eager to do so immediately, he could not under these circumstances, so he had to quell his desire.

Now that Yang Kai was done with his Eldest Disciple, he turned to his Second Disciple, Zhao Ya.

She got to her feet at once and waved her hand in the air to produce a long spear, “Please instruct me, Honoured Master!”

The Spear Dao could not be taught the same way the Dao of Space had been. It could only be transmitted through battle.

Yang Kai smiled, “Attack me!”

Zhao Ye Bai and Xu Yi’s expressions changed as they quickly scrambled out of their seats in front of Yang Kai and hurried to the side.

Yang Kai was startled by their reaction, but soon, his gaze hardened. All at once, an alarming murderous intent loomed over him, and in the very next instant, the tip of a spear drew near.

He raised his hand and lightly flicked away Zhao Ya’s spear.

Nevertheless, Zhao Ya did not stop there. She kept attacking with her spear, time and time again with quick, relentless strikes.

Zhao Ya seemed like an entirely different person when she had her spear in hand. Her presence became incredibly dominating.

Her spear technique showed traces of the Supreme Limitless Spear, but most of it was a product of her many years of accumulation and practice. In fact, Yang Kai could sense that she could very well surpass him when it came to the Spear Dao, which left him feeling rather helpless.

Only an impossibly dangerous environment could produce such an alarming Spear Technique, which was not something to be pleased about.

Zhao Ya was afraid to cause too much of a commotion, so she did not use her World Force or her Dao Strength, she simply relied on pure technique.

Her murderous intent did not decrease though. It was as if she were going up against a hated enemy she could never be reconciled with instead of Yang Kai, her Honoured Master.

Yang Kai finally realised why Zhao Ye Bai and Xu Yi had reacted the way they did earlier. They must have experienced the imposing aura of Zhao Ya’s spear themselves and knew to stay clear.

“Xiao Ya, you do indeed have great mastery over the spear and its techniques, but your murderous intent is too strong.”

Zhao Ya continued to lunge and withdraw her spear as she flitted around Yang Kai. Her spear loomed over the small area as she asked, “The Spear Dao is focused on domination and slaughter, how am I supposed to kill the enemy if my murderous intent isn’t strong?”

“You do need strong murderous intent, but too much of it isn’t a good thing.”

“It’s good to strike fear in the enemy even before the battle. It makes it even easier to kill them off.”

“If you run into an enemy who’s either weaker or of similar strength to you, you can indeed use your murderous intent to intimidate them, but what will you do if you run into an enemy stronger than you?”

“I won’t give up until I kill them!”

Yang Kai shook his head, “Xiao Ya, it’s true that Spear Dao is used offensively, but you need to get one thing clear. Are you using your spear to kill or to protect?!”

Zhao Ya did not understand, “Please enlighten me, Honoured Master.”

“One’s spear can be used to kill the enemy, but it can also be used to protect lives!” Yang Kai blocked Zhao Ya’s attack with his hand before reaching into the air. His voice continued, “The persistent focus on killing will only lead one’s heart astray. Everyone has something they wish to protect and that gives them strength to persist.”

Zhao Ya was confused, “How can I protect anyone if I don’t kill the enemy? Killing off all my enemies is the only way to protect what I am determined to protect!”

“And what do you want to protect?” Yang Kai asked as he brought out his Azure Dragon Spear.

“I want to protect…” Zhao Ya’s dazed eyes grew bright again as her gaze swept over the spot where Zhao Ye Bai was standing intently, she then shot a quick glance at Xu Yi as well.

Xu Yi keenly sensed this and grumbled, “Hey, Eldest Senior Brother, why do I feel like I’m just included as an afterthought?”

“Huh? What?” Zhao Ye Bai turned to ask. As he spoke though, he felt a sudden chill grip his heart as the aura of death swept over him.

Before he could react, he heard Zhao Ya’s heart-wrenching shriek, “No!”

Zhao Ye Bai turned around and saw his Honoured Master, enveloped by Black Ink Strength, a genuine Black Ink Disciple, flying over at him with his spear ready to strike.