Martial Peak
chapter-676-30041322

“If this friend is willing to come to my Spirit Religion and serve as an Honoured Guest, my Spirit Religion will offer very generous conditions,” Duan Hai said sincerely. Although he was a Transcendent Realm master and at least a generation older than Yang Kai, he still didn’t hesitate to affectionately call him friend.

“Brother Duan might as well explain what kind of treatment he is prepared to offer so that little friend Yang can make his own decision,” Old Man Du knew that Yang Kai was ignorant about these matters so he purposefully made this remark to assist him.

Duan Hai wore a forced smile and replied, “Old Man Du, since he is your person, of course I will not mistreat him.”

Staring towards Yang Kai seriously, Duan Hai continued, “My Spirit Religion will provide you with all the necessary spirit herbs. Any pill you refine, you can take 20% of its value as a reward, and that is, if the value of a pill you refine is worth one hundred Crystal Stone, my Spirit Religion will give you twenty Crystal Stones as payment.”

Old Man Du expression changed slightly and quickly nodded.

Yang Kai, who was observing closely, noticed this and realized that such treatment was probably quite good.

“That is only the most basic condition. My Spirit Religion will provide you with the most comfortable Alchemy environment and will do its best to meet any of your other needs. As long as it does not harm my Spirit Religion benefits, anything can be negotiated. How about it?”

When Duan Hai finished, he turned his eyes towards Yang Kai expectantly and waited for his reply.

To be honest, the conditions he proposed were already quite generous, and the payment of 20% was far greater than what would normally be offered. Even if it was a Spirit Grade Top-Rank Alchemist being hired as an Honoured Guest, they would not receive such a percentage.

If Yang Kai had any other requirements, he could also discuss it with him.

Yang Kai brow rose slightly and thought about it for a while before turning to Old Man Du and soliciting his opinion, “What does Senior think?”

“The conditions are quite good,” Old Man Du told the truth, “But whether you agree or not, everything depends on your own wishes.”

“Since it is a friend of Old Man Du… there should be no problem,” Yang Kai grinned. He had already been thinking about hiring himself to a force and with the recommendation of Old Man Du he could feel at least a bit more relieved.

Duan Hai was overjoyed as a big smile appeared on his face, “Friend is really easy to speak with.”

“However, the conditions have to be changed,” Yang Kai shifted the conversation.

“Please,” Duan Hai said respectfully.

“20% of the sale price… I don’t need, I’ll only take 10%!” Yang Kai raised a finger.

Duan Hai and Old Man Du were both stunned, but neither of them interrupted, waiting for the follow up. Yang Kai taking the initiative to give up some of his benefits obviously meant he had something else he wanted to ask for.

“In exchange, I hope that your Spirit Religion will help with a matter. Rest assured this matter will not bring any harm to you.”

“What matter?” Duan Hai asked.

“When the time is right, I will naturally inform you. Also, I hope Bright Thunder Spirit Religion will not limit my freedom in any way. If I wish to leave, I hope I will not encounter any obstacles.”

“Of course,” Duan Hai nodded quickly, “My Bright Thunder Spirit Religion already has a number of Honoured Guests. Whether these Honoured Guests wish to stay or go is completely up to them, my Spirit Religion never interferes.”

“I’m happy to hear that,” Yang Kai laughed.

Duan Hai immediately showed a joyful look, “Then, is it settled?”

Yang Kai nodded firmly.

Old Man Du smiled and said, “Congratulations Brother Duan. In fact, this old master very much doesn’t want to let this little friend leave, but little friend has his own ideas so this old master can only reluctantly see him off.”

Duan Hai quickly proposed with deep meaning, “Old Man Du, if you’d like, why not come to my Spirit Religion as an Honoured Guest as well?”

“Don’t you think your appetite is a bit too big?” Old Man Du laughed, “You even want to hire this old master?”

“A Saint Grade Alchemist, which force wouldn’t want to hire one?”

“I’m afraid you can’t afford the price,” Old Man Du smiled lightly.

Duan Hai’s smiled bitterly, “Fair enough.”

Shaking his head slightly, he quickly turned to Yang Kai and asked, “When would it be convenient for this friend to leave?”

“I can depart at any time.”

“How about now?” Duan Hai obviously didn’t want to wait, causing Yang Kai to smile somewhat dumbly and nod.

“Good, important matters should not be delayed, let us be off,” Duan Hai said, quickly standing up.

“En, give me a moment to say goodbye to a friend,” Yang Kai said, also getting up and walking out to find Mi Na. The two of them had gotten along well these past few months so naturally he had to tell her before he left, otherwise he would appear too unfeeling.

Inside the room, Duan Hai and Old Man Du sat quietly.

Suddenly, Old Man Du said in a low voice, “Duan Hai, don’t say later that this old master didn’t remind you, this little friend should not be an ordinary person. While he resides in your Spirit Religion, don’t mistreat him.”

Duan Hai was stunned to hear such a comment and hurriedly asked, “What does Old Man Du mean?”

Du Wan just slowly shook his head though and said nothing more, leaving Duan Hai confused.

A moment later, Yang Kai returned after bidding farewell to Mi Na; he had no need to pack anything as all his belongings were in still in the Black Book Space. As Duan Hai led him out of the Alchemist Guild, Mi Na reluctantly waved goodbye to Yang Kai. After spending a lot of time with him, her Alchemy technique had improved at a pace far greater than when her Master taught her, so naturally she was reluctant to see him go.

Duan Hai waved his hand and wrapped Yang Kai in his True Qi before the two quickly took off and flew away from Grand Boulder City.

Along the way, Duan Hai’s attitude towards Yang Kai was very cordial, kindly explaining to him the various features and strengths of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.

In order to make Yang Kai feel a sense of belonging quickly, Duan Hai naturally spared no effort to praise Bright Thunder Spirit Religion and from his words, Yang Kai learned quite a bit about this force.

Near the Snow Mountain Range, there were more than a thousand large and small peaks, and Bright Thunder Spirit Religion occupied one section of them.

After about an hour’s flight, the two came to the site of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.

Landing atop one of the bigger mountain peaks, the air felt a bit chilly but overall the area was green and lush, with a rich World Aura circulating. From the base to halfway up the mountain was a vast field of herbs that filled the air with a strong medicinal fragrance while from halfway up to the top there were a number of simple residences.

Duan Hai quickly said, “This place used to be the residence of an Alchemist Honoured Guest of my Spirit Religion, but he resigned as an Honored Guest a few months ago, so right now this place is unoccupied. How is it? Would Honored Guest Yang like to live here? If you feel that this place is too simple, I can arrange for accommodations elsewhere in my Spirit Religion where the atmosphere is livelier.”

“No need, here is good,” Yang Kai nodded, quite satisfied with the location. He wasn’t interested in socializing and having many people around would only be distracting, so being further from the crowd was more relaxing to him.

Hearing this, Duan Hai smiled and nodded, “Honoured Guest Yang really is focused on studying the Alchemic Way, I also originally thought you would prefer to live in a more populated place.”

“Oh?” Yang Kai stared at him curiously.

“Generally, our Honoured Guests prefer to live where the crowd gathers as they are chasing wealth, power, and fame. These kinds of people, my Spirit Religion has never been too concerned about, but someone like Honored Guest Yang who wholeheartedly strives to improve himself will certainly have great achievements in the future and will inevitably be paid attention to by our Spirit Religion,” Duan Hai said with a smile, “Right, this is an Honored Guest’s token. Please bring it with you at all times. As long as you have this token, you can walk freely in my Spirit Religion, with the exception of a few forbidden areas that is.”

Saying so, he handed a dark coloured token over to Yang Kai.

Yang Kai accepted it and looked it over briefly before storing it away.

“I will send someone to assist you later. If you have any needs, you can inform me through them or allow them to handle it for your directly.”

Yang Kai nodded slightly.

“Honoured Guest Yang, if this is nothing else, this one will take his leave first,” Duan Hai asked Yang Kai politely.

“For now, I have nothing else to ask.”

Duan Hai nodded slightly before activating his movement skill and quickly departing.

After Duan Hai left, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense and explored the surrounding area.

This mountain peak was not too high, but also not too short, about two thousand meters in total. Standing at the top of the peak, surrounded by white clouds, it was just like floating in a fairyland.

[This place really isn’t bad,] Yang Kai thought to himself with a smile on his face.

According to Duan Hai’s words, from now on, before he resigned as an Honoured Guest, this mountain would belong to him. Of course, the spirit grass and spirit medicines on the mountain were the property of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion.

Yang Kai first walked around the mountain, examining the expansive herb garden, soon discovering that these herbs were all healthy and growing prosperously and didn’t need him to personally tend to them. Obviously there were other people responsible for their care.

Atop the mountain peak, there was a rich and pure World Aura that was very suitable for cultivation.

After checking out his own peak, Yang Kai began wandering around the nearby mountains.

Among the nearby peaks lived a number of Honoured Guests of Bright Thunder Spirit Religion, each of them an Alchemist, so they had many common topics of discussion. After learning that Yang Kai was actually a Spirit Grade Low-Rank Alchemist, those Honored Guests were quite surprised, many of them even showing him looks of awe and respect.

Yang Kai also learned a lot about Bright Thunder Spirit Religion from his chats with them.

In general, this Sect was a decent one. Just as Duan Hai had told him before, the treatment of Honoured Guests here was generous. If an Honoured Guest wanted to leave, they would not try to strong arm them into staying and instead see them off courteously.

Moreover, every Honoured Guest would be assigned a dedicated helper, and those helpers, without exception, were all young, beautiful women.

As they spent most of their time in secluded study, these Alchemists naturally had need of such distractions to help them relieve their stress. These helpers were sent by Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to assist these Alchemists and to meet any ‘other’ requirements they might have.

These helpers also willingly accepted this task and could even be said that there was fierce competition within Bright Thunder Spirit Religion to become a dedicated servant of an Honoured Guest.

After all, Alchemists had distinguished identities, so gaining the favour of or even becoming married to an Alchemist was naturally something these young beauties hoped for. At the very least, these mountain peaks were amongst the best places to cultivate in the Sect. In the more crowded regions, with so many people gathered together, the World Energy was obviously less abundant whereas here it was the exact opposite. As long as one cultivated here, their strength would improve rapidly, and by being close to an Alchemist, one could also not be lacking useful pills as well.

This abundance of benefits naturally aroused people’s interest.

Yang Kai spent two or three days touring around his new residence and had visited with a lot of his peers, mixing in with them fairly well. He also obtained a much better understanding of how Bright Thunder Spirit Religion operated and just how grand and wealthy a force it really was.

The forces back in the Central Capital were really incomparable to it. Not only was there a massive gap in terms of the pure cultivation realm of the masters here, whether it was the concentration of World Energy, material wealth, Secret Arts, or Martial Skills, this minor Sect from Tong Xuan Realm was far ahead of the Central Capital’s Eight Great Families by multiple grades.

Recognizing this gap, Yang Kai couldn’t help but feel a bit listless.

Three days later, Yang Kai finally returned to his new home.

When he came to his peak though, his expression changed slightly because he realized that a new aura had appeared in one of the previously empty houses.

[Has the helper Duan Hai said would come arrived already?]