Martial Peak - Chapter 194
Eventually, their efforts paid off. After months of investigating, these great Sects finally found some leads. There were clues that the thief, who had pilfered more than a dozen great Sects’ Hallowed Treasures, was actually a man they had all refused entry to their ranks thirty years ago.
They could not understand what kind of incredible adventure this man had encountered, to actually in such a short span of thirty years, be able to cultivate to the point where all of their Sects were almost unable to match him.
At this point, the great Sects finally understood why someone would steal their Hallowed Treasures. Originally this person was exacting revenge for rejecting him that year, wanting to give those great Sects who looked at him like a lowly dog a humiliating lesson.
The gathered masters from all the great Sects confronted this person, demanding the return of their treasures, were rejected outright, and the two sides were forced into a desperate battle.
This man fought a one-man war against the masters from more than a dozen great Sects, devastating several Endless Sea Islands, and inflicting heavy casualties to these cultivators. As for whether the thief himself was dead or alive, no one knew.
None of the masters who returned from that epic battle ever mentioned the matter.
Some people say that he was killed; others think he was seriously injured but escaped; who could say for sure?
With the passage of time, those who had participated in the war slowly died, and the incident slowly faded into history, but the Hallowed Treasures still remained lost.
Yang Kai had thought that this was just a made up story, passed down from the older generation; after all, how many of these so-called anecdotes were there? These things were shared over food and wine, mixed in with lies and exaggerations; for every ten of these rumours, if three were based on the fact it could be considered astounding. But even these three, after being passed down by countless people, would also gradually lose their original essence, having been embellished and degraded over time.
But today, with these Hallowed Treasures on display before him, Yang Kai knew that this was not just some story, but something that had really happened.
Supreme Solitary Sect’s Sect Masters’ Seal, in the hands of the Sect Master using the Sect’s Secret Art it became a deadly artifact. But at the moment, it was placed on top of a stone shelf, covered in a layer of dust.
Ancient Cloud Island’s Supreme Secret Art, Shura Sect’s Demon Suppressing Artifact, Falling Blossom Temple’s Thousand Blossoming Blood Begonia …
Which of these was not worth as much as a city, which of these was not sacred to its respective Sect?
Even if something on these stone shelves by itself was not very valuable, since it appeared here, for those great Sects they were priceless treasures!
Unbelievably, everything that man had stolen had been placed here!
Yang Kai’s heart pounded, he could imagine, if all these things emerged again, it would cause earth shattering waves across the entire Endless Sea Islands.
“Hey, these artefacts’ grades aren’t bad. Young Master, do you want to take a few pieces? They will certainly improve your overall battle efficiency.” Old Demon asked.
(Silavin: LOLX Aren’t bad. You sure are picky…)
There were not many artifacts here, only three in total, in addition to the Supreme Solitary Sect’s Seal which required their Secret Art to activate, the other two pieces could be refined and used by Yang Kai if he wanted to. These artifacts were both at least Heaven Grade, Yang Kai was naturally tempted.
However, once he uses these artifacts and someone who recognized their origin happens to notice, it would cause no small trouble, so Yang Kai still hesitated.
Temporarily ignoring Old Demon’s question, Yang Kai put everything back onto the stone shelves, and again proceeded further inward.
After walking for a while, a wave of rich and pure World Energy washed over his face, and not far ahead, a brilliant five coloured light radiated, fascinating him.
Yang Kai’s face brightened, instantly increasing his pace.
Rounding a corner he entered a place that appeared to be a living space, and was also where that five coloured brilliance was coming from.
Looking up, all Yang Kai saw was a wash basin size lotus flower floating in the air, surrounded by something like a water curtain, isolating this five coloured lotus from the outside.
Seemingly like water, but not water, observing it caused Yang Kai to feel an inexplicable sense of fear, like his own soul had become unstable and was panicking.
“Soul Warming Lotus!” Old Demon cried out in shock, “It’s actually a Soul Warming Lotus! My god, a Soul Warming Lotus appeared here, and it’s also a Five Coloured one! “
“Is this valuable?” Yang Kai licked his lips and asked with some excitement.
“Valuable? How could this be described as merely “valuable”, this is simply an unparalleled treasure!” Old Demon was so excited he became incoherent, “This is a Soul Cultivating Treasure, a priceless treasure that every cultivator in the world dreams of possessing. No matter how great your strength, no matter how high your cultivation, this thing has great use! Damn it, why could this old master not have found this treasure back then?”
Yang Kai coldly smiled, “So to say, you can’t take this thing?”
Old Demon’s soul shuddered, quickly saying, “Please don’t joke young master, this old servant is now only a residual soul, not to mention taking it, even touching it would could be the end of me. Being able to be accepted by it would be strange.”
“Tell me, in the end, what is the use of this thing? You can still be considered an old Devil Lord, how could this make you so undignified.”
Old Demon choked up and remained speechless for a long time, thinking to himself, [You fearless ignorant junior, you can only remain so calm because you’re completely oblivious to what this rare and valuable thing is. If you knew of its amazing use, you would be just as hysterical as this old man!]
[Damn it! Why is this old master’s luck not this good? This young master of mine’s fortune is too much! Just a few days ago he refined a trace of Heavenly-Law Energy, gaining the Heaven Soaring ability, and now he’s actually encountered a Soul Warming Lotus, is he possessed of a heaven-defying fated luck ability, to be able to come across these things one after another?]
Full of envy, jealousy, and hate, Old Demon held back for a long time to slowly calm his soul, gathered his thoughts and said, “Soul Warming Lotus, as the name suggests, is a Treasure which nourishes one’s soul with tender warmth. This means that it also helps to nourish your Divine Sense,young master understands what your soul is, correct? Although you are now only at the Qi Transformation Stage, unable to cultivate your soul, but it is, after all, still a part of you, your perception can be derived from your soul, and that is called Divine Sense. It acts as an extension of your perception. Once you reach the Immortal Ascension Boundary, you can begin to cultivate them. The more powerful your soul, the more obvious the benefits; if two similar strength cultivators fight, the one with the stronger soul will undoubtedly prevail.
Yang Kai frowned, impatiently interrupting him, “Get to the point!”
[Does this old devil think of me as a three-year-old child that needs teaching?] Although Yang Kai could not cultivate them, how could he be ignorant of what the Soul and Divine Sense were?
“Ah…” Old Demon, slightly depressed, continued, “Cultivating one’s soul is very hard, many times more than trying to enhance your cultivation or blood force, but some rare treasures can enhance the power of one’s soul, and this Soul Warming Lotus is the most supreme all those treasures under the heavens and earth. Not only is this treasure indestructible, it can never be refined, it can only be received. Once received it will reside within a cultivator’s Knowledge Sea, and without having to do anything else, it will keep moisturising and nourishing the soul, so that it slowly becomes stronger and more solid.
“Can never be refined, will never disappear?”
“Indeed, because there is no one in the world whose soul can refine the Soul Warming Lotus, even those peak strength monsters are not an exception!” Old Demon’s tone was quite serious, “This is a very special Treasure, in terms of value, the Heaven Devouring Insect’s remains which Young Master refined a few days ago compared to it would be less than dirt because this Lotus will accompany you your entire life. From the moment it connects with you till the day you die, it will continue nourishing your soul, all the time, never ceasing, no need for you to do anything, simply allowing you to sit back and enjoy its benefits.
“This really is a wondrous thing, I want it!” Yang Kai had been enlightened, now not hesitating to rush forward.
“Wait!” Old Demon suddenly yelled, “Young master must not be so reckless.”
Old Demon was nearly scared to death; until now, Yang Kai’s attitude had been relatively apathetic, he had not expected that once his interest was piqued he would be so decisive. This abrupt change almost caught him off guard.
“What now?” Yang Kai asked unhappily.
“Young master, you can see the liquid like barrier around this Soul Warming Lotus right? Do you know what it is?” Old Demon asked.
“Hmm?”
“This is the Knowledge Sea of a supreme expert, left behind after his death! It contains the power of that expert’s soul, if young master rushes into it with your Qi Transformation Stage cultivation, I’m afraid you would be instantly killed!
“Knowledge Sea?” Yang Kai was stunned, “After death, the Knowledge Sea can survive?”
The Knowledge Sea was ethereal and invisible, the embodiment of one’s spiritual force, if one were to die then it would go out like a light, the soul naturally could not be retained.
“For others it is impossible, but for someone who had obtained the Soul Warming Lotus, preserving their Knowledge Sea is possible. This is also the strength of the Soul Warming Lotus.” Old Demon explained, “Yes, young master, if you received the Soul Warming Lotus, if you were to die one day you could also be like this.”
Yang Kai could not help looking around. When he looked down, he saw that below the Soul Warming Lotus there really was a pile of bones. This dried up skeleton was obviously the cultivator from long ago who had caused the uproar in the Endless Sea Islands.
He had died here, but thanks to the Soul Warming Lotus his Knowledge Sea had been retained.
His brow twitching, Yang Kai asked, “Old Demon, aren’t you in need of Soul Force to devour?”
Old Demon laughed happily, “It is as young master says, and if the young master has no other orders, Old Servant would like to start devouring this man’s Knowledge Sea.”
“How long will it take?”
“I’m not sure, at least a month,” replied Old Demon, “After all, when he was alive, he was not weak, plus with the aid of the Soul Warming Lotus, his Knowledge Sea should be very strong.”
“A month, good. Then I’ll keep watch!” Yang Kai nodded.
“No, young master look there, the Soul Warming Lotus is not the only treasure here”.
Yang Kai turned and saw at the bottom of the cave was a dense pure fog, gushing with energy visible to the naked eye. Since coming in here, Yang Kai’s eyes had been attracted by the five coloured lotus blossom, not paying too much attention to this.
“What is this?”
“Pure World Energy, also known as an Earth Vein! Young master’s luck is good, you can cultivate in this Earth Pulse to absorb the World Energy while you wait for Old Servant to refine this Knowledge Sea, and then receive the Soul Warming Lotus.
“This is an Earth Vein?” Yang Kai was stunned, that thief from three hundred years ago really had found a wondrous place to cultivate, no wonder it only took three decades to reach a state where the Endless Sea Islands Great Sects were helpless against him.
Here there was not only the Soul Warming Lotus to help, there was this Earth Vein here too.
“This is a very small Earth Vein, and will dry up soon,” said Old Demon.
“It’s fine, you go about your task, don’t concern yourself with me.”
The Old Demon, with great joy, bound himself to the Soul Breaker Awl and flew out with haste. Crashing into the Knowledge Sea, he started to frantically consume it and Yang Kai could even hear the satisfying sound of sipping. It was as though a lustful ghost who was living in a desert had finally found a beautiful, stark naked woman.
