Martial Peak

As the three marched forward, they constantly released their Divine Senses into the surrounding snow and after a while, the face of the woman wearing thin clothes lit up as she pointed in a certain direction, “There should be spirit medicines over there!”

Saying so, she hurriedly led the other two over.

After crossing several hundred meters, the three worked together to clear a couple meters of snow, slowly revealing a plant which resembled fine ice crystals, it’s stem and leaves all glittered in the afternoon sun, giving it a beautiful and dazzling appearance.

Atop the plant were a few thumbnail-sized snow-white fruits which gave off a light appealing fragrance.

“Senior Sister Ji is amazing, you even managed to find White Jade Fruit buried so deep under the snow!” The younger woman happily applauded.

Ji Meng smiled as she glanced over at Zhu Ying Yue and warmly said, “You should pay closer attention to your surroundings and I’m sure you’ll also be able to find some.”

Zhu Ying Yue pursed her lips and pouted, “I’ve tried my best but every time Elder Sister Ji finds them first, even Senior Brother Qi isn’t your match.”

Qi Chao Wen felt a little disgruntled hearing these words and shot back, “Are you implying that I’m weak?”

Zhu Ying Yue just snorted, “You’re at least worse than Senior Sister Ji.”

Ji Meng tapped the young girl’s head gently, “When we go back you’ll have a share too, so don’t be discouraged.”

The latter innocently nodded her head.

Qi Chao stepped forward at that time and said, “Let’s pick these first. Make sure not to hurt the roots or stem. After a few years, it will bear more White Jade Fruit.”

Ji Meng nodded and stretched out her jade hand, carefully picking the small fruits and storing them into her Universe Bag.

For these kinds of spirits medicines that could continuously bear fruit, cultivators would generally not collect the whole plant as this was akin to killing an egg-laying chicken, reducing the overall amount of spirit grasses and spirit medicines in the world.

Obtaining this harvest, the three people looked very happy but suddenly, Qi Chao and Ji Meng frowned, both of them turning to stare at a spot in the distance, a look of vigilance appearing on their faces.

The two of them had just noticed that someone was quickly approaching them.

A vague figure appeared on the horizon and after a short moment, a young man appeared in front of them, stopping a couple dozen meters away from them.

Yang Kai saw the wariness in these three’s eyes but didn’t pay it any mind. In this wilderness, anyone who suddenly met a stranger would become somewhat vigilant.

It was the same for him, before he had approached them, he had determined their strength wasn’t enough to threaten him so he had decided to appear in an upfront manner.

If the other party had a Second Order Transcendent member among their ranks, Yang Kai would naturally have avoided them.

These three weren’t too old, at least not much older than he was, so communicating with them should be relatively easy.

Yang Kai nodded slightly, revealing a friendly smile.

“Who are you?” Qi Chao stepped forward, putting himself between Yang Kai and Ji Meng and Zhu Ying Yue, asking coldly, “Why are you here in the Snow Mountain Range Range?”

“I’m just a traveller who was passing through this place and accidentally lost my way,” Yang Kai replied honestly.

“A passing traveller?” Qi Chao frowned and swept his eyes over Yang Kai, his face expression with suspicion “You don’t look like a simple passerby. What purpose do you have for entering the Snow Mountain Range?”

This young man’s attitude wasn’t just vigilant but was bordering on outright hostile, which made Yang Kai feel somewhat puzzled, wondering what he had done to offend him. Not losing his temper, he quickly tried to explain, “I really was just passing through when I lost my way. When I noticed your auras I decided to come and speak with you hoping you could tell me how to leave this place, I’ve been stuck in this Snow Mountain Range for many days now after all.”

As he was explaining, Yang Kai noticed the small White Jade Fruit tree behind the trio, its beautiful appearance bringing a look of appreciation to his face.

Qi Chao carefully stared at Yang Kai, observing all of his movements and changes in demeanour; meanwhile, Yang Kai remained perfectly calm, not showing the slightest signs of anxiousness.

He wasn’t lying. Now that he had now left the Mysterious Small World, his current goal was really just to find his bearings and leave this seemingly infinite Snow Mountain Range.

After a short period of silence, Qi Chao slowly retrained his hostility and slowly nodded, “I’ll believe you for the time being, but this Snow Mountain Range is not something that outsiders can intrude upon. If you want to leave, just walk that way.”

Saying so, he pointed in a certain direction.

Yang Kai glanced in that direction before cupping his fists, “Thank you, perhaps one day I can return this favour.”

Having offered his thanks, he quickly used his movement skill and left.

“Wait!” Qi Chao suddenly shouted.

“What’s wrong?” Yang Kai paused, his brow furrowing slightly.

“Have you collected any spirit herbs or spirit medicines in these snowy mountains? If so, please hand them over. This is my Spirit Religion’s territory, everything here belongs to my Spirit Religion, outsiders aren’t permitted to take even one blade of grass from here!”

Yang Kai couldn’t help wearing a disdainful frown, feeling slightly impatient in his heart. Don’t say that he didn’t collect anything, even if he really had, with this man trying to order him about like this, he definitely wouldn’t hand anything over. This Snow Mountain Range was incredibly vast, it was impossible that it was the private property of a single force.

Glancing over at the two women behind this young man, Yang Kai was too lazy to stir up trouble and just bluntly replied, “No.”

The next moment, Yang Kai felt a Divine Sense unscrupulously searching for him.

Was this youth really so bold? Yang Kai was dumbfounded, wasn’t this guy worried about suddenly being retaliated against and being heavily injured?

But after thinking about it briefly, Yang Kai still decided not to bother with him and simply let him investigate.

After a moment, Qi Chao nodded with satisfaction, “You can go.”

Yang Kai said nothing, turned around, and walked away.

After he left, Zhu Ying Yue asked softly, “Senior Brother Qi, over there…”

“Shh!” Qi Chao raised a finger to his lips and slowly shook his head, glancing around before leading the two young women in a different direction.

Zhu Ying Yue stared at him doubtfully but still obediently followed, occasionally glancing back in the direction Yang Kai had walked, a trace of worry and regret flashing across her eyes.

After walking for an hour or so, Zhu Ying Yue finally couldn’t help asking again, “Senior Brother Qi, why did you point him in the wrong direction?”

Ji Meng also chimed in, “I’d also like to know what you’re thinking, Qi Chao,”

“That man is very suspicious don’t you think?” Qi Chao glanced at them and declared, “The words he spoke are clearly not credible.”

Ji Meng was struck speechless and slowly shook her head, “Even if he is suspicious, there was no reason to intentionally harm him, what you did just now is no different than sending him to his death! The direction you pointed him in is a region where Monster Beasts are active! If he encounters a powerful one how is he supposed to survive?”

“His life or death is none of our business,” Qi Chao coldly snorted, “Whenever you’re out in the field, you must always be on alert. His strength seems to be higher than ours, I only acted to ensure our safety.”

“How do you know that? I couldn’t tell at all,” Zhu Ying Yue asked curiously.

“Because he discovered us first,” Qi Chao explained briefly, “He is not one of our Spirit Religion’s disciples, so he either came to this Snow Mountain Range to collect spirit medicines or because he has some other hidden agenda. Didn’t you notice that when he saw the White Jade Fruit Tree he showed a greedy look? If I didn’t quickly send him away, maybe he would have killed us in order to seize our treasures. I’d be fine, death would be the end of it, but if you two fell into such a person’s hands, hah…”

Zhu Ying Yue’s pretty face went white, her tender body trembling somewhat, faintly recalling Yang Kai’s appearance and thinking his face did indeed look somewhat like a rogue.

Ji Meng’s face, on the other hand, became somewhat disgruntled as she argued back, “Why did you automatically assume he was someone nefarious? What if he really was just a traveller who lost his way? Getting lost in this Snow Mountain Range isn’t abnormal.”

“Then you can go back and tell him that the way we pointed to him is a dead end,” Qi Chao snorted.

Ji Meng became somewhat annoyed, “How am I supposed to find him?”

“When I lied to him, did you say anything? Why are you pestering me about it now, standing up for a mere outsider?” Qi Chao also became irritated.

“We’re all disciples from the same Sect, I didn’t want to say anything that would cause you to lose face in front of an outsider!”

“Stop arguing,” Seeing how these two were becoming more and more heated, Zhu Ying Yue quickly interceded.

“Let’s go, whatever happens, isn’t our concern. If he’s a good person he won’t die,” Qi Chao said indifferently while striding forward.

Ji Meng sighed helplessly, turning to look back somewhat reluctantly but after a while just shaking her head and following behind Qi Chao.

“Senior Sister Ji, will he die?” Zhu Ying Yue asked softly.

“Probably.”

“Did Senior Brother Qi do the wrong thing?”

“No, he also has his own reasons,” Ji Meng smiled slightly. However, when they had met, that young man had intentionally released his Divine Sense before making an appearance to alert them to his presence, so he shouldn’t have had any malicious intent.

If he really nefarious intentions, he could have just concealed himself and launched a sneak attack.

Ji Meng really couldn’t understand why Qi Chao had pointed him in the wrong direction so she felt a bit guilty towards this stranger.

…..

Yang Kai panted heavily, his expression quite gloomy as he stared down at the fresh corpse of a Seventh-Order Monster Beast beneath his feet.

Fresh blood still dripping from his wounds, the battle just now had not been an easy one.

A Seventh-Order Monster Beast was equivalent to Human Race’s Transcendent. Fortunately, this Seventh-Order Monster Beast wasn’t too strong and thus he could still somehow deal with it.

Following the directions given to him by the man in yellow robes, Yang Kai walked for three days but actually suffered seven or eight Monster Beast attacks.

These Monster Beasts, without exception, were all quite strong and posed grave threats to him. If it were any other Peak Immortal Ascension Boundary cultivator, facing such powerful Monster Beasts in their home territory in such a harsh environment, who knows how many times they would have died?

And as time passed, Yang Kai found that the snowstorms were becoming stronger and stronger, as if he had gone back to where he had first emerged from the Mysterious Small World.

This discovery made his expression quite ugly.

By now, he also realized that he had been cheated by that man.

They had met by chance and he had only asked them for direction, never once revealing any malicious intent, so after receiving an answer Yang Kai naturally didn’t have any reason to suspect him, how could he have known that he would be so sinister?

Taking out the Monster Beast’s core and breaking off its two horns, Yang Kai turned around and with a cold look in his eyes began retracing his steps.

As he trekked along the towering Snow Mountain Range, a world of pure white surrounding him, Yang Kai’s mood was obviously not very good.

Three days later, Yang Kai suddenly stopped.

Hearing a commotion up ahead, he released his Divine Sense to investigate and his expression suddenly became strange.

A dozen kilometers or so in front of him were two familiar auras, they belonged to the group of three who he had bumped into earlier. However, these two auras were somewhat unstable at the moment and were seemingly being chased by something. Right now, they were actually fleeing in his direction.

Soon, Yang Kai noticed a powerful aura chasing behind the two which obviously belonged to a Seventh-Order Monster Beast.

[The world is really small!]

Yang Kai revealed a weird smile and stopped in place, quietly waiting.