Martial Peak

Chapter 5559: Small Talk

The Spirit Peak was overflowing with joy and happiness.

Most of the time, it was Dong Su Zhu who was speaking, Yang Ying Feng did not say much. Their chat included the interesting events that had taken place in the Star Boundary over the years. Like, when two Elders of some Cave Heaven or Paradise fought with each other over a Disciple, only to end up being taken advantage of by others.

This kind of thing had happened before. Only, when Yang Kai was here, the World Tree clone’s feedback had only just appeared, and was not as marvellous as it was now.

Like, when a native disciple of the Star Boundary with outstanding aptitude was acknowledged as Great Emperor a few years ago.

Or how a gorgeous disciple of High Heaven Palace made their Fellow Brothers compete with each other for her favour.

Yang Kai calmly listened with a smile.

High Heaven Territory was the last pure land of the Human Race. Feeling the warmth he had not felt for a very long time, Yang Kai suddenly understood the feelings of the Ninth-Order Old Ancestors who had sacrificed their lives that day.

They wanted to protect this final paradise at any cost, because this was the future hope of the Human Race.

Unfortunately, warm moments were always too short.

Yang Kai did not stay with his parents for long. After attending the family banquet, he left Yu Ru Meng and the others with his parents and departed.

He still had many things to attend to.

Yang Kai was sitting up straight in the Main Conference Hall of High Heaven Palace, listening to Hua Qing Si explain the Star Boundary’s current situation.

The Star Boundary could now be said to be the most important rear base of the Human Race, because of the World Tree clone. The current Star Boundary was truly an Open Heaven Realm Cradle, with a large number of them being born every year, each one extremely talented in their own right.

Most of these people would advance straight to Fifth-Order or Sixth-Order, while occasionally, one or two would advance straight to Seventh-Order! These rare few would be treated as precious treasures by the Cave Heavens and Paradises.

More than 1,000 years ago, the Cave Heavens and Paradises had founded their own Dao Temples on the Star Boundary, laying claim to vast stretches of territory. Over the years, a balance of power in the Star Boundary had been maintained by High Heaven Palace as the leader, and other local Sects and Cave Heavens and Paradises’ Dao Temples acting as supports. This power balance had not changed much for nearly a millennium.

A few decades ago though, when the Human Race suffered defeat on the Barren Territory battlefield, cultivators from various Great Territories all migrated to High Heaven Territory.

It was quite hectic back then as too many people had suddenly arrived, and more kept on coming. Fortunately, the Cave Heavens and Paradises had stepped in to manage the situation, otherwise the Star Boundary would have been in total chaos.

The Star Boundary’s name had spread far and wide long ago, and at that time, all the cultivators who had lost their homes all naturally wanted to settle down in the Star Boundary, but the Star Boundary was only so big and could not accommodate so many people.

In the end, Masters from the various Cave Heavens and Paradises came forward and allowed various forces to set up temporary palaces in the vicinity of the Star Boundary, but all the forces of a Territory were only allowed to set up one such palace.

Since they could not enter the Star Boundary, staying in its periphery was not a bad idea. At the very least, they would be able to benefit from some of the feedback from the World Tree clone.

Furthermore, the forces that had migrated from all over 3,000 Worlds were promised that if their outstanding disciples chose to enter any of the Cave Heavens or Paradises’ Dao Temples to cultivate they would be allowed to do so as long as they passed certain tests.

These tests were neither easy nor difficult, but only true geniuses could pass them.

Over the years, some people had passed these tests and entered the various Dao Temples, but their numbers weren’t that high.

With these kinds of arrangements, the initial chaos was finally settled.

Yang Kai suddenly understood, “No wonder there were so many Universe Fragments in the periphery of the Star Boundary, they were arranged by the combined effort of various forces of the Great Territories!”

When he had returned, Yang Kai noticed numerous Universe Fragments of various sizes floating around the Star Boundary. Furthermore, there were many palaces and buildings erected on these Universe Fragments; obviously, cultivators were living on them. Yang Kai could not understand why there were so many Universe Fragments present, but after listening to Hua Qing Si’s explanation, he finally understood.

The Cave Heavens and Paradises ate the meat, while the forces that had migrated could only settle for the soup. There was no other alternative though. The Dao Temples’ domain had already occupied a large portion of the Star Boundary, and far too many forces had migrated to High Heaven Territory, so the Star Boundary could not accommodate all of them.

Hua Qing Si concurred with a nod as a bitter smile appeared on her face as she continued, “If the Demon Territory’s environment wasn’t so unsuitable, many would have been more than happy to settle there.”

There were not many Universe Worlds suitable for habitation and cultivation in High Heaven Territory. Apart from the Star Boundary, there was the Demon Realm. The latter had been shattered many years ago, and Yang Kai had used his Embodiment to activate the Heaven Devouring Battle Law and re-assemble all those shattered pieces.

In terms of cultivation environment, the Demon Realm was naturally inferior to the Star Boundary; furthermore, the Demon Realm was rich in Demon Qi. Myriad Demons Heaven disciples should like it very much. Likewise, cultivators who cultivated Demon Techniques would not reject it, but for most cultivators, the Demon Realm was simply not suitable to live in.

“The numbers don’t match though, how come there are so few migrated cultivators here?” Yang Kai was a little puzzled. Although there were many palaces in the vicinity of the Star Boundary, those could only house so many cultivators, far fewer than the total number who had migrated here from the other Great Territories.

Hua Qing Si explained, “The number of cultivators living in the palaces in the periphery of the Star Boundary is small because most others were settled in the New Great Territory. There are many more suitable Universe Worlds in the New Great Territory for habitation. Whether it is the World Energy, World Force, or even the Grand Dao or material resources there, they can be well suited for varying forces.”

Yang Kai understood right away.

The Small Stone Race he had was discovered in the New Great Territory. This Great Territory was only accidentally discovered about a millennium ago, and Humans from the other Great Territories had never set foot into it. The void was truly vast, so a Great Territory could remain undiscovered as breaching the Territory Barriers was no simple feat.

Over the past 1,000 years or so, High Heaven Palace had worked hard to develop the New Great Territory and reaped quite a lot of benefits from it. During that time, the New Great Territory had been under High Heaven Palace’s sole control, with the Cave Heavens and Paradises unable to intervene in it. But now, in order to accommodate all the refugees, there was no choice but to open up the New Great Territory.

Be that as it may, if the New Great Territory had any treasures, they had already been snatched up by High Heaven Palace during their 1,000 year development period.

Yang Kai nodded lightly, “Follow me, let’s take a trip to the New Great Territory.”

Huan Qing Si instantly obeyed, “Yes.”

Yang Kai had learned a bit about the Star Boundary from Yu Ru Meng and his other Wives, but that information was mainly obtained during pillow talks. Now that he had personally returned, he naturally had to obtain a better understanding of the Star Boundary’s situation.

“I heard you have 200 disciples hidden here?” Yang Kai suddenly remembered this matter.

Hua Qing Si nodded her affirmation, “Yes, I have reported this to the Supreme Headquarters, and also received their permission.” After saying so, she added, “But not just High Heaven Palace has done so, the Cave Heavens and Paradises’ good seedlings who advanced straight to the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm have basically all been sequestered here. Only, their disciples are fewer than ours.”

High Heaven Palace had many disciples because of the tens of thousands of years of accumulation of Yang Kai’s Small Universe. Even if the Cave Heavens and Paradises stashed away some disciples, they did not have such unique conditions to benefit from.

“Does Palace Master think it’s inappropriate?” Huan Qing Si asked.

Yang Kai shook his head in denial, “It’s not about whether it is appropriate or not, but… never mind, we’ll discuss it later, I have my own considerations.”

He had always felt that a diligent cultivator who remained in a greenhouse would never have much potential.

He then turned to look at Bustling World Great Emperor, who was drinking tea by the side, and stated with a smile, “After so many years, your cultivation has become quite profound, Sir Hong Chen.”

Duan Hong Chen glanced at him and refuted, smiling, “Even so, I can’t compare to you. How did you reach the Eighth Order so quickly?”

Yang Kai had broken through to the Open Heaven Realm a little earlier than the other Great Emperors, but they had advanced directly to the Sixth Order, while Yang Kai had advanced to the Fifth Order; there was a difference of an Order between them and Yang Kai at the start.

Over these years, the cultivation of the Star Boundary’s Great Emperors had advanced at an astonishing pace. Each and every one of them had reached the Seventh-Order, and Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen had already reached the peak of the Seventh-Order Open Heaven Realm.

Originally, Duan Hong Chen believed that their cultivation must have surpassed Yang Kai’s; after all, Yang Kai had been fighting on the Black Ink Battlefield. But much to their surprise, Yang Kai had reached the Eighth Order by the time he returned, making him even stronger than the Great Emperors who had been stationed at the Star Boundary.

Duan Hong Chen was very puzzled about this.

“I obtained a certain opportunity,” Yang Kai casually replied. The next moment, his expression turned serious as he asked, “Sir Hong Chen, is the World Tree clone’s feedback useful to you?”

Considering everything, Duan Hong Chen and the others had advanced to the Open Heaven Realm just over 1,000 years ago, but all of them had now reached the Seventh Order. This was a huge improvement. If it was any other Open Heaven Realm Master, it would have been impossible to show so much improvement in such a short time, no matter how outstanding his or her aptitude was.

After giving it a thought, Yang Kai believed that the reason was the World Tree clone’s feedback.

In the past, he had also borrowed the Star Boundary’s power to resist his enemies, because he was a Great Emperor acknowledged by the Star Boundary’s Will. As a result, he greatly improved in a short time with the help of the Star Boundary’s World Force.

Borrowing strength like this consumed the World Force of the Star Boundary, but it also strengthened one’s foundation greatly.

This was equivalent to seizing the Star Boundary’s foundation.

It was quite beneficial to one’s self, and could save a great deal of time in cultivation, but for the Star Boundary, it was akin to killing the goose that laid the golden eggs, the Star Boundary being the goose.

Duan Hong Chen and the others understood this point, and with their sense of righteousness, they would never do something like harming others for the sake of their own benefit. So, their rapid progress must have something to do with the World Tree clone’s feedback.

Duang Hong Chen nodded his agreement, “It’s useful; very useful. I didn’t notice it at first, but with the increase in the World Tree clone’s feedback these past years, we discovered that our heritages increased much more rapidly than average. Furthermore, as Great Emperors, our Small Universes’ World Force should be denser than others. So, we should be stronger than other cultivators in the same realm.”

The World Force became denser with the increase in his cultivation. Suddenly, Yang Kai felt a sense of familiarity.

After giving it a thought, he realized that it was true for him as well.

There was a World Tree clone in his Small Universe, which was why his cultivation was much faster than before. Furthermore, the World Tree clone had the effect of purifying World Force, so it naturally made his World Force denser.

Although Duan Hong Chen and the other Great Emperors did not have World Tree clones in their Small Universes, they were Star Boundary Great Emperors, so the World Tree clone being in the Star Boundary was naturally beneficial to them.

Realization suddenly dawned upon Yang Kai.

No wonder Bustling World Great Emperor’s cultivation had improved so quickly. In the final analysis, it was all thanks to the World Tree clone.

The source of the World Tree clone’s feedback was energy siphoned from other Universe Worlds and then transferred to the Star Boundary, allowing the latter’s fortune and Auspicious Aura to flourish while its Grand Dao was further tempered. This way, both enlightenment and cultivation became easier for the residents of the Star Boundary.

Be that as it may, there was a limit to this kind of extraction, and it was not without restrictions. So, when Yang Kai asked the Old Tree to bestow him with more World Tree clones, the latter had only given him three. If the Old Tree had given him more, not to mention if the Old Tree could sustain them or not, the feedback effect would have also substantially decreased.