Martial Peak

Chapter 893, One After Another

Listening to his daughter’s words, the middle-aged man couldn’t help smiling wryly.

Bold Independent Union was not a very strong force, with him actually being its top master, a mere Third Order Transcendent.

In Tong Xuan Realm, a force without a Saint Realm powerhouse assuming command couldn’t be taken seriously.

Therefore, this middle-aged man had struggled for years to break through into the Saint Realm; recently, he had an epiphany and at last saw hope of achieving this life-long dream, but because of a lack of aptitude, he was unable to fully grasp the mysteries of the Saint Realm. As such, he decided to find an Alchemy Grandmaster to help him refine a Heaven Spying Pill to see if that would be enough to allow him to take that final step into the Saint Realm.

After using up a great deal of money and manpower, he had finally gathered together the required materials but was unable to find a suitable Alchemist.

All of the well-known Alchemy Grandmasters were extremely difficult to contact, and each of their schedules fully booked for the next few years at most, so the middle-aged man found himself stuck in a dilemma, unable to even meet with an appropriate Grandmaster.

It was at that time that the reputation of Nine Heavens Holy Land’s Alchemy Grandmaster reached the man’s ear and he couldn’t help feeling like it was a Heaven-sent opportunity.

He knew his daughter had some friendship with the new Holy Master and he even suspected their relationship wasn’t so simple.

Unfortunately, no matter how he proper her, his daughter would firmly deny it.

As a last resort, he could only bring her along with him to Nine Heavens Holy Land.

The long snaking lineup outside the nines peaks came as quite a shock to the man, as he had not anticipated so many others would already be waiting for Alchemy services from the Holy Land.

After failing to persuade his daughter to use her connections again, he could only resign himself to wait in line.

At worst he just needed to wait for a month.

All things considered, it wasn’t too long, so he said no more.

Just then though, two people flew over, a young woman accompanied by a Third Order Transcendent master who seemed to be her escort.

As the young woman approached, a look of shock appeared on her face as she stared in front of her, covering her mouth slightly as she muttered, “So many people, are they all here to ask for Alchemy?”

The Third Order Transcendent beside her also swept his eyes over this lineup and nodded slightly, “Young Lady, on the way over, I heard many rumours about the supreme skill of the Alchemy Grandmaster here. Supposedly, he has not failed to refine a requested pill even once, and each product he produced is of superior quality. It is only natural that many people have been attracted here.”

“Fierce, just what did that bastard do to manage to recruit such an outstanding Alchemy Grandmaster?” The young woman grinned as she glanced towards the nine peaks.

“Young Lady, should we also line up?” The escort asked softly.

“Hmph, nonsense, we go in right now and find him. I’d like to see if he dares pretend to not recognize me!” The young woman snorted, puffing out her chest arrogantly as she continued walking forward, showing absolutely no intention of obediently waiting in line.

However, after only a few steps, she suddenly wrinkled her brow and turned her eyes towards the end of the line, a look of surprise flashing across her face before she wore a happy smile and walked over, “Yun Xuan, you’re here too?”

Yun Xuan, who was lost in her own thoughts, hadn’t even noticed this newcomer until she was called out to, but hearing her name, she quickly snapped out of her daze and turned her gaze towards the young woman who was approaching her.

“Shui Ling?” Yun Xuan called out in surprise, a happy smile appearing on her pretty face in the next instant, “How come you’re here?”

“I came to see that little bastard! I heard that he is now the new Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land. After not seeing him for only a few years, it seems that monkey has leapt from the branches and become a true dragon. Forget about informing me of something so important, he didn’t even send me a single message to tell me he’s still alive! He really knows how to make others worry about him; hmph, this time I’ll make sure he compensates me in full for all the anxiety he’s caused me!”

Hearing Shui Ling speak so freely and casually, Yun Xuan couldn’t help but grin, her mood improving noticeably.

“Are you here to request Alchemy services from the Holy Land’s mysterious Grandmaster?” Shui Ling’s thoughts turned, quickly guessing what Yun Xuan’s intentions in coming here were.

“En.”

“Since that’s the case, why are you just standing in line? Just go in,” Shui Ling said with a puzzled look on her face.

“No, but... everyone else is waiting in line, and...” Yun Xuan said, her voice growing smaller as embarrassment filled her face.

“What are you afraid of? Others might have to wait around but you... you’re not a stranger to him.”

“No, it’s alright, we’ll just wait here,” Yun Xuan hesitated.

Seeing her appearance, Shui Ling’s expression grew cold as she suddenly said, “Could it be that he just ate up and refused to pay? Even if he is the Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, couldn’t he possibly be that shameless?”

“Don’t say that so loud!” Yun Xuan turned bright red and hurriedly tried to stop Shui Ling.

Several of the nearby disciples of Nine Heavens Holy Land who overheard her shot gloomy looks towards them, causing Shui Ling to spit out the tongue playfully, not daring to speak so rashly again.

In front of Yang Kai, she could indeed act unscrupulously, but demeaning the Holy Master in front of these Holy Land disciples would obviously earn her their ire.

“Xuan’er, this girl is...” The middle-aged man who stood behind Yun Xuan stepped forward and asked.

“Oh, this is the Little Princess of Water Spirit Temple, Shui Ling, I told you about her before.”

“So it is Young Lady Shui Ling!” The middle-aged man exclaimed, quickly cupping his fists politely, “This humble one is Bold Independent Union’s Union Master, Yun Cheng!”

“Nice to meet you, Uncle Yun!” Shui Ling smiled sweetly and returned the gesture.

“Water Spirit Temple’s Little Princess truly deserves her name. At such a young age you are already a First Order Transcendent, your future achievements will surely be astonishing,” Yun Cheng said after quickly sweeping his eyes over Shui Ling and noticing her true cultivation, secretly admiring Water Spirit Temple’s deep heritage.

Yun Xuan was older than Shui Ling, but her cultivation was actually lower. This was largely due to the difference in the strength of their respective forces. Without good resources, the growth rate of the younger generation would naturally be slower.

“Uncle Yun is too polite, I only just broke through and have yet to even stabilize my cultivation,” Shui Ling replied in a well-behaved manner, her long, silky, light blue hair gently blowing in the wind, attracting more than a few of the surrounding eyes.

“This is Ruan Xin Yu, my friend,” Yun Xuan introduced Shui Ling to the other young woman beside her.

Shui Ling nodded lightly, exchanging greetings with Xin Yu.

“Was I correct in hearing that Ms. Shui Ling intends to directly enter the nine peaks to find the new Holy Master?” Yun Cheng lowered his voice and asked.

“Yes, I’m an old friend of his. I haven’t seen him for several years and now he’s suddenly become the Holy Master... En, while I’m here, I intend to have him help me refine a couple of pills.... Does Uncle Yun want to join me? Yun Xuan is almost my friend.”

“Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” Yun Cheng replied somewhat hesitant.

“Nonsense, unlike everyone else in line, I’m mainly here just to see him,” Shui Ling smiled.

“Then... this Yun will not be polite. Many thanks for allowing us to share Ms. Shui Ling’s good fortune!” Yun Cheng no longer declined, smiling broadly.

“Uncle Yun is too serious.”

Saying so, Shui Ling turned and walked in the direction of the stone pavilion, Yun Cheng hurrying to keep up.

Yun Xuan was still hesitating but with Ruan Xin Yu pushing her back, she had to obediently follow along.

Among the people who were still in line, many of them shot vigilant and even unfriendly gazes towards Shui Ling’s group.

The people waiting in line were all here to ask for Alchemy services and were naturally disgruntled towards anyone trying to bend the rules; however, without knowing the intentions of Shui Ling and her group, no one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out, all of them preparing to observe first before deciding how to proceed.

Shui Ling calmly entered the stone pavilion and explained her identity and purpose to Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong, causing the two Elders to knit their brows slightly.

Since Yang Kai assumed the role of Holy Master of Nine Heavens Holy Land, no one had come looking for him, so the Elders really knew nothing about his friends.

However, since someone had appeared claiming to be an old acquaintance of Yang Kai’s, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong did not display any intolerance, simply saying, “We have to ask the Holy Master about this first, would you mind waiting here a moment?”

“That’s fine,” Shui Ling gently nodded, secretly deciding to teach Yang Kai a good lesson for actually daring to make her wait outside after she travelled ten thousand kilometres to see him.

If this wasn’t bullying a person, what was?!

As she made plans to exact her revenge, a Holy Land disciple was sent into the nine peaks to relay the message.

A short while later, before the messenger disciple had even returned, another group of people arrived outside the nine peaks, and similar to Shui Ling and her group, these people did not line up at the end of the queue and instead came over directly to the stone pavilion.

This group of people was truly eye-catching, each one of them old with white hair, but the fineness of their robes indicated that none of them was an ordinary individual.

Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong both glanced at each other with surprise, wondering just who these people were.

The cultivations of these people was not high, each of them only a Second or Third Order Transcendent, without even a single Saint amongst them, but from the way they carried themselves and their innate demeanor, it was clear they didn’t put any of the masters standing in line in their eyes.

Arriving in front of the stone pavilion, one of the old men walked up and smiled to Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong, calmly asking, “Two young ladies, may I ask, is this place Nine Heavens Holy Land?”

The two Elders immediately frowned.

Though they were still youthful, it still could not disguise their level of strength as Saint Realm Masters

No one whose strength was lower than their own had ever dared address them so casually, even calling them young ladies, it gave them the unfavourable impression that this old man was simply trying to take advantage of his seniority to talk down to them.

However, from the way this old man spoke and the tone of his voice, it was clear that he was speaking naturally, without the slightest intention of disrespect.

Realizing this, Yu Ying and Cheng Yue Tong did not dare act rashly, quickly standing up and nodding, “Yes!”

“And the master of this place is called Yang Kai?”

“En!”

“Then we’ve come to the right place, hah, thank goodness. Wandering across so many mountains and rivers is not good for these old bones!” The old man let out a relieved breath before calling out to his colleagues, “We’ve arrived! Take a rest for now!”

The other four old seniors wore smiles upon hearing this and relaxed.

“May I ask for your honoured names and what relationship you have with my Holy Land’s Holy Master?” Yu Ying asked softly.

“Hoho, just inform your Holy Master that a few old friends who share his profession have come to see him,” The old man did not report his name, appearing somewhat inscrutable.

Yu Ying’s brow wrinkled slightly further but after exchanging a glance with Cheng Yue Tong decided to not ask anything more, sending another disciple to relay this message to Yang Kai.

In their hearts, they were all curious. It had already been quite some time since the Holy Master arrived in the nine peaks yet he never had any guests, yet now, old acquaintances of his seemed to be appearing one after another.

[These people best not be lying to try to obtain Alchemy services!] The two Elders both thought to themselves, secretly observing these two groups of people who were claiming to be Yang Kai’s old friends.