MARTIAL PEAK 5073

Following Zha Gu deeper into the ancient castle, they walked for a full thousand zhang before suddenly arriving at a huge cave.

Waves of heat rushed towards him.

Looking around, Yang Kai immediately showed a look of surprise, because there was a natural Earth Fire surging in this underground cave, and the heat wave was caused by the Earth Fire.

Inside this cave, there were traces of human race restriction, and the entire cave was covered by a large array.

The place where the Earth Fire converged was the center of the Array.

Around the cave were a number of various materials, many of which seemed to have been used before.

Yang Kai frowned, a puzzled look appearing on his face.

Zha Gu walked straight towards the center of the Array. The aura of a living creature seemed to trigger the power of the Array, and the Earth Fire that was strong enough to melt Metal and Jade were spitting out towards him. Zha Gu completely ignored it and instead used his Ink Force to envelop his hand before reaching out to grab it.

By the time he pulled his hand out of the Earth Fire, an object had appeared in his hand.

Zha Gu withdrew from the center of the array and tossed the object in his hand to Yang Kai, “Take a look at this.”

Yang Kai reached out and caught it, his arms sinking slightly. Even with his brute strength, he was still able to feel its weight.

This was a giant halberd, about five zhang long and as thick as a human’s leg. Yang Kai holding such a great halberd was somewhat inappropriate, this thing obviously complemented Zha Gu’s physique.

“This is…” Yang Kai looked at this big halberd in amazement and quickly understood with his Divine Sense, “A human race artifact refining?”

Turning his head, he stared at Zha Gu in amazement, “Where did this thing come from?”

With his eyesight, he could naturally tell that although this halberd had been refined by a Human Race Artifact Refiner, it had not been completely refined and only had a rough outline. Such an artifact would not be of any use on the battlefield, and under the power of a Human Race Open Heaven master, it would easily be destroyed.

“I originally had a Black Ink Disciple who knew a little about Artifact Refining and spent a lot of time and resources to refine this thing for me.”

Yang Kai was stunned, not having expected this.

“The reason why I settled down here was because of his suggestion. This place has the Earth Fire he needs for his Artifact Refining, making it easier for him to display his strength. Unfortunately, before he could finish refining this thing… but before he left, he left behind some arrangements and told me to place this thing in the Earth Fire to nourish it. Perhaps it can be used in a hundred years.”

Hearing this, Yang Kai shook his head and said, “It’s useless. If the foundation isn’t strong enough, no matter how much you nourish it, it will be difficult to achieve anything.”

Zha Gu raised his brow, “What do you mean?”

Yang Kai said, “I don’t know what grade your Black Ink Disciple’s Artifact Refining Technique is, but in my opinion, the Artifact Refining Technique is extremely crude. This artifact’s foundation has already been solidified, so even if you successfully nurture it a hundred years later, all you’ll obtain is a low-grade artifact.”

Zha Gu’s eyes lit up slightly, “Does that mean your Artifact Refining skill is higher than his?”

Yang Kai smiled proudly, “Naturally.”

Zha Gu couldn’t help becoming excited, “If it were you, what kind of item could you refine?”

Yang Kai pondered for a moment before replying, “The artifacts used by human race in the Open Heaven Stage are generally divided into three grades, High, Mid, and Low Rank. Those who can refine High Rank artifacts are all Grandmaster Artifact Refiners. My Artifact Refining skill is mediocre and far from Grandmaster, but refining Mid Rank artifacts shouldn’t be a problem.”

Ten years of hard work in Artifact Refining, and the one who taught him Artifact Refining was Chai Hao from Divine Cauldron Heaven.

This man was Dongguo Anping’s Sixth Disciple. Although his Artifact Refining Technique was not as exquisite as Dongguo Anping’s, he was still a Grandmaster. With such a person personally teaching him, even if his aptitude was poor, he would still be able to grow in ten years.

What’s more, there were many common uses for Artifact Refining and Alchemy. Yang Kai himself was a Seventh Order Open Heaven Stage cultivator, so his comprehension ability was quite good. During the ten years he had followed Chai Hao to cultivate Artifact Refining, his skills had improved by leaps and bounds.

Now, his skill in Artifact Refining could be considered to have reached a certain level.

However, due to his limited aptitude, Yang Kai was destined not to have any great achievements in Artifact Refining. Perhaps one day in the future, he would be able to reach the level of a Grandmaster in order to refine a High Rank artifact, but that was his limit, a limit he would never be able to break through in his entire life. In the end, it was impossible for him to become a Grandmaster like Dongguo Anping.

With a teaching from Divine Cauldron Heaven, not to mention Yang Kai’s current skill in Artifact Refining, just his eyesight was not something an ordinary Artifact Refiner could compare to. In his eyes, this big halberd was extremely crude.

However, Yang Kai hadn’t expected that Zha Gu would have an Artifact Refiner under his command, but judging from this Great Halberd, this Artifact Refiner’s skill wasn’t very good, and since he hadn’t seen him yet, it was likely that he had fallen on the battlefield. Fortunately, the Artifact Refiner had arranged for him to slowly nourish the Great Halberd in the Earth Fire, allowing Zha Gu to obtain a Low Rank Open Heaven Grade Artifact a hundred years later.

However, with his Feudal Lord level cultivation, activating a Low Rank Artifact on the battlefield would be of little help to his combat strength.

On the other side, Zha Gu’s expression became even more excited, “Don’t lie to me.”

Yang Kai sneered, “Why would I lie to you!”

“Words are useless. Refine some artifact for me first, and I’ll provide you with all the materials you need. If you succeed, I will reward you greatly.”

“Sure,” Yang Kai agreed. He had come here for this purpose, but he hadn’t expected things to progress so smoothly.

Moreover, this place already had the necessary environment for Artifact Refiners, so it could be said that he had inherited the legacy of Zha Gu’s Artifact Refiner.

Stroking the large halberd in his hand, Yang Kai looked it up and down for a moment before saying, “Refining it into a new one would be too wasteful. Although this artfifact’s refining method is a bit crude, it has already taken shape and the materials used are extremely precious. All that's need to be done is refine it.”

“What do you need? I’ll go prepare,” Zha Gu asked excitedly.

Yang Kai said, “Some cultivation recovery materials.”

“Only these?” Zha Gu was somewhat surprised.

Yang Kai nodded.

This wasn’t a difficult task, so Zha Gu quickly took out a Space Ring and handed it to Yang Kai, “Can you see if this is enough?”

Yang Kai took it and found that there were quite a few Open Heaven Pills and several sets of Fifth Grade and Six Grade materials.

The source of these Fifth Grade and Sixth Grade materials couldn’t be verified, but the Open Heaven Pill was something only the Human Race could refine, and it was only useful to the Human Race. Since Zha Gu had it, it was obvious he had collected it from the battlefield.

Judging from the number of Open Heaven Pills, there were at least a few Human Race soldiers who had died at Zha Gu’s hands.

Yang Kai’s expression remained calm as he put away his Space Ring and inspected the Array inside the cave before turning to Zha Gu, “Where is the Array Plate of this Array?”

Zha Gu slapped his head, “I forgot!”

Saying so, he tossed over an Array Token, Yang Kai took it, and began refining it.

This thing was not difficult to refine, and after a dozen breaths, it had been completely refined. With this token in hand, Yang Kai could control this Array.

This would be of great help to Artifact Refining. After all, with the help of the Earth Fire here, Artifact Refining would be much easier.

After everything was prepared, Yang Kai stretched out his hand and grasped the air, summoning a shining silver hammer.

The Iron Hammer was given to him by Chai Hao. This was something Chai Hao had used for his Artifact Refining a few years ago, but after obtaining a better one, he no longer used it. He had only given it to Yang Kai because he saw that Yang Kai had some aptitude in Artifact Refining and had a thirst for knowledge, otherwise he would not have given it up.

This thing was useless to him now, but after all, it was a witness to his growth and had a special significance.

Although it was useless to Chai Hao, it was still a good item for Yang Kai. With his current Artifact Refining skills, he was only able to use a portion of the hammer’s power, so he couldn’t use anything better.

The huge halberd, which was as heavy as a thousand kilograms, was easily thrust into the ground by Yang Kai.

As Zha Gu watched, he saw the giant hammer in his hand swing down towards the halberd.

When the hammer was swung, the Earth Fire that filled the cave poured madly into it, causing the entire hammer to turn red.

A deafening bang rang out.

Such a strike should have destroyed the entire cave, but strangely enough, all of Yang Kai’s strength was concentrated on the halberd, not allowing any of it to escape. This was obviously because Yang Kai’s control over his own strength had reached the peak and he had not wasted any of it.

Just this move alone caused Zha Gu to raise his brow. The Feudal Lord and Seventh Order Open Heaven were essentially of the same grade, but he was unable to control his power like this.

From this alone, one could see the gap between Yang Kai and himself. It was no wonder that Yang Kai had been able to kill so many of the Black Ink Clan’s armies.

However, the scene in front of him made him extremely confused.

In the past, when his Black Ink Disciple was refining artifacts, he had also watched from the sidelines. Although he didn’t understand the Dao of Artifact Refining, his Black Ink Disciple’s Artifact Refining Technique was exquisite and profound, yet Yang Kai’s Artifact Refining was so crude and clumsy, making it seem like he was… forging iron?

Puzzled, he heard another bang.

Each time Yang Kai swung his hammer, it was as if he had used all his strength. Each time he swung his hammer, the rhythm of each strike was clear and precise. Each time he swung his hammer, the power of the Array’s Earth Fire would be drawn out and the hammer in his hand would become hot and red.

With a loud bang, Yang Kai hammered the giant halberd from head to toe.

At first, Zha Gu didn’t notice anything, but as time passed, he clearly felt that the embryonic form of the Great Halberd had undergone some kind of change, but this change was somewhat unclear and he didn’t know if it was just his imagination.

After the 81th strikes, Yang Kai’s aura was obviously unstable.

Immediately putting away his hammer, he sat down cross-legged and took out a large number of Open Heaven Pills to swallow.

Zha Gu also knew that his Small Universe had been injured and his strength had fallen greatly, he probably used up quite a bit of his strength just now, so he quietly stood to the side, not daring to disturb him.

TO BE CONTINUED...