Martial Peak

Chapter 1217, Snow Silk

Snow silkworms were extremely rare and could only survive in extremely cold environments. Snow silkworm larvae did not spin silk, only after they matured for two to three hundred years would they begin producing silk, and even then, they would only produce a tiny amount once every ten years. To refine an artefact from such a material would take at least several hundred years of accumulation.

This woman named Dai Yuan having an artefact made from Snow Silk was quite surprising for Yang Kai.

Her being acquainted with Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er, and possessing such a treasure meant that her status wasn’t low.

While Yang Kai was pondering her origins, Dai Yuan arrived at the lava lake’s shore, her brow furrowing somewhat as she probed it with her Divine Sense. Only after quite some time did she summon her Snow Silk artefact, a solemn look upon her face as she did.

With a flick of her wrist, a tiny, almost invisible snow-white silk line shot out from her fingertips and flew out a couple of dozen metres.

However, such a length wasn’t nearly long enough as the tortoiseshell that Wei Gu Chang and the others were standing on was at least a hundred metres from the shore. The Snow Silk only shot out halfway before it fell down. Once it entered the lava lake, the icy cold power contained within it and the scorching heat of the lava clashed fiercely, white water vapour bursting out, shrouding almost the entire area in a thick mist.

Dai Yuan’s face expression became more and more dignified as she poured more and more of her Saint Qi into the Snow Silk in order to resist the burning heat of the lava. At the same time, she was doing her best to extend her Snow Silk to Wei Gu Chang and the others.

Everyone was nervously watching her movements, with the five atop the tortoiseshell particularly worried.

Although Dai Yuan’s Snow Silk was a potent Ice Attribute artefact, whether it could resist the scorching heat of the lava lake was unknown. After all, the artefacts of Wei Gu Chang and the others had been damaged severely here, with one or two of them nearly destroyed. Among these artefacts, there were many at Origin Grade.

If even a specialized artefact like the Snow Silk couldn’t overcome the lava lake, then their group could only wait to die.

As water vapour surged, Dai Yuan bit her red lip hard, gripping her hand tightly as she changed the method she was using somehow, causing the cold from the Snow Silk to suddenly surge and instantly suppress the scorching of lava.

A crisp cracking sound soon spread.

A frozen trail suddenly began spreading over the lava lake at a speed visible to the naked eye. This trail was only one finger wide, but it was spreading towards Wei Gu Chang and his group at a very fast speed.

Everyone was overjoyed as they could clearly see that this frozen trail across the lava was being created by the cold energy from the Snow Silk.

In the blink of an eye, the frozen trail stretched about thirty metres forward, but once it reached that point, its speed of extension began to reduce.

Yang Kai, who had been observing Dai Yuan’s movements, also noticed that her face had taken on an abnormal flush, obviously indicating that was reaching her limits.

Sure enough, the frozen trail’s speed of advance continued to slow and eventually came to a halt two-thirds of the way to the tortoiseshell. Not only was it unable to advance any further, but there were also signs of the frozen trail beginning to melt.

When they saw this scene, the faces of the five people who were standing on the tortoiseshell waiting for rescue darkened. Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er were more resilient and their looks soon return to normal, but the other three Shadow Moon Hall disciples’ expressions had once again become distraught.

They thought they could be rescued easily and had full confidence in Dai Yuan, but now it seems that Dai Yuan’s abilities weren’t quite enough, so their moods immediately plummeted.

Across the hundred-metre distance, Dai Yuan and Dong Xuan’er stared at each other. Dong Xuan’er’s eyes were full of worry, not about herself though. She was worried that Dai Yuan would do something reckless and greatly harm herself in order to try to save them.

Sure enough, Dai Yuan grit her teeth and a look of determination flashed across her face. Biting the tip of her tongue, she spat out a mouthful of blood mist onto her Snow Silk, turning it from pure white to bright red. The cold aura coming from the Snow Silk soared and the frozen path that had originally shown signs of melting froze over again with the Snow Silk also advancing forward once more, lengthening the frozen track further.

Yang Kai frowned. He had been paying close attention to Dai Yuan’s actions, and after she spat out her own Blood Essence, he too began to move.

He could see that even if Dai Yuan sacrificed her Blood Essence to drive her Snow Silk, she might not be able to extend it all the way to Wei Gu Chang and the others. Even if she did manage to reach them, in their current state, Wei Gu Chang and the others had no way to use this Snow Silk to save themselves.

This silk thread was extremely cold and sharp, not something Wei Gu Chang and the others could resist.

Therefore, he had to go himself. Fortunately, with the frozen track already spanning most of the distance, Yang Kai was confident he could make it to them.

As the frozen trail continued to spread towards the tortoiseshell, Yang Kai shot out like a thunderbolt, racing across the frozen track towards the centre of the lava lake.

Seeing this scene, Wei Gu Chang’s eyes couldn’t help being moved. How could he not see what Yang Kai wanted to do? Not saying any nonsense, he quickly warned, “Brother Yang, don’t underestimate this Snow Silk artefact, even if Junior Sister Dai Yuan isn’t aiming it at you, its coldness and sharpness cannot be easily resisted.”

“I know!” Yang Kai responded lightly as he reached the end of the frozen trail. At this moment, Yang Kai was only fifteen metres or so from the tortoiseshell. Although it was still spreading forward, its speed had once again begun to drop.

Yang Kai didn’t wait for Dai Yuan to drive her artefact forward and instead condensed a thick layer of Demonic Flame on his hand and grabbed towards the end of the frozen track.

With a crack, a small chunk of the frozen trail was broken off by Yang Kai, and when he lifted his hand back up, it was clearly gripping the red Snow Silk.

Everyone was stunned, and even Dai Yuan was surprised by Yang Kai’s boldness, her eyes filling with shock and astonishment.

For an ordinary cultivator, let alone holding her Snow Silk, even approaching it was enough to cause them to go stiff from the cold aura, but Yang Kai was actually able to hold it in his hand. On top of that, forget about being frozen, his palm was barely even cut, with only a drop of golden blood dripping from the gaps between his five fingers.

However, Dai Yuan was also not an ordinary woman. After a moment of shock, she immediately composed herself and began fully cooperating with Yang Kai to keep extending her Snow Silk.

Just now, when it was in the lava, it had been very difficult for her to extend her Snow Silk. This was only natural because of the scorching heat it gave off, but now that the Snow Silk was being held by Yang Kai, she could much more easily manipulate it.

The Snow Silk immediately began stretching and as Yang Kai held one end it in his hand, he condensed a Grand Heavenly Shield in front of himself atop the lava, leapt off the frozen track, and continued forward.

The moment Yang Kai stepped out, he condensed a second Grand Heavenly Shield further ahead and leapt to it. As Yang Kai jumped, the first Grand Heavenly Shield behind him burst apart as it struck the lava. The situation was extremely nerve-wracking to watch, and all five Shadow Moon Hall disciples were staring in trepidation, praying Yang Kai would not misstep and land in the lava lake.

With just fifteen metres to the tortoiseshell, Yang Kai only needed a dozen steps to arrive. Wei Gu Chang and the others had already opened up a place for him to land.

After arriving on the tortoiseshell, Yang Kai simply nodded to Wei Gu Chang before tying the Snow Silk in his hand to it. After confirming that they were firmly attached, Yang Kai looked to Wei Gu Chang and said, “I should be able to take two back with me at a time, who’s first?”

Wei Gu Chang didn’t even hesitate to point to tall woman and the younger-looking male disciple, “Take them.”

Dong Xuan’er also nodded, agreeing with Wei Gu Chang.

Yang Kai nodded, grabbed the two in question before shooting a glance over towards Dai Yuan on the shore. Seeing this, Dai Yuan’s face became solemn as she poured her Saint Qi into the Snow Silk, causing it to go taut. Yang Kai then leapt off the tortoiseshell onto the Snow Silk and began running back.

Condensing Grand Heavenly Shields and using them as footholds was only a stopgap measure. The temperature of the lava was too high, so even Yang Kai’s Grand Heavenly Shields could only appear for a moment. Any kind of accident would result in him falling into the lava lake. Yang Kai rushing over just how was extremely risky, so now that he was returning, he would rather suffer injuries from stepping on the Snow Silk than using such an unstable method.

The male disciple was sandwiched by Yang Kai under his armpit and had turned pale as his eyes went wide staring straight down at the lava lake below without moving.

The tall female disciple, on the other hand, was doing the exact opposite, grabbing onto Yang Kai tightly, pressing two extremely elastic peaks up against his chest as she closed her beautiful eyes tightly. It was as if she would rather die than face the terrible lava.

Men and women seemed to have very different reactions when facing danger.

Soon though, Yang Kai returned to the shore and put down the two Shadow Moon Hall disciples, allowing them to finally gasp for breath. The female disciple even held her hands over her well-rounded chest as a look of happiness spread across her face having survived this disaster.

After Yang Kai returned, Dai Yuan tried to drag the tortoiseshell back but found that it was completely stuck in the lava lake and would not move. No matter how she pushed her Saint Qi, she couldn’t budge it.

In desperation, she could only turn to Yang Kai, glancing at his blood-stained feet for a moment before wearing a look of entreaty her face.

Among the people present, she needed to control her Snow Silk to form the simple frozen passage while Wei Gu Chang and the other Shadow Moon Hall disciples were all arrows at the end of their flight. It was impossible to make them come ashore themselves, so the only one who could save them now was Yang Kai.

However, Yang Kai had suffered some injuries just now, and Dai Yuan didn’t know if he would be able to make another trip without cutting off his own feet.

Dai Yuan had clearly underestimated Yang Kai’s ability though. Although the Snow Silk’s sharpness had surprised Yang Kai and had even caused some injuries to him, it was quite impossible for it to seriously wound him.

Whether it was the cuts on his palm or his feet, they had all been completely restored at this moment. The Golden Blood’s restorative powers had displayed their power once more, even expelling the Snow Silk’s cold energy which had seeped into his body.