Martial Peak

Chapter 1244, Removing Firewood From Under The Pot

Yuan Control Mastery was an excellent method, but it put a significant load on one’s Divine Sense, so not every cultivator could comprehend it or use it, only those with more powerful Souls could become proficient in it.

The transformation of the Heaven Punishing Spear clearly surprised the Firebird and seeing the cold flames from the black dragon withstand its heatwave clearly enraged it. With a flap of its wings, it released a barrage of flames that quickly bypassed the black dragon and struck towards the place where Yang Kai stood.

Wind and thunder force surged behind Yang Kai and a pair of delicate transparent wings manifested. With a flicker of these wings, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared, causing the barrage of flames to hit nothing but air.

Without waiting for the Firebird to launch another attack, Yang Kai released a dozen Space Blades!

Since he was planning to fight a quick and decisive battle, Yang Kai naturally had no intention of probing his enemy and immediately used his trump card.

His Space Blade, which was capable of devouring almost anything, flew out quickly and elicited a look of dread from the human-like eyes of the Firebird. Last time, it had suffered a small loss at the hands of Yang Kai’s Space Blade, and understanding the strangeness of this attack, it naturally didn’t try to face it head-on, beating its wings quickly as it transformed into a streak of light and dodged to the side. Before it could completely rematerialize though, Yang Kai rapidly approached and sent a punch out towards it.

With his cold flames protecting his body, Yang Kai no longer feared the burning heat of the Artifact Spirit; after all, this Artifact Spirit had been born as a result of an accumulation of Fire Attribute energy from the Earth Lung Fire Pond over a few tens of thousands of years. Since Yang Kai didn’t fear its source, naturally he didn’t fear it either.

The Artifact Spirit’s response was also extremely quick. Seemingly aware that its situation wasn’t good, it quickly solidified the air, stopping Yang Kai’s fist in place only half a meter away from it.

The Artifact Spirit had used its supreme mastery of Fire Attribute principles to display a Shi-like power again.

*Pa pa pa…*

There was a burst of explosions in the air, and the intensity of the Fire Attribute aura in the stone chamber instantly rose several levels. Yang Kai instantly pushed his Saint Qi to its maximum, releasing a frigid aura from his body that quickly broke through the imprisonment of the Artifact Spirit and restored his freedom.

The last time he was bound by the Artifact Spirit’s power, Yang Kai had to use his Space Force to cut it off, but this time, just using his cold flames was enough. The reason for this was obviously because the cold energy conflicted greatly with the Fire Attribute principles the Firebird used to immobilize him.

Grinning, Yang Kai flicked his wrist, and before the Firebird could fully manifest its body, a black spear blasted towards it.

The Artifact Spirit’s body had just fully appeared when it was penetrated by the black spear, causing it to release a piercing cry. Its two small eyes immediately filled with anger and panic. It seemed to not understand why, after disappearing for only just over a month, this human it was easily able to defeat suddenly had the ability to fight with it on even ground.

This Artifact Spirit didn’t have a physical body so even if it was penetrated by a Heaven Punishing Spear, its life wasn’t in any danger, but the ice-cold energy contained in this Heaven Punishing Spear made the Artifact Spirit quite uncomfortable and also caused its figure to fluctuate. Only after wriggling about for a while did it finally manage to restore its original appearance.

Yang Kai’s move completely angered the Artifact Spirit. With its body shaking, it condensed a large number of feathers out of pure fire aura and shot them towards Yang Kai.

Yang Kai’s leisurely expression instantly became serious as he realized the horrifying killing power behind these flame feathers. He didn’t dare to hesitate. Condensing numerous Grand Heavenly Shields, Yang Kai also summoned a dozen peaks from the Hundred Mountains Picture to protect himself.

With a thunderous boom, the Grand Heavenly Shields were all crushed and the phantom peaks from the Hundred Mountains Picture were also severely damaged, disappearing in the next instant. Yang Kai hurriedly took back the Hundred Mountains Picture and then used his Wind and Thunder Wings to boost up his speed to evade.

The stone room shook violently under this impact and the surrounding protective Spirit Arrays once again activated, preventing the chamber from being completely destroyed but still suffering significant damage under the bombardment of the flame feathers.

After releasing these flame feathers, the Artifact Spirit’s body shrank and its expression looked a little tired.

Obviously, these flame feathers weren’t an ordinary attack and had most likely been condensed from the Artifact Spirit’s very essence.

The flame feathers which had missed their mark, however, didn’t disappear and instead changed direction and chased after Yang Kai like dazzling crimson daggers, clearly wanting to ruthlessly pierce him through.

When Yang Kai realized he couldn’t escape, a dignified look appeared on his face and he abruptly came to a halt, turned around, and silently stared at the flame feathers rushing towards him.

When these feathers closed to within ten meters of his position, Yang Kai suddenly stretched out his hands, as if he was trying to grab the air itself, and then ripped them left and right like he was tearing something.

A large Void crack was torn open by Yang Kai, like the great maw of a beast, and welcomed the flame feathers.

Seeing this, Artifact Spirit cried out and the flame feathers nimbly returned to their owner.

Apparently, it also knew that it couldn’t let its flame feathers enter this Void crack. Once inside, it would likely never be able to recall them. In the blink of an eye, all the remaining flame feathers had reintegrated into the Artifact Spirit’s body, restoring it to its full size once more.

But at that moment, Yang Kai’s figured flickered, reappearing close by and slamming his palm down. At the same time, in the air, a huge black palm print appeared, one which seemed capable of covering the entire world.

Heaven Covering Hand!

The Artifact Spirit couldn’t evade this strike and, as its two small eyes stared at the giant palm print, it was forced to push the Fire Attribute energy in its body to in an attempt to forcefully withstand this blow.

In the next instant, the Heaven Covering Hand impacted the Artifact Spirit.

A deafening bang resounded as cold and hot forces collided inside the stone room, sending out intense shockwaves that caused the chamber to shake violently. The heatwave and black dragon which were still locked in combat not far away were struck by this shockwave and immediately scattered into light particles, disappearing from existence.

After everything calmed down again, the Artifact Spirit hovered in the air while Yang Kai stood several dozen meters away, staring at it coldly.

The Artifact Spirit’s physical appearance didn’t seem to have changed much, but its red glow was now obviously much dimmer than just now. Clearly it had suffered damage under Yang Kai’s attacks a moment ago.

“I don’t know what level your sentience has reached or if you can understand me, but if you are willing to surrender without a fight, I can spare your life. If you refuse, I can only act ruthlessly. If you choose the latter, you’ll have to suffer a lot and it will likely result in severe damage to your foundation!” Yang Kai said faintly.

This Artifact Spirit had indeed achieved a high degree of sentience, but Yang Kai wasn’t sure if it was capable of understanding his words; after all, this guy had been tethered to an Artifact Refining Furnace for tens of thousands of years and may not have ever interacted with other living things.

What surprised Yang Kai, however, was that after he had said this, rage flashed across the small eyes of the Artifact Spirit.

It really could understand him!

The next moment, an angry cry came from its mouth, and the Artifact Refining Furnace, which had been silently sitting in the centre of the stone room, buzzed loudly. The Artifact Refining Furnace then became red hot in an instant and a wave of heat suddenly shot out from it and poured into the Firebird’s body.

The Artifact Spirit, which had originally been slightly injured, was supplemented by the furnace that gave birth to it and suddenly recovered, it’s body growing even larger than before as it hovered over-top Yang Kai’s head, its wings spread out broadly, covering half of Yang Kai’s vision.

As this was happening, Yang Kai just watched quietly, without any intention of interfering. Not only did he not attempt to stop the Artifact Spirit, a hint of pity flashed across his eyes.

In the end, an Artifact Spirit was just an Artifact Spirit. Although it had achieved sentience, its battle experience was far less than Yang Kai’s.

Yang Kai was waiting for this moment.

After battling the Artifact Spirit last time, Yang Kai understood that this Artifact Refining Furnace was unusual, and relying on it, the Artifact Spirit could instantly supplement and strengthen itself. However, there was definitely a limit to this, and it was impossible for it to supplement the consumption of the Artifact Spirit endlessly.

Therefore, Yang Kai had fought violently at the beginning in an attempt to force the Artifact Spirit to use the reserves stored inside the Artifact Refining Furnace. If it hadn’t resorted to using the Fire Attribute energy stored in the Artifact Refining Furnace, Yang Kai would have no way of carrying out the next part of his strategy.

Now that it was using the Artifact Refining Furnace though, how much Fire Attribute energy would still be left inside it? From the corner of Yang Kai’s eyes, he secretly glanced towards the huge Origin King Grade furnace.

After its body became huge, the Artifact Spirit regained its proud expression and its small eyes filled with disdain.

However, before it could show off its power, Yang Kai disappeared from where he was standing and when his figure reappeared, it was already standing beside the furnace.

Immediately, under the horrified gaze of the Artifact Spirit, a ball of Demonic Flame emerged from Yang Kai’s palm and shot fiercely towards the Artifact Refining Furnace.

In an instant, the Artifact Refining Furnace was wrapped in Demonic Flame, after which Yang Kai ferociously pushed his Saint Qi as he poured his strength into the furnace.

The ice-cold flames exerted their full power at this moment and in the blink of an eye, the massive Artifact Refining Furnace’s surface began to freeze and frigid black energy continuously spread toward its interior.

Up above, the Artifact Spirit seemed to suffer severe damage, its massive red body suddenly trembling violently as a hue of cold, black light emerged from its figure.

It now knew what Yang Kai was trying to do.

The Artifact Refining Furnace was the vessel that gave birth to it. It was the Artifact Spirit of this Artifact Refining Furnace, so once the Artifact Refining Furnace received an attack or was damaged, there was no way it would remain unharmed.

It could be said that Yang Kai didn’t need to confront it at all, he only needed to deal with the Artifact Refining Furnace. This was probably the greatest sadness of an Artifact Spirit. No matter how powerful an existence it was, it could never fully control or display its own strength.

The Artifact Spirit warped and distorted. Yang Kai’s actions had made it enraged, but the chill that spread from inside its body also made it extremely frightened.

Not daring to hesitate, the Firebird opened its mouth and released a powerful heat blast to attack Yang Kai. It didn’t expect this blow to kill Yang Kai, it only wanted to drive him away from the Artifact Refining Furnace so he could no longer attack its vessel.