Martial Peak

Yang Kai had just summoned his shield when the countless blood blades arrived in front of him, impacting on its surface like a bloody rain, raising an earth-shattering clatter and even forcing Yang Kai to retreat backwards.

When An Zhi saw this though, he didn’t show the slightest joy but instead wore an even more solemn expression. The purple shield his opponent had summoned looked dim and dull, but it was actually capable of blocking his blood blades, so it was obviously a high-quality Origin Grade artifact. Realizing this, An Zhi began swinging his axe even more vigorously.

As he swung his axe, it seemed to have an effect on the already condensed blood blades, causing them to fly in different directions away from the purple shield, spin around mid-air, then head towards Yang Kai from all sides.

“Yuan Control?” Yang Kai frowned, but quickly rejected this idea because it was obvious to him that this An Zhi didn’t understand Yuan Control Mastery. These blood blades being able to change direction should be related to this strange artifact.

Understanding this, Yang Kai let out a light sigh.

He had only been defending himself because he wanted to see what kind of means this Demon Blood Temple disciple would display; after all, he had to continue living on Shadowed Star for the foreseeable future, so the more he knew about the cultivators of the local forces, the better he could prepare himself to face them.

How could he have known that this An Zhi, who was a genuine Third-Order Saint King, would actually have such weak, impure Saint Qi? Although the methods he used were a bit strange, they couldn’t pose any threat to him at all.

Realizing this, Yang Kai lost all interest in probing this enemy and put away his purple shield, exposing his body directly to the countless blood blades.

An Zhi saw this and a pleased expression filled his face. Although he didn’t understand why Yang Kai had given up defending himself, he knew that this was an opportunity he couldn’t afford to miss. As such, he waved his axe fiercely, driving the countless blood blades around Yang Kai to all impact him at once.

Yang Kai stared at him indifferently. The moment the blood blades were about to hit him, Yang Kai condensed Demonic Flame all over his body. These Demonic Flames were extremely hot, and as soon as they appeared, the temperature in the surrounding hundred-metre range shot up dramatically.

The blood blades barely touched the Demonic Flame before burning to ash, none of them even able to cut into this layer of protection.

An Zhi was greatly shocked by this scene, but before he could make his next move, Yang Kai’s figure flickered and appeared directly in front of him. The moment Yang Kai reappeared, the black Demonic Flames around his body welled up and engulfed An Zhi directly.

Calling out in fright, An Zhi tried to fight back as panic filled his mind and voice.

His opponent’s black flames seemed capable of greatly suppressing his malevolent Saint Qi. The moment he was enveloped by his opponent’s black flames, An Zhi lost the ability to exert the majority of his strength, and if it weren’t for the two defensive artifacts he was currently wearing, he estimated he would already be dead.

Was this young man really a Second-Order Saint King? An Zhi’s thoughts became confused. Could it be he was an Origin Returning Realm master in disguise?

While Yang Kai and An Zhi were fighting, Ye Yang Rong and Deng Ning were also engaged in a life or death battle. Deng Ning was still trapped inside Ye Yang Rong’s blood cloud, and even though he was using every method at his disposal, it was only enough to barely protect himself. Unfortunately, he could keep this up for at most an incense stick worth of time. This Senior Brother of his had clearly cultivated his Demon Blood Body to a very high level; he was unable to resist.

While Deng Ning was feeling terrified in his heart, Ye Yang Rong suddenly received some of the power of his blood cloud, greatly relieving the pressure Deng Ning felt. Overjoyed, Deng Ning pushed his strength even harder to try to regain the initiative.

Ye Yang Rong’s voice suddenly spread from the blood clouds at that moment, “Junior Brother An, what are you doing? Quickly kill that brat and come help me!”

Although he heard An Zhi’s shouts, Ye Yang Rong thought that An Zhi was deliberately stalling so that he and Deng Ning would both end up badly injured, but what he didn’t know was that An Zhi simply had no time to reply to him at the moment because he was being completely suppressed by Yang Kai.

Because Ye Yang Rong was suspicious of An Zhi, he didn’t go all out to deal with Deng Ning, preparing to leave some energy to compete with An Zhi for Deng Ning’s valuables.

For a moment, the two battlefields entered into a strange stage. On one side, Ye Yang Rong was unwilling to use his full strength, while on the other side, An Zhi was being overwhelmed to the point where he couldn’t hit back.

But soon, this strange situation came to an end.

An Zhi fought with Yang Kai for less than half a cup of tea’s time before letting out a blood-curdling scream. At that moment, his figure flew out after suffering a heavy blow, coughing up a mouthful of blood, his face completely ashen and his eyes flashing with horror.

As An Zhi flew through the air, Yang Kai’s figure appeared in front of him and delivered a punch to his chest.

An Zhi cried out pitifully as his chest caved in completely and his eyes gradually lost their light. In the next instant, his body exploded into a bloody fog.

On the other side, Ye Yang Rong heard An Zhi’s pitiful cries and was startled. Turning his head, he was just in time to see the tragic scene of An Zhi’s body exploding, pulling a cry of shock from his lips, “How is that possible?”

The shock he felt caused the blood cloud to tremble and Deng Ning took this opportunity to escape, standing aside in an embarrassing condition as he stared at the blood cloud, gasping for breath. Glancing over to the side a moment later, he saw Yang Kai receive his fist and a look of incomprehension, joy, and fear filled his face.

An Zhi had died without a complete corpse and Deng Ning had escaped from his blood cloud, so Ye Yang Rong knew that the situation had taken a turn for the worse. As such, he withdrew his blood cloud and re-condensed his body, knitting his brow as he stared over at Yang Kai silently.

“If you dare move I’ll kill you!” Yang Kai flicked the blood off his fist before raising his eyes and glancing over at Ye Yang Rong lightly, showing an expression a butcher would use when looking at a helpless lamb, causing Ye Yang Rong to shiver as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar.

Although the other party had only made a verbal threat, Ye Yang Rong somehow felt that he really had this ability, so feeling this fear in his heart, he didn’t dare to move.

Opening his mouth, he tried to say something, but before he could, Deng Ning cut him off, cupping his fists to Yang Kai and saying with a forced smile, “This friend, many thanks for rescuing me!”

His expression was sincere, and he was obviously earnest in his thanks; after all, even if he was a disciple of Demon Blood Temple, he still knew how to be grateful to someone who saved his life.

“It has nothing to do with you!” Yang Kai replied indifferently. He didn’t have a good impression of this Deng Ning. After all, when this guy was being chased by his two Senior Brothers, he still flew towards Yang Kai, so it was clear he planned on dragging him into this mess on purpose.

And before, when Ye Yang Rong and An Zhi suspected that Yang Kai was a helper Deng Ning had arranged to meet here, the latter didn’t make any attempt to deny it. If it were any other Second-Order Saint King, how would they still be alive at this moment? He would have been easily killed long ago.

But thinking about it for a moment, if Yang Kai found himself in the same situation as this Deng Ning, he figured he would have done the same thing, so although he didn’t like this Deng Ning’s approach, he didn’t intend to blame him for it. The other party just wanted to save his life, where would he have the time to debate the finer points of morality?

Choking on Yang Kai’s words, Deng Ning’s face filled with embarrassment, but he tactfully didn’t try to explain himself, instead putting on a serious expression and shouted, “Friend, can I ask you to make a move once more? If you help me kill this person, this Deng will generously compensate you afterwards!”

As soon as this remark came out, Ye Yang Rong’s complexion changed greatly. Only now did he realize that this young-looking Second-Order Saint King was really not a helper arranged by Deng Ning, causing his stomach to turn green in a flash.

If he had only known earlier, how could he have let An Zhi find trouble with Yang Kai? It would have been fine to simply let him leave, but such regret was useless now. An Zhi had been killed by this youth who was now eyeing him dangerously. Clearly, after being inexplicably caught up in this dispute, this young man had become annoyed. On top of that, given that this youth had the strength to kill An Zhi in half a cup of tea’s time, if he really worked together with Deng Ning, how could Ye Yang Rong survive?

Ye Yang Rong’s heart pounded as he stared at Yang Kai nervously, secretly worrying about what answer he would give.

To his surprise though, Yang Kai just rolled his eyes before staring at Deng Ning and shaking his head, “I have no interest in intervening in your grudges.”

Ye Yang Rong’s expression finally loosened, thinking he had just escaped death, but Deng Ning quickly followed up, “Friend, we are the Demon Blood Temple disciples. You killed my Senior Brother, so if you let Ye Yang Rong go back, he will definitely expose what has happened here. Once that happens, it will surely be troublesome for you.”

“So you think I should kill all of you to silence the witnesses to the crime?” Yang Kai grinned as he glanced back and forth between Deng Ning and Ye Yang Rong, making both of their hearts jump as they sweat uneasily.

Ye Yang Rong cursed out Deng Ning in his heart viciously, hating the fact that he couldn’t just shut up, but thinking about what this unknown youth had just said, he quickly thought up a plan and spiritedly asked, “Junior Brother Deng, this friend doesn’t seem to be the affable type, why don’t we put aside our internal grudges temporarily and work together to deal with him?”

Deng Ning simply sneered at this offer and refused without thinking, “Sorry, I’m not interested in joining hands with people like you.”

After rejecting Ye Yang Rong’s offer, he turned back to Yang Kai and said, “Silencing the witness to the crime sounds about right, and if friend kills me too, I won’t utter any complaint; after all, if you had not intervened just now, I would have died anyway. But even if I must die here, I refuse to let this bastard feel any better!”

Saying so, he glanced over at Ye Yang Rong and grinned fiercely. Being forced to abandon that Blood Fusion Pill had made Deng Ning lose all restraint.

“You’re insane!” Ye Yang Rong was shocked and tried to retreat.

However, the moment he took a single step back, an intense Divine Sense pressure descended upon him, instantly breaking through his Knowledge Sea’s defence but stopping just before it did any real damage.

Ye Yang Rong began dripping with sweat, knowing that if he moved again, his Knowledge Sea would be attacked again. The strength of the Divine Sense just now wasn’t inferior to that of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master’s and was not something he could possibly resist.

Immediately, Ye Yang Rong didn’t dare to move as he glanced over at Yang Kai with intense fear, trembling uncontrollably as he stood there stiffly. He couldn’t believe that such a powerful Divine Sense attack had been sent out by this person.

After tearing this person’s Knowledge Sea defences to give him a warning, Yang Kai didn’t rush to kill Ye Yang Rong and instead glanced over a Deng Ning with amusement and asked, “It’s not like I can’t help you, but what reward can you give me?”