Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Hearing that Yang Kai and the other two beside him had been invited by Fei Zhi Tu to help rescue him, Qian Tong expressed his sincere gratitude. The three Saint King Realm Juniors naturally replied humbly. After hearing that they had been scattered when passing through the black and white Space Array Gate, then had watched the old woman die a tragic death at the hand of the giant humanoid puppet, Qian Tong’s expression became gloomy as he seemingly blamed himself.

A short time later, after Yang Kai finished narrating his group’s story, Qian Tong frowned and asked, “So you don’t know where Old Fei and his group are now, correct?”

Yang Kai and the others shook their heads slowly.

Qian Tong laughed bitterly, “This time, this old master has wrongly implicated all of you. This place is a dead end; even if you return the way you came, I’m afraid you won’t be able to find a way back.”

“Then what should we do?” Du Si Si asked anxiously.

“There are only two options!” Qian Tong sighed heavily.

“What options?”

“Do you see the Space Array over there?” Qian Tong pointed his finger towards a certain direction. Following his finger, Yang Kai, Cai He, and Du Si Si saw an intact Space Array at the opposite end of the hall.

“That Space Array should lead to the outside world, so if you are confident in slipping past these puppets, you can try to escape through it; however, this old master doesn’t recommend trying this. Most of the puppets here are somewhat avoidable, but that wolf-shaped one’s speed is quite frightening. Even this old master isn’t certain he can outrun it.”

Yang Kai and the two Array Masters had already fought one of these puppets before so how could they have any thoughts of challenging another casually? Even if these puppets were not as overwhelming as the previous one, just the number of them in this place was enough to cause Yang Kai’s blood to run cold.

What’s more, although the Space Array was intact, it would still take some time to activate. That slight delay would be more than enough time for these puppets to swarm them.

Facing such a dire situation, how could they act rashly?

“Other than that, the only option is to wait. When Old Fei arrives, we can try to find a way out of this mess together,” Qian Tong saw the look of helplessness and despair on Cai He’s and Du Si Si’s face and couldn’t help comforting, “Rest assured, if the situation becomes dire, this old master will find a way to delay these evil creatures long enough for you all to escape.”

“No!” Cai He panicked and hurriedly objected, “Elder Qian must not! Shadow Moon Hall’s internal strife continues to escalate even now, so Elder Qian must return to help the Sect Master overcome the situation. If Elder Qian were to fall here because of us, then we three would forever be dishonoured. We cannot afford such disrepute.”

Du Si Si nodded firmly in agreement.

Qian Tong chuckled heartily as he shook his head, “It was only a method of last resort. Don’t worry, unless there is truly no other way, this old master won’t do such a thing, I also want to live a few more years.”

Only when he heard this did Cai He feel relieved.

With no way back and the way forward blocked, the three newly arrived Saint King Realm Juniors could only sit down cross-legged to meditate while sometimes chatting with Qian Tong to pass the time.

After chatting for a while, Yang Kai learned that the Stone Tablet was actually engraved with an ingenious Artifact Refining technique, and although no one could understand these ancient characters, if an Artifact Refiner simply meditated nearby and studied it, their comprehension of Artifact Refining would gradually increase.

This middle-aged man had gained a certain understanding of this profound technique now and had begun personally refining an Origin Grade artifact. Once this artifact was completely refined, he would become the next Origin Grade Artifact Refining Grandmaster of Shadow Moon Hall.

With the assistance of this person, together with Qian Tong’s methods and prestige, Shadow Moon Hall’s internal strife could be settled once more.

Time passed by as everyone grew somewhat anxious, all of them wondering what had happened to Fei Zhi Tu and the others as no trace of them had been seen for half a month.

After half a month of rest and recuperation, all the injuries Yang Kai and the two young Array Masters suffered in their battle with the giant puppet completely healed.

On this day, as Yang Kai was sitting in meditation, he suddenly noticed a strange energy fluctuation around him and immediately opened his eyes in surprise.

At the same time, Qian Tong also noticed this anomaly and released his Divine Sense to investigate.

Cai He and Du Si Si on the other hand failed to notice anything.

However, a moment later, both wore terrified looks because the hall they were sitting in suddenly began shaking violently, with dust and debris falling from the ceiling, as if the entire Ancient Ruin had become unstable.

“This is…” Qian Tong’s eyes widened, as if he had discovered something.

Yang Kai was also shocked. He did not know what Qian Tong had discovered, but he had clearly felt that this Ancient Ruin was now being flooded with pulsing Space Force.

Yang Kai had cultivated this strength, so he was very clear about its unique fluctuations.

A violent rumbling filled the air and everything around began heaving and shaking, as if the end of the world was approaching. The middle-aged man next to Qian Tong as well as Cai He and Du Si Si all began looking around in panic.

The dozen or so puppets that had been surrounding Qian Tong also experienced a change at this moment, all their red eyes flashing warily as they slowly retreated in fear.

This change had happened too fast, and before Yang Kai could investigate properly, the surrounding space filled with a kind of irresistible repulsive force, wrapping everyone’s body and making it difficult for them to even breathe.

But Yang Kai was not frightened by this and instead wore a happy look because he had experienced this feeling once before.

The current situation was exactly the same as the one he experienced when the Flowing Flame Sand Field was closed a few years ago!

[Could it be…]

Just as this thought crossed Yang Kai’s mind, the surrounding World Energy began condensing at a speed visible to the naked eye and a moment later a burst of radiant light filled the hall. After the flash high up in the air passed, the World Energy that caused it transformed into a giant hand.

Seeing this, Yang Kai brow lifted as his face filled with joy.

This hand formed from World Energy looked incredibly familiar and was no doubt the same female jade white hand that had appeared in the Flame Sand Field at that time.

However, this jade white hand was several times larger than the one from back then. At that time, this jade hand had wanted to expel Yang Kai from the Flowing Flame Sand Field but was blocked by the Star Emperor Token he had obtained by chance, allowing Yang Kai to remain inside the Flowing Flame Sand Field for six months after it had closed.

Having previously experienced this matter, Yang Kai naturally calmed down.

The jade hand soon reached down from above and grabbed hold of Yang Kai, squeezing him tightly.

During this process, Yang Kai did not attempt to resist at all. Glancing over and seeing Cai He and Du Si Si’s desperate expressions as they fiercely pushed their Saint Qi, apparently wanting to struggle, Yang Kai quickly comforted them, “Don’t panic, this will let us escape from this place.”

Just as he finished saying this, the jade hand holding him exploded into particles of light and Yang Kai felt a violent repulsion from the space around him. In a flash of light, Yang Kai’s figure disappeared from where he was standing.

After receiving Yang Kai’s reassurance, Cai He and Du Si Si both froze for a moment, allowing two jade hands to grab hold of them as well. After these two jade hands burst, they also vanished.

This scene also happened to Qian Tong and the middle-aged Artifact Refiner, as well as a gloomy-faced Fei Zhi Tu somewhere else inside the Ancient Ruins.

In the blink of an eye, no living person remained inside the Ancient Ruins.

Somewhere ten thousand kilometres outside Fallen Emperor Mountain, a figure strangely appeared, and after trembling and staggering slightly, the figure stood firm. It was Yang Kai, who was sent out of the Ancient Ruins by its unique World Principles.

At almost the same time as he appeared, several other silhouettes appeared around him one after another.

Everyone looked around and after seeing each other’s faces, Cai He shouted with joy, “Senior Fei, Senior Ning!”

Fei Zhi Tu’s eyes widened as he showed a happy look, “You also managed to come out?”

“En, I don’t know what happened, but we were suddenly teleported out of the Ancient Ruins and came here. What about Senior Wen?” Cai He suddenly discovered that the cultivator surnamed Wen was missing.

Fei Zhi Tu and Ning Xiang Chen both sighed deeply as their faces darkened.

Seeing this, the others immediately understood that the cultivator surnamed Wen had died in the Ancient Ruins.

“My old friend…” Ning Xiang Chen was also surprised when he found no trace of the old woman.

Cai He smiled bitterly, “That Senior also fell.”

Ning Xiang Chen was dumbfounded for a moment before he let out a sigh and smiled bitterly, “It was her fate!”

During this Ancient Ruins’ exploration, two Origin Returning Realm masters had died but all four Saint King Realm Juniors had managed to return safely, including Lian Guang who appeared unharmed; however, after spending these days suffering greatly together with Fei Zhi Tu and the other masters, his expression was now quite haggard.

“Old Ghost Qian, you’re not dead, seems your luck is as good as ever,” Fei Zhi Tu looked at Qian Tong and coldly snorted.

Qian Tong didn’t retort as his eyes filled with the light of remorse. Seeing this, Fei Zhi Tu, no longer made any sarcastic remarks.

Yang Kai and his group had been sitting in that hall all this time without moving, so naturally it was not anything they did that allowed them to leave the Ancient Ruins this time. As such, it only made sense that Fei Zhi Tu and his group had triggered something which caused the entire Ancient Ruins to expel them.

Although only Yang Kai had entered the Flowing Flame Sand Field among the people here, all of them had naturally heard some information about it, including the appearance of the jade white hand condensed from World Energy that sent everyone out.

The situation just now was exactly the same as when the Flowing Flame Sand Field closed, so was there some kind of connection between the two? Not only was Yang Kai’s brow furrowed, the Origin Returning Realm masters also sank deep into thought. Of the people here, it seemed only Cai He, Du Si Si, and Lian Guang did not understand what was going on.

Just as Qian Tong opened his mouth to say something though, a sudden rumbling sound came from afar.

Suddenly, everyone’s footing became unsteady and their faces changed greatly as they stared in shock towards the source of the sound.

“It’s coming from Fallen Emperor Mountain?” Du Si Si muttered.

The direction of the sound was indeed from Fallen Emperor Mountain, and even though they were already ten thousand kilometres away, everyone could vaguely see traces of the mountain range and hear it rumbling, as if some great change had suddenly occurred.

One could only imagine how violent the movement over there was to produce such a violent sound.

And just now, all of them had been sent out of the Ancient Ruins, so could this sudden development be related somehow?