Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Ning Xiang Chen’s expression changed dramatically as he was overwhelmed with shock. Not because of the price of this Moon Beam Wine, of course, since Moon Beam Wine was quite famous Ning Xiang Chen had naturally heard about its incredible cost; what he was surprised by was Chang Qi’s confidence.

He clearly didn’t put any of these invaders in his eyes!

After his expression fluctuated for a while, Ning Xiang Chen grit his teeth, steeled his heart, and sat down with a snort, “Alright then! This old master will see if you are all bringing about your own destruction or are luring the enemy into a deadly trap! If it is the former though, don’t blame this old master for greasing his soles and taking off.”

Chang Qi and Hao An looked at each other, smiled, and nodded, “Should be so!”

Saying so, they filled up Ning Xiang Chen’s glass.

With varying thoughts, the three old men sat around eating spirit fruits while tasting this fine wine, not showing any awareness that the enemy was approaching.

Inside the cave mansion, Wu Yi had settled the disciples and had joined Qian Yue inside a separate room before taking out a silver and gold disk from her Space Ring. Tossing this glowing disk forward, Wu Yi said with a solemn expression, “Elder Sister Qian Yue, this is the master control plate for all of Dragon Cave Mountain’s Spirit Arrays. By myself, I’m afraid I will not be able to operate it smoothly, so I must ask Elder Sister to assist me.”

“Okay,” Qian Yue nodded.

Wu Yi reached out and poured her Saint Qi into the control plate. In an instant, the gold and silver colours began rotating an incredible speed, filling the room with a brilliant light.

Wu Yi’s expression turned solemn as she shouted, “Open!”

The control plate made a whirring sound as the gold and silver colours on its surface intertwined as if they had come to life before withdrawing to their respective sides and in the blink of an eye, splitting apart cleanly.

At the same time, outside Dragon Cave Mountain’s Mountain Defending Array, the more than thirty Origin Realm masters headed by Xie Li continued their assault on the barrier. After everyone had displayed some of their powerful hidden methods, this seemingly solid Spirit Array had begun to crumble, dimming significantly as it flickered weakly.

“Everyone, keep it up! This damn Spirit Array won’t be able to last much longer!” Xie Li’s eyes shone cruelly as he shouted. Simultaneously, he used his White Rainbow Dagger to shuttle back and forth through the light curtain, continuing to apply damage.

There was no need for him to remind these Origin Realm masters, as all of them who were participating in this attack could see that they were making progress. From the intensity of their assault, many judged that this Mountain Protecting Array wouldn’t be able to last more than half a day before breaking.

For a time, this group became excited and their blood boiled as they poured more Saint Qi into their artifacts and Martial Skills.

Brilliant rays of light continued to bombard the light curtain, setting off a continuous rumbling.

Suddenly, along with a strange buzzing sound, the light curtain of Dragon Cave Mountain’s Mountain Defending Array began fading at an extremely fast speed before disappearing altogether.

The attacks of more than thirty Origin Returning Realm masters suddenly passed through the place where the barrier once stood and blasted the surrounding ground.

“It broke?” The old man from Myriad Beast Mountain who was riding the Blue Eyes Blood Toad raised his brow and revealed a surprised look. Just now, he clearly felt that this Spirit Array could last a while longer but now it had suddenly disappeared, making him wonder if some kind of unexpected accident had occurred.

“It doesn’t seem like it, it looks more like they closed it on their own!” A middle-aged man wrapped in a blood-red aura from Demon Blood Temple narrowed his eyes towards the interior of Dragon Cave Mountain, a trace of vigilance appearing on his face.

“Hmph, maybe they realized that resisting to the end would only cause them to suffer more, so they took the initiative to lower the barrier thinking they could somehow escape?” Someone posited.

Naturally, not many agreed with this idea, but since the other party had indeed withdrawn their defensive array they must have some other method to rely on. With the layer of fog still tumbling outside Dragon Cave Mountain, not to mention their eyes, even their Divine Senses were greatly restricted, so no one could determine the situation inside, causing all of them to become cautious. No one wanted to be the first to act.

“A group of spineless cowards!” Xie Li ground his teeth secretly as he prepared to force others to move forward and investigate the situation, but before he could say anything he saw the fog bank covering Dragon Cave Mountain begin to dissipate.

A short time later, the rolling clouds and mists lifted revealing the scenery inside Dragon Cave Mountain.

Today’s Dragon Cave Mountain had become quite picturesque actually, the surrounding mountains and streams all appearing clean and refreshing. The ambient World Energy aura was also rich. It was a far cry from the barren hill it once was.

But what shocked everyone present was that no one had left the mountain to meet the enemy. There were no apparent defences or cultivators lying in wait, just three old Origin Realm men gathered around a table drinking and relaxing.

When this kind of rampant contempt entered everyone’s eyes, all of their expressions became cold.

Clearly these people weren’t putting them in their eyes, otherwise, how could they be sitting there leisurely drinking?

“Hmph, still trying to act mysterious after reaching a dead end!” Xie Li coldly snorted as he released his Divine Sense to explore Dragon Cave Mountain. Although he was unable to discover anything suspicious, he still instinctively felt a sense of trepidation, as if stepping into this hill was akin to treading through the gates of death.

This feeling made him extremely uncomfortable and as he turned his head to look at the others, and found that everyone was similarly wearing a solemn expression.

However, this situation was akin to an arrow already having left the string, so although Xie Li hadn’t carefully inspected the surrounding region, he knew that many eyes were currently watching him. If at this point, he was to meekly withdraw, he would no longer have any face to appear in public.

Understanding this, Xie Li’s expression became firm and he shouted loudly, “Everyone, this damn barrier has finally broken. If we don’t act now, when will we?”

As he said so, he waved his hand and immediately sent twenty Saint Kings from the Xie Family towards Dragon Cave Mountain.

Although these twenty Saint Kings were clearly not capable of defeating the three Origin Returning Realm masters in front of them, they could at least test Dragon Cave Mountain’s depths. Xie Li had such intentions and after these twenty flew forward, he immediately began carefully monitoring them.

With the Xie Family taking the lead, the people from Demon Blood Temple and Myriad Beast Mountain were naturally unwilling to be outdone. Lu Ye, who was hidden from view, also quietly issued a command and soon after, sixty more Saint Kings stepped forward from the main force and began approaching Chang Qi, Hao An, and Ning Xiang Chen.

Seeing the number of enemies, Ning Xiang Chen’s hand trembled and he nearly spilled the wine in his glass. Even though he was an Origin Realm master, he wasn’t confident he could face so many Saint Kings all at once.

Chang Qi obviously didn’t miss this but simply let out a chuckle and said, “Don’t worry, Brother Ning, it’s not yet time for us to act.”

“Yes, Brother Ning, you should put your heart at ease,” Hao An echoed, not even bothering to look at the approaching Saint Kings.

Unfortunately, Ning Xiang Chen didn’t share their calmness and couldn’t help turning to observe the nearing enemies while secretly condensing his Saint Qi, preparing to take action at a moment’s notice.

However, in the next moment, these aggressive Saint King Realm cultivators all let out a cry of shock as panic filled their faces and their bodies fell from the sky one by one, making for quite an amusing scene.

“A Flight Inhibiting Array?” Ning Xiang Chen’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, never having expected that this tiny Dragon Cave Mountain would actually have a Flight Inhibiting Array.

This Spirit Array was extremely complex and only some large cities and Sect headquarters would be equipped with them. Once they entered the range of such an array, cultivators would lose the ability to fly. Of course, the ability of such an array to restrict cultivators varied greatly depending on the skill of the master who arranged it and the materials invested in its construction.

Ning Xiang Chen tried circulating his own Saint Qi, wanting to fly up into the air, but to his horror, after reaching a height of just two metres, he felt a crushing pressure restricting him from ascending further.

In light of this, Ning Xiang Chen determined that the Flight Inhibiting Array here was capable of at least suppressing Second-Order Origin Returning Realm masters. Even if a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm came here, they wouldn’t be able to fly very high!

The power of this Spirit Array was simply astonishing!

Just as he was immersed in his shock, the dozens of Saint King Realm cultivators fell like raindrops onto the ground, raising a cloud of dust upon impact.

Fortunately for these Saint Kings, they had not been flying very high, so with the innate strength of their physiques, other than becoming slightly dirt and embarrassed, none of them suffered any harm. Of course, after getting up, all of them wore frowns filled with resentment.

Having suffered such shame, these Saint Kings’ hatred towards Dragon Cave Mountain increased dramatically.

But before they could completely recover, another abrupt change occurred.

Suddenly and strangely, energy fluctuations appeared all around these Saint Kings. These energy fluctuations were extremely well concealed and inconspicuous at first, but they quickly condensed into a whirlwind. When this whirlwind first appeared, it wasn’t very strong, but in the blink of any eye, its size and intensity multiplied many times over. Countless wind blades flew about, slicing into all of the nearby Saint King Realm cultivators.

Screams rang out as the sound of flesh being torn apart filled everyone’s ears, horrifying all who were watching. Soon, this whirlwind was dyed blood red as smashed meat and broken flesh swirled through it.

At a different location, numerous ice cones as thick as a grown man’s thigh strangely materialized mid-air and shot forward like arrows, immediately passing through the chest of two absent-minded cultivators, causing them to explode into blood fogs.

There were also fireballs the size of washbasins being shot about, causing several unlucky Saint King Realm cultivators who were hit to instantly be burned to ashes.

Other Saint Kings from this group just inexplicably disappeared before everyone’s eyes, seemingly vanishing from existence with only their panic-filled screams remaining behind.

A rich scent of blood soon filled the air as this first batch of more than eighty Saint Kings who rushed into Dragon Cave Mountain failed to advance more than a few metres before suffering serious losses.

In literally the blink of an eye, yet in what seemed to last unbearably long, less than half remained alive of the more than eighty Saint Kings who had gone forward to test Dragon Cave Mountain’s defences. Those who were left now scrambled about like headless flies, unable to escape.

As they witnessed this eerie scene, the cultivators outside all felt their blood go slightly cold.

Everyone could tell that these Saint Kings acting so erratically was due to them falling into some kind of Illusion Array, making it impossible for them to determine where they were or where they were going, making the few steps it should have taken them to escape an impassable moat separating life and death.