Martial Peak

All the attacks launched against Yang Kai at that moment smashed into the whirling sandstorm. The defensive strength of the Purple Shield was certainly outstanding, but this time there were simply too many enemies, all of whom were Origin Realm masters with powerful artifacts of their own.

Under this bombardment, the protection of the Purple Shield would be broken through in just two breaths.

Yang Kai’s complexion darkened and he was just about to use another method to defend himself when a far more terrifying blow suddenly approached. This attack was just a simple beam of light and it seemed to be aimed directly at Yang Kai, but when it arrived in front of the Purple Shield, it actually interfered greatly with the other artifact attacks and Secret Techniques being used against him.

Suddenly, the pressure Yang Kai was facing greatly reduced. This change made him frown but when he turned to look in the direction of the source of the attack, he saw a middle-aged robed man with waist-length hair and an unfettered expression on his face smiling at him with folded arms.

[What were this man’s intentions?] Yang Kai wondered.

Yang Kai’s enemies similarly were confused, one of them even yelling out yelled, “Elder Mo, what are you doing?”

This middle-aged man with long hair was none other than Clear Sky Sect’s Great Elder Mo Yu. His personal strength was great, not in any way under Mo Xiao Sheng or Cheng Peng Xuan, even slightly surpassing Jin Shi and Old Woman Feng. He was one of the Shadowed Start famous figures.

Hearing this question, Mo Yu just smiled indifferently, “What does it look like I’m doing, this Mo knows that treasure is in this boy’s hands and wanted to kill him to seize it, what of it?”

The man who just spoke wrinkled his brow as a look of resentment flashed across his face, but he didn’t have time to investigate this matter further.

Judging from the attack just now, Mo Yu indeed looked like he was trying to kill Yang Kai and seize his treasures; however, the result was that he had actually helped Yang Kai significantly because his attack dispersed most of the other attacks aimed towards him.

This man didn’t know whether Mo Yu acted intentionally or unintentionally, but either way, he was quite annoyed and loudly warned, “I hope Elder Mo can act with a little more discretion, alright?”

Mo Yu smiled faintly but didn’t respond, instead just turning to look at Yang Kai with interest.

In his heart, he was actually quite looking forward to how this situation would develop. Before, Dragon Cave Mountain had been thrust into a worrying situation and was seemingly on the verge of being overrun, but then that woman surnamed Ye arrived at the critical moment and dispersed this danger. In fact, if not for the sudden mutation of the Emperor Garden, Dragon Cave Mountain would currently be calm and stable.

However, because of the Emperor Garden’s change, Dragon Cave Mountain was once again pushed to the edge of a fiery pit, one even more dangerous than the previous one.

Mo Yu wanted to know if Yang Kai’s luck had been used up or if he still had enough to resolve this crisis again.

As the Great Elder of Clear Sky Sect, Mo Yu was not a man with so much free time to waste on such thoughts, nor did he believe in destiny or good fortune, but Yang Kai had saved his two disciples and he was not a man who did not know how to separate grace and grievance. He had agreed to Chen Shi Tao’s request just now, so naturally, he would not go back on his word.

If not for Chen Shi Tao, Mo Yu would not have minded adding insult to injury here; after all, he too was greatly interested in the treasure the Emperor Garden had deposited here.

Additionally, if Yang Kai really died here, he wouldn’t hesitate to snatch his Space Ring.

After striking a blow, Mo Yu didn’t take action again and instead stood back and observed the situation, most of his attention focusing on Yang Kai’s Origin King Grade Artifact Refining Furnace. The strong energy fluctuations emanating from it surprised Mo Yu and he couldn’t help wondering what was hidden inside it.

As for the group of enemies who had been targeting Yang Kai, they had already regrouped and had their artifacts at the ready, preparing to launch another round of attacks.

At that moment though, a whooshing sound of something cutting through the air rang out. Together with this sound came a scorching hot aura as well as a number of glowing golden whips that struck towards each of these master’s heads.

Each of these strikes contained enough power to make those being targeted pale in fright.

These enemies, who were originally prepared to attack Yang Kai, were suddenly forced to defend themselves.

“This is…” Mo Yu’s eyes bulged as he stared towards the source of these attacks in disbelief. He suddenly discovered a tree several dozen metres tall with innumerable branches and a lush canopy.

This big tree gave off a brilliant golden radiance and at this moment was waving its branches furiously, sending out a rain of golden leaves that all transformed into arrows which shot towards the invading masters.

The whip-like attacks were also clearly the transformed branches of this tree.

Mo Yu, however, was not shocked by the attack of this tree, but rather by the clear face which appeared on its thick trunk. At this moment, this face was filled with a twisted, enraged expression.

Each of the golden leaves this tree had shot out contained power equivalent to the full-powered attack of a First-Order Saint King.

And the density of this barrage made for quite a terrifying scene.

Even a master like Mo Yu would need to hurriedly withdraw if he was subjected to such a hail of attacks, so there was no need to mention what kind of response these weaker enemies had to make. Only a couple Third-Order Origin Realm masters were among the group currently targeting Yang Kai, and if not for possessing an overwhelming numerical advantage, facing this unexpected wave of attacks, they would likely have quickly experienced casualties.

“A Sentient Ancient Tree!” Mo Yu exclaimed in surprise, never having expected to find such a treasure on Dragon Cave Mountain.

What’s more, this Sentient Ancient Tree was actually a rare Yang Attribute Spirit Tree!

Although trees were technically another kind of life form, achieving sentience was far more difficult for them than it was for animals and beasts. Mo Yu had lived many years but had only ever heard of existences like this Sentient Ancient Tree and had never seen one until now.

In order for such a tree to gain sentience, it had to be at ten thousand years, if not tens of thousands of years old, making it an extremely rare and precious treasure! If it were to be used for Artifact Refining, it could definitely serve as the foundation for an extremely powerful artifact.

What dumbfounded Mo Yu however was that this Sentient Ancient Tree possessed such a strong offensive power.

[How could this be? Even if this ancient tree had obtained sentience, it should not have much strength and be forced to use its special Divine Abilities to conceal itself from powerful cultivators.]

However, this Sentient Ancient Tree on Dragon Cave Mountain was actually capable of becoming a sharp weapon of war. With its seemingly endless stream of branches and leaves, it was fully capable of holding the line against this wave of invaders for some time.

[This Dragon Cave Mountain… is incomprehensible.]

Mo Yu’s eyes brightened even further as he found himself becoming more and more excited.

The Divine Tree suddenly displaying such incredible might had even caught Yang Kai by surprise, but he soon felt relieved. The Divine Tree had opened up its consciousness before he encountered it and was originally a high-grade Spirit Tree. Since Yang Kai had met and taken it away though, he had fed it no less than a dozen drops of Golden Blood, so it wasn’t difficult to explain how it had grown to such an extent.

Considering all this, Yang Kai couldn’t help grinning.

Suddenly, the air nearby Yang Kai rippled. From this disturbance, a cultivator wearing Heaven Battling Union robes appeared out of nowhere.

Judging from the aura fluctuations coming from this man, he was a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master, on top of that, he was very good at concealing himself. While everyone’s attention had been attracted by the Divine Tree, this man had crept close to Yang Kai and had now taken this opportunity to launch a fatal blow.

This man’s plans had to be commended and it was clear he knew how to make the best use of opportunities on the battlefield. The moment he saw Yang Kai slightly relaxed, this man realized he had a better chance to land a sneak attack and didn’t hesitate to act.

Even a lion would use all its strength to kill a rabbit, and although this man was confident in his strength, he didn’t dare to underestimate Yang Kai on Dragon Cave Mountain, so when he attacked, he did so with all his strength.

The distance between Yang Kai and this man closed rapidly as a cold long sword pierced straight towards Yang Kai’s chest. Before this long sword even reached its mark, it released a sharp light which condensed into a snake phantom that pulsed with cold murderous intent that pricked Yang Kai skin.

In response though, Yang Kai didn’t even try to move, just flashing a cold, gloomy smile towards this man as if he wasn’t the slightest bit worried or even surprised.

[Something is wrong!] This Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master’s heart jumped as he instinctively felt danger, but he was unable to identify the source of this palpitation, all he could sense was that if he continued his attack, the one to suffer a loss would be him.

This thought flashed across this man’s mind, but in the next instant, his expression became firm. He did not draw back and instead poured more of his Saint Qi into his sword to promote its might.

Sword Qi exploded as this man’s killing intent surged!

Mo Yu stood not far away, staring at Yang Kai in this instant, wondering what he had to rely on that allowed him to remain so calm and confident when facing the sneak attack of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master.

The answer was revealed a moment later, as just before the enemy’s attack connected, a small figure appeared in front of Yang Kai. This figure was quite inconspicuous, only reaching as high as Yang Kai’s waist.

“Hm?” Mo Yu raised his brow in surprise as he stared at this grey figure curiously, unable to recognize what it was.

It looked like it was made from stones, but it had limbs and clearly defined facial features like thick brows, a crooked mouth, big nose, and carved out ears. Most distinctive was this creature’s eyes, which showed an intelligent light. With a somewhat hunched posture, this creature’s long arms reached past its knees, giving it a somewhat awkward appearance.

[Can rocks also obtain sentience?] Mo Yu could hardly believe his eyes.

The most surprising thing to Mo Yu though, was he couldn’t feel any kind of energy fluctuations or vital aura from this thing.

Was it alive or dead?

The Stone Puppet answered Mo Yu’s doubts with actions.

Facing the sneak attack of a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, the Stone Puppet opened its mouth wide and spat out a black stick before immediately stretching out a hand, gripping it tightly, and casually swinging it forward.

When this stick was swung though, the world seemed to tremble as the World Energy within several kilometres was greatly disturbed.

Mo Yu’s brow twitched as with his eyesight he could naturally see that this seemingly casual swing carried with it an astonishing amount of power and force.

[This cultivator from Heaven Battling Union… has really bad luck…] Mo Yu thought secretly.

Mo Yu’s expectations were correct. This cultivator from Heaven Battling Union was a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm master, but after witnessing the power of this attack, he realized dodging was fundamentally impossible, so he could only desperately push his Saint Qi, enhancing the power of his sword strike further.