Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Jin Shi was confident that he could twist off Yang Kai’s head in the blink of an eye with his strength.

As long as Yang Kai was killed, the giant dark green dragon would naturally become useless. Not only that, but Jin Shi also thought he could get back that piece of Profound Gold and use it to cultivate his Golden Cicada Extreme Demon Art to the grand accomplishment stage. At this point, his strength would exceed that of the Temple Master and taking over Demon Blood Temple wouldn’t be impossible.

The key point though was killing Yang Kai of course.

Considering all this, Jin Shi’s blood began to boil and he no longer hesitated, quietly summoning a needle-shaped artifact as thin as a hair and shooting it towards Yang Kai. This type of artifact didn’t have significant lethality, but because it was difficult to see and guard against, it was extremely useful for launching sneak attacks. On top of that, even if its lethality wasn’t strong, getting hit by it would deal a great amount of damage.

After all, this needle-shaped artifact had a faint green and black glow to it, clearly indicating it was coated in a violent poison.

Seeing the needle-shaped artifact coming towards himself, Yang Kai casually lifted his hand and summoned his Purple Shield. The next moment, a metallic ring sounded from the face of the Origin Grade High-Rank defensive artifact. The needle-shaped artifact was completely unable to break through his defence or cause any damage to Yang Kai.

However… it had served its purpose.

Jin Shi throwing this needle-shaped artifact was not to kill Yang Kai, but rather to attract his attention.

Jin Shi’s cicada wings fluttered rapidly in that instant and his figure disappeared from where he was standing, appearing again only ten metres away from Yang Kai’s side, displaying a truly astonishing speed!

With a fierce, smug grin on his face, Jin Shi sneered and shouted, “Boy, you’re too naive to fight this old master!”

As soon as his words fell, his Shi burst forth and an invisible quagmire was formed around Yang Kai, causing his actions to freeze. Although Shi was always condensed through a similar process, there were always slight differences between different individuals.

Jin Shi’s Shi contained a faint bloody aura and those who were engulfed by it would feel as if they had been sunk into a pool of blood, not only making it difficult for a person to move and inhibiting their ability to circulate their Saint Qi, but also making it difficult to breathe due to being submerged in this bloody aura. This bloody aura would then begin drilling into the pores of those caught in Jin Shi’s Shi, stimulating the violent tendencies in their heart and causing their mental state to become unstable.

After being surrounded by this Shi, Yang Kai’s eyes quickly turned red and his expression became pained as he tried with great difficulty to breathe. Bi Luo standing next to him was even worse and she audibly moaned and her body limply fell into his arms.

She hadn’t healed from her previous heavy injuries, so even moving around was difficult, so how could she withstand Jin Shi’s Third-Order Origin Returning Realm Shi?

“A brat who just broke through to the Origin Realm dares act so arrogant! This old master will let you know what a real Origin Realm master is!” Jin Shi said with great self-satisfaction, stretching out his hand towards Yang Kai as he spoke. The scaled armour which covered his hand at this moment looked grotesque, but it was undeniable that this hand possessed extremely terrifying power.

Jin Shi’s plan was very simple, he was going to use his Shi to subdue or kill Yang Kai in one fell swoop!

After all, during the Battle of Dragon Cave Mountain, he saw that Yang Kai was only a Third-Order Saint King, so although this boy had already broken through to the Origin Realm, Jin Shi was certain he had not had time to condense his Shi. In other words, aside from his realm having changed from Saint King to Origin Returning, Yang Kai’s strength should not have undergone any kind of growth.

Jin Shi’s strategy of using his advantage to attack his enemy’s weakness was no doubt correct.

Although his plan was good, Jin Shi couldn’t possibly have imagined that in such a short time, Yang Kai had already condensed his Shi to the minor accomplishment stage and was no worse than any Origin Returning Realm master who had been immersed in this realm for many decades.

Just as the big hand was about to capture him, Yang Kai’s lips suddenly curled upwards as a mocking grin flashed across his face, the look of panic in his eyes completely disappearing and being replaced with incomparable calmness.

Noticing this change, Jin Shi’s instincts suddenly warned him something wasn’t right and an unprecedented sense of crisis struck his whole body.

Before he had a chance to figure out whether Yang Kai was simply bluffing or actually had some card up his sleeve, a strange force suddenly burst forth, not only wrapping around Jin Shi but also sweeping across his Shi.

*Kacha…*

A cracking sound which seemed to echo in the depths of the heart caused Jin Shi’s complexion to change dramatically. When this strange force suddenly emerged, Jin Shi was terrified to discover that his Shi was disintegrating and could not maintain any semblance of cohesion.

At the same time, the surrounding space seemed to twist and distort, giving Jin Shi the illusion he had been banished to the Void and his body itself was folding over itself unnaturally.

That boy Yang Kai had been right in front of him a moment ago, but in the blink of an eye, he now seemed incredibly far away.

“Impossible!” Jin Shi cried out in panic as his eyes bulged in disbelief.

With Jin Shi’s vision, he was naturally able to see that Yang Kai had also released his Shi and that it was stronger and sharper than his own, otherwise, it would be impossible to break through his Shi.

[What kind of power is integrated into this Shi? Why is it causing space itself to warp?] Jin Shi wondered to himself as the hand which was just about to seize Yang Kai was unable to advance any further. In Jin Shi’s eyes, Yang Kai’s position relative to himself had changed dramatically and he was no longer certain he could kill this boy with this strike.

Space Force!

Yang Kai’s Shi had his Space Force integrated into it, so whenever he released his Shi, the nearby space would undergo some changes.

This was something Yang Kai had conceived and accomplished with the help of the Emperor Pressure before entering the Emperor Garden. Delaying his entry for ten days had not been a wasted effort. The intensity of the Emperor Pressure outside had been so great that it allowed Yang Kai to merge his Space Force into his Shi, and although he had yet to fully integrate the two and master their use, there was no doubt that right now, Yang Kai’s Shi was far more powerful than that of an ordinary cultivator’s.

The current situation was a perfect example. This was the first time Yang Kai had used his Shi in a fight and he had great expectations for it. He was not disappointed, its effects were truly remarkable.

In all fairness, Jin Shi’s strength was also incredible. He had been a famous figure on Shadowed Star for many years and his cultivation had reached the peak of the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm. If Yang Kai were to fight him openly under ordinary circumstances, killing Jin Shi would no doubt be incredibly difficult. Especially in this special environment where he had to take care of Bi Luo while being mindful of his opponent’s equally powerful ally.

The various difficulties he faced in this fight made Yang Kai choose to first show Jin Shi weakness, deliberately drawing him close. When facing Demon Blood Temple’s Temple Master’s first attack, Yang Kai had intentionally summoned the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword to get Jin Shi to relax his guard.

Jin Shi clearly thought too highly of himself and was certain that without the Dragon Bone Sword and Artifact Spirit, Yang Kai was a soft persimmon that could be easily pinched. It was because Jin Shi saw Yang Kai unable to use these two cards that he decided to act directly!

How could Yang Kai miss such an opportunity? Yang Kai’s figure flickered and by using his Space Force, he silently disappeared only to reappear directly behind Jin Shi.

This wasn’t some kind of illusion caused by Yang Kai moving extremely fast but rather a true instantaneous movement.

Within the scope of his Shi, Yang Kai could easily accomplish this; unfortunately, at present, his Shi could only cover about a three hundred metre radius. In other words, it was only within this limited range that Yang Kai could freely teleport. Still, this in itself was an amazing ability.

Jin Shi was still maintaining his grasping posture, seemingly not having recovered from this shocking turn of events.

Yang Kai waved his hand and sent out a jet black blade-like attack towards Jin Shi at astonishing speed.

Space Blade!

With his opponent being a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm master, Yang Kai was naturally not planning to conserve his strength and was instead intending to end this in one decisive blow.

His Space Blade lived up his expectations and directly sliced right into Jin Shi’s back, emerging from the other side an instant later.

“Hm?” Yang Kai wasn’t happy seeing this though, and instead wore a look of surprise as he immediately turned to look towards a nearby spot. In the direction he was staring, a distressed figure appeared. It was Jin Shi, but at this moment, his face wore a look of fear as his heart pounded loudly, seemingly having suffered some serious damage.

At the same time, the Jin Shi who had been sliced through from back to front still remained; however, there was no blood flowing out from the wound.

*Huala yisheng…*

The wounded Jin Shi collapsed into dust and scattered away.

“Some kind of moulting escape technique?” Yang Kai raised his brow in surprise.

Yang Kai made a casual guess; after all, this old dog’s cultivation technique was called the Golden Cicada Extreme Demon Art, but what he hadn’t expected was that his guess was spot on.

This technique of Jin Shi’s was called the Golden Cicada Molting and was a specialized escape art. Since he began cultivating the Golden Cicada Extreme Demon Art, Jin Shi had used this technique to avoid death several times.

Just before Yang Kai’s Space Blade struck, Jin Shi instinctively sensed a fatal threat and immediately used this Secret Technique, thereby preserving his life.

Although this technique worked incredibly well, there were several harsh restrictions to using it, a severe loss of stamina for one. On top of that, after being used once, it could not be used again for some time.

If this was somewhere else, Jin Shi may have successfully escaped.

But on this ice road, confined in such a narrow space, even if he wanted to escape, he couldn’t run far.

What made Jin Shi even more depressed though was that, inside of Yang Kai’s Shi, he was unable to accurately judge his position. He thought he had escaped further away from Yang Kai and only needed to look for an opportunity to join forces with the Temple Master to combat this boy, but after using his moulting technique, he discovered that he had only managed to get about a dozen metres away from Yang Kai.

Jin Shi almost failed to stop himself from cursing out loud. He had never before encountered such a strange Shi.

“Interesting!” Yang Kai grinned treacherously, increasing the intensity of his Shi even further. In an instant, the warped space around him began to slowly collapse. Centred around Yang Kai, within the range of three hundred metres, innumerably tiny Void Cracks began to appear. These Void Cracks were as fine as hairs, and although they would soon be repaired by the World Principles here, they were appearing at an equally fast rate.

Looking at the pale-faced, helpless Jin Shi, Yang Kai stretched out his hand and immediately clenched his fist, shouting, “Condense!”

The Void Cracks, as if following his order, gathered towards the location of Jin Shi, surrounding him like countless tiny snakes, a truly shocking sight to behold.

Jin Shi was in an incredibly pitiful state; Demon Blood Temple’s Great Elder, a peak Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator, forced into a desperate situation as a million tiny Void Cracks wrapped around him from all directions. Knowing there was no way he could run from or evade what was to come, Jin Shi’s expression finally became panicked and he quickly shouted, “Wait, Sect Master Yang, please show mercy!”