Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Inside this Stone Monument which contained a profound Artifact Refining method, there was something else hidden, a discovery that surprised Yang Kai greatly.

Nearby, however, Xue Yue, who was still somewhat pale-faced, suddenly showed a look of pleasant surprise when she spotted this stone tablet, her eyes instantly fixing onto it and refusing to move.

“Yang Kai, give that thing to me!” Xue Yue suddenly called out.

“Why?” Yang Kai shot a glance over at her before quickly stuffing the stone tablet into his Space Ring. Although he did not know what this stone tablet was, since it had been so deeply hidden here, obviously it was no small matter.

Xue Yue should have also understood this, and possibly even recognized the ancient text engraved on it. Otherwise, she would not have been so excited.

“Just give it to me!” Xue Yue said anxiously, “That thing is of no use to you!”

“How do you know it’s of no use to me?” Yang Kai declared indifferently.

“Give it to me first, and I’ll explain when I have a chance later. As long as you hand that stone tablet over, this Young Master will withdraw and no longer trouble you. The grievances between you and I will also be wiped clean!” Xue Yue stared at Yang Kai sincerely.

Yang Kai’s expression finally changed, becoming more and more curious.

How valuable must this stone tablet be that it could make Xue Yue offer such concessions? Although Yang Kai was certain that whatever secrets this stone tablet held were incredibly shocking, he did not suspect that Xue Yue was deceiving him.

Since she said it was useless to him, it almost certainly was. Although Xue Yue was extremely possessive and possessed astonishing means and abilities, she was not someone who liked to lie. Because of her innate arrogance, she simply disdained to deceive others.

About this point, Yang Kai believed his judgment.

In all fairness, it would not be a loss to exchange this stone tablet of unknown purpose for Xue Yue’s promise.

Seeing Yang Kai become tempted, Xue Yue hurriedly struck while the iron was hot and said, “This Young Master is always true to his word, about this you don’t need to doubt, everyone here can testify to this!”

“Can I ask what use this thing has?” Yang Kai tilted his head and looked at her.

A hint of embarrassment appeared on Xue Yue’s face, but after a short pause, she opened her lips and sent a quiet message directly to his ear, “I can’t tell you exactly what it’s for, but I can tell you that not only is it useless to you, it’s also useless to me and every other cultivator in the entire Emperor Garden!”

Yang Kai’s eyes shrank!

Although Xue Yue did not explain anything directly, her remarks were intriguing enough.

Most of the cultivators in the Emperor Garden were Origin Returning Realm masters, many of whom had reached the Third-Order, so this stone tablet being useless to all of them could only mean one thing.

Only Origin King Realm masters could use this stone tablet!

No wonder Xue Yue was willing to make such a promise, this thing’s value was not small. Any treasure that was exclusively for Origin Kings must have inestimable value, but… Yang Kai had only just broken through to the Origin Returning Realm and was still extremely far away from the Origin King Realm. What’s more, he had so many rare treasures already, as well as an incredibly rich background, so he may not even care about the secrets hidden in this stone tablet.

Considering all this, Yang Kai began leaning towards accepting Xue Yue’s offer and hesitantly asked, “Can I believe your words?”

“Yes!” Xue Yue declared solemnly.

“Good, I hope you mean what you say!” Yang Kai nodded gently and was just about to toss the stone tablet to Xue Yue, but at that moment, a change suddenly took place.

All of a sudden, an abnormal energy fluctuation filled the air like an invisible ripple, sweeping over everyone and everything in an instant.

Yang Kai was quite awfully familiar with this kind of energy fluctuation by now and it caused his complexion to change dramatically when he felt it. Rushing towards Shan Qing Luo at that instant, he called out loudly, “Qing Luo!”

Shan Qing Luo hadn’t realized what was going on yet but seeing Yang Kai rushing over to her so eagerly, she couldn’t help smiling and stretching out her jade white hand towards him.

But in the next moment, her expression changed sharply because she saw a huge palm formed of ambient World Energy suddenly appear behind Yang Kai. This palm should belong to a woman, because although it was massive, it had a slender and beautiful appearance, like a flawless jade carving that had been enlarged thousands of times over.

Swooping down from above, it grabbed towards Yang Kai!

“No!” Shan Qing Luo’s beautiful face lost all colour as she screamed out in panic.

The moment her voice rang out though, the flawless jade hand grabbed hold of Yang Kai and burst into particles of light, disappearing along with Yang Kai before everyone’s eyes.

Before she could figure out what happened, Shan Qing Luo heard panicked screams from all directions. Looking around, she could not help gawking for a moment because right now, everyone was facing the same fate as Yang Kai. Giant palms formed by the ambient World Energy were grabbing hold of everyone, bursting, then as space distorted, figures were vanishing.

Shan Qing Luo instinctually raised her head to the sky and found that even her situation was the same…

By the time she recovered her wits, Shan Qing Luo realized she had returned to Monster Emperor Star!

Somewhere on Shadowed Star, Yang Kai stood in a daze, staring down at his palm.

On his fingertips, there seemed to be a touch of Shan Qing Luo’s lingering heat and the tip of his nose still smelt a whiff of her enchanting fragrance, stimulating his emotions even now.

Only after some time did he raise his head and sigh. Although they had been forcefully separated again so soon after they reunited, at least Yang Kai was certain that Shan Qing Luo was alive and well, which for now was enough.

Yang Kai did not know what happened in the Emperor Garden to cause its World Principles to suddenly eject him, but since he had been sent out, everyone else must have as well.

Considering all this, Yang Kai looked up and found that high in the sky, the massive and majestic Emperor Garden was still present, appearing just as it always had with the exception of the jade platforms which had now disappeared.

Yang Kai estimated that it would be impossible to re-enter the Emperor Garden again.

Yang Kai did not know exactly what happened in the Emperor Garden, but he figured it was somehow related to Yang Yan. She had said that on the day the Emperor Garden opened, the true body of the Great Emperor would awaken, so presumably, everything had gone well with her and Ye Xi Yun.

If all had gone well, then the body of the Great Emperor should have awoken!

Thinking so, Yang Kai’s heart suddenly clenched and his expression became gloomy.

Yang Yan was the Soul Clone of the Great Emperor, so if the true body of the Great Emperor awoke, what would happen to her? Yang Kai had not considered this point before and Yang Yan had never mentioned it to him, but now, the more he thought about it, the more anxious he became.

No more dawdling, Yang Kai quickly released his Divine Sense to try to find out where he currently was, as well as what direction to travel to reach the Flowing Flame Sand Field.

This quick investigation, however, only made Yang Kai’s face even uglier.

He discovered that he was on a deserted island. This island was not very large, only about a dozen kilometres in diameter, and the resources here were quite poor. There were no spirit grasses or spirit medicines to speak of and no trace of any living people, the only thing above and around him was blue sky and blue sea.

[It can’t be…] Yang Kai frowned.

When bad luck struck, it never did so gently, [I can’t have been sent to the Limitless Ocean, right?]

Yang Kai had arrived on Shadowed Star many years ago, so he was well aware of the existence of the Limitless Ocean. Shadowed Soul Island, one of the Three Great Forbidden Zones, was situated above the Limitless Ocean. Unfortunately, no one had ever seen Shadowed Soul Island and lived to tell the tale.

The environment around Yang Kai right now was remarkably similar to the descriptions he had heard about the Limitless Ocean before!

If this was truly the case, his situation was a bit troublesome; after all, the Flowing Flame Sand Field was incredibly far from the Limitless Ocean. If Yang Kai were to try to fly the whole way back, he could not even begin to estimate how much time it would take him.

Of course, this was just his guess and he would need to find someone to ask to be certain.

Having formulated a plan, Yang Kai summoned his Star Shuttle and flew off as quick as lightning from the deserted island.

Atop the expansive sea, five cultivators wearing matching robes were fighting with a giant octopus-like sea beast. Brilliant artifact attacks and Martial Skills blossomed, filling the air and sea with vivid and colourful light.

The cultivation of these five was not high, each of them only having reached the Saint Realm.

On the other hand, the aura emanating from the octopus’s body was peak Seventh-Order.

If it were anywhere else, this group of five would be more than enough to take down this sea beast, but in the water, this octopus occupied a distinct territorial advantage and could easily use the abundant Water Attribute Energy around it to fight. It would condense barrages of water arrows to overwhelm the five cultivators while mixing in its black ink to blind and disorient them.

Additionally, the long and thick tentacles of this sea beast were not to be underestimated. Every time it struck with one of its limbs, the five cultivators would pale and hurriedly evade.

Although wounds accumulated on the sea beast’s body as time passed, the group of five were also becoming exhausted and each of them was now obviously panting for breath.

After another incense stick worth of time, a scream suddenly resounded. It was a woman wearing green robes. She and her companions had been trying to land a killing blow on the eye of this sea beast when suddenly they had been enveloped by a thick black mist.

Obviously, the octopus had sprayed out a large amount of its ink to form this black mist. Not only could this mist hinder sight and Divine Sense, but it also seemed to suppress the power of artifacts and impede the flow of Saint Qi in any cultivator caught inside of it.

This woman had the lowest cultivation out of this group, so she was the first to be affected. At the exact moment she noticed her Saint Qi was no longer circulating smoothly, a giant tentacle whipped towards her.

The woman’s beautiful face turned pale as she instinctively tried to defend herself but unfortunately discovered that she was powerless to do so. Seeing the tentacle approaching closer and closer, she could not help screaming, thinking she was doomed this time.

The other four people in this group also saw this but they too were suffering the effects of the black mist and were unable to render assistance, causing them immense anxiety and regret.

However, at the last moment, a golden light suddenly flashed before their eyes. This golden light at first seemed quite weak, but amidst the black mist, it shined as dazzlingly as the sun, dispelling the darkness which was engulfing the group of five.

With a soft slicing sound, the tentacle of the giant octopus which the group of five had been helpless against was instantly cut off, resulting in dark green blood splashing out in the next instant.

The sea beast’s pained cries rang out as it whipped its seven remaining tentacles about chaotically, stirring up the surrounding sea.

The golden light reappeared immediately after and all the octopus’s remaining tentacles were severed and flew away from the octopus’ main body with a series of slicing sounds, green blood instantly overflowing into the sea.