Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

“It really is Sect Master Yang,” The old man smiled lightly before cupping his fists and saying, “Please excuse this one’s lack of courtesy, I am Heaven Battling Union’s Third Elder Liang Yong!”

[Heaven Battling Union?] Yang Kai frowned. Although he didn’t have a good impression of this great force and even had some friction with it, since the other party had displayed proper etiquette, Yang Kai reciprocated in kind, “Yang Kai greets Elder Liang.”

“En, perfect,” The smile on Liang Yong’s face became more and more kind, but Yang Kai always felt that this smile was somehow strange; unfortunately, he couldn’t tell why. Before he could figure anything out, Liang Yong pointed to someone next to him and spoke, “This is Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong, Sect Master Yang must have heard of him.”

“I have indeed!” Yang Kai nodded lightly. Si Tu Hong and Liang Yong’s names were indeed among those he had heard of as they were both Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters on Shadowed Star as well as famous figures in their own right; however, today was the first time he had seen either of them in person.

Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had a number of grievances between them. Although they weren’t as incompatible as fire and water, they were by no means friendly with one another, so how had they suddenly decided to join forces? Yang Kai felt the situation was somewhat strange, but when he looked over at the Sect Defending Array, he quickly understood.

There are no eternal enemies, only eternal benefits. This scene was the best illustration of this saying.

“Please excuse us, Sect Master Yang, it’s not that we intentionally wanted to intercept you, but I’m sure you can see what the current situation is. Several dozen of Shadowed Star’s great forces have joined forces to break through this Sect Defending Array in order to explore the ruins inside, so our guard around the periphery must be somewhat tight so no one can trespass without permission. I ask Sect Master Yang to forgive Brother Yu for his earlier disrespect, Brother Yu was simply following orders,” Liang Yong spoke again, explaining the situation with the man who had just attacked Yang Kai.

Yang Kai smiled faintly and said, “It’s fine, I haven’t suffered any harm, so we can just consider this matter finished.”

Liang Yong laughed loudly, “Sect Master Yang is indeed magnanimous, this Liang offers his sincere thanks.”

The old man surnamed Yu also hurriedly apologised.

“Elder Liang, is no one allowed to enter here now?” Yang Kai asked uncomfortably; after all, Fallen Emperor Mountain was originally an ownerless stretch of land so the Ancient Sect Ruins inside should also be accessible to everyone. Now that the great forces had designated it as their private territory and were killing all trespassers without mercy, of course, Yang Kai would feel somewhat uncomfortable.

However, since several dozen great forces had joined forces here, Yang Kai couldn’t raise any objections that would violate public anger.

“Yes, we here had reached such an agreement since half a month ago,” Liang Yong gently nodded. “The seven of us here were sent to enforce this order.”

“So that’s how it is,” Yang Kai nodded, expressing his understanding.

Suddenly, however, Liang Yong smiled lightly and said, “But it’s not that no one is allowed to enter. As long as they can obtain the permission of the seven gathered here, anyone is eligible to participate in this grand event!”

“Oh? So how should I go about obtaining your permission?” Yang Kai raised his brow.

“En, that might be a bit difficult,” Liang Yong put on an awkward look as he rubbed his temples and said, “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Sect Defending Array is about to be broken, and anyone who wants to participate in this event must first pay the appropriate price. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be unfair to the others here who had been contributing all this time?”

There was some truth to this statement. There were hundreds of Origin Returning Realm masters who had been bombarding the Sect Defending Array for half a month now and were extremely eager to enter inside to look around. So close to success, how could they just allow an outsider who didn’t provide any assistance during this process to reap the same benefits? If someone tried to do this, there would be plenty of others who would disagree.

“What kind of price?” Yang Kai pondered for a moment before asking, “Elder Liang might as well name a price. I’ll see if I can bear it.”

Liang Yong just laughed though, “Sect Master Yang need not act so estranged. If someone else had come, we would definitely have them pay a high price, but since Sect Master Yang is High Heaven Sect’s Sect Master, then… there’s no need for such trifles. High Heaven Sect is also considered a great force famous across Shadowed Star, so it too is eligible to participate in this event. What’s more, Sect Master Yang came here alone so it’s not a problem for this old master to bend the rules and allow Sect Master Yang to go in.”

Yang Kai wore a look of surprise as he tilted his head and asked, “Won’t doing this cause things to be awkward for Elder Liang?”

Yang Kai was somewhat at a loss. He didn’t understand why the other party was acting so accommodating. Yang Kai didn’t have any friendship with Heaven Battling Union, and in fact had a number of grievances with them, so there was no reason for Liang Yong to give him any face.

Liang Yong chuckled and said, “This old master can’t say the final word here, this is simply my own opinion. Whether or not Sect Master Yang may pass will depend on what everyone else has to say.”

Saying so, Liang Yong turned his gaze to the other six masters beside him.

For a moment, these Origin Returning Realm masters exchanged awkward glances with one another, but it wasn’t long before Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong of Thunder Typhoon Sect spoke up while nodding his head, “If it is just Sect Master Yang, this old master has no problem allowing him to pass.”

Since the representatives of Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect agreed, what else could anyone say? They were originally here following Liang Yong and Si Tu Hong’s lead, so everyone else immediately nodded in agreement.

“Since that’s the case, this Yang must offer his thanks,” Yang Kai cupped his fists before swiftly flying past this group of seven towards the Sect Defending Array.

“Sect Master Yang, since you’ve come, please assist us in breaking through this barrier. The sooner we break through it, the sooner we can reap the benefits it is protecting,” Liang Yong shouted from behind, but Yang Kai was already a few thousand meters away, so there was no way to know if he heard him or not.

After this shout, Liang Yong turned to look at Si Tu Hong and flashed a knowing grin.

This was really a case of wearing out iron shoes while seeking one’s feet.

They had obtained news a while ago that Yang Kai had headed to Heavenly Fate City, but after tracking him all the way there, they found that he had come to Fallen Emperor Mountain. Later, after hearing about the change in Fallen Emperor Mountain, the masters of the two great forces also gathered here.

Just as they were worried about being unable to find Yang Kai’s trail, he had actually delivered himself to them.

There was now no path to Heaven or road to Hell for this boy. Since he had come to court death, he couldn’t blame others for obliging.

However, this was not a place where they could take action. There were too many people here and Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect had to take into account their face and reputation, so for now, the best option would be to let this little brat in first. As long as this boy entered these Ancient Sect Ruins, they could lead him to a secluded place and deal with him quietly.

Even if Yang Kai didn’t have intentions of joining them, Liang Yong would have taken the initiative to invite him in. Si Tu Hong had the same objective, so he didn’t raise any objections, simply finding an excuse to allow Yang Kai to pass safely.

On the other hand, Yang Kai understood that nothing in life came without paying an appropriate price. He didn’t know what kind of scheme Liang Yong and the others were up to, but with full confidence in his skills, Yang Kai didn’t care.

In an instant, he had arrived in front of the Sect Defending Array and quickly flew over to a certain position.

In the direction he flew, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu were using their artifacts to bombard the Sect Defending Array, the light curtain in front of them rippling noticeably each time they attacked.

“Elder Qian, City Lord Fei!” Yang Kai landed and called out.

The two couldn’t help turning their heads upon hearing someone call out to them, and when they saw Yang Kai, Qian Tong couldn’t help grinning, “Yang Kai, did you also catch wind of this and come to investigate?”

“En, by coincidence. I went to Heavenly Fate City to find you but didn’t expect either of you to be there.”

“To find us? For what?”

“A small matter, nothing too important. We can discuss it after we finish up the matter at hand,” Yang Kai laughed.

“Sure. However, why did those people from Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect let you in? It’s a bit strange, anyone who dared try to approach until now was killed.”

“I don’t know,” Yang Kai shrugged.

“Since you’re here, you should help out. This Sect Defending Array is quite amazing, many times stronger than your Dragon Cave Mountain’s Mountain Defending Array, at least,” Fei Zhi Tu interrupted.

“En.”

The three of them no longer spoke and instead turned their focus to attacking the barrier in front of them.

The artifact used by Fei Zhi Tu was the Blue Jade Bowl he relied upon the most. He had caused it to expand to a few dozen meters in diameter and release a hail of blue light beams towards the Spirit Array, causing quite the effect.

Qian Tong, on the other hand, used a short-sword-like artifact. After pouring his Saint Qi into the blade, a dragon roar sounded from it and it transformed into a several-dozen-metre long green dragon that used its tail and claws to batter the Spirit Array loudly.

Yang Kai observed from the side with some admiration. Whether it was Fei Zhi Tu or Qian Tong, both were worthy of their status as famous masters of Shadowed Star. Both of their Saint Qis were pure and powerful. In fact, judging just from the quality of their Saint Qi alone, both of them should have the qualifications to break through to the Origin King Realm.

However, if one wanted to break through to the Origin King Realm, they first needed to condense their Shi to the grand accomplishment stage.

This requirement was enough to cause ninety-nine percent of Origin Returning Realm masters to fall short. Yang Kai didn’t know whether Fei Zhi Tu and Qian Tong had such achievements with their Shi.

Yang Kai had no intention to just observe though and soon raised his hand to send out more than a dozen Golden Threads.

He currently only had two offensive artifacts, one was the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword and the other was the Feather Spirit Arrow he obtained half a month ago and hadn’t yet had a chance to test out. However, neither of these two artifacts could be used casually.

The Dragon Bone Sword, needless to say, had the Remnant Soul wisp of a True Dragon and was extraordinarily eye-catching to use. The Feather Spirit Arrow, on the other hand, was something of a consumable artifact and could only launch two attacks before needing to be re-charged with Saint Qi, not a suitable artifact to use for this task.

As such, Yang Kai could only resort to using his Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique.

Fortunately, as he was travelling the past few months, Yang Kai had been studying the second half of the Golden Blood Thread Secret Technique and was now eager to try out its power. The Sect Defending Array in front of him happened to provide a good practice target.

The dozen or so Golden Threads each released a dazzling golden radiance as well as a shocking vital aura.

As soon as Yang Kai released these Golden Threads, Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu raised their brows and slowed down their movements to observe.

“Old Fei, why do I feel like Yang Kai’s move is somewhat similar to Demon Blood Temple’s Secret Technique, the Demon Blood Thread?” Qian Tong asked suspiciously. He had dealt with several Elders of Demon Blood Temple over the years and understood the strange and mighty power of the Demon Blood Thread Secret Technique, so it was only natural for him to see some clues from Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Threads.

“It’s more than similar, it’s like the two techniques are carved from the same mould,” Fei Zhi Tu was also shocked. “But their former Temple Master spent her entire life to cultivate two Demon Blood Threads while the other Elders like Jin Shi only have one. The number Yang Kai has is… a bit too high, isn’t it?”