Martial Peak

With the addition of the Firebird Artifact Spirit and giant dark green dragon, the Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect cultivators’ already bad situation immediately worsened.

When Yang Kai first acquired the Firebird, its strength wasn’t too great; however, over the past few years, it had refined three wisps of Sun’s True Fire and two Heaven Scorching Thunder Fires, all of which contributed significantly to its growth.

Today’s Firebird had no trouble defeating a Third-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator on its own.

What’s more, the Firebird possessed a high level of sentience and had its own consciousness, so it understood how to wait for openings and opportunities to defeat its opponents without needing help or commands from Yang Kai.

Although the giant dark green dragon transformed from the Dragon Bone Sword was no match for the Firebird Artifact Spirit in terms of sentience and intelligence, it was refined from the bones and Soul of an Ancient Divine Spirit, so the Dragon Pressure it exuded alone was enough to suppress most opponents. With Yang Kai controlling it, the Verdant Dragon Bone Sword became a fearful opponent.

Moreover, this artifact could grow further. Whether it was an innate or acquired Divine Ability, the Dragon Bone Sword was able to swallow and refine the vitality of any cultivator it killed to increase its power.

Giant fireballs spewed from the Firebird’s mouth and flaming feather blades shot from its wings in all directions while the giant dark green dragon opened its giant maw and spat out a dense poisonous mist. This poisonous mist was so deadly that even Origin Returning Realm Masters did not dare despise it.

Pitiful screams sounded one after another as enemies died in rapid succession under the attacks of the Firebird and Dragon Bone Sword.

“Sect Master Yang, this old master wishes to negotiate!” Liang Yong’s expression changed dramatically as sweat dripped down his face while he desperately urged his artifacts to protect him from three Ninth-Order Cloud Beasts. Seeing his companions die one by one before his eyes, Liang Yong had finally begun to panic as he realised death was approaching.

If it was just Yang Kai, they could have won with ease considering the strength they had brought with them.

But with so many powerful auxiliary methods, this idea was no longer realistic.

Liang Yong did not want to die here.

“What more is there to say now?” Yang Kai’s sneering voice echoed from all around. Liang Yong tried to find traces of him but was unable to achieve anything. Seeing the Firebird Artifact Spirit fly straight towards him after killing one of his companions, Liang Yong trembled and quickly shouted, “Do you think my Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect wanted to deal with you like this? If so, you are completely mistaken.”

“What do you mean?” Yang Kai was really taken aback.

“Liang Yong, if you dare leak these secrets, you’ll die like a dog!” From a short distance away, Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Vice Sect Master Si Tu Hong quickly shouted.

As soon as these words sounded though, more than a dozen Golden Threads strangely appeared, tangled together, and soon condensed into a giant golden spear that shot towards Si Tu Hong.

Si Tu Hong was already in a desperate situation, trying to resist the torrential attacks of the Cloud Beasts surrounding him, so how could he possibly have the spare capacity to guard against this golden spear now?

With a great roar, Si Tu Hong pushed his Saint Qi as hard as he could to form a protective barrier around his body, hoping to block the blow.

Unfortunately for him, he had greatly underestimated the power of Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Threads. The Golden Blood Threads already possessed unrivaled sharpness, and after Yang Kai gained the ability to transform them into various weapons, this sharpness only increased.

The golden spear quickly struck Si Tu Hong, punctured through his Saint Qi guard with ease, and proceeded to pierce a gaping hole into his body.

Fortunately, at the last moment, Si Tu Hong managed to twist his body and avoid taking a critical hit. Although this blow was extremely powerful, it failed to outright kill him.

But his luck ended here.

The Cloud Beasts that had been besieging him pounced at that moment and completely overwhelmed him.

Screams rang out, causing the few people who remained to drip cold sweat. After only three breaths, the sounds from the Thunder Typhoon Sect’s Vice Sect Master stopped abruptly, and his life aura completely disappeared.

“Now you can talk!” Yang Kai’s voice sounded again.

Liang Yong turned his head and suddenly found that Yang Kai had already appeared, standing not far away, looking at him with a gloomy expression. The Cloud Beasts that had been attacking him seemed to have received some kind of order and ceased for the moment, but they all remained close, baring their fangs as they carefully stared at him.

Two more screams rang out as two more of Liang Yong’s companions fell.

Liang Yong scanned his surroundings and quickly discovered that only two people remained alive in this strange world, him and Yang Kai. Everyone else who accompanied Liang Yong had died a miserable death, not only having their bodies torn to shreds and then consumed, even their Remnant Souls had been consumed.

Their Souls had been extinguished in the truest of senses!

One had to know that a cultivator who reached the Origin Returning Realm would have their Spiritual Energy leak out from their Knowledge Sea and dissipate into the world after death. This dispersion happened quite violently and was easily noticeable, but at this moment, Liang Yong was unable to detect any signs of this natural process occurring.

He had no idea what was going on.

But the strangeness of the situation only caused him greater fear.

Gulping unconsciously, Liang Yong felt a sense of fear he had not experienced in nearly a hundred years.

“Are you going to talk or not?” Yang Kai asked impatiently.

“Things have reached this point, so this old master naturally has no reason to conceal anything. If Sect Master Yang wishes to know something, this old master is willing to divulge everything he knows!” Liang Yong took a deep breath, his expression seemingly calm, but only he knew how much he was suffering on the inside.

“Then tell me what your words meant,” Yang Kai narrowed his eyes.

Liang Yong flashed a wry smile, “If this old master speaks, can Sect Master Yang give this old master a chance to live?”

“What do you think?” Yang Kai grinned.

Liang Yong shook his head, “Whether I live or die is completely up to Sect Master Yang, but since Sect Master Yang wishes to know some secrets that this old master can explain, why should I speak if this old master can’t obtain any kind of advantage?”

Yang Kai squinted slightly as a cold glow flashed across his eyes, only after a long silence nodding, “Good, if the value of the information you tell me is high enough, I can spare your dog life; after all, you’re only acting on orders here and there is no personal grudge between us. However, if you are just trying to stall for time, I’ll deliver you a fate worse than death!”

“Rest assured, what this old master has to say will definitely be of great interest to Sect Master Yang; however, verbal statements aren’t guarantees, how is this old master supposed to trust Sect Master Yang?”

“You have no choice!” Yang Kai snorted coldly and took a step forward.

At the same time, the Cloud Beasts that were gathering around Liang Yong also let out a low growl, as if they were eager to pounce and only waiting for Yang Kai’s order to tear this enemy to pieces.

Liang Yong’s complexion darkened as he quickly raised his hands and said, “I understand… people under the eaves have to bow, this old master will talk.”

“Seems you’re not completely stupid!” Yang Kai sneered.

“This time…” Liang Yong frowned, as if deliberating what words to use before slowly continuing, “This time, Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect were ordered to act.”

“Ordered?” Yang Kai was surprised, “By who?”

“This…” Liang Yong hesitated as a hint of fear flashed across his face, “Even if this old master does not say, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Sect Master Yang to guess with your intelligence, yes?”

Yang Kai looked at him suspiciously but quickly understood, “You mean Star Emperor Mountain?”

Yang Kai was no longer a Saint Realm cultivator who knew nothing about this Cultivation Star; he had been on Shadowed Star for many years now and naturally understood the power and influence Heaven Battling Union and Thunder Typhoon Sect wielded. Ordering these two great forces to team up and deal with him was something only Star Emperor Mountain was capable of.

“This old master never said anything, everything is just Sect Master Yang’s own speculations,” Liang Yong quickly drew a line between them, but Yang Kai could tell his guess was correct from his manner and tone.

However, he didn’t have any kind of interaction with Star Emperor Mountain, right?

“Is it because of my Starship?” Yang Kai asked coldly.

“Partially, the other reason is because of a certain person,” Liang Yong was also considered to be a high-level officer of Heaven Battling Union, so naturally he understood some of the deeper reasons behind this time’s action.

“Elder Ye!” Yang Kai immediately thought of Ye Xi Yun.

She was the former Sect Master of Star Emperor Mountain but Yang Kai didn’t know why that was the case. Now, however, it seemed Ye Xi Yun and the current Star Emperor Mountain had some grievances between them.

[Right, she was poisoned before we met, but anyone who could poison her must have extraordinary strength. Could it have been Star Emperor Mountain’s doing?]

Seeing Yang Kai sink into contemplation, Liang Yong stood in place anxiously and waited, only after a long silence tentatively asking, “Sect Master Yang, this old master has already said everything he knows, is it enough to satisfy you?”

“You’re certain you’re not omitting anything?” Yang Kai glared at him coldly, “You must know by now that even if there are more than a dozen people outside, you cannot stop me from leaving. If I later find out that you’ve concealed something from me here, heh heh, I wonder if Elder Liang has any descendents who would be willing to pay him filial piety when he is gone?”

Liang Yong’s face changed as a look of struggle flashed across his eyes, gritting his teeth eventually before saying, “Sect Master Yang should be careful of the old man with grey hair wearing brown robes!”

“Oh?” Yang Kai looked at him with a smile, before nodding his head, “Alright, many thanks for Elder Liang’s warning!”

Liang Yong could not help gasping for breath, this feeling of his life hanging by a thread was simply too terrifying.

“Sect Master Yang, this old master really knows nothing else, so…

“Rest assured, I always mean what I say,” Yang Kai gently nodded. As he said just now, he had no grudge with Liang Yong, so it didn’t matter to him whether he killed him for not.

With a flash of Divine Sense, the surrounding Cloud Beasts once again transformed into white clouds that floated back up into the sky.

The strange Spirit Array world also seemed to distort and blur at that moment and soon shattered.

When Liang Yong regained his composure, he realised he had reappeared outside the palace with his remaining dozen or so companions all looked over in his direction.

In the next moment though, these dozens or so masters showed looks of shock.

There were scattered bones all over the ground, without the slightest trace of flesh, blood, or vitality left on them, as if they had been exposed to the elements for countless years, leaving behind only bleached remains.

The vital essence of each of these fallen cultivators had been swallowed by the Dragon Bone Sword, leaving nothing behind.

Surrounded by these bones, Yang Kai stood with a smug look upon his face, with only Liang Yong still left alive a short distance away.

The remaining people who had fallen into his Spirit Array had all fallen.