Martial Peak

Since the founding of Thunder Typhoon Sect, Thunder Typhoon Canyon has always been its territory.

When Thunder Typhoon Sect was not well-known, many Sects had taken a fancy to this treasured land and tried to capture it, but all of them had failed and instead become stepping stones to Thunder Typhoon Sect’s rise.

As such situations repeated themselves, Thunder Typhoon Sect grew rapidly and eventually became one of the two giants of Shadowed Star.

The perimeter of Thunder Typhoon Canyon was surrounded by a poisonous miasma and was difficult to approach for outsiders. This provided a layer of natural defence for Thunder Typhoon Sect. To cross it, disciples needed to take a special detoxification pill in advance or use the Space Array directly.

Otherwise, even Saint Kings would not be able to withstand the miasma’s corrosion. In the case of light poisoning, one’s limbs would go numb and their Saint Qi would not circulate well, but in severe cases, people were known to fall to the ground and die instantly.

This was the largest reason why Thunder Typhoon Sect was able to maintain control of this land.

In addition to this natural barrier, it was rumoured that there were countless Spirit Arrays arranged inside Thunder Typhoon Canyon that would send any who dare intrude to their death.

Although Yang Kai had his Starship to rely on, he did not take these defences lightly. Thunder Typhoon Canyon was different from Heaven Battling City; after rushing in, it might be difficult to get out.

So after the Starship passed through the poisonous miasma, Yang Kai ordered the ship to slow down significantly while constantly scanning their surroundings and proceeding cautiously.

However, to his surprise, the road they passed through was extremely smooth. Let alone triggering any of the Spirit Arrays, the Starship did not even encounter a single living person.

Under the investigation of his powerful Divine Sense, Yang Kai was able to determine the situation within a radius of a hundred kilometres!

The massive Thunder Typhoon Sect headquarters was empty, seemingly having been evacuated early.

Yang Kai frowned.

Ye Xi Yun was also shocked. Although they had rushed into Heaven Battling City and destroyed Heaven Battling Union with unstoppable force, demonstrating the brilliance of High Heaven Sect, Thunder Typhoon Sect was also a well-known great Sect so there was no reason for them to simply retreat without a fight.

How much courage would it take to give up one’s Ancestral Foundation which they had occupied for almost ten thousand years? What kind of prestige would a leader need to have their entire Sect’s population obey such an order?

Yang Kai could not help feeling that Fang Peng was a more difficult opponent than Qu Zheng.

“Yang Kai, Thunder Typhoon Sect actually withdrew ahead of time, what should we do?” Qian Tong asked, somewhat dumbfounded. He had thought there would be a repeat of previous events, where they fought a difficult battle, but reality had turned out very differently.

“Interesting!” Yang Kai sneered.

The foundation of a Sect lies in its cultivators, not its territory, if the people survived, there would always be a chance to make a comeback; Fang Peng clearly understood this truth.

High Heaven Sect’s punch landing on soft cotton caused everyone inside the Starship to feel somewhat vexed.

“Since we’ve come already, there’s no reason to simply leave empty-handed. Level Thunder Typhoon Canyon,” Yang Kai coldly snorted, “Since Fang Peng doesn’t want this ten thousand year legacy, we don’t need to leave it for him.”

“Ruthless!” Qian Tong’s mouth twitched.

After the order was issued, Crystal Cannons began firing, razing everything in the Starship’s path.

The violent rumbling sounds never ceased as the many structures which composed Thunder Typhoon Sect’s headquarters were turned to dust under the Crystal Cannon fire.

As he was observing leisurely though, Yang Kai’s expression suddenly changed, and a look of surprise came to his face as he sent out his Divine Sense towards a certain direction.

He sensed a not weak energy fluctuation from that direction, not like an artifact, but rather like a large number of Saint Crystals piled up together.

Had Thunder Typhoon Sect evacuated in a hurry and failed to collect this wealth, or was it some kind of trap?

Regardless of which it was, no one disliked having more Saint Crystals, and from the strength of the energy fluctuations he sensed, Yang Kai estimated that there were at least a few hundred million of them at that location. Such a number was a massive amount of wealth even for Thunder Typhoon Sect.

“There’s something interesting over on that side, I’ll go check it out,” Yang Kai stood up and said.

“Sect Master, it may be a plot,” Ye Xi Yun frowned.

“It’s fine,” Yang Kai grinned, “While it’s obviously some kind of trap, I still want to know what tricks Fang Peng is up to. You all remain in the Starship; I’ll be right back.”

Saying so, Yang Kai has rushed out of the Starship before soaring off towards the source of the energy fluctuations.

A short time later, Yang Kai arrived in front of a grand palace and released his Divine Sense to inspect it, not encountering any obstruction to his investigation.

The palace was empty save for some tables and chairs, but there was a secret room which was piled high with a countless number of High-Rank Saint Crystals below it.

There were indeed hundreds of millions.

Yang Kai didn’t want to let go of such a huge amount of wealth, and emboldened by confidence in his strength, he proceeded straight into the palace, fumbled around for a moment to find a secret door, then went straight down to the secret room.

After a while, Yang Kai came to the secret room and when he looked inside, his eyes could not help lighting up. After making sure that there was nothing suspicious around him, he waved his hands and began sweeping the piles of Saint Crystals into his Space Rings.

At the same time, in a different secret room far below Thunder Typhoon Sect headquarters.

At this moment, five elderly cultivators were sitting in the middle of this secret room. Each of these five people had snow-white hair and appeared extremely old, as if they had experienced endless years of wind and rain and no longer had much vitality left in their bodies.

However, each of these five was a master at the peak of the Third-Order Origin Returning Realm!

The five elders each sat at the corner of an elaborate Spirit Array which had clearly been arranged far in advance. This Spirit Array was incredibly profound and radiated a dangerous aura.

Silent, with no Saint Qi fluctuations to speak of, these five more closely resembled corpses than people.

But when Yang Kai walked into the secret room above, the five elders seemed to sense his presence and opened their eyes.

“He’s come!” A yellow-faced old man muttered.

“Indeed, a bold young lad,” Another old woman nodded lightly.

“Since he’s come, let us begin!” A third person said lightly, “Heaven Battling Union was unable to resist that Origin King Grade Starship, so my Thunder Typhoon Sect should also be unable to resist, but if that boy wants to seize our ten-thousand-year foundation, he will have to pay for it with his life.”

“Haha, even if he loses his life to this Profound Yin Ten Sides Array, he can still be proud.”

“Enough idle chatter, Junior Brothers, Junior Sisters, it has been this old master’s honour to know you these past few hundred years, but our time of separation has now come. I wish all of you good fortune on the journey ahead!” The first yellow-faced old man spoke again.

It seemed that his prestige among this group was remarkably high, so after he spoke, the others also wore solemn looks.

The old woman to his side glanced over and smiled lightly, “Senior Brother too.”

A trace of remembrance flashed across the yellow-faced old man’s eyes, but soon his expression became resolute and he uttered a soft voice, “Begin!”

As soon as his voice fell, he began to madly pour his Saint Qi into the node of the Spirit Array before him.

The other four followed suit.

The five-cornered array suddenly released a dazzling light and as the intensity of the glow increased, the Spirit Array seemed to come alive and began rotating, turning faster and faster at a rapid pace.

As this Spirit Array activated, the complexions of the five elders turned pale and the last remnants of their vitality faded rapidly.

This Spirit Array not only seemed to absorb their Saint Qi, but also their vitality.

Letting out muffled shouts, the five elders continued exerting their full effort.

Slowly, this Spirit Array began to tremble and as it rapidly rotated and began to rise upwards, soon shooting towards the ceiling of the secret room and then disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this scene, all five of these elders smiled before collapsing limply on the ground, each of them now so emaciated and weak that it became clear they would soon die.

At the same time, in the secret room filled with Saint Crystals, Yang Kai’s movements paused and he frowned deeply.

A sudden sense of unease had swept over him at that moment.

Before he could identify the source of his unease though, a powerful energy fluctuation suddenly appeared beneath his feet and a massive Spirit Array flew out from below, directly enveloping the entire secret room. The Spirit Array’s patterns seemed to be formed from the strongest of metals, instantly transforming the secret room into a solid cage.

Violent energy fluctuations spread from all around and dazzling rays of light blasted out from below the countless Saint Crystals as a fearful aura began to rise.

Yang Kai swiftly realized what was happening and with a sudden wave of his hand, swept away a massive pile of Saint Crystals to reveal a melon-sized crimson-red crystal which had been buried below. At this moment, the red crystal was emitting a dazzling light and an astonishing and unstable energy fluctuation was pulsing from within it.

“A Profound Explosion Crystal!” Yang Kai’s eyes bulged as he cried out, “So that’s what this is all about!”

Thunder Typhoon Sect had used hundreds of millions of Saint Crystals to set up this secret room knowing that even if people understood it was a trap, they would still jump into it.

After all, greed was a universal trait!

However, once anyone entered this secret room, Thunder Typhoon Sect would spring this deadly trap.

The Spirit Array which had just appeared did not have any kind of lethality and was instead just a restraint to imprison people inside this room. The real danger came from the Profound Explosion Crystals hidden below the piles of Saint Crystals!

Profound Explosive Crystals were rare treasures that had extremely unstable energy stored within them and would explode if exposed to some kind of shock. Under normal circumstances, they were not very useful, and because they were rare and expensive, cultivators barely ever used them.

Thunder Typhoon Sect had clearly gone to a lot of trouble to find such a large piece of Profound Explosive Crystal, and more than one at that. Below the piles of Saint Crystals, Yang Kai spotted at least five places which were glowing bright red.

In the face of such a massive explosion, even an Origin King Realm master would not necessarily be able to survive, let alone Yang Kai.

Thunder Typhoon Sect genuinely thought highly of him!

As such thoughts flashed across his mind, the red light became more and more violent, and in the next instant, a thunderous boom rang out, vaporizing the entire palace in an instant.

A red beam of light that pierced the sky shot out from the ground and Thunder Typhoon Sect’s headquarters was completely levelled in the enormous subsequent explosion.

The wave of energy which was released swept out like a great tide, bursting through everything in its path, causing the light from the sun itself to appear dull.

A dozen kilometres away, inside the Starship, everyone was dumbfounded as they stared at this scene in shock.

Even Ye Xi Yun’s beautiful face paled slightly, but fortunately her will was strong, so when she saw the terrifying aftermath approaching, she quickly yelled, “Activate the shield!”

Soon, a thin membrane-like shell appeared around the Starship.

The violent winds and waves of energy hit the Starship in the next instant and sent it hurtling into the canyon side.

Inside the Starship, everyone was thrown off their feet. With faces filled with horror, they all instinctually urged their Saint Qi to protect their bodies while summoning their defensive artifacts.