Martial Peak

There was only one person Mo Xiao Qi would call a swindler: The old man who scammed her Source Crystals in Maplewood City.

This old man wandered around in the black market all year round in Maplewood City, and his ability to deceive and defraud was superb. He had even sold his so-called Nine Revolutions Life Restoring Pill to many cultivators when he entered Star Soul Palace's Five Coloured Pagoda.

As an Emperor Grade Alchemist, Yang Kai had never heard of the Nine Revolutions Life Restoring Pill.

After that, Yang Kai also had several encounters with this old swindler. The most recent one was when this old swindler begged for help from the nearby city during the time when Maplewood City was surrounded by Demon Qi.

The old man felt strange to Yang Kai, giving off an enigmatic aura.

Yang Kai had always felt that this old man was hiding many secrets, but the latter always came and went without a trace, his whereabouts always a mystery to everyone. As such, it was impossible for Yang Kai to find out any of his secrets.

Yang Kai had gradually forgotten about this old swindler as time passed, but now he had unexpectedly met him again in the Source Sea.

Only this time, the old swindler was very different from before. Back then, his clothes were ragged, his hair was yellow, and his teeth were crooked and rotting, the very picture of a wicked beggar.

The old swindler now donned fancy clothes and groomed his hair neatly. Wearing a black robe, complemented by his kind face and soft eyes, he radiated a saint-like charm.

Yang Kai's eyeballs almost dropped out of their sockets.

He did not expect a person could have such a huge change of image and wondered how this old swindler could have made a fortune in the past few years.

What shocked Yang Kai the most was that this old swindler actually had a Third-Order Dao Source Realm cultivation, just like him.

Yang Kai could not believe this discovery.

This old man had only been an Origin King back then in Maplewood City, so how did he manage to acquire such a powerful cultivation in just a few years? Could his aptitude be so Heaven-defying? If that was the case, why did it suddenly surface when he was so old? If his aptitude was this superb, it should have manifested when he was young.

Yang Kai could not understand, and felt that this old man was more and more mysterious.

Yang Kai suddenly felt a chill as he thought more about it, and realized a problem he had overlooked.

He did not detect the man when he was scanning the surroundings until Mo Xiao Qi had informed him; or Yang Kai had seen him but did not recognise him.

Yang Kai thought it was impossible for such a thing to have happened.

Just when Yang Kai was still wracking his head over why he did not sense the old swindler, suddenly there was a loud shout from somewhere else, "It's you again!"

Yang Kai turned his head and saw Liang Qiu from the Western Territory's Hundred Barbarian Mountain glaring at him, smiling deviously, "Where is your Big Cousin? Didn't he come with you?"

"Big Cousin already left earlier!" Yang Kai replied casually, "Are you looking for him?"

Liang Qiu snorted, "I have no matters with him, but I do have some matters with you!"

"What can I do for you?" Yang Kai asked quizzically

"Little brat, don't assume that you can disrespect all the Masters in the world just because you have some capability. This Young Master was eager to refine and absorb the Source Strength earlier and decided not to waste time on dealing with you, but now you dare to appear here. Don't blame this Young Master for being impolite!" Liang Qiu warned him.

As he spoke, his spear trembled and he pointed it directly at Yang Kai, releasing a strong malicious intent.

Yang Kai sneered in his heart, knowing that this guy could not choose a suitable person to take action against, so decided to target him as an example to others.

Yang Kai was not frightened at all, however, and just looked at Liang Qiu lightly, "What do you mean by pointing your spear at me? Are you going to attack me?"

Liang Qiu fumed, "What's the point of asking when you already know? This Young Master knows that you have a good aptitude, but it still must not have been easy to reach such a cultivation, so I will give you a chance. Scram from here with your female companions now to avoid embarrassing yourself in front of them, otherwise don't even think of raising your head in front of these beauties for the rest of your life."

He cursed Yang Kai on the inside as he was yelling; after all, Yang Kai was surrounded by three different types of beauties, and there was even a little girl with him! Liang Qiu was envious and jealous!

(Silavin, Erm… Liang Qiu… you okay bro? She's just a child… No need to point her out specifically.)

"Are you going to bully the weak just because you have higher numbers?" Yang Kai snorted, "This Young Master is not afraid of you. If you have guts, we will fight and see who will be the one ashamed in the future!" Yang Kai did not back down from Liang Qiu's intimidating tone and shouted awe-inspiringly, "Keep dreaming if you want this Young Master to leave! Cultivators of my generation would rather die standing than live kneeling!"

"Well said, this little brother, well said. We support you!"

"Little brother, don't be afraid of him, if he dares to attack you, we will go up and fight him."

"Yes, we are all your backups, don't be afraid of him!"

The group of cultivators who were driven away to a distance started a commotion of a mixture of boos and cheers, but more of the latter. Regardless of Yang Kai's background or abilities, his boldness to resist Liang Qiu's despotic behaviour was naturally inspiring and extremely encouraging.

However, none of them really cared whether Yang Kai lived or died in the end.

Liang Qiu had a sullen face and his nose flared furiously. Barely concealing his anger in front of his audience, he shouted furiously, "Good, since you have such courage, this Young Master will grant you your wish!"

His spear trembled and light burst from it, enveloping his body as he charged towards Yang Kai like a flash of lightning, piercing through the void.

Over there, Xia Sheng's face changed slightly. Now that he had broken through to the Emperor Realm, he could naturally feel the ferocity of Liang Qiu's attack and was not even confident that he could take such a strike.

Could Yang Kai do any better being just a Dao Source Realm? Moreover, there were several female companions close to Yang Kai, so he could not simply dodge and would definitely wind up dead or injured by this attack.

Immediately, he tried to move to assist Yang Kai.

However, before he could do anything, Yang Kai actually flew forward to meet Liang Qiu's attack head-on.

They quickly closed the distance between themselves, and a look of astonishment flashed across the eyes of the violently approaching Liang Qiu, wondering what Yang Kai was hiding up his sleeves.

"Big Brother Yang!" Mo Xiao Qi was taken aback, and hurriedly screamed, "Don't be reckless!"

Zhang Ruo Xi turned pale and collapsed limply, forcing Liu Yan to catch her with her arms calmly.

She was the only one who was fully confident in Yang Kai. She did not think Yang Kai was inferior to any of the Emperor Realm Masters present, and since he was moving forward to meet this attack, he must be confident about his chances for victory.

Seeing that Yang Kai and Liang Qiu were about to crash into each other, Mo Xiao Qi screeched heartbreakingly, "Don't you dare to hurt my Big Brother Yang! If you hurt him, I'll ask my Lord Father to slaughter your entire Hundred Barbarian Mountain!"

An unimaginable hostility suddenly exploded out of Mo Xiao Qi, who had always been carefree and playful. Every inch of her exposed skin was covered in beast patterns in an instant and she looked extremely wild.

Liang Qiu cackled loudly, "Where are you from little girl? How dare you boast shamelessly when your hair is not even fully grown yet! So, what if this Young Master kills your Big Brother Yang today?"

As the chief disciple of Hundred Barbarian Mountain of the Western Territory, he was extremely self-confident. Among his peers, few were in the same league as him, so Mo Xiao Qi's threat was like a tickle to his ear, nothing to concern himself over; instead, he became even more decisive in his attack.

The light that gathered at the tip of his spear was now piercing with murderous intent.

Yang Kai bellowed in fury, "Eat my Overlord Fist!"

He sent a hard punch directly at Liang Qiu's spear as he shouted.

"Sii… Is this little brat crazy?"

"He dared to go up against Liang Qiu's spear with just his physique? He's courting death!"

"It's finished, it's finished, I'm afraid there won't even be bits of him left."

"Poor thing, he was overconfident and is destined to die miserably. Junior Brother, you have to remember that you can't be like this wherever you travel the Star Boundary in the future. One must learn to bend and stretch according to the circumstances."

"Junior Brother has noted it down, Senior Brother."

The strong supportive cultivators who had previously yelled in encouragement for Yang Kai did not give any help, instead just sighing from where they were standing, concluding that Yang Kai was bound to die. Even the Emperor Realm Masters present believed that Yang Kai's fate was sealed; after all, no matter how powerful one's physique was, how could they compete head-on with an artifact?

Liang Qiu's spear was a Dao Source Grade High-Rank artifact and had unmatched sharpness. With his strong cultivation in the Emperor Realm, he could shatter a mountain with just a single thrust, not to mention Yang Kai's body.

Xia Sheng panicked, but there was no time for him to intervene as Yang Kai and Liang Qiu were moving too fast and he was too far.

"Ridiculous!" Yao Si snorted coldly and turned his eyes away. There was no need to pay attention to a dying person.

On the contrary, he squinted his eyes slightly at Mo Xiao Qi, who was in an abnormal state over there, a feeling of anxiety slowly welling up inside of him.

"You... you won't die if you don't court death!" Liang Qiu stared at Yang Kai, muttering quietly. Although he was aggravated by Mo Xiao Qi's words and really wanted to kill Yang Kai, he could not help but rein in a bit of his strength at Yang Kai's determined stance.

*Hong… *

A great explosion sounded followed by a brilliant flash of light which swallowed Yang Kai and Liang Qiu together, blinding the audience.

Liang Qiu, who had absolute confidence in his victory, suddenly widened his eyes in shock as his spear began spitting out sparks from this collision.

*Peng peng peng… *

A sky full of fists suddenly emerged and flew towards him at that moment.

"Damn!" Liang Qiu yelled, his face suddenly sullen as he desperately pushed his Emperor Qi, trying to resist the crushing force which was advancing towards him and pushing him back almost a hundred meters.

The other figure had retreated rapidly at the same time.

When the dust settled, everyone in the void widened their eyes.

The scene of Yang Kai being smashed into nothingness did not appear as they had expected, and instead, Yang Kai was standing there whole, and apart from a pair of bloody fists, he had no other injuries.

What injuries he did have were also healing at a rate that was visible to the naked eye!