Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The result astonished everyone. Fang Zhuo's face, which had been indifferent the whole time, suddenly changed dramatically.

That was because, less than ten breaths of time after he finished arranging the array, the space became distorted again before returning to its original appearance. Gong Yue's figure was revealed from within, and he was holding onto some array banners, clearly the ones Fang Zhuo had just tossed into the void.

It only took him ten breaths of time to break Fang Zhuo's Spirit Array, so his profound attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays was clear to see.

The way Gong Yue stood there with a cheerful look on his face gave the others a sense of profoundness as he said, "Small World Inversion Array. This friend's array technique has no major flaws, but the refining of these array banners is slightly rough. They're unable to exert their full power. If you can refine them some more, their power can still increase by a fair amount."

As he said that, he threw the array banners back to Fang Zhuo.

Fang Zhuo grabbed them and lowered his head in thought for a moment before cupping his fists to thank Gong Yue for his advice.

Yang Tai guffawed, "Brother Gong's attainments in the Dao of Spirit Arrays is truly remarkable and eye-opening! We are lucky to have Brother Gong's help on this trip." Then, he turned to Yang Kai, "Little Brother Yang Jiu. Do you have any more questions? Please ask away."

Yang Kai shook his head, "No, I don't."

Yang Tai said, "In that case, everyone should have no problem with Brother Gong coming with us, right?"

After what happened just now, nobody had any further comments. Everyone was happy to have the help of someone like Gong Yue. It was only because they couldn't help but be wary about the question that Yang Kai raised that they wanted to verify Gong Yue's identity, but now that Gong Yue had proven his ability, and with the golden signboard of the Heavenly River Valley's Gong Family that he was holding up, it made everyone feel at ease. Nobody had any more suspicions about him.

Wu Kuang Yi even gave Yang Kai a stern glare, probably thinking that he was making a big mess out of nothing, luring him into making a bad judgement as well.

Yang Kai's tardiness already left a bad impression on him, and now that impression had grown even worse. If it weren't because of the agreement they had, then he would have driven Yang Kai away from here.

Since nobody had any objections, the matter was naturally settled, and as the one who invited the powerful helper, Gong Yue, Yang Tai seemed to have jumped up to become the leader of their group, enthusiastically leading everyone on their way.

The Southern Swamp was vast, and their agreed gathering point was far away from the Ancient Cave Mansion, so it would take about three or four days for them to reach it.

The seven Emperor Realm Masters sped away towards the Ancient Cave Mansion with each other's company and actively released their auras so that no ferocious creature would dare rear its head. Gong Yue and Yang Tai were at the forefront of the group, talking with great passion, seeming to share a great friendship and letting out a hearty laugh on occasion.

The woman named Chen Bing Ru flew between Wu Kuang Yi and Fang Zhuo, while Yang Kai and Hua Yu Lu were in the back, excluded by them whether intentionally or unintentionally. A worrying prospect for Hua Yu Lu.

In their group, other than Yang Tai and Gong Yue in the lead who were chatting up a storm, the others were all silent.

Yang Kai was occupied by other thoughts, however, and while following the group, he was digesting his experiences from the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld. The information he gained in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld was an invaluable cornerstone for his growth, especially Senior Qing's inheritance and the things he read in the Shaman Divine Temple.

There were several times when Hua Yu Lu tried talking to Yang Kai, but faced with his aloof demeanour, she didn't feel right about disturbing him too much; after all, they had only met him a few times in the past and never gotten to know each other that well.

Among the seven people present, she was the only one who was feeling extremely apprehensive about this treasure hunting trip. The others were in pairs, while Yang Kai was acting indifferent towards her. If any conflict were to arise when they found some treasure, she had no idea to what extent Yang Kai would go to in order to help her.

She even vaguely regretted coming here again. If she had known this would happen, she would rather have given up on this opportunity than take such risks.

Time flew by as she became more and more uncertain.

Travelling through the poison mist of the Southern Swamp, the seven Emperor Realm Masters travelled for four days before Yang Tai, who was at the forefront, stopped. Wu Kuang Yi's expression also lifted with anticipation.

"Are we there?" Gong Yue asked curiously, but when he looked around, he didn't see anything of note.

Yang Kai also withdrew his thoughts and looked around. Just like Gong Yue, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary; however, the large cloud of poison mist in front of them caught his attention.

There was poison mist everywhere in the Southern Swamp, and the seven of them have been constantly travelling through clouds of it these past few days, but they all had decent cultivation and strong resistance against such poison mist, so it was not a problem for them.

But the poison mist in front of them was clearly different to the ones before. Yang Kai even felt a trace of danger from it, as if his life would really be at risk if he were to rush in.

But just as he was about to release his Divine Sense to check, Hua Yu Lu quickly came over to his side and whispered, "Be careful, that poison mist is extremely toxic."

Yang Kai suddenly caught a whiff of a different fragrant scent that tickled the tip of his nose. He responded with a gentle nod, and Hua Yu Lu suddenly realized their position, retreating two steps backwards with a blush on her face.

Yang Tai announced, "We've arrived. The Ancient Cave Mansion is hidden within this poison mist, but this poison mist is very strong. Even as Emperor Realm Masters, we will not be able to resist it, so we must not be reckless here."

In order to prove that his words were true, he suddenly raised his hand and sent out a bolt of Emperor Qi towards the toxic barrier.

After the beam of light passed through, an empty space was split open in the poison mist almost three hundred metres deep, and at the end of the newly formed corridor, a blackened skeleton could be seen lying on the grass of the swamp. From its appearance, the person seemed to have been dead for a long time.

"Speaking of which, we were four people when we found that cave mansion. There was another Second-Order Emperor Realm Brother with us, but as you can see, he is lying there now." Yang Tai pointed to the skeleton and said with a smile.

When Chen Bing Ru heard this, her pretty face paled while the face of Fang Zhuo who had been silent this whole time twitched a little as well.

Just from the appearance of the skeleton alone, they all thought that this man must have died a long time ago; however, only from hearing Yang Tai's words did they understand that this man had just fallen half a year ago. Due to the immense corrosiveness of the poison mist, it caused some unexpected changes in the skeleton.

As for the reason for his death, everyone could guess without the need for Yang Tai to explain further.

Even a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master could not resist the toxicity of the poison mist, so the danger could be imagined. The world was so large that nothing should be surprising, and in the face of nature's power, no matter how strong one's individual prowess may be, it still seemed small and insignificant.

After Yang Tai finished speaking, the opening in the poison mist restored itself at a visible rate, as if there was some mysterious force keeping the poison mist there, blocking the path of any explorers.

Gong Yue frowned and exclaimed, "What strong toxicity! With this poison mist blocking the way, how were you and your group able to enter the cave mansion last time, Brother Yang?"

Yang Tai smiled, "It was all a coincidence. Even though this poison mist was strong, something seemed to be restraining it here, just like how detoxifying herbs could be found where venomous snakes lay. You will all understand when you see it for yourselves later."

He gave them a clue but did not explain too much, so Gong Yue just smiled and did not pursue an answer.

"We are just in time actually. We should be able to enter tonight, so let us take this opportunity to rest. We do not know what dangers lurk within that Ancient Cave Mansion that we have to deal with, so we should restore ourselves to our peak condition."

Naturally, no one had any objections to his words, so they each found a place to sit down and meditate.

Hua Yu Lu naturally stuck close to Yang Kai, taking out two Spirit Pills and swallowing them. Even though she was a First-Order Emperor, and travelling at full speed for a few days wouldn't cause her any real problems, a large amount of Emperor Qi was still consumed in this poison mist-filled environment, so it was naturally necessary to take this opportunity to replenish herself.

The others did the same.

Yang Kai suddenly looked up and spoke at that moment, "Old Patriarch Gong, since you are knowledgeable and experienced, this Junior has a question to ask."

Gong Yue was looking at something when Yang Kai suddenly called out to him, so he turned to him and smiled, "I dare not call myself knowledgeable, only that I've been alive for a long time. What does little brother want to know? If this Gong knows the answer, this Gong will surely answer."

Yang Kai asked, "It's like this, a friend of mine once obtained a Flowing Time Fruit. May I ask what is the best way to consume it in order to achieve the greatest medicinal efficacies?"

"Flowing Time Fruit?" Yang Tai's eyes lit up at his words as he stared at Yang Kai with a burning gaze, "You mean the Flowing Time Fruit that can prolong one's life?"

"Exactly so!" Yang Kai nodded.

Yang Tai's eyes glowed even brighter hearing this. He was a First-Order Emperor Realm Master and had a long lifespan, but he still could not resist the erosion of time. In other words, he was getting old, but he clearly hadn't lived enough yet. In the recent millennium, he no longer immersed himself in cultivating but instead set his mind to searching for ways to prolong his own life. His efforts in the past thousand years had indeed brought results that allowed him to increase his lifespan considerably, but he had already tried all the general methods and elixirs, so they no longer worked for him.

The reason why he took the risk to come into the Southern Swamp was so that he could find some precious treasure that could prolong his life. That was how he, Hua Yu Lu, and the others were able to chance upon this Ancient Cave Mansion.

When he heard Yang Kai mention the Flowing Time Fruit, he was naturally very excited.

He had heard of the Flowing Time Fruit before and it was of great use to him. It was inevitable that his attention would be piqued.

"The Flowing Time Fruit is a good thing!" Gong Yue smiled, "But little brother, I'm afraid you're asking the wrong person. This Gong specializes in Spirit Arrays and is not very proficient when it comes to herbs and elixirs. So, for this Flowing Time Fruit, this Gong has no better advice than for your friend to find an Alchemy Grandmaster to help refine it into pills."

Yang Kai thought deeply, "So that's the only way, it seems, but in order to refine the Flowing Time Fruit into pills, an Emperor Alchemist is needed for the job. However, to seek an Emperor Alchemist's help is…"

Everyone knew how difficult it was to request for an Emperor Alchemist's help with Alchemy. Even if one had prepared the necessary materials and an appropriate reward, it was normal to have to wait for years and years for an opportunity without suitable connections.

Gong Yue smiled, "Hopefully your friend is in no urgent need."

"He's still young, so it's not urgent," Yang Kai smiled back.

"That's good," Gong Yue said nothing more and turned around and continued to observe the poison mist at the front, seemingly not taking this random question to heart.