Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

A mirror-like artifact suddenly appeared in Yang Tai's hands, who was taking the lead. It was the size of a human face, and it was not known what purpose it served. They saw him form seals with his hands before channeling some Emperor Qi into the mirror, and in the next moment, the mirror began to glow, and a profound light shot out from within.

The light enveloped the room and everything instantly became clear. This profound light seemed to have the ability to discern between what was real and illusionary, a kind of investigative artifact.

The group of seven walked onwards and would pass by some stone rooms occasionally, but they were all empty without anything valuable or worth their attention inside. There also wasn't much danger to be found in the interior of the Ancient Cave Mansion, so they were safe all throughout their exploration.

However, Yang Tai did not manage to find the path they crossed last time.

After an hour, Yang Tai suddenly stopped, and seeing this, the rest stopped as well.

"What happened?" Wu Kuang Yi asked.

Yang Tai answered, "There seem to be traces of a barrier here. Let me take a closer look." Saying so, he aimed his mirror forward and a faint distortion appeared where the light passed. It was a little different from normal, but it wasn't very clear either.

Yang Tai released more of his Emperor Qi to enhance the power of the mirror artifact, and the light became stronger in response.

Now, everyone could see things more clearly. There were traces of a barrier ahead, one that had originally been imperceptible to the naked eye but had now appeared under the envelopment of the mirror's profound light. Everyone could see energy paths of differing strengths ahead of them twisting in accordance to some mysterious law, forming a restrictive layer.

This barrier technique was extremely complex and ancient.

Wu Kuang Yi immediately turned his head to look at Gong Yue.

Since there was an ancient barrier blocking the way, they naturally needed the assistance of the Gong Family's former Patriarch himself to settle the matter. He was the one who had the greatest understanding of such things.

To everyone's surprise, Gong Yue just smiled and did not express anything else, not even taking the initiative to act.

Wu Kuang Yi was just about to speak up when Yang Tai suddenly said, "This is just a small barrier. There's no need to bother Brother Gong, we can just break it together."

As he said so, he thrust out his palm against the barrier.

Everyone was taken by surprise and all circulated their Emperor Qi to protect themselves.

After all, none of them knew what sort of effects this barrier had, and touching it rashly could very well trigger some dangerous consequences, so Yang Tai's move was undoubtedly risky. However, seeing that Gong Yue did not say anything to stop him, they all felt slightly relieved.

With a bang, a curtain of light emerged, followed by several huge skulls that suddenly rushed out from within. They were not the skulls of humans, but rather the skulls of strange-looking Monster Beasts, about a dozen in total. Each of these skulls seemed to belong to a different species, and no one could recognize what Monster Beasts they belonged to.

But to everyone's great surprise, there was a fluctuation of extremely ferocious auras coming out of these skulls.

As soon as the skulls appeared, they each opened their big mouths to bite at Yang Tai aggressively, as if they were going to swallow the Heavens and devour the Earth.

Yang Tai was extremely shocked, and only now did he realize that he had underestimated the power of this ancient barrier. The Emperor Qi around his body became agitated as he suddenly let out an extremely choppy sounding incantation as he raised his hand, pointing it in front of himself.

A large golden character suddenly flew out from his fingers, one condensed from his Emperor Qi. It all happened in a flash, so quickly that none of the others were able to see clearly what character it was.

Only Yang Kai showed a shocked expression.

Even though the Divine Ability performed by Yang Tai was over in a flash, he managed to catch some of it.

That character…was clearly an ancient character he had seen in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld when his Soul was roaming about the Shaman Divine Temple.

When the ancient humans condensed their power into these characters, they were able to unleash Heaven destroying and Earth Shattering might. Naturally, these characters were even more ancient than the existence of Shamans, so the records available in the Shaman Divine Temple were by no means comprehensive.

Yang Kai suddenly remembered Hua Yu Lu mentioning that Yang Tai had learned a Secret Technique in the Ancient Cave Mansion, but she was not sure what it was, or what it did.

Now, it seemed like this may be the Secret Technique that Yang Tai learned back then.

This was indeed an extremely powerful Secret Technique. Even though Yang Tai was only a First-Order Emperor, the might of the attack that was shot out from his finger just now was on par with an ordinary Second-Order Emperor Realm's attack. It seemed that facing a life or death crisis, Yang Tai had not been able to hold back and had gone all out.

It seemed this cave mansion was from before even the period Yang Kai experienced in the Thousand Illusions Dreamworld. No wonder there were Ancient Exotic Artifacts here.

At the same time, everyone else had also made their moves. In an instant, all sorts of Emperor Realm Secret Techniques and artifacts were unleashed in the narrow cave, causing the surrounding World Energy to shake.

Then, a scene appeared that amazed everyone.

The skulls that had flown out from the barrier may have appeared intimidating, but it was apparently all bark and no bite. As soon as they came into contact with Yang Tai's Secret Technique, they all disintegrated and scattered just as soon as they burst out from the light curtain, achieving nothing at all.

There was a rumble as everyone's attacks hit the light curtain in front of them, which only trembled for a moment before breaking apart as if it were a popped bubble.

Rough sighs filled the tunnel as the group felt as if they'd just avoided a great catastrophe.

"As expected, this barrier has really fallen into disrepair over the years." Yang Tai was the first to speak with an embarrassed expression on his face.

Everyone saw the situation clearly just now. The barrier had deteriorated so much that it was unable to sustain itself after being activated, crumbling away by itself. Otherwise, the skulls that came out of it would have given them a lot of trouble, not to mention that the light curtain from the barrier was broken in just an instant.

"Brother Gong must have seen through it from the very beginning, right?" Yang Tai turned to Gong Yue, "If Brother Gong had warned me, then this Yang would not have embarrassed himself so."

Even though he was complaining, it was more jest than anything else.

Gong Yue smiled and did not answer, a profound and inscrutable look on his face.

Wu Kuang Yi frowned. He was obviously annoyed at Yang Tai's self-assertion, leaving everyone in fear for nothing; however, since it was just a false alarm, there wasn't much he could say.

With this experience, everyone became more alert. Even though the barrier they encountered did not unleash too much power due to its deteriorated state, who could guarantee that all the barriers and arrays here were the same?

Yang Tai, who was taking the lead, did not dare to be too eager to prove himself again, and could only take things one steady step at a time.

They did encounter more barriers that they activated on their way, but as they took turns to test the barriers, they all reacted just like the first one. None of these Spirit Arrays were able to do much due to their extreme age. Most of their effects were short-lived, and some did not respond at all.

Despite that, the group was still in awe of them.

That was because these barriers gave off a very strong feeling. Nobody could imagine how strong they were when they were at their peak state, or how powerful the Grandmaster was who arranged such Spirit Arrays.

Four hours later, Yang Tai suddenly showed a look of joy as he swept his eyes around and said excitedly, "We've found the right path!"

Wu Kuang Yi and Hua Yu Lu exchanged glances, both smiling.

They had finally found the path that they passed through last time, and as long as they followed this path, they would not encounter any more danger until they reached the Sealing Array that obstructed their way forward last time.

They were all curious to know what was hidden away behind that Spirit Array.

Even though they had found the correct path, Yang Tai still did not put down his guard, still maintaining the profound light from his mirror artifact, quietly and contentedly leading the way.

Another hour passed before the group arrived at a humongous rock cave that spanned several kilometres in space. They had gotten used to walking through narrow tunnels, so being here felt like they were blessed with the first light of dawn.

Like the one before it, this rock cave was also empty, with only sharp stone pillars scattered around the place. Some were standing, others were hanging upside down. They were erected in all sorts of strange positions.

At the end of the cave though, a large and heavy-looking door caught everyone's attention.

The huge door was several tens of metres in size and was embedded into a part of the cave wall, the seams tightly sealed. The gazes of everyone burned hot as they looked towards the large door as if there were precious treasures hidden behind it.

Yang Kai had already seen this door before in the image that Hua Yu Lu sent to him, but seeing it as an image and in person were two different things.

When he saw it with his own eyes, Yang Kai could sense an extremely eerie aura coming off of this door, as if something bad was eager to escape and engulf them from behind the door.

The door was red in colour, as if it were dyed in blood, and even after countless aeons, it still looked as good as new.

Many complicated patterns were engraved onto the door that gave off a profound and mysterious aura. It was those patterns and images that came together to form an ancient Spirit Array, sealing the door so that no one could peek into the world inside.

The group of seven stood in front of the door, each of them with a different expression on their face.

Yang Tai's expression was one of indescribable fervour, and for some reason, his lips were trembling with excitement. On the other hand, though Wu Kuang Yi and Hua Yu Lu were also feeling excited, more of what they felt was eagerness and curiosity. They both wanted to know what sort of good things they could find hidden behind that door.

Fang Zhuo looked as indifferent as ever, while Gong Yue's eyes narrowed, studying the door seriously.

Chen Bing Ru was the one to finally break the silence when she asked, "Can this barrier not simply be broken?"

Wu Kuang Yi shook his head, "Last time, all three of us joined forces but still couldn't even shake it. If Lady Chen is interested, you can give it a try yourself."

Chen Bing Ru answered lightly, "No need."

Even though she had a Second-Order Emperor Realm level cultivation, and was slightly stronger compared to Hua Yu Lu and the others, she didn't want to bother wasting her time if the three of them failed to do anything despite joining forces.

"Brother Gong, we'll have to trouble you with this," Yang Tai turned around, his expression indescribably serious, as if what he was entrusting to Gong Yue was a matter of life or death.

Gong Yue smiled, "I will do my best. You can all rest for a bit while I study this carefully."

"Good," Yang Tai nodded and turned around. "You should all rest as well as there may be a need for us to assist later."

Yang Kai smiled, "With Old Patriarch Gong here, why should we make a mess of things?"

Yang Tai said, "We wouldn't know. There may be opportunities where our power is truly needed."

"That's true." Yang Kai smiled and said nothing more before shooting a glance at Hua Yu Lu, motioning for the two of them to move to the side to rest.