Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yuan Wu completely failed to see how Yang Kai had approached him. It had happened too quickly!

Those Masters, who had been watching Yang Kai, also looked shocked and their pupils contracted in astonishment. That was because they had been observing him ever since he made that gentle palm movement just now. Therefore, they had a clearer idea of what had happened compared to the others. Even so, they failed to fully grasp his movements. It was as if they were watching an afterimage and had actually been standing in that new position the whole time.

Meanwhile, Yuan Wu finally came back to his senses and a look of hostility appeared on his face. Raising his fists, he punched at Yang Kai's head. It was almost an instinctive reaction; however, he suddenly screamed when his fist was halfway moving through the air and his expression distorted so badly that it was barely recognizable anymore.

At that moment, he discovered that the left eye of the young man standing in front of him had transformed into a golden slit. It held no emotion whatsoever but was filled with sovereign power and majesty, like an impassionate deity was looking down from the Heavens at him.

When their gazes met, Yuan Wu's mind blanked out for a moment as he vaguely felt as though he saw a budding lotus flower flashing by and rushing into his Knowledge Sea. Then, a severe pain spread from his Soul to his entire body, causing him to scream and tremble violently. As for his punch, it lost all its momentum and missed its target harmlessly.

Yuan Wu was still a Master in the end though, so after being ambushed in this manner, he knew he had fallen for Yang Kai's trap. The young man in front of him did not have high cultivation; however, his Spiritual Energy was frighteningly powerful. That attack from the Secret Technique that seemed to come from the Soul felt like it was tearing his Knowledge Sea apart. Biting the tip of his tongue, Yuan Wu used that spike of pain to wake himself for a moment and clenched his fists to condense two lightning bolts which he then shot towards Yang Kai.

The two of them were standing very close together and Yuan Wu did not hold back at all, so the power behind his attack was monstrous and the dazzling lightning of his attacks practically illuminated the entire sky. However, in the next instant, something unbelievable occurred. The lightning passed through Yang Kai's body without causing any harm to him whatsoever. Instead, it went straight through his back and hit nothing but air.

"Huh…" Yuan Wu gasped, barely able to believe what he was seeing. [How did he avoid an attack like that at such close distance?! No, that's not right, he didn't avoid it, it was more like my attack had no effect on him at all. But, how is that possible?! The lightning obviously hit him! I saw it clearly!]

Yuan Wu wasn't the only one who did not understand what had happened, no one else in the crowd understood either; all of them were dumbstruck as a result.

While everybody was stupefied, Yang Kai suddenly reached out a hand and grabbed Yuan Wu by the neck. His movements were not fast, almost looking slow and casual to outsiders, something Yuan Wu should have avoided with ease but did not for some reason. Thus, he was caught just like that.

Meanwhile, Yuan Wu's eyes felt like they were going to explode. All he could feel was a mighty force around his neck that threatened to snap it. That wasn't all; the Dragon Pressure that he was exuding was suppressed in an instant. It felt like he had met his nemesis. The most obvious change was that the colour of the Dragon Scales on his neck became dimmer again.

[Bloodline suppression?!] Yuan Wu's heart thumped in horror. He had a similar experience when he had been pummeled by Li Jiao during the day. Under the bloodline suppression from him, he could only exert 80% of his strength which was why he couldn't lift a single finger against Li Jiao and was badly beaten as a result. Otherwise, he, who was a Second-Order Emperor, could have at least put up some resistance against Li Jiao even if he couldn't win in the end.

But what was with this Human boy? Yuan Wu did not sense any Dragon Aura coming from this young man so he clearly wasn't a Dragonborn. But if that was the case, how was he able to use the bloodline suppression on him?

What scared Yuan Wu even more was that the bloodline suppression he was facing right now was far more terrifying than the one he experienced earlier! That Dragonborn during the day only had a Third-Order Mid-Rank Dragon Vein; therefore, the suppression wasn't that strong even though Yuan Wu was somewhat affected by it. At the very least, he could still exert 80% of his strength.

Yet now, he was being held by the neck by this young man and his strength had been suppressed by more than 50%. Moreover, the flow of his Emperor Qi seemed to be frozen, making it impossible for him to exert any of his strength at all. It felt as though he was terminally ill and his entire body went limp, but that was insane! The large hand around his neck felt like a metal shackle restraining him in place, making it difficult to even breathe properly, turning his face a bright shade of red.

The cultivators surrounding them widened their eyes in shock. What did this mean? They couldn't comprehend the situation in front of them. Wasn't Yuan Wu a Second-Order Emperor? Wasn't he a Dragonborn? How did he get caught by a Human boy in the First-Order Emperor Realm so easily? What was going on? This didn't make sense even if Yuan Wu had severely underestimated his enemy. Besides, the shocked expression on Yuan Wu's face clearly indicated that it wasn't a simple case of underestimating his enemy. Rather, it looked as if he had met an opponent he couldn't hope to match! Was this young man really so powerful? Many people were utterly confused.

Meanwhile, the most powerful Masters among the crowd exchanged glances with each other and saw the astonishment in each other's eyes.

On the other hand, Lu San Niang did not know what was going on. All she understood was that Yang Kai had dared to raise his hand against Yuan Wu; moreover, he was crushing Yuan Wu's neck. Seeing this, she paled and cried out, "Stop, Brother Yang! Hurry up and let him go!"

She wasn't pleading on Yuan Wu's behalf. She simply felt that Yang Kai was being far too reckless. Yuan Wu currently held the highest authority here, so what good would it do to offend him? Mining the Ice Spirit Snow Jade was certainly a dangerous job, but as long as they were careful, they wouldn't die, but now what? Now that Yang Kai had completely offended Yuan Wu, how were they going to survive this one month?

It wasn't that she was incapable of discerning the truth. It was just that Yang Kai had his back to her and he just so happened to be blocking Yuan Wu from her sight, so she couldn't see how the situation had developed.

Many people looked at her with strange expressions after she spoke, causing Lu San Niang to become taken aback, not knowing the meaning behind their looks.

"Choose. Do you want to live or die?" Yang Kai asked calmly while staring at Yuan Wu.

Although Yuan Wu was incredibly shocked by Yang Kai's strength, he did not want to lose what prestige he had. Besides, he was the person Fu Qi personally selected to be in charge of building the palace and believed that Yang Kai couldn't kill him.

Besides, he was already feeling humiliated and the moment he heard Yang Kai asking him that question, he immediately countered coldly, "Hurry up and put me down! Otherwise, you'll die so miserably you won't even have a corpse to bury!"

In response, Yang Kai snickered and looked at Yuan Wu and said, "It looks like you choose death. If that's the case, I'll fulfil your wish!"

Saying so, Yang Kai's expression froze over and the strength in his grip increased abruptly as his murderous intent billowed out like waves.

*Kacha…*

A soft cracking sound rang out and Yuan Wu felt as if the bones in his neck were breaking, frightening him greatly. He had not expected that Yang Kai would dare to kill him. [It looks like this guy isn't just bluffing, he's really going to kill me! Where did this madman pop out from? How dare he act so presumptuously in Dragon Island?! It's ridiculous! Isn't he afraid that the Dragon Clan will come after him? However… regardless of whether or not the Dragon Clan will come after him, I will certainly die a miserable death if I don't compromise right now!]

Feeling his life really at stake, Yuan Wu no longer hesitated and breathlessly called out, "H-Have… m-mercy…"

[He's begging for mercy?!] Several hundred people around them froze in shock. It was unthinkable for a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master to be held by the neck by a First-Order Emperor Realm Master and be incapable of putting up any resistance whatsoever. What's more; it was a Dragonborn against a Human.

Therefore, they couldn't accept the fact that Yuan Wu was now begging for his life; after all, a Dragonborn's status in Half-Dragon City was not something a Human or Monster Race could compare to. Regardless of their cultivation, Dragonborn held much higher status than the other races.

It was the first time any of them had ever seen a Dragonborn bowing their heads to a Human. Moreover, it was a Dragonborn in the Second-Order Emperor Realm with a Second-Order High-Rank Dragon Vein. If they had not witnessed it for themselves, they would have thought they were hallucinating or having some strange dream.

Aside from Yuan Wu, who was a Dragonborn, all the other 500 people present here were Humans, Monsters, or Half Monsters. When they saw this scene, they were utterly stunned. At the same time, they felt the resentment building up in their hearts for so many years ease up slightly at the sight before them.

None of them wished to offend a Dragonborn in their daily lives, and some had even bowed their heads and ingratiated themselves with Yuan Wu before. However, that did not mean that they held any goodwill towards this bastard. It was undeniable that some of the Dragonborn were reasonable and upright individuals; unfortunately, most of the Dragonborn in Half-Dragon City thought of themselves as superior beings and treated non-Dragonborn with disdain. Yuan Wu was a prime example. Hence, seeing Yuan Wu bowing his head and begging for mercy gave them a sense of satisfaction.

"Wouldn't it have been better if you did that from the beginning?" Yang Kai lifted his hand and patted Yuan Wu on the cheek lightly. That slight slapping sound shamed Yuan Wu so much that he wished the ground would swallow him whole.

He was a prideful man, and Yang Kai's actions were tantamount to slapping his face in public. Despite his raging fury though, he showed none of it on the surface.

"Don't mess with me again. There won't be a second chance." Yang Kai roughly flung out his hand and tossed Yuan Wu away.

Yuan Wu fell to the ground in a miserable heap, his hand clutching at his throat as he coughed violently, sounding extremely miserable, almost as if he was about to cough up his lungs.

The surroundings were completely silent as everybody stared stupefied at Yang Kai, Lu San Niang included. At this point, how could she still be clueless about what happened? This Little Brother named Yang Kai actually humiliated Yuan Wu? Moreover, he suppressed Yuan Wu through brute force? It wouldn't have surprised her if her Big Brother Li had accomplished such a feat; after all, he had the appropriate strength and cultivation to do so, but what was with this Brother Yang? Where did her Big Brother Li get to know this monster? Wasn't his strength and ability too unbelievable?

Under everybody's gaze, Yang Kai walked to the side and stood in front of the sea, staring out into the distance with his brow furrowed deeply. He didn't think much of the conflict he had with Yuan Wu as all he cared about right now was how he was going to confirm Zhu Qing's current status and whereabouts.

However, the disturbance he had caused made the entire atmosphere become rather awkward as a result.

Originally, Yuan Wu had arrogantly dictated everybody's actions. He held full authority in his hands; thus, everybody had to act according to his wishes and act cautiously around him. However, he had been publicly humiliated by Yang Kai so how was he supposed to hold his head up high and lead the others now?

His heart was full of anger, but his strength could not compare to the other party. Therefore, he could only choke down his rage while trying to ignore the bitter taste in his mouth.

"Senior Yuan. Senior Yuan, are you okay?" At that moment, someone came scurrying over to Yuan Wu.

Everybody looked and immediately saw a monkey-like man walking over to Yuan Wu and cautiously helping him up.

Yang Kai frowned when he heard the voice and, turning around to look, he discovered that it was the middle-aged man that had helped to smooth things over for him earlier, acting again at this moment.