Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Bright Moon should have been severely wounded. Offering up all the living beings in Eternal Sky Continent as blood sacrifices should have consumed the rest of his remaining energy. After such a long time, he should have gotten increasingly weaker to the point where he collapsed dead to the ground with no strength left to fight back and then been devoured by the World Principles of the Demon Realm. So, why was he still capable of resisting!? Furthermore, judging by the fallout of his attack, his aura was more stable and more powerful than before he had been trapped in this place. He even gave off a slight impression that he had been restored to his peak!

[What happened!? Where did it go wrong!?] Xue Li's expression was cold and stern. He simply couldn't figure it out.

Bright Moon's injuries were known to all. Before he had been trapped in this place, he had been wounded by several Demon Saints working together. In fact, the injury in his abdomen had been personally inflicted by Xue Li.

To that end, Xue Li even went so far as to use a Secret Technique that wounded the enemy greatly while inflicting serious damage to himself. He was certain that nobody else in the world could treat that level of injury aside from him. [As one of the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary, Bright Moon would certainly not lack elixirs for healing purposes. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of my Secret Technique is not something that can be thwarted by mere Spirit Pills!]

Xue Li was tempted to plunge into the depths of the Blood Sea to check on Bright Moon's current condition with his own eyes; however, there was a circle of pure land filled with a gentle light that blocked out the power of the Spirit Array at the bottom of the Blood Sea, in which Bright Moon could act as he pleased. This prevented Xue Li from seeing what was going on inside.

Since he couldn't see inside, he could only take action to verify the situation for himself. He would definitely be made into a huge laughingstock if word got out that he allowed countless Blood Demons to be slaughtered by the opponent despite personally guarding this place.

While shouting, Xue Li raised both hands and his long, slender body shuddered slightly. A majestic wave of Demon Qi rushed out. The boiling and churning Blood Sea instantly experienced an eerie moment of calm, as though a large, invisible hand had suppressed all its movements. In the next moment, the Blood Sea suddenly began whirling clockwise, creating a whirlpool of enormous force. A huge Blood Vortex appeared in the middle of those twelve blood-coloured pillars in the blink of an eye.

That Blood Vortex was crimson all over and could clearly be seen even from thousands of kilometres away. It was as though the full moon in the sky had been dyed red and came falling down to the ground. At the same time, it gave off a feeling of unspeakable horror, as though the world was about to end.

Traces of a faint white light flickered in the centre of the Blood Vortex. It was the only pure land that Bright Moon had formed by pushing out the Blood Sea with his supreme cultivation. It was a pity that the area covered by this pure land was almost imperceptible compared to the size of the entire Blood Vortex.

Blood shadows the size of a palm formed inside the Blood Sea. Upon a closer look, one would discover that the blood shadows were actually blood-coloured bats. Those blood-coloured bats rushed towards the pure white land like an avalanche that blotted out the sky under Xue Li's control. Unfortunately, they turned to dust and disappeared the moment they came into contact with that gentle moonlight. There was an overwhelming number of blood-coloured bats that were being formed and destroyed at a constant rate. Be that as it may, they couldn't weaken the light of that pure land in any way whatsoever regardless of how many there were.

Xue Li's expression darkened even more. There was no need to try again. He could already tell that Bright Moon's condition had improved greatly, and even if he hadn't fully healed, the difference wouldn't be much.

[As expected, a Great Emperor cannot be underestimated.]

It was originally believed that the Twelve Pinnacles Grand Demon Array combined with the Blood Sea formed from all the living creatures of Eternal Sky Continent would be enough to make Bright Moon disappear forever, but it seemed the Heavens had other plans. It was shocking that Bright Moon still had the strength to fight back.

[The original plan is no longer feasible. We can only make adjustments to the plan as we go.] At that thought, Xue Li's scarlet eyes flashed with determination. Casting Secret Techniques with both hands, the Demon Qi around his body surged powerfully and the Blood Vortex simultaneously began spinning faster. The indescribably high speed of rotation created a tornado. Looking down from above, the world below looked like a spinning top that threatened to rotate the entire Eternal Sky Continent along with it.

The Blood Demons surrounding the Spirit Array drew back quickly, lest they were dragged in and became collateral damage

Under Xue Li's control, various Blood Creatures were formed from the Blood Sea in endless waves. These creatures rushed towards the pure land, only to dissipate into nothingness when they came in contact with the white light.

The Blood Sea had strong corrosive properties, but the gentle light had an unparalleled purifying effect. It was a battle between corrosion and purification. Bright Moon and Xue Li were natural enemies. When their respective Grand Daos collided with each other, a brilliant flare of light that eclipsed all others in the world flashed.

As time passed, the volume of the Blood Vortex gradually grew smaller. On the other hand, there were no changes to the pure land. There were no signs of it being reduced in any way. Many Half-Saints and members of the Demon Race watched the battle from afar, feeling incredibly pained. That Blood Vortex was the accumulation of all the living creatures of Eternal Sky Continent that had been offered up as blood sacrifices. In other words, Xue Li was using the energy formed from all the living of Eternal Sky Continent to clash with Bright Moon. Each reduction in volume represented the sacrifice made by millions of the Demon Race. Unfortunately, it was still unknown whether the outcome was worth the price they were paying.

On the other hand, Xue Li's expression did not change whatsoever even after he launched his attack. The shrinking Blood Vortex did not affect him in any way. In his opinion, it didn't matter if the Blood Vortex in front of him disappeared. Even if he had to sacrifice the living creatures of two or three more continents, it would still be worth it if he could weaken and suppress Bright Moon again.

There were hundreds of continents in the Demon Realm, but only twelve Demon Saints. If he could use all the living creatures of the two or three continents to gain another Demon Saint position for the Demon Realm, then it was not a bad deal. In any case, he was only sacrificing the living creatures on the continent and not the continent itself. Those low-rank members of the Demon Race were nothing to the Demon Saints. The Demon Realm might not have much, but its population was enormous. Xue Li would simply need to migrate some of the Demons from the other continents to those continents that were involved in the sacrifice and give them enough time to restore themselves to their former glory.

The air was filled with an endless sizzling sound that even drowned out the sounds made by the rotation of the Blood Vortex. It was naturally the sound of the blood waters being purified by the light Bright Moon created.

The light that used to glow faintly was growing stronger and stronger inside the crimson Blood Vortex, seemingly as though the pure land was expanding as the volume of the Blood Vortex was decreasing.

Xue Li's scarlet eyes finally flashed with a hint of surprise. He had been certain that Bright Moon had recovered somewhat, but now he could be sure that Bright Moon was either back in peak condition or had used some sort of Secret Technique to forcefully stabilize his injuries; otherwise, it was impossible for Bright Moon to display such might.

[I can't let this situation be dragged out any longer. Judging from the current situation, things would only get worse the longer this went on. As the person responsible for guarding this place, I will surely be disgraced if Bright Moon escapes from here.] Xue Li suddenly raised his foot and stomped abruptly on the blood-coloured pillar under his feet. Following that, an invisible force spread along the blood-coloured pillar and extended to the other eleven in a flash.

The tall pillars that acted as the base of the Spirit Array and had always been somewhat unremarkable suddenly shone with a strange light. At the same time, the complicated patterns engraved on the pillars gradually began to move. Then, eleven streams of blood water split off from the centre of the Blood Vortex and were absorbed by the blood-coloured pillars. The blood water flowed along the pillars, spreading from the bottom all the way to the top and condensing into blood-coloured figures at the top.

Eleven blood-coloured pillars and eleven blood-coloured figures. There was exactly one blood-coloured figure standing on top of each of the blood-coloured pillars, and including Xue Li, this formed the strongest array in the entire Demon Realm; the Twelve Pinnacles Grand Demon Array!

These blood-coloured figures were highly varied; some were tall, and some were short; some were male and some were female. Their bodies were constructed from the blood waters, and they had distinct features with bright eyes. In addition, each of the blood-coloured figures was emitting a different aura and each aura was that of a Demon Saint!

These twelve figures atop the pillars represented the twelve most powerful existences in the Demon Realm! It was just that, aside from Xue Li, the other eleven Saints were Manifestations based around Soul wisps. All the Demon Saints had sealed a part of their Soul into the base that made up the Twelve Pinnacles Grand Demon Array. It was so that the person in control of the Spirit Array could use a Secret Technique to awaken the Soul Wisps to enhance the power of the Spirit Array during emergencies. For example… now.

Among those figures, both Yu Ru Meng and Bei Li Mo stood out impressively.

"Xue Li, what is going on?" One of the tall figures glanced around. Then, he turned to look at Xue Li and asked the question.

"Can't you tell from the current situation!? That bastard Bright Moon played all of us! Damn it!" A hoarse voice mixed with anger rang out from another direction.

Even if these figures were only Manifestations, the Demon Saints were no fools. They instantly understood the situation at a glance. Bright Moon had the strength to fight back against the Blood Vortex conjured by Xue Li. That was clearly not the final struggles of a dying man that they had expected. Rather, it was a person looking for a chance to break free.

"Xue Li, you were too careless! You can't even watch over a guy rendered half-dead!? What a useless waste!" A short figure gave off a weird laugh. This person was very conspicuous among the Twelve Demon Saints because of his short stature that was only about the height of a five or six-year-old child. In contrast, his body shape was very round. The combination made him look very strange. Nevertheless, his aura felt the most dangerous among all Twelve Demon Saints. He was like a volcano that could erupt at any time.

As soon as those words left his mouth, many Demon Saints furrowed their brows in response. It was undeniable that Xue Li held some responsibility for this situation. If he had noticed Bright Moon's condition a little earlier, they might have been able to avoid the current situation; however, it was not entirely Xue Li's fault either. If a Star Boundary Great Emperor was that easy to kill, then they would not have spent so much energy laying out such a complex trap in the first place. Rather, if anybody else had been guarding this place instead, they might have fared even worse than Xue Li; after all, Xue Li was part of the Blood Demon Clan. Only the Blood Demons could draw out the full power that came from sacrificing all the living creatures of an entire continent.

Unfortunately, somebody had to take the blame in this situation…

When the short little man's words rang out, Xue Li turned to look at him and grinned savagely, "Huo Bo, who gave you the courage to talk to this King in that tone? Have you forgotten the pain from the beating this King gave you ten thousand years ago? Do you want another taste? If so, this King doesn't mind teaching you another lesson!"

The Demon Saint called Huo Bo jumped up like a cat that had its tail stepped on. His already round body seemed to expand further, and the dangerous aura around him became even more dangerous. "How dare you mention what happened ten thousand years ago!? If you didn't cheat back then, this King would not have been humiliated in such a manner!"

Xue Li sneered, "It was your own naivete and stupidity. How can you blame me for that? A brain is certainly a good thing to have. It's a pity not everybody has one."