Martial Peak

The night was cool, the moon was bright, and the stars were sparse.

Inside a palace on top of a mountain, Princess Lan Xun of Star Soul Palace put her hands together and prayed to the Moon in the sky reverently. She was praying for her Father's safe return. She would stand there for two or three hours almost every night, hoping that her sincerity would touch the World's Will and it would provide sufficient protection to her Father in return.

The world seemed to have heard her prayer that night as the Moon that hung in the sky suddenly became brighter. The soft moonlight shone down on the land, spreading over her body. It felt like the large hands of her Father when he used to pat her on the head as a child. It gave her a warm and comforting feeling.

She was taken aback for a moment, thinking that she was hallucinating; however, a careful observation revealed that the Moon in the sky was indeed much brighter than before. Furthermore, the brightness continued to increase as time passed, soon making the whole world as bright as day.

At the same time, all the living creatures across the entire Star Boundary looked up. They were looking at the Moon in the sky that had become as bright as the Sun…

The sparse stars seemed dim and dull because of the Moon's brightness.

Lan Xun's complexion suddenly became slightly pale. An inexplicable sense of fear surged up in her heart, causing her to feel terribly distraught.

All of a sudden, the brightness that was as radiant as the sun burst into dazzling points of light. The wisps of light lasted for approximately an incense stick of time. Just like how the Moon had burst into light without warning, it went out just as suddenly. It was as though it had burned out its last brilliance, becoming dim, as if covered by a layer of black gauze.

Several meteors shot across the sky. Soon, the scattered meteors turned into a meteor shower that rained down from above. What followed was a sense of sorrow that permeated the Star Boundary. The world seemed to be crying. The Moon was its eyes and the meteor shower was the flowing tears…

*Dang… dang… dang…*

Heavy and melodious bells tolled throughout Star Soul Palace, nine consecutive times, and when the last bell stopped, Lan Xun collapsed to the ground limply.

"Your Highness!" A maidservant exclaimed and hurried over.

…..

Heaven's Revelations Great Emperor, Chu Tian Ji, and Martial Beast Great Emperor, Mo Huang, sat opposite each other in Heavens Spying Valley. They each held black and white chess pieces, playing against each other. Mo Huang casually placed a piece down. Without raising his eyes, he calmly asked, "What's making you so restless?"

During the game, he could clearly feel that his old friend was being absent-minded. Although the other party had covered it up very well, they were both Great Emperors, so how could Mo Huang fail to see it?

Chu Tian Ji didn't place his piece down for a long time and remained silent.

All of a sudden, Mo Huang felt shock going through his heart. He lifted his gaze to look at Chu Tian Ji and saw that he was also looking at him.

"Haaa…" Chu Tian Ji sighed. The white piece in his hand quietly landed on the chessboard and rolled a few times. He looked up at the sky with a trace of sorrow that could not be concealed on his face, "In the end, it came down to this anyway."

Mo Huang's expression turned extremely grim, "That feeling just now… it wasn't a mistake?"

Chu Tian Ji gave a wry smile, "Neither you nor I felt it wrongly. Ming Yue (Bright Moon)… has fallen."

Mo Huang asked, "Didn't you say that he had a chance of survival!?"

Chu Tian Ji slowly shook his head, "No matter how many plans we make, the Heavens are the ones who decide our fate. Who can be certain about something happening in the Demon Realm? Perhaps, only Yang Boy will know what really transpired there."

"Is Yang Boy in danger?"

"He is in the Demon Realm. How can he not be in danger?" Seeing that Mo Huang's expression was rather ugly, he continued, "This misfortune may be a blessing in disguise. We can only watch how things turn out in the future. There's no point in worrying now."

"That's just… Damn it!" Mo Huang held back for a long time, but eventually cursed out loud. His expression was grim, "Don't you claim to have insight into the past and the future? How could you not predict the events of today!?"

Chu Tian Ji smiled bitterly, "If I had such powers, the Two Worlds' Passage would not have opened in the first place. But… There is a silver lining in all of this. Bright Moon might be gone, but it would seem that he made contact with Yang Boy."

Mo Huang was taken aback for a moment before understanding the meaning behind Chu Tian Ji's words. The fall of a Great Emperor had caused a kind of Heavenly Manifestation, but the world's capacity had not decreased. There was no sign that the World's Will had been stolen. That could only mean that Bright Moon had passed on the most important thing to Yang Kai before dying; otherwise, the world would not have only shown a small anomaly. There would have been many natural and man-made disasters raging at this moment otherwise.

After remaining silent for a long time, Mo Huang sighed and said, "We can only watch how things turn out in the future, but one of us clearly won't have such patience."

Chu Tian Ji nodded lightly, "What does it matter if he collects some interest first?"

…..

The Two Worlds' Battlefield had been raging for several years now, and the Demon Race had almost finished conquering the entire Western Territory thanks to their overwhelming numerical advantage. The Star Boundary's coalition forces had retreated again and again and were now all but expelled from the Western Territory.

If they retreated another few more thousand kilometres, they would enter the Southern Territory. Once they crossed that line, it would mean that nearly a quarter of Star Boundary's territory had been conquered. That was something the Humans of the world could not and would not accept.

Above the wilderness, tens of millions of lives from both the Human Race and the Demon Race were fighting desperately. Lives were lost every moment, and although the Humans were resisting with everything they had, the Demon Race had an absolute advantage in terms of momentum. The latter had an endless army that arrived continuously to refill their ranks, caring nothing for the losses they suffered; therefore, the Human Race was steadily forced to retreat again and again.

Even though Li Wu Yi, who dominated the battlefield, was extraordinarily powerful, there was nothing he alone could do about the situation. He was single-handedly fighting three Demon Race Half-Saints at that very moment, and though his mastery of the Dao of Space guaranteed that his life was not in danger, it was difficult for him to do anything else but buy time.

Watching the Demon Race army approaching aggressively, Li Wu Yi looked sorrowful. After today's battle, the Western Territory would have fallen completely. Despite knowing that such results were ultimately not his fault, he inevitably held a sense of self-blame as the Supreme Commander of the Human forces.

Just as the Human Army was about to retreat to the area bordering between the Southern Territory and the Western Territory, an overwhelming aura suddenly surged forth from the rear. The speed with which that aura approached was extraordinarily fast. Li Wu Yi had only just noticed it before a fleeting figure flashed by him out of the corner of his eyes. That figure was wrapped in an icy chill.

Immediately after that, one of the three Demon Race Half-Saints that Li Wu Yi had been fighting froze in place. Li Wu Yi looked in that direction and saw that that particular Half-Saint had a great hand strangling his neck. Despite being a mighty Half-Saint, this Demon was currently being held up like a helpless chicken with no ability to fight back at all.

Looking at the brave and heroic back of the figure responsible for this sudden disturbance, Li Wu Yi called out in shock, "Senior Iron Blood!"

He was puzzled. Why was Iron Blood here?

The Demon Saints of the Demon Realm and the Great Emperors of the Star Boundary had come to an agreement a long time ago. Neither side would interfere in this battle, lest the war escalate to mutual annihilation. All this time, both Demon Saints and Great Emperors had strictly abided by this accord. None of them had ever appeared on the battlefield; therefore, Li Wu Yi was stunned to see Iron Blood Great Emperor, Zhan Wu Hen, appearing here and attacking a Demon Race Half-Saint.

[Has the war reached the point where the strongest combat powers of both sides have to enter the battlefield themselves!?] If that was truly the case, then it wasn't a good thing for the Star Boundary. On the contrary, it was a terrible thing. The Star Boundary was the battlefield after all, so a confrontation between the Great Emperors and the Demon Saints would most likely destroy the entire Western Territory.

"G-Great Emperor!" The Half-Saint, who was being lifted up by the neck by Zhan Wu Hen, was becoming flushed. He stared at the steely face in front of him with an incredulous gaze. The murderous intent that washed over him was so intense that it was practically tangible. The hand closing around his neck tightened like a noose, squeezing so hard that bones cracked. Death aura enveloped the Half-Saint as he cried out in a panic, "You can't kill me… The Demon Saints had an agreement with…"

Iron Blood's expression was dark as he lifted the Half Saint up until he was level with his gaze and stared into that person's eyes at close range. He asked coldly, "So what if I kill you?"

When the words left his mouth, his Emperor Qi surged. The great hand squeezed hard and the Demon Race Half-Saint burst like a watermelon that had been hammered open. The Half-Saint exploded into a cloud of blood mist, leaving not a single bone behind.

Li Wu Yi couldn't help widening his eyes at the sight. Likewise, the other two Demon Race Half-Saints looked shocked.

[He really… killed him!]

Nobody could have imagined that a Great Emperor would suddenly appear on the battlefield at such a time and kill a Demon Race Half-Saint without saying anything. [Is he here to renege on the agreement between both sides? Are the Great Emperors and Demon Saints really going to leave the sidelines and step onto the battlefield themselves!?]

Without any hesitation, Li Wu Yi reached out and grabbed toward the other two Half-Saints. Space Principles fluctuated, and the space around those two suddenly became extremely viscous.

The other two Half-Saints reacted fairly quickly. When they saw their companion being killed, they immediately tried to escape. Unfortunately, Li Wu Yi had moved faster than them.

During that moment of delay, Iron Blood had already rushed in front of another Half-Saint. He smashed the Half-Saint's body into pieces under the horrified stare of the last survivor. Then, without pausing whatsoever, Zhan Wu Hen struck towards the third Demon Half-Saint. A single palm strike left the Half-Saint without a head nor upper body. Only his legs were left hanging in the air.

Three Demon Race Half-Saints died in the blink of an eye. Iron Blood didn't stop there though as he shifted slightly and rushed into the battlefield.

Wherever Iron Blood passed, the Demon Race fell! It didn't matter whether they were weak disposable pawns or strong Demon Kings and Half-Saints, it made no difference as their defences were no different than paper in front of the Great Emperor.

Li Wu Yi stared at Iron Blood's back in a daze, feeling a very bad premonition in his heart. As a Great Emperor, it was impossible for Iron Blood to go crazy like this for no reason. It was very likely that something significant had agitated him, and that was why he was acting out like this. Thinking back on the Heavenly Manifestation from earlier, Li Wu Yi felt a sense of sorrow…

Nevertheless, as the Supreme Commander on site, he quickly composed himself and ordered the Human Army to follow Iron Blood into battle.

The sudden interference of a Great Emperor in the battle resulted in the near annihilation of the Demon Race army that numbered in the millions. Corpses of the Demon Race littered the ground across the nearly ten thousand kilometres long frontline. The Human Army pushed forward and barely encountered any form of resistance. All the Demons had lost any will to resist and were all desperately retreating towards the Two Worlds' Passage.

It wasn't until ten days later that Iron Blood returned from the direction of the Two Worlds' Passage, covered in black blood.

Li Wu Yi did not know what Iron Blood had done during these ten days; however, the Demon Race remained silent for a long time since then. Beginning from the border between the Southern Territory and the Western Territory, not a single member of the Demon Race could be seen within two hundred thousand kilometres, and the Star Boundary successfully reclaimed this land that had previously been occupied.