Martial Peak

Under careful observation, Xi Lei could not detect any energy fluctuations coming from the bead. It looked no different from a random stone bead picked up by the roadside; however, as he probed further with his Divine Sense, this unremarkable bead suddenly enlarged at a rapid pace in front of his eyes, to the point it appeared to become an enormous Star that was extremely vast and desolate in an instant.

As his Divine Sense rapidly tried to expand to cover this Star, he couldn't help panicking, feeling like his mind was trapped in a cage. Biting his tongue hard, Xi Lei felt a sharp pain which allowed him to escape from his predicament, his forehead covered in a sheen of sweat as he shouted, "A World Bead!"

"This is a World Bead?" Shan Qing Luo was astonished. She had not known what it was either until now. Before the Sixty-First Army set off for the Western Territory, Yang Kai had specifically called his wives over and gave each of them a bead. After that, he had done something to help them refine it. He also taught them how to use it. They had not quite understood what it was, however, until they brought it out to attack their enemies…

"I can't be wrong. This is definitely a World Bead!" Xi Lei nodded. Although he had never been in contact with a World Bead before, he had at least heard of them. From what he experienced during his previous contact with it, he could immediately conclude that it was definitely a World Bead refined by Yang Kai. It was just that this World Bead was slightly different from the ones he knew about.

It was naturally different, as what Yang Kai had handed over to Shan Qing Luo and the others were his earliest works. In order to separate the second region in the Small Sealed World, he had refined many Dead Stars and large meteorites. These initial World Beads that he created did not have the function of accommodating living people. If any living being was stuffed into these World Beads, they would only be crushed into dust by chaotic World Principles inside.

Only the batch of World Beads that he later refined could contain living creatures, but those had all been handed over to Li Wu Yi to distribute to the Army Commanders. The reason the Star Boundary's armies could move so quickly when evacuating from the Western Territory was that they had used the World Beads. How else could the army of several hundred thousand have withdrawn so rapidly?

While the World Beads that Shan Qing Luo and the others had in their possession did not have the ability to hold living creatures, they were still refined from gigantic Dead Stars. Moreover, Yang Kai had helped them to refine the World Beads so that they could control them freely. Throwing the World Bead was equivalent to throwing an entire Dead Star at their enemies. How could a Mid-Rank or even High-Rank Demon King block such an attack when they were completely unprepared?

Yang Kai had many other similar World Beads in his possession and was planning to find an opportunity to distribute them to the Sixty-First Army. If these World Beads were used correctly, it would definitely give the Masters from the Demon Race a huge surprise. Unfortunately, there was not enough time. He could have refined more of them if he was given enough time and they would surely become a powerful weapon for the Sixty-First Army.

"We'll know once we question him later." Shan Qing Luo smiled and clenched the bead in her hand. She had originally been upset that her cultivation was too low to help share Yang Kai's worries and burdens; however, she could even kill an unsuspecting High-Rank Demon King in an instant with this treasure in hand. Therefore, she was happy from the bottom of her heart. She held the bead in her hand and moved about the battlefield, frequently throwing the World Bead out and killing countless enemies as easily as if she were chopping vegetables.

The stalemate in Azure Sun Temple had been broken. Before Yang Kai brought reinforcements, the Demon Race army had breached the Sect Defending Array, invaded Azure Sun Temple, and engaged in an all-out melee with Wen Zi Shan's army. When Yang Kai led hundreds of Masters to this place, it was as though a handful of salt was thrown into a pan of boiling oil. The whole situation had swiftly turned around.

Demon Race Masters were constantly being killed while on the other hand, the Half-Saint leading the Demon Race army was unable to do anything due to the interference of the Lotus Sisters. He could only protect himself now with no means of fighting back.

Seeing that the situation was not looking too good, the Half-Saint let out a howl. He intentionally took one of the Lotus Sisters' attacks and used the momentum to leap out of range of the battle before escaping in a miserable state. The Lotus Sisters naturally gave pursuit.

With the most powerful among them fleeing the battle, the rest of the Demon Race army fell into a greater panic. The ground was littered with corpses for tens of kilometres as few among them managed to escape alive.

Approximately an hour passed before the noisy Azure Sun Temple finally quietened down.

Wen Zi Shan was covered in blood as he stood in the sky and looked out at the Temple's inheritance that had been there for hundreds of years, eventually letting out a long sigh. They might have killed many of the Demons in this battle, but the loss Azure Sun Temple had incurred was not small either. Corpses belonging to the Sect's disciples were lying all over the ground, their deaths particularly miserable. In just one battle, Wen Zi Shan had lost nearly thirty percent of the army under his command.

Demon Qi was gradually escaping from the corpses of the Demons who had died in this place. It wafted away and converged in a certain direction, causing Azure Sun Temple to be covered in a fog of darkness.

Wen Zi Shan met with Yang Kai next and the two exchanged a few words. Only then did he learn that High Heaven Palace had also been attacked by the Demon Race. It was just that High Heaven Palace had a mighty army and powerful defences, so it had not suffered a great loss. The Demon Race army was routed instead.

Upon seeing that Yang Kai had several Demon Race Half-Saints gathered around him, Wen Zi Shan couldn't help feeling jealous. He pulled a face and coughed lightly, "Yang Kai, I have something to discuss with you."

"I'll ask the Lotus Sisters to accompany you," Yang Kai declared.

Wen Zi Shan was stunned when he heard the words, and then he immediately became overjoyed, "Good good!"

He had originally wanted to try and gain one of the Half-Saints over from Yang Kai's side. The army under him was not weak, but unfortunately, there were no Masters in the Pseudo-Great Emperor or Half-Saint Realm. It might not seem like much under normal circumstances, but having no one who could challenge an enemy Half-Saint if one appeared was indeed an issue.

He only wanted Yang Kai to leave one Half-Saint with him, so he never imagined that Yang Kai would directly give him two instead. A feeling that they were all part of one family washed over Wen Zi Shan all of a sudden as he realized that Yang Kai was similarly anxious about what he himself was worried about.

Yang Kai did not remain in Azure Sun Temple after cleaning the battlefield and counting the casualties, choosing to lead his men home instead. Back at High Heaven Palace, he immediately sent a message to Li Wu Yi to report the Demon Race army's attack on High Heaven Palace's Main Sect, Branch Sect, and Azure Sun Temple.

Not long after that, Li Wu Yi replied with a message of his own. Yang Kai's expression turned solemn after reading the message. As he had expected, the entire Star Boundary was swept up in a storm. The two Great Worlds were connected, and numerous Demon Lands had popped up all over the four territories. As a result, many Demon armies continued to cross over into this world and invade the Star Boundary to burn, kill, and loot without mercy.

The situation at the moment was much more serious compared to the situation where the Demons had first crossed over into the Western Territory back then. There had only been one Two Worlds' Passage in the past, and although the Demon Race was powerful, the Star Boundary only needed to defend one location. In contrast, the Demon Race was spread out everywhere now. The flames of war had broken out across the entire Star Boundary, and all fifty-five armies were exhausted from defending against those attacks.

The attacks were not limited to High Heaven Palace and Azure Sun Temple. In just half a day, Li Wu Yi had received no fewer than thirty requests for help. There were seven in the Northern Territory alone. Even if he was extremely strong and experienced, he no longer knew how to deal with the enemy and could only handle one crisis at a time. He had to do his best to preserve the Star Boundary's forces until the Great Emperors returned.

Upon learning that Yang Kai was free to help out now, Li Wu Yi became overjoyed and asked him to provide reinforcements to those seven places that had asked for help in the Northern Territory. Yang Kai did not raise any objections to the request and immediately began gathering his troops.

The Sixty-First Army had only rested for half a day, so they were not completely recovered from their battle fatigue, but there was no helping it under these circumstances. He placed the army into the Small Sealed World and stepped onto the Space Array at High Heaven Palace.

At this moment, Yang Kai couldn't help feeling thankful for the many preparations he made in the past. In order to unify the Northern Territory, he had set up many Space Arrays and they were now coming in handy. If not for this extensive network of Space Arrays, it would have taken him a lot of time to travel to and from various places.

The Demons invaded in massive numbers, but they had also spread out widely; therefore, there were not too many in each place which in turn gave Yang Kai the opportunity to defeat them one at a time.

Yang Kai led the Sixty-First Army on a killing spree. Everywhere they went, the Demon Race armies suffered heavy casualties. No less than a million Demons had been eliminated by the Sixty-First Army in the span of just a few days; however, Yang Kai also saw countless situations throughout the world where the Demon Race had struck the world like a star of calamity. Many cities were completely obliterated, and countless villages were razed to the ground. Even the small and medium-sized Sects that were on the weaker side had been slaughtered.

There were corpses everywhere. At the same time, an uncountable number of Humans were fleeing for their lives. Even so, where could they go in the midst of this troubled world? They were simply running around like headless flies. The only fate waiting for them if they encountered any of the Demons was death. For that reason, Yang Kai began accepting these fugitives into the Sixty-First Army if they had enough strength whenever he came across them. If they didn't have enough strength, they were placed into the Small Sealed World for their safety.

This killing spree expanded the Sixty-First Army's lineup considerably and restored their numbers to three hundred thousand as a result. Meanwhile, Yang Kai had taken no fewer than a million refugees into the Sealed World Bead.

Today, Yang Kai stood in front of a private residence in one of the dilapidated cities. Flames were raging around him as corpses littered the streets. Almost half of the homes in front of him had collapsed and inside this one, a naked woman was lying on the ground without a single piece of clothing on her. Her lower body was a mess, and there were many wounds all over the rest of her body as well. Her corpse had gone cold, but her eyes remained wide open. Before she died, her eyes had been filled with fear and horror. She had turned her head to the side, and a hint of nostalgia was mixed in with her eyes that were brimming with fear. There was a young child around three years old lying in a pool of blood in the direction she was looking; furthermore, the child had a large gaping hole in his chest that was now completely empty.

Yang Kai could imagine what had happened even without witnessing the scene with his own eyes. The Demons had come attacking and this mother had protected her child desperately, but what could a powerless woman do against the powerful Demons from a foreign world? The woman had been defiled and died a violent death! In addition, her child had been killed!

Even though he had become accustomed to seeing all sorts of tragedies recently, Yang Kai still couldn't help feeling absolutely furious at the sight. A wave of murderous intent brewed in his chest like a volcano that could erupt at any time.

Many of the cities and villages he passed by recently had been obliterated, but the Demons had only slaughtered the people within those cities. They had not done anything else to the people there. On the contrary, he noticed something different in this city. The scene in front of him left him feeling slightly overwhelmed by his emotions.

"Brother-in-Law!" Fu Ling rushed over from a distance, her beautiful eyes red and wet with tears. Before she could get close to him, the murderous intent he was exuding stopped her in her tracks. She followed in his gaze and bit her lip hard at the sight.

"Speak!" Yang Kai took a deep breath and did his best to withdraw his murderous intent into his body, causing his clothes to flap wildly in response.

"There are no survivors in this city. Everyone has been slaughtered. Furthermore, all children under ten years…" She scowled deeply, seeming to find it hard to finish her sentence.

"What happened to the children?"

She pointed inside the house.

"Like that child, all of them had their hearts dug out of their chests. Brother-in-Law, do Demons… eat Humans?" She turned to look at him when she asked that question.

He glanced at her, frowning.

She continued, "If they don't eat Humans, then why did they carve out their hearts? And they were all children too. Not to mention, there are too few corpses for a city this size. It seems like some have been taken away."