Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

On this day, Yang Kai was refining a World Bead with his mind immersed in the mystery of the Dao of Space when his expression suddenly changed. Letting out a soft cry, a strange expression crept onto his face.

There seemed to be an abnormality in a certain place inside the Small Sealed World.

Without moving, Yang Kai separated a thread of his consciousness, slipped into the Small Sealed World, and manifested a Soul Avatar once he discerned the direction of the source of the anomaly.

It turned out to be a huge continent fragment that had been devoured by Gun-Gun; moreover, it was something that had just been devoured moments ago.

Generally speaking, the continent fragments that Gun-Gun devoured would quickly dissolve into the surroundings to enrich the third region; however, this continent fragment seemed to be rather unusual in the sense that Gun-Gun could not fully dissolve and integrate it. Hence, it remained separate.

This fragment stretched ten thousand kilometres, so it couldn't be considered big. From the looks of it, it seemed to have been buried deep underground and was rarely seen. After being devoured, the outer layer had dissolved to reveal an inner part that remained.

Moreover, this continent fragment was filled with World Principles that were both familiar and shocking to Yang Kai. He didn't even need to study it carefully to tell that they were Time Principles. It was precisely because it was flooded and protected by Time Principles that this continent fragment had been safely preserved from the assimilation of the Small Sealed World.

Yang Kai was stunned. This continent fragment was part of the Demon Realm, so why was it brimming with Time Principles? Not to mention, they stretched out over such a wide area!

What surprised him even more was that the aura of the Time Principles was exactly the same as the one he perceived in Flowing Time Temple. Raising his brow in thought, Yang Kai pondered, [Don't tell me that these Time Principles are a legacy left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor? If so, that would mean that Flowing Time Great Emperor once came to the Demon Realm in the past.]

Yang Kai couldn't help recalling what Qiong Qi once mentioned. When Flowing Time Great Emperor was cultivating in retreat inside his palace, he suddenly perceived some mystery of the Outer Universe and ventured out to explore it as a result. Unfortunately, he never returned. Only his Natal Artifact, the Infinite Hourglass, eventually returned to the temple. It was obvious that Flowing Time Great Emperor had encountered a powerful enemy and met with an untimely end.

[Could it be that Flowing Time Great Emperor left the temple and came to the Demon Realm? Perhaps, he encountered a powerful enemy in the Demon Realm and fought a great battle, and this place was the battlefield where that battle had taken place? How else could such dense Time Principles be remaining in such a place?]

Even so, it was just a guess and there was no way to confirm it. Who could be certain about something that had happened so many tens of thousands of years ago? Everything was bound to change over time since the future was unpredictable. Following the Demon Realm's collapse, this battlefield had been buried deep underground where nobody could see; thus, it had been preserved to this day. If he had not driven Gun-Gun to devour the Demon Realm continents, this ancient battlefield would never have seen the light of day again.

[Does it really belong to the Flowing Time Great Emperor?] Yang Kai pondered for a while; then, he stepped forward onto the ancient battlefield. Having spent some time in the Flowing Time Temple, he was very familiar with the aura of Flowing Time Great Emperor's remnant power; therefore, he only needed to get a feel of the inside to know whether or not the Time Principles in this place were a legacy from Flowing Time Great Emperor.

Yang Kai had not sensed anything when he stood outside the ancient battlefield, but he suddenly felt as though his mind went stagnant the moment he stepped onto it. Not only did his thinking seem to stop, but everything in his surroundings also seemed to slow down. Yang Kai instantly knew that he was under the influence of the Time Principles and his Divine Sense immediately surged in response to protect himself. Only then did he barely manage to escape from their influence.

As he continued forward, the Time Principles around him became increasingly dense. Yang Kai had only proceeded across a distance of a thousand metres before he was overcome with a sense of being unable to move. It was not a restraint or some sort of suppression, it was simply that the thoughts in his head were being infinitely slowed down. Oftentimes, it would take a long time for his body to even react once a thought was formed.

Therefore, Yang Kai couldn't help being amazed by how terrifyingly powerful Flowing Time Great Emperor was. Despite so many years having passed, Flowing Time Great Emperor's residual strength remained so strong. Just what was he like at the peak of his cultivation? Nevertheless, there was one thing Yang Kai could be sure of, the Time Principles in this place were a legacy left behind by Flowing Time Great Emperor. In other words, Flowing Time Great Emperor had entered the Demon Realm when he left his palace. Afterwards, he encountered an unknown Master and fought a world-shattering battle here before leaving this place with serious injuries. Unfortunately, he died of his injuries before he could return to the Star Boundary. Following the death of the Great Emperor, the Infinite Hourglass returned to the temple on its own. Meanwhile, the Great Emperor's corpse fell into the East Sea. Over the years, his remains were scattered throughout the East Sea and became trophies for the Monster Race.

All sorts of thoughts flashed across Yang Kai's mind, but he couldn't confirm them. Then, a strange idea appeared in his mind. [Could the Demon Realm breaking apart and forming fractured continents have something to do with the battle at the time? Maybe. Maybe not. Who knows?]

Suppressing the distracting emotions, Yang Kai forged onward. His pace was extremely slow and every move he made was jerky, almost like he was a wooden marionette controlled by strings. As the Time Principles washed over his Soul Avatar, he felt an inexplicable sense as though time was being stretched out to the point where one day felt like a year.

It took him a whole day to walk the first thousand metres, but walking another thousand metres took him another ten whole days. However, Yang Kai's expression changed when he got to that point. That was because there was another force present on this ancient battlefield that was clashing with the Time Principles that were left behind here. Yang Kai had failed to detect it before because he had been standing on the edge of the battlefield, but now that he had walked a little further inward, he immediately became aware of it.

The battle that occurred tens of thousands of years ago had led to the death of a Great Emperor. Although the fate of the Great Emperor's opponent remained unknown, from the aura left behind by those two who had been fighting here, it was clear that they were unable to determine a winner up till this day.

Nothing would have happened if Yang Kai had not appeared in this place. The two forces raging across this ancient battlefield had long since formed a strange balance between themselves, but his decision to enter and investigate the situation had inadvertently broken this balance and given these two terrifying forces a solution to this stalemate.

Although these two mysterious and unparalleled forces were extremely powerful, they lacked a host to focus and guide them, and thus, had no way to determine the victor between them. Strictly speaking, these two forces in the ancient battlefield were upholding their Masters' will in life but could only clash and antagonize each other since they had no real ability to do any substantial damage to one another. On the contrary, Yang Kai's arrival gave them a chance to settle things once and for all.

Suddenly, Yang Kai felt two forces invading his Soul Avatar without any apparent reason or prior approval. Those forces were so strong that he couldn't fight back at all as they collided and clashed with each other with his Soul Avatar as their battlefield. As a result, his Soul Avatar flickered erratically, as if it might break apart at any time.

Yang Kai's Soul cultivation was now stronger than any Pseudo-Great Emperor's or Half Saint's; even so, he had only split off a small portion of his consciousness to check out the situation here, so how could he withstand such a powerful force? His Soul Avatar was much too weak to act as a medium for this battle. It was akin to having two gigantic Dragons trying to fight in a small pond. No matter what happened to the two Dragons, the pond would definitely shatter from the fallout.

Yang Kai's expression changed drastically while at the same time he hurriedly poured all his Spiritual Energy into his Soul Avatar. It was no longer just a sliver of his conscience this time around; instead, he was giving it everything he had. He knew that he had accidentally encountered a critical moment where his life was at stake and if he was not careful, he could end up dying here.

The tragic ending of being killed by the remnant auras of an ancient battlefield that formed tens of thousands of years in the past was something he absolutely could not accept.

Yang Kai's Spiritual Energy flooded out from his Knowledge Sea in a rapid torrent, allowing his Soul Avatar that had been flickering erratically to finally stabilize. Nevertheless, his brow creased deeply in pain.

The two forces in his avatar couldn't care less about his feelings. The impact of every collision between the two forces felt as though it was going to tear him apart. Fortunately, he was still only on the periphery of the battlefield. If he had gone any deeper, the forces would have been even more terrifying.

Even though Yang Kai found himself in a dangerous situation, it was not without a chance of survival. He would be fine as long as he left this ancient battlefield before his Soul Avatar was destroyed. It was a pity that it was extremely difficult to actually put his thoughts into action.

It had taken him ten days to travel a distance of two thousand metres under the influence of the Time Principles, and he had only been under a superficial interference at the time. Now that the Time Principles had invaded his body, the influence was much stronger than before.

Despite his intentions to retreat, it took Yang Kai a long time just to turn around and slowly trudge towards the outside. He only managed to walk no more than three metres before showing a pained expression. The strange thing was that even this pained expression appeared at an unusually slow speed, as though his own time had been extended indefinitely.

A soft cracking sound rang out from the depths of his Soul Avatar at that moment as all Yang Kai felt was a sharp pain coming from between his temples, as if something had been ripped apart. If anybody else had been around, they would have seen a real crack appearing between his eyebrows.

The crack was only the beginning. More and more cracks began to appear all over his avatar as time went by, making him look like a porcelain doll that was about to shatter and fall apart. He looked like he would break into pieces at the slightest touch.

It took a long time for Yang Kai to realize what kind of crisis he was in. Then, another long while passed before his anxious thoughts bloomed in his mind; however, his Soul Avatar was already covered in cracks by this time, causing his entire person to look extremely weird and terrifying.

When it really came down to the moment where his life was hanging by a thread, Yang Kai's mental state calmed down all of a sudden. His steps might be slow, but he steadfastly continued to return along the path he came from. His consciousness was linked to his physical body outside the Small Sealed World, but what originally took no more effort than a single thought now required tremendous effort.

The moment he could establish a connection, he immediately urged the power of the Soul Warming Lotus. A seven-coloured light glowed brilliantly inside his Knowledge Sea as the seven-coloured island shrank and returned to its original Soul Warming Lotus form. Spinning steadily in the sky, the lotus continuously sent out a dazzling seven-coloured radiance.

It felt as though a barren land finally received the blessing of rain. Yang Kai felt his sluggish mind recovering to its normal condition in an instant while at the same time, a seven-coloured light bloomed out from the cracks on his projection, shot out from his nose and mouth, and then enveloped his entire Soul Avatar.

The majestic power of Soul Warming Lotus immediately cut off the influence the ancient battlefield had on him. The moment he broke free of the influence, Yang Kai immediately moved his Soul Avatar and rushed out of the ancient battlefield. Only then did he finally recover completely and escape the effects of the Time Principles.

Having escaped from the ancient battlefield, Yang Kai swiftly returned to his physical body.

Yang Kai, who was sitting cross-legged on top of Gun-Gun's head, abruptly opened his eyes and gasped for breath like a drowning man that was rescued from the ocean. There was a trace of fear lingering on his face as his clothes were soaked in sweat.

Before he could examine himself carefully, he gave a muffled grunt and two streams of golden blood flowed out of his nose as a dull ache threatened to split his head open, causing him to howl in pain. The encounter just now might not have killed him, but it had injured his Soul. The pain from this kind of injury was many times more difficult to bear compared to ordinary physical wounds.