Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

"Impossible!" Lu Xue gasped. If one were to tell her that this place turned into a wreckage because of Yang Kai, then she could still believe it. After all, she had seen the terrifying things Yang Kai could do, but how could a mere Beast Tide cause this much damage?

It wasn't that she'd never encountered a Beast Tide before while still in Sword Pavilion, but no matter the size of tide, they could be easily defeated. Sword Pavilion's own heritage was not bad and with the help of the Sword Formations and the protective Spirit Arrays, Beast Tides generally couldn't shake Sword Pavilion's foundation like this.

Yang Kai said bluntly, "Nothing's impossible."

He had been collecting Space Rings all day and had been observing the situation. It was almost certain that Sword Pavilion encountered a Beast Tide as there were footprints of many Ominous Beasts all over the city grounds as well as some Ominous Beast carcasses left in the streets.

Adding on the fact that the Space Rings remained intact, it just about proved his guess.

"Who is this?" Yang Kai said as he gazed at a middle-aged man's corpse.

"Sir Pavilion Master!" Lu Xue said, shocked.

"This is Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master?" Yang Kai narrowed his eyes. He had known this man was of great fame and must have a strong background, but he didn't expect him to be Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master, "What was his cultivation?"

Lu Xue answered in a trembling voice, "Sir Pavilion Master was in the Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm. How could someone like him just... die like that, here?"

"Sixth-Order!" Even Yang Kai was shocked.

He wasn't afraid of a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Master inside the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary as there would still be limits to the strength a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master could display. If Yang Kai were to have met this man in battle, then with his current strength, it was still hard to tell who the victor of their fight would be.

What was shocking was that a Sixth-Order Open Heaven Realm Master would actually lay dead here.

A Master of that level definitely had a solid foundation and outstanding heritage. Even if this man were defeated by a Beast Tide, he should have been able to put up a good fight while making a retreat, but from the way Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master died, it seemed he didn't even have a chance to fight back as there were barely any signs of combat left in the hall. In other words, the strength of his foe must have far surpassed him.

A chill surged up in Yang Kai's heart.

Could there truly be such a powerful presence in the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary?

There were no scars on the Pavilion Master's body at all, so Yang Kai couldn't even tell how he died. It didn't seem like he'd been killed by an Ominous Beast at all and instead just fell dead all of a sudden.

"They're dead, they're all dead!" Lu Xue turned her head around, only to see that all of the senior members of Sword Pavilion were gathered here alongside the Pavilion Master's body. Practically no one was left behind. The entire Sect was wiped out here. Adding those that Yang Kai killed outside of Scarlet Star City, it would now seem Lu Xue was the only surviving member of Sword Pavilion!

With a rip, Yang Kai had torn open the Pavilion Master's clothes, and he couldn't help but be stunned at what he saw.

He'd planned to investigate how Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master died, but he didn't expect to find the truth so quickly.

On the man's broad chest was a spider-shaped imprint. The spider was silver in colour with a crescent moon mark on its back. As if it were a living thing, its eight legs were spread apart and a silvery thread of spider silk spread out, covering the man's body.

"This is..." Yang Kai suddenly felt that this mark looked familiar.

Before he could remember where he'd seen this pattern before though, the spider suddenly jumped off from the Pavilion Master's chest and lunged at Yang Kai.

Lu Xue screamed and recoiled in fear.

In a flash, Yang Kai threw his head back to avoid the spider's attack, but he couldn't help the shaking feeling in his Soul. His vision suddenly grew disoriented. Then, a huge eight-legged spider with its teeth and claws brandished at him filled his vision and occupied his entire mind. The spider was clearly the seal on Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master's chest magnified countless times over.

Its huge mouth opened up and it launched its fangs towards Yang Kai, seemingly intending to devour him whole.

But this scene was not real. In Lu Xue's vision, after the spider seal on her Pavilion Master's chest jumped out at Yang Kai, the young man's eyes suddenly lost focus. At the same time, extremely pure Spiritual Energy rippled out.

Amazingly, the spider was a Soul Divine Ability, and the giant spider that Yang Kai saw was nothing more than an illusion.

But despite it being an illusion though, things wouldn't end well if he were truly devoured by the spider.

At a critical life-or-death moment, a Dragon Roar burst out as a Golden Dragon Head suddenly emerged behind Yang Kai's back, roaring at the giant spider.

Dragon Pressure spilled out and extended to the Heavens.

With a rumble, Yang Kai's Soul was shaken again, and by the time he regained his senses, the spider was nowhere to be seen. The Divine Ability hidden in the Pavilion Master's body had been shattered by the Dragon Pressure.

"Heavenly Moon Demon Spider!" Yang Kai's face turned grim.

He finally remembered why the crescent moon pattern was so familiar to him. He had seen it before.

On Shan Qing Luo's body!

Shan Qing Luo carried the bloodline and Source of the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider. On a certain part of her body not known to anyone else was a mark just like the one Yang Kai just witnessed.

The Heavenly Moon Demon Spider was one of the Ancient Divine Spirits, and while its ranking amongst Divine Spirits wasn't too high, it definitely wasn't low either.

[This Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary actually has a Divine Spirit?]

Thinking back to the Dragon Bead he had obtained from Crouching Dragon Mountain, Yang Kai's disbelief was quickly dispelled. This Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary was a mysterious place. There had been a True Dragon here, so what was so strange about there being a Heavenly Moon Demon Spider as well?

With that, it seemed that Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master must have been killed by the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider's attack. No wonder this man couldn't put up any resistance. Even under the restrictions of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary, the might of a Divine Spirit was still not something an ordinary Master could dream of confronting.

If taken out of the Grand Ancient Ruins Boundary and into the Outer Universe, this Heavenly Moon Demon Spider would definitely become an existence at least on par with Mie Meng.

Yang Kai's heart burned. It was a Heavenly Moon Demon Spider! If he could kill it and take its Monster Core, then give it to Luo'er once he returned, wouldn't Luo'er be able to reach Open Heaven Realm in a single bound? Who knows how happy that girl would be then! She would definitely try all kinds of tricks to please him then!

But very soon, Yang Kai dismissed that idea. The Heavenly Moon Demon Spider wasn't something that one should just provoke on a whim, lest he tried to steal a chicken but lose his rice. Turning Luo'er and the others into widows wouldn't be a worthwhile risk.

"You..." Lu Xue's shocked voice came from next to him. Looking at Yang Kai, her eyes were shaking violently.

She seemed to have seen something astonishing in that one instant that scared her so much that she fell on her bottom, so shocked that she'd forgotten to stand back up.

Yang Kai shot her a light glance but promptly ignored her; instead, he leaned down to swipe the Pavilion Master's Space Ring. Checking its contents with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai discovered that this old man was truly wealthy.

There were more than a billion Open Heaven Pills inside the Space Ring, piled up into several small mountains. There were also countless other cultivation materials and also a number of good artifacts.

This man had been Sword Pavilion's Pavilion Master for so many years that he was bound to have accumulated some level of wealth during his hegemonic reign over the Star City.

A certain jade slip caught Yang Kai's attention, and taking it out, he swept his Divine Sense over it and instantly raised his brow.

The jade slip actually turned out to be the cultivation method for the Starfall Sword Formation and Defying Heavens Star Net Formation.

These were extreme treasures. Even though forming this Formation had strict requirements for those involved, chief among them cultivating the Sword Dao, it was still quite possible for Yang Kai to make use of it in the future.

Just as he was about to put the jade slip away, Yang Kai's instincts suddenly tugged at him, causing him to jerk his head in a certain direction.

There seemed to be a pair of invisible eyes there, observing him from across the void. It gave him goosebumps, as if something bad had its eyes set on him.

In the direction Yang Kai was staring, across a vast stretch of mountains and wastelands, a massive herd of Ominous Beasts of all different shapes and sizes was marching. There were giant beasts as majestic as mountains, rising over a thousand metres tall, shaking the earth with each step they took. There were also skeletal humanoid figures with two heads, baring their fangs with arms like scythes, running as fast as the wind. Though they were humanoid in shape, they were still more beast than man, with heads like that of a praying mantis or other insects and animals. They were all densely gathered in one place, but at the moment, they were just like a well-trained army marching forward, racing towards the depths of the wilderness.

The most conspicuous part was the centre of the Beast Tide where an incomparably huge spider strode using its eight legs. It seemed to move slowly and clumsily, but its speed was actually as fast as lightning.

From time to time, spider silk was spat out from its jaws and pierced through the bodies of random beasts before they were pulled into its mouth and swallowed.

On the huge spider's back was a building resembling a pavilion, and inside the pavilion lounged a woman lazily on a bamboo sofa, dressed in highly revealing clothes. The woman was the epitome of charm, even being comparable to the likes of Shan Qing Luo. It was the kind of beauty that made a man's blood boil as soon as they set their eyes upon it.

When Yang Kai shattered the Heavenly Moon Demon Spider's illusion with his Dragon Pressure, the enchanting woman on the bamboo sofa suddenly opened her eyes and let out a soft giggle. Looking in the direction of the ruined Star City, she licked her lips with her scarlet tongue after a moment and smiled.

It was a smile that caused the world to lose its colour, leaving only the seduction of her face behind.

With a light clap, a green figure appeared instantaneously and knelt down in front of her.

It was a creature with a humanoid body, yet with large scythes for arms and topped off by a mantis head.

"There's an interesting little fellow back in the direction we just came from. Bring him to me alive."

The mantis head nodded before it transformed into a green light, speeding away to carry out her order.

Back inside the Star City, Yang Kai was frowning. He focused his senses, but he couldn't catch that feeling again. He couldn't help but wonder whether he had used up too much of his energy in yesterday's fight and was now sensing things wrong because of it.

He thought of leaving immediately, but he'd barely searched half of Star City, so it would be too much of a pity to leave just like that. Sighing, Yang Kai gathered all the Space Rings in the hall and headed out into the Star City, sweeping up all the valuables he could along the way.

In any case, this was no place to be staying for an extended amount of time, so he had to hurry out of here after he was done scavenging.

Lu Xue who had been left to daydream in the hall had only come back to her senses after a long time. Over the past few days, too much had happened to her. First, she was tossed about by Yang Kai, then she came back to Sword Pavilion just to find that she was now alone. Sadness filled her heart and she didn't even know where to go in the future.

Taking out a Spirit Pill, she stuffed it into her mouth and sat down cross-legged, adjusting her breathing and meditating. No matter what she did in the future, she had to recover her strength before she could make any other plans…

Silavin: Original Title - Heavenly Moon Demon Spider