Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & PewPewLaserGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain

The Hai Ke Family and Xu Family had always been comparable in strength, but with Xu Zhi Shen’s death, and the loss of the Hundred Mountains Picture, the current Xu Family was undoubtedly weaker in compared to the Hai Ke Family.

If Yang Kai could kill a few more of the Xu Family’s Saint King masters, perhaps the Hai Ke Family could wipe them out completely and annex the rest of the Xu Family!

Considering all this, many of the Hai Ke Family’s masters felt their blood begin to boil while at the same time thinking their Patriarch was worthy of his high position, his eyes could clearly see further than their own. They had just wanted to snatch the Hundred Mountains Picture and reap some benefits from the Xu Family, but why bother with that when an even greater opportunity lay before them?

Yi En didn’t pay them any mind though and simply said, “Do all of you only think about immediate benefits?”

“Patriarch means…” Everyone looked at Yi En with suspicion.

Yi En sighed, “Why is my Hai Ke Family just a peripheral force of Shadow Moon Hall? Because we aren’t strong enough and because we don’t have a powerful master of our own, if we had an Origin Returning Realm master, I believe Shadow Moon Hall would have to reconsider our status!”

Many of the Elders and Foreign Elder frowned, wondering what Yi En was implying, but Chang Qi actually wore a thoughtful expression.

“What Patriarch wants to say is, if we recruit this Yang Kai into the family, with his aptitude, we can make him break through to the Origin Returning Realm?”

“Ah? Does Patriarch still want to solicit him? But that little brat is too unruly!” Wa Lun exclaimed, shaking his head, “I think it will be difficult to recruit such a wild junior.”

“That’s right Patriarch, on top of that, he’s only a First Order Saint King now, it will be many decades before he can break through to the Origin Returning Realm, who knows what will happen after such a long time?” Ba Qing Yan also added. He had lost face twice because of Yang Kai, so although he knew he was not Yang Kai’s opponent, he was still unwilling to so easily accept such insults, how could he be in favour of trying to recruit him again?

Yi En shook his head and quickly said, “According to Qing Yan, this time Yang Kai will surely die, but he will definitely be able to pull a few people from the Xu Family down with him. We only need to take action at a critical moment to save his life. If that brat has any common sense, he will understand what he needs to do and submit to family. Once he pledges allegiance to my Hai Ke Family, wouldn’t the Hundred Mountains Picture be ours as well?”

Everyone’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Chang Qi, who had not spoken yet, thought about it for a moment before asking, “Patriarch, what if he refuses to surrender?”

Yi En simply sneered, “He won’t refuse, when forced to choose between life or death, he will definitely pick the former.”

“But Patriarch, by doing that, wouldn’t we heavily offend the Xu Family?” Ba Qing Yan asked with some worry.

“The Xu Family?” Yi En flashed a look of disdain, “So what if we offend the Xu Family? After today, there will be no Xu Family.”

Upon hearing this, everyone Elder Foreign Elder instantly understood what Yi En thought, and couldn’t help taking a breath.

The Patriarch did not just plan to save Yang Kai in his moment of crisis to force him to submit, he also wanted to take this opportunity to destroy the masters of the Xu Family! Yi En wanted Yang Kai, the Hundred Mountains Picture, and the Xu Family.

For a moment, many of the Hai Ke Family masters felt a sense of awe.

“As long as this little brat is willing to surrender, we can dedicate all the clan’s reserves to buy pills for him. With his aptitude, as long as there are enough pills, he should be able to break through to the Origin Returning Realm in less than ten years!” Yi En continued to explain, seemingly able to see a beautiful future stretching out in front of his eyes, his face becoming more youthful and radiant in the process. “Once he breaks through to the Origin Returning Realm, my Hai Ke Family’s status will soar and we will be able to enter Shadow Moon Hall’s inner circle, at that time, how could we not recover our losses?”

Everyone gasped.

They naturally knew the consequences of a cultivator using pills in such a manner. While it would indeed be possible to break through from the Saint King Realm to the Origin Returning Realm within ten years this way, anyone who did so would destroy their foundation, turning even the greatest of geniuses into wastes.

But that didn’t matter to them, Yang Kai was just an outsider, a loner Wu Yi had plucked from the Starry Sky. Even if he was an unparalleled talent, he was not a member of the Hai Ke Family, if he turned into a waste then that was that. As long as he could bring some benefits to their family, what happened to him in the future was of no consequence.

“Patriarch is far-sighted, worthy of our admiration!” Ba Qing Yan bowed deeply. He really admired his Patriarch’s strategy which would kill three birds with one stone. If they succeeded, not only would they be able to preserve their family’s reputation, but also annex the Xu Family and acquiring Yang Kai at the same time. Then, ten years later, their family would rise up and no longer need to struggle for scraps at the bottom of society.

The Elders and Foreign Elders also quickly praised their Patriarch’s wicked scheme. Only Chang Qi and Hao An, who had some interaction with Yang Kai, looked at each other and sighed.

On the other side, under the leadership of Xu Zhi Kun, the Xu Family’s masters had approached to within a couple hundred meters of the cave’s entrance, but as soon as they stepped into the area covered by Yang Array’s Spirit Array, all of them frowned deeply.

At that moment, they collectively felt a sense of anxiety rise in their hearts and began scanning their surroundings, but none of them could detect anything out of the ordinary.

“Patriarch, he’s the one who killed Third Elder!” One of the Saint Kings who had come together with Xu Zhi Kun pointed at Yang Kai distantly.

Xu Zhi Kun’s eyes narrowed as a palpable murderous intent overflowed from his body; sweeping the young man in front of him with his Divine Sense though, Xi Zhi Kun frowned, “Didn’t you say he was just a Third Order Saint? Why does he look like a First Order Saint King then?”

“Ah?” The man who just spoke exclaimed, “But that day…”

“Waste! If you can’t even tell what cultivation your enemy has, what use do you have?” Although Xu Zhi Kun was viciously reproving this man, in his heart he was actually relaxing somewhat.

He had received a report from several of his family’s masters saying that a Third Order Saint Realm boy had killed Xu Zhi Shen and snatched the Hundred Mountains Picture. Obviously, he didn’t believe that to be possible, and now that he found that this little brat was clearly a First Order Saint King, Xu Zhi Shen’s heart calmed greatly.

Because they wanted to take advantage of the conflict between Yang Kai and the Xu Family, Yang Kai’s breakthrough and wounding of Ba Qing Yan had been kept secret by the Hai Ke Family. As a result, Xu Zhi Kun naturally thought that the information he had first received was simply inaccurate.

Although the possibility that this young man had broken through in these past few days existed, the chances of that were too low.

A Third Order Saint killing a Third Order Saint King wasn’t something Xu Zhi Kun was willing to accept, but if Yang Kai had been a First Order Saint King all along, him emerging victorious was barely within the realm of possibility.

Xu Zhi Kun instinctively felt that the cultivators who had escaped at that time and returned to the family has simply been too panicked and failed to notice Yang Kai concealing his cultivation.

“You’re the scoundrel named Yang Kai who hurt my nephew Tian Ze and killed my third brother?” Xu Zhi Kun shouted sharply, “Who gave you the courage to kill my Xu Family’s Elder?”

When Xu Zhi Kun roared, the dozens of cultivators behind Wu Yi wore stern expressions and summoned out their artefacts, raising their vigilance as high as it could go. Even Wu Yi and Yu Feng began to silently condense their Saint Qi, preparing to take action at a moment’s notice.

Yang Kai stepped forward with a sneer on his face and asked back, “Are you the Xu Family’s Patriarch?”

“I am!”

“Before I could go see you, you’ve decided to deliver yourself to me. En, good, since you’ve come, you must be prepared to remain forever.”

The cultivator who had just spoken to Xu Zhi Kun a moment ago shivered and immediately took a few steps back.

He could clearly remember that when Xu Zhi Shen came here last time, this young man had uttered similar words, and the result was that Xu Zhi Shen had really died. These words were enough to bring up that trauma and if it weren’t for his family’s Patriarch, Elders, and Foreign Elders all standing nearby, he would have already run away.

Realizing the unusual behaviour of this man, Xu Zhi Kun glared him coldly and grit his teeth before turning back and shouting, “Bold Junior! Hand over my Xu Family’s Hundred Mountains Picture and cripple your dantian, then this old master will spare your life, otherwise don’t blame this old master for bullying the weak!”

Xu Zhi Kun couldn’t wait to shred Yang Kai’s corpse into ten thousand pieces, so how could he allow him to die so easily? Only after torturing this young man till he begged for death could he comfort his brother’s soul in heaven.

“Enough nonsense, if you want to fight, then fight, father here doesn’t have time to waste on you!” Yang Kai coldly snorted.

“Good good good!” Xu Zhi Kun, seeing Yang Kai still bluffing and blustering, smiled angrily and shouted, “As you wish!”

As soon as his words fell, he leapt forward and charged Yang Kai with amazing momentum. The dozen or so Xu Family Elders and Foreign Elders, all of whom were Third Order Saint Kings, followed close behind Xu Zhi Kun, apparently preparing to kill Yang Kai in a single decisive blow.

No matter what Yang Kai’s true cultivation was, him being able to kill Xu Zhi Shen meant his combat strength was astonishing, so how could Xu Zhi Kun dare despise him? The plan had always been to swarm Yang Kai with all their forces, not giving him any chance to resist.

The Hai Ke Family, who were watching from in the distance, saw the Xu Family all act simultaneously and gawked.

“Isn’t this too shameless?” Wa Lun cried out. Just now Xu Zhi Kun had openly declared he didn’t want to bully the weak, yet in the blink of an eye, he was not just bullying the weak in terms of strength but numbers as well. Apparently the Xu Family’s skin was far thicker than they had imagined.

“Like this, that little brat will have no way to preserve his life, Patriarch, what shall we do?” Huang Juan’s brow furrowed, obviously not optimistic about Yang Kai’s future.

Yi En’s expression also became gloomy. To be honest, he had not expected the Xu Family to launch such a fierce offensive right at the onset of the battle. Now it seemed they wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the situation so he could only sigh and console himself, “If Yang Kai can’t escape this calamity, he’s not worthy soliciting, but… let’s just observe for now. Perhaps he won’t immediately die.”

After hearing this, all the Hai Ke Family masters present turned their attention back to the battle with stunned expressions.

Because they found that even as the dozen or so Xu Family Third Order Saint Kings rushed towards him, Yang Kai actually remained motionless with a clear sneer on his face.

In the next moment, everything within three thousand meters of the cave entrance was suddenly submerged in a thick bank of fog, completely concealing the dozen Xu Family masters as well as Yang Kai.

Dozens of Divine Senses from the Hai Ke Family group were simultaneously released to probe this fog bank, but none of them could even penetrate the outer layer of this fog, much less sense anything inside!

“A Spirit Array?” Yi En exclaimed in shock, his body trembling slightly as the other Elders and Foreign Elders all felt a slight chill wash over them.

The existence of a Spirit Array wasn’t they were worried about, it was the fact that this Spirit Array could completely block their Divine Senses that the Hai Ke Family masters found terrifying. The master who arranged this Spirit Array must have incredibly profound attainments in the field of Spirit Arrays.

Did a profound Array Master actually live here?