Martial Peak

“Boy, when it’s possible to let people off, one should spare them. If you insist on biting this old master to death, you’d best be careful you don’t break your teeth in the process!” The old man said in a fierce tone while inwardly feeling anxious.

“Oh? Then I’d like to see whether your bones are hard enough to break my teeth,” Yang Kai’s eyes flashed sharply, refusing to make any concessions.

These people invaded his home and tried to murder and rob him, so how could Yang Kai just compromise and let this old man leave safely? Yang Kai had made up his mind to kill all the people who dared step onto Dragon Cave Mountain. Showing mercy here would only lead to others thinking he was weak and easily bullied; now was the time for Dragon Cave Mountain to show its fangs.

Hearing Yang Kai’s answer, a ruthless light flashed across the old man’s eyes as he grit his teeth and muttered, “Do you really insist on acting ruthless?”

Instead of replying, Yang Kai simply condensed another Demonic Flame sword in his hand and slashed out, letting his actions speak for themselves.

“You’ve compelled me to do this!” The old man suddenly wore a fierce expression as he stood firm without moving, paying no heed at all to the approaching sword wave, as if he wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of it.

Yang Kai raised his brow as a solemn look filled his face. He didn’t think the other party was seeking death. Judging from this old man’s words just now, it was clear he had some kind of trump card that he had yet to use and was absolutely confident it could block this blow.

Understanding this, Yang Kai didn’t hesitate anymore, lifting his finger and slashing the space in front of him, silently sending out his Space Blade towards the old man.

Yang Kai intended to end this battle with his Space Blade before the old man could reveal his trump card.

With his Demonic Flame sword wave in front, and his Space Blade following close behind, the former concealing the latter, the old man didn’t even notice this hidden blow and simply stood in place, taking a jade box out of his Space Ring.

Opening this jade box, the old man took out a longan-sized pill from inside.

The old man picked up this pill and threw it directly into his mouth before swallowing it with a grunt.

He didn’t know if it was a misconception, but when this old man took out this pill, Yang Kai thought he saw a look of nostalgia and struggle in his eyes, making him wonder what it was this old man was reminiscing about at this time.

In the next instant, the giant Demonic Flame sword wave got to within a dozen metres of the old man.

However, before this sword wave could hit its mark, a giant figure fell from the sky and hit the ground with a thunderous bang, blocking the old man from this blow.

*Ci la…*

The black sword wave struck this giant figure and sent out a grating sound, after which a painful croak rang out.

It was the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad!

At the critical moment, the old man had actually summoned his Blue-Eyed Blood Toad back. Although it was a Ninth-Order Monster Beast, this toad wasn’t as strong as the Firebird Artifact Spirit, its only advantage being its thick skin and strong flesh.

During its battle with the Artifact Spirit, the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad’s body had suffered numerous serious injuries and was now covered in cuts and burns. Nearly every one of its original warts had been popped and was leaking foul-smelling toxins at this moment.

Even so, it still hadn’t died. If it had been a different, less resilient type of Ninth-Order Monster Beast, it would likely have long since perished.

Already at death’s door, when it was struck by Yang Kai sword wave, the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad suffered another grievous wound, one that was bone-deep.

Strangely, the old man remained completely indifferent, as if this Monster Beast wasn’t one he had personally raised for countless years from infancy to maturity. Reaching out, the old man placed his hand on the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad’s back and began desperately infusing it with his Saint Qi.

Silently, Yang Kai’s Space Blade slashed into the abdomen of the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad right where his Demonic Flame sword wave had struck and greatly deepened the wound.

Anything Yang Kai’s Space Blade cut through was instantly banished to The Void, making it impossible for damage done by his Space Blade to be restored.

While the power of Yang Kai’s Space Blade wasn’t small, the toughness of the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad’s body also couldn’t be underestimated. Yang Kai’s Space Blade cut through most of its target’s body but ultimately failed to slice it apart completely before disappearing.

Seeing this, Yang Kai couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed. If his Space Blade could have advanced another metre, perhaps he could have killed the old man together with his toad in one fell swoop.

Now was not the time to worry about such things though.

No matter how resilient the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad was, after suffering such a serious wound, it would definitely die, and as its owner and life companion, the old man would surely receive some kind of backlash when it did. Busy injecting his Saint Qi into his Blue-Eyed Blood Toad, the old man suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and couldn’t help his eyes from bulging in shock.

Realizing that the vitality of his Companion Monster Beast was rapidly dissipating, the old man pushed his Saint Qi even more violently, causing the body of his Blue-Eyed Blood Toad to expand rapidly and soon become round, as if it might burst at any time.

Yang Kai’s eyes narrowed when he saw this and silently issued an order to the Firebird Artifact Spirit. With a crisp bird cry, the Firebird transformed into a streak of red light and shot forward.

But before the Artifact Spirit could rush over, a loud bursting noise rang out and the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad exploded into a blood mist, its bones disintegrating and leaving behind only a cloud of multicoloured poison.

Frightened by this unexpected development, the Artifact Spirit rapidly soared up into the sky to avoid being affected by this explosion.

Simultaneously, the old man wore a fierce look upon his face as he stood in place, seemingly enjoying this toxic baptism while executing some kind of Secret Art or Secret Technique to rapidly absorb the poison mist.

At the same time, the old man stretched out his hand and grabbed the Monster Core of the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad before throwing it into his mouth and swallowing it.

This series of events happened instantaneously and dumbfounded Yang Kai.

After absorbing this poison mist and the Monster Core from his Blue-Eyed Blood Toad, the old man’s appearance underwent a dramatic change, his exposed skin filled with warts that emitted a foul toxic odour, making him look exactly like the now deceased Blue-Eyed Blood Toad.

This old man had been ugly before, but now his appearance was even worse.

The changes didn’t end there as his two eyes turned blue and assumed a more animalistic look.

The most obvious change was that his cheeks actually swelled up greatly, just like a frog, making him look a little amusing.

But Yang Kai wasn’t able to laugh at this scene because after this old man underwent this transformation, his aura also dramatically increased and gave off a very dangerous feeling.

“Great! This is just the best!” The old man cackled wildly as he fixed his Blue-Eyes on Yang Kai and coldly declared, “Forcing this old master to use his Monster Transformation, you can die contented!”

Monster Transformation! Yang Kai raised his brow. Although this was the first time he heard of such a strange technique, he figured it was one of Myriad Beast Mountain’s Forbidden Techniques. After all, the cultivators from Myriad Beast Mountain handled Monster Beasts for most of their lives, controlling them to fight, so developing such a technique shouldn’t have been impossible.

It wasn’t difficult for Yang Kai to tell that this old man was now no longer completely human and should instead be regarded as half-man, half-Monster Beast.

Moreover, at this moment, there weren’t just Saint Qi fluctuations coming from this old man, but Monster Qi as well. The two forces terrifyingly superimposed on one another!

This Forbidden Technique certainly had catastrophic side effects! Yang Kai immediately judged that there might not be any way to undo the transformation; otherwise, the old man wouldn’t have hesitated so long to use it. Saint Qi and Monster Qi were two completely different types of strength, so it was impossible for them to coexist inside a human body.

Yang Kai’s guess was correct. Myriad Beast Mountain’s Monster Transformation Technique indeed had serious consequences, and there wasn’t any way to reverse it. Even if he somehow managed to successfully suppress the Monster Qi rampaging through his body right now, the old man would lose most, if not all of his cultivation in the process, rendering him crippled. However, if he couldn’t suppress this Monster Qi, the backlash he suffered would kill him.

The old man had truly reached a dead end, otherwise he would not be burning his boat like this.

Even though this old man’s aura had dramatically increased, Yang Kai wasn’t afraid, instead exchanging a brief look with the Firebird Artifact Spirit before the two of them regrouped to confront this enemy.

The old man didn’t plan to waste time. As soon as his Monster Transformation technique was complete, his cheeks swelled up before he seemingly casually exhaled, spitting out a green poisonous arrow towards Yang Kai.

After using this Monster Transformation, the old man was actually able to use the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad’s abilities.

Yang Kai raised his eyebrows and immediately dodged to the side.

As Yang Kai dodged though, the poison arrow approaching him suddenly burst mid-air and turned into countless tiny poison darts that soared in every direction.

Caught off guard, Yang Kai was only able to condense his Saint Qi to form a protective barrier around his body.

*Ci la la…*

When these poison darts struck Yang Kai’s Saint Qi protection, they quickly began eroding holes in his Demonic Flames. After undergoing this Monster Transformation, it seemed this poison had become even stronger.

Before Yang Kai could steady himself, a dangerous aura suddenly pressed down on him from above.

Yang Kai reacted instinctively by condensing his Saint Qi on his palm and thrusting upwards.

A strong force struck from above, causing Yang Kai to sink to the ground, but when he looked up, there was no trace of his enemy. Only after releasing his Divine Sense all around did Yang Kai notice the old man jumping around him at an unbelievable speed, seemingly looking for a flaw in his defence to exploit.

This kind of speed was not something a Human could possess. It seemed that after the old man used his Monster Transformation, he had also inherited the leaping abilities of the Blue-Eyed Blood Toad.

The situation had become a bit troublesome! With his opponent moving so fast, Yang Kai would have a hard time hitting him; however, Yang Kai wasn’t fighting alone here, he had his Artifact Spirit to help him as well as the support of Yang Yan’s powerful Spirit Arrays. Not panicking, Yang Kai quickly used his Divine Sense to send an instruction to the Artifact Spirit.

Receiving this command, the Firebird immediately burst into countless tiny versions of itself that swarmed outwards to fill the surrounding space.

In the next instant, several of these tiny birds cried out as they exploded into balls of flame.

From the direction of these cries, the old man’s figure reappeared with a look of helplessness and hatred filling his face.

He hadn’t expected Yang Kai to actually use the Artifact Spirit to set up an inescapable net to track his movements.

Several Golden Threads suddenly shot out at that moment, filling the sky with golden light as they cut towards the exposed old man.

These Golden Threads each gave off an incredibly sharp aura and the old man understood that once he was cut by them he would definitely suffer greatly. With a solemn look appearing on his face, the old man suddenly glared towards Yang Kai with his sharp Blue-Eyes.

An invisible force burst into Yang Kai’s Knowledge Sea and shook his mind.

A Spiritual Energy Toxin! After using his Monster Transformation, apparently the old man’s Knowledge Sea had also mutated, allowing him to release toxic Spiritual Energy. This was a powerful method that was extremely difficult to defend against or purge as this poison would sink into one’s Knowledge sea like maggots on rotting bones.