Martial Peak

A man who could regenerate a severed arm could not possibly die so easily. Yang Kai vaguely felt that this Lu Ye was not simple.

But at this moment, the only invaders left alive on Dragon Cave Mountain were Xie Li in front of him and the middle-aged man from Demon Blood Temple to his left. If Lu Ye had come here, there was no reason he could not be found with Yang Yan and Wu Yi constantly monitoring the situation.

That bastard was quite astute and didn’t come here in person, causing Yang Kai to grind his teeth in frustration.

“Is that your only question?” Xie Li glared at him impatiently.

“Yes,” Yang Kai grinned back at him.

“Then you can die!” Xie Li shouted sternly as he began releasing a terrifying Saint Qi aura from his body, one that was visible to the naked eye. At the same time, his muscles began to bulge and take on a strange bronze-coloured glow as he shot towards Yang Kai like an arrow from a string.

Yang Kai revealed a look of surprise as he had not expected Xie Li to want to engage in close-quarter combat with him; however, he didn’t think too much of this. With how much Xie Li hated him, fighting hand to hand would naturally be a better way for him to vent his anger.

Thinking so, Yang Kai’s mouth curled into a grin as he stood his ground and stared indifferently at the approaching Xie Li, waving his hand, and releasing several Golden Threads into the air in front of him.

Xie Li did not even try to dodge this blockade and instead punched forward, his fist seeming to move slowly as it exuded a powerful aura and golden glow that struck towards Yang Kai’s Golden Threads.

In the blink of an eye, this fist collided with Yang Kai’s Golden Blood Threads, and to Yang Kai’s surprise, his extraordinarily sharp threads failed to cut this fist. On top of that, an inexplicable force was transmitted through his Golden Threads back to him, causing his vital essence to tumble.

After this single exchange, Yang Kai understood that this Xie Li would be more difficult to handle than the old man from Myriad Beast Mountain.

Worthy of being the master of a powerful family from Shadow Moon Hall, Xie Li’s heritage and foundation were extraordinary. If Xie Li had fought that old man one on one, the old man would not have been his opponent.

Yang Kai’s expression became solemn as he prepared to resort to other means to stop Xie Li, but suddenly, an unexpected mutation occurred.

Xie Li, who had charged towards Yang Kai with a thick murderous intent and incredible momentum, suddenly let out a strange cry, as if something had happened to him, his face contorting in pain and confusion, followed immediately by his eyes going completely bloodshot.

Yang Kai frowned as he subconsciously thought that his opponent was playing some kind of trick on him, but immediately after, he felt something was not right and for a moment, he became confused as to how to react.

In that brief moment of indecision, Xie Li managed to close to within ten metres of Yang Kai, his murderous intent so thick it was nearly substantive, cutting into Yang Kai’s skin like a blade.

Immediately after, Xie Li’s body glowed a strange bloody red colour and his vitality violently surged, becoming extremely disordered. Simultaneously, his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears all began bleeding profusely as he glared towards Yang Kai, making for a terrifying picture.

“This is…” Yang Kai stared at this scene in confused shock, but soon he remembered something, and his expression went pale. Waving his hand, he summoned his Purple Shield and immediately activated its sandstorm ability to protect himself.

At the same time, the Firebird Artifact Spirit swooped down from the sky and transformed into a flaming light curtain, adding another layer of protection.

Just as Yang Kai finished all this, Xie Li smashed into the transformed Firebird Artifact Spirit.

The searing hot flames turned Xie Li into a fireball in an instant, but he seemed to be completely unaware of this as he continued to fearlessly charge towards Yang Kai, incoherent words leaking from his lips.

Still, the flame light curtain flexed under this impact and hindered Xie Li’s forward momentum, slowing his advance significantly.

Xie Li’s body also seemed to reach its limit at that moment, his skin cracking all over his body as blood oozed out continuously before rapidly evaporating under the intense heat.

With a terrifying bang, Xie Li’s body, and the huge Saint Qi reserves contained inside it, suddenly burst apart, creating an extraordinary shockwave centred on his location that sent everything, from dirt and rocks to plants, flying in all directions.

The surrounding space flickered violently as the Illusion Array arranged here was unable to bear the impact of such an explosion, lasting only a breath before shattering and revealing the original scenery of this place.

The flame light curtain which had originally been wrapped around Xie Li’s body was also torn apart by this explosion. Fortunately, the Artifact Spirit wasn’t a physical entity, so, even though it was torn apart like this, it wasn’t significantly damaged. After gathering itself together, it quickly restored its original appearance, but a look of fear was apparent now on its face.

All of Dragon Cave Mountain shook violently because of this explosion, and the World Energy aura became severely distorted. Even the layers upon layers of protective barriers were unable to conceal this blast.

“What!” Qian Tong and Fei Zhi Tu, who were fifty kilometres away, both stood up and stared towards Dragon Cave Mountain in shock.

“Old Fei, was that…” Qian Tong muttered in a dignified tone.

“Someone self-destructed?” Fei Zhi Tu spoke in astonishment.

“Yeah… and from fluctuations released, it seems to be Xie Li.”

“It couldn’t be, Xie Li is a Second-Order Origin Realm cultivator. Even if he fell into some kind of Spirit Array, he couldn’t have been forced into such an action.”

“Let’s go see, some kind of accident must have happened!” Qian Tong concluded before soaring off towards Dragon Cave Mountain. Fei Zhi Tu frowned before smiling bitterly and following.

Currently, Shadow Moon Hall was in a precarious situation, and it was not a good time for them to be taking such overt actions, but after seeing the Remnant Soul of that Ancient Divine Spirit Yang Kai possessed, Fei Zhi Tu was no longer able to treat him as an ordinary Saint King Realm Junior, even subconsciously thinking he should maintain a good relationship with him.

In addition, Qian Tong obviously favoured Yang Kai heavily and naturally hoped that nothing tragic would befall him or his Dragon Cave Mountain.

Wei Gu Chang and Dong Xuan’er exchanged a quick glance before following without hesitation.

Their group of four hurriedly flew through the air, but even before they reached Dragon Cave Mountain, they saw from all directions countless rays of light moving towards the same goal as them. Obviously, these were the masters who had been sitting on the sidelines to watch.

After feeling the strange movements just now on Dragon Cave Mountain, these masters were all surprised and ran over to investigate.

Over on Coloured Glass Sect’s side, Gong Ao Fu, along with Dai Yuan and Yin Su Die were also flying forward, but unlike Gong Ao Fu and Yin Su Die, Dai Yuan’s face was filled with anxiety, and after hesitating for a while, she couldn’t suppress her worries, grit her teeth, and asked, “Honoured Master, what happened just now? Why was there such a terrible energy fluctuation?”

Gong Ao Fu’s brow slightly wrinkled, seemingly unhappy that Dai Yuan cared so much about Dragon Cave Mountain. She did not want to answer this question, but upon seeing Yin Su Die also staring at her curiously, she quietly replied, “Someone self-destructed, it’s the only explanation for this kind of explosion.”

“Self-destructed? Who self-destructed?” Yin Su Die raised her delicate brow as she excitedly asked, “Could it be that Dragon Cave Mountain was overwhelmed and that Yang Kai had no other way out?”

Listening to her say this, Dai Yuan could not stop her pretty face from going white as her heart clenched tight.

However, Gong Ao Fu slowly shook her head and declared, “No, that boy couldn’t have produced such a powerful explosion. The one who self-destructed was definitely one of the highest-ranking masters who went in.”

“A Second-Order Origin Realm master self-destructed? How could that be?” Yin Su Die gasped, “There were only three Second-Order Origin Returning Realm masters that entered Dragon Cave Mountain, each one of them a famous and powerful figure, how could one of them have chosen to explode themself?”

“How do you expect your Master to know? Don’t you see everyone rushing over to investigate now? Perhaps no one knows for sure what just occurred, but these aura fluctuations… they seem similar to those from Shadow Moon Hall.”

“Shadow Moon Hall… how could…” Yin Su Die’s pretty face filled with shock.

“Honoured Master, is that really the case?” Dai Yuan asked, clearly pleasantly surprised.

Gong Ao Fu turned her eyes to Dai Yuan upon hearing this and coldly said, “Whether that is the case or not, what does it have to do with you? When this is all over and we return to Coloured Glass Sect, you will enter secluded retreat and not come out without my express permission!”

“Yes…” Dai Yuan bit her red lips and lightly nodded.

Although Gong Ao Fu was very unsatisfied with her disciple’s current attitude, she was also quite curious right now, wondering just what kind of danger this small Dragon Cave Mountain was concealing. How could they have forced a Second-Order Origin Returning Realm cultivator into a situation where there was no other choice but to self-destruct?

At the same time, inside Dragon Cave Mountain’s cave mansion, Yang Yan’s face was also quite pale. Even if she had been taking shelter inside the cave mansion, she still clearly felt the violent energy fluctuations coming from outside. At this moment, the entire cave mansion was in disarray, with many things being knocked over and the walls themselves cracking somewhat. Yang Kai had essentially been at the centre of that explosion, so who knows what kind of harm he had suffered.

Quickly pouring her Saint Qi into the gold and silver array control plate, Yang Yan quickly breathed a sigh of relief when she detected Yang Kai’s aura.

Yang Kai had not died, and only his aura had become somewhat unstable. Just when Yang Yan wanted to examine Yang Kai’s situation more closely though, Wu Yi exclaimed, “Elder Sister Yang Yan, there are many masters coming towards Dragon Cave Mountain, what should we do?”

Yang Yan narrowed her eyes as she looked towards the control plate and sure enough, she saw many points of light rapidly approaching Dragon Cave Mountain, and a number of these lights were very bright, indicating they belonged to Third-Order Origin Returning Realm masters.

A rough count showed that at least a dozen such masters were on their way.

[So many?]

Yang Yan’s face sank. With so many masters gathering, even if Shadow Moon Hall wanted to intervene, it would not be able to do much. Although Qian Tong and Yang Kai had a good relationship, he would not be able to become enemies with so many different forces.

After pondering for a moment, Yang Yan’s expression turned solemn as she shouted, “Activate all of our remaining Spirit Arrays, if anyone dares invade Dragon Cave Mountain, kill them!”

Wu Yi gawked briefly before nodding firmly, waving her hands as she poured her Saint Qi into her control plate. Soon, entire Dragon Cave Mountain was covered with an even thicker layer of mist than before as a threatening aura began pulsing from inside its outermost barrier.

“Qian Yue, lead the others down to the storehouse,” Yang Yan declared coldly.

“Are we going to use that?” Qian Yue heard this and her beautiful eyes brightened.

Yang Yan smiled bitterly, “I hope not, but it’s best to prepare just in case. You assisted in its refinement, so you should understand what to do now.”

“Understood,” Qian Yue nodded firmly before immediately setting out. A moment later, all the cultivators hiding inside the cave mansion followed Qian Yue towards a separate location on Dragon Cave Mountain.

“Xiao Xiao!” Yang Yan called out softly, and in the next moment, the little stone puppet appeared in front of her. Standing there silently, it stared up at Yang Yan curiously.

“You go too!” Yang Yan waved, after which the Stone Puppet’s figure flickered and disappeared again.

Silavin: Tsk tsk tsk. Spoiler title again.

Here is the official title: Self-Destructed

But dang. That Cliff Hanger!