Martial Peak

"How noble of you!" Wu Kuang stared at Duan Hong Chen, "Impressive. Among all the Great Emperors back then, this King admired you the most. You never disappointed this King."

Duan Hong Chen laughed heartily, "Same to you, you were also the one this Old Master admired the most."

Wu Kuang sighed, "It must have been difficult for you to maintain a Dao Source Realm cultivation all these years!"

"You're mistaken about that," Duan Hong Chen shook his index finger slowly, "I didn't stay in this cultivation realm all this time, I just kept cutting my own cultivation whenever it got too high! I've done it countless times at this point."

"Countless times…" Wu Kuang exclaimed in tremendous shock, "You can actually regain your cultivation again every time? Why hasn't your foundation been destroyed?"

"I'm just lucky," Duan Hong Chen answered indifferently, "There were a few times things became dangerous, but I managed to pull through in the end. I remember there was one time that I lost all of my cultivation due to one wrong move and it took this Old Master two thousand years to finally regain his cultivation. It was really torturous."

Duan Hong Chen vaguely revealed a look of fear, as if he was recalling some terrifying experience.

"Is it really… is it worth it for you to do all that?" Wu Kuang questioned emotionally.

Duan Hong Chen declared with a serious face, "Worth it! As long as this Old Master could enter the Shattered Star Sea to find you and destroy your Soul, everything is worth it!"

Wu Kuang's eyes flickered with light as he responded with a deep voice, "It looks like you really hate this King."

"It has nothing to do with hate anymore," Duan Hong Chen smiled lightly. "Everyone has different ambitions, we simply can't travel the same path because we don't share the same ideals. However, if you don't die, it would be too much of a shame for Cyan Lotus, Yuan Ding, Martial Flame and Azure Sea… who would have died for nothing."

"You are seeking vengance for your old friends," Wu Kuang nodded in acknowledgement.

Duan Hong Chen sighed lightly, "Revenge begets revenge, a never-ending cycle. This Old Master finds it incredibly troublesome. How about you just stay there quietly and let this Old Master end it by sending you to meet those old friends?"

Wu Kuang snorted coldly, "This King was almost annihilated by all of you that time. If this King didn't play dead to escape at the critical moment, how could there be a moment of his awakening today? This King thought that everything was planned seamlessly, so how did you know that this King was still alive?"

Duan Hong Chen replied solemnly, "Your trick was indeed marvellous, and almost everyone was deceived by you at that time and believed that you were really dead. But have you forgotten that there is a person who has the ability to see through time, capable of seeing the past and foreseeing the future? He was the one who knew that you were not dead and warned this Old Master to watch out for you."

"Heaven's Revelations!" Wu Kuang yelled, his eyes glowing.

Duan Hong Chen nodded, "Yes, it was Heaven's Revelations! Therefore, every time the Shattered Star Sea opened, this Old Master would come in and take a look. You had been quiet for the past few tens of thousands of years, but now, you finally couldn't withstand the loneliness and tried to make a comeback."

"It's not that this King can't stand the loneliness, but the opportunity has finally come!" Wu Kuang snorted coldly, "This King also possessed the ability to see through time, and was capable of catching glimpses of the past and foreseeing the future. What Heaven's Revelation could see, this King can as well; what Heaven's Revelations could not see, this King can still see. Since this King has chosen to awaken at this time, this King will naturally not repeat the same mistakes again!"

Duan Hong Chen challenged in a deep voice, "It depends on how good you are compared to the last time."

Wu Kuang burst into laughter, "So what if I only have one percent of my strength left? Can you stop me in your current state?"

"One percent… Looks like Wu Kuang has learned to talk big after all his sleep. Given that your body has not taken shape yet, this Old Master is afraid that you can't even unleash one percent of your strength. This Old Master doesn't need to fight with you at all, I just need to block the blood supply and you will be prevented from coming back to life!"

"Duan Hong Chen, do you really want to make an enemy of this King!?" Wu Kuang fumed.

Duan Hong Chen remarked, "It's you who has made an enemy of the world and its people. If you are reborn again, the Star Boundary will be thrown into chaos!"

"Since when did you start caring for the people? Just continue to have fun in your bustling world, Duan Hong Chen. If you dare to stop me, this place will be your graveyard!"

"When this Old Master decided to come in, he was prepared to never leave here!" Duan Hong Chen looked determined, suddenly performed a hand seal and shouted, "Break!"

In an instant, his aura immensely surged, and there were no signs of stopping as his energy fluctuations continued to rise higher and higher…

*Honglong… *

A layer of visible shockwaves exploded from where the Bustling World Great Emperor stood, sweeping across the surroundings. The flowing streams of blood trembled, while at the same time, the cultivation of Duan Hong Chen directly broke through from Third-Order Dao Source Realm to First-Order Emperor Realm.

The breakthrough seemed to be just as simple as piercing through a paper window and everything happened so fast that not even a World Energy Baptism was induced.

"Good! The higher your cultivation, the more useful it will be to this King after devouring you!" Seeing Duan Hong Chen's breakthrough, Wu Kuang was excited instead of frightened. After a cry, a strange domain that could devour everything immediately permeated the air, instantly enveloping Duan Hong Chen in it.

The blood around him seemed to have received some kind of traction and gathered madly towards Wu Kuang's skeleton.

[Heaven Devouring Domain!]

Yang Kai, who was watching from afar, recognized the Heaven Devouring Domain at a glance.

Wu Meng Chuan used the same skill during their previous battle. Everything in his Heaven Devouring Domain could be devoured, even the mysterious Principle Strength could not escape from it; however, the Heaven Devouring Domain that Wu Kuang released was different from the one that Wu Meng Chuan released, with the former dwarfing the latter by orders of magnitude, seemingly capable of devouring the entire world.

Duan Hong Chen's aura reduced significantly after being wrapped in Wu Kuang's Heaven Devouring Domain and his face changed drastically. He clapped his hands together and mumbled a few words, "Lofty Bustling World, Three Thousand Tribulations!"

A gigantic palm print struck down from above, and before the attack landed on the ground, the surrounding blood was turned into massive waves.

Wu Kuang narrowed his eyes and responded in a deep voice, "Not bad. It's a bit like back then, but it's still impossible to beat this King. Heaven Devouring Battle Law, devour it for me!"

When his words fell, his skeleton seemingly turned into a bottomless pit. On top of devouring the surrounding blood, it was also devouring Duan Hong Chen's Secret Technique into his body.

Wu Kuang guffawed at Duan Hong Chen in disdain.

However, Duan Hong Chen's face remained tranquil as an ancient well. He was trying his best to push his Emperor Qi to maintain his Secret Technique to counterbalance Wu Kuang's power.

After a while, Wu Kuang's body suddenly shook, and he stopped devouring the blood into his skeleton. Moreover, the newly grown flesh on his skeleton also fell to the ground and turned into a pool of waste. "Old thing, you cheated!" He rebuked.

Duan Hong Chen laughed loudly, "Keep on devouring, why did you stop? Didn't you always boast that your Heaven Devouring Battle Law could devour everything in existence? Why do you stop now?"

Wu Kuang was maddened, "What kind of power is hidden in your Secret Technique that can secretly injure this King? Unforgivable!"

Duan Hong Chen snorted coldly, "Do you really think that this Old Master has been cutting his cultivation over the past tens of thousands of years just to enter the Shatter Star Sea to look for you? Since the title of this Old Master is 'Bustling World', it's natural that I have gone through numerous hardships and comprehended the Dao of the Bustling World. This Old Master is no longer like last time!"

"Dao of the Bustling World… Will of the World… World Force?" A light flashed across Wu Kuang's eyes, as if he figured something, and he barked, "So, you've managed to comprehend some portion of World Force! No wonder you are so confident!"

"Wu Kuang, you must die this time. Stop trying to resist!"

"Laughable! No one can kill this King in this world! This King is the Heavens! This King is the Earth! Whoever resists this King is against the will of Heavens and Earth, a mortal sin!"

Duan Hong Chen shook his head, "Wu Kuang, did you become mad from all that sleeping? All living beings are as tiny as ants before the World. The Heavenly Way will not forgive you if you dare to put yourself higher than it!"

"I am the Heaven Devourer. The Heavenly Way cannot contain me!"

Among these two Great Emperors, one had an unformed body, while the other had cut his cultivation. Although both of them were not at their peak, they did not hold back in their fight to the death in this strange world and even as they hurled insults at one another, they never stopped unleashing their earthshaking techniques.

Every word they spoke sounded ordinary, but actually contained a deep sense of truth that evoked traces of the Heavenly Way. When it reached Yang Kai's ears, it caused his heart to beat wildly, and he felt the shackles on his body tremble.

This was the Dao!

This was the Heavenly Way that countless cultivators had been searching for throughout their lifetimes but always failed to grasp.

The two Great Emperors were fighting secretly with their respective Daos in order to suppress each other. In this kind of fight, whoever had more perseverance in seeking the Dao and deeper comprehension in Heavenly Way would undoubtedly gain the upper hand.

Yang Kai was immersed in their conversation and felt that what both of them said was enlightening, as every word they spoke was a priceless gem, and he benefited a lot by listening to all this invaluable advice.

Suddenly, Yang Kai's brow twitched as his face turned into one of stunned realization, as if he understood something critical.

And the shackles in his body were also trembling at this moment.

Yang Kai was shocked but immediately regained his consciousness from his distracted state.

"Damn!" He muttered with an ugly expression.

He did not expect that he would feel the opportunity to break through at this time.

It had been almost three years since he entered the Shattered Star Sea. Recently, he had met a lot of newly promoted Emperor Realm Masters and also battled a few of them. Although he believed that his strength was not inferior to any newly promoted Emperor, he was still a Dao Source Realm cultivator in the end.

Yang Kai had always been looking for an opportunity to break through, but unfortunately, this kind of thing could not be rushed. When the opportunity came, success would come naturally; otherwise, it was useless to demand for it.

It was just that the opportunity Yang Kai was hoping for came at this inopportune moment.

If this happened somewhere else, Yang Kai would have been ecstatic.

He had prepared himself to break through to the Emperor Realm a long time ago as there were signs of his Source Qi transforming into Emperor Qi a while ago. To him, being an Emperor was just a matter of time.

However… Two Great Emperors were having a life and death battle not far away from him at the moment, so how could he break through peacefully here? If he were affected by the fallout of their fight, the consequences would be disastrous.

He tried to suppress this urge, but he realized it was useless as the sensation of a breakthrough was building up and could not be forcibly suppressed unless he was willing to destroy his foundation and lose all of his cultivation.