Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Even though the Soul Devouring Insects weren't slow when it came to devouring the demonic clouds, they still wouldn't be able to finish the job so quickly. Yang Kai and Tian Yan thus chatted for a while before he sat down cross-legged to recover his energy.

Even though Yang Kai was not injured during today's battle, the amount drained from him when he instantaneously moved so many Emperor Realm Masters at the critical moment was quite a lot, especially from his Soul.

There was no better place to restore Spiritual Energy than the Divine Ascension Mirror World.

While he was meditating, Yang Kai could clearly feel the energy of the world being attracted to him, pouring into his Soul and making up for the deficit. In just a short amount of time, his condition was greatly improved.

The Mirror Soul seemed to be a little sullen after finding out that Tian Yan would be leaving and didn't even feel like chasing butterflies anymore. Now, he just stood to the side, bored, kicking stones. At that time, Tian Yan was focused on watching the developments of the demonic cloud's side, so for a time, the three of them stayed in silent harmony.

It was three days later when Yang Kai opened his eyes again. He was no longer sluggish like before, and both his eyes were bright.

After looking up into the distance and sensing the state of the Soul Devouring Insects, Yang Kai knew that it would take at least half a day more for the crisis in the Divine Ascension World to be solved. Turning his eyes back around, he turned his attention to the Mirror Soul, approaching him and trying to find things to talk about.

But the Mirror Soul acted as if he didn't hear him. No matter what Yang Kai said, he would just be ignored, leaving Yang Kai's nose in the dirt.

Helpless, he had no choice but to give up and come to Tian Yan's side again to ask for his advice on cultivation.

Tian Yan may not have a physical body and only cultivated his Soul, but mastery in one Dao opens up mastery to all others. Not to mention, the way Tian Yan viewed each problem from his height was different from other Masters. For many questions that stumped Yang Kai and that he could not make sense of, Tian Yan could easily give him fresh ideas with just a few words.

Yang Kai was able to gain a lot in a short time.

After half a day passed, Yang Kai looked up into the distance as if he'd been woken by something. Summoning his Soul Devouring Insects back, he said, "Senior, I must go first. The temple was suddenly affected by great changes so there should still be matters to take care of outside. I will come back again in a few days to talk to you about other matters."

"En, there's no hurry." Tian Yan nodded lightly.

Yang Kai glanced at the Mirror Soul next to him. Just by the Mirror Soul raising its hand, Yang Kai could suddenly feel a gigantic repulsion force squeezing against him, and before he could prepare himself, he had been ejected from the world.

When his view changed, Yang Kai was back in the Restricted Area.

When he opened his eyes and opened the door of the stone room, Chen Qian who was outside rushed over.

"Junior Brother Yang, you're awake. How is the situation inside?" Chen Qian asked worriedly.

Yang Kai told her, "Everything's been taken care of. How about outside?"

Chen Qian said, "Let's talk while we walk."Read first at L i g h t n o v e l r e a d e r . o r g

Naturally, Yang Kai had no objection, and the two of them conversed as they moved outside.

Three days ago, Azure Sun Temple's Elders came to the Restricted Area where the Divine Ascension Mirror was kept while Chen Wen Hao and Feng Ming stayed on Spirit Sword Peak in order to investigate the situation. After their search, they were able to find the demon sealing grounds as expected a thousand metres below Spirit Sword Peak. Clear traces of Demon Spirit aura still remained there.

If Gong Yue did not cause trouble this time, then it was likely nobody would have even thought that such a place existed in the Azure Sun Temple. Back then, when Wen Zi Shan founded the Sect here, he had also carefully investigated the area within a ten thousand kilometre radius, but he still had no knowledge whatsoever about the existence of this place.

Now, the seals of the demon sealing grounds were all broken, which was obviously Gong Yue's doing. Otherwise, there was no way the Demon Spirits would have escaped.

All of the temple's Elders were on Spirit Sword Peak, firstly to check if they had missed anything of importance, and secondly to seal off this place completely. After all, this was a place where Demons were sealed. Even if there were no more Demon Spirits around, being cautious was necessary.

Besides that, news of the Demon Spirits recovering and escaping from Azure Sun Temple had also spread. Countless Masters from the many Sects in the Southern Territory were all urgently tracking down the whereabouts of the escaped Demon Spirits so that they could eliminate them before any more harm was done.

But everyone knew how difficult this task was going to be.

Demon Spirits were formless and were merely a special collection of energy. They may not even have their own thoughts and only be able to attach themselves to the bodies of living beings, corrupting their thoughts and forcing them through demonification.

So, this sort of tracking was extremely difficult to do. Regardless, the matter could not be left unattended. During Yang Kai's absence for the past three days, many messages had been passed back and forth between the great forces of the Southern Territory. The resurgence of the Demon Spirits had now become widespread knowledge among the public.

Not long after, the two of them arrived at Spirit Sword Peak.

There was a wide-open stone cave that was too dark to see the bottom off here now, and a grim and eerie aura was wafting from it, as if it was the entrance to the underworld.

The faces of each one of the Emperor Realm Masters standing outside the cave were serious as they observed, Wen Zi Shan's particularly so.

Hundreds to a thousand Demon Spirits escaped here under Azure Sun Temple's watch, so as the Temple Master, Wen Zi Shan naturally could not escape blame, especially now that the Bustling World Great Emperor was also in such a bad situation. The carefree smile that used to always cover his face was no longer there.

Gao Xue Ting and the others were standing beside him while Chen Wen Hao and Feng Ming had not left either. They needed to know the exact situation about the demon sealing grounds below so that they could send word back to their Sects.

When they saw Yang Kai arrive, they all silently saluted each other.

"What's the situation?" Yang Kai stood by You Kun's side and asked quietly.

You Kun shook his head, "The Demon Spirits must all have escaped. Right now, we're trying to find ways to break the remaining seals so that we can see the demon sealing grounds in full. Maybe we'll be able to find some clues from that. Only…"

"Only what?"Read first at L i g h t n o v e l r e a d e r . o r g

You Kun laughed dryly, "The Array Masters in the temple will need some time."

Yang Kai understood what You Kun meant. Even though the Spirit Arrays sealing the demon sealing grounds were from ancient times, and even though Gong Yue had already broken some of them, there were bound to still be many remaining. On the other hand, the skills of the Array Masters in the temple weren't quite up to the task, so their progress of breaking the seals was a little slow. If this were any usual time, it wouldn't have mattered, but time was now of the essence. The longer they delayed, the more difficult it would be to track down those Demon Spirits.

At that thought, Yang Kai turned to Wen Zi Shan, "Temple Master, I know an Emperor Array Master. Do you need me to invite him over to help?"

Wen Zi Shan's eyes lit up at that, "Is he reliable?"

"He's from my High Heaven Palace."

"Then invite him quickly!" Wen Zi Shan said in a hurry, but quickly revealed a bitter smile, "But your High Heaven Palace is far away in the Northern Territory…"

Yang Kai smiled, "I'll bring him right over."

Yang Kai then disappeared in a flash as soon as he finished speaking. None of the others knew what he was going to do. Even though it was surprising for them to hear that he actually had an Emperor Array Master in High Heaven Palace, distant water could not quench the present thirst. By the time Yang Kai could bring him over from the Northern Territory, it would be too late.

Yang Kai was extremely glad that he had arranged a Cross-Territory Space Array behind Spirit Sword Peak back then.

The main reason he set up this array was in order to connect High Heaven Palace with the Azure Sun Temple so that he could easily come and go. This was also not the only such array he had arranged. For certain reasons, however, he did not reveal this fact to anyone and used the power of the Spirit Arrays of Spirit Sword Peak to conceal it, so Wen Zi Shan and the others were completely oblivious.

Yang Kai went straight towards the back of the mountain in order to head back to High Heaven Palace so he could bring Nanmen Da Jun over.

The Spirit Arrays that still remained in the demon sealing grounds were all ancient seals, and since Nanmen Da Jun had always been fond of studying such things, he likely wouldn't refuse.

Just as Yang Kai was about to reach the place where the Space Array was located, his feet suddenly paused and he looked to the side with a frown.

He could sense a very weak but familiar aura nearby.

When he saw it, Yang Kai's face changed, and he began circulating his Emperor Qi, as if he were getting ready to face off against a terrible enemy.

There, in the middle of the trees, lay a small beast covered in blood and injuries. From the colour of the fur still remaining on its body, it should have been black. It was about a third of a metre in length and its aura was slightly weak. Its stomach also swelled up a lot at that moment, and only went back to normal after a while.

The Abyssal Returner!

It was still alive and had actually managed to return back to the mountain.

Yang Kai had been staying in the Divine Ascension World these past few days, so he had no idea what happened to the Abyssal Returner. He only knew that Feng Ming had kicked it away during the fight, and then it disappeared.

Yang Kai thought it was dead the whole time.

Based on what Gong Yue said, a trace of the Abyssal Returner's bloodline existed in the body of this black puppy, and he had used an unknown Secret Technique to draw out that bloodline power, using it to fight with numerous Emperor Realm Masters alone with the might of its Innate Divine Ability.

Yang Kai guessed that if its bloodline was pure enough, or even just a bit stronger than it was currently, everyone present would have suffered during that fight.

A Divine Ability that could devour everything and rebound it was simply unheard of.

The Abyssal Returner apparently did not die, but they heard nothing of it after it was freed from Gong Yue's control. Chen Wen Hao and the others were also busy investigating the demon sealing grounds and did not pay attention to where it landed. So, during this time, it seemed to drag itself back here, barely managing to maintain its feeble existence.

But it should not be far from death.

Yang Kai only had the opportunity to meet this black puppy twice, so he didn't have any strong feelings towards it either way. Only, he was a little interested in its strange Innate Divine Ability.

After making sure that it was really an arrow at the end of its flight and of no threat to him, Yang Kai slowly approached it.

The Abyssal Returner seemed to have sensed something and opened its eyes by a slit to see the figure standing in front of it. It issued two whimpers, appearing extremely weak.

Yang Kai raised his palm, and Emperor Qi began to surge on its surface.

The Abyssal Returner slowly closed its eyes, seemingly resigning itself to its fate as hot air blew out from its nostrils.

Yang Kai thrust his palm down, but stopped just a hand's length above it before grabbing it instead and picking it up and sighing, "Whether you live or die is all up to your own luck now."

Saying that, he tossed the Abyssal Returner into his Sealed World Bead.

Regardless of how strong the Innate Divine Ability of this Demon Realm exotic beast was, it would be kept in check by Yang Kai as long as it was inside the Sealed World Bead, so he wasn't worried about it going berserk and causing trouble for him after it recovered.

Whether it survived or not was a separate matter.Read first at L i g h t n o v e l r e a d e r . o r g

What's more, Yang Kai constantly had the feeling that its true nature wasn't like what they'd seen. During the two times he'd seen the Abyssal Returner previously, it did not show any malice towards him. Rather, it seemed to have some affection for him, especially during the second time, as the Abyssal Returner had clearly come to see him.