Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & frozenfire

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The leader of Human Imperial City, the person above all others, was only a Second-Order Emperor!

No one would believe such a thing if they weren't here to personally witness it. Zhu Qing had obviously not expected this either, falling into a daze. Being an existence on par or even stronger than a Third-Order Emperor, she was able to gauge the Human Sovereign's cultivation realm with a single glance, his Second-Order Emperor Realm strength appearing somewhat of a joke in her eyes. Furthermore, the Human Sovereign was already old, and although his age was unknown, his vitality was already starting to decline. In other words, his Second-Order Emperor cultivation realm was his peak, and there was no room left for improvement. Furthermore, his cultivation realm would gradually decline as time continued to pass.

The weakness of his aura was the greatest evidence!

"Outrageous! Why are you not kneeling down in the presence of the Human Sovereign!"

A high-pitched shout rang out, as the beautiful woman standing at the topmost right-hand side of the hall unexpectedly took the lead and started causing difficulty for Yang Kai. Within the entire palace, she was the only person besides the Third Imperial Prince to possess nine leaves. However, her cultivation realm was higher than the Third Imperial Prince's by a Minor Realm, reaching the Second-Order Emperor Realm.

It could be said that she was the strongest person within the entire Imperial Family. Although the Human Sovereign possessed the same cultivation as her, his strength was already starting to decline. Unlike him, she was at the peak of her life, with a very large window for improvement. With the right opportunities, she could reach the Third-Order.

Raising his eyes to look over, Yang Kai snorted coldly in response, "Requiring one to kneel whenever we see someone. Your Human Imperial City's rules are really weird. Why don't I see you kneeling down before me?"

The beautiful woman took a step forward, her face turning icy cold as she unleashed a powerful aura to press down on Yang Kai, "This Queen is the Second Princess of Human Imperial City. Are you even able to accept my kneeling?"

Undeterred at all, Yang Kai did not move as he replied haughtily, "Bullshit, someone like you, Imperial Princess, is nothing to me. In my eyes, only those with the strongest fists have the right to stand forward and talk. Your First Imperial Prince was beaten to a pulp by me, so there's nothing to say about some Second Princess."

The Second Princess's sharp eyes narrowed slightly as a dangerous glint flashed within, "Are you saying that you feel that your fists are very strong?"

Yang Kai proceeded to size her up earnestly, before sneering, "At least they're bigger than your chest."

The group of Imperial Princes and Princesses could not help but let out a laugh, feeling that this outsider's mouth really was poisonous. With her high self-esteem and cultivation realm, the Second Princess generally wouldn't show respect to any other member of the royalty. In fact, she didn't even treat the Imperial Princes that stood near the top with any regard. It was a pity that she was born a woman, which put her at a disadvantage in a fight for succession. If she was born a male, she would have been designated the successor to the Human Sovereign a long time ago.

However, apart from being a woman, she didn't possess any physical traits to be proud of. Her curves were essentially non-existent, both on top and on the bottom, and while her egg-shaped face was somewhat pretty, there really was nothing outstanding about her appearance.

Yang Kai's reply instantly struck the Second Princess's sore spot, causing her face to turn ashen as she growled, "Kneel down for me!"

As those words rang out, she raised her hand fiercely, sending a jade green beam of light shooting towards Yang Kai like an arrow. Upon reaching the air above him, a palm-like shape appeared from it as it pressed down fiercely, appearing as though it wanted to force Yang Kai down into a kneel.

"It's you who is going to kneel," Yang Kai snorted coldly while extending his hand to pull Zhu Qing towards him. He then formed a seal with his other hand, causing a similar jade-green glow to blossom. This beam of light wasn't as big as the Second Princess', but it was undoubtedly brighter and more tangible looking.

The faces of the Imperial Family in the palace immediately turned pale.

As the beam of light flew up, it actually fused with the jade green palm, and in front of everyone's eyes, the palm unexpectedly proceeded to turn and head in another direction. In the blink of an eye, it pressed down onto the Second Princess, appearing as though the Sacred Technique she had unleashed had backfired and was now acting against her.

The Third Imperial Prince's eyes narrowed, while a sense of danger he had never felt before started to wrap around his heart. He secretly sized up the situation, only to see that the Human Sovereign's face had remained utterly expressionless. The Human Sovereign was still half-squinting as he sat there, appearing as though he was asleep.

As the mountain-like pressure descended from the sky, the Second Princess' expression instantly turned incomparably ugly. Waves of cracking sounds began to ring out from her body before she slowly began to hunch down.

She went all out to resist, continuously channelling her strength, trying to inspire a stronger resonance with the Sacred Tree; however, there seemed to be an invisible power that was interfering with her, causing her to be unable to maintain a connection, leaving her with only her own strength to deal with the powerful downward pressure.

Finally, she felt the pressure of being pressed down by the Sacred Technique. This man's cultivation was obviously inferior to hers, but he was relying on the Sacred Technique to toy with her in the palm of his hands. As feelings of embarrassment she had never experienced before flooded her mind and heart, her face turned flushed. Nevertheless, she had no other option but to growl, "What are you all gawking at? Why aren't you all helping!"

Only after her words rang out did the shocked Imperial Family members snap back to their senses. Right as they were about to take action, Zhu Qing suddenly spoke out in an emotionless tone, "I'd like to see who dares to move."

As her words rang out, a gigantic Red Dragon phantom suddenly surged out from her body. This Red Dragon was over 300 meters long, it's massive form seemingly occupying half of the entire throne room. An immensely dense Dragon Pressure burst out towards all directions at that moment, causing everyone to start to feel suffocating chills. The two massive dragon eyes present on the head of the dragon seemed capable of seeing through all creation and radiated with an awe-inspiring might that could not be disregarded.

Everyone was stunned and froze in place, staring dumbly at the gigantic draconic figure, before sounds of loud gulping could be heard.

The Red Dragon raised its head and unleashed an ear-splitting roar that whipped up fierce winds, sending several of the relatively weaker Imperial Family members flying.

Unleashing the full might of her Dragon Source allowed Zhu Qing's strength to surpass that of an ordinary Third-Order Emperor, and despite the protection of the Sacred Tree, these Imperial Family members did not end up unscathed from it.

The Second Princess, who was holding on bitterly, ended up in an even more miserable state than before. With Yang Kai breaking her connection with the Sacred Tree, the impact from the Dragon Pressure caused her body to slump down even more, to the point of her knee touching the ground.

Her face instantly turned incomparably pale, while overwhelming feelings of embarrassment and humiliation filled her heart, letting her experience a feeling that was worse than death.

The Human Imperial City had stood for tens of thousands of years, ruled solely by the Imperial Family, which had resulted in the royalty developing arrogant and aloof characters since youth. It had always been the commoners kneeling down before them, so this was the first time in history that an Imperial Family member had even knelt down before a normal person.

Yang Kai did not continue to increase the pressure though and instead turned his head towards the Human Sovereign and spoke, "Sir, what are you going to do about this? If you continue watching on, your daughter might really kneel down before me. Although I can accept her kneeling, bullying women isn't something to be proud of. There's a saying that goes, a good man doesn't fight with women."

The Human Sovereign slowly stood up, before a voice that didn't seem too loud rang out within the Human Imperial Palace, "This Sovereign has been lacking in his teaching towards his daughter. Please restrain yourself, my guest."

The faces of the Imperial Princes and Princesses changed slightly upon hearing those words.

Never had they ever heard the Human Sovereign speak to someone with such courtesy. He would even be exceedingly strict when talking to them in normal circumstances, when had he ever used such a gentle tone? A sliver of a peculiar glint flashed across the eyes of the Third Imperial Prince, as he seemed to have caught onto something. When he looked back at Yang Kai, the gaze he was holding was already completely different from the gaze he had sent out earlier.

Yang Kai grinned at the Human Sovereign, though he did not pull back, nor did he give a reply, leaving the situation hanging like that.

The gigantic Red Dragon that filled half of the palace hall raised its head slightly, causing the intensity of the Dragon Pressure to rise.

A sliver of frustration flashed across the eyes of the Human Sovereign, though he did not follow up with any action. Instead, he turned his head towards the Second Princess, "Fu Yu, you were insolent with your words, and caused a conflict with this Sovereign's guests. Hurry up and apologize."

"Imperial Father!" The Second Princess, with the name of Fu Yu, gasped in shock after hearing his words, an incredulous look appearing on her face as she looked at the Human Sovereign. Only after locking gazes with the Human Sovereign and noticing the fury contained within his imposing gaze did her eyes tremble as she hastily lowered her head, and spoke out between her clenched teeth, "Fu Yu had eyes but failed to see and caused a conflict… Sir, please do not take offence!"

Her words sounded exceedingly stiff, especially the word 'Sir', which she spoke extremely quietly and awkwardly. Clearly, this had never happened before, much less addressing someone with this term.

Yang Kai chuckled loudly, "Since the Human Sovereign has spoken, I naturally have to give face to him. Qing'er, relax."

As his voice rang out, he took the lead and dispelled his Shamanic Spell, causing the jade-green palm that was pressing down on Fu Yu to dissipate away and vanish in the blink of an eye. This was followed by the Red Dragon phantom flickering and disappearing in a shower of light. As the Dragon Pressure dissipated, the various Imperial Family members took a slight breath of relief.

Fu Yu slowly stood up, her head still lowered, with no one being able to see her face and eyes. Nevertheless, her continuously shivering body revealed the extreme turmoil present in her heart.

"Bring in the chairs!" The Human Sovereign raised his hand.

Two exceedingly luxurious chairs were immediately carried into the hall, before they were placed not far away from the imperial throne.

Yang Kai smiled faintly, "There's no need to sit. I think that the Human Sovereign should have many things to ask me, and I just so happen to also have some things to ask you, Sir."

The Human Sovereign did not insist further, and raised his head, "That's right. I indeed have some matters to ask you about."

Yang Kai adopted the stance of a listener.

The Human Sovereign asked, "Where are you two from?"

"The Star Boundary. I don't know if you have heard about it, Sir."

The Human Sovereign nodded his head, "I've naturally heard about it. The Human Imperial City has existed for tens of thousands of years, and there is a continuous influx of outsiders. This Sovereign does not know when this started to happen, but all of them would claim they came from the Star Boundary. Furthermore, from the looks of it, you two seem to have also come from there."

Yang Kai smiled faintly, "The Revolving World that you all have named this place, is connected to the Star Boundary via a Void Channel. Therefore, those who were able to enter are naturally from the Star Boundary."

The Human Sovereign followed up with another question, "Then how did you two enter Human Imperial City? According to what this Sovereign knows, there should've been no one that could've opened the Space Array for you two, as that person had already been killed."

Yang Kai raised his eyebrows and replied, "Your ability to gather information is quite impressive. It hasn't even been half a day since then, right?"

"One of this Sovereign's subordinates died, so there naturally has to be a detailed investigation."

Yang Kai suddenly shook his head and said, "I feel that this is very unfair for me, as it has only been Sir asking the questions, and me answering. This isn't a good deal for me. How about we take turns to ask questions, with one person asking, and the other one answering before exchanging roles. It can't be just one side asking and one side answering, right?"

The various Imperial Family members were stunned, as this was the first time they had ever seen someone bartering with the Human Sovereign. Furthermore, Yang Kai had replied in a righteous and almost offensive manner, yet there was unexpectedly no trace of anger coming from the Human Sovereign, with the latter only remaining silent for an instant before nodding and replying, "Let's do as you proposed."

The strange glint in the Third Imperial Prince's eyes grew more intense hearing this.