Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Old Demon asked, "What's the matter, Lady Yue?"

Seeing a trace of excitement in Xue Yue's solemn expression, he immediately realized that something was up. He lifted his gaze and looked out of the hall. However, he did not see anything when he followed her gaze. The Nine Peaks were currently under the protection of the Star Master, Xia Ning Chang, so it was impossible for the cultivators from Grand Desolation Star Field to barge in.

Xue Yue resisted the excitement in her heart and walked out of the hall. When everybody saw that, they glanced at each other and followed her and soon, a large crowd soon gathered outside.

Meng Wu Ya looked at Old Demon; both of them shook their heads slowly. They did not know what was going on.

All of a sudden, the Nine Peaks hummed and shuddered.

Meng Wu Ya paled, "Someone is coming!"

The rest also looked like they were preparing to face the enemy.

Xue Yue lifted her hand, "No need to be nervous."

As soon as the words left her mouth, they settled down. They lifted their heads and looked into the distance, watching as the Spirit Array rumbled before splitting open. It wasn't because an enemy had managed to slip through the defence. Rather, it opened on its own.

The control jade for the array was in Xue Yue's hands, and Xia Ning Chang was the only other person. Aside from her, who could control it? Since she wasn't doing anything and the array was being activated on its own, it had to be Xia Ning Chang's doing.

Before they could understand why Xia Ning Chang did this though, a figure suddenly walked out of the mist. It looked like that person barely made any movement, but they stood in front of the crowd in a few steps. Their speed was so fast that none of them could react.

All eyes turned to that person and everybody was frozen in place as if they had been struck by a Binding Secret Technique. Only Xue Yue watched Yang Kai quietly. Her eyes were gleaming with a complicated mixture of love and hate before they gradually reddened.

Yang Kai smiled at her. With that, her tears began to fall uncontrollably and slide down her cheeks. Although she had not heard from this man for several dozen years, he still appeared in front of her at the most critical moment. It instantly made her rely on him. She wasn't as anxious as before, and her emotions had calmed down considerably.

"Young Master!" Old Demon was so emotional that his lips trembled.

"Greetings, Holy Master!" Similarly, An Ling'er, Xu Hui, and the others returned to their senses, swiftly stepped forward, and cupped their fists.

"Greetings, Master!" Li Rong and Han Fei of the Ancient Demon Clan also hurriedly bowed.

"Yang Kai…" Hu Jiao'er and her little sister exclaimed, lifting their hands to cover their red lips.

Every single gaze fixed on him was filled with disbelief. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined that Yang Kai would appear here at this moment. It felt as if they were dreaming.

Zi Wu Ji said in astonishment, "Elder Brother Gu, is he really…"

"En. He's back. The Master of Shadowed Star!" Gu Jian Xin replied solemnly. He was frowning slightly as he gripped the sword in his arms a little tighter.

At that moment, the simple longsword in his arms was conveying a sense of terror to him, one so strong that he couldn't even gather any fighting spirit when he glanced at Yang Kai. As a swordsman, something like this was supposed to be impossible. A swordsman's character was calm and resolute. Generally, their first thought upon meeting a strong opponent was to battle them to temper their Sword Dao; however, his sword was warning him that he was no match for Yang Kai the moment he saw him. [Just how great is his cultivation?! How much stronger is he to be able to make even my Sword Spirit fear him?]

Meanwhile, Zi Wu Ji was startled when he heard those words. [So, it's him! I can't believe it's him!]

Back then, Yang Kai had been rather arrogant on Purple Star's Home Star. He even killed several Masters while he rampaged. Later, Purple Star confirmed that both Zi Long and his son had both died at Yang Kai's hands; therefore, their hatred towards Yang Kai was absolutely irreconcilable.

Nevertheless, it was not the first time Zi Wu Ji had met Yang Kai; however, after so long, it was unbelievable for him to suddenly appear now.

The conflict between Yang Kai and his Sect took place decades ago, and right now, Zi Wu Ji needed Xia Ning Chang's protection to survive. So, how could he possibly show any hostility towards her husband?

Yang Kai walked over to Xue Yue and reached out to wipe away her tears, whispering in a gentle voice, "Don't cry. I'm back."

Xue Yue's tears stopped and turning her head away, she refused to let him touch her. Then, she reached her hand up and rubbed at the corners of her eyes.

He was stunned, but he couldn't cause a fuss in front of so many people. He waved his hand dismissively and said, "Be at ease."

Everybody immediately straightened without any resistance.

"Where is Ning Chang?" He glanced at Xue Yue. Despite leading him here, Xia Ning Chang had yet to show herself. That could only mean that something was wrong. Combined with what he had seen prior to this, he couldn't help feeling very uneasy.

Xue Yue lowered her eyes without saying anything. Thus, he raised his head to look at Meng Wu Ya. In response, Meng Wu Ya sighed and shook his head slowly. That immediately made Yang Kai's expression crumble. All the expectations he had fell apart, and his heart sank into an endless abyss.

"Come with me," Xue Yue called out to him as she headed into the inner palace. She might hold a lot of resentment towards him, but when it came down to it, what happened wasn't his fault, so how could she blame him for it? She was not the kind of woman to find fault with others for no reason. The truth was that she blamed herself for leading her pursuers here, bringing this disaster down on Tong Xuan Realm and Xia Ning Chang. More precisely, her cold attitude towards him wasn't because of her resentment; it was mostly because she was too ashamed to look at him.

[I am the culprit. It's my fault if anything happens to her!]

Yang Kai stepped forward to keep up with her. Reaching out, he grabbed her soft hands. Her small hands were ice cold; it almost felt like they had no temperature at all. Despite struggling lightly against him, she couldn't break free of his hold. After that, she stopped struggling but did not dare to look him in the eye.

The two of them vanished out of sight soon after, but following their departure, a heavy silence remained outside the great hall. The depression and anxiety they had been suffering from for a long time were not relieved by Yang Kai's arrival in any way. Regardless of how high Yang Kai's cultivation currently was, even if he could drive the cultivators of Grand Desolation Star Field away, Xia Ning Chang would still not be able to recover from her wounds so easily.

Just then, another small figure suddenly walked over.

Meng Wu Ya made a soft cry of surprise as he looked in that direction and immediately revealed a shocked expression. He discovered that the small figure belonged to a seven or eight year old girl. She was exquisite and adorable, yet gave one a strange feeling when they looked at her. After considering it for a moment, he realized what was so strange about her. She had no expression! There was neither happiness, anger, sorrow, or fear on this little girl's face. It was like a dried-up well, which was very odd.

A colourful butterfly was fluttering in front of the little girl as she walked over from the foot of the mountain, step by step, unhurriedly. She seemed to be chasing after the butterfly while at the same time, it also seemed as though she was walking down a path she did not want to miss.

…

"She probably doesn't want to meet you," Xue Yue stopped outside a certain room in the inner palace, lowering her head as she spoke. Just because Xia Ning Chang said that she did not want to meet Yang Kai did not mean that she really did not want to meet him. She simply did not dare to let him see her haggard appearance. As a woman, Xue Yue could understand her feelings; after all, women always wanted to show their best sides to the man they loved.

Yang Kai held Xue Yue's hand tightly, "Thank you for everything that you've done."

Her tears gushed out again uncontrollably. All the longing and grievances that she had suffered over the years disappeared with those words. Shaking her head, she said, "Ning Chang had the hardest time out of all of us. You should talk to her, but don't just force your way in."

"Good." He nodded before turning to face the door, lifting his hand and knocking softly. He then called out, "Is anybody in?"

There was no response from inside the room; however, he could clearly detect Xia Ning Chang's aura inside the room. It was just that her aura was extremely weak. It was like a thin thread that could break at any moment. This discovery broke his heart while at the same time, murderous intent flared up within him. The reason she was in this condition was undoubtedly related to what the cultivators of Grand Desolation Star Field did to Tong Xuan Realm. All of them had to die, not a single one could be allowed to escape!

"If you're there, can you please open the door?" Yang Kai restrained his murderous intent and kept his voice as gentle as possible.

Still, there was no response.

He continued, "Ning Chang, I'm back. Can't I at least see you? I've missed you so much. I've never forgotten you and often thought about you throughout all these years I've been away. I finally returned today. How can you have the heart to lock me out?"

He blabbered on and on for some time.

After a while, Xue Yue grabbed Yang Kai's arm and shook her head slowly. Xia Ning Chang generally had a gentle and obedient demeanour towards Yang Kai, but also had a stubbornness in her that was not to be underestimated.

Yang Kai sighed and slumped, "Good, rest well, Ning Chang. I'll go get rid of those pests right now. After I obtain justice for you, I'll come back to see you again."

Turning around, he shot a look at Xue Yue and she immediately understood his meaning. Thus, she turned around and followed him outside. They had not taken more than several steps when a loud noise sounded from inside the room. Xue Yue and Yang Kai looked at each other, their complexions turning pale in unison.

With a loud bang, they crashed through the door with Yang Kai rushing over to help Xia Ning Chang up from where she lay on the bed. When he supported her in his arms, he realized that she felt very different from how she used to be. At this point, she could not be described as having just lost some weight. She was practically skin and bones now.

For her height, she was now at least a third lighter than she should be to be considered healthy. The bones underneath her frail body pressed against his hands, feeling like they were stabbing into his heart.

Yang Kai was in no mood to pay attention to her physical appearance though because at this moment she was coughing up blood from her mouth. The bedding was stained red and her body was enveloped in a faint black smog. The Black Qi was churning like a living being, but that wasn't all; there were certain spots where the colour was extremely dark, as if someone had spilled ink on her.

This situation was exactly the same as the scene Yang Kai had observed while observing Tong Xuan Realm's condition from the Starry Sky. It was just that those 'black ink stains' had covered the Star while these 'black ink stains' were on Xia Ning Chang's body. Upon counting those spots, he saw that they were exactly seven of them!

[Grand Desolation Star Field and Netherworld Sect… You court death!]

Although he did not know why such a change had occurred so suddenly, it was obviously related to something the cultivators from Grand Desolation Star Field had done. He had just destroyed their Array Core, so for her to suffer such attacks suddenly… It was definitely related to his actions.

The black ink stains slowly expanded. They were not increasing quickly, but the expansion affected Xia Ning Chang's entire body, and every time they expanded, they devoured some of her vitality and made the Black Qi surrounding her body grow denser. Obviously, the consequences would be disastrous for her once they expanded until they covered her entire body.