Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Inside her palace, Luan Feng sat at the forefront, dressed in luxurious robes with a phoenix coronet on her head. She was sitting motionlessly as somebody paced about in front of her with an anxious expression. Moreover, that person kept glancing out the window from time to time, as if waiting for something.

That person appeared to be a man of superb stature. He was wearing a beige-coloured robe and his hair was carelessly pulled into a bun behind his head with a jade hairpin. He was none other than one of the Three Great Divine Venerables of the Ancient Wild Lands, the West Divine Venerable Cang Gou. At this moment, the West Divine Venerable, who had always been unflappable in the face of great crisis, seemed to be deeply distressed for some reason and had a conflicted expression on his face.

After watching him pace about like a headless fly for some time, Luan Feng finally couldn't stand it anymore, rubbed her forehead, and spoke up, "Sit down. You are making me dizzy."

Cang Gou stopped and looked at her with a mixture of sorrow and fury, "Why is he here again!? Tell me! Why!? Why!?"

She weakly replied, "How should I know?"

"Didn't the rumours say that he went to the Northern Territory and created a Sect there? What was its name…"

"High Heaven Palace!"

"Right! High Heaven Palace!" Cang Gou palmed his fist lightly, "I heard he is doing pretty well in the Northern Territory, so why is he not enjoying lording over that place and is instead here in the Eastern Territory again!?" [I've never met anybody like him. He crosses domains at his leisure like it's nothing. He even regards the Ancient Wild Lands, which is famous for its brutality, as a place that he can enter and exit at will!]

Luan Feng said lightly, "He said he came here to collect a debt from me."

"Debt? What debt!?" He widened his eyes and stared at her.

She lowered her gaze, "Who knows? Maybe he is just talking nonsense."

He looked at her suspiciously, "Are you hiding something from us?"

She snapped, "What could I possibly hide from you!? Anyway, you didn't leak this information out, right?"

Cang Gou scornfully replied, "I'm not a fool. Why would I leak something like this?"

"That would be for the best. If the Monster Kings learn that he is here…" Her words trailed off halfway. She couldn't finish her sentence as just thinking about the scenario was enough to make her headache worse.

It was clear that Cang Gou was aware of what she was referring to as he had a look of grief and rage on his face. [I can't believe that we, the dignified Divine Venerables of the Ancient Wild Lands, have to guard against a mere Human in the First-Order Emperor Realm like some unstoppable thief! Nobody will believe us if we say that he worries and frightens us. Since when have the Ancient Wild Lands become a place where a Human can act so presumptuously!?]

Unfortunately, that was the reality of their situation. When that person came to the Ancient Wild Lands more than ten years ago, he had stirred the place up so much that his name had spread far and wide. If not for the Three Great Divine Venerables joining forces to suppress them, the Monster Kings under their command for so many years would have left to look for him a long time ago.

It went without saying that they were not looking for him for revenge. It was just that 'that person' was the only one who could communicate with the descendent of Heavens Order, so all the Monster Kings wanted to serve him. The reason being that if they could obtain the favour of Heavens Order's descendent when the Blood Gate opens again one day, they would have a chance to recreate the glory of their ancestors and become Divine Spirits.

For the past few years, the remaining 29 Monster Kings had been clamouring that they wanted to replace Ying Fei, Xi Lei, and Xie Wu Wei to serve under Yang Kai despite the suppression of the Three Great Divine Venerables. Some even put forward the absurd proposal of a shift system.

It was extremely unsightly to see how the Monster Kings, who stood above others, would go to such great lengths to ingratiate themselves to a Human for an opportunity that was nearly impossible to come true. They were so desperate that they even abandoned their pride and honour as Monster Kings. Even the Three Great Divine Venerables felt embarrassed watching them.

Even so, it was only natural if one stopped to think about it. The Monster Kings' cultivation had reached its limits. If they wanted to go any further, they could only look to the bloodline of their ancestors. Most of the Monster Race in the Ancient Wild Lands carried at least faint bloodlines of Ancient Divine Spirits, so the chance of becoming a Divine Spirit was high if they could receive the help from the descendant of Heavens Order.

For that reason, the Three Great Divine Venerables could not punish the Monster Kings even if they felt extremely exasperated and disappointed in them. Fortunately, the Monster Kings had gradually calmed down over the past 10 years or so and finally stopped causing such a fuss.

Luan Feng was very thankful for her decision to destroy the Cross-Territory Space Array back then. It had been a move of great foresight. Otherwise, the Three Great Divine Venerables would quickly become the Three Solitary Divine Venerables if Yang Kai were to come and go freely in the Ancient Wild Lands every few days. It would truly be shameful if all the Monster Kings defected to High Heaven Palace, leaving for the Northern Territory, with the Divine Venerables not having a single subordinate under them.

"What about that Monster Commander who reported this to us?" Cang Gou suddenly seemed to think about something and felt concerned for a moment. The news of Yang Kai's reappearance in the Ancient Wild Lands could not be leaked, or else the just settled Ancient Wild Lands would boil over again.

"I locked him up." Luan Feng replied.

How could she not anticipate something that Cang Gou could? She had placed the Monster Commander under house arrest the moment he finished reporting to her because she was scared that the news might leak out.

"Good." Cang Gou breathed a sigh of relief.

"Have you prepared what I asked you to prepare?" Luan Feng lifted her gaze to look at him.

He flipped his palm upward and three Space Rings appeared in his hand immediately, "It's right here. Are we really going to be able to solve this disaster with money?"

"Then, what else do you think we should do?" Luan Feng was certain about one thing, she had destroyed the Space Array that Yang Kai worked so hard to arrange; therefore, things would definitely turn disastrous if she did not give him an explanation or compensation for her actions back then. The easiest and most effective way to do that was to use money to buy peace. Unfortunately, this sum could not be provided by one person alone. It was a matter related to the entire Ancient Wild Lands after all, so there was no way the other two Divine Venerable could escape scot-free either.

He said a little painfully, "The Ancient Wild Lands might be rich, but it can't withstand his plundering. He took a lot of things away with him last time too…"

"It's just some rocks and plants, nothing useful to our Monster Race in the Ancient Wild Lands anyway. Just give them to him. Or…" Her beautiful eyes flashed with a frosty light, "We could find a chance to get rid of him!"

He jumped in fright, "Absolutely not!"

[What a crazy idea! If we really killed him, 'she' would definitely never forgive us!] Shi Huo's death back then was still extremely vivid in Cang Gou memories, as though it was only yesterday. That Heavens Order descendant had taken away Shi Huo's Source like she was plucking a flower from the roadside. Who would dare to provoke her when killing a Divine Spirit was as simple as chopping up vegetables for her!? She was the natural enemy of all Divine Spirits. The relationship between them was akin to a cat and a mouse.

Cang Gou had never considered the question of whether he could kill Yang Kai or not. How could the Three Great Divine Venerables working together fail to kill a mere First-Order Emperor Realm Master if they really had the mind to do it? It only came down to the fact that… he did not dare to kill Yang Kai.

"Fan Wu is here." Luan Feng suddenly raised her head and looked outside.

A tall and slender figure came from the outside and landed in front of them. That person was wearing a crown of feathers and a decent blue robe; however, their expression was incredibly grim…

Looking at Cang Gou before glancing toward Luan Feng, he asked, "Is he here again?"

Luan Feng nodded lightly.

Fan Wu let out a long sigh, "What a disaster!"

Fan Wu never imagined that a trivial Human could shake up the Ancient Wild Lands so badly. It would have been different if that person was strong to the point they couldn't stand up to him. Divine Spirits might be powerful, but they were not unparalleled in strength; however, it just so happened that Yang Kai wasn't particularly strong nor hostile towards the Ancient Wild Lands. It was just his existence in itself was enough to endanger their peace.

For that reason, the Divine Venerables of the Ancient Wild Lands had never been so vexed before in their lives. They could neither attack nor kill that boy, making them realize what the saying 'Decent people had short lives but evildoers lived for a thousand years' meant. Naturally, this saying was referring to people like Yang Kai.

"Where is he right now?"

Luan Feng shook her head, "I don't know. All I know is that he suddenly appeared in the Ancient Wild Lands yesterday and ran into a Monster Commander. He ordered the Monster Commander to come and send me a message, saying that he would come looking for me."

"Did any other members of the Monster Races see him?" Fan Wu felt as though his heart was in his throat.

"Probably not." She frowned, "Otherwise, the Monster Kings under us would not be so quiet. You know as well as I do that that guy is proficient in the Dao of Space, making him extremely elusive. If he wanted to conceal his whereabouts, the Monster Kings would not be able to notice him either."

All those eager Monster Kings, who were itching to make a move, would have come out in full force the moment news about this matter spread around.

"That's good. That's good." Fan Wu finally felt relieved.

"What do we do now? Do we just wait for him to come here?" Cang Gou glanced at Luan Feng before turning to look at Fan Wu.

"The most important thing right now is to figure out where he is at the moment. It's best if we go to him before he comes to us. We shouldn't let him run about freely in the Ancient Wild Lands."

Luan Feng nodded, "That makes sense."

Angered by Yang Kai, she had failed to realize this point until now, but soon, her eyes flashed and she spoke, "I might know where he is right now."

Looking up, she and Fan Wu blurted out in unison, "The Stone Spirits!"

It was not hard to guess Yang Kai's whereabouts; after all, the Stone Spirit Clan were the only ones with a good relationship with him in the Ancient Wild Lands. Since he had not come looking for any of the Three Great Divine Venerables after appearing here, then there was only one other place that he could go! They might not be able to confirm their conjecture, but the possibility was very high.

Having reached a decision, the Three Great Divine Venerables stopped hesitating and immediately set off together towards the territory of the Stone Spirit Clan. If they could not afford to wait for him to come to them, then they could only go to him themselves.

The Stone Spirits were a very special group within the Ancient Wild Lands, because they were not under the jurisdiction of the Divine Venerables and could be considered an independent clan.

It wasn't that Luan Feng and the others had not thought of subduing the Stone Spirit Clan before, it was just that these giants were not only very strong, but they were also very stubborn in nature. Even though the Divine Venerables gained the upper hand in their fights against the Stone Spirit Clan over the years, they could not do anything for the Stone Spirits to submit.

At some point though, it was discovered that the Stone Spirit Clan was only active within a couple tens of thousands of kilometre radius. Moreover, they did not harm the interests of the Divine Venerables, so the Divine Venerables left them alone after that, though there was still some friction between the two parties. If not for Yang Kai, they would never enter the Stone Spirit Clan's territory so recklessly.

Inside the Tree Cave, Yang Kai looked at the Space Array in front of him with satisfaction. Arranging the Space Array this time around was much easier than all his previous attempts. The most obvious change was that the time he had taken to complete it had been halved. It wasn't because he had gotten stronger. The main reason was the fact that his attainments in the Dao of Space had greatly improved.

Becoming a Star Field Master, using the entire Star Field as a medium to activate the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, devouring part of the Grand Desolation Star Field… The benefits Yang Kai gained from all these activities didn't stop at just a stretch of Starry Sky spanning millions of kilometres. He also gained a deeper understanding of the Dao of Space.

Similarly, the changes in the Sealed World Bead and the expansion of the Small Sealed World had involved the mysteries of Space. He might not have deliberately cultivated, but he still gained a lot of intangible benefits without noticing. His insight into the Dao of Space had improved significantly and he could instinctively tell that he had touched upon some kind of profound mystery, resulting in him seeing things a little differently now.

Despite being surrounded by the Void, he saw some semblance of structure and there were traces he could follow. Standing there, Yang Kai's mind was immersed in the very mysterious perception, and he was unable to extricate himself for a long time.

Silavin: I changed 'Therefore, the three Divine Venerables left them alone after that, though there was still some friction between the two parties' to include the 'three', Cause, Shi Huo was the exception.