Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Perhaps it was because the match between Yu Zhuo and that young man in black had started off so well that the next batch of cultivators who entered the arena went all out to showcase their abilities. All sorts of profound methods were used and the fights were extremely exciting, even drawing a nod from Yang Kai in acknowledgement. Of course, some fights were boring and lacklustre where nothing really stood out about them. Yang Kai would have dozed off if not for his job as the Referee.

A day passed just like that, and when evening rolled around, the sounds of fighting coming from all the arenas in the mountain valley stopped. Tens of thousands of cultivators rested at different spots, waiting for the fights to continue tomorrow.

Yang Kai returned to the Spirit Peak that was Azure Sun Temple's temporary living quarters. The entire day had worn him out. In reality, he only stood in the arena and watched the fights, rarely having to take action, but maintaining focus for the whole day was still mentally taxing.

He had just rested for an hour when Gao Xue Ting sent a message and told him to follow her somewhere. With no other choice, he pushed open the door and stepped out. Several Elders of Azure Sun Temper were standing outside the palace, and as soon as Yang Kai appeared, Wen Zi Shan grinned, "Let's go."

"Go? Where?" Yang Kai couldn't help feeling suspicious.

"You'll know when you get there." Wen Zi Shan had an enigmatic expression on his face as he led everybody to fly in a certain direction.

After asking Gao Xue Ting during the journey, Yang Kai learned that they were going to participate in an exchange meeting.

The Southern Territory Martial Gathering was a grand event where tens of thousands of elite disciples and hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters gathered together, making it a rare opportunity.

During the day, the Emperor Realm Masters were responsible for being Referees and maintaining order around the Martial Gathering. They were unable to extract themselves from their duties; therefore, they would only get together at night to communicate with each other. That was the standard practice at every Martial Gathering.

With so many Emperor Realm Masters present, every one of them would have something valuable in their possession. These items might not be cost-effective to sell, but they could be exchanged with others for the treasures they needed. Needless to say, Orthodoxy Temple, as the host of the Martial Gathering, would collect many treasures especially to get the ball rolling during the exchange meeting.

The exchange meeting was also not just a one-time thing and would be held on the first night, then every five days going forward. Hence, a total of six meetings would be held to ensure that all the Emperor Realm Masters present would have a chance to obtain things they wanted.

Upon hearing about the exchange meeting, Yang Kai became a bit more interested. When they arrived at the meeting place, he saw hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters gathered inside a hall. Although there were many people inside, it was not noisy as only surging waves of Spiritual Energy, indicating that these people were silently communicating with each other via Divine Sense, could be felt.

Once the people from Orthodoxy Temple arrived, they gave a simple opening speech and the exchange meeting officially started. As the host of the Martial Gathering, Orthodoxy Temple took the lead in bringing out several valuable treasures to get everyone excited. Following that, a constant stream of people came up on stage to exchange the things they didn't want with others for things they did.

The exchange meeting was just a platform. As for how the exchanges went down so that both parties were not at a loss would require both sides to discuss the details carefully in private.

For the time being, the people from Azure Sun Temple were not making any moves. Yang Kai did not know what the others were thinking, but in his case, it was just that he had not seen anything that he was interested in. His current experience and knowledge were no longer comparable to the past. Ordinary treasures hardly tempted him anymore so he mainly came here just to join in on the fun.

On the contrary, Xiao Bai Yi and Murong Xiao Xiao seemed to be fascinated by many things; however, they only became Emperor Realm Masters not long ago so their assets were not abundant. They had nothing to bring out that could be exchanged for these treasures, so they could only sigh at their own helplessness.

Just after the first half of the night, the exchange meeting ended and everybody dispersed back to their own quarters. It wasn't until the next day when the Martial Gathering started again that the mountain valley which had been quiet for a night became lively again.

Yang Kai did not join in on the fun again and simply sat inside his guest room meditating and resting. There was no need for him to act as a Referee today, so he had some free time on his hands. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he decided to enter the Small Sealed World and check out the situation inside. He had been very busy recently and failed to pay much attention to the situation of the Small Sealed World as a result; hence, it was only natural that he wanted to take a look now that he had some free time.

As soon as he entered the Small Sealed World, he felt something in the world similar to an invisible Will observing him for a moment. It felt as though a sleeping Dragon had opened its eyes and glanced at him before closing its eyes again. Knowing that it was Gun-Gun, he wasn't bothered by it.

While he was in the Star Field, Yang Kai had used the Small Sealed World as a medium to display the Heaven Devouring Battle Law to devour a number of Cultivation Stars. His actions inadvertently gave birth to a sentient Will in the Small Sealed World, which was Gun-Gun. It could be said to be a significant harvest. It was just that Gun-Gun did not have much self-awareness. Its existence itself was very peculiar and, even now, Yang Kai did not know how it came to be. Even if he was given another chance to repeat his actions, he wasn't sure if he could produce a second Gun-Gun.

At present, the Small Sealed World was vast and its vitality was flourishing. Gun-Gun had devoured several Cultivation Stars in Grand Desolation Star Field, and not only did it merge the territories of those Cultivation Stars with its own, but it also brought all the creatures that were living on those Cultivation Stars into the Small Sealed World. They were now living inside this place, introducing a cycle of life and death, as well as creation and destruction, which allowed the world to take its first step in acquiring a cycle of reincarnation.

It was hard to explain in words; however, Yang Kai could sense that the current Small Sealed World was different from how it had been before. It felt as though this was now a real world. With just a thought, he felt an invisible and magnificent power pouring into his body, giving him a sense that he was the world itself.

[World Force!] Only by comprehending World Force could a person qualify to become a Great Emperor.

Yang Kai was pleasantly surprised by this power that he could distinctly feel now. Although he could control the Small Sealed World in the past, he never felt the World Force as clearly as he did now. It would seem that Gun-Gun's actions of devouring those few Cultivation Stars and introducing countless living creatures had brought about various changes to the Small Sealed World.

Yang Kai was only a Second-Order Emperor right now, but he wasn't going to stop at the Emperor Realm. He was destined to climb higher, even if his future was full of thorns.

Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Yang Kai released his Divine Sense into the surroundings and concentrated on obtaining enlightenment. It was a wondrous feeling that made his whole body feel warm and indescribably comfortable. It was as though his entire being had melted and integrated into the world. At the same time, it felt like he was lying in his mother's arms. Without any interference from the outside world, he allowed his body and mind to drift endlessly.

There was no need to deliberately try to feel anything as the world itself had turned into a warm bed that tempted a person to fall asleep in it and never wake up again just so that they could remain in this intoxicating state forever. Invisible and intangible power converged from all directions, surrounding Yang Kai in layers like a silkworm's cocoon.

The entire world was silent as Yang Kai closed his eyes to maintain this amazing state. All of a sudden, a coolness suddenly entered his mind and all of the comfortable warmth disappeared without warning. An indescribable sense of crisis washed over him, causing him to open his eyes abruptly. His vision blurred and all he could sense was that the Divine Sense he had released into his surroundings was showing signs of fully merging with the world. This horrified him so much that his expression changed greatly and he pushed his Spiritual Energy hard to force himself awake.

His Divine Sense that had been spreading outward like a tide rushed back into him all at once with a loud explosive sound. Both his ears went deaf and his vision went dark. Spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood, Yang Kai stiffly collapsed to the ground and he did not know how long passed before his dazed eyes gradually focused again. An unimaginable pain came from all over his body as though he had been stabbed thousands of times over. In particular, his head felt like it was being torn apart. His fingers twitched slightly as his consciousness slowly came back and it was only with great difficulty that he finally managed to sit up cross-legged and meditated to adjust his breathing.

At this very moment, his entire body was covered in sweat as though he had just been fished out of the sea, and his expression was filled with a lingering sense of fear. Yang Kai did not know exactly what had happened just now as he simply wanted to use the Small Sealed World to comprehend World Force, but that act alone had caused his Soul to show signs of disintegration instead. If it wasn't for the Soul Warming Lotus coming into play at the critical moment, it would have ended badly for him.

[What happened!? It was just a small insight, yet I nearly failed at such an easy task.] Yang Kai didn't know whether to laugh or cry; nevertheless, he had a vague feeling that the so-called World Force was not something he could handle with his current strength. It was precisely because he was unprepared yet still touched on the existence of World Force that he could not withstand it.

The Emperor Qi in his body was rather chaotic and he wanted to investigate the situation but found that he could not gather his Spiritual Energy; thus, he had no choice but to give up for now.

After a long rest, Yang Kai slowly regained his strength. His thoughts flashed, and he instantly appeared in the medicine garden. The entire Small Sealed World had undergone tremendous changes, yet the medicine garden had not changed at all. This was the core area of the Small Sealed World and also a Forbidden Zone.

Yang Kai had long concealed the medicine garden through various means, obscuring it from the outside world. It was impossible for anyone to even see what was going on inside. Even an Emperor Realm Master would not be able to intrude on the area without his permission.

Upon entering the medicine garden, however, Yang Kai discovered that there were many people gathered around this area. Those people were all Origin Kings and were clearly cultivators from the various Cultivation Stars that Gun-Gun had devoured. They probably discovered the strangeness of the medicine garden and were trying to get a glimpse of what was inside. Unfortunately, they were helpless due to their lack of strength. None of them could enter, so they gathered in twos and threes to discuss ways to enter the medicine garden.

That scene amused Yang Kai as he never imagined that his medicine garden would be so attractive to these people. He had placed billions upon billions of living creatures in the Small Sealed World for two reasons. One, Gun-Gun had not been picky about what it took in when it devoured those Cultivation Stars, swallowing people along with rocks and trees equally. Although Yang Kai had the means to eliminate them all, it would be very time consuming; thus, he decided to leave them be. The second reason was that he wanted to see what kind of changes the Small Sealed World would experience after billions of these living creatures moved in.

Reality had proven that the Small Sealed World did undergo various changes. If the previous Small Sealed World could be described as just an empty shell, then the current Small Sealed World had been significantly enriched. It was as though a walking corpse had gained vitality. The Small Sealed World had successfully become a complete world which was clear from just the changes in its World Force.

Be that as it may, Yang Kai would not allow these cultivators to have any ideas about his medicine garden so he lifted his hand gently and an invisible force spread to the surroundings. In the next instant, the many cultivators gathered around the medicine garden looked horrified as they were pushed backwards by something beyond their control. It was almost as if a large, invisible hand was dragging them backwards. It didn't matter whether they were a Second-Order Origin King or a Third-Order Origin King, no one was capable of resisting this force, causing all of them to acutely feel their own insignificance.