Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

A violent burst of Qi exploded outward; however, it directly penetrated the black shadow's body and hit empty space, leaving a black tear behind. Its position had been revealed, so it no longer tried to remain hidden. Putting more force into its dagger, it thrust forward, trying to finish Yang Kai off.

*Chi…*

Yang Kai didn't flinch, but even so, he was pushed so hard that he was steadily forced backwards. The ground under his feet looked like it had been ploughed as two long gouges appeared in it. He stretched out his arm and grabbed at the dagger that was stuck in his abdomen, ignoring the fresh blood trickling down his hand from his fingers that had been sliced open by the blade, and stared at the figure in front of him, trying to get a clear look at their face.

That moment just now could have been described as a fine line between life and death. It both shocked and enraged him. What shocked him was that the other party's actions had gone completely undetected until it was almost too late. He didn't notice anything whatsoever, so clearly this person's assassination techniques were beyond superb. Who could it be with such skills? What enraged him was that he had been ambushed so unexpectedly.

The only reason he managed to stop the danger was not that he had noticed a murderous intent but that he instinctively sensed something was wrong and shifted his body so that the attack avoided his vital points. If not for that, he would be in a terrible state right now.

*Hong hong hong…*

Waves of violent force were transmitted through the dagger and exploded inside his body. The explosions caused his waist area to become a bloody mess and he had no choice but to use his Emperor Qi to resist while golden blood spurted out of his mouth.

Yang Kai roared, "Who are you!?"

He had been led to this place by Luo Chen, and before he came, he even contacted Gao Xue Ting to confirm; therefore, he had not given it much thought at the time. Who could have expected that he would be ambushed here? This was obviously a premeditated assassination, but Yang Kai could not figure out who he had offended so greatly that they would try to kill him in this manner. More importantly, what roles did Luo Chen and Gao Xue Ting played in this entire process.

Yang Kai did not want to think too much into it, but he had no choice but to do so. Nevertheless, his top priority at the moment was to resolve the immediate crisis he was facing and figure out the identity of the assassin. Luo Chen and Gao Xue Ting's involvement could come later.

The black shadow did not answer Yang Kai's question and simply continued to push forward.

Yang Kai scanned the black shadow with his Divine Sense but couldn't uncover its true identity. He couldn't even detect any life aura coming from this black shadow, as if it was nothing but an illusionary phantom without physical form. Furious, Yang Kai punched out again. The black shadow ignored the attack and allowed it to land on his body, but unsurprisingly, it was completely ineffective.

A numb and tingling sensation spread out from Yang Kai's waist area, shocking him into the realization that the dagger was poisoned! He did not know what kind of poison it was that could take effect so quickly, but in any case, he had no time to investigate. Space Principles fluctuated as he spread out his palm to grab at the black shadow.

The black shadow grunted as its seemingly ethereal body suddenly became much more corporeal. Yang Kai was overjoyed at the sight. His brute force attacks had not been effective against his opponent and even his Emperor Qi had not been able to injure this strange assassin. He would have faced a disastrous ending if even his Space Principles were incapable of working against this enemy, but fortunately, they had not let him down. The black shadow clearly could not withstand the pressure of space being condensed around him and showed signs of revealing his true form.

Yang Kai shouted as he sent a Moon Blade flying, slicing through the black shadow's body.

Fresh warm blood splattered out as the black shadow was cut into two but fused together again in an impossible manner. Nevertheless, a pained expression appeared on its blurry face. The Moon Blade might not have delivered a killing blow, but injury was unavoidable.

Before Yang Kai could do anything else though, the black shadow suddenly released its dagger and retreated. How could Yang Kai allow the black shadow to come and go as it pleased though? Reaching out, he aimed his hand at the black shadow and clenched his fist tightly. The space surrounding the black shadow instantly solidified.

This move was apparently beyond the black shadow's expectations as it could be said that it was an indefensible attack. Only then did it realize how dangerous it was to confront the person in front of him openly. It was no wonder its higher-ups told it to kill this person silently; otherwise, this person might really ruin their grand plans.

"Exile!" Yang Kai suddenly shouted and the space that captured the black shadow instantly began to collapse. A black hole suddenly appeared behind the black shadow, and a terrifying suction force came out from it, as though it was trying to swallow the black shadow up.

[This black shadow is too dangerous, even my Moon Blade can't cut him down!] Yang Kai was in no mood to figure out who the black shadow was anymore. Kill first, talk later.

Exile was one of Yang Kai's Space Techniques that could literally exile a target into the Void. No matter how resilient or impervious the black shadow was to damage, it would still have no way to escape once it was lost in the Void. There, it would eventually die of old age in the Void Crack.

Feeling the chaotic nothingness coming from the black hole, the black shadow became a little panicked. When a sharp whistle sounded from its mouth, a dozen figures suddenly appeared from all directions, each of them holding their artifact in hand as they indiscriminately blasted Yang Kai with attacks.

Yang Kai's expression changed drastically as he had not expected this person to have so many helpers. Moreover, all these ambushers were Emperor Realm Masters. Lifting his gaze, Yang Kai suddenly noticed that the figures were extremely familiar. They were faces that he had recently interacted with, and some were even people he had met and chatted with earlier today. These people were the Emperor Realm Masters of the major Sects and clans in the Southern Territory that had led their respective disciples to participate in the Martial Gathering. It was just that the aura radiating from these people at this moment was one that made Yang Kai's heart pound wildly. He looked up at them and saw that every one of them was wrapped in a faint black Qi.

"Demon Qi!" The scene before him could not be more familiar. How could Yang Kai not realize that these Emperor Realm Masters had been taken over by the Demon Qi? Their hearts and minds had been demonified, but how could there be Demon Qi here?

In that brief moment of hesitation, Yang Kai's body was shrouded by violent waves of attacks. At the last instant, a small bell appeared out of nowhere and rapidly spun as it grew taller than a person. Covering Yang Kai, vivid scenes of mountains, rivers, birds, fish, and beasts seemed to come alive. It was the Mountains and Rivers Bell!

The dozen Emperor Realm Masters were attacking with everything they had, so even if Yang Kai had thick and touch skin, he didn't dare to take their attacks head-on. Besides, not only was he poisoned, he also had a dagger still stuck in his waist.

*Hong hong hong…*

A series of explosions rang out as lights flashed out from the Mountains and Rivers Bell while it defended against all the attacks. Afterwards, it suddenly became smaller and smaller until it fit into Yang Kai's palm. Following that, he turned his head to look in the direction of the black shadow.

The black shadow that was about to be swallowed by his Exile Secret Technique had broken free of its shackles while Yang Kai was distracted. In the darkness, that pair of indifferent eyes stared at Yang Kai deeply for a moment before its body exploded and transformed into countless wisps of black smoke which scattered in all directions and vanished in the blink of an eye. Seeing that its ambush had failed, it decisively retreated.

Yang Kai gritted his teeth as the grief and anger in his heart compounded each other. He had never suffered such a huge loss before since he began his journey on the Martial Dao. He nearly died at that person's hand, but he didn't even manage to get a glimpse of their true appearance. He didn't even know anything about the origin of the other party. It was a great disgrace.

Yang Kai had no time to investigate anything though as there were still a dozen Emperor Realm Masters wielding their Emperor Artifacts once again to attack him. It was clear that they were buying time for the black shadow to escape.

Yang Kai pulled out the dagger from his waist and used his Emperor Qi to staunch his wound before his figure flickered and appeared in front of an elderly man with a white beard. Yang Kai's fist flew out, punching the elderly man directly in the face.

That elderly man with a white beard immediately flew backwards from the force and lost consciousness even before he hit the ground. He was only a First-Order Emperor, so how could he withstand Yang Kai's assault?

The rest of the Emperor Realm Masters remained undaunted though, showing no intention to escape. Four people rushed out from both the left and right sides. Meanwhile, the others held out the Emperor Artifacts and bombarded everything in front of them with relentless attacks, regardless of whether it was an enemy or an ally.

Yang Kai glanced about coldly and with a shift of his body, avoided a ball of fire. Two people from the opposing side rushing towards him failed to notice the attack coming at them and were turned into dust by their own allies as a result. Not even bones were left behind, so nobody would ever know which Sects Elders had died there.

The Mountains and Rivers Bell shot out again to cover three people on the right, unleashing an irresistible suppressive force. Those three also noticed that they were in a tight spot and wanted to escape; however, it was already too late. The moment the bell tolled, they lost control of their strength, and their Emperor Qi became chaotic. Wobbling, they fell to the ground, unable to move, and were swiftly covered by the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

In the meantime, Yang Kai lost no time as he flashed to the side of a beautiful woman and grabbed her by the back of her neck before pushing his Emperor Qi wildly. He first sealed her cultivation before striking her on the back of her head to knock her out. After that, he tossed her into the Mountains and Rivers Bell.

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the dozen Emperor Realm Masters that had ambushed him had been defeated. When the remaining half saw that the situation was turning sour, they stopped trying to fight him and unanimously scattered in all directions to flee.

Yang Kai wanted to chase after them, but half of his body had become numb from the poison; thus, he could only grit his teeth and watch as they escaped. Sweeping his Divine Sense in all directions, he confirmed that there were no other dangerous elements before reaching out to toss the two people he knocked out into the Mountains and Rivers Bell to suppress them. After that, he hid inside the Sealed World Bead.

He appeared directly in the medicine garden with a pale complexion and went directly to sit down cross-legged in front of the Immortal Tree. When Mu Zhu and Mu Lu heard the commotion, they came to check out the situation and were shocked as soon as they saw Yang Kai's current state. They hurriedly surrounded him, one in front and one at the back, to treat his injuries.

The emerald light enveloped him, and supplemented by the vitality of the Immortal Tree, Yang Kai instantly felt much better. The truth was that all the injuries he suffered were secondary. Even though the dagger had stabbed into his body and pierced his internal organs, such wounds were nothing to him with his current physical constitution and powerful restorative powers.

The problem lay with the strange poison on the dagger. Yang Kai did not know what kind of poison it was that could affect him even with his current physique and cultivation, which was in the Second-Order Emperor Realm. Not to mention his body as a Half-Dragon.

His Emperor Qi surged, washing over the numbed half of his body, and with the help of the two Wood Spirits, that half gradually regained its feeling. Yang Kai was very fortunate in a sense. If it had been any other Third-Order Emperor Realm Master in his situation, they would have died from this strange poison.

It was just that he now had a Half-Dragon Body, and the Dragon Clan had strong resistance against various negative states, poisons were naturally among them. The poison on the dagger might have been very strong, but it was not strong enough to poison a member of the Dragon Clan to death. An ordinary Great Dragon would not have been affected by this poison at all. Unfortunately, it took some effort for Yang Kai to purge this poison from his system since he was only a Half-Dragon.

The two Wood Spirits were not only good at healing wounds, but they were also experts at detoxification. With the assistance of these two, it only took a quarter of an hour before Yang Kai spat out a mouthful of blood. The blood he threw up was not the usual golden colour and instead had a green, oily look to it. Moreover, it was pungent and foul-smelling. The blood landed on the ground with a soft hissing sound.

Following that, Yang Kai slowly opened his eyes and stretched his body. There was nothing wrong with his condition now, but as he recalled the ambush, he couldn't help feeling a lingering sense of fear.