Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Tia

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The entire group of Monster Kings shook their heads. Nobody knew why they were gathered here. They simply came after receiving a summons from their respective Divine Venerables. They might not understand the situation, but one thing was certain. This matter was related to Yang Kai; otherwise, he would not appear here.

However, Yang Kai was calmly sitting there and enjoying Du Mi'er's service. They could hardly go up and disturb him while he was sitting there without moving. All the Monster Kings recognized him. They also knew what kind of power was backing him; hence, they naturally refused to make things unnecessarily difficult for themselves.

Time passed slowly, and Monster King after Monster King arrived at this place. In less than four hours, all twenty-nine Monster Kings had been gathered. Similarly, Luan Feng, Cang Gou, and Fan Wu also showed up. Upon seeing these three, the Monster Kings bowed in greeting.

On the other hand, Yang Kai finally opened his eyes. The light in his eyes was full of energy and he had to admit that while Du Mi'er might behave a little frivolously, she was truly good at serving others. She was a Flower Spirit, so it would seem that she had an Innate Divine Ability that could soothe a person's emotions.

"Is everybody here?" He turned to look around him.

Fan Wu's expression was rather unpleasant as although he had heard the general story from Luan Feng, Yang Kai's actions made him a little uncomfortable. When it came down to it, the Ancient Wild Lands was the territory of the Monster Race. Since when was a Human allowed to make decisions here? As such, he fell silent for a moment before nodding, "They are all here."

"Good, then let's go," Yang Kai got up and headed towards the place where the Stone Spirit Clan lived.

The twenty-nine Monster Kings stared at the Three Great Divine Venerables curiously, but at this point, what could the three of them say? They had no choice but to raise their hands and all the gathered figures rose into the sky in an instant to follow closely behind Yang Kai.

Fan Wu and the other two caught up and flew side-by-side with Yang Kai, but none of them spoke up.

Seeing this, Yang Kai took the initiative to speak, "Many thanks for being so understanding. I will forever remember the help you offer today and will surely pay you back handsomely in the future."

Luan Feng coldly snorted, "That's not the attitude you had before."

She was still holding a grudge over his arrogant and imperious manner previously. [Things would have gone so much smoother if he had adopted this attitude earlier.]

He turned to glare at her, "Aren't you ashamed to say that?"

"What's the matter? I can't even argue back now?" Her temper flared up as she glared at him, refusing to back down.

Yang Kai snapped back, "If you hadn't destroyed my Space Array back then, would we need to rush around like this today? We could have arrived at our destination directly from your Phoenix Nest Palace! But now what? We have to travel for at least an hour! If this causes any delay in my plans, you will see how I deal with you!"

Luan Feng blinked at him when he brought up the events of the past, feeling a little guilty. It was true that she had destroyed his Space Array at that time, but who could have imagined that he would be in such a rush today? She turned her head away and muttered, "What are you shouting at me for? How could I have known that this would happen?"

"Enough. Now that things have come to this, there's no point arguing about it further." Fan Wu jumped out to mediate between them. Regardless of the circumstances, the Ancient Wild Lands did not wish to fight against Yang Kai, so he quickly changed the subject, "Little Brother Yang, why don't you tell us what is going on now?"

Luan Feng had only told them that Yang Kai wanted to recruit the strongest combat power the Ancient Wild Lands could assemble, and that it seemed to be related to the Demon Race. However, she could not explain the situation to them clearly. Now that they had decided to take action, it was only natural to learn more about the situation.

Upon hearing those words, Yang Kai couldn't be bothered to argue with Luan Feng anymore and pondered in silence for a moment before explaining, "Ten years ago, I was invited by somebody to explore an Ancient Cave Mansion in the Southern Swamp of the Southern Territory…"

They had time on the road anyway, so he briefly told them about what happened in the Ancient Cave Mansion more than ten years ago, as well as what happened afterwards. Then, he explained the situation at the Southern Territory Martial Gathering again.

When the Three Great Divine Venerables heard that the Demon Spirits had been resurrected and the Southern Territory had suffered a Demon invasion, all three of them were shocked. Then, their expressions changed greatly once more when they heard that the Temple Master of Southern Territory's Orthodoxy Temple had been possessed by a Demon Spirit and set up a massive trap to ensnare hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters and tens of thousands of elite disciples. They glanced at each other with the sudden realization of how serious the situation was.

"Are you saying that hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters from the Southern Territory are still trapped within Orthodoxy Temple right now?"

"That was the case when I left. There's no way for them to escape as long as the Sect Defending Array isn't destroyed. I don't know what the situation inside is like now."

Cang Gou stroked his chin as he muttered, "Hundreds of Emperor Realm Masters… I wonder how many have already been corrupted by Demon Qi."

Since Yang Kai had been ambushed by more than ten demonified Emperor Realm Masters, they could be certain that those were not the only ones. There were probably a lot more than that; after all, the Martial Gathering had lasted for a whole month. If Orthodoxy Temple had planned this all in advance, they could have infected many more people with Demon Qi. Those people might look no different under normal circumstances, but they would create extensive damage once an outbreak occurred and lead to even more people being affected by Demon Qi. If the cycle continued, everybody inside would have become a Demon by now.

"I hope the situation isn't too disastrous." He sighed.

Luan Feng frowned, "If Orthodoxy Temple has been plotting this for a long time, why did they lead you away and try to assassinate you? Isn't that akin to lifting a rock only to drop it on their foot?"

Yang Kai coldly replied, "Maybe they just didn't expect to fail at killing me."

That was the reality of the situation and he still felt a sense of lingering fear whenever he thought back on the assassination. If his assassin had not been unfamiliar with his body constitution and was unaware that he had a Half-Dragon Form, he could very well have died already.

Luan Feng, however, shook her head in response, "What I meant was why didn't they leave you inside the Temple? They could have left you stuck knee-deep in trouble, and you would have been incapable of escaping. There was no need to assassinate you."

Cang Gou said, "It's no secret that Little Brother Yang is proficient in the Dao of Space. I have a feeling that they were afraid he might escape after noticing that the situation wasn't right. It would be safer to kill him off first."

Luan Feng felt that those words made great sense when she thought about it and gave a nod.

Fan Wu suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Those Demons really arranged a grand and complicated game of chess!"

"What do you mean?" Yang Kai looked at Fan Wu suspiciously, wondering what it was that shocked Fan Wu so greatly.

Fan Wu proceeded to explain, "Just think about it. If you didn't happen to escape the assassination, what would have happened to Orthodoxy Temple?"

Frowning, Yang Kai considered it for a moment, "In the worst case, all the surviving cultivators would experience demonization."

"That's right!" Fan Wu clapped his hands, "And if those demonified cultivators were to return to their respective Sects and act quietly…"

Yang Kai followed Fan Wu's logic and was shocked, "The entire Southern Territory would have been in danger!"

Fan Wu added, "With so many top Masters corrupted, the entire Southern Territory would quickly have fallen to the Demons. At that point, even the Great Emperors would have a hard time rectifying the situation."

Yang Kai felt a chill when he heard those words as he realized that Fan Wu's conjecture might be exactly what Orthodoxy Temple had been planning. If he had not escaped the assassination by chance and gotten the chance to reveal this plot, who would have known about the calamity within Orthodoxy Temple?

Cang Gou spoke up, "If Orthodoxy Temple dared to target all the people within the Southern Territory, they must have gathered a lot of Demons under their cause. With just our numbers…"

Yang Kai quickly said, "Rest assured, you're not the only ones. I also recruited many others for this mission. I'm not going to let a single Demon escape from Orthodoxy Temple this time."

"Others?" Cang Gou looked at Yang Kai curiously, but when he saw that Yang Kai was not willing to go into further details, he stopped asking questions. He had been worried that Yang Kai was acting out of anger without any real plans. Since there was a plan in place though, then there was nothing to worry about anymore.

Yang Kai continued, "In any case, be careful not to be infected by Demon Qi when you are fighting against those Demons and be especially on guard against being possessed by those Demon Spirits. I have personally witnessed people who were possessed by the Demon Spirits and they exhibit no outward signs whatsoever. They don't look any different even after being possessed. It's all very subtle."

"We know." Fan Wu nodded.

They had not deliberately suppressed their voices during their conversation, so they were naturally overheard by the Monster Kings behind them. That was also part of Yang Kai's intention. The Monster Kings were incredibly shocked to learn that they were going to fight against people under the control of Demon Qi. That was not something they had ever experienced before; furthermore, they did not know which was stronger between Demon Qi and Monster Qi. Regardless, this was a good chance to do well and stand out. If they could catch Yang Kai's attention, becoming a Divine Spirit in the future was no longer unattainable.

Luan Feng had not told them about Yang Kai's earlier promise. It wasn't because she was worried that Yang Kai might go back on his word, but rather that it would stir up the Monster Kings too much, causing them to be eternally grateful towards Yang Kai if they learned of it. That would fundamentally shake the rule of the Three Great Divine Venerables in the Ancient Wild Lands.

Rushing all the way, the group arrived at the residence of the Stone Spirit Clan within an hour. Elder had not left yet and was standing by, waiting with the Mu Na, Matriarch of the Wood Spirit Clan.

They couldn't help glancing at each other when they saw the Three Great Divine Venerables and twenty-nine Monster Kings descending from the sky. They were secretly amazed as, although they knew Yang Kai had quite a lot of influence among the Monster Race in the Ancient Wild Lands, they had not expected it to be this exaggerated. Yang Kai had brought along all the top Masters in the Ancient Wild Lands with him.

When the two parties met, Elder exchanged a few words with the Three Great Divine Venerables before they stepped onto the Space Array under Yang Kai's leadership. By the time the flash of light had subsided, they had arrived on a mountain top.

Eight Stone Spirits had arrived at this place a long time ago and were now guarding all approaches to the Space Array. Seeing movement on the Space Array, they all turned to look in its direction.

The Three Great Divine Venerables and twenty-nine Monster Kings appeared one after another. Glaring at each other, they were quickly separated and formed into two groups. The relationship between the Stone Spirits and the Monster Race of the Ancient Wild Lands had never been harmonious and it was only over the past ten years that they started getting along a little more peacefully thanks to Yang Kai.

After Yang Kai finished transporting the people from the Ancient Wild Lands to their destination, he told them to wait for him before turning around and stepping onto the Space Array again.

It was crowded inside the main hall where the Space Array was located in High Heaven Palace. Nearly two hundred Emperor Realm Masters had been gathered in this place, with at least half of them whispering among themselves while the rest were standing to the side alone. As time passed, impatient emotions gradually began to spread.

If not for the Masters of the top four Sects watching them like hawks, the Emperor Realm Masters of these Sects would have broken out into a riot by now. They had answered the summons of High Heaven Palace to come here without knowing the reason why; moreover, their questions remained unanswered even after asking Head Manager Hua Qing Si. It was to be expected that they were feeling extremely uneasy. They kept wondering whether High Heaven Palace was quietly raising the butcher's knife to slaughter them. But, how would that benefit High Heaven Palace?

Ying Fei, Xie Wu Wei, and Xi Lei were each standing at one corner of the hall, their Monster Qi overflowing as they swept their eyes around coldly. Anybody who made eye contact with them would quickly lower their heads and dare not make any mistakes afterward.

Meanwhile, Hua Qing Si, Bian Yu Qing, Ye Hen, and Nanmen Da Jun had gathered together with the contingent from Ice Heart Valley. Ice Heart Valley had sent five Emperor Realm Masters in total, with Ji Yao leading the team with a frosty expression, preventing anyone from approaching too close. The people from Dragon Palace and Full Sky Sect had also gathered here, so aside from the few Emperor Realm Masters left behind to guard their Sects, the rest had all assembled here. Li Jiao and Mi Qi were also talking amongst themselves, both at a loss, not knowing what Yang Kai was up to this time.