Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Jon

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Yang Kai only left the Ancient Wild Lands after a couple of weeks.

On the outskirts of the Ancient Lands, there was a shabby desolate city where many cultivators had been staying. The Ancient Wild Lands were known for being dangerous, but due to the abundant natural treasures and its unique environment, many cultivators still loved to venture into the place. As time passed, a city where cultivators could take a rest appeared outside the Ancient Lands. This was how the desolate city came about.

In fact, Yang Kai had been to this place as well. At that time, he was there to look for a guide, eventually finding Old Ban, and with the latter's lead, he was able to enter the Ancient Lands safely. It was also because of Old Ban that he got into a conflict with Serene Soul Great Emperor's Daughter, Yao Lin. She might not be a truly evil person, but because she had always been doted on and spoiled, she had become rather haughty. With the protection of some top cultivators, she insisted on barging into the Ancient Lands and forced Old Ban to lead the way. However, she was taught a lesson by Yang Kai. Unresigned, she joined forces with Netherworld Sect's Yin Le Sheng and ambushed Yang Kai at the entrance of the Ancient Lands Passageway, but Yang Kai turned the tables on them instead. At the critical moment, Serene Soul Great Emperor's Soul Descend appeared which caused Yang Kai to pull back.

Arriving in this desolate city again, Yang Kai recalled his experiences with Old Ban.

At that time, he was grateful to Old Ban for bringing him to the Ancient Lands, and upon seeing that the latter was living a destitute life with his granddaughter, he decided to bring them to the Northern Territory. While his granddaughter had gotten into Ice Heart Valley, Old Ban had also found a job in a city that was under the Valley's rule.

Yang Kai hadn't met them for years, but he knew that Old Ban's granddaughter must have come of age now. As a cultivator in Ice Heart Valley, her future was bright.

Nevertheless, he was just passing by the desolate city. After recollecting some old memories, he turned around to leave. His destination: Dragon Island.

What Sheng Yu Zhu had told him made him realise that increasing his strength was indeed a pressing issue. Although all ten Great Emperors were still alive and kicking, no one knew when the next chance to compete for that position would arrive. If that chance arrived but he wasn't strong enough, it would be useless for him to cry over spilt milk.

Therefore, he had to quickly improve his strength and get prepared so that he wouldn't be flustered at the last moment.

It had only been a short time since he reached the Second-Order Emperor Realm, so even if he decided to cultivate in seclusion, he wouldn't be able to reach the Third-Order in a short period of time. Nevertheless, reaching the next order in his realm wasn't the only way to increase his strength. To him, a breakthrough in his Dragon Transformation Secret Art and tempering his Dragon Vein would be more effective than reaching the next Minor Realm.

In order to achieve that, heading to Dragon Island would be his best option.

Moreover, Zhu Qing was still on the island. Previously, he had gone to a Lower Star Field through the Void Corridor that Wu Kuang had forcefully opened up. Yang Kai didn't know what happened to Zhu Qing after that, or whether or not those from the island had continued making life hard for her. Hence, he couldn't set his mind at ease unless he returned to the island to have a look.

If possible, he wanted to bring Zhu Qing out of that place, and if he couldn't do that, he would have to arrange a Space Array on Dragon Island and connect it to High Heaven Palace; otherwise, it would be quite troublesome if he wanted to head to the island again.

However, before going to Dragon Island, he had to pay a visit to Spirit Beast Island first.

He had always wanted to discuss the Dao of Space with Li Wu Yi, as it was difficult to find someone else in this world who was also a Master in the same Dao as him. Moreover, Li Wu Yi was touted to be the strongest below the Great Emperors, so his mastery over the Dao of Space was certainly greater than that of Yang Kai's. Nevertheless, in the past, Yang Kai wasn't powerful enough to have this kind of discussion with him.

He had never received any formal guidance when it came to cultivating the Dao of Space, but if he could now converse with Li Wu Yi, he might obtain some unexpected gains.

Fortunately, both Dragon Island and Spirit Beast Island were located on the East Sea. Taking Serene Soul Palace into consideration as well, the collective heritage and power of the Eastern Territory was the best among the four territories in the Star Boundary. Nonetheless, these three great forces were not on good terms. For example, if Martial Beast Great Emperor and those from the Dragon Clan came across each other, it'd be considered lucky if they didn't get into a scuffle, so there was no way they would join forces.

In the desolate city, a man watched Yang Kai leave with surprise. A moment later, he fished out a jade slip and ran a search inside it, after which, he put on a grin and muttered, "It's really him."

After storing the jade slip, he took out a communication artifact and infused his Divine Sense into it. Then, he spoke to someone, and upon getting the latter's order, he clenched his teeth and walked in the direction Yang Kai had left.

However, he was only a Dao Source Realm cultivator, so there was no way he could tail Yang Kai. After he left the desolate city, he realised that Yang Kai was nowhere to be seen and as he blindly looked around, he appeared frustrated.

A moment later, a group of people flew towards him. The leading young man looked grimly at him and questioned, "Where is he?"

The man replied apprehensively, "Fort Lord, I don't know where he is. His cultivation is too powerful, so I've lost him."

The young man addressed as Fort Lord shot this man a glare upon hearing that, causing the man's forehead to be covered in cold sweat as he uttered fearfully, "Forgive me for being useless."

To the side, an old man added, "Fort Lord, that person was already a First-Order Emperor when we last saw him, while Xie San is only a Second-Order Dao Source Realm. So, it's good that he has lost him. If that person realised that he's being tailed, he would become wary."

The young man's expression turned milder as he bowed his head, "Elder is correct." Then, he turned to look at the man who had given them the information, "Did you make out his face? Are you sure it's him?"

The man replied steadfastly, "Yes, I'm certain it's him. In the past, Fort Lord gave each of us a jade slip with his image in it, and I've always carried it with me. I wasn't paying attention at first, but I suddenly realised that he looked familiar. If you don't believe me, you can ask the others in the city. I'm sure I'm not the only one who spotted him."

The Fort Lord replied dispassionately, "I believe you wouldn't dare to deceive me. According to your observation, what's that person's cultivation?"

The man hesitated for a moment before replying cautiously, "He should be stronger than you are."

Fort Lord narrowed his eyes, "Stronger than me? That means he's a Second-Order Emperor at the very least. Damn!" He appeared resentful of Yang Kai, as though there was a blood feud between them.

The old man, who spoke earlier, was shocked, "If this Old Master is not mistaken, that person only entered the Emperor Realm in the Shattered Star Sea. Not many years have passed, but he's already reached the Second-Order Emperor Realm. He's indeed gifted…" He paused for a moment and cupped his fists, "Fort Lord, I believe we need to discuss this issue further. If he's really a Second-Order Emperor, we from the Qi Family Fort can't afford to offend him."

If Yang Kai was present and heard this, he would definitely recall the name 'Qi Family Fort'.

Qi Family Fort wasn't considered a powerful force in the Eastern Territory, second-tier at best. The strongest person in the fort was only a First-Order Emperor. Qi Family Fort and Luo Sha Sect could be regarded as equals, though the former was slightly stronger than the other in terms of total power.

Due to the fact that they were not particularly strong, they could only occupy an area on the outskirts of the Eastern Territory. No one was interested in invading their territory, so they were able to develop peacefully.

The current Fort Lord was a gloomy-looking young man by the name of Qi Hai. Yang Kai had come into contact with him several times.

The first time, Yang Kai had obtained the Mountains and Rivers Bell and Phoenix True Fire in the Shattered Star Sea. Upon finding out about it, Qi Hai passionately invited him to visit Qi Family Fort. That was because Qi Hai's wife had barged into the Ancient Wild Lands and was stricken with one of the Ten Extreme Poisons, Heavenly Frost Earth Rain. Her days were numbered, and she needed the Phoenix True Fire to help her dispel the poison. The reason Qi Hai took the risk to venture into the Shattered Star Sea at all was to look for the Phoenix True Fire, but Yang Kai had obtained it before he could do so, which was why he had his eyes on Yang Kai.

However, to Yang Kai at that time, the Eastern Territory was a faraway place, so he wouldn't want to head to Qi Family Fort for no reason; therefore, he only gave a perfunctory reply that he'd go if he found time.

After that, Yang Kai arrived in the Eastern Territory by chance. When he reached the desolate city outside the Ancient Lands Passageway, Qi Hai immediately got the news. After all, Qi Family Fort was nearby, and the entire desolate city was under their attention and jurisdiction. At that time, Qi Hai was just the Young Fort Lord, but he still had many informants in the city.

Qi Hai placed some moles around the Ancient Lands Passageway to wait for Yang Kai. Eventually, one of their disciples really saw Yang Kai and passed Qi Hai's word on to him.

If the Phoenix True Fire was with Yang Kai at that time, he wouldn't have minded giving Qi Hai a hand, as it wouldn't take him much effort to do so. However, the Phoenix True Fire had already been absorbed by Liu Yan at that point, and she had turned into a Phoenix egg. Furthermore, Liu Yan had been taken away by Jiu Feng to Spirit Beast Island to obtain the Phoenix Clan's Inheritance, so Yang Kai wasn't able to help Qi Hai. Also, the Phoenix True Fire was an important item, and Yang Kai was displeased that it was being spread that he possessed it and was also being stalked for it, so he rejected them right away.

To Yang Kai, they should look for a way to save the poisoned person instead of having eyes on his Phoenix True Fire. The incident didn't matter to him, however, so he had forgotten about it over time.

Nevertheless, to Qi Hai, he could never forget about this. He was certain that Yang Kai had obtained the Phoenix True Fire, and it wouldn't take him much effort to dispel the Heavenly Frost Earth Rain; however, Yang Kai still stone-heartedly rejected him, which caused his wife to pass away because of the poison.

After that, Qi Hai had transformed into an entirely different person, as he was no longer the soft-spoken Young Fort Lord. He had even paid a hefty price to get into one of the top Sects in the Eastern Territory in order to become strong so he could one day kill Yang Kai to get revenge for his deceased wife.

To him, while the poison might have killed his lover, it was Yang Kai who needed to be held responsible.

Therefore, upon learning that Yang Kai had appeared in the desolate city again, Qi Hai immediately rushed over to get his revenge and also ask Yang Kai why he was so cold-blooded at that time.

The Young Fort Lord in the past had become the Fort Lord of Qi Family Fort now, and his cultivation had reached the First-Order Emperor Realm. Just when he thought that he had the right to challenge Yang Kai though, his subordinate broke it to him that Yang Kai had reached a higher realm.

There was no way he was a match for a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master.

"We can't afford to offend him, but it doesn't mean the others can't!" Qi Hai looked coldly into the distance, "I'm not the only one in the Eastern Territory that wants him dead. Since he has the guts to come back here, he shouldn't even think about leaving this place alive!"

As he sneered, he fished out a jade slip and broke it to pieces, after which a beam of light shot into the distance.

Upon seeing that, the old man couldn't help but sigh. The Young Fort Lord in the past and the Fort Lord before his eyes seemed like two different people. Since his woman's death and after Qi Hai had joined that Sect, everything had changed. Nevertheless, he couldn't criticize him, as getting revenge for his deceased wife was Qi Hai's only wish. If he was stripped of that wish, life would be a living hell for him.

Silavin: A little dumb… He saw Yang Kai butcher a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master… I guess, he sorta is a little crazy already.

Well, I sorta get it. Anyways, he has a backup plan so his thought process isn't that flawed. I guess he just really wishes to do it with his own hands.