Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Ashish

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

After having conversed with her a few times, Yang Kai realized that Yu Ru Meng was very difficult to get along with. Her mood flipped faster than the pages of a book, and if he didn't agree with her, she would immediately turn into a different person. But she was also very easy to coax. Just a few sweet words were enough to melt her.

Having nothing to do at the moment, Yang Kai asked, "Did you really kill Li Shi Qing?"

Yu Ru Meng replied, "I just said that on a whim, I didn't kill her."

Yang Kai nodded as he put his heart to rest. If Li Shi Qing was really killed by her, it would be very hard to explain it to Flower Shadow Great Emperor. Although it wasn't easy to deal with the current situation, since Li Shi Qing was still alive, even if Flower Shadow Great Emperor really saw through Yu Ru Meng's disguise, she wouldn't harm her immediately. At most, she would use some means to force her to give up Li Shi Qing's location.

Suddenly, Yu Ru Meng asked again, "Do you want to see what I really look like?"

Since she pretended to be Li Shi Qing, naturally, she had used Li Shi Qing's face, disguising her original appearance.

Yang Kai replied, smiling, "Whether you are beautiful or ugly, it makes no difference to me."

This wasn't just him paying lip service as, with the Heart Seal Secret Technique, no matter what Yu Ru Meng looked like, Yang Kai wouldn't be affected by it unless the Secret Technique was lifted.

Yu Ru Meng sweetly smiled, "Don't worry, my real appearance is no worse than how I look now."

"Don't distract your attention, focus on healing your injuries first. We can talk later," Yang Kai, throwing out another sentence, fell into silence.

Yang Kai was thinking of asking Serene Soul Great Emperor to check his own condition while he was here to see if there was a chance to remove the Heart Seal; otherwise, with it cast on him, he would always be restrained by Yu Ru Meng! He had no feelings of rejection towards her at the moment, but that was precisely the function of her Secret Technique.

But just as this thought crossed his mind, Yang Kai quashed it.

It wasn't because Yu Ru Meng said that even a Great Emperor would not be able to remove her Secret Technique as Yang Kai felt that she was just shamelessly boasting. The Heart Seal Secret Technique was indeed strange, but at the end of the day, it was still in the domain of Soul Secret Techniques, Serene Soul Great Emperor's speciality. If Serene Soul took action, it might not be impossible to solve this problem.

The reason Yang Kai rejected this idea was that the Seven Coloured Soul Warming Lotus rested inside his Knowledge Sea. If he really asked Serene Soul Great Emperor for his help, he would be unable to hide the existence of this Supreme Treasure, and Yang Kai couldn't be sure that Serene Soul Great Emperor wouldn't be tempted by it.

If he really let a wolf into his house, it wouldn't end well.

Perhaps he could go to Senior Tian Yan for help…

Unfortunately, he had no idea where Tian Yan was now.

Everyone waited quietly as time slowly passed. The Demon Qi continued to spread around, and its speed didn't decrease at all. Over the next few days, their group was forced to retreat several times, and if one could look down from high above, they would now see that where a boundless desert used to be, a region several thousand kilometres in diameter was now completely covered in Demon Qi, like a black island in a sea of golden brown.

However, there still hadn't been any news from Mo Huang and Yao Jun, who had left a few days ago, causing those from Star Soul Palace and the others, who had extreme confidence in the Great Emperors, to become somewhat worried.

[If we lose connection with these two Great Emperors as well, then the Star Boundary is as good as finished.]

[But what the hell is there that can cause the Great Emperor-level figures to fall into the enemy's hands one after another!?]

In the blink of an eye, another ten days passed. Over these days, the Demon Qi had expanded to almost a hundred thousand kilometres and everyone now looked visibly worried. If this situation wasn't contained soon, perhaps the entire Western Territory, or even the Star Boundary would eventually be engulfed in Demon Qi. When that happened, trillions of people would degenerate into mindless Demons.

At this moment, the people, who had previously gone to inform the top Sects of the Western Territory finally returned.

Quite a few people had left, but only one had returned. Furthermore, he was wounded and hanging on to life by a breath.

Everyone was shocked and quickly moved to help him recover. Yang Kai even took out an Emperor Grade healing pill he had personally refined and gave it to the injured man.

This man was a Protector of Star Soul Palace surnamed Chu. Yang Kai had no idea what his given name was as everyone just called him Protector Chu.

After finally stabilizing his injuries somehow, Protector Chu opened his eyes and the first thing he said caused everyone's countenance to change, "Every last member of Pointed Star Sect, from the Sect Master to the lowest janitor, has been Demonized!"

"What!?" Xue Zheng Mao turned pale in shock and fright.

Everyone found it strange that Protector Chu, a Second-Order Emperor Realm Master who could be considered among the top Masters in the entire Star Boundary, was beaten to within an inch of death after simply going out to relay a message. How could anyone in the Western Territory easily make a move on him when he was wearing Star Soul Palace's uniform?

But after hearing this, realization finally dawned upon everyone.

The thousands of members of Pointed Star Sect had completely transformed into Demons!

Xiao Yu Yang asked with a solemn expression, "Protector Chu, did you clearly see it? You can't make indiscreet remarks about this kind of thing."

Protector Chu bitterly smiled, "I was reduced to this state by Pointed Star Sect's Sect Master, Lian Zheng, and its Elders. How could I be mistaken about this?"

Pointed Star Sect was one of the top Sects of the Western Territory so naturally, its Sect Master, Lian Zheng, was a Third-Order Emperor. The Sect had a dozen or so Emperor Realm Masters too. If any other Second-Order Emperor had fallen into such a dangerous position, he or she would have definitely died. It was only because Protector Chu came from Star Soul Palace, a hegemon Sect with a deep heritage, that he somehow made it out alive from a situation where he could have died nine times out of ten.

Everyone's face turned incomparably ugly after hearing this.

Thousands of members of Pointed Star Sect had become Demons!

This scenario… actually sounded a little familiar. Everyone couldn't help but recall the Orthodoxy Temple incident from a few years back. Thousands of members of Orthodoxy Temple had transformed into Demons, and even the Temple Master, Lei Gu, wasn't an exception.

By the looks of it, those Demon Souls had not only laid out a scheme in the Southern Territory, but in the Western Territory as well. Only no one had any idea about this until Protector Chu returned with this report.

Yang Kai's expression changed as he stated, "Everyone, I suddenly remembered something."

"What is it?" Xiao Yu Yang looked at him.

"When I was chasing Lei Gu, he seemed to be heading towards the Southern Swamp, but further in that direction is actually the Western Territory. I can't be certain as he was killed before he could escape, but the Western Territory seemed to have been his ultimate destination."

Xue Zheng Mao furrowed his brow, "You mean to say, Lie Gu was trying to rendezvous with the other Demon Spirits?"

Yang Kai replied, "It seems that might have been his plan."

"Damn it." Suddenly, Xiao Yu Yang's face paled as he turned to the other Star Soul Palace Elder and shouted, "Quickly contact the others and see if there is any reply!"

Xue Zheng Mao and the others' faces sank as they quietly waited after hearing this; obviously, they had all thought of the same possibility.

After a while, a few Emperor Realm Masters of Star Soul Palace shook their heads, expressing that they had been unable to get in contact with the Protectors who had been sent out to rally the Western Territory's top Sects.

"The Western Territory is finished, and our Protectors… I'm afraid their fate is more unfortunate than fortunate," Xiao Yu Yang stated with an ugly look on his face. Protector Chu had somehow made it back with this life, but the others clearly weren't as lucky. If they couldn't get in touch with them, their demise was almost certain.

Yang Kai's eyes flickered with a strange gleam as he asked in shock, "Elder Xiao, do you mean to say that the Western Territory is already ruled by the Demons?"

Xiao Yu Yang wryly smiled as he explained, "Carefully think about the Orthodoxy Temple's arrangement back then. Had you not been there to turn the tides back then, what would the Southern Territory look like today?"

Yang Kai felt a chill run down his spine as he bitterly replied, "Demons would have been running amok everywhere. The people would have been plunged into misery and suffering!"

Xiao Yu Yang continued, "The Orthodoxy Temple's conspiracy was destroyed because of you, but how many of you are there in this world? Even our Star Soul Palace, which can be considered the pillar of the Southern Territory, might not have had the power to fight back if the Orthodoxy Temple scheme had succeeded. But in the Western Territory… when even Shadow Killer Palace seems to have colluded with the Demon Race, how could other Sects remain unscathed?"

Since even Night Shadow Great Emperor was protecting the Void Corridor, and thousands of members of a top Sect like Pointed Star Sect had completely Demonified, what other fate could the other Sects of the Western Territory possibly have?

It was quite likely that all the great forces had already fallen into the hands of the Demons in the Western Territory. The Southern Territory would have had a similar fate to the Western Territory's if Yang Kai hadn't intervened and ultimately resolved the Orthodoxy Temple crisis.

But the Western Territory wasn't so fortunate.

At this moment, Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi's expressions suddenly changed as they looked at each other.

The next moment, their figures flickered before they disappeared from where they stood.

About a dozen or so kilometres away, a figure was hiding under a sand dune, secretly gazing towards the place where the cultivators from the Southern Territory had gathered.

After seeing Yang Kai and Li Wu Yi's sudden disappearance though, he knew that things weren't looking good for him and he immediately shot into the air and tried to escape.

But he suddenly stopped after just a breath because a man was indifferently gazing at him.

"Li Wu Yi!" The man's face suddenly changed as he shouted because he clearly recognized his opponent's identity.

As the man known as the strongest Master below the Great Emperors, Li Wu Yi's name obviously gave a strong deterrence. This man didn't dare to fight against Li Wu Yi and immediately turned around to flee in another direction.

"Where do you think you are going?" Yang Kai, on the other hand, was blocking his retreat with a seer on his face, not waiting for the other party to act as he sent out a palm.

"Move!" The man shouted as billowing Demon Qi suddenly erupted from his extremely normal-looking figure. The next moment, the man's aura immediately soared as he punched at Yang Kai, trying to kill him in a single blow.

The man's cultivation wasn't weak at the Second-Order Emperor Realm, and supplemented by the Demon Qi boost, even a Third-Order Emperor Realm Master would have to be wary of taking a punch from him directly.

But Yang Kai remained completely still as his palm collided with the man's fist.

A deafening explosion rang out before the Demon Qi was scattered. The man's jaw dropped in shock as he never expected to be unable to take on the opposite party's palm who had the same cultivation as his.

With his eyes filled with disbelief, the man used the rebound force of the confrontation to fall back to the ground where he did his best to restrain his rioting blood and energy and sneak into the sand. Apparently, he had cultivated some Earth Escaping Secret Technique and was able to dive more than a thousand meters straight into the sand like a fish in water, quickly fleeing towards the distance.

Seeing this, Li Wu Yi just stood completely still as Space Principles fluctuated around him before he stretched out his hand in the direction the man ran and clenched his fist.

The next moment, a muffled groan came from deep below the sand, thousands of meters away.

"Get out!" Li Wu Yi shouted as he raised his hand.

Sand exploded into the air and immediately a sorry figure flew out.

Before this man could mount any kind of resistance, Yang Kai had already arrived before him, pointing his finger at his chest like a sword. The next moment, Space Principles fluctuated around the man, blocking his attempts to resist.