Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Ashish

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

Every Great Realm was a giant chasm for a cultivator; across it was a brand new world, and this was especially true for the Emperor Realm.

One after another, the fearsome bolts of World Energy descended from the sky. Dark clouds swirled as flashes of lightning and reverberating claps of thunder echoed.

It was an extremely terrifying sight.

A clear and melodious phoenix cry rang suddenly, resonating through the highest Heavens. A vague ice-blue phoenix illusory phantom manifested at Su Yan's location. The Ice Phoenix was incomparably large and had its neck craned, crying aloud towards the sky. The unique aura of a Divine Spirit suddenly spread out, freezing everything within a thousand kilometres of it, shocking all who were watching the show.

Meanwhile, inside Yang Kai's body, the Golden Divine Dragon Source began making trouble, showing signs of resonating with Su Yan's Ice Phoenix Source. If he hadn't suppressed it firmly, he might have transformed into a dragon in an instant.

Yang Kai was a little surprised by this as he hadn't expected that when Su Yan broke through to the Emperor Realm, he would also have some peculiar resonations. He had no idea if it was because he cultivated the Yin-Yang Joyous Unification Art or some other reason.

As time slowly passed by, the might of Heaven and Earth grew stronger and stronger, but the illusory Ice Phoenix remained strong, its aura only increasing to rival the surrounding power of Heaven and Earth.

Finally, a shockwave visible to the naked eye spread out, sweeping away everything in all directions.

The enormous Ice Phoenix phantom disappeared and the dark clouds in the sky began to dissipate, revealing the light of day once more.

The world returned to peace.

After a long time, the onlooking cultivators finally summoned the courage to come forward and investigate, but there were no traces of the one who had just broken through.

But this entire phenomenon had exceeded the one shown by an ordinary Emperor Realm breakthrough and quickly became the talk of the town among the cultivators in the nearby cities.

As Su Yan had already broken through to the Emperor Realm, and had gained more strength for self-protection, Yang Kai felt a little more at ease.

After another five days, the group of five returned to High Heaven Palace and bid each other goodbye at the Space Array, whereupon the women shed a lot of tears. Yang Kai had a heartache at the sight of their plight.

After sending off Su Yan and the others, he helped Little Senior Sister settle in before returning to the Space Array. However, Yang Kai didn't teleport to Tiger Roar City but instead went to Orthodoxy Temple in the Southern Territory. After he had crushed the Orthodoxy Temple conspiracy, this land had become a branch of High Heaven Palace in the Southern Territory where 50,000 disciples lived.

Although a group of people were recruited to go to the Western Territory battlefield, only a few of them were sent after all. 95% of the disciples remained here to cultivate and grow stronger.

Yang Kai didn't disturb anyone with his arrival and instead went straight to the restricted area of Orthodoxy Temple, where the Outer Astral Wind blew.

The last time he came here, he found that the might of the Outer Astral Wind increased the deeper one ventured into the canyon it occupied and there seemed to be some kind of treasure hidden at its source. It was that unknown treasure that was generating the Outer Astral Wind, allowing others to temper their bodies in the canyon.

Since he was going to the Demon Realm, Yang Kai decided to prepare everything he could to improve his strength. Since there was a treasure in his own Branch Sect, Yang Kai would naturally try to collect it. Perhaps it could be of some help in the Demon Realm, and even if he failed to gather it, it wouldn't be a loss.

Walking into the canyon, Yang Kai found many disciples at the mouth of the canyon, welcoming the Outer Astral Wind's baptism, tempering their bodies with its assistance, but the cultivation of these disciples wasn't high, so they naturally stayed in the outermost periphery.

Yang Kai teleported by them, without anyone's notice.

He then proceeded straight to the depths where a series of caves gradually appeared on the surrounding cliffs, granting places of shelter for those tempering their bodies to recuperate. The might of the Outer Astral Wind grew stronger and stronger, but Yang Kai didn't fear it. He had a Half-Dragon Body which made his physique quite tyrannical, so this level of Astral Wind couldn't do anything to him.

After travelling for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the oncoming astral wind finally began pricking his skin. The invisible wind cut against his flesh like a sharp blade. Owing to this, Yang Kai finally used his Emperor Qi to protect himself, but his footsteps didn't slow even one bit.

After a while, even his Emperor Qi defence was cut to pieces, failing to provide any protection. The omnipresent Astral Wind cut into his body now, drawing blood that dyed his body and robes golden.

But Yang Kai had no intention of stopping here and continued to move forward in neither a fast nor hurried manner.

Sharp whistles could be heard to no end as the depths of the canyon was like a forbidden area for all life. In the middle regions, those who were strong like Xi Lie could cultivate, but not many dared to venture deeper. Yang Kai's physique was stronger than Xi Lei's, but whether he could survive in the deepest depths, he wasn't confident about.

He decided to do his best and leave the rest to the Heavens!

The deeper Yang Kai went in, the more terrifying the might of the Astral Wind became.

Gradually, countless deep cuts appeared on Yang Kai's skin, and even with his outstanding restorative abilities, he couldn't recover from these wounds so quickly. He was bleeding golden blood from his wounds, leaving a set of golden footprints in his wake.

The Astral Wind here was very strange as not only did it cut into his body, it seemed to be affecting his five viscera, six organs, his bones, and even his meridians. In the end, every time Yang Kai took a step forward, his entire body, inside and out, ached.

Left with no choice, all he could do was assume his Half-Dragon Form which made it slightly easier to continue advancing.

The 300-metre-tall Half-Dragon Form had grown slightly, reaching a height of 320 metres now. Presumably, this was due to the dual cultivation with Su Yan over these past few months, helping his Golden Divine Dragon Source further integrate with him.

*Hong Hong Hong…*

Every step Yang Kai took caused the canyon to quake.

Who knows how long he walked for, but when Yang Kai felt that he couldn't continue any further, he suddenly saw a familiar Void Crack ahead.

He had noticed this Void Crack the last time he came to investigate this place, and knew that it was from this crack that the endless Outer Astral Wind was blowing from. At that time, Yang Kai reckoned that if there was any treasure in this canyon, it would be hidden inside this Void Crack. It was because of the fearsome might of the treasure in the canyon that this Void Crack failed to seal and forever emitted the Outer Astral Wind.

Yang Kai's eyes momentarily lit up now that this Void Crack was in sight.

Yang Kai, disregarding his own damaged body, strode forward against the Astral Wind, arriving before the Void Crack in a few steps.

*Xiu…*

A gust of wind slashed out from the crack like a sword wave, directly cutting across Yang Kai's Half-Dragon Body. Yang Kai immediately lowered his head to look and saw a huge gaping wound on his waist which nearly cut through him. It was a disturbing sight to so clearly see his five viscera and six organs, but soon his golden blood began pouring out, covering the wound.

Yang Kai grimaced at the extremely sharp and piercing pain, but also grinned in anticipation towards the treasure hidden in the Void.

[It almost cut my Half-Dragon Body in two, so its power must be beyond my imagination. If I can really obtain such a treasure, it would definitely help me on my trip to the Demon Realm.]

After canceling his Half-Dragon Form, Yang Kai shot straight into the Void Crack as Space Principles flared.

The next moment, Yang Kai found himself inside a chaotic nothingness. The Astral Winds that had been harassing him had also disappeared at this moment, which made Yang Kai feel a little out of sorts.

Covering his wound with his hand, Yang Kai looked around before his eyes were quickly drawn to something floating in the Void.

It was a long vine, a very long vine rooted in the chaos!

Yang Kai was taken aback by this sight as he had gone in and out of the Void countless times where only endless void turbulence and nothingness existed. He had never expected to find a vine in such a place!

But at this moment, the long vine seemed to have withered as its entire body had turned grey and it was lacking in any vitality.

Only a bottle gourd about the size of a palm was growing at the topmost position of the long vine. The small bottle gourd was cyan in colour and there were complex patterns on its surface, which seemed to contain some kind of mystery of the Grand Dao.

Small streaks of Astral Wind flew out of the bottle gourd, blowing into the crack beside it.

The source of the Outer Astral Winds was actually this Cyan Bottle Gourd.

Yang Kai was amazed by this, but very soon he realized that this Cyan Bottle Gourd must be some kind of Supreme Treasure, perhaps not inferior to his Soul Warming Lotus.

[I found a real prize!]

Yang Kai was overjoyed and pushed his Emperor Qi as he gingerly reached out towards the Cyan Bottle Gourd and grabbed it.

Contrary to his expectations though, he wasn't injured at all. The Astral Winds that were sharp enough to cut right through him didn't seem to be any threat in this place and he was able to grab the Cyan Bottle Guard as easily as lifting his hand.

Then, with just a simple pull, he plucked the Cyan Bottle Gourd from the long vine.

Before Yang Kai could take a closer look at the gourd though, the long vine that appeared to have been withered for tens of thousands of years, actually shrank back and plunged into the endless chaos, disappearing without a trace.

Yang Kai was momentarily dumbstruck before he angrily patted his thigh.

Had he known that this long vine was so strange, he would have tried to collect it first. If it could bear a treasure such as the Cyan Bottle Gourd, it must be quite extraordinary. If he could have transplanted it into his Small Sealed World, there was a chance it could bear another bottle gourd at some point!

But just as this thought flashed in his mind, Yang Kai quickly denied it, because this was a treasure born from the World itself, a unique type of existence of which there could only be one. After understanding this, Yang Kai's heart finally settled down.

Wealth lies in contentment. The fact that he could obtain the Cyan Bottle Gourd was already a big opportunity, coveting more would be insatiable.

After clearing up his mood, Yang Kai carefully played with the Cyan Bottle Gourd in his hand.

After being plucked from the long vine, the patterns on the Cyan Bottle Gourd's surface had disappeared and it wasn't exuding that profound and mysterious aura either, as if it had become a very ordinary bottle gourd.

But when Yang Kai scanned it with his Divine Sense, he was unable to probe the inside of the bottle gourd and immediately understood that it was ordinary only in appearance. If he wanted to release this Cyan Bottle Gourd's might though, he would probably need to carefully refine it first.

After putting away the Cyan Bottle Gourd, Yang Kai jumped out of the Void Crack.

Since the source of the Outer Astral Winds had been taken away by him, Orthodoxy Temple Branch's canyon had lost its Body Tempering facility. Even the Void Crack had closed under the restorative effect of the Star Boundary's World Principles, disappearing into thin air.

It might be a bit of a loss for High Heaven Palace's disciples, but Yang Kai could care less about that at the moment. If need be, he could simply put the Cyan Bottle Gourd back when he got back from the Demon Realm. At that time, the canyon would be restored.