Martial Peak

Translator: Silavin & Raikov

Translation Checker: PewPewLazerGun

Editor and Proofreader: Leo of Zion Mountain & Dhael Ligerkeys

The vision before Yang Kai's eyes changed, and by the time he came back to his senses, he was in a different world.

As he looked around, Yang Kai couldn't help but frown.

This was indeed another continent, and it was quite obviously the Blood Flame Continent which was adjacent to Cloud Shadow. Only, the scene here was not quite what he had expected; the entire continent had a dead and dreary feeling with seemingly no life at all.

There were barren lands as far as the eyes could see, and no signs of living beings. Not even simple grass or plants.

Yellow sand covered the ground while strong winds whistled constantly, kicking up dust devils that gave off eerie, blood-curdling sounds. Just from what he could see with his vision, there were hundreds of these tornadoes rampaging madly and destroying everything in their way.

[So Blood Flame Continent's environment is this harsh?]

Despite knowing the fact that each continent had a different environment in the Demon Realm, most of them were still mild enough that they could sustain life; however, if the Blood Flame Continent resembled this everywhere, then even the Demon Race would not have been able to survive here.

The Embodiment obviously realized this as well and they both looked at each other. Both of them were surprised and had no idea whether Blood Flame Continent looked like this to begin with, or whether something happened to cause this change.

But since they were here, they naturally had to check things out.

Yang Kai brought Ah Wang back and placed her on his shoulder before walking forward with the Embodiment side by side. Though the tornadoes along the way made terrifying sounds, they posed no threat to them.

Not long after, a huge ruin appeared in front of them that covered an area of a thousand square kilometres. From a distance, the outline resembled a city, but when they got close, Yang Kai realized that this city had long been deserted. The entire city was covered by sand and not one living being could be found within.

Sweeping through the ruins with his Divine Sense, Yang Kai frowned and his body flashed over to a certain place. Reaching down, he grabbed an object out from under the swirling sand.

It was the corpse of a Demon Race member. Yang Kai had no idea what Clan this Demon was from, but it seemed to be a female corpse that died a miserable death. Though there were no external injuries, she seemed to have suffered great torture before her death as all the essence in her body had been sucked out, leaving no trace behind. Just like with Lie Kuang's death, the body was a dry corpse that was only preserved thanks to being buried under the sand for many years.

Soon after Yang Kai fished it out, the body turned into dust that was blown away by the wind, leaving not a single bone behind.

Nearby, the Embodiment picked up several other corpses from the ground, but just like the corpse of the Demon Race female, they were all dried up.

There was no need to investigate further. The Demons of this entire city likely died in the same way.

Moreover, since a city existed here, it proved that the original environment was not so harsh; otherwise, how could the Demon Race survive here? The sand and the tornadoes must have appeared later.

[Are there Demons who have cultivated Secret Arts similar to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law?] Yang Kai frowned slightly. If not, it would be difficult to explain the situation here, for what else could explain this environment and these corpses?

For a while, he couldn't figure it out. So, he could only go on with the Embodiment and poke around along the way.

After a whole day of wandering, the scenery in front of Yang Kai's group had hardly changed. However, he did find several ruined cities of varying sizes, all of which were filled with shrivelled-up dead Demons.

Yang Kai had a vague feeling that something wasn't right. Even if a Demon cultivated a Secret Art similar to the Heaven Devouring Battle Law, it would be impossible for them to achieve this level of destruction. Before the last Territory Gate of Blood Flame Continent disappeared, all Demon Kings had withdrawn, so the strongest ones left behind were just Demon Great Generals. With such a cultivation, it would be impossible to massacre an entire city, much less a continent.

At the very least, one would have to be a High-Rank Demon King to achieve such a feat, but how could there be any High-Rank Demon Kings here?

As Yang Kai was immersed in his thoughts, he suddenly heard the Embodiment shout, "Watch out!"

Brought to his senses, Yang Kai looked up and his pupils couldn't help but constrict. The space in front of him had been cut open, and a huge Void Crack which spread out horizontally in front of him had manifested. A Heaven-destroying and Earth-shattering energy filled this hundreds-of-kilometres-long gorge, across which there seemed to be another continent.

Had he and the Embodiment actually reached the edge of Blood Flame Continent?

But that didn't seem right. Blood Flame Continent was considered quite small, but it was impossible for it to only be this big. He and the Embodiment had only been here for a day and had been travelling at quite a leisurely pace while inspecting their surroundings, so how could they possibly have flown to the edge already?

Then, looking at the continent in front of him, Yang Kai realized it was actually the same continent they were standing on.

Yang Kai suddenly had a realization, "Blood Flame Continent is breaking apart!"

The land in front of him was clearly a fragment of the Blood Flame Continent, just like the fragment they were standing on right now. Only, what sort of power could actually have shattered a whole continent into countless pieces like this?

But remembering that the entire Demon Realm was in a similar state, Yang Kai felt more at ease.

In a sense, Blood Flame Continent was a microcosm of the current Demon Realm. Only, there was no vitality here. Could it have been caused by Blood Flame's separation from the Demon Realm after the disappearance of the last Territory Gate?

That was a possibility, and if that was truly the reason, then it would explain the harsh environment here today.

If the Demon Realm was compared to a person, then each continent was an organ of that person's body. Blood Flame Continent was just like an organ that was separated from the Demon Realm after the Territory Gate disappeared, causing it to collapse and devolve into what it was now. If a person's hand was cut off, then it would also just rot away, which was the best reflection of Blood Flame Continent right now.

When he thought about this, Yang Kai felt shocked again.

If this speculation was true, then the future of the entire Demon Realm was in jeopardy.

A person could live after losing a hand. Even without any limbs, a person could survive; however, if even their five viscera and six organs were to be lost...

The disappearance of each continent was equivalent to one of the Demon Realm's organs, and once enough of them disappeared, it would surely affect the survival of the entire Demon Realm! Could the Demon Race's invasion of the Star Boundary be related to this?

With the Demon Realm gone, the Demon Race would have nowhere to go, so they naturally had to find a new home, and the Star Boundary was their target.

Yang Kai's face paled at that thought. If his suspicions were proven true, then the Demon Realm would not stop at just a simple invasion, they would not rest until one side or the other had been wiped out! The Star Boundary could only accommodate a limited number of people, and the Demon Race's population was so large that even the entire Star Boundary may not be enough to accommodate them, let alone leave space behind for the residents of Star Boundary.

No wonder those Demon Saints so easily agreed to the Great Emperor's proposal to prevent all Great Emperor level Masters from intervening in the Two Worlds Great War.

They were afraid that such a violent clash would destroy the stability of the Star Boundary, and they also had the intention to whittle down the Demon Race's population.

Yang Kai's face constantly changed as all sorts of thoughts came to his mind.

The Embodiment, however, did not remain idle. He had already led the way through the Void Crack and brought them to the new continent fragment.

Only when they landed did Yang Kai collect his thoughts. There was no point thinking about these things now. Even if he was right, what then? He would still have no way of stopping the Demon Realm's invasion, so it was better to figure out the situation on Blood Flame Continent first.

He had expected to gain some benefits from this place, but now it seemed that the continent had started withering since it was separated from the Demon Realm, so there was probably nothing of worth left here.

After exploring for another day, Yang Kai found that the situation was exactly the same. This continent fragment was just as desolate as the last.

Yang Kai was distracted by other thoughts, but the Embodiment seemed to have thought of something. He looked over at Yang Kai and lightly spat out three words, "Myriad Demon Cave!"

Yang Kai was stunned, but then his eyes suddenly lit up. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that what the Embodiment was saying made sense.

If it weren't for his previous discovery in Cloud Shadow Continent's Myriad Demon Cave, then he would not have had this thought, but because of the secrets that he learned previously, and then thinking back to all the dried and miserable corpses, Yang Kai believed that the culprit for the death of all these Demons could possibly be the Myriad Demon Cave and not some Demon Race Master who had cultivated a Secret Art like Heaven Devouring Battle Law.

Myriad Demon Caves absorbed the essence of all Demons on the continent at every moment, just at an imperceptible rate that would not affect a member of the Demon Race, which was why almost all Demons were completely unaware this process was occurring. However, what if this suction suddenly burst out with extreme power all at once?

Then that would be the same as executing the Heaven Devouring Battle Law on the entire continent. The consequences of it would be terrifying, and it would also result in the deaths of all these Demons.

"Find it!" Yang Kai spat out two words and immediately split up with the Embodiment in search of the Myriad Demon Cave of Blood Flame Continent.

If they could find anything in the Myriad Demon Cave, then that would prove their speculations correct.

Only, Blood Flame Continent had now broken into many pieces and Yang Kai had no idea where the Myriad Demon Cave was supposed to be. Even if he had, he would still have to do some searching for it.

If he had known this would happen, then he would have asked Lao Ke and the others to collect information about Blood Flame Continent for him. Having some information would at least be better than going around blind.

Right now, he could only hope that the Myriad Demon Cave on the Blood Flame Continent had not been destroyed by the changes in the world.

Their search across the fragments lasted three whole days before Yang Kai found the Myriad Demon Cave.

In fact, it was all thanks to the Abyssal Returner for her keen sense of smell and sensitivity towards all things Demon Qi-related. If not for her guidance, then Yang Kai would never have been able to find the Myriad Demon Cave that was buried several hundreds of metres below ground.

Opening up a hole in the earth, Yang Kai immediately found an opening in front of him. However, the opening was covered by yellow sand and it took him some effort to clear a passage before entering the depths of the cave.

After a few turns, there were finally no more obstructions inside.

The Myriad Demon Cave here was similar to the one on Cloud Shadow Continent, but even though it was dim inside, that didn't bother Yang Kai.

After a short walk, Yang Kai discovered some tuber-like growths on the walls that were neither flesh nor stone, as if the fruit was growing inside...