Martial Peak

There were two reasons why Yang Kai did not kill Huo Lun. One was the reason he mentioned earlier. The other reason was that he wanted to test if the expansion of the Sealed World Bead was suitable for the viability of the Demon Race.

The world inside the Sealed World Bead was now composed of three parts. The first part was the original space of the Sealed World Bead itself, the second part was comprised of the Cultivation Stars that the Sealed World Bead had devoured in Grand Desolation Star Field, and the third part was comprised of the continents that had disappeared in the Demon Realm.

The first two parts had been integrated into one while the last part was still an independent existence. Those continents that had disappeared had been fragmented and their World Principles had shattered; however, they were showing signs of recombining after being devoured by the Sealed World Bead. The broken World Principles seemed to be gradually becoming perfect again.

If the Demon Race could survive or even cultivate in such an environment, it would be of great help to the next part of Yang Kai's plan. Thus, Huo Lun was sent to the third part, the newly expanded space.

After doing that, Yang Kai hurriedly released the Embodiment. He wanted to break through and advance to the next Realm on Cloud Shadow Continent. To do that, he needed the Embodiment's help to cover up the commotion his breakthrough would cause, or he would surely be discovered. This was the main reason why he ventured back to Cloud Shadow Continent.

His injuries were fully healed after so many days on the run, but the fluctuating Qi in his body was getting harder and harder to control. It seemed to have reached the limit. If he had not spent so much effort to suppress it, he might have undergone the breakthrough halfway through their journey.

Time waited for no man and Yang Kai was going to undergo his breakthrough right this very moment; however, his expression suddenly turned icy as he turned his head and yelled furiously, "Who's there!?"

The Embodiment, who was about to take Yang Kai to a safe place, jumped in fright. He hurriedly spread his Divine Sense out to investigate the surroundings, but after a while, he turned to look at Yang Kai suspiciously only to see him with a solemn expression on his face, as if he was about to face his greatest enemy. The Embodiment was extremely puzzled by the sight and asked in a quiet voice, "What's wrong?"

Yang Kai looked very tense as he kept searching around his surroundings and asked, "Didn't you feel anything?"

"Nope!" The Embodiment shook his head.

Yang Kai glanced at the Embodiment in surprise and exclaimed softly, "How is that possible?"

Just now, the feeling of being watched had appeared again. It felt as though there was a pair of invisible eyes staring at him from somewhere. It was an extremely unsettling feeling. When this feeling first appeared a few days ago, Yang Kai had thought one of the Demon Saints had caught up with him; however, there had been no signs of a Demon Saint ambushing him afterward, so he couldn't help feeling a little confused by the situation.

It wasn't until today when that feeling appeared again that he confirmed that this was by no means an illusion. He was really being targeted by somebody, but to his astonishment, the Embodiment, the Master of Cloud Shadow Continent, had not noticed anything at all. That left Yang Kai feeling even more baffled than ever.

[Have I been too nervous lately? Is that why my perception is playing tricks on me? This is the Embodiment's territory after all, so it's impossible for him not to notice anything even if it was a Demon Saint hiding nearby.]

If the Embodiment did not have a direct link to his own Soul, Yang Kai would have suspected him of lying to him. More importantly, there was no need for any of the Demon Saints to be so cryptic, regardless of which Demon Saint it was. They had the power to crush everything with their strength, so they only had to step forward to capture him. There was no need to go through all this dawdling.

While he was speaking, that feeling disappeared without a trace again.

The Embodiment asked, "Did you really sense something?"

Yang Kai was stunned for a moment, then he slowly shook his head, "I'm not sure. I don't know if it was just my imagination."

The Embodiment fell silent as he did not know what to say in this situation.

Yang Kai couldn't spare the time to think about it though with his breakthrough being so imminent. Even if there really was a Demon Saint hiding nearby, he could not stop them if they wanted to harm him, so he could only do his best against them when that happened. Moreover, higher cultivation would surely give him a higher chance of surviving the encounter.

"Let's begin!" Yang Kai declared in a deep voice, sweeping aside the mess of thoughts swirling in his head.

The Embodiment nodded. Activating his Demon Qi, he wrapped Yang Kai in it before burrowing into the ground. The pair navigated through the ground where there was neither light nor sound.

Yang Kai didn't know how long had passed before he felt the pressure around him loosened and the Demon Qi wrapping him retracted. The Embodiment's voice sounded in his ears next, "This is a cave a hundred kilometres underground. The commotion from your breakthrough should be suppressed with me standing guard."

Yang Kai narrowed his eyes and swept his surroundings, taking in the pitch-black darkness that he could still vaguely make out as a large cave. It was dark and damp, and he could vaguely hear the sound of running water. There was probably an underground river flowing nearby. Although the conditions were a little lacking, Yang Kai was not complaining. He immediately took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged.

With a wave of his hand, batches of High-Rank Source Crystals were thrown out of his Space Ring. The Source Crystals turned into dust the moment they left the Space Ring and the dense World Energy contained within soon flooded the cave, forming a thick mist. All of a sudden, the dark and damp cave was transformed into a cultivation paradise.

Yang Kai spared no effort in the preparations for a successful breakthrough to the Third-Order Emperor Realm. At this time, he couldn't help feeling relieved that he had prepared enough cultivation resources before coming to the Demon Realm; otherwise, he would not have had sufficient resources in this accursed place. He wasn't finished yet though. Reaching into the Space Ring again, he took out a handful of Spirit Pills and swallowed them to ensure that he had enough energy to meet his breakthrough requirements.

On the Martial Dao, every Minor Realm of the Emperor Realm was blocked by a formidable barrier that innumerable talented cultivators failed to break through. That was the case whether it was from the First-Order to the Second-Order, from the Second-Order to the Third-Order, or from the Third-Order to the Pseudo-Great Emperor Realm and eventually Great Emperor Realm. How many people had experienced cultivation dissonance at the time of their breakthrough? Likewise, how many people had died or lost their cultivation during the process?

In addition, Yang Kai had chosen to undergo his breakthrough in the Demon Realm. He could not afford to be careless.

He immediately quieted his mind once everything was prepared, focusing on himself and clearing all distractions away. Quietly performing a set of hand seals, he released the suppression he had been placing on himself all this time. Immediately afterwards, the fluctuating aura in his body erupted outward.

A shudder ran through his body while at the same time, his Emperor Qi rumbled and soared to the sky, only to smash against an invisible barrier.

Yang Kai grunted involuntarily as pain spread all over his body. It felt like his entire body was being ripped to pieces, causing him to tremble. His entire body oozed with a layer of sweat from the extreme pain and his clothes were soon completely drenched.

The Emperor Qi in his body that had ballooned to its limits slowly deflated. Be that as it may, Yang Kai was not discouraged by his failure in this attempt. His previous breakthroughs had always gone very smoothly, so he rarely encountered such situations. Even so, who could continue experiencing never-ending success in the Martial Dao without running into any trouble whatsoever? Who could keep advancing down a path of great progress without facing some obstacles? Even the Great Emperors and Demon Saints suffered countless setbacks when they were younger. The setback Yang Kai experienced today would only serve to lay a solid foundation for tomorrow.

The pores on his body relaxed, greedily sucking in the dense World Energy in his surroundings into his body. The medicinal efficacies of the Spirit Pills also began to take effect in his lower abdomen. His Emperor Qi flowed smoothly, his aura recovered, and he tried to break through the bottleneck once again.

Muffled grunts rang out in this dark and damp cave without pause in a rhythmic fashion. The spot Yang Kai was sitting was soon soaked in sweat. Every attempt was met with a corresponding failure. Every single time, the pain was excruciating. The flesh on his body was torn apart, his meridians were disconnected, and his pores overflowed with Golden Blood.

At this moment, the Embodiment, who had been monitoring Yang Kai's progress, couldn't help starting to feel worried. It could be said that he had grown up with Yang Kai, but he had never seen him going through such a difficult breakthrough before.

Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to help. As the Master of Cloud Shadow Continent, he could only provide a place that was safe for Yang Kai's breakthrough and suppress the commotion that occurred. The rest was up to Yang Kai himself.

It was true that Yang Kai's growth rate was extremely fast compared to others, and this kind of rapid growth was bound to come with some hidden dangers. These hidden dangers were usually undetectable until they burst out at a critical moment, just like what was happening now…

"After killing this King, do you really feel no guilt?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded in Yang Kai's ear.

Yang Kai's expression instantly became grim. He opened his eyes only to realize with a start that he was no longer in the dark cave. He was standing in the void with a Blood Sea spreading out around him. Additionally, there was a blood-covered figure standing in front of him with a sneer stretched across the face of a youth. Yang Kai's fist had punched right through the youth's chest, shattering his heart and vitality… It was Bright Moon Great Emperor!

The pupils of Yang Kai's eyes contracted. He immediately reacted as he had on the day of this tragedy, trying to pull his fist out of the youth's chest, but to his shock, Bright Moon grabbed his arm and held on stubbornly.

Then, Bright Moon leaned his body forward slightly. The expression on his face at this moment was incredibly hideous, "I am a Great Emperor! I represent the Star Boundary's Will! How dare you kill me!?"

Yang Kai's eyes widened to the size of saucers, staring forward with a blank expression. After being stunned for a long time, his expression suddenly sank as he gritted his teeth and roared, "Heart Demon!"

Bright Moon Great Emperor was dead, his body placed in the medicine garden of the Small Sealed World. It didn't make sense for him to come out again, much less reproduce the same scene from that ill-fated day. The only explanation was that Yang Kai was currently experiencing the outbreak of a Heart Demon!

Yang Kai had been running for his life for the past few days, so the guilt and regret of killing a Great Emperor with his own hands had been repressed in his heart. He had deliberately tried to forget about it, he had deliberately avoided thinking about it, but as a result, repressing his emotions had given birth to a Heart Demon at this time.

In order to enter the Demon Realm back then, Yang Kai had worked together with Iron Blood Great Emperor to jointly put on an act in front of Yu Ru Meng, making it seem like he was experiencing a cultivation dissonance. He never imagined that he would really be faced with this kind of crisis one day.

If he couldn't overcome his Heart Demon, everything would fall apart. Forget about breaking through to the next Realm, it would be a joyous miracle if his cultivation did not regress. In the worst case, he might really suffer from cultivation dissonance, become demonified, and lose himself. A huge sense of crisis fell over him, but as it did, he instead became calmer.

Yang Kai lowered his gaze, the black hair on his forehead casting a dark shadow over his face. He took a deep breath, looked up, and met Bright Moon's eyes, "Of course, I do! You are a Great Emperor, and yet, you died at my hand. Of course, I feel guilty about killing you!"

Standing opposite Yang Kai, Bright Moon broke out into an evil smile, "Since you feel guilty, then why do you force yourself like this? Why not accompany this King on his journey to the Yellow Springs?"

Yang Kai grinned, "Senior, do you really think that way?"

Bright Moon's expression turned frosty, "You are a sinner of the Star Boundary. Don't tell me you still want to continue living!?"