Martial Peak

[A few hundred or even a thousand years?] Upon hearing that, Lei Hong and the others were seen with worried expressions on their faces. It would be alright if it was just a hundred years, which wasn't a short nor a long time; however, if it would take them a thousand years, Yang Kai and Lan Xun might have even begotten a crowd of children by the time they returned.

When a man and a woman spent a thousand years together alone, it wasn't difficult to imagine what would happen.

"Stand aside," Zhan Wu Hen waved his hand and demanded.

Hearing the order, all the top cultivators of Star Soul Palace became encouraged, knowing that the Great Emperor was going to make a move. Without hesitation, they retracted their Emperor Qi and stepped back.

In an instant, the five coloured lights around the World Pagoda flashed as the gigantic pagoda shook violently. Space around it cracked, as though the pagoda was about to fly away.

All of a sudden, a scarlet banner appeared as a bloody aura permeated the air, which caused everyone to turn solemn. The banner was so huge that it was as though the entire sky had been covered with it.

Iron Blood War Banner, Iron Blood Great Emperor's Natal Artifact.

This wasn't an Ancient Exotic Artifact, nor was it refined by an Artifact Refiner. Instead, it was the manifestation of Zhan Wu Hen's cultivation. Since he had used the Iron Blood War Banner, it meant that he was going all out, which went to show how spectacular the pagoda was. Even a Great Emperor had to use his full might to suppress it. If Zhan Wu Hen hadn't come here, Lei Hong and the others wouldn't have been able to stabilize the World Pagoda for long, and sooner or later, they would lose this most important treasure.

The scarlet War Banner was extremely vivid. It looked like a blood wall that could shade the entire sky, and the flowing colour looked like weltering blood, which could easily daze any beholder. The War Banner swiftly fell onto the World Pagoda and engulfed it, and in the blink of an eye, the entire pagoda was covered tightly.

The five coloured light disappeared as the pagoda quickly stabilised. The entire world seemed to be filled with the scarlet colour, which painted everyone's face red.

Standing in front of the pagoda, Zhan Wu Hen placed his hands behind his back and stared as he waited patiently.

Meanwhile, Yang Kai was in trouble.

He was thrown into the pagoda by Zhan Wu Hen, and before he could understand what was going on, an oddly-shaped beast with long fur was striding toward him. The long-furred beast's aura was strange, so Yang Kai wasn't sure what it was.

He had wanted to make a move to test the beast's strength, but he was surprised to see it opening its mouth wide before he could even react. A moment later, he was gulped down into its stomach, following which, he found himself inside a strange world.

The clouds above his head had been dyed red, as though the entire sky was burning. Upon closer look, he realised that the sky really was ablaze. The red clouds were actually flames that were blazing across the sky.

On the other hand, lava could be seen flowing on the ground and magma bubbles kept popping, releasing a pungent smell. Even Yang Kai felt that the surrounding heat was scalding.

Of the Five Elements, only one seemed to exist in this world, Fire. Yang Kai realised that he couldn't detect the other four Elements. It wasn't the first time he came across such an odd place, but before he could scan the surroundings to find out more, a hideous figure emerged from the lava.

It had a dragon's head, a deer's body, an ox's tail, fish scales, and two horns on its forehead. Its entire body was burning with fire, and its feet were engulfed in dark flames. Despite its odd appearance, it was imposing

[A Qilin! An Ancient Divine Spirit Fire Qilin!] Yang Kai's eyes almost protruded. Fire Qilins were also highly ranked among Divine Spirits. If all the Divine Spirits in the world were divided into different classes, and Dragons and Phoenixes were the most prestigious, Qilins would be among the third class, similar to Qiong Qi.

Yang Kai knew about Qiong Qi's power and understood that the average Pseudo-Great Emperor would not be his match, so what about the Fire Qilin before his eyes?

Hence, when the Fire Qilin appeared, Yang Kai became alarmed and instantly communicated with his Sealed World Bead so that he could summon his protectors, the three Half-Saints, at any moment. The Embodiment wasn't the only one in the Sealed World Bead right now as Bei Li Mo and Yu Ru Meng had forcefully made him bring Bai Zhuo and Bai Ya with him.

With three Half-Saints joining forces, a single Fire Qilin was certainly no match no matter how powerful it was.

While Yang Kai was still contemplating his next move though, rumbling sounds were heard as more and more Fire Qilins emerged from the lava, all of them with hideous and imposing images.

In the blink of an eye, more than a thousand Fire Qilins appeared out of the lava and surrounded Yang Kai, staring at him with fiery eyes.

At that instant, Yang Kai's expression turned pensive. He could understand it if there was only one Fire Qilin; after all, the World Pagoda was abstruse and it contained countless Small Worlds, so it wasn't surprising that there was such an odd world inside the pagoda.

However, something was off as there were simply too many Fire Qilins at the moment. No Divine Spirit could ever have such exceptional reproductive ability. The Dragon Clan, Phoenix Clan, and all other Divine Spirit Clans could not achieve this.

Hence, it was impossible that there were more than a thousand Fire Qilins in this world. It was Heavenly Way's method of maintaining balance, allowing such powerful Divine Spirits to exist, but not reproduce in great numbers. If too many Divine Spirits were born, there would be no room for other creatures to exist.

In order to prove that his speculation was right, he lifted his hand and slashed a Moon Blade at the Fire Qilin nearest to him.

The Moon Blade broke through the air and slashed across Fire Qilin's figure. Following a shriek, the Fire Qilin was cut into two.

[They're not real Fire Qilins!] If they were the real Qilins, Yang Kai couldn't have killed one with just a single strike. For some reason, these beasts looked just like Qilins though, and despite Yang Kai's acute vision, he couldn't see any flaws in them.

Before he could heave a sigh of relief though, his strike seemed to have enraged the Fire Qilins as they all pounced at him. At that instant, all the fire in this world seemed to erupt and the lava boiled fiercely. Even the fire in the sky became more vigorous.

Not daring to underestimate his foes, Yang Kai quickly summoned his three Half-Saint protectors.

Although these Fire Qilins were not real Divine Spirits, they were also not weak. From what Yang Kai could gauge, every one of them was equivalent to a First-Order Emperor.

Yang Kai wouldn't care if there were only one to two of them, he could even deal with ten to twenty of them; however, if the figure was more than two hundred, he would have to flee.

This world of fire had to be one of the countless Small Worlds in the World Pagoda, so unless he could break the World Barrier of this Small World, he couldn't possibly flee.

It took time and concentration to break a World Barrier though, so he needed people to protect him while he worked.

As soon as the Embodiment appeared, he could share Yang Kai's thoughts and understand what was going on. Without saying a word, he summoned the Demonic War Hammer and pounded his fist against his own chest. In an instant, his figure expanded into a three-hundred-meter-tall giant.

The Demonic War Hammer also expanded proportionally. Standing on the lava, the Embodiment wielded his hammer as his Half-Saint's power flared out. Many of the Fire Qilins that were pouncing were smashed into dust in an instant.

Bai Ya and Bai Zhuo didn't react as quickly. As soon as they appeared, they were startled for a moment, and when they saw the sight before their eyes, they were shocked.

One of them exclaimed, "What are these?".

The other asked, "Brother Yang, what's going on?"

Yang Kai replied, "Just kill them!"

Hesitating no more, the two Half-Saints executed his order and started killing.

With three Half-Saints around Yang Kai, the Fire Qilins were unable to get within a half-kilometre radius. The three Half-Saints also didn't go out of their way to attack and simply defended against any Qilin that dared to leap towards them.

Remaining on the spot, Yang Kai closed his eyes to sense his surroundings. At the same time, he recalled what had happened after he entered the pagoda. He had a feeling that he had somewhat grasped something at that moment and was now trying to unravel it.

A moment later, Bai Ya exclaimed, "Brother Bai Zhuo, something is wrong!"

Bai Zhuo nodded, "En, they're endless."

Although there were many Qilins, the three Half-Saints should have been able to wipe them out given enough time; however, the truth was that there didn't seem to be a drop in the enemy's numbers. No matter how many Qilins they killed, more and more would pounce on them a moment later.

After observing for a bit, they finally realised the problem. For every Qilin they killed, a new one would emerge from the lava, which was why they were unable to kill them all.

"What kind of damned place is this?" Bai Zhuo smiled helplessly. These Fire Qilins were not tangible beings but rather condensed Earth Fire. Unless they extracted all the energy in this world, they would never kill them all.

They were Half-Saints, so killing these fake Qilins was like killing ants for them; however, a sea of ants could eventually devour an elephant.

"This is a training ground," Yang Kai explained impassively as he opened his eyes.

The World Pagoda was the most important treasure in Star Soul Palace. Since time immemorial, countless disciples had entered it for life experience and to become stronger. The innumerable Small Worlds in this pagoda were the best training grounds for them.

It was the same case for the Small World they were in right now. If there was no mechanism to keep replacing the Fire Qilins, this training ground couldn't serve its purpose.

"Brother Bai Zhuo, come with me!" Yang Kai said and leapt into the air.

Hearing that, Bai Zhuo immediately raced after him. Their speed was incredible as they had moved for a few thousand metres in the blink of an eye.

Gazing at the weltering flames in the sky, Bai Zhuo said solemnly, "Brother Yang, be careful."

Although he had no idea what these flames were, he could detect a dangerous aura coming from them.

Right after he finished speaking, the weltering flames became even more violent, and the next moment, a huge bird descended from the fire clouds. Its wings could spread for more than ten metres wide and its entire body was crimson red, its beak as pointed as a sword. More conspicuously, the bird only had one leg.

It was a Bi Fang, another Divine Spirit. Needless to say, they knew that, just like the Fire Qilins that had emerged from the lava, the bird wasn't a true Divine Spirit but a condensation of this place's strong Fire Attribute Energy. They just looked like Divine Spirits.

Having experienced this situation already, Yang Kai and Bai Zhuo were not so shocked when they saw the sight.

As expected, following the first Bi Fang, more than a thousand Bi Fangs appeared, diving down from the fire clouds. The flames that swirled around them seemed able to burn all intruders to death.

Bai Zhuo immediately shot forward and appeared before Yang Kai. As his Demon Qi undulated, many blood threads shot in different directions as several dozen Bi Fangs were killed without even being able to make a sound.

Yang Kai followed suit and brandished his Myriads Sword as he swept his Sword Qi across the enemy.

The Human and Demon then shot into the sky and started killing.